PDDTV
Video: Great Republic arriving in Duluth, unloading in Superior
The 634-foot Great Republic thundered out a salute as it passed under the Aerial Lift Bridge on Aug. 12. This aerial video follows the self-unloading bulk carrier to Graymont Dock in Superior, where it unloads limestone via a 250-foot boom.
Honey Pie
Some deliciously in-your-face humor from Duluth’s Jean Kirwan, featuring music by The Beatles and scenes from classic films.
JamesG – “Tired”
Like most people, JamesG could sleep for one whole week, but it wouldn’t be enough.
Trail Camera Highlights from Summer 2024
The Voyageurs Wolf Project recently released a pair of montage videos with footage from the roughly 350 cameras set up in Voyageurs National Park last summer. In addition to the great wolf footage, there are lynx, bobcats, fox, bears, badgers, moose and more.
Part one is above, part two is below. (more…)
Grand Portage Ferry Terminal Flag Raising Ceremony
A redevelopment of the ferry terminal at Grand Portage, where vessels shuttle passengers to Isle Royale, was recently completed. Among the changes are a rebuilt ferry dock and public docks, a new ticketing and restroom building, and parking lot improvements. The project at Hat Point Marina and Ferry Terminal was 10 years in the making.
A flag raising ceremony was held there on Aug. 1. This video was produced by M. Baxley for WTIP North Shore Community Radio.
Alan Sparhawk’s full set at Primavera Sound Porto 2025
Duluth’s Alan Sparhawk performed at the Primavera Sound Porto music festival in Porto, Portugal on June 12. A video of the full set just hit YouTube. (more…)
Pronoya – “Dreamcatcher”
“Dreamcatcher” is the third single from Duluth band Pronoya‘s upcoming EP All for the Sun, due out Nov. 28.
Torment – “I Am the Problem”
Torment‘s new music video features scenes from Amsoil Arena captured during the band’s performance at the 2025 Homegrown Music Festival. It was shot an edited by Lane Peterson of Rainfade Media.
The song “I Am the Problem” appears on the band’s most recent release, The Pain EP.
Indecent Proposal – “Messy” (Live on Superior Street)
Duluth band Indecent Proposal provided the entertainment at this year’s Downtown Duluth Street Dance outside Dubh Linn Irish Pub. Joined by vocalist Selie, the band covers the Lola Young song “Messy” in this live music video.
Video Archive: Bridge Dancing in 1994
Before the Doris Ressl Dance Ensemble launched the annual Dances on the Lakewalk series, its original site-specific event was set at the Aerial Lift Bridge. About 1,000 people gathered on Aug. 19 and 20, 1994, to view “Bridge Dancing,” a 23-minute piece created by Twin Cities choreographer Marylee Hardenbergh. The music was simulcast by KUMD-FM 103.3, now known as WDSE-FM “The North.” (more…)
Voyageurs of Lake Superior: Where the Wild Met the World
This new documentary by Andy Kaknevicius “dives deep into the rugged, relentless world of the Voyageurs — the men who paddled, portaged and traded their way through the wild heart of the continent.”
Birch Bark Beth
When the rose petals arrive to the boreal forest and the black flies emerge, it’s time for Beth Homa Kraus to harvest birch bark for her basket weaving. This video was produced by M. Baxley for WTIP North Shore Community Radio.
Steve’s Solkela – “Finns Go Marching In”
Steve Solkela and his friends sing this “ode to all the Finnish-American pockets” Solkela has traveled to.
Robert Plant – “Everybody’s Song”
The lead single from the new Robert Plant album is a cover of “Everybody’s Song,” written by Duluth band Low. The song first appeared on Low’s 2005 album The Great Destroyer. Plant’s new record, Saving Grace, is set for a Sept. 26 release on Nonesuch Records.
This is the third time the former Led Zeppelin lead singer has released a cover version of a Low song. His 2010 album Band of Joy featured “Silver Rider” and “Monkey,” each of which also appeared on Low’s The Great Destroyer.
Lighthouse Lives Sessions: Climes
Climes is a musical project led by Drew Anderson, whose songwriting merges folkish sensibility with genre-jumping guitar and lute dulcimer. In this session from Lighthouse Recording Company in West Duluth, Anderson is joined by Steve Dalager on acoustic bass, Clif Nesseth on fiddle, and
Zach Baltich on drums. The group performs three songs — “LTK,” “Hold On” and “Lullaby.”
Video Archive: Iron Ore from the Mesabi Mines circa the 1920s
This silent documentary film depicts the mining, shipping and processing of iron ore from the Mesabi Range. Although the title confidently states 1920, other sources estimate 1926 as year the footage was shot.
Scenes from Duluth begin at the ore docks at the 1:55 mark and conclude at the shipping canal at the 3-minute mark. (more…)
Grand Marais’ New Bike Skills Park
A new bike skills park recently opened next to the Cook County Community Center, temporarily installed on the community skating rink. Superior Cycling Association President Jay DeCoux tells the story in this video produced by WTIP North Shore Community Radio.
One of the park’s users, Bo Christianson, probably summed it up best: “This place is fricken sick.”
Cold War Secrets of Northern Minnesota
This 2024 PBS North documentary, now available on YouTube, digs into the Cold War and northern Minnesota’s role in the global conflict. It features Cold War heroes like Ray Klosowski, Jim Chapman and Ronald Hein, and visits military sites in Duluth, French River and Finland.
Dāv Kaufman Eats the North Shore
Following his Duluth episode, Dāv Kaufman heads up the North Shore in this week’s edition of Dāv Kaufman Eats the World. (more…)
Music in the Weeds: Barbara Jean Meyers and Mike Lewis
A short way up the Kadunce River on the east side of Cook County, hikers on the Superior Hiking Trail can view a large natural cave next to a waterfall just off the trail. Local musicians Barbara Jean Meyers and Mike Lewis trek across the river and perform two original songs, “Big and Small” and “Traces,” inside the cave in the woods.
Music in the Weeds is a new video series from WTIP North Shore Community Radio that showcases northern Minnesota artists performing original music at scenic and meaningful locations around Cook County. It is produced by M. Baxley and Will Moore.
Ten Months of Critters in Voyageurs National Park
The latest montage video from the Voyageurs Wolf Project features highlights from a trail camera set up in a remote section of Voyageurs National Park for more than 10 months. The camera captured the typical cast of elusive forest characters, including wolves, moose and lynx. A bear helps direct the video by adjusting the camera.
Video Archive: Walter & Sheila’s Cheese Hole
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.
Music in the Weeds: Watershed Group
Watershed Group is an experimental jazz band specializing in improvised jams that can turn both ambient and psychedelic. Featuring Adam Kirsch on clarinet, Cory Quirk on drums, and producer Will Moore on bass, the band performed this original piece on the edge of a cliff high above the town of Grand Marais.
Music in the Weeds is a new video series from WTIP North Shore Community Radio that showcases northern Minnesota artists performing original music at scenic and meaningful locations around Cook County. It is produced by M. Baxley and Will Moore.
Minnesota Historia: Top 10 Voyageur Statues
At long last, a countdown of the best voyageur statues in northern Minnesota, with tidbits on why the state is so fascinated by these colorful figures who worked as the long-haul truckers of the fur trade.
Minnesota Historia is a PBS North web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.