Videos
Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Tape
High-concept video by Dave Johnson.
Walking My Portrait Home
Retrieving my portrait from the Duluth Art Institute, where it had been part of artist Sarah Brokke’s “Portrait of an Artist” show. On the walk home I stopped a few places, got my taxes done, and had some drinks. That’s my friend Troy there at the end.
The official invite to the Duluth Film Collective
Do you love talking about movies? Or are you a filmmaker? Do you live in or around Duluth? If so, this will be right up your alley.
The Duluth Film Collective was launched by award-winning Duluth screenwriter Matthew Dressel and, as any member can tell you, it’s great to be around such enthusiastic people. But don’t take my word for it! Dressel himself explains the whole group much better in the video above.
Interested? Awesome. The Film Collective meets regularly through its Meetup page. Sign up, find a day that works and join the fun!
Help Kaylee Matuszak appear onstage with Brandi Carlile
From Kaylee Matuszak:
Hi everybody! If you know me, you know how much I love Brandi Carlile and what a huge inspiration she is to me. She’s running a contest in which I submitted a cover of one of the songs from her album “The Story.” If my video gets enough votes, I could be chosen to perform the song live onstage with her in L.A.! So if you’d please take a minute to vote for my video and share this around, I would be forever grateful to you. You can vote once a week! Voting ends on April 17th at 9am, so don’t delay! Thank you so much!
Vote at: Brandi Carlile Cover Stories Contest
Dubz – The Westside Walk Videos
“Don’t You Cry” video by Hunter Bjork.
The 19th annual Homegrown Music Festival features a block of Duluth hip hop on Friday, May 5, at R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon. The lineup features Willie Diction, Eddiedition, Dubz and Jaze.
Featured in this post are seven music videos from tracks off the debut Dubz album Westside Walk, released in March 2016. Take a step back and watch him work.
(more…)Duluth Technical College baking classes TV commercial
We’ve had bits of luck on Perfect Duluth Day in the past when we’ve put out requests for someone to step forward with video of old Duluth TV commercials. Well, here’s another attempt.
A query in the PDD inbox reads:
I’m searching for an obscure commercial for baking classes that were held at the vo-tech college, old LSC, from the 1980s. We’ve recently had a family member pass away and he was in the commercial as the baker. If you have any ideas of where to get the footage, that would be fantastic. We believe it was on Channel 10, WDIO, with Jack McKenna.
Lake Superior College was known as Duluth Technical College in the 1980s. It merged with the Duluth Community College Center in 1995 to form LSC.
Dead Man Winter on Conan
Because of security encryption issues, PDD can’t embed the Dead Man Winter performance of the song “Destroyer” from last night’s episode of Conan. The best we can do is offer a link to where it’s viewable on teamcoco.com.
Selective Focus: Catherine Meier

Catherine Meier pours time and detail into her large drawings, and then she puts even more time into animating them. She talks about the meditative process of making these large, quiet installations.
C.M.: My work is based in drawing. I suppose that drawing was my entry into art making. Since I was very young I have been able to draw well and it has been something that I have done throughout every phase of my life — even when I was a truck driver hauling cattle across the Great plains, I had drawings in progress. (more…)
Video Archive: Insane Clown Posse in Duluth
Crack open a Faygo soda and … do something other than watch this video if you know what’s good for you. Nothing of much interest happens, unless you are enough of a Juggalo that listening to professional wrestler Pat Tanaka talk about the size of Andre the Giant’s penis sounds appealing. Nonetheless, for the purpose of novelty if not entertainment, Perfect Duluth Day presents two segments from the earliest days of video blogging, when the Detroit-based horrorcore duo of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope brought their Insane Clown Posse to Duluth. (more…)
Duluth passes rideshare ordinance; opens city to Uber, Lyft
Duluth City Councilors adopted an ordinance Monday establishing regulations for transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft to operate within in the city.
The measure passed 7-1, with Fifth District Councilor Jay Fosle casting the dissenting vote. The ordinance goes into effect April 27.
The video above is the full 35-minute discussion of the issue. It opens with four citizens speaking in opposition to the ordinance. Comments by city councilors begin at the 9:40 mark.
Dong Dot Surgery – “Bound for Glory”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9ftb7kXiH0
Electronic weirdness by John Holden and Matt Norby. They play the Barrel Room on May 1 at 9:45 p.m. during the Homegrown Music Festival.
Video Archive: Water Skipping at Chester Bowl in 2007
One decade ago the springtime water-skipping action at Chester Bowl in Duluth was excellent. This video depicting the skiing, snowboarding, saucering, couching and so on that took place has gathered more than 32,000 views in the ten years since it first appeared on PDD in 2007.
Chase Down Blue – “Skin & Bones”
Chase Down Blue‘s folk/rock sound has evolved in a post-rock direction on the album, Red V. In this video, the band performs live in KUMD’s Studio A on Feb. 15.
Upcoming gig: May 3, 10:15 p.m. at the Kom-on-Inn during Homegrown
.Duluth Trail Skate
Daredevil downhilling in a video from Andrew Kilness, shot in Duluth’s Lester Park, giving new meaning to the phrase “multi-use trails.”
UMD Spring Break on the Appalachian Trail
Videographer David Cowardin tags along on a University of Minnesota Duluth Rec Sports’ spring break trip hiking a section of the Appalachian Trail in the state of Virginia.
Thirty Seconds at the Beach
Spring is the best time of year for exploring the white sand beaches of Wisconsin Point. The “white sand” is slowly melting and will soon be gone, opening up the true beach season … but it’s fun to climb the temporary icy cliffs while they last and watch the slush heave.
Of course, be careful out there.
Sonic Divide: States
This short art video by Payton MacDonald features paintings by Duluth’s Kenneth D. Johnson. Sonic Divide documents a performance-art piece in which MacDonald mountain biked more than 2,500 miles — from Mexico to Canada — while periodically stopping to perform music. (more…)
Gaelynn Lea – “Watch the World Unfold”
Melanie Schantz, a musician and visual artist from New Jersey, produced this music video for Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea. The song “Watch the World Unfold” features Al Church on guitar and is from the 2016 EP The Songs We Sing Along the Way.
The Hoot Owls – “Scandinavian Hot Rod”
Ray Pirkola’s 1936 Ford Coupe debuted at the Million Dollar Motorcade car show at the Duluth Armory in 1955. Featuring 1940 Ford fenders and a hood grafted to a chopped and channeled 1936 five-window body, it was the first “full custom” car in the region. The song “Scandanavian Hot Rod” by the Hoot Owls celebrates the car and the self-determination of Ray Pirkola, father of the Hoot Owls singer and guitar player Barry Pirkola. The song is from the band’s 2010 album Alien Scrapyard.
Minnesota All Hockey Hair Team 2017: Flowetry in Motion
John King is back with another roundup of the finest hair styles at the Minnesota High School Boys Hockey Tournament. Though Hermantown and Grand Rapids brought championship trophies north to the Arrowhead region, both teams landed zero players in the All Hockey Hair Team Top Ten this year. Several players and a team manager get shout outs, however.
Things that will Remain the Same, Vol. 1
More video of glorious Lake Superior plate ice stacking itself on the shore and lurching like an upset stomach. This time Troy Rogers is the person behind the camera. Brace yourself for 48 minutes of nature at its finest.
Ticonderoga teaser
A (very tiny) peek at the third Reflectivore visual installment. Past pieces at vimeo.com.
Lake Superior Plate Ice Stacking Video, 2017 Edition
Dawn LaPointe of Radiant Spirit Gallery shot this video in Duluth on March 4.
“This winter has produced minimal ice cover on Lake Superior, so ice stacking events have been few and far between,” she writes in the YouTube description. “We were grateful to have witnessed this anticipated phenomenon come to life from our front row seats at Brighton Beach. … I never tire of these ice stacking events, and each one I have witnessed has had its own unique characteristics.”


