Tom Isbell on Columbo, 1990
Tom Isbell, professor of theater at the University of Minnesota Duluth, has a lengthy professional acting resume spanning the years 1984-’94, which can be perused at imdb.com. Among his many roles on popular television shows is Sgt. Brady on the Columbo episode “Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo,” which originally aired March 31, 1990.
Classic.
West Duluth’s Alhambra Theater
West Duluth has three former theater buildings — the West, Doric and Alhambra. Of the three, the Alhambra is by far the least known. (more…)
Duluth’s First Public Mural by and for Indigenous Artists
Artist Votan Ik of NSRGNTS stands before the nearly completed mural.
To me, it’s rather astounding to think that Duluth has been without indigenous representation for this long. I imagine people from all over the world have been visiting Duluth as tourists and have only gotten to see one side of this place, unaware of the precolonial history that it’s tied to. This mural is a long-awaited step toward reaffirming our presence as indigenous people. It’s unapologetically native — an unmistakable vision that grew into fruition along the stretch of West Second Street, firmly declaring the presence of a people long pushed to the side from mainstream narratives. (more…)
Solar Eclipse in Duluth
#pathofobscurity
#eclipsedbyclouds
Duluthian Sadik Hakim featured on Jazz Profiles blog
“In 1982, the music world lost a legend with the death of Thelonious Monk. At Monk’s funeral, thousands gathered to pay their respects. One of Monk’s former colleagues sat at the piano and played, according to legendary jazz writer Ted Joans, “a sad but soulful” version of Monk’s own “’Round Midnight.” That pianist was Duluth-native Sadik Hakim, who played and recorded with jazz icons from the 1940s to the 1980s. Down Beat magazine described him as “one of the unsung veterans who helped forge the bebop revolution.”
Sadik Hakim: A Remembrance by David Ouse
Northern Pacific Ore Dock in Allouez
At Loon’s Foot Landing in Superior’s Allouez neighborhood, near the mouth of the Nemadji River in the Allouez Bay Channel, stands the remains of the Northern Pacific Ore Dock — built from 1912-13; abandoned by 1970. In July, Liftoff Aerials sent the PDD Drone up to have a bird’s-eye view of the old concrete-and-steel structure. (more…)
Fruit of Newbie Fields
When you start a pick-your-own raspberry farm, people say, “You must eat a lot of berries.” The answer is no and yes.
No, because to me our beautiful fruit tastes faintly of stress and anxiety. Farming is a like skydiving: You leap out of a plane wearing a parachute made of all your spring labors and investments — and it will deploy only if conditions are perfect.
Otherwise, you’ll face a financial splat. That’s the very real danger we faced when my husband Jason and I decided to diversify our chicken farm in Wrenshall by starting Farm LoLa, the pick-you-own berry wing of Locally Laid Egg Company.
And this year the stakes feel higher. We’ve invested in an expanded irrigation system; set posts and wire trellis, hired a larger crew and pruned and weeded (and weeded some more). In a lot of ways, the work has paid off.
Though only our second season, we have eight times the berries of last year. Over three acres that equates to some 15,000 lbs. as estimated by our expert, Dr. Thaddeus McCamant. He believes it has something to do with our sandy soil, organic amendments (like “Liquid Squid”) and fruit-friendly climate provided by Lake Superior.
This all leads to what my mother-in-law would call “a good problem to have.” We are now tasked with getting as many of these berries off the field before they go to waste or attract pests or are demolished by a weather event. All of which is real and could happen at any moment. The other day, a big storm was rolling in over the field and I said angrily, “You’d better not hail on this crop!” And it struck me that I’ve become a woman who yells at clouds. (more…)
Gunnar Birkerts, Duluth Public Library architect, dead at 92
(more…)Gunnar Birkerts, a Latvian-born architect who extended the vocabulary of Modernism using unexpected angular forms, folding planes and ingenious, light-suffused interiors, died on Tuesday at his home in Needham, Mass. He was 92.
Selective Focus: Erika Mock
Erika Mock is a textile artist and arts activist who uses recycled materials to make zero-waste artwear. On Thursday, Aug. 24, she will be co-hosting a Pop-Up Shop and Open Studio along with Kristina Estell (previously featured in Selective Focus).
E.M.: I create textiles for body and soul; free-spirited sculpted art to wear to wake your body and perceptions. Most are richly colored accessories (wraps, eco-scarves, skinnies, wings, feathers, talismans, and tendrils), both organic in shape and elegant … a kind of sensitive chaos juiced with symbolism and surprise. (more…)
Lots of movies
So it’s end of summer, and the weather’s been … uneven … and it’s getting darker earlier. My heart turns toward movies. (more…)
Duluth 2017 Primary Election Sample Ballot
There are a mere two races on Duluth’s citywide Primary Election ballot for 2017 — city council at large and school board at large. Voters in District Four, the area highlighted on the map below, can also vote to whittle down the choices for that council seat. (more…)
Iron Range to host inaugural craft beer festival
The Iron Range’s first craft beer festival is on tap this Saturday in Virginia. In addition to a craft beer village, the Olcott Fountain Brew Fest will feature food, live music and kids’ activities.
The event is a fundraiser organized by the Olcott Park Fountain Restoration Committee, whose mission is to restore the park’s historic fountain to its former glory.
“It’s the first brew fest north of Duluth. We seem to have a lot of interest from all over the Iron Range, which is awesome,” says Carly Gobats, who curated the event’s brewery and music lineup and serves as the its volunteer coordinator. (more…)
Time to pat yourself on the back, Duluth
Duluthians, while not ones to brag, might quietly pat themselves on the back and take a minute to celebrate the leadership role the city played in building the foundation for the UN Minamata Convention, ratified today. (more…)
Audiofile Engineering moves to Two Harbors
The music technology company Audiofile Engineering, has been acquired by Krekeltronics, a Two Harbors-based product development firm.
The full news release is at audiofile.engineering, for those who are into such things. (more…)
Postcard from 18th Avenue East and London Road
This postcard was mailed 112 years ago today, Aug. 16, 1905. It depicts a scene looking east from roughly the spot where a Taco John’s sits today at 1810 London Road in Duluth’s Endion neighborhood. (more…)
Postcard from the Vista Queen
This undated postcard published by Erickson Post Cards & Souvenirs shows the mighty Vista Queen inside the Duluth Harbor. The text on the back notes “the Vista Fleet can accommodate groups from 20 to 800 on an exiting two-hour tour of Lake Superior and the Duluth-Superior Harbor. Lunch, dinner and moonlight cruses available.”
PDD Quiz: Sculptures of Canal Park
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
As the summer winds to a close, we begin to reclaim that popular tourist destination: Canal Park. How well do you know the sculptures in Canal Park and Lake Place Park? Test your art smarts in this quiz (and look for more public art quizzes in the future).
Superior Street and its cosmopolitan features
This postcard was mailed 110 years ago today — Aug. 12, 1907. It shows Superior Street in Downtown Duluth looking east from about Sixth Avenue West. (more…)
Witness Relocation
When I moved to Duluth from San Francisco in July 2004, my fiancé Jeremy and I rented a first-floor apartment in a 100-year-old house on Third Street. The elegant flight of stairs inside our foyer was an egress for the upstairs apartment, so we had to keep the door between us unlocked. Jeremy didn’t seem worried; he had been living in Ely, where everyone leaves their keys in the ignition. Turned out our upstairs neighbors were a couple of women who rescued abandoned baby animals and nursed them with eye droppers. I stopped worrying about it, too.
From our back porch we grilled brats, drank Lake Superior Special Ale, and gazed at the brewing company’s namesake. I had never had a porch, a grill, or a view this pretty. As I looked across the blue water I felt my shoulders relax. I felt off the map, like a witness relocated: no one from my past life could find me here unless I wanted them to.
Then one morning in the window of Positively 3rd Street Bakery I saw someone from my past on a poster for the Bayfront Blues Festival: Koko Taylor. Now I was old enough to see her sing. The last time I was not, and that was a long time ago. (more…)
Rob Adams at the DAI and North Korea
Imagine playing a game of Battleship with an estranged uncle. Let’s call him “Sam.” (more…)
Eclipse viewing in Duluth
Any events happening in Duluth for the eclipse later this month? We have extended family who will be in town that day and are looking for a good viewing spot/party/whatever.
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #3
More from that odd board game:
1. One of the westerly townsites which later became part of Duluth had an Ojibwe name which meant “the rock from which the people sprang.” Name that townsite (and if you know whether this is accurate, let me know).
2. What nationality were the founders of the Hunter’s Park area of Duluth? (more…)
Postcard from the Shores of Lake Superior at Lester Park in 1907
One hundred ten years ago today these gals posed on the shores of Lake Superior at Lester Park. On the left is Stella, age 17. On the right is “Miss Rhorback.” They worked at Duluth Daily Financial Record, according to notes on the back of the postcard, which was mailed to Miss Jessie Green of Excelsior, Minn.
(more…)