Takeaway sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin looks back at the last 17 weeks of the NFL season and gives his analysis of this weekend's games.

Since the 1980s, R.E.M. has been a reliable presence on the pop music scene. Songs like "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" and "Losing My Religion" helped define what indie rock would sound like for the next two decades; and for better or for worse, songs like "Everybody Hurts" and "Shiny Happy People" will forever be a part of our alt rock lexicon. Now that they've disbanded, what are we to make of their place in the rock canon?

Gold appears to be wearing a kryptonite vest as everything around it crumbles. In the face of stocks free-falling globally, the economy continuing to struggle, and jobs still hard to come by for millions of Americans, gold is surging. Gold rose to over $1,700 an ounce yesterday, and many believe we could see it top $2,000. We look at the history of gold starting when it was a mere $35 an ounce back in 1970.

Forty-two years and a day after Neil Armstrong became the first man to step foot on the moon, the space shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy space center, ending NASA's shuttle program after 30 years.

Addressing British Parliament over the News Corporation hacking scandal, Prime Minister David Cameron said the current investigation will widen to include the entire British media, and will look for different types of information related crimes.

At this point in the most summers, Sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin would be turning his attention to the first glimmers of football season, and to Tiger Woods, the shining star of golf.  But with an NFL lockout, a looming NBA stoppage, and a little firecracker from Northern Ireland taking over the links... It's a very different sports summer.  So what DOES a sports-watcher watch?  According to Ibrahim: Dodgeball, Cycling, and Badminton. 

Last night the Miami Heat beat the Bulls and will go on to face the Dallas Mavericks. Ibrahim Abdul-Matin says it's going to be a tough series. "I'm rooting for Dallas, but I think the Heat is going to win it." But that's not all that's happening in sports — ice hockey is heating up as well, tonight's hockey game between Tampa Bay and the Boston Bruins is one to watch. Ibrahim Abdul-Matin says the French Open is also worth turning on your television for.

Some might joke that his vocal chords are indeed much older, but celebrated folk legend Bob Dylan turned 70-years-old on Tuesday. Recently audio has surfaced from 1966, in which the singer speaks to a good friend during a flight from Nebraska to Colorado about struggling with addiction and contemplating suicide. It's the latest in a long narrative about a truly singular singer whose mysteries are still being revealed. We take a listen to some of the audio in question, and music that made Dylan a force of musical nature.

For more than thirty years, Cary Grant was one of the most bankable actors in the world, starring in such classics as “Bringing Up Baby,” “The Philadelphia Story,” “An Affair to Remember,” and “North by Northwest.” And to this day, he is the gold standard for the male movie star against whom actors like George Clooney are compared. But in 1966, at the age of 62, he hung up his hat, and focused the rest of his life on being a loving father to his only child, Jennifer Grant. Grant is the author of a new book, "Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, Cary Grant."

Takeaway host, John Hockenberry reflects on the "Mothers of Invention” panel at the FIRST Championship in St. Louis. He moderated the panel and talked to the moms of a few brilliant sons. He spoke with the mother of musician, will.i.am, Segway inventor Dean Kamen, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and educator and innovator Salman Khan. When did these moms know that their children were special? When they were in the crib. Jackie Bezos (Jeff's mom) says "I think I knew early on that he was wired differently ... when he tried to take his crib apart with his screwdriver, that cinched it."

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and this week, during which all eyes are on the accomplishments of the president, we look at his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham. A teenage mother, she married and divorced twice, had two children, and eventually went on to earn a PhD and work in international development. New York Times writer Janny Scott has written a new, comprehensive biography of Dunham called “A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother.”

We’re kicking off a new series of discussions on The Takeaway called "In My Experience." We'll be talking with older Americans who are long past retirement age, yet are nonetheless still looking to change how we live and work in this country. Philosopher and civil rights reformer Grace Lee Boggs joins us for the inaugural edition.

When David Foster Wallace took his own life in September of 2008, he left behind reams of unfinished work and a veritable young generation of readers still hungry for his work. This week, posthumous novel "The Pale King" is released from Wallace's long time publisher Little Brown. The book is unfinished, but was assembled from DFW's raggedy genius by longtime editor Michael Pietsch. Peitsch talks about how emotional it is for an editor to bring a book into the world when it's author is gone.

The first week of college basketball's biggest tournament is drawing to a close. Who has fallen, and who has lived to battle another day? We check in with Takeaway sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, to get a recap as well as a look at what's happening next week. Also, don't forget we're still accepting your March Madness brackets! 

It's true that February is generally considered the Dark Ages of the sports year, but there's actually a lot of activity going on this week. First up, news yesterday that St. Louis Cardinals slugger, and resident king of baseball, Albert Pujols arrived in camp without a contract extension, and thus, will not negotiate again until after the season. 

Winter storms along the East Coast affected scheduled NFL games over the weekend. The Vikings-Eagles game was postponed because of the weather, perhaps having the largest impact on fantasy football championships, many of which were this weekend. But the New York Jets, New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys all went forward with their games. To recap the weekend in football, we talk with Nando DiFino, sports writer for The Wall Street Journal.

It's no more changing diapers and preparing dinner for Brian St. Pierre, who went from stay-at-home dad to starting quarterback for the North Carolina Panthers this weekend. We talk with Nando Di Fino, sports reporter for the Wall Street Journal, about St. Pierre's performance on the field, and how other football teams fared over the weekend.

There’s a new movie hitting theatres this week called “Strange Powers.” It follows a band that, according to the film’s disclaimer, is iconic to some and completely unknown to others.

The band is called The Magnetic Fields. And though they’ve been making albums since 1989, their founding member, Stephin Merritt, is still a mystery to many.

Meritt and Claudia Gonson (who provides vocals and instrumentals for the band, and also serves as the band's manager) join us in studio, to give us a small glimpse into their lives, their music, and the film.

After the jump, an extended version of our studio interview with Merritt and Gonson.

The last time anyone got to hear Jerry Garcia play live was on July 9, 1995, when the Grateful Dead performed in Chicago. At the time, no one knew it be their last show: Exactly a month later – fifteen years ago today – guitarist Jerry Garcia died.

Today we take a look at the cultural impact Garcia and the Dead had (and still have) on music lovers, from the band's beginning in the '60s through today.

We want to hear from you. What are your favorite jam band experiences and what are your favorite jam band tracks?

In his first press conference since his steroid use was outed, Alex Rodriguez apologized for his mistakes. He chalked up his steroid use as a youthful indiscretion blaming himself for being "young and stupid." We brought in a sports fan, The Takeaway's own Jay Cowit, to decide whether or not this apology was genuine or just a requisite PR move.