McInerney's first novel -- Bright Lights, Big City -- delved deep into the drug-fueled world of the New York City club scene. His revisits Manhattan's nightlife in his new book, Story of My Life, about an aspiring actress. A movie version of Bright Lights, Big City, starring Michael J. Fox, was released this year.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead has been thinking a lot about west coast jazz. Some easterners think the scene is tame and enervating, but Whitehead says the adventurous new album by Bert Wilson and his band Rebirth proves them wrong.
TV critic David Bianculli says USA Today: The Television Show is glitzy and stupid and, unlike the newspaper, doesn't give viewers the chance to skip past what they don't like.
Doris Roberts started as a stage actress, and recently played Mildred on Remington Steele. While often overlooked, Mildred may have been the most interesting character on the show. Proud of her status as a working older actress, Roberts still performs many of her own stunts.
Cronenberg's films explore the tumultuous and often frightening relationship between the mind and the body. His newest movie, called Dead Ringers, is about twin gynecologists who fall in love with the same woman.
Critic-at-large Laurie Stone reviews Joan Rivers' new standup act. Stone says the performance loses steam midway through, when Rivers resorts to attacking the women in her audience. Rivers has grown more confident, accomplished and glamorous over the years; Stone hopes her comedy will one day reflect those changes.
Last year, Ken Tucker reviewed albums by Randy Travis and Dwight Yoakum, whom he thought had the power to shake up the country music establishment. Now they are the establishment, both with new albums. Tucker says Travis gives listeners a postmodern take on traditional country; Yoakum has fashioned himself the genre's Raymond Chandler, with songs that are brooding and sometimes offensive.
Writer Bharati Mukherjee moved from India to the United States to study at the University of Iowa. Her stories and novels examine the nuances of immigrant life, and how people must negotiate two, often contradictory value systems.
The soul icon still sings with the 1960s vocal group. Williams remembers the producers who wrote and recorded the Temptations' hit songs, and how they were able to capture soul and emotion on tape. He has a new memoir, simply called Temptations.
Joan Micklin Silver's film, set in New York City, is about a single woman in the publishing industry who recruits a matchmaker to find love. Film critic Stephen Schiff says it reminds him of the TV show Moonstruck, but without the motivational message.
The Nonesuch label has released new recordings of early sacred songs by Ensemble Alcatraz, who perform on period instruments. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says that, since the music on "Visions and Miracles" draws on so many cultural traditions, it's a source of constant discovery.
Host Terry Gross continues her series of interviewers with Fresh Air contributors. Today she talks with John Leonard, whose criticism appears widely. As a college student he considered a life of political activism before deciding that writing was were his strengths lay. A recovering alcoholic, Leonard describes how, even while he bottomed out, he still delivered copy to his editors.
Language commentator Geoff Nunberg wonders why it's so hard for writers to craft realistic, natural-sounding dialogue when we are surrounded by speech in our daily lives. He says it may take a special kind of attentiveness to hear -- and remember -- how people really talk.
Investigative journalist Mark Hertsgaard examines the relationship between the press and the Reagan administration in his new book, On Bended Knee. Hertsgaard says that Reagan's press team was masterful at manipulating the news media by limiting access to the president, choreographing photo opportunities and television appearances, and disseminating controlled, daily messages to reporters.
Carol Leifer wrote for Saturday Night Live and later started performing her own material on stage. A recent divorcee, she's surprised by how bleak the dating scene is. She joins Fresh Air to talk about her personal and working life.
Yeager broke the sound barrier flying the X-1 jet plane. The accomplishment not only helped revolutionize aviation; it put him in the public eye. He later appeared on the cover of Time Magazine and television commercials. His newly-published second memoir is called Press On!.
Rufus Thomas was a Memphis-based disc jockey who helped promote black music throughout the south. He also became a recording artist and producer who wrote dozens of dance hits. Rock historian Ed Ward has this profile.
Book critic John Leonard reviews the novelist's new book, about historical figures who live in contemporary times. Leonard says what could have been a thoughtful meditation on the role of art in society instead turns into a narrative mess.
Sidney Bechet broke new ground as a soloist early in jazz's history, paving the way for nearly every saxophonist who came after him -- from Charlie Parker to Steve Lacey. RCA has just reissued a collection of his recordings. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead has this review.
