Don Glen Vilet is a painter who recorded experimental, blues-inflected music under under the name Captain Beefheart. Rock historian Ed Ward says that, while Beefheart was never a commercial success, his influence can be heard in everything from pop to heavy metal.
Book critic John Leonard reviews Studs Terkel's new collection of oral histories. Leonard says that Terkel is an eternal optimist, who features interviews with people working for change -- like doctors, union leaders, and gay rights activists.
Vachss is based in New York and specializes in child abuse cases. His work extends into his crime fiction, which follows an unlicensed detective named Burke. Vachss also helped manage a juvenile prison.
After leaving art school, Malcolm McLaren started a clothing store called Sex, and later helped assemble the punk band the Sex Pistols. McLaren says the group's talent was secondary to its subversiveness.
TV critic David Bianculli says USA Today: The Television Show is glitzy and stupid and, unlike the newspaper, doesn't give viewers the chance to skip past what they don't like.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead has been thinking a lot about west coast jazz. Some easterners think the scene is tame and enervating, but Whitehead says the adventurous new album by Bert Wilson and his band Rebirth proves them wrong.
Beard lives in London, and still hasn't seen The Last Temptation of Christ, which he worked on with director Martin Scorsese. He join Fresh Air to talk about his decision to shoot the film in Morocco, and the history and traditions informing his design choices. His previous films include Brazil and Life of Brian.
McInerney's first novel -- Bright Lights, Big City -- delved deep into the drug-fueled world of the New York City club scene. His revisits Manhattan's nightlife in his new book, Story of My Life, about an aspiring actress. A movie version of Bright Lights, Big City, starring Michael J. Fox, was released this year.
Doris Roberts started as a stage actress, and recently played Mildred on Remington Steele. While often overlooked, Mildred may have been the most interesting character on the show. Proud of her status as a working older actress, Roberts still performs many of her own stunts.
Critic-at-large Laurie Stone reviews Joan Rivers' new standup act. Stone says the performance loses steam midway through, when Rivers resorts to attacking the women in her audience. Rivers has grown more confident, accomplished and glamorous over the years; Stone hopes her comedy will one day reflect those changes.
Cronenberg's films explore the tumultuous and often frightening relationship between the mind and the body. His newest movie, called Dead Ringers, is about twin gynecologists who fall in love with the same woman.
Joan Micklin Silver's film, set in New York City, is about a single woman in the publishing industry who recruits a matchmaker to find love. Film critic Stephen Schiff says it reminds him of the TV show Moonstruck, but without the motivational message.
Last year, Ken Tucker reviewed albums by Randy Travis and Dwight Yoakum, whom he thought had the power to shake up the country music establishment. Now they are the establishment, both with new albums. Tucker says Travis gives listeners a postmodern take on traditional country; Yoakum has fashioned himself the genre's Raymond Chandler, with songs that are brooding and sometimes offensive.
The soul icon still sings with the 1960s vocal group. Williams remembers the producers who wrote and recorded the Temptations' hit songs, and how they were able to capture soul and emotion on tape. He has a new memoir, simply called Temptations.
Writer Bharati Mukherjee moved from India to the United States to study at the University of Iowa. Her stories and novels examine the nuances of immigrant life, and how people must negotiate two, often contradictory value systems.
Host Terry Gross continues her series of interviewers with Fresh Air contributors. Today she talks with John Leonard, whose criticism appears widely. As a college student he considered a life of political activism before deciding that writing was were his strengths lay. A recovering alcoholic, Leonard describes how, even while he bottomed out, he still delivered copy to his editors.
Investigative journalist Mark Hertsgaard examines the relationship between the press and the Reagan administration in his new book, On Bended Knee. Hertsgaard says that Reagan's press team was masterful at manipulating the news media by limiting access to the president, choreographing photo opportunities and television appearances, and disseminating controlled, daily messages to reporters.
The Nonesuch label has released new recordings of early sacred songs by Ensemble Alcatraz, who perform on period instruments. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says that, since the music on "Visions and Miracles" draws on so many cultural traditions, it's a source of constant discovery.
Language commentator Geoff Nunberg wonders why it's so hard for writers to craft realistic, natural-sounding dialogue when we are surrounded by speech in our daily lives. He says it may take a special kind of attentiveness to hear -- and remember -- how people really talk.
