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Singer Sam Phillips began her music career as a Christian singer. She took her faith with her and began to make pop music that are modern torch songs, songs of love and pain. The music on her latest CD, A Boot and A Shoe, is stark, with production from T Bone Burnett. NPR's Melissa Block talks with Phillips about the characters and many angles the writer uses to compose music that is more impressionistic than storytelling.

He is currently starring in the Broadway production of Spamalot, the musical of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. He plays King Arthur. The show has been nominated for 14 Tony awards, including one for best performance by a leading actor in a musical for Curry. Curry's first movie, the film that made him famous, was the 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This interview was originally broadcast on March 15, 2005.

The striking Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri stars as Marguerite in Houston Grand Opera's production of Gounod's Faust, alongside celebrated bass Samuel Ramey in one of his trademark roles as Mephistopheles, and tenor William Burden in the title role.

The government on Wednesday releases its estimate of economic growth in the first three months of the year. The gross domestic product is the total value of all goods and services produced — everything from autos built to manicures sold.

GREENSBORO — With toilet paper flying off the shelves, a North Carolina truck driver caused a stir when he was pulled over hauling 18,000 pounds of…

The plant will employ 1,000 new workers, reaching full production by 2017.

A South Korean court has ruled that Apple and Samsung infringed on each other's patents and has ordered a partial product ban. Included are certain iPhones and iPods as well as a Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

The Brazilian state oil company has a new chief executive and her name is Maria das Gracas Foster. Petrobras is the world's fifth-largest oil producer, and Foster becomes the first woman to run a top-five oil company. This comes as the firm looks to double its production by 2020. The company's stocks surged on news of the appointment.

Gabriel Byrne's latest film, Wah-Wah, opens this week. Later this month he may win a Tony nomination for his role in the Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's Touch of the Poet. He talks with Jacki Lyden about his career.

STING is in a new movie, "Gentlemen Don't Eat Poets." The former bassist and lead singer of The Police has been a solo artist since the 1980's. He also acted in a number of films including "Dune" and "Quadrophenia," and appeared in a Broadway production of "Three Penny Opera." The man who grew up as Gordon Sumner talks about his music and filmwork. (REBROADCAST FROM 3/4/96).

The controversial new fat substitute Olestra is making its way to supermarket shelves. The Food and Drug Administration approved Olestra earlier this year for use in snack foods such as chips and crackers. Proctor and Gamble, which makes Olestra, says it will allow people to eat potato chips without the fat. Critics say Olestra causes gastrointestinal distress, and robs the body of important nutrients. Frito Lay is the first to come out with a product line based on olestra. The company is now test marketing the chips in three cities around the country. NPR's Joe Palca travelled to one of those test cities, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to see what kind of reception Olestra was getting.

Host Scott Simon talks with Matthew Scully, author of Dominion a book on "animal welfare." It's published by St. Martin's Press. Mr. Scully criticizes the factory farm where animals are treated as mere products, and raised and slaughtered in a way that maximizes profits and minimizes decency. Instead Scully argues that humans are morally responsible for protecting animal welfare, and must treat all animals, even those bred for slaughter, in as humane a way as possible.

New York state apple growers are fighting to make local school boards more picky about the apples they serve to students. The quality, they say, is fine, but the apples are being imported most likely from Washington state. Local growers would like to see New York products served to New York children. Brenda Tremblay of member station WXXI reports.

Charles de Ledesma reviews the new CD from Peter Gabriel. It's called "Ovo", and it's essentally the soundtrack he wrote for a show in London's Millenium Dome earlier this year. It has the trademark sound of the acclaimed singer -- distinctive yearning vocals, rich production, and world music influences. Ledesma says the CD lacks an overall structure or narrative -- the themes of the Millenium Dome shows don't quite come through -- but the wonderful sound of the songs more than makes up for it. (3:45) The album is on Real World Music; it is currently for sale as an import, but available in most music stores and on websites that sell popular music CDs.

The writer behind five screenplays and several theater productions, his new play is called –Lobby Hero— and opens March 13 at Playwrights Horizons. He also wrote, directed and acted in the Oscar nominated –You can Count on Me,— which came out last year. The screenplay for that movie recently won Best Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America and is up for an Oscar in the same category. It is also an Oscar contender in the category of Best Actress in a Leading Role (played by Laura Linney). Other movies hes worked on include –The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle— and –Analyze This.—

Ty Warner, owner of the Beanie Baby brand, had trouble getting his miniature stuffed animals from Chinese factories. He booked more than 150 flights to airlift his product to his Illinois warehouse.

The band mixes psychedelic melodies into appealing indie-pop, a blend that's caught on with fans. The group boosted its production values for God Save The Clientele, which singer Alasdair MacLean describes as "a lovely blend of Big Star twisted power-pop and country achin'."

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) charges the Bush administration with hiding the details of a postwar-Iraq oil contract awarded to a subsidiary of the Halliburton Corp., formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney. The no-bid contract, which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says included not only extinguishing oil fires but also "operation of facilities and distribution of products," could be worth up to $7 billion. Hear Rep. Waxman.

Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. He's the man behind the family adventure films Spy Kids and Spy Kids 2. His list of credits include: writer, director, producer, director of photography, production designer, editor, visual effects supervisor, sound designer, re-recording mixer and composer. His first feature film was El Mariachi, which he made in 1993 for $7,000. It won the Audience Award for best dramatic film at the Sundance Film Festival and was the first American film released in Spanish. He also wrote a book about making El Mariachi called Rebel Without a Crew.

Computers and computer monitors in the United States are responsible for the unnecessary production of millions of tons of greenhouse gases every year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. EPA officials say emissions could be drastically reduced if companies and individual computer users would follow a few energy-saving guidelines. NPR's Chris Arnold reports.