June 21, 2003 - Jazz Image’s Leigh Kamman interviews Minnesotan Butch Thompson, a renowned American jazz pianist and clarinetist. Thompson discusses his group and playing at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
June 25, 2003 - The Walker Art Center has laid out its upcoming 2003-2004 performing arts season. The season is trademark Walker, filled with innovative and experimental performances from artists all over the world. The year comes with a special twist however. More than halfway through the Walker's auditorium will be closed so the museum can proceed with its expansion project. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts reports.
June 26, 2003 - Grand Rapids is hoping to lure a couple thousand Judy Garland fans to town this weekend. It's the annual Judy Garland Festival. And this year, the town is unveiling its new Judy Garland museum. Chris Julin paid a visit, and he has this Mainstreet Radio report.
June 26, 2003 - Minnesota is often praised for its unusually vibrant arts and culture scene and during this hour. We hear a Voices of Minnesota interview with writer and publisher Emilie Buchwald, the winner of last year's McKnight Foundation Distinguished Artist award. Buchwald was a founder of Milkweed Editions, the influential literary press based in Minneapolis. But now, after decades in the business, Emilie Buchwald is retiring as publisher of Milkweed Editions and she is being honored at a reception Thursday at Open Book in Minneapolis, the literary arts building that she helped bring into being.
June 27, 2003 - With his smallish stature, knobby knees, and slightly crooked forelegs, he looked more like a cow pony than a thoroughbred. But looks aren't everything; his quality, an admirer once wrote, "was mostly in his heart." Gary Eichten talks with Laura Hillenbrand, about the story of the horse who became a cultural icon in Seabiscuit: An American Legend. Program contains pledge drive segments.
June 27, 2003 - We continue to talk with Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscut: An American Legend. Program contains pledge drive segments.
July 4, 2003 - From water towers to movie theatres to service stations--Minnesota is home to more than 15-hundred properties on the National Register of Historic Places. As you're driving along Minnesota's highways this Fourth of July weekend, you may want to keep an eye out for some of these places--and a new book can help you on your quest. Minneapolis writer Mary Ann Nord complied the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota. She says to book illuminates the variety of properties that have found their way on to the historic registry.
July 8, 2003 - The hit musical CHICAGO opens tonight at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul. CHICAGO is set in the 1920s and centers around two women who lie, cheat, and murder their way to fame.
July 10, 2003 - For collectors of stoneware, Red Wing is a mecca. Nearly thirty-five hundred pottery fanatics have arrived in the Minnesota town for today's start of the annual Red Wing Pottery convention. People from across the country have come to buy, sell, and trade pottery. Kay Wilshusen is the business manager of the Red Wing Collectors Society. She says the group's members cross the nation in search of pieces that can date back more than a century. She says some have been known to pay up to thirty-seven thousand dollars for a Red Wing crock.
July 11, 2003 - Sherman Alexie is arguably the best known male Native American writer. Alexei is a member of the Spokane tribe in Washington state. He grew up on the reservation, but now lives in Seattle. He's drawn international acclaim for his novels about contemporary native life. Two movies, "Smoke Signals" and "The Business of Fancydancing" are based on his work. Now Sherman Alexei has turned back to short stories. He told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr his latest collection "Ten Little Indians" are all about what he calls "white collar indians." Sherman Alexei will talk about baseball, life and his book "Ten Little Indians" tonight at the Black Bear Crossing Coffee shop in St Paul. You can hear a reading from the book, and a longer version of Euan Kerr's Interview with Sherman Alexei on the MPR website at www-dot-minnesota-public-radio-dot-org.