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Music
 
 
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Friday, July 3, 2009 at 11:00 am

Tunes from old Appalachia with a new bluegrass twist. The hit folk band “Crooked Still” plays for us in our studio.

Comments [6]
 
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Friday, June 5, 2009 at 11:00 am

We talk with classical guitar virtuoso Eliot Fisk, about the guitar as bridge between cultures. Plus: video of Fisk performing an encore in our studio.

Comments [32]
 
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Monday, May 25, 2009 at 11:00 am

We’ll look back on Leonard Bernstein, who took the helm of the New York Philharmonic 50 years ago, and changed American music.

Comments [3]
 
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Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 11:00 am

Bob Dylan talked at length with historian Douglas Brinkley for Rolling Stone. We talk with Brinkley about Dylan and America now.

Comments [31]
 
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Friday, May 1, 2009 at 11:00 am

A new documentary captures jazz now, from the living icons of modern jazz to those pushing the music in new directions.

Comments [38]
 
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Monday, April 27, 2009 at 11:00 am

Novelist Arthur Phillips on music, muses, mixtapes and his new novel, “The Song Is You.”

Comments [26]
 
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Friday, March 27, 2009 at 11:00 am

We talk with the Blind Boys of Alabama about their new album, and making music, “Down in New Orleans.”

Comments [5]
 
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Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 11:00 am

We hear from underground artist Jon Nelson, who uses musical mashups to tap into our media-age dreams.

Comments [36]
 
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Friday, January 30, 2009 at 11:00 am

The craze for karaoke. Equalizer or embarrassment? One devotee tells the uninitiated what they’re missing.

Comments [16]
 
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Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 11:00 am

We’ll talk with the director of “Notorious” about the life and death of rapper Biggie Smalls — and the state of hip hop.

Comments [22]
 
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Thursday, January 22, 2009 at 11:00 am

Aretha Franklin sang on the Capitol steps. Who’s next in the world of soul? We’ll talk with rising star Alice Smith.

Comments [11]
 
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Thursday, January 1, 2009 at 11:00 am

Jazz legend Count Basie helped make the American soundtrack of the 1930s. We listen back, and ask if America has a soundtrack today.

 
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Tuesday, December 30, 2008 at 11:00 am

We hear the story of one writer’s magnificent obsession with the great American ballad, House of the Rising Sun.

Comments [12]
 
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Friday, December 26, 2008 at 11:00 am

In an archive edition of On Point, we jam with guitar legend Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon of Phish.

Comments [4]
 
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Thursday, December 25, 2008 at 11:00 am

In an archive edition of On Point, we look at Sacred Harp music, a centuries-old American tradition of shape-note singing and its revival around the country today.

Comments [9]
 
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Wednesday, December 24, 2008 at 11:00 am

The Christmas Revels invade our studio for old Wessex carols, a Somerset Wassail, and Thomas Hardy’s “Under the Greenwood Tree.”

Comments [3]
 
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Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 11:00 am

Hip-hop activist Sister Souljah is back — with a new novel, “Midnight,” about love, race, and the gangster life.

Comments [25]
 
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Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 11:00 am

Rock critic Amanda Petrusich and her long, strange trip into the roots of a new, authentically American, music.

Comments [18]
 
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Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 11:00 am

Fifty years ago, Motown Records crossed racial lines and helped define an era. We listen back to the music and those who made it.

Comments [8]
 
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Thursday, September 18, 2008 at 11:00 am

50 years ago Leonard Bernstein took the helm of the New York Philharmonic — and changed American music. We’ll celebrate the irrepressible maestro.

Comments [8]
 
On Point Today
Hour 2
Chemicals in Our Bodies
Monday, July 6, 2009 image

Scientists report that widely used chemicals — endocrine disruptors — are causing serious health problems in humans. We ask what the government is, and is not, doing about it.

Comments [30]
 
Hour 1
Sarah Palin’s Surprise
Monday, July 6, 2009 image

Alaksa Governor Sarah Palin’s out-of-the-blue resignation. We ask what it means for her future — and for the GOP.

Comments [54]

Recent Shows
Crooked Still
Friday, July 3, 2009 image

Tunes from old Appalachia with a new bluegrass twist. The hit folk band “Crooked Still” plays for us in our studio.

Comments [6]
 
Week in the News
Friday, July 3, 2009 image

A U.S. offensive in Afghanistan. Al Franken heads to the Senate. Mark Sanford keeps talking. And unemployment keeps rising. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

Comments [25]
On Point Blog
India, China and the Climate

The passage of the House climate bill – discussed in our first hour today – has been greeted with enthusiasm in many quarters. But in some ways, the real question is whether a global framework can be established in Copenhagen in December, when countries will negotiate a new international treaty to curb greenhouse gases.

More » | Comments [1]
 
Michael, Ed, and Farrah

The week-in-the-news roundtable always involves tough choices on sound clips – what to include, what to leave out. Amid all the pressing hard news, we often give a nod to a notable person who’s passed away. But this week brought, well, a ridiculous range of choices.

More » | Comments [2]
 
Planet Money, On Point — Your Questions!

On Wednesday night, June 24, On Point will tape a show before an audience in Boston with two stars of NPR’s “Planet Money,” Adam Davidson and David Kestenbaum. We need your online questions to put to them — about anything from the roots of the economic crisis to NPR’s coverage.

More » | Comments [18]