KUMD is now WDSE 103.3 FM “The North”
After 64 years of affiliation with the University of Minnesota Duluth, 103.3 FM is now a product of the Duluth Superior Area Educational Television Corporation, the public media organization that also owns WDSE/WRPT-TV, the Duluth area’s PBS affiliate. (more…)
Indigenous Stories of Strength: Jessica Gidagaakoons Smith
The Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health’s Great Lakes Hub in Duluth, located at 1915 South St. near the Duluth Labor Temple, just sent out an announcement of Indigenous Stories of Strength, a website collecting stories of life under COVID-19. (more…)
Bits of Bly: The Suburbs of Jerusalem
In part two of the 1997 Robert Bly interview from KUMD, the poet talks about nature as an influence and following a thread with words.
Beyondbliss – “Divide and Conquer”
Duluth rapper Beyondbliss divides the screen and divides himself in this video, rapping about the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, critical race theory and all the divisive divisiveness.
A Record Collection Autopsy
Once more through the trove of treasure from Gabriel’s Books in Lakeside. In addition to finding awesome old records and books, you should know, if you have kids: “All children, from birth to high school graduation, may pick out a book for free, each time they visit our store.” They are well-worth a visit. (more…)
Bits of Bly: The Sibling Society
Poet and social critic Robert Bly, who penned many of his works from a cabin on Moosehead Lake about 30 miles southwest of Duluth, died on Nov. 21 at the age of 94. He was interviewed in the fall of 1997 on KUMD radio in Duluth, and a cassette of the interview survives in the Perfect Duluth Day archive. Consider the clip above to be part one of a short series.
The interview took place the year after Bly’s book The Sibling Society: An Impassioned Call for the Rediscovery of Adulthood was published.
Video: Elusive Northern Minnesota Lynx
Lynx sightings are fairly rare in Minnesota, but having one strut by a camera in daylight hours is a real catch. This brief slow-motion clip shows a Canada lynx in Voyageurs National Park, about 100 miles north of Duluth. The video was captured by a Voyageurs Wolf Project trail camera. The project is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in the park, but its cameras record all kinds of wildlife.
PDD Quiz: November 2021 in Review
Shake off the post-Thanksgiving slump and exercise your brain with some current affairs trivia!
The next PDD quiz will look at Twin Ports Christmases of yore; it will be published on Dec. 12. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Dec. 9. (more…)
German restaurant in Miller Hill area circa the 1960s
What was the name of the German restaurant located on Miller Trunk Highway in the 1960s?
Gems and Treasures from the College of St. Scholastica Book & Media Sale, 1
The Library at the College of St. Scholastica, once a year, both weeds its collection and accepts donations (I presume from faculty and staff) for a sale. Popular reading starts at a dollar, I think — recent bestsellers. The rest starts at a quarter and slides, over a week, down to a dime, then to “free, just please take them.” (more…)
Postcard from the Famous Aerial Bridge
This undated postcard of Duluth’s Aerial Lift Bridge appears to be circa the 1960s, but perhaps there is a clue in there somewhere to narrow the date down. (more…)
Recent panel on creative leadership in Duluth
A recent panel on creative leadership really taught me a few things, so I’m sharing it with you all here. It featured local creative innovators and leaders Aryn Lee Bergsven, LeAnn Littlewolf and Hella Wartman.
The Zoom link in the poster is dead, but the panel can be found by clicking here.
Jeno’s Pizza Rolls Commercial with the Lone Ranger
Among the achievements of the late food magnate Jeno Paulucci is the launch of the pizza roll, a pizza and egg roll combination dubbed “Jeno’s Pizza Rolls.” Paulucci died in Duluth on Nov. 24, 2011.
The 1968 television commercial embedded above was created by Stan Freberg and was a spoof of the “Show Us Your Lark” cigarette commercials of the day, which also utilized “The William Tell Overture,” music that was, of course, the theme music to the television series The Lone Ranger.
Low’s latest album nominated for Grammy as best engineered
Duluth band Low‘s new album, Hey What, received a major nod from the music industry yesterday. The record has been nominated for a Grammy in the category “Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical” for the work by mastering engineer BJ Burton. (more…)
Video: Wolf pack and pups walking old railroad grade
This clip from July shows the Wiyapka Lake wolf pack — which includes six pups — walking an old railroad grade in Voyageurs National Park, about 110 miles north of Duluth. At the end of the clip the wolves can be heard howling. (more…)
Sledding Duluth’s Avenues in 1921
One hundred years ago there were far fewer cars on Duluth’s streets, but it was still considered dangerous to sled down the city’s steep avenues. So Duluth Police Chief Warren E. Pugh surveyed the city and selected a few recommended avenues that posed “the least danger to life and limb,” according to the Duluth Herald of Nov. 22, 1921. (more…)
Exploring the Duluth Armory
Duluth Urbex was recently granted a tour of the Duluth Armory. Built at 1305 London Road in 1915, the armory served as a military training facility and also hosted concerts and events until 1978. (more…)
Kingsbury Creek has a new bridge, snowmobile trail restored
The bridge over Kingsbury Creek in West Duluth that was washed away in the Historic Summer Solstice Flood Disaster of 2012 has been replaced. The snowmobile route that runs across the bridge and snakes through the hillside south of Interstate 35, roughly from Keane Creek to Knowlton Creek, has also been restored after years of neglect. The lost ridgeline snowmobile route is part of the St. Louis River Corridor snowmobile trail system and links to the Hermantown trail system.
Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Division and the Hermantown Night Riders are hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the bridge on Dec. 17.
Literary History of Duluth: William Sommers
I’ve struggled with how to blend a history of publishers in Duluth with a history of authors. It feels like that would widen my scope beyond the manageable. And then I find a book like this. (more…)
The Thing About Essentia Health
Imagine, if you will, being trans and you don’t go by your birth name anymore — and the clinic knows that — and you arrive at an Essentia Health clinic in Duluth for, let’s say an eye appointment.
“Hmmmm. Can you spell your last name again?”
“Hmmmmm. What is your date of birth, again, ma’am?”
“I’m just not finding you. How about your street address?
Also, for the sake of this scenario, there are four other people behind you impatiently waiting to register for their own appointments. You start to feel a bead of sweat pop up on your forehead.
“Can you spell your last name again?” Nothing. The registration lady calls for help. A supervisor slides her chair over. You’re feeling a little hot. Isn’t it humid in this damn clinic, today?
“Oh! Are you DEAD NAME DEAD NAME BOODOOTY DEAD DAMN NAME?” (more…)
Postcard from the Lyceum Building
This undated postcard of Duluth’s Lyceum Theatre does not appear to have been mailed, though it does have a message on the back. (more…)
Talkin’ PDD on For the Love of Duluth Podcast
Get ready for self-referential blabber and Perfect Duluth Day shop-talk galore. Yours truly, Paul Lundgren, is the guest on the sixth episode of the For the Love of Duluth podcast.
Tom Jamison, a former lawyer turned local business owner, started the podcast in August as a passion project. Yvonne Myers is co-host and Lauren Wells handles the techy stuff. The focus is on Duluth art, culture, food, beer and natural amenities.
The Slice: Tim Kaiser’s Sci-Fi Musical Instruments
Tim Kaiser‘s instruments create drones and ethereal sounds that build layers of sonic texture.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV 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.