May 27, 2004 - MPR’s Dan Olson profiles The Dale Warland Singers as the choral group is ends 32 years of performance. Founder and conductor Dale Warland announced a year ago this was the group's final season. He says he'll devote more time to arranging and composing.
July 9, 2004 - MPR’s Chris Roberts profiles St. Paul musician Greg Paulus. In interview, Paulus discusses his music influences, his current jazz work, and goal of playing with the best musicians.
August 28, 2004 - MPR’s Greta Cunningham profiles Ye Old Mill, a staple fair ride that has been attracting sweethearts at the Minnesota State Fair since 1913. It's America's oldest tunnel of love owned by the same family.
September 30, 2004 - MPR’s Chris Roberts profiles St. Paul rap act Heiruspecs. MC Felix and Sean McPherson, members of the Midway neighborhood group, talk with Roberts about their CD “A Tiger Dancing” and structure and meaning of the songs on album.
December 10, 2004 - In this State of the Arts segment, MPR’s Marianne Comb profiles Outward Spiral Theatre Company, the only Twin Cities theater dedicated to producing shows by and about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered people. After a couple of poorly attended seasons, the theater is wondering whether the GLBT community needs it anymore.
December 31, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio’s Erin Galbally presents a report on Mankato’s historic Kato Ballroom, which opened its doors back in the early 1950s around the advent of rock and roll. Before long the Kato established itself as a Mankato hotspot, hosting legends like Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and even Louis Armstrong. This New Year's Eve, the Kato revisits that history with a party celebrating its 50th anniversary. Galbally interviews Larry Bowers, manager of the Kato Ballroom, and Dianne Cory, a long-time regular, who share memories and insights of the venue. Segment includes music clip of Bobby Vee's 'Run to Him.'
January 19, 2005 - Author Tobias Wolff will open the second-half of the Talking Volumes season later this month. You may remember his memoir, This Boy's Life, which was made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Now Wolff is out with his first novel, "Old School." He says the story gave him the "ideal lens" through which to write about themes like class and ambition and ethics.
February 2, 2005 - MPR’s Marianne Combs profiles the Art Shanty Project, a collection of ice houses with an artistic flair. Visitors to Minnesota often stop and wonder at the strange collection of ice fishing shacks that appear on the lakes each winter. On this year, even the locals are stopping to stare at a group of shacks on Medicine Lake in Plymouth.
May 18, 2005 - Former Minneapolis Mayor Art Naftalin has died. Naftalin was a friend and aide to Humbert Humphrey. He also served as state Commissioner of Administration and hosted a public affairs TV show for twenty years. Friends and family remember Naftalin as a compassionate and highly educated leader who navigated the city through the turbulent 1960s. Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes reports.
June 10, 2005 - Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports on the death of 1st Lieutenant Michael Fasnacht, who was killed by a roadside bomb Wednesday near Tikrit, Iraq. The Minnesota soldier is being praised today for his love of family and country.