Selective Focus to join the “One River, Many Stories” project
In April, Perfect Duluth Day’s weekly Selective Focus feature will devote two themes to the “One River, Many Stories” project, which asks for tales of your relationship to the St. Louis River. I’m drawn to it’s dualistic character as a forum for both contemplation and recreation, so April 1’s theme will foreground the river’s natural beauty, and April 8 will spotlight its possibilities for play. Feel free to send images as soon as you’re able to tim @ perfectduluthday.com, and follow the “One Rivers” project at onerivermn.com
The Adjustments – “North Shore Sinner Pt. IV”
Local rock band the Adjustments record “North Shore Sinner Pt. IV” at the home studio of band member Alex Nelson in Lakeside. The band’s new album At North Shore is available tonight at Carmody Irish Pub. Sam Tuthill opens the show at 10 p.m.
NPR Tiny Desk Concert: Gaelynn Lea
Duluth’s Gaelynn Lea won NPR’s second annual Tiny Desk Contest. Above is her 22-minute performance, featuring the tunes “Someday We’ll Linger in the Sun,” “Southwind,” “Bird Song” and “Moment Of Bliss.” Alan Sparhawk, her band mate in the Murder of Crows, joins in on the latter two songs.
Selective Focus: Artistic Kids
Cheryl Reitan, “Black Cat”
Many thoughtful people have rightfully lamented the gutting of funding for arts education to privilege more “useful” studies. But there are also the limitations we impose on ourselves, and the diminishment of what many of us once so much enjoyed (“I loved to paint and draw as a kid…”). Art too often becomes something we let go to follow well-rutted roads, to conform, and to not stand apart. (more…)
Whole Foods Co-op – Denfeld set to open March 16
Duluth’s second Whole Foods Co-op store will open March 16 at 4426 Grand Ave., a few hundred feet from Denfeld High School on the site of the former Jefferson Lines bus station.
Those familiar with shopping at the co-op’s Hillside location at 610 E. Fourth St. can expect similar whole, organic, local and regional food offerings at the West Duluth store, plus an expanded deli area with hot and cold grab-and-go foods. (more…)
Kaleidoscope: Save the Date
Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin Lakes and Pines present the third annual Kaleidoscope for girls and adults on April 30. (more…)
Monster Mob – “Bloodfeast”
“Bloodfeast” is the latest single from Duluth band Monster Mob’s 2015 album American Grindhouse. Upcoming gig: Monster Mob and Ball Slashers at the Barrel Room at Fitger’s Brewhouse on May 25.
Postcard from the Hill Top
Mailed in 1923, six years before the Aerial Transfer Bridge became the Aerial Lift Bridge, this postcard depicts the old days when a gondola car carried passengers, streetcars and wagons over the canal. Numerous buildings in this postcard are long gone. (more…)
Translating Minnesota Nice
Written and directed by Samuel T. Weston, whose goal is to shoot 20 short videos in 2016. One down, 19 to go.
Shot in Duluth by Corey Lehman. Featuring Weston as “Vern” and Justin White as “Greg.”
Price Check: Cuisinart Griddler Grill
When you decide a Cuisinart Griddler is the most valuable appliance in your home, you will find yourself mollycoddling it like a 4-month-old tot. This brushed stainless steel grill functions as a contact grill, panini press, full grill, full griddle, or half grill / half griddle. It has a hinged floating cover that adjusts to the thickness of hamburgers, paninis or steaks.
The cooking plates are removable, reversible, nonstick and dishwasher-safe, with an integrated drip tray to collect grease. The two temperature controls make it easy to cook eggs and steak at the same time. It’s also BPA free for those concerned with the health effects of potential poisonous packaging.
Here lies the third feature for the Price Check series where we compare prices on basic, practical products and services around Duluth and Superior. The prices below reflect the rate the establishment charges with tax included. Minnesota and Duluth sales tax total 7.875%. Wisconsin and Douglas County sales tax total 5.5%. (more…)
Comics on my Mind
Local artist and design teacher Darren Houser presents on his work, among other presentations at the Martin Library at UMD, organized by Pat Maus.
A recent event at UMD spotlighted comics as a scholarly and artistic pursuit. (more…)
This Week: teenyboppers, slowcore merchants, cult members
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
Former teenybopper and noted Trump booster Aaron Carter sings for his supper at the Red Herring for the second night in a row, the seventh annual Eat Downtown Restaurant Week kicks off at over 20 local establishments, suspense writer Brian Freeman releases the latest of his Duluth-set novels, a LOWcal band plays a gig, the best regional high-school hockey players show off their stuff at Amsoil Arena and Charlie Parr and Coyote fundraise for Spirit of the Lake Community School with a show at Karpeles Manuscript Museum.
It’s Bockfest 2016 in the Fitger’s Courtyard, Fame the Musical opens at the Duluth Playhouse, Moors & McCumber let their latest recording loose into the wild, those crazy kids Romeo and Juliet are lovin’ it up at Lincoln Park Middle School, Cloud Cult brings its act to Duluth, the Ides of March cover bands are upon us, the 2016 Duluth Women’s Expo features pampering aplenty and kids with special needs can get a chilled-out sesh with the Easter Bunny.
Minnesota All Hockey Hair Team 2016: Land of 10,000 Locks
Roe Family Singers – “Sail Away Ladies”
Roe Family Singers return to Duluth on March 12 for a concert with the Holy Hootenanners at Teatro Zuccone.
Grocery Evolution
There is an evolution of grocery shopping that occurs during a lifetime, if you didn’t grow up on a farm or hunting shack living off the land. It starts when you’re a kid and your parents drag you along to the Piggly Wiggly, Red Owl or wherever.
They try to ram you into that cold metal seat on the cart, facing the opposite direction of traffic, but it never quite works out. It doesn’t take much kicking and screaming to get mom to let you loose, so you can scamper all over the store and knock things over.
It’s not your fault. You don’t want to be there; you were brought against your will. A tantrum is to be expected.
Also, as long as you are being held hostage on this mission, it only makes sense to grab all the low-hanging snack food and try to use it as a bargaining tool. If mom will simply buy a box of individually wrapped corn syrup wads, you’ll stop tugging on her pants to constantly beg for them. It’s a fair deal.
Eventually, of course, your parents smarten up and lock you in the car. Soon you become old enough to be left home alone, and it’s at that point you enter a long period where you never go to the grocery store. Food is just delivered to you and magically appears in cupboards. This is the halcyon period of your sustenance-acquiring existence. (more…)
Selective Focus: Dirty Snow
Hugh Reitan, “Snowmen”
We’ve had prettier Selective Focus features, but there can be an unusual beauty in ugliness, even humor, as Hugh Reitan’s image above demonstrates (or there’s just abject horror as with Aaron Reichow’s current submission). (more…)
Kraig James – “Afterbloom”
Kraig James & the Campfire Stars are releasing a new song each month in 2016 for a project called Campfire Americana: Volume 1. This is the second track, available for download at kraigjames.com/music. The video was shot in Ely.
Gaelynn Lea to appear on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series
Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea has been chosen as the winner of National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk Contest. NPR asked musicians from across the country to send a video of an original song, performed behind a desk. Specifically, the contest was seeking “a song and a sound that felt original and a performance that felt inspired.” Among 6,100 entries, Gaelynn Lea was the favorite. Below is her audition video.
“The melody of this song wouldn’t let go – it just stuck with me, it stuck with all the judges. It conveys an overwhelming emotion of yearning and love that’s unforgettable,” said Bob Boilen of NPR Music — whose desk has served as the stage of more than 500 Tiny Desk performances. “What we look for in the contest is an artist who has something singular about what they do, something unique to them, something no one else is doing. Gaelynn Lea has that, and that simply won our hearts.
Logo Design and WordPress Site Developer in Duluth
I’m a small business owner/consultant looking for someone to help me with branding, and to refresh my current WordPress website. Anyone have a list of local folks that they would recommend?
Minnesota 2016 Caucus Results
Minnesota Republican Party
Marco Rubio – 41,397 | 36%
Ted Cruz – 33,181 | 29%
Donald J. Trump – 24,473 | 21%
Dr. Ben Carson – 8,422 | 7%
John R. Kasich – 6,565 | 6%
Write in – 207 | 0.18%
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Bernie Sanders – 125,635 | 61%
Hillary Clinton – 78,317 | 38%
Uncommitted – 1,067 | 0.52%
Write in – 213 | .1%
Martin O’Malley – 153 | 0.07%
Rocque “Rocky” de la Fuente – 53 | 0.03%
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In the Mourning
Max Haben shot this video “one cloudy Saturday morning in Duluth without much direction.”
Off-Broadway ice fishing
Nice Fish, Mark Rylance’s play based on the poetry of former Duluthian Louis Jenkins, made its off-Broadway debut at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn on Feb. 14 and continues its run through March 13. An article in The New Yorker notes Jenkins’ poems, “which are syncopated reveries about bologna sandwiches, sea lions, and the meaning of life, are integral to the Nice Fish script.”
Rylance won an Oscar on Sunday for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the Steven Spielberg film Bridge of Spies.
Minnesota’s First Presidential Primary
“In Minnesota, the Democrats are all for Wilson so far as the candidates for delegate are concerned. The crazyquilt presidential primary law has befuddled everybody from the rummy to justices of the supreme court. Only Albert B. Cummins, senator of Iowa, and Henry D. Estabrook of New York, are before the Republicans for their “preference.”
Full story text below: (more…)
Short Shorts Film Festival 2016 Winners
The PDD documentary Honeycomb Hideout won First Place this weekend at the Duluth Playhouse’s annual Short Shorts competition.
See the first, second, and third place winners after the Read More link.
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