Showing results by author "Terry Gross" in All Categories

Satirist and host of the public radio program Le Show, Harry Shearer, on how he's been dealing with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on his show. Will Ferrell is a regular cast member of Saturday Night Live. Last weekend the show began the new season in a somber tone, opening the show with Mayor Guilliani surrounded by a group of New York fire fighters, police and EMT workers. Ferrell has portrayed President George Bush on the show as well as Janet Reno, Alex Trebek and Robert Goulet; his other send-ups include musical middle school teacher Marty Culp, and Spartan...

Hear film director Guillermo Del Toro and film critic David Edelstein, on this edition of Fresh Air. Guillermo Del Toro grew up in Mexico. His film Pan's Labyrinth (which he wrote and directed) won three Academy Awards. It's now out on DVD. He also wrote and directed the films Cronos, Hellboy, and The Devil's Backbone, and directed the films Blade II and Mimic.

Kathleen Hanna and Johanna Fateman of the band Le Tigre on this edition of Fresh Air. Hanna was the lead singer of the 90s band Bikini Kill. Bikini Kill was part of the musical/cultural/feminist movement know as "Riot Grrl," which focused on the concept of "girl power" and young women's empowerment. The movement was based primarily in Washington, DC and Olympia, WA, and its members formed bands, wrote fanzines, and held meetings, protests and festivals. Hanna was a leader and spokesperson for the movement.

Photographer and reporter Scott Peterson and psychologist Robert Jay Lifton on this edition of Fresh Air. Scott Peterson of the Christian Science Monitor has been covering the war on terrorism since the September 11th attacks. He is also the paper's Moscow Bureau Chief, and their former Middle East Correspondent. Peterson recently attended a training camp for journalists to learn how to deal with kidnappers and gunmen. He was also a friend of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl.

Audible® was not granted digital rights to today's entire program. Instead, we bring you former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, on this edition of Fresh Air. Jimmy Carter has 18 books to his credit, including memoirs and nonfiction, that reflect on his work as a mediator, his life in the White House, his childhood, and his spiritual life.

Conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra Benjamin Zander and British actress Brenda Blethyn, on this edition of Fresh Air.

Singer and songwriter Neil Young and film director Jonathan Demme on this edition of Fresh Air. The new documentary Heart of Gold, made by Demme, follows Young in the first public performances of his work from the CD Prairie Wind, which is the third album of his "Harvest" trilogy. Young made the album after suffering and recovering from a brain aneurysm.

Writer Mary Karr on this edition of Fresh Air. Mary Karr, author of the best-selling memoir The Liar's Club. Her new memoir Cherry which chronicles her teen age years is now out in paperback. In a follow up to what critics call "a hard scrabble childhood," she returns to East Texas to detail her adolescence. Karr relates anecdotes of rebellion, self-doubt and sexual coming of age. The recipient of several literary awards such as the Pushcart Prize and the Bunting Award, she has published two volumes of poetry. She is the Peck Professor of English Literature at Syracuse...

Hear actor Samuel L. Jackson and music critic Milo Miles on this edition of Fresh Air. In his new film Resurrecting the Champ, Samuel L. Jackson plays a homeless, broken-down former heavyweight-contending boxer. It's based on the true story of Battling Bob Satterfield.

Journalist Richard Preston on this edition of Fresh Air. He's the author of the best seller The Hot Zone about the Ebola virus. His new book The Demon in the Freezer is about the smallpox virus and the scientists at the CDC who are working with live smallpox in order to develop a drug that could fight it - should the virus be used in biological warfare. The smallpox virus was eradicated from the planet in 1979.

Hear actor Michael K. Williams and rock historian Ed Ward on this edition of Fresh Air. In the HBO series The Wire, Michael K. Williams plays Omar Little, one of the toughest guys in East Baltimore who robs the drug dealers of their money.

Hear writer and professor Carol Muske-Dukes and British singer-songwriter Bryan Ferry on this edition of Fresh Air. Muske-Dukes' new novel is Channeling Mark Twain. Fellow author Mary Karr described the book as "a riveting story about women in prison, with language that scorches the page and characters you won't be able to live without...She's given us a true hero in Polly, who's [as] unforgettable as Huck Finn."

Poet and memoirist Mary Karr on this archive edition of Fresh Air. In a follow up to Liar's Club, what critics call "a hard scrabble childhood.

Salman Rushdie on this archive edition of Fresh Air. At the time of this interview, it had been more than six years since the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a death sentence against writer Salman Rushdie. Rushdie lived in hiding, continued to write and to make a few semi-public appearances. His book, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, published in 1990 was a fairy tale written for his son. His 1995 book East, West is a collection of stories about the line that divides East and West, migrancy, exile, and the notion of home. (Original broadcast date: January 25, 1995)

Jazz saxophonist Jackie McLean. The legendary alto sax player began playing saxophone at the age of 15 in native New York City. Schooled in bebop at the start of his career, McLean names Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Charlie Parker as influences.

Palestinian laywer and writer Raja Shehadeh and Isreali correspondent Yossi Klein Halevi on this edition of Fresh Air. Raja Shehadeh's latest book is.

Hear Watergate "plumber" Egil "Bud" Krogh, on this edition of Fresh Air. Krogh was one of the "president's men" in the Watergate era. He was co-director of a special investigations unit known as "the plumbers" that was tasked by President Nixon with stopping leaks of top-secret information. Believing that leaks were a matter of national security, Krogh approved a covert operation to break in and burglarize the office of psychiatrist Daniel Ellsberg.

Hear journalists Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, and film critic David Edelstein, on this edition of Fresh Air. Farah and Braun have collaborated on a new book about Russian weapons supplier Victor Bout. Bout emerged from the Cold War with easy access to the massive inventories of weapons and ammunition built up by the Soviets.

Hear former NPR reporter Sarah Chayes, on this edition of Fresh Air. Chayes reported on the fall of the Taliban in 2001 for NPR. After that, she decided to stay and help rebuild the country. She provides a first person account of how the Taliban are using fear and persuasion to expand their power in Afghanistan.

Professor Eric Klinenberg and comedian Dave Attell on this edition of Fresh Air. Professor Klinenberg's new book is Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago. It's about a 1995 heat wave in that city which proved to be an insidious natural disaster. Streets buckled, electric power blew, and over 700 people died. Klinenberg is an associate professor of Sociology at New York University.

Comedian Dave Attell is the host of Comedy Central's Insomniac with Dave Attell.