This week, statues proliferated , we lost a great actor , and being animated was no protection from being incarcerated. Here's what NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour crew was paying attention to — and what you should check out this weekend. I am enjoying raking leaves more than I can say.
We have a dogwood tree in the front yard that has recently released all of its leaves. They are coming down in reds and yellows and greens. I remember going around in elementary school and picking up a pretty leaf that I would take to school to put in a book or on a page, and I loved it.
I love the smell of the falling leaves. In two weeks, I know I'm going to hate it but right now, I am enjoying this. It’s heaven.
— Bob Mondello Any time a band takes kind of a long break from recording, say, 16 years, I don't expect the subsequent album to be among an artist's career highlights. But I absolutely love the new album by The Cure, Songs of a Lost World. It is this lavishly produced, very cohesive and coherent collection of songs.
Lyrically, it is very dark. It is, after all, The Cure, which is a band known to inject their songs with a little bit of bleakness. But it's also very beautiful.
The song "Alone" for example is not peppy but is leavened by the beauty of the arrangements in ways that make it feel not oppressive. When I interviewed Robert Smith of The Cure for Morning Edition , I asked him if he'd thought about what he wants his final music statement to be and he replied, “Good grief!.
