March 2016 Posts

Homegrown 2016 schedule announced; Wussow’s mix released

Mar 15, 2016 No Comments

Homegrown Rawk and-or Roll 2016 - Jason Wussow's MixThe 2016 Homegrown Music Festival, Duluth’s annual 200ish-band showcase, runs May 1-8. The official schedule has been released, so it’s time to begin charting the adventure. The Chicken App, PDD’s smart-phone optimized version of the lineup, is also available.

This year’s schedule follows the same basic format as previous Homegrowns — opening ceremonies and new band showcase on Sunday, video festival and poetry showcase on Monday, Canal Park focus on Tuesday, western Duluth on Wednesday, Superior on Thursday, buttload o’ bands in Downtown Duluth on Friday and Saturday, and a few brunch shows on the final Sunday.

The two biggest weekday shows are again at Grandma’s Sports Garden and Clyde Iron Works. The Sports Garden lineup includes A Band Called Truman, Mary Bue & the Holy Bones, Space Carpet and the Social Disaster. Clyde will feature Teague Alexy and Friends, Low and Red Mountain.

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Events, Music

The Story of Iron and Steel

Mar 15, 2016 No Comments

Loading iron ore into steamer at a Duluth ore dock 1919 sepia photogravure

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History, Photos ,

Goodbye Winter

Mar 14, 2016 3 Comments

Gooseberry Falls aerial video by Above U Productions.


Outdoors, Videos , , ,

We have arrived in Duluth and our hats are impeccable

Mar 14, 2016 5 Comments

Duluth Hat Family Postcard

Would anyone like to take a stab at translating the message on the back of this postcard? It was mailed from Duluth to Miss Lillian Carlson of Minneapolis at some point during the era of one-cent postcard postage and fancy hats. The postmark date is not readable.

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History, Photos

This Week: green beer, glass slippers, quilts and more

Mar 14, 2016 2 Comments

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

Minneapolis NAACP President Nakima Levy-Pounds speaks on the Black Lives Matter movement at UMD, Memorial Blood Centers is looking for your red stuff, the Zinema is showing a Sergei Eisenstein classic, the latest TED at the Teatro is all about belief and the lack of it, Duluth Mayor Emily Larson and City Councilor Zack Filipovich invite the public to a community listening session and The Underground gets loud about motherhood.

The green beer starts flowing on Thursday at Dubh Linn Irish Pub, former vice-presidential candidate Winona LaDuke speaks on ethics at UMD, the cover bands just keep on coming, the Minnesota Ballet closes out its season with some glass-slipper business, the multi-day DuLutsen North of North Music & Ski Festival is popping off from March 16 to 21, it’s Motorhead Madness at the DECC and quilter Kathy McTavish invites the public to her studio for a special day.


Events

City on a Hill

Mar 13, 2016 No Comments

Advocate WatchmanAdvocate Cycles of Bloomington took its new Watchman model fat-tire bike to the snowy hills of Duluth this past winter for this video showcasing the world-class riding opportunities the city has to offer. To the music of Teague Alexy’s “The Raggedy Hat of John Henry,” they ride from dusk until dawn from the top of the hill down to the frozen shoreline of Lake Superior.


Outdoors, Videos ,

PDD Quiz: Ides of March

Mar 13, 2016 3 Comments

Flood-Damage-Duluth-1972-First-Ave-WIt’s nigh the ides of March which is a good time to be wary. How much do you know about disasters that have befallen our fair city? Take the quiz and find out.

Thanks to Paul Lundgren for contributing to today’s quiz.

Our next quiz will be on March 27 and we will be looking in the rear view mirror at what’s happened in and around Duluth this month.

Send your suggested quiz questions (and answers) to lawrence @ perfectduluthday.com by noon on Wednesday, Mar. 23.


History

Vilkome to our city of Duluth

Mar 12, 2016 1 Comment

Vilkome to our city of Duluth postcard


History ,

Spring Brings Unexpected Things

Mar 12, 2016 1 Comment

Heather JacksonLast March, like this one, was placid and mild; it was a true and distinct season instead of the usual Northland spring, which is often held hostage in an icy chokehold by winter. No, the days slowly and confidently transformed from ash and smoke into gently unfurling golds and greens.

This seems like an odd observation for someone who spent most of it in a dim, whispered wing of St. Mary’s Hospital. My second born, my new baby daughter, made an alarmingly early entrance into the world, interrupting a Friday afternoon’s planned errands: Target for hand towels, aspirin, and an indulgent Starbucks latte, and maybe the children’s boutique, Sproutlings, to fawn over tiny, unpractical pastel things — booties and bows and expectations of the chubby baby thighs to come.

For two days in that early March week, something was off about my pregnancy and I was torn between taking my intuition seriously by calling to move up a scheduled prenatal appointment or discrediting the feeling as merely nerves. The former won the battle. I hadn’t felt much movement out of my usually active, somersaulting babe. After a nurse on the phone recommended I head into Labor and Delivery at the hospital for a non-stress test, my husband left work early to accompany me and our 3 year old. We’d just pop in — it was probably nothing — and then head off to do some quick shopping before the weekend.

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Art

Selective Focus to join the “One River, Many Stories” project

Mar 11, 2016 1 Comment

OneRiverMN-Logo-FC-BadgeIn April, Perfect Duluth Day’s weekly Selective Focus feature will devote two themes to the “One River, Many Stories” project, which asks for tales of your relationship to the St. Louis River. I’m drawn to it’s dualistic character as a forum for both contemplation and recreation, so April 1’s theme will foreground the river’s natural beauty, and April 8 will spotlight its possibilities for play. Feel free to send images as soon as you’re able to tim @ perfectduluthday.com, and follow the “One Rivers” project at onerivermn.com


Art, Outdoors, Photos

The Adjustments – “North Shore Sinner Pt. IV”

Mar 11, 2016 No Comments

Local rock band the Adjustments record “North Shore Sinner Pt. IV” at the home studio of band member Alex Nelson in Lakeside. The band’s new album At North Shore is available tonight at Carmody Irish Pub. Sam Tuthill opens the show at 10 p.m.


Music, Videos

NPR Tiny Desk Concert: Gaelynn Lea

Mar 11, 2016 2 Comments

Duluth’s Gaelynn Lea won NPR’s second annual Tiny Desk Contest. Above is her 22-minute performance, featuring the tunes “Someday We’ll Linger in the Sun,” “Southwind,” “Bird Song” and “Moment Of Bliss.” Alan Sparhawk, her band mate in the Murder of Crows, joins in on the latter two songs.


Music, Videos

Selective Focus: Artistic Kids

Mar 11, 2016 1 Comment
Cheryl Reitan

Cheryl Reitan, “Black Cat”

Many thoughtful people have rightfully lamented the gutting of funding for arts education to privilege more “useful” studies. But there are also the limitations we impose on ourselves, and the diminishment of what many of us once so much enjoyed (“I loved to paint and draw as a kid…”). Art too often becomes something we let go to follow well-rutted roads, to conform, and to not stand apart.

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Art, Photos

The Social Animals – “Smithereens” (Live)

Mar 10, 2016 No Comments

This video has been removed from YouTube.

Another studio video by former Duluth band the Social Animals, shot at Type Foundry Studios in Portland, Ore. The band’s new home base is Nashville, but a trip to Duluth is planned in May to play the Homegrown Music Festival.


Music, Videos

Whole Foods Co-op – Denfeld set to open March 16

Mar 10, 2016 No Comments

Denfeld WFC

Duluth’s second Whole Foods Co-op store will open March 16 at 4426 Grand Ave., a few hundred feet from Denfeld High School on the site of the former Jefferson Lines bus station.

Those familiar with shopping at the co-op’s Hillside location at 610 E. Fourth St. can expect similar whole, organic, local and regional food offerings at the West Duluth store, plus an expanded deli area with hot and cold grab-and-go foods.

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