Lloyd Alexander channels his urge for adventure into his fantasy books for children. He explains how departing from realism has allowed him to write more meaningful stories.
The Scottish musician performed with the folk band Silly Wizard, which developed a loyal following in Europe and the United States. Now based in rural Pennsylvania, he has embarked on a solo career. He performs some traditional tunes in-studio and previews music from a forthcoming album.
Aboriginal Australian musicians perform some of their traditional songs and talk about music's role in their culture. Two scholars discuss recent efforts to promote and preserve this culture.
Anthropologist and filmmaker David Feingold returns to Fresh Air to talk about the opium trade originating in the Shan States of Burma. He explains how government action both locally and taken by the United States have proven ineffective in curtailing drug traffic.
Nutritionist Nathan Pritikin outlines his ideal diet to curtail heart disease and keep weight low. He recommends eschewing dairy and sticking to low-fat, low-protein, unprocessed foods.
The University's head Sheldon Hackney explains his professional role, as well as the role of the Ivy League institution within the city and a larger community of colleges and universities.
Consumer advocate Max Weiner is the founder of CEPA, the Consumer Education Protection Association, which he began in 1965. He is also the founder of the Consumer Party, which became a ballot status party in 1976, and has since fielded candidates in mayoral and other local elections, making it Philadelphia's "third party." Weiner advocates against rate hikes in public works, and is currently fighting against a proposed $89 million PGW rate hike, and the recent proposal to increase SEPTA fares. Weiner has also worked as a teacher, an accountant, and a broker.
Shere Hite is a sex educator and feminist who is the author of "The Hite Report: A Nationwide Study on Female Sexuality." She recently wrote the follow-up, "The Hite Report On Male Sexuality." In the introduction to the report, Hite states that intercourse is both a "beautiful" and "oppressive" act. This segment contains frank discussion of sexual attitudes and practices. (PARTIAL INTERVIEW)
Michael Hashim is the alto-saxophonist for the Widespread Depression Orchestra, known for the arrangements of 1930s and 1940s jazz. He joins the show to discuss his influences and the music and inner-workings of the Orchestra. The band will be changing its name to The Widespread Jazz Orchestra.
Harry Rigby and Terry Kramer are co-producers of the burlesque musical revue "Sugar Babies." Rigby co-conceived the show with theater historian Ralph Allen, and is known as the producer who brought revivals back to Broadway. Kramer is known for producing a number of plays, including "I Love My Wife" and "Knock, Knock." Her mother was also a theater producer. "Sugar Babies" is back in Philadelphia with its original stars, film legends Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller.
Film director Martin Scorsese delivering a commencement speech this year at the University of Pennsylvania. He discusses what he has discovered through and learned from movies and his belief in "integral education."
Ellen Willis is a writer for the the New Yorker. Her collection of essays, "Beginning to See the Light: Pieces of a Decade," covers many of the social and political issues of the last ten years. Feminism, rock music, 60s counter-culture and the backlash against it, the changing definitions of "family" amongst the left, religion, and abortion are covered. She also discovers her reconsidering of Judaism and God in general, after a her brother became Orthodox. She joins the show to discuss the book and its subjects.
Susan Strasberg is an actress and the daughter of Lee Strasberg the director of The Actor's Studio who trained such actors as Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, James Dean, and Marilyn Monroe in what came to be known as "method acting." Susan Strasberg made her acting debut at 17 as Anne Frank in a Broadway production of "The Diary of Anne Frank." Strasberg has recently written her memoirs, "Bittersweet," which discuss growing up in her eccentric family, her love affairs with figures such as Richard Burton and Warren Beatty, and her daughter, who was born with a
Michael Harrington is the Chair of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC), the "left" portion of the Democratic Party. The group's goals include national healthcare, full employment, and more control of corporate policies. Harrington has been an activist his entire career, and his book "The Other America," was essential in pushing Presidents Kennedy and Johnson in creating anti-poverty agendas. His new book is "Decade of Decision."
Producer, writer, and composer Ralph Allen is one of the writers of the book for "Sugar Babies," the latest hit musical on Broadway. Allen joins the show to discuss musical theater, burlesque, vaudeville, and music.
Ezekiel Mphalele left his home country to escape persecution by the apartheid government. He lived in exile in Nigeria, Paris, and the United States, where he taught university classes. He talks about his work as a writer and the pernicious forms of racism he experienced in America.
Maurice Sendak is well-known for his children's books, including "Where the Wild Things Are," despite the fact that he grew up with a hatred for "kiddies' books." Sendak writes and illustrates his own work and has won many awards. Some find Sendak's work too scary for children. His latest book is "Outside Over There," in which a child is kidnapped by goblins.
Folk singer and composer Tom Paxton is known for his work as a musician in the Greenwich Village of the 1960s, where many of his songs became standards at the clubs in the area. His latest album is "The Paxton Report," and is full of topical songs about such subjects as nuclear power and the ERA. Paxton also brings his guitar for an in-studio concert.
Britt Ekland is an actress almost as well known for her private life as her professional. Her new memoir "True Britt" dishes on both, including her relationships with Peter Sellers and Rod Stewart.
