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Band Leader Paul Shaffer Releases His First Album.

Musician Paul Shaffer. Shaffer is the ultimately hip leader of "The World's Most Dangerous Band," the house group on "Late Night with David Letterman." Previously, Shaffer was a session musician in New York, band leader on "Saturday Night Live," and music director for the Blues Brothers, the alter egos of Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi. Paul Shaffer has just put out his first album, called "Coast to Coast." It's a collection of tunes representative of the musical variety of the country, with legendary stars from those regions sitting in. Among the selections, a surfin' tune with Brian Wilson, a Detroit funk number featuring George Clinton and a New York number with Dion, Carole King, Ellie Greenwich, and the Fresh Prince.

23:17
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Other segments from the episode on October 20, 1989

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, October 20, 1989: Interview with Paul Shaffer; Interview with Peter Guralnick; Review of the film "Crimes and Misdemeanors."
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18:31

Peter Guralnick Discusses "Searching for Robert Johnson."

Music writer Peter Guralnick. His new book, "Searching For Robert Johnson," examines the brief life of perhaps the greatest blues musician of all time. In the 20s and 30s, Johnson was "King of the Delta Blues Singers," and a sensation throughout the South. Johnson died at age 27, shot to death by a jealous husband, but his music continued to be studied and copied by artists such as Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones.

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TV 2009: David Bianculli On The Best ... And The Rest.

The economy may have hit the broadcast business hard, but TV critic David Bianculli says the future is looking bright — for cable, anyway. He joins Terry Gross to talk about the best and the worst television of '09 and what we can look forward to in '10.

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Veteran Television Announcer Bill Wendell.

Veteran television announcer Bill Wendell retires this week after 37 years at NBC. Wendell is currently the announcer for "Late Night with David Letterman." He's famous for adding the long "A" in his introduction "Here's...Daaay-vid Letterman" Wendell also emceed several games shows and was the Tonight Show announcer in 1956 and 1957.

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'The Great Refusal' author Casey Gerald says ruining his reputation saved his life

CASEY GERALD, author of the new book The Great Refusal: A New Vision of Resistance. It picks up where his previous book, There Will Be No Miracles Here, left off, which is a memoir that chronicled his life growing up in Oak Cliff, Dallas; attending Yale and Harvard; working at Lehman Brothers; creating a successful nonprofit; and, at the height of his success, walking away. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

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Netflix's 'SCTV' is a treasure trove of underdog humor

Tv critic DAVID BIANCULLI reviews SCTV, which is now available to stream on Netflix . “SCTV,” also known as “Second City TV,” was a low-budget sketch comedy show that originated in Canada in the mid-1970s and continued in syndication and on network and cable TV until 1984. Its cast members over the years have included John Candy, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, and Andrea Martin.

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Rosanne Cash shares the list of music her dad, Johnny, insisted she know [REBROADCAST]

Singer and songwriter, ROSANNE CASH. When she was 18, her father Johnny Cash gave her a list of 100 essential country songs. Years later she released an album titled The List featuring 12 of those songs. (REBROADCAST FROM 2009.10.05) (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW)

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