Retired Duluth Fire Chief John Strongitharm put together this half-hour photo slideshow depicting the history of Duluth’s Morgan Park neighborhood. It’s been 50 years since United States Steel announced it would begin phasing out its Duluth Mill operations, but much of the Model Community it created in the early 20th century remains.
Meet Steve Solkela. With his music career crushed by COVID-19 cancellations, he built up a robust YouTube following with his music videos, tandem-bike interviews and random stunts.
WDSE-TV‘s Making it Up North explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
The Homegrown Music Festival’s annual Winter Fiasco is digital this year. The four hourlong videos feature performances, interviews and archival footage of more than 30 local artists. Episode one features music by Mary Bue, Shadows of Me, the Slamming Doors, Dog Talk, Moriah Skye, Boogeymen, WNDY, and Isolation Band. It also includes words from festival director Melissa La Tour and an interview with Kala Moira about her unofficial 2020 Homegrown Scavenger Hunt.
Duluthian Sarah Krueger’s new music project is called Lanue. The album is available for pre-order on Bandcamp.
The video for the track “What I Love the Most” was filmed and directed by Zoe Prinds-Flash and edited by Lauren Josephine.
Dr. Paula Gudmundson, associate professor of music at the University of Minnesota Duluth, performs J.S. Bach’s “Partita in A minor” in this music video shot throughout Duluth on Sept. 16 as part of the Bach Society of Minnesota’s Mini Mobile Concerts Series.
Duluth musician Darin Bergsven has been performing and teaching guitar online since March.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
Another monthly installment of wheeled-sneaker stunts from former Duluthian James Geisler, also known as the hip-hop artist JamesG.
Duluth band One Less Guest performs “Breezeblocks,” a song composed by the British indie rock band Alt-J.
The live rooftop performance is part of its 2021 collection of favorite cover songs.
Duluth musician Gaelynn Lea performs “Bound by a Thread” from her 2018 album, Learning How to Stay.
Duluth native Zachary Moder raps his way across the city in a new music video for a song from the 2019 MN Moder album Modervation.
Emily Pilz of Em’s Gems Lake Superior Jewelry creates necklaces, earrings, sun catchers and other decorative items from agates and glass found on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Her partner in the enterprise is Emily Rakos. Both are 2020 graduates of the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Video by Angelina Sonnen.
Eerie folk project Superior Siren has released a new music video for the song “Trying Too Hard” from the band’s 2018 self-titled album. The video was created by Killy Kay and Caelen Mars, and features Alison Peluso.
Right at the top of our list of best videos from the year of the pandemic is a montage of some of the various musicians, artists and jokers who entertained with livestreams and other productions during what was largely a year of avoiding in-person interactions. But 2020 still had a crop of the usual stuff that makes it into our annual compilation — namely stunts, crashes, wildlife encounters and sweet music videos.
