Showing results by author "Terry Gross" in All Categories

Actor Joe Pantoliano on this edition of Fresh Air. He plays Ralph Cifaretto on the HBO series The Sopranos. He has also appeared in more than 60 films, including Memento, The Matrix, and The Fugitive. He has a new memoir called Who's Sorry Now: The True Story of a Stand-Up Guy. Pantoliano talks about growing up in Hoboken, New Jersey, and about his acting career. (Broadcast Date: October 1, 2002)

NPR foreign correspondent Tom Gjelten on this archival edition of Fresh Air. Gjelten's book is Sarajevo Daily. During the height of the Serbian siege on Sarajevo the city was in ruins but one symbol of hope remained constant for its people, Oslobodjenje the city's multi-ethnic daily newspaper.

Classical pianist and conductor Murray Perahia and film director and choreographer Stanley Donen on this edition of Fresh Air. Murray Perahia has a new CD: Chopin Etudes: Opus 10, Opus 26. He also explores the music of J.S. Bach in recent recordings, including Bach's Keyboard Concertos Vol. 1 which he recorded and conducted with the St. Martin in the Fields ensemble. Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly co-directed and co-choreographed Singing in the Rain.

On this edition of Fresh Air, host Terry Gross and her guests Joseph Opala and Zainab Bangura discuss the controversial efforts to bring peace to Sierra Leone.

Author Phil Patton and singer Linda Thompson on this edition of Fresh Air. Phil Patton is the author of Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile. It's a cultural history of the Volkswagen Beetle, the most produced and best known car of all time. Patton writes for the New York Times, Esquire, Wired, and ID. He also wrote Dreamland: Travels inside the Secret World of Roswell and Area 51. Linda Thompson's back performing after a long hiatus.

Oscar-winning animator John Lasseter and singer/guitarist Jon Langford on this edition of Fresh Air. John Lasseter is the Executive Vice President of Creative for Pixar, Inc. and one of the founding members of the computer animated filmmaking company. He served as Director and Animator of the feature films Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life.

Journalist M.J. Akbar. He is founder and editor-in- chief of The Asian Age, an English language newspaper published in India. He's a Muslim. And he's the author of five books, including his latest The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the conflict between Islam & Christianity. (Broadcast Date: September 17, 2002)

Cinematographer Gordon Willis on this edition of Fresh Air. Willis created the look of many of the most influential films of the 1970s: Klute, The Godfather I and II, The Parallax View, Annie Hall, and Manhattan. He's shot eight Woody Allen films, as well as the film Pennies from Heaven, and Presumed Innocent.

Fresh Air, Jon Katz.

Actress Amy Sedaris and writer Clifford Wright on this edition of Fresh Air. Sedaris is the star of the comedy series Strangers with Candy that airs on Comedy Central. She plays Jerri Blank, a 47-year-old ex-con, ex-prostitute, lesbian high school freshman. She's the sister of David Sedaris, a humor writer who has been on Fresh Air several times.

Writer William Adler and jazz musician Bob Dorough on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Adler's first book, Land of Opportunity: One Family's Quest for the American Dream in the Age of Crack, tells the story of the Chambers brothers. The brothers moved to Detroit from Mississippi in the mid-'80s in search of economic freedom and found it by setting up the biggest drug business in the city. It was run like a Fortune 500 company with quality control, discounts, employee bonuses and a dress code.

Forensic entomologist M. Lee Goff and writer for the Village Voice and The Nation, Pagan Kennedy. Goff is the author of the new book A Fly for the Prosecution.

Rock musician Wayne Kramer and linguist Geoff Nunberg on this 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. His new solo album is Adult World.

Evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson and explorer Barry Clifford on this episode of Fresh Air. Olivia Judson, in her new guide to the evolutionary biology of sex, explores the sex lives of animals and insects. Posing as Dr. Tatiana, sex-advice columnist, she answers "letters" posted by such creatures as the fairy wren, the stalk-eyed fly, and the African elephant. Her new book is Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation. JUDSON has also written for The Economist, Nature, and Science.

Novelist Francine Prose and singer and guitarist Alex Chilton on this edition of Fresh Air. Prose's new book Blue Angel echoes the title of the film classic.

Author Shawn Levy and freelance fighter Peter Leschak on this edition of Fresh Air. Shawn Levy is the author of the new book Ready Steady, Go!: The Smashing Rise and Giddy Fall of Swinging London. It's about the time period in London 1961-1969. He writes, "for those few evanescent years it all came together: youth, pop music, fashion, celebrity, satire, crime, fine art, sexuality, scandal, theater, cinema, drugs, media: the whole mad modern stew."

Blues singer Otis Taylor and Retired Lt. Col. Bradley Biggs on this edition of Fresh Air. Otis Taylor brings his banjo to the studio for a concert and conversation. He plays tracks from his new CD, White African. Taylor plays the guitar and ukulele in addition to the banjo. His music is often described as minimalist, and his lyrics are often stories of race and racism. He's been compared to John Lee Hooker.

Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenabar and author Allen Kurzweil on this edition of Fresh Air. Amenabar's new film is a horror film called The Others, staring Nicole Kidman. It's his first English language feature. His first film, Tesis, won seven Goyas, the Spanish equivalent of the Oscars, in 1997. His second movie, Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes), has been remade in the US. The film, Vanilla Sky, was made by Cameron Crowe and stars Tom Cruise.

Science and natural history writer Hannah Holmes and writer Julie Fenster on this edition of Fresh Air. Hannah Holmes' new book is The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things. Among the interesting facts you'll find in the book is this: within a juice glass sitting in the sun, you would find 25,000 microscopic pieces of dust, at a minimum.

Crime novelist Dennis Lehane and former Chicago policewoman Gina Gallo on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Dennis Lehane's written five novels featuring the working-class Boston private detective team of Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. They include A Drink Before the War, Darkness Take My Hand, Sacred, Gone, Baby, Gone, and Prayers for Rain.