Paul Lundgren
Wicked Storm in Duluth
4:30pm — Holy cow the emergency siren went off and a tornado watch has been issued in Duluth. I can’t remember ever hearing that siren go off for realsies before. And it’s so nice out.
According to the National Weather Service’s Duluth forecast office: “Hail and heavy rain reported on Highway 20 just inside St. Louis County.”
4:50pm — It’s actually a severe thunderstorm warning. The tornado watch siren was sounded by mistake. And it’s still sunny and hot in Duluth.
5:30pm — Clouds are creeping in. Faint traces of drizzle. People who are mowing their lawns have begun jogging.
5:45pm — Rumblings in the distance. Is that thunder or an airplane?
6:00pm — A little lightening over the hill. The storm seems to be mostly north of Duluth.
6:20pm — Things seem to be slowly shifting … slowly … holy cow! Run for cover! Or grab a swimsuit and have some fun! No! Don’t do that! Haaaaail! Watch out for flying deck furniture!
6:25pm — Whew. I guess that’s it. Just a little rain now. National Weather Service’s Duluth forecast office: “An aluminum flag pole was snapped in half by the wind (in Proctor). Pea-size hail.”
8:15pm — Lordy mama! Is it coming back? Yikes. Well … I guess it’s not as furious this time. Or maybe I’m less easily impressed.
9:16pm — National Weather Service’s Duluth forecast office: “A 6-to-7-inch-diameter tree snapped off, State Highway 27 (in Brule).”
Another opportunity for Amsoil
Superior-based Amsoil is paying $6 million for naming rights to the new arena at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. So, is $20,000 too much to ask to get the logo tattooed on a dude’s arm?
I mention this because a guy from Superior has taken out an ad on Craigslist offering his arm “to be tattooed for an advertisement.” Specifically, he notes it will go on his forearm and be approximately 2-1/2 inches by 7 inches.
Break out the jean jackets, Tribute Fest is two months away
Oooooh yeeeeeah, you better believe Perfect Duluth Day is a proud sponsor of Tribute Fest at the Buffalo House.
Another PDD birthday is upon us
Next Tuesday, June 29, is the 7th anniversary of the first post on Perfect Duluth Day — which is what we call PDD’s birthday.
We’ll be having a little cocktail affair, as usual. This year it will be at Pizza Luce, in the bar. Let’s say 8:30ish.
There will be a tofu raffle, we’ll give away our last two-dozen PDD bumper stickers and … gosh, I don’t know, maybe you should dress up as your Gravatar.
Anyway, mark your calendar or whatever. I’ll remind you again next week.
By the way, trivia fans, PDD shares its birthday with comedian Richard Lewis and actors Gary Busey and Slim Pickens.
Romano’s is Jacqui’s
What’s with the cute little curtains at Romano’s Grocery?
Romano’s, 231 E. Superior St., has been transformed into Jacqui’s Deli, Grocery and Gifts. Homemade soups and sandwiches is the focus.
It opened June 16.
Minnesota Skipping Club
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz0weT2E9oc
Superior reeks with booze and filth
This headline and illustration are from the August 18, 1917 issue of the Duluth Rip Saw. The story is without a byline, but was no doubt written by the paper’s publisher, John L. Morrison.
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NorShor sale to DEDA official
From the news release:
The path is now clear for the historic NorShor Theater to again become a focal point for Duluth arts and entertainment activities with the Duluth Economic Development Authority’s completed purchase of the NorShor Theater, Temple Opera building, and Norshor Annex.
Today, Mayor Don Ness announced that DEDA closed on the purchase of the buildings from Eric Ringsred and said plans are already underway to reestablish the NorShor Theater as an important part of the downtown waterfront district.
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Congratulations, Shelly M. — You’re the NASCAR Fan of the Week at the Pit Stop Bar in beautiful Proctor, Minnesota
Don’t forget to bring a designated driver. And say hi to Dozzer on behalf of PDD.
Speaking of the old Viking
Isn’t it about time for some kind of consensus on the proper rendering of the name?
Leif Ericson
Leif Erickson
Leif Ericsson
Leifr Eiraksson
Leif Erikson
Leifur Eiricksson
Lsif Erickson
What is your favorite Anglicisation? I think we can settle on “Leif” for the first name. The patronym seems to most often be either “Erickson,” “Ericson,” or “Erikson.” Duluth needs a referendum on this.
Memoir by former DNT editor/reporter Laurie Hertzel due out in September
Laurie Hertzel’s memoir, News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist, is scheduled for release in September by University of Minnesota Press. Hertzel is books editor for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and a former Duluth News Tribune editor and reporter.
Check out Ann Klefstad’s informal review and talk with Hertzel on mnartists.org.
G.B. Schneider & Co. open in West Duluth
G.B. Schneider Co. opened on Tuesday in the Denfeld Retail Center. It’s in the space formerly occupied by Grandma’s Grand Ave. Cafe. The focus is on comfort foods: ravioli, pot roast, meatloaf, etc. (more…)
Is tonight Ladies Night at your favorite bar? Dept. of Human Rights would like to know.
I’m not naming names here, but I know of at least one bar in Duluth that has Ladies Night specials.
“Gender-based pricing violates the Human Rights Act,” says Minnesota Dept. of Human Rights Commissioner James Kirkpatrick.
Five Twin Cities bars are being investigated.
Raw milk is either going to kill us or make us live forever, according to experts
Apparently, according to the Minnesota Dept. of Health, if raw milk from one dairy farm in Minnesota is contaminated with E. Coli, then raw milk in general presents a serious health risk.
And apparently, according to a dairy farm accused of having contaminated milk, there’s no way it could be their fault, even though five people have been hospitalized and the same strain of E. coli found in several animals at the farm in question has been found in the sick people.
Sure, it’s possible that the dairy industry somehow has manipulated the Dept. of Health into scaring people off raw milk from family farmers — after all, it did a good job scaring Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle last month. But isn’t it possible that one farm can screw up without an entire product being considered dangerous?
And let’s not even get into whether raw milk is healthier than pasteurized milk or not, since even that seems to be a major debate, with both sides telling us the other milk is going to kill us.
Anyway, we might as well have the regular people who don’t know anything spout off about it on PDD. So, is raw milk going to kill us or make us live forever? Or is it just as dangerous as other food products and probably not much more nutritious, but comes from a nice little farm where the cows are treated well and that’s good enough?
Gobin Pawshington rips Babwa Spry Pelts
Duluth News Tribune Editor Robin Washington got one thing right in his column this week: The DNT is not good at promoting itself.
Washington announced that city hall reporter Brandon Stahl has been promoted to investigative/special projects editor and noted some other staff shuffling. It’s supposed to be good news. It shows that the DNT intends to focus more on investigative journalism. That’s what readers want, right? (more…)
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.
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.
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…)
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.”
Are you talkin’ it off or walkin’ it off?
So, I’m walking down East Third Street, minding my own business, and a middle-aged man with a goofy smile on his face asks me: “Are you talkin’ it off or walkin’ it off?”
Is that some kind of expression? What could it possibly mean? Did I hear him right?
I’ve found that it’s best in these situations to just say something quickly and politely while continuing to walk, so I just said, “Walking it off,” and kept going.
But now that interaction is bugging me. The only implication I can think of is that maybe I’m supposed to be walking off a hangover, which I guess sort of makes sense. But how would somebody talk off a hangover? And since I wasn’t talking, shouldn’t it have been obvious I was walking it off?
Clyde Park Historical Timeline
The Clyde Iron Works restaurant and event center at Clyde Park is now open at 29th Ave. W. & Michigan St. in Duluth’s Friendly West End. Here’s a little Clyde historical timeline. (more…)
Uptown Boys at Teatro Zuccone
The Twin Ports’ only Billy Joel tribute band plays Teatro Zuccone on Friday, May 28, at 9 p.m. Stick around for Renegade Theater Co. Improv at 10:30 p.m. Cover charge: Five bucks.
The things men do for love
In a tragic follow-up story to Swan’s post from November, Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen has gotten rid of his mullet. Apparently his fiancé didn’t dig it.
What’s next? Will Frank Nichols shave his beard?
2010 Minnesota Governor Race
You’ve got until Tuesday, June 1, to pick a running mate and file your candidacy for governor in Minnesota.
Your list of opponents will surely grow in the next week, but here’s the lineup so far:
Tom Emmer & Annette T. Meeks (Republican)
Ole Savior & Todd “Elvis” Anderson (Republican)
Margaret Anderson Kelliher & John Gunyou (DFL)
Mark Dayton & Yvonne Prettner Solon (DFL)
Congratulations to Ole Savior for being more hilarious than ever this time around. Elvis Anderson? Really? Wow.
By the way, in Wisconsin the list of candidates for governor is up to 20 already. Lieutenant governor candidates run separately in Wisconsin. There are 10 of them, including Superior Mayor David Ross.
And how about the crazy scramble to run for Prettner Solon’s Minnesota Senate District 7 seat now that she’s running for lieutenant governor? No one has filed yet, but that one is bound to get interesting.
Oh, and I apologize in advance for provoking a discussion of politics.
Murder House on a Foggy Day
Reading Duluth News Tribune reporter Brandon Stahl’s series of stories on problem properties in Duluth made me think of the Murder House.
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