April 2013 Posts

Lake Superior Sandstone

I remember a while back, there was a discussion about sandstone quarrying and that some quarries had records of notable buildings that were constructed from their stone. I just attended a meeting of the Heritage Preservation Commission in Minneapolis tonight where the Sumner T. McKnight mansion on Park Avenue was nominated for a historic designation study. It is constructed out of Lake Superior sandstone. I couldn’t help but to wonder if there is any quarry records that correlate with this building. Would anyone know how to find the answer to that?

Bullhorn Permit??

One of my buddies was horsing around with a megaphone this weekend – he was announcing an impromptu ski race. The police showed up and told him that he needed a “megaphone permit” in order to OWN a megaphone [perhaps he meant “use”?]. Anyway – we have been reviewing the city permit page and can’t find the requisite paperwork. Should the authorities have referenced a different regulation? Anybody have experience with this?

Homegrown Video Fest 2013

Zombies! Fast Cars! Cowboys! Cheese sauce!

We will be archiving the 2013 Homegrown Music Video Fest videos on this page as they continue to get sent to us. It was another standing room only premiere this year at the Zinema. There will be encore screenings Wednesday at Zinema, and Sunday at Sara’s Table / Chester Creek Cafe.

Homegrown in Memorium

Today marks the passing of Stella the Dog, a Staffordshire Terrier/Australian Shepherd mix and my great companion, just two-days shy of her 15th birthday. Stella is noted in Homegrown lore as the dog who, in 2000, destroyed one of the first two official Homegrown kickballs roughly 30 seconds after Starfire arrived at Chester Park and tossed the newly purchased balls onto the field. She spent most of the rest of the day carrying its carcass, occasionally thrashing it about.

Homegrown 2013 on KUMD

Once again it’s a Homegrown Music Festival extravaganza on KUMD  all week long. We’ll have Live from Studio A sessions with Homegrown bands every week day, plus a two-hour edition of the Local Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m. featuring performances from Toby Thomas Churchill, Tim Kaiser, and more.

Wild Turkeys in the Snow

Wrenshall’s Mark “Sparky” Stensaas has had up to 19 wild turkeys at his feeder. He tells the full story on his Photonaturalist blog.

This week: Homegrown and everything else

  

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

Well, let’s address the 800 lb. chicken in the room. It’s Homegrown week with lots of shows in lots of venues all week long. And, this year, Perfect Duluth Day is providing a handy guide on your smartphone. Admit it. You love us.

Love your Lakewalk? You have opportunities to show your love this week with clean-up days on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday. There’s also a volunteer day at the Rose Garden on Tuesday.

Thursday is Pancake Day down at the DECC, an annual fundraiser for the Lion’s Club.

In the world of theater:

Saturday is May the Fourth (aka International Star Wars Day) and so, of course, the DSSO is doing a concert dedicated to music from the James Bond films. Bring a lightsaber anyway.

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

Homegrown Music Festival 2013: The Chicken App for your mobile phone, other schedule formats and social media crap

The URL for PDD’s Homegrown Chicken App is calendar.perfectduluthday.com/homegrown, if you want to check out the Homegrown schedule on the fly from your mobile device.

Homegrown Music Fest 2013 – Live Tweets #hgmf13

The “official” Twitter hashtag of this year’s Homegrown Music Festival is #hgmf13. So tweet away!

Grebes

This is Wildwoods’ third grebe in two days!

Nerd Nite Lite

Nerd Nite Lite was an Abridged Nerd Nite to celebrate the grand opening of the Underground performance space in the Depot (in the former Children’s Museum space). Images below.

Sustainability Event at UMD: One World, One Environment

OWOE was a collaborative event bringing together UMD students, faculty, staff, and community members to explore and discuss issues connected to our plantet. Photos below.

Rollerdames!

The Rollerdames crushed Fargo! (Those ND gals skate with their shoulders instead of their feet!)

Homegrown Music Festival 2013 Schedule Spreadsheet

Here is it if you want it.

Copper and Nickel Mining in Minnesota

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

Here’s a video from a UMD Center for Ethics and Public Policy discussion about mining in our region.

Congrats to Shane Courtland, the director, for creating a space for this important dialogue.