American Integrity, Whitefish Bay, Summer Solstice, Strawberry Moon

Last week Ted Heinonen and I shared some similar thoughts about the new production of Les Uncomfortables, the Duluth-written, Duluth-composed, Duluth-acted opera. By the time you glance at this column you will only have Friday night and Sunday afternoon to catch the show at Lincoln Park Middle School, if you can get tickets. Visit loonopera.org for the lastest information.

Drama under the strawberry moon

For art at its most universal, the Monday evening entrance into the beginning of summer coincided with the full moon. If you were paying attention, it last happened in June,1967, and will next occur in June, 2062. I am sure you will see many pictures and read many words about this live performance, but I hope you were staring at Lake Superior as the moon came into view. The lift bridge went up and the black-hulled American Integrity came out of the ship canal just moments before the reddish Whitefish Bay headed into the canal. Meanwhile, the Strawberry Moon watched as the two ships became one, then separated in their opposite adventures. We won’t see that again for forty-six years.

Heidi, Mary Jo, Rose, Mary, and Bart, Calling in the Cows

Midsommar Celebration with no cows in the church

On Friday evening, June 17 and throughout the day on Saturday, Peace United Church of Christ hosted a nostalgic Swedish weekend. Music, art, poetry, drama all came together in a Swedish Fest hosted by the Swedish Cultural Society of Duluth. Poet Bart Sutter explained that his visits to the Dalarna summer pasture camps across his life led to the emergence of poems about these Swedish women who were ‘tough, earthy, superstitious, religious, and musical.’
So the poetry came off the page as Heidi Lyle, Mary Jo Uhlencott, Rose Arrowsmith DeCoux, and Mary Lee took to the stage in full costume and shared the stories of these summers in the high pastures. Frances Olson played her fiddle, and the women sang, yodeled, and imitated the calling practices from years gone by. Seventeen separate scenes were shared, varying from instructional wisdom, slaughter of an injured calf, and the Saturday night parties with singing and the shy men eager to be taught about ‘animal joy.’
What a delightful combination of moods and voices! Of course, freshly printed copies of Cow Calls in Dalarna were available to purchase, to take home the words and images Sutter had created. But watching these four women bring life to these poems will come to mind every time I glance at this little collection.

And so it’s summer. There is music in Bayfield, music all around Bluefin, music in Grand Rapids, even music while thousands of runners participated in this 40th celebration of Grandma’s Marathon. And right in the center, the art and music of Duluth will overflow during the next ten weeks. Don’t be shy, like the Dala men; take chances and celebrate all the arts in our northland, Lake Superior summer.