The Cities Category Archive: Minnesota Sounds and Voices

Minneapolis street musician soothes the urban soul

Posted at 2:56 PM on May 7, 2012 by Dan Olson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Minnesota Sounds and Voices

Outdoor buskers beat on empty plastic pails, blurt on corroded coronets or squawk on saxophones when warm weather arrives in the city.

There certainly is a wide range of sound and quality among street musicians.

Accordionist Dan Turpening, above, is one of the best. The photo is from a warm spring evening in late April on the east shore of Lake Calhoun.

If you place a donation in his hat he asks if you have a request. Minutes before this photo was snapped a Spanish speaking couple with a young daughter asked for a tune from "southern Mexico." Dan obliged with a selection from the vast collection of music in his head.

Turpening's "business model," for making a living as a musician goes like this. Learn to repair and play accordions, give lessons, hire out as a wedding and party musician, walk dogs, house sit and repair cars.

Tours of Minneapolis should include a stop at Turpening's northeast Minneapolis studio, office and accordion warehouse. Folks would have to take turns as they wedge their way into and through the rooms where nearly every square foot is devoted to musical instruments, mostly accordions, floor to ceiling. It's like a shrine, a temple of bellows and keys, living proof that music from one of Minnesota's best known and loved instruments has an urgent care clinic for repairs performed by a practitioner with gifted hands.

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Folk dancers probably aren't couch potatoes

Posted at 9:49 AM on May 2, 2012 by Dan Olson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Minnesota Sounds and Voices

Faithful readers of The Cities know that I abhor any form of physical exercise.

So you can imagine the philosophical disconnect upon my meeting the Morris Dancers.

These are men and women, boys and girls who voluntarily exert themselves in the most charming way: They dance and kick and stomp with bells tied to their shins, sometimes shouting and clacking sticks as well.

The photo above, captured by MPR photojournalist Jeff Thompson, is from just after sunrise, on May 1st at a south Minneapolis park.

Every year at sunrise on May Day, the Morris Dancers dance up the sun, and as is clear from the photo, once again it worked.

The 500 year-old pagan ritual celebrates the passing of the seasons and it's a feast for the eyes and ears.

The pertinence of this Morris Dance entry in the esteemed The Cities blog is that the beginning of May marks the start of the outdoor Morris Dance season.

That means as you enjoy a stroll or even a libation at a public place you may become part of an audience for one of the Morris Dance troupes - there are four in the Twin Cities, five if you include the youth group.

By the way, Morris dancing, not unlike our American square dancing appears to be great exercise judging from the perspiration created. So if your medical doctor needs some appeasing about your physical regimen, the groups do welcome new members.

I'll be delighted to watch your progress.

Those of you like me, worried about too much physical exertion can read and listen to the story here with just the click of a finger.

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'Everyone needs an Anna DeGraff in their life'

Posted at 12:30 PM on April 19, 2012 by Dan Olson (1 Comments)
Filed under: Minnesota Sounds and Voices

That's what Grammy-winner librettist Herschel Garfein says, and here she is, consulting with University of Minnesota school of music assistant conductor Christopher Owen during a recent rehearsal for "Parables" in a very fine photo snapped last week by my MPR colleague Jeff Thompson. You can hear about the U's production tonight in my story on MPR's All Things Considered.

But meantime, back to the headliner of this blog post.

DeGraff is a Lincoln, Nebraska native, raised by rock and roll-loving parents. She had piano lessons at five, and four-part harmonies with her siblings in the car on the way to church, and now she's a school of music grad student. DeGraff's the wrangler for nearly every facet of the "Parables" production including the visit of librettist Herschel Garfein and composer Robert Aldridge.

That means cajoling and herding a cast and crew of more than 200 U of M students, faculty and community members through rehearsals as well musical workshops led by Aldridge and Garfein.

It's glamorous work if you get a rush out of schlepping racks of costumes, putting tape on the stage to mark performer's positions, responding to any and all queries put to you including those from pesky reporters, and a million more things.

On the other hand it's pretty heady stuff hanging with Garfein and Aldridge. They just picked up Grammys earlier this year for their "Elmer Gantry" opera production. Their lives include parachuting into unfamiliar situations and counting on the locals like DeGraff to lead them through the jungle.

There is a payoff.

DeGraff is a gifted mezzo soprano and has performed several tunes for other productions that Garfein and Aldridge brought along in their satchel. In fact Garfein tells DeGraff, "don't be too useful, your voice is too good, don't lose your artistic aspirations."

On that front DeGraff's plan after school is to head to Germany where despite the body blows to the European economy there's still strong support for local opera houses. She hopes to sign on with one for a couple of years to pursue her art.

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Remembering that first windy blat

Posted at 4:00 PM on March 30, 2012 by Dan Olson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Minnesota Sounds and Voices

The leader of the Macalester College Pipe Band, Mike Breidenbach, above, remembers that his first attempt to play the bagpipe more than 20 years ago left him wondering where he'd find the air to sustain a tune.

"Aerobic," is how one of his fellow pipers describes playing the instrument.

You blow, squeeze the bag, blow again, keep squeezing in just the right intervals. Oh yes, don't forget to play the tune on the chanter with its nine finger holes for nine notes.

Many of us can empathize over an experience with a challenging instrument.

For me, it was my first attempt to play the clarinet as a fifth grader under the tutelage of the wonderfully patient John Varner, our small town school music director. Imagine the bleats, squawks and blats music educators endure as they patiently wait for callow youth with flabby lips and uncoordinated fingers to achieve even a modest level of musical skill.

Breidenbach grew up in hockey land, Grand Forks, North Dakota, and aspired to be a rock and roller, ("didn't everyone. . . .?") but not a hockey player.

His matriculation to Macalester introduced him to the penetrating wail of the Scottish Highland bagpipe, and he was converted.

Twenty years later he's director of piping at Macalester and the leader of the college band. Saturday in St. Paul at Celtic Junction the pipers along with dancers and others put on their spring concert.

By the way, the Mac pipe band is the state's oldest, officially founded in 1949. How can one resist going to the wonderful Minnesota Historical Society photo collection to look for an image, and guess what? Here's a 1953 photo, thank you MHS, of some Mac pipers in front of the old Donaldson's department store in downtown Minneapolis.

One of the Macalester pipers guesses there are more Swedes playing the instrument in Minnesota than Scots, a bow to the state's demography. We are, after all, a long way from the Isles.

Even so there's a world class collection of pipers here. Besides the Macalester group there are solo artists including Laura MacKenzie and Dick Hensold. Check 'em out.

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Minnesota drumming through the years

Posted at 1:00 PM on February 10, 2012 by Dan Olson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Minnesota Sounds and Voices

Probably only the accordion equals the drum for the most played instrument in Minnesota. Well, wait. There's the piano...

Never mind, I'm trying to make a point: Minnesota has a bangup drum history. This comes to mind because of Twin Cities-based Mu Daiko's 15th anniversay celebration. Here are members of the ensemble rehearsing recently in Minneapolis:

Obviously, I was there since I snapped the pix and I can tell you the Japanese drumming tradition is a feast for the ear and the eye. And this is my favorite photo since they are all mostly a blur because they are moving really fast, not uncommon in taiko. Very physical.

Daiko by the way is the word for the group and taiko (fat drum) is the word for the instrument.

OK, now to my point.

By now, faithful readers of The Cities know my devotion to the amazing Minnesota Historical Society collection of historic photos. So, let's go to the photo album, all courtesy of the MHS. Here's your standard collection of St. Paul guys in a drum group from 1916:

And not to be outdone here's a very snappy looking group of St. Paul women from the same year:

And now for something completely different but still with drums, Minnesota prison inmates from 1932:

And then, of course, a photo from the Minnesota Historical Society collection documenting our region's oldest drum tradition, American Indians from Cass Lake in 1938:

The Mu Daiko drumming roots date to 1997 when the group was founded by Rick Shiomi. But the tradition goes way back, maybe thousands of years, as Japanese used the drums to lead people into battle, communicate among villages and mark religious observances.

Then, the story goes, a Japanese soldier returning from World War II who happened to have a jazz drumming background found old taiko notations.

He thought the rhythms were pretty boring, jazzed them up, and the freshened taiko tradition hit this country in 1968.

Anyway, after a week of performances at the Ordway the Mu Daiko members hit the road for a batch of performances around the state.

-February 23, 2012 at A Center for the Arts in Fergus Falls
-February 25, 2012 at Sheldon Theatre in Red Wing
-March 1, 2012 at Grand Marais Playhouse in Arrowhead Center for the Arts, Grand Marais
-March 3, 2012 at The Reif Center in Grand Rapids

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Ice skating invented here?

Posted at 11:00 AM on February 3, 2012 by Dan Olson (1 Comments)
Filed under: Minnesota Sounds and Voices

Well, perhaps.

At least maybe stilt skating got a start here?  The 1925 photo is courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society.

But no.

The Eurocentric view of the world is that somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago folks on the Continent tied animal bones onto their feet to glide over frozen lakes.

A Scotsman is credited by some with affixing a metal blade to a platform about 500 years ago.

But yes, by golly, folks here in the land of 10,000 lakes and countless potholes came up with some cutting-edge skates including John Strauss of St. Paul in another great MHS photo from 1920.

And with one of, maybe the first, commercially successful ice skating SHOWS!

Eddie Shipstad and Johnson's Ice Follies could fill arenas by featuring skaters doing tricks and women wearing, well, guess what? Short skirts as evidence in this 1937 photo from the Minnesota Historical Society photo collection.

Ice skating comes to mind because I can't (skate, that is) and Horace Munoz Jr., can.

By his own description Horace is an average skater, but when it comes to distance he is above average. He's on a pace this season to skate 1,000 miles.

Around and around and around. Many many laps at the Oval. You can learn more about Horace in my story later today on All Things Considered. 

Horace says he learned to skate from his father at age 8 on the west side of St. Paul.

Munoz says he skates as a tension reliever.

Judging from photos courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society skaters appear to be in the majority. And there are still plenty of them.

But beware.

Climate change and big screen TVs are putting a dent in the activity.

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Lup dubb, lup dubb, love your heart

Posted at 12:00 PM on January 26, 2012 by Dan Olson (0 Comments)
Filed under: Minnesota Sounds and Voices

My heart which by the way is not the one in the photo (more on that in a moment) is apparently OK, but at every physical exam over my 62 years with a new doctor he or she will stop and listen.

They move the stethoscope around and then invariably pause and stare into space. Only a couple have commented.

An early comment from one doctor was, "you have a slight murmur."

And that was it.

Heart murmur I've since learned, is common and most of the time not a problem.

But heart issues are worth paying attention to.

My newly restored interest in keeping my heart healthy is because of a recent visit to the University of Minnesota's Visible Heart Lab.

Among other sights, I viewed a human heart with a wall as thick as beef steak.

Lab director Paul Iaizzo (pronounced EYE zee oh) says the cause was hypertension.

The result is the thickened heart wall meant a smaller chamber which reduced the amount of blood the heart could pump to the body and, well, that's not a good thing.

Moral of the story: Get your hypertension or high blood pressure under control.

Iaizzo says the sixteen-year-old Visible Heart Lab is the only one in the world where researchers re-animate - restart - hearts outside the body.

Mostly swine hearts since they are similar to human hearts.

And that brings us to the amazing image above captured by MPR's Jeff Thompson.

It's a beating swine heart restarted during our recent visit to the lab.

The tubes carry the nutrients - not blood - needed to keep the heart beating.

Over the years Iaizzo and colleagues have restarted 50 human hearts from donors when the harvested organ couldn't be matched with a recipient for one reason or another.

The scientists study the beating hearts.

They want to learn about all kinds of things including whether new drugs reduce damage to heart cells during surgery.

They take lots of pictures and movies outside and inside the hearts and put them online.

Medical school students tour the lab. Iaizzo, a Ph.D. in physiology and professor of surgery, teaches classes about the heart among other topics.

Oh, yes, and Iaizzo is a stroke survivor.

His heart was repaired, and he is fully recovered, a beneficiary of the research his lab does.

Take care of your heart.

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