September 5, 2002 - When people are asked to name the great photographers of the 20th century, Ruth Bernhard's is unlikely to come up immediately. However she studied and worked with some of the greats: including Ansel Adams. Now 96 years old, Ruth Bernhards work encompasses seventy years of American photography. She is particularly recognized for her studies of the female figure. Ansel Adams called her the greatest photographer of the nude. Her work is now on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr reports.
August 12, 2002 - Neil Gaiman became the toast of the comic book world with his "Sandman" series. He then became a best selling novelist with his books "Neverwhere" "Stardust" "and "American Gods". Now he has written "Coraline", a horror novel for children. "Coraline" is about a little girl who discovers a malevolent netherworld hidden behind a door in her house. It's ruled by a hideous being known as "the other mother" who kidnaps Coraline's real parents. She then tries to imprison the girls herself. Gaiman, an Englishman who now lives just outside the Twin Cities, says he began writing the novel for his daughter 10 years ago. He followed G.K. Chesterton's admonition that fairy tales are more than true, not because they say dragons exist, but because they say dragons can be beaten.
July 29, 2002 - In this short documentary, Narrator Earl Leaf presents various insights on the history of the “poorhouse,” as well as a look into how society treats poor people today, compared to the era of the poorhouse.
July 19, 2002 - Minneapolis native Arthur Phillips novel is set in Budapest in 1990. It's called "Prague" though, because that's where the expatriate Americans in the story worry they really should be. The group includes entrepreneurs, writers and diplomats, caught in the excitement of the fall of Eastern European totalitarianism. Yet they can't shake the feeling they are missing the real action elsewhere. Arthur Phillips himself lived in the Hungarian capital in the early nineties. His novel had drawn critical acclaim for it's depiction of a unique period of recent history. "Prague" opens with some of the Americans sitting in a cafe playing "Sincerity", a game where each player makes a series of statements, only one of which is true. The players score by fooling the other players and guessing correctly when they are lying. Phillips told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr the game reveals a great deal about the players.
June 3, 2002 - TThe Guthrie Theater Board today voted to go ahead with preparations for its proposed 125-million dollar theater complex on the edge of downtown Minneapolis. But it delayed groundbreaking on the project until it has a guarantee of state bonding money. Governor Ventura stripped twenty-four million dollars earmarked for the Guthrie from the state bonding bill. The Guthrie and advocates for other projects vetoed by Ventura hope the legislature will pass a special bonding bill next year. Guthrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling says legislative interest in the project remains high.
May 23, 2002 - MPR’s Euan Kerr interviews writer Garrison Keillor, about the writing libretto for the opera "Mr. and Mrs. Olson." The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and a star studded ensemble will present the world premiere of opera.
May 13, 2002 - After more than thirty years of singing, the Plymouth Music Series is no more. Instead, as of Saturday, the Minneapolis based ensemble is called "Vocalessence". Music Director Phillip Brunelle admits he was initially perturbed about changing the name, but he told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr it was time for a change for a number of reasons.
May 3, 2002 - An 18-year old was the first college student in South Dakota to knowingly pass on the HIV cells without telling her sexual partner. The law could make him a viral terrorist.
May 2, 2002 - (Music up, run under, lose under the first couple of sentences of her speaking ) Legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar (RAH-vee shan-KAR), now in his 80's, is in the middle of what he says will be his last tour. While some people know him purely because of his connections to the Beatles, fans of Indian music know him as a prolific composer and performer. Tomorrow night (Friday) he will appear at the Historic State Theater in Minneapolis with his daughter Anoushka Shankar, who is herself an acclaimed sitar player. She began performing in public when she was just a girl. She says she was aware of her fathers fame, but the music has always been more important.
April 30, 2002 - James Lasdun's first novel "The Horned Man" builds on the tiny strange incidents we all experience in everyday life. A misplaced book mark, or someone who claims to know you although you don't remember the meeting. It's a sparse, literary, book, which has developed a big following among mystery fans. Lasdun told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr he didn't intend to write a novel, just a short story....