Showing results by author "Terry Gross" in All Categories

Hear rapper Percy Carey, AKA MF Grimm; wrestler Mary Lillian Ellison, AKA The Fabulous Moolah; film director Ruth Leitman; and film critic John Powers, on this edition of Fresh Air. MF Grimm is in a wheelchair, after surviving several murder attempts. He's just published an autobiographical graphic novel entitled Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm. He's also released a new album, his sixth: The Hunt for the Gingerbread Man.

Hear British scientist Richard Dawkins and geneticist Francis Collins on this edition of Fresh Air. Richard Dawkins is a professor of the public understanding of science at Oxford University. The New York Times has hailed him as a writer who "understands the issues so clearly that he forces his reader to understand them too". In his latest book, he writes about what he sees as the irrationality of a belief in God and sets down his arguments for atheism.

The New York Times investigative reporter Kurt Eichenwald on this edition of Fresh Air. He covered the Enron scandal for the paper as well as related scandals. He's written about white-collar crime and corporate corruption for The Times for more than a decade. Eichenwald is a two-time winner of the prestigious George Polk award for excellence in journalism. He's also the author of The Informant, about the Archer Daniels Midland Corporation.

Hear attorneys Clive Stafford Smith and Captain Pat McCarthy on this edition of Fresh Air. Clive Stafford Smith represents dozens of prisoners held in the United States detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. His new book is Eight O' Clock Ferry to the Windward Side: Seeking Justice in Guantanamo Bay.

Psychotherapist Dr. Shirley Glass and Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy on this edition of Fresh Air. Dr. Glass discusses "the new infidelity crisis." She's studied extramarital affairs since the mid 1970's and has written a new book called NOT Just Friends: Protect Your Relationship from Infidelity and Heal the Trauma of Betrayal. She says that the workplace has become the new breeding ground for extramarital affairs.

Computer programmer Linus Torvalds on this edition of Fresh Air. He is the creator of Linux, a computer operating system intended to improve upon Unix. When Torvalds wrote the original code in 1991, he sent it out on the Internet to allow anyone to make changes and improvements.

Hear music-comedy duo Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, singer songwriter Nellie McKay, and musical group Los Straitjackets. Emaine Clement and Bret McKenzie are with the group Flight of the Conchords. They join us in the studio for a concert. Clement and McKenzie hail from New Zealand and were named Best Alternative comedy Act at the 2005 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. They star in the HBO series Flight of the Conchords, which begins its second season in 2008.

Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy and composer Jerry Goldsmith on this edition of Fresh Air. Randall Kennedy's new book, Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word is based on a series of classroom lectures he prepared exploring the history and use of the word nigger. He found the word in literature, political debates, cartoons, and songs. And he explores the use of the word from a hateful slur to a term of endearment.

Religion scholar Karen Armstrong on this edition of Fresh Air. The best-selling author of The History of God and The Battle for God, has a new book, Budda, about the life of Sidhatta Gotam. From North India, Sidhatta Gotama renounced normal life, leaving his wife and child to live alone and attain enlightenment.

Actor Christopher Walken, Reverend Louis Sheldon and Winnie Stachelberg, political director of the Human Rights Campaign on this edition of Fresh Air.

The late writer, Carol Shields on this edition of Fresh Air. Carol Shields discusses her life, her work, and her diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer. She won a Pulitzer Prize for her best-selling novel The Stone Diaries. Her books are often about middle class people leading quiet lives.

Singer Tom Jones on this edition of Fresh Air. The pop icon first gained fame with the 1960s hits "It's Not Unusual", "Delilah", and "What's New Pussycat". In the last 40 years of his career, he has released over 30 hit singles and several gold and multi-platinum records.

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.

Artistic director for the Houston Ballet, Ben Stevenson, dancer Lauren Anderson, and Dr. Zahi Hawass on this edition of Fresh Air. Stevenson has been with the ballet for over 25 years, turning it into a premiere dance company. The New York Times' dance critic said of Stevenson, "[he] is one of the most original figures in the development of regional ballet in America."

Hear director and choreographer Adam Shankman and filmmaker John Waters on this edition of Fresh Air. Adam Shankman's newest work is Hairspray, the film version of the Broadway musical. Hairspray was originally a John Waters film before its adaptation to the stage. Shankman's previous directing credits include Cheaper By the Dozen 2 and The Wedding Planner.

Hear singer and songwriter Sheryl Crow, and book critic Maureen Corrigan, on this edition of Fresh Air. Sheryl Crow performs in the studio solo, and with her band. Her new album, Detours, is her sixth studio album. It's also the most politically and personally outspoken record of her career. The first single from the album is "Shine over Babylon", which she describes as a "battle song in the face of fear" over our complicated and troubled times.

Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Michael Baime, M.D. discuss God and the brain on this edition of Fresh Air. Newberg conducted brain scans while people prayed and meditated to see if he could locate the brain function that caused the feeling of oneness and the presence of God.

Actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Nicolas Cage on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Philip Seymour Hoffman's one of the stars of Punch Drunk Love. Hoffman also had parts in the films Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Happiness, and Next Stop Wonderland.

Playwright and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan on this archive edition of Fresh Air. The writer behind five screenplays and several theater productions, his new play is called Lobby Hero and opens March 13 at Playwrights Horizons. He also wrote, directed, and acted in the Oscar-nominated You can Count on Me, which came out last year. The screenplay for that movie recently won Best Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America and is up for an Oscar in the same category.

Actors Morgan Freeman and Tim Roth on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Morgan Freeman is one of the stage and screen's most acclaimed actors for his ability to immerse himself in different roles. He originated the role of the chauffeur in the Broadway production of Driving Miss Daisy. Later he revived the role in the movie version, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.