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A dance band called Dur-Dur Band ruled the nightclub scene in 1980s Mogadishu, thanks to a unique sound made possible by access to Western culture and instruments.

Bill Cheng's debut novel, Southern Cross the Dog, is full of mythical characters who feel like they rose right out of the Mississippi Swamp, and narratives that churn and swirl like the river itself. Cheng calls the novel "a love note to those old blues players."

When he first moved to Washington, D.C., White House faith adviser Jonathan DuBois had heard people in the nation's capital weren't serious about their religious beliefs. Instead, he found how those in the public eye keep a private faith.

Writer-director Derek Cianfrance could watch Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas a million times. "It was just a perfect movie, and I returned to see it about 30 times in the theater that year," he says.

One expert says the administration is operating drones with a "kill-not-capture" policy, adding that you don't get intelligence from those killed. But there's also a human toll — from the pilots who remotely operate the drones to those people who live in the areas that are targeted.

Morning Edition rides along with Andrew Harper of the UNHCR to the Syrian border. Roughly 3,000 Syrians each day wait for buses to take them to refugee camps in Jordan.

Sequestration resulted in automatic cutbacks to several government programs. Many families that rely on Head Start to care for and educate young children have been forced to make other plans. Host Michel Martin speaks with a Head Start teacher in Kansas and NPR Education Correspondent Claudio Sanchez, about how programs have been affected.

Television talk show host Wendy Williams is known for pushing the envelope and dishing the dirt on celebs. But her rise to fame wasn't always glamorous. Host Michel Martin speaks with Williams about her career, battle with addiction and new book Ask Wendy.

Dubbed a country singer by virtue of her Nashville base, Rose sounds more like a pop vocalist on The Stand-In. Drawing inspiration from Roy Orbison, Carlene Carter and countless others, Rose knows it takes an assured performer to sell the notion of vulnerability over the long haul.

On Showtime's dark comedy series, Laura Linney plays a terminally ill cancer patient. The actress's own father died from lung cancer while the series was being made; her mother was a cancer nurse when Linney was young. These experiences, she says, inform her performance.