Do you want a song that will kick you down the stairs? And then, at the bottom of the stairs (you still can't believe you went down like a ton of bricks -- like a rag doll -- like a bag of donuts), when you finally get yourself together and stagger to your feet, it walks up to you (you're almost whimpering at this point) and it hits you with a bat. And you're thinking: "Whoa, where'd you get a bat?"

That kind of a song.

Here it is: TIME IS ON MY SIDE

By Irma Thomas and Allen Toussaint

This classic, contained on the killer soundtrack of the killer HBO series "Treme," is a playground -- a canvas -- for an American original, the great Ms. Thomas and her incredible instrument of a voice. It was overshadowed by the Rolling Stones version of the song, but Irma Thomas's vocal performance is incredible. While you're at it, download other songs from the "Treme" soundtrack.

We're originating from our NBC News Washington Bureau tonight, as I came here to participate in a forum. We hope you can join us tonight. Download that song.

During an interview at the Newseum in Washington D.C. on Thursday, White House senior advisor David Axelrod speaks with NBC's Brian Williams about chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who is expected to get a formal send-off from the White House on Friday.

By NBC Chief Environmental Affairs Correspondent Anne Thompson: After five months away in Louisiana, I returned to my desk in New York yesterday and found it buried in piles of mail—a spring and summer's worth of press releases, pitches, magazines, FedEx packages, and boxes...fortunately, none of the them ticking. One of those boxes contained the painting you see posted here. The artist is Mary Looney of New Orleans who commemorated my often worn blue blouse. It is a wonderful painting of what she calls the "magic blue blouse," with all the wonder of the Gulf Coast. She put in the porpoises, pelicans, crabs, fish, the marshes, an oil rig and the vessels of opportunity. I just love it!

The only thing missing are the people. The people along the coast, particularly everyone in Venice, Louisiana, where we lived, welcomed us and helped us tell the story of the oil spill. They shared their knowledge of the beautiful marshes and the rich fishing waters. They shared stories about fishing with their fathers and grandfathers, staying in lodges and camps that erosion and hurricanes had long washed away. And they told us of their heartbreak, their fears, their sleepless nights worrying that the water and land that have provided jobs and food for generations may never be right again.

This has always been a story first and foremost about people. From the 11 men who died on the Deepwater Horizon, to the fishermen and charter boat captains who still can't go back to work, to the families wondering how they will make ends meet, it is a story that is by no means over. Mary Looney's wonderful painting will remind me of that every day. Thank you for sending some of the magic of the Gulf to my desk in New York.

Earlier this week, when I linked to a great package on the New York Times website about the Empire State Building (my favorite of all on the New York skyline), I had no idea there was family history that I could trace to it. My brother read my blog post that day and wrote from Texas: "Our grandfather was a mechanical engineer back in the days when the designs were done in blank ink on cloth blueprint sheets -- and the project he worked on was the reconstruction of the Empire State Building when it was hit by a plane. It was managed as a highly urgent project and he was proud to have been involved."

And there, ladies and gentlemen, is proof of that expression, "You learn something new every day." Not all of it this close to home.

We hope you can join us tonight.

While you may have only seen a small snippet or a little bit of it, it seems here like we have hosted the world for the past four days...the world of education. I'd like to thank everyone for attending and for understanding. I'm not an expert on education--but I tried to serve as questioner and host to the best of my ability. We are not tent-makers, and so when our tent failed on the plaza, we enforced our home field advantage and moved it all into the SNL Studio. We might have lost our tent, but we sure raised the roof on the subject of education. Every participant brought their best game. Thanks to all. Let's do it again next year.

We look forward to seeing you tonight.

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As far as I can tell, the world is divided into two basic groups: Those who are sensing and those who are intuitive. Intuitive people notice big things: Feelings, moods, themes. Sensing people (like me) notice the details, and can often be preoccupied with them. This brings us to "continuity errors" in film and television. Put simply, we've all seen the movie scene where it cuts back and forth between a character, and their position or clothes may be different on a shot-to-shot basis—the background might be different—we know something is amiss. The web is full of them, and there are some remarkable continuity errors in major motion pictures.

Here's how closely I watch for such things: On last night's “Mad Men” (this is NOT a spoiler), during a meeting between Roger Sterling and the man from Lucky Strike, the dandruff on Sterling's suit appeared—then disappeared—then appeared again. Being sensing can be such a burden.

For architecture fans, and for all those who love New York, the New York Times has posted a great package on one of the great architectural curiosities of this City: The initial idea that the Empire State Building would be a docking port for passenger blimps. It didn't quite work out that way, though if it would take some of the volume off of LaGuardia or Kennedy, I'd be all for trying it again.

We're all very excited about the Education Nation gathering here at 30 Rockefeller Plaza—it’s been a great gathering, and a source of great pride to host it. This whole section of the City is abuzz over the gathering, and I hope we can do this again.

We begin a new week tonight, and we hope you can be with us.

My wife and I went to see the new documentary film "Waiting for Superman" Friday night, and since then we've talked about little else. The film, which offers a compelling look at the crisis in American education through the experiences of five students, is a conversation-starter about something we need to be talking about – the state of our schools and what to do about it.

We at NBC News are starting our own such conversation today called "Education Nation." Hopefully these discussions will lead to ideas and action. I'll be anchoring tonight's Nightly News broadcast outside 30 Rock from what we are calling "Learning Plaza," as we begin our initiative to explore what is, and what is not working in the U.S. education system. Brian Williams kicked things off earlier today with a spirited town hall meeting. If you're in the neighborhood this week we invite you to drop by and see some of the interactive education-themed exhibits we've set up on the plaza. We certainly hope you will also stay with NBC News programs throughout the week as we explore our education nation.

I'm sitting in my office watching the in-house closed circuit feed of SNL rehearsals for tomorrow night's season premiere, with guest host (and returning SNL veteran) and all-around great person Amy Poehler. Suddenly, all seems right with the world. I will be watching, along with fans of the show everywhere, when showtime arrives on Saturday night. In the meantime, what apears to be a respiratory illness is sweeping through our newsroom -- those of us who aren't sick are paranoid, and those of us who are left here...are working like dogs. So off I go, while wishing you a good weekend. We hope you can join us tonight.

Okay you guys—this is personal today, just to my most loyal readers and posters: Jackie, you've embarrassed me. How many times do I have to ask you not to read my home town newspaper, the Asbury Park Press? Thanks, however—any honor is a great honor—and any honor makes me wonder all over again why I'd ever be honored in the first place. And Cary—you are so nice to say what you did about music. You've stumbled upon my #1 stumbling block preventing me from posting more about music...while I love music and could not live without it, isn't it the most subjective thing in the world? Are any two of us going to agree on any one "great" song, album or artist? Or even genre? I just had this discussion at dinner last night: There isn't enough time in life to listen to all the great music, and more of it is being created every day. But...since you asked, I will make this rare exception and tell you (and only you) what's been going on: I listened to all of the new Neil Young last night, thanks to the superb NPR Music site, which I confess is a new discovery for me. By the end I wished he'd had one or two more instruments, but I love Neil. I'm currently stuck on Florence and the Machine (especially the "Dog Days Are Over") I love Hawk's "Come Undone," and I'm still wading through the substantial and exciting new Arcade Fire. Ray LaMontagne's "Aching all the Time" is a gem, as is Frally's "La." I love Lissie, big time, and the new one has an interesting departure for her called "Big Sleep"—it’s way more produced than her first releases. I remain hopelessly addicted to her big three: "Here Before," "Wedding Bells," and "Everywhere I Go." And for Shins fans, there's a very raw, live version of "Phantom Limb" on the iTunes Live Session collection.

See what you've done, Cary? Now I expect a review. Remember: I have weird taste...it’s all over the place.

Back to the day job: I hope you can join us tonight. All of you!

What we're following:

- President Obama emphasizes Mid-East peace in speech to United Nations

- Facebook founder to donate $100 million to troubled NJ schools

- Tax and Spending cuts top GOP's 'Pledge to America'

And did you see...

- Texas School Board debates 'Pro-Islamic' bias in text books

- Struggling Blockbuster goes bust, files for Chapter 11

- Katy Perry appearance pulled from Sesame Street. Was it too risque?

Check out Nightly's most popular video on our website

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We report tonight about concerns that in the bad economy some people are cutting back or stopping taking expensive cancer drugs -- often with disastrous consequences. We concentrate on one drug: Gleevec which costs about $4500 a month and must be taken for life as a treatment either for one type of leukemia called CML and one type of intestinal cancer called GIST.

But it is important to point out that Gleevec is not the only expensive cancer drug. It is one of a host of drugs that have come on the market in recent years that fall in the category called biologics. As opposed to traditional treatments they are molecules or proteins that attack specific targets within the cancer cells. Some (and Gleevec is one of the most effective) work spectacularly well in some patients but the prices are enormous. The breast cancer drug Herceptin costs about $37,000 a year, Tarceva for lung and pancreas cancer $42,000 a year, Avastin for colon and breast cancer $88,000, Erbitux for colon cancer $120,000.

Medicare pays for all cancer drugs and so do many insurance plans, but often with co-pays. In addition most of the drug companies have assistance plans for some people without insurance.

There are also expensive biologic drugs for other conditions. For example Ebrel for rheumatoid arthritis costs $26,000 a year and Cerezyme for Gaucher's disease $200,000. And Medicare does not cover these drugs as it does cancer drugs -- expect in certain Part D policies that can have co-pays

Why are the drugs so expensive? The drug companies say the drugs are difficult to produce and they must take in profits to keep up their research programs. But the evidence to support such claims is proprietary and thus not subject to verification. A new law will allow generic biological drugs to come on the market, but none will be here for a decade or more. Meanwhile these drugs which result from our new understanding of the biology of cancer and other diseases put huge financial strains on many individuals and on the whole health care system.

What we're following:

- New book lays bare White House policy battles over Afghan war

- Egg farmers at center of salmonella outbreak will face Congress

- First Lady prepares to hit the midterm campaign trail

And did you see...

- Author says steering mistake led to Titanic sinking

- Megachurch pastor sued for coercing congregants into sex

- Drug arrest sends Paris packing from Tokyo airport

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Our local WNBC Meteorologist Janice Huff gets a big public thanks today: Last night on the 11pm broadcast, she told viewers of this week's special event in the heavens. She recommended that people "go outside and look straight up" to see Jupiter making its closest approach to Earth since 1951. I took her advice: I went out, and looked up, and even amid the lights of Midtown Manhattan, it was beautiful.

And I want to take advantage of this post to correct an omission that's been bothering me. On our broadcast back on Friday, June 4th, I was very excited about some amateur astronomer video that showed Jupiter impacted by a fireball. It was great stuff—and the only thing I omitted when writing the item was the name of the man who took the spectacular pictures. Since I like to credit hard work wherever and whenever possible: Our thanks and apologies to Christopher Go. His pictures were seen by Nightly News viewers that night, and we appreciate it! He wrote me a while back and today seems to perfect time to give credit where credit is due.

Back on earth: We hope you can join us tonight.

What we're following:

- Afghan helicopter crash kills nine American servicemembers

- Senate will take up "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" today

- President Obama to award posthumous Medal of Honor for airman's heroism

And did you see...

- Utility workers make massive fossil find near Los Angeles

- Even in tough economy, value of college degree rises

- Yankees unveil monument to The Boss in The Bronx

Check out Nightly's most popular video on our website

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What we're following:

- Fall political season in full swing as the President holds a town hall and the GOP center speaks out

- Hundreds flee fast-moving wall of fire in Utah

- "Frankenfish?" FDA begins hearings on genetically engineered salmon

And did you see...

- Officially speaking, the Great Recession ended in June 2009

- Bed Bugs force shut down of New York's massive Niketown store

- Older unemployed struggle to rejoin workforce.

Check out Nightly's most popular video on our website

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

There was a time early in the summer when we wondered if the oil might flow forever. Today however, we are told the BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is dead. Killed. No longer a threat to the Gulf of Mexico. Of course no oil has escaped the well since mid-July, but today's announcement by BP that the well casing has been permanently plugged with cement brings this chapter of this awful tragedy to an end. The cleanup, the repair to the environment, the settlement of claims, and issues of culpability remain to be settled. The long-term impact to the Gulf and the people who make their livings in the region is impossible to measure. My colleague Anne Thompson, who has been covering this story from the beginning, will be on the broadcast tonight to talk about the recovery and what happens now.

About the time we come on the air Hurricane Igor will be on final approach to Bermuda. The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore is there, and we're crossing our fingers conditions will allow him to safely bring us a live report from there.

We'll also let you hear what Sarah Shroud, the American freed from Iranian captivity had to say at a news conference here in New York today. Her comments were no doubt carefully measured given the fact Iran still holds her fiancé and another colleague. While she offered praise and thanks to Iranian authorities she firmly denied the accusation that they were spies. In the meantime Iran has thrown a new wrinkle into the fate of the other two and we'll have more on that on tonight's program.

I hope you can join us for the Sunday edition of NBC Nightly News.

It's good to be back after some time off away. When I left on vacation all eyes were on tropical storm Fiona and now we're already up through the K's on the growing Atlantic storm list. But it's hurricane Igor that's making headlines today as it marches on a course straight for Bermuda. The island is bracing for a hit sometime tomorrow, and we'll be checking in there during our broadcast tonight to see how preparations are going.

Those fascinated with trying to handicap the potential GOP field for the next presidential election will be carefully going over the results of the Values Voters straw poll conducted today. It comes on the heels of Sarah Palin's high profile appearance in Iowa last evening which generated lots of speculation about her future as a candidate. We're going to take a closer look at what's driving the discussion.

Also we'll meet a young Indiana mother who went into cardiac arrest, and was apparently dead for more than 73 minutes before finally being resuscitated. Her husband implored doctors to not give up on her, and his persistence saved her life. I spoke to her and her husband this morning on TODAY and was deeply moved by their story, and so we've asked NBC's Kristen Welker to tell us a little bit more about the couple and the message they want all of us to hear.

I hope you can join us for the Saturday edition of NBC Nightly News.