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Watch Dana Brown's new documentary about surfing, Step Into Liquid, and you can almost feel yourself inside the curls of monster waves -- a wild rush of water pressing in all around you. NPR's Melissa Block talks with filmmaker Dana Brown about his documentary -- view a clip showing surfers on some of the biggest waves ever ridden.

In the latest segment in the "Honky Tonks, Hymns and the Blues" series, NPR's Paul Brown explores the influence of Jimmie Rodgers. The "father of country music" traveled like a meteor from obscurity, to fame, to early death. Combining blues, vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley with old-time mountain music, he brought the so-called "hillbilly" sound into the mainstream.

Baseball has a language all its own. To see it in action, just go to the ballpark, stop watching the ball and start looking for the hand signals flashing between players and the coaches. NPR's Melissa Block talks heads to the ballpark with author Paul Dickson for a look at the sport's hidden language.

If your idea of an unusual culinary combination is ketchup on scrambled eggs, maybe you'd like to try something a little more exotic. Some chefs at popular restaurants slip secret ingredients into their dishes all the time. NPR's Linda Wertheimer reports on some examples for Morning Edition.

In some parts of the country, it wouldn't be summer without that fried dough treat, funnel cake. And for one man, who's known in some circles as the Funnel Cake King, they've helped make the American Dream come true. Frank Wilmer, a.k.a. Apple Frankie, talks with NPR's Vikki Valentine about his career in the funnel cake business.

NPR's Paul Brown traces country blues back to its origins among sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta. It's part of "Honky Tonks, Hymns and the Blues," a special 11-part weekly series, airing Fridays on Morning Edition, highlighting the creation of American musical traditions.

Twenty-five years ago, the world's first baby conceived by in vitro fertilization, Louise Brown, was born. A million babies later, the procedure has turned out to be much safer than imagined. Yet, as NPR's Joe Palca reports, doctors say questions still linger.

Blue Note, the uniquely American jazz label, was formed by German immigrants who loved the music form and wanted to tell the world about it. In Blue Note Records, The Biography, author Richard Cook tells the story of Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, who formed the label that's been synonymous with jazz since 1939. Hear an extended interview with Cook.

A special 11-part weekly series, airing Fridays on Morning Edition, highlights the creation of the American musical traditions that give this country its own unique sound. In the second part, NPR's Paul Brown reports on the origins of the country guitar and how an instrument of the upper crust made it to the hills.

Diana Abu-Jaber's book, Crescent, weaves fragrant cooking, romance and the horrors of Saddam Hussein into her novel of Middle-Eastern immigrants and exiles in Los Angeles. Read an excerpt from the novel.