Erland and the Carnival bring its morose and magical folk-pop to our side of the pond at the Knit tonight. Download the band's "Trouble in Mind" here.

Hollywood legend Doris Day is one of the few top-ranking female box office stars who is still alive to talk about what it was like to break into Hollywood in the 1940s. Day recently spent time talking about her life and career with WNYC Music Host Jonathan Schwartz.

Nirvana covered two of their songs and Kurt Cobain once called them his favorite songwriters in the whole world. After a 20-year hiatus, the Scottish indie pop couple, The Vaselines, reunites to make music. Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee talk with Studio 360's Kurt Andersen and play songs from the band's new album, Sex with an X.

In honor of John Lennon's 70th birthday, we dove into WNYC's audio archives and came up with these classic recordings of The Beatles talking to the press.

I find it so hard to believe that I, today, am older than John Lennon was when he was murdered on that December night in 1980.  By the end of his 40 years, Lennon had accomplished so much; he was and continues to be an undeniable cultural force. 

Pop music legend and New Yorker John Lennon would have celebrated his 70th birthday this Saturday. To commemorate his birth, WNYC has gathered these thoughts and reflections from Lennon fans, including from some of WNYC's most favorite personalities.

After 21 years with Queens Theatre in the Park, founding Executive Director Jeffrey Rosenstock announced he'll be step down in June, after the company's 2011 season. Rosenstock has been with the theater since 1989 and oversaw the recent completion of a $27 million renovation.

Renowned saxophonist Branford Marsalis will reunite with trumpeter Terence Blanchard for a special performance at the Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater on Friday, Oct. 1 and Saturday, Oct. 2 at 8 p.m. WQXR music host Terrance McKnight checks in with Marsalis before his Jazz at Lincoln Center show.

The East Village Community School is responding to budget cuts by releasing an album of multicultural children's songs performed by the school's students and parents. Read more and download a free track from the album here.

The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger makes songs which are ornate, fanciful, tuneful, and unusual. The band is Sean Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and his partner in life and music, Charlotte Kemp Muhl. The duo plays multiple instruments and sings in harmony about elegant gardens, dystopian futures, striving scientists, a smarmy impresario, and much more. Check out the group performing "Lavender Road" below.

Susan Baker, the chairwoman of New York City Opera who presided over a turbulent period that included the ill-fated hiring of Gerard Mortier as general manager, will step down in December, the company announced Thursday. Baker, who is 59, has been chairwoman since 2003. Charles R. Wall, a former tobacco company lawyer who served on City Opera's board of directors from 2001 to 2008, will succeed her as chairman.

In its new album, Terra Incognita, the Imani Winds has broadened its repertoire by recording works by Jason Moran, Paquito D’Rivera and Wayne Shorter—all well-known Jazz composers.

On Tuesday night, singer Patti LaBelle takes the stage at the Eugene O'Neil Theater. But this time she won't be performing her own hit songs. LaBelle is taking over the role of Fela Kuti's mother, Funmilayo, in the Broadway hit, Fela!

Musicians from New York and New Jersey represented their home states at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) in Los Angeles on Sunday night. One of the highlights of the awards ceremony was the outfit on the Upper West Side's Lady Gaga, which was made entirely of meat. Gaga became the first female solo artist to receive two nominations for Video of the Year when both "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" were nominated. She also made history by getting 13 VMA nominations in the past year, more than any other artist.

The self-produced, full-length record Riposte from the Brooklyn band Buke & Gass (pronounced ‘Byook and Gase') is due out September 14 on Brassland Records. Listen to and download a track from the album, "Your Face Left Before You," right here.

Though it looks like any fluorescent-lit church basement, community center or public school teacher's lounge, the basement of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx's Morris Heights neighborhood has a monumental history. It was on this unlikely linoleum floor, under the workaday dropped ceiling, that Clive Campbell a.k.a. DJ Kool Herc first set up the turntables and guitar amp that gave life to what is known now as the sound system and hip-hop music.

"He was the guy who first laid it down and played it for a party crowd," says hip-hop historian Marcus Reeves.

For many of us, the day after Labor Day marks the official end of summer. New York City schools start on Wednesday and the next major American holiday is far off on the horizon. In homage to working hard and daydreaming about telling your boss to “Shove this Jay-Oh-Bee,” here's a mixtape to help make the return to the daily grind a little more bearable—at least until Thanksgiving.

It's often said that the Trinidadian steel pan is the only acoustic instrument invented in the twentieth century. This Saturday, it gets the spotlight at the steel drum "Panorama" competition.

The West Indian Day Carnival is a five-day festival that includes some of the Caribbean's best music and New York City's largest parade. Find out more with WNYC's guide.