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Ripped at the Boogieman Project in 1999

Oct 26, 2019 No Comments

[Editor’s note: Before the NorShor Theatre became a spiffed up Duluth Playhouse venue it hosted a variety of concerts and parties, such as the annual Boogieman Project at Halloween time. For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. He paid a visit to the NorShor and filed the report below, originally published in the Ripsaw newspaper.]

I was completely ripped. To the north of me stood a minotaur. To the south was Ernie from Sesame Street. To the east was a person dressed in about four hundred flashing colored lights. To the west was Kool-Aid Man. No, it wasn’t a bad case of delirium tremens, it was the NorShor Theatre’s fourth annual Halloween party, otherwise known as “The Boogieman Project.”

The NorShor was all decked out for a party of massive proportions. Live bands rocked the house in the main downstairs theater while all manner of freaks and weirdos got funky on the dance floor — a space in front of the stage where the seating was long ago removed. There was a bar setup in the theater to complement the usual one in the balcony mezzanine lounge, where even more bloody surgeons and Star Wars characters drank it up and raised hell to even more live music. God, I love Halloween.

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Sorry Alworth Building, you’re not special

Oct 25, 2019 No Comments

The website of Rotary International published a story in August about reading, with “suggestions for making each book count.” Around the middle of the story is this nugget:

Recognize that not all reading pleasures can be shared. I have friends who will swear up and down that Frederick Exley’s A Fan’s Notes is the greatest sports book ever written. This, for the record, is like being the tallest office building in Duluth. Which in and of itself doesn’t make the building special.

Well, don’t worry, Alworth Building, Perfect Duluth Day thinks you’re special. All 247 feet of you.


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Duluth-area “Storage Wars”

Oct 24, 2019 1 Comment

I had no idea one could try one’s luck, “Storage Wars” style, in Duluth.

Visit twinportsbid.com if you want to wonder about what sad turn someone’s life took that led them to abandon their locker.

It reminds me of the times I visited Nordic Auction and wondered at the people whose lives were being emptied into boxes for auction. What happened to them? And what will happen to my 9,000 books when I am gone?


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The Richardson Brothers’ Podcast: New Episodes

Oct 19, 2019 No Comments

New episodes: “The Blue Man.” Duluth’s most melancholy superhero weaponizes the color blue. But what strange force can undo … The Blue Man? Also: “The Ballad of the Crammenfjorder.” Captain Buck Wild saves the city. And: “Attack of the Food Nazis.” Agent Coma Joe gets tortured with natural foods.


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Proctor DWI chair, where are you now?

Oct 19, 2019 No Comments

Ten years ago — Oct. 19, 2009 — Dennis LeRoy Anderson pleaded guilty to driving a motorized lounge chair while under the influence of alcohol. The incident happened more than a year prior — on Aug. 31, 2008. Anderson hit a parked vehicle while driving away from the Keyboard Lounge in Proctor.

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Scenic Fall Aerial Footage from Itasca County

Oct 15, 2019 No Comments

Iron Range-based Leedrick Aerial Imaging produced this video of autumn scenery in the Holman Lake and Gibbs Park area of Itasca County near the city of Taconite, about 80 miles northwest of Duluth.


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Duluth Climate Mobilization Campaign Launch

Oct 12, 2019 No Comments

Recorded Sept. 24 at Gichi-ode’ Akiing by Duluth Public Access Community Television.


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Jessica Lange’s shout-out to Duluth

Oct 04, 2019 No Comments

From Rolling Stone magazine:

What’s your favorite city and why?
Oh God, there are different ones from different times in my life. In my 20s, it was Paris — it’s 1970, I’m living by myself for the first time, everything is alive and crazy. Being that city back then … it was like another love affair! New Orleans, because it’s a separate universe down there, with different cultures co-existing in a way you don’t see other places. And Duluth, Minnesota, because it’s home. Shout-out to Duluth!


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Monthly Grovel: October 2019 Edition

Oct 03, 2019 No Comments
(Enter the amount of your choice.)

In the past year — from October 2018 through September 2019 — the PDD Calendar published 7,971 Duluth-area events. Each one was edited by a human being before the “publish” button was pushed.

It’s a tremendous amount of work to keep up with all the submissions from the more than 1,000 organizations that have sent us info about their concerts, plays, cake walks and bunco tournaments. That’s why once a month we set our dignity aside and remind readers how much we appreciate their financial support.

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Duluth Stories in the Babylon Bee

Oct 02, 2019 No Comments

An Oct. 1 headline in The Babylon Bee brings to light two things:

1) There is a satirical news website called The Babylon Bee, similar to The Onion. The differentiator being that The Babylon Bee refers to itself as “Your Trusted Source for Christian News Satire.”

2) It’s been around since 2016 and has referenced Duluth a few times, like The Onion has.

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Guide to Duluth-area Podcasts in 2019

Sep 30, 2019 11 Comments

Podcasts have been a thing for about 15 years, but the medium has only been popular for maybe five years. Duluth has followed that trend, going from just one or two downloadable online audio productions in the early days to more than a two-dozen now. Some are specifically about Duluth, others feature people from the region speaking to the world about subject matter ranging from popular culture to health and wellness.

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Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #21

Sep 24, 2019 4 Comments

Another Duluth Trivia card, from a board game found at Savers, below.

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PDD Quiz: Duluth in Literature

Sep 15, 2019 No Comments

This edition of the PDD Quiz tests your knowledge of references to Duluth in literature. The 10-year-old PDD post “References to Duluth in Popular Literature” might prove useful should you want to cheat study.

The next PDD quiz will focus on September 2019 headlines; it will be published on Sept. 29. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Sept. 25.

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I Made You Say Underwear

Sep 14, 2019 No Comments

I still own all the underwear I’ve ever bought, probably. Like, 85 percent of it. But why? you might legitimately ask yourself. The answer is simple. Underwear is inexplicably expensive. And it takes a long time to wear out, since I don’t do very many things that would cause excessive wear-and-tear, like, say, a lot of butt-scooting on the carpet or skivvy-only horseback riding. I know I’m not alone in this, because over the years I’ve shared this fact and discovered that pretty much everyone is stockpiling ancient underwear.

As a result, I own underwear that is so old that it’s vintage — essentially archaeological artifacts. I’ve got garden-variety skivvies, of course, but I also have floppy and faded high-cut bikinis from 9th grade, lady boxers whose elastic waistbands announce their brand affiliation, and transparent lacy stretch briefs that make my ass look like a low-rent bank-robber. What I don’t have is g-strings. Not anymore.

Ahhh, the g-string. The g-string came to popularity in the late 1990s, first on strippers, then on twenty-somethings, and then, finally, on Donna, the 60-year-old cashier at ShopKo who is suprisingly racy and not interested in what you think about her undergarment selection, thank you very much and have yourself a lovely day minding your own fucking business.

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Monthly Grovel: September 2019 Edition

Sep 05, 2019 No Comments
(Enter the amount of your choice.)

In the past year — from September 2018 through August 2019 — the PDD Calendar published 7,917 Duluth-area events. Each one was edited by a human being before the “publish” button was pushed.

It’s a tremendous amount of work to keep up with all the submissions from the more than 1,000 organizations that have sent us info about their concerts, plays, bake sales and bunco tournaments. That’s why once a month we set our dignity aside and remind readers how much we appreciate their financial support.

Read More


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