Rachael Kilgour – “Heart on Fire” (live at The Current)
Duluth native Rachael Kilgour visited The Current studio for a session hosted by Radio Heartland’s Mike Pengra. She played three songs from her 2023 album My Father Loved Me, including the track featured here, “Heart on Fire.”
Jesus Christ Meets Bob Dylan in a Hotel Room in Tucson, 1978
Bob: I’m ready to accept you, Lord.
Jesus: Not so fast there Bob. I need you to do something first.
Bob: Name it Lord.
Jesus: I need you to rub out Jimmy Gravante.
Bob (stunned): The hitman?
Jesus: Your successor in the Duluth family, after you got out and became — this (gestures around). You know Jimmy — the sniper who blew you off your motorcycle in 1966 in Woodstock.
Bob: He hit the bike, man, not me. Sniper my ass.
Jesus: I’m going to need you to check your tone.
Bob: I’m sorry Lord. It’s just that he wasn’t even at 200 yards. He’s more like a potshot expert than a sniper. And my divorce is killing me. I just got off a world tour and my adrenal glands feel squeezed dry like little raisins. Think I’m coming down with something (sniffles). (more…)
Grandma’s Marathon 2023 Double: One More Time
Once again, Eric Strand and his crew run from the Grandma’s Marathon finish line to the start, then turn around and run the official marathon. They call it the “12th annual” though it’s technically the 11th, since the first was in 2012 and the run didn’t happen in 2020.
Dirty Knobs – “More Fire in More Places”
“More Fire in More Places” is the fourth release from the new Dirty Knobs album, Songs About Everything Dying Around Us, Including Us.
Smelt parade seeks new leader as founder retires
Run, Smelt, Run! Parade photo via Magic Smelt Puppet Troupe Facebook page.
Dressing up as a silver fish in late spring could become weird again. After eleven years of marches normalizing smelt fashion on the Lake Superior boardwalk, the annual Run, Smelt, Run! Parade could be making its final march on May 26. (more…)
The Slice: Naming Life Parade and Deep Fake Five
Cameron Mathews explains how the bands Life Parade and Deep Fake Five got their names.
In its series The Slice, PBS North presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
The Will and the Way
Judy Gibbs introduced me to The Will and the Way series of books about the creation of a number of Duluth institutions. (more…)
Postcards from Passage Island Lighthouse at Isle Royale
This undated postcard, published by the E.C. Kropp Company, shows Passage Island Lighthouse and the rugged shore at Isle Royale on Lake Superior. (more…)
Sarah Seidelmann and Her Spirit Guides
Sarah Seidelman in her studio.
Sarah Seidelmann is one of the four Arrowhead regional artists selected for the Grand Marais Art Colony Studio 21 Gallery this summer. She premiers her work at her exhibit, Making Love Visible beginning with the June 1 opening event. The show is on display through June 29. (more…)
PDD Geoguessr Challenge #18: Duluth’s Sister Cities – Thunder Bay, Canada
Thunder Bay, Canada. Photo based on an interpretation of aerial imagery by Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The last of the sister cities in this series is the first. Thunder Bay was the original sister city of Duluth, a relationship that formally began in 1980. While the Twin Ports is the largest metropolitan area on Lake Superior, Thunder Bay is the largest city, with a population of 110,000. (more…)
Bob Dylan on Duluth and Minnesota
Some Duluthians think Bob Dylan hates Duluth and Minnesota. What has Bob Dylan actually said?
I’d heard rumors Dylan was a Duluth hater, but then I read the liner notes to his 1974 album Planet Waves, where he wrote: “Duluth! Duluth — where Baudelaire Lived/& Goya cashed in his Chips, where Joshua brought/the house down!” These are not the words of someone who hates Duluth. These words lionize the city in terms of literature and mythology. A song on the album mentions Duluth too. From “Something There is About You“: “Thought I’d shaken the wonder/And the phantoms of my youth/Rainy days on the great lakes/Walkin’ the hills of old Duluth.” Duluth as a city of wonder and phantoms: who among us cannot relate?
Growing up in Hibbing, Dylan had family in Duluth and Superior. As a teen he went to Minneapolis more and more, and that became his jumping-off point to the world. But the Northland never left him. From his autobiography Chronicles, Volume One (2004 edition), one reads many references to Duluth, Hibbing, Minneapolis, and Minnesota as a whole. (more…)
Homegrown Music Festival 2024 Photo Slideshow
This year was the third in row that I lugged my heavy camera around during the Homegrown Music Festival and attempted to be a photographer. Above are the 86 best photos I could muster. (more…)
Dirty Knobs – “The Seal Cannot Be Past the Door”
“The Seal Cannot Be Past the Door” is the third release from the new Dirty Knobs album, Songs About Everything Dying Around Us, Including Us.
Make Music Day Superior Open Call for Musicians
Siggy’s Musical Garden is presenting the third annual Make Music Day in Superior on June 21, the day of the year with the most daylight. The goal of the event is for “every kind of musician — young and old, amateur and professional, of every musical persuasion” to set up on “streets, parks, plazas and porches to share their music with friends, neighbors and strangers.” The open call application for musicians is online at makemusicday.org/superior.
Versions of Make Music Day take place all over the world. Last year Superior had about 40 musical acts performing mostly outdoors.
Rachael Kilgour – “Ontario” (live at The Current)
Duluth native Rachael Kilgour visited The Current studio for a session hosted by Radio Heartland’s Mike Pengra. She played three songs from her 2023 album My Father Loved Me, including the track featured here, “Ontario.”
Duluth authors Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence return to UMD to share insights with students
University of Minnesota Duluth alumni Meg Hafdahl and Kelly Florence spoke to students in the Writing Studies major in April. Hafdahl and Florence offered tips, tricks and profound insights into the publishing process. (more…)
WDSM 10 p.m. News Final: Walt Jensen and Don Wright
This 1964 newspaper clipping, for sale on eBay, shows Duluth television newscasters Walt Jensen and Don Wright at the WDSM-TV anchor desk.
WDSM was Duluth’s first VHF television station, launching in black and white on March 1, 1954. Color broadcasts started in 1965. In 1974 the call letters were changed to KBJR.
Cloud Cult – “I Am a Force Field”
Cloud Cult has returned with a new single, “I Am a Force Field.” The video was directed by Jeff D. Johnson of Motion 117 Productions. (more…)
The Slice: Naming ZOZATRAS
Luke Moravec explains how his one-man band, Zeb or Zeke and the Run Away Screamings, was named.
In its series The Slice, PBS North presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
Welcome to the Thirteenth Floor
Local and worldwide authors attended the celebration of the Nemadji Review. The 13th issue is titled “The 13th Floor.”
Tina Higgins Wussow, one of many local luminaries, read during the event. (more…)
Selective Focus: A Late Spring Aurora Borealis
Northern Lights on the shore of Lake Superior at Glensheen Mansion. (Photo by Mike Mayou)
A startlingly strong Northern Lights show was visible across the United States this weekend, viewable from even the Florida Keys. Instagram is brimming with spectacular shots from in and around Duluth thanks to this solar storm. (more…)
Figure Painting at DPL
Saturday, the owner of Rogue Robot Games & Comics led a free class in figure painting at the Duluth Public Library. (more…)
Charlie Parr – “Boombox”
In the past two weeks a pair of videos have been released for the Charlie Parr song “Boombox.” Above is the “official” version, directed and animated by Kev Craven. Below is an alternate version, shot and edited by Adam Jones and starring William Silbey. The song is from Parr’s recently released
18th album, Little Sun. (more…)
Train Day at the Depot
Saturday was National Train Day. The Depot was hopping, and I loved it. Picture of a very cool train set below. (more…)
PDD Quiz: Twin Ports in Bloom
Stop and smell the roses with this week’s garden (and garden-adjacent) PDD quiz!
The next PDD quiz will review May 2024 headlines and will be published on May 26. Submit question ideas to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by May 22. (more…)