Paul McCartney booked to play Duluth … Georgia
Paul McCartney announced a set of U.S. summer tour dates yesterday. According to a City Pages story and comments on paulmccartney.com the press materials for the tour originally stated it “takes Paul to three cities and venues he’s never played before” including a July 13 show “at the Infinity Energy Arena in Duluth MN.” McCartney’s website has since fixed the error, clarifying that the Infinity Energy Arena is in Duluth, Ga. (more…)
Welty hints at seeking another term with “this shaky video”
At-large Duluth School Board member Harry Welty wrote on his Lincoln Democrat blog about digging into a box of thank yous last night and spreading them on his office floor “to make a little campaign video for a campaign webpage.” And then he posted “this shaky video.”
Welty’s term ends Jan. 8; Duluth candidates officially file to seek school board positions between July 5 and July 18.
“Years ago I attended some session during which a presenter made a good suggestion,” Welty wrote. “She warned her listeners that it was easy to get discouraged and she suggested that we all collect thank yous and such. She thought that when we got down we could look in the old thank yous and remind ourselves that we weren’t such bad folks.
“Until I got on the School Board in 1996 my little sunshine folder wasn’t very big. Then I started reading to classrooms.”
Now/Here: Poetry and Music
A few snapshots from Sunday’s event at Peace United Church. Jim Perlman of Holy Cow Press organized the poetry reading, which featured Crystal Gibbins, author of Now/Here, and Gary Boelhower, author of Naming Rites. The event included musical interludes by Sara Thomsen.
Old Central chimes will return in a few weeks
The chimes of the 125-year-old Central High School clock tower fell silent last week when one of the clock’s gears failed. A new gear is being made and should be in place within about six weeks, according to Dave Spooner, manager of facilities for Duluth Public Schools.
“We’ve got the clock apart and we’re in the process of having another gear made,” Spooner said. “It’s not something you can buy, you have to have them made. … It’s just a failure of an old part.”
Central High School opened in 1892, built with a clock tower that rises 230 feet. A new Central High School opened in 1971, and the original building was converted into the school district’s administrative offices. The building has since been known as the Central Administration Building or “Historic Old Central.”
Duluth Band Profile: Reflectivore
Allen Cragin and Ryan Rusch of Reflectivore walk the line between life and death. After the loss of Cragin’s wife, their self-titled album doesn’t shy away from the joy and desperation of the healing process. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
Lake Superior Surfing at Stoney Point
Yes, this is the third time in two weeks that Perfect Duluth Day has featured a Lake Superior surfing video. It just happens to be what people are making good videos about these days. This one is the second surf video by Jasper Meddock Productions, shot on April 20 at Stoney Point, about seven miles north of Duluth in Duluth Township. The music is “Quick Musical Doodles” by Two Feet.
Postcard from Grandma’s Saloon & Deli
Founded by Andy Borg and Mick Paulucci, Grandma’s Saloon opened at 522 S. Lake Ave. on Feb. 8, 1976. The undated postcard shown above depicts the restaurant’s early days, when it went by the name Grandma’s Saloon & Deli. The moniker eventually was changed to Grandma’s Saloon & Grill. (more…)
Duluth Book Releases in 2017
The Forever Girl: A Love Story
David Pagel
amazon.com
(Jan. 12)
The Release
Tom Isbell
harpercollins.com
Harper Collins (Feb. 14)
Hiking the North Shore, Second Edition
Andrew Slade
amazon.com
There and Back Books (March 14)
Language opens one to understanding the self and the world: The Minnesota Undergraduate Linguistics Symposium
The Minnesota Undergraduate Linguistics Symposium was a reminder of the ways today’s young people are preparing for the world. Undergraduates from all over the state came together to share their research and learn about the research of faculty at UMD and CSS.
Video Archive: Duluth Speech with Found Sound Animation
Ten years ago Scott Bateman found an audio clip online “of a really fascinating speech about Duluth” and turned it into this animation.
Small Problems
Remember when the Sex and the City ladies accompanied Carrie on her non-honeymoon? In one scene, Charlotte (the cute one) swallows water while showering and suffers some not-so-cute Montezuma’s Revenge in her loungewear. Later, while consoling Carrie, Charlotte admits to feeling guilty about her relatively carefree life. She has no real problems, while Carrie was left at the altar and their other friend faced cancer. Even Charlotte’s divorce was not so painful since she fell in love with her divorce lawyer.
Carrie forgives her friend the guilt. She offers some perspective when she reminds Charlotte of a problem she did face: “Sweetie, you shit your pants.”
This point stuck with me because I am a Charlotte. Not in the cute sense, but in the small problem sense. I have a lot of small problems. While I am not here to compare them with illness or death or divorce or anything significant, I do want to tell you about them. Consider a year in the life of a Charlotte:
It’s Winter Break, and the kids are playing in the snow. When I bring a forgotten mitten outside, I pull the front door hard behind me by habit. We’re locked out. The extra keys are inside. We can’t get in through the garage, the side door, or the basement. It takes an hour or so for a network of friends to get a key to us. The kids make a snowman while I huddle on the porch in my T-shirt and PJ pants. (more…)
Selective Focus: Jon Hinkel
Jon Hinkel operates the Tight Squeek Press, an artistic step back in time on the second floor of a studio building on First Street. The space is filled with old presses, stacks of paper and the odds and ends that help Jon and the machines crank out his artwork.
J. H.: I’m called an artist-printmaker, creating relief prints on paper using letterpress equipment. For me anyway, my initial artist-end is pretty inseparable from my printmaking. I draw, but I can’t remember ever finishing a drawing. When a sketch I’m working on has gained a fair measure of strength and coherence, that stage of things is done weather it likes it or not. If it’s a worthy image, I’ll carve it into linoleum or engrave it into hard maple. Then to the pressroom! (more…)
Trails, trails, trails.
Let me open with: I’m an overweight man who wonders whether he’s being dishonest when he clicks “stocky” on dating websites. I’m not a hiker. I’m an occasional walker-off-pavement.
A story about paving the Minnesota River Bottoms trail in the Twin Cities makes me think about trails in Duluth and about trails in general. Apparently, paving a trail is very expensive, and for that reason, people don’t want to do it. (more…)
Artificial – feature film shot in Duluth now free to watch
In honor of the holiday we’ve released our second feature film for free on YouTube.
Synopsis: A neurotic visionary recruits a young photographer to create a program with the ability to recognize beauty. Artificial is a psychedelic character study that blurs the line between experimental and narrative filmmaking.
Thanks to the community and everyone involved for being part of this undertaking! Enjoy!
Glen’s Neighbor: Unraveling the Mystery
This is one heckuva story about an amazing band you might never have heard of, but are sure to love. I plumbed the depths on this one by inviting myself to philosopher/frontman Blake Shippee’s home, joined him on his daily six-mile roundtrip walk to work, became an audience at a full rehearsal, and more. Along the way, I lost my mind a bit. The perils of immersive writing… Check out this inspiring story for yourself at Ed’s Big Adventure, and become richer for it.
Happy 4/20
Help yourself to some carrot cake on the steps outside Duluth Family Sauna.
Duluth Band Profile: Tender Ness
Peter Witrak’s Tender Ness blends lounge, soul, and vocal jazz. When he talks about the process of making Blues and Oranges, he explains how music transcends a sense of self and creates moments of beauty.
Developer plans tech village, jazz club in historic jewelry store
Bagley and Company, 315 W. Superior St., was operated by the same Duluth family for 131 years before closing last summer.
A long-time downtown jewelry store has been purchased by a Texas-based developer with Hermantown roots who plans to turn the building into office space for Internet professionals and create a food and music venue where diamond display cases once stood.
The Bagley & Company Jewelers building, 315 W. Superior Street, was purchased earlier this month by Titan Premier Investments of Houston, Texas. The property includes three historic retail buildings, approximately 19,000-square-feet of space, several skyway storefronts and a turn-of-the-century tea room hidden in the middle of it all. (more…)
Duluth’s first vegan blog launches on Earth Day
Ellen Vaagen, photo by Wolfskull Creative
Ellen Vaagen, the sassy, dreadlocked woman known affectionately around town as “Crafty Ellen,” is launching Vaagen’s Vegan Sauce, the Twin Ports’ first vegan blog on April 22.
The launch party will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Red Herring Lounge and feature sample platters of Vaagen’s vegan snacks, along with free recipe cards. (more…)
Duluth Band Profile: Chase Down Blue
Chase Down Blue creates its own mythos with Red V. The group’s blend of spacey, post-punk links earnest emotions with the feelings of Lake Superior. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
Mystery Photo #50: Children racing at Bayfront Park
The fundamentals of what’s happening in this old photo are fairly simple. It’s obviously shot at Bayfront Festival Park in the days of the old yellow canvas tarp-covered stage, prior to the 2001 construction of the 76-foot-tall steel-canopy pavilion that stands today. And clearly the image shows kids running a race.
So the mysteries are: What race is this? Can we zero in on a date or are we limited to the vague guess that it’s the mid 1990s?
First Tick of the Year — 2017 Edition
Happy Resurrection Day! I wish I were referring to the savior Jesus Christ and the Easter holiday, but today was the day I found my first tick of 2017. So April 16 marks the beginning of the 2017 tick resurrection. It’s something I’ve posted about almost annually on Perfect Duluth Day since 2005. Sometimes it happens as early as March, sometimes not until June, but the ticks always come back.
I picked up this year’s first tick by walking to the eastern terminus of the Millennium Trail in Superior and continuing past the parking lot there on a grassy trail to an overlook of Kelly Bay. I found two ticks while hiking; by the time three body searches were completed at home, the total count rose to six wood ticks and one deer tick. (more…)