Part one of the Fresh Air interview. Elfman is a rock musician who fronts the band Oingo Boingo. When Tim Burton hired him to write score for Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Elfman had to teach himself to read music -- a skill he never needed in the past.
John O'Keefe returns to Fresh Air to perform a selection from his one-man show, Shimmer. This time, he talks about the brutality of living in a youth detention center.
The comedy collective, comprising Bob Smith, Danny McWilliams, and Jaffe Cohen, perform comedy free of the gay bashing, racism, and misogyny often associated with standup. Critic Laurie Stone has this profile.
China expert Orville Schell says that students in that country are fighting for American-style democracy and greater freedom of expression. In light of the recent Tiananmen Square protests, Schell joins Fresh Air to discuss the history and future of anti-establishment movements.
When he's not doing studio work, Neidlinger mostly performs the work of Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, both of whom he sees as two of the most important American composers. Classically trained on the cello, Neidlinger joined avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor's band in the 1950s. Several of their albums have just been reissued.
Turkish-born writer Alev Lytle Croutier has a new book about harems. Contrary to their popular associations with polygamy, these spaces were most commonly used to isolate women slaves and family members from the outside world. Croutier herself grew up in a harem with her mother.
Film critic Stephen Schiff says the newest movie, based on the 1960s sci-fi TV show, proves the franchise has run its course. The aging actors don't deliver the best performances, and the screenplay lacks the humor of the film's predecessor.
Rock critic Ken Tucker says that Paul McCartney's recent lackluster work has been eclipsed by other pop stars, including fellow Beatle George Harrison. His new album, Flowers in the Dirt, is familiar and sentimental, but features a few good songs cowritten with Elvis Costello.
Spiegelman edits the underground comics magazine Raw. He is best known for graphic novel Maus, about his father's experiences in Nazi concentration camps, which was widely celebrated. Raw recently featured a new chapters in that story.
Conway grew up in Australia and was home-schooled until college. Her new memoir, The Road from Coorain, looks at how her academic pursuits eventually led her to become Smith College's first woman president.
Bob Elliott was half of the comedy team Bob and Ray; his son Chris appears regularly on the Late Show with David Letterman. They've written a joint memoir called Daddy's Boy, in which Chris recounts a childhood memory, and Bob offers his rebuttal.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz recently attended the Boston Early Music Festival, which featured all-day programs of performances and workshops. He has this review.
Some people bemoan the use of computer language to describe human behavior. But linguist Geoff Nunberg says the trend works both ways: we often discuss technology in anthropomorphic terms -- but only when it malfunctions.
Before starting his anarchic, avant-garde band the Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa wrote chamber music and played in lounge bands. His new memoir explains how he went from a freelance guitarist to an unwitting rock star.
Cooper says his new novel Closer -- which features explicit depictions of sex acts -- is meant to disturb, but not shock or arouse. While honing in on the experiences of gay men, Cooper sidesteps the issue of AIDS; he says sexuality generates enough anxiety on its own.
Baker's new memoir, a sequel to his book Growing Up, chronicles his career as a reporter during his twenties and thirties. Book critic John Leonard says that the story, like Baker's New York Times columns, twists and turns to explore the fraught inner workings of journalism.
Rock historian Ed Ward looks at how country musicians in the age of Elvis took their cues from African American blues and boogie-woogie to develop a new, electric guitar-fueled style.
Television critic David Bianculli reviews two shows that wouldn't have been possible on network TV. Steven Banks: Home Entertainment Center succeeds in part because it unfolds uninterrupted, without commercial breaks; cable gives the macabre and funny Tales from the Crypt license to be as violent as it needs to be.
The west coast jazz trumpeter is known for his big band recordings in the 1950s. But he also made records with several smaller ensembles. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a new box set collecting those little-heard tracks.
Apelfeld is a Holocaust survivor; his family was sent to a concentration camp, despite their being non-practicing Jews. This history informs much of Apelfeld's work, including his new novel, For Every Sin.
