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Seventy-five years ago Friday, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Scott Simon wrote this essay in 2019 for what would have been Robinson's 100th birthday.

Legendary bluesman T-Model Ford plays on his own terms. Now in his 80s, Ford has seen all the life you could see, and even spent years on a chain gang for killing a man. So when T-Model Ford yells, "Jack Daniel time!" in this session from KEXP, you know he's going to follow through on a hefty swig.

Symphony orchestras typically perform repertoire from acknowledged masters of classical music. But one internationally touring multimedia concert replaces Mozart with ... Mario Bros.? When Video Games Live comes to town, the melodies — and the audiences — are different.

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar made his breakthrough comedy, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, almost two decades ago. His latest film, Volver, is also about women -- and though they're not nervous or breaking down, they're definitely having a rough couple of weeks.

For more than 100 years, women would arrive at twilight at the plazas of San Antonio, Texas, to cook chili over open fires. Soldiers, tourists, cattlemen and troubadours roamed the tables, filling the night with music. The Kitchen Sisters tell their story.

On July 4th, the Boston Pops play a concert accompanied by fireworks. The fireworks show is enormous — it is set up on barges in the Charles River. We get a preview.

Harlem Renaissance painter Ernest Crichlow died in New York at the age of 91. His work depicted the shifting experiences of African-Americans through much of the 20th century. Allison Keyes has a remembrance.

A new ad from Eric Greitens, the controversial Republican running for Missouri's U.S. Senate seat, has left him accused of glorifying political violence.

With more than 500 tunes to his name, John Darnielle can't be accused of slacking. But when the man behind The Mountain Goats visited the WNYC studios, Darnielle (a prolific songwriter, former nurse, heavy metal expert, and author) showed off his many talents.

On its second album, the band is intense enough to refresh the Southern-rock legacy it's joined. Throughout Dereconstructed, its members examine the fight to claim a home that can drive you crazy.