Arni Fishbaugh, Executive Director of the Montana Arts Council is one of a kind.  The path she traveled to becoming the voice of the arts in Montana was an interesting and varied one -and no one could represent us better than she.  Arni and Phil met in Helena to talk about that path and the vibrancy of the arts in our state.    

Listen now: 

Download: Arlynn Fishbaugh

(Aired Monday, February 25 at 6:30pm on Yellowstone Public Radio)

Monday January 28 at 6:30pm on Yellowstone Public Radio – stream live at ypradio.org

Philip welcomes Thad Suits, who, besides being the principal cellist of the Great Falls Symphony and member of the Cascade String Quartet, is a chessmaster, computer programmer, and teacher of the Arabic language.

Thad’s performance schedule is at www.gfsymphony.org  (see both Great Falls Symphony and Cascade String Quartet links)

Listen now:

Download: Thad Suits

Dr. Kendall Flint, physician at the Blackfeet Community Hospital in Browning and current president of the Glacier Two Medicine Alliance talks with Phil about medicine, music, wilderness and the importance of community.

Listen now:

Download: Kendall Flint

Meet Montana writer John Barsness, author of the classic outdoor books “Montana Time”, “Western Skies”, and “Born To Hunt”.  John believes it is in our DNA to hunt, and he is the man to convince you with his enthusiasm and his thoughtfulness about the hunt. Having enjoyed amazing deer kabobs and venison sausage at his house, Phil can attest to the wisdom in that idea.

Listen now:

Download: John Barsness

For more information on John, his work and his wife Eileen’s incredible cookbooks:

http://www.riflesandrecipes.com/

Angella Ahn of Bozeman, MT travels the world with her sisters in The Ahn Trio.  they’ve played at The White House, on MTV Unplugged and underground in a Roman ruin in Germany – and their music has the same range.   Phil talked with Angella at Montana State University Bozeman, where she is currently the Adjunct Assistant Professor of Violin.  A more complete biography is available at www.ahntrio.com

Listen now:

Download:  Angella Ahn

Historian and scholar Nicholas Vrooman is one of the few people studying Métis culture over the last generation.  He was the first State Folklorist of North Dakota, Dakota Field Representative for ArtsMidwest (a regional consortium of state arts agencies), second State Folklorist for Montana, Nevada Arts Council Folklorist for Indian Traditional Arts, Program Manager of Educational Talent Search in Indian Country for the Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, and visiting professor of Native American Studies at the University of Montana.  Vrooman created the Indian Traditional Arts Residency and Master/Apprenticeship Programs for the North Dakota Council on the Arts and the Montana Arts Council. He served as consultant to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and the Métis National Council of Canada. He works with tribal peoples throughout the American and Canadian West to produce sound recordings, documentary films, performances, publications, conferences, ceremonies, and festivals highlighting Aboriginal culture. Through the 1980s and 1990s, he was intimately involved in the development of the Northern Plains Indian Art Market. Most recently, he served as Executive Director of the Helena Indian Alliance, continuing his involvement with issues of Northern Plains Indian cultural resiliency.

Listen now:

Download:Nicholas Vrooman

Novelist Peter Bowen of Livingston, Montana. Publishers Weekly says, “The lure of [the Gabriel Du Pré series] is in the texture of the storytelling, soaked in folklore, mysticism, and wry humor in the face of human folly.”

Midwest Book Review says “Peter Bowen does for Montana what Tony Hillerman does for New Mexico. Anyone who has not read a Gabriel Du Pre mystery is missing out on something special.”

Philip interviewed Peter at his home in Livingston, and since most internet searches for Peter Bowen say “Not much is known about this writer”, you can be sure that you’ll learn something new….and you’ll be greatly entertained by this master storyteller, folk singer, friend of the Métis culture, and keen observer of rural Montana.

Listen now:

Download: Peter Bowen

Scott McMillion is one of Montana’s premier journalists, and the author of the best-selling “Mark of the Grizzly”. Scott says he has a passion to learn all he can about Montana, and we’re lucky he chooses to share that with us in his clear, clean, prose. Listen in on Philip’s interview with Montana Quarterly’s Senior Editor, Scott McMillion, on Of the West.

Listen now:

Download: Scott McMillion

Visit Scott’s site at: http://scottmcmillion.com/