3 hours Ago By Jay Gabler
DULUTH — Feeling lucky? St. Patrick's Day The fact that St. Patrick's Day falls on a Monday this year does mute the holiday's typically raucous spirit.
Nonetheless, Duluth loves an occasion and will be celebrating accordingly. That includes the Saturday, March 15, running of the Saint Fennessy 4K at Skyline Social and Games (yaf.grandmasmarathon.
com). ADVERTISEMENT In addition to special food and music offered at various local establishments, there's an organized bar crawl taking place Saturday, March 15; stops include Carmody Irish Pub, the Duluth Flame and Little Angie's (crawlwith.us).
On Sunday, March 16, Celtic music group Willowgreen will be at Sacred Heart Music Center to celebrate the release of a new album (sacredheartmusic.org). Ely Film Festival "Boundary Waters," a coming-of-age drama filmed in Ely in 2023, will be part of the Minnesota Film Festival in Duluth (March 19-23) — but it's also screening at Ely's Historic State Theater on Wednesday, March 12, and Saturday, March 15, as part of the Ely Film Festival.
In addition to numerous screenings, the March 12-16 festival includes filmmaker visits, panels and networking events, with Indigenous perspectives prominent (elystatetheater.org). The Light in the Piazza Just in case you have any kind of reason to seek escape this month, Duluth Playhouse is opening a door to Europe circa 1953.
"The Light in the Piazza" is a Tony-winning musical about a wealthy American woman who is inspired to rethink her life when her daughter falls in love with an Italian man. The Playhouse production, opening Friday, March 14, will mark Phillip Fazio's last show as producing artistic director. "I've dreamed of someday directing this beautiful, emotionally rich musical," Fazio said in a news release.
"I have no doubt this show will warm the hearts of Twin Ports audiences as we theatrically transport them to the romantic streets of Florence, Italy" (duluthplayhouse.org). Concert and cellphone drive Can you count how many different cellphones you've had in your life? Some you may have passed on or resold, but just about everyone has an old phone stuck in a drawer somewhere.
That phone could save a life, thanks to the folks at Safe Haven. A used device can give people experiencing domestic violence the chance to make an emergency call in a time of need. ADVERTISEMENT Safe Haven will be collecting old phones at Bent Paddle Brewing on Saturday, March 15 — and the brewery is thanking donors with "buy one, get one" pint specials.
Josie Lanhorst, Jerree Small, Elsa Krantz and Eldri Snow (with Misisipi Mike) provide live music (bentpaddlebrewing.com). 'The Garbage Pail Kids Movie' In one of the weirdest copyright cases of the '80s, the Topps trading card company was sued by Original Appalachian Artworks, the company founded by Xavier Roberts to produce Cabbage Patch Kids.
The claim: copyright infringement in the form of Garbage Pail Kids, Topps' icky satire series. The suit was settled and Topps made tweaks, but their gross-out cards were successful enough to spawn a truly terrible movie, deemed by the New York Times "too repulsive for children or adults of any age." With a 0% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, is "The Garbage Pail Kids Movie" (1987) so bad that it's good? Decide for yourself Tuesday, March 18, at The Caddy Shack, when Casual Cinema Cult presents a screening of the infamous film (caddyshackduluth.
com). Ladysmith Black Mambazo A much more serious '80s controversy involved Paul Simon's trip to South Africa to make recordings that became the basis of his album "Graceland" (1986). In so doing, Simon broke a cultural boycott against apartheid-era South Africa.
That decision still stirs debate, but the resulting album became a classic and elevated the profiles of artists including, most notably, the singing group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The group's founder, Joseph Shabalala, died in 2020, but the group continues under the leadership of Shabalala's son, Tommy. Ladysmith Black Mambazo will bring its inspiring music to the West Theatre on Tuesday, March 18 (thewesttheatre.
com)..
