Every time I fly across even half the continent, I wonder at how easy it is. OK, airplane travel isn’t exactly pleasant but compared to walking next to a covered wagon or even sitting on the wooden seat on a … Continue reading Fractals and Fractures, Potholes and Oxbows
You’re “In the Zone” when you see the “Dave Ray Avenue” sign. The street is a renamed portion of Franklin Ave. in St. Paul, honoring Minnesota folk and blues legend Dave “Snaker” Ray of Koerner, Ray and Glover. On our … Continue reading “In the Zone”
Highway 61 is one of the most celebrated highways in US music, riveling Route 66. While Nat Cole sang of Route 66 and Nelson Riddle did the TV theme, Highway 61 was celebrated by Robert Johnson, Roosevelt Sykes and Bob … Continue reading Highway 61 Revisited
Grand Marais was founded by French Canadians. It means Big Marsh, or swamp. It was involved in early fur trading, then it became a logging center where huge log booms were assembled and towed to mills in Wisconsin near Duluth. … Continue reading Community Radio in the “Big Swamp”
For one brief moment in time a wilderness outpost on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Northern Minnesota was the center of an international commodity trade. That commodity, Beaver pelts. And it was all done to make silly hats. … Continue reading Global Trade in the Wilderness
Psychedelic Deco. Nanioujou Club Lodge I go out of my way to find quirky old hotels. I collect them. In Slovakia there was the Hotel Junior, which was a satellite themed space aged Soviet Era fantasy with extremely hard beds. … Continue reading Psychedelic Deco. Naniboujou Club Lodge
Frank Gehry’s Frederick Weisman Art Museum on the East Bank of the University of Minnesota is at least as interesting as the art it houses. From the West Bank, looking across the Mississippi it is a sculpture of stainless steel, … Continue reading Frank Gehry in Minnesota
Fifty years ago we weren’t sure. The Wild and Scenic Rivers act was before Congress and if it passed the St. Criox, the boundary river between Minnesota and Wisconsin, was to be one of the first 8 rivers included in … Continue reading Wild and Scenic, 50 years on.