February 23, 1999 - The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis has announced its 1999-2000 season. While it maintains the Guthrie's devotion to the classics, it also feature new works, including a musical that wowed critics in London and another collaboration with St. Paul's Penumbra Theatre.
February 24, 1999 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from community room at City Hall in Thief River Falls. Mark Steil hosts a discussion on farm crisis and its impact on small towns with guests Howard Pearson, Pennington County Extension Agent; and Bob Bergland, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.
February 24, 1999 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from community room at City Hall in Thief River Falls. Mark Steil hosts a discussion on farm crisis and its impact on mental health with local farmers and Winnie Stoltman, counselor with the Disaster Response Network based in East Grand Forks.
February 25, 1999 - Erik Paulsen, Republican representative of Eden Prairie; and Mark Asch, vice-president and State Issues Chairman of Common Cause- Minnesota, discuss the bill to have "Initiative and Referendudm" in Minnesota. Paulsen and Asch also answer listener questions.
February 26, 1999 - Bill Morris, pollster of Decision Resources; Lee Ronning, executive director of 1000 Friends of Minnesota; and Karen Christofferson of the Builders Association of the Twin Cities, discuss a new survey about what kind of house and community people want to live in. Morris, Ronning, and Christofferson also answer listener questions.
February 26, 1999 - Jim Knipfel has walked on the dark side of life. As a young man, he was a heavy drinker, and a petty thief prone to start fights. He spent time in psychiatric wards after multiple suicide attempts. Finally, in his late twenties he started settling down, landing a job as a newspaper columnist, getting married and moving away from his wilder drinking buddies. But then Knipfel entered a literal dark side. His eyesight had always been poor, but doctors told him that he was going to be blind by age 35. Now almost completely blind, he recounts his wild years and his loss of vision in his new blackly comedic memoir Slackjaw.
March 1, 1999 - Breakfast on Pluto is the new novel by acclaimed Irish writer Patrick McCabe. The story takes place around Ireland and in London during the 1970's when IRA bombs were heard all-too-often. McCabe's dark, wild and comedic tale earned him his second Booker prize nomination...he was nominated for "The Butcher Boy" in the early 90s. McCabe has an atypical central character, Pussy Braden, a tranvestite prostitute who flounces through the Irish political chaos. McCabe told Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Curtis he didn't intend to write about Braden when he started, his main character was supposed to be a little girl, but then the book took a direction of its own.
March 1, 1999 - MPR’s Michael Khoo visits the Majestic Ballroom in Cottage Grove on the venue’s last night open. Khoo interviews ballroom dancer patrons as they kick up their heels one last time. For a quarter century, the Majestic has entertained the fancy footwork of those dancers with a taste for polkas, waltzes, and foxtrots.
March 4, 1999 - MPR’s Gary Eichten interviews Paul Wellstone, DFL-Minnesota U.S. senator, from Washington D.C. Wellstone discusses issues facing congress now that Clinton impeachment trial is over. Topics include social security, Medicare, taxes, health care, education and more.
March 4, 1999 - MPR’s Gary Eichten interviews Rod Grams, IR-Minnesota U.S. senator, from Washington D.C. Grams discusses issues facing congress now that Clinton impeachment trial is over. Topics include tax cuts, banking, healthcare, and education. Grams also answers listener questions.