In the biography, A Love Affair with Birds, Minnesota environmental writer Sue Leaf brings to life the untold story of Thomas Sadler Roberts, a medical doctor and the father of Minnesota ornithology. Roberts’ birding journals became the basis for The Birds of Minnesota, his definitive account of bird life in the state, published in 1932.
Leaf uses material from those same journals to deftly paint a natural history of the state at a time when the roar of St. Anthony Falls could be heard throughout Minneapolis and when young boys on a camping trip to Excelsior could capture bald eaglets on the shores of Lake Minnetonka.
Leaf outlines Roberts’ critical role in the founding of the Bell Museum of Natural History and shows the demise of bird species and habitats—so common during Roberts’ boyhood—and the hopeful resurgence of a few. —Phyllis Alsdurf
A long-time Minnetonka resident, Phyllis Alsdurf is a journalism professor at Bethel University in St. Paul. She is the author of the children’s book It’s Milking Time (Random House, 2012).
9 Dead Alive from Rodrigo y Gabriela is well-trodden ground for these flamenco/metal/rhythmic rockers (how’s that for a genre label?). But when the music is this cool, does it matter? There are sections of reserved calm, but the cut-loose moments are most fun. “The Soundmaker” stomps the record into life, strutting through the nylon-string snaps and finger drumming with more confidence than some of the duo’s heavy metal inspirations have in recent works, and it’s tough not to get into the groove during the main melody of “Misty Moses,” a desert-tinged scorcher that knows just when to shift into head banging gear. Who says nylon string can’t be heavy? —Alex Skjong
Alex Skjong has written for a number of publications ranging from the Twin Cities, Chicago and Atlanta. He is a music lover first and an unreasonably tall human being second.
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