Matt Ray Skeleton Key EP to help fund full length
To help fund his official full-length release, due out in Summer 2016, Matt Ray needs your help! His Skeleton Key EP on Bandcamp contains eight tracks he has not gotten around to putting on a full-length, so he has decided to release them all as an EP where you can pay what you want.
All funds, and we do mean all funds, from this go directly to funding the recording, production and distribution of his full length album of original material, produced by Ian Alexy of Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank and recorded/engineered by Ryan David Young of Trampled by Turtles. It features guest appearances by Nate Sipe of Pert Near Sandstone, Paul Fonfara of Brass Messengers, Eddie Juntunen of White Iron Band and several others.
Ray is very proud of this album and wants you to hear it, but in order for that to happen, he needs everybody to really “support local/live music” and donate a couple of bucks to help cover all the costs.
Pay what you want … let the music take you.
This Week: Babes, Brian, Peeps and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find in this week’s PDD Calendar:
Author Brian Freeman comes to town to sign his latest Duluth-set crime novel, Bent Paddle hosts the One River, Many Stories kickoff, Vietnam veterans are celebrated at the Depot, UMD hosts a panel discussion on the nationwide movement to get a $15 minimum wage, the 50th annual Arrowhead Home & Builder Show lands at the DECC, the BuyDownstream kickoff event happens at the Red Herring with local music and poetry and kids can make art with marshmallow Peeps at the Superior Public Library.
The Duluth Experience is loading up its bus for a tour of local breweries, rock legends Babes in Toyland roll into town to celebrate the Current’s arrival, Solve Entertainment’s second escape room debuts in its downtown location, the Homegrown Festival invades the Iron Range, Twin Cities rap collective Doomtree plays two shows at Papa Charlie’s, Vikre Distillery drops its latest batch of whiskey and Zenith City Cabaret is back in action at Zeitgeist Arts.
Duluth Tintype Photography
The latest Duluth artifacts to fall in my lap are three unlabeled tintypes — photos processed onto thin sheets of metal. I don’t think I’ve come across Duluth tintypes before, but surely others must exist, so I post here with the hope that someone can enlighten me in the comments section and perhaps share their own tintypes. (more…)
PDD Quiz: March 2016
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
March is nearly over. Time to recap. What do you remember about March in Duluth? What did you miss? Let’s find out.
Our next quiz will be on April 10 and the theme will be “April Fools.” What does that mean? I don’t even know yet. Send your suggested quiz questions (and answers) to lawrence @ perfectduluthday.com by noon on Wednesday, Apr. 6.
Waving at Strangers
It started when I was twelve years old and my father consented to buy me a mini-bike. It was the real deal, a miniature motorcycle, not some boxy frame with a lawn mower engine. Sixty CCs, one hundred and twenty pounds, it would do fifty miles per hour. What a foolish gift.
There had been a couple of go-carts around the neighborhood before bikes took over. Two brothers had cobbled one together but had yet to master the complexities of throttle control or brakes. We put their sister on it, wound it up, and let it go. I don’t know how she eventually came to a stop, but she was last seen careening between the trees in our beloved public park. It was obvious from that experiment their machine had two too many wheels.
I probably knew a dozen kids with mini-bikes. My friend two blocks away had one identical to mine, and ours were among the coolest. Most common were the Honda 70s. Ugly, but they could keep up. The boy across the street had a Suzuki Trail Hopper. Pathetic. Honda 50s were tiny. The clown car of mini-bikes. One kid had an Indian which sounded like a chainsaw cutting sheet metal, yet law enforcement was strangely absent for a couple of summers when the world was young. (more…)
I Fell In Right After Taking This Footage Which Clearly Shows Me Being An Idiot
About five minutes after this footage was taken I wandered too far onto an escarpment of ice over Lake Superior. Marching out there, intending to be careful and to stay a couple feet from the edge, I said, “Let’s go risk our lives!” (more…)
Jedi Coworker
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]
Samuel T. Weston has a goal to shoot 20 short videos in 2016. Two down, 18 to go.
Jedi Coworker was primarily shot on the College of St. Scholastica campus. There is also a scene at the Aerial Lift Bridge. The actors are Weston, Anissa Peppersack, John Vālen, Lucretia Stillwater and Mike Koenigsberg.
Daniel Oyinloye’s Dawn of Redemption Album Release Project
Nigerian-born artist, storyteller and community organizer Daniel Oyinloye, a 2004 University of Minnesota Duluth graduate now living in Minneapolis, has launched an Indiegogo campaign to fund his next album, Dawn of Redemption. On Saturday, March 26, he’ll perform at Trepanier Hall in Duluth, along with openers Rachael Kilgour and Isaac Wierman.
Lot D … for Duluth
The Duluth Economic Development Authority has issued a request for proposals for the future development of waterfront real estate on the Lake Superior harbor, referred to as “Lot D.” The site is 12 acres of flat land, zoned as mixed-use waterfront, and is sandwiched between Compass Minerals packaging facility and the Pier B Resort development. The appraised value of the property is $2.1 million. (more…)
Selective Focus: Spring (Dare We Speak its Name?)
Christine Dean, untitled
The recent spate of lovely weather, coinciding with the vernal equinox, is a trap. We know this, yes? Having seen it snow in June, and still, we live in hope. There are gardens to ready, trails to follow, newborns to raise. Spring, tantalizingly close, isn’t for the timid, the reclusive, or the misanthropic. It’s time to be an upright, active being again until Summer’s indolence overtakes us. (more…)
Charlie Parr – “Jaybird”
Duluth’s Charlie Parr performs on the gondola at Lutsen Mountains on March 17, the day after his concert at Papa Charlie’s during the DuLutsen North of North Music & Ski Festival.
Perfect Duluth Easter Brunch?
So, being of a mindset that doesn’t lean particularly religious, the wife and I tend to sleep in on Easter Sunday. I had always been under the impression that Easter brunch was sort of a big thing, so a few years back we ventured out seeking a leisurely breakfast/lunch combo with bloodies and mimosas, only to discover all the usual downtown brunch suspects were closed!
We probably gave up a bit too early in our search since we ended up at the bar at Tycoons, but there were surprisingly few open places. To save me from that situation again, what does PDD suggest as the best place in the area to get a proper Easter brunch?
Quarry Park Mini Master Plan Draft
The plan for a proposed 30-acre multi-purpose park at Casket Quarry in West Duluth is in its final draft stage. Duluth’s Parks Recreation Division is seeking public comment until April 6.
Quarry Park will offer accessible trails, connections to other surrounding hiking and biking trails, multi-use gathering spaces, disc golf and a rock climbing wall rock- and ice-climbing opportunities.
Click here to view the Mini Master Plan PDF.
Click here for the public comment form.
Public comments will be compiled and incorporated into a final version of the plan, which will be presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission at a special meeting on April 20.
Video: Lester River Race 2016
Point-of-view video of a run during last weekend’s Lester River Race in Duluth.
Gwen Austin honorable mention in NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]
Yes, Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea won NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest, but yesterday NPR posted “10 More Tiny Desk Entries We Loved” featuring the beautiful Gwen Austin.
Austin went to school at UMD and lives in Duluth on and off. Her most recent Duluth project is the trio Bone Harp. So out of more than 6,000 entries Duluth is represented twice in the top 11. Way to go Duluth.
Sixty Seconds of Minnesota Winter
Video by Layne Kennedy.
Plaisted Polar Expedition in New York Times
Ralph Plaisted’s “Big Idea” — to travel to the North Pole by snowmobile — was born in Duluth’s Pickwick restaurant in 1966. The New York Times published a fresh account of the story last week.
An Insurance Salesman and a Doctor Walk Into a Bar, and End Up at the North Pole
Duluth in the House
A quick Duluth reference in House, season 3, episode 18, “Airborne.”
Not your typical cookbook review
Once upon a time we stopped caring about where our food came from, and had no knowledge of the people who grew it. We stopped cooking, ate out of boxes, and tore cellophane wrappers off microwaved “TV dinners.” We even ate fast food meals in our cars without stepping foot outside. Sounds crazy, but it’s actually true! Americans across the socioeconomic spectrum came to rely solely upon international corporations to feed us, even though they’ve proven time and again that their only care is for profits.
Slowly, surely, relentlessly, we are waking up. There is another way. The Duluth Grill Cook Book II is the latest contribution toward our community’s drive to create a sustainable local food system. I lingered over a scratch-made pie and perused the book for a couple hours while taking in the atmosphere. Read my thoughts on Ed’s Big Adventure.
Duluth on Robot Chicken
Duluth and Northeast Minnesota got a shout out on Robot Chicken this week. Watch the crappy screen-grab clip above, or view the pay version of the full episode below. (more…)
Craft brewers rolling out variety of vessels
Duluth beer drinkers have more choices than ever — not just in terms of brands and styles, but also in packaging. A variety of new bottle and can styles have entered the local market, and more are on the way.
Two prominent examples are the 750ml bottles Fitger’s Brewhouse used to package its late-winter series, and the 16 oz. cans Castle Danger Brewery will soon release for its seasonal offerings. (more…)
Review: Kathy McTavish’s Høle in the Sky
Is there a hole in sky? Art mesmerizes the Food Farm!
Media artist Kathy McTavish and the new-music ensemble Zeitgeist took over two windowless rooms of the Food Farm root cellar in Wrenshall this past Saturday to present the interactive exhibition Høle in the Sky to an audience of about 25 people. (more…)
Price Check: Iggy Pop and Gwen Stefani
On Friday, March 18, two solo artists released their newest albums. As usual with Perfect Duluth Day’s Price Check, the cost of purchasing said albums varies — in this case not just from store to store but by format and artist. Odd as it might seem, Iggy Pop tends to be a tad more expensive than Gwen Stefani. (more…)
This Week: fresh vinyl, basketball goofballs, rabbits and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
It’s New Music Festival time at UMD’s Weber Music Hall, the Zinema is screening a documentary about an architect who’s building floating schools, the latest season of WDSE’s local arts show The Playlist is taping an episode with a live audience, basketball goofballs from Harlem trot into town for a bit of sports-comedy, the latest Design DLH gathering aims to address just how Lake Superior affects design in the area, hip hop takes a stand against heroin at the Red Herring and it’s once again Taste at Fitger’s time.
Reflectivore releases a new vinyl LP at a show with the Social Disaster and Chasm of Czar, Monster Mob assembles to rock with the Ball Slashers, Duluth’s first escape room has its final original-recipe room events before it opens a new experience, the Pinewood Derby is back at Carmody, three bands (Ego Death, Swimsuit Area and the Farsights) play an all-ages show at Beaner’s, there’s bound to be bloodshed at the 2016 Puzzle Derby and it’s time once again for a big rabbit to bring people eggs and chocolate for religious reasons.