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For many music fans, it has been hard to hear the dramatic stories coming out of New Orleans and not consider the city's rich culture. The city is steeped in music, a heritage that folklorist Nick Spitzer, who evacuated the day before Katrina hit, continues to celebrate on the air.

A privately financed rocket plane took its pilot to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere Monday, the first time a commercial venture has put a manned craft into space. SpaceShipOne landed at an airstrip in the Mojave Desert after reaching an altitude of more than 60 miles. The project is funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports.

NPR's Robert Siegel spends a year with Maria Jooste as she tries to launch an opera career. It's a year of acting classes, singing lessons, understudy appearances and an unexpected stage debut. It's also a year of setbacks, and the realization that a stellar voice may not guarantee stardom.

President Biden fell when he was getting off his bike after a ride near the beach in Delaware. He quickly collected himself and the White House said he is "fine."

Marjorie Zien remembers her mother, Renee Hebert, who died of COVID-19 in 2020. She was 89.

The Commoner, a novel by John Burnham Schwartz, paints a picture of the suffocating life that follows marriage into the Japanese royal family. The story sheds light on the real-life imperial family.

In the late 1960s, Tommy and Dick Smothers challenged those who tried to tame their wildly popular show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. TV critic David Bianculli joins host Terry Gross to talk about the legendary comedy duo who tackled political issues and censorship.

We're taught to avoid doing things we'll regret for the rest of our lives, but why? Author Kathryn Schulz makes the case for cherishing our worst choices — like her tattoo.

Robert Neuwirth, author of Shadow Cities, finds the world's squatter sites — where a billion people now make their homes — to be thriving centers of ingenuity and innovation. He takes us on a tour.

Charlie Todd causes bizarre, hilarious and unexpected public scenes with his group, Improv Everywhere — like 70 synchronized dancers in storefront windows, and the annual no-pants subway ride.

A father who learned and shared the lessons of The Beatles' "Blackbird" with his daughters.

The SoCal punk band's Smiths obsession makes for a confident, focused, 19-minute record that still gleefully indulges in pick scrapes and fast three-chord songs.