March 2016 Posts

Marshall-Wells Paint

Marshall-Wells Paint

OneRiverMN-Logo-FC-BadgeIt’s unclear whether someone brought this sign to the Western Waterfront Trail and propped it up for public display for some reason or if it was dredged out of the St. Louis River.

Epic Beach Game of Foot Stomp

Starts with a long hug, ends with a brutal footstomp for my definitive win against a 7-year old. I am new to footstomp but it seems traditional in this family (my fiancee, her daughter, and her niece). This is one long clip of this game, which contains many different acts and little dramas, on the shore of Lake Superior.

Let’s get baked … in the human bake-oven

Roasting in Human Bake Ovens 17Dec1910

Michael Novitzki will host The Duluth Local Show on the Current

The Current announced in a news release today that Michael Novitzki will host its revamped version of The Duluth Local Show, which will launch May 1 on the low-power 90.9 FM and air every Sunday at 8 p.m. Also announced in the release: Cecilia Johnson has been named Local Current blogger.

An Epic Voyage to Whiteside (Clough) Island

Aerial views of Clough Island in the St. Louis River estuary, Duluth, Minnesota.

OneRiverMN-Logo-FC-BadgeThis is my contribution to the One River, Many Stories project, and is epic as ever. Right here, on this fascinating island within the St. Louis River estuary, a millionaire built a large vacation home and an impressive farm that may have been the largest in the area. Here they harvested 3,500 bushels of wheat in a season, kept pigs, trained numerous racing horses, tended a herd of black angus cows, kept 40 brown swiss milking cows at one time, had 500 sheep, cared for an enormous vegetable garden, and much much more.

This was a quest to uncover remnants of the past and be immersed into an incredible story. What I discovered on kayak, on foot, and by personally meeting the author of the only book on the subject, was most surprising. See more at Ed’s Big Adventure, and perhaps be inspired to see this place for yourself.

Duluth Band Profile: Illyrik

Brandon Gordon came into hip-hop when Outkast and other Atlanta powerhouses ruled the airwaves. When he came into his own as Illyrik, he discovered his voice. Click on image above to hear the interview.

Duluth on HBO’s Vinyl

The new HBO series Vinyl references Duluth in season 1, episode 7. Richie and one of his lackies are in Las Vegas and pick up a couple of women. One says she’s from “St. Paul … Duluth, actually … trying to be fancy.” Richie cracks some joke about flying over Duluth.

Beauty Within the Torrent

OneRiverMN-Logo-FC-BadgeWith the One River, Many Stories project poised to fully launch in April, we present this new video shot by Dudley Edmondson on the St. Louis River.

Perfect Duluth Stargazing Spots

Can anyone recommend good spots for stargazing in and around Duluth? I’m sure there are many places out of town along the shore, but which spots do you recommend and why? Thank you.

Kraig James – “Back in the Day”

Kraig James & the Campfire Stars are releasing a new song each month in 2016 for a project called Campfire Americana: Volume 1. This is the third track, available for download at kraigjames.com/music. Portions of the video were shot at the Aerie Lake Crappie Challenge on March 12.

Duluth Band Profile: Tallulah

Tallulah has been in development for over three years. Band members explain how the song “A Blue Painting” gave them a reason to venture onto the stage. Click on image above to hear the interview.

Dusty Heart – “Cigarettes & Matches”

Barbara Jean and Molly Dean perform “Cigarettes & Matches” in a gondola at Lutsen Mountains on March 7.

Duluth Puzzle Derby 2016

Let’s face it: competitive jigsaw puzzling is never going to be particularly exciting to watch. Unless you speed it up! Here’s some time-lapse GoPro footage from last Saturday’s third annual Duluth Puzzle Derby at Clyde Iron Works.

Music is “Held My Breath” by Portrait of a Drowned Man, which was composed for Wicker Kittens, a feature-length documentary about competitive jigsaw puzzling.

Matt Ray Skeleton Key EP to help fund full length

Matt Ray - Skeleton KeyTo help fund his official full-length release, due out in Summer 2016, Matt Ray needs your help! His Skeleton Key EP on Bandcamp contains eight tracks he has not gotten around to putting on a full-length, so he has decided to release them all as an EP where you can pay what you want.

All funds, and we do mean all funds, from this go directly to funding the recording, production and distribution of his full length album of original material, produced by Ian Alexy of Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank and recorded/engineered by Ryan David Young of Trampled by Turtles. It features guest appearances by Nate Sipe of Pert Near Sandstone, Paul Fonfara of Brass Messengers, Eddie Juntunen of White Iron Band and several others.

Ray is very proud of this album and wants you to hear it, but in order for that to happen, he needs everybody to really “support local/live music” and donate a couple of bucks to help cover all the costs.

Pay what you want … let the music take you.

This Week: Babes, Brian, Peeps and more

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

Author Brian Freeman comes to town to sign his latest Duluth-set crime novel, Bent Paddle hosts the One River, Many Stories kickoff, Vietnam veterans are celebrated at the Depot, UMD hosts a panel discussion on the nationwide movement to get a $15 minimum wage, the 50th annual Arrowhead Home & Builder Show lands at the DECC, the BuyDownstream kickoff event happens at the Red Herring with local music and poetry and kids can make art with marshmallow Peeps at the Superior Public Library.

The Duluth Experience is loading up its bus for a tour of local breweries, rock legends Babes in Toyland roll into town to celebrate the Current’s arrival, Solve Entertainment’s second escape room debuts in its downtown location, the Homegrown Festival invades the Iron Range, Twin Cities rap collective Doomtree plays two shows at Papa Charlie’s, Vikre Distillery drops its latest batch of whiskey and Zenith City Cabaret is back in action at Zeitgeist Arts.