Glen’s Neighbor – “Destiny”
Drummer Pat Byrne produced this video for Glen’s Neighbor, utilizing practice session footage and some Duluth scenery. The song is from the band’s debut album Behind the Door.
Nominees for Perfect North Shore Restaurant Poll
Warm weather and wanderlust have Duluthians dreaming of a North Shore vacation. In this spirit, we’ve decided to conduct a poll to determine the best place to eat up the shore.
Before voting, we have to establish a list of nominees. What are the criteria for determining a North Shore Restaurant? After some debate, we’ve decided to include eateries on the shore located in Lake and Cook counties, from Knife River in the south to Grand Portage in the north.
While it might seem counterintuitive to some, this means the New Scenic Café is not included in the poll, since it is located in Duluth Township. It’s abundantly clear the Scenic is a favored restaurant; the café won PDD’s Perfect Restaurant Poll and has drawn accolades from foodies farther afield. For the purposes of this poll, we’re looking for restaurants that require a little more of an excursion from Duluth.
What’s the perfect North Shore restaurant (besides the New Scenic Café)? You tell us. We’ll round up the nominees and produce a poll in the coming days.
Call for Duluth Alligator Attack Video Testimonials
Since I don’t appreciate the sass I am getting from the Mayoralty on this issue, I would like to issue a call for citizen video testimonials. Have you been attacked by an alligator in the Duluth city limits? Tell your story on PDD. Let’s MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD.
Two Harbors Weather Balloon Launch and Landing
Students and science teachers at Two Harbors High School recently embarked on a project bringing their equipment to the upper edges of the Earth’s atmosphere during a week-long S.T.E.M. camp (science, technology, engineering and math).
The students teamed up with the National Weather Service office in Duluth and the Lake County Radio Amateurs to learn about the atmosphere, problem solve and analyze the live data packets received from the on-board sensors and track its location via GPS and APRS systems, both of which failed near the end of the flight. Recovery relied on extrapolating altitude, pressure and temperature data from the sensors to estimate a landing area. The parachute was visible in a tree a few hundred yards away from the estimate. Two Harbors science teachers involved were Penny Juenemann (biology), Mark Schlangen (physical science), and Brian Rauvola (chemistry). All students involved were heading into 8th grade.
Where is the Leadership?
I will remind Mayor Larson that alligator attacks have been recorded in Duluth since at least 2011 as documented here. Just because she claims she didn’t see one on the beach yesterday doesn’t mean they aren’t out there ATTACKING INNOCENT CONSTITUENTS. It goes without saying that it will be hard to get re-elected if you are eaten by an alligator.
Wrestling with a $90 turkey
Ninety dollars for a pastured turkey. Are you kidding me??? When I agreed to take the extra bird off the farmer’s hands, I assumed it might cost about half that. At the time I was working minimum wage as a part-time farmhand. I traded nearly two days of work for this bird, and probably half that in bike time just to get to and from the Food Farm. Take a peek at Ed’s Big Adventure to find out if the final product was worth all the blood, sweat, and tears. You just might wind up planning your Thanksgiving celebration today.
Boat – People
I found this poem on my desk — you step away for a week, and everything you see when you come back is bright and new. These are just the last stanzas, because I want to honor copyright and because they move me:
Where (and What) in Duluth?
I have walked by this marker for years and the other day stopped to take a closer look, and a photo. Anyone know what it says and why it is here?
With a half hour spent on search engines I found this explanation.
Still doesn’t explain why the marker was placed there originally.
“Alluvial”
My contribution to the collaborative “Alluvial” photo project. Brainchild of Duluth artist Tina Fox, two local photographers (Leah Beltz and myself) took photos of her in different natural settings in different seasons. “Nature is my church.”
Duluth Mayor Larson MIA on Alligator Attacks
A plea for action. After all that Mayor Ness did to keep Lake Superior shark-free, now is the time for the Larson administration to finally step up and tackle the growing alligator problem. We demand RESULTS.
Duluth Waterfront by Knute Heldner
Impressionist painter Knute Heldner lived in Duluth for a good part of his career. The book Minnesota Prints and Printmakers, 1900-1945 dates his etching of Duluth’s Waterfront as “circa 1925.”
He was born in Sweden; differing accounts online put his birth year as 1875, 1877 and 1886. According to Hiro Fine Art he emigrated to Duluth in 1902 and “began working as a cobbler, miner, and lumberjack.” (Askart.com indicates he was a “lumber camp cook” and also notes he arrived in the United States “first in Boston” and later moved “to the Great Lakes region.”)
(more…)Sunshine Rock
One of the more recognizable hunks of mineral matter in the Duluth area is Sunshine Rock. It’s located in Hermantown on Stebner Road between Morris Thomas and Hermantown roads.
There are two things about this rock I’m curious to know:
1) How long has “Sunshine 1ML” been painted on it? I’m certain that particular graffiti goes back at least 25 years.
2) What does “Sunshine 1ML” refer to? The rock happens to be sitting one mile outside of Duluth city limits, so maybe that has something to do with it, but it sits on the south side of Stebner facing northbound traffic, so it’s only noticed by cars heading out of Duluth. Is the insinuation that the sun only shines one mile outside Duluth?
This Week: the Fourth, fairs, farmers and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find in this week’s PDD Calendar:
It’s Independence Day, so that means there’s plenty to do, out there: the Mighty Thomas Carnival is offering midway thrills in the DECC parking lot, the Great American Picnic is taking place at Fitger’s, the Duluth Huskies baseball team is battling Willmar at Wade Stadium and the 2016 Fourth Fest offers up a full slate of music and tops it off with the region’s signature fireworks display. (more…)
Kraig James – “Ode to Joan”
Kraig James & the Campfire Stars are releasing a new song each month in 2016 for a project called Campfire Americana: Volume 1. “Ode to Joan” is an original song; the video includes photos and statistics from the Alzheimer’s Association to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
PDD Quiz: June 2016
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
June happened. Now, what do you remember? Take the quiz and find out.
Moose Lake brewery opening soon
According to the Brewers Association, Minnesota had 105 craft breweries in 2015. This number continues to rise, but the majority of breweries are still heavily concentrated in bigger cities, and particularly around the Twin Cities. But the founders of Moose Lake Brewing Company are bucking this trend; they believe every small town deserves its own brewery.
The opening of Moose Lake Brewing at 244 Lakeshore Drive in Moose Lake is planned for the end of July. Moose Lake has a population of 2,787. It supports a handful of restaurants and a municipal liquor store/bar. (more…)
Graduation Day
We were at the graduation ceremony for the Harbor City International School in Duluth, and the commencement address was by Gaelynn Lea Tressler. She is the winner of the 2016 National Public Radio Tiny Desk Concert series and she knows about and exemplifies overcoming hardships and truly appreciating the things we take for granted. She is beautiful and eloquent and she speaks from a position only she can speak from. She sings and she plays her violin from somewhere deep in her soul.
She talked to the graduating high school seniors and she talked to our son and she reminded them to always enrich their own lives and to enrich the lives of others. She talked to them of pursuing their dreams and never giving up. She played her violin and she sang to them and the crowd was speechless and the auditorium was silent as her last notes were fading. Below is an excerpt from her NPR Tiny Desk concert performance. Please don’t pass it up; it’s five minutes and six seconds you will never regret. You have time to watch this: (more…)
Selective Focus: Tim White
This week in Selective Focus, we feature Tim White, who curated the previous iteration of Selective Focus – photo submissions based on a weekly theme. Tim is a photographer, writer, and proponent of the arts, and has worked on several collaborative projects in his short time in Duluth.
TW: I’ve been making photographs for about the past seven years, having lost my previous practice as a painter to solvent exposure. There were a few dormant years during this time that followed a series of personal crises, and I recently returned to photography after moving to Duluth almost two years ago. I appreciate filmic images (both moving and still), but work mostly — due to the chemistry — with digital capture, then mediate these until they better reflect what I felt when taking the initial shot. I don’t believe in pursuing a personal “style,” though I’m glad when viewers note a poetic quality to my pictures. I admire poetry’s ability to employ elements with conventional meanings (words) toward more ephemeral ends, and hope in a similar way that my work isn’t limited by the literality of the objects I depict. (more…)
Uber poised to enter Duluth market
The question might not be why Duluth doesn’t have Uber service, but when it will.
“By the end of the year,” said Duluth City Councilor Noah Hobbs. “From my personal end I don’t see anything holding us back from having Uber operating in Duluth.”
Hobbs held the first formal meeting on Tuesday in regard to the ride-hailing web application operating in the city. He met with City Attorney Nate LaCoursiere as a starting point for crafting an ordinance to regulate Uber and other transportation network companies.
Unlike taxicabs, Uber utilizes an online platform to connect drivers in their personal vehicles with riders paying for fares through the touch of a button, no cash. This type of techy transportation is taking place in 476 cities worldwide and counting. Uber started out seven years ago in cities like San Francisco and Chicago, and has recently expanded into smaller communities like Moorhead and Iowa City. (more…)
Northern Isolation II
The three-day Northern Isolation music and art festival returns to Duluth Aug. 19-21 for a second annual showcase of punk, metal and experimental acts. Along with plenty of local talent are several traveling bands like Lumpy & the Dumpers (from Missouri) and Happy Diving (from California).
“Northern Isolation is the product of my frustrations with the overbearing amount of conventional thinking, trends, and egotism in the world,” says promoter Dean Berlinerblau. “It’s a positively manifested ‘fuck you’ to the world’s expectations.”
The fest will be primarily comprised of shows at the Carter Building, a new skatepark, music venue and art gallery at 214-1/2 E. First St. off the alley behind the NorShor Theatre. There will also be two ambient shows in the Red Herring‘s basement Red Room, and two after-party shows at locations to be announced. An art show will be featured at the Carter during the fest and Duluth Coffee Company will be serving free coffee to keep attendees energized.
Tickets to Northern Isolation II can be found online or purchased at the door.
How to support CASDA’s 2016 Golf Scramble
The Center Against Sexual and Domestic Abuse‘s annual “Socks for Survivors” Golf Scramble is just over a month away. Even if you’re not a golfer, you can help ensure its success. (more…)