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Poor CD sales and Internet theft of song files spell tough times for the mainstream music business, but it's a different story for musicians who reject the conventional "record label" business model. For these artists, the same trends that hurt the conventional recorded-music industry prove to be a boon for independent musicians and producers. Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers reports.

The children's book Holes arrives in movie theaters. The Newbery Medal-winning author, Louis Sachar, also wrote the screenplay. Andrew Davis, who also directed The Fugitive, works with a young cast plus grown-up stars Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight. NPR's Lynn Neary reports.

Over a century ago, William Howard Taft teed off a long tradition of presidential golf. Despite the power of his 350-pound frame, a wild swing made Taft a terrible golfer. In an interview with NPR's Bob Edwards, author Don Van Natta Jr. says their behavior on the golf course offers an insight into the character of America's presidents.

Literature aimed at adolescents is difficult to translate to film. Yet, a buzz builds around the film version of a Newbery Award-winning novel. Like the book, the movie is called Holes. NPR's Bob Mondello says it has a shot at being as big a hit on screen as it is at bookstores.

Host Bob Edwards talks with radio producer Larry Josephson, about the classic comedy skits of radio personalities Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding. Josephson has reissued a CD with a sampling of the pair's sketches, in honor of Bob Elliott's 80th birthday.

The Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film is Germany's Nowhere in Africa, a fact-based story of refugees in a time of war. Now showing on U.S. screens, the movie follows a German-Jewish family that fled to Kenya in 1938 to escape the Nazis. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan offers a review.

A new book of photography features people imprisoned for crimes they didn't commit -- and later freed. Many of Taryn Simon's images show the accused with victims and their families, and at the crime scenes. Hear extended interviews and see photos from The Innocents.

The new film A Mighty Wind -- from the comic talent behind Spinal Tap -- spoofs the folk music era of the early 1960s. The original songs were filmed as live performances. Eugene Levy, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest are among the stars. They talk with NPR's Melissa Block.

Gary Gladstone has been to Mars, Purgatory and Hell, and he has the photographs to prove it. In a new book, Passing Gas: And Other Towns Along the American Highway, the award-winning photographer offers photos of more than 75 small towns across the United States with unusual names. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Gladstone about his journey through small-town America.

Arturo Sandoval's virtuosity is on full display in his newest album, Trumpet Evolution. On each of 19 songs, he imitates the style and technique of a great trumpeter who has come before him -- from Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie to Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis. NPR's Linda Wertheimer speaks with Sandoval about his musical tribute.