Rock critic Ken Tucker says that most singer-songwritiers who find success early on never recapture the spark of their best work later in their career. But Elvis Costello bucks the trend on his 13th album, Spike.
Ruben's new movie is called True Believers, and stars James Woods and Robert Downey, Jr. He joins Fresh Air to talk about how he cast the film, and the logistics of using real prisoners as extras.
Classical music critic says that no music is more fun than a good operetta. A new collection of lesser known works by composer Jacques Offenbach is more fun than almost any other album this year.
The World War II-themed Christabel airs at the same time as Glory! Glory!, about the relationship between a televangist and a punk rocker. Since the latter will play repeatedly on HBO, TV critic David Bianculli recommends first watching the more substantive Christabel.
Dante started making trailers for B movies produced by Roger Corman. He has since become a mainstream Hollywood director. His films include The Howling, Innerspace, Gremlins, and his newest, The Burbs, starring Tom Hanks.
Goode was recently commissioned to record all of Beethoven's piano sonatas. He joins Fresh Air to discuss the challenges of that endeavor, the process of memorizing the repertory, and his early musical training.
Novelist Salman Rushdie's new book has been banned in several countries because of what many see as its blasphemous take on Islam. Book critic John Leonard says the novel is indeed blasphemous, but Rushdie directs his ire ecumenically, critiquing Indian culture and Margaret Thatcher as well. The narrative is messy, but it's the messiness that makes it interesting.
Willis is known for taking on diverse topics ranging from rock music, pornography, and domesticity. Now in her 40s, she is raising a child with her partner -- an arrangement, she admits, resembles the nuclear family in all but name. Willis is the senior editor at the Village Voice.
Charlie Rich was a jazz enthusiast who wrote for many legendary country and rock musicians on the Sun Record Label. Rock historian Ed Ward says, for Rich, recording his own, original music was an afterthought. He had a few hits on various Memphis-area labels, but could never break through into the mainstream.
Leavitt's writing focuses on the family lives of gay men and women. He says families can alternately be sanctuaries and dangerous communities for for them. His new book, set in the suburbs, is called Equal Affections.
On his new album, trumpeter Herb Robertson reinterprets several compositions by the late pianist. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says the record emphasizes the jubilance of Powell's music, rather than the difficulties he faced later in life.
Rhys Chatham is a classically-trained, minimalist composer who incorporates rock influences into his music. He joins Fresh Air to talk about his choice of instrumentation, and the evolution of his work over the years.
Performance group Robert Kaplow and the Punsters stage a radio play with Fresh Air host Terry Gross. Elvis Presley joins the show to talk about the current direction of pop music.
Critic Ken Tucker reviews the home video release The Sweet Smell of Success, which he says features gorgeous shots of 1950s New York City, and an unrelenting narrative intensity.
The actress had her big break in John Waters' movie Hairspray, as the teen star Tracy Turnblad. Lake is larger than many of her peers, but has successfully landed roles written for skinny women. She joins Fresh Air to discuss her early influences, her post-Hairspray work, and her relationship with the late drag queen Divine.
The essayist and novelist's new book, called AIDS and Its Metaphors, examines the discourse surrounding the disease. Sontag is a cancer survivor; a previous book about language and sickness is titled Illness as Metaphor. She joins Fresh Air to talk about how cancer changed her thinking and made her a more compassionate person.
Frank Chin is critical of many other contemporary Asian American writers; their works, he says, rely too much on western forms, cater to white audiences, and misrepresent Asian culture. His new collection of short stories, The Chinaman Pacific & Frisco R.R. Co, reveals his own perspectives on the Chinese American experience.
Language commentator Geoff Nunberg believes the book, on its surface, is the ideal medium for presenting text. But it has its limitations: books take up space, wear out, and impose linearity on the information they contain. While technological advancements may render some books obsolete, Nunberg says that nothing can match the pleasure of reading ink on paper.
Film critic Stephen Schiff says that Cassavetes, who died this month at the age of 59, was just starting to live up to the promise of his jagged talent. The director's films were often indulgent and overwrought, but never without power.
