Lake Superior ice sheets breaking at Brighton Beach

Cooking on the Car returns

Duluth’s finest cooking show continues as Dan Dresser and Jason Wussow make beer cheese soup and black bean dip on the manifold of their car on the way to Washburn using techniques they’ve honed on their many road trips around the country.

Brewhouse Cattle

[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]

Jason Davis was in Duluth for his “On the Road” series to find out more about the connection between a brewery and a farm.

17.5mm Film

I was talking to a friend about historical research, and he mentioned a local film, unwatchable, because it is on 17.5 mm film — basically, 35mm film cut in half.

Can anyone think of a way to watch this film? This is the 21st century!

MBOTMA Bluegrass Cabin Fever — site change due to Radisson flooding

Important news if you are considering attending the Cabin Fever Festival in Duluth this weekend. Unfortunately the Radisson Hotel has experienced an unforeseeable incident that has forced us to move the event.

A water main broke in downtown Duluth a couple days ago and flooded the basement and electrical service to the Radisson Hotel where the festival was to take place. The hotel will not be able to restore electrical power for several weeks and has completely shut down.

The good news is an alternate space at the Inn on Lake Superior in Canal Park has been secured.

Chipotle coming to the Twin Ports! (?)

I have it on decent authority that work is being done right now to bring four or five Chipotle restaurants to the Twin Ports area. My source says that one of the stores is destined for Cloquet and the rest are going to be in Duluth/Superior.

I won’t get too excited until the doors open, but I think many will agree that this is a long time coming for this area. No more trips south just to get a burrito (yes, I’ve done that).

Low at 20

In yesterday’s story in the DNT, Alan Sparhawk, sound engineer Eric Swanson, musicians Marc Gartman, Amy Abts and Tony Bennett, and Low’s former nanny Scott “Starfire” Lunt all weigh in on the band’s 20 years of music.

It’s a great conversation and it’s one I think is worth continuing here as Low commemorates its second decade in the business and its 10th studio album, which hits the shelves on Tuesday.

What are your favorite Low memories, whether you know the band or you’re just a fan of their music?

This week: zombies, ballet, bluegrass and custom cars

  

Here’s a sampling of what you have to look forward to this week on the PDD Calendar.

Storyteller Kevin Kling returns to Duluth tomorrow with Dan Chouinard to perform at Mitchell Auditorium.

La Leche League meets for discussion every third Wednesday of the month at the Coppertop.

Zombie madness meets Elizabethan England in Renegade Theater Company‘s William Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead at the Teatro Zuccone starting Thursday and running for three weekends.

The Minnesota Ballet presents its production of Firebird on Friday and Saturday at the DECC Auditorium.

The Cabin Fever Bluegrass Festival melts the winter blues away at the Inn on Lake Superior in Canal Park this weekend, Friday through Sunday.

And if that weren’t enough, this weekend World of Wheels: Motorhead Madness comes to the DECC with custom cars, bikes, four-by-fours and other wheeled wonders.

So what are you doing this week? Can we tag along? Any upcoming events that you want to promote? Let us know.

Where in Superior?

Not-So-Perfect Duluth Comet

Finally. Clear skies after sunset allowing my first, eagerly anticipated view of Comet PANSTARRS over Duluth. Sigh. Unfortunately, PANSTARRS isn’t really delivering the goods. I took these pictures Saturday night about 45 minutes after sunset, looking due west over the UMD campus, and trust me, even though the comet was visible to the naked eye, the photos are better than what I could see, even with binoculars. Still, if you get a chance (and the weather Gods permit) I recommend checking this underachieving celestial visitor out.

Local farmers connect with local eaters in person and online

Ten local Community Supported Agriculture farmers gathered at Zeitgeist Arts on March 14 to connect with prospective customers and to promote the growth of the local foods movement.

What are these helicopters up to?

I was out snowshoeing off of the Foxfarm Road on Friday (March 15), and two helicopters and a fixed-wing aircraft passed overhead, flying in sort of a formation.  The lead helicopter was a huge twin-rotor thing, with some sort of device hanging from it which almost seemed to be emitting some sort of vapor trail. Strange. Did anyone else see this, or better yet, does anyone know what they were up to?

Google killing Reader

If you are reading this through your Google Reader, you already know you won’t be after July 1. If you’re not, you probably don’t care. But in case further explanation is necessary, read “RIP Google Reader” on Mashable.

So, just out of curiosity, how many of you care? Will any of you stop reading PDD because of this, or will we never know because you’re reading the RSS feed and are too lazy to log in and complain about it?

Sad Lost Kitty in Lincoln Park

I found this very sweet and very sad kitten outside of my house in Lincoln Park. Is she yours, or do you know who she belongs to?

Texting youths trying to kill me

I was at the Arrowhead/Woodland intersection yesterday, and I’m not making this up, I witnessed two young college ladies making a turn and texting at the same time, back to back, faces pointed toward their lap when they were turning. I was only at this intersection for 30 seconds — multiply by the thousands of times youths text and drive through this turn. But there is nothing that can be done to stop them, because even though we’re all just primates, they’re prettier than you. So you just have to sit there and wait for one of them to kill you while they’re typing OMG!

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!