The alternative rock band They Might be Giants dropped a reference to Duluth on its self-titled debut album in 1986. Whether “the Big Duluth” mentioned in the lyrics to “Rabid Child” is supposed to be a clothing store or the nickname of a person or what, well, that’s up to the listener.
There are certain dignities and indignities that come with old age. Most of us would like to be considered wise, but we also want to run fast and be sex symbols. All of that is relative, of course. There are plenty of intelligent teenagers and elderly imbeciles. I ran a half marathon when I was 31 and people twice that age were passing me.
The word “old” is as relative as the attributes associated with it. You can join the American Association of Retired Persons at age 50, collect Social Security at 62 and retire from your job at a wide range of ages or never. I think I was 27 or 28 the first time one of my friends seriously commented that we were “getting old.”
Well, sure, we’re all getting old. But when are we actually old? Do our looks and physical/mental fitness have anything to do with it, or is “old” just a number?
I say it’s just a number, because I can’t, in seriousness, walk up to more wrinkled people my age and ask, “what’s it like to be so old?”
Former Duluthian Haley releases her new instrumental album Pleasureland on Oct. 12. A slew of videos for tracks from the album have been recently released. “Double Dutchess” was shot and directed by Duluth artist Allen Killian-Moore in rural Iowa, Minneapolis, Duluth, Chicago, Rochester and the North Shore of Lake Superior.
When it was that Wyoming-born and Wales-based musician Jeb Loy Nichols was in Duluth, and why he’s never coming back, are anyone’s guesses, but it’s apparently related to someone named Christopher.
Thirty-nine years ago — Oct. 6, 1979 — Kiss played its third concert in Duluth, having previously appeared in 1974 and ’77. The band continued to “return” into the 1980s and ’90s, most recently performing in Duluth in 2016, when Paul Stanley tweeted that a certain Duluthian is “such a clearly miserable asshole.”
Those who attended the show in ’70 recall Judas Priest did not show up. John Cougar filled in and was purported booed.
This video is a couple years old, but somehow missed the PDD radar when it was released in 2016. The Fractals play Beaner’s Central tonight at 7 p.m.
The new Low video is directed by Karlos Rene Ayala. The Duluth band is touring Europe in October in support of its new album Double Negative.
As near as can be determined through web searches, “The Couple from Duluth” was composed by acclaimed bassist Jay Leonhart and was originally released on his 1984 album with Joe Beck titled There’s Gonna Be Trouble. The version above is a live recording from Leonhart’s 2015 album The Bass Lesson.
Hot new hit 41-second single by Ingeborg Von Agassiz.
Complete lyrics:
The William A. Irvin ship has been removed to fix the slip.
The punk rock band Meat Puppets released “Lake of Fire” on the 1984 album Meat Puppets II. It also appears as a hidden track on the 1994 album Too High to Die.
The Duluth reference goes a little something like this:
I knew a lady who came from Duluth
She got bit by a dog with a rabid tooth
Twenty years ago today — Sept. 24, 1998 — Duluth band the Dames was featured in a segment on KBJR-TV News. The band performed at the Shrine Auditorium the next day with two other local bands, Crazy Betty and Groundskeeper Willie.
New video by Duluth artist Ingeborg von Agassiz for a song from her debut album O Giver of Dreams.
Uploaded to YouTube 10 years ago today — Sept. 18, 2008 — is this track from Duluth band the Tisdales. The song “Find it in Me” appears on the group’s 2008 album “Bakers Dozen.”
This Duluth song doesn’t actually have the word “Duluth” in its lyrics, but is loaded with Duluth references. It’s from the self-titled 2005 album by Duluth band Swimming with Nancy.
Low‘s new album Double Negative is out today on Sub Pop Records. The new music video, “Rome” is directed by Aaron Anderson and Eric Timothy Carlson.
