Big Top Songwriting Competition 2010
The deadline to enter Big Top Chautauqua’s annual songwriting competition is coming up June 25. Last year, James Moors of Superior and Tracey Muench of Duluth were finalists. It’s part of Big Top’s Celebration of the Song Festival, a 3-day focus on songwriting and songwriters.
Info and entry forms are available at bigtop.org/canvas
The winner of this year’s contest gets a $100 cash prize and performs two songs to open for Nanci Griffith on August 28.
Duluth’s Sound Unseen Film+Music Festival in full swing this weekend!
If you’re wondering what “Sound Unseen” is and are seeing people around town sporting badges, T-shirts, carrying programs and what not — wonder no more! Duluth’s inaugural film + music festival has been underway since Wednesday and you can still come out and be a part of it! Tickets are available at: soundunseenduluth.com.
Today we’ve got loads of films playing at Spirit of the North Theater at Fitger’s, Zinema 2 and Marshall Performing Arts Center. Also, get ready for some great rock and roll from local darlings the Keep Aways, Twin Cities rockers Gasoline Silver and the electrifying duo of Gay Witch Abortion! All for the very very low price of $5!
Interesting article.
Interesting article over at Salon.com about aid making it to Gaza. It seems Hamas has a little bit to do with the aid not getting where it should. Color me surprised.
But hey, let’s just blame Israel instead.
Melody Matters: A Benefit Concert for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Northland
For their Senior Capstone project, Marshall School seniors Katie Kronzer, Yoon Tack, Gunnar O’Neill Sengbush, and Hannah Curwin will be hosting a benefit concert for the Boys & Girls Club of the Northland. The concert will feature the four seniors performing popular songs from artists such as John Mayer, the Wreckers, Jason Mraz, and the Beatles. Please come and join them in supporting the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Northland!
Melody Matters:
A Benefit Concert for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Northland
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
6 pm in the Fregeau Auditorium
Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students. Donations are encouraged. All proceeds go directly to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Northland
Western Middle School site. Discuss.
As a hardcore environmentalist and a Red Plan critic, I am rather befuddled by all the talk of an EIS for the Western Middle School.
To be quite honest, the Western Middle School on the chosen site is the one part of the Red Plan I actually support. As an avid outdoor explorer, I think I’ve made tracks in just about every wild spot in Duluth, this one included. I can tell you the “pristine field” critics talk about is mostly an invasive buckthorn hell. Putting a middle school there, if done right, could lead to ecological restoration and native landscaping to improve a highly disturbed ecosystem.
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Oh hell no! Fred Tyson on Howard Stern?
There is a rumor going around that Duluth’s own Fred Tyson is flying out to New York City to be on the Howard Stern Show next Thursday.
Apparently he’s one of the final three in some sort of contest to become a new member of the Wack Pack, which is a collection of oddball personalities that appear on the show semi-regularly.
This ought to be interesting.
CHUM Rhubarb Recipe Contest
Calling all Rhubarb Lovers:
The Rhubarb crop is up and being harvested. The Rhubarb Festival is just around the corner (June 26), and the NEW deadline to enter the Rhubarb Lovers’ Recipe Contest is coming up on June 10. But, where are the recipes?
Is it too nice to be working in the kitchen? Too busy harvesting rhubarb to get your recipe entered? YOU FORGOT! Don’t miss the NEW deadline, June 10 … get that favorite recipe in today!
Call 218-720-6521 or go to chumduluth.org’s Rhubarb Festival page for more information. Send your entry to CHUM Recipe Contest, 102 West 2nd Street, Duluth, MN 55802 or [email protected].
Link to the Rhubarb Lover’s Recipe Contest:
https://www.chumduluth.org/recipecontest.htm
Select Images from Denfeld’s first Oracle
Before there was a school called Denfeld, high school classes in West Duluth were held at Irving School. (more…)
Fundraiser for Haiti foundation Sunday 6/6
Haiti Worthy Cause Event
Supporting the Kako Foundation
Music/storytelling/Caribbean food
Sunday, June 6, 2010 | 3 p.m.
Chester Park United Methodist Church
819 N. 18th Ave. E
218 724-4969
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Prom Night in Mississippi
Monday, 7:30 PM, Zelda Theater in the Depot
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_zAEGAZoFQ&feature=player_embedded
In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the integration of segregated schools in America, including their events. In 1970 the town of Charleston, Mississippi, finally allowed black students into their one high school. White parents refused to integrate the school Graduation Dance, starting a tradition of separate, parent-organized White Proms and Black Proms. In 2008, it changed. “Prom Night in Mississippi” follows the disturbing, surprising, and hope filled steps to the first integrated prom at Charleston High School.
This is the second in the series of three “Free Movie Mondays” offered by the Duluth Art Institute. Tour the exhibit “National Geographic Greatest Portraits” for free from 6:30 to 7:30 then join everyone in the Depot’s Zelda Theater for a movie that provides a portrait of racism in our country today.
Heads up! Two Many Banjos at Tom’s Burned Down Cafe, Madeline Island
Friday and Saturday, June 11-12
Election 2010: The Weird Stuff
As noted in a previous post, an Elvis impersonator is running for lieutenant governor in Minnesota.
Here are some other things that jump out at me from the candidate filings:
* Kenny Kalligher, co-host of Duluth Public Access Community Television’s The Average Guys is running for state auditor. He’s also a musician. Maybe you saw him at the Homegrown Music Festival, performing as Uncle Kenny.
* Longtime Republican Harry Welty is running for the State Senate in the 7th district on the DFL ticket. (By the way, Welty was my geography teacher in the 7th grade. My 9th grade civics teacher was Sam Solon, who held this senate seat for 31 years. And just to stretch these parenthetical Morgan-Park-Junior-High-related remarks out longer, I’ll note that the son of my 8th grade social studies teacher is running for judge in sixth district court 11.)
* Joe Reasbeck of Iron River is running for Congress in Wisconsin’s seventh district (currently Dave Obey’s seat; Obey’s retiring). This is, of course, the Joe Reasbeck of Google Goes to Twin Ports fame. He’s running as a Democrat.
An article in the Wausau Daily Herald notes that “in 2006 Reasbeck ran as an Independent write-in candidate for Congress in the Houston-area district formerly held by House Majority Leader Tom Delay. He raised about $4,000 from donors and ended up with less than 1 percent of the vote.”
An AP story notes that Reasbeck and other Republican candidates were officially considered independents after DeLay quit the race, but Reasbeck “said he was running as a Republican at the time and his campaign listed his party affiliation as Republican in a federal filing.”
Sam Miltich and the Big Dipper Jazz Band
Get all jazzed up with the PlayList Thursday night. Sam Miltich and the Big Dipper Jazz Band fill the studio with gypsy swing and traditional jazz tunes. Also, organic wood sculptures by Tim Byrns. Catch it at 9 pm on WDSE – PBS Channel 8.
Duluth Dentists
My former dentist retired recently and the dentist who took over his practice seems to me like he’s running a scam. After a couple of questionable experiences, I won’t be going back. I have plenty of friends who love their current places, but it seems like those dentists are all on the verge of retirement themselves. So, I turn now to PDD for advice. I am seeking a dentist who:
- Is currently accepting new patients
- Is not planning on retiring in the next 5-10 years
- Is good with children
- Won’t try to scam me on prices or leave my mouth worse off than before I went in
I never understood why people hated going to the dentist until I encountered a true scumbag years ago during an insurance switch. While most of the dentists I’ve had have been wonderful, I’ve seen the other side, and no sir, I don’t like it! So tell me please, who makes you smile?
Grand Opening of Playfront Park
The Junior League of Duluth will host the Grand Opening of the new Playfront Park this Friday, June 4, from 4 to 6 p.m. Mayor Don Ness and representatives from the Duluth Chamber of Commerce will join members of the Junior League of Duluth for the official ribbon cutting at 5 p.m.
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For the kiddos!
I just wanted to share with you all a book my wife and I published called Elephant and Hare. She wrote the story based a Maasai folk tale her grandmother told her when she was a little girl growing up in Kenya. I drew the pictures.
It went on sale this morning at our website: LetsGoSafariKids.com
Cheers!
=Hans Johnson (former Duluthian)
Sound Unseen Duluth Film+Music Festival Opening Night is Wednesday, June 2
The staff at Sound Unseen are both very anxious, nervous and incredibly excited to kick-off Duluth’s inaugural international film + music festival at Sacred Heart Music Center! If you are still on the fence about what to do Wednesday night, let us remind you that we’re premiering two films at our Opening Night: locally produced Google Goes to Twin Ports and Feed the Fish!
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Tommy, can you hear me?
Presented by Renegade Theater Company, with the Cartier Insurance Agency, 95.7 the Bridge and 102.5 the Northland’s Classic Rock FM
Music and Lyrics by Pete Townshend
Book by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff
Directed by Andy Bennett
The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The original Broadway production was nominated for 10 Tony awards. Now, Northland audiences will experience the original rock opera like never before. Local performers join forces with area rock group Cars & Trucks to present one of the greatest albums of all time on stage in a new, thrilling, once-in-a-lifetime production.
Follow Tommy as he changes from a deaf, dumb and blind boy to a pinball champion to a modern messiah. Packed with dazzling spectacle, show-stopping choreography and high-energy rock and roll, this is a production that will astound every last one of your senses. You’ve never seen or heard Tommy like this before.
Memorial Day, the real deal.
I spent the holiday getting my tires/tie rods/alignment replaced/done. If that doesn’t say holiday, I don’t know what does. It was hours upon hours at the service center, me without my laptop and not much to do.
Guy comes in with a combat wounded plate. Service shop is finishing up his transaction and employee says, “Thanks for your service, were you in Nam?”
Turns out he was. Turns out the customer service guy was as well. They talk about locations/dates and it turns out that it is highly possible the guy selling tires once upon a time flew the customer in a helicopter someplace over the jungle in Vietnam. Wow, they can’t make this up. Pair of them tell a few stories, shake hands. Thank each other for their service.
A 20-something woman waiting in line behind the Vietnam vet is waiting less than patiently. Vet leaves. Woman says something like, “What’s all the fuss?”
Just another day at the auto repair shop.
Geography of National Geographic
Tonight at 5:30 p.m. in the Duluth Art Institute Depot galleries: A tour and talk with Pat Farrell, Geography professor at UMD on the new exhibit: “National Geographic Greatest Portraits.”
Emergency Protest against Flotilla Murders 5pm Tuesday
On Tuesday, June 1, at 5 p.m., peace and justice activists in Duluth will gather at the Federal Building to denounce the Israeli government’s assault on the Gaza Freedom Convoy and call for an end to U.S. aid for Israel. (more…)
A Winter Downpour + Atlas Mts. + Hotel Coral Essex Saturday!
A Winter Downpour made its Duluth debut this past May at “New Band Night” during the Homegrown Music Festival. Now we take the second step in becoming a certified Twin Ports band by crossing the bridge for our second show and playing at Thirsty Pagan. Hope to see you there. This is a free show. Plus our friends Atlas Mts. and The Hotel Coral Essex are joining us.
Sat. June 5th @ Thirsty Pagan
10pm | 21+ | Free
A Winter Downpour | Atlas Mts. | Hotel Coral Essex
The Hold Steady in Hayward July 2
We’re so excited, we’re doing back flips here! Of course, this is leading to serious injuries and skyrocketing group insurance rates, but here’s the skinny:
Community radio station WOJB is presenting The Hold Steady with special guests The Whigs from Athens GA and Milwaukee’s best kept secret, Jaill in concert July 2 at the Lac Courte Oreilles Convention Center, four miles east of Hayward at the junction of County Highways B & K.
And only 20 bucks in advance! Tickets are available at www.wojb.org or by Visa/MC over the phone at 800-776-3689.
Bill and Ted’s Oil Drilling Adventure
Stupid stupid stupid oil industry! If you thought all this crap was bad today, it was equally bad in 1979 (“equally bad” as in “the exact same fucking problem”).