Around the Nation

_Here are some arts and culture stories from public broadcasting stations around the nation._   - The Escher String Quartet gave grocery shoppers at Zabar's on the Upper West Side of Manhattan a "special performance":http://www.wqxr.org/articles/wqxr-features/2011/apr/06/escher-quartet-plays-zabars-shoppers/ on Wednesday. They played the first movement of Beethoven's "Serioso" quartet in front of the seafood counter. The surprise performance was part of "WQXR's":www.wqxr.org chamber music festival, "Trout Week":http://www.wqxr.org/troutweek/. - Musician "Teddy Thompson":http://www.teddythompson.com/, son of Richard and Linda Thompson, was born into a family of folk royalty, but has made a name for himself. Thompson talks about his most recent album in "an interview":http://www.nhpr.org/teddy-thompson-voice-his-very-own?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20WordOfMouthRadio%20%28Word%20of%20Mouth%29 on "New Hampshire Public Radio's":http://www.nhpr.org "Word of Mouth":http://www.nhpr.org/wordofmouth. - "Read an interview":http://culture.wnyc.org/blogs/gallerina/2011/mar/28/notes-from-underground/ with designer and musician Alexander Chen from "WNYC":www.wnyc.org on how he converted the 1972 New York Subway map into an online experience.   - "PRI's":www.pri.org "Studio 360":http://www.pri.org/studio-360.html "reports on":http://www.pri.org/arts-entertainment/books/bookstores-are-added-to-the-endangered-species-list3200.html one of the newest additions to the endangered species list: the bookstore. - Listen to writer "Benjamin Hale":http://www.benjamin-hale.com/BHale/home.html read a passage from his latest novel, "The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore", a tale of a self-conscious chimpanzee. "KQED":www.kqed.org also "interviewed Hale":http://www.kqed.org/arts/literature/article.jsp?essid=48763 as part of their literature series, "The Writer's Block":http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/writersblock/index.jsp.