Terry Gross

Unlike most professional dancers, Paul Taylor didn't pursue the craft until he was 22. After a celebrated career under the tutelage of Martha Graham, he became a choreographer. His new autobiography, Private Domain, details his experiences.

Puerto Rican songwriter and performer Roy Brown discusses the Nueva Cancion movement, which sets politically-charged poetry to music. He performs several songs in studio.

Brothers Luis and Daniel Valens' collaborated on a biopic of the late singer's life, called La Bamba. They discuss how they tracked down Valens' family to learn more about his early life.

Feminist activist and writer Liz Carpenter and her husband started their own news organization. Later, she worked in President Johnson's administration as a speechwriter and first lady Lady Bird Johnson's press secretary. Her memoir, about aging and widowhood, is called Getting Better all the Time.

Art photographer Tony Mendoza describes his newest book, Stories, as a photographic autobiography.

Ralph Allen says that burlesque theater started off at the turn of the century as a comedy revue; it wasn't until the 1930s that the tradition took on its more erotic elements. Allen cowrote the play Sugar Babies, which has been produced worldwide.

The San Francisco Chronicle columnist's new book explores womanhood and gentrification, among other things. The humorist is credited with coining the term "yuppy."

Taking advantage of new recording technologies, Ellington's son Mercer leads his father's big band on a new CD. Jazz critic Francis Davis says the performances are excellent in their own right, but the album doesn't offer anything new or surprising.

Writer James Miller talks about the history of the New Left and the work of the Students for a Democratic Society, who believed that college students and intellectuals were best equipped to lead democratic movements. In his new book, Democracy in the Streets, Miller outlines how their ideologies led to street protests.

Critic-at-large Laurie Stone says that the recent crop of movies left her cranky, with their focus on style over substance. But they weren't all bad -- she recommends seeing RoboCop, Withnail and I, and Innerspace.