Selective Focus: Beargrease 2022
The 38th running of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is underway. Collected here are a few select photos via Instagram. The 300-mile race is expected to finish on Feb. 1 in the afternoon.
The 38th running of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is underway. Collected here are a few select photos via Instagram. The 300-mile race is expected to finish on Feb. 1 in the afternoon.
The fake internet court podcast Judge John Hodgman, where pressing issues are decided by Famous Minor Television Personality John Hodgman, Certified Judge, once again mentioned Duluth, this time at length in the concluding segment of its Great Lakes Beach report.
Welcome to 2022! This week’s quiz looks at headlines and happenings from this first month of the new year.
In honor of the upcoming games, the next PDD quiz will look at Northland Olympians; it will skate your way on Feb. 13. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Feb. 9.
I push through the door — it’s late, but the massive cowboy hat on the roof glows red — and step into something more like a nightclub than an Arby’s. Steady, throbbing beats pulse across the rafters of the dim dining room, threading through stacks of waxed cups, snapping plastic straws with reverb.
This roast beef hashery is my kind of joint.
Eyes float to the menu board; simultaneously, my chin begins to bob. Anticipating the imminent rush of potato cake puissance, my body ticks with the vocals.
Suckin’ on my titties like you wanted me,
Callin’ me, all the time like Blondie
“OH MY GOD!” the blondie behind the counter shrieks as she looks up from tying a trash bag. My presence has startled her.
Her first reaction is to hunch low, bending torso toward linoleum, hiding her body behind the cash register. Her second reaction is to screech, barely audible over the racy lyrics shaking the dining room, “JOE. TURN IT DOWN. TURN IT OFF. TURN IT DOWN. OH MY GOD. TURN IT OFF NOW!”
“The right amount of elbow grease” is what the narrator recommends during this video tour of the former Finland Air Force Base, located about 50 miles northeast of Duluth, which is listed for $800,000.
The catch? It’s a superfund site.
Musicians Alan Sparhawk and Nat Harvie talk about how Duluth informs both their music and their outlook on the website Talkhouse, a media outlet where artists share firsthand perspectives and offer insight into their creative work.
The identity of the woman in this photo is almost certainly lost to history, but on Perfect Duluth Day it’s always worth trying. What we know about this photo is the photography studio it came from and roughly when it was shot.
Duluth native Nat Harvie has a new EP, Married in Song, set for release Jan. 28.
This postcard depicts a scene in Fairmount Park where Kingsbury Creek flows under the Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway bridge in West Duluth. It’s not clear if the postcard predates the 1923 opening of the Duluth Zoo, now the Lake Superior Zoo, just downstream of the location shown. The bridge is still there, now part of the DWP multi-use trail.
Trampled by Turtles performed at Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheater in Austin, Texas on Jan. 14. Opening act Deer Tick invited TBT to join in a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freightliner Blues.” The video was shot by Evan Adamson and Scott Perry, edited by Scott Perry and mixed by Adam Krinsky.
Ellen Sandbeck is a paper cut artist in Duluth. Her exhibit “As Long as the Rivers Shall Run” is on display in the Dr. Robert Powless Cultural Center until Feb. 24.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
I’m happy to announce that my new book, Kekekabic, is for sale now at Finishing Line Press! From now until March 25, you can preorder a copy of my book and it will ship to you on May 20. You can get a copy for $19.99 at finishinglinepress.com.
In the midst of the Omicron-variant surge the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center has published an “Insider’s Guide to COVID Testing.” Best walk-in hours? From 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Parking? Free in the DECC lot if you tell the attendant that’s what you’re there for.
