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The Nat King Cole Show debuted in 1956, making singer and jazz pianist Nat "King" Cole the first black man to host a nationally televised variety program. Cole reluctantly challenged segregation on television and in American society, but a year later the show ended.

Gen. Michael Hayden, President Bush's nominee to head the CIA, is a highly respected military man with extensive intelligence experience. But his past work was more grounded in the signal intelligence of the National Security Agency than the human intelligence he would oversee at the CIA.

Central Grocery, one of New Orleans' best-loved specialty foods stores, had to close for a few months after Hurricane Katrina hit. But one of its owners forged ahead to re-open in time for Mardi Gras and the Central Grocery's 100th birthday.

With a versatile mixture of catchy melodies, lush harmonies and lazy organs and horns, The Long Winters' members craft clever, shimmering pop. Few of the group's songs stray from topics revolving around love gone wrong, but singer-songwriter John Roderick rarely takes the expected road.

Fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border has been punctuated Saturday by confrontations inside Lebanon between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerillas. The ground combat came in addition to continuing Israeli bombardments of Lebanon, and Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

With the arrivals of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court shifted to the right, as expected, in its just-completed term. But the shift was less dramatic because Justice Anthony Kennedy assumed a swing role.

His new feature film, The Magdalene Sisters, is based on the real-life laundries run by the Sisters of the Magdalene Order in Ireland near the end of the 19th century. Girls considered wayward or unruly were sent there as punishment for their sins and forced to do labor under sweat-shop conditions. The last of the laundries was shut down in 1996. Mullan's film follows the lives of four young women and takes place from 1964 to 1969. Before writing and directing, Mullan was best known for his acting and starred in The Big Man, Riff-Raff, Shallow Grave and Trainspotting. He won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in Ken Loach's film My Name is Joe.

Iron and Wine's diverse, progressive new album (The Shepherd's Dog) has already earned strong sales and excellent reviews. In this performance and interview segment, singer Sam Beam plays songs and talks about the disc's status as a "headphone record."

On May 24, 1987, Max Roach performed solo and with two groups in the performance studio of WBGO. Wearing a silk suit with rolled-up sleeves, he wowed the listening audience with his precise and melodic drumming. Hear the late, great drummer perform on JazzSet.

As its name suggests, this quartet borrows from the folk-dance rhythms of Africa and the Middle East. But it also draws on the perspective of modern jazz. Hear a live recording.