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 installment of Voices from the Heartland, 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."
February 1, 1997 - Minnesotans got their first look yesterday at the new baseball stadium the Twins want them to help build. The stadium design features a ten-acre sliding roof, 42-thousand seats on four decks, and left-field bleachers that hang over the field. It was was unveiled at the Mall of America on the site of the Twins' former home, Metropolitan Stadium. The stadium's price is estimated at 350 million dollars. The taxpayers would have to come up with about 200 million dollars. The saga of the Twins stadium captured headlines this weekend...Weekend Edition Sports Commentator Jay Weiner says he can sum up his reaction to the new stadium design in one word.
February 3, 1997 - Deborah Biede fights against time. Today on our Odd Jobs report we'll hear how she also battles dirt, loose seams and frayed edges. Biede conserves clothes and other textiles in the Minnesota Historical Societies Archive. She uses a variety of tools and techniques to preserve yesterday's heirlooms for tomorrow. Minnesota Public Radio intern Brian Bull talked with Biede in the textile laboratory at the History Center in St. Paul.
February 4, 1997 - A short reflection on Dan Olson’s Voices of Minnesota series, as part of Minnesota Public Radio's 30th Anniversary Celebration.
February 5, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports that county governments in Minnesota are in a financial squeeze as state and federal grants decline. They must either cut services or find new revenue sources. In southwest Minnesota, a bookmobile with a roadrunner painted on its side is directly in the path of the funding dilemma. People who use it say it's foolish to cut a service which enriches minds.