The Bonfire Chamber Music Festival has been bringing the heat of chamber music to venues all over Grand Rapids, MN this week. We spoke about it on the morning show and had a blast! The concerts continue tonight and tomorrow night in Grand Rapids at the Reif Center!

"Music is the only thing that makes me feel better...if you learn how to play the ukulele or the keyboard, you can have that for the rest of your life." - Mark Munson When Mark Munson battled pancreatic cancer he had an idea for a lasting legacy: a music camp that would give kids the experience of being rock stars. For the past three years, kids in the Brainerd Lakes area have had the unique opportunity to experience playing a gig with peers, complete with light shows, sounds equipment and

Program 72: Dam Break! September, 1948 A radio series produced by historian Don Boese. Don is the author of eight books dealing with local history in Itasca County, including "John C. Greenway and the Opening of the Western Mesabi", and the main source for this series, "Papermakers: the Blandin Paper Company and Grand Rapids, Minnesota". The series begins with the arrival of the first Euro-Americans to the forested wilderness of Itasca County in the 1870s. In those early days the site that

"T he advice she gave me was so soothing and so beautiful ... she said you really have to trust yourself and you have to remember that you know your children better than anyone else . And so you have to believe in what you decide to do . ... you need to do whatever you think is best and not be worried about what other people tell you they think you should do. T hat was a problem . She knew I was trying to raise a child within an alcoholic marriage and at times I was really insecure about that .

All eyes are on Washington DC today as Robert Mueller from the Justice Department will be testifying before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committee. There are others things that are going on as well. Senator Tina Smith , along with Senator Amy Klobuchar represent MN in Washington at the Senate. From time to time we get to check in with the senators and today Senator Tina Smith joined us to talk about: Energy Efficiency Resource Standard Sen. Smith’s bill would create a Federal Energy

Program 71: The Early Years of the Blandin Foundation, 1940s A radio series produced by historian Don Boese. Don is the author of eight books dealing with local history in Itasca County, including "John C. Greenway and the Opening of the Western Mesabi", and the main source for this series, "Papermakers: the Blandin Paper Company and Grand Rapids, Minnesota". The series begins with the arrival of the first Euro-Americans to the forested wilderness of Itasca County in the 1870s. In those early

Phenology is the biological nature of events as they relate to climate. Each week John Latimer takes a close look at the blooms and changes happening in nature and considers how the timing measures up to past years. In our talkbacks from listeners, we heard from one of our favorite young phenologists this week - August from Shevlin reported many things including the birds he heard while berry picking and the loss of almost 35 minutes of sunlight since his last report! John goes in depth in his

ger·ry·man·der / ˈjerēˌmandər / verb gerrymandering manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favor one party or class. achieve (a result) by manipulating the boundaries of an electoral constituency. Redistricting, gerrymandering....what does it all mean? On Making Sausage this week we talked more about it...with our DFL commentator Colleen Nardone and longtime political reporter in Minnesota Lori Sturdevant.

"I think that when I'm writing slam poetry I tend to write a little bit differently . I think it's a little bit more forgiving of a format in that you know you can use more conjunctions and... slang.. . You don't have to be so careful ... Sometimes a poem will come out as a just ... what it is and then I'll turn it into a slam poem... by reading it out loud and finding those rhythms and things that make it sound well. - Jessica Santala, slam poet The Red Stu in downtown Bemidji hosted the 2nd

Art possesses the unique super power of bringing people together. The Nemeth Art Center in Park Rapids, MN is hosting a unique arts collaboration this summer that has connected Columbian-born visual artist Luisa Fernanda Garcia-Gomez with northern Minnesota textile artist Bruce Engebretson . Together, Luisa and Bruce are spending the summer working on projects at the Nemeth, a collaboration the Nemeth calls "Weaving Community Together". Throughout the summer, Luisa is working with community