archive
Author Interviews
'Times' Advice Guru Answers Your Social Q's
November 30, 2012 New York Times advice columnist Philip Galanes details how to handle breakups, cellphone calls and food allergies — among other topics — in his book Social Q's: How to Survive the Quirks, Quandaries and Quagmires of Today.
Music Reviews
Turning Up The Volume On The Electric Blues
November 29, 2012 A new 12-disc compilation traces the history of electric blues from its inauspicious start through its heyday in the 1950s and '60s. Critic Ed Ward says Plug It In! Turn It Up! does "a great job of illuminating one particular aspect of the blues."
Movie Interviews
'Flight' Takes On Questions Of Accountability
November 29, 2012 In the Robert Zemeckis film starring Denzel Washington, a pilot with a secret substance-abuse problem successfully crash-lands an airplane while high on drugs and alcohol. He must then ask himself some tough questions about whether his act of heroism is undermined by his addiction.
Music Reviews
'Buddy And Jim': Friends In Life And Songwriting
November 28, 2012 Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale just released a new album of duets. Critic Ken Tucker says Buddy and Jim recalls an earlier era of country music. The pair's voices, Tucker says, connect through "shared emotion in a song."
Middle East
The Middle East: A Web Of 'Topsy-Turvy' Alliances
November 28, 2012 Robert Malley, a program director for the International Crisis Group, analyzes the complexity of the situation in the Middle East, a region where conflicts interconnect and expand upon one another. "These alliances," says Malley, "are not clear cut ... they are alliances of convenience."
Music Reviews
Cecilia Bartoli's New 'Mission' Unearths Baroque Gems
November 27, 2012 Critic Lloyd Schwartz welcomes the opera star's new album, Mission, which breathes new life into the work of Italian composer Agostino Steffani. Bartoli, he says, has an astonishing capacity for vocal fireworks and warm, delicate lyricism.
Author Interviews
'The Last Refuge': Yemen, Al-Qaida And The U.S.
November 27, 2012 In his new book, journalist Gregory Johnsen charts the rise of Yemen as a haven for al-Qaida and explores the recent history of radical Islam in the Arabian Peninsula. The death of Osama bin Laden, he says, had more of an effect on the U.S. psyche than it did on people in Yemen.
Music Reviews
Jason Kao Hwang: From The Blues To China And Back
November 26, 2012 The violinist attempts to mix jazz, classical and traditional Chinese music with his octet on Burning Bridge.
Author Interviews
Mantel Takes Up Betrayal, Beheadings In 'Bodies'
November 26, 2012 Hilary Mantel is the first woman to win the Man Booker Prize twice, first for her 2009 novel, Wolf Hall, and now for that book's 2012 sequel, Bring Up the Bodies. The novels are part of a historical fiction trilogy about Tudor England and the events surrounding the reign of King Henry VIII.
Fresh Air Weekend
Fresh Air Weekend: Colbert, America's Test Kitchen
November 24, 2012 From "King Herod's Song" to Ben Folds Five, Stephen Colbert talks about some of his favorite music. America's Test Kitchen experts Jack Bishop and Bridget Lancaster join Fresh Air to explain what makes a great marinade. And critic David Edelstein reviews Life of Pi.
Movies
What Happened To 'Baby Jane'? She's Turning 50
November 23, 2012 On its 50th anniversary, Robert Aldrich's classic horror film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? has just been released on Blu-ray. Though it's far from a musical, classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says its musical elements are crucial to the film.
Music
Jazz Vocalist Susie Arioli Goes 'All The Way'
November 23, 2012 Listen to an in-studio concert and conversation with the Canadian singer and her longtime guitarist, Jordan Officer.
Movies
A Boy, A Boat, A Tiger: Reflecting On 'Life Of Pi'
November 23, 2012 Ang Lee's meticulously controlled style makes a perfect fit for Life of Pi, a passionately overcontrolled adaptation of a wondrous adventure story with a surprisingly harsh sting in its tail.
Books
'Gershwins And Me' Tells The Stories Behind 12 Songs
November 22, 2012 Musician Michael Feinstein chronicles his experience working as an archivist and cataloger for legendary songwriter Ira Gershwin. The book is presented through the stories of 12 of the Gershwin brothers' songs, including "Fascinating Rhythm," "The Man I Love" and "I Got Rhythm."
Author Interviews
A Daughter Remembers Her 'Entertainer' Father
November 21, 2012 Margaret Talbot tells the story of her father, actor Lyle Talbot, in her memoir The Entertainer. He began his career as an assistant to a traveling hypnotist, and went on to star in movies with Shirley Temple and Humphrey Bogart — and played next-door neighbor Joe Randolph on Ozzie and Harriet.
