Postcard from Isle Royale, Lake Superior, Near Duluth
This undated postcard shows a scene from Isle Royale National Park, the fourth-largest lake island in the world, located about 150 miles northeast of Duluth.
Steve Solkela plays “Ievan Polkka” while unicycling
Local accordion sensation/goofball Steve Solkela is playing Minnesota gigs almost daily in December before his tour of Finland in January. (more…)
Jimi Hendrix, LSD and My Grandmother
Jimi Hendrix appeared to me in a vision while I was getting my wisdom teeth out. This was Thanksgiving break 1986, in Houston, Texas. The next day I took LSD. It was a trip full of signs and portents, heralded by Hendrix’s visitation to me at the dentist’s office. At first I thought Jimi was protecting me, but now I think he may have been trying to warn me about that acid trip.
I’d heard Hendrix on LSD the previous summer, as “Are You Experienced?” transformed my boom box. That’s the song where he says he’s experienced, and then he says “Let me prove it to you” and plays a backward guitar solo. Everybody knows that song, but on psychedelics I heard the solo, man. It did prove Jimi was experienced, just like he said he was. I trusted him, an ersatz father figure dispensing psychedelic wisdom.
Why did I get into LSD, you may ask. Well, in 1983 after our father died, my family lived with our Houston grandmother for a summer of grieving. And while we were there, my little brother Allen and I watched the William Hurt movie Altered States on cable like 5,000 times. It’s about a psychedelic scientist testing the limits of meaning and sanity. We adopted it as a roadmap for how to live. (more…)
The Black Labels – “Blackboard Jungle”
Recorded at Beaner’s Central, now known as Wussow’s Concert Cafe, the week in September 2002. The track appears on the double album One Week Live at Beaner’s.
Shippee – “To You: (Merry Christmas)”
Duluth’s Blake Shippee has a new Christmas song. The video is directed by Lance Lindahl. (more…)
Superior Street 1963/2023 – Part Two: Change
The Providence Building, 332 West Superior Street, 11:11 a.m.
The first post in this series looked at locations along Superior Street that have gone largely unchanged over the past 60 years. This set of 10 photos looks at locations where the difference between 1963 and 2023 are a bit more evident. In some cases, that is because of major developments like the Gateway Renewal Program, the Holiday Center, the Skywalk system or the I-35 extension. In other instances, it is simply because at some point the building acquired a new façade. (more…)
Superior Street 1963/2023 – Part One: Continuity
In 1963 an unknown photographer systematically photographed Superior Street, capturing downtown buildings and businesses on both sides. Ninety-five of these images have been preserved on the Minnesota Reflections website. (more…)
PDD Geoguessr Challenge #7: Downtown on the Iron Range
W.F. Cannon (USGS)
As enough people played the original Geoguessr challenge series of six games for it to continue as a regular series, new Geoguessr challenges will now appear twice a month on Sundays, at least for the time being, so if you have any ideas for what you might like to see in the future, please share in the comments. As always, an overview of how the game is played appears at the end of this post. (more…)
The Slice: Amnicon Falls
Amnicon Falls State Park, located about 20 miles southeast of Downtown Duluth, is known for its upper and lower waterfalls, carved through dark basalt and Lake Superior sandstone.
In its series The Slice, PBS North presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
Postcard from the Lamplighter in 1963
Not to be confused with the former Lamplighter strip club in Superior, the Lamplighter in this 60-year-old postcard is the piano bar in Duluth’s old Fifth Avenue Hotel, which was located where the Duluth Public Library stands today. It was torn down in the 1960s. (more…)
Duluth Mail Bag: Lower Taxes, Viewsheds and Roundabouts
As a two-time Duluth city councilor, now in my final year of service, one of my goals is to make city government more accessible, or at least help citizens become more informed. I figure there are many Duluthians who would like some simple answers to some simple questions. I learned in school that if there is something you don’t understand it’s likely there are many others who feel the same way. Hence the idea of the Duluth Mailbag column.
I won’t divulge who is asking the questions, but I’ll answer them in this format about once a month. Feel free to put a question in the comments for next month’s “Duluth Mailbag” or tweet me via @Hobbs_Duluth or email me at hobbsforduluth @ gmail.com.
Also, if you want to have a longer conversation, you can sign up for a 45-minute cup of coffee through my 100 Cups of Coffee project.
OK, here we go! (more…)
Northwoods Creatures in Wild Remote Country
This latest montage from Voyageurs National Park shows critters over a 1.5-month period this past spring.
The camera was set up by the Voyageurs Wolf Project, which is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in the park. But the otters kind of steal the show in this video.
Climate>Duluth: Tammy Mayer of One Climate Action
Climate-Duluth host Tone Lanzillo interviews Tammy Mayer of One Climate Action. Interview recorded at Duluth Public Access Community Television’s studio in City Hall and via Zoom.
Rafe Carlson – “Backroad Love Story”
The latest from Hermantown native Rafe Carlson is this video from Bo Allen Productions‘ “Unwound Sessions.”
Duluth’s Inn on Gitche Gumee has new owners
New owners, same charm at Inn on Gitche Gumee - Duluth News Tribune | News, weather, and sports from Duluth, Minnesota
Britney and Reilly Brennan, of Duluth, recently bought the popular destination hotel and cottage from the Sievert family.
duluthnewstribune.com
The Duluth News Tribune reports Britney and Reilly Brennan are the new owners of the Inn on Gitche Gumee, a destination hotel and cottage on the shore of Lake Superior at the northeast edge of Duluth.
Postcard from the Lonsdale Building
This undated postcard shows the Lonsdale Building, 302 W. Superior St. in Duluth. Designed by Emmet Palmer, Lucien Hall and William Hunt, and constructed in 1895, it was originally five stories tall. Three additional floors were added in 1905.
PDD Quiz: November 2023
Shake off the tryptophan hangover and get your brain in gear with this month’s current affairs quiz.
A holiday-themed quiz skiis your way on Dec. 17. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Dec. 12. (more…)
Boner Problems
Boner problems are my least-favorite sex problem. Here is my best story about boner problems.
The story begins after my divorce, when I was stoked to start up with someone else. I did so immediately. The way these things happen, my marriage-desiccated sex life went from zero to a hundred overnight. My new girlfriend and I were pleasure-seeking missiles indulging every vice. We drank champagne, stayed up late, and screwed loudly. Until I got boner problems.
Alarmed, I began a Manhattan Project to get to the bottom of it, which became a journey through the underworld. Would you believe I finally cleared it up with a naked psychedelic mushroom trip on Amnicon Beach?
A Brief History of Boner Problems
I was in my early 30s with no history of chronic boner problems. I’d had three or four misfires over a decade-and-a-half of an otherwise bangin’ sex-life. That is standard. For instance one night in high school in Texas, I was making out with a girlfriend on the back lawn of the campus chapel, and when she tried going down on me, I was looking around thinking how exposed we were. So that was a fail, but there was no mystery and nothing to worry about. Another time with that same woman, after high school in her Austin shack, we were trying to make it in the shower as people were coming over and letting themselves in and waiting for us. Another fail. It didn’t make me feel great, but it was transitory. (more…)
Sixty years ago, Oswald met bullet
“Lee Harvey Oswald found merciless death lurking in a crowd … just as President John F. Kennedy did 48 hours earlier,” an Associated Press story in the Nov. 25, 1963 Duluth News Tribune reported about the previous day’s occurrence. “The accused presidential assassin was shot and killed during a routine jail transfer.”
PDD Geoguessr Challenges #5 and #6: Bookstores and Hidden Landmarks
PDD Geoguessr Challenge #5: Independent Booksellers of Northern Minnesota
When the days get shorter and the nights get colder, curling up on the couch with a good book becomes one of the best ways to spend an afternoon. But first you have to find yourself a good book. This GeoGuessr Challenge is all about independent bookstores in Northern Minnesota. And for the purposes of this challenge, Northern Minnesota is any city or town at or above Highway 2. (more…)
Big Into – “Velvet Drill Bits”
Two-piece groovy nerd-rock band Big Into is releasing a music video every month for each new track off of its upcoming EP. In the first, Curtis Kraft Mattson and Jozef Conaway are in a frantic quest for serenity that leads them down a long, winding path. What will they find?
Beyondbliss – “Comp. Glitch”
Superior-based rapper David Kittelson, aka Beyondbliss, asks if we are living in simulation in this video for a track from his new album Born Deaf.
Gaelynn Lea Talks About Disability Culture and Creativity
Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea is an advocate for connecting the creative disability community and reframing disability not as negative, but as a form of diversity. In this Twin Cities Public Television segment she talks about disability culture and performs a few of her songs at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis. The segment is part of the “Disability, Culture and Creativity” episode of TPT’s mini series Art + Medicine, which aims to destigmatize disabilities through stories, art and performances.
Duluth: Where it’s Christmas every day for a month
1970 promotional ad for Duluth.