Lake Superior Magazine 2022 Photo Contest Winners
Lanue – “Fire in My Mind” (Lyric Video)
Sarah Krueger’s musical project Lanue has a new five-song EP titled Fire in My Mind coming out April 15. The lyric video for the title track was directed by Krueger.
Sacred Heart releases album recorded during lockdown
Sacred Heart Music Center is releasing an album recorded during empty-building, pandemic-lockdown concerts live streamed over its YouTube channel in 2020 and 2021.
A listening party for Live from the Heart: The Sacred Heart Music Center Quarantine Sessions will be held from 4-7 p.m. Sunday, March 20 at Ursa Minor Brewing, 2415 W. Superior St. in Duluth. The free event will feature the first public airing of the album, CDs for sale, drink specials, pizza and more. (more…)
Trampled by Turtles announce grant and Bayfront concert
Bluegrass band Trampled by Turtles has announced its return to Bayfront Festival Park. The Duluth-formed group will perform July 9 with special guest Jenny Lewis.
The band also announced it is partnering with the Homegrown Music Festival on a grant to “battle against artistic mediocrity.” The $5,000 Palomino Grant is available to musicians in, or within 20 miles of, Duluth and Superior and can be used for things like recording, gear and touring. Applications are being taken through Google Forms, which must be submitted by the first day of Homegrown, May 1. The grant winner will play the opening slot of the Bayfront concert.
Postcard from City Loan Company of Duluth
This 90-year-old postcard, published by Curt Teich & Co. of Chicago, promotes the City Loan Company in Duluth’s Providence Building. The card is postmarked March 16, 1932. Jesse Leach of 612 N. 57th Ave. W. was the recipient.
The Providence Building opened in 1895 at 332 W. Superior St. and remains there today. (more…)
Kip found his dating profile in a dos and don’ts article
Duluth’s Kip Praslowicz was used as an example in a guide about taking the perfect dating app profile pic. And he has a few things to say about it.
The Slice: Rick McLean – “Lilies & Cilantro”
Duluth’s Rick McLean has been working on a several new songs, including “Lilies & Cilantro.” He opens the St. Paddy’s Day Bluegrass Blowout at Duluth Cider on Thursday.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV 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.
Minnesota All Hockey Hair Team 2022: Flowchella
Wind up the flow Ferris wheel, because hockey-hair video maker John King is back with his annual Minnesota High School Hockey Tournament salad reel. Congratulations to Gavin Blomdahl of Hairmantown for topping the charts and letting the game come to him.
PDD Quiz: Notable Duluth Women
In honor of Women’s History Month, this week’s PDD quiz tests your knowledge of Duluth’s women of note.
The next PDD quiz will look back at the headlines and happenings of March 2022; it will be published on March 27. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by March 23. (more…)
UMD Ombudsperson Position
The University of Minnesota Duluth is seeking an ombudsperson who is a designated neutral or impartial practitioner whose major function is to provide confidential and informal assistance to UMD faculty and staff. (more…)
Ripped at Sanitary Harry’s in 2002
[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. The Sultan of Sot penned this article for the March 6, 2002 issue of the Ripsaw newspaper. Sanitary Harry’s went out of business not long after.]
St. Louis County Highway 7 is a long, thirsty road. I started tonight’s quest in Twig, figuring there would be some combination bait, liquor and grocery store there, and the proprietor would offer me a stool, creating a bar-enough atmosphere. No such luck. If there is any booze in Twig, I can’t find it. It’s enough of a task for me just to find Twig. Any attempt to retune the radio or pay attention to traffic is enough distraction to completely miss the tiny township so feebly, yet aptly, named.
If I am anything, however, I am determined. True, quite often I am not anything, but tonight I am indeed determined; “determined” being a synonym for “thirsty.” So I keep motoring down Highway 7, and, after mile upon mile of driving through more and more nothing, I start hoping for space aliens or Sasquatch to please abduct and abuse me before I die alone of sobriety. Finally, I find a small shack in Kelsey with a bunch of Arctic Cat jackets mulling around outside it, marking the spot. Aliens, Sasquatch … the Snowmobile Monkeys of Kelsey will be close enough for me. The name of their headquarters is Sanitary Harry’s. (more…)
Mary Bue and Laura Seitz – “Aftermath”
Occasional Duluthian Mary Bue‘s new song “Aftermath” is being released today at 7 p.m. with a special livestream benefiting the Minnesota Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Co-written with children’s author Laura Seitz following the suicide of one of her friends, the song documents the grieving process. Seitz grew up in Virginia, Minn. and graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth. (more…)
Duluth Book Releases in 2022
Zero Waste Kids: Hands-On Projects and Activities to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
Written by Rob Greenfield
Illustrated by Alissa Imre Geis
Contributions from April Hepokoski, Zion Lights, Heidi Rose, Alyssa Binns Gunderson and Michelle Cassar
February
Quarry Books
Available at quartoknows.com
The Girl in Duluth
Sigrid Brown
Feb. 2
Available at amazon.com
Be the Change: Rob Greenfield’s Call to Kids―Making a Difference in a Messed-Up World
Rob Greenfield and Antonia Banyard
April 20
Greystone Books
Available at greystonebooks.com
Kekekabic
Eric Chandler
May 20
Finishing Line Press
Available at finishinglinepress.com
ARAC seeking new executive director
The Arrowhead Regional Arts Council is accepting applications for the position of executive director. This position shapes arts and culture in Duluth and the Arrowhead, so they should want the best possible pool of applicants. (more…)
Postcard from the Ski Scaffold in Duluth
The ski scaffold in this postcard should not be confused with “Big Chester,” the jump that stood in Chester Park from 1924 to 2014. The postmark on this card is March 8, 1912. (more…)
Winter of Discontent: Lake Superior Wild Ice Report 2021-22
The Wildest Wild Ice
This winter I operated as a lake observer from my hillside fortress of solitude. I dug my binoculars out and pegged them by the window to study the lake’s changes. Obsessed with the wildest wild ice — skating the big lake — I track everything to do with Lake Superior freezing. I track wind speed, wind direction, temperature, and preciptiation daily. In summer this helps me predict local water temps and clarity related to underwater video. In winter this relates to skateable ice on the biggest lake in the world.
Lindula Brothers – “A Cold Day in Duluth”
From the Lindula Brothers‘ 2020 self-titled album, a little song about coming home.
Safe Passage
For as long as I’ve been writing, and that’s been for about twenty years or so, reader, I’ve made my contact information available for people to reach out to me with questions and comments about what I write.
A couple of months ago someone sent me a message through Instagram saying that I have privilege because I can pass as a cisgender woman and also asked why I haven’t used that privilege by being more visible in the trans community. I take every question seriously—well, all the serious ones, at least, so I’ll take my time here to answer.
Passing is complicated. Even the word is complicated. I don’t use it. I blend. And there was, of course, a time when I didn’t. Being misgendered hurts. And there are trans women who are routinely misgendered throughout their transition and I’m acutely aware of that because of my own experiences early in my own transition. Is there privilege in blending? I suppose there is. Does it make my life easier? Undeniably. When I’m out in public, my identity as a woman is not questioned or rebutted at a restaurant or at a grocery store, at the clinic or anywhere I go. It gives me access. It gives me peace of mind. (more…)
The Institute for the Study of Light and Water
The Institute
I am the founder and only member of the Institute for the Study of Light and Water. In truth its membership includes all who live. Data-gathering continues from my top-floor hillside apartment, the observatory. Generous windows on every side provide views of the lake and the sky. I must complete the Institute’s studies.
Mystery Photo: The Girls
This postcard photo was taken at Arcade studio, 110 W. Superior St. in Downtown Duluth. Based on a few other Arcade photos, the prevailing theory is that the studio was called Penny Arcade until about 1915 and then became simply Arcade, or Arcade Camera Shop/Studio or Arcade Photo Supply Company. Thomas W. Furniss was the proprietor.
Who are “the girls”? Well, that detail might be lost to history. (more…)
Monthly Grovel: March 2022
This month marks two years of the pandemic messing up all the fun. The PDD Calendar has stayed on track throughout all the cancelations, online events and even the rescheduled events that were canceled again. Now, we look forward to better days.
Each month we reach out with one beggarly blog post to remind everyone that human beings and not machines are at work editing and publishing calendar events. So if you appreciate it, drop a few bucks in the PayPal account. (more…)
Duluth Album Releases in 2022
Abe Curran
Self titled
(Jan. 11)
Available on Spotify
Bigbabyjay
Latto World
(Feb. 4)
Available on Spotify and Apple Music
The Christopher David Hanson Band
Whippoorwill
(Feb. 10)
Available on Bandcamp