As Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band prepare for a show tonight in Minneapolis, we're wondering: For today's 9:30 Coffee Break, what tracks by supergroups do you want to hear? Send us your requests.

Patti Smith was at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois to talk about her new memoir when a fan named Noreen Bender walked up and handed Smith several items that had been stolen 36 years ago—possibly when a truck containing some of Smith’s touring equipment was stolen in Chicago in 1979. Bender said a friend gave her…

Prof‘s new album Liability will be released tomorrow on Rhymesayers Entertainment, where the indefatigable party-starter is the newest signee. The album title is a theme for the characters who populate the songs: they’re the kind of people it’s dangerous to have around. (In real life, at least—on record, it’s another matter.) Liability includes guest appearances by Tech…

A listener suggestion and the MEA Weekend inspired today's theme: For today's 9:30 Coffee Break, what traveling songs do you want to hear? Send us your requests.

Between his work as a U.S. Ambassador in Sierra Leone and being McNally Smith College of Music’s hip-hop program department chair, local rapper Toki Wright is taking time for community outreach in southeastern Minnesota. Wright will give two days of public workshops, including a free show, this month in Winona area schools. The Mid West Music…

Never mind the Governor’s Mansion: a private Paisley Park party is turning into the Minnesota version of a White House reception. After bashes welcoming the National Association of Black Journalists (in August) and Madonna (last week), Prince helped the Minnesota Lynx celebrate their WNBA championship by inviting them to his Chanhassen studio for a private…

Frank Turner wants guitars that have a very full sound and can stand up to the rigors of his energetic live shows. In the latest addition to The Current's Guitar Collection, Turner describes what he likes about and how he uses Gibson guitars, what inspires him as a guitarist, and which instrument is his 'only kind of rock 'n' roll excess extravagance [he's] ever really had.'

Marlon James, a professor at St. Paul’s Macalester College, has won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for a novel that explores the attempted assassination of Bob Marley. Though the novel is a work of fiction, the assassination attempt that inspired the book actually happened, when gunmen stormed Marley’s house in 1976 and shot the reggae legend,…

If you’ve listened to previous episodes of The O.K. Show, you’ll know that I am very interested in how artists’ health affects their ability to make music. We’ve talked about mental health, disease, depression and grief—all such serious topics at the core of some of today’s most moving songwriting. Today, I’m taking things a different…

Tonight, the Minnesota Lynx face the Indiana Fever in the title-deciding game of the WNBA finals. If the Lynx have a Fever, there's only one prescription: More cowbell. So for today's 9:30 Coffee Break, let's help the Lynx get over the Fever by playing songs with more cowbell. What songs do you want to hear?