Imagination and the May Twin Ports Arts Scene

How does imagination work? How is it that our mind can picture something and see it in our mind's eye, scenes and characters we've never actually experienced? How does our brain create the vivid images and storylines that make up our dreams? How do musicians creates new tunes and sounds out of nothing?

Let's begin by noting that Homegrown Music Festival is officially underway this weekend, beginning April 30 and winding up May 7. Obviously this is a town in which music happens year-round, but for one 8-day week the chickens come home to roost... (No cackles, please. We have plenty of talent in our corner of the global henhouse.)

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The two shows currently at the Duluth Art Institute feature very different themes. Wrestler Joe Klander's Strongman show is an imaginative Palooka Joe "Pop" exhibit that many will find fun to experience. Simultaneously, in the Morrison Gallery you will find a very serious exhibit titled Lest We Forget, combining images by Sandra Brick that correspond with excerpts (text) from Fred Abram's book detailing his experiences growing up a Jew in Hitler's Germany during the 30's and 40's.

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What follows are a selection of arts activities, mostly assembled by Esther P., in chronological order.

Tonight: Friday, April 28, 5 p.m. Reception; 5:30 p.m. Program, The ART of Ubuntu Art Opening, Zeitgeist Arts, 222 E. Superior Street Echoes of Peace and Zeitgeist present a weekend of art, music, poetry, spoken word and dance centered on the theme “The Art of Ubuntu: I Am Because We Are.”

Also Tonight, at AICHO's Dr. Robert Powless Culutural Center, Leah Yellowbird--The Journey Continues 5-8 p.m.

Otters (detail) by Leah Yellowbird

Tonight is the soft opening of "Indigenous First" gift shop located in Gimaajii-Mino=Bimaadizimin. While our display cases are on order - and some waiting to be made by our friend Russ Abel - we are opening the shop to showcase all of Leah Yellowbirds great merchandise. This includes: blankets, bags, rugs, canvas prints, suitcases and much more. Thanks to Moira Villiard we have a fabulous sign just in time....thanks to Cheryl Stone and Joe Morales for setting up the gallery as well as hanging all the artwork in the Powless Center. I hope everyone will make it to Leah's show tomorrow night. In the future we hope you will come often to shop for wonderful artwork by local and regional Indigenous and Diverse Artists.

Saturday, April 29, 2-4 p.m. Afternoon Stage, Zeitgeist, 222 E. Superior Street Poetry, Spoken Word & more in the Teatro; Children's art activities in the atrium lobby.

Saturday, April 29, 7:30 p.m. An Evening Concert with the Echoes of Peace Choir and Guest Artists, One Community - One Song, Mitchell Auditorium, The College of St. Scholastica, 1200 Kenwood Avenue.  Details: https://echoesofpeace.org/news-events

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Thursday, May 4, 6-8 p.m., Chelstina Rosara Art Opening, Beaner's Central Concert Coffeehouse, 324 N. Central Avenue
6:00 p.m. Bruce Rosara, acoustic guitar
6:30 p.m. Jade Wong, piano
7: 00 p.m. Mike Guello, it will be a surprise
All day: Half price bottles of wine.

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Saturday, May 6, 10:30-12 p.m., Zentangle® Pattern Drawing, Vaughn Public Library, 502 W. Main Street, Ashland, WI
This class is a FREE introduction to the Zentangle (R) Pattern drawing method. Come relax as we create beautiful artwork using simple repetitive line patterns on a 3.5" square paper tile with pen and ink. No previous drawing experience is necessary. Class size limited to 15 students. Call 715-682-7060 to register for this free class. Zentangle (R) kits will be available for sale, $10.

Wednesday, May 10, 6-8:30 p.m., Zentangle® Pattern Drawing, McGregor Public Library, 111 E. Center Avenue, McGregor, MN. This is a free, public class for ages 14 and up with a 15 student class limit. Call 763-392-0762 to register. (see previous blurb for class description)

Saturday, May 13, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Nice Girls of the North 2nd Saturday Marketplace, "Free coffee, cookies, and a friendly atmosphere await while you browse a collection of handcrafted clothing and bags, pottery, jewelry, stained glass, photography, personal care products, baby items and much more. One central checkout, most major credit cards accepted."

Sunday, May 14, Run Smelt Run Parade and Party 2017 
3:30 p.m. Presentation of the Smelt Queen, Maritime Visitor Center, beside the Aerial Lift Bridge "Second line parade on the Lakewalk • A stilt walking Royal Guard • An energetic school of silver smelt puppet and mask dancers • A musical procession featuring a delegation from the Kingdom of Smelt! • Music by the Brass Messengers • Everyone encouraged to wear silver!"
5:00 p.m. Smelt Fry and Party, Zeitgeist Arts Cafe, 222 E. Superior Street

Wednesday, May 17, 6:30-9:00 p.m., Zentangle (R)! with Esther Piszczek, CZT, Master Framing Gallery, 1431 London Road. Come experience the fun and relaxation of drawing simple, repetitive line patterns with pen and ink and pencil shading. No previous drawing experience necessary. Class Cost: $35; Supplies: $10 (or use supplies provided without additional cost).

Saturday, May 20, Spirit of the Times Fundraiser Party, Zeitgeist Arts, 222 E. Superior Street
"6:30 p.m. - Doors open, Welcome to the party. We'll have cocktail, beer, wine and appetizer stations throughout the building (all included, of course) in addition to live music & art & our stellar silent auction
8:15 p.m. - Programming starts in the Teatro and Zinema movie theaters.
9:30 p.m. - Let the dance party begin!
All proceeds from this event will go directly to support Zeitgeist's artistic programming and community development work - help us put the FUN in Fundraising!" Purchase tickets HERE.

May 20-28, Duluth Dylan Fest 2017 

There's something every day beginning with the Robby Vee concert at Karpeles. Here's the agenda:

Saturday, May 20, 7:30-10:30 p.m., Armory Arts & Music Center Benefit, Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, 902 E. 1st Street. The 2017 Duluth Dylan Fest will kick-off with Robby Vee and His Rock-N-Roll Caravan. Tickets at Eventbrite.com.

Sunday May 21, Dylan Trivia @ Carmody's. Being one who enjoys games and trivial pursuits, I've been leaned on to again assemble the questions. People beg for me to make the answers easier. I somehow find it needful to simultaneously make it a learning experience. You will discover more about Dylan that you didn't know, if you choose to join us and play. Feel free to just listen and sip some brew.

Monday, May 22, 5-7 p.m., Dylan Themed Art Show Opening Reception, Zeitgeist Atrium, 222 E. Superior Street

Tuesday May 23,
Dylan music performed by Greg Tiburzi 6-8 PM and Dylan-themed Open Mic with Marc Gartman from 9 to 11 PM at Sir Ben’s Tavern. Free

Wednesday May 24 (Bob's Birthday Bash

Thursday May 25, the famed Blood on the Tracks Express. Tickets here.

Friday May 26, the grand tradition continues, our Singer/Songwriter Contest. We have a great panel of judges lined up this year including Christa Lawler of the DNT, Karen Sunderman of The Playlist, Christine Dean of KUMD and musician Gene LaFond.

Saturday May 27
Presentation at Karpele’s Manuscript Library Museum by Dylanologist Phil Fitzpatrick from 3-4 PM and live music with Cowboy Angel Blue beginning at 8 PM at Carmody Irish Pub. Free

Sunday May 28 is our Farewell Brunch at Zeitgeist with live music by Jim Hall.

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Learn a Tangle! Watch this adorable and engaging 7 minute video, Kitchen Table Tangles, with guest artists Indy (7 yrs) and Mazzy (5 yrs), to learn how to draw their newest tangle: ZINGO.

Read this blogpost by Molly Hollibaugh, Kitchen Table Tangles with Indy and Mazzy, Tuesday, March 7, 2017, to learn how this video came to be.

Book & Film! Patterned Peace, by Esther Piszczek, CZT, published by Whole Person Associates, Duluth. Available on Amazon.com, at The Bookstore at Fitgers, and Duluth Fine Pianos. Original, hand-drawn artwork ready to color. Includes full pattern index.

Life & Art Entangled, a 17 minute art documentary created by Lola Visuals featuring Zentangle (R) inspired artwork on a piano created by fine-line pattern artist Esther Piszczek, CZT, and the improvisational jazz piano music of Peter Brown. Watch on YouTube.com.

MUCH MORE TO SAY ABOUT ALL THESE THINGS, But I have to get dressed and start my day!

Stretch yourself and see something you haven't seen or experienced before. You only live once.

Handwritten Lyrics to Dylan's Desolation Row: Sneak Preview of the May William Pagel Exhibit at Karpeles

The weeks have been barreling along like a freight train this year. Hard to believe we're just a week away from the month of May and the kickoff of the Duluth Homegrown Festival, an eight-day celebration of local music and related enthusiasms. The end of the month is eight-day Duluth Dylan Fest, a perfect set of bookends to one of the Northland's nicest time of the year.

Dylan Fest has added quite a few new events this year, one of the most significant being the public display of a number of items from William Pagel's private Dylan memorabilia collection. In addition to collecting backstage passes, letters, Dylan books and recordings, he also purchased the duplex in Duluth's Central Hillside where young Robert Zimmerman lived the first six year of his life, walking distance from Nettleton Elementary School. For the first time a small portion of the Pagel collection will be shared with the public at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum. This exhibit will be on display throughout the month of May and not just during Dylan Fest.

There's at least one item to be displayed that I am not at liberty to talk about, an item so rare I'm not sure anyone even knows of its existence. There's another that will settle an old score regarding a matter of Dylan history.

One of the many documents you'll see if you visit are the original handwritten lyrics from Desolation Row. Each displayed item will have a printed legend describing its significance. Here's an example of the kinds of stories that will accompany the documents.

Desolation Row handwritten lyrics 

This memorial now stands at the site of the hanging. 

Recorded on August 4th, 1965, this song closed out Dylan’s sixth studio album, Highway 61 Revisited. It was the longest song on the album at eleven minutes twenty-one seconds. The song is predominantly acoustic, although an earlier take with electric instrumentation was recorded on July 29th, 1965. Some have suggested that the first verse could have been influenced by a tragic event in the city of Duluth’s history, in which three African Americans were lynched in downtown Duluth. Postcards were sold of the lynching, and the three men worked for a carnival passing through Duluth. The first verse states:

They’re selling postcards of the hanging
They’re painting the passports brown,
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner
They’ve got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight rope walker
The other is in his pants
And the riot squad they’re restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row

There are nine more verses in the song. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked the song at #187 in their “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

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If you're coming in from out of town, the monument pictured here can be found at the corner of Second Avenue East and First Street, on the corner where this tragic event occurred. It is the only memorial to a lynching in the United States. May we never forget. (For further reading see Michael Fedo's The Lynchings in Duluth.

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For highlights of this year's Duluth Dylan Fest visit this page or follow along on the Fest's Facebook page.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Enjoy the music. 

Local Arts and a Little Marx

In Europe it is essential for people to have an understanding of Marx. So let's start this blog with a handful of Marx quotes.

• "Man does not control his own fate. The women in his life do that for him."

• "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

• "The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made."

• "Alimony is like buying hay for a dead horse."

• "Well, Art is Art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know."

So, if you're wondering what those Groucho Marx quotes are all about, read on. We're talking about upcoming events in the Twin Ports and you'll get it in a minute.

Gallery Celebration: The Space Around You & First Spark
Weather permitting, and at this moment in time the snow appears to be slacking off, from 5-7 pm the Duluth Art Institute will be celebrating two exhibitions: The Space Around You featuring photographs by Kristen Pless & First Spark, the annual K-12 art show featuring the work of regional students. Here's a good place to go for details.

Adam Swanson portrait of Jim C

If you haven't been to the Zeitgeist yet, the Hero/Villain exhibit with images by local artists featuring Mayor Ness and Jim Carlson will be up for a while. It's worth going out of your way for. In fact, you may wish to do the DAI and then jump over to Zeitgeist briefly before dropping in across the street to grab a cocktaiil at Blackwater for the Maxi Childs Trio with John Heino on keyboards. (I'm not trying to push ya, but it's a suggestion.)

Duluth Cracked Walnut Festival Reading 2014
Cracked Walnut is happy to return to Prove Gallery in Duluth for another reading for the 2014 Literary Festival. Featuring Duluth and Twin Cities writers, and a singer.  Ryan Vine, Felicia Schneiderhan, Azure Jayaraj (singer), Satish Jayaraj, Jim Johnson, David Stein, Mary Stein, Peter Stein. Once the Steins are finished, be sure to ask for a re-fill.

OK, time for another Groucho quote: "I intend to live forever, or die trying."

AND THE REASON FOR ALL THESE MARX QUOTES is that Saturday the Rubber Chicken Theater is continuing their popular Live Read Series in which the group performs staged readings of classic movie scripts. Next up is the Marx Brothers classic "A Night at the Opera."

Not familiar with the Marx Brothers?  Hmmm. "I have a mind to join a club and beat you over the head with it."

LOOKING AHEAD

Next weekend there is going to be a flurry of art activities kicking off Friday night the 25th with the Goin' Postal 2014 Spring Art Show, followed Saturday by the annual Art for Earth Day Gallery Hop. There will not be trolleys or shuttles this year, but then again the last couple years I didn't see many people on the buses anyways. Be sure to go out of your way to visit the Tweed Student Show.

For more lists of happenings, check out Thursday's WAVE in the Trib, the arts and events section of The Reader and whatever else you can get your hands on. The bulletin boards at Beaners and Pizza Luce are always a big help, especially for the music scene. And BE SURE TO GRAB A HOMEGROWN PROGRAM. They're out there now, and this year's festival promises more than 200 bands plus other events. Drop in to a few, to see what condition your condition is in.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Listen to the music.

Life Notes About Nothing

Nothing comes out of nothing. Or rather, everything comes out of something.

I came out of my mother’s womb. I was birthed out of a family history. The words I write today come out of my mind. The ink flows out of my pen. My thoughts give birth to ideas which emerge in words, sounds, pictures and actions.

Everything comes out of something. Nothing comes out of nothing.

These were some of my thoughts as I was thinking about the Big Bang Theory. Where did the bang come from? Out of nothing? If there was nothing, how could something happen?

In the beginning…

Yesterday I had an interesting conversation on an airplane. At one point the woman I was speaking with (I'll call her Dee to protect her identity) asked, “If you had two hours in God’s presence where you could ask God anything you wanted, what would you ask?"

That question didn't come out of the blue, out of thin air, out of nothing, either. We'd been talking for quite some time before such personal explorations could be broached. A framework had been established. But now, the question was out there.

Before I share my first reply, I’ll ask you: What questions would you ask God? You have two full hours. (This is for you to answer to yourself. No need to send me anything.)

I only had one question initially and after that my mind was blank. Its been a decades-long recurring theme for me and it always comes back to this: Why am I here?

In the moment I really didn’t know what else I could ask. Later, as I was driving home other questions finally began to emerge. Where does beauty come from? Why do we respond to beauty? Or rather, why do I respond to it the way I do? Why is beauty beautiful?

That was the first set of personal inquiries. Many more questions soon followed.

Maybe you have questions for God. Maybe asking the questions will unlock something for you.

I have one more for you. When are you going to get around to taking that personal retreat you’ve always promised yourself? Perhaps it’s time to get re-centered.

The world pushes and pulls us in so many directions. There are so many voices telling us what we should do, who we should be, where we should go. In the midst of all this "noise" there's a still small voice... within. Remember who you are.

On another topic...

Once again it’s Homegrown Festival this week in the Twin Ports. There’s music in the air. It’s coming from everywhere. Even this didn't come from nothing. Our music scene has emerged from a rich music tradition. And from a vibrant creative culture that invites you to visit, or even join. It's really something.

Catch the groove and let it carry you… away.

First Signs of Spring: Homegrown and NXN

Killer Dunkshot, student art show at the Tweed Museum, UMD.

Mayor Ness @ Z-geist Atrium

The relationship between media and events is longstanding. What would sportswriters write about if there were no sporting events? What would newscasters talk about if there were no news events? So it is that our 15th annual Homegrown Music Fest is here, and our local Duluth News Tribune is rolling up its proverbial sleeves because this is something to talk about.

Today's Trib has several stories in the Wave alone, and promises coverage throughout the 8-day week that begins with the Mayor's Proclamation at 7 p.m. Sunday at Tycoons. On Tuesday the the 23rd Mayor Ness, on behalf of both Duluth and Superior, demonstrated his bear hug embrace for all things art with the official proclamation of the first annual North X North Music & Arts Experience (NXN). Homegrown will flow through to the beginning of Visual Arts Week which then morphs into a week of ballet, theater, and performance art, carrying us on through a week of Dylan Fest, then conveying us to downtown theaters where we can take our seats in front of large screens for the May-end DuSu Film Festival.

It all begins with Homegrown. 180 bands in venues everywhere, along with the Homegrown Music Video Festival, Homegrown Photo Show and the Homegrown Poetry Showcase. There will be events at all hours and many unannounced pop-up events that you'll only learn about through Twitter and other social media. I've already been invited to so many things that I can't see straight.

On Friday and Saturday, May 3 and 4, there will be a trolley shuttle to help carry you up and down Superior Street, suitably named A Streetcar to Desire. For the most complete schedule and updates you should bookmark duluthhomegrown.com.

FWIW you will need tickets to get into events, instructions at the website. $25 will get you the full 8-day pass that includes Trampled By Turtles on Tuesday at the Clyde. I was at Beaners the other day and Jason Wusson there said he was excited to be on of the opening acts for that big night of music. 

Jack Frost is reluctantly relinquishing his influence on our lives this weekend, so we can all start singing again here in the North Country. No, actually that isn't right. Music is what gets us through the winter. We never stop singing, do we?

Enjoy the shows!

The arts community appreciates the support shown by local officials.

Handbills and posters for upcoming events were shared Tuesday evening.

Big thanks to Twin Ports Arts Align for their hard work behind the scenes.

These kinds of cultural experiences are a true gift to the community.