Jerry Vandiver – “In Grand Marais”
Nashville recording artist Jerry Vandiver has a special affinity with Grand Marais, which he expressed in this love song from his 2014 album Every Scratch Tells a Story. The recently released video features images by Grand Marais photographer Paul Sundberg.
New owner takes over Superior’s Cedar Lounge
The Cedar Lounge is located just off Tower Avenue at Third Street in Superior’s North End. The new owner has not announced plans for the property.
The wife of former Fitger’s Brewhouse co-owner Tim Nelson has her name on the recently transferred liquor license of a decades-old Superior tavern.
The Superior City Council granted Cedar Forest LLC a Class B liquor and beer license for the Cedar Lounge, 1715 N. Third St., at its Dec. 15 meeting. The license application lists the sole member of Cedar Forest as Naomi C. Nelson, wife of Duluth micro-brew trailblazer Tim Nelson. (more…)
Where in Duluth? Bathroom Edition
How many of these five Duluth establishments can you identify just from their restroom signs? Hint: all but one are from restaurants or bars. Click the thumbnails for a closer view. (more…)
This Week: inaugurations, exhibitions, festivals and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
Mayor-elect Emily Larson becomes Mayor Emily Larson, DJ Walt Dizzo defends his taste in film, Charlie Parr begins his Red Herring residency, Duluth Yoga officially opens its doors and the art of Andrew John Swanson is exhibited.
The Lake Effect Music and Ski Festival goes down at Papa Charlie’s at Lutsen, the multimedia event Cellar Door happens at the Red Herring, Bayfront Park is the place for hot chocolate and a bonfire, the 28th annual Duluth Wedding Show is at the DECC, Floyd J. Phillips brings the funny to Dubh Linn and Crankshaft joins Mary Bue and Vivielle for a gig.
Fish Bowl of 1952: The time Duluth beat the Packers … sort of
For three seasons, the Green Bay Packers divided up their team for inter-squad scrimmage games in Duluth. The first-group players, or “starters,” played for the Packers, and the second group players, or “benchwarmers,” took the name of the Duluth Eskimos. Of course, there was an actual Duluth Eskimos NFL team from 1923 to ’27, but the games referred to in this post were from 1951 to ’53.
The scrimmages were known as “The Fish Bowl,” and attracted crowds of about 8,000. The Packers won two of the three games, both by small margins, but in 1952 the backup players, under the name Duluth Eskimos, defeated the Green Bay starters by a score of 34-7. (more…)
PDD Quiz: 2015 Year in Review
Photo by Judy Weber
[This quiz was embedded from a platform that is no longer available.]
Reflectivore – “Red Looking Glass”
Washburn-based band Reflectivore released a self-titled album this week. The video for “Red Looking Glass” was directed by Kjell Kvanbeck.
The Inheritance
My grandmother Irene was a pitiful, crazy person. Not all the time, unfortunately, or she’d have been packed into some coarse New England institution for experiments with electrons and lithium derivatives much earlier. As it was, because she alternated her violent and impulsive behavior with periods of serenity and excellent baking, she was allowed to quietly produce one, two, three, four and finally five wards of the state, one right after the other, before she was wrangled by the authorities and medicated to death.
Her youngest boy, Fred, who she kept along with three more kids, believed that shock therapy, medication, and age had actually healed Irene just enough that she could think rationally about what she’d done. So she overdosed herself on lithium.
We met her once, about a year before she died. She looked like a watercolor version of our mother, all smeared and indistinct in comparison. We had no idea she was our grandmother. Our mother introduced her as “Irene,” no more information. (more…)
Ness will launch economic development business
Outgoing Duluth Mayor Don Ness announced at a news conference today he will launch a new business called Hillside Ventures. The Duluth News Tribune reports Ness will offer his services to assist clients with economic development and “public-sector strategy work, working with other communities in the region, especially on the problem-solving and visioning piece.” (more…)
Perfect Duluth Day’s Best Videos of 2015
As the quantity and quality of videos posted on PDD continues to increase, it gets harder and harder to narrow down the standouts from the past year. But here’s what we’ve come up with. It’s a little heavy on music videos, but there’s a touch of everything else in there. Let us know what we may have missed by adding your own favorites in the comments. (more…)
They Aren’t Paid Enough to Be So Nice at This Time of Year: A Nod to Cashiers in the Holidays
Not the self-checkout at the Duluth Target, but I like it
I was noting the new self-checkout at Target. I don’t like it. It feels like Wal-Mart, which is enough to make me never use it. But beyond that irrational knee-jerk, it feels like Target would like to create a shopping experience in which I interact with no one whatsoever. If I wanted that, I would shop at target.com. Which I do for things not carried at the Duluth Target. (I still can’t believe there will be only one Target in our area soon. Aldi will still draw me to Souptown, I guess.)
So I was really happy when I decided to try it today, and the coupon system stymied me, and a cashier walked over and hung out until I was happily rung through. Human touch. (more…)
Selective Focus: Constant
Aaron Reichow, untitled
What won’t you change in the new year? What remains a fixture in our lives? That was this week’s challenge; to find the things that ground us in a world of whirring flux. Easier said than done in a region whose predominant feature is an endlessly shifting inland sea. I would like to have seen some people as “constants” (as they’ve always been in my life), but hey, I only edit this thing. (more…)
2015: The Year in Duluth Gig Posters
Here it is, PDD’s annual gallery of gig posters. It’s not comprehensive, just a smattering of promo images that grabbed attention in 2015. (more…)
Video Archive: Christopher Halverson and Frank Nichols
Christopher Halverson performs “Rockcreek/Grantsville” at R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon during an open mic on Sept. 16, 1995. The video closes with a clip of Frank Nichols blowing his jaw blues harp.
Noon – “Duluth”
Noon, a band from Munich, Germany, has a song called “Duluth.” Anyone who can translate the lyrics from Italian to English or explain the existence or meaning of this song in any way is encouraged to do so in the comments to this post.
Poll: Best Album of 2015
There were a lot of potential nominees, so we used a runoff ballot. The options with the fewest votes slowly dropped out of the poll as the days went by, until it got down to the final four.
[poll id=”82″]
This poll is now closed. The results were:
Low’s Ones and Sixes – 34 percent
The Social Disaster’s Dark Side of the Roller Rink – 31 percent
Charlie Parr’s Stumpjumper – 19 percent
Mary Bue’s Holy Bones – 16 percent
This Week: 2015 bites the dust and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find in this week’s PDD Calendar:
Learn why resolutions don’t work at Tycoons, bring the kids to see the Monkey Mind Pirates, Marc Gartman plays his Ween, the DSSO tackles Sinatra, Beaner’s Central throws a daylong New Year’s bash and the Red Herring has bands and DJs.
Zeitgeist Arts is throwing a laid-back New Year’s party, the Barrel Room has DJs, masked revelers converge on Barker’s Island, pianos are set to duel at Dubh Linn, Superior Ballroom Dance Studio holds a dance-floor party and the first day of 2016 is marked with a nine-location hike.
Remember the Fallen Heroes
Ten years ago Duluth landed in the New York Times over a controversial sign in a campaign office window. Scott Cameron, a combat-wounded Vietnam War vet, made a sign tallying the dead and wounded in the Iraq war. While volunteering for Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Steve Kelley, Cameron placed the sign in the campaign office window, next to a U.S. Army recruiting office. The seven recruiters working there, six of whom had served in Iraq, found the sign disheartening and wanted it removed. Cameron said he did not wish to prevent recruits from signing up for the Army, but only wanted to honor those who made sacrifices. (more…)
Bentleyville 2015
Duluth’s mega Christmas-light spectacular closes for the season tonight. Video by Above U Productions.
Saturday Essay: New PDD feature starts in 2016
Over the past 12.5 years of Perfect Duluth Day’s existence, there haven’t been many posts that would be considered “essays.” The term is a little vague, but it’s probably understood by most that an essay is something more artistically crafted and of more substantial length than the average PDD post. Examples that come to mind from the past that would be considered essays are Laurie Viets’ “Last Place on Earth — 1983” and my own “Trespassing at UMD’s Old Main in 1992.” There are probably a dozen other examples eluding my memory, but the point in general is that there have been some essays on PDD, but not enough.
To encourage more, we’re launching a new feature called the “Saturday Essay” next week. In each installment, a local writer will share an anecdote, go on a political rant, dissect some event in popular culture or for whatever other purpose string together a healthy amount of words on some subject. Basically the hope is to do for essay writing what “Selective Focus” has done in the past year for photography on PDD. (more…)
Merry Christmas from Superior Mayor Bruce Hagen
Selective Focus: Holidays
Paul McIntyre, untitled
As I have little to add to the vast literature surrounding this holiday, I can only recommend one of my favorites: Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory.” His own reading of this short story used to be a staple this time of year on Minnesota Public Radio. I have no idea why they’ve departed from playing it, but here is a link to a 2006 This American Life episode that includes a tear-defying excerpt: Episode 255 (more…)
Glensheen set to hit 100,000 attendance mark for 2015
From the Glensheen Facebook page:
This Saturday we will reach over 100,000 visitors for the first time since the 1980s.
To put this in perspective, we had only 56,000 visitors in recent history. Many thought this resurgence would not be possible. We are very thankful to all who have helped us turn the curve, especially you our guests.
PDD Videolab: Christmas 1974
Another audio-less home movie from the Emil Praslowicz archives. Pick your soundtrack below.