Charlotte Montgomery wrote a somber coming-of-age story with Lonesome Ghost of Me. During a frustrating period, she found strength in unlikely places. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
Upcoming gigs:
May 3 at Legacy Glassworks during Homegrown Music Festival
June 21 at Lake Superior Brewing Company
This old photo is from the Duluth Photo Engraving Company. Is that stage recognizable? Is this the cast of a play? What’s the deal with this image?
Here’s the official trailer for the 2019 Duluth Superior Film Festival. May 29 to June 2 with a kick-off at the NorShor featuring Mike Scholtz’s hilarious new documentary Riplist.
We still need volunteers, so if you’d like to help out, please e-mail Marin Molander at marin.molander @ gmail.com. Volunteers get a bunch of cool stuff for helping out (four hours minimum).
Tig Notaro famously did a stand-up routine in which she announced she had cancer. It was lauded as one of the most incredible moments in stand-up history, and she was extolled as a pioneer in comedy for really working the fine edge of the tragedy + time = comedy equation many comics venerate as the best method of joke construction. I’ve listened to the routine — it’s as good as it’s rumored to be. Better, maybe, because of Notaro somehow putting into the fewest possible words the absurdity of human life in an undeniable way. A laser cut around the heart, but in the shape of a fart.
In this magnificent routine, Notaro jokes that people always say that “God never gives you more than you can handle,” and then goes on to imagine the angels watching God handing down Notaro’s few months of life, questioning God’s sobriety: in just a few months, Notaro almost died from an intestinal infection, her mother died in a household accident, and then she was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer in both breasts. The space between these events was long enough for her to make the phone calls necessary to tell anyone that one of the things had just happened. It’s preposterous. And inexplicably shitty.
Railroad Yard, Duluth, 1918–1965
There are a few works by Francis Chapin at the Art Institute of Chicago. More info about Chapin can be found on Wikipedia.
John B. Herrington, the first member of a federally recognized tribe – Chickasaw – to travel to space, was in the Twin Ports last month as part of the UW-Superior Distinguished Diversity Lecture and Art Series. In this clip he talks about his work on the International Space Station.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
Coal Depot, Duluth Harbor, Stuart David Klipper
The Art Institute of Chicago has many cool works of art with a Duluth connection available online.
The Great Unwilling blends fuzzy guitar tones with heavy distortion. Band members explain how EP was a chance to rediscover themselves. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
Upcoming gig:
May 4 at Pizza Lucé during Homegrown Music Festival
Duluth Mayor Emily Larson gives her fourth State of the City Address in the gymnasium at Myers-Wilkins Elementary School.
This photo of Eric T. Anderson, age 56 circa 1963, born in Duluth, is part of the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago. It was taken by Danny Lyon.
I don’t know the story or the man. Do you?
Seventy years ago — April 16, 1949 — Duluth was featured in The Saturday Evening Post as part of the magazine’s series on “America’s most colorful cities.” The lengthy article by Arthur W. Baum was the 65th in the series, and features photographs by Frank Ross.
The intro text reads: “Once a bleakly unpromising village, this now great grain and ore center has survived many a stunning setback — thereby making her smart-aleck detractors look foolish. The cheif hazard of life here is this: You never know when a wild bear will drop in for breakfast.”
“As the West burns, the South swelters and the East floods, some Americans are starting to reconsider where they choose to live,” writes New York Times climate reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis in an article suggesting people might someday migrate to Duluth to escape global warming.
John Degelau sends one out to the woodchucks in this 2018/’19 video of ski stunts.
Jack Schmid, Peter Lochner, Gordon Buffington, Kendozer, Ben Thelen, Garret Schwindt, Mitchell Kasper, and Dylan O’Connor are credited for shooting the clips.
Moriah Skye of MRS. & the Sordid Affairs explains the backstory behind Thick. She opens up about the challenges of being a transgender musician in contemporary society. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
Upcoming gig:
May 3 at Pizza Lucé during Homegrown Music Festival
In honor of the upcoming Homegrown Music Festival, this PDD quiz examines inventions, innovations, and ideas that were “homegrown” in the Duluth area.
The next PDD quiz will review headlines from April 2019 and will be published on April 28. Please email question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by April 25.
