Torment – “Brain Bleed”
Duluth hardcore band Torment has an album in the works called Swallow Your Teeth. The first single is featured in this animated lyric video put together by Dwi Nugraha with Genoicide Artwork.
DuluthiLeaks: Pastoret Terrace Rebid Request for Proposals
The Duluth Economic Development Authority has put out its third request for proposals to redevelop the Pastoret Terrace, a building that has been condemned since 2010. Though previous redevelopment proposals were deemed unsatisfactory and the threat of a wrecking ball has long loomed, the building will continue to stand … at least in the short term.
For the fifth edition of DuluthiLeaks — Perfect Duluth Day’s series in which public documents are presented as if they contain secret information leaked from an anonymous whistle blower — we present: “22-5504 Rebid Request for Proposals: Historic Restoration Pastoret Terrace.” (more…)
Selective Focus: John Keefover
John Keefover poses with the Northern Terminus sign after completing his thru-hike of the Superior Hiking Trail.
John Keefover is the Duluth-based nature photographer behind the photography business Keefography. This June, Keefover thru-hiked the Superior Hiking Trail, sharing photos, videos and journal entries along the way. Keefover used this adventure as an opportunity to raise funds for the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center. (more…)
Guide to Duluth-related Blogs in 2022
Birding, broadcasting, micro-agriculture, astronomy and motherhood are just some of the topics Duluth-area writers are blogging about. Every two years or so, Perfect Duluth Day scans the web to see who’s active in the local blogosphere, compiling a comprehensive-as-possible guide to the region’s active web logs. (more…)
Northland Larder serving up cured meats on Duluth’s waterfront
New among Duluth’s food trucks and trailers this summer is Northland Larder. The “immobile mobile food trailer” is parked near the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center between the Vista Fleet and the pedestrian bridge that crosses the Minnesota Slip into Canal Park. It features a shaded dining area, synthetic turf and Loll furniture. (more…)
Creating Duluth-Themed Art with AI
A Van Gogh style painting of a 1920s cargo train traveling on a winter night though an evergreen forest next to a huge blue lake with the aurora borealis in the night sky.
DALL-E is an online tool that uses machine learning to generate digital images from plain English text descriptions. You type a description of something real or imaginary and the program does its best to create a unique image based on that description. After some time on a waitlist, I recently received an invite that allows me to create and download a limited number of artificial intelligence generated images per month. This came at a good time, as I recently found a watercolor print of the Duluth hillside in a Lincoln Park shop that I liked quite a bit but could not afford. I decided to use some of my AI image credits to see if I could get the automated system to produce Duluth art of at least somewhat comparable quality. In the examples that follow, I describe this process, showing what worked and what did not. The captions of each picture show the text query that generated the image. (more…)
Selective Focus: Burdock Ceramics
Burdock Ceramics is the pottery duo of Duluth artists Rita Morris and Barry Sands. Their pieces are hand thrown and painted, creating functional and elegant pottery inspired by the northwoods. (more…)
Wolf Pup Wrestling
This four-way battle royal is scheduled for one fall with a 43-second time limit. From Voyageurs National Park, each maybe weighing something like 25 pounds, they are the Half-Moon Pack.
The footage is from a Voyageurs Wolf Project trail camera.
PDD Quiz: Tall Ships
Set sail for this week’s Perfect Duluth Day quiz, which tests your knowledge of Duluth’s various tall ship festivals.
The next PDD quiz will review this month’s headlines; it will be published on Aug. 28. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Aug. 25. (more…)
My Psychic Powers
Keeping in mind that I have no credibility, this is the true story of my psychic powers, which I don’t believe in. The reader may decide if I have psychic powers or not. I’ve already told you I don’t believe in them. I used to but not anymore. However, even though I quit believing, psychic things keep happening, which is profoundly irritating.
In chronological order:
Porky Pig Clairvoyance, 1st-2nd Grade (?)
Family Florida trip. A full-page ad in the back of a comic book transfixed me. I read it on my hotel room bed in a block of sunlight, sounds of the ocean in the distance. The ad was for a book about developing psychic and magic powers. It had fine print about the powers, psychic ways to make money, etc. I read every word, thinking it was real or could be.
Then I remember Dad driving and I was in the front seat with him. It was the just the two of us. Florida seemed particularly packed with road signage. A random thought flitted through my head as stores and restaurants flowed by: a line of Porky Pig dialog. No surprise there. It was fleeting and I paid it no mind. Within a couple minutes we drove past a barbecue place with a Porky Pig knock-off on its signage. I said, “Hey, I just thought about Porky Pig and here we are driving past this sign! That’s psychic!”
“Do you think so?” Dad asked, humoring me.
I did think so. Now I knew: I had psychic powers. (more…)
Duluth Parks, Recreation, Open Space and Trails Plan
Duluth Parks and Recreation has released the draft Essential Spaces: Duluth Parks, Recreation, Open Space and Trails Master Plan. The 426-page PDF provides guidance on Duluth’s play spaces for the next decade and offers recommendations on how the city can “continue to support a healthy and vibrant community, enhance inclusion and equity, and advance environmental protection in our park system within a sustainable budget framework.” (more…)
Canal Park souvenir invites tourists to envision a lift bridge over the Mississippi
Some years ago, I had a Duluth nameplate hanging from the back of my bicycle, which I suppose is why I impulsively bought another when I saw it recently in a Canal Park souvenir shop. I vaguely remember the one I had purchased in my younger years having a generic cityscape and not actually showing Duluth.
This one seemed no different, and might even be the same design, but this time I noticed that the building on the far left had a rather specific architecture. Checking with a group of skyscraper-obsessed friends led me to a conclusion that I should have reached myself: this Duluth souvenir depicts the skyline of St. Paul. (more…)
Former Huskies outfielder makes major league debut
A’s rookies make promising debuts in extra-inning loss to Angels
Former Duluth Huskies outfielder Cal Stevenson made his Major League Baseball debut for the Oakland Athletics on Aug. 10. He is the 301st former Northwoods League player to reach the majors.
Stevenson played for the Huskies in 2015. He was drafted in the 10th round of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Blue Jays. (more…)
Northern Pacific Railroad Locomotive #1849
This 1952 photo shows Northern Pacific Railroad Locomotive #1849 in Downtown Duluth, with Duluth’s tallest building — the Alworth — in the background among other structures. NP’s #1849 was built in 1923 and scrapped in 1957.
Duluth 2022 Primary Election Results
With 4,103 of 4,103 precincts reporting, here are the statewide numbers for races relevant to Duluth.
FEDERAL OFFICES
District 8 United States Representative, Republican Party
Pete Stauber | 51,404
Harry Robb Welty | 5,074
District 8 United States Representative, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Jen Schultz | 38,536
John Munter | 6,199
(more…)
Jens Flaaten & the Minnesota National Guard 3rd Regt. Band
This postcard from the early 1900s has a pencil-written note on the back: “Jens Flaaten & the Minnesota band from Duluth.” Flaaten’s funeral was held on Aug. 9, 1922. He died on Aug. 5 when he was struck by a motorist while crossing Superior Street at Fifth Avenue West. (more…)
Exploring Buckingham Creek
The latest look at Duluth’s underworld from Duluth Urbex explores Buckingham Creek, which flows through Enger Park and down Observation Hill into the St. Louis River.
The Minnesota Woolen Company Story
The clips above are from the 1959 film The Minnesota Woolen Company, obtained by Perfect Duluth Day via the Kathryn A. Martin Library Archives & Special Collections at the University of Minnesota Duluth and shared with permission from the St. Louis County Historical Society. For those who want to fully nerd out on this, the complete film can be viewed below. (more…)
Monthly Grovel: August 2022
Concerts on the pier, concerts in the park, concerts on the patio, concerts on the porch, bayside concerts, courtside concerts, fireside concerts … we’ve got concerts coming out of and back into our ears at the PDD Calendar.
Each month we reach out with one beggarly blog post to remind everyone that human beings and not machines are at work editing and publishing event listings. So if you appreciate it, drop a few bucks in the PayPal account. (more…)
Selective Focus: Festival of Sail
Instagram
615 likes, 8 comments - christiandalbecphoto_gallery on August 5, 2022: "Extremely Vertical Ships
Who's going to tall ships this weekend in Two Harbors? It's exciting to see the awesome rigging and shapes.
|© Christian Dalbec Photography |
•all rights reserved•
#waterphotography
| Inandaroundthelake.com |".
instagram.com
A smattering of images via Instagram from the weekend’s Festival of Sail in Two Harbors. (more…)
Postcard from the Duluth Folk Festival
This postcard, published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography, shows a typical scene from the Duluth International Folk Festival at Leif Erikson Park. The postcard was mailed 60 years ago today — Aug. 6, 1962 — by someone named Sara who mentions attending the festival in her message on the back of the card. (more…)
Wisconsin Point at Sunset
Videographer Adam Jagunich flew his Yuneec Typhoon H Plus hexacopter at the Duluth/Superior border to capture sunset scenes at Wisconsin Point.
The “Souvenir of Duluth” decorative pillow cover
It’s certainly no odder than the Pink Aerial Lift Bridge Dollhouse Toilet, but the Duluth pillow cover still qualifies as an oddity. I nabbed the image from an eBay listing circa 2018 and figured it was a one-off thing someone made, but then … (more…)