DeShannon's musical career spans five decades. In the 1960s, she toured with The Beatles on the band's first U.S. tour. In the 1970s, she sang with Van Morrison, and in the '80s, she won a Grammy for writing "Bette Davis Eyes." Here, she recounts what it was like to open for The Beatles -- and how recording "What the World Needs Now" changed her career.
The pithy, 17-syllable poems fit neatly into Twitter's 140-character limit. "Twaiku" has taken off. Linguist Geoff Nunberg says the pervasive little poems have filled the cultural space that was once occupied by light verse.
Director Debra Granik captures the sparse evocative prose of Daniel Woodrell's 2006 novel Winter's Bone in a harshly beautiful film adaptation. Critic David Edelstein says you could watch Dale Dickey's "remarkable performance a hundred times and never get to the bottom of it."
ProPublica reporter Abrahm Lustgarten uncovered internal documents from BP that he says point to the company's repeated disregard for safety and environmental rules. Lustgarten says the documents indicate BP was aware of problems as early as 2001.
A natural gas mining company sent Josh Fox a letter offering him $100,000 in exchange for the rights to drill on his land. Instead of saying yes, Fox made a documentary called Gasland about the unexpected results of natural gas drilling -- and why he believes there is continued cause for concern.
ProPublica reporter Abrahm Lustgarten uncovered internal documents from BP that he says point to the company's repeated disregard for safety and environmental rules. Lustgarten says the documents indicate BP was aware of problems as early as 2001.
Few topics are off-limits for the brash comedian: She has joked about her many face lifts, her husband's suicide, her bankruptcy and the sacrifices she made as a female performer. The documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work follows the comedian as she fights to still make people laugh.
HBO's vampire series True Blood returns with its third season Sunday. TV critic David Bianculli says the series is different from other vampire dramas appearing on screen these days -- including the phenomenally popular Twilight movie series. For the most part, he says, it's not about denial and restraint. It's about giving in.
When the Hoover Dam was finished in 1935, it was three times larger than any other dam on the planet. Journalist Michael Hiltzik examines the humongous engineering achievement — including how the Hoover Dam was conceived, designed and built — in a new book, Colossus.
Linda Greenlaw took a decade off from commercial fishing, but the siren call of the deep blue water drew her back in. The only female swordfish boat captain in the United States recounts her latest adventure at sea in a memoir, Seaworthy.
Pawnshops, payday lenders, check cashers and rent-to-own companies take in $33 billion a year. In writing his new book, Broke, USA, Gary Rivlin discovered how the businesses justified making huge profits off the working poor.
Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews a tribute album to country-folk singer John Prine -- with covers by bands including My Morning Jacket, the Drive-By Truckers, The Avett Brothers and Deer Tick. Tucker also listens to Prine's new live album, John Prine: In Person & On Stage.
Vincenzo Natali's sci-fi thriller stars Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley as two scientists who splice genes together to create new animals. But when they add human DNA to the mix, they get a new creature that develops into a deadly chimera. Critic David Edelstein says the film combines a "high-tech Frankenstein" with "a freaky vein of low-tech Gothic psychodrama."
Cook is a Florida-born singer-songwriter who first performed on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry stage in 2000. She hasn't become a star in those past 10 years, but she's attracted a following in the industry for her emotionally raw lyrics. Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews her fifth album, Welder.
The writer and filmmaker known for the cult classics Pink Flamingos, Cry-Baby and Hairspray reflects on the many people who have inspired him throughout his life — from playwright Tennessee Williams to the crazed martyr Saint Catherine of Siena — in a new memoir, Role Models.
Maureen Corrigan has booked an armchair getaway this summer with four books that will send her traveling through time. From turn-of-the-last-century New York tenements, to the 1939 World's Fair, to literary romance on the shores of Lake Geneva, these books will take you to places even the most luxurious vacations can't go.
The Daily Show's senior correspondent opens up about her crush on Jesus Christ, her introduction to sex and her ability to coax total strangers into conversation on national TV — all in her new memoir, I Know I Am, But What Are You?
The filmmaker's documentary The Oath tells the story of two men who both worked for Osama bin Laden and then wound up in incredibly different spots: One drives a taxicab in Yemen, while the other sits in solitary confinement at Guantanamo. Poitras how she gained access to the story -- and why questions still remain about the film's protagonist.
Fresh Air remembers the iconic screen actor, who starred in such films as Easy Rider, Hoosiers and Apocalypse Now. Hopper sat down with Terry Gross in both 1990 and 1996 to discuss his film career, his battle with drugs and his career as an artist.
Poet Jehanne Dubrow shares several poems from her third poetry collection, Stateside, about her experience as a Navy wife, trying to understand her own life while waiting for her spouse to return from war.
