Paul Lundgren
R.I.P. John Munsell
University of Wisconsin-Superior professor John Munsell died on Tuesday. He taught at UWS from 1967 to 2001 and was one heck of a character.
Speaking of his characters, one of them in April 1997 was Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, shown above.
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Homegrown Band Publicity Photo Showdown: Charlie Parr vs. Actual Wolf
Charlie Parr (photo by Peter Lee)
Actual Wolf (photo by Robyn Schindeldecker)
With the Homegrown Music Festival coming up PDD launched a series of polls last week, tournament style, to determine which Duluth-area band has the sweetest pic. Last week Southwire defeated Sexhawk. This week we ask …
[poll id=”23″]
This poll is now closed. The results were:
Charlie Parr — 85.7 percent
Actual Wolf — 14.3 percent
Note: Only people who are logged in to their Perfect Duluth Day blogging account are allowed to vote (to prevent people from voting multiple times). To create an account, click here. If you need help figuring it out, click here.
Rocket Bar Renovation
The ragged building at 208 E. First St. in Downtown Duluth is being gutted of debris in preparation for renovation. Bob Monahan and his father, Robert H. R. Monahan, plan to open an “artist friendly” cafe/lounge on the main floor later this year, with a recording studio in the basement level. They have already replaced the roof on the 127-year-old building, which they are in the process of acquiring from Jack Arnold through a contract-for-deed agreement.
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It’s getting drafty around here
Right now there are 47 posts in PDD’s “drafts” folder. Items in the drafts folder are, presumably, posts that people started composing and saved with the intent of finishing later.
But maybe some of you thought you were supposed to create a draft and then the moderators publish it. That’s not how it works. We would have no way of knowing which drafts were ready to post and which were not, except to guess based on how complete we think they look.
So help us out with some almost-Spring cleaning. If you have an old draft for a post, finish it and click the blue “publish” button, or give up on it and click the red “move to trash” option.
Started off like it was going to be something
For about four hours there were blizzard conditions, but then the whole thing died out. It leaves us wondering whether this storm was worth naming or not.
Homegrown Band Publicity Photo Showdown: Southwire vs. Sexhawk
Southwire (photo by Rich Narum)
Sexhawk (photo by Caleb Renno)
With the Homegrown Music Festival coming up in three months, now seems like a good time to launch a series of PDD polls, tournament style, to determine which Duluth-area band has the sweetest pic. First up, we ask …
[poll id=”22″]
This poll is now closed. The results were:
Southwire — 60.4 percent
Sexhawk — 39.6 percent
Note: Only people who are logged in to their Perfect Duluth Day blogging account are allowed to vote (to prevent people from voting multiple times). To create an account, click here. If you need help figuring it out, click here.
Indoor Walking Options in Duluth
Duluth Skywalk system map.
A recent request that came Perfect Duluth Day’s way via Facebook from a visitor to town was for information and links on indoor walking options. There are a handful of options that will be obvious to people familiar with Duluth, but perhaps there are some less-obvious examples that will be shared in the comments.
- Duluth Skywalk System
- Miller Hill Mall
- Mariner Mall (Superior)
- University of Minnesota Duluth
- Essentia Health (Duluth medical campus)
The first three are probably the best if you don’t want to ram into people and like shopping options along the way.
The Skywalk, UMD and Essentia are the best for seeing daylight during your indoor walk.
UMD is the best one for the possibility of getting lost or plowing into someone who is rushing through the crowd to get to class.
Water-smoothed Rocks at Brighton Beach
Mary Amerman of Duluth won the grand prize in Lake Superior Magazine’s 18th annual Lake Superior Photo Contest. Her photo of the water-smoothed rocks on Duluth’s Brighton Beach was one of 1,284 images entered in the contest from 138 different cities, in 18 states, one U.S. Territory (Guam) and Canada.
Duluthian Kenji Ogura won first place in the Artsy/Altered category with a photograph of the weekly regatta. All the winners and finalists are featured in a gallery on lakesuperior.com.
Vietnamese Lotus Inn closing
The Vietnamese Lotus Inn will close on Saturday, Feb. 2. It almost lasted 10 years, having opened at 1314 Commonwealth Ave. in the summer of 2003.
Where in Duluth? — Some easy ones
From time to time on PDD we like to play a little game called “Where in Duluth?” The first person to name the location of the photo wins bragging rights.
Since this one is so easy, it will be followed up in the comments with a few more easy ones, because it just seems like the right thing to do.
“Parr flexes songwriting muscles that few artists ever attain.”
This week in City Pages reporter Natalie Gallagher talks to Duluth’s Charlie Parr about his new album Barnswallow.
The 1962 UWS Football Squad
Today on PDD we present the 1962 gridders from the “Wisconsin State College Superior,” now known as the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Why? Well the fine folks at UWS’ Jim Dan Hill Library have digitized copies of the Gitchee Gumee, the college’s yearbook — from its inception in 1909 through 1972, when it ceased publication.
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Gage Salyards’ Healing Journey
Duluth photographer Gage Salyards is battling papillary thyroid cancer, but he still has plans to study with one of the most famous and renowned travel photographers on the planet, Trey Ratcliff, in New Zealand. Obviously all of his financial resources of late have been invested into regaining his health, so he’s doing what all the artsy folks are doing these days and reaching out to the Internet for help.
See his gofundme.com campaign to make a donation, and check out his portfolio and more information about his photography at eyeamgage.com.
His workshop begins on Feb 6, so the clock is ticking. As of this posting he is 3/4 of the way to his $10,000 goal.
Duluth Album Releases in 2013
Breanne Marie
Six Strings of Peace & Sanity
(Jan. 1)
Available on Bandcamp
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Eric Swanson at Sacred Heart Studios
Duck Duck Punch
Human Chemistry
Truth No. (Jan. 15)
Available on Amazon
Dave Mehling
Broke Heart Songs (EP)
(Jan. 19)
Produced by Dave Mehling and Michael Morris; recorded at the Barn in Northfield
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A glimpse of Duluth in 1948
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulWWwAZfTJ4
Scenes of Duluth start at the 1:37 mark in this 1948 documentary on Finnish-American life in Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota. (Thanks to Dwight Swanson for the tip.)
Sax-Zim Bog in New York Times
“Welcome to the Sax-Zim Bog,” said our guide, Steve Weston. “Tonight we’ll be going through the towns of Sax and Zim, population nothing.” Moments later we drove by a snow-dusted, abandoned trailer, the front door hanging off one hinge. This was downtown Sax. Zim, a few miles to the north, wasn’t much more. Both are remnants of failed attempts to farm the bog that date back to the early 20th century. Now they are ghost towns surrounded by 200 square miles of wetlands.
Tiffany Tarrolly and Pageant Police
Former Northland’s NewsCenter reporter Tiffany Tarrolly’s new project is called “Pageant Police,” a video series critiquing the physical beauty of contestants in the 2013 Miss USA pageant.
(This post originally contained an embedded video of the “Miss Maryland USA 2013 Critique.” We have removed the video in the interest of not giving it any more attention.)
The concept of the series is essentially to say mean things about the physical appearance of women who are in pageants. So anyone annoyed by women who are in pageants can experience something worse: women who say mean things about women who are in pageants.
The only thing more annoying would be me, for posting this, but I’ll soon be eclipsed in the annoying rankings by everyone who watches this video and then comments on it.
Holiday Signs: Public Enemy #1
It has been mentioned on this site before how awful that Holiday sign is on I-35 at 27th Avenue West, but it bears repeating since it is pretty much the worst thing about Duluth, coming in just ahead of the Honking House and the fact that liquor stores can’t sell on Sundays (which is statewide, but so are the Holiday signs).
Well, I just noticed that the agenda for the Jan. 14 Duluth City Council meeting mentions that Councilor Jim Stauber will be introducing an ordinance regarding sign regulations that would seem, if I’m reading it right, to ban the Holiday sign.
[UPDATE: A closer reading of the resolution reveals that “legal, non-conforming signs are allowed to continue.” So Holiday couldn’t put up more signs with bright outlines at its stores in Duluth that don’t have them, but the ones that do have them could keep them.]
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The old Zippys Pizza Express
I was asked recently via e-mail what the name was of the pizza joint at 1830 E. Eighth St. before it was Vintage Italian Pizza (as seen in the modern photo above).
Since I spent no time at all in that neighborhood in my youth, I looked it up. (more…)
Retribution B Side
Here’s a track from, or a side of, the upcoming Retribution Gospel Choir record, titled 3. It’s a “two-song full-length” album scheduled for release by Chaperone Records on Jan. 22. The songs were tracked live in one take, with the band playing together in the same room, and featuring guest guitarist Nels Cline of Wilco.
Retribution Gospel Choir is playing the Red Star Lounge every Tuesday night this month and also will play Tycoons on Jan. 31.
Assignment: Have a PDD
I’m trying to decide if I should: a) wander around Rice’s and Connors points in search of the elusive snowy owl, b) ice skate up the St. Louis River, or c) visit the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center. Or maybe you have a better idea. I await your recommendation.
We’re feeling used
Perfect Duluth Day hit a seemingly significant, though maybe not legitimately significant, milestone recently when it crossed the threshold of having 2,000 registered users.
Registered users, of course, are the people who have created an account on this site and are able to create posts and comment on posts. (Anyone can read PDD, but in order to be involved in discussions here you must create an account and log in.)
In recognition of 2,000+ users, we present a bunch of yammering, er, useful information, about PDD user accounts. Call it answers to frequently or not-so-frequently asked questions.
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