LA Times on Burns' The War: an epic poem

"[Ken] Burns sometimes gets dinged for being too heartland; a critic for this paper chided his 'pure Hallmark' moments. But the whole point here is the contrast, the Hallmark against the horrors," writes Paul Lieberman in a Los Angeles Times feature about Burns and his upcoming film The War. "He's not producing a textbook but 'an epic poem,' and he's tried to distinguish his from the other WWII films by focusing on the interplay of home front and war front, using Sacramento, Luverne, Minn., Mobile and Waterbury."

"Bluegrass makes hangovers go away!"

WAMU's announcement that it will drop bluegrass music from its weekend schedule later this month and upgrade its HD Radio service prompted nearly three dozen listeners to post comments yesterday on DCist. A handful of listeners applauded the change: "I just don't 'get' Bluegrass music. Waaay too twangy and countrified for me," wrote one. But many others found reasons to object. The new Sunday afternoon news/talk line-up is "extraordinarily lame AND lazy," wrote one listener. "This sucks. Bluegrass makes hangovers go away!" commented another. "I always liked WAMU weekends for the very reason that it wasn't just like WAMU on the weekdays," writes a fan of the Dick Spottswood Show and American Routes, Americana music programs to be dropped from WAMU's flagship service.