Month: October 2014
Rooftop Bars in Duluth
A question posted on PDD’s Facebook page:
New calendar editor and a 2004 flashback
We threw all the résumés up in the air and one of them landed on top. Tony Bennett is the new editor of the PDD Calendar. His credentials include writing for nearly every publication in town, fronting the band Cars & Trucks, working a camera for TV shows such as Almanac North and The PlayList and for dissecting the work of “positive bros” as the Duluth News Tribune‘s music critic.
Tony can be reached via e-mail at tony @ perfectduluthday.com or calendar @ perfectduluthday.com.
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Mouse Season from Wildwoods
A few weeks ago, a kind customer at a local store noticed a mouse caught in a glue trap (Wildwoods hates glue traps!), picked her and the trap up, and brought them both in to us. (more…)
Happy UMD Homecoming!
UMD Chancellor Lendley Black had a busy homecoming week, but with a nod to Jimmy Fallon and a cameo from our favorite shark-attack-preventing mayor, he’s taking some time to write out his thank you notes.
Don’t miss the Bulldog football game Saturday at 1 p.m. Tailgating starts at 11 a.m.
Home dressed as the White house for Halloween
Be wary of any loose wall outlets, and don’t mind the smell of gasoline in the carpet.
My wife and I decided to turn our front window into a Breaking Bad themed display so our house could dress up for the holidays as a meth kingpin’s abandoned home.
Work providing services to people with disabilities
Residential Services, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that provides services to adults, children and families with disabilities. RSI has part- and full-time direct-support positions open in Duluth working with adults and children with varying levels of ability. No previous experience is required, and all training is done on site.
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Perfect Brewery: Bent Paddle Brewing
Since launching in May 2013, Bent Paddle Brewing has quickly become a dominant force in the region. The company seems to have everything right, from perfect beer to perfect packaging to perfect branding and distribution. From a 10,600-square-foot warehouse in Duluth’s Friendly West End, Bent Paddle already produces twice as many barrels of beer as any other local company — making it the most macro of the area’s microbreweries and brewpubs.
In the final round of Perfect Duluth Day’s poll, Bent Paddle went head-to-head with Fitger’s Brewhouse, a 19-year-old jauggernaut brewpub that supplies beer to five restaurants and a beer store owned by parent company Just Take Action. While the two companies have quite different operations and histories, both are well-known beyond Duluth for producing an array of outstanding craft brews. The nod to Bent Paddle, which amassed 60 percent of the vote, is perhaps due to its reach. Though the company is still fairly new, it’s beer is available in a majority of bar, restaurant and liquor stores in the Duluth market — and the territory has already begun to expand into the Twin Cities metro area.
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Duluth Maker Space
There has been talk on PDD before about getting a Maker Space going, now it looks like there is some real progress. The Duluth Maker Space has a website with info, a building near Clyde Iron, and announced a public open house this Saturday, October 18. You can sign up as an informal member on their website.
Halloween banners, $50 prize
We’re looking for Halloween-themed banner photos, those long skinny photos at the top of the page. And we’re willing to pay a $50 bounty for what we decide is the best one. Click here for complete submission guidelines, but the basics are: 1135 pixels wide by 197 pixels high, e-mail them to [email protected]
Deadline for the $50 contest is midnight, Friday October 24th. We’ll continue to accept and publish banner photos after that, but they won’t be eligible for the prize money.
Duluth Target discount store opens in 1962
Built in 1962, the Duluth Target store was one of four Targets built in the company’s inaugural year. Roseville was the first store; the other two opened in St. Louis Park and Crystal. Target President Doug Dayton said the new stores would, “combine the best of the fashion world with the best of the discount world, a quality store with quality merchandise at discount prices, and a discount supermarket.”
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Landscape footage of Jay Cooke and Amnicon Falls state parks
Video and music by Dave Dueck.
This Week: ukuleles, fundraisers and some old-fashioned parading, dancing and crawling
Why should you not throw a ukulele off the top of the Medical Arts Building? Because the Alworth Building is taller. Feel free to share your favorite ukulele joke in the comments. Get that out of your system, then check out Big Mama Lele at Red Mug on Tuesday and Savannah Smith at the Brewhouse on Friday.
There is never a shortage of organizations and individuals in need of a helping hand, and this week offers a tetralogy of options: On Thursday, the St. Louis County Historical Society holds its Culture & Cuisine fundraising event at the Depot while Clyde Iron Works hosts a benefit for Zeidan Zeidan, the former owner of Z’s Deli who has been diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer. On Saturday, the Duluth Art Institute’s annual fine art auction will be held at the Kitchi Gammi Club and Mr. D’s hosts a spaghetti dinner and silent auction to benefit Mary Rogers as she battles angiosarcoma.
As for general hoopla, Champ the Bulldog will truly be in his element on Thursday, the Minnesota Ballet begins its season Friday night, and there will be another zombie pub crawl on Saturday.
A bit of PDD shop talk to wrap things up: Lawrence Lee has exited as calendar editor and we’ll be announcing soon the identity of his successor. Cheers once again to Lawrence on two-and-a-half years of keeping us informed about the concerts, plays, lectures and other instances in which four or more people gather in our region.
We should also note that during this transition period we’ve fallen a bit behind in our work. If you’ve submitted an event to the calendar, please be patient. There is a backlog right now of over 300 events. We’ll get them in … eventually.
Classic bars and liquor stores on the outs
A few recent booze-related news items we’ve been too busy to mention in detail on PDD:
- A sign went up last month at 501 E. Fourth St. declaring the former Twins Bar will be reopening as the Break Room.
- West Duluth’s venerable North Pole Bar is delinquent on property and sales taxes. It was not open this past Saturday night.
- Last Chance Liquor in the Central Hillside will close in the coming months.
- Warehouse Liquor on Central Entrance will close and be replaced with a Dunkin’ Donuts.
Raccoon Release
Wildwoods Rehabilitation has been raising nine orphaned raccoon since July, and our babies (now huge, rollicking, unruly teenagers) are ready to head off on their own and find a spot to hibernate for the winter. We took them far off into the woods, to a secret release site. Here are some picture as they begin to explore their new world. Good luck, little wash bears, and stay safe!
Final Ballot for Best Brewery in Duluth
Our previous poll pitted eleven breweries from the Arrowhead region against each other for the opportunity to advance to the final ballot. Now, the top two go head to head for the chance to be branded as the best.[poll id=”72″]
This poll is now closed. The results were:
Bent Paddle Brewing – 60 percent
Fitger’s Brewhouse – 40 percent
Aerial Tour of Fall on the North Shore of Lake Superior
Aerial Footage by Liftoff Aerials. Music by Sarah Krueger.
Rewinding from Death in the cold
I ended Thursday freezing to the death in the antarctic with Kurt Russell at the Zinema 2 Horror Movie Festival. It’s nice to see the theater packed to show a 30-year-old movie (The Thing), and maybe I will see you there in subsequent weeks.
Before that, viewing Danny Badhwa‘s photography exhibit! Moving, and worth viewing.
Before that, dinner at Tavern on the Hill. That place is too crowded for me, somedays, and I have yet to order at the bar such that my food and my companions’ food have arrived at the same time, but it’s tasty.
Before that, I met with a young MA student to talk Coleridge, my colleague Liz Wright to talk about the complexity of memory places, both at Starbucks at Bluestone. That was after lunch at Qdoba — yummy, tasty, but $10 for a burrito? A bit much for me.
Before that, a meeting with UMD’s Mindy Granley, of the office on sustainability, and four of my favorite artists (Peter Pestalozzi, Catherine Meier, Kathy McTavish, and Emily Jayne) to talk about a project covering art and sustainability.
I ended the day exhausted. After some of the other awesome stuff this week (game night at Rogue Robot, dinner at Oriental House, Dr. Whosday at Red Herring), I am tired.
But Friday night — a haircut by Andrea at Shear Katz, followed by excitement at Prove Gallery. What are you up to?
Reviewing Hedwig and the Angry Inch
So I thought I would like to write a review of the rock-musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
I am new to writing full-blown reviews so I guess by default this will be the worst one ever… but also the best? I am by no means an expert on anything, nor should you hold my opinion to more or less value than you would hold to someone you just met on the street. My opinion is my own, but I would like to share it.
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Five-minute excerpt of Minnesota Woolen film from 1959
It’s been more than a year since a post was published on PDD inquiring about the history of Duluth-based clothing manufacturer Minnesota Woolen. The first thing that came out of that post was the discovery that the Northeast Minnesota Historical Center Collection has a 16mm film about the company, but does not have a projector. Well, a projector was found this week and loaned for a little screening. (more…)
House Hunting in Riverside
My husband and I have recently thought about buying a house in Duluth. There have been a few houses in the Riverside neighborhood that have caught our eyes, but we aren’t really familiar with that part of town. Can anyone offer up any kind of information regarding Riverside?
Charlie Parr music in “Town of the Living Dead” TV show trailer
The song “Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down” by Duluth musician Charlie Parr is prominently featured in this trailer for the new TV series Town of the Living Dead, which premieres Oct. 7 on the Syfy cable network.
Poll: What is the best brewery in the Duluth area?
Duluth is the Beer Capital of Minnesota, at least according to the unofficial claiming of the title by Mayor Don Ness in The Growler magazine in 2013. So, which local brewery has the best blends of barley, hops and yeast? Well, it’s time to decide with a fancy PDD poll.
We often have a nomination process for polls, but in this case it seems appropriate to just throw all the breweries into the running for our first round. We also typically rule out areas farther than 10 miles from Duluth city limits, but since the beer from more outlying areas makes it’s way to taps in Duluth, we broadened the range to include the north and south shores.
So now, without further ado, we ask …
[poll id=”71″]
This poll is now closed. Bent Paddle Brewing and Fitger’s Brewhouse were the top finishers and will advance to the final ballot.
Robert Plant and Mike Simonson
Hey Duluth. It’s been awhile.
Two radio-related things happened today I heard here in Madison and thought you might be interested in.
1) Robert Plant gave a nod to Duluth’s own Low in a CBC interview on their show Q (it’s towards the end).
2) WPR announced the death of Mike Simonson, a journalist for whom I have the utmost respect and enjoyed hearing on the statewide news whenever his stories showed up. He cared about reporting what needed to be reported and unpacking the news in a very authentic way. Looks like Final Edition has had its final edition. He’ll be greatly missed.