KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

Hey, it's pledge drive time! For volunteers at the hippest little radio station in town, that means chowing on Jimmy John's sandwiches and reminding listeners how cool KFAI is. For you, that means opening your wallet just a little to keep the awesome stuff on the air. Call us between 7-7:30 p.m. and pledge your support to member-supported, independent public radio. Or you can go online too. I'll also be playing some of the best short radio pieces from the last year on tonight's "Listening Lounge." At the moment, I'm thinking of a great youth radio piece on how tough it is to ask someone to prom.

Hip Hop Marching Band by Mary Rose Madden Baltimore's Morgan State University is home to The Magnificent Marching Machine, the college's 100+ member marching band. With a remarkable field presence, the band incorporates the latest hip hop hits as well as r&b classics into its repertoire. There are many challenges re-making modern, electronically mixed sounds into the big band compositions you'd traditionally find at halftime and the MMM tackle each piece differently. Punk Rock Kabuki Play by Eli Halpern "Early Kabuki was like totally transgressive and politically subversive... just like pinning safety pins to your leather jacket." So what would happen if you mixed the ancient Japanese art of Kabuki theater with the in-your-face power of punk? Would it say anything about how rebellious art forms eventually become co-opted by mainstream society? The Two-Headed Calf Theater took their adaptation of Chikamatsu's cl assic "The Drum of the Waves of Hor...

“No Brother of Mine” offers an unflinching look at U.S. sex offender policy that reaches beyond the headlines and into the lives of real people. Reported over four years by award-winning independent producers Todd Melby and Diane Richard, this hour-long documentary combines audio-rich storytelling that puts the listener in the scene with expert interviews that lend perspective and propel the narrative forward. It provides a nuanced examination of issues surrounding federal online registration laws, residency restrictions, Romeo and Juliet laws and the growing use of civil commitment. (Todd Melby is the host of the Listening Lounge.)

Brainhilda and I Salt Institute for Documentary Studies Carole Starr was a dedicated violinist, until a brain injury left her with a rare hearing disorder. Suddenly the music Carole loved dearly became something close to torture. concert, even though her body and mind pay dearly for it. Dyana, Goddess of the Moose Hunt Salt Institute for Documentary Studies It all started out as a simple moose hunt...but a lot can go wrong. Find out how this story was reported by listening to the Saltcast podcast . Women in the Economy World Vision Report 17 years ago, Somaliland declared itself independent from Somalia. But no other country has ever formally recognized Somaliland as a bonafide nation. That means it’s not eligible for international aid or loans. Many blame that lack of recognition for the fact that an estimated 90 percent of the men in the capital of Somaliland are unemployed. But Hargeisa’s marketplace bristles with activity. As Richard Lough reports, it’s w...

Tens of thousands of inmates live in total isolation in America's jails and prisons today. And the number is rapidly growing. Often prisoners spend years – even decades – by themselves in a cell the size of a small bathroom. They don't see anyone. They don't talk to anyone. They don't touch anyone. They are completely alone. In this half-hour radio documentary, "survivors" of solitary paint a picture of what solitary confinement looks, sounds and feels like. These are the voices of both men and women; Black, White and Latino; old and young. Listen to "Survivors: Solitary Confinement" by independent producer Claire Schoen at 7 p.m. on March 1. (Photo of Robert King Wilkerson, who spent 29 years in solitary confinement, was taken by Terry Foss.)

Four stories about race in America. Racial Cleansing in America , by Center for Documentary Studies Once in awhile you come across an American town or county that has long been virtually all-white, even though surrounding communities have substantial black populations. It may not always be an accident. In the six decades after the Civil War, in more than a few rural communities, white mobs violently expelled virtually all of their black neighbors. A new book, Buried in the Bitter Waters, describes a dozen of these racial expulsions. Among the places living with this uneasy history is Corbin, Kentucky, a small railroad town in the Appalachian foothills. Living Flag , by Dmae Roberts Street performance piece with Artist damali ayo as she panhandles around the country to create dialogue about reparations for slavery. Black Word Nerds , by Will Wright How do Black people think Anglos (white people) think they talk? A story by a KFAI producer. A Prohibition , by Terin Mayer Thre...

Radio Netherlands describes the documentary this way: "Jonathan is a nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn. He has a typically New York loudness, and he's flamboyant, musical and pretty good with languages. Dragana is a nice Serbian girl from Bosnia. She is prone to the occasional Slavic melancholy, but is also generally loud, musical, and pretty good with languages. They live in Holland, a small and sober country that, at first glance doesn't seem suited to either temperament." We first aired this story a couple years back on the Lounge. It makes a big, beautiful return on Feb. 15 so you soak in its Valentine's Day glow. By the way, the program won a Prix Europa in 2005 and a Gold Medal at the New York International Radio Festival.