Showing results by narrator "Terry Gross" in All Categories

Journalist Sam Quinones on Mexico and trumpeter Chico O'Farrill on this edition of Fresh Air. This Friday, George W. Bush embarks on his first presidential trip outside the US. He will travel to Mexico to meet the new president of Mexico, Vincente Fox. We talk about Mexico with Journalist Sam Quinones. He has been covering Mexico for 7 years.

Two of the most popular shows on television are U.S. versions of shows originated in Britain. Fresh Air's Terry Gross talks with the people behind them on this edition. David Briggs is the creator of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which premiered on British television in September 1998 and thereby set the phrase (or its translation) "Is that your final answer?" into orbit.

Record producer and musician Don Was on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Was co-founded the funk rock group, "Was (Not) Was." In 1995, he won a Grammy for Producer of the Year. In addition, he's produced a number of albums for Bonnie Raitt, including her Nick of Time album which revived her career, Rolling Stones, Lyle Lovett, Al Green, Iggy Pop, and the B-52's.

Filmmaker John Waters on this edition of Fresh Air. His film Cecil B. Demented has just been released on video and DVD. It's about an underground filmmaker and his cult following who declare war on bad cinema by kidnapping a starlet and forcing her to star in their own film.

Soviet born journalist Masha Gessen and poet Li-Young Lee on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Masha Gessen edited a collection of post-Soviet fiction by women, Half a Revolution: Contemporary Fiction by Russian Women. Gessen says that most of the writers in the collection belong to the "mute generation" that came of age under Brezhnev.

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.

Historian Clayborne Carson, Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, and Rhythm and Blues musician Barbara Lynn on this edition of Fresh Air Clayborne Carson is director of Stanford University's King Papers Project, dedicated to editing and publishing all the papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Carson is the co-editor of the new book A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr a collection of eleven speeches delivered at turning points in the civil rights movement.

Host Terry Gross talks to two past transition directors who helped presidents move into the White House and satirist Harry Shearer on this edition of Fresh Air. Mark Gearan, now the head of the Peace Corps, he served on President Clinton's transition team as Deputy Director in 1992.

Former presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bill Bradley and Doctor Muriel Gillick on this edition of Fresh Air. Bill Bradley discusses the state of politics today. He published his memoir, Time Present, Time Past in 1996. In addition to his political career, Bradley was also a star basketball player with the New York Knicks. His latest book is called The Journey from Here. Doctor Muriel Gillick talks about the problems associated with care for the elderly.

Former Clinton White House Press Secretaries Michael McCurry and Joe Lockhart on this edition of Fresh Air. From 1995-1998, Michael McCurry was press secretary when the Monica Lewinsky story first broke. Joe Lockhart was White House Press Secretary from 1998 to October 2000, during Clinton's impeachment trial.

Psychologist Judith Wallerstein and journalist Fred Schulte on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Judith Wallerstein interviewed over 50 couples about how and why their relationships work. She summaries her findings in her book The Good Marriage: How and Why Love Lasts. Fred Schulte writes for the Ft. Lauderdale South Florida Sun Sentinel. He investigated the telemarketing industry for his latest book, Fleeced! Telemarketing Rip-Offs and How to Avoid Them.

Poet John Balaban on this edition of Fresh Air. He's translated the poetry of an 18th century Vietnamese concubine in the new book, Spring Essence: The Poetry of Ho Xuang Huong. Ho Xuang Huong won acclaim for her poetry despite the fact that she was a woman and she challenged established conventions. Most of her poems also were double entendres: a hidden sexual meaning lay behind her words.

Fresh Air, January 1, 2001

Reporter and author Stephen Handleman on this edition of Fresh Air. For the many bureaucrats, corrupt army generals, black market racketeers, and others who held power and wealth in the old Soviet system, making a buck has never been easier. Organized crime is in the downside of free enterprise in the new Russia.

Jazz musician James Moody and Screenwriter and novelist Richard Price. Just after World War II, Moody joined the bebop big band of Dizzy Gillespie and played with Milt Jackson. His most famous recording is of an improvisatory piece he performed in 1949, now known as "Moody's Mood For Love." Terry talked to him in 1996, about his CD, Young At Heart, which had just been released. It is a collection of Frank Sinatra tunes.

Journalist John Hockenberry on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Hockenberry spent more than a decade with National Public Radio as a general assignment reporter, Middle East correspondent, and program host. Hockenberry is paralyzed from the waist down and he writes of his life's obstacles and accomplishments in his new book Moving Violations.

Author Lorenzo Carcaterra on this rebroadcast of Fresh Air. Carcaterra was the managing editor of the CBS weekly series Top Cops. He is the author of two memoirs, A Safe Place and Sleepers, about growing up in New York's Hell's Kitchen during the 50s and 60s.

Editors Robert Gottlieb and Robert Kimball on this edition of Fresh Air. Gottlieb and Kimball have collaborated on the new book Reading Lyrics, an anthology of some of the most important lyricists of the last century, including the lyrics of George M. Cohan, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, Dorothy Field, Frank Loesser, Johnny Mercer, and more.

Actress Christine Baranski and garbage expert Benjamin Miller on this edition of Fresh Air. Baranski is probably best known for her work on the TV series Cybill, in which she played Maryann, the best friend of Cybill Shepherd. She's currently starring in the TV sitcom Welcome to New York. She also plays Martha May Whovier in the new film Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Kirk Varnedoe on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Ed Harris is starring as Jackson Pollack in a new movie about the artist's life. We'll feature an interview from our archives about Pollock. Varnedoe was the chief curator for a major Jackson Pollock exhibit that ran last year at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Pollock is widely considered the most challenging and influential American painter of the twentieth century and one of the primary creators in modern art since 1945.