Filed by KOSU News in Art & Life.
August 12, 2011

On this week’s podcast of our favorite arts and culture stories, crime novelist George Pelecanos cases easy-to-break-into houses in Washington DC with an accomplice: NPR reporter Elizabeth Blair. The piece is part of Morning Edition’s annual summer series, Crime In The City. It explores the locales of various acclaimed mystery series with the people who write them.

Also, an insightful interview with actor Wil Wheaton on the 25th anniversary of the classic coming-of-age film he starred in, Stand By Me. He remembers working with River Phoenix when they were both around twelve years old, and discusses his own sons now. (Unbelievably, both of his kids are college-age. Who feels suddenly old?)

We’ve also got a Summer Sounds feature about Shakespeare productions in an Oklahoma city park, a look at the rising generation of bandleaders showcased at this year’s Newport Jazz Festival, and the gradual disappearance of an iconic folk art in India– snake charming.

Subscribe here or listen below. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]