KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

Sound and the Sea is a documentary exploring the name and place that is the body of water that runs from south of Seattle to north of Vancouver and out to the Pacific Ocean, currently known by a number of names depending on where you are (including Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia and Juan de Fuca Strait). Its companion piece, Ode to the Salish Sea , is a composed documentary honoring that same body of water. In the past few years a new name, the Salish Sea, has gained increasingly common usage, used in publications by area residents, marine biologists, First Nations/Native Americans, and even Parks Canada, the Government of Canada's national park department. This informal use of a name that honours the area’s original inhabitants, the Coast Salish nations, has developed into a movement to officially add the name to the waters (without doing away with their current names). A note from producer Paolo Pietropaolo: "I gathered materials for the documentary by making f...

Shortcut to the North Pole by Peter Bochan   Shortcuts is a theme-oriented audio extravaganza with no narration that has been airing on numerous public radio stations for over forty years. It's a splice-of-life montage which mixes music, film dialogue, press conferences , news, commercials, sound effects, and other sources. This holiday installment was produced in 1975 and features Gene Autry, Bing Crosby, The Chipmunks , Howdy Doody, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Laurel and Hardy, Martin Mull , The Firesign Theatre, Otis Redding, Elvis Presley, The Who, The Boss, George Bernard Shaw, among many more.

The Story of Star Wars from Superscope Roscoe Lee Browne brilliantly narrates an abridged, tighter version of the events depicted within A New Hope. Many listeners feel this condensed retelling rivals (and may even best) the silver screen's theatrical release -- including me. The script was faithfully adapted by E. Jack Kaplan with  Cheryl Gard and uses dialog, music, and sound effects from the original film. George Lucas himself is said to have overseen t he project with the aid of  Alan Livingston (the children's record pioneer who created Bozo the Clown, Rusty in Orchestraville , and signed both the Beatles and Sinatra to Capitol.) We will be playing the 1977 album in it's entirety over two weeks. Side A, which takes us up to the Millennium Falcon's arrival at the Death Star , will air on December 9th. "A dark presence enters the ship. The ominous commander of the Imperial forces, Darth Vader, tall, and threatening in his black helmet, flowing black cap...

Trapped on the Wrong Side of History by Richard Paul  In 1939, Mary Kimoto Tomita , an independent-minded farm girl from outside Modesto, CA took a long trip to Japan to learn the language and culture of her ancestors. However, on December 5th, 1941, during her seemingly routine voyage back home, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and her ship reversed course. She was now stranded in the middle of a bloody war between the country of her birth and the country of her heritage. Trapped in Japan for the duration of World War II, Mary would experience deprivation, danger, and cultural collision. This story -- told through Mary’s personal reminiscences and letters from the time -- is a rare account of an unexplored side of WWII history.