The Meal that Almost Killed Me
My wife and I had just completed the trifecta of stress-inducing life events. In the span of two weeks we had gotten married, moved to a new city, Chicago (where we would be living together for the first time), and I started a brand-new job at Northwestern University (where I knew exactly one person).
My commute from our apartment near Wrigley Field to Evanston was nearly 45 minutes. Which I got to spend on the packed red line train, sitting next to a revolving roster of the cast of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – Public Transportation Edition.
My “favorite” commute was the morning I sat next to a perfectly lovely older lady who smiled and moved her new handbag so I could have more room. We rode in silence for a moment before she asked me where I was heading. (more…)
Selective Focus: Iconoclasts
Mike Scholtz, untitled
Being an iconoclast means more than seeming stereotypically outré, a fringe figure, or intentionally marginal. This week features the ordinary people among us who get things done by merely digressing from convention; age, gender, and appearance have little to do with the capacity to shift the discourse, and affect communities — though a dash of eccentricity, sometimes humor doesn’t hurt. Difference is also a mental state; taking the road less traveled or asserting a dissenting view (as in Ann Klefstad’s piece, or Bryan French’s image from the Berlin Wall). (more…)
Duluth Album Releases in 2016
Dirty Knobs
30,000 Days
Available on Bandcamp
(Jan. 5)
Gin Street
Model Homes
Available on Bandcamp
(Feb. 4)
Kyle Ollah
Wouldn’t Mind Working from Sun to Sun EP
Available on Bandcamp
(Feb. 5)
Video Archive: Student Concerns at UW-Superior in 1996
Denise Novotny is the reporter. Interview subjects in order of appearance: Marnie Housel, Jan Tilley, Angie Sommerfeld, Seung-Hyun Oh, Jon Ellis and Brandon Leno.
No, this is not a legitimate campus news piece. Yes, I wrote a script and fed everyone their lines, although they improvised a tiny bit. Yes, I was apparently terrible at white balancing TV cameras 20 years ago.
Homegrown 2016 schedule announced; Wussow’s mix released
The 2016 Homegrown Music Festival, Duluth’s annual 200ish-band showcase, runs May 1-8. The official schedule has been released, so it’s time to begin charting the adventure. The Chicken App, PDD’s smart-phone optimized version of the lineup, is also available.
This year’s schedule follows the same basic format as previous Homegrowns — opening ceremonies and new band showcase on Sunday, video festival and poetry showcase on Monday, Canal Park focus on Tuesday, western Duluth on Wednesday, Superior on Thursday, buttload o’ bands in Downtown Duluth on Friday and Saturday, and a few brunch shows on the final Sunday.
The two biggest weekday shows are again at Grandma’s Sports Garden and Clyde Iron Works. The Sports Garden lineup includes A Band Called Truman, Mary Bue & the Holy Bones, Space Carpet and the Social Disaster. Clyde will feature Teague Alexy and Friends, Low and Red Mountain. (more…)
Goodbye Winter
Gooseberry Falls aerial video by Above U Productions.
We have arrived in Duluth and our hats are impeccable
Would anyone like to take a stab at translating the message on the back of this postcard? It was mailed from Duluth to Miss Lillian Carlson of Minneapolis at some point during the era of one-cent postcard postage and fancy hats. The postmark date is not readable. (more…)
This Week: green beer, glass slippers, quilts and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
Minneapolis NAACP President Nakima Levy-Pounds speaks on the Black Lives Matter movement at UMD, Memorial Blood Centers is looking for your red stuff, the Zinema is showing a Sergei Eisenstein classic, the latest TED at the Teatro is all about belief and the lack of it, Duluth Mayor Emily Larson and City Councilor Zack Filipovich invite the public to a community listening session and The Underground gets loud about motherhood.
The green beer starts flowing on Thursday at Dubh Linn Irish Pub, former vice-presidential candidate Winona LaDuke speaks on ethics at UMD, the cover bands just keep on coming, the Minnesota Ballet closes out its season with some glass-slipper business, the multi-day DuLutsen North of North Music & Ski Festival is popping off from March 16 to 21, it’s Motorhead Madness at the DECC and quilter Kathy McTavish invites the public to her studio for a special day.
City on a Hill
Advocate Cycles of Bloomington took its new Watchman model fat-tire bike to the snowy hills of Duluth this past winter for this video showcasing the world-class riding opportunities the city has to offer. To the music of Teague Alexy’s “The Raggedy Hat of John Henry,” they ride from dusk until dawn from the top of the hill down to the frozen shoreline of Lake Superior.
PDD Quiz: Ides of March
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
It’s nigh the ides of March which is a good time to be wary. How much do you know about disasters that have befallen our fair city? Take the quiz and find out.
Thanks to Paul Lundgren for contributing to today’s quiz.
Our next quiz will be on March 27 and we will be looking in the rear view mirror at what’s happened in and around Duluth this month.
Send your suggested quiz questions (and answers) to lawrence @ perfectduluthday.com by noon on Wednesday, Mar. 23.
Spring Brings Unexpected Things
Last March, like this one, was placid and mild; it was a true and distinct season instead of the usual Northland spring, which is often held hostage in an icy chokehold by winter. No, the days slowly and confidently transformed from ash and smoke into gently unfurling golds and greens.
This seems like an odd observation for someone who spent most of it in a dim, whispered wing of St. Mary’s Hospital. My second born, my new baby daughter, made an alarmingly early entrance into the world, interrupting a Friday afternoon’s planned errands: Target for hand towels, aspirin, and an indulgent Starbucks latte, and maybe the children’s boutique, Sproutlings, to fawn over tiny, unpractical pastel things — booties and bows and expectations of the chubby baby thighs to come.
For two days in that early March week, something was off about my pregnancy and I was torn between taking my intuition seriously by calling to move up a scheduled prenatal appointment or discrediting the feeling as merely nerves. The former won the battle. I hadn’t felt much movement out of my usually active, somersaulting babe. After a nurse on the phone recommended I head into Labor and Delivery at the hospital for a non-stress test, my husband left work early to accompany me and our 3 year old. We’d just pop in — it was probably nothing — and then head off to do some quick shopping before the weekend. (more…)
Selective Focus to join the “One River, Many Stories” project
In April, Perfect Duluth Day’s weekly Selective Focus feature will devote two themes to the “One River, Many Stories” project, which asks for tales of your relationship to the St. Louis River. I’m drawn to it’s dualistic character as a forum for both contemplation and recreation, so April 1’s theme will foreground the river’s natural beauty, and April 8 will spotlight its possibilities for play. Feel free to send images as soon as you’re able to tim @ perfectduluthday.com, and follow the “One Rivers” project at onerivermn.com
The Adjustments – “North Shore Sinner Pt. IV”
Local rock band the Adjustments record “North Shore Sinner Pt. IV” at the home studio of band member Alex Nelson in Lakeside. The band’s new album At North Shore is available tonight at Carmody Irish Pub. Sam Tuthill opens the show at 10 p.m.
NPR Tiny Desk Concert: Gaelynn Lea
Duluth’s Gaelynn Lea won NPR’s second annual Tiny Desk Contest. Above is her 22-minute performance, featuring the tunes “Someday We’ll Linger in the Sun,” “Southwind,” “Bird Song” and “Moment Of Bliss.” Alan Sparhawk, her band mate in the Murder of Crows, joins in on the latter two songs.
Selective Focus: Artistic Kids
Cheryl Reitan, “Black Cat”
Many thoughtful people have rightfully lamented the gutting of funding for arts education to privilege more “useful” studies. But there are also the limitations we impose on ourselves, and the diminishment of what many of us once so much enjoyed (“I loved to paint and draw as a kid…”). Art too often becomes something we let go to follow well-rutted roads, to conform, and to not stand apart. (more…)
Whole Foods Co-op – Denfeld set to open March 16
Duluth’s second Whole Foods Co-op store will open March 16 at 4426 Grand Ave., a few hundred feet from Denfeld High School on the site of the former Jefferson Lines bus station.
Those familiar with shopping at the co-op’s Hillside location at 610 E. Fourth St. can expect similar whole, organic, local and regional food offerings at the West Duluth store, plus an expanded deli area with hot and cold grab-and-go foods. (more…)
Kaleidoscope: Save the Date
Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin Lakes and Pines present the third annual Kaleidoscope for girls and adults on April 30. (more…)
Monster Mob – “Bloodfeast”
“Bloodfeast” is the latest single from Duluth band Monster Mob’s 2015 album American Grindhouse. Upcoming gig: Monster Mob and Ball Slashers at the Barrel Room at Fitger’s Brewhouse on May 25.
Postcard from the Hill Top
Mailed in 1923, six years before the Aerial Transfer Bridge became the Aerial Lift Bridge, this postcard depicts the old days when a gondola car carried passengers, streetcars and wagons over the canal. Numerous buildings in this postcard are long gone. (more…)