Selective Focus: Ten Years of Homegrown Music Video Festival
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Homegrown Music Festival and 10 years of the Homegrown Music Video Festival. Participants in the video fest are assigned a random song by a local band and usually have a few weeks to put together a video. Over the past ten years, there have been videos with found footage, lip-synced performances, dolls, puppets, pets, animation, just about anything goes. (more…)
How would you like to take a trip over Duluth on the air line?
This picture postcard was mailed 110 years ago today — April 13, 1908 — from Minot, N.D. William Richert had just arrived in Douglas, N.D., presumably after a stay in Duluth, and sent the card to his brother Charles in Sublette, Ill. The card arrived on April 15. (more…)
Duluth Band Profile: Timbre Ghost
Dustin Tessier‘s passion for music began to fade into obscurity. With The Ledger, he defines not only his work as Timbre Ghost, but also himself as a person. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
Upcoming gig:
The Lincoln Hotel … your Duluth home
“Located at the edge of the Duluth loop district,” the Lincoln Hotel’s spot on West Second Street was “most advantageous,” according to this old brochure. (more…)
Video Archive: Surfers Before the Blizzard, 2008
High-definition videos of people surfing Lake Superior have become a fairly regular thing on Perfect Duluth Day in recent years. The short and fuzzy one above lacks the quality we’re used to these days, but is featured today because it’s ten years old and might be the first Lake Superior surf video published on PDD — or maybe anywhere else. (Prove that assertion wrong and find an older one.)
Barrett Chase posted this clip on April 10, 2008. He noted winds were at 40 m.p.h.
“Check out this short video snippet of some crazies surfing on Lake Insanity near Lester River today just before the onset of the blizzard,” he wrote.
Duluth Band Profile: Eric Cyr
Eric Cyr takes a different approach to sharing music. Instead of open stages and adoring audiences, he focuses his energy as a middle school music teacher. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
Upcoming gig:
May 4 on the Duluth Transit Authority Trolley during the Homegrown Music Festival
Phenomenal Art Exhibition for Women of Color
Photo by Ivy Vainio.
In continuing a tradition of Duluth “firsts,” the American Indian Community Housing Organization hosted an exhibit last month celebrating artists who identify as women of color. This was the first exhibit to feature only the work of our region’s least represented demographic of artists — Indigenous, Black, Latinx and Asian women. A total of 31 different artists representing a wide range of backgrounds and cultures submitted their work for display in the Dr. Robert Powless Cultural Center, drawing in a crowd of 300 in an opening reception that took place alongside an award ceremony for some of AICHO’s most influential women leaders. As the exhibit comes down this week, here’s a few ideas for reflection … (more…)
Superior’s Empire Coffee to open this month
Evan Meyer and Aryana Buck – Photo by Lissa Maki
A new caffeination hub is set to open in Superior later this month. Empire Coffee will distinguish itself with its sheer variety of brews. (more…)
Duluth Drone not Drones
The fifth annual Drone Not Drones event took place Jan. 26-27 at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis. More than 60 acts rotated on and off the stage performing a continuous, uninterrupted, 28-hour drone of unified sound to raise money for Doctors Without Borders.
Now there’s a 28-hour soundtrack on Bandcamp.
It’s broken into segments, so Duluthians interested in listening to sets by Duluth bands can go straight to sets by Low, If Thousands, Timbre Ghost and Modify.
Bjorklund 2018 half-marathon entry up for bid
Security Jewelers is again auctioning one of its sponsor entries to the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon on eBay. This year the proceeds will benefit the Hills Youth & Family Services, a Duluth nonprofit that provides programming for at-risk youth and their families. The auction ends April 13 at noon.
Lottery registration for the 2018 Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon is closed. The race is at capacity with 7,500 participants. The entry cost via the lottery was $95; last year’s auctioned entry raised $205 for the Damiano Center.
Homegrown Music Festival 2018: New Website, 20th Anniversary Mixtape, Field Guide, Schedule, et. al.
The publicity machine for the 20th annual Homegrown Music Festival is gearing up. A 108-page Field Guide hit the streets during the last week of March, and now a new promotional mix is available for free download on Bandcamp and a new web design has launched at duluthhomegrown.org. (more…)
Devil’s Right Hand
So then I went and bought myself a Colt 45
Called a peacemaker but I never knew why
I never knew why, I didn’t understand
Mama says the pistol is the devil’s right hand
— Steve Earle
A couple-three years ago, after telling public truth about a violent bully in a way I knew would enrage him (and earn him aggressive, ill-informed fealty among people who saw me as the real bully doing the real violence), I slept with a thick, hickory ax handle within arm’s reach of my bed for more than a month. I feared violent retribution. I thought I had credible reasons. I may have been overreacting.
I don’t necessarily know how to defend myself with wooden sticks or any other weapons. The last time I got in a fight, about this time of year in 1984, Mike Aikens kicked my ass in Allendale Park, on 18th Avenue NW across from John Adams Junior High, in Rochester, MN. Feeling unsure seems antithetical to fighting well. I felt unsure during that fight. I didn’t yet — wouldn’t for many years — know how to stop pondering ambiguity and just be where I needed to be in any specific moment. I still feel unsure very often. In the interest of trying to understand as many perspectives as possible, I ponder ambiguity a lot. A lot. At least I think I do. Maybe not. I don’t know. Or maybe I do. I see it in a lot of different ways. (more…)
Al Church – “Night Games”
Released today: The music video for Duluth native Al Church’s song “Night Games.” It’s the title track to Church’s next album, scheduled for release April 27. (more…)
Selective Focus: Brenna Jordan
Brenna Jordan has nice handwriting. But she doesn’t just get complimented on it, she gets paid for it. And she’s a member of the International Association of Master Penmen, Engrossers, and Teachers of Handwriting. This week, Brenna fills us in on the art of calligraphy and how she works a very analog art into the digital world.
“I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.”
-James Michener
BJ: When I’m not out enjoying Duluth’s many natural wonders, I work as a calligrapher/hand lettering artist in my home studio that officially opened in 2014. I use an assortment of inks, gouache, watercolors, chalk and colored pencils, and have lettered on all kinds of surfaces, including wood, rock, pressed leaves, canvas, walls, and even boats! I have been in love with letters and great quotes for as long as I can remember, and started learning traditional calligraphy as a teenager. Teachers and coaches hired me to do lettering on certificates and awards, which gave me a lot of practice. While I didn’t formally study art in college, I continued doing calligraphy for events on campus, along with wedding calligraphy for family and friends. For many years, calligraphy was more of a hobby, with occasional commissioned projects. (more…)
Cheers: “They don’t like the food at the airport in Duluth”
It’s been mentioned a few times in “Duluth reference” posts on PDD, but the clip has never been featured. So here it is, the cold open from season 2, episode 20 of Cheers. (more…)
Foreigner with the Dave Eggar Orchestra and Denfeld Maroon 16 Choir – “I Want to Know What Love Is”
Denfeld High School’s Maroon 16 choir sings “I Want to Know What Love Is” with Foreigner at Symphony Hall in the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.
Duluth Band Profile: Elysium Alps
Jamie Larson walks the line between ambient and ’90s era electronica as Elysium Alps. He explains how growing up in Duluth helped him avoid garden variety EDM. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
Upcoming gig:
May 5 at Legacy Glassworks for the Homegrown Music Festival
Video Archive: Clammy after a night at the Red Star Lounge
From April 5, 2008, comes perhaps the weirdest video ever posted on Perfect Duluth Day.
It was originally published by the user “-berv” under the headline “Best watched while drunk, if at all,” and with the description “my sessile cephalopod friend gets drunk and vomits in the microwave.”
Video Primer: Frozen Four 2018
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]
Thursday, April 5, 5 p.m.
UMD vs. Ohio State
Video Archive: God Rocked Trailer from 2008
Ten years ago today — April 4, 2008 — the trailer was released for the Duluth-made mockumentary … and on the 7th Day, God Rocked.
The teaser text reads:
“Who will you root for in this laugh-out-loud rockumentary about a Christian Battle of the Bands? Wrathful Old Testament hip-hoppers the Sons of Abraham or born-again hard-rockers Savior? Lapsed Catholic Angie Hynes, who’s gone from punk to country in search of success, or the folksy love-fest of harmony-laden trio Glory Authority?
A recording contract awaits the winner. Who that will be, only God (and perhaps the promoter) knows …”
Duluth-made feature film “Solatium” released online
To rent or buy Solatium through Vimeo on Demand visit vimeo.com/ondemand/solatium. (more…)
What’s Rick Steves’ deal with Duluth?
Does Rick Steves have a beef with Duluth? While I was doing a search for something Duluth related, I discovered a PDD post from Nov. 22 titled “Rick Steves offends his Duluth friends.” Which surprised me, as I had just recently noticed yet another slight from Rick Steves regarding Duluth. (more…)
Duluth Band Profile: Daniel Oyinloye
Daniel Oyinloye crosses continents and genres with Dawn of Redemption. He explains how the search for home is an endless journey. Click on the image above to hear the podcast.
The Lamedog Video
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]
Nearly a half-hour of circular-aspect iPhone video of Duluth skateboarding action featuring Carter Nguyen, Kaden Lindvall, Lloyd Fisher, Twan Brown, Jesse Ayers, Wyatt Lindberg, Josh Kuno, Simon Walters and friends. Shot and edited by Wyatt Lindberg.