January 8, 1997 - MPR’s Chris Roberts talks with Chris Dorn, founder and frontman of Minneapolis band The Beatifics. Dorn discusses songwriting, the band’s album “How I Learned to Stop Worrying,” and the “power pop” genre.
January 9, 1997 - Women in the Directors Chair, an annual film festival, is underway at the Walker Art Center is Minneapolis. The series includes films by female directors from Minnesota, movies made by girls between 7-and-19, and local premieres. Julie Swenson's film, The Fairy Gardener, shows tomorrow evening at the Walker. Swenson started making The Fairy Gardener a few years ago in New York. She now lives in the Twin Cities. The Fairy Gardener -- shot in one day -- is a very short film, with narration only at the beginning and end, with lyrical oboe music in between. I sat down with Swenson and a copy of her film yesterday. Twin Cities filmmaker Julie Swenson. The short film The Fairy Gard
January 10, 1997 - With the resurgence of the Hennepin Avenue theater district in Minneapolis and the strength of the Ordway theater in St. Paul, broadway-style entertainment in the twin cities would appear to be healthier than ever. But some wonder whether the local appetite for broadway is big enough to support the three major broadway venues in town. While there's agreement on both sides of the river that the local music theater industry needs a metro strategy, officials haven't been able to work out the details. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts reports.
January 13, 1997 - A Voices of Minnesota interview with Tom Webber, Director of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota and South Dakota. Webber discusses his work on women's reproductive health issues. Also, a recorded interview with Margaret Atwood, author of "Alias Grace".
January 15, 1997 - MPR’s John Rabe interviews local composer Paul Siskind about his composition “Fantasy-Variations.” The piece started off as a music school assignment, and sat on the shelf for a few years. Now the Minnesota Orchestra, under Eiji Oue, will give the world premiere performance of Siskind's “Fantasy-variations : on a fragment by Schoenberg.”
January 17, 1997 - On this Voices of the Heartland segment, Duluth poet Barton Sutter provides a commentary on the late Minneapolis poet John Engman in a reading of “Citizen of the Milky Way: Eulogy to John Engman.”
January 18, 1997 - Cakes, wizards and stiltwalkers are appearing at the Science Museum of Minnesota today. The Museum marks it's 90th Birthday...and to celebrate the Museum is throwing a party and offering FREE admission today. Over 800-thousand people visit the museum annually---and it's also the number one destination for school field trips. The Museum's Director of Marketing and Communication--Jane Eastwood--says many things have changed over the past 90 years...but the focus has remained the same.
January 20, 1997 - On this Odd Jobs feature, MPR’s Euan Kerr interviews Steve Sklar, a local throat singer. Sklar specializes in a style of music born on the windy steppes of Mongolia. He describes and performs various traditional styles of throat singing.
January 31, 1997 - Larger-than-life puppets and the magical realism of writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez come together in the latest production of "In the Heart of the Beast" Mask and Puppet Theater in Minneapolis. "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" tells the tale of a broken, elderly man with wings who mysteriously appears in a coastal village and causes an uproar. While the story sounds more like an ancient legend, the production's creators believe it resonates in modern times. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts has a closer look.
January 31, 1997 - As part of the Voices from the Heartland series, Minnesota poet Diane Glancy reads her poem "The Back Porch of the Country."