Dec 19th, 2008 · Steve Inskeep talks with David Simon of HBO's "The Wire" and "Generation Kill" about his favorite DVD picks. Simon's choices include Stanley Kubrick's Path's of Glory and Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch.
Aug 15th, 2008 · Critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire came to its close earlier this year; its fifth and final season was released on DVD on August 12. Creator David Simon talks about the show, his career, and the city of Baltimore.
Aug 9th, 2008 · La Passion de Simone, by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, make its New York debut Wednesday. The oratorio explores the life and work of the French philosopher Simone Weil. Director Peter Sellars calls it a challenging work about a difficult human being.
Aug 1st, 2008 · Award winning singer-songwriter Carly Simon stops by the Cafe to discuss This Kind of Love, her first collection of original material in eight years. This stylistical album showcases musical influences from South America combined with Simon's reflective, personal lyrics.
Jul 18th, 2008 · Everyone Is Crying Out to Me, Beware, the second album from Ukrainian-born singer-songwriter Alina Simone, is utterly haunting. With bare-bones arrangements and Simone's powerful, poignant vocals at the forefront, the record burns through a collection of songs by Siberian punk-folk singer, Yanka Dyagileva, with cathartic fervor. Though the lyrics are in Russian, the emotions are raw and easily felt.
Jun 14th, 2008 · NPR's Scott Simon received an unexpected gift recently: a l962 recording of his father's show on WJJD radio in Chicago. It was at a low point in Ernie Simon's life. But his son has fond memories of going to the station with his father on show mornings.
May 13th, 2008 · Singer Simone, the daughter of the legendary Nina Simone, is giving her mother's songs a new twist. She talks with Farai Chideya about her childhood, her mother's influence on her own music, and what it meant to create the big-band tribute album, titled Simone on Simone.
May 10th, 2008 · Simone de Beauvoir is one of the towering figures of 20th century France. While she has perhaps slipped into the shadows of American memory, her pioneering work, The Second Sex, is still regarded as one of the cornerstones of modern feminist thinking. This year, the centenary of her birth, her writing is being read and discussed at symposia around the world. Frank Browning reports from Paris.