Below is video of the ceiling collapsing at First Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. The incident occurred at the famous music venue around 10:15 p.m. during a set by the band Theory of a Deadman. Early reports say a leaky pipe and vibrations from music may have caused the collapse. No serious injuries are being reported, two people were taken to hospital without life threatening injuries.
Fifty years ago — Aug. 12, 1965 — the DNT reports the St. Louis County Legislative delegation will explore a proposal to route Interstate Highway 35 over Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway right-of-way. The great I-35 debate, of course, wouldn’t ultimately be settled for another two decades.
Fifty years ago — Aug. 11, 1965 — the DNT reports a 25-year-old Duluth man stood perched atop the center span of the Duluth Superior High Bridge — now known as the John A. Blatnik Bridge — threatening to jump to the water. “The incident was apparently brought about by a family argument,” the paper noted. “His mother talked him down from his lofty stand.”
Video by Aaron Goodyear.
Fifty years ago — Aug. 10, 1965 — the DNT reports the National Labor Relations Board will hold a hearing on charges of unfair labor practices against six Duluth waterfront unions engaged in a labor dispute.
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
Farmers’ market season chugs along, with markets in Hermantown, Superior and downtown Duluth, Duluth MakerSpace is having a kids’ clothesmaking class, Randy Lee’s Big Time Jazz Orchestra plays the last of Superior’s Bayside Sounds concert series, Martin Zellar hits the Red Herring and Lord Stanley’s Cup is on display at Amsoil Arena.
William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus and the similarly pie-concerned Sweeney Todd are both going up at the Duluth Playhouse, the Grill Wars of 2015 will be fought at Bayfront Park, the art fair Art in Bayfront Park will hit the same location and the Kraus-Anderson Bike Duluth Festival gets underway at Spirit Mountain.
In the ditches of Fond du Lac, near Perch Lake, wild parsnip is flowering and going to seed. In southeastern Minnesota this weed fills every ditch and uncultivated field and I believe this is poised to do the same in our region. I think that with five or 10 willing volunteers it could be possible to prevent or delay this invasion. I have not seen this plant growing in other areas, so perhaps if this patch is dealt with we might avoid a larger problem. The highway department has been made aware of this weed and for now is not mowing the area to avoid spreading the seed farther. The highway department does not have a plan to deal with this year’s seeding plants.
This Sunday, Aug.9, at 11 a.m. I will be in the ditches of Fond du Lac near Perch Lake cutting individual plants with a pruning shear and carrying them up to the roadside to be bagged. The job is too large for me alone and I would like to ask for help. If you can help please show up at 11 a.m. wearing long pants, a long-sleeved shirt and gloves. Some people do have skin reactions when dealing with this plant. If you have a pair of functional pruning shears please bring them. I will bring extra shears. Depending on the crew size I hope to spend no more than two or three hours with this task. I can be reached by e-mail at hanlondm @ gmail.com or by phone at 218-722-4990.
Fifty years ago — Aug. 9, 1965 — the DNT reports there will be a groundbreaking ceremony the next day for a new $1.4-million Duluth YMCA.
Remember Sean Connaughty’s roughly 4,000-pound “Ark of the Anthropocene” sculpture, which was dropped into the Duluth Harbor last summer and floated for about three days before sinking? Well, a little video retrospective has emerged.
Fifty years ago — Aug. 8, 1965 — the DNT reports the 18th annual Duluth International Folk Festival abandoned its home at Leif Erikson Park to avoid rainy conditions, moving the party across the street to the Duluth National Guard Armory.
In the pilot episode of Hannibal (2013), a serial killer is murdering young college women around Minnesota. Laurence Fishburne and Hugh Dancy travel to Duluth (which apparently has train service) to investigate. Hannibal Lecter gets involved, for some reason. He and Dancy share breakfast in a Duluth motel room, then visit a Duluth construction site. A woman’s body is found in Hibbing, impaled on deer antlers. Dancy figures out who the killer is using amazing leaps of logic. The serial killer (who happens to be a member of the Building Trades, which is not surprising) is eventually cornered at his home.
All in all, business as usual in Duluth.
Kip Praslowicz, “divers-diving”
Judging from friend’s accounts, this has been an atypical, consistently beautiful summer here. It is my least favorite season; too immoderate, languid, febrile. Still, I had my first (ever) swim in Superior, took in ballet outside the library, saw a film at a farm about Japanese dwarves, and laid in lots of grass. Best summer I’ve had since boyhood, though I’ve yet to do my annual roll down a steep hill- Leif Erikson, Chester Bowl?
Fifty years ago — Aug. 7, 1965 — the DNT reports a “powerful nor’easter” threatened to put a damper on the annual Portorama Parade, but some 30,000 spectators toughed out the inclement weather.
