Tell Me More

It's been nearly a year since Rahm Emanuel cruised to victory in the election for Chicago's mayor. Host Michel Martin talks with Mayor Emanuel about how he's raising Chicago's international profile and working to boost the city's economy. Emanuel also weighs in on President Obama's re-election campaign.

All week-long NPR will look at parts of the U.S. economy that are beginning to thrive after the economic downturn. Host Michel Martin hears individual stories of economic upturn, along with stories of continued struggles, from listeners and NPR's Senior Business Editor Marilyn Geewax.

March Madness is the biggest month in college basketball. But the madness can start long before students get to college. Some coaches with little or no experience recruit kids as young as eight, dangling big dreams in front of families. Host Michel Martin speaks with George Dohrmann about his book Play Their Hearts Out.

Tell Me More's website lit up with comments after a discussion with a Georgia lawmaker who suggested regulating vasectomies. Host Michel Martin and editor Ammad Omar dig through the mailbag to talk about that topic, and the debate over the greatest drummer of all time.

Host Michel Martin and the Barbershop guys talk about whether there's a clear path to securing the GOP nomination. They also weigh in on Peyton Manning and on the NFL investigation that revealed some players were paid bounty to take down opponents.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Coming up, we'll hear how a former male model and amateur boxer with no experience making documentaries wound up making one about the elusive and irascible drummer of the legendary rock band Cream. That's in just a few minutes.

A Chicago minister went to new heights to bring attention to violence in his neighborhood. Reverend Corey Brooks moved onto the roof of an abandoned building that he said was a haven for crime. He vowed to stay until he raised enough money to tear it down. Reverend Brooks speaks to host Michel Martin about how he met that goal.

Player safety and head injuries were top issues during last year's National Football League lockout. So the news of a bounty system that rewarded players for injuring opponents has people wondering who's to blame for the brutality in football, and whether fans share the responsibility. Host Michel Martin talks with ethicist Jack Marshall.

Drummer Ginger Baker is famous for his frenzied drum solos as part of legendary 60s rock trio Cream. But when filmmaker Jay Bulger wanted to make a documentary about him, Baker was hesitant. Host Michel Martin speaks with Bulger about the trials and tribulations it took to convince Baker, and why he had to endure an assault to complete the project.

For more than four decades, the Philadelphia Dance Company, PHILADANCO, has opened its doors to dancers of all races. Ballerina Joan Myers Brown founded the dance studio, in spite of decades of personal struggle against deeply ingrained and often unquestioned racial barriers in the ballet world.

Brown, who is African-American, tried to take classes in the 1950s at white ballet studios in Philadelphia. But "the doors were closed to her," says Brenda Dixon Gottschild, author of Joan Myers Brown and the Audacious Hope of the Black Ballerina.