Running race through the tunnels on I-35
Saturday, Sept. 14, will be the inaugural Tunnel 10K running race, starting at Fifth Avenue West and heading east on the freeway through the tunnels. At the 5K point you will turn around and finish where you started. This race is part of the Northshore Inline Marathon series of races. There is also a half-marathon running event, a half-marathon skating event, a 26.2 mile roller-skiing marathon and, of course, the race that made us famous, the 26.2-mile Northshore Inline Marathon.
This week: blues, baseball and the burnt part
Here’s a sampling of what you have to look forward to this week on the PDD Calendar.
This is the last week of the regular season for the Duluth Huskies at Wade Stadium, so you only have a handful of chances to take in a game.
Tomorrow night is National Night Out with neighborhood get togethers all over Duluth. Get out and meet your neighbors.
The Nettleton World Beat Drummers are playing with Mu Daiko at Bayfield this Wednesday. With Nettleton School now closed, I’m guessing this will be one of the last performances of the group. Anyone knowing differently, let me know in the comments.
Renegade‘s Burnt Part Boys, a musical about mining in West Virginia, opens at the Teatro Zuccone this Thursday and runs for three weekends.
At the Duluth Playhouse Metamorpheses and Grease open on Thursday and Friday and run for two weekends. These plays are part of the Summer Youth Intensive program where the cast for one show is the tech crew for the other show, so the kids you see on the stage on Thursday, will be running the show behind the scenes on Friday.
Bayfront Blues Festival is this coming weekend, running Friday through Sunday.
This weekend will also be the Festival of Fine Art and Craft at Glensheen on Saturday and Sunday.
So what are you doing this week? Can we tag along? Any upcoming events that you want to promote? Let us know.
That pizza joint on the hill
Oh, my 40-year-old brain! I have been sitting in the same chair all day trying to remember the name of the pizza place that was up on the hill, I think, across from Shakey’s. It had a weird pizza joint / olde tyme candy shoppe / barbershop quartet theme. The logo was a guy with a handlebar mustache wearing a striped red shirt. My brother remembers enormous jaw breakers. Extra credit to anyone who can name the owners. They went to Holy Rosary.
Please help. I may never sleep again.
Art (class) becomes reality?
My wife and I were having the usual musings on current society over dinner last night. We were barbecuing and she still had on her iconic McIlhenny Company Tabasco Sauce apron at the table.
Somehow the conversation turned to the smocks we had used in art class as fourth graders. These were the brown, excessively thick vinyl ones that were festooned with others’ clay frustrations and misguided painting experiments.
As I pondered this, of course my mind wandered to how this could fit into a business opportunity. The thought of mega retail in America came to mind, and the image of the stereotypical subculture of the unmentionable Walmart shopper we all know and shun — those who still find Zubaz a viable fashion statement and forgot to not sleep in their Crocs last night.
That’s it! Smocs! (Say it whilst tilting the head slightly and gurgling like a 1940’s radio character.) It could be the next huge retail trend — and not just a short-lived fad, but addressing a real need to promote the lifestyle shall we say by averting those unnecessary food droppings that mark up clothing, etc., and allowing a whole generation to sleep in their clothes for weeks on end.
Rubberized industrial Smocs in bright colors for any occasion could make for an excellent business opportunity. Might even globally increase the sale of pressure washers as well.
Late July, Lake Superior
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr7H_oEW_7o
Art at the Zeitgeist
Like Ed Newman, I was at the opening at the Zeitgeist on Wednesday for AJ Atwater. Unlike Ed, I am not a talented writer. So, I link you here to Ed’s account. For myself, I found that the pieces were amazing: they played with my sense of depth. At moments, some of the color seemed to be a rip through the canvas; some of the fields of color seemed to recede into the wall. There is a technical awesomeness to this work.
Disturbing Lake Superior “Scars”
Can’t say I have identified any chemical trails over the Twin Ports (maybe they know that only the lake can control the weather around here), but this sad image has a strong effect.
Chef Yee’s serving it up at Foster’s
Life just got even better on the hill — I discovered Chef Yee’s is serving up his fare Wednesdays and Thursdays at Foster’s on Arrowhead Road. I ate there tonight for the first time. It was delicious, fresh and quick — ah, just like we remembered! Paired well with a Great Lakes Brewing Co. Edmund Fitzgerald tap! Even my hubby who isn’t a Chinese food fan gave it rave reviews. We’ll be back!
Lost Cat
Via SirJeff for a friend: Full grown grey tabby cat lost in East Hillside near Sixth Street and 11th Avenue. Answers to Abigail, or friendly voices. Very friendly. Has claws, but are trimmed. No collar. We miss her very much and hope she comes home soon. Any info please call – 218-310-7050.
Split Rock Review
From Crystal S. Gibbins, recent transplant to Duluth:
Split Rock Review is an online magazine founded in the Northwoods of Minnesota in 2012, among log rollers, hikers, anglers, and dawn treaders. Its name is inspired from the historic landmark on Lake Superior’s North Shore. (more…)
Looking for a versatile jazz band
The event committee for MinnRoast 2014 has decided to switch the venue from Pantages to the State Theatre. Because of the larger, more professional venue we need to up the level of professionalism. We think we need a band (preferably jazz or big band sound) to carry the transitions and learn the accompaniments (currently there is just piano). This would be a paid gig and requires a lot of improvisation and thinking on your feet.
If you do no know what MinnRoast is …
Local(ish) author Roy C. Booth wins recognition
Novelist and playwright Roy. C. Booth is from Hibbing and still has family there, and he’s the special guest at the 21st annual Diversicon (held in St Paul, MN). Roy will share the stage with Jack McDevitt, Catherine Lundoff, and posthumous guests Cordwainer Smith and Peter Cushing.
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Help us with a theory
The other day, a friend and I were talking on Facebook about personality types according to Myers-Briggs and we noticed that, just in our circles of Duluth friends, there’s a huge proportion of one type of Myers-Briggs personality.
We then wondered if this was just coincidence or does Duluth have a larger-than-usual percentage of this relatively rare personality type.
So we’re turning to you all to help.
Please take this test (it’s free) and then post your results and the city in which you live. Thanks!
The test starts underneath the text box at the top of the page.
Changes to Arrowhead Regional Arts Grants
There are major changes coming in grant funding in the arts in our region. This notice will help explain some of them.
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Catnip: Egress to Oblivion?
This short film was one of the highlights of last weekend’s Free Range Film Festival in Wrenshall. Call this an encore presentation.
Bees!
Please help! We’re having a fence installed, and the workers were pounding a post near the garage when a steady stream of bumble bees started coming out of the ground. It’s fantastic! I’m thrilled to know that we are hosting these amazing little creatures. However, the fence workers want us to fumigate the hive before they continue working. We will not do this. So … any ideas? We won’t have the blood of a hundred bees on our hands.
Poll: Best Breakfast Restaurant
Through a recent poll about breakfast joints we have a disputable, yet official list of the five favorite places to seek ante-meridiem nourishment in the Duluth area. Now it’s time to determine which is number one, so again we ask the all-important question …
[poll id=”40″]
This poll is now closed. The results were …
Duluth Grill — 39.2 percent
Pizza Lucé — 21.6 percent
Uncle Loui’s — 17.5 percent
At Sara’s Table / Chester Creek Café — 15.4 percent
The Kitchen — 6.2 percent
Care Bears, Care Bears, Yeah – Live at Beaner’s
Someone tell us everything about this band, because we need to know right now.
OK, this is totally worth it. Trust me.
First, watch this real video about the 10 trips you have to take in your 20s.
Then, watch this spoof about the 10 trips you actually take in your 20s. Watch closely, particularly right after the JFK airport scene. It’s totally worth it.
Park Point Volunteer Surf Rescue
Help us raise funds to buy a rescue board! PPVSR T-shirts are $25 each, made in the USA, with a big logo on the back and a small logo on the front. Can be picked up or delivered — e-mail parkpointvsr @ gmail.com or post on our Facebook page. Thanks!
Ultimate Portrait: Mayor Edition
For inspiration in order to capture a “way out there” portrait, I posed the question to the Duluth Mayor Don Ness about the accomplishments he is most proud. This image is the result. See more of the story at photojournal.us.
This week: playgrounds, family trees and webslingers
Here’s a sampling of what you have to look forward to this week on the PDD Calendar.
After you wave goodbye to the last of the tall ships today you can go to the Grand Opening of the New Lester Park Playground tonight.
Revisit all the awkward hilarity of The Dating Game but with live Duluthians playing for love and big prizes at The Underground on Tuesday.
Spirit Valley Days starts up on Wednesday with music, a classic car show, and the Miss West Duluth Pageant and runs through Sunday with plenty of stuff happening every day.
Want to shake your family tree? There’s a free genealogy workshop at the Public Library on Thursday.
Every Friday during the summer (well, part of the summer anyway) there’re Movies in the Park at Leif Eriksen Park and this week’s movie is The Amazing Spiderman.
There are 34 events listed on Saturday and about half of them are free. You choose what you want to highlight, ’cause I can’t choose. Let us know in the comments.
So what are you doing this week? Can we tag along? Any upcoming events that you want to promote? Let us know.