Terry Gross

A concert with the McGarrigle sisters, Kate and Anna. There's a new CD of their first two albums, released in the late 70s: "Kate & Anna McGarrigle" and "Dancer with Bruised Knees." The McGarrigles are known for their close and "subtle harmony." Their music is considered hard to categorize, although it sounds folky. The sisters absorbed an eclectic blend of music when they were growing up in Canada: Victorian ballads, blues, jazz, French-Canadian folk songs, Broadway tunes, and country music.

Writer, actor, director Harold Ramis He's one of the most influential forces behind some of the biggest comedy hits of the late 70s and 80s. But his influence is not generally known by those outside the industry. (For that reason he's been called the "Clark Kent" of comedy. Also because he's "mild-mannered," "bespectacled," and he "looks as if he would be the first to duck under the table at the first sign of a food fight").

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews, "The Man Without a Face."

Educator Deborah Meier. She's a nationally known authority on education, and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" award. She developed and directed three alternative elementary schools in East Harlem and later a Secondary School. The schools accept students on a first-come, first-serve basis. Classes are small and personalized, and the emphasis is on academic learning and inquiry. MEIER wanted to create an atmosphere where students learn democratic values, where teachers can hold kids accountable, and parents can become involved.

Professor of History at Princeton, Sean Wilentz. His new article in the August 9th, 1993 issue of The New Republic compares the Ross Perot phenomenon to past populist movements in American History. He argues that Perot represents populism as "a surly mood of defeat and powerlessness;" that he perhaps signals a realignment to come of the two major parties. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Writer and director Susan Sontag. Sontag is just back from Sarajevo, where she has been directing a performance of Beckett's "Waiting For Godot" in the Serbo-Croatian language. She is one of few arts figures to visit the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, a battle she calls "the Spanish Civil War of our time". Her latest novel is the "Volcano Lover," recently published in paperback by Anchor Books. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Writer Anne Lamott on being a good mother AND a phone addict.

Medical ethicist Daniel Callahan. His new book is "The Troubled Dream of Life: Living with Mortality." (Simon & Schuster). In it he looks at how our society views death: If death is a "part of life," why do we have such trouble accepting it? And how do our attitudes about death affect medical and social policy?

Actor Jerry Adler. He's a former Broadway producer, director and stage manager who took up acting at the age of 62. He worked on over 53 Broadway shows before moving to L.A. where he staged managed a soap opera. On a hunch, a friend, who was casting a film, brought Adler in to read. That resulted in his first appearance as an actor in the film noir thriller, "The Public Eye." Since then, Adler has acted in a number of television shows. He's now starring in the new Woody Allen film, "Manhattan Murder Mystery." (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Writer A.E. Hotchner. His memoir, about growing up in a flophouse during the depression, "King of the Hill," is being made into a movie, directed by Stephen Soderbergh (who directed "Sex, Lives, and Videotape). Hotchner is best known for his controversial 1966 biography of his personal friend Ernest Hemingway, "Papa Hemingway: A Personal Memoir." Presented in the unusual form of dialogue, Hotchner faced criticism from the literary community and an attempt by Hemingway's widow to ban the sale of the book. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)