Rachael Kilgour – “Rabbit in the Road”
Rachael Kilgour performed in KUMD’s Studio A this week in support of her upcoming album, Rabbit in the Road and her Sept. 11 performance at Sacred Heart music Center.
Selective Focus: Ryan LeMahieu
This week in Selective Focus, we hear from Ryan LeMahieu. If you click the images for a bigger view, you can better see the intricate line work in his drawings.
R.L.: my name is ryan lemahieu. i work mostly in mixed media but have a tendency to gravitate towards the black pen. you are nearly always able to find a pen and paper which is nice because art is how i deal with severe social anxiety with roots deep in depression. it is my release. i also think everything is better in black and white.
i wish i could purchase a t.v. that was black and white. does anyone know where i can find a black and white t.v. ?
i have been working on developing a “style’ for close to 20 years. i feel like i maybe finally figuring it out.
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Duluth 1200 Fund Advance West Loan Program
A new loan program designed to spur the revitalization of older stock commercial buildings and create jobs in West Duluth and West End business districts is detailed in a brochure released by the city of Duluth and the Duluth 1200 Fund Board. The program is intended to help with commercial building acquisition or improvements in the form of a loan up to $50,000 with opportunity to have up to one half of the balance forgiven, assuming program requirements are met.
The maximum amount of the loans will range between $10,000 and $20,000 per job created, up to the $50,000 limit. The loans are only available for commercial buildings in the 55806 and 55807 zip codes. The buildings must be owner occupied (not leased) by a small business committed to creating two or more full-time equivalent jobs within two years. Further details are available in the brochure below. (more…)
Book store will replace Wild West Liquor; other slow-moving changes in the works on Central Avenue in West Duluth
The former Wild West Liquor building, at left, is being remodeled and new owners plan to open a used book store there next summer.
A Carleton College professor and his wife have purchased a former West Duluth liquor store and plan to open a used book shop in a business district targeted by city officials for redevelopment.
Bob and Angel Dobrow of Northfield bought the Wild West Liquor building, 318 N. Central Ave., in July for $214,000 and plan to open Zenith Bookstore in the space next summer. The couple, along with friends and family, have gutted the 1890s building and exposed its original floors, tin ceilings and brick walls. They will eventually fill the store with thousands of books from their collection, recent purchases and new finds. (more…)
UW-Superior Opening Weekend 2016
Two weeks ago a video post on PDD showed clips from UMD Welcome Week. Here’s some equal time for the U across the bridge — scenes from opening weekend at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
This year’s UWS freshmen come from 175 different high schools and from 11 states — including Alaska, California, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and obviously Wisconsin. Nearly 225 international students are attending this year, the largest and most diverse international enrollment in the university’s history.
Itasca Conversations: Tales of Bovey (Part 1)
Agnes Hromyak, Lorraine Andrews, Ethel Deal, Patricia Walls and Meredith Jakovich meet at the Bovey City Hall Library to recount life growing up on the Iron Range. Video by A Plus B Productions.
The Color Run
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]
With the 2016 Color Run just two weeks away we take a glimpse at last year’s run through the eyes of James Gottfried.
Duluth Sailing
Jay Erickson philosophizes about sailing on Lake Superior and the Duluth Harbor in this 37-second video by Chris Ramisch.
This Week: art, music, food, kitties, bunnies and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find in this week’s PDD Calendar:
Celebrate Labor Day at the AFL-CIO Labor Day Picnic, artists are invited to take advantage of open studio time at the Depot, St. Luke’s opens an art show with items by cancer survivors, adventurer Lonnie DuPre gives a presentation on what he’s learned during his various trips, the grounds of Glensheen Mansion become a classroom where folks can use fresh vegetables from their garden during lessons, Green Day’s rock opera is staged at The Underground and Twin Cities band Rogue Valley performs at Sacred Heart Music Center.
Hip-hop crew Doomtree performs during the End of the Summer Block Party outside Dubh Linn, the biggest slip-and-slide to ever hit Duluth asphalt gets unrolled, the 2016 Lake Superior Harvest Festival takes place on Saturday, the monthly Nice Girls of the North arts and crafts show happens at Lakeside Lester Park Community Center, kitties and bunnies are looking for homes, the Harbor City Roller Dames are back in action and Rachael Kilgour releases her latest LP.
Lobby of the Hotel Holland
The Holland Hotel stood at 501-503 W. Superior St., where the Radisson Hotel Duluth-Harborview operates today.
Marketed as “the only fire proof hotel” in Duluth, it included the Holland Cafe, “famous for its service, soda fountain, light luncheons and grill room.”
The Holland opened in 1910 and closed in 1961. The Radisson was built in 1970.
(more…)Where in Duluth? #150
Time for another installment of Perfect Duluth Day’s ultra-thrilling photo-trivia sensation. Where in Duluth was this shot taken?
Small Business
Scrolling through files on my computer at work, I can pretty much trace the progression of the business through spreadsheets, price labels and photographs (candid and professional) of events, company parties, and breaks in the action behind the counter. Families have grown, ex-staffers have gone to rehab, become police officers, found god, and earned master’s degrees, prices have more than quintupled, and previously experimental recipes have been honed into lexicon. When I say “progression,” I mean pile: an amorphous mass of guesswork, troubleshooting and triage that has taken shape and could be temporarily (like for the purposes of this essay) deemed linear.
I work for Northern Waters Smokehaus, a small business gone large. The retail side of the enterprise started out 15 years ago with the idea that we were going to offer a small, specialized service (smoked fish and imported cheese) to a specialized audience (those with the monetary means coupled with the proper palettes). We had five employees counting the owner himself, who took care of pretty much everything besides front-line sales (though he did that as well from time to time, and was utterly expert at it — I think a dozen bored housewives fell in love with him that first year we were open, charmed irresistibly by his earnest and passionate obsession for good food). (more…)
Selective Focus: Ryan Tischer
This week in Selective Focus, we feature photographer Ryan Tischer. Tomorrow (Saturday, September 3) Lakeside Gallery will host an opening of Ryan’s work, and he will be the featured artist there through September.
R.T.: I do landscape and nature photography of North America, with a concentration in our Lake Superior region. My goal as an artist is to capture the emotional essence of a scene. Like many, I feel a strong spiritual connection to nature. I use this connection to guide my artistic choices when considering a scene behind the lens. Composition, exposure, filters, and so forth are all essential considerations, but the one variable in outdoor photography that cannot be forced or overtly manipulated is the light. For this reason I find myself waiting for hours at a given location and often returning time and time again until I find something magical in the light that finally makes the image. As in life and photography, light is everything. Without light from our sun we would not have life on this planet and I would certainly not be around to take pictures! I try to keep that in mind when making images and hope it comes through in my work. (more…)
Charlie Parr – “Moonshiner”
An intimate performance by Duluth’s Charlie Parr for the Blue Chair Chronicles.
Old Grand Marais Photos
A collection of old Grand Marais photos. At least some of them, if not all, are believed to be shot by Milford John Humphrey. (more…)
Another Lift Bridge Time Lapse
Roux Duncan captures a few ups and downs of the Aerial Lift Bridge on a lovely summer day/night.
Duluth Mountain Biking for Beginners and Kids
A friend asked me last week where beginners should go for a good first-time mountain biking experience in Duluth.
“I want good views — not afraid of some hills — but nothing crazy where I would have to be an expert,” she said.
I don’t mountain bike, so I can’t answer the question … or maybe that makes me the perfect guinea pig for an experiment. Anyway, a quick search of the internet seems to suggest Lester Park has a good “easiest” trail. Is there a middle-aged klutz out there who can endorse the Lester experience as a good trail for a first-time mountain biker? Or is there somewhere better suited to persons of limited balance?
Duluth Duluth Duluth is on fire
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]
Tall Ships make James Gottfried wanna dance dance dance.
Cthonic Bedrock and Devonian Boulders
Patrolling Lake Superior’s Cthonic bedrock formations and Devonian boulders. Basaltic rock is dried lava sheets that decay into shelves littered with boulders at the edges. That is what we see here. Max depth 20 feet give or take a couple. Water has been cloudy this year due to rain, but finally cleared up enough here at the end of the summer to get this footage at one of my fave freediving spots.
Perfect Drinking Establishment: Sir Benedict’s Tavern
Area boozers and barflies have reached a general consensus: Sir Benedict’s Tavern on the Lake is the perfect Duluth drinking establishment. The English-themed pub located at 805 E. Superior St. netted 34.5 percent of the vote in Perfect Duluth Day’s poll.
Sir Ben’s is a bit of an institution. It opened as a pub in 1978 (before that the building was a service station) with a focus on sandwiches and beer. The favored watering hole has long attracted a range of fans, from college students to musicians and business people. (more…)
Perspective Map of Duluth in 1893
Similar to the “Perspective Map of Duluth in 1887,” but more recent and from a bit different angle.
This Week: summer is, in fact, not endless and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find in this week’s PDD Calendar:
August is ending, and many ongoing summer events are winding down. The Hermantown and Downtown farmers’ markets are closing up shop in the upcoming weeks, the last Doggy Happy Hour at the Fitger’s Brewery complex happens on Tuesday, the Shark-Watching Society meets for the final time in 2016 and Teague Alexy performs during the last installment of the Chester Creek Concert Series.
Also: Woodland is ground zero for BBQ on Tuesday, Mayor Emily Larson and City Councilor Elissa Hansen invite the public to City Hall in the City, the 2016 Pride Celebration kicks off with the mayor’s reception and includes the Bayfront Pride Festival, the dark history of American assassins is explored in musical form, the classic football rivalry between East and Denfeld continues at Public Schools Stadium on Friday and a gaggle of musicians play the Super Big Block Party.
Is Bottoms Up the beer pouring device of the future?
Mike Mohr in front of one of his Bottoms Up beer dispensers
Gronk’s Bar and Grill in Superior has long been known for serving burgers upside down. In February, the bar was the first in the area to install a remarkable tap-beer delivery system that fills glasses from the bottom up. Since then another Superior drinking establishment, Jack’s Place, has also added a Bottoms Up system in its beer garden.
Gronk’s owner Mike Mohr first saw the Bottoms Up system at the Wisconsin State Fair. He was impressed with its technology and speed. Later, when his daughter was advocating for more craft beer taps at Gronk’s, he thought the novelty might be a good way to draw beer fans in. (more…)