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A decade after Los Angeles erupted in the wake of the Rodney King verdict, a four-part NPR series examines how the city has changed -- and how it hasn't. As the LAPD works to remove the tarnish from its image, L.A.'s minority communities are changing in ways that couldn't have been predicted in 1992.

Immigrant communities in Los Angeles and Southern California are arguably the most diverse places in the country. The different groups sometimes live in ethnic enclaves and don't mix. But Alex Cohen member station KQED visits a small sliver of L.A. County that can accurately be described as a melting pot, an ethnic stew like no other.

When Roy Rogers first heard a recording of Robert Johnson playing the blues, he was hooked. The slide guitar evokes the human voice and is "one of the most expressive ways to play," Rogers says. Listen as he discusses and demonstrates some of his blues influences in a performance chat in NPR's Studio 4A with Morning Edition's Bob Edwards.

Watch a mini-concert, recorded live at the 30A Songwriters Festival back in January.

As ringleader of the all-star band The New Pornographers, A.C. Newman has unleashed a prolific outpouring of songs notable for their consistently high quality. In a session from WXPN, Newman performs songs from Get Guilty and talks about his obsession with pop music's history.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a plan that would give the nearly 12 million undocumented workers now living in the United States a path to citizenship. The debate now moves to the full Senate. NPR's Jennifer Ludden helps explain the politics and policies involved.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews A Ship Made of Paper, the new novel by Scott Spencer (Ecco).

Hear Prophet's performance from the 30A Songwriters Festival in Florida.

Singer Sam Phillips began her music career as a Christian singer. She took her faith with her and began to make pop music that are modern torch songs, songs of love and pain. The music on her latest CD, A Boot and A Shoe, is stark, with production from T Bone Burnett. NPR's Melissa Block talks with Phillips about the characters and many angles the writer uses to compose music that is more impressionistic than storytelling.

The daughter of a Tamil revolutionary, Sri Lankan M.I.A. is now a rap sensation in England. The 28-year-old is known as much for her music as her life story. She combines the rhythms of global cultures with lyrics that some say incite revolution. Critic Oliver Wang reviews her CD Arular.