Weekend Edition Sunday

Last week, NPR's John Burnett filed a report on Texas governor Rick Perry's prayer rally in Houston, spurring a flood of responses. We also heard from roots-music artist Gillian Welch and her long-time partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Guest host John Ydstie reads listeners' comments to these stories and more.

One hundred years ago, a community of African-Americans raised money for a monument to abolitionist John Brown in Kansas City, Kan. NPR's summer road trip, Honey Stop The Car!, visits the statue, which, while in need of repair, is still a sense of pride to the community. Elana Gordon of member station KCUR reports.

Fifty years ago this weekend, construction began on one of the starkest landmarks of the Cold War. NPR's Tom Gjelten is in Germany for the anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall.

The song "Dedicated to the One I Love" is usually associated with The Mamas & the Papas or The Shirelles, both of whom released hit versions of the tune in the 1960s. But Steve Cropper says he's spent years trying to remind people of the group who wrote the original: The 5 Royales.

The financial turmoil in Europe is creating social as well as economic problems in a number of countries, especially in Greece, which is suffering its worst recession in decades.

Greece is the unwilling host to about 80 percent of Europe's illegal immigrants, and many Greeks are starting to resent their presence at a time of high unemployment and cuts in social services. To make matters worse, the capital Athens is experiencing a rise in violent crime — a problem that's also being blamed on the immigrants.