May 16, 2005 - Film director Robert Altman is set to direct a movie based on Garrison Keillors 'A Prairie Home Companion' over the summer. Altman who is known for such hits as "MASH", "Nashville" and "The Player" says he's long been a Keillor fan.
February 16, 2005 - DJ Spooky speaks with The Current's Mary Lucia. He tells her about the book Rhythm Science and its companion CD, which features rare recordings of such writers as James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. The art of the DJ has changed a great deal in recent years. With the advent of digital sampling, the DJ has gone from spinning disks to creating sonic mosaics that constitute whole new works of art.
February 7, 2005 - Say the word 'lobotomy' nowadays, and the reaction will likely be either revulsion or gallows humor. For decades the operation was widely used to in the U.S. Between 40 and 50 thousand people are believed to have had the operation. A psychiatrist, Dr Walter Freeman developed the technique. A lobotomy involves severing parts of a patient's brain to treat mental illness. Freeman performed the operation on almost 3500 people, many of them during an out-patient procedure. Minneapolis author Jack El-Hai just completed a biography of Freeman called "The Lobotomist." El-Hai told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr the lobotomy seems brutal now, but in the first half of the 20th century doctors treating mental illness had few viable options. We should note, this conversation deals with some detailed descriptions of brain surgery.
September 8, 2004 - "Shanda" is a yiddish word for 'scandal.' It's a word used to describe someone who is an embarrassment to his family or even his community. Minneapolis writer Neal Karlen describes himself as a shanda. He grew up Jewish, in a devout Twin Cities family. At one point it looked as thought he was going to become a rabbi. But he turned to journalism instead, and began to drift away from his heritage. He says in time he became what he describes a Jewish "Uncle Tom"
March 12, 2004 - Jerry Battle, the central character in Chang-rae Lee's new novel "Aloft," loves to fly alone. It's the way Jerry gets away from his problems, and he's got a lot of those. He's nearing 60, and neither his dad, nor his grown children are doing well. His long-term girlfriend left him. He's worried a co-worker may be suicidal. Somehow he manages to maintain his emotional distance, but as the story progresses that gets harder and harder. Lee's first two novels "Native Speaker" and "A Gesture Life" were about immigrants. Jerry Battle is an Italian-American living on Long Island. Chang-rae Lee told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr he began writing the book because he was intrigued by Jerry's character.
December 30, 2003 - Sculptor Aldo Moroni thinks big. Really big. His latest project sets out to chronicle the development of Western Civilization. He's building --- and rebuilding --- the ancient city of Babylon in his Northeast Minneapolis studio. He'll take it from ancient times up to it's current incarnation in modern day Iraq. Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr reports.
December 11, 2003 - For the most part folk music is happy wholesome stuff. But there is a dark edge to some of it, and that's where a new local band Folk Underground comes in. MPR’s Euan Kerr talks with the trio about their first album release "Buried Things." It features a mixture of traditional music and the band's own material which displays members describe as 'happily morbid.'
December 5, 2003 - A diabetes expert testified for the defense today at the felony manslaughter trial of Congressman Bill Janklow. The former South Dakota governor is alleged to have run a stop sign at high speed last August, into the path of an on-coming motorcycle. The motorcycle's rider, Randy Scott, died at the scene. Janklow's attorneys are trying to show Janklow, who is a diabetic suffered a sharp drop in blood sugar just before the crash.
December 4, 2003 - US Senate minority leader Tom Daschle took the witness stand in the felony manslaughter trial of Congressman Bill Janklow today. Daschle was with Janklow at a veterans event hours before the fatal crash that killed Randy Scott. The jury also heard from an accident reconstructionist who contradicted prosecution evidence about how fast Janklow was driving. Minnesota Public Radio's Cara Hetland was in court today and joins me on the line from Flandreau.
December 3, 2003 - The prosecution rested its case today in the felony manslaughter trial of Congressman Bill Janklow. The charges stem from a fatal crash in August. The former South Dakota governor is alleged to have run a stop sign at high speed into the path of an on-coming motorcycle. The motorcycle's driver Randy Scott died at the scene. Jurors today heard from the state trooper who did the accident reconstruction. They also heard from Janklow's chief of staff who was riding in Janklow's car at the time of the accident. Then this afternoon three witnesses testified to other times Janklow was caught speeding. Minnesota Public Radio's Cara Hetland was in court again today, and joins me on the line.