April 2013 Posts

This week in LakeVoice: Community photography project

This week, LakeVoice released its first all-photo issue. The LakeVoice reporting team teamed up with community members to go out into Duluth and chronicle the faces of our diverse community. Check out our photo stories of a day in the life of a florist, a West Duluth mechanic, Lakeside business owners and the faces of Canal Park and the Lakewalk along with many other photos, including many submitted by community members.

Daredevils @ World Championship

The Duluth East Daredevils are at the FIRST World Championship in St. Louis, and are ranked 5th going into the second day of qualification matches. Robots!

Homegrown Banjo Breakdown

If you hang out on PDD or Facebook or the corner of Lake Avenue and Superior Street long enough, you’ll hear a Duluth musician complain about how many banjos there are in the local music scene. Personally, I’ve heard Duluth referred to as “the banjo capital of the world,” and I’ve heard people say — not even jokingly — that it’s almost impossible to spend a night in the local music venues without hearing a banjo. On one hand, I understand what they are saying, but on the other hand, it seems like tremendous hyperbole.

The purpose of this post is to try and figure out, as accurately as possible, the percentage of bands playing Homegrown that feature a banjo, and to discuss whether or not that percentage is an excessive amount of banjos.

Where in Duluth?

Fix One, Another Shows Up

At this point, we may need someone named “Martini” to open their own chain of bars in order to make this trend legit.

Free Jim Carlson

Image and stickers available courtesy of your friends Bratwurst.

Pollard pulls in two 2013 Best of the Twin Cities Arts & Entertainment awards

Duluth got two nods from City Pages in its Best of the Twin Cities issue, and musician Eric Pollard was part of both. He’s the drummer for Retribution Gospel Choir and front man of Actual Wolf, bands that won for Best Live Artist and Best Songwriter, respectively.

Minnesota Aurora

Timelapse video and photography by Mark Ellis. Shot April 14 in northern Minnesota.

Honour, jail and consensual sex

The 2014 race for Minnesota Governor is already underway. Republican Scott Honour, a businessman from Orono, has launched his campaign website. (Amusing sidenote: The announcement page is at “/splash/#prettyPhoto.” Well, it is a pretty photo.)

Zenith City Online launched a redesign today and has delved into the history of the Tycoons Alehouse building, formerly Duluth’s City Hall, answering the question, “Was Tycoons Alehouse ever a jail?” Spoiler: For one year the Rathskeller was home to a holding cell, not an official jail.

There will be a full moon tonight for the Take Back the Night march and I Heart Consensual Sex Party. Sexual Assault Awareness Month will be recognized in Superior as well, with the Speak Out Superior march. Howl like a wolf; hump like a civilized person.

Cloud Cult on Minnesota Original

The Cloud Cult movie No One Said it Would be Easy screens tonight at Zinema 2, and the band will play the Twin Ports Bridge Festival in Duluth on July 6.

Fever Dream – “Think I’m in Love with You”

Presenting the fifth music video from Marc Gartman’s Fever Dream.

Missing home terribly. Wrote a song about it. Like to hear it? Here it goes.

Zenith.

Rockridge Elementary Rezoning

The Rockridge Elementary school property’s proposed rezoning reminds me of the age-old phase “you sleep in the bed you made.” The school district knew from the get go what building zones the schools are in. It also knew the market has its ups and downs. We are now in a down cycle. Why didn’t the district’s budget include a more conservative estimate just in case the market went down?

21st Century Feminism in the Twin Ports

So I occupy an odd position in my academic home — a department in which seven of nine faculty are men, but seven of ten undergraduate majors and graduate students are women.

Searching for a small house (Lakeside/Hillside/Woodland)

My wife and I have recently moved back to Duluth and are looking for a small house (1-2 bedrooms) on the east side of town, ideally in Lakeside, on the Hillside or in Woodland. We don’t need anything fancy, just a cute and clean home for us to start our family in. We do not have pets or smoke. If you or a friend know of something (or are about to rent a home), please let us know. Leads can be sent to rcrawfordaz @ gmail.com. We greatly appreciate the help.

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