The delightful soul/hip-hop performer Maya Azucena shares her talent and wisdom gained from growing up in Flatbush Brooklyn. Also a quick look at an African American rapper who can rhyme in Japanese!

Maya Azucena talks about her various influences, which range from classic soul to gospel to synth pop. She talks about her experience growing up mulitiracial in an African American neighborhood and how it shaped her worldview.

Hip Hop is probably now the most pervasive popular music in the world, but it’s still at its freshest on the streets of New York, where it was born. These fresh young talents give us a take on Hip Hop’s new directions and ever changing possibilities for expression.

Vanessa Hidary is a New York poet and performer who tackles issues of race , ethnicity and identity both onstage and off. She mixes rap, observation and story telling to explore difficult themes and issues of importance to us all.

WBER is a radio station in Rochester, New York, in the Northeastern part of the United States. Anyone in the Rochester area can be a DJ on the station, if they are willing to put the time in.

When a non-commercial radio station needs gear, and it doesn’t have money in the budget, it must turn to the audience and ask for help. When Tim Beideck heard that WBER’s transmitter urgently needed replacing, he decided to turn the premiere of Drivers Wanted into a fundraiser for the station.

Luckily, the fundraiser was a big success, and the movie got a lot of great press. Thousands of dollars were raised; WBER got the transmitter and the gear it needed.

Talented San Francisco DJ talks about her hometown and how much she’s grown to appreciate it. Often times you have to leave a place to realize how good it really is!

Jim’s known for writing about bible-thumping rural Florida, but it wasn’t until he headed north that his music started to reflect the place he grew up. His ticket out of town was a call from his sister, who had lined up a job for him as a fashion model!

Do you like American music? Do you like the Blues? Rock & Roll? Soul? Maybe even a little Country? If you do, then you are going to enjoy a stroll with us down Beale Street, in Memphis, Tennessee—home of Sun Studios, where Elvis himself laid down his first tracks, and Stax records, which recorded the likes of Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, and Wilson Pickett.

Tango has its roots in Argentina, but today this dance of love and passion can be found worldwide. Few places outside of Buenos Aires embrace the close embrace like San Francisco, California. On the street, San Franciscans demand their personal space, but at the milonga, distance falls away like the sun setting on the Golden Gate Bridge. Let’s drop in and see if we can pick up a few steps.

Rock’n’Roll isn’t dead—it just moved to Hamtramck! At least that’s what it seems like after checking out all the goings-on in this “city-within-a-city” near Detroit, Michigan. The lively music venues, happening art and theater scene, Polish food and culture, and hip shops filled with vintage clothing and cool, if not always useful, stuff make Hamtramck a fabulous place to be. Check it out!

OK. So, you call yourself a basketball player. You have some shots, you have some tricks. So, it’s time to bring your game to the Venice Beach courts where the sport is as real as it gets.

A nameless guitar discovered in a Florida pawn shop is asking important questions with surprisingly unimportant answers. A man ready to try to save a woman who only wants to see him falling. A Jim White interview is much like a one of his songs: you can read a story between the lines.

There is certain beauty in cheap bars, with their old pool tables and malfunctioning jukeboxes, hiding scars behind neon lights. There is an untold charm in the wobbly stools and the stinking bathrooms. Some people might never be able to see the gritty allure of the dive bar world. Lucky for us, our Bostonian guides have a small budget, thirsty livers, and open minds.