July 28, 2003 - Pipedreams Host Michael Barone talks about famed French organist Louis Vierne, whose life and work will be celebrated at a festival at the House of Hope in St. Paul.
July 30, 2003 - The McKnight Foundation has named Minneapolis painter Mike Lynch the sixth recipient of its Distinguished Artist Award. The annual award honors an individual who has contributed to the state's tradition of arts and culture, and carries a $40,000 grant. Past winners of the award include poet Robert Bly, choral conductor Dale Warland and book publisher Emilie Buchwald. Lynch works largely between dusk and dawn, capturing images of Minnesota landscapes, buildings and artifacts. Two years ago, he described his catalog of Iron Range colors to Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Stucky.
July 30, 2003 - The new Guthrie Theatre season opens this week with the adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel "Pride and Prejudice." The play centers around Mr. and Mrs. Bennett who are searching for suitable husbands for their five daughters. MPR's Euan Kerr reports.
August 1, 2003 - Minnesota was not even a state when George Washington led the country. But the nation's first president is finally making a visit of sorts at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The Smithsonian is taking Gilbert Stuart's 1796 portrait of Washington on a tour of the western United States. Stuart is the same artist who created the image of Washington on the one-dollar bill. The M-I-A is the only midwestern stop for the portrait, which is valued at 20-Million dollars. The Director of the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution--Mark Pachter-- gave me a sneek peek of the famous portrait. He says the Smithsonian is remodeling the area where the painting normally hangs. So this is the last time the 8-foot-by-5-foot painting will leave its Washington D-C- home.
August 4, 2003 - The Minnesota Fringe opened over the weekend: dozens of shows dotted around Minneapolis. They range from the sublime to the ridiculous and they're proud of it. One of the more anticipated shows opens tonight. Playwright and storyteller Kevin Kling's latest foray is called simply "Baseball, Dogs, and Motorcycles." Kling was developing the piece two years ago when he was badly injured in a motorcycle accident. He told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr it basically about the three subjects he can talk about forever. He'll tell stories about the joys and frustrations of being a Twins fan, his enduring love of bikes, his new basset hound and the importance of Wiener dogs in his life. Kevin Kling opens his new show "Baseball Dogs and Motorcycles" at the Hey City Stage in Minneapolis this evening. It's part of the Minnesota Fringe Festival.
August 8, 2003 - Say the name Peter Foda to most people and they think "Easy Rider." Fonda played the laid back, wrap-around-shades-wearing Captain America. That's been a problem for Fonda. In 1971 he directed "The Hired Hand." It's a western about a man who returns home to his wife after seven years of drifting. The critics loved it, but the audiences wanted Captain America and stayed away. Now, the movie's been restored and Fonda has come to Minneapolis to introduce a special screening. He told Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Curtis that he wasn't looking to direct a film when he found the script to "The Hired Hand".
August 12, 2003 - MPR’s Greta Cunningham interviews Wendell Anderson, former governor of Minnesota; and Chuck Ruhr, a Minneapolis advertising executive, as they look back at the 1973 Time magazine issue that highlighted the state of Minnesota. Anderson and Ruhr discuss the Minnesota reflected in those pages and how things have changed.
August 13, 2003 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Tony Woodcock, who has been chosen to lead the Minnesota Orchestra as the new president replacing the retiring president, David Hyslop. The orchestra also begins an entirely different movement this fall with a new music director, Osmo Vänskä.
August 19, 2003 - Minnesota has lost jobs lately, but entrepreneurship is on the rise. In rural Wood Lake, Minnesota, that news is making the paper. Mainstreet Radio's Annie Baxter reports
August 21, 2003 - MPR’s Mark Zdechlik reports on the first day of the Minnesota State Fair, which opened for business with none other than Governor Tim Pawlenty greeting some of the first visitors early in the morning. As always, there's a mixture of new attractions and old standbys at the fair, which officials hope will draw more than 1 and 3/4 million people over the week and a half of State Fair.