Blush nightclub to close at the end of May

Hip-hop artist Tarli performing May 7 at Blush during the Homegrown Music Festival. (Photo by Paul Lundgren)

Owners of Blush, a community-based art gallery, music venue and drinking establishment, have announced it will close at the end of May. (more…)

Postcard from the Hotel Duluth in 1942

This postcard was mailed 80 years ago today — May 12, 1942. The recipient was Constance Jarvis of Riverside, Calif. Ray Boyer sent it from Duluth. (more…)

Monthly Grovel: May 2022

(Enter the amount of your choice.)

Homegrown is over, but the music festivals keep coming. There’s the Festival of Nordic Music, Duluth Dylan Festival, Bayfront Country Jam, Bayfront Reggae & World Music Festival and on and on. The only reliable tool to help weigh the options is 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 calendar events. So if you appreciate it, drop a few bucks in the PayPal account. (more…)

One Year on a Northwoods Hiking Trail

The Voyageurs Wolf Project has yet another trail-camera video montage showing the array of wildlife that inhabits Voyageurs National Park. The footage is from fall 2020 to fall 2021.

Katie Switzer – “Jen”

Katie Switzer, from the central Minnesota city of Staples, won the North of Nashville songwriting contest in Duluth in February. Production of her new music video was part of the grand prize package. It was shot in Symphony Hall at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center and Sacred Heart Music Center by Bo Allen of Bo Allen Productions.

The song was recorded as Sacred Heart and features Shane Nelson on acoustic guitar and bass, Matt Groom on percussion, and Bo Allen on acoustic guitar and background vocals.

Minnesota Historia: Superior Shipwrecks

Everybody knows the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the most famous shipwreck on Lake Superior. But what are the next five most fascinating shipwreck stories on the big lake called Gitchi Gumee? And is the #2 shipwreck story the scariest thing you’ll ever hear?

Minnesota Historia is a six-part WDSE-TV web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.

Homegrown Music Festival 2022 Photo Slideshow

Rock and roll is complicated. But the Homegrown Music Festival made it back after two years of online events during the pandemic. I took a bunch of photos and tossed the best of them into a slideshow. I made it to 58 acts, but that means I missed 131.

The song featured here is by Cars & Trucks from the 2013 album Theatre Stardusk. The band returned from a lengthy hiatus to perform a surprise popup at this year’s festival.

Nat Harvie Live at Chicago Music Exchange

Duluth’s Nat Harvie sat down with Karl Neurauter of Chicago Music Exchange to talk sonic-vibes and writing processes and played four tracks from the new EP Married in Song. (more…)

Selective Focus: Homegrown 2022 Recovery and Smelt Parade

Instagram 200 likes, 2 comments - perfectduluthday on May 8, 2022: "Gaelynn Lea closes out the eight-day Homegrown Music Festival. #hgmf22". instagram.com

Select Instagram images from day eight of the Homegrown Music Festival and the annual Run, Smelt, Run! Parade and Party. (more…)

Selective Focus: Homegrown 2022 Roll Night

Instagram instagram.com

Select Instagram images from day seven of the Homegrown Music Festival. (more…)

Homegrown Photo Banners

In an Instagram and TikTok world, it’s hard to ask anyone to edit and crop their photos during the hubbub of Homegrown. But now that things are winding down, if you’ve got any great shots that would fit that weird horizontal space at the top of PDD, send ’em our way, we’ll add them to the collection for next year. (more…)

Rollers win Homegrown kickball, knotting series at 11

The chant is heard sporadically throughout the annual Homegrown Music Festival Kickball Classic. “MVP. MVP. MVP.” (more…)

Selective Focus: Homegrown 2022 Rawk Night

Instagram 21 likes, 1 comments - ambersimpressionsphotography on May 7, 2022: "Lyla Abukhodair performed at Pizza Lucé on Day 6 of Duluth Homegrown Music Festival!! #dhgmf #dhgmf22 #livemusic #lylaabukhodair #destinationduluth #perfectduluthday". instagram.com

Select Instagram images from day six of the Homegrown Music Festival. (more…)

Zeppelins Over Duluth

From the book The First Time Germany Invaded Duluth, Minnesota by Peter S. Svenson:

“July 1, 1917: The Weltanshauung, a German hydrogen war-zeppelin, lost power over Bavaria. Captured by the wind, for the next two weeks it blew north across Europe and then the Arctic Circle. The furious crew tried fixing the engines but never succeeded. Technically, they set the World Record for the first arctic crossing by air, a feat later repeated by Shackleton.”

From “Zeppelins Over Duluth!” Duluth Herald, July 16, 1917:

“The Weltanshauung contained an internal airplane hangar with six black tri-planes that emerged from the nose of the craft like hornets. A Canadian fighter squadron looked for the zeppelin over Lake Erie and almost collided with it in the dark. It was a cliff face hanging in the sky, dwarfing them with the black-cross-on-white symbol of the German Air Force. But the Canadians lost it in confusion and fear. Soon a lake steamer spotted it drifting within sight of the North Shore of Lake Superior, toward Duluth. The authorities mobilized the American helium zeppelin, the Federalist, from its floating hangar in the Duluth harbor. (more…)

MN Moder – “One Minute Murder”

New single by Duluth-based hip-hop artist Zachary Moder, aka MN Moder. Video by Montclair Media.

Selective Focus: Homegrown 2022 Soup Town Night

Instagram instagram.com

Select Instagram images from day five of the Homegrown Music Festival. (more…)

I love you Homegrown but I can’t do this anymore!

I played my first Homegrown when I was seventeen. My high school band opened for Coyote at Teatro Zuccone. It was the first sold out show of my music career. I got to share a green room with THE Jerree Small. I got an artist pass on a cool lanyard that let me into any all-ages show (and a few 21+ shows too). I felt like I was on the edge of something. I felt grown up and I felt seen. At the time, it seemed like that feeling was coming from my artist pass, free T-shirt, and (maybe) $50 cheque. Looking back, I understand that what I actually experienced was membership and pride in a community of practice for the first time in my young life. Homegrown gave me an invaluable jumping off point as an artist in this city. It made me proud to be from Duluth and proud of my peers and mentors for choosing to make music here. It opened Duluth to me and deepened my relationship to community and to music. That experience kept me coming back through the years and and through my development as an artist. I’m grateful for it and I always will be, but like many artists in this town my relationship to the festival has become a bit complicated. (more…)

Selective Focus: Homegrown 2022 Westside Wednesday

Instagram instagram.com

Select Instagram images from day four of the Homegrown Music Festival. (more…)

Postcard from Duluth’s Grand Opera House

Duluth’s Grand Opera House at 333 W. Superior St. was designed by George Wirth and opened in 1883. It was destroyed by fire on Jan. 28, 1889. (more…)

Selective Focus: Homegrown 2022 Canal Park Night

Instagram 13 likes, 0 comments - ambersimpressionsphotography on May 3, 2022: "Day 3 of @dhgmf at the Decc tonight. Ambers Impressions #hgmf22 #dhgmf22 #dhgmf #duluth #onlyinmn #visitduluth #destinationduluth #minnesotaexposure #AuthenticDuluth #duluthmn #perfectduluthday You can find my most current work at https://m.facebook.com/ambersimpressions/ Prints are available upon request! Enjoy!". instagram.com

Select Instagram images from day three of the Homegrown Music Festival. (more…)

Minnesota Historia: The Legend of St. Urho

As the patron saint of Finland, St. Urho is famous for casting the grasshoppers out of the country and saving their grapes. Except, of course, none of that ever happened. St. Urho was invented out of thin air in the 1950s by the manager of a department store in Virginia, Minn.

Minnesota Historia is a six-part WDSE-TV web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.

Selective Focus: Homegrown 2022 Craft District Night

Instagram 25 likes, 1 comments - ambersimpressionsphotography on May 2, 2022: "God’s Holy Blood @caddyshackduluth for Day 2 of @dhgmf! Ambers Impressions #hgmf22 #dhgmf22 #dhgmf #duluth #onlyinmn #visitduluth #destinationduluth #minnesotaexposure #AuthenticDuluth #duluthmn #perfectduluthday You can find my most current work at https://m.facebook.com/ambersimpressions/ Prints are available upon request! Enjoy!". instagram.com

Select Instagram images from day two of the Homegrown Music Festival. (more…)

A look at the future Blacklist Brewing Company location

Blacklist Brewery‘s move to 206 E. Superior St., announced about a year ago, is nearing reality. An opening date announcement is expected soon.

Until then, à la Bryant Lake Bowl and Glensheen, a drone flythrough tour is available. The video is by Ethan Schultz of ShotxSchultz.

Selective Focus: Homegrown 2022 Opening Ceremonies

Instagram 13 likes, 2 comments - ambersimpressionsphotography on May 1, 2022: "Duluth Homegrown Music Festival has started!!!! #dhgmf #dhgmf22 #hoopsbrewing #duluthminnesota #visitduluth #destinationduluth #livemusic". instagram.com

Select Instagram images from opening day of the Homegrown Music Festival. (more…)

Homegrown Music Festival 2022 Primer

The Homegrown Music Festival is back in person, May 1-8. There’s a 100-page Field Guide available as usual, with all the specifics about the 195ish bands performing at 45 venues in the Twin Ports, but what are the hot updates? Well, that’s why PDD always kicks out a primer. (more…)