Mandy Patinkin opens the Classic Stage Company's 2008–09 season tonight, starring as Prospero in William Shakespeare's The Tempest. The company's artistic director, Brian Kulick, directs the production, which will run for a limited engagement, through October 12. Patinkin spoke with the Poughkeepsie Journal about the role and some of the other memorable ones from his career, naming as two favorites Inigo Montoya from the film The Princess Bride and Georges Seurat in Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George.

Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love, a new film documenting the making of Egypt, Youssou's seminal 2004 musical exploration of Islam, makes its Telluride Film Festival debut this weekend. While the schedule of screenings remains hush-hush until the proceedings begin tomorrow, it's safe to assume that Youssou will be involved in the festivities. The film examines the critical and public response to the album at home in Senegal, and abroad, where it garnered a Grammy Award. The following week, the film will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Youssou will also perform in a free concert.

Randy Newman recently spoke with Rolling Stone for a feature article in the September 4 issue, in which Harps and Angels, Randy's first album in nine years, is described as "a welcome return to form for Newman, one of the greatest songwriters of the rock era—though his songs rarely rock and often have more in common with Tin Pan Alley and show tunes."

Randy Newman helped open this week's Democratic National Convention in Denver yesterday, performing for delegates at a pre-Convention kick-off event. The New York Times says of Randy: "He prefers to wield a lyrical scalpel rather than a hammer, and he blends humor and politics in ways few songwriters would dare." The Knoxville News Sentinel calls him "one of modern music's true treasures" and credits him with having written "some of the most viciously hilarious and biting songs of the past 100 years."

Jonny Greenwood's Popcorn Superhet Receiver will receive its West Coast premiere tonight at San Francisco's Herbst Theatre. The composer included excerpts from the piece in his score for the Oscar-winning film There Will Be Blood, which you can listen to here. Tonight's concert also marks the San Francisco debut of New York's Wordless Music Series (helmed by Nonesuch's own Ronen Givony), which is presenting the concert and which gave the piece's US premiere in New York earlier this year.

Stephin Merritt and Laurie Anderson will each participate in the Talking Music series of conversations and performances from San Francisco's City Arts & Lectures, held at the Herbst Theatre. Stephin will open the season on September 11 in conversation and song hosted by Lemony Snicket author and fellow Gothic Archie Daniel Handler; Laurie will talk with music journalist Michael Azerrad for the season closer in April. In between are talks and performances by artists like Barbara Cook, Michael Tilson Thomas, Neko Case, and Okkervil River's Will Sheff.

John Adams's long-awaited memoir, Hallelujah Junction: Composing an American Life, is set for release in early October, and this week, The New Yorker has published an excerpt from the book in the article "Sonic Youth: A Composer Finds His Voice." In the magazine's podcast, John discusses the topic, from his early years as a composer in San Francisco through his 1981 breakout piece, Harmonium. In conjunction with the book's launch, Nonesuch will release a two-disc retrospective of the same name featuring some of his best-known works. Adams's latest opera, A Flowering Tree, is available for pre-order now.

Steve Reich's work will be the highlight of this weekend's events at the Edinburgh International Festival, with the UK premiere of Steve Reich Evening, a collection of pieces Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker has set to Reich's music over the past 25 years. Scotland on Sunday compares the "long and fruitful history" between the two artists to that of Stravinsky and Balanchine, Cage and Cunningham, calling the new work "a comprehensive and thrilling focus on the relationship between two modern masters." Also this weekend, Reich and Beryl Korot chair the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild's annual Gala honoring, among others, Garry Kvistad, a member of Steve Reich and Musicians.

Randy Newman was recently asked by Blender magazine to comment on the two Presidential candidates' lists of their top 10 favorite songs. Specifically, he was asked which candidate would get his vote "based solely on this list," to which Randy responded, in a statement that was edited down for the article, that, while he likes Senator McCain's musical choices, "you can't tell anything about a person from the music they like."

Congratulations to Randy Newman, whose new release, Harps and Angels, debuted at #30 on Billboard's Top 200, a career high. Randy is SPIN magazine's Artist of the Day for the "brilliantly written pop standards" on Harps and Angels, a "musically, as well as lyrically, intricate and intriguing" album from "one of the most respected songwriters this century." The Cleveland Free Times concludes that "Harps and Angels is both a great Randy Newman album—which is an impressive feat on its own—and a brilliant and important album in the wider context of popular music."

Works by Laurie Anderson and Steve Reich will share space at New York's Museum of Modern Art with the perhaps not surprising company of John Cage, Andy Warhol, and Sonic Youth and some slightly less likely pairings with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Devo, and The Cars. It's all a part of MoMA's multimedia exhibition Looking at Music, which begins today and runs through January 5, 2009, and explores the connections between art and music during the 1960s and '70s.

The fifth and final season of HBO's The Wire is out on DVD today. The New York City's Museum of the Moving Image recently held a panel with the show's creator, David Simon, and several cast members, which you can now hear online. MOMI's Chief Curator David Schwartz, begins the proceedings by saying, "It's hard to figure out how to introduce this program with the proper amount of hyperbole, because the argument among critics seems to be whether this is one of the greatest shows in television history or the greatest show." The New York Post calls it "unmissable TV"; The Scotsman says it's "magnificent" and "seriously addictive."