PDDTV
Dave Mehling – “What About Tonight?”
Duluth native Dave Mehling has released the second video featuring music from his upcoming album — Beach Boy.
Grandma’s Marathon 2019 Double: 52.4-mile Bachelor Party
“Marathons are hard. Double marathons are harder.”
A perennial favorite on Perfect Duluth Day is Eric Strand’s annual video of his jaunt from the finish line to the starting line and back to the finish line of Grandma’s Marathon. Yes, that’s right, he runs the course twice. Every year. The 2019 installment is the eighth-annual Grandma’s Marathon Double, and includes, among others, an about-to-be-married dude named Zach embarking on the 52.4-mile run.
The Playlist Presents: JayGee
WDSE-TV‘s The PlayList Presents is a series of 5-minute segments featuring emerging musicians or bands, including interview clips and a live performance. The Jan. 16 episode focused on local rapper Jeremy “Jaxon” Gardner, aka JayGee, with footage from the 2019 Catalyst Content Festival.
The PlayList Presents airs Thursday nights at around 8:20 p.m., after Making it Up North.
Starr Brainard & Andy Lipke – “Broccoli”
Broccoli is the Duluth Community Garden Program One Vegetable, One Community initiative‘s 2020 Vegetable of the Year. Above is a clip from WDSE-TV‘s series The Slice, with background info about the new song by DCGP Land Stewardship Coordinator Starr Brainard and Duluth musician Andrew Lipke; below is the full audio track. (more…)
History of the Arrowhead Radio Amateurs Club
Arrowhead Radio Amateurs Club marked its 90th anniversary in December with the release of this documentary, written and produced by Kim Waller. ARAC was founded on Dec. 3, 1929 with the mission to promote the growth and enjoyment of ham radio in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin.
Jessica Lange: Behind the Lens (in Duluth)
A CBS feature on Jessica Lang’s photography and her roots in Minnesota. She gives a tour of the area with emphasis on Highway 61, the title of her book of photography.
Video: Duluth Inauguration 2020
Duluth Mayor Emily Larson and newly elected city council members were sworn in at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center on Jan. 6.
Charlie Parr – “Where You Gonna Be (When the Good Lord Calls You Home)”
According to Charlie’s Facebook page, this video was nine years in the making.
Director of Photography – Erik Murphy
Sound Engineer – Jon Oelke
Editor – Lei Shi
Director – Lance Lundahl
Glitteratti – “I Believe You / Another Day”
Duluth band Glitteratti releases its debut full-length album, Among the Wild, on March 6 and performs at Pizza Luce on March 13. (more…)
Perfect Duluth Day’s Best Videos of 2019
Looking back at what Duluthians documented on video in 2019, we find the usual themes. The lake made numerous appearances, whether liquid and moving or frozen solid. We saw lots of music videos, parodies, spur-of-the-moment happenings, and some weird experimentation. Below are our picks for the standout videos of 2019. (more…)
Fargo Duluth Montage
The first season of the comedic crime-drama television series Fargo is peppered with references to Duluth, a few of which are collected in the montage above. No part of the series was shot in Duluth, though one scene has the Aerial Lift Bridge inserted into it and has a sort of Garfield Avenue feel. (more…)
Video: Grace Holden dances with Lizzo on SNL
The second song by Minneapolis-based pop star Lizzo on Saturday Night Live, “Good as Hell,” featured Grace Holden of Duluth/Bemidji. Among the four dancers on the floor, she is third from the left in the opening minute, before the rotation.
Christmas Greetings from Aunt Lois and Uncle Hermie
Aunt Lois and Uncle Hermie send Christmas greetings from Duluth to their niece in Beverly Hills.
Superior Siren – “Last Christmas”
Duluth’s Superior Siren perform “Last Christmas” by Wham. Video by Michelle Bennett
Kip Praslowicz: “Photo Walk to Work”
Photographer Kip Praslowicz documents his adventures walking to work on the Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend blizzard. When someone from out of town asks you “What was it like?” this just about covers it.
His photos are also on display at the UWS Kruk gallery until Dec. 18.
The Latelys – “Hoping for the Sun” (PDD’s 2019 Holiday Video)
The days are short, the nights are long. It must be time for the annual Perfect Duluth Day Holiday Video. This year, enjoy the sounds of the Latelys, and a song from the Fall 2019 release Waiting for You, available on thelatelys.com and Bandcamp. (more…)
Filmed in Duluth: Christmas Break-In
Filmed in Duluth in April 2018, Christmas Break-In is now on Netflix and Youtube Movies. Shot at Marshall School and other locations around town, it features Danny Glover, Denise Richards and Cameron Seely. (more…)
Trampled by Turtles Cover-song Explosion: “Ooh La La,” “Keep Me in Your Heart” and “Pocahontas”
Duluth-formed band Trampled by Turtles released an EP of cover songs today titled Sigourney Fever. It features five tracks — “Our Town” and “Fake Plastic Trees” have appeared previously on Perfect Duluth Day. The other three tracks were released today.
Above is “Ohh La La,” originally performed by Faces in 1973 and written by Ronnie Lane and Ronnie Wood. (more…)
Micro Adventures
Let’s get small. Explore the microscopic world through the scanning electron microscope in the UMD Research Instrumentation Lab.
The Slice: Duluth Performing Arts Mural
“The History of Duluth’s Performing Arts” mural was unveiled Nov. 1. It’s on the wall of the Duluth Skywalk outside the third floor of the NorShor Theatre. Susan Prentice Martinsen is the artist.
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.
Snow Removal Teamwork
Videographer Paul Scinocca speeds up a half hour of community shoveling into two minutes, showing a team of Duluthians clearing a side road.
Antics from Duluth’s Thanksgiving Weekend Snowout of 2019
Some video fun while you wait for the plows to clear the streets. Here’s a montage of snowy silliness. (more…)
Steve’s Overpopulated One-Man Band – “Iron Ore”
Steve Solkela shares the musical story of his great-great grandfather’s journey from Finland to Minnesota in search of a better life. “It was backbreaking work down in those Minnesotan mines,” Sorkela writes on the YouTube description. “Many were injured, and many died; but of course, many were successful in feeding their families countless times and watching them grow to live beautiful lives.”
The video was shot over the summer at various locations across northern Minnesota, and edited using a free iPhone app.
Moments and Truth: Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank
Joshua Priestley’s 2009 documentary Moments And Truths follows the Duluth band Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank on a nationwide tour and into Brooklyn, N.Y. for the Traveling Show recording sessions.
Featuring Teague Alexy, Ian Alexy, Paul Grill and Marco Benevento.

