PDDTV

PDD Video Lab: Bluebird Day on the Black Bear Highway

In this edition of the Perfect Duluth Day Video Lab we combine trail camera footage from the Voyageurs Wolf Project, which was previously posted on PDD, with the title track to Duluth band Woodblind‘s 2020 album Bluebird Day.

The original video features a vast array of critters. This trail cam happened to be a spot considered a “black bear highway,” and the happy bears seemed to need some music to dance to.

Heely Tricks with JamesG: February 2021

This montage of wheeled-sneaker stunts from former Duluthian James Geisler, also known as the hip-hop artist JamesG, marks the completion of a full year of his monthly videos.

Highlight Video: NCAA Men’s Hockey Regional – UMD vs. UND

The University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs and the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks redefined what it means to pull an all-nighter in college. Last night’s regional hockey tournament final at Sheels Arena in Fargo was the longest game in NCAA playoff history.

Freshman forward Luke Mylymok scored at 2:13 of the fifth overtime to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 victory and a berth in the NCAA Frozen Four in Pittsburgh.

One Year on a Game Trail in Northern Minnesota

The latest video from the Voyageurs Wolf Project shows all of the wildlife using a game trail in Voyageurs National Park from June 2019 to August 2020. It’s a 15-minute distillation of more than 5.5 hours of footage recorded on a single camera, featuring an extraordinary variety of critters.

Intersections: Dudley Edmondson

Dudley Edmondson is an author and photographer with a passion and career in the outdoors.

The WDSE-TV series Intersections celebrates people across northern Minnesota who are making the region a better place to live, work and play.

The Brothers Burn Mountain – “Honey in the Shadows”

The Brothers Burn Mountain have a new single, “Honey in the Shadows.” The video was shot by Ryan Dermody. The song was mixed and recorded about an hour north of Duluth at Diarmada Studio, and mastered by Tom Garneau.

The Slice: Staging Theater During COVID-19

Joel Soukkela, general manager of County Seat Theater Company in Cloquet, explains the art of physically distanced theater amid the pandemic.

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.

Community Action Duluth’s Mobile Market

Community Action Duluth launched its Community Mobile Market in February. A sort of “grocery store on wheels,” the refrigerated truck is stocked with fresh produce and staples like grains, dairy products and canned goods.

In the video above, Karl Becker and Even Flom talk about the program. Becker is master of social work student interning with Seeds of Success, Community Action Duluth’s food justice program. Flom is the Seeds of Success program coordinator.

Leif Brush – “Terraplane Chorography I”

Artist Leif Brush, who taught at the University of Minnesota Duluth from 1976 to 2002, died on March 15 at the age of 88. His obituary can be found on cremationsocietyofmn.com.

The video “Terraplane Chorography I,” embedded above, is a performance with audio tape and live piano, shot at the Tweed Museum of Art in 1979 and digitized from videocassette in 2011.

Glitteratti – “I Don’t Always”

A new album by Duluth band Glitteratti is in the works, titled Rectify!

But the most important thing to know is that the first video is comprised entirely of footage from Marc Gartman’s bar mitzvah in 1987.

Former UMD student behind viral Bryant Lake Bowl video

The drone operator who flew the crazy stunts in the Bryant Lake Bowl viral video has a Duluth connection. Jay Christensen attended the University of Minnesota Duluth. (more…)

The Slice: Moira Villiard’s “Madweyaashkaa”

Duluth visual artist and Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa descendant Moira Villiard reflects on her latest project: “Illuminate the Lock: Madweyaashkaa – Waves Can Be Heard,” featured in February on the St. Anthony Falls lock wall in Minneapolis.

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.

Another Day on the Beach with Two Wolf Packs

Another montage of excellent trail-cam footage from Voyageurs National Park. In this edition a variety of wildlife visit the beach in the September to January timeframe, but wolves are the main beach bums. Two different packs frequent the area — the Shoepack Lake Pack and the Nashata Pack.

The footage is from the Voyageurs Wolf Project, which is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in the park. The beach is about 120 miles north of Duluth.

“How did you think this was going to turn out, mom?”

In the latest episode of “Do Not Attempt,” Casey Rice takes a ride on a Minnesota Point iceberg.

Life Parade – “A Little Bit Longer”

Duluth’s Cameron Mathews performs a preview of a song from the upcoming Life Parade album.

The Singing Wilderness: Summer to Winter in the Northwoods

This video contains all the wildlife captured by a remote camera from July 21 to Jan. 17 on a rocky island in the middle of a large bog in Voyageurs National Park. The camera is located in the center of the Cranberry Bay Pack territory and the collared wolves in the video are Wolves V083 and V084, the breeding pair of the Cranberry Bay Pack.

The Voyageurs Wolf Project put together the video and titled it after Sigurd Olson’s book The Singing Wilderness, a collection of essays on the different seasons in the northwoods.

Cranberry Bay is on Rainy Lake, about 125 miles north of Duluth.

The Slice: Tips from a Northern Lights Photographer

Photographer Travis Novitsky shares his methods for gathering images that capture the beauty of the aurora borealis.

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.

Lanue – “September”

The second video from Sarah Krueger’s new music project Lanue was edited by the artist herself, mixing her own footage with clips from the public domain. The Lanue album is available on Bandcamp, Apple Music and Spotify.

Daniel Duluth, the Duluth Stone and the Plot to Steal America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92xlE_H5Nw

It’s been six years since the dubious Duluth Stone appeared on the History Channel series America Unearthed. The episode recently made it to YouTube, and is embedded above. Perfect Duluth Day relegated mention of the topic of the Duluth Stone to an April Fools Day post in 2016.

Is it a hoax? Well, if only we could ask Daniel de Gresolon, the Sieur Dulhut. Or “Daniel Duluth,” as they call him on the History Channel. (more…)

Cory Coffman – “Midnight Callin'”

Duluth’s Cory Coffman has released the third music video promoting his 2020 album Canvas and Color.

Videography by Alyssa Johnson of Blind Spot Creatives. Editing by Mason Lehto.

Duluth’s Sharon McMahon on the Daily Show

Former government teacher Sharon McMahon appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Monday, sharing why she started her fact-based Instagram account @sharonsaysso and explaining how she separates fact from conspiracy, breaking down the difference between a lie and bias.

The Duluth News Tribune reports McMahon was president of the political science association at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She taught in St. Paul, the San Francisco Bay area and a Maryland suburb of D.C. before returning to Duluth.

Duluth News Tribune: “Duluthian appears on ‘The Daily Show,’ CNN for her viral Instagram account that slays conspiracies, promotes facts

Riverbend Skate Path in Warroad

About 200 miles northwest of Duluth, the Warroad River connects two ice rinks with a 2.5-mile skating path cleared by local dads.

Also in wild skating news, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is mentioned in the National Geographic online story, “‘It really is like flying.’ Explore wild skating on nature’s ice.” The article “glides across icy geographies, including Minnesota, Colorado, Alaska, and Vermont, where a 4.3-mile skate trail on Lake Morey ranks as the longest in the U.S.,” according to a blurb on the publication’s Travel newsletter.

The Slice: Duluth Lakewalk Reconstruction

Watch reconstruction of the Duluth Lakewalk unfold over the past year in this time-lapse video, compiled from footage via Veit & Company. (more…)

Voyageur Wolves: Cranberry Bay Pack

Four members of the Cranberry Bay Pack of wolves cross the camera in this video from the Voyageurs Wolf Project. The wolf that stands in front of the camera is a pup that was born last spring.

Cranberry Bay is on Rainy Lake, about 125 miles north of Duluth in Voyageurs National Park. The Voyageurs Wolf Project is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in the park.

Trampled by Turtles – “Don’t Look Down” at First Avenue

Check out a little dueling mandolin action from Trampled by Turtles‘ “Trampled by Thursdays” at First Avenue, directed and edited by Charlie Berg. Each Thursday at 8 p.m. during February, TBT is performing online concerts from the famed Minneapolis venue. Each set has full production and behind-the-scenes footage.

Tickets are available at boxoffice.mandolin.com. A portion of each ticket/bundle sold goes toward Save Our Stages to help independent music venues hit hard during the pandemic. Each ticket purchase let viewers watch as many times as they like for 48 hours after the premiere.