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Slate advertising critic Seth Stevenson talks with Madeleine Brand about his listener survey of the most misused songs in television commercials. Listeners chose "Lust for Life," Iggy Pop's ode to drug culture, which is featured in an ad for the Royal Caribbean cruise line.

JetLAG bills itself as the largest festival of Russian, Slavic and East European musicians in the U.S. But its organizers almost canceled it this summer because of the war in Ukraine.

In the tradition of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, composers from Japan, Armenia and the U.S. paint colorful pictures by posing soloists in front of orchestras.

Winter Morning Walks, an album featuring jazz composer Maria Schneider and soprano Dawn Upshaw, revolves around meditations on nature and beauty by former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. All three artists have had battles with cancer — when, Schneider says, "everything in life becomes heightened."

La La Land is the third collaboration between writer and director Damien Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz. Their first was actually a senior thesis that was released to critical acclaim.

Each week, guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: the movie Earth Mama, a recent episode of Vibe Check and albums from Aqua and The Japanese House.

NPR's Weekly Dose of Wonder explores the wonder of music in this installment.

It's easy to make fun of disgruntled teenagers, but in his funny new Nietzsche and the Burbs, author Lars Iyer depicts them accurately and with real sensitivity, never mocking or condescending.

Robert Lee Watt, the first black French horn player to join a major U.S. symphony, spent 37 years with the LA Philharmonic. He faced a lot of resistance along the way, as his new memoir recounts.

Luis Alberto Urrea's latest, based loosely on his own brother's death, follows the members of a vibrant Mexican-American family as they deal with grief and impending death — but also celebrate life.