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Sure, Les Paul technically invented it first, and Leo Fender popularized the design. But author Andy Babiuk claims that a former motorcycle machinist turned Western swing aficionado is the true pioneer of today's electric guitars.

A show in Washington, D.C., features paintings, lithographs and other representations of the banjo. One of America's most endearing musical instruments also played a turbulent role in racial history.

In essays on the 'In Character' blog, NPR audiences have been waxing thoughtful about their own favorite characters. An 11-year-old, in foster care for the past four years, says he feels a kinship with the protagonist of A Dog's Life: Autobiography of a Stray.

Alex Rodriguez met the press for the first time since acknowledging that he took performance-enhancing drugs. A number of his New York Yankee teammates were on hand in Tampa, Fla., to lend support to Rodriguez as the team begins spring training.

Last Saturday, President Bush surprised guests at the annual Gridiron Dinner by singing part of his remarks. The event for journalists was off the record, but now the president's performance has made it onto YouTube, and the White House says that's OK. We take a listen.

In his new book, the head of the Center for American Progress and former chief of staff for President Clinton says the U.S. needs to create community activists, reform immigration law and form a stronger government; that will lead to a more fair society, he says.

Writer Mark Vaz's new book is Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong. Cooper was an explorer, war hero, filmmaker and cinema pioneer. A new biography tells of this larger-than-life personality.

Fitzhugh Mullan, a professor of health policy and pediatrics at George Washington University, says the West undertrains doctors and nurses, creating a vacuum — "an irresistibly appealing vacuum to ambitious, well-trained people in the developing world," including India.

Commentator Murray Horwitz tells what it was like yesterday at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinatti when umpire John McSherry collapsed and died at the opening game of the baseball season. Horwitz had attended ball games with his parents in Cincinatti - and was taking his teenager daughter. McSherry, who was 51 years old, suffered sudden cardiac death. The game was delayed to today; Horwitz described the atmosphere there and the matter of fact way his daughter described it afterwards.

Fifty years after the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., the role of activist Daisy Bates is still being debated. Bates helped recruit the Little Rock Nine, the first black students to attend the school. But some think she took much credit.