The colors of water
Red: Whiteface Reservoir. Orange: French River. Yellow: French River. Green: Lake Superior. Blue: Lake Superior
MMA Squirrel Fighting: Crazy Carl vs. Buster the Beast
Wild Cam North — a production of Duluth’s Brian Luoma — presents this classic mixed martial arts backyard squirrel battle. It’s a no-holds-barred contest in which Crazy Carl defends his championship against Buster the Beast.
Exploring the Cramer Tunnel
Duluth Urbex recently took an icy trudge through Minnesota’s longest train tunnel. The Cramer Tunnel, about 70 miles northeast of Duluth, connected the former LTV Steel Hoyt Lakes taconite plant with its ore dock at Taconite Harbor.
Minnesota Wolf Pack Sauntering Through a Winter Wonderland
The Cranberry Bay Pack of Wolves at Voyageurs National Park strolled past a trail camera about two weeks ago during a snowstorm. (more…)
Ingeborg von Agassiz – “Winter Dreaming”
Duluth-based electro-folk artist Ingeborg von Agassiz performs a new original song. Catch her at Clyde Iron Works on May 4 during the Homegrown Music Festival.
The Return of the Handshake
There was a brief minute at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when I thought I might never shake another person’s hand again. And I was fine with that. If we could take just one positive thing out of the widespread death, illness and cultural disturbance that began in 2020, it might be ridding ourselves once and for all of the compulsion to rub our palms together.
But even when I was in the middle of a long no-handshake stretch, full of wishful thinking about the future, I knew deep down that the germ clutch would soon return. And of course it did.
My prejudicial prediction was that most people wouldn’t want to return to handshaking, but a bunch of insistent jackasses would refuse to let it die. Then it would slowly become normal again and we’d all live with it. I was wrong. Pretty much everyone started extending their hands the moment lockdowns and mandates were eased. There was no resistance. (more…)
Surf and Slide – Great Lakes Now
Detroit Public TV produces Great Lakes Now. The show speaks to me of what we share with other Great Lakes residents and how we should quit fighting about whether or not Lake Superior is the Greatest Lake. This episode focuses on ice sailing, and lake surfing (specifically the Surfistas): “It’s about stoke.”
Mary Bue – “Bones and the Marrow”
Former Duluthian Mary Bue released “Bones and the Marrow” today, a track that will appear on her forthcoming full-length album The Wildness of Living and Dying. Bue is marking the song release with a livestream on Sunday at 3 p.m. CDT on YouTube and Facebook!
Quoth the artist: “The song is a reflection on the quest for finding love not only in a pandemic, but also in a wild and brutal post-divorce dating jungle. Ultimately it’s a healing journey of the broken heart — to slowly, gingerly allow the light to stream in.”
Diving into North Shore Photography with Christian Dalbec
For the new Twin Cities Public Television web series Outside Chance, host Chance York ventured to Two Harbors and Split Rock State Park for photography adventures with Christian Dalbec.
Jiminy Glick on hanging out with O. J. Simpson in Duluth
Twenty years ago today — March 30, 2002 — Jiminy Glick shared with Andy Richter his story of hanging out with O.J. Simpson in Duluth.
Jiminy Glick, of course, is a character played by comic actor Martin Short. The scene is from season 2, episode 6 of Primetime Glick, a series that aired on Comedy Central.
Black with Filth: Kip’s Dirty Snow Photo Adventure
Duluth photographer Kip Praslowicz offers pro tips for hunting dirty snow in spring, capturing the majestic beauty with his Sony Mavica FD7.
Selective Focus: Aaron Kloss
Aaron Kloss is a Duluth-based landscape painter with a distinctive, contemporary style. He draws inspiration from the natural world, particularly North Shore forests and wildlife. (more…)
PDD Quiz: March 2022
See how many of this month’s headlines you remember with this week’s current events quiz!
The next PDD, coming your way on April 10, will look ahead to the Homegrown Music Festival. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by April 7. (more…)
Stock Lake Superior with Seals and Orca Whales: A Modest Proposal
To the Mayor of Duluth and the City Council: I propose that the city stock Lake Superior with seals, and a community of orcas to keep the seals in check. This plan increases annual tourist revenue by $300,000,000. I outline my proposal below with expenditures.
Seals can live in freshwater. The only population of exclusively-freshwater seals is native to the ratchet Lake Baikal in Russia, the Baikal seals. But geopolitical issues preclude obtaining breeding pairs. Therefore we need to look closer to home: Quebec has harbor seals in a couple lakes, a subspecies of the common seal called the Ungava seal. But, the Ungava is endangered so if we import them, we should establish a breeding program, increasing expenses.
Fortunately, Iliamna Lake in Alaska has a population of common seals trapped there. I suggest we capture and import specimens from that population to get ours started. Technically saltwater seals, the common seals’ adaptability to freshwater has been proven which will give them a head start in Lake Superior. I’ll throw in a couple Ungavas on the house to increase genetic diversity. Estimated cost of capturing and importing 100 breeding pairs of seals from Lake Iliamna: $3,500,000. (more…)
Cloud Cult – “When You Reach the End”
The new music video from Cloud Cult was made by artist Annabelle Popa. It features sped up footage of handwritten lyrics and accompanying drawings — with band leader Craig Minowa faded into the background. (more…)
Ingeborg von Agassiz – “Every Animal Every Child”
A live performance of a new original song by Duluth-based electro-folk artist Ingeborg von Agassiz.
Postcard from Lookout Point
“Lookout Point” is probably meant in a generic sense in this postcard, as in “a lookout point.” And if the illustration is based on what a specific piece of Lake Superior shoreline looked like roughly a century ago, that shoreline has obviously changed in appearance over time. (more…)
Cloud Cult – “Song from Oblivion,” “Victor,” “Back Into My Arms”
From the woods of Wisconsin, Craig Minowa of Cloud Cult performs three songs from the band’s recently released album Metamorphosis. Shot for the Soundcheck podcast on a balmy 30-degree day, the three clips feature Minowa playing in the snow with an acoustic guitar, with the rest of the band on backing tracks. (more…)
This Tugboat Just Sank at the Slip
Picture from last winter skating at the Slip by the tugboat Lake Superior. Paul Scinocca broke the story with a photo of the wreck on his social media. The boat had been out of service for some time, and will be so yet, I reckon.
Japancakes – “Duluth 7.5”
Twenty years ago today — March 21, 2002 — the band Japancakes released its album Belmondo as volume 19 of Darla Records’ ambient Bliss Out series. The album features the track “Duluth 7.5.” Note, however, that the tune gets second-class status among music that references Duluth because the band is from Athens, Ga., and therefore is almost certainly referring to Duluth, Ga.
Chickenbone George holds court
“Chickbone George” Alan Sparhawk of the Black-eyed Snakes encouraged the crowd to “dance against tyranny” Saturday at Duluth Cider during the “Stand with Ukraine” concert. Charlie Parr opened the show.
Chaotic Good
All names have been changed in this essay, not for each person’s privacy — just for fun.
I’m under the impression, based on the stunning aggregate of books, songs, poems, movies, and even body sprays about the subject, that I’m not the only person who truly was at a crossroads at age 17. By way of possible explanation, for many more years of my life than I’d like to admit, I labored under the very firm and very erroneous impression that I needed to be perfect in order to deserve love. What is even more absurd is the fact that, to preserve this external façade of imperturbable perfection, I believed I had to hide, disguise, or elaborately lie about most of who I was.
But by 17 years old, this had reached something of a fever pitch, the world having grown so much more complex and rife with nefarious but terribly desirable options. For example, I was a newly-minted cigarette smoker, having discovered that cigarettes were the missing piece in my anxiety repertoire. They created a self-reinforcing feedback loop in my neuronal network in which I smoked to relieve anxiety, and then smoking made me more anxious — a glorious oscillation that kept me jangly and on the edge of my seat, but also hiding episodically in the Harbormaster’s bathroom during school lunch to smoke, so no one would know I was a smoker. (more…)
Duluth’s Sadkin release Mirage
Sadkin | Mirage
Mirage, Sadkin’s new single, is out on all major streaming services, including Bandcamp. We cordially invite you to have a listen. (more…)
The Slice: Carl Gawboy
Carl Gawboy’s exhibit “New Paintings, Old Stories” is on view at the American Indian Community Housing Organization’s Dr. Robert Powless Cultural Center on Fridays from 4 to 6 p.m. until May 27. (more…)