May 22, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Catherine Winter presents a profile of the band, Conga Se Menne. The group from Upper Peninsula of Michigan utilizes some bongos, steel drums, and a tropical beat. They call their music Finnish reggae. The reggae beat is surprisingly similar to the Finnish schottish and soca is not far from a polka.
May 29, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Rachel Reabe profiles Minnesota's Linda Eder, who is wowing Broadway audiences as the female lead in the musical version of Jekyll and Hyde. 36-year-old Eder, who grew up outside Brainerd, has an exceptional, powerful voice, according to the theater critics and fans singing her praises.
May 29, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Rachel Reabe visits a correctional facility in Faribault. Secure behind high chain link fences topped with coiled razor wire, the oldest prisoners in the system live out their remaining years.
June 5, 1997 - MPR's Laura McCallum reports on the efforts underway in the small north-central Minnesota community of Staples to restore a hidden theater. Built in 1908, Batcher's Opera House is located above a department store-turned-antique shop. History buffs say it provides a rare glimpse into theater in the early 20th century.
June 9, 1997 - MPR’s Euan Kerr talks with guitarist Steve Tibbetts about his recent work. Tibbetts, whose work is primarily instrumental, is trying something new…but also very old, with his latest album "Cho." He adds music to a 900-year-old acapella song cycle performed by Buddhist nuns in Nepal.
June 11, 1997 - Midday talks with MPR Classical Music Host Eric Friesen as he prepares to leave Minnesota Public Radio. Friesen has accepted a position as a national music host with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto.
June 14, 1997 - MPR’s Greta Cunningham interviews Phil Gotsch and Scott Wolter, two ‘rockhounds’ who discuss their fascination with Lake Superior agates, which are among the oldest and most colorful agates in the world.
June 18, 1997 - Brandi Parisi reports on strife in the classical music scene, as a debate brews over the direction and public interest in the genre. Parisi gets varied commentary from those in the community. Some see a crisis point; others see a natural evolution.
July 17, 1997 - MPR’s John Rabe intreviews David Reville, the McKnight Visiting Composer with the American Composers Forum, about his film score for “The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty." The film is screening at the Red Eye Cinema in Minneapolis.
July 21, 1997 - MPR's Mary Losure files this story about the North Shore's fishing families and the environmental catastrophes that destroyed their way of life. In the 1930's, Lake Superior supported a thriving commercial fishing industry. Now, on a lake holding one tenth of the world's fresh water, only a handful of commercial fishermen and women remain.