Author | Lightnews

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 5h

After 19 years in arts journalism, it still staggers me how many large performing arts organizations cannot and will never definitively determine whether their venue is a "theater" or a "theatre."

3

Reposted by Jay Gabler

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · 21h

If nothing else, pro-urbanists can take heart at "The French Italian," which argues that even living above an unstable couple with a karaoke machine is better than taking the New Haven Line home to dead silence.

Movie review: Revenge is sour in "The French Italian" - The Tangential

Writer-director Rachel Wolther bets big on an implausible premise that "The French Italian" strains to sustain.

thetangential.com

1

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 1d

David James Carlson once tried to tell Lightfoot "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" was the greatest song of all time.

"I said to him, 'It's the perfect song,'" Carlson remembered. "He said, 'No, no ... it's got no chorus. It's just verses over and over. It's a story.'"

'The perfect song': Remembering Gordon Lightfoot and the Edmund Fitzgerald

David James Carlson leads the Gordon Lightfoot Tribute Band. He knew the late singer-songwriter personally, and remembers what Lightfoot said about why he wrote "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

www.duluthnewstribune.com

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 2d

We pick up the story on the night of November 10, 1975, as the world begins to discover the Edmund Fitzgerald is missing with all hands.

Listen to 4th episode of ‘Edmund Fitzgerald: 50 Years Below’ podcast

On Nov. 10, 1975, TV anchor Dennis Anderson was preparing for the 10 p.m. news. John Crowley was at a Duluth bar with some Coast Guard shipmates. Their lives were about to change forever.

www.duluthnewstribune.com

1 1

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 6d

I walked through the doors of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum and there, front and center, was the burnished bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" was playing in the gallery, and I thought, well, they know what we came for.

Front Row Seat: How Edmund Fitzgerald podcast was made

A year of reporting and research went into the News Tribune's five-episode podcast, "Edmund Fitzgerald: 50 Years Below."

www.duluthnewstribune.com

1

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 7d

"The fascinating part to me was sitting in the wardroom with the TV screen after the submersible went down, and we're starting to see the damage," John Crowley remembered. "The first thing you see is the name board. So, OK, this is the Fitzgerald."

Coast Guard veteran remembers search for Edmund Fitzgerald

John Crowley was fresh out of the Coast Guard Academy in November 1975, when he and his shipmates were called from Duluth to search for the missing ore carrier.

www.duluthnewstribune.com

2

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 9d

The legend lives on, indeed.

Edmund Fitzgerald ceremony at Split Rock sells out for first time

Attendance has been capped and capacity reached in advance for the Nov. 10 ceremony at Split Rock Lighthouse, marking 50 years since the loss of the legendary laker.

www.duluthnewstribune.com

3

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 9d

This is the big one: the episode where we explore exactly what happened the night of November 10, 1975. I had a specific idea for how to use the opening minutes of this crucial episode, and wondered if I could get away with it. Take a listen and let me know what you think.

Listen to 3rd episode of ‘Edmund Fitzgerald: 50 Years Below’ podcast

The Edmund Fitzgerald made no distress call. During a Lake Superior storm on the night of Nov. 10, 1975, the ship suddenly disappeared from radar. What exactly happened out there?

www.duluthnewstribune.com

1

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 12d

Todd Eckart was described by the @duluthnewstribune.com as the Northland's "lounge superstar."

Northland musicians remember Todd Eckart

The veteran singer-songwriter died Wednesday, at age 61, in a car crash south of Superior. He brought "joy to countless people," said one collaborator.

www.duluthnewstribune.com

1

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 12d

RIP the White House screening room, demolished with the East Wing: where Ronald Reagan told Steven Spielberg the ending credits of E.T. were too long.

(source: “Movie Nights with the Reagans,” Mark Weinberg)

“I only have one criticism of your movie,” he said. “How long were the end credits?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Spielberg replied. “Maybe three, three and a half minutes.”
Reagan was unimpressed. “In my day, when I was an actor, our end credits were maybe fifteen seconds long. Three and a”

2

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 13d

Never have I seen a more explicit warning to avoid a book

Advertisement promising “a world of metafictional chaos” with book cover; only title words “the great” are visible

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 14d

“Boats like the Edmund Fitzgerald, they came by a couple of times every week. They’re familiar names. They’re kind of like family.”

Gales of November conference to focus on Edmund Fitzgerald

Multiple experts on the Great Lakes’ best-known shipwreck will be coming to Duluth over the course of the two-day conference organized by the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association.

www.duluthnewstribune.com

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 16d

We've been so pleased with the reception for episode one of the @duluthnewstribune.com five-part podcast about the Edmund Fitzgerald: nothing but five-star ratings on Apple Podcasts. Episode two is out today.

Listen to 2nd episode of ‘Edmund Fitzgerald: 50 Years Below’ podcast

Could anything reasonably have been done to avert the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald? What did Capt. McSorley know about the weather he was facing when he steamed out of Superior on Nov. 9, 1975?

www.duluthnewstribune.com

2 2

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 20d

Something I never knew about working at a newspaper, but should probably have guessed, is how often people write in just looking for a big pile of newspapers.

1

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 20d

And I'm sorry, but saying you're based in "northern Minnesota" is not good enough either. Moorhead might as well be Mars!

1

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 20d

The economic impact of the arts in Minnesota is greater than the impact of agriculture and forestry combined, according to a new study.

Northland arts leaders highlight economic, human impact

Nonprofit arts activity in the Arrowhead region generates nearly $50 million in annual expenditures, according to a new report.

www.duluthnewstribune.com

2 1

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 20d

The 65th Arrowhead Regional Biennial spotlights artists' innovative use of materials.

Front Row Seat: 65th Arrowhead Regional Biennial opens at DAI

Judge Wendy Savage highlighted the innovative use of materials among dozens of works created by artists from across the Upper Midwest.

www.duluthnewstribune.com

1

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 20d

You know you live in Duluth when your healthcare provider has both a Lakeside Clinic and a Lakewalk Clinic and it doesn't occur to anyone that might possibly be confusing.

3

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 22d

True facts about the post office:
- There is always a line
- People are always astonished and confused to discover there is a line

1

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 23d

A Washington, DC, passenger wrote in 1966:

"When death’s dark door I ferry o’er
A day that surely shall come
From heaven itself, I’ll ask no more
Than an Edmund Fitzgerald welcome."

Listen to first episode of podcast 'Edmund Fitzgerald: 50 Years Below'

Why was the ship a legend long before its loss? What was it like to ride on the Great Lakes’ largest vessel?

www.duluthnewstribune.com

1 2

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 26d

Me when an artist's bio describes them as "based in Minnesota"

1 2

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 27d

The deadpan punctuation really drives this home

Screenshot of email: Jay The world is talking. Can we really hear from our loved ones after they pass. Celebrity Mayim Bialik recently spotlighted this question on her Substack, featuring an MIT neuroscientist who shared her own story of receiving messages after loss. Author Ann Bolinger McQuade has been exploring this very subject for decades. In Everyday Oracles she shows how dreams, synchronicities, and everyday signs can bring comfort and healing.

2

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 27d

My gravestone will read ASSUMED BAND ACTUALLY HAD THE RIGHTS TO DISTRIBUTE THAT PHOTO THEY SENT

4

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 27d

The Nine Inch Nails score is great, although given its similarities to the "Challengers" score it has the unfortunate effect of reminding you that you're watching a silly story about an arcade come to life instead of watching Zendaya wrap two men around her finger.

Movie review: 'Tron: Ares' brings human touch to digital fracas

To say the latest sequel is the most emotionally subtle "Tron" yet is not saying much, but fortunately, the inventive new movie has much more going for it.

www.duluthnewstribune.com

1

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · 29d

Hear me out: THE BRUTALIST but it's about the Sault Ste. Marie Tower of History

210-foot Brutalist tower rises above riverside city

1