Month: August 2009
Ah, September

I’d like to welcome the best month in Duluth.
Cartoon Art Show at Bohemia Arts, Friday, Sept. 4, 5-8 pm. Musical Guest: Total Freedom Rock
“The Cartoonist and the Kid” featuring cartoons by father-daughter combo, Jim Richardson (40) and Violet Richardson (11).
This show documents the cartoons I did during the Ripsaw years about my child when she was between the ages of 2 and 4. There are a couple of our collaborations on display from when she was 5. The show ends up by displaying her solo work from the past two years (with a new feature “Spike and Slurp” not seen at last year’s show).
Musical guests Total Freedom Rock will do a set at 6:30.
Refreshments will be served.
Flower King from Duluth
Did you know the man behind Kennedy weddings and funerals, Studio 54 parties, presidential events and countless Vogue parties was from Duluth? Neither did I. You may not care about flowers and fashion, but this article in W magazine about Robert Isabell from Duluth is somewhat interesting (though they do refer to Duluth as “nowhere”).
Moooooo.
There’s an entry on the DNT’s Attic blog about milkmen. Which made me want a milkman to come to my house and bring me delicious dairy-ness. I tried to find someone online, but either my Google-fu is failing me, or the milkman has become extinct.
Anybody doing this still?
It’s that time again!!!

Get your bike out and ride. Bring a jacket. We’ll probably do about 60 miles, last month’s ride was about 70, and extremely nice. We even had some beers on my porch. But that’s beside the point, which is get out your bike and ride, because this is Duluth and there will be ice on the roads in a month 🙂
“The Courtiers”
Sept. 3, 6 to 8 p.m.
Beaner’s Central
Featuring music by professional pianist Samuel Black.
Window Watching
I’ve always wondered about how the window placements on this house came about. It’s on Arrowhead Road, east of Kenwood Super One. I’m a fan of big windows, so this house and its lack thereof always sticks out as I drive by.
In a way I guess it’s kind of smart, because it probably cuts down on noise from the busy street. But there must be some window-less rooms up on that second floor. I wonder what could be done with that massive blank spot in front.
Anyone know more about this place?
Last Chance To See A “Musical Tour-De-Force!” – Oeuvre
There’s only three shows left of Renegade Comedy Theatre’s production of “A New Brain.”
Come out to the Teatro Zuccone this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm to see this show packed with show-stopping choreography and powerful, moving music.
So, come see the show Oeuvre called “A laugh-out-loud show from beginning to end!”
Extra! Extra!
Hey there – have you ever dreamed of being an extra in an independent film? Well here’s your chance! 4 Track Films is currently shooting a new romantic comedy entitled The Life Of Riley and we’re looking for folks to come out this Sunday night (3am-10am) for a club scene we will be shooting at RT Quinlan’s. There will be music, merriment and a state of the art Red One camera to ogle. If interested please call 218.336.1372 or email info@4trackfilms.com.
Punk show next Sunday
-Sweet Destruction
-Moon Is Down
-Indulge
-Sundowners
-Frozen Teens
Sunday, Sept. 6
Bohemia Arts all ages
7pm $5
Indoor storage for boat
I am looking for a place to store and work on my 30-foot wooden
boat over the winter. The boat is a little over 10-feet wide and on a trailer about 13 feet tall.
Road Trip to Fargo (Camping, Low Concert, & Health INS. Reform Rally)
Rally for Health Care Reform
In the Fargodome parking lot
1800 University Dr. N.
Fargo, ND
Saturday, Aug. 29
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Free Concert by Low
Note:Â On Friday evening, Aug. 28 at 7 p.m., Minnesotans and North Dakotans will begin camping at the Moorhead-Fargo KOA site (4396 28th Ave. S., Moorhead, MN).
We reserved sites, so call Nathan Ness (218) 310-7682 to reserve a spot for only $5. Friday night promises bonfires, drinks and songs around the campfires. Saturday morning promises a free concert by Low, speakers and free food!
Contact Nathan Ness for more information at 218-310-7682 or via email at nessjnathan @ yahoo.com.
Slivovitz Festival Saturday
Hello Duluthians,
Hope you don’t mind the intrusion from Chicago (from a former Iron Ranger, at least), but you all should know about the Slivovitz Festival at Earthwood Inn on Highway 61 just south of Two Harbors on Saturday, Aug. 29. A day-long good time featuring Eastern Europe’s finest adult beverage, Slivovitz – which is a plum brandy. Delicious and high octane.
Also, my band is playing at 4:30 if you want to hear some brassy, balkan style music.

Connor Garvey House Concert
I am supposedly having a house concert this Sunday, around 8 p.m. It’s a folk guitar-uke singer/songwriter I met in Montana this past July. I say supposedly because he hasn’t gotten back to me recently … but it’s still listed on his tour page. Anyway, I need some more people to fill the house. If you’re interested in coming, please reply here. I’ll probably only accept regular posters, or if I can inspect you on the book of faces first, since it’s my house and I’m allowed to do that. But I’d really love to meet more people. So reply and come! And convince some friends to come, too! I’m shooting for 20 people; I have a small house.
Oh and there is a cover; $10 gets you music, wine and food. All goes to the musician. Hooray for grassroots!
R.I.P. Teddy Kennedy

Feb. 22, 1932 – Aug. 25, 2009
Goodbye Duluth
Dear Duluth,
I am sorry to have to let you know this way, but seeing your name is in the title of this website I thought it would good place to contact you. I have spent the last year thinking about our relationship and living situation and there is no easy way to say it but I am leaving you.
It is not that I don’t love you, I do. And most of the past dozen years have been good, but I have to admit I am attracted to other cities.
I want you to know that of your group of close friends you’re a shining star. Eveleth, Gilbert and Virginia–I am sorry to say–I find boring, and they depress me. And as for your sister Superior, well, she is a drunken, dirty whore.
Though there are many things about you that I enjoy, like your beach, your urban wilderness and your downtown, the truth is that you are just so cold most of the time. Sure, when you are in a good mood you are almost perfect, but seeing you that way for only 5 or 6 weeks a year is just not enough to fulfill my personal desires any longer.
I would love to tell you where I am going next but I honestly don’t know. I think I will wander for a while and visit old friends out west. I hope we can still be friends and I will come visit you in the future.
Take care and much love,
Me
P.S. I am stopping to have a three-way with Minneapolis and St.Paul on my way out west. You know I have always had a thing for them. Good times.
R.I.P. Torr

A non-cantankerous, very funny guy and talented actor.
Remembering Laura MacArthur
A commenter to the post about the house being torn down for construction of the new Laura MacArthur Elementary asked the question, “Who is Laura MacArthur anyway?”
Laura MacArthur was an elementary and junior high school teacher and principal in West Duluth for over four decades.
Born in England, she came to the United States with her family at around the age of 10. She attended high school in Wooster, Ohio, and graduated from the College of Wooster.
She came to Duluth in the spring of 1896, where she was assigned to teach Latin, algebra and civics to ninth graders at Longfellow School.
NorShor
Tonight the Duluth City Council will consider suspending the Norshor “Experience” liquor license.
Here’s a picture of among other things, future Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Link Wray who had one of his last public performances in the United States at the NorShor before he died a few months later. He played with a number of Duluth rockers, some of you were there, it was pretty amazing.














