A new made-for-TV movie about the late actress's life and television career, called Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter, is as awful as any tele-movie, says critic Maureen Corrigan. Since Ball's death last year, networks have been trying to recapture the magic of Lucy's sitcom -- an impossible task since, according Corrigan. the original show was nearly perfect.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says the one downside of the current crop of Broadway CDs is that few releases feature excellent singers. A reissue of the once-rare Mary Martin Sings, Richard Rodgers Plays is a noteworthy exception.
Sarris reviews movies for several newspapers and teaches at Columbia University. In the 1960s, he pushed forth the auteur theory, which said that films could best be understood by the director's singular vision within the context of their full body of work. Now, he often finds genre films more interesting than mainstream movies that explore important ideas.
Esposito has been featured in Spike Lee's movies Mo' Better Blues and Do the Right Thing. He joins Fresh Air to talk about the intensity of working on the set of Do the Right Thing, and how he started acting at the age of six.
Performance artists Karen Finley and Holly Hughes, whose work is often sexual and political in nature, recently had their NEA grants vetoed, despite a recommendation by the organization's peer review board. Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Stephan Salisbury speaks to Fresh Air about the controversy.
Chester Arthur Burnett didn't become a professional musician until he was 38, when he adopted the stage name Howlin' Wolf. Rock historian Ed Ward profiles the musician's move from the South to the North, and the development of his urban blues sound.
Forsythe plays the villain Flattop in the new Dick Tracy movie. He also appeared in the Patty Hearst biopic and Serigio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer joins Fresh Air to talk about the scientific and cultural history of the Red Planet. He advocates for robotic and human exploration of Mars -- an endeavor that would lead to greater technological innovations and international cooperation.
Book critic John Leonard reviews the new novel by Tadeusz Konwicki, which fictionalizes the author's family history in Czarist-era Poland. It's complex narrative anticipates the political upheavals by Stalin and Hitler, and the rise of anti-Semitism.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews "The Complete Blue Note Recordings of George Lewis," a box set featuring the music of early New Orleans clarinetist George Lewis. Whitehead says you don't need to be familiar with Lewis's historical significance to understand the timeless grace of his playing.
Troxel founded the Olympia-based vocal group with Gretchen Christopher and Barbara Ellis in the late-1950s. The Fleetwoods have a new best-of CD on Rhino Records.
World music critic Milo Miles returns to Fresh Air to discuss another popular genre from Trinidad and Tobago, called soca, which brought a faster, more danceable feel to calypso.
After ceasing publication last November, the feminist magazine, founded by Gloria Steinem, is back on (at least some) newsstands. Book critic Maureen Corrigan praises its return and its inclusion of more diverse writers. But the changes comes at a price -- now ad free, the cost of each issue has gone up.
Part II of the Fresh Air interview with the legendary B-movie producer and director. Corman talks about some of the unconventional research he did before making his films, including hanging out with the Hell's Angels and taking LSD. Despite having the opportunity to work with major studios, he chose to work independently, and eventually started his own production and distribution company, New World Pictures.
Film critic Stephen Schiff says Mo' Better Blues, about a trumpet player's struggles balancing his career with his romantic relationships is at best agreeably messy and, at worst, repugnant, especially in its flagrant, anti-Semetic portrayals of Jewish businessmen.
As the season comes to an end, Ken Tucker reviews some of his favorite new releases, including albums by The Time, Mariah Carey, The Allman Brothers, and Bonnie Raitt.
Part I of the Fresh Air interview. Despite his reputation as a master of the low-budget B-movie, Corman cites classic Hollywood and European films as his primary influences. He is known for his prolific pace, and for introducing now-famous actors like Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro, and Vincent Price. Corman has a new memoir, called "How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime."
Historian William Taubman edited and translated a biography of the last years of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, as told by Nikita's son, Sergei. The book, titled Khrushchev on Khrushchev, gives new insights into the elder Khrushchev's fall from power after repudiating Stalinism, and his final days as a virtual pariah in the Soviet Union.
Fresh Air Terry Gross's most pressing question for the blues and gospel group is, Why hasn't she heard of them before? For over twenty years, the real life brothers Sherman and Wendell, along with bandmate Popsy Dixon, have performed soulful, vocal-driven music. Their new album is called In the Spirit.
TV critic David Bianculli reviews Hiroshima, a fictional retelling of real events surrounding the bombing of Hiroshima. Despite some excellent performances, he says that no story can match the grim reality of the city's devastation.
