Showing results by author "Terry Gross" in All Categories

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.

Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin on this edition of Fresh Air. He's best known for his cult films Tales From the Gimli Hospital, (1998) and Careful (1992). In 1995, Maddin was the youngest person to receive the Telluride Medal for Lifetime Achievement at the Telluride Film Festival.

Actress, writer, comedians Ellen Degeneres and Andy Richter on this edition of Fresh Air. Ellen Degeneres will soon begin a comedy tour. Her five-year sit-com Ellen won an Emmy for her much anticipated coming-out episode. She and her character came out at the same time. This was followed by a very public relationship with actress Anne Heche, which eventually ended.

Writer Michael Lewis on this edition of Fresh Air. His new book is Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. It's the story of how the Oakland A's turned their team around and made history, winning 20 games in a row to set a new American League record.

Dr. Lynn Amowitz, a senior researcher for Physicians for Human Right, and illustrator and writer James Warhola on this edition of Fresh Air. Dr. Lynn Amowitz specializes in internal medicine, women's health and epidemiology. This week she returned from Iraq where she had been researching the condition of health care. Amowitz specializes in working in war torn communities.

Filmmaker Chen Kaige on this edition of Fresh Air. Kaige is the director, writer, producer and acts in the new film Together, a coming of age tale about a 13-year-old Chinese boy who plays violin. The boy's father takes him from their provincial Chinese city to Beijing, seeking prominence. But plans change as the boy grows up and ultimately chooses his own path.

The international president of Doctors Without Borders, Dr. Morton Rostrup, and jazz pianist Matthew Shipp on this edition of Fresh Air. Dr. Morton Rostrup was the Doctors Without Borders's medical coordinator in Baghdad. Rostrup just returned from five weeks in Baghdad. He was there before and during the war.

Jazz pianist Matthew Shipp is part of the free-jazz movement in New York City (along with saxophonist David S. Ware, bassist William Parker and violinist Mat Maneri).

Musician Bootsy Collins and author Linday Gray Sexton, on this archive edition of Fresh Air. Bootsy Collins got his start with James Brown, where he "defined the finger-popping funk bass style" (Rolling Stone). He went on to work with George Clinton as part of the Parliment-Funkadelic tribe, before forming Bootsy's Rubber Band. On stage, he created alter egos, including Bootzilla, Boot-Tron, and King of the Geepies.