To mark the 40th anniversary of the “Weird Al” Yankovic album Dare to Be Stupid, Nick Prueher posted a Facebook Reel with a clip from a July 7, 1985 AL-TV segment on MTV in which Yankovic runs down a list of fake tour stops, including Walter & Sheila’s Cheese Hole in Superior.
Yankovic actually did play a gig in Superior that year; he was a featured act at the Head of the Lakes Fair on Aug. 9, 1985.
Duluth Mayor George D. Johnson appeared on the CBS-TV show To Tell the Truth in an episode that aired May 31, 1965 — 60 years ago today. Mayor Johnson was the second of three characters/contestants introduced on the show. The concept of To Tell the Truth is that each character is accompanied by two imposters, and the three of them answer questions from a panel of celebrities who then try to guess which of the three is the authentic person.
This video was uploaded to YouTube on March 7, 2010 — 15 years ago today. It shows someone identified as “Pat” piloting a hang glider towed by a snowmobile on the St. Louis River in the vicinity of Spirit Mountain. “Flight goes as planned and pilot releases from tow at 500 feet over ground,” the YouTube description explains. “A minute later his landing flare goes awry. Hilarity ensues.”
The Spirit Mountain Recreation Area opened for skiing 50 years ago today — Dec. 20, 1974. To mark the occasion, Perfect Duluth Day dusts off a relic from the video archive featuring Duluth businessman Manley “Monnie” Goldfine presenting the concept for developing Spirit Mountain to the Twin Ports Press Club. The date of the presentation is not known, but the year is most likely 1972.
This clip from the WDIO-TV archive is from 40 years ago today — Nov. 28, 1984. It features Duke Skorich asking questions from the then-new Minnesota Trivia Tour game.
It can be intolerable to watch a two-minute commercial break in any era, during that era, but somehow watching 13 minutes of them can be moderately entertaining with the passage of time. When commercials are fresh, the cheesiness is just too close; it’s embarrassing to our humanity. As the decades pass, the novelty supersedes the shame.
And so Perfect Duluth Day dusts off the VCR to reluctantly present a thick montage of 20-year-old TV spots.
Twenty years ago today — July 13, 2004 — President George W. Bush spoke at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center Arena to a crowd of about 8,000. He was campaigning against Democratic challenger John Kerry. In reference to Minnesota’s Iron Range, the President mistakenly said he appreciated “the good folks from Minnesota and the Iron Ridge.”
Through the advanced technology of consumer-level analog video we take a look back 20 years to KBJR-TV’s 10 p.m. news telecast from April 13, 2004.
Duluth’s 50-acre Bagley Nature Area gets its name from Dr. William R. Bagley, who gifted the land to the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Dr. Bagley’s hobby was nature photography. He was known to use a camera mounted on the stock of a gun in pursuit of wild animal photos. His family home movies, however, were probably not shot using wooden parts from weaponry.
It was 20 years ago that Duluth Entertainment Convention Center officials announced plans to build an eight-screen movie theater next to the DECC’s Omnimax theater. Within a few weeks the plan expanded to 10 screens and had the name Canal Park 10. When it opened on Dec. 22, 2004, it bore the name Duluth 10 and was operated by Cinema Entertainment Corp.
The 1971 educational film Part Way to the Majors, a documentary produced by ABC News for the Sunday afternoon series Discovery, follows the Duluth-Superior Dukes as they road trip to Sioux Falls, S.D. The film starts and ends at Wade Stadium in Duluth.
From the WDIO film archive, raw footage of Miller Hill Mall’s grand opening on July 25, 1973 — 50 years ago today. A crowd is seen gathered in the center court near the Flagg Bros store as Duluth Mayor Ben Boo and other luminaries pull apart the ceremonial ship’s chain.
Can anyone refresh my memory if this was a Hadjis or a Black Labels reunion show?
The second annual Green Man Festival was held at Spirit Mountain 20 years ago this week — July 11-12, 2003. The event featured more than 30 music acts — the Big Wu, Wookiefoot, Shannon Wright, Heiruspecs, the Black-eyed Snakes, Ol’ Yeller, Mark Mallman, White Iron Band, Cry on Cue, Spider John Koerner, Charlie Parr, Haley Bonar, etc.
Embedded above is local television news coverage of the event.
