The Arcs: NPR Tiny Desk Concert

January 25, 2016 by BOB BOILEN Today, we celebrate the release of our 500th Tiny Desk concert. It’s amazing that something that started as a bit of a wisecrack has been so widely embraced by artists and fans. In 2008 at SXSW in Austin, NPR Music’s Stephen Thompson and I met up to see singer Laura Gibson. Laura was so quiet, and the crowd was so loud and rude — something about a March basketball game — that Stephen jokingly asked her to come play at my desk so we could hear her. My lightbulbs went off, and