KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

As host of the Listening Lounge, I get to choose what airs on the program. This week, it's pledge drive at Fresh Air Radio, so we're airing favorites from the past few months as enticements (and rewards) for donating money to the best darn radio station in the country. We're sure to air Just Another Fish Story , an offbeat tale of a dead whale on a Maine beach and In a Bubble , an inside look at the lives of really shy teenagers. So join us for this edition of the Listening Lounge. And don't forget to pledge your support to KFAI Fresh Air Radio . You can pledge online too.

Meet Reinier, the Music Boat Man of Amsterdam. He's an eccentric man who travels the canals of this great European city playing the barrel organ, trumpet and conch. Says Reinier, "I try to make as beautiful as possible my music." What a wonderful goal that is! Find out if he succeeds by coming along for a ride with producer Dheera Sujan of Radio Netherlands as she discovers the musical wonders of the Music Boat Man.

In this documentary, producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister of Long Haul Productions follow Coco and her family as she moves "out the bricks" of Stateway Gardens high-rise public housing to a private market apartment. PRX Editorial Board Member Dmae Roberts describes this story as one that's handled with "tenderness, care and professionalism. It's the small stories that can often be bigger than the headlines of the day. This is no exception." A few months ago, we aired another story by this producing pair: House of Pain . It's also about living in Chicago Public Housing. And it's definitely worth a listen.

Tsim Txom: Domestic Violence in Hmong Society is a story of arranged marriages. Produced by Brian Bull of Wisconsin Public Radio , this riveting documentary quotes a young bride as saying: "My mom mentioned that I'm only 13. I wouldn't know what to do, what to cook and so that they needed to teach me... Once I was married to him and told to go cook a certain meal and I didn't know, they would say, 'How come I'm such a stupid wife.'" This documentary won a regional Edward R. Murrow award for best large market radio documentary.

Many people still consider hip-hop to be just an urban thing. This half-hour of the Listening Lounge is designed to dispell that myth. We begin with a piece called Story of a Yup'ik Eskimo Rapper , produced by Ashley Gross of Alaska Public Radio . Gross describes the piece this way: "This story takes us into the life of Jaye Ulak, a 20-year-old Yup'ik Eskimo man from the Bering Sea village of Scammon Bay. Like many other young Alaska Natives, Ulak has tried to kill himself. But he found a way out - through music. And then his life takes another surprising turn." And then we're off to Duluth, Minnesota to meet singers who rap about camp fires and chilli in Hip-Hop in Hunting Boots . We round out the show with Hop Fu and the Asia-Hip Hop Connection , produced by Michael Jones. This piece examines how Asian hip-hop has been influenced by 1970s Kung Fu movies. Wow! I can't wait for this show.