November 2016 Posts

Duluth Liquor Stores vs. Tattoo Parlors

Nov 21, 2016 9 Comments

duluth-liquor-store tattoo-of-life-bridge

In recent years I’ve noticed a number of Duluth liquor stores have gone out of business while a number of tattoo parlors have opened. I like to joke that the latter business model depends on the former, but lately I’ve had the perception that at some point in recent history the number of tattoo parlors grew to exceed the number of liquor stores.

An ongoing count, however, suggests otherwise. The lists in this post show 16 liquor stores within Duluth city limits, but only five tattoo parlors. Of course, I tend to keep better tabs on where beer can be procured than on places to have my flesh artistically carved. So help me out. What liquor stores or tattoo parlors are missing from these lists?

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Random , ,

Mystery Photo #46: Duluth-area Bowling Alley

Nov 21, 2016 3 Comments

duluth-bowling

From the depths of my wife’s closet comes this old photo from her family collection, presumably shot at a Duluth-area bowling alley roughly 50 or 60 years ago. Since we’re talking about a West Duluth family, Stadium Lanes would be the number one contender. Whatever bowling alley it is, it’s likely to have been remodeled and then closed since this photo was taken, so this might be a tough solve.


History, Photos ,

Video: Low Remixing Shakespeare

Nov 20, 2016 No Comments

This collaborative performance and art installation at Karpeles Manuscript Museum took place Oct. 22. Performing the music in this clip is Low; the projections are the work of media artist Joellyn Rock. The event was held to mark the arrival of Shakespeare’s First Folio at UMD’s Tweed Museum. The video is by Blue Boat Films.


Art, Music, Videos , ,

Price Check: Thanksgiving Turkey

Nov 20, 2016 1 Comment

Turkey

Shopping for the annual thankfulness feast can involve a whole gamut of traditional offerings — mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce — but the age-old staple is turkey. What will that bird cost ya? Well, we’ve chased down prices at a variety of Duluth-area grocery stores for this report.

Listed first are three variations of brand-name mass-marketed turkey: frozen Jennie-O Grade A, premium fresh Jennie-O and premium frozen Butterball. Our fourth comparison is of turkeys purported to be a bit more naturally produced.

Here lies the eleventh feature for PDD’s Price Check series where we compare the cost of goods and services in Duluth and Superior. The amounts below reflect the per-pound price each establishment charges. Minnesota and Wisconsin classify unprepared foods and food ingredients as exempt from tax.

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Recommendations ,

Sixteen Years on the Superior Hiking Trail: Duluth Sections

Nov 19, 2016 No Comments

Paul Lundgren Saturday EssayBy the end of 2006 I had completed the northernmost 140 miles or so of the Superior Hiking Trail over three separate backpacking trips. My methodical march from one end of the trail to the other was broken up that summer, however, when newly cut segments of the SHT in Duluth demanded my immediate attention.

I can’t fully express how awesome it is to have the SHT through Duluth, how quickly I’ve taken it for granted, and how I never even dreamed of it before it happened.

Somehow I actually thought of Duluth as an outstanding hiking city before the SHT. In retrospect, it really wasn’t that special. There were several excellent options — Park Point Nature Trail, Chester Creek, Hartley, Lester River, Congdon Park, Lincoln Park, Western Waterfront — and then there were a few gravel railroad beds, old roads and paved trails for walkers/bikers. Mostly, however, there were many muddy unofficial paths, swampy ATV routes and overgrown ski and snowbobile trails crawling with ticks. So, not really outstanding back then; more like pretty good.

If you wanted to hike the western hillside and view the overlooks from a footpath instead of Skyline Drive, you had to bushwhack before 2006. I grew up doing that, not realizing a group of organized and ambitious human beings could carve a deluxe trail through the entire city in just two summers. God bless them. Now, we have an outstanding hiking city.

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Outdoors ,

Making America Great Again

Nov 18, 2016 10 Comments

It wearies me to see hordes of people so downcast from something as small as a presidential election. Your time and energy can be put to better use where you may be of real influence: your neighbors and community.

I’m taking a two-pronged whack at getting some of you folks out of your funk. I wrote this column in the Duluth Budgeteer for you, because What this country needs most is you.

imgresFinally, I made a nice circuit through the surrounding countryside yesterday, and believe that many of our country’s problems can be fixed if we’ll simply focus on feeding and entertaining ourselves as a community. Our city and surrounding rural area need one another to thrive. Read more about Making America Great Again at Ed’s Big Adventure.


Politics ,

November showed up today.

Nov 18, 2016 No Comments

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News and Current Affairs

Selective Focus: Aryn Bergsven

Nov 18, 2016 No Comments

sf-teaseraryn-bergsven

Aryn Bergsven is an artist and an art teacher at Harbor City International School. She talks about sharing her time and energy between her own work and the work of her students.

A.B.: I work in acrylics primarily but also dabble in watercolors and ink, mostly for sketching and traveling. I love to work with portraiture. This has always been an area of interest for me, even when I was in middle and high school. I think it’s even more compelling to me now though as a mother and an art teacher. So much of my life focuses on people and relationships I have with them that the act of really studying faces and reading between the lines has become second nature in some ways.

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Art ,

Duluth native Nides in New Yorker

Nov 17, 2016 No Comments

tom-nidesThe Nov. 14 issue of The New Yorker magazine features an article (clearly written before Election Day) on “the Democrats’ fight over finance.” The focus of the piece is on Thomas R. Nides, “who is seen as a contender for a prominent position in a Clinton Administration.”

Nides is a Duluth native and 1979 graduate of East High School. From 2011 to 2013, he served under Hillary Clinton as deputy U.S. secretary of state for management and resources.


News and Current Affairs, Politics

Bellisio Foods sold for a billion

Nov 17, 2016 1 Comment

bellisioThe Wall Street Journal reports the Minneapolis-based and Duluth-founded Bellisio Foods company is being sold “for nearly $1.1 billion.” The business started by Duluth’s wealthiest man will soon be owned by Thailand’s wealthiest man.

Jeno Paulucci founded the company in 1985 as Luigino’s, producing frozen food brands such as Michelina’s. The corporate name changed to Bellisio Foods in 2007. Paulucci died in 2011. He sold Bellisio Foods to Centre Partners the day before he died. Charoen Pokphand Foods in Bangkok, owned by Dhanin Chearavanont, expects to close on its purchase of the company within 180 days.


News and Current Affairs

Poll: Best Bakery in the Duluth Area

Nov 17, 2016 No Comments

get-bakedWith your help, we’ve compiled a list of swoon-worthy bakeries in the Duluth area.

It’s a highly subjective exercise. It may be that a fruit tart warms your heart or a cake donut pleases your gut. Whatever the case, it’s time to make a show of support for your favorite purveyor of sweet and glutenous treats.

The nominations are in. Now it’s time to vote and have a say. What’s the Perfect Duluth-area bakery?

This is a runoff poll, which means options will be whittled down over time. We started with 14 nominees; it’s now down to the Final Four: Duluth’s Best Bread, Johnson’s Bakery, Lake Superior Bakehouse and Zenith Bread Project.

This poll is now closed. The results were:

Duluth’s Best Bread – 38 percent
Zenith Bread Project – 27 percent
Johnson’s Bakery – 20 percent
Lake Superior Bakehouse – 15 percent


Polls

DTA Passenger Entrance Music

Nov 17, 2016 No Comments

dta12While riding a Duluth Transit Authority bus last night and listening to my head phones, I came up with a very simple way of amusing myself. Whenever the bus stopped to pick up a new passenger, I clicked my mp3 player forward to the next random track and imagined it was the chosen entrance music or “theme song” for that person. Try it out sometime. It’s my gift to you.


Recommendations ,

“That belt done snapped.”

Nov 17, 2016 1 Comment

Videos

Russell Prather’s “Rope” takes Arrowhead Regional Biennial prize

Nov 16, 2016 1 Comment
Russell Prather's "Rope." Photo by Tim White.

Russell Prather’s “Rope.” Photo by Tim White.

Russell Prather’s “Rope,” a hanging piece made with acrylic on layers of polyester film, took the $1,000 first-place prize at the Duluth Art Institute’s 61st Arrowhead Regional Biennial last week. Prather is a professor at Northern Michigan University who teaches British literary and visual culture of the 18th through 20th centuries.

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Art

Positive Post-its at Denfeld

Nov 16, 2016 No Comments

Last week racist graffiti referencing U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was found in a female restroom stall at Denfeld High School. The student body responded this week, posting inspiring messages throughout the school. The movement was led by Denfeld’s student executive board and the video was posted on Twitter by Johanna Unden, the exec board’s student school board representative.


News and Current Affairs