KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

We celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with five stories by or about Asian-Americans, including "Weenie Royale" by the Kitchen Sisters, "Honk for Tibet" by Todd Melby, "This I Believe" by Yo Yo Ma and a touching story by Dmae Roberts called "Memorial." In "Memorial," Dmae Roberts plays phone messages from her mother as she muses on their relationship. It's really a great, great piece. I also love "Weenie Royale," which tells the story of how interned Japanese-Americans invented extraordinary meals using every day food.

During and despite the Great Depression, the entertainment industry was working overtime. Listen to some of the gems and the stories behind them. The roughest years in American history produced what many consider the greatest era of popular music. Elliot Majerczyk looks at the songs that became the soundtrack of the ‘lost generation’ and helped pull America through the hard times. He says that given the state of the economy, we may get to hear more songs like these in the near future.

Thanks for supporting KFAI during our annual spring pledge drive. We played some pretty cool pieces during these shows, including stories by students at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies (Angel Warrior on His Way to the Top and Insomnia) and a super tight 3-minute story by John Biewen (Scared). I liked that one so much I played it two weeks in a row!