PDD News Sieve Posts

Chuck Haavik – “Still Raining”

Duluth’s Chuck Haavik has released his second song. “Still Raining” is “a lament from the Summer of 2020,” Haavik said. It’s available for download on Bandcamp.

The track is mixed and mastered by Dave Mehling, who also plays Hammond B3 Organ, bass and drums.

The Nemadji Review, Vol. 10

The tenth issue of the Nemadji Review, the University of Wisconsin-Superior’s literary journal, was released in May and a new website was launched. The publication was previously available only in print, but the 2021 issue can be viewed and downloaded online as a PDF file.

Great Lakes Aquarium art on Superstore

It was nearly impossible to notice, but there was a glimpse of Duluth in the series finale of the NBC sitcom Superstore. The episode, titled “All Sales Final,” aired March 25. It concludes with a scene of the character Amy Sosa putting her children to bed. For just a few seconds, a piece of Great Lakes Aquarium art by Daymark Designs, a Duluth-based graphic arts company, is shown in the background.

R.I.P. Shorty’s Pizza & Smoked Meats

Shorty’s Pizza shortly after it opened in 2013. (Photo by Cindy Vu)

Shorty’s Pizza & Smoked Meats in Superior announced today via Facebook it has ceased operations due to a labor shortage in the hospitality industry.

Duluth 2021 Primary Election Primer

The filing period for candidates vying for Duluth City Council and Independent School District #709 School Board runs June 1-15. Below are the names of those who filed. This post was updated on June 15.

R.I.P. Duluth Electric Fetus

View through the glass door to the Duluth Electric Fetus store on April 13, 2021. (Photo by Paul Lundgren)

Duluth’s Electric Fetus store, 12 E. Superior St., announced today it will not reopen. The store was best known for selling compact discs and other music products, though items like jewelry, clothing and gifts made up a larger chunk of the sales. The company’s Minneapolis location will remain open.

Hartman tapped for DECC director job

After a national search, the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center announced today that Dan Hartman will serve as its next executive director. Hartman has been director of Glensheen Mansion since 2013 and prior to that was curator at Veterans Memorial Hall. He also served on Duluth’s city council from 2010 to 2014.

As a senior at the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2006, Hartman led the student campaign to build the DECC’s Amsoil Arena. He follows interim executive director Roger Reinert, who has headed the DECC since August. Hartman will start in his new role at the DECC on June 14.

Superior Siren’s “Kill Your Darlings” solo EP out Friday

Laura Sellner of Superior Siren is releasing a solo EP — Kill Your Darlings — with a performance at 7:15 p.m. Friday at Earth Rider Brewery in Superior.

Chuck Haavik – “Wrestle with the Man”

Duluth’s Chuck Haavik has released his first single as a singer/songwriter. The track, “Wrestle With the Man,” is available on Bandcamp and DistroKid and soon will be available on Spotify.

Frost River has gone solar

Frost River, a maker of canvas packs in Duluth’s Lincoln Park Craft District, is now powering its manufacturing facility and retail store with solar panels. The new rooftop panels are from EPF Solar of Minneapolis and were installed by Belknap Electric.

CNN: Duluth is becoming a safe haven for climate refugees

“People are moving to Duluth, Minnesota, for one particularly big reason,” CNN reports in a new video for its Project Planet series. “Is anywhere safe from the climate crisis?” the story asks, answering that some say Duluth is “the new ‘climate refuge.'”

Sam Ali’s “artistic interpretation” of UMD hockey highlights

The UMD Bulldogs hockey season came to an end last night with a 3-2 loss in overtime to the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Before it was over, Sam Ali had to report on the game without using ESPN footage. He figured it out.

Amtrak wants to return passenger service to Duluth with funding from Biden’s infrastructure proposal

Amtrak’s North Star parked at the Duluth Depot, July 19, 1981. (Photographer unknown)

It’s been 36 years since Amtrak ended its 10-year run of passenger service from the Twin Cities to Duluth. This past week the company, which provides medium and long-distance service in the contiguous United States and nine Canadian cities, announced a vision for up to 30 new routes, including a return to Duluth … if Congress passes President Joe Biden’s $2-trillion infrastructure proposal.

Duluthian’s film starring Bob Saget in production

Duluth’s Matthew Dressel is in the Cayman Islands working on a feature-length film starring Bob Saget, the Duluth News Tribune reports.

Dressel was featured on Perfect Duluth Day in a 2019 Selective Focus post and his short movie Just Coffee appeared on PDD in 2018.

Frosted Flakes in Duluth

Duluth gets a quick and silly mention in the March 13 episode of Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!, a weekly radio show produced by WBEZ in Chicago and National Public Radio. At the tail end of the clip embedded above, the panel talks about the virtues of pizza for breakfast instead cereal and jokes that people never argue about which city has the best cereal, resulting in the crack, “You haven’t had Frosted Flakes until you’ve had Frosted Flakes in Duluth.”