Paul Lundgren Posts

Break out the jean jackets, Tribute Fest is two months away

Oooooh yeeeeeah, you better believe Perfect Duluth Day is a proud sponsor of Tribute Fest at the Buffalo House.

Another PDD birthday is upon us

Next Tuesday, June 29, is the 7th anniversary of the first post on Perfect Duluth Day — which is what we call PDD’s birthday.

We’ll be having a little cocktail affair, as usual. This year it will be at Pizza Luce, in the bar. Let’s say 8:30ish.

There will be a tofu raffle, we’ll give away our last two-dozen PDD bumper stickers and … gosh, I don’t know, maybe you should dress up as your Gravatar.

Anyway, mark your calendar or whatever. I’ll remind you again next week.

By the way, trivia fans, PDD shares its birthday with comedian Richard Lewis and actors Gary Busey and Slim Pickens.

Romano’s is Jacqui’s

What’s with the cute little curtains at Romano’s Grocery?

Romano’s, 231 E. Superior St., has been transformed into Jacqui’s Deli, Grocery and Gifts. Homemade soups and sandwiches is the focus.

It opened June 16.

Minnesota Skipping Club

Superior reeks with booze and filth

This headline and illustration are from the August 18, 1917 issue of the Duluth Rip Saw. The story is without a byline, but was no doubt written by the paper’s publisher, John L. Morrison.

NorShor sale to DEDA official

From the news release:

The path is now clear for the historic NorShor Theater to again become a focal point for Duluth arts and entertainment activities with the Duluth Economic Development Authority’s completed purchase of the NorShor Theater, Temple Opera building, and Norshor Annex.

Today, Mayor Don Ness announced that DEDA closed on the purchase of the buildings from Eric Ringsred and said plans are already underway to reestablish the NorShor Theater as an important part of the downtown waterfront district.

Congratulations, Shelly M. — You’re the NASCAR Fan of the Week at the Pit Stop Bar in beautiful Proctor, Minnesota

Don’t forget to bring a designated driver. And say hi to Dozzer on behalf of PDD.

Speaking of the old Viking

Isn’t it about time for some kind of consensus on the proper rendering of the name?

Leif Ericson
Leif Erickson
Leif Ericsson
Leifr Eira­ksson
Leif Erikson
Leifur Eiricksson
Lsif Erickson

What is your favorite Anglicisation? I think we can settle on “Leif” for the first name. The patronym seems to most often be either “Erickson,” “Ericson,” or “Erikson.” Duluth needs a referendum on this.

Memoir by former DNT editor/reporter Laurie Hertzel due out in September

Laurie Hertzel’s memoir, News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist, is scheduled for release in September by University of Minnesota Press. Hertzel is books editor for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and a former Duluth News Tribune editor and reporter.

Check out Ann Klefstad’s informal review and talk with Hertzel on mnartists.org.

G.B. Schneider & Co. open in West Duluth

G.B. Schneider Co. opened on Tuesday in the Denfeld Retail Center. It’s in the space formerly occupied by Grandma’s Grand Ave. Cafe. The focus is on comfort foods: ravioli, pot roast, meatloaf, etc.

Is tonight Ladies Night at your favorite bar? Dept. of Human Rights would like to know.

I’m not naming names here, but I know of at least one bar in Duluth that has Ladies Night specials.

Minnesota Daily is reporting that free and discounted drink specials which apply specifically to women may be a violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

“Gender-based pricing violates the Human Rights Act,” says Minnesota Dept. of Human Rights Commissioner James Kirkpatrick.

Five Twin Cities bars are being investigated.

Raw milk is either going to kill us or make us live forever, according to experts

Apparently, according to the Minnesota Dept. of Health, if raw milk from one dairy farm in Minnesota is contaminated with E. Coli, then raw milk in general presents a serious health risk.

And apparently, according to a dairy farm accused of having contaminated milk, there’s no way it could be their fault, even though five people have been hospitalized and the same strain of E. coli found in several animals at the farm in question has been found in the sick people.

Sure, it’s possible that the dairy industry somehow has manipulated the Dept. of Health into scaring people off raw milk from family farmers — after all, it did a good job scaring Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle last month. But isn’t it possible that one farm can screw up without an entire product being considered dangerous?

And let’s not even get into whether raw milk is healthier than pasteurized milk or not, since even that seems to be a major debate, with both sides telling us the other milk is going to kill us.

Anyway, we might as well have the regular people who don’t know anything spout off about it on PDD. So, is raw milk going to kill us or make us live forever? Or is it just as dangerous as other food products and probably not much more nutritious, but comes from a nice little farm where the cows are treated well and that’s good enough?

Gobin Pawshington rips Babwa Spry Pelts

Duluth News Tribune Editor Robin Washington got one thing right in his column this week: The DNT is not good at promoting itself.

Washington announced that city hall reporter Brandon Stahl has been promoted to investigative/special projects editor and noted some other staff shuffling. It’s supposed to be good news. It shows that the DNT intends to focus more on investigative journalism. That’s what readers want, right?

Big Top Songwriting Competition 2010

The deadline to enter Big Top Chautauqua’s annual songwriting competition is coming up June 25. Last year, James Moors of Superior and Tracey Muench of Duluth were finalists. It’s part of Big Top’s Celebration of the Song Festival, a 3-day focus on songwriting and songwriters.

Info and entry forms are available at bigtop.org/canvas

The winner of this year’s contest gets a $100 cash prize and performs two songs to open for Nanci Griffith on August 28.

Oh hell no! Fred Tyson on Howard Stern?

There is a rumor going around that Duluth’s own Fred Tyson is flying out to New York City to be on the Howard Stern Show next Thursday.

Apparently he’s one of the final three in some sort of contest to become a new member of the Wack Pack, which is a collection of oddball personalities that appear on the show semi-regularly.

This ought to be interesting.