Duluth: The Improvised Soap Opera
An improvised soap opera about Duluth, featuring actors from around the world connected by Zoom, premiered May 23 on YouTube. Episodes can be viewed on the World Improv Network’s YouTube channel. (more…)
June of ’71: Twin Ports to ship ore, coal from western states
At the top of the news fifty years ago was a growing mining industry in the west potentially feeding Duluth-Superior harbor traffic. The June 9, 1971 Duluth Herald reported “at least one, and possibly two, new bulk commodities” mined in Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota “appear likely to be hauled to Duluth by rail to be loaded on board lake and ocean-going vessels.” (more…)
Charlie Parr-king Lot
Charlie Parr performed in the parking lot outside Wussow’s Concert Cafe during Pete Fest Tuesday night, playing his unique brand of Dumpster blues. The festival continues through Saturday.
Spring at a Northwoods Creek
The latest video from the Voyageurs Wolf Project shows the array of wildlife that visited a small creek in Voyageurs National Park over the course of a few weeks in May. Critters passing though include a bear, wolf, fisher, marten, owl, porcupine and more.
June of ’71: Boo gets his $4k, Chateau de Ville coming soon
Previously denied half of a proposed $4,000 annual pay increase, Duluth Mayor Ben Boo got the full hike two weeks later when one city councilor changed his vote. The meeting was reported on the next day in the June 8, 1971 Duluth Herald. (more…)
Duluth reference on the Judge John Hodgman podcast
As part of Perfect Duluth Day’s long-running quest to document every reference to the city, no matter how minor, I add this entry, discovered today while catching up on the fake internet court podcast Judge John Hodgman, where pressing issues are decided by Famous Minor Television Personality John Hodgman, Certified Judge. (more…)
June of ’71: Duluth Police file suit against Mayor Boo
The Duluth Police Union accused Mayor Ben Boo of breach of contract 50 years ago. The June 7, 1971 Duluth Herald reports the union took issue with Boo’s administrative order prohibiting police officers from selling used cars, dispensing liquor or operating a taxi business during off-duty hours. (more…)
Selective Focus: Shaun Chosa’s Wheat-paste Project at AICHO
Shaun Chosa created a group of images to be wheat pasted on the wall at AICHO — seen here with some of the folks who helped make it happen.
The American Indian Community Housing Organization, which has become a force for enabling Native voices in Duluth and bringing radiance to the city, worked with In Progress, a multi-media arts organization in St. Paul, to create this installation of Shaun Chosa’s strong images on the walls of AICHO’s headquarters, 202 W. Second St. (more…)
Guts
It started about five years ago with an ordinary stomach ache after eating late and poorly — a speedy meal en route from a client visit in Wisconsin with several coworkers. I felt like maybe I’d eaten something that disagreed with me, and thought really no more of it. Except, I kept getting sicker.
That night, I thought certainly I’d vomit, or at the very least I’d spend a not-inconsiderable portion of my evening in the bathroom. No such thing occurred, but the discomfort in my body continued. My gut felt raw and painful, as though I’d consumed many cups of coffee on an empty stomach, and my stomach filled with what I thought was gas, except it was in a really weird spot. Rather than the typical lower abdominal fluff of my lengthy experience with daily human digestion, this bloating was in my midsection, between my belly button and sternum. I felt like someone had filled me to painful expansion with air. It felt like something inside of me might tear or burst.
Over the next three weeks, it got slightly worse, and slightly better, depending on conditions I couldn’t plainly discern. I made an appointment with my general practitioner, an allopath I trust and respect. As I prepared to head to the appointment, I said to my husband, “This is crazy! I can’t believe I’ve been this sick for three weeks!” What a mouthful of macabre prescience: I would remain that sick or worse for the next two years. (more…)
Superior Siren – “Darkness and Light” (Lyric Video)
Laura Sellner of Superior Siren has released a lyric video for the first single from the recently released solo EP Kill Your Darlings. The video was created by Sarah Jordan.
June of ’71: Duluth sewers failing, Voyageurs Park bill signed
Sewer system malfunctions were on the rise in Duluth 50 years ago. The June 4, 1971 Duluth Herald reported 48 claims had been filed against the city through June 3, an amount that nearly doubled the rate of 1970, when 51 claims were made in the full year. (more…)
On Madweyaashkaa: Waves Can be Heard with Moira Villiard
Duluth artist Moira Villiard is interviewed in the Spring 2021 issue of Open Rivers, an online journal “that recognizes rivers in general, and the Mississippi River in particular, as space for timely and critical conversations about the intersections between biophysical systems and human systems.”
The topic of the interview is Villiard’s animated video collage, Madweyaashkaa: Waves Can Be Heard, which was projected in February on walls at the closed Upper St. Anthony Lock and Dam in Minneapolis. The article can be read in the PDF version of the journal, beginning on page 50, or on a web page.
June of ’71: Anderson Furniture completes remodeling project
Wilbur Anderson and Dean Reese of Anderson Furniture announced the completion of an extensive remodeling project at their Anderson Furniture Co. store fifty years ago. The Duluth Herald of June 3, 1971 provides the details of the work done at 2032 W. Superior St., also noting the remodeling was planned to fit in with a proposed new mall across the street. Of course, Miller Hill Mall would open instead, two years later. (more…)
This wolf pup is still working on a proper howl
The wolf pup in this video was trying its best to howl, but just couldn’t quite get it out. The footage is of the Paradise Pack of wolves at Voyageurs National Park, observed with a Voyageurs Wolf Project‘s trail camera. The project is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in the park, located about 120 miles north of Duluth.
Mary Bue – “I Don’t Need”
Another track by Mary Bue from her 2020 album The World is Your Lover, captured on video by Richard Medek in April for the Homegrown Music Festival. Steve Price and Jeremy Ylvisaker accompany Bue.
June of ’71: Council debates Mayor Boo’s pay raise
Duluth Mayor Ben Boo was on the verge of a pay increase 50 years ago, but several city councilors planned to amend the measure and cut the raise in half. That was the top local story in the June 2, 1971 Duluth Herald. (more…)
R.I.P. Shorty’s Pizza & Smoked Meats
Shorty’s Pizza shortly after it opened in 2013. (Photo by Cindy Vu)
Shorty’s Pizza & Smoked Meats in Superior announced today via Facebook it has ceased operations due to a labor shortage in the hospitality industry. (more…)
Duluth 2021 Primary Election Primer
The filing period for candidates vying for Duluth City Council and Independent School District #709 School Board runs June 1-15. Below are the names of those who filed. This post was updated on June 15. (more…)
June of ’71: Western Union workers strike
A national walkout of Western Union workers in 1971 included 12 employees in Duluth and about 13 more from around the region. According to the Duluth Herald of June 1, the United Telegraph Workers and the Communications Workers of America had walked off the job over wage and job security issues. The average CWA wage at the time was $3.47 per hour. (more…)
Mary Bue – “Gemini Eyes”
Former Duluthian Mary Bue‘s latest video is a stripped down version of “Gemini Eyes” from her 2020 album The World is Your Lover. The video was shot by Richard Medek in April for the Homegrown Music Festival.
The Slice: A Historic Classroom in Old Central
Take a trip 130 years into the past with a visit to the 1890s classroom museum at historic Old Central High School. Visitors can view what a classroom at the turn of the century looked like and can even tour the iconic bell tower.
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.
June of ’71: Introduction
You might recall a feature on Perfect Duluth Day called “Summer of ’65,” which ran during the month of August 2015 and highlighted items that appeared in the Duluth News Tribune 50 years prior. Volume II of that concept begins tomorrow with “June of ’71,” featuring items from the Duluth Herald.
Both of the bound volumes of a month’s worth of newspapers came to PDD via Jenny Ahern, who taught at Harbor City International School when she passed them along. It’s not known how the books made their way to Harbor City, but the school didn’t have a practical use for them. So now we share some of the nostalgia here, day by day, for a month.
The Herald published five issues weekly at that time, Monday through Friday, and the dates and days of the week in 1971 correspond with the dates and days of the week in 2021, so there will be no June of ’71 posts on weekends.
PDD Quiz: May 2021 in Review
Test your knowledge of May 2021 headlines with this week’s PDD Quiz!
The next PDD quiz, on notable Duluth animals, is coming your way on June 13. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by June 10. (more…)
Ripped at the Black Cat in 2001
[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Twenty years ago he filed a report from Ashland, where he visited the Black Cat Coffeehouse, which remains in business. The article appeared in the May 30, 2001 issue of the Ripsaw newspaper.]
So I’m in Ashland visiting my mom, and after three or four days of listening to her rant about some “potato bug infestation” while under the influence of Tequila Rose and Aunt Jenny’s George Jones records, I decide to walk around and discover all that “alternative” Ashland has to offer. Namely, “alternative” Ashland consists of that hippie college, the co-op and the Black Cat Cafe. My instincts tell me that only one of these places is going to serve up any kind of booze, so I skip the first two and jump right to the Black Cat.
The Black Cat is among the growing number of regional coffee shops that have discovered the obvious: Coffee shops that serve booze are some of the most comfortable places in the world. I’ve said this a million times, but here’s all you need to make an outstanding drinking establishment in this area: good beer, great live music, couches and dim lighting. Of course, reasonable prices help, too. The Black Cat has all of this in spades. (more…)