Postcards from the Duluth Civic Center
Duluth’s Civic Center includes the St. Louis County Courthouse (1909), Duluth City Hall (1928), Gerald W. Heaney Federal Building (1930), St. Louis County Jail (1923) and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1919). (more…)
Selective Focus: March Aurora
Instagram
260 likes, 11 comments - joepolecheck on March 21, 2021: "After some late nights and lots of manual labor this weekend, I'm ready for some good healthy sleep tonight. 😉
.
.
.
#captureminnesota #capturemn #minnesota #exploremn #wisconsin #stayandwander #yourshotphotographer #modernoutdoors #tourtheplanet #rei #bevisuallyinspired #aov #artovisuals #earthfocus #destinationduluth #snow #photooftheday #nikon #midwestmoment #ourplanetdaily #discoverearth #fantastic_earth #firstsnow #awakethesoul #lakesuperior #mn #greatlakes #winteriscoming #tourtheplanet #sunrise".
instagram.com
This past weekend’s aurora did not disappoint. Gathered here are some of the best shots, culled from Instagram. (more…)
Duluth Soo Line Depot
Duluth’s Soo Line passenger depot opened at 602 W. Superior St. in 1910. It was designed by C. E. Bell, Tyrie and Chapman of Minneapolis in the Romanesque style. The depot closed in the 1960s and was torn down in 1972. (more…)
Community Action Duluth’s Mobile Market
Community Action Duluth launched its Community Mobile Market in February. A sort of “grocery store on wheels,” the refrigerated truck is stocked with fresh produce and staples like grains, dairy products and canned goods.
In the video above, Karl Becker and Even Flom talk about the program. Becker is master of social work student interning with Seeds of Success, Community Action Duluth’s food justice program. Flom is the Seeds of Success program coordinator.
Leif Brush – “Terraplane Chorography I”
Artist Leif Brush, who taught at the University of Minnesota Duluth from 1976 to 2002, died on March 15 at the age of 88. His obituary can be found on cremationsocietyofmn.com.
The video “Terraplane Chorography I,” embedded above, is a performance with audio tape and live piano, shot at the Tweed Museum of Art in 1979 and digitized from videocassette in 2011.
I Don’t Want to See Another Naked Woman as Long as I Live
“All you sweet girls with all of your sweet talk, you can all go take a walk” – The Velvet Underground, “Heroin”
I am not on heroin, I’m expressing freedom from love and sex. I’m celibate as a monk from here on out. Retire my jersey, I’m out of the game. You can leave your hat on — and all the rest of it too. Quoth the bard, “Love stinks.” If you ever wonder if I want to get in your pants: I don’t.
The title of this piece is an actual quote. I heard someone say it while they were having really remarkable romantic troubles. You can switch the genders up in this essay to suit your tastes. The sentiment works any which way. I am not advocating a lifestyle. This is not an aspirational document. It’s just that I’ve been thinking: I’ve approached love like the depraved addict in “Heroin.”
Love and sex have always been indistinguishable to me. I loved everyone I ever made it with, or I wanted to love them, or I tried to love them. Whatever it takes to pick up strangers and have casual sex, I never had it. My game was serial monogamy. I was good at that for many years, traipsing from relationship to relationship. But I started living like I needed a partner to make me whole. I am not a sex addict, but I behaved like a love addict. And isn’t that what addicts are supposed to do: quit? (more…)
Glitteratti – “I Don’t Always”
A new album by Duluth band Glitteratti is in the works, titled Rectify!
But the most important thing to know is that the first video is comprised entirely of footage from Marc Gartman’s bar mitzvah in 1987.
PDD on KUMD’s “The Local”
Paul Lundgren of Perfect Duluth Day Interview on the Local | The North 103.3 FM
Paul Lundgren, one of the founders of Perfect Duluth Day (Duluth's self-proclaimed "Duluthiest" web site) joined DJ Marvin Themix to talk about how it all…
thenorth1033.org
KUMD’s DJ Marvin Themix interviews Perfect Duluth Day’s Paul Lundgren, talking about how PDD started and how the pandemic has affected it, and also discussing the evolution of the local music scene and previewing the Homegrown Music Festival.
Former UMD student behind viral Bryant Lake Bowl video
The drone operator who flew the crazy stunts in the Bryant Lake Bowl viral video has a Duluth connection. Jay Christensen attended the University of Minnesota Duluth. (more…)
Duluthian’s film starring Bob Saget in production
Duluth screenwriter making movie in Cayman Islands - Duluth News Tribune | News, weather, and sports from Duluth, Minnesota
Matthew Dressel's "Blue Iguana" is in production — with Bob Saget in a starring role.
duluthnewstribune.com
Duluth’s Matthew Dressel is in the Cayman Islands working on a feature-length film starring Bob Saget, the Duluth News Tribune reports.
Dressel was featured on Perfect Duluth Day in a 2019 Selective Focus post and his short movie Just Coffee appeared on PDD in 2018.
Postcard from Little Two Harbors
This undated postcard from Duluth Photo Engraving Company shows Ellingson Island at Little Two Harbors, the bay best known for its views of Split Rock Lighthouse.
Duluth Concert Archive: Blue Oyster Cult in 1977
From the archives. Were you in attendance? Also, does anyone know where/what Samahdi Sound was in Ashland?
The Slice: Moira Villiard’s “Madweyaashkaa”
Duluth visual artist and Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa descendant Moira Villiard reflects on her latest project: “Illuminate the Lock: Madweyaashkaa – Waves Can Be Heard,” featured in February on the St. Anthony Falls lock wall in Minneapolis.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
Call for Performers: Welcome Home {Grown} | Live {Stream}
We miss live music! We all miss live music … right?
This will be the 11th year of 2104’s Soup Social, dubbed #SoupB4Supe. Last year we were forced into the Live Stream gig … and now Bryce Kastning and I, also with support from a few others, have been producing Music Live Stream’s since April 2020. If you haven’t listened to our streams … you can pick them up as often as you want, they are at youtube.com/duluthiscool or 2104.us. As of this writing, we have created 22 streams from 2104. (more…)
Frosted Flakes in Duluth
Duluth gets a quick and silly mention in the March 13 episode of Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!, a weekly radio show produced by WBEZ in Chicago and National Public Radio. At the tail end of the clip embedded above, the panel talks about the virtues of pizza for breakfast instead cereal and jokes that people never argue about which city has the best cereal, resulting in the crack, “You haven’t had Frosted Flakes until you’ve had Frosted Flakes in Duluth.”
In case anyone needs another nuisance to deal with …
… here’s the annual reminder that the ticks are back.
PDD Quiz: Irish Twin Ports
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, this week’s quiz will focus on Irish (and Irish-adjacent) things in the Twin Ports.
The next PDD quiz, which will review this month’s headlines, will be published on March 28. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by March 21. (more…)
Race Week Jitters
You can die from running a half-marathon. A quick Google search results in roughly 72 million hits about super-healthy folks dropping dead from the exertion of running. Maybe they weren’t all healthy but many of them were in the best shape of their lives.
Welcome to race week jitters. The race day countdown is at three. My running plan strongly discourages any last-minute attempts at getting just one more training run in. I’ve discarded any last-minute hopes of ditching a few more pounds or somehow improving my time by a few more minutes. The momentum from my eleven-mile run is a distant memory. Instead, I’m full of fear.
Running logic says if you can run eleven miles one weekend, then the next step in training is 13.1 miles. There is absolutely no reason I cannot or will not cross the finish line. Except logic has taken a backseat to fear. All I can picture is getting to mile eleven, only to have my body give out on me. I visualize myself seeing the eleven-mile marker and then collapsing from exhaustion. (more…)
Another Day on the Beach with Two Wolf Packs
Another montage of excellent trail-cam footage from Voyageurs National Park. In this edition a variety of wildlife visit the beach in the September to January timeframe, but wolves are the main beach bums. Two different packs frequent the area — the Shoepack Lake Pack and the Nashata Pack.
The footage is from the Voyageurs Wolf Project, which is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in the park. The beach is about 120 miles north of Duluth.
Upset Duluth: Stormwater Fee Edition
Increases in commercial and industrial stormwater fees is the cause of the latest “Upset Duluth” shot in our series of Duluth News Tribune photos of people who are perturbed.
Story link: Duluth businesses question stormwater fee hikes
Don’t forget to check out the ever-expanding Upset Duluth Gallery.
Selective Focus: Nature’s Winter Artistry
Instagram
98 likes, 8 comments - nicholas_j._narog_photography on March 9, 2021: "My LensBall with a frozen Sea Stack- at Tettegouche State Park.
.
.
.
#destinationduluth #winter2021 #tettegouchestatepark #tettegouche #mnstateparks #lensball #perfectdayduluth #seastack #northshoremn #lakesuperior #northshore #visualambassadors #captivatemn #exploremn #exploreminnesota #thisismymn #onlyinmn #capturemn #minnesotaphotographer #yourshotphotographer #mnexposure #minnstagramers #authenticduluth #captureduluth #moodyinminnesota #earthpix #optoutside #ourplanetdaily #stayandwander #upnorthtco".
instagram.com
Select Instagram photos showing a few of nature’s icy art projects. (more…)
Postcard from the Leif Erikson Statue and Viking Ship
This undated postcard from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography shows two Duluth relics. The bronze Leif Erikson statue was placed in 1956 and remains on display at Leif Erikson Park. The 42-foot Leif Erikson Viking Ship Replica was built in Norway in 1926 and sailed to Duluth, arriving on June 23, 1927. It was displayed in Leif Erikson Park until 2013, when it was placed in a warehouse until funds are raised to build a display structure to protect it from weather.
Perspective: A Review of Decennia by Jan Chronister
Unforgettable things happen to us. Those pivotal events take on new meaning with the passage of time. Jan Chronister looks closely at those events in her past in her latest collection, Decennia (Truth Serum Press, 2020). The title means “decades.” Chronister splits her life into five of them and examines each in detail. (more…)
New Plan: Trick the Archeologists of the Far Future
Mockup example of proposed bronze historical marker series
New plan is to commission pieces on bronze or stone that can survive longer than paper, longer than digital, to really communicate with the future. The alien surveyors of 5000 AD will ask themselves, “WTH was going on in Duluth?” I’ve reached out to a few locals with the right skills; I hope to be able to show a nice series by Fall.