Sappy
New Darin Bergsven video is quite sappy
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]
… and that’s just how I like it. I hope you do, too. This cover of the Pixies’ “Ana” is on my CD Out of Nowhere. The video was made by Brian Barber; many thanks to him.
Henry Brick
Since the subject of Henry Brick came up in the “Bring back the bricks!” post, I thought I’d offer some background by way of a retrospective article I wrote 15 years ago for the Budgeteer News.
The man who saved downtown
By Paul Lundgren
Budgeteer News
June 1, 1997
The bricking of Downtown Duluth’s First Street in 1984 created traffic problems, parking hassles and unpleasant noise and dust. Retail shoppers took their money elsewhere. Superior Street was next on the bricking list in the summer of ’85, and business owners feared the effect on business would be similarly disastrous.
Then came Mr. Henry R. Brick, clad in overalls, flannel shirt, black bowtie, hard hat and horn-rimmed glasses. He starred in 38 television commercials that summer, encouraging shoppers to “come on down and jaywalk” through torn up Superior Street. They did.
Henry Brick quickly became one of the most highly recognized people in Duluth. When the construction was finally completed and the future of downtown secure, he disappeared – like any superhero would.
(more…)
Bound: A Photography Exhibit Campaign
In July of 2011, Justin Sinks put together his first public showing of Bound. Even though it was 15 pieces and only took up half of the gallery, it was, according to Brian Rauvola, owner of the Duluth Photography Institute, “one of the biggest events the DPI had that year.” (more…)
Happy ninth birthday to us
Perfect Duluth Day is nine years old today – Friday, June 29, 2012. We’ll be celebrating tonight at Tycoons Alehouse and Eatery (in the board room upstairs) starting at 8 p.m. There will be cake and an array of door prizes. Come on out and share in the merriment.
PDD Calendar entry | Facebook invite
What started as a fun little experiment for Barrett Chase and Scott “Starfire” Lunt in 2003 has grown into a hideous beast containing well over 10,000 posts about everything from wood ticks to roller derby. Thanks for all the support, whether you are a PDD user, lurker or just someone searching Google for karaoke photos.
Drying out
Compared to many people, our house wasn’t hit too bad by the flood. But our living room was flooded, the floor messed up, and more than 100 children’s books, some of which I’m quite sentimental about, were soaked. Today, I’m hopeful that they’ll dry out enough to keep. As we looked through them, I saw this one in the mix. Hopefully, it will dry out, too.
Willie the Warlock
Yesterday I was out at The Princess Bride with a couple of goslings and other uberfans at the Zinema for their excellent Saturday-morning-movies-for-the-whole-family series. That would have been awesome enough, but they threw in free juice boxes for the kids, but it got even better. In the place where we expected the opening previews, or maybe a video short to roll we were treated to this 2006 video, by Duluth’s Willie the Warlock
Is this Heaven?
Eight months or so ago I woke from my first nights stay in Duluth and slipped quietly down to the sand beach of Minnesota Point. Coffee in hand, sun gently coming up, and that now-familiar hum of the city in the background, I was excited to begin learning about my new hometown. And there in the wet sand, was etched “Is this Heaven?”
As a matter of fact I do earnestly believe in divine intervention and communication, and I took this message to me as a personal directive to find the answer to that question.
Eight months later I am still working on it. My heaven is not perfect, but it is generally a kind and gentle place. It is concerned for the weakest of inhabitants, and also for the Earth that we all share. For the most part it is clean and respectful and welcomes all.
I continue my quest to answer that question by joining the PDD community for what I believe to be some of the most important research of Duluth to date. Thanks for having me.
Coyote CD Project on Kickstarter
Coyote is hard at work on a new album. Our goal is to record our latest batch of original tunes before Marc hits the road in June. We’re taking the leap and have set-up a Kickstarter page with rewards / “pre-sales” of the upcoming CD and such. Ryan Dahlberg made a little movie to tell you all about it.
PDD Calendar Editor Version 2.0 Wanted
Miss Abigail Schoenecker, editor of the PDD Calendar since September, is leaving at the end of March to pursue opportunities in the Twin Cities. The Perfect Duluth Day family wishes her well and will miss her talents — so much so that we will resist the urge to make disparaging comments about the Twin Cities to reinforce our Duluth exceptionalism.
Abby’s departure, of course, means there’s a job opening. If you are interested, follow the link and the instructions therein. Don’t fear the potential rejection; we’re pretty nice about it.
Home Sweet Home
I just got back from Canal Park, where it was too darn cold and too darn wet to take any photos of the waves crashing over the breakwater, or of the chunks of ice in the spray flying at our heads.
My three year old, who according to Garrison Keillor is truly a Duluthian, loved every minute of the wind whipping, the slush slushing and the hoots and hollers emitted by her non-Duluthian transplant parents. I was reminded of another night on the Lakewalk, six or seven months ago, when we walked with this same girl on a beautiful summer night and watched the full moon create sparkles on the lake. (Oddly, there was no ice flying at us–must have been the direction of the wind.) I remember thinking to myself that my family and I were so blessed to live in this city. And I felt that way again today, as we watched the Big Lake crash: We are so blessed to call this beautiful place home. And home it has become–Keillorian and unwritten codes of citizenship notwithstanding.
So, I ask you, transplants (and homers, if you like)–when did you know that Duluth was home?
Marooned in Pack Ice Off Deception Island
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v78f79YdXh0
I’ve Missed the Snow This Year
Here’s a photo from last year, and a poem I wrote as I meditated on the picture. (more…)