Jun 14 Watch 7:06 With the Juke Joint Festival, a Mississippi city aims to lose its economic blues By Jeffrey Brown, Frank Carlson In Mississippi’s Clarksdale, the heart of the rural Delta, a celebration of the blues has been drawing thousands of fans to the area for the past 16 years. The Juke Joint Festival, named for bars and informal music venues scattered… Continue watching
Jun 14 In an age of extremes, country music star Scotty McCreery finds his place ‘in between’ By Jason Kane The country music star told the PBS NewsHour that one of the things he learned while making new music is that people are a lot more alike than different. “I feel like a lot of folks are just cruising on… Continue reading
Jun 13 Watch 6:09 How this Palestinian music festival is breaking down cultural barriers By John Yang Typically, the Palestinian West Bank is referenced in the context of Middle East peace talks. But for the past three years, the organizers of the three-day Palestine Music Expo, or PMX, have sought to encourage people to open their minds,… Continue watching
Jun 13 Watch 3:10 Artist Miguel Colon on community and learning to see himself By Steve Goldbloom New York artist Miguel Colon suffered for years before finally receiving a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, during a hospitalization. In the psychiatric ward, he did a lot of drawing, working on a graphic novel and realizing the “life-affirming”… Continue watching
Jun 12 Watch 2:43 Novelist Nathan Englander on how ritual fuels his writing Novelist Nathan Englander grew up in a highly observant Jewish family. As such, he was accustomed to discipline and observing ritual. When he left his religious community, Englander landed as far away from Orthodox Judaism as he could -- and… Continue watching
Jun 12 How the protests in Ferguson helped inspire this fantasy novel By Elizabeth Flock N.K. Jemisin, author of award-winning fantasy novel "The Fifth Season," says her frustration and anger over the fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer "shaped the story, widened the scope."… Continue reading
Jun 11 This band wants to take ‘rez metal’ beyond the Navajo Nation By Elizabeth Flock For decades, bands like Testify had been largely underground, but their music has become more visible. Continue reading
Jun 10 Watch 8:00 The painstaking process of repairing a damaged cathedral By Jeffrey Brown, Anne Azzi Davenport The Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., sustained major damage during a rare 2011 earthquake. Nearly eight years later, reconstruction is still underway at the country's second-largest church. Jeffrey Brown visited the landmark to learn more about the long and… Continue watching
Jun 10 ‘Hadestown’ captures 8 Tony Awards, including best musical By Mark Kennedy, Associated Press The brooding musical about the underworld took home the most awards, which included a rare win for a female director of a musical. Continue reading
Jun 10 Ali Stroker becomes first actor in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award By Associated Press Stroker earned the trophy for her portrayal of Ado Annie in Daniel Fish's dark revisionist revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic "Oklahoma!"… Continue reading