October 31, 2003 - A radio guide to the arts.
October 29, 2003 - If you travelled to Pajala (PIE-eh-lah), a tiny town in far northern Sweden, you would meet people who sound a little like this: (7918- Play up full for about five seconds then fade under next bit of intro. Tape is :13secs) This is Mikael (Michael) Niemi (nee-EM-ee) reading from his novel "Popular Music from Vittula." (VEE-too-luh) It's a coming of age story set in Pajala (PIE-eh-lah) in the 1960's. The book has been a huge success, proclaimed by one Swedish critic as "a masterpiece that vibrates life, humor and a cutting pain". It won the best book award in Sweden in the year 2000. Now it's being translated and published in many languages around the world. It's all a bit of a surprise for Niemi (nee-EM-ee) who says Pajala (PIE-eh-lah) is a fundamentally boring place. The winter is long, and the people terse and slightly depressed. He told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr that it's so remote that until the book came out most Swedes didn't even know where it is.
October 28, 2003 - Author Tom Piazza (pee-AHT-zah) had two really good ideas for novels, but even after months of work neither of them panned out. So he gave himself a change of location. He rented a garage and just sat down to write. He wanted to see what would happen. He found himself writing stories about a suburban community in New York State, a bit like the one where he grew up. The stories all seemed to be told by one voice --- someone who was not Tom Piazza. The stories grew into a novel "My Cold War". It's the story of a hot-shot history professor with writers block. He's trying to write a new book about the Cold War. Instead he daydreams and frets about his own youth growing up just after the Cuban Missile crisis. Tom Piazza told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr, it took him a while to find out just who was telling the story.
October 24, 2003 - Dancer and choreographer Rennie Harris says the term "hip-hop" dates back to the 1930's. Then, it was used to describe the way people hip-hopped between night clubs to dance. Harris says it wasn't until the 1970's that hip hop became a culture. That's when kids on the street developed the popping and locking dance style that caught worldwide attention. Harris began dancing as a youngster in Philadelphia. Now he leads a dance company specializing in hip-hop technique.
October 24, 2003 - The Word of Mouth Art's Round-up.
October 24, 2003 - A radio guide to the arts.
October 22, 2003 - Author Jonathan Letham's newest novel takes its stories from his childhood. "The Fortress of Solitude," has been critically acclaimed. It follows the adventures of two boys, one black, one white as they grow up in a tough New York neighborhood. The story begins in the late sixties and follows the characters to the present day. As the boys become men, their neighborhood becomes gentrified. Along the way, the boys -- Mingus and Dylan -- learn harsh realities about life, love, popular music - even comic books. Letham told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr the Brooklyn street of his childhood demonstrated the best and the worst of 1960s idealism.
October 17, 2003 - Word of Mouth's Art's round-up.
October 10, 2003 - Chris Roberts talks on art and artists in this week's Word of Mouth Art's round-up
September 26, 2003 - Word of Mouth