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Music News
Always A Rose: Elliott Carter Remembered
November 7, 2012 Carter lived one of the most fulfilled lives any artist could wish for. What's sad about his death Monday at 103 isn't just that a whole era in music has come to an end, but that Carter was still composing, and on the highest level.
Author Interviews
Oliver Sacks, Exploring How Hallucinations Happen
November 6, 2012 The famed neurologist talks to Fresh Air about how grief, trauma, brain injury, medications and neurological disorders can trigger hallucinations — and about his personal experimentation with hallucinogenic drugs in the 1960s.
Author Interviews
An 'Oddly Normal' Outcome For A Singular Child
November 5, 2012 From the time their son Joe was 3, John Schwartz and his wife, Jeanne Mixon, suspected he was gay. They supported him through troubles in school and when he decided to come out — but as a teen, Joe attempted suicide. Their memoir, Oddly Normal, chronicles their experiences.
Music Reviews
Taylor Swift Leaps Into Pop With 'Red'
November 5, 2012 Critic Ken Tucker says that, like all good pop artists, Swift continues to evolve in a manner which challenges her diehard fans while inviting naysayers to give it another listen.
Book Reviews
Caring For Mom, Dreaming Of 'Elsewhere'
November 5, 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Russo began looking out for his mother early in life. In his new memoir, Elsewhere, Russo writes not only of his mother, but of the vanished world that shaped her. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls the book "gorgeously nuanced."
Animals
Animal Stage Trainer Makes Stars Out Of Pound Pups
November 2, 2012 Bill Berloni has more than 30 years of experience training dogs, pigs, rats, cats and lambs for Broadway productions and Hollywood films. Fresh Air listens back to an interview with him from 2008.
Author Interviews
Rin Tin Tin: A Silent Film Star On Four Legs
November 2, 2012 The orphaned German shepherd was found in the wreckage of a kennel during World War I. Writer Susan Orlean details how he became one of the biggest film stars of the silent era in Rin Tin Tin: The Life and Legend.
Author Interviews
Ricks: Firing 'The Generals' To Fight Better Wars?
November 1, 2012 Thomas Ricks' new book, The Generals, is about what he sees as a decline of American military leadership and accountability. He says that in World War II, generals were held accountable for their lack of success — but that started to change with the Korean War.
Opinion
Even Americans Find Some Britishisms 'Spot On'
November 1, 2012 Adding a foreign word to your vocabulary is like adding foreign attire to your wardrobe. Sometimes you do it because it's practical and sometimes just because you think it looks cool. Linguist Geoff Nunberg says Americans' use of "spot on" falls somewhere between affectation and flash.
Television
Katey Sagal, Holding Court On 'Sons Of Anarchy'
October 31, 2012 The actress plays Gemma, the fierce matriarch of the biker gang in the FX series. She's best-known for playing the acerbic Peg Bundy on the long-running show Married With Children.
Superstorm Sandy: Before, During And Beyond
Sandy Raises Questions About Climate And The Future
October 31, 2012 If you ask climate scientist Radley Horton, it's difficult to say that Hurricane Sandy was directly caused by climate change, but he says there are strong connections between the two. He talks with Fresh Air's Terry Gross about climate change and preparing for severe weather.
Music Reviews
After 26 Years, The Sam Rivers Trio Resurfaces
October 30, 2012 The freewheeling saxophonist and his small group from the 1970s came together for a live concert in 2007 — their first together in more than two decades. Now, a recording has been posthumously released on CD, and critic Kevin Whitehead says it's like they never went away.
Author Interviews
'Sutton': America's 1920s, Bank-Robbing 'Robin Hood'
October 30, 2012 In his first novel, J.R. Moehringer writes from the point of view of Willie Sutton, whom he calls the "greatest American robber." Moehringer says writing historical fiction helped him deal with the anger he felt toward banks after the global financial crisis in 2008.
The Fresh Air Interview
Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band: The Fresh Air Interview
October 29, 2012 Rowan got his start performing with the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe. In the '70s, he formed the band Old and in the Way with Jerry Garcia. In 2010, he joined his group for an in-studio session and interview on Fresh Air.
