Video Archive: Mel Sando gets his mojo working
Mel Sando, best known for his days with the Delta Resonators circa 1997-1999, performs the blues classic “Got My Mojo Working” at R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon during an open mic on Sept. 16, 1995.
Mel Sando, best known for his days with the Delta Resonators circa 1997-1999, performs the blues classic “Got My Mojo Working” at R.T. Quinlan’s Saloon during an open mic on Sept. 16, 1995.
Video produced by Margo Devich and Nathan Steigman for UWS Studio 2; shot in Two Harbors on Sept. 17, 1995.
In the fall of 1995 I tossed a tape in the VCR and somewhat indiscriminately recorded while I flipped channels over a few different nights. The above video is the result. Most of it is not locally relevant, but there are a few clips from Duluth Public Access Community Television, including two excerpts from Colleen Shannon’s In My Room.
Some of the transitions are edits I made in 2015 for the purpose of cutting this down to under a half hour, but many of them are just what naturally happened in 1995 when I paused the tape, changed channels and resumed recording.
Yes, I know how geeky this is. Yes, I’m proud of myself.
With a fused spine and partially paralyzed legs, Paul Hlina hiked the entire Superior Hiking Trail on crutches in 1995. He is credited as the first person to through-hike the trail, which at the time spanned almost 200 miles. It’s about a 300-mile trail today.
Video by Barrett Chase from a rainy evening cruise to Twin Ports Brewing Company (now Thirsty Pagan Brewing) circa 2005.
Episode 1: Preparation
Ten years ago video blogs, or “vlogs” became the latest Internet trend, boosted by the launching of YouTube. Back then, the founders of Perfect Duluth Day each had their own separate websites where they showcased videos, which they often cross-posted on PDD. The “Making Beer with Barrett and Paul” series, featuring Barrett Chase and Paul Lundgren, is one example of those early, low-fi productions.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press wrote about the subject in a May 16, 2005 article. The excerpt below is the part that relates to Duluth:
Here’s one from the early days of vlogging. Starfire and V-Nick show how to build an igloo in this grainy PDD video from 2005.
UWS Studio II captured these clips from the Puddle Wonderful and Nobody performances at Rothwell Student Center in early 1994. Somewhere deep in the video vault there is also a Puddle Wonderful interview segment. We’ll find it one day.
A big “get well soon” to Puddle drummer Marcus Mathews, who is recovering from a motorcycle accident. “Broken arm, lacerated liver, broken ribs, punctured lung, ligament damage, and a shitpile of cuts and bruises,” he wrote on Facebook. Ouch. Hopefully laughing at this two-minute blast from the past won’t hurt him too much more.
Ten years ago Starfire posted this video he made for the Low song “Fear,” from the 1994 album I Could Live in Hope. The video was produced as part of the Crash Ballet Contest put on by Coudal Partners, a design, advertising and interactive studio in Chicago. Participants were asked to edit original NASA footage to music. Starfire’s video was named a runner up in the contest.
Ahhh … the fresh spring air, clogged lungs and diseased livers. Scenes from the Homegrown Music Festival Kickball Classic of a decade ago, and the after-party at the Shaky Ray. The song is Bone Appetit’s “Drive Away.” Video shot and edited by Barrett Chase.
Here we are, ten years later, and the marquee at the NorShor hasn’t quite been lit up yet … but it seems like we’re getting close.
The “Light Up the NorShor” fashion show fundraiser was held on Feb. 28, 2004. There must be a video of the entire event somewhere; I seem to remember it aired on public access TV. The show was organized by Adeline Wright and Laura Scheu (who became Laura Ness two months later).
The third iteration of Geek Prom was held in 2004 at the Great Lakes Aquarium. As a publicity stunt, the prom committee decided to find out how many geeks could be crammed into a Kia Rio. Answer: 21. The more important question, however, was: Would the sight of it make WDIO-TV Eyewitness News anchor Dennis Anderson lose his composure? Answer: Yes.
The low quality of this video is not just because it’s 20 years old; it’s also because I was the camera man and I probably neglected to white balance or something.
The low quality of the content is because it’s all made up on the spot. My then-UWS classmate Trent Jameson simply asked me to go shoot some video of people on Superior Street with him.
This post originally featured nearly an hour’s worth of amateur video from Nov. 25, 1998, when Mötley Crüe played the DECC Auditorium on its Greatest Hits Tour. Unfortunately, the video has been removed from YouTube.
Local metal band Nobody opened the concert. It was the Crüe’s third performance in Duluth — the band played a sold-out Duluth Arena show in 1985, before the DECC was the DECC, and returned in 1990 to play for over 8,000. By 1998, things were on the downswing for the band. Tommy Lee had been out of jail for two months when this show came to town. His sex tape with Pamela Anderson hit the Internet about a year earlier.
It’s been 25 years since Denfeld played in the 1989 Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. Through the miracle of shaky old VHS tapes, we take a look back. Above is the gloriously cheesy video profiling the school, produced for between-period entertainment.
Below are local TV news highlights of Denfeld’s route to the tournament.
