Giant Colossal Bob Dylan Statue Finalists
Location: The horizon, in the shipping lanes. Material: Reinforced treated concrete with steel superstructure. Height (above the waterline): 300 feet. Ships will have to navigate around this stunning monument.
The Committee for Building Giant Colossal Statues of Bob Dylan (formerly the Committee for Building a Giant Colossal Statue of Bob Dylan) is pleased to announce its 12 finalists! Thanks to a generous anonymous donation, ALL of the statues in this post will be built in the next five years. Thank you to our state regulators who approved this project, and congratulations, Duluth! (more…)
Ode to Spirit Mountain
Standing at the top I see the river in the distance far below
In between this mountainside is covered in a heavy coat of snow
My poles are in my hands and my favorite purple skis are on my feet
My mouth begins to water like it’s waiting for the taste of something sweet
Slipping from the edge I feel a smile slowly slide across my face
‘Cause skiing down this mountain is the closest that I’ll ever come to grace
I wrote this little ditty years ago after a day of skiing at Spirit Mountain. (more…)
Selective Focus: The Green Monster of March
Instagram
329 likes, 16 comments - charleshowardsmith_photography on March 24, 2023: "Northern Icon
The Northern Lights danced in the sky over Duluth's iconic Aerial Lift Bridge during a very strong solar storm in the early hours of March 24th, 2023. This is a single image with minimal post processing.
#befromduluth #destinationduluth #exploremn #thisismymn #onlyinmn #visit_duluth #mymn #northernminnesota #northernlights #auroraborealis #aerialliftbridge #experiencethebiglake #nikonlove".
instagram.com
Instagram is once again aglow with photos of the northern lights in and around Duluth. (more…)
New harbor commission seeks to buy Madeline Island Ferry Line
Minnesota Public Radio reports the town of LaPointe has formed a harbor commission is negotiating with the owners of the Madeline Island Ferry Line to purchase the business and transfer its assets to public ownership.
Video: Duluth State of the City Address 2023
Via PACT-TV, Duluth Mayor Emily Larson outlines priorities for Duluth with her State of the City address, which she gave on March 22 at the West Theatre.
Mayor Larson’s remarks begin at the 20:30 mark in the video.
Video Archive: UMD Women’s Hockey Championship Threepeat
Twenty years ago today — March 23, 2003 — the University of Minnesota Duluth won it’s third consecutive NCAA Women’s Hockey Frozen Four championship defeating Harvard 4-3 in double overtime at the DECC Arena. The news footage embedded above is from KBJR-TV.
Selective Focus: Wintery PDDs
Instagram
67 likes, 2 comments - omightycrisis on March 19, 2023: "If I'm going to do anything on a Sunday morning, it should be this
#coldwaterdip #coldwaterdipping #ice #plunge #lakesuperior #perfectduluthday".
instagram.com
Select photos from Instagram spanning mid-February to mid-March 2023, all hashtagged with the name of a certain website. #perfectduluthday (more…)
Superior Siren – “Love Poem”
Laura Sellner of Superior Siren directs this new music video, produced by Illy Killy with cinematography by Chris Linder. The video was shot in Duluth at the Oliver G. Traphagen House and Jade Fountain Cocktail Lounge.
The song “Love Poem” is from the 2021 solo EP Kill Your Darlings.
The Slice: Duluth Fiber Guild’s 50th Anniversary Show
The Duluth Fiber Guild‘s 50th anniversary installation, Janet Meaney and 50 Years of Fiber Art, is on display at the Tweed Museum of Art through May 21. (more…)
I wrote Bob Saget’s last movie and it’s coming to Duluth
Twelve years ago I wrote a movie called Killing Daniel. Two years after I wrote it, I optioned it to Darius Films in Toronto, Canada. At the time I had no idea it would take a decade before it would be finished. In that time the script went through more rewrites than I can count, numerous actors signed on and departed from the project, and we lost the original director and were director-less for quite some time. (more…)
Ripped at Frozen Man in 2003
[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Twenty years ago the Sultan of Sot wrote the article below for the March 19, 2003 issue of the Ripsaw newspaper.]
One reason to be nice to your bartender is that she will likely throw a party some day, and you will want to be invited. See, bartenders are good at throwing parties because … well, they’re bartenders. They have connections to all the good drinkers, and they know who the big-time assholes are. This allows them to “cast” their parties.
The party I’m going to tonight is called “Frozen Man.” I won’t provide too many details, like the name of the host, the date or the location, because I want to be invited back next year. I will tell you that Frozen Man is held in the Duluth Township, just outside of Howdy-Dotyville, where a good bonfire/campout/drinkfest can go down without someone creating an ordinance to stop it.
The concept of Frozen Man is to drink alcohol around a fire when it’s really cold out. There are various activities and rituals and surprises throughout the night, but the main purpose is to see how much cold your body can endure before you either die, go home crying or prove you are more powerful than nature itself. (more…)
The Great Lakes Aurora Hunters
This Twin Cities Public Television segment follows a group of photographers chasing the Northern Lights in Minnesota.
Bonnie Shea: Duluth’s first female hockey player
The University of Minnesota Duluth’s public relations and marketing department presents the story of Bonnie Shea, Duluth’s first female hockey player. Read more about Bonnie at news.d.umn.edu.
Mostly auto-colorized photos of Duluth and Northern Minnesota
During the pandemic, I colorized six early Duluth photos, which was absurdly time consuming but seemed like as good of a way as any to spend some evenings inside. A friend of mine recently informed me that Adobe Photoshop now has a tool that will colorize photos automatically with far better results than my drawing over pixels method. He was somewhat correct. (more…)
Duluth Monitor on the London East Townhomes
Additional floor added to London East townhomes without public process
Regularly, I am ecstatic to live in a city whose politics so smoothly reflects my values. And regularly, the Duluth Monitor reveals that, when it comes to its regulatory authority over developers utilizing the limited resources of space and property, my city lets me down, always choosing to side with people with money.
Enger Park Little League circa 1963-1975
The Ensign Community Club built and maintained the Enger Park Little League Field at the dead-end of West 13th Street, just below “The Boulevard.” Fans flocked to the games and parked along neighborhood streets and on Skyline Parkway to see games play out below. Along with the field was a basketball court that doubled as a tennis court. The neighborhood built the field and maintained it for about 15 years. (more…)
London Road roundabout plan riles residents
Mail
State transportation officials are moving ahead with a plan to remake a stretch of London Road in Duluth — the gateway to the North Shore — despite many residents’ objections to one of three proposed roundabouts.
mprnews.org
Minnesota Public Radio reports that the Minnesota Department of Transportation is moving forward with a plan to install a roundabout at 60th Avenue East and London Road despite objections from residents.
Video Archive: Charlie Parr and Haley in 2002
By the power of grainy 20-year-old VHS, embedded above are performances by Charlie Parr and Haley from the short-lived WDSE-TV program Coffee House. The premiere episode featured three songs by each artist and aired March 12, 2003; the segment here contains just one each, and is from a sampler of the show that aired a week earlier. The footage was shot in 2002.
PDD Quiz: Duluth Movie Mentions II
In honor of the Academy Awards on March 12, this week’s PDD quiz takes a look at mentions of Duluth on the silver screen. A previous quiz on this topic was published in August). If you’re looking to cheat study up on references to Duluth in popular culture, check out this sweet PDD tag.
The next PDD quiz will review the month’s headlines; it will be published on March 26. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by March 22. (more…)
All Hockey Hair Team 2023: May the Flow Be with You
A long time ago, in a rink far, far away, the best salads and skullets, mullets and manes descended on the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament in St. Paul. Hockey-hair video maker John King is back with his annual compilation of the best flow in the state. (more…)
Mr. Bierhalter, what is bock beer?
As bock season kicks into high gear — Earth Rider celebrates this weekend; Fitger’s is waiting until April this year — we look back 110 years to get Fitger’s brewmaster John Bierhalter’s definition of the strong, dark beer traditionally brewed in fall and consumed in spring. (more…)
New York Times back in ‘climate-proof Duluth’
The New York Times is vaguely claiming Duluth “has welcomed thousands of new residents from out of state” in the past four years, citing climate change as the “motivating factor.”
Mayor and Common Council, City of Duluth, March 10, 1913
Seated to the left of the mustached gentleman at far right appears to be Duluth’s 23rd mayor, Dr. John A. McCuen. Win the internet by identifying anyone else in the photo.