Showing results by author "Terry Gross" in All Categories

Fifth Beatle Pete Best on this edition of Fresh Air. He was the drummer for the Beatles in their early days in Liverpool and Hamburg. His mother, Mona Best, was the owner of The Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool.

Actor/comedian/screenwriter/playwright and novelist Steve Martin on this edition of Fresh Air. His new novel The Pleasure of My Company follows his best selling novella Shopgirl (which he is making into a new film). He wrote the play Picasso at The Lapin Agile and is the author of a collection of short stories, Cruel Shoes. Martin's screenwriting credits include L.A. Story, and Roxanne.

Robert Plant, former lead singer of the band Led Zeppelin, on this edition of Fresh Air. Plant has a new solo CD that includes tracks he recorded before Zeppelin and after. It's called Sixty-Six to Timbuktu.

Husband and wife song writing team, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil on this edition of Fresh Air. The duo is responsible for such songs as "You've Lost that Loving Feeling," "On Broadway," "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "Here You Come Again," "Don't Know Much," and more.

Fresh Air Archive: William Greider and Wilbert Rideau

Musician Al Kooper on this edition of Fresh Air. He turns 60 years old on February 5th. A benefit concert celebrating the event is set for the Berklee Performance Center in Boston on Jan 31. Kooper helped popularize the Hammond B3 organ as part of rock music, performing on recordings of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, and The Who. He was a member of the legendary Blues Project, and later founded the group Blood Sweat and Tears.

Late night talk show host Conan O'Brian on this edition of Fresh Air. He celebrates ten years on the air Sunday September 14 2003 with a primetime special on NBC. In 1993, he moved into the Late Night host slot when David Letterman went to CBS.

Journalist Raphael Lewis and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Moats on this edition of Fresh Air. Lewis is the Boston Globe's State House reporter. He'll discuss the ruling by the Massachusetts high court yesterday that gay couples in Massachusetts will be accorded full equal marriage rights rather than civil unions.

Singers Teddy Pendergrass and Al Green on this edition of Fresh Air Teddy Pendergrass was a popular soul singer in the group "Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes.

Jeffrey Toobin, staff writer at The New Yorker and writer Ben Cheever on this edition of Fresh Air. Jeffrey Toobin's new book is an investigation.

Author Martin Amis on this edition of Fresh Air. Amis is considered one of the leading British writers of the late twentieth century and one of the most controversial.

Senior vice president and editorial director of VH1, Bill Flanagan on this archive edition of Fresh Air. He's the author of A&R, a satirical novel about the music industry. Prior to this, Flanagan wrote extensively about the business for Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Spy. He's also the author of Written in My Soul, a collection of conversations with songwriters.

Jazz critic and writer Gary Giddins on this edition of Fresh Air. Gary Giddins new biography of Bing Crosby is called, Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams - The Early Years, 1903-1940. From 1930s to the 50s, Crosby was a pop culture icon, dominating American entertainment with his hit records and movies. In this first volume of the biography, Giddins chronicles the rise of Crosby's career.

Musician Ravi Shankar, actors Vince Vaughn and Gene Hackman on this edition of Fresh Air. Today, we learned that former Beatle George Harrison has died.

Novelists Jonathan Franzen and David Leavitt on this edition of Fresh Air. Jonathan Franzen's critically acclaimed new novel The Corrections.

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.

Writer Peter Bergen and Kim Phuc on this edition of Fresh Air. Peter Bergen's a former correspondent/producer and current terrorism consultant for CNN, and the author of the book Holy War Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden. It's both a biography of Bin Laden and an explanation of bin Laden's global network. While at CNN, Bergen produced bin Laden's first TV interview, filmed at his mountain hideout in Afghanistan.

On this archival edition of Fresh Air, playwright and satirist from South Africa Pieter Dirk-Uys, and writer and director Todd Haynes. Dirk-Uys has a television talk show in South Africa that has an unusual twist. Instead of hosting his show as himself, he dresses drag as an Afrikaner dowager named Evita. His guests include such leaders as Nelson Mandela. His show is said to be "a way of making the country's leaders seem more human."

Veteran producer, pianist, singer, club owner George Wein on this edition of Fresh Air. He's the founder of the New Port Jazz Festival, the Newport Folk Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. In the early 1950s he founded the jazz clubs Storyville and Mahogany Hall in his hometown of Boston where jazz giants Art Tatum, Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Miles Davis played.

From the Library of Congress, Recording Sound Specialist, Samuel Brylawski and acquisition specialist Cooper Graham and former White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater on this edition of Fresh Air. The two compiled a collection of presidential speeches dating back 85 years Historic Presidential Speeches (1908-1993).