Showing results by author "Terry Gross" in All Categories

Singer/songwriters Barry Manilow and Tom Waits on this edition of Fresh Air. Barry Manilow made the pop charts in the 1970s and early 80s with love ballads such as "Mandy," "Looks Like We Made It," "I Write the Songs" and "Copacabana (At the Copa)." Before becoming a singer he was Bette Midler's accompanist and arranger.

Veteran journalist Bob Woodward and British actor Jeremy Northam on this edition of Fresh Air. Bob Woodward is assistant managing editor of The Washington Post. He's the author of eight nonfiction best sellers including All the President's Men, and The Final Days, about the presidency and The Brethren about the Supreme Court.

Voice and acting coach Patsy Rodenburg and New York City Police Detective Dave Fitzpatrick on this edition of Fresh Air. Patsy Rodenburg's worked with some of the world's leading English-speaking actors, including Judi Dench, Daniel Day-Lewis, Maggie Smith and Nicole Kidman. Rodenburg is the Director of Voice at London's National Theatre and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Norman Mailer and the stars of the Emmy Award-winning T.V. series Cagney and Lacey, Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly on this edition of Fresh Air. Mailer talks about his 1995 book Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery. The book profiles Lee Harvey Oswald's life. Mailer says we must ask "Who was Oswald?" as a prelude to asking "Who killed JFK?". This is Mailer's 28th book. Gless and Daly played New York City Police detectives in their series which aired on CBS from 1982 to 1988.

Rapper, producer and actor Andre Benjamin and singer Iggy Pop, on this edition of Fresh Air. Benjamin is also known as Andre 3000. He is half of the Grammy-winning hip-hop duo Outkast, best known for their hit single "Hey Ya!" from the double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.

New York Times correspondent Dexter Filkins on this edition of Fresh Air. He wrote the cover story of this week's Sunday New York Times Magazine. The title is "Where Plan A Left Ahmad Chalabi". Filkins writes that the war Chalabi "pushed for has not succeeded. He has no place in an Iraqi government he thought he would lead. He has some issues." Filkins was a correspondent in the Baghdad bureau of the New York Times from March 2003 to August 2006.

Journalists Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck and veteran broadcaster and executive producer of 60 Minutes, Don Hewitt, on this edition of Fresh Air. Michel and Herbeck are staff writers for The Buffalo News. The two have collaborated on the new book American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh & the Oklahoma City Bombing. Michel lived 20 minutes away from McVeigh's father, and over time, he developed a relationship with the elder McVeigh, which in turn helped him gain access to his son.

Rock musician Wayne Kramer and linguist Geoff Nunberg on this encore edition of Fresh Air. Guitarist, singer, songwriter Wayne Kramer founded the MC5, a Detroit band considered to be the prototype for punk rock, in the late 1960s. By 1972, the band had burned out. In between then and now, Kramer did time in jail for drugs, teamed up with Don and David Was to found the group Was (Not Was), and began a solo career.

Bluegrass musician Earl Scruggs and actor Adrien Brody on this edition of Fresh Air. Bluegrass musician Earl Scruggs originated the staccato three-finger, five-string banjo technique that became known as the "Scruggs style." Actor Adrien Brody won the Oscar last year for his role in Roman Polanski's The Pianist.

Comedian and political satirist Al Franken and actor Benicio Del Toro on this edition of Fresh Air. In December, Franken was part of a USO tour performing for troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait. The tour lasted eight days, and he returned Christmas Day. He'll talk about the tour and do some of his routine from it. Franken's books include Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right and Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot.

Author Jonathan Lethem and actress Maggie Gyllenhaal on this edition of Fresh Air. Jonathan Letham's new semi-autobiographical novel, The Fortress of Solitude tells the story of Dylan Ebdus, a white kid growing up in an African-American and Latino neighborhood in New York.

Fresh Air guest host Barbara Bogaev talks with actor Michael C. Hall from HBO's Six Feet Under. He plays David Fisher, the gay brother who co-runs a funeral home on the show. He's currently starring as Billy Flynn, an oily attorney in the Broadway revival of Chicago. James Earl Jones, of the astounding voice, talks about his memoir. And you'll hear a review of the foreign film Mostly Martha.

Musicians Ray Davis, Marianne Faithfull, Pete Townsend, and Colin Blunstone on this special edition of Fresh Air, "The British Invasion." Ray Davies started The Kinks in 1964 with his brother. They are said to be the pioneers of the rowdy garage band genre of rock music. Their many hits included: "You Really Got Me," "Lola," "All Day and All of the Night," and "Tired of Waiting for you."

South African Surgeon, Journalist, and Documentary filmmaker Jonathan Kaplan and Slate editor Michael Kinsley on this edition of Fresh Air.

Actor Brian Cox and physician Paul Epstein on this edition of Fresh Air. Emmy award winner Brian Cox will be appearing on the HBO series Deadwood. He's been in over a hundred films and TV shows over the past 40 years. His films include Match Point, The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy and Rushmore. He was a regular guest on Frasier, and he won his Emmy for his role as Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Goering on the TNT channel's movie Nuremberg.

Historian Thant Myint-U and writer Emily Rapp, on this edition of Fresh Air.

Filmmaker Mira Nair and singer Mary Weiss, on this edition of Fresh Air. Mira Nair has just adapted Jhumpa Lahiri's 2003 novel The Namesake to the big screen.

Pulitzer Prize winner Tim Weiner and multi-ethnic author Greg Sarris on this edition of Fresh Air. Congress has decided to conduct a study of the role of the Central Intelligence Agency in the post-Cold War world. The agency suffered a shake-up following the discovery of the double agent Aldrich Ames. Weiner, who writes about the CIA for The New York Times, talks about what changes may take place in the agency as a result of the investigation. Sarris is part American Indian, Filipino, and Jewish, and was raised in both Indian and white families.

This audio is like an informal writing clinic, as you listen to these writers talk about their lives, experiences and, of course, their writing. While you are listening, Terry Gross draws out from these great writers the answers to your questions, just as the query begins to form in your own head.

John F. Kennedy biographer Robert Dallek on this edition of Fresh Air. Dallek's new biography of John F. Kennedy called An Unfinished Life. He looked into medical records to reveal new information about Kennedy's health problems. He also discusses Kennedy's extramarital affairs and his life as a soldier.