PDDTV Posts

Minnesota Historia: Surf Rock on the Iron Range

Feb 27, 2024 No Comments

After Minneapolis rock band the Trashmen scored a Top 10 hit with “Surfin’ Bird,” surf rock swept through Minnesota like a tidal wave, reaching up to Virginia on the Iron Range. Relive the rapid rise and tragic fall of Virginia band the Vaqueros on a very special musical episode of Minnesota Historia.

Minnesota Historia is a PBS North web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.


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Austin Castle and the Northern Pines – “Saratoga”

Feb 26, 2024 No Comments

Austin Castle and the Northern Pines perform “Saratoga” in this video shot at Castle Danger Brewery in Two Harbors. The footage was recorded by Jose Leon of KTWH Two Harbors Community Radio and edited by Castle.

Austin Castle and the Northern Pines have a string of sporadic Saturday gigs at Castle Danger beginning March 30. Castle also performs monthly “Sunday Strumday” shows with bassist Ashe Burton at the Cedar Lounge; the next one is March 17.


Music, Random, Videos ,

The Daily Show: Is Duluth a climate change safe haven?

Feb 22, 2024 No Comments

If climate change soon renders parts of the United States uninhabitable, then where are all the coastal elites supposed to go? The Daily Show‘s Michael Kosta took a trip to Duluth to investigate how Californian climate refugees and displaced New Yorkers might fare in this snowy sanctuary city.


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Big Into – “Expected Daemons (Bail Out!)”

Feb 22, 2024 No Comments

Big Into is releasing a music video every month for each new track off the band’s upcoming EP. “Expected Daemons (Bail Out!)” is the fourth video in the series.

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Music, Videos

Minnesota Historia: Alexander Miles, Elevator Action Man

Feb 20, 2024 1 Comment

In the 1800s, elevator doors were often left open to chance. The last person to use those doors might remember to close them. Or they might not. Then a real estate developer in Duluth invented automatic elevator doors and made the whole world a safer place to elevate. But that was just another day in the incredible life of the richest black man in the Midwest, Alexander Miles.

Minnesota Historia is a PBS North web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.


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Exploring the Abandoned Boase Elementary School

Feb 20, 2024 No Comments

Boase Elementary School in Hoyt Lakes, about 40 miles north of Duluth, was built in 1956 and has been abandoned since the last classes were held there in 2002. In the video above, Duluth Urbex explores the building’s crumbling classrooms.


Videos

Breanne Marie & the Front Porch Sinners – “Juniper”

Feb 16, 2024 1 Comment

The new video from Breanne Marie & the Front Porch Sinners is the band’s submission to National Public Radio’s Tiny Desk Contest for 2024. The video was recorded live by Ben Anderson at Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum.

The song is from the band’s 2021 album Juniper. A new record is in the works for a planned release later this year.


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Daniel Durant’s Super Bowl National Anthem ASL Performance

Feb 14, 2024 No Comments

Actor Daniel Durant, the Duluth native who starred in the Academy Award-winning movie CODA, performed the national anthem in American sign language at the Super Bowl on Sunday. But the telecast showed only Durant’s introduction before focusing on singer Reba McEntire.

The video above, via the YouTube channel of the Sign Language Studies program at Southwestern Illinois College, shows Durant’s full performance.


Music, Sports, Videos

Minnesota Historia: Lost Train of Pine City

Feb 13, 2024 No Comments

According to local legend, a train derailed in Pine City in the 1800s. It plummeted down a steep embankment into the impossibly deep Devil’s Lake, where it disappeared forever. There is no evidence this ever happened, but that hasn’t stopped people from looking for the train. How does a legend like this persist? And grow? And add circus animals for some reason?

Minnesota Historia is a PBS North web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.


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Almanac North: EmbalmingEva Profile

Feb 12, 2024 1 Comment

This WDSE-TV Almanac North online-only segment profiles EmbalmingEva ahead of its Valentine’s Day show with Superior Siren at Sacred Heart Music Center.

Almanac North is a weekly public affairs program on PBS North that provides in-depth conversations around issues and events that affect the region.


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Minnesota Historia: Minnesota in the Civil War

Feb 06, 2024 No Comments

Minnesota was the first state to offer troops to the Union during the Civil War. And it was home to the last Civil War veteran when 106-year-old Albert Woolson died on Aug. 2, 1956. For a state so far from Gettysburg, Antietam and Bull Run, Minnesota’s history in the Civil War is full of surprises.

Minnesota Historia is a PBS North web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.


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Shane Nelson w/ Maxi Childs Trio – “Love You from a Distance”

Feb 03, 2024 No Comments

Superior’s Shane Nelson has a new music video. The track “Love You from a Distance” is from his upcoming album The Music Saved My Life, recorded at Sacred Heart Music Center. The song features Maxi Childs on backing vocals, Steve Netzel on bass, Ron Koivisto on electric guitar and Jerry Siptroth on drums. The video is by Bo Allen of Bo Allen Productions.


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Minnesota Historia: Inventing Pizza Rolls

Jan 30, 2024 2 Comments

Scandinavian cookbook author Bea Ojakangas developed pizza rolls while working for Jeno Paulucci in Duluth. But she hasn’t tasted one for 50 years. This video reveals what she thinks of pizza rolls today.

Minnesota Historia is a PBS North web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.


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Wolves and Other Wildlife on the Mithrandir Trail

Jan 25, 2024 No Comments

The Mithrandir Pack of wolves is the primary traveler seen on this trail camera footage from Voyageurs National Park, shot last summer and fall, but an array of other critters also pop in.

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Steve’s Overpopulated One-man Band – “If Heaven Don’t Have Saunas, I Don’t Wanna Go!”

Jan 24, 2024 No Comments

Duluth’s Steve Solkela is back from touring Finland and has a new music video for one of the first songs he wrote back in his high school days.


Music, Videos