May 2017 Posts

Piedmont Plunge

Often helmet-cam videos of mountain bike runs have a music soundtrack. This one by Baylor Litsey, shot on the Piedmont Mountain Bike Trails in Duluth, sticks with the natural sounds for a more realistic glimpse of the trail-riding experience.

Gaelynn Lea on The PlayList

The May 25 episode of WDSE-TV‘s The Playlist is a documentary about Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea, with performance segments shot at the Red Herring Lounge and First Avenue’s 7th St. Entry.

Memorial Day Northern Lights Real Time Video

Richard Hoeg captures the sights of the Northern Lights and sounds of loons in the distance in this video shot over Little Stone Lake, about 40 miles northeast of Duluth. The video was taken on Hoeg’s Sony A6000 with an ISO setting of 3,200.

Postcard from Brindos’ London Road Court

Marketed as “Duluth’s finest auto court,” located “on the shore of beautiful Lake Superior,” Brindos’ London Road Court boasted 14 “all modern” units. Amenities included housekeeping facilities, electric refrigeration, gas range, shower baths, lavatories, automatic gas heat and hot water.

Standing Still on a Moving Ice Sheet

Magical Duluth.

PDD Quiz: May 2017

As May draws to a close, we inch closer to a Perfect Duluth Summer. Test your memory of this month’s events in the May 2017 PDD Quiz!

The next PDD Quiz, on Duluth parks, will be published on June 11. E-mail question suggestions to Alison Klawiter at [email protected] by June 8. 

Cats and Dogs

My old neighbor — we’ll call her Tonya — verbally abused her pets. It was like living next door to a David Lynch biopic of Joan Crawford.

One summer, I was digging a fire pit in my back yard. It was the middle of a nice, warm day, probably in June. Suddenly, over the fence that encloses my back yard, I heard a woman’s voice talking reasonably to what sounded, inferring from what she was saying, like a small child: “Autumn, remember what we talked about? You promised to play on this side of the yard, away from Callie’s sandbox. If you don’t do what you promised, we’ll have to go inside.” Huh. I must have neighbor kids. Cool. I kept digging my fire pit. Three feet in diameter? Four? I tabulated the number of edging stones I would need. The voice from over the fence started up again. “Autumn! You stay away from Callie’s sandbox, like we talked about!” I had hardly dumped my shovelful of dirt before she started up again, this time plaintively, “Autumn! You are ruining this for both of us! I said NO!” And not even five seconds later, crazy time. Full scream. “AUTUMN! Come back here right now! I told you to stay away from that fence! I TOLD YOU TO STAY!! AWAY!! FROM!!! THE!!! F#*KING!!! FENCE!!!” She was almost roaring now, she was screaming so hard.

“AUTUMN! YOU NEVER LET ME DO ANYTHING! YOU RUIN EVERYTHING! WE CAN’T EVEN BE OUT IN THE G%$DAMMED YARD FOR FIVE G%$DAMMED MINUTES BEFORE YOU F#*K  IT ALL UP! WE’RE GOING INSIDE! INSIDE AUTUMN! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? ARE YOU? ARE YOU HAPPY NOW???!!!???”

Duluth Foreign Trade Zone

I had no idea there was land in Duluth that was (kind of) not part of the United States.

The comic book Threadbare, collecting comics from truth-out.org, talks about Foreign Trade Zones in the garment industry. But many industries use FTZs. According to mnftz.com:

Products moving through U.S. FTZs include electronics, computers, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, food products, office equipment, sporting goods, manufacturing components and more. Manufacturers, distributors and suppliers are all candidates for FTZ Subzones.

Selective Focus: Like He

Inspired by other landscape photographers, Like He went from snapping family photos to composing stunning landscapes of our area.

L.H.: My earliest exposure to digital photography started in 2004, when I purchased my first digital camera, a Canon A95 to take photos of my 2 year old daughter. I didn’t become serious until almost 10 years later, when by accident I became a member of a photo competition website, 500px.com, where I was shocked and awed by the beautiful landscape photos posted by the talented photographers throughout the world. I wanted to be one of them. I started to learn how to use my DSLR camera, ND filters, long exposures, Lightroom and Photoshop.

Exploring the Superior Entry Lighthouse on Wisconsin Point

The latest adventure on the Substreet website takes readers inside the Superior Entry Lighthouse, where every step “happens with an echoing crunch.”

As for the view from the top: “For 180 degrees, there is nothing but water, clouds, and a beautiful sandy beach backgrounded by pine trees and dune grass.”

Radiophiles and Sportphiles

Fill me in; educate me. Local FM sports station, 92.1 WWAX, a KFAN affiliate known as “The Fan,” recently sold. Before and after the sale the station’s Duluth airspace remains stale with on-air talent imaging bites that are very old. After sale, IDs are played saying the station is owned by Red Rock Radio Corporation … but it was sold. Finally, too many dead, off-air minutes or hours. What gives? I wrote to both owners when they were in charge, no responses. I like radio, I’m a dinosaur in that respect. Even dinosaurs don’t like listening to “old-time radio” imaging bites over and over and over again.

One From the Vault

2014

Remains of James J. Hubert finally coming home to Duluth

U.S. Marine Corps Sergeant James Joseph Hubert, a Duluthian who fought and died during the Battle of Tarawa Island in the Pacific Theater of World War II, is finally coming home. He was killed in action and buried in 1943, but when the war was over his remains were not found … until more than seven decades later.

Sgt. Hubert will be returned to Duluth this summer with full military honors. A formal funeral and burial will be held at Calvary Cemetery on July 15.

The full story is available on jamesjosephhubert.com and will likely be heavily featured in Duluth media over Memorial Day weekend.

A detailed interview with Jay Hagen, nephew of Sgt. Hubert, was broadcast in March on WDSM radio’s Sound Off! with Brad Bennett program. The interview is available for listening and downloading at wdsm710.com.

Goodbye, Peter Pestalozzi

Peter Pestalozzi lived outside Ely, but his art was often seen in the Duluth Art Institute and in local galleries. Peter passed away, and I lost someone who was distant but important to me.

Duluth Folk School finds home; plans to open Dovetail Café

Since offering its first class a year ago, Duluth Folk School has been largely nomadic. Appropriately enough, it recently found a home in the burgeoning Lincoln Park Craft District. A teaching kitchen and café are among the many plans for the massive space at 1917 W. Superior St.