Play1min 35sec50 years since Johnny Cash was No. 1 on the Billboard country chart with ‘A Boy Named Sue’August 28, 2019 10:08 AMBy Cathy WurzerThe song was written by poet Shel Silverstein, whose friend, Jean Shepherd, was reportedly teased as a boy for having a girl’s name.
Play1min 38sec‘Weird Al’ Yankovic plays the Minnesota State Fair GrandstandAugust 27, 2019 9:50 AMBy Cathy WurzerOver the years, Yankovic has written several songs that appeal particularly to Minnesotans – from “Spam” to “The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota.”
Play1min 21sec40 years since Chic was No. 1 on the Billboard chart with ‘Good Times’August 26, 2019 12:06 PMBy Cathy Wurzer The song was influential as well as popular: Chic’s bass player, Bernard Edwards, told the “New Musical Express” that he taught his counterpart in Queen the bass line, which ended up in “Another One Bites the Dust.”
Play5min 02secMinnesota group to be part of 400th anniversary of slavery commemorationAugust 23, 2019 8:48 AMThe Twin Cities-based group The Sounds of Blackness will be in Hampton, Va. this weekend to participate in a commemoration of 400th anniversary of the first enslaved people arriving from Africa in what would become the United States. There are a series of events planned at Fort Monroe which is near where the first ship arrived. The Sounds of Blackness and Common will be featured in a concert that will take place tomorrow night. MPR News’ Tim Nelson caught up with the group as it rehearsed this week and talked to music director Gary Hines.
Play3min 52secWhat you need to know about this year’s State FairAugust 22, 2019 11:01 AMBy Cathy Wurzer and Sophia SuraMPR News intern Sophia Sura was at the fairgrounds early Thursday morning, and talked to MPR News host Cathy Wurzer about what fairgoers can expect to find there.
Play1min 26sec50 years since Zager and Evans topped the pop chart with a pessimistic vision of the futureAugust 21, 2019 10:48 AMBy Cathy Wurzer“In the Year 2525” is the only song the duo ever released that made it into the Top 100.
Play1min 13sec40 years since Bob Dylan released ‘Slow Train Coming’August 20, 2019 10:36 AMBy Cathy WurzerIt was the first album in what has been called his “Christian trilogy.”
Play1min 50secSleater-Kinney releases latest album, ‘The Center Won’t Hold’August 16, 2019 10:33 AMBy Phil PicardiIt comes some six weeks after longtime drummer Janet Weiss announced she was leaving the band.
Play1min 36sec55 years since Dean Martin topped the pop chart with ‘Everybody Loves Somebody’August 15, 2019 10:15 AMBy Phil PicardiBy that time, Beatlemania was in full swing, and Martin hadn't had a Top 40 hit in six years.
Play1min 43secTwin Cities saxophone legend Irv Williams turns 100August 14, 2019 10:07 AMBy Phil PicardiWilliams is celebrating with a party Wednesday night at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis.