The prize for best booty-shakin' performance of SXSW in Austin last week goes to Chicago rapper Kid Sister.  Her first single, 'Pro Nails' (featuring Kanye West), is just the tip of iceberg. Ultraviolet takes the best of high-energy 80s dance hip-hop and shoots it ...

The "godmother of punk" started out in 1970s New York. But in "Dream of Life," a new POV documentary airing on PBS, Patti Smith shows sides of herself that the public rarely gets to see. Smith tells Kurt that it's also an account of ...

On this week’s show, there’s a lovely story about the song that made Brazilian samba queen Carmen Miranda an international star in 1939 – “O Que è Que a Bahiana Tem.”  The name roughly translates to “What is it that the Bahian woman has?”

In our contest-obsessed culture, it’s easy to tune out awards hoopla. But England’s Mercury Prize has done what a meaningful award should do: shine a light on an artist who deserves it.  Twenty-six year-old Speech Debelle was virtually unknown before she won the prize last month.  Her debut record, Speech Therapy, is filled with hopeful, street-sassy rapping over organic beats.  Brushes, upright bass, piano and clarinet back up Debelle’s rhymes about growing up in London. She’s had some tough times, but doesn’t let it get her down.  The best track, “Spinning,” opens with her staccato flow: “This is for the tat on my wrist/ this is for the black of my fist/ this is for the S in my lisp…” and leads into an irresistible schoolyard chorus: “The world keeps spinning… nobody knows where it will take us, but I hope it gets better.”  With this delightfully catchy song, you feel like it is.

Kehinde Wiley creates big, bold paintings of young black men that are a throwback to 18th century classical portraiture. His sitters strike regal poses against vibrant, ornate patterns, wearing colorful T-shirts, caps and baggy jeans. It's like Baroque gone day-glo. Opening today at the Deitch Projects gallery in New York is a new exhibit of Wiley's portraits called 'Black Light.'

A junior high bonding moment over tortured Morrissey music led to the formation of the San Antonio band Girl in a Coma. Now the band - Jenn Alva and sisters Phanie and Nina Diaz - is getting attention from rock gods like Joan Jett. Their new album

Last night, I joined hundreds of nostalgic 30-somethings at a 30th anniversary screening of The Muppet Movie in Brooklyn. Seeing it on the big screen was pure delight, and proved the lasting genius of Jim Henson and co. Everything holds up: the snappy dialogue (Man in Swamp: 'You, you with the banjo, can you help me? I seem to have lost my sense of direction!' Kermit: 'Have you tried Hare Krishna?'); the irresistible soundtrack (the Electric Mayhem jams are the best); the hilarious cameos (Mel Brooks as Dr. Mengele-like mad scientist); and, of course, the unforgettable Muppets themselves (witness Miss Piggy transform from precious damsel-in-distress to gangster-ass-kicker, with her unmistakable battle cry: 'HEEEE-YAH!').

This is amazing. Especially a few minutes in when they bring out the banner with a giant Christ-like image of Michael. (See also my earlier post with their original "Thriller" performance from '07.) Thanks to Jocelyn Gonzales for this link.

This video of Filipino inmates performing a mass-ensemble dance to "Thriller" was circulating around the web a year or so ago. Given today's news, we thought it was worth another look. Jackson's death adds a dose of poignancy to the bizarre spectacle.

Back in 2006, I declared my love for Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal on our radio show. He was just starring in his first English role, and I was afraid he would be catapulted from indie brilliance into mainstream cheesiness, much in the way of Antonio Banderas.

The LA Times just did a nice feature about Kurt and his spring semester post as "Visionary in Residence" at the Art Center College of Design.  Now if only they could get his name spelled right! They fixed it!

Amid the 1900 bands who played the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas last weekend, Janelle Monáe stood out from the crowd. She's a funk-soul singer who fills her tunes with sci-fi and robot references. Her new album is Metropolis: The Chase Suite. Studio 360’s

The SXSW music festival in Austin has an absurd number of bands play every year -- this time it was up to 1900. So to find the gems, needless to say, is challenging -- and wonderfully refreshing if you succeed. I saw the amazingly inventive soul/funk singer Janelle Monáe play at a small club in Boston back in the fall and was determined to try to interview her for Studio 360. In the end, I got 6 minutes with her backstage after her Austin Music Hall show. My story airs this weekend. Meanwhile, check out this video of her performing "Sincerely Jane." One catch: the bass was so loud in the venue that it blew out my recording. So I synced it up with the audio from her CD. It ends up working quite nicely, and you still get a sense of her dazzling stage persona.

How did a German streetwalker become the All-American Girl? Writers, artists, scholars and (of course!) kids talk about the staying power of Barbie.

While the Japanese are known to be secular or atheist, at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples you'll often see people dropping coins in an offering box and praying (albeit briefly). Another ritual at these sites is to get a fortune, or omikuji. At the Akasuka Temple in Tokyo, you ...

Our disco-era Kyoto hotel redeemed itself when we found out they rent free bikes.  So our 24-hour visit was topped off by a delightful morning ride through the hills of the Higashiyama district.  It's the section with the largest concentration of temples and shrines, with narrow streets lined by old ...

We're in Kyoto tonight after a wonderful interview with Pico Iyer in nearby Nara. (More on that to come.) In our 12 hours here, we got great tape, saw beautiful night-lit temples, and ate delicious sushi at a genuine local joint. Our accommodations, however, leave something to be desired. ...

On the streets of Shibuya today: drum circles, drumming lessons, and breakdancing. We met a young radio reporter (Pejk spotted his DAT recorder) and he told us it's the third annual Shibuya music festival, called Shibu-on.

Some video highlights: first, breakdancing unplugged - to hand drums, pan flute and didgeridoo. ...

We (Americans) love to talk about how Japanese design - sushi, origami, bonsai trees - is amazing for its beauty and detail.  And yes, those things are there. But as I've been walking the streets of Tokyo, a few things have caught my eye that are much more utilitarian.

When ...

Today I joined Lisa Katayama for her interview with Erina Matsui, a 24-year-old artist who's already gotten the attention of Takashi Murakami and other art world big-wigs. Erina paints playful and surrealistic self-portraits, which she says should make people laugh. So as we walked into the Yamamoto Gendai ...