Working with Persons with AIDS.

The pop star has a flair for the extravagant, to say the least, but his new album is stripped down. He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross about the "Elton John excess," his fear of sex as a young man, and how Liberace's example encouraged John to make the piano a star instrument.

Playwrights William M. Hoffman and Larry Kramer are gay men whose recent work has grappled with the effect of AIDS on their communities. They share their frustrations with the inaction both amongst government agencies and gay people themselves to meaningfully address the epidemic.

In his new book, It Doesn't Have to Hurt: Your Smart Guide to a Pain-Free Life, Gupta, a trained neurosurgeon, writes about pain — what causes it, and the various medications that can be used to treat it. He also reflects on ways to train the mind to minimize certain kinds of pain, using distraction and meditation.