Paul Lundgren

All your band wants for Christmas is a Homegrown gig

Band registration for the 2014 Homegrown Music Festival opens Christmas Day. Performers interested in playing the festival, which runs April 27 to May 4, must complete the online registration before Jan. 31.

This year’s Homegrown Winter Fiasco will take place Jan. 17 and will feature nine Homegrown artists playing at three Duluth music venues. The Winter Fiasco is a pre-festival showcase celebrating Homegrown volunteer sign-up and band registration. The Winter Fiasco shows are all free events and will feature volunteer sign-up stations and festival staff on site to answer Homegrown inquiries.
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Blue Laws are Stupid, post #7

MPR News: Here comes the Sunday liquor sales debate again, this time with feisty craft beer brewers

The attitude 100 years ago

Just a cheesy Dutch Boy Paint greeting card from 1913. The company printed cards with various city names, so Duluth was nothing special. Folks were in for everything back then.

Where in Duluth?

Red Eye Ski Club Duluth Promo

The Red Eye Ski Club of Eau Claire has another trip to Duluth and Lutsen planned. John Ewald was in town earlier this month to shoot this promo video. The song is “Dissolve Me” by Alt-J.

Elim Lutheran Church 1983 Directory

Here it is in all its splendor, recovered from the More Than Memories Antique Emporium in West Duluth.
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Northern Minnesota Nocturnal Offerings

Video by Mark Ellis; music by Dan Schwartz.

A G2-class geomagnetic storm broke out on Dec. 7, with Northern Lights spilling over the Canadian border into Minnesota and other states.

Duluth in a Day

vimeo.com

Road trip video by Mariah Harrison; music by Little May.

Timothy Martin & the New Norm – “Canada”

Low cover by Timothy Martin Nelson in honor of tonight’s Duluth Does Low show.

Song engineered and mixed by Tom Fabjance at Playpen Studio. The New Norm features Russell Sackett on bass and backing vocals, Walter Wedin on drums, Peter Knutson on lead guitar, and T. Bruce Bowers on space fiddle.

Is there a term for those jagged ice formations on Duluth streets?

It’s probably the worst on Grand Avenue in West Duluth, but above is a shot on Fourth Street in the Central Hillside. You know what it is and obviously it pisses you off, but what is it called? Duluth has probably never experienced it before to an extent worth coming up with a name for it.

A news release today from the city of Duluth refers to it as “caked-on ice.” Is that good enough, or does someone have a better term?
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Fresh Duluth

This 2008 Pro Video documentary, produced and directed by Tom Livingston and Jack Lind, disappeared from the internet for a while, but now it is back.

Winter Waterspouts Over Lake Superior

Video by Jordan Deters

Hartley Arch

So what is going to be the established tradition for the Hartley arch? Is it a place to stop and smooch, or take a hit from your flask? I say both.

PDD Calendar mobile version … you know, for your phone, so you can read it better

Perhaps it’s strange to pick a day when most events are cancelled to make this announcement, but … well, we do things when we get around to them so here it goes: The PDD Calendar now has a mobile version. We actually launched it on Sunday, so maybe you’ve already noticed.

If you view the calendar on a phone, you should automatically see the mobile version. (more…)

Duluth ist verdammt genial

Trampled by Turtles – “Pipe Knot”

Video by Daniel McCord, shot live at the Georgia Theatre on Nov. 14. Next local TBT gig: Dec. 21 at Papa Charlies in Lutsen.

Fond du Lac Park’s Winter Sports Center: The Lake Placid of the Northwest

The subject of Fond du Lac’s old Winter Sports Center came up on PDD once before, about a year ago. Earlier this week, I came across this Feb. 4, 1940, Duluth News Tribune clipping at the Duluth Public Library, reporting on construction of the ski jumping hill and amenities.

The floods of 1972 marked the end of this western Duluth attraction, when the ski jump was removed due to erosion.
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Thankful in Duluth — 2013 Edition

It’s an annual tradition at PDD to take a moment and reflect on what we are thankful for. How unique, right?

For starters, we’re thankful for the new old Nordic ski trails at Spirit Mountain, Sax-Zim Bog, wicked North Shore icicles, artisan bread at the Red Mug, lift-accessed mountain biking at Spirit Mountain, animated music videos, Boreal owl irruptions, Magic Smelt Puppet Troupe and a lot of other things I’m thankful I don’t have time to link to because it’s time to make the Thanksgiving glogg.
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Could Duluth lose Christmas City status?

This story is four days old, but I just heard about it and it’s pretty much the biggest controversy in the history of Duluth, so it needs some space on PDD.

Apparently the commentators of the Christmas City of the North Parade telecast — Michelle Lee, Kevin Jacobsen and Barbara Reyelts — did their announcing in front of a green screen inside the Northland’s NewsCenter studio. And they still wore jackets.

This revelation, of course, has me fearing that Santa Claus might strip Duluth of its Christmas City of the North status and perhaps bestow it on Superior or Thunder Bay.

… and now for the jury of public opinion

Duluth police officer Jouppi found not guilty of assault

[poll id=”59″]

This poll is now closed. The results are:

This is total bullshit — 90.6 percent
Jouppi was defending himself and the jury’s decision was wise — 9.4 percent

A few images from the Woodland Middle School auction

Amid the chaos of the auction, I managed to snap a few shots for posterity. I was only there for an hour, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear this auction went on from 4 p.m. to midnight. There was a lot of stuff, a lot of bidders, and things weren’t going cheaply. Wanna buy an auditorium? A pool?
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Perfect Pizza Restaurant: Thirsty Pagan

For half a century, Sammy’s Pizza dominated the local Italian pie scene with its trademark thin crust and tasty sauce. Pizza Lucé came along in 2001 and shook things up with unusual toppings and a funky vibe. These days, however, Thirsty Pagan Brewing has won over pizza connoisseurs in the Twin Ports with its deep-dish pies, loaded with Wisconsin cheese. The TPB was the clear winner in PDD’s best pizza restaurant poll.
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Bob Dylan – “Like a Rolling Stone” (2013 Interactive Video)

It can’t be embedded on PDD, because it’s a crazy interactive weirdo thing. Go to bobdylan.com to check it out. If you have slow internet, don’t bother.

As you watch the video, you can use the up-and-down arrows on your keyboard to switch between 16 different “channels” to see 16 different versions. None of the versions are particularly great, but collectively … well … it’s something different anyway.

Red Mountain — “Put Me Through”

Here’s the new video featuring Duluth band Red Mountain. The group’s album Scowl Lightly, will be released by Chaperone Records on Dec. 6.

The dancers are Erin Tope, Maeggie Licht and Grace Holden. The video was produced by Lakefront Films.

Local owl lands in national bird magazine

The new issue of Birds & Blooms (cover date: Dec/Jan) features this image of a blue moon boreal owl shot by Duluth’s Ken Greshowak.