Wordless Wednesday: Carlton Daze Car Show

Upcoming Happenings: Twin Ports & Twin Cities

There's a lot happening this weekend and to catch it all will be impossible if you do not have a clone. Let's start with Superior this time. The two-year renovation of Tower Avenue south of Belknap has been completed and a celebration of this event is planned for this weekend, beginning tomorrow. During this Grand Reopening Phantom Galleries Superior will feature two new artists, Susan Loonsk and Jennifer A. Murphy.

Loonsk, a Professor Emerita of Art, Art Therapy, Ecopsychology Art & Meditation at UWS, has titled her exhibit "Mostly Birds." Her mixed media paintings are post-modern in style and use elements of autobiography and narrative to interpret, discover and explore the diverse realities of our world.

Jennifer Murphy's show is titled "Of Tidal Pools." Murphy creates work that lures one in with its curious appearance, and then captivates attention as it is viewed from every angle. The specimens have life, that they appear as if they are about to speak. Whatever they say is left entirely up to the imagination. The two artists can be found in the New York Building 1410 Tower courtesy the Blaine Business Group and Phantom Galleries, Superior.

This weekend is Carlton Daze in Carlton. You can find the calendar of events here. If you need discs for the Disc Golf Tournament, you can find them at Carlton Bike Rental. Check out the art while you're there and say hi to Joelene.

In Duluth, there's another great art show in store for you at Trepanier Hall at 202 West Second Street in Duluth. Northern Women - Below Zero Windchill Creations is the amusing title. The art show will feature work by Wendy Savage, Karen Savage, Joyce LaPorte, Roberta Marie, Laurel Sanders, Carolyn Sue Olson and Ellen Sandbeck. Door Prizes, Food and Music....another event that can't be missed! Opening reception: 5:30 - 7:30.

Wrenshall, MN is the home of the Free Range Film Festival, now in its eleventh year. Since 2004, this barn has drawn thousands of film buffs and curiosity seekers, eager to watch independent cinema. You can find it at the junctions of County Roads 1 and 4 just one mile south of Wrenshall. Selected films are shown in their massive hayloft on a 14’x 24’ screen with surround sound. While there is officially no charge for admission, the organizers do ask audience members for a $10 donation to help pay for barn maintenance.

In the Twin Cities Even Break Gallery is hosting an all day carnival and fundraiser with live music and open stage - webstream live telethon for The Lonesome Kid who is going to Mississippi in August. Donations get prizes! Details here.

Monday at Town Green Maple Grove, MN (Acoustic) Legends are putting on a free night of exquisitely performed music by five of Minnesota's most gifted artists. Outside. Under the stars. Under clear skies. Under cloudy skies. Over the proverbial top. In one of the metro's premiere facilities. Lonnie Knight, Dakota Dave Hull, Tim Sparks, Tom Lieberman and Dale Menten. It will be a memorable evening to be sure.

At the same location there will be another Salute to the Music of Bob Dylan concert August 6 from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. This year, Scarlet Rivera will be part of the team along with returning artists including the core band members Matt Fink, Lonnie Knight, Stan Kipper, Mark Chico Perez, Ralph Dacut, Gary Lopac, Jim Steinworth and Billy Hallquist. Special guests include Patty Peterson, Barbara Meyer, Gene LaFond, James Loney, Barry Thomas Goldberg, Steve Grossman, Kenny Krona, Aaron Ollswang and Mark Lamoine along with Master of Ceremonies "Magic" Marc Percansky. This event also serves as a benefit to raise awareness and funds to support the ongoing efforts of Guitars For Vets.

And finally, publisher of our local free weekly rag The Reader Bob Boone is giving away free tickets to tomorrow night's Huskies home game in Wade Stadium. It's The Reader's 16th birthday. Last week the coupon to get you in free was on page 55. Pick up a Reader (this week's should start showing up around town today) and find that coupon. Check out the facilities. Our city council has been discussing it, too. The weather's supposed to be nice.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Be part of it.


Top photos here were borrowed from their respective announcement pages on Facebook and temporarily used without permission.

Scheduled Oberstar Visit Adds to Big Day in Carlton

One of my first peach freelance writing assignments was in 1988, two years after moving to Duluth here in the Northland. I received a call from the Twin Cities asking if I'd be interested in interviewing the two candidates vying for Congress from the 8th District. The 5,000 word piece would appear in a magazine called People & Politics that aimed at serving as a voter's guide.

That was my first meeting with Congressman Jim Oberstar, son of an iron ore miner raised in Chisholm, a few miles from the largest strip mine in the world. At the time, "Jim" had been representing the district for seven terms. I concluded my article by stating that he would remain in Congress for as long as he wanted to, and now that he is in his eighteenth term it would appear that my prescience was well founded.

This weekend is Carlton Daze and Congressman Oberstar has scheduled a visit to this year's festival. One stop this morning will be Carlton Bike Rental & Repair, a new business in town situated at the hub of three major biking trails. In addition to the bike rental business, founder Joelene Steffens has a bit of a passion for the arts, operating a framing business called Art Dimensions. Many of my own paintings have been framed by Joelene, with wonderful results. Some of them can be seen on the walls of Carlton Bike Rental, along with photography and works by other local artists.

Joelene is also a nostalgia buff, and seeing as Carlton is located along the railroad tracks and has a history for being home to hobo camps during the Great Depression, she has called her composite businesses Hobo Junction, now replete with gazebo and an invitation to the public to make themselves at home here.

In 1988 Congressman Oberstar said to me, "My father told me when I graduated from high school, 'You have two choices. You can work in the mines, or go to college to create for yourself a better life... And it better be one that helps other people.'" With this advice tucked away in his heart young Jim did indeed choose college, attending St. Thomas in the Twin Cities. But his life aim at the time was not a career in politics. He said he first wanted to be a missionary, and if remember correctly he went to Haiti for a short time after graduation. But his ultimate life direction was altered, he said, quoting Robert Louis Stevenson who said, "The greatest adventures in life are those we do not go forth to seek."

Being a pro-life Democrat has made him something of an anomaly within his political party, but as a child of the Iron Range his pro-labor values make him a candidate hard to unseat up here with its working class roots. His years of service in Congress have resulted in the quiet accumulation of influence, especially as chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, a role that enables him to keep a close watch on legislation that affects Great Lakes shipping and the steel industry.

But he also serves on a number of other committees, and one of them is the Bike Caucus, which is undoubtedly the reason he is joining us here today in Carlton. He personally likes biking, too.

He also likes reading and in 1988 when I asked who his favorite authors were, he said C.S. Lewis and Henri Nouwen. If I get a chance I'll try to ask him again today who his favorite authors are.