Month: April 2021
Seaway in Song
News that the Esmond building in the Lincoln Park Craft District might soon be demolished leads Perfect Duluth Day to note that the structure once known as the Seaway Hotel in Duluth’s Friendly West End has at least twice been referenced in music. (more…)
Demolition, apartments is new plan for Esmond building
The Esmond Building – formerly the Seaway Hotel – at 2001 W. Superior St. in Lincoln Park. The now vacant, city-owned building would be demolished and replaced with a mixed use housing project under a new redevelopment proposal. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
A historic but blighted building in the heart of the Lincoln Park craft district could be headed for demolition after plans to renovate the city-owned property fell through and officials started working with a new developer. (more…)
Duluth record labels boosted the scene, but are going extinct
Compact discs and cassettes of releases from Duluth record labels fill a plastic bin at the Perfect Duluth Day headquarters. (Photo by Paul Lundgren)
Mark Lindquist, the chief purveyor of local albums at the turn of the millennium, thinks he can succinctly describe the difference between the best-known Duluth record labels.
“Chair Kickers’ put out the most gorgeous records,” he said. “Spinout had the most professional. Chaperone had the coolest. And Shaky Ray had … the most.” (more…)
Torment – “Drown in Piss” (Instrumental Playthrough)
Submerged in urine once again, Duluth band Torment continues to fine tune for the day when rock shows resume in full force.
West Duluth kids rarely strayed from neighborhood in 1920s
An article in the Duluth Herald of April 28, 1921 — one hundred years ago today — calls attention to how western Duluth kids seldom ventured to the center of town, much less to the eastern side. (more…)
Blueprints of Paul Baby
Found the blueprints on the internet and this anonymous cartoon in an old notebook.
Paul Baby
Kweluude – “Bases,” “My Life” and “The Message”
Duluth artist Kwe Perry, aka Kweluude, has three tracks on the new Mixtape Project 6.0 release from DanSan Creatives. (more…)
The Slice: Homegrown Music Festival 2021
Duluth’s Homegrown Music Festival will be online again in 2021, due to COVID-19. In the clip above, festival director Melissa La Tour explains that musicians have submitted pre-recorded material that will be curated into daily releases on the festival’s YouTube channel.
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.
Postcard from an Outbound Freighter
This undated postcard from Zenith Interstate News Company shows a freighter exiting the Duluth shipping canal into Lake Superior. (more…)
PDD Quiz: April 2021 in Review
Wake up your brain with this week’s current events quiz!
Duluth’s Old Central High School will be the focus of the next PDD quiz on May 16. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by May 12. (more…)
Gaelynn Lea: Three Performances for MPR
Duluth’s Gaelynn Lea was the Current‘s Minnesota Music Month featured artist of the day on April 23. This video is part of a series the singer-songwriter and violinist contributed as educational videos to YourClassical MPR. (more…)
“Things We Lost in the Fire” 20th Anniversary Visual Album
Duluth band Low has released a visualizer marking the 20th anniversary of the 2001 album Things We Lost in the Fire. Artists Shane Donahue, Julie Casper Roth and Allen Killian-Moore provide the visuals. (more…)
Video Archive: Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Railway, 1961
This 1960s-era film by Bruce Ward shows Duluth Missabe & Iron Range Railway 2-8-8-4 Yellowstone locomotives on excursions around and out of Duluth.
Selective Focus: Help Wanted
Perfect Duluth Day is looking for a new curator for its ongoing Selective Focus feature. Applications are being accepted through May 9.
Curator sounds artsier than coordinator, right? And it’s not really a writing thing, is it? Well, maybe it’s a bit of all three. (more…)
Frost River has gone solar
Frost River, a maker of canvas packs in Duluth’s Lincoln Park Craft District, is now powering its manufacturing facility and retail store with solar panels. The new rooftop panels are from EPF Solar of Minneapolis and were installed by Belknap Electric. (more…)
Video Archive: Norway’s royal couple given stirring welcome
Although Crown Prince Olav and Princess Martha of Norway did visit Duluth in 1939 for the dedication of Enger Tower, the footage in this silent film seems to all have been shot in Los Angeles a month earlier. Nevertheless, images of Duluth News Tribune stories are splashed across the screen at the start of the film. (more…)
Come on Duluth, pull your socks up!
Looking at Duluth in isolation, it has shrunk by 20 percent since 1960. In real terms, Duluth netted a population loss far greater when viewed in a regional context that accounts for the modest growth rates of Fargo, Rochester and Sioux Falls cited in the article. Had Duluth kept pace with those cities since 1960, Duluth would today have a population of 300,000. A nice sized, comfortable metro city.
Why doesn’t Duluth work?
Shooting with Sparky: Odd Bull-moose Behavior
Mark “Sparky” Stensaas visited the Superior National Forest in January and recently put together the footage for this episode of “Shooting with Sparky.” Watch as a bull moose attempts to mount another bull who’d lost its antlers. Also: twelve spruce grouse, boreal chickadees and a great gray owl.
Rodolfo Nieto – “The Minnesota Beer Song”
Minneapolis-based actor/singer Rodolfo Nieto penned this new anthem for Minnesota beer, accompanied on piano by Jared Miller and backed by a chorus. The song references two breweries from northeast Minnesota — Bent Paddle Brewing and Castle Danger Brewing.
Nieto notes that he would “love it if others created their own pun-filled verses in the future, using the names of other Minnesota breweries.”
Making it Up North: Cedar and Stone Nordic Sauna
Justin Juntunen of Cedar and Stone Nordic Sauna extols the notion of Duluth becoming the spa capital of the Midwest.
WDSE-TV‘s Making it Up North explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Duluth’s Old City Hall to become boutique hotel
Duluth restaurant and hospitality company Just Take Action is in the process of converting Duluth’s Old City Hall into a 13-room hotel with four hostel rooms and a Roaring Twenties theme. (more…)
Curley the Trapper brings body of scurvy victim through Duluth
One hundred years ago today a Duluth native completed his mission to recover the body of a former Duluth man who died of scurvy deep in the woods of Manitoba. (more…)
Low – “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
Low’s cover of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” is available on the Dylan Revisited CD, available with the June 2021 issue of Uncut magazine. The album features 14 recordings of Dylan songs alongside an unreleased Dylan track.