A U.P. Joe: Joe Pera, a New York-based comedian, has a great reason for basing his quirky “Joe Pera Talks With You” TV show in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula: He wants to spend more time in the U.P. “We went up there to chase snow for a Christmas special we did a couple of years ago,” says Joe, a native of Buffalo, New York. Late October didn’t provide the hoped-for snow, but a return visit in March sealed the deal. “It was overwhelmingly beautiful when I visited. … I really decided that Marquette was the place to see the story." The U.P., with the cold and snow, reminded him of Buffalo. But the U.P. also has Lake Superior. “Things are a little bit more drastic there. The Lake itself is kind of overwhelming to look at in the winter.” Joe says the U.P. reflects his quiet, slow-talking amiable character, a middle-school choir teacher with a ton of knowledge that he unfurls during 11-minute episodes aired midnights on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming. The character of Joe has “the general U.P. attitude – having space and being comfortable with your own company.”
Joe, the character, is a fount of off-beat knowledge that he imparts mainly in a monologue running through the shows. Joe, the actor/writer, is equally a knowledgeable nerd who believes he inherited his humor gene from his charismatic dad. He suggests his current character was forming back when he was a small child falling asleep to “This Old House” on the TV. “This is why I like instructional videos. Doing stuff and learning how to do stuff is part of that series. It must have had a subconscious impact.” He’s also learning stuff about the U.P. and sprinkles “Joe Pera Talks” with references to the likes of Anatomy of a Murder author John Voelker. In one program, woven around descriptions of local minerals, Joe and his friend have a conversation about moving to Thunder Bay where, “We’d throw stones in Lake Superior from the other direction.”
Joe and his friends are endearing and funny in a sense-of-wonder way. Creating the scripts gives the real Joe a chance to try U.P. things, like snowmobiling for the first time, driving the peninsula in the fall (“We got to take the Buick all over the U.P.”) or releasing jack-o-lanterns (20 to get the shot) down Tahquamenon Falls (“Who wouldn’t want to put a pumpkin over the waterfall?”). The interior shots of the episodes are done in Milwaukee, with its easier access to a production-skilled labor force and professional actors, but the outdoor scenes are pure Michigan – pure U.P. Michigan. It’s easy to binge-watch the short episodes online (if you can’t stay up until midnight) and the program and Joe, real and imagined, are a legitimate hoot. Oh, and one more thing to endear us to the real Joe. When asked by Daniel Kurland of Den of Geek! to rank the five Great Lakes, Joe said: “Hmm, well I don't want to offend anyone here. Lake Superior is the most beautiful and also the most interesting, so it's number one.” Shows just how smart Joe really is.
Heat Wave for Flag Waving: Canada Day weekend could be a sweaty scorcher with temps 5-10°C above normal for parts of the Ontario shore this weekend. SooToday reports on an Environment Canada heat wave alert for Algoma Country, with predictions of Saturday temperatures to 33°C (91°F) feeling like 43°C (109°F) because of high humidity. High humidity is also predicted for the western side of the Lake, but with milder temperatures hovering around 21-24°C (69-75°F) in Thunder Bay. Despite the weather, Canada Day celebrations are planned across the shore, from evening music and happenings on the Thunder Bay Waterfront to a day of family afternoon activities in Roberta Bondar Park in the Sault. Both culminate with fireworks – but hopefully not with thunderstorms. Meanwhile, on the U.S. shores leading up to the Fourth of July mid-week, the weekend looks to be hot and occasionally stormy in Wisconsin and Michigan gliding into mostly sunny weather by the holiday. Duluth and up the Minnesota North Shore face a 40% chance of thunderstorms over the weekend, with highs from 70°F to around 80°F inland. Farther northeast, in the Tofte, Lutsen and Grand Marais areas, conditions will be cooler with highs hovering near 70°F and lows in the 50s. For the Fourth of July celebrations, the National Weather Service is forecasting partly cloudy to mostly sunny conditions with highs in the 70s along the North Shore and warmer in Duluth, which could be around 81°F with a slight chance of thunderstorms.
Following the Floods: Houghton's city manager, Eric Waara, estimates the recent flood damage at $15 million for the city, according to the Mining Gazette. "In addition to a quarter of Houghton streets, a string of downtown businesses were deluged during the June 17 flash flood," according to the story. The Nara Nature Park also had considerable damage, with most of the boardwalk affected and some of it tossed into Dollar Bay. Hundreds of people gathered Thursday night in the Chassell Pavilion for a Still Strong flood-relief concert to see three bands perform, according to KeweenawReport.com. Portage Health Foundation continues to collect donations for flood victims, several of whom had severe home damage and now must continue paying mortgages plus pay rent until their home can be repaired or rebuilt. The June 16-17 flooding also devastated areas of northern Wisconsin. Three deaths were attributed to the storms and floods in the two states.
Sweet Reward: Harbor House Sweets in Washburn, Wisconsin, creates some spectacular treats, but it also preserves a location worthy of an award, according to the Washburn Heritage Association. The association honored the business' wife-husband owners, Ginamarie Kinney Anderson and David “Chris” Anderson, with a "Jewel in the City" acknowledgement for preserving the shop’s 1899 building at 127 W. Bayfield St. They've transformed it into a bright blue-and-white welcome spot that “adds to the ambience and pride-of-place in the downtown commercial corridor,” according to the Bayfield County Journal. Ginamarie, a former pastry chef at Wild Rice Restaurant, hails originally from New York state while Chris is a local fellow with family ties to their building – a distant relative used to operate a tailor shop there. Ginamarie studied at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Minneapolis/St. Paul and did an internship at Mikkelsen Pastry Shop in Naples, Florida, working with European pastry chefs. So if you needed an excuse to stop in and indulge in quality crafted treats or a scoop of ice cream, drop in to congratulate the Harbor House Sweet crew.
Rivers Report Card: The lakes and streams within Lake Superior's watershed in Minnesota got a good report card from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, according to WTIP in Grand Marais. "Only one of 67 streams and 152 lakes evaluated for water quality standards along Lake Superior’s far North Shore does not meet the state’s criteria," Joe Friedrichs reports. Flute Reed River, which empties into the Lake at Hovland and has a good reputation for steelhead fishing, has a sediment level higher than allowed under state standards, which could impact the trout population. After a decade of local efforts by landowners to improve erosion from storms, the Poplar River was removed from "impaired" status. That river flows from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness into Lake Superior. LakeSuperiorStreams.org tracks the Minnesota watershed into Lake Superior and has an interactive map (seen above) of the streams.
Flying Higher: One of our favorite places to visit, the Candian Bushplane Heritage Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, will be getting a $438,000 federal grant to expand, improve and update, MP Terry Sheehan announced at the center this week. Darren Taylor of SooToday reports, "The funding was part of a larger $1.175 million package for the Bushplane Museum’s renovation, which has come through after a two-year funding application process, after seeking money from several sources." Plans include updates on event space, additional accessible bathrooms and gift shop and lobby redevelopment.
New Home Port: The Duluth Seaway Port Authority, which just finished moving its offices to 2305 W. Superior St. from its long-time Rice Point home, announced that it will permanently move by 2020 into the Seaway Building on Garfield Avenue, back on the waterfront and on Rice Point. The Port Authority commission voted to purchase the building on Wednesday. The shuffle is being caused, reports Brady Slater of the Duluth News Tribune, by the rapid expansion of Altec Industries, which will be absorbing the former Port Authority waterfront site. Altec delivers products and services to "electric utility, telecommunications, tree care, lights and signs, and contractor markets" in 100 countries.
Photo & graphic credits: "Joe Pera Talks With You"; Wikipedia; Harbor House Sweets; Bayfield County; LakeSuperiorStreams.org; Dennis LeMay.