October 2014 - Page 2 of 57 - Perfect Duluth Day

Recognize any of these?

Oct 23, 2014 No Comments

The Bike Cave is a little crowded these days with half-finished projects, if you left a bike here please claim it before the end of the month. Open shops are coming to an end for the season: the last two are Saturday, Oct. 25, 1 to 5 p.m., and Wednesday, Oct. 29, 3 to 6 p.m. After that the Bike Cave will only be open by appointment. We are not accepting donations at this time.

It’s been a great year, with more than 150 people of all ages building and going home with their own bikes. Join us for our third annual Halloween ride to celebrate.

Random The Bike Cave

14-31DS

Oct 23, 2014 8 Comments

A few fundamental questions on the on the Chester Ski Jump Memorial Plan City of Duluth RFP.

Is not art, true art — spoken, written, painted, sung, or mixed media — an expression of that which comes from places that are intangible or elusive? i.e.: from within, a collaborative, the Netherlands, the proverbial Vibe?

Yes, the history of a place, lived out by a people is vital — I get that (and the real magic still is to have been there and lived it out) — however, most of us probably don’t have that benefit.

But a request put out on an RFP – a bid – along with city hall upgrades and roofing repairs not only diminishes the call, but is the antithesis of artistic inspiration. Just my opining.

Video Archive: Low – “Fear”

Oct 22, 2014 No Comments

Ten years ago Starfire posted this video he made for the Low song “Fear,” from the 1994 album I Could Live in Hope. The video was produced as part of the Crash Ballet Contest put on by Coudal Partners, a design, advertising and interactive studio in Chicago. Participants were asked to edit original NASA footage to music. Starfire’s video was named a runner up in the contest.

Music, Videos Low, Video Archive

Geek Prom on hiatus

Oct 22, 2014 4 Comments

Note to fellow nerdwads:

We have reached an era of unprecedented technological advancement and far-reaching anti-bullying campaigns. The mission of Geek Prom is complete. The prom committee is disbanding.

We now enter a state of complacency, no longer planning our defenses against the hideous Fleckuloids of the Mineculon, though geekprom.com remains in tact should we need to summon our forces due to reemerging threats.

May you all live long and prosper, be you dill-weeds, spazzes, dorks, doofuses, dweebs, Einsteins, pizza faces, brainiacs, space cadets, mathletes, meteorologists, gamers, Trekkies, disc jockeys, zeros, gaywads, hobbyists, greenies, weaklings or any other form of misfit.

News and Current Affairs Geek Prom, Geeky

Do you remember Fox Night?

Oct 22, 2014 12 Comments

In Great Britain, Nov. 4 is Fawkes Night, but in Duluth in the 1970s and ’80s, the night before Halloween was “Fox Night.” It was a warm-up for Halloween, with no costumes and no candy — instead it focused entirely on vandalism and mischief.

I’ve talked to plenty of people about this, and for the most part, people don’t know what I’m talking about. But people who grew up in a certain time in a certain place know it all too well. And it’s interesting to think about how this happened. How did Guy Fawkes Night make its way to the Midwest, change its date, and alter its name for this brief period of time?

Duluth was not alone in the celebration, if you can call it that. Wikipedia calls it Mischief Night, and pins it down as a primarily East Coast phenomenon with roots reaching back to the 18th century. It lists many alternative names, but does not mention Fox Night.

Hackers Night
Goosey Night
Cabbage Night
Gate Night
Mat Night
Devil’s Night
Mischievous Night
Miggy Night
Tick-Tack Night
Corn Night
Trick Night
Micky Night
Cabbage Stalk Night
Mizzy Night

In 2003, a bunch of PDDers brought back an adult version of Fox Night, which was basically barhopping while acting like a jerk. If memory serves, it involved a lot of duct tape and firecrackers.

So what are your memories of Fox Night? Did you participate? Were you ever toilet papered, egged, or soaped? When did it originate here? When did it end?

History Halloween, West Duluth

Winter is coming … how about a Duluth Street Store?

Oct 22, 2014 No Comments

We’ve got a lot of poor, if not homeless people in Duluth. And winter is mighty cold. I’d sure love for there to be a way to give directly to those who need, not funneled through a nonprofit. Maybe something following the Street Store model.

Recommendations

Help searching Duluth addresses for old businesses

Oct 21, 2014 8 Comments

I’m a bit of a armchair history buff, especially when it comes to Duluth and the surrounding area. I love absorbing historic information, but one thing has eluded me: finding out information about old businesses and such. I just want to be able to type in an address and see old directories, find out the history, but I’ve had zero luck.

I tried Ancestry.com, which is close, but you can only search the old city directories by a person’s name, which does not help at all if I don’t know who to look for. I know there must be something out there. I know people on PDD seemingly have this very ability as they’ve contributed information on past posts, like “(insert business)” was listed at such address in 1985,” etc. So how is it done? Is there any online resource that can feed my history needs? Your suggestions and assistance would be greatly appreciated by this curious minded fellow.

History Queries

Meet the Candidates for Minnesota House District 7A: Kristine Osbakken, Jennifer Schultz and Becky Hall

Oct 21, 2014 No Comments

Video by WDSE-TV.

Politics, Videos

A Different Argument for the Trees

Oct 21, 2014 10 Comments

On the topic of removing the trees that line the two-mile stretch of Fourth Street from Sixth Avenue East to Wallace Avenue during the street reconstruction and upgrading of water and sewer lines in 2016:

Keeping the Fourth Street trees is not just a matter of esthetics, sentimentality or environmentalism. It seems to me that although all of these arguments should save the trees, they are emotionally based. We need an argument to save the trees that is going to stand up to science.

The memory of a study came to me today while I was driving down Fourth. There is less crime in areas with trees. And with the center of dodginess on one end of Fourth, it seems to me that criminal activity could very easily expand outward, taking up another portion of our fair city.

More Trees = Less Crime

So yeah, there is more criminal activity in areas without trees. I don’t think we want more of that.

News and Current Affairs Trees

This Week: scares galore, meatballs, lectures, flicks and more

Oct 20, 2014 3 Comments

Here’s a little bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:

Ghosties and ghoulies are in abundance, this week, as the scares get ramped up in anticipation of Halloween. Evil Dead: The Musical is in action at the Underground, Glensheen has a few days worth of chills planned for its Jack O’Lantern Spooktacular, and Gooseberry Falls is offering creepy campfire tales.

Saturday’s the biggest day for frights, with a Terror Train, a Field of Screams, a Corn Maze, and a Haunted Shack, among other terrifying delights. (And don’t forget about the Haunted Ship, of course.)

Not everything this week is of the scary variety, though: get some Swedish meatballs on Tuesday, hear Egyptian scholar Dalia Basiouny perform her one-woman show on Tuesday and lecture on Wednesday, celebrate five years of Zeitgeist Arts with a flick, and see the District 7A State Representative candidates square off on Tuesday.

Events

Rooftop Bars in Duluth

Oct 20, 2014 10 Comments

A question posted on PDD’s Facebook page:

Random Bars / Drinking Establishments, Queries

New calendar editor and a 2004 flashback

Oct 20, 2014 3 Comments

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.

History, Videos PDD Shop Talk

Mouse Season from Wildwoods

Oct 18, 2014 7 Comments

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.

Random

Happy UMD Homecoming!

Oct 17, 2014 No Comments

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.

News and Current Affairs UMD

Home dressed as the White house for Halloween

Oct 17, 2014 5 Comments

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.

Art, Photos Creepy, Halloween

October 2014 Posts