Recent panel on creative leadership in Duluth

A recent panel on creative leadership really taught me a few things, so I’m sharing it with you all here. It featured local creative innovators and leaders Aryn Lee Bergsven, LeAnn Littlewolf and Hella Wartman.

The Zoom link in the poster is dead, but the panel can be found by clicking here.

Jeno’s Pizza Rolls Commercial with the Lone Ranger

Among the achievements of the late food magnate Jeno Paulucci is the launch of the pizza roll, a pizza and egg roll combination dubbed “Jeno’s Pizza Rolls.” Paulucci died in Duluth on Nov. 24, 2011.

The 1968 television commercial embedded above was created by Stan Freberg and was a spoof of the “Show Us Your Lark” cigarette commercials of the day, which also utilized “The William Tell Overture,” music that was, of course, the theme music to the television series The Lone Ranger.

Low’s latest album nominated for Grammy as best engineered

Duluth band Low‘s new album, Hey What, received a major nod from the music industry yesterday. The record has been nominated for a Grammy in the category “Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical” for the work by mastering engineer BJ Burton.

Video: Wolf pack and pups walking old railroad grade

This clip from July shows the Wiyapka Lake wolf pack — which includes six pups — walking an old railroad grade in Voyageurs National Park, about 110 miles north of Duluth. At the end of the clip the wolves can be heard howling.

Sledding Duluth’s Avenues in 1921

One hundred years ago there were far fewer cars on Duluth’s streets, but it was still considered dangerous to sled down the city’s steep avenues. So Duluth Police Chief Warren E. Pugh surveyed the city and selected a few recommended avenues that posed “the least danger to life and limb,” according to the Duluth Herald of Nov. 22, 1921.

Exploring the Duluth Armory

Duluth Urbex was recently granted a tour of the Duluth Armory. Built at 1305 London Road in 1915, the armory served as a military training facility and also hosted concerts and events until 1978.

Kingsbury Creek has a new bridge, snowmobile trail restored

The bridge over Kingsbury Creek in West Duluth that was washed away in the Historic Summer Solstice Flood Disaster of 2012 has been replaced. The snowmobile route that runs across the bridge and snakes through the hillside south of Interstate 35, roughly from Keane Creek to Knowlton Creek, has also been restored after years of neglect. The lost ridgeline snowmobile route is part of the St. Louis River Corridor snowmobile trail system and links to the Hermantown trail system.

Duluth’s Parks and Recreation Division and the Hermantown Night Riders are hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the bridge on Dec. 17.

Literary History of Duluth: William Sommers

I’ve struggled with how to blend a history of publishers in Duluth with a history of authors. It feels like that would widen my scope beyond the manageable. And then I find a book like this.

The Thing About Essentia Health

Imagine, if you will, being trans and you don’t go by your birth name anymore — and the clinic knows that — and you arrive at an Essentia Health clinic in Duluth for, let’s say an eye appointment.

“Hmmmm. Can you spell your last name again?”

“Hmmmmm. What is your date of birth, again, ma’am?”

“I’m just not finding you. How about your street address?

Also, for the sake of this scenario, there are four other people behind you impatiently waiting to register for their own appointments. You start to feel a bead of sweat pop up on your forehead.

“Can you spell your last name again?” Nothing. The registration lady calls for help. A supervisor slides her chair over. You’re feeling a little hot. Isn’t it humid in this damn clinic, today?

“Oh! Are you DEAD NAME DEAD NAME BOODOOTY DEAD DAMN NAME?”

Richardson Bros. Podcast: A Robot Legal Analyst on Rittenhouse Verdict

Postcard from the Lyceum Building

This undated postcard of Duluth’s Lyceum Theatre does not appear to have been mailed, though it does have a message on the back.

Talkin’ PDD on For the Love of Duluth Podcast

Get ready for self-referential blabber and Perfect Duluth Day shop-talk galore. Yours truly, Paul Lundgren, is the guest on the sixth episode of the For the Love of Duluth podcast.

Tom Jamison, a former lawyer turned local business owner, started the podcast in August as a passion project. Yvonne Myers is co-host and Lauren Wells handles the techy stuff. The focus is on Duluth art, culture, food, beer and natural amenities.

The Slice: Tim Kaiser’s Sci-Fi Musical Instruments

Tim Kaiser‘s instruments create drones and ethereal sounds that build layers of sonic texture.

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.

When Wausau was the Christmas City of the North

This 70-year-old article from the Wausau Daily Herald, published Nov. 17, 1951, serves as a reminder that before Duluth had its parade and “Christmas City” song, a Wisconsin city more than 200 miles to the southeast had already branded itself the “Christmas City of the North.”

I’m starting a new project and need help. What do you know about Poetry Harbor?

I’m looking for people attached to Poetry Harbor.

Google tells me that the late Patrick McKinnon (DNT spotlight here) was a founder, maybe? So was Ellie Schoenfeld?