Duluth Folk School
The Duluth Folk School has been a long time in the making, but it is open for business.
What: Duluth Folk School’s mission is to teach skills, arts and crafts that enrich personal lives and the community, while having a load of fun!
Who: Bryan French and Tim Bates have been planning the Duluth Folk School for the past few years.
Where: The Duluth Folk School is operating with the Nomad Model. There isn’t a single home – yet. For now, classes will be offered at Hartley Nature Center, First Presbyterian Church of Duluth and the Lester Amity Chalet. As the capital fund is developed, a permanent home will eventually be bought or built.
When: The first class is on May 3. Over time, classes will be offered every week, in multiple locations.
Why: People want to be able to create with their hands, to connect with others, and have fun.
Classes currently available on the calendar include Springtime Bike Maintenance and Beginner Beekeeping, and several more will be added soon.
People interested in becoming an instructor can visit the Become an Instructor page.
Duluth Folk School – Create with your hands, build community and have fun!
Nick Robin – “Little Red Squirrel”
Music written and produced by Sean Elmquist and Nick Robin. Video by Nick Sunsdahl.
Duluth Band Profile: Glen’s Neighbor
Glen’s Neighbor mixes country rock with plenty of bluegrass hooks. Band members explain how teamwork and criticism produced Behind the Door. Click on the image above to hear the interview.
Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank – “Take This Town”
The new video by local band Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank is illustrated, edited and directed by Truvio Del Sol.
This Week: awards, antiques, astronomy and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find in this week’s new, improved, revamped, more better PDD Calendar:
Carmody Irish Pub celebrates a decade in business with a weeklong celebration, it’s rose-raising season at Leif Erikson Park, the Big Time Jazz Orchestra storms the Rex Bar, the ongoing live radio theater show Take it With You swings back into action, Legacy Glassworks holds its annual 4/20 Spring Blowout with lots of bands and glassblowing demonstrations, the 24th annual Joel Labovitz Entrepreneurial Success Awards are held at the DECC and it’s time once again to get your antiques appraised.
UWS holds its annual Evening of Wine and Jazz, the sixth Design DLH event is centered around the concept of “Minnesota Nice,” St. Scholastica Theatre presents the stalking-themed play Boy Gets Girl, the Lake Superior Zoo hosts a Party for the Planet, it’s Astronomy Day at the Marshall Alworth Planetarium and the classic musical 42nd Street is at the Duluth Playhouse.
New PDD Calendar is up and running today
The new design of the PDD Calendar launched today. There are still a few elements to it that we will be cleaning up over the next few weeks, but it’s time to just let it rip and put it into service.
Why did we switch? When we launched the previous version of the PDD Calendar in 2011 there weren’t any good WordPress plugins for the type of event calendar we wanted. So we built our own. As the years went on, WordPress plugins surpassed our ability to innovate — or at least find the time to innovate — and our calendar was also in need of a design change to match the responsive design of our blog, adjusting to various screensizes for optimal viewing on iPhones and tablets. We decided to make this change over a year ago; finally got around to it now.
Feel free to begin complaining or complimenting the new calendar in the comments, or call/email. Mention problems if you see them, and we’ll either fix them or explain why what you think is broken is really just the best we can do.
We anticipate you will think the new calendar can’t do things the old calendar did, but once you get used to the new navigation you will see that it does. Pretty much every feature the old calendar had the new calendar has, except for the one thing we are working on and the one thing we haven’t thought of. Please tell us about that thing we haven’t thought of. (more…)
Commerce on the River: Nelson’s Guide and Charter Service
Charlie Nelson’s love of fishing started early. He spent much of his childhood catching fish near Cloquet, where his parents owned Big Lake Resort. After his parents sold the resort and bought a cabin on Island Lake north of Duluth, Nelson ramped up his quest for walleyes and spent countless hours in a fishing boat.
Through his 26 years of experience as a lieutenant colonel and an F-16 instructor pilot with the Minnesota Air National Guard, he developed a passion for teaching. Now retired, he has turned his knack for teaching and fishing into Charlie Nelson Guide and Charter Services. His website refers to him as “The Captain” whose passion for fishing is only surpassed by his love of flying. (more…)
The Day I Jumped Out a Window
When I was 11, my best friend was Eddie Griffenbacher.* He lived with his grandma, for reasons he never detailed. (*No, it wasn’t. But even I don’t want to talk shit about someone. It’s not because I have class. Eddie would kick my ass.)
He was very, very, impressively naughty.
He came by this honestly: his grandmother was like a David Lynch character. She was short, round, and, I think, chronically intoxicated. She curmdugeoned around her house in a beige sweater-vest over a plaid shirt, khakis and fluffy white sneakers that resembled King’s Hawaiian rolls. Her hair was old-lady-did into fully-formed curl banks, but the back left corner of her head was all matted down and disarranged, like gray-hair crop circles amidst the otherwise puffy rows. She smoked endless Benson and Hedges cigarettes; they dangled eternally from her yellow fingers, the nails of which she kept painted the same bronzey-brown color for as long as I knew her. She was always drinking some ice-cubey alcohol cocktail from an amber-glass tumbler: between the yellow of her fingers, her nail polish, and the yellow tint of her glass, it seemed like everything around her was saturated completely with tar. Somehow, her entire microcosm had become the color of an old fly strip. (more…)
Charlie Parr – “I Ain’t Dead Yet”
In this video from March 20, Duluth’s Charlie Parr shares a powdered toothpaste anecdote and performs “Ain’t Dead Yet” at the Ore Dock Brewing Company in Marquette.
The song is on Parr’s new limited edition EP, a 10-inch record (pressed on green vinyl) set for release on Saturday as part of Record Store Day.
Selective Focus: One River, Many Prints
Starting this week, Selective Focus is changing direction. Instead of variations on a weekly theme as before, we will be posting brief profiles of visual artists and happenings around the area. We start it off with a collaborative project between UMD students and elementary students. (more…)
Superior Siren – “Rattlesnake” (Live on The PlayList)
From the April 14 edition of WDSE-TV’s The PlayList, Superior Siren performs “Rattlesnake.”
Seasonal restaurants reopening in and around Duluth for 2016
Nothing signifies the emergence of spring quite like the reappearance of malts on the Duluth Lakewalk and the wafting scent of fried fare from seasonal burger joints. For those ready to indulge, here’s a rundown on seasonal restaurant re-openings.
Gordy’s Hi-Hat in Cloquet reopened on March 20, the first day of spring. The classic hamburger stand is a favorite among locals and a popular stop for Twin Cities travelers headed to cabins up north. The restaurant, now in it’s 56th season, is known for its hand-pattied burgers and onion rings, and was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. 
A & Dubs, another nostalgic burger joint in Duluth’s West End, will reopen on Mother’s Day, May 8. The seasonal, family-run business at 3131 W. Third St. was founded in 1948 as Duluth’s first drive-in restaurant. A & Dubs holds a special place in the hearts of residents of western Duluth. It’s a remarkable relic; nowhere else in Duluth has ice-cold root beer and burger baskets delivered by carhops for in-vehicle consumption.
Ice cream aficionados will be pleased to know the Denfeld Dairy Queen and the PortLand Malt Shoppe are already serving up decadent desserts. (more…)
One River, Two Islands
As part of the One River, Many Stories project, Lake Superior Magazine’s April/May issue features Molly Hoeg’s profile of Clough and Spirit islands, titled “One River, Two Islands: A History & Culture Tour on the St. Louis River.”
From centuries-old bloody battles between Ojibwe and Dakota, to fist-fight riots at a resort in the late 1800s, through to modern-day habitat restoration, the history of the two islands is colorful and deep.
“Modern-day paddlers clearly feel this aura around Spirit Island just as they feel drawn to explore and enjoy Clough Island,” the story concludes. “Knowledge of both islands’ histories enriches any journey along the river. Cleaving its water with kayak or canoe, they paddle between two cultures, between the past and the future and between the heart of the forest at the river’s beginning and the vast expanse of the inland sea at its end.”
Duluth Band Profile: Rick McLean
Rick McLean honed his songwriting skills on Coupla Focal. From a Pogues-ish “St. James” to a somber “Son of Luddwig,” he isn’t afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve while making people laugh.
Slow TV: Carrot Washing at the Food Farm
This is how the Food Farm washes carrots, slowly. (more…)
Canal Park Timber Lodge Steakhouse won’t reopen
After 20 years in business, the Timber Lodge Steakhouse in Canal Park is calling it quits. Bruce Taher, CEO of Timber Lodge’s parent company, Taher Inc., says he regrets having to make the decision. He hoped to close the restaurant for the winter and reopen it this spring, but a number of challenges precipitated the restaurant’s demise. (more…)
St. Louis River Story: Paula Vang
People in the St. Louis River watershed shared their connection to the river with WDSE-TV during the opening reception for The St. Louis River: Diverse Connections at the Duluth Art Institute.
Superior’s Bogojevic begins wrestling training with WWE
According to Ringside News, Superior High School 2010 grad Nikola Bogojevic is part of a group of new recruits training at the World Wrestling Entertainment Performance Center. (He’s the hulking mass at the far right in the image above.) These men and women “will have the chance to hone their skills and fulfill their dream of becoming a WWE Superstar.” (more…)
Duluth Band Profile: Mind Control
Mind Control fans the flames of Duluth’s underground community. Band members explain how the group’s self-titled EP could stand a test of time. Click on the image above to hear the interview.
Piano Man and PBS Pioneer Max Morath
The April 7 edition of WDSE-TV’s The PlayList featured this segment on Duluth piano man Max Morath, a member of the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. His ground-breaking work on The Ragtime Era series in 1960 for what is today Rocky Mountain PBS set the bar for television programs nationwide.
Alexander Miles: Barber, real estate investor, inventor
Duluthian Alexander Miles invented an improved mechanism for opening and closing elevator doors. It’s just one accomplishment of the man who was thought to be the wealthiest black man in the Midwest during the late 1800s. Read all about Miles on the Duluth Public Library’s Reference@Duluth blog. It’s the first new post on the blog in over two years, and it’s a doozy.
Mysterious Masonic building seeks new owner
Real Estate agent Jim Aird in the balcony of the old Euclid Masonic Lodge in West Duluth. Aird’s grandfather was a member of the fraternity and had a room named after him in the building.
An historic and mysterious West Duluth building has stood abandoned for a decade after an ancient fraternal organization sold the property to a developer who died before initiating a renovation.
Euclid Lodge 198 erected the boxy, brick and largely windowless building at 611 N. Central Avenue in 1909, a period of great growth for the centuries-old, international fraternity of Masons. During its almost 100 years in operation, some of the most prominent West Duluth businessmen and civic leaders of the time participated in secretive ceremonies, jovial fellowship and benevolent works inside its walls. (more…)
St. Louis River Corridor Parks Mini-Master Plans
Duluth’s Parks and Recreation division is seeking public comment on 11 neighborhood parks mini-master plans, which cover improvements and additions to neighborhood parks within the St. Louis River Corridor. The included parks are Piedmont, Midtowne, Harrison, Merritt, Irving, Grassy Point, Keene Creek, Norton, Riverside, Smithville, Morgan, Blackmer, Fond du Lac and Historical.
The draft plans and comment form are available at duluthmn.gov. The plan will be presented to the Parks Commission on April 20; vote for approval will be at the May 11 meeting. Public comments are being accepted through April 20.
This Week: a new PDD Calendar looms, Empty Bowl, the Gitchee Gumee Brewfest and more
Big changes are afoot at Perfect Duluth Day. It’s the final week of the PDD Calendar‘s current look. Starting Sunday, April 17th, we switch over to our new WordPress platform, which will make adding and viewing events easier and more pleasurable for all. For now, though, get your last gander at the soon-to-be-old-school calendar before it’s scuttled, and check out these upcoming events:
Empty Bowl 2016 is upon us, Big Science warms up for Homegrown with a feast of noise at the Red Herring, Renegade Improv brings the funny to raise money to fight Alzheimer’s, Marshall Performing Arts Center is the place to see the rock musical Spring Awakening, the Duluth Art Institute opens two sports-themed exhibitions and the rocking 60’s get sudsy at UW-Superior.
St. Scholastica Theatre presents the stalking-themed Boy Gets Girl, the Cabin Fever Festival brings a weekend of old-time music to town, the Duluth East robotics team is raising money, the 27th annual Fitger’s 5k Run and Walk takes place on Saturday, over 100 different beers from over 25 brewers can be sampled at the Gitchee Gumee Brewfest and guitarist Christoph Bruhn plays the Teatro Zuccone.