Rock critic Ken Tucker says that few comeback albums from aging rock stars in the 1980s have been good. The late Roy Orbison's Mystery Girl is an exception.
Director Michael Crichton's latest, a cop thriller called Physical Evidence, stars Burt Reynolds and Theresa Russell, who fail to breathe life into the film's clumsy script. Critic Stephen Schiff wonders if Crichton was having an out-of-body experience when he directed the movie.
Writer and theologian Harvey Cox says the current rise of religious fundamentalism stems in part from a disillusionment with modern technology. He has also witnessed the increasing politicization of religious messages. Cox joins Fresh Air to discuss the current state of interfaith relations in the United States and abroad.
Despite some recent, low-level controversy around the Indiana nickname, linguist Geoff Nunberg says that "hoosier," like several other regional nicknames, has lost its offensive bite. The term connotes location more than a particular cultural identity.
Writer Eva Hoffman moved with her family from Poland to the Canada when she was thirteen. Her new book about assimilating into the culture of her new country is called Lost in Translation. Hoffman is also an editor for the New York Times Book Review.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says he actively seeks out performances and recordings of the orchestra, which has been revitalized by conductor Christoph von Dohnányi. Schwartz reviews two new CDs Dohnányi helmed, featuring symphonies by Mendelssohn and Schumann.
Freberg created several humorous and memorable ad campaigns for television and radio, and continues to work in the trade today. His new memoir, the first of two volumes, is called It Only Hurts When I Laugh.
Rock historian Ed Ward says the 1960s Mod movement started in working-class London, and was rooted more in fashion than rock music. But the amphetimine-fueled subculture was short-lived, and many Mods became hippies. The re-emergence of Mods in the 1970s didn't last long, either.
As a reporter, Ward Just covered the Vietnam War and, later, Washington politics. Now, he devotes himself to fiction writing. While his novels often draw on his knowledge of D.C. culture, Just is careful to invent his own characters, rather than use fictionalized versions of real politicians.
Book critic John Leonard reviews the new detective novel Ratking, by Michael Dibdin. Leonard says the narrative, set in Italy, keeps the mystery genre alive by confronting bourgeois life and corrupt politics.
Davies began his working life as an actor in England. At the start of World War II, he returned to his home country of Canada and became a journalist. Now a popular author best known for his Deptfod Trilogy, Davies says he still only "squeaks by" as a writer.
TV critic David Bianculli reviews Shining Time Station, a kids' show starring Ringo Starr and acted out with tabletop train sets. Bianculli says he liked it almost as much as his toddlers did.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says Carla Bley is an exceptional composer and piano player, but he's frustrated by how uneven her output has been throughout the 1980s. Her new album, Duets, with bassist Steve Swallow is a reminder of how good her music used to be. A reissue of an excellent, earlier record, Social Studies, is also available.
Peter Nabokov cowrote a book with Robert Easton about the dwellings of American Indians, which he uses as a lens through which to learn more about their lives and traditions. For his research, Easton lived near several reservations and visited the homes of Native American families.
Urban planner and designer Lawrence Halprin designs public spaces which take into consideration how people move through a city -- a process he likens to dance choreography.
The British author and travel writer recently passed away. His acclaimed books include Songlines, a semi-fictional account of the myths that structure the lives of Australia's aborigines, and the travel book In Patagonia.
Unlike many young writers, Carpenter avoided the siren call of New York City, instead documenting the life around his hometown of San Francisco. His new novel is called From a Distant Place.
Rock critic Ken Tucker says Reed's new record, New York, doesn't live up to the artist's claim. But it may be his most sincere in its examination of contemporary, social issues.
