Month: January 2012
Best Fried Chicken in Duluth
Where can someone go to get good fried chicken around the Twin Ports? KFC is absolutely terrible and I can’t think of any other place that has fried chicken.
Plastic is better than silicon.
Photo Electric Effect
Texas Science: “Discovery of a ‘Dark State’ Could Mean a Brighter Future for Solar Energy“
Looking for grand ideas & Dulu-tia (Duluthminutia).
(Getting to the end — thank you so much for putting up with these January in Duluth encroachments in this wonderful space.)
Last day of January and I have a few sackfuls of questions with incomplete/partial answers. With time running out, maybe you can give me a few hints on my homework? Below, I’ve boiled down a list of [A] v. [B]s, isolating dichotomies about life here in Duluth — if you have a few extra intro/outrospective minutes to kill today, I’d love to hear how you’d weigh in on any or all of these. Of course, in each matchup there’s no need to declare a clearcut winner (balance in all things), so your answers can take the form of one word or a phrase or a few thoughts or an essay if you’re exceptionally motivated. (more…)
PDD user account registration problem fixed
Anyone trying to create a user account for Perfect Duluth Day from Saturday night to this morning, probably saw this:
The problem is fixed, and creating an account should work now. We apologize to those who were frustrated by this.
And then he turned into a pumpkin and rolled away…
But not forever, I’m thinking.
So tomorrow is the last day of January in Duluth (and everywhere else too). I’m going to be writing a post in the morning asking some bigger picture questions I’ve been thinking about, but haven’t answered definitively. Look out for that (also, if you’ve been following and holding back, you can tell me what you really think about the project — but wait for tomorrow to do that).
For today, I have a morbid question. If you knew tomorrow were your last day on earth, and you were to spend it entirely within Duluth/immediate surrounding area, what would you do? A last day, in Duluth.
Small Town Killer Episode 2
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]
This episode has a chase scene through the Skywalk and Canal. Hope you enjoy!
Call for Art: “Strange Objects”
Prøve Gallery announces an open call for submissions for the show “Strange Objects.” (more…)
Not Missing the Boat: CSAs in Duluth
I always wait until too late. Not this year!
What Community Shared Agriculture projects would you recommend? I’m an old, fat man who isn’t willing to work on the farm to cut his costs, and who is deathly afraid of programs that mandate that I go to a specific place within a 45 minute window once a month or lose my food.
What would you recommend?
“Hey White People …” Un-Fair Campaign
I’m no longer in Duluth, but I found out about a campaign going on there right now and I couldn’t be more encouraged by the people and message behind it, including Mayor Ness. (more…)
This week: musical birds, pipe raffle show, Bassgate and more
Tuesday, Jan. 31
Legacy Glassworks holds its January Pipe Raffle Show with Joshua Grose, Kyle Scherz, Three Song Sunday, and Bliss & Sitter.
Wednesday, Feb. 1
Kevin Kling will be presenting a lecture and discussion on storytelling at the library before heading to Sacred Heart to perform his musical For The Birds.
Thursday, Feb. 2
Local, young DJs spin tracks at Stargate all night at Bassgate.
Friday, Feb. 3
Mr. Kickass and Fearless Moral Inventory play Roscoe’s Pioneer Bar.
Zenith City writers share their work
The Podium at Teatro Zuccone
Last night I attended a very special evening of area writers sharing essays, poems and stories at Teatro Zuccone. It’s really exciting to see this kind of event assembled. Kudos to all involved. If winter is the off-season for the Duluth arts and culture scene, you’d never know it by all the things happening in our community these days. Here’s a link to my review of the event last night and the writers who alternately made us laugh or think more deeply about the meanings of our lives, sometimes at the same time.
PDD transferring to new server
Server Migration
Here is what monitors look like when one spends his Saturday night migrating Perfect Duluth Day to a new VPS server. The amount of data currently used by PDD is 3.4GB, needless to say that takes a little while to transfer and reconfigure.
Oh, side-note, the old server was in Canada the new one is in the USA. I feel so patriotic right now!
Duluth Crime Wave
Is anybody else a little freaked out about all the crime in Duluth lately?
A 62-year-old friend of mine was walking home from work a few weeks ago and was brutally assaulted with a hammer by St. Mary’s parking ramp and the perpetrator was never found. There was no report of this in the media.
Now this week we have muggings and a bloody dead body found on Michigan St. How come the media is not covering this? Should we start a Duluth Crime Facebook page to keep each other informed?
What do you think?
Duluthian staying in Rochester
We have an upcoming, at least week-long, visit to the Mayo in Rochester. We’ve stayed at the Fiksdal. Does anyone have any recommendations for not-too-expensive but not awful lodging etc. in Rochester?
The Don and a film maker with time to kill?
The January Days are dwindling and the need to gorge on as much Duluth as possible is rising. I spent an hour with Mayor Ness today — he’s a wonderful guy. Also, I had an odd idea I might try to execute this weekend if anybody is interested.
Is anybody out there a film person? I have a very short film I’d like to make — named “100 Seconds of Solitude” — that’s reasonably simple in concept/shooting but might be a little tricky to edit. If anybody wants to spend some time this weekend on a fun project, I’ll bring the beer!
Engraving in Duluth
I have a small plate for my guitar that I want to have engraved with my initials. After a quick search I’ve found a few places that would be able to do this for me, but I was hoping some of the fine folks here have any experience or recommendations with any of these companies.
Ideally, it would be laser engraving about 1×2 inches.
Organize my iTunes
I’m looking for somebody to get our iTunes library consolidated and organized – or maybe some advice on how to do it. Right now it’s spread out over three lap tops and an external hard drive. Perhaps iCloud is the solution? All I know is that right now it’s a GF and I feel a bit overwhelmed thinking about it. Thoughts or advice? (more…)
Need Your Help
Someone took this picture of the Evil Queen with Snow White’s heart from the bathroom at Chester Creek Cafe. It was a gift from my brother 25 years ago and had sentimental value. Ok – yes it was dopey of me to have it in there but it was screwed to the wall and I had misplaced faith in humankind. I want it back – a reward is offered. No questions asked. Please help me if you can.
Here's Her Heart
Duluth Underground Bass at UMD
Duluth Underground Bass is a new student organization at the University of Minnesota Duluth. For the most part, we really like bass music. Anything and everything with lots of bass and funky rhythms. Some of us like it so much that we put on parties and shows and such and try to share our love for the bass with other people.
We have done pretty well, but there is a lot of room for improvement. So far we’re hosting a monthly gig at Stargate Nightclub called BassGate. It’s on first Thursdays of every month and it’s 18+. My favorite thing about BassGate is that it’s for the bass heads. The regular crew doesn’t come out and we completely take over the club, have our own DJs play the music they want to play and we all dance how we want to dance. Everyone has a good time.
If anyone is interested in seeing what we’re about, come on out to February’s BassGate next Thursday. “Dress Your Best” is the theme and we’ll be blessed with selections from Andrew Koch, Matt Harris, Cam Dickison, Jimmie Townsend, and Jordan Berndt.
Ten Minutes with Simon Gray
If a man is worth knowing at all, he is worth knowing well. Simon Gray has been doing fascinating creative work for quite some time. Many here have appreciated his whimsical paintings and cartoons. He was willing to be interviewed for Ennyman’s Territory this past week. It’s a good read. With pictures.
Igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary, anthropic
Brian Klawiter taught an energetic class on the geology of our region at Denfeld High School last night. We learned about two dozen new terms for “rock” but more importantly, we came to understand the geologic processes that created the rocks around here… (more…)
Japanese on the North Coast
Last night, Kate and I attended our second cooking class with Miaki Habuka through Duluth Community Education. (more…)