Search results for

NPR's Robert Siegel and NPR's Lynn Neary read some of this week's listener letters.

When Luciano Pavarotti calls in sick for what was to be his final performance, tenor Salvatore Licitra steps in and wows the audience at the Met in New York. He has since released a CD called The Debut, which has been winning critical acclaim. And he's in New York again tonight for a performance at Carnegie Hall. Salvatore Licitra talks with NPR's Robert Siegel.

Their film, About a Boy, is based on the novel by Nick Hornby and has just been released on DVD and video. The Weitz brothers, born to fashion designer John Weitz and Oscar-nominated actress Susan Kohner, first became famous for directing the 1999 teen comedy American Pie. They also wrote the screenplay for the animated movie Antz and directed the Chris Rock movie Down to Earth. They live in New York. This interview first aired June 5, 2002.

Jeff Young of West Virginia Public Broadcasting reports that military reserves called up for a possible war in Iraq are having a disproportionate impact on state police and other law enforcement personnel in the state. That's because residents of West Virginia have a high rate of service in the armed forces, and the state police force is already under-staffed. It could lose up to 10 percent of its force to the armed services. For public safety agencies that are already stretched thin, this means shift juggling, stretched overtime budgets, and strain for those left to fill in the gaps.

NPR's Mandalit Del Barco reports that in California this month, Spanish-speaking radio listeners are tuning in to a daily soap opera about the lives of Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles. The radio drama -- known as a radionovela -- is based on a novel by Enrique Romero Moreno, a Mexican consulate official. He warns of the perils and frustrations of living in the United States.

Actress and singer Nell Carter, the star of the 1980s TV sitcom Gimme A Break and of the Broadway smash Ain't Misbehavin', dies of complications from diabetes. She was 54. NPR's Bob Mondello has an appreciation.

Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct live performances of Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas' score to Redes during screenings of the film this weekend. Revueltas is considered one of Mexico's greatest composers. NPR's Lynn Neary speaks with Salonen about Revueltas' music.

External efforts to end a nearly two-month-old strike in Venezuela gain momentum. Former President Jimmy Carter's plan to address the crisis is embraced by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. The strike has crippled oil production in one of the world's major exporters. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

Russian television recently broadcast once-secret government files on the trial and execution of Lavrenti Beria, one of Joseph Stalin's more notorious henchmen. The broadcasts feed a public fascination with the bloody Soviet past. NPR's Scott Simon talks with Mark Kramer, director of the Harvard Project on Cold War Studies.

Commentator Andrei Codrescu tells about his friend's dream of buying a coffee plantation in Costa Rica and making money selling beans on the Web. His friend also wants to use a certain duck that eats raw coffee beans and poops out a better bean. Of course, the friend has no money.