Terry Gross

Nick Spitzer is a folklorist who worked for the State of Louisiana for six years, and now works at the Smithsonian. Spitzer has also hosted several radio programs and recently produced the film "Zydeco: Creole Music and Culture in Rural Louisiana" and helped produce the album "Zodico: Louisian Créole Music." Spitzer joins the show to discuss and share jazz music from New Orleans, with a focus on Mardi Gras music and lesser known styles. (INTERVIEW BY BOB CARLIN)

Dr. George Gerbner is the Dean of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Gerber and his colleagues Larry Gross, Michael Morgan, Nancy Signorielli, and sometimes Stewart Hoover have published many studies of television and its impact on society. The studies have been widely published and influential. Gerber believes that television distorts reality, and Americans, who watch a large amount of t.v. programming, are having their views on reality distorted by the medium.

Chuck Barris is the creator and producer of over a dozen television game shows, including "The Gong Show," "The Newlywed Game," and "The Dating Game." He gained his reputation as the "manic" host of "The Gong Show."

Trumpeter Gregory Davis is a member of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. The band was founded to play at funerals and other events in New Orleans. The group mixes traditional New Orleans jazz with funk and bebop. (Interview By Danny Miller)

Gay icon and writer Quentin Crisp. Crisp is known for his autobiography "The Naked Civil Servant." The memoir recounts the social price Crisp paid for being an out and effeminate gay man. Crisp counters his critics with politeness, which is the subject of his new book "Manners from Heaven."

On this edition of "The Record Ranch," with Bob Carlin, Carlin will share records of new-wave old-time music. (PARTIAL COMMENTARY)

Bishop Desmond Tutu is one of the leading figures of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Tutu delivers a talk at the University of Pennsylvania.

Photographer John Phillips has documented events such as the Nazi invasion of Austria, European high society, and the Jews and Arabs in Palestine before and after the establishment of Israel as an overseas correspondent for Life magazine. Phillips was born in Algeria, grew up in France, and moved to London as a young man. Phillips has collected over 500 of his photographs and written text to create his own "photo-biography," "It Happened in Our Lifetime." (INTERVIEW BY DANNY MILLER)

Gary Graffman is a piano virtuoso who recently lost control of his right hand due to an injury incurred while playing years earlier. Before his injury, Graffman was known for his interpretation of Romantic composers. Graffman is currently learning and performing piano concertos for the left hand, teaching, and focusing on his art collecting hobby. Graffman also wrote a memoir "I Really Should Be Practicing."

Composer Steve Reich is known as a prominent "minimalist." Reich joins the show to discuss that term, his own career and influences, and whether he is the "safe" avant-garde composer.