Terry Gross

Musician and actor Steve Van Zandt. He is the guitarist for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. He's also recorded solo and has produced a number of records for other bands. He plays hitman Silvio Dante in the hit HBO series The Sopranos. His syndicated radio show, Hard Rock Cafe Presents Little Steven's Underground Garage plays Sunday nights on a number of classic rock stations across the United States. This interview first aired June 27, 2002.

Actor Dominic Chianese. He plays Uncle Junior on the hit HBO series The Sopranos. He's had roles in TV shows such as Kojak, Law and Order, and films including Dog Day Afternoon, and The Godfather Part II. At the age of 70, he launched a singing career. His recent album is called Hits. He brings his guitar to the studio. This interview first aired August 22, 2001.

He died September 2 at age 72 of complications from heart surgery. Two years ago, he published his first book. It's a collection of short stories about boxing called Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner. For 20 years, Toole was a cut man, stopping the bleeding so fighters could go on to the next round. Toole wrote for over for 40 years, but it was the publication of his first story last year in a small literary magazine that caught the attention of a book agent.

Cinematographer Gordon Willis created the look of many of the most influential films of the 1970s: Klute, The Godfather I and II, The Parallax View, Annie Hall and Manhattan. He's shot eight Woody Allen films, as well as Pennies from Heaven and Presumed Innocent. Willis is currently participating in the annual Master Class series at the American Museum of the Moving Image in New York .

Performance poet Sekou Sundiata. He is one of New York's notable spoken word artists, blending lyrics of urban dwelling with music. Born in Harlem, he is a professor of English Literature at The New School for Social Research. He's released several CDs of his work, including The Blue Oneness of Dreams and Urban Music. He's published a new journal (in pamphlet form), Heart: Human Equity Through Art.

Robert Jay Lifton is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Graduate School University Center and director of The Center on Violence and Human Survival at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at The City University of New York. He's written books on many topics, including the Japanese cult which released poison gas in the Tokyo subways, Nazi doctors, Hiroshima survivors and Vietnam vets.

Greg and Lauren Manning. During the attacks on the World Trade Center, Lauren Manning was badly burned. While she was in the hospital, her husband, Greg, sent daily e-mails to friends and family chronicling Lauren's progress. They've been collected in the new book, Love, Greg & Lauren: A Powerful True Story of Courage, Hope, and Survival.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson first became known for his work with Fairport Convention. He's since gone solo and is known for his dark songs which blend elements of British folk ballads and the blues. He's released a number of solo albums, Mirror Blue and Rumor and Sign. Rykodisc also compiled a retrospective of his work, Watching the Dark: The History of Richard Thompson. Currently, Thompson is performing a show he calls A Thousand Years of Pop Music, which includes British and American folk songs, jazz and pop.

Jazz singer and guitarist John Pizzarelli. He's played in cabarets and jazz clubs around the world, and co-starred in the Broadway revue Dream: A Salute to the Songs of Johnny Mercer. Pizzarelli usually performs with his trio, modeled on the Nat Cole Trio, featuring guitar, piano and bass. His latest CD is Rare Delight of You: John Pizzarelli with the George Shearing Quintet.

New York-based writer Paul Auster is the author of 10 novels. His latest is The Book of Illusions. For a year beginning in October 1999, Auster gathered stories sent to him by men and women across the United States. The stories were all true, short and personal. As part of NPR's National Story Project, Auster read them over the air. Those stories were collected in the book, I Thought My Father Was God. Auster also wrote the screenplays for Smoke and Blue in the Face.