Frank Stasio

Downtown Raleigh's historic Oakwood neighborhood puts on its annual candlelight tour this weekend. It's a chance for curious strangers to poke around in some of the city's grandest and oldest homes. What few people realize is that the tour began some 40 years ago as a last-ditch effort to keep a freeway from demolishing the historic area. Neighbors have recently begun collecting one another's oral histories, to help preserve the neighborhood's fascinating story.

2011 was a stellar year for bass player John Brown. He had the opportunity to travel the state hosting educational workshops and performing community concerts for jazz lovers. His ensemble, the John Brown Jazz Orchestra, was featured in a documentary called “One Night in Kernersville,” a short film that won the Jury Award at this year’s Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Now Brown and his big band are jazzing up the holidays with a series of concerts that celebrate the music and spirit of the Christmas season. They join host Frank Stasio to share some musical merriment live in the studio.

Inbreeeding is nothing new in the world of insects, but researchers at North Carolina State University have found that when it comes to mating, bedbugs seem to have a genetic advantage over other creepy crawlies. Incest eventually depletes most populations, but the number of bedbugs has somehow managed to increase, even in infestations where forensic tests show evidence of inbreeding.

In 2003, Mayor Charles Worley of Asheville, NC proclaimed December 18th "Warren Haynes Day." Haynes is a revered singer, songwriter and guitarist. He plays with The Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule and is a Grammy-nominated solo artist, but it’s not just his virtuosity that got a day named for him. Haynes has used his skills and connections to improve life for his hometown’s most vulnerable citizens. He has hosted a Christmas Jam concert in Asheville for the past 23 years, sending the proceeds to the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

When Carolina Ballet Artistic Director Robert Weiss set out to reinvigorate the company's annual chestnut, “The Nutcracker,” his thoughts immediately turned to Las Vegas. That's where the best magicians are, after all. His quest led him to employ the services of magician Rick Thomas. Together they have added Vegas-style magic to the first act of the 1891 work of art. Host Frank Stasio talks with Weiss about retooling "The Nutcracker" for the new millennium.

Jade City’s hero Herald MF Jones comes to the rescue when an apartment building catches on fire. But was the fire an accident…or the work of The Beef Cooka?

Documentary producers have sunk their teeth into the growing sustainable food revolution over and over in recent years. In the crowded field of food films, this year's "American Meat" stands out for its digestible portrayal of the many aspects of our nation's flawed food system. The film will screen at the Haw River Ballroom on Thursday, followed by a panel discussion. In advance of the screening, host Frank Stasio talks with filmmaker Graham Meriwether and a group of local farmers: Suzanne Nelson of Cozi Farms; Eliza MacLean of Cane Creek Farms and Jeff Barney, chef of the Saxapahaw General Store and The Eddy.

Religion scholar Carl Ernst says he has witnessed how much anxiety the existence of the Qur’an can cause among non-Muslims. Ernst, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, began studying the holy text of Islamic faith in the late 1960s. In 2002, he watched the uproar in the national media over UNC’s decision to make the Qur’an required reading for that year’s incoming freshman class. Ernst says the Qur’an, like any spiritual text, is open to interpretation and he has created a guide to help make the book more accessible.

Colonialism is often associated with the violent seizure of the Americas and the enslavement of Africa, but its roots and implications go farther than most history texts show. Two new books from Duke University professors explore the nature of colonialism. One examines the role psychoanalysis played in colonial rule, and the other offers ideas about what kinds of challenges to Western colonialism exist in the 21st century.

Duncan Murrell got an early start on being an outside observer. He went to college on an ROTC scholarship where he vigorously protested apartheid in between military drills. And when Murrell became a Marine, his left wing politics never kept him from being promoted and honored. He went to journalism school as one of the only military veterans, and he covered the Gulf Coast for a paper in Mobile, Alabama after growing up in the North. He's written several groundbreaking stories for Harper's Magazine about New Orleans, edited author Robert Morgan for Algonquin Books and now runs the literary program at The Center for Documentary Studies.