June 2015 Posts

Catering Recommendation in the Twin Cities

Jun 23, 2015 1 Comment

Daily I am reminded of the charmed life I once lived in Duluth. The most recent pain comes in needing to identify a few restaurants or catering companies I could collaborate with on a fundraising event my employer is sponsoring in September.

Back in Duluth, this would have been a wonderful experience as I would simply visit with some friends or mutual acquaintances to find the right partner. Not so with this endeavor. So with that, I am reaching out to the “best of the best” here on PDD: if any of you have a CATERING recommendation for me [ST PAUL, MSP] and could provide a soft introduction, that would be very helpful. I’m not holding out for free food, I’m just interested in creating a partnership and want to engage an honest, service-minded owner. Feel free to email me directly: bbertsch at crchealth dot com.


Recommendations, Restaurants

Photos of Last Night’s Northern Lights in Duluth

Jun 23, 2015 5 Comments
By Brian Barber

By Brian Barber

It’s fairly rare that the aurora borealis is this visible in Duluth. Solar eruptions triggered a severe geomagnetic storm over the weekend, causing brilliant colors last night that kept photographers and sky gazers up into the morning. Gathered here are a few images from the PDD Facebook page and other social media.

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Outdoors, Photos

Nerd Culture: Games at Rogue Robot, Comics at the DAI, Nerd Nite at the Zuccone

Jun 23, 2015 No Comments

Exhausted. Weeks of nerdery behind and ahead.

Last Thursday, I went out to dinner with authors who grew up on the range — Roy C. Booth and Cynthia Booth. Roy will be at CONvergence in a few weeks celebrating his new book, Orphans.

Tim 8bit

Sunday, I went out to dinner with Tim, a central fixture in Minnesota comics life, at the Buffet at the Bear. OMG, I love that buffet — and on Sunday, Lutefisk.

Monday night was game night — we met first for dinner at 7 West Taphouse. It’s a diverse, fun crowd, including one of the back stage masterminds from Game Show at the Underground and the owner of 8 Bit Classic Collection. See this play. Shop this shop.

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Events ,

Goodbye Jitters, hello Bakehouse

Jun 22, 2015 1 Comment

Lake Superior Bakehouse

Lake Superior Bakehouse Bakery and Coffee HouseJitters Lake Superior Coffee & Tea House is no more. New sister-brother owners Katina and Pauly Petsoulis took over in February and launched a name change last weekend. The new Lake Superior Bakehouse at 102 W. Superior St. promises “small-batch baked goods all from scratch and small-batch house-roasted coffees.”

Although the look of the space is changing and the variety of baked goods and other foods expanding, Katina notes one thing will stay the same.

“A lot of Jitters regulars were loyal to the coffee,” she said. “We have the same roaster, Jesse Bamford.”

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R.I.P., Restaurants ,

“The Price of Admission for Living in the Northland”?

Jun 22, 2015 3 Comments

fox kits wildwoods

Wildwoods shared this story about wildlife and domestic pets:

On Friday, Wildwoods sent three fox kits down to our friend Connie, who specializes in raising and releasing orphaned foxes. Their stories illustrate the range of problems we may cause for our wild neighbors — through carelessness, through intolerance, and through misplaced “love.”

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Random ,

This Week: art, horses, beer docs and more

Jun 22, 2015 No Comments

Untitled design
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:

The Spirit Room celebrates its first year with a multi-day bash, Wordsmith Wednesdays is going down at Amazing Grace, the Three Bridges International Music Festival continues, the Duluth Huskies battle a team from Alexandria that is unfortunately not called the Big Oles, the River Rovers Nature Play Group for kids is assembling in Billings Park and Art in the Alley opens its Mall-area location.

In Lincoln Park, there’s music on the 22nd and the Neighborhood Summer Celebration on the 25th, the craft-beer documentary film Blood, Sweat and Beer plays at Bent Paddle, the Chum Rhubarb Festival gets underway on Saturday (as does the 45th annual Park Point Art Fair) and the Gala of the Royal Horses is at Amsoil Arena.


Events

Is this bear poop on my front lawn?

Jun 21, 2015 5 Comments

poop

These droppings were six feet from my front door this morning on North 42nd Avenue West in West Duluth.


News and Current Affairs, Outdoors , ,

St. Paul gets all up in Duluth’s craft-beer capital-proclaiming face

Jun 21, 2015 11 Comments

Better beer is in Duluth

A new billboard has popped up on Grand Avenue in West Duluth with fighting words issued from St. Paul. Duluth, many will recall, claimed the title of “Craft Beer Capital of Minnesota” back in February 2013.

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News and Current Affairs ,

Knife River Fawn

Jun 21, 2015 No Comments

Video by Frank Sander from out the window of the Blau House at the Little Knife Sanctuary in Knife River, with music by Ryan Clover.


Outdoors, Videos , ,

Looking down Fifth Avenue West in Duluth

Jun 20, 2015 6 Comments

Fifth Avenue West 2015

The image above is from two weeks ago; the image below is from about 100 years ago.

Fifth Avenue West - Duluth

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History, Photos

Agassiz Oscillation Ensemble – “Shoulders in Heavy”

Jun 19, 2015 No Comments

Cinematography – Allen Killian-Moore

“Shoulders in Heavy” is a selected portion from side A of the forthcoming Agassiz Oscillation Ensemble album Workplace Democracy, to be released on Chicago-based 1980 Records in July.


Music, Videos

Selective Focus: Zen

Jun 19, 2015 No Comments
Bryce Kastning

Bryce Kastning, untitled

I did not anticipate needing this theme to the degree that I did; sometimes, you can be overwhelmed by the coarse, the squalid, the noisy, and the negative. Photography often affords me a psychic reprieve, and I’m grateful now to live in a place where one can so easily step into a placid physical place when the madness gets too far inside. Sufficient? Time will tell.

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Art, Photos

Charlie Parr’s Stumpjumper Trailer

Jun 17, 2015 No Comments

Phil Cook, producer of Charlie Parr’s new album Stumpjumper, narrates this video that follows Parr from the North Shores of Duluth to the hills of North Carolina. The footage was shot by Cook, Maxwell McGruder and Adam Heathcott.


Music, Videos

Skyline Parkway sign vector

Jun 16, 2015 1 Comment

Does anyone have a vector image of the Skyline Parkway sign? Google is coming up short. Thanks!


Random ,

Does anyone know why the pond at Bagley is being drained?

Jun 16, 2015 3 Comments

We walk the dog in the Bagley Nature Area at UMD daily, and since Saturday we’ve noticed the water level in the pond has been quickly dropping. It looks to be two-to-three feet lower than it was last week. There is a drain at the far end of the pond that sounds like it is open. If this is intentional, it seems like an odd time of year to be draining a pond that is home to so much wildlife.


Outdoors ,