RICKY GERVAIS IN KENYA

Ricky Gervais--you know him as a comic, author, actor, singer--as the asshole boss David Brent in the British television series "The Office," and the desperate actor Andy Millman in the series "Extras." His humor is excruciating. He is everyman, and we watch in horror as vanity and ego bring him down like cheetahs chasing a gazelle. Gervais is a funny, all right, but did you know he was also a caring humanitarian and philanthropist? Of course you didn't.

Ricky Gervais as David Brent on "The Office"


Ricky Gervais on Late Night with David Letterman, January 9th, 2009.

DESERT BLUES FROM TIMBUKTU

This is beautiful--just listen to this snakey bluesline from Mali and you can hear the sounds of Africa and the Mississippi Delta crawling across the land like a giant Kingsnake. This is Desert Blues, a music project with Habib Koité, Afel Bocoum and the Tuareg Women Ensemble Tartit from Timbuktu. These African musicians are poets and play the traditional instruments like the Tinde, Tehardant, Balafon, Imzad -- and some electric guitars, too. Timeless and mysterious, like nothing you've ever heard before but somehow strangely familiar.