April 2009 Posts

Other Signs of Spring …

Homegrown Week, I know.

My Lilac Bush 4.28.09

My Lilac Bush 4.28.09


Homegrown Festival is a sign of spring for many PDDers, no doubt. But for me one of my favorite signs that Spring is underway is when my lilacs bloom. Or appear to be near blooming, as is the case here.

Homegrown Video Festival: The videos

The screening for the Homegrown Video fest was last night. If you didn’t make it (like me) you can check them out on this page.
There will be more coming as they get Youtubed or Vimeoed or whatever, so check back.

Homegrown Tags

So Homegrown has begun, and you kids and your crazy cameras will undoubtedly be shooting everything in sight and posting the photos to Flickr. By the power vested in me by being the person who’s declared it without authority in the past (though it seemed to work — 2007 slideshow | 2008 slideshow) I declare the official Homegrown Flickr tag to be homegrownmusicfestival2009. If everyone simply tags their photos, we’ll be able to easily find cool shots of all the stuff we missed. I’ll post a slideshow here on PDD on Sunday so we can all recall the memories.

But the question that’s up for grabs is: What will the official Homegrown Twitter hash-tag be? #duluthhomegrown? #homegrownduluth? Simply #homegrown? Something else? Discuss.

One more thing: I stole this photo from Rich Narum. He’s a kickass photographer.

do you like to break stuff?

about six months ago, i backed into my concrete porch steps. luckily, that part of my car was already crapped up. unluckily, the steps (which cracked, at the time) have finally collapsed, sort of. i mean, one stair caved in. i need someone to come and break up the rest of it. if you have a sledgehammer and some pent-up rage, this is your project.

safety glasses provided. 341-8369.

Homegrown on KUMD

KUMD 103.3 is having Homegrown artists live in the studio all this week. Sessions will be archived at kumd.org as well. Here’s the schedule:

Today @ 1pm Sammy Macon
Wednesday @ 1pm Ben Durbin’s Modern Antiques
Thursday @ noon Clyde Iron
Friday @ 12:15pm Coyote
Friday @ 1pm Greg Cougar Conley

And of course Starfire will continue the Homegrown fun on the Local, Wednesday at 5pm.

Finals Bash May 9

finals-bash-poster1

Blackeyed Snakes-Red Star Show

The theme for tomorrows Red Star show will be “outer space” .  It edged out “naked” by just a few votes, probably due to concerns about cold weather. Music to start around 1030 or 1100. We hope to see you there Barbarella….

ps Baci, initiate countdown, go fer launch

Chester Creek Park Sweep

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Dan Proctor will be leading the Citizens for Chester Creek Park in a spring clean up of the park this coming Saturday, May 1 at 9 a.m.
all volunteers are welcome and will get 1/2 off their breakfast burrito and drink and a CCCP Tshirt.

One of the first shopping malls in the United States — Lake View Store in Morgan Park

Lake View Store - Morgan Park - Duluth, MN

Lake View Store – Morgan Park – Duluth, MN

Minnesota has had a long history of firsts for shopping malls. It must be the long, cold winters keeping us on the forefront of the indoor shopping experience. Duluth’s Morgan Park Lake View Store being noted as one of the first indoor malls, Southdale Mall in Edina the first post-war enclosed mall and, of course, the Mall of America the United States’ largest and most visited mall in the world.

The Lake View Store in Morgan Park was built in 1915 and had two levels and a basement. There was a butcher shop, clothing, hardware, furniture, a pharmacy and a department store with groceries, and a general store. The top floor had a bank, dentist office, barber shop, hair salon, hat shop, billiard room and auditorium. The basement had an ice-making plant which made eight tons of ice per day for the mall and for Morgan Park residents and a shoe store. Wiki has more info.

Images courtesy of Wolfsonian – Florida International University

morgan-park xc200402302 xc200402304 xc200402305 xc2004023 Lake View Store - Morgan Park - Duluth, MN

Exp. Tues. @ The Venue

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8-11 pm

be there or…

be at Sacred Heart or Blue Crab.

Tuesday night should have our own kickball team–Dada approach.  TimK, could you build a backpack van de graaff generator with blinky lights and a vaccum attachment by noon on Saturday? We’ll need it for the game (Buenos Aries, 1941).

Got an opinion on the Old Jail?

duluth-jail

 

Tonight is your last chance to make your voice heard to those who will make the decision: the Duluth City Council.

The Duluth Heritage Preservation Commission has denied a permit to St. Louis County to demolish the Jail, which is protected from demolition under Duluth law as a landmark building. The County is appealing this decision, and the only way for the Council to overturn it is to essentially break Duluth law, which would establish a precedent that puts all of our historic assets at risk.

The appeal is on tonight’s City Council agenda. If you have something to say about the building’s demolition (on either side of the issue), you get three minutes to make your point.

I am biased to the Jail’s preservation (I write and publish Duluth history books and sit on the HPC), so I also encourage those who don’t wish to speak but who want to see the Jail saved simply show up to show support.

You can learn more about the issue in a letter to the Editor in today’s DNT penned by Richard Moe, a Duluth native and the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/118713/.

Kid’s Spring Garden Extravaganza!

Come one!  Come all!  To the first annual Kid’s Garden Extravaganza!  gardeningcover

Start your own seeds! Music and Games! Worm composting!

Garden Art! Make Bread! Chickens!

Wednesday, April 29th
Anytime between 4pm-7pm
at:
The Damiano Center
206 W 4th Street
Duluth MN 55806

For Information Call:
Katie at the Duluth Community Garden Program
218.722.4583

Resonance: The Odyssey of the Bells – April 29th

You are invited to attend a screening of the documentary film Resonance: The Odyssey of the Bells from 7-9PM on April 29th hosted by the Alworth Institute.  Please mark your calendars and forward this invitation to others. This screening is part of the Alworth’s “International Lecture” series.   Resonance shows Duluth in a positive light as it highlights the city’s efforts after WWII to mend the scars of the war and re-humanize a former enemy through the return of a centuries-old Buddhist temple bell considered sacred to the Japanese.  Discussions will revolve around how a historical documentary like Resonance acts as a reminder of how citizen action plays a crucial role in restoring positive relations with former enemies in the wake of war. A 30-minute version of Resonance will be screened and followed by director Q/A.

Let Peace Shine (Duluth 2009) video

Here’s a video my husband and I made for the Men as Peacemakers film festival. It won 3rd prize. YouTube seems to be making it a little darker, sorry.

Train knowledge

For those who want to be in the know, I’d highly recommend the meeting at the Depot from 4-7 Wednesday. From 4-5, the plans for a transportation mecca downtown will be discussed. From 5-7, the talk is the Northern Lights Express passenger train. A lot is happening right now and I’d like to see many more people informed on the project and end this “it’s just another Amtrak” talk or “not my money” plaint. We subsidize roads and other travel options and never expect a return. While the rail gets up and going with significant public investment, it is being planned as a self-sustaining operation. Anyway, come to the meeting, get informed. The NLX has a Web site: www.northernlightsexpress.com