April 3, 1998 - Chris talks with with Kevin Hennessey about the Twins game and his cybercast of the home opener.
April 4, 1998 - The Jazz Image’s Leigh Kamman talks with Minnesotan Butch Thompson, a renowned American jazz pianist and clarinetist. Thompson discusses his recording of Scott Joplin work.
April 7, 1998 - In sports, the Minnesota Twins play the Toronto Blue Jays tonight at the Metrodome and the Minnesota Timberwolves are at home tonight against the Miami Heat. Starting next summer there might be a new team added to the professional sports schedule in Minnesota. The Timberwolves and the NBA are considering whether to bring a WNBA franchise to town. The WNBA is the women's professional basketball league that started play last summer. Joining me now to discuss that is MPR sports commentator Jay Weiner.
April 8, 1998 - Saint Paul city officials are negotiating with the state Senate to salvage state support for the Minnesota Wild hockey arena. The city had asked the state to contribute $65 million dollars for the arena, but the city is now considering a Senate offer that negotiators have characterized as "half a loaf." Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste joins us from the Capitol.
April 10, 1998 - At first glance, many of the photographs in the new Suburban Landscapes exhibit at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis have the same mundane quality as an urban commute. For example, curator Colleen Sheehy points to a picture of a huge banner hanging across the back of a new home in a metro area subdivsion which reads, "model home." Seen from the highway says Sheehy, it's another banal image flashing by. On the wall in a museum the layers of meaning behind the words "model home," reveal themselves.
April 13, 1998 - "I read a book one day and my whole life was changed." So begins the new novel by acclaimed Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk called "The New Life." Critics in the same sentence compare Pamuk's writing to that of Nabakov, Borges, Proust, and Garcia-Marquez. "The New Life" is about a Turkish engineering student whose existence is magically transformed and uprooted by love, political conspiracy, travel and danger simply by the act of reading a book. It's relatively rare that American readers encounter a Turkish novel, much less a Turkish novelist in person, but that's precisely what will happen tonight at the Hungry Mind in St. Paul when Pamuk makes a scheduled stop on his book tour promoting "The New Life." Pamuk says although he's probably the first Turkish author to do an American book tour, he doesn't consider himself an ambassador.
April 15, 1998 - Colum McCann's novel "This Side of Brightness" tells the story, of amongst other people, the men who dug the railway tunnels under New York, and the homeless people who now live in those same tunnels. McCann, who is in the Twin Cities to read from his book tonight, was born in Dublin, but has lived in New York for some time. He told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr he was attracted to the story of the tunnel-diggers because they broke ground with more than just their shovels. Author Colum McCann will read from his novel "This Side of Brightness" at the Hungry Mind in ST Paul this evening at 8. Sun 28-MAY 11:36:39 MPR NewsPro Archive - Wed 04/11/2001
April 16, 1998 - MPR’s Todd Moe presents a historical look at the Minnesota State Band, which began in 1898. Members continue both the band's music, its long history, and its traditions. Segment includes various interviews and commentary about organization.
April 16, 1998 - The little girl with the big voice and the ruby slippers is an American icon--but for Lorna Luft, Judy Garland is also "mama." In her new book ME AND MY SHADOWS Luft chronicles life as Judy Garland's daughter and Liza Minelli's sister. She says about 30 books have been written about her mother and her family--but her book is the only one written by an actual family member. Luft told Minnesota Public Radio's Greta Cunningham--she felt the time was right to tell HER story... Lorna Luft will sign copies of her book ME AND MY SHADOWS at 7:30 tonight.
April 17, 1998 - This is a big weekend for Minnesota writers and literature. Tonight the winners of the tenth annual Minnesota Book Awards will be announced. Then on Sunday, the Marshall festival 5 gets underway. It's a week of readings, roundtables and workshops packed with familiar names...Carol Bly, Robert Bly, Bill Holm and Will Weaver just to name a few. Rosalie Maggio is a writer who's a veteran of both events. She'll be giving a workshop on "Wordsmithing" in Marshall, and she's twice won Minnesota Book Awards. Maggio says the book awards have really grown in stature: Rosalie Maggio is a two-time Minnesota Book Award winner. Her most recent book is The New Beacon Book of Quotations for Women.