Zombie Media: Honey West, the Girl from Uncle and More
I’m still amazed at the media I am finding around town — especially since Best Buy announced it will no longer sell movies or TV shows on DVD or Blu Ray. Will we see a resurgence in the medium in ten years, as vinyl and even cassettes have come back lately? (more…)
Spookin’ at the Irvin: An Inside Look at the Duluth Haunted Ship
All photos by Erik Poffenberger
Most Duluthians can say they have taken the Duluth Haunted Ship tour, but how many have been on the other side? Every year this haunted attraction reaches out to invite volunteers to participate in the spooking instead of being spooked. I was able to get behind the scenes, uncover the creepiness and see how organizers of this historically haunted attraction keep things afloat (get it?) throughout the season. (more…)
Beyondbliss – “Try Tomorrow”
Beyondbliss is joined by Slug and Jaze on this track from his new album Born Deaf. The visualizer was made with an artificial intelligence program.
What happens every time Kip uses his view camera in public
“No. Seriously. Every time,” Duluth photographer Kip Praslowicz insists.
New Collections, Projects and Ideas for Publishing Mentorships
As a teacher of writing at the University of Minnesota Duluth, I’m both concerned with how students learn to express themselves and how they position themselves for lives and careers after graduation. Of late, I’ve been trying to develop coursework and experiences for students that prepare them for careers in publishing. This includes learning about BookTok, developing materials to explain the difference between an editor and an agent, and more. (more…)
Climate>Duluth: Julie Etterson and Jonna Korpi
Climate>Duluth host Tone Lanzillo interviews Julie Etterson and Jonna Korpi ahead of the upcoming University of Minnesota Duluth climate change conference, Our Climate Futures: Equity & Inclusion at the Center, to be held Oct. 23-24.
Untethered: Patricia Canelake
Over the summer, Prøve Gallery hosted Untethered, an exhibition of paintings and prints by Patricia Canelake of Knife River. In this video by Frank Sander, Kelsey Lundberg interviews Canelake about the simple figures and animals, leashed and unleashed, that are the focus of her work.
Postcard from Spruce Point Motel in Beaver Bay
Featured here are two undated postcards from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography that promote the Spruce Point Motel in Beaver Bay. The older card shows how it was originally a one-story structure before the second story was added. (more…)
Duluthians at the Twin Cities Book Festival
The Twin Cities Book Festival was held on Saturday, Oct. 14. The event “offers bibliophiles all the joys of in-person browsing, meeting writers and publishers, and activities for readers age 1 to 101,” according to its website. (more…)
PDD Quiz: Halloween Happenings 2023
This week’s quiz previews area Halloween hijinks. For even more spooky events, check out the Halloween category on the PDD event calendar.
A current events PDD quiz comes your way on Oct. 29. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Oct. 26. (more…)
Free Republic of Duluth Funnies, 2005
Below are artifacts from the Richardson brothers 2005 Free Republic of Duluth events. The idea was a Duluth secession into a city-state embodying Situationist ideas of art-as-life. It culminated in a community art event at Washington Studios where these were displayed. Allen and I created these in the spirit of détournement, the practice of subverting commercial art like comic strips to revolutionary ends. Our house became a collaborative artspace freakout, reflected in the fact that the lettering in the last strip was done by someone I can’t remember, it could have been anyone, some citizen of the Free Republic … (more…)
The Slice: The Great Catsby
A wandering cat in Duluth’s Lakeside neighborhood was memorialized in bronze back in 2017. In this video, artist Ann Klefstad tells the story of the Great Catsby, who sits near 40th Avenue East and the Duluth Lakewalk.
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.
A Show Stopper for Debbie in Duluth
Duluth is mentioned on the Hulu comedy mystery series Only Murders in the Building. In season 3, episode 3 — titled “Grab Your Hankies” — actress Linda Emond plays the role of Donna DeMeo, an investor in a Broadway musical who believes strongly in the importance of show-stopping songs that will draw in people like “Debbie from Duluth.”
Longtime PDD readers will recall that Steve Martin, co-creator of Only Murders in the Building, posted a clever Duluth tweet in 2012 after playing a concert at Bayfront Park.
The Junk Food Film Festival – April 2024 at Zinema
Hey all, this is my festival; I run it with my partner Marin. We used to host a film series called Midnight Movies at 7 at the Zinema and this will very much be in the same vein. We’ll be giving away prizes, have special guests, and eat a ton of junk food.
Please make sure to follow us on Facebook; we’ll be revealing the lineup in the months ahead as we get ready.
Mystery Photo: McDowell Sisters
This old cabinet card photo, for sale on eBay, was shot in Duluth. Several details are provided, but some mysteries persist. (more…)
Selective Focus: Brittany Plachecki
Applying their studies in art history, excitement for horror and queer theory, Brittany Plachecki creates colorful character designs. One of their most recent projects was co-founding Pride Walks Superior, a collaborative initiative to get LGBTQIA2S+ youth involved in an affirming, creative, and kid-friendly-setting. Pride Walks also helped introduce young artists to the process of doing gallery shows, documenting their work, and selling it. Brittany’s pieces are perfect for getting into the spirit of fall and spooky season. View photos of their art and a recent interview about their work below: (more…)
Beyondbless – “Born Deaf”
The latest from Superior-based rapper David Kittelson, aka Beyondbliss, is the title track from his recently released album Born Deaf. The video uses artificial intelligence to take a trip through a human ear and experience sound for the first time as Kittelson raps about what he went through as a child born deaf.
Gunnar Birkerts and Intuitive Synthesis: The Place of the Duluth Public Library in the History of Modern Architecture
Duluth Public Library in the November 1980 issue of Architectural Record.
Last month, an article appeared in the Duluth News Tribune about the decision to demolish the Duluth Public Library and replace it with something smaller in a shared building. The reasons provided for demolition instead of restoration mostly involve challenges to reprogramming and subdivision created by structural pillars, expensive building systems like insulation in serious need of replacement, and other issues related to years of deferred maintenance. (more…)
The History of Cloquet, Pierre the Pantsless Voyageur and Duluth’s Missing Vermeer
Excerpts from Scions of Cloquet by Jean-Michel Cloquet (1946, out of print)
“In 1820, when he was 17 years old, the Frenchman Pierre Cloquet boarded a packet ship in Le Havre and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. He was trying to escape his father, like many of us try to do, perhaps all of us. He just wanted a little peace and quiet. By a certain measure, he found it in the territory eventually known as Minnesota. Pierre (or Grandpère Cloquet as my brother and I refer to him) became a legendary voyageur and fur trader 20 miles southwest of Duluth, trapping, hunting, and occasionally bear-wrestling. Over two decades of working for the American Fur Company, he built his own trading post where metal tools shipped in and beaver pelts shipped out. He gradually adopted native dress, and he married into a Black-Ojibwe family out of Michigan, sought-after guides and translators. And, right around the collapse of the beaver pelt industry in 1843, he inadvertently founded the town of Cloquet. (more…)
Breanne and Anya Tepler – “It’s Time to Go to Bentleyville”
It’s not quite time to go to Bentleyville yet, but members of the Tepler family have a new music video ready for when Duluth’s annual holiday light display opens Nov. 18. (more…)
Rachael Kilgour – “Ontario”
“Ontario” is the third single from Duluth native Rachael Kilgour‘s new album, My Father Loved Me.
Postcards from Bill’s Mount Silver Motel and Cabins
The postcard above, and the one below, were both published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography circa the 1950s. And both were made to promote Bill’s Mount Silver Motel and Cabins on Silver Cliff Bay, northeast of Two Harbors. The location now features private residences. (more…)
Hayward record and book store will move to Duluth
The former Riverside Flooring building at 1814 W. Superior St. in Lincoln Park will be home to a new record and book store. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
A Superior native and long-time music collector who haunted some legendary, long-lost Twin Ports area record stores plans to open his own shop in Duluth’s Lincoln Park Craft District.
Todd Hanson, owner of Hole in the Wall Books and Records in Hayward, has announced plans to open a new store in the former Riverside Flooring building at 1814 W. Superior St. this fall. The store will be called River City Records and Books. (more…)
Poet Laureate Collection unveiled at UMD
The Twin Ports area has long been a literary center for Minnesota. Now, the history of the literary community in Duluth is open and available to researchers and readers alike in the Archives and Special Collections of the Kathryn A. Martin Library at the University of Minnesota Duluth. The Poet Laureate Program is the heart of a collection of materials available to the public. (more…)
Northeastern Minnesota Book Award Winners for 2023
An old fire tower in the north woods, a busy Duluth harbor on the day tall ships arrive, and an 1894 murder on Minnesota Point are just some of the settings for books honored in this year’s Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards. (more…)