March 2016 Posts

Duluth in the House

A quick Duluth reference in House, season 3, episode 18, “Airborne.”

Not your typical cookbook review

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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.

Craft brewers rolling out variety of vessels

Lake Supbeerior

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.

Review: Kathy McTavish’s Høle in the Sky

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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.

Price Check: Iggy Pop and Gwen Stefani

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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.

This Week: fresh vinyl, basketball goofballs, rabbits and more

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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.

Exploring Lake Superior Ice Mid-March

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.

Selective Focus: Iconoclasts

Mike Scholtz

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).

Duluth Album Releases in 2016

Dirty Knobs - 30,000 DaysDirty Knobs
30,000 Days
Available on Bandcamp
(Jan. 5)

Gin Street - Model HomesGin Street
Model Homes
Available on Bandcamp
(Feb. 4)

Kyle Ollah - Wouldn't Mind Working from Sun to SunKyle Ollah
Wouldn’t Mind Working from Sun to Sun EP
Available on Bandcamp
(Feb. 5)

Iron Range Outlaw Brigade – “Big Ol’ Truck”

The Liquid Snowstorm of 2016

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.

Ferryboat in Harbor at Duluth, Minn.

Ferryboat in Harbor at Duluth Minn

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