Shaky Ray Records Reissues?
I don’t remember where I heard this, but is it true that Shaky Ray Records is planning to reissue its local music recordings?
Big Into – “Used to Go”
The latest music video from Big Into includes cameos by a variety of other Iron Range rockers, but the real star is a cheese-flavored cracker. The video was shot at Mesaba Co-op Park near Hibbing.
Guide to Duluth-area Blogs
The journey of blogging from personal to institutional has been slow and steady, but there are still individuals crafting creative narratives about their lives and the things they love. Of course, there are also organizations that want to promote tourism, hotel rooms and merchandise by mixing in lists of the ten best trails to lure in readers. Whether the medium is better or worse in 2024 than in 2004 is up for debate, but blogging is, at least on some level, still a thing.
Every two years or so, Perfect Duluth Day scans the web to see who’s active in the local blogosphere, compiling a comprehensive-as-possible guide to the region’s active web logs. Below is the roundup as of September 2024. (more…)
Homestead Aurora
Duluth photographer Tone Coughlin captured northern lights scenes from Monday night’s stronger-than-expected solar storm. “It peaked around 10:30 pm and was so strong you could see it with the moon lighting up the foreground!” Coughlin wrote in the YouTube description of his video. “Another wonderful light show.”
Climate>Duluth: Andrew Boyd
Climate>Duluth host Tone Lanzillo interviews author and activist Andrew Boyd in episode #29. Boyd is the author of the book I Want a Better Catastrophe,” published in 2023 by NSP Books, and co-creator and CEO of Climate Clock.
PDD Quiz: Superior School Daze
Hit the books and test your smarts with this week’s quiz about Superior schools. (And check out a similarly-themed PDD quiz on historic Duluth schools here).
The next PDD current events quiz will be published on Sept. 29. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Sept. 25. (more…)
Illustrating Hunger and Homelessness: AC Kirk
Art by Nelle Rhicard at reframeideas.com.
A group of University of Minnesota Duluth faculty, students and community artists came together to explore strategies to communicate the stories of frontline workers in housing and food insecurity. UMD students met AC Kirk, the Farms Coordinator at the Family Freedom Center in Duluth. (more…)
Sir Duluth and Father Hennepin on Mushrooms
Letters exchanged between Father Louis Hennepin and Daniel Greysolon, Sir Duluth. From a special collection at Northern Illinois University, translated from the French by Peter S. Svenson.
To: Daniel Greysolon, Sir Duluth
Montreal, New France
From: Father Louis Hennepin
Rome
Date: August 23, 1701
Dear Duluth,
Remember our exchange when you rescued me from my kidnappers? I asked you, “Do you have to look so much like a French musketeer?” And you replied, “I am literally a French musketeer. Do you have to look so much like Friar Tuck?” Forgive me. An old man on my deathbed, let me put things right. I anticipate my reward but I look back at the enemies I made. I hope you were not one. I only spent a short while in New France. And we did not know each other well. But we tore it up, didn’t we? I should think they will name a city after you someday. I will be content with a street or two named after me, perhaps a bridge. One doesn’t wish to be prideful. But you deserve your glories.
One thing bothers me. Please tell me what you remember of our time on Lake Superior, our final full day together. My memories of the event are confused. We caught no fish yet we were out there for hours.
Please accept, dear Sir, the expression of my most sincere feelings.
Louis
Morgan Park church wins place on national registry
United Protestant Church member Bob Berg, left, Moderator Marna Fasteland and Pastor Mitch Nelson stand in a back balcony inside the church sanctuary. The Morgan Park church was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
A monumental concrete block church constructed by idle steelworkers in early 19th-century Morgan Park earned national recognition last month and will be a stop on a historic building tour this weekend in Duluth. (more…)
Duluth playwright interviewed on NME
Duluth playwright Mark Stanfield was interviewed for an article published this week in the British arts and culture website New Musical Express, or NME. (more…)
Ian Alexy – “Dancing in the Dark”
Ian Alexy offers a take on Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” on his new EP of cover songs titled Campfire Extraordinary.
The performance footage in the video was shot by Sarah Jane Hale with assistance and lighting by Dan Dresser. The additional footage is from two educational films, Asking for a Date (1949) and Show ’em the Road (1954).
Armory fundraiser event seeks art submissions
The Armory Arts and Music Center is celebrating the 109th anniversary of the Historic Duluth Armory on Nov. 15. The fundraising event will feature 20-25 artists and their works, focusing on the theme of the evening: Preservation. (more…)
Postcard from the Willard Motel
This undated postcard shows the Willard Munger Inn circa 1970, when it was simply the “Willard Motel.” It is still in operation in Duluth’s Norton Park neighborhood. (more…)
The Duet of a Lifetime: Viola Turpeinen and William Syrjälä
North Shorror! 2024 Call for Art
It’s time to reanimate those brains!
North Shorror! 2024 will be taking place from Oct. 11 to Nov. 2 at the St. Louis County Depot in Downtown Duluth. The annual eerie event features regional artists of all kinds in celebration of the spookiest season. The aim is to create an extraordinary space to build community connections … while also giving visitors the chills. And the organizers are looking for art to fill up the Haunted Art Gallery and visitors’ senses to do just that. Check out the Call for Art to learn more, and see the Proposal Form to send in an idea. Proposals are requested by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22. Earlier submissions are appreciated.
Minnesota State All Fair Hair Team 2024
From the guy who brings us the annual All Hockey Hair Team, here’s an abbreviated rundown of what was flowing at the Minnesota State Fair.
Ripped at Tom’s Burned Down Café in 2004
[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Twenty years ago the Sultan of Sot paid a visit to the Town of La Pointe on Madeline Island and composed this article for the September 2004 issue of the Ripsaw magazine.]
Holy crap is it a beautiful night out here on Madeline Island. It’s warm, with a cool breeze coming off the lake, and I’m sprawled out on the sidewalk polishing off a 40 of Mickey’s Fine Malt Liquor and watching the Northern Lights burn across the entire sky, like the good Lord himself is vomiting white Russians all over the universe. I’m thankful to be alive. I’m lucky to be alive, too, as there are a lot of ways to die on this island, all of them alcohol related.
The downtown La Pointe area is small and concentrated, so it’s not unusual that a cop car has cruised by me a few times now. Each time I wave, and the cop waves back, because everything is fine; the speed limit here is 40 oz. See, unlike most of the United States of America, it’s perfectly legal on Madeline Island to walk around town with a beer in your hand, as if you live in a free country. You can carry your bottled or canned brew from one bar to the next, or just sit on a hollow log in front of the Chamber of Commerce and chug away. This place has everything Duluth has an ordinance against. (more…)
Old World Lakewood Pump House
A fun local architecture channel to be aware of, Arches and Columns. The latest video is about the pump house.
Lanue – “Song For Luella”
Trampled by Turtles – “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
Trampled by Turtles performed the Bob Dylan classic “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” at Thompson’s Point in Portland, Maine on June 30.
Lanue – “Fire in My Mind” aboard Papa Gaucho on Lake Superior
Sarah Krueger goes sailing with Jerree Small, Alan Sparhawk and Emma Deaner in the new Lanue video for the title track of the 2022 EP Fire in My Mind.
The video was shot last fall by Keely Zynda with sound and additional editing support by Ethan Gibbs.
Duluth-area Theater Primer 2024-2025
The time of year for pumpkin lattes, hawk migrations and dramatic performances is upon us. Though plays happen year-round, the fall is when most theatrical organizations begin a new season of productions. This primer lists upcoming shows from a dozen Duluth-area theater entities, but first gives an overview of other theater options in the region. (more…)
Steve Solkela – “Son imbrogliato io gia”
Steve Solkela performs his favorite aria in this promo video for the intermezzo opera La Serva Padrona, which runs Sept. 11-12 at the Lyric Center in Virginia and Sept. 13-15 at the Douglas County Historical Society in Superior. (more…)
Downtown Duluth 1964
This photo of Downtown Duluth, found on the French-language edition of Wikipedia, is dated Sept. 1, 1964. It shows East Superior Street from Lake Avenue looking northeast with the Hotel Duluth at center frame. Note the NorShor Theatre still had its tower marquee, which was dismantled in 1967. (more…)