Trampled by Turtles were joined by fiddler Suzanne Santo at Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheater in Austin, Texas on Jan. 14 performing a cover of Gram Parsons’ “Ooh Las Vegas.” The video was shot by Evan Adamson and Scott Perry, edited by Scott Perry and mixed by Adam Krinsky.
Allouez Bay in Superior was recently the scene of a stock-car racing event, which might have seemed like a newish idea, but … the undated photo above has a handwritten message on the back that reads: “Taken on Lake Superior. Duluth in distance. Thousands on ice at time of races. A new sport. 24 in. of ice at time.”
To the angel who prepaid several people’s coffee at a mall-area coffee shop on Sunday — thank you. I appreciate the kindness.
Superior’s Shane Nelson plays his new song “Hold On” and shares what songwriting means to him and his love of performing. Nelson’s next gig is Feb. 12 at the Cast Iron Bar & Grill.
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.
“Keep it high, like this!” Michelle said, transmitting party wisdom over her shoulder with a cheerleader smile, holding a Marb red and a Schmidt can in one hand up near brunette Aqua Net bangs as she inched us through someone’s mom’s apartment packed with mostly white teenagers. I followed close in the crush, trying to protect my beer and not bump into her. She was a tiny junior glowing with charisma and cool. I was a six-foot sophomore with a spiked mullet and a forehead full of zits. So skinny. Still 15. Only 15. Not good at parties but wanting to be. It was a Saturday night in January 1987. Maybe early February.
In October a couple cops had taken me to detox after busting an outdoor party. The guys I was with ditched me because I was unconscious and ill and Steve, who I barely knew, thought I might mess up his immaculate brown Camaro. At the party, juniors and seniors I looked up to had laughed at me and pissed on me and tied my Reeboks to my Levi’s 501 belt loops while I laid in weeds on the edge of woods next to a nature center parking lot. I don’t know what else they did. They could have done much worse. I don’t know if anyone tried to help me. I’m not mad at anyone who didn’t. I wish more people would help, but I understand why they don’t. I can still smell the combination of vomit and Adidas cologne on my black and purple shaker-knit Oak Tree sweater.
This 40-year-old press photo shows University of Minnesota Duluth goalie Bob Mason about to make a save at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. It is credited to Star Tribune photographer Cletus “Pete” Hohn.
The St. Louis River Alliance typically organizes an annual Winter Walk event in February, but the rise in COVID-19 cases led the organization to cancel it for the second year in a row. Instead, stories, photos and videos are being collected throughout the month to to be shared on the alliance’s social media accounts to encourage people to get outside and enjoy winter.
Featured in this post as examples are photos by the alliance’s development director, Alyssa Johnson.
The 39th season of the Chester Creek Concert Series will run Tuesday nights from June 14 to Aug. 16 at Chester Park. Bands interested in playing a 90-minute set on one of those Tuesday can apply with Duluth Parks and Recreation.
As a part of the application process, bands are asked to provide a bio, contact information, up to three sound samples and other information.
After tallying 60,000 votes, MNDOT has named eight more plows in the fleet. They join Plowy McPlowface and Duck Duck Orange Truck from last year’s naming contest. In Duluth, you can be on the lookout for No More Mr. Ice Guy to be clearing the roads.
“A humble Midwestern team” that “made curling cool” is on the cover of this week’s Parade magazine.
The U.S. men’s Olympic curling team members pictured are, left to right: John Landsteiner, Duluth; Chris Plys, Duluth; John Shuster, Superior; John Landsteiner, Duluth; Colin Hufman, Minneapolis; and Matt Hamilton, McFarland.
This undated postcard shows Duluth’s Aerial Lift Bridge, ships on the lake, the Duluth Arena-Auditorium, parts of the Downtown and Canal Park areas and more circa perhaps 1980 or so.
As we ease in and out of mask mandates and public health challenges, the world of arts, athletics and leisure carry on. And the PDD Calendar has all the details as usual. Each month we reach out with one beggarly blog post to remind everyone that human beings and not machines are at work editing and publishing calendar events. So if you appreciate it, drop a few bucks in the PayPal account.
As I struggled to get down into and then out of the Chester Park ravine during a walk, I recalled this short video interview I made with Philip Jones in 2017. Enjoy Philip’s thoughts on stairways, community, and the fact that the Hillside was built for trolleys, not for thousands of cars!
Quiz regarding the location of the Northeast Passage to follow!
A reader has sent some information about Helen Futter, the subject (I think) of some thoughts I’ve had about record collections, midcentury media, and pop culture. (See here, here, here, here, and here.) Generally, reflecting on what (I think) was Helen’s record collection, donated by her estate to Gabriel’s Books in Lakeside, I treated her like a “typical teen,” listening to records on her “Victrola.”
An update to the post “Sledding Duluth’s Avenues in 1921“:
By 1922 it was determined that the safe thing to do is hang red pennants to warn drivers about popular sledding intersections.
