Dec 24th, 2008 · On Jingle All the Way, Bela Fleck and his band The Flecktones breathe new life into the Christmas canon, approaching classics like "What Child Is This" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" with their distinctive, genre-bending fervor. Hear the session from WXPN.
Oct 24th, 2008 · With companies warning of lower sales and smaller profits, stock investors around the world are fleeing for the exits. Gloomy forecasts from big Japanese exporters like Toyota, Sony and Canon sent the Nikkei index plunging 10 percent. South Korean electronics giant Samsung posted a 44 percent drop in quarterly profit, and that country's index fell 11 percent. In Great Britain, data released Friday shows economic output shrank for the first time in 16 years. All the European stock markets are plummeting, with Russia down 14 percent.
Oct 20th, 2008 · David Sterritt and John Anderson recognize the films that didn't make it into the "A list canon" in their new book, B List: The National Society of Film Critics on the Low-Budget Beauties, Genre-Bending Mavericks, and Cult Classics We Love. Tell us: What's on your B-list?
Oct 13th, 2008 · Thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for the canonization of four new saints Sunday. That includes the first Indian woman, Sister Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception. Her sainthood is seen as a moral boost to Christians in India who have been victims of violence by Hindus. Pope Benedict said her short life was marked by, "extreme physical and spiritual suffering." In her own writing, she said, "I consider a day in which I have not suffered as a day lost to me."
Apr 19th, 2008 · In his first visit to the U.S., Pope Benedict XVI has addressed the issue of clergy sex abuse several times. Canonical law expert Nicholas Cafardi says he sees signs that the pope may be weighing changes to church law that will make it easier to deal with the abuse problem.
Sep 11th, 2007 · Browse the operatic canon, and you'll find the black experience in America doesn't exactly stand out. The typical opera audience isn't bursting with color either. The New York City Opera is trying to change that.
Aug 12th, 2007 · The standard canon for up-and-coming jazz pianists has traditionally included the likes of Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock. But Lafayette Gilchrist did not start playing the piano until college after a childhood listening to much more funk, hip hop and go-go than jazz.
Feb 2nd, 2007 · The Broken West's infectious debut will surely draw comparisons to the likes of Spoon, Big Star and mid-period Wilco. But where other bands often fail to inject their own personality into the indie-rock canon, The Broken West pulls its influences together smartly and cohesively.