On a recent Sunday morning at Yoga Center Retreat in St. Louis Park, I rested on a mat with my feet up the wall, listening to instructions from a familiar voice. I had never met Mark Wheat in person, but his British accent and brassy timbre were unmistakable after listening to him for years as a DJ on the Current.
That soothing voice – missing from Minnesota’s airwaves since 2020 – is returning to the stage this month for a reboot of the Making Music live discussion series Wheat helped launch more than 20 years ago.
At its start in 2005, the idea for Making Music was live conversations with notable musicians – some local, some national. Wheat developed it in part with Dave Hill, who ran the Whole, the music club in the basement of the U of M’s Coffman Union. Hosting duties went to composer and producer JG Everest, another early collaborator.
At venues like the Whole and later the Walker Art Center, the series featured guests like David King from The Bad Plus, Dessa, and Slug from Atmosphere.
It contributed to a sort of continuity in the Twin Cities’ music scene, Everest said – something he worries is at risk with dwindling coverage of local music, fewer hubs like record stores, and the increasing dominance of streaming platforms.
But Wheat’s return to the scene was hardly a given.
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His radio ambitions started as a teenager in England, where he listened to legendary British DJ John Peel spin bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash. Later, Wheat got into Minnesota bands like the Replacements and Babes in Toyland. It was his love of the Replacements, he said, that brought him to Minneapolis in the early 1990s.
Wheat built his career at KFAI and the now-defunct Rev 105. Later, he DJed and mentored students at the University of Minnesota’s Radio K. When the Current launched in 2005, Wheat was one of its first hires.
In many ways, DJing was his dream job. But by the time he turned 50, his physical health demanded attention. His spouse, ceramicist Maren Kloppmann, and others he knew well, practiced yoga. Soon, Wheat developed a practice of his own incorporating a style of yoga called Avita, focused on joint health and circulation.
“I know it sounds corny, but I kind of fell in love with it right away,” Wheat said.
Early in 2020, Wheat asked the Current for some time off. He planned to spend one weekend a month, for six months, in Boulder, studying and developing his yoga practice. His bosses agreed, but then COVID-19 hit.
By June 2020, Wheat announced he had decided to take a buyout. “I knew no one else from the Current wanted to leave, and I kind of did,” he said.
After finishing his yoga training in Boulder, Wheat stayed on as a teacher for about 18 months. He moved home to Minneapolis in 2022, where he continues to teach five classes per week.
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Still, plenty of people have hoped to coax Wheat’s voice out of the studio and back onto the music scene. Earlier this year, Cecilia Johnson, a former colleague at the Current, gave it a shot. Johnson, who books acts at the North Loop’s Berlin music club, asked Wheat if he’d DJ a live version of the Valentine’s Day show he made popular at the Current.
Wheat declined, but he was intrigued. He sent Johnson some old YouTube videos of the Making Music series.
Now on Monday, April 6, at 7:30 p.m., Making Music’s first host, JG Everest, will pass the baton to its newest one, Wheat. Their conversation, billed as a talk about Everest’s varied career, the creative process and the show’s legacy, will take place at Berlin, 204 North 1st. St. ($15).
On Sunday, May 10, Wheat will interview Channy Leaneagh, the lead singer of Poliça, at the Southern Theater, 1420 S. Washington Ave., Minneapolis ($15-$40).
Making Music’s relaunch is supported by The Minnesota Music Archive, which is celebrating a launch of its own on Thursday, April 2, at the Hennepin, 900 Hennepin Ave. ($15-$100). It’s a project of the Diverse Emerging Music Organization, working to digitize and secure Minnesota’s musical legacy – including original episodes of the Making Music series.
The archive’s launch party will feature live music by Dust of Suns Ensemble and Agnes Uncaged, sets curated by DJ Stage One and former Current DJ Mary Lucia, remarks by author and journalist (and another former Current DJ) Andrea Swensson, and of course, Mark Wheat.
