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Gregor Piatigorsky, the Russian cello virtuoso, used to talk about "tasting the blood" of music -- music as destiny. "You are taken by it," he said. Piatigorsky also was taken by the works of art he collected. Samples of his collection -- along with his prized Stradivarius cello -- are on exhibit in Baltimore. NPR's Susan Stamberg reports.

The Stax Museum of American Soul Music opens Friday in Memphis, Tenn., honoring the recording studio that once churned out hundreds of R&B and pop hits. The Stax studio -- built in a movie theater that once stood on the same site as the new museum -- drew music talent from all over the South, including Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes. Stax became known for the trademark rich, gritty soul that defined its sound. NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports.

Style Wars celebrates New York City graffiti artists' modern-day hieroglyphics, and captures the days and nights when the young outlaws ruled the subway lines. NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports on the 20th anniversary re-release of the 1983 television documentary on DVD. See video clips and photos from the film.

The comic book mutants known as the X-Men are back on the big screen. X2: X-Men United, packs in more characters -- good and evil -- than the first X-Men film. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan offers a review.

Songwriter Felice Bryant dies at age 77 at home in Gatlinburg, Tenn. She collaborated with her husband to pen some of the best-known tunes in country music and early rock 'n' roll. Her songs Bye Bye Love and Wake Up Little Susie were Everly Brothers standards, just as Rocky Top became a country standard. NPR's Melissa Block offers a remembrance.

Fifty-five years ago, John Steinbeck's best friend died after being struck by a train near Monterey's Cannery Row. Ricketts, a marine biologist, was cast as the fictional "Doc" in Steinbeck's best-selling novel. In a two-part Morning Edition report, NPR's Renee Montagne looks back at one of American fiction's most famous locales and at Ricketts and his lasting legacy.

This year's Pulitzer Prizes are announced Monday. Among the winners: Samantha Powers for her book on genocide called A Problem from Hell, Jeffrey Eugenides for his novel Middlesex about a hermaphrodite, and composer John Adams for his Sept. 11th-inspired music On The Transmigration of Souls. NPR's Laura Sydell reports.

Twenty years ago, the British literary magazine Granta published a list of what it considered the best young novelists of Britain. Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes, and many more went on to find fame and sometimes fortune. And Granta had found itself a tradition. The March edition features a new group of young authors. NPR's Lynn Neary speaks with Granta editor Ian Jack and two of the writers on the list: Alan Warner and Andrew O'Hagan.

Mexican tenor Ramon Vargas releases In My Heart, a CD of 17th and 18th century Italian love songs sung in the Bel Canto or "beautiful song" style. It's a type of operatic singing characterized by rich tonal lyricism and brilliant display of technique. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Vargas.

Henry Ford's affordable, mass-produced Model T changed the face of America. But the innovative automaker's failure to look beyond the Model T was nearly disastrous for his company, author Douglas Brinkley tells NPR's John Ydstie. At npr.org, Hear Brinkley describe how Ford Motor Co. avoided that fate by adapting.