Duluth author part of Jeopardy! clue
What is Lake Superior? According to the television game show Jeopardy! and host Alex Trebek, it’s the place where “the lives of 3 women centuries apart intertwine upon the shores” in Duluth author Danielle Sosin‘s The Long-Shining Waters. The answer/question was part of episode #8030, which aired Friday, July 5, on the CBS network. (more…)
Superior in The New York Times
Superior appears briefly in The New York Times opinion piece “This Chemical Kills. Why Aren’t Regulators Banning It?” (more…)
Forty-three Seconds at Holyoke Park
Holyoke Park is a small community park in Holyoke Township, about 20 miles southwest of Duluth. The Net River runs through it.
The Prism
In the YouTube description of his new video shot in Duluth and Superior, Eric Nordrum writes:
I’ve tried to be as open and honest about my mental health as I possibly can. I’ve struggled with severe anxiety and depression for ten years and I recently made the decision to start living my life again. I’ve made a lot of life changes recently and I wanted to express how I feel through this video. The concept is simply that we all go through a lot, and sometimes we seem stuck in an endless world of grey, but if we see it through to the end and try to see the bigger picture, we can start filling our lives with color and happiness again.
The True Story of My High Seas Encounter with the Sheriff
The lake was calm and warm with a mild breeze blowing inland. I put out in Floyd, my patrol flamingo, and went upshore via flipper power. Then I drifted back toward town on the prevailing breeze. (more…)
Selective Focus: Tom Moriarty
This week in Selective Focus, artist Tom Moriarty shows some of the wide spectrum of work he’s done, and discusses how drawing, DIY, and demolition derby have formed his way of working.
T.M.: I always love experimenting with different mediums and workflows, and I try and keep the creative juices flowing in a lot of different directions. Right now I’m focusing a lot on muraling. Sometimes I’m existential ramblings in smears and splats of acrylic paint and sometimes I’m drawing portraits tight and trim on a tablet with a stylus. I love making collages and then illustrating over them (I call em collagistrations). I do this a lot for gig posters and event flyers. Black and white illustrations for letterpress. I do graphic design, typography and branding a bit too. For a few years now I’ve been messing around with interactive art in my spare time. Connecting paintings and sculptures to microcontrollers with conductive inks and alligator clips. They output sound when you physically interact with the art… like a musical instrument. I haven’t found that sweet spot with tangible application so for now that’s just for fun. (more…)
Rich Mattson and the Northstars – “What’s Your Story?”
The latest music video from Rich Mattson and the Northstars features home-movie travel footage, edited by Reggie Pype. The track is from the album Totem, released in January.
The band plays a street show in Virginia on July 11 with Horse Fzce and Charlie Parr.
Monthly Grovel: July 2019 Edition
In the past year — from July 2018 through June 2019 — the PDD Calendar published 8,045 Duluth-area events. Each one was edited by a human being before the “publish” button was pushed.
It’s a tremendous amount of work to keep up with all the submissions from the more than 1,000 organizations that have sent us info about their concerts, plays, seminars and cornhole tournaments. That’s why once a month we set our dignity aside and remind readers how much we appreciate their financial support. (more…)
Bethany Lutheran Church could become restaurant
Fox 21 is reporting that brothers Chuck and Robert Bagley are working on turning the former Bethany Lutheran Church at 2302-2308 W. Third St. into a restaurant.
A People’s Free Skate gem by Johnny of the Northwoods
Recorded at this past winter’s #peoplesfreeskate, in response to DNT reporters prompting him. Just getting this off my phone now. Cast your mind back to blessed February.
The Slice: Harbor Symphony #2
Ships and foghorns create a misfit symphony in the Duluth-Superior Harbor.
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. Composer credit for this clip goes to photographer Ted Pellman.
Duluth View from Cascade Park in 1899
This photo from Detroit Publishing Company shows the view looking out from Duluth’s hillside at Cascade Park toward the Downtown area and Minnesota Point. William Henry Jackson is credited as the photographer.
The Library of Congress dates the image as circa 1902, but research by Mark Ryan for the story “W. H. Jackson’s Photographs of Duluth” for Zenith City Press puts the time of Jackson’s visit to Duluth as the summer of 1899.
Wallace W. Abbey: A Life in Railroad Photography
Ashland Ore Dock – Ashland
Loading iron ore into the steamer Denmark.
Bridge over the St. Croix – Summerset
Soo Line train crossing the High Bridge.
The Lake Superior Railroad Museum at the St. Louis County Heritage & Arts Center has opened a new photo exhibition based on the work of American railroad photographer Wallace W. Abbey. Located in the museum’s Gallery Car, the collection follows Abbey’s life work as he traveled around the country capturing historic images of railroads and the people who worked on all levels to keep the trains running. (more…)
The Felice Brothers – “Aerosol Ball”
The Felice Brothers note that “every tooth in Duluth is Baby Ruth-proof,” in this track from their 2016 album Life in the Dark.
PDD Quiz: June 2019
Celebrate 16 years of PDD by testing your knowledge of current events!
The next PDD quiz, on presidential ties to the Twin Ports, will be published on July 14. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by July 11. (more…)
Meatballs clip with Duluth pennant in background
It was 40 years ago today — June 29, 1979 — that the screwball summer camp film Meatballs premiered in theaters. In one scene, Tripper and Rudy (Bill Murray and Chris Makepeace) have a conversation while a Duluth pennant hangs in the background.
Selective Focus: Free Range Film Festival
This weekend, you have the chance to celebrate two Sweet 16 parties. There is of course Perfect Duluth Day’s 16th Anniversary on Saturday at Ursa Minor. But the Free Range Film Festival is also celebrating 16 years, and this year, has a theme: Competition.
Film festival programmer Annie Dugan explains, “I realized as I was screening films for this year’s festival that we had a lot of movies about interesting people participating in very particular pursuits. I don’t know what it is in the cultural zeitgeist right now, but people want to compete!”
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Perfect Duluth Day NE IPA
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen had a toothpaste. The World Wrestling Federation had ice cream bars. Now Perfect Duluth Day has a beer. (more…)
Trio of Romping Red Fox Pups
Sparky Stensaas captured this trio of red fox pups romping around on a gravel road in Carlton County on Sunday.
At Sara’s Table expands kitchen, adds second floor
At Sara’s Table Chester Creek Cafe is expanding its kitchen and adding a second story to its building at 1902 E. Eighth St.
Brunch has become so big at a Duluth farm-to-table restaurant that owners are building an addition to help cooks keep up with the French toast and omelette orders.
At Sara’s Table Chester Creek Cafe owner Carla Blumberg said a construction project started this spring will expand the kitchen, add new bathrooms and offer a newly created second floor space with dramatic Lake Superior views. The restaurant was established in 2002 at the corner of Eighth Street and 19th Avenue East on the former Taran’s Food Market site. (more…)
This week on the Richardson Brothers podcast
New Duluth-based fiction vignettes on the podcast: “I Destroyed the Universe,” “Intimations of Time’s Imaginings,” and “Menno Zwonk, Amish Outlaw: Monkey Porn.”