Terry Gross

Juan Garcia Esquivel produced innovative recordings of pop music in the fifties and sixties. His work has been re-issued on a CD called "Esquivel!: Space Age Bachelor Pad Music." Terry speaks with him, his former wife Yvonne de Bourbon, and producer and critic Irwin Chusid.

Evans is an actor and producer of such films as "The Odd Couple", "Love Story", "Chinatown" and "The Godfather." His new memoir about his career's peaks and valleys is called "The Kid Stays in the Picture."

Evan McKenzie is the author of "Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government." He is an assistant professor of political science at Albright College in Reading, PA, and has represented homeowner associations as an attorney in California. McKenzie says that the rise of these entities inevitably affects everyone -- including those who live in communities not bound by their rules.

Writer Colin Escott talks about his new book, "Hank Williams, The Biography." He's also the author of "Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records & The Birth of Rock & Roll", and he produced and annotated the CD Collection "Hank Williams: The Original Singles Collection...Plus."

A concert and interview with singer/songwriter and musician Dave Alvin. He's best known for his guitar "firepower" with the Blasters -- for which he was also primary composer and songwriter. He also had a short stint with the band X. Alvin went solo a few years ago, and began honing his voice. He's just released his third solo album -- his first acoustic one -- called "King of California."

Writer and former filmmaker Gretel Ehrilch is the author of "The Solace of Open Spaces," a collection of essays about life on Wyoming's high plains. It was while walking on the Wyoming plains that Ehrilch was struck by lightning. The force of it threw her forty feet, severely damaged part of her nervous system, and sent her into a "solitary limbo." Ehrlich returned to her parents' home for medical treatment and began trying to understand what happened to her.

Lane is currently starring in the new Neil Simon comedy on stage, "Laughter on the 23rd Floor." He played Nathan Detroit in the Broadway revival of "Guys and Dolls." Playwright Terrance McNally has written roles for Lane and says, "I need an actor like Nathan to fully express myself. I can't do it with just the words." Lane starred in McNally's "The Lisbon Traviata," and in "Lips Together, Teeth Apart." He also was in the films "Frankie and Johnny," and "Life with Mikey,"

Chwat's "New York Speech Improvement Services" attracts 200 to 250 clients a week. He taught Robert DeNiro how to gain an Appalachian accent for his role in "Cape Fear." Julia Roberts sought him out to relearn her southern drawl for "Steel Magnolias." He helped another southerner, Andie McDowell, after her lines for "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan" were dubbed by Glenn Close. Chwat also assists people in business, politics, and communications to lose their accents and learn Standard American English.

Writer Mikal Gilmore is the youngest brother of executed killer Gary Gilmore. Gilmore's 1977 death -- at his own request-- by firing squad in Utah, was the first American execution in ten years. Brother Mikal finds seeds of his brother's two murders sown far back in Gilmore family history, and its Mormon roots. When asked why he writes a memoir twenty years after the events, Gilmore says, "I'm writing about it now because for many years I tried to live my life as if I wasn't a member of the same family.

The playwright, housecleaner and former elf to Santa launched his radio commentator career with his SantaLand Diaries, broadcast during NPR's "Morning Edition" in 1992. His humor has been described as a "caustic mix of J. D. Salinger and John Waters." Along with his sister, Amy Sedaris, he wrote the play "Stitches," which was described as a "macabre and hilarious social satire." Now he's made his literary debut with a new collection of stories and essays, called "Barrel Fever."