Month: March 2016
Quarry Park Mini Master Plan Draft
The plan for a proposed 30-acre multi-purpose park at Casket Quarry in West Duluth is in its final draft stage. Duluth’s Parks Recreation Division is seeking public comment until April 6.
Quarry Park will offer accessible trails, connections to other surrounding hiking and biking trails, multi-use gathering spaces, disc golf and a rock climbing wall rock- and ice-climbing opportunities.
Click here to view the Mini Master Plan PDF.
Click here for the public comment form.
Public comments will be compiled and incorporated into a final version of the plan, which will be presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission at a special meeting on April 20.
Video: Lester River Race 2016
Point-of-view video of a run during last weekend’s Lester River Race in Duluth.
Gwen Austin honorable mention in NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ump7-WuFNoE
Yes, Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea won NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest, but yesterday NPR posted “10 More Tiny Desk Entries We Loved” featuring the beautiful Gwen Austin.
Austin went to school at UMD and lives in Duluth on and off. Her most recent Duluth project is the trio Bone Harp. So out of more than 6,000 entries Duluth is represented twice in the top 11. Way to go Duluth.
Sixty Seconds of Minnesota Winter
Video by Layne Kennedy.
Plaisted Polar Expedition in New York Times
Ralph Plaisted’s “Big Idea” — to travel to the North Pole by snowmobile — was born in Duluth’s Pickwick restaurant in 1966. The New York Times published a fresh account of the story last week.
An Insurance Salesman and a Doctor Walk Into a Bar, and End Up at the North Pole
Duluth in the House
A quick Duluth reference in House, season 3, episode 18, “Airborne.”
Not your typical cookbook review
Once upon a time we stopped caring about where our food came from, and had no knowledge of the people who grew it. We stopped cooking, ate out of boxes, and tore cellophane wrappers off microwaved “TV dinners.” We even ate fast food meals in our cars without stepping foot outside. Sounds crazy, but it’s actually true! Americans across the socioeconomic spectrum came to rely solely upon international corporations to feed us, even though they’ve proven time and again that their only care is for profits.
Slowly, surely, relentlessly, we are waking up. There is another way. The Duluth Grill Cook Book II is the latest contribution toward our community’s drive to create a sustainable local food system. I lingered over a scratch-made pie and perused the book for a couple hours while taking in the atmosphere. Read my thoughts on Ed’s Big Adventure.
Duluth on Robot Chicken
Duluth and Northeast Minnesota got a shout out on Robot Chicken this week. Watch the crappy screen-grab clip above, or view the pay version of the full episode below. (more…)
Craft brewers rolling out variety of vessels
Duluth beer drinkers have more choices than ever — not just in terms of brands and styles, but also in packaging. A variety of new bottle and can styles have entered the local market, and more are on the way.
Two prominent examples are the 750ml bottles Fitger’s Brewhouse used to package its late-winter series, and the 16 oz. cans Castle Danger Brewery will soon release for its seasonal offerings. (more…)
Review: Kathy McTavish’s Høle in the Sky
Is there a hole in sky? Art mesmerizes the Food Farm!
Media artist Kathy McTavish and the new-music ensemble Zeitgeist took over two windowless rooms of the Food Farm root cellar in Wrenshall this past Saturday to present the interactive exhibition Høle in the Sky to an audience of about 25 people. (more…)
Price Check: Iggy Pop and Gwen Stefani
On Friday, March 18, two solo artists released their newest albums. As usual with Perfect Duluth Day’s Price Check, the cost of purchasing said albums varies — in this case not just from store to store but by format and artist. Odd as it might seem, Iggy Pop tends to be a tad more expensive than Gwen Stefani. (more…)
This Week: fresh vinyl, basketball goofballs, rabbits and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
It’s New Music Festival time at UMD’s Weber Music Hall, the Zinema is screening a documentary about an architect who’s building floating schools, the latest season of WDSE’s local arts show The Playlist is taping an episode with a live audience, basketball goofballs from Harlem trot into town for a bit of sports-comedy, the latest Design DLH gathering aims to address just how Lake Superior affects design in the area, hip hop takes a stand against heroin at the Red Herring and it’s once again Taste at Fitger’s time.
Reflectivore releases a new vinyl LP at a show with the Social Disaster and Chasm of Czar, Monster Mob assembles to rock with the Ball Slashers, Duluth’s first escape room has its final original-recipe room events before it opens a new experience, the Pinewood Derby is back at Carmody, three bands (Ego Death, Swimsuit Area and the Farsights) play an all-ages show at Beaner’s, there’s bound to be bloodshed at the 2016 Puzzle Derby and it’s time once again for a big rabbit to bring people eggs and chocolate for religious reasons.
The Meal that Almost Killed Me
My wife and I had just completed the trifecta of stress-inducing life events. In the span of two weeks we had gotten married, moved to a new city, Chicago (where we would be living together for the first time), and I started a brand-new job at Northwestern University (where I knew exactly one person).
My commute from our apartment near Wrigley Field to Evanston was nearly 45 minutes. Which I got to spend on the packed red line train, sitting next to a revolving roster of the cast of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – Public Transportation Edition.
My “favorite” commute was the morning I sat next to a perfectly lovely older lady who smiled and moved her new handbag so I could have more room. We rode in silence for a moment before she asked me where I was heading. (more…)
Selective Focus: Iconoclasts
Mike Scholtz, untitled
Being an iconoclast means more than seeming stereotypically outré, a fringe figure, or intentionally marginal. This week features the ordinary people among us who get things done by merely digressing from convention; age, gender, and appearance have little to do with the capacity to shift the discourse, and affect communities — though a dash of eccentricity, sometimes humor doesn’t hurt. Difference is also a mental state; taking the road less traveled or asserting a dissenting view (as in Ann Klefstad’s piece, or Bryan French’s image from the Berlin Wall). (more…)
Duluth Album Releases in 2016
Dirty Knobs
30,000 Days
Available on Bandcamp
(Jan. 5)
Gin Street
Model Homes
Available on Bandcamp
(Feb. 4)
Kyle Ollah
Wouldn’t Mind Working from Sun to Sun EP
Available on Bandcamp
(Feb. 5)
Video Archive: Student Concerns at UW-Superior in 1996
Denise Novotny is the reporter. Interview subjects in order of appearance: Marnie Housel, Jan Tilley, Angie Sommerfeld, Seung-Hyun Oh, Jon Ellis and Brandon Leno.
No, this is not a legitimate campus news piece. Yes, I wrote a script and fed everyone their lines, although they improvised a tiny bit. Yes, I was apparently terrible at white balancing TV cameras 20 years ago.
Homegrown 2016 schedule announced; Wussow’s mix released
The 2016 Homegrown Music Festival, Duluth’s annual 200ish-band showcase, runs May 1-8. The official schedule has been released, so it’s time to begin charting the adventure. The Chicken App, PDD’s smart-phone optimized version of the lineup, is also available.
This year’s schedule follows the same basic format as previous Homegrowns — opening ceremonies and new band showcase on Sunday, video festival and poetry showcase on Monday, Canal Park focus on Tuesday, western Duluth on Wednesday, Superior on Thursday, buttload o’ bands in Downtown Duluth on Friday and Saturday, and a few brunch shows on the final Sunday.
The two biggest weekday shows are again at Grandma’s Sports Garden and Clyde Iron Works. The Sports Garden lineup includes A Band Called Truman, Mary Bue & the Holy Bones, Space Carpet and the Social Disaster. Clyde will feature Teague Alexy and Friends, Low and Red Mountain. (more…)
Goodbye Winter
Gooseberry Falls aerial video by Above U Productions.
We have arrived in Duluth and our hats are impeccable
Would anyone like to take a stab at translating the message on the back of this postcard? It was mailed from Duluth to Miss Lillian Carlson of Minneapolis at some point during the era of one-cent postcard postage and fancy hats. The postmark date is not readable. (more…)
This Week: green beer, glass slippers, quilts and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
Minneapolis NAACP President Nakima Levy-Pounds speaks on the Black Lives Matter movement at UMD, Memorial Blood Centers is looking for your red stuff, the Zinema is showing a Sergei Eisenstein classic, the latest TED at the Teatro is all about belief and the lack of it, Duluth Mayor Emily Larson and City Councilor Zack Filipovich invite the public to a community listening session and The Underground gets loud about motherhood.
The green beer starts flowing on Thursday at Dubh Linn Irish Pub, former vice-presidential candidate Winona LaDuke speaks on ethics at UMD, the cover bands just keep on coming, the Minnesota Ballet closes out its season with some glass-slipper business, the multi-day DuLutsen North of North Music & Ski Festival is popping off from March 16 to 21, it’s Motorhead Madness at the DECC and quilter Kathy McTavish invites the public to her studio for a special day.