Month: December 2021
The Most Read Saturday Essays of 2021
Never before has one author landed more than two works on Perfect Duluth Day’s list of the top-five most read Saturday Essays. And now, like some literary Muhammad Ali, Jim Richardson landed not three, not four, but all five. Total domination. He also had the sixth-most-read essay of the year, just to rub his popularity in the noses of every other writer in town.
How did he do it? Well, for starters he wrote more essays than everyone else. But ultimately it was the quality of the goods that made him PDD’s click hog in 2021. Many of his works fell into a genre we might describe as “Duluth fan fiction,” but at least one in the top five is about something that really happened. And another one could be fact based, but we can’t prove whether the author wants to see naked women or not. (more…)
Lyceum Theatre, 1961
This photo of Duluth’s Lyceum Theatre is dated Dec. 17, 1961, and credited to Clarence Sager. It shows just a portion of the large building at 423-431 W. Superior St., which was demolished in 1966. (more…)
Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour returns to Duluth
After a one-year absence, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour returns to Duluth on Jan. 7-8 at DECC Symphony Hall. This stop on the tour is hosted by the Duluth Cross Country Ski Club, and proceeds from the event benefit local community ski projects. For more details on the event visit the PDD Calendar entry.
Closer to the Core: Helen A. Futter’s Records
Yesterday was a “snow day,” meaning things were open, but my Kia Soul was not equipped to get me there while the snow fell on the ice. So I took a break from grading some excellent papers by my students to go over my next stack of records from Gabriels’s Used Bookstore in Lakeside. (more…)
The Slice: Emily Koch
Artist Emily Koch paints portraits focused on the surreal and abnormal.
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.
It Happened Right Here: Duluth & the Iron Range
This short documentary, written and produced by Dale Bluestein for the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest‘s series It Happened Here, delves into the early history of Jews in the Duluth area, starting with the arrival of newlyweds Bernard and Nettie Silberstein in 1870.
Ingeborg von Agassiz – “Advent Hymn” (Lyric Video)
Duluth-based electro-folk artist Ingeborg von Agassiz shot this video in rural northwestern Minnesota while driving home for Thanksgiving. She does not recommended shooting video while driving, but sacrifices must be made for slow-motion Christmas-light art.
The song is from the artist’s new album of “original dark holiday tunes inspired by Victorian ghost stories and the winter blues.” Coventry Carols is available online at ingeborgvonagassiz.com/shoppe and various music sites.
Postcard from the Arthur M. Clure Public Marine Terminal
This postcard was mailed on Dec. 14, 1971 — 50 years ago today. Mrs. W. A. Gramley of Wheaton, Ill. was the recipient. The sender’s name looks something like Evie. (more…)
The Slice: Nancy X. Valentine
Nancy XiáoRong Valentine‘s exhibition, “The Audacity to be Asian in Rural America: We Owe You No Apologies,” is on display on the second floor of the Kathryn A. Martin Library at the University of Minnesota Duluth and in Lake Superior College’s Erickson Library until Dec. 17. The exhibit is a series of 12 watercolor and Chinese ink scroll paintings on rice paper that visually tells the story of the Hao family’s Chinese American immigrant experience in rural western Minnesota.
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.
PDD Quiz: Christmas 1921
This edition of Perfect Duluth Day’s quiz looks back at holiday headlines from 1921. All articles were published in the Duluth News Tribune (images – -which may or may not be helpful with guessing — appeared in the paper between 1885 and 1922).
The next PDD quiz will look back at local newsworthy events from 2021; it will be published on Dec. 26. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Dec. 22. (more…)
Filling Up at the ‘Coldest Gas Station in America’
Back in January of 1997, my friend Keith and I took a drive across Wiscosota and Minnesconsin with my cousin Matt, a California beach boy searching for a real northland winter. Our road trip launched on the eve of the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl XXXIII appearance. A handmade Packer flag crafted from a pillow case was taped to the bumper of Keith’s sedan as we drove 300 miles across frozen farm fields and snow-covered forest to Title Town. The idea was to celebrate an inevitable Packer victory in the shadows of Lambeau Field.
I’ll save our tales of mischief and revelry for another time. This essay is about gas stations – very cold gas stations.
Gas is needed to get from St. Paul to Green Bay in a V-8 Chevrolet. Somewhere in the middle of Wiscosota we stopped at a convenience store and pulled up to a service island. A snowmobile was parked at an adjacent pump and its driver was filling a tank under the seat. Matt’s jaw dropped like he had just spotted Bigfoot munching on a cheeseburger.
“Whaaaaatttt????” he said, as he grabbed a cheap point-and-shoot camera and jumped out of the car. (more…)
Heely Tricks with JamesG: November 2021
Another monthly installment of wheeled-sneaker stunts by former Duluthian James Geisler, also known as the hip-hop artist JamesG.
Postcard from the Lakeview Castle
Lakeview Castle, 5135 North Shore Drive in Duluth Township, got its start circa 1914 as a fish stand and coffee shop, eventually growing into a restaurant, lounge and motel. It ceased operation at the end of 2009 and the Clearwater Grille opened there in the fall of 2010. (more…)
Missing Person: William Terry
Update: Deputies from the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office located the deceased body of William Terry today. He appears to have died by suicide. Terry was reported missing from his residence on Munger Shaw Road in Grand Lake Township on Dec. 6; he had not been seen since Nov. 27. The township is adjacent to Hermantown, about six miles northwest of Duluth.
Deputies had searched Terry’s home on Dec. 6, but after receiving new information concerning the layout of the residence, a follow-up search was conducted and the body was located in a previously undiscovered hidden room. No foul play is suspected.
R.I.P. Ben Boo
Former Duluth mayor and Minnesota representative Ben Boo died on Dec. 1 at age 96.
Boo was Duluth’s 35th mayor, holding office for two terms from 1967 to 1975. He served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1984 to 1992. He also directed the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District and the Upper Great Lakes Regional Commission in between his political terms. (more…)
Rituals and Masks
“Ritual and Masks” is part of the 32-minute feature Masking, an experimental video by Joellyn Rock. The segment features Duluth artist Mary Plaster, artistic director of Duluth All Souls Night, who collaborated with Chris Lutter of Minneapolis to build the 17-foot-tall marionette skeleton that was paraded down Superior Street a month ago. (more…)
Local writers share their stories
From my friends at work; this looks cool. (more…)
NCIS Duluth: Kathy Laster’s Happy Place
Twenty-eight minutes into episode 8 of the new CBS crime drama NCIS: Hawaii, characters start dropping the D-word. Before the 29-minute mark, Duluth is mentioned four times. It almost feels like the writers were peppering it in just for the sake of getting mentioned on the silly website in Duluth that catalogs such things. (more…)
Accordion Steve rocks!
Went to the Julebyen Christmas Village in Knife River via a great train ride last Saturday and was enthralled with all things Scandinavian; the high spot was a talented funny Finn from Da Rengch named Steve Solkela —— from singing opera to “Play That Funky Music” he has it all covered. And did I say funny? Writes his own songs about Palo and saunas and, let’s face it, all the good things in life. Go see this guy and you’ll be smiling and clapping within two minutes!
Duluth’s Best Bread announces second location in soon-to-be former Blacklist space, crowdfunding campaign underway
Brothers Michael and Robert Lillegard of Duluth’s Best Bread say customers are eating faster than they can bake. The video for a new crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo includes the long-anticipated announcement that the Lincoln Park bakery is adding a second location in the Downtown Duluth space presently occupied by Blacklist Brewing. Blacklist is planning a move into the former Carlson Book building. (more…)
Video: Black Wolf in Voyaguers National Park
This isn’t the first time a Voyageurs Wolf Project trail camera has captured footage of a lone black wolf, but it’s still relatively rare and this clip is the best one.
The Voyageurs Wolf Project is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in Voyageurs National Park, about 100 miles north of Duluth.
Oshkigin Spirit of Fire
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The story of how the past century of fire phobia has really mucked up our forests isn’t new, but this new 16-min video with gorgeous photography tells it in a personal way. Featuring Vern Northrup of Fond du Lac, Damon Panek of Red Cliff, and Lane Johnson of the Cloquet Forestry Center.
“Duluth on Duluth”
Back in 2000 George Killough, then an English professor at the College of St. Scholastica, edited the book “Minnesota Diary, 1942-46” the journal of Sinclair Lewis during the time he lived in Duluth. (more…)
