Cinco de Mayo
Many celebrations of Mexico's Cinco de Mayo holiday kicked off Friday and continue in a number of U.S. cities this weekend. Weekend America hosts Bill Radke and Barbara Bogaev visit with Jose Bustos, the organizer of an event in Arkansas, to learn how this year's celebration will be affected by the recent immigrant campaigns across the country.

Immigration Demographics
Is a flood of immigrants to the U.S. only a short-term challenge for the U.S.? Demographer Phillip Longman thinks so. He tells host Barbara Bogaev that given recent trends in population growth, the United States will have a greater need for immigrants 20 years from now. And he argues it'll have a lot more trouble attracting them.

PLOrk
The Princeton Laptop Orchestra, or PLOrk as it is known, performs its final concert of the semester this weekend. The group has caused something of a sensation in academic circles and avant-garde musicians are queuing up to compose for them. They have their own wireless-network that can play anything from electropop to avant garde on instruments specially designed to interface with their laptops. Independent producer Joel Rose brings us their story.

Thereoke!
You've heard of Karaoke. Now apply that concept to the theremin—that eerie electronic instrument that dominates the soundtracks of bad science fiction movies. The result is Thereoke. Hosts Bill Radke and Barbara Bogaev introduce us to TradeMark, a theremin player performing at a Thereoke event this weekend in San Francisco.

Forgiving Your Tresspasers
Reverend Tom Faulkner of Sparkill, New York is preparing a sermon that many Americans may have a hard time swallowing this weekend. It has to do with forgiveness and a man many would like to see dead: Zacharias Moussaoui. The convicted 9-11 conspirator avoided a death sentence and was ordered to life in prison this week. Host Bill Radke talks to Faulkner, who was in charge of blessing the remains at Ground Zero.

Becoming One With Your Art
R. Phillip Hanes Jr. helped give birth to the North Carolina School of the Arts. Now he will remain with it even in death. The retired textile executive and longtime arts benefactor just watched the dedication of his last resting place: a sculpture by Richard Hunt in the heart of the arts school campus in his hometown of Winston-Salem. He will not lie there alone. The sculpture eventually will also house the cremated remains of his wife and that of his longtime friend, the sculptor Richard Hunt. He talks to host Barbara Bogaev about the sculpture and his plans. 

Modern Funerals
American baby boomers are reinventing the funeral ritual, making it more and more individual and less about tradition. Lisa Cullen has written a book called, "Remember me: a Lively Tour of the new American Way of Death." Her book is fairly personal, and charts her visits to various quirky, and weird modern funerals -- such as the one conducted by a woman who had her husband turned into a diamond. Weekend America meets her at a Tango Funeral for a woman who loved to dance.

Whatever Floats Your Boat
It's opening day of boating season. And boaters aren't the only ones filled with glee. Seattle's big boating parade is this weekend. Each year, thousands of people line the shore to see the area's watercraft decked out for their annual procession. Host Bill Radke talks with the head of the Bremerton Yacht Club about what he's doing as he prepares for the event.

Weekend Weather
Weekend America's John Moe takes a look at the weather and Saturday happenings all across the country.

» Event information

A Prairie Home Extra
The long-awaited Prairie Home Companion movie debuted in Minnesota this week, starring Public Radio's own Garrison Keillor. There are some other people who play themselves in the film too, including the show's staff writer Jessica Nordell. She tells host Bill Radke about the unusual position she found herself in, being hired as an extra to play herself.

What a Difference 10,000 Years Makes
The pyramids have been around for about five thousand years and are still full of mysteries. Imagine what people 10,000 years from now will be thinking when they stumble across still radioactive nuclear waste, buried deep below the earth? How do we communicate with the people of the future that it's something they need to avoid? Independent Producer Eric Mack explores the challenge.

Imagine There's No People
What would the world be like if man ceased to exist? What would be the ruling species? What would happen to everything man created? Hosts Bill Radke and Barbara Bogaev talk with Alan Weisman who has been exploring that very subject and offers some surprising scenarios.

Inventors Hall of Fame
Host Bill Radke talks with two of them: Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the Internet, and George Smith - a coinventor of digital camera imaging chips.  Then: if you could invent something, what would you create? Weekend America talks to kids about their ideas.

Classical Music Pick: Golijov
Time Out New York classical music editor, Steve Smith, reviews the latest work by Argentinean composer Osvaldo Golijov. It's an opera called, "Ainadamar," and it features the American soprano, Dawn Upshaw.

Golijov blends Latino rhythms with Sephardic chants, laptop computer sound effects, and more traditional classical devices to tell the story of poet-playwright Frederico Garcia Lorca and actor Margarita Xirgu. Xirgu is getting ready for the last performance of one of Lorca's plays and reflects upon how closely the play mimics her own relationship with Lorca.

Solomon Squad
It's an issue faced by many Baby Boomers today: When do you determine it's time to step in and arrange care for your elderly parents? Host Bill Radke and a caller put that question to Weekend America's Solomon Squad: Sherry Lansing and Lionel Sosa.

Weekend Weather
Weekend America's John Moe takes a look at the weather and Saturday happenings all across the country.

» Event information

The Ohio Players
The seventies are frequently remembered as the disco era. Yet, there are millions of people who'll argue that funk is the true dance music of the "Me Decade." Music reporter Jack Marchbanks offers a retrospective on the Ohio Players, a pioneering funk band that "helped get the party started."