This Week: barbers, birds, Barnard and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find in this week’s PDD Calendar:
The Zinema kicks off their October slate of Jody Kujawa-hosted horror flick offerings with the original Evil Dead, Amber Rose arm candy Machine Gun Kelly plays the DECC, at-large City Council candidates square off, Gaelynn Lea opens her music studio, The Barber of Seville opens in Superior, The Birds come squawking and scratching into Teatro Zuccone and Billy Barnard brings the jazz.
The Bottle Jockeys headline the Red Herring, there’s a corn-maze hootenanny, Oktoberfest is happening on Friday and Saturday, there’s a spooky art opening, Boo at the Zoo is back again and so are the Harbor City Roller Dames.
Visit Uptown Superior … or Downtown Superior or the North End
This past summer a new marketing effort was launched in Superior to attract people back to the downtown area, which struggled through a long Tower Avenue reconstruction project in 2013. The strip has seen a number of new businesses spring up on the fancy new avenue, but also still has numerous vacant buildings. It’s a work in progress. The joint effort of “collected businesses promoting each other” to “highlight the diamonds in the proverbial rough” is called Visit Uptown Superior.
Why is the downtown now the uptown? Isn’t “uptown” a word to describe a residential area? Well, this part of Superior is the North End, and people tend to think of north as up … and maybe these businesses intend to “Uptown funk you up.” Let’s not overthink it. Below is the back of a promotional postcard highlighting the collective businesses in said Uptown.
Postcards from Chester Park
“Chester Park is popular both in summer and winter,” according to old postcard propaganda. “In it is located one of America’s highest ski jumps and also Chester Creek, one of several flowing thru the city in which trout may be caught. Duluth is the only city in the United States where trout fishing is possible within city limits.”
Well, we know the famous ski jumps came down in 2014, but there seems to be another fact in there worth examining. Was Duluth at one time really the only city with trout fishing? Prove it or debunk it, dear reader.
In the meantime, here are more snappy postcards … (more…)
Know Your Duluth Liquor Laws!
- Not in Our Neighborhood, Part 1: Buying Booze in Duluth 1934-1973
- Not in Our Neighborhood! Part 2: The Battles Over the Lakeside Liquor Law, 1973-Today
- The ‘Grande Dame’ of Lakeside (A profile of Myrtle Marshall, whose effort to keep the 1891 law in place has been mythologized.)
- Tempered by Temperance: Duluth & Liquor, 1870-1919 (Includes the creation of the 1891 Lakeside Liquor Law.)
- And Never on Sundays (Covers 1934-1973 liquor issues concerning music, dancing, women, etc.)
Selective Focus: Duluth
Tamara Jones, “Full moon over the Lake”
There is no way to comprehensively describe Duluth with an inane little photo feature, but I do think this week’s image’s alternations between grandeur and ruin say something about this place; what we value, what we’ve let moulder. Duluth is a place where our failures aren’t hidden. Its broken roads and crumbling industries, all set on that capricious gem of a lake impress the psychic landscape, and inform our present strivings. (more…)
Glensheen: the Musical
Glensheen, a musical based on the book by Jeffrey Hatcher and music and lyrics by Chan Poling, opens at the History Theatre in St. Paul on Oct. 3 and runs through Oct. 25.
Good lord. (more…)
#notsaintpaul
So I’m finishing work tonight and my friend says, “meet me at the Brewhouse.” I tasted a flight of three and ordered the dopplebock. The drink coaster just made it too easy for me.
Great American Beer Festival Awards Winners 2015
Don’t get me wrong, I love St Paul, but it appears as though the judges have spoken.
From the Great American Beer Festival, Duluth takes two awards!
To me, it’s gotta be extra special bitter. (How often can a drink coaster be mightier than the billboard)?
- Silver – Double Porter | Bemidji Brewing Co., Bemidji (Baltic-style porter)
- Bronze – Lonely Blonde | Fulton Beer, Minneapolis (English-style summer ale)
- Silver – 14° ESB | Bent Paddle Brewing Co., Duluth (extra special bitter)
- Silver – Procrastinator Doppelbock | Fitger’s Brewhouse, Duluth (German-style doppelbock or eisbock)
- Silver – Pumpkin Grinder | Mankato Brewery, Mankato (pumpkin)
- Silver – Size 4 | Steel Toe Brewing, St. Louis Park (session India pale ale)
- Bronze – Firebrick | August Schell Brewing Co., New Ulm (Vienna-style lager)
Rachael Kilgour – “If I Am Gonna Fall Apart”
New song by Duluth’s Rachael Kilgour, recorded live on Sept. 10 at the World One Studios in Maryland.
Kilgour has launched a month-long Kickstarter campaign to fund her upcoming album, which will be recorded in Boston. (more…)
Duluth’s Sister Lisa Maurer on CBS News
Sister Lisa Maurer of the St. Scholastica Monastery was featured in a national TV news story on Sept. 29 during the CBS Evening News. The piece will air again on CBS This Morning on Wednesday, Sept. 30, between 7 and 9 a.m. on KDLH-TV Channel 3.
Sister Lisa is a kicking coach with the St. Scholastica Saints football team. A news team from CBS Evening News, including national correspondent Dean Reynolds, came to campus Sept. 10 and 11 to interview Sister Lisa, Coach Kurt Ramler, and football players Michael Mensing and Donovan Blatz. The crew also filmed shots of the St. Scholastica campus, and captured footage during the Saints’ Sept. 12 football game at Public Schools Stadium against MacMurray College.
Last November, Sister Lisa was featured in a New York Times story.
Video Archive: 1995 TV Mashup
In the fall of 1995 I tossed a tape in the VCR and somewhat indiscriminately recorded while I flipped channels over a few different nights. The above video is the result. Most of it is not locally relevant, but there are a few clips from Duluth Public Access Community Television, including two excerpts from Colleen Shannon’s In My Room.
Some of the transitions are edits I made in 2015 for the purpose of cutting this down to under a half hour, but many of them are just what naturally happened in 1995 when I paused the tape, changed channels and resumed recording.
Yes, I know how geeky this is. Yes, I’m proud of myself.
Awkward Duluth School Board Moment #4,536: Gadfly Edition
File under: Tried to be clever; totally fell flat.
Inefficient, Crazy and Utterly Delicious
Recently I was treated to a 90-minute interview with Tom Hanson in his office just off the kitchen of Duluth Grill, beyond the secret sauces and fresh ingredients. What I learned continues to blow my mind. The resulting column, accessible through the Duluth Budgeteer, barely scratches the surface in observing how he continues to utterly defy conventional wisdom. I quickly came to the conclusion that if he were the CEO of any large corporation he would have been given his walking papers years ago. Happily, it ain’t so, and we’re left with one of the Duluthiest establishments in town.
You can view an expanded version with numerous photos on Ed’s Big Adventure.
Where in Duluth? #132
Time for another installment of Perfect Duluth Day’s ultra-thrilling photo-trivia sensation. Where in Duluth was this shot taken?
This Week: famous bass players, organs, boat-ghosts and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
Lake-themed artwork is up for viewing this evening in the Zeitgeist atrium, Duluthians can hear from their City Council candidates, there’s an 80’s Dance Party at the Red Herring, UW-Superior is looking to help address bullying, UMD Theatre begins its 2015 season with Spoon River and Gruesome Playground Injuries can be seen by the public at the Underground.
The Halloween season is officially upon us with the opening of the Haunted Ship, pop-music wizards speak at UMD, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic (!) comes to town to talk about ranked-choice voting, the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra scores The Wizard of Oz, that industrial band from The Crow plays R.T. Quinlan’s, it’s BradToberFest time, again and Sacred Heart is tending to its organ.
Community Connect seeking volunteer stylists
Community Connect is seeking volunteer hair stylists and massage therapists. We are especially in need of stylists experienced with African heritage hair. If you are able to help, please email [email protected] or call Loaves and Fishes at 218-724-2054.
Community Connect is a twice yearly event that connects people experiencing poverty and homelessness with housing, hygiene, IDs, employment, drug/alcohol treatment, voter registration, outdoor survival gear, child care and other vital services. Between 300 and 400 people are expected to attend the fall Community Connect on Oct. 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Gimaajii Building, 202 W. Second St.
Low – “What Part of Me” and “No Comprende” live on the Current
Low perform “What Part of Me” and “No Comprende” during the band’s Sept. 18 session in the studios of 89.3 the Current. Click here to listen to the full session.
Selective Focus, “Community”
Ashley L. Behrens, “The Joys of Color”
Even though we might not feel a part of it, or intentionally cast ourselves to the margins, we live- without choice- within communities. What we do to broaden, to expand that meaning defines us; how many and of what sort we’ll include. Let’s celebrate here the pulling together, the belonging, and the recognition that no one, as was said, is an island. (more…)
Local artists and organizations receive grants
Kathleen Mctavish will partner with the Duluth Art Institute to provide a year-long, hands-on digital lab and series of workshops to explore, experiment, create, and share new media tools and processes.
Duluth artists and organizations received a total of $58,820 in arts funding from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council to produce projects and creative learning opportunities in the local community. There are many wonderful projects to look forward to in Duluth this year such as the installation of Mary Plaster’s puppets at the Duluth Children’s Museum, or the workshops Kathleen McTavish will be leading at the Duluth Art Institute. Duluth is fortunate to have so many creative people and organizations producing projects and events that engage with the local community. (more…)
Fall Reading List: A Hillsider and a Buried Man
Two books lead the list of recommended local reads this fall: One is a new book by Duluth’s outgoing mayor, which will no doubt generate tons of attention before anyone fully reads it. The other is an impressive memoir published back in March by a humble Lakesider, which deserves to be held up next to Duluth’s highest ranking literary office. (more…)
Free Train Rides
There are two opportunities to enjoy free train rides on the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad on Sept. 23. Departures are at 2 and 6 p.m. The century-old coaches have capacity for 130 riders each trip, so arrive early! More info on the PDD Calendar and Facebook.
Minnesota North Shore Fall Colors Report 2015
With today the first day of fall there is no better time to post the MN Fall Colors map for 2015. We are really starting to see pockets of great colors in Duluth and along the North Shore. You can also use the MN DNR interactive map by clicking here to help track the colors as they change. What are you seeing in your area? Post you favorite tree picture as it changes in the comments.