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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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20:54

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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10:10

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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Lone star ticks are covering much of the U.S. Here's what you need to know

(1.) Journalist BURKARD BILGER is a staff writer for The New Yorker. In a new article titled The Tick That Hunts Down its Hosts, Including Us, he reports on what we know about how the tick operates, how it has multiplied and vastly extended its territory and how it affects the people it feeds on, and the latest ideas about how to limit the infestation and treat people with alpha gal syndrome which the tick causes. BILGER is also the author of the 2023 book Fatherland, about his German grandfather, who joined the Nazi Party, but worked with the French resistance.

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The Perfect Moment' makes the case that culture wars have 'completely eaten America'

ISAAC BUTLER is the author of The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America's Culture Wars. It focuses on the religious right attacks on certain books, art and film of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. His previous books The World Only Spins Forward - about the play Angels in America. And The Method, about the history of the acting technique known as the method. We recorded the interview last Thursday. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

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