Arts

"I desperately and passionately wanted a career as an actor, so I chose to be in the closet," says actor George Takei, the subject of a new documentary.

Tippett joins us to talk about the work that garnered the national award, presented by President Obama.

Kerri's book Pick of the Week is "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein.

75 years ago today, Judy Garland recorded "Over the Rainbow." This version was released as a single and is different than the performance used in "The Wizard of Oz" which was released a month later.

"The Breeze: An Appreciation of J.J. Cale," will be released next week. It's an all-star tribute to Clapton's late friend, the guitarist and singer-songwriter from Tulsa, Okla. J.J. Cale deeply inspired Clapton and wrote two of his biggest hits, "After Midnight" and "Cocaine." He spoke with NPR's Eric Westervelt.

"That's what distinguishes a superhero from an action movie hero.," says Glen Weldon, author of The Caped Crusade. "He doesn't go out for revenge. It's not a vendetta, it's a crusade. He represents the idea of: 'This thing that happened to me? Never again.' "

Prince's semi-autobiographical film, "Purple Rain," hit theaters 30 years ago this weekend. Eric Deggans remembers the moment vividly.

Today's Morning Edition music is from Prince, with "Baby I'm a Star" from the film "Purple Rain," which opened in theaters 30 years ago today. It was filmed in and around Minneapolis, with many scenes at the First Avenue nightclub -- where some of the bartenders called Prince "Purple Pain."

Madrid's El Prado Museum admitted to losing 885 pieces of art from its collection. How does this happen?

Author Lisa O'Donnell talked to Euan Kerr about the challenges of becoming a novelist later in life, and how humor has allowed her to tell moving stories about difficult subjects.

Five years ago, printing your own book was stigmatized and was seen as a mark of failure. "But now," says a sociologist who is studying the industry, "the self published authors walk into the room and they say, 'I made a quarter of a million dollars last year."

In the age of the selfie, the self-portrait snapped on a phone then shared on-line, it might seem that there is no longer a place for portrait painters. But the artists involved in "Self & Others," a show that opens at the Instinct Gallery on the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, say otherwise.

Daily Circuit producer Stephanie Curtis is heading to the beach for two weeks and shares a few ideas about what she, and you, might bring to read.

The Daily Circuit's Tom Weber and Andrea Swensson of The Current curated a retrospective from First Avenue, where much of the movie was filmed.

Tonight marks the opening of "Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art" at the Walker Art Center, and the museum is calling it a groundbreaking survey of the last 50 years.

In the Guthrie Theater's production, American-born actor Jeff McCarthy was chosen for the role of Henry Higgins, a very proper English professor.

Krista Tippett has won some of radio's most prestigious awards for her work exploring the complexities of faith and human life.

Thousands of fanboys and fangirls have flocked to San Diego for the annual Comic-Con, a celebration of superheroes, villains and more.

Today's Morning Edition music is the song "Monster Movies" a new single from the Twin Cities-based musician and composer Mark Mallman.

Anyone who looks for Gabriel Iglesias on YouTube will find hours of material from the comedian, a 350-pound workaholic who for years has honed his craft before an audience.