Topics

Pop/Rock

Rachel Raimist talks about Hip Hop
Rachel Raimist makes films, writes books, teaches at colleges, and lectures around the country about Hip Hop and women. She joined Mary Lucia in the studio to talk about how she first became a lover of Hip Hop and what it means to be a Hip-Hop feminist.July 20, 2007
Putting together a Prince show -- at the last minute
Prince fans told stories of waiting outside overnight to get tickets. Bloggers endlessly critiqued the show. But what was the Purple One's impromptu concert like from the club's point of view?July 9, 2007
Songs line the road to Patrick McGuigan's recovery
A serious accident derailed a Minneapolis singer/songwriter's career in music but music continues to be one of his most important modes of expression.June 27, 2007
MPR Fakebook with Laurie Lindeen
The Current Fakebook returned with its final show of the series' first season as The Current's Mary Lucia welcomed Minneapolis-based musician and author Laurie Lindeen, along with a cast of rock worthies to help tell Lindeen's story.June 22, 2007
Laurie Lindeen looks back on a rock and roll Cinderella story
Laurie Lindeen knew she wanted to be in a band -- and particularly an all-girl band -- before she learned to play an instrument. It was the late 1980s and she moved to Minneapolis from Madison to experience the music scene. Now Lindeen is retelling the whole story in her new memoir "Petal Pusher."June 12, 2007
Whose hoot
Every Friday night, the basement at Java Jack's coffee shop in Minneapolis is overtaken by the The Mad Ripple's Friday Night Hootenanny. Organizer and singer/songwriter Jim Walsh, aka the Mad Ripple, says the hootenanny is a rare chance for local musicians and the audience to make a connection.June 1, 2007
West Bank festival has Pan-African vision
Organizers are developing the Twin Cities' first Pan-African cultural festival. "Afrifest" is designed to introduce Minnesota's African immigrants to each other and the larger population.May 18, 2007
This band's best friends are Abe, Ike and each other
A Minneapolis indie rock band has ignored the advice, "Friends don't let friends form rock bands." The two founders of Best Friends Forever actually are best friends, and it shows in their music.May 3, 2007
Red House Records enters a new era
More than a year after the death of its founder and president, Bob Feldman, St. Paul-based Red House Records is still going strong, and embracing the digital age.April 16, 2007
Doc Severinsen's farewell to Minnesota
This weekend Doc Severinsen performs his last concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra, after a 14-year relationship as the orchestra's principal pops conductor. MPR's Tom Crann sat down with Severinson for an exit interview.March 29, 2007
Highway 61 Revisited
Th Current explored the Weisman Art Museum's three-day Bob Dylan symposium. Steve Seel interviewed several Dylanologists.March 26, 2007
Maintenance man rocks his office building after hours
Maintenance man doesn't sound like a dream job for an aspiring rock star, but Twin Cities songwriter Jason Shannon was able to marry his day job with his music.March 23, 2007
Eric Tretbar raises The Horrible Flowers
For more than a decade, Eric Tretbar has been making movies filmed in and set in Minneapolis. His movies feature characters hanging out in the local music scene, which Tretbar knows pretty well from playing in bands like The Funseekers in the 1980s and The Spectors in the early '90s.March 22, 2007
Local musicians hope to go national in Austin
Minnesota musicians hoping to get 'discovered' head to Austin, TX to play at the South by Southwest Music Festival.March 14, 2007
Chuck Klosterman speaks to love, hate, and relevancy
Writer and cultural critic Chuck Klosterman dropped by The Current studios to talk to Mary Lucia about Britney Spears and how Nickelback is the new Soundgarden.February 23, 2007