Arts

Pages

Support KRWG
3:17 pm
Sun July 1, 2012

KRWG Benefit Concert July 21-The Hard Road Trio

 

Saturday, July 21 at 7:00pm

Album Release and Benefit for KRWG at the Rio Grande Theatre in downtown Las Cruces.

The Hard Road Trio with special guests.

The Trio welcomes Bill Evans on banjo and Nate Lee on fiddle to celebrate the release of "Monticello".

Come support KRWG Public Media. Tickets are available at Enchanted Gardens, 270 Avenida de Mesilla, and the KRWG offices in Milton Hall on the NMSU campus. (Adults: $15 in advance, $20 at door; 12 & under: $7.50 in advance, $10 at door).

Read more
Author Interviews
2:03 pm
Sun July 1, 2012

The Complex 'Tapestry' of Michelle Obama's Ancestry

Originally published on Mon July 2, 2012 8:17 am

When Michelle Obama's great-great-great grandmother was 8 years old, her life underwent a dramatic change.

Melvinia Shields was a slave who grew up at a South Carolina estate with a relatively large community of slaves she knew well. But then she was moved to a small farm in northern Georgia where she was one of only three slaves; most white people in the area didn't own any.

Read more
Movie Interviews
5:55 am
Sun July 1, 2012

Lost In 'The City Dark': Documenting Missing Stars

Peabody-winning filmmaker Ian Cheney tackles a rather intangible subject in his latest film: light pollution. Host David Greene speaks with Cheney about The City Dark and what people lose when they can no longer see the stars.

Europe
5:55 am
Sun July 1, 2012

'There Is No Austerity In Fashion,' Or In Paris

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

So much of the news out of Europe these days is about debt and countries struggling to pay their bills. Well, there is a bit of calm in that storm, and, of course, it's in Paris. There's no Greek-style austerity in France. And as Eleanor Beardsley tells us, in the City of Light, people are still enjoying the good life.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Read more
Author Interviews
3:46 am
Sun July 1, 2012

'Hitless Wonder': On Tour With A Band Of Also-Rans

Credit Courtesy of Globe Pequot Press
Colin Gawel (second from right) and Joe Oestreich (second from left) formed Watershed 27 years ago in Columbus, Ohio. They now tour with Dave Masica (left) and Joe Peppercorn (right).

Originally published on Mon July 2, 2012 8:17 am

Barring a massive shake-up of the Billboard charts — and American tastes — "Little Mistakes" will not be the song of the summer. But that's not for lack of trying.

The song is the lead single off Brick and Mortar, the latest album by Watershed — a band from Columbus, Ohio, that most people have never heard of. But they have been playing dingy bars, tiny clubs and even the occasional arena for 27 years.

That career has inspired a new memoir called Hitless Wonder: A Life in Minor League Rock and Roll, written by one of the band's founders, Joe Oestreich.

Read more
Americandy: Sweet Land Of Liberty
11:15 pm
Sat June 30, 2012

America's Affection For Hometown Confections

Originally published on Mon July 9, 2012 8:40 am

From the maple sugar moose heads of New England to the chile brittle of the Southwest, from the Almond Roca of the Pacific Northwest to the key lime coconut patties of Florida, America loves its candy.

Read more
Sunday Puzzle
10:03 pm
Sat June 30, 2012

Mixing It Up On The Baseball Diamond

Credit NPR Graphic

On-Air Challenge: Every answer is the name of a Major League Baseball team. You are given anagrams of their names, each with one letter added, and must name the teams. For example, given "dress," the answer would be "Reds."

Last Week's Challenge: Think of a familiar three-word phrase that might be used in poker and add an "E" at the end and you'll get a two-word phrase that's common in football. (The spaces in between the words changes in the two phrases but the letters stay in the same order.)

Read more
Author Interviews
3:14 pm
Sat June 30, 2012

'Billy Lynn' A Full-Bore Tale Of Wartime Iraq

Originally published on Mon July 2, 2012 8:19 am

Billy Lynn is a 19-year-old college dropout living in the small Texas town where he grew up. After he's arrested for trashing the car of his sister's ex, he's given two choices: face jail time or enlist in the Army.

He chooses the Army. And Iraq.

Author Ben Fountain's debut novel, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, is the story of what happens to Lynn after he joins Bravo Company in the early years of the Iraq war.

Read more
Fine Art
5:32 am
Sat June 30, 2012

New Artwork Finds A Home At An Old English Manor

A set of installations by the contemporary British ceramicist Edmund de Waal has gone on exhibit at a stately home deep in the English countryside. If de Waal's name sounds familiar, it might be because of his 2010 book, The Hare with Amber Eyes, which traces the fortunes of the artist's once-wealthy Jewish forebears. The book itself set off a chain of events that led to the exhibition.

Read more
Food
5:29 am
Sat June 30, 2012

The Season Of Ice Cream: Tips From The Top

Originally published on Sat June 30, 2012 5:32 am

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Now, to our occasional WEEKEND EDITION series Taste of Summer.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME")

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE: (Singing) Hot fun in the summertime.

SIMON: A few weeks ago, Alton Brown shared some grilling secrets with us. Today, it'll be ice cream. Whether plain old standard vanilla, or artisanal organic squash blossom rhubarb poblano crunch - a flavor I just made up, by the way - summer is the season of ice cream. And so today, we head to the Pumphouse Creamery in Minneapolis.

Read more
Author Interviews
3:54 am
Sat June 30, 2012

In 'Gold,' Olympic Rivalry Is Personal, Professional

Originally published on Sat June 30, 2012 5:32 am

More than 10,000 athletes are headed to London this summer to run, swim, cycle, shoot, fence and compete in the events of the Olympic Games. Each of them has a story — what they've won, what they've lost and what they've sacrificed just to get their chance to get there.

Chris Cleave's latest novel, Gold, tells the stories of three world-ranked cyclists — Zoe, Jack and Kate — who are training for their last chance at Olympic gold. Zoe and Kate are friends as well as rivals; Jack and Kate are raising an 8-year-old who suffers from leukemia.

Read more
Movies
10:03 pm
Fri June 29, 2012

Eugene Levy Stays Smart, Even In The Cheapest Gag

Originally published on Sat June 30, 2012 5:32 am

George Needleman is the chief bean counter of an investment bank who, in Madea's Witness Protection, is too consumed with family problems to realize he's being set up to take the fall for a Ponzi scheme. When he grasps what's going on, he's placed in witness protection — at Madea's house.

Tyler Perry, who wrote and directed the movie, plays Madea, as well as most other members of her family. Needleman, the latest fussy, funny, bushy-eyebrowed, precise and put-upon man, is portrayed by Eugene Levy.

Read more
Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
2:48 pm
Fri June 29, 2012

Comedian Drew Carey Plays Not My Job

Credit Neilson Barnard / Getty Images

Originally published on Sat June 30, 2012 10:13 am

A lot of people leave their hometowns and never come back. But comedian and game show host Drew Carey, proud son of Cleveland, made a special trip back home to play Wait Wait's Not My Job quiz.

We've invited him to play a game called "Cincinnati! City of Light! City of Magic!" Carey's a Cleveland guy, born and bred, so we'll ask him three questions about another great Ohio city.

Read more
NPR's Backseat Book Club
2:17 pm
Fri June 29, 2012

Gross-Out Gags AND Life Lessons In 'Wimpy Kid'

Originally published on Fri June 29, 2012 8:26 pm

We've chosen some popular books for our monthly Backseat Book Club selections, but nothing quite like the boffo best-sellers in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

How popular are these books? Consider the numbers: There are six books, and a seventh is on the way. They've been translated into 40 languages and there are 75 million copies in print worldwide. And it was our 2009 interview with author Jeff Kinney that originally inspired us to start a book club just for kids.

Read more

Pages