In Mickalene Thomas' work, Black women are front and center. "We've been supportive characters for far too long," she says. "I would describe my art as radically shifting notions of beauty by claiming space." Her new exhibition of collages, paintings, and photographs is called All About Love . She spoke with Tonya Mosley about how she "draws with scissors," using her mother as a muse, and her reinterpretation of Manet. Also, David Bianculli reviews the new documentary Beatles '64 . Learn more ab...
Dec 03, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast We're going to hear from a musician whose music is vibrant, exciting and new — even if it sounds like it could have been found on a scratchy record from the 1920s. His name is Jerron Paxton and he has a new album called Things Done Changed . He brought some of his instruments to the studio when he spoke with Fresh Air 's Sam Briger. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Dec 02, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast A new film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning August Wilson play The Piano Lesson is now on Netflix. It's about a brother and sister battling over what to do with a family heirloom piano. Denzel Washington and his daughter Katia served as producers, and his sons John David and Malcolm starred in and directed it. The brothers talk about bringing the play to the screen. Also, we hear from Selena Gomez about the Spanish-language musical Emilia Pérez . Gomez plays the wife of a brutal drug car...
Nov 30, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast The animated film Piece By Piece traces Pharrell Williams' early life as a boy growing up in Virginia Beach and follows his trajectory to a Grammy-winning songwriter, performer and producer. He spoke with Tonya Mosley about his synesthesia, the song Prince rejected, and disliking his own voice. Subscribe to Fresh Air 's weekly newsletter and get highlights from the show, gems from the archive, and staff recommendations. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR P...
Nov 29, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast About 25 years ago, the acclaimed cellist asked a high school student to help him name his instrument. Yo-Yo Ma brings his cello — aka "Petunia" — to his conversation with Terry Gross. He talks about being a child prodigy, his rebel years, and straddling three cultures: American, French, and Chinese. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Nov 28, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ira Gershwin wrote the lyrics for some of the most enduring songs in the Great American Songbook, including "I Got Rhythm," "S'Wonderful," "Embraceable You," "Love is Here to Stay," and "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off." Biographer Michael Owen talks about Ira's collaboration with his brother George, his writing process, and the line he added to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Later, jazz historian Kevin Whitehead remembers drummer Roy Haynes. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoice...
Nov 27, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Piano Lesson is about a conflict in a Black family over whether to keep an exquisite heirloom piano — or to sell it to buy the land their family was enslaved on. Denzel Washington's son Malcolm directed the new film adaptation for Netflix, and his brother John David stars as Boy Willie. Tonya Mosley talks with the brothers about collaborating as a family on the project. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Priv...
Nov 26, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast During her years as a military linguist, Bailey Williams pushed her body to extremes. She later learned that eating disorders are more prevalent in the Marine Corps than in any other military branch. Her memoir is Hollow . John Powers reviews the Paramount+ series Landman . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Nov 25, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Michael Schur wrote for the The Office , and created The Good Place , and co-created Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. His new show for Netflix, A Man on the Inside , features Ted Danson as a widowed retiree who goes undercover in a retirement community. He spoke with Terry Gross about the series. Later, comic and Silicon Valley actor Jimmy O. Yang talks about his new Hulu series, Interior Chinatown. He plays a waiter who inadvertently becomes central to a crime story. Learn more abou...
Nov 23, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Author Scott Eyman explains how silent film actor Charlie Chaplin was smeared in the press, scandalized for his affairs with young women, condemned for his alleged communist ties and banned from returning to the U.S. "At one time or another he was the target of the entire security apparatus of the United States of America," Eyman says. His book is Charlie Chaplin vs. America . Also, Justin Chang reviews two highly-anticipated blockbusters, Wicked and Gladiator II . Learn more about sponsor messa...
Nov 22, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast Michael Schur wrote for the The Office , and created The Good Place , and co-created Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. His new show for Netflix, A Man on the Inside , features Ted Danson as a widowed retiree who goes undercover in a retirement community. He spoke with Terry Gross about the series, making fun of NPR (lovingly) on Parks , and being a life-long rule-follower. Also, our TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new series and says it's the sweetest show since Ted Lasso . Subs...
Nov 21, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Trump has called the press the "enemy of the people" and threatened retribution, including jailing reporters, investigating NBC for treason, and suggesting CBS's broadcast license be taken away. Terry Gross talks with David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker , and Marty Baron, former executive editor of The Washington Post, about the media landscape as we head into a second Trump administration. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Nov 20, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast The actor-singer-entrepreneur stars in Emilia Pérez, the new Spanish-language musical about a cartel boss who undergoes gender-affirming surgery. Gomez talks with Tonya Mosley about re-learning Spanish, her Disney years, and working alongside comedy legends Martin Short and Steve Martin in Only Murders in the Building . Also, Ken Tucker shares three great country songs: Maren Morris' "People Still Show Up," Dwight Yoakam's "A Dream That Never Ends," and Shawna Thompson's "Lean On Neon." Learn mo...
Nov 19, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast In his new Hulu comedy series, Interior Chinatown , Jimmy O. Yang plays a waiter who inadvertently becomes central to a crime story. As an Asian American actor, he says he relates to the character's feeling of invisibility. Yang talks with Ann Marie Baldonado about auditioning for Silicon Valley , working alongside his dad, and feeling like an outsider among other Asians in California. Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews the Indian movie All We Can Imagine as Light . Learn more about sponsor ...
Nov 18, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Atlantic staff writer Annie Lowery suffers from a rare liver condition that causes severe chronic itch. It led her to look into the stigma of itchiness, the itch-scratch cycle, and finding acceptance in her body. Also, we hear from screenwriter and author of one of the most anticipated novels of the season, Richard Price. His new novel, Lazarus Man , is about second chances. Price also wrote for the HBO shows The Wire , The Deuce and The Night Of . And Maureen Corrigan has two books to recommend...
Nov 16, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kerri Russell stars in the Netflix political drama The Diplomat as a foreign service officer tapped to become the American ambassador to the UK. Russell also starred in the series Felicity and The Americans . She spoke with us last year about these characters and getting her start on The All New Mickey Mouse Club as a kid. Also, we remember author Dorothy Allison, who died this week at age 75. Her critically acclaimed 1992 novel Bastard out of Carolina was based on her own childhood experience o...
Nov 15, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Richard Price's new novel, Lazarus Man , a five-story building collapses, upending the lives of the building's residents. It's about second chances and finding the faith to carry on. Price has written for HBO's The Wire and The Deuce , and co-created HBO's The Night Of and The Outsider . Several of his novels, including Clockers , were adapted into films. He spoke with Terry Gross. Also, Maureen Corrigan shares two books that offer humor and beauty: Billy Collins' collection of poetry Water, ...
Nov 14, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast With wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and Ukraine, and with high tariffs on the horizon, The Economist Editor-In-Chief Zanny Minton Beddoes says president-elect Trump's agenda may be chaotic. But she stays resolutely optimistic about possible good elements in his foreign policy. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Nov 13, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast We've all had bug bites, or dry scalp, or a sunburn that causes itch. But what if you felt itchy all the time — and there was no relief? Atlantic journalist Annie Lowrey suffers from primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), a degenerative liver disease in which the body mistakenly attacks cells lining the bile ducts, causing them to inflame. The result is a severe itch that doesn't respond to antihistamines or steroids. She talks with Terry Gross about finding a diagnosis, treatment, and what scientis...
Nov 12, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Author Phil Klay says Trump has been willing to politicize the military to push his partisan agenda before, and is likely to further erode norms around the military as he looks for those willing to "go with his whims." Klay is a Marine Corps veteran and National Book Award-winning writer. Also, John Powers on the Spanish language movie musical Emilia Pérez. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Nov 11, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Oscar-winning actor Al Pacino talks with Terry Gross about growing up in the South Bronx with a single mother and The Godfather , and why he almost passed on Part II . His new memoir is Sonny Boy . Also, we hear from Saoirse Ronan. She stars in two new films: The Outrun , about a young woman struggling to get sober, and the World War II drama, Blitz . She spoke with contributor Ann Marie Baldonado about the roles, as well as the most intense on set experience she's ever had — birthing lambs. Lea...
Nov 09, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Comic Jenny Slate spoke with Terry Gross earlier this year about finding comedy in her feelings, motherhood, and growing up in a haunted house. Her latest stand-up special on Amazon Prime Video is Seasoned Professional and she has a new book of essays out now called Lifeform. Justin Chang reviews Clint Eastwood's new film, Juror #2. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Nov 08, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Savings and Trust , historian Justene Hill Edwards tells the story of the Freedman's Bank. Created for formerly enslaved people following the Civil War, its collapse cost depositors millions. She spoke with Tonya Molsey about how this part of history reverberates today. Also, book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Vanishing Treasures . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Nov 07, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Irish actor Saoirse Ronan returns to Fresh Air to talk with contributor Ann Marie Baldonado about her two new films ( The Outrun and Blitz ) as well as her experience as a child actor and her collaboration with Lady Bird and Little Women director Greta Gerwig. Also, Carolina Miranda reviews the Netflix film Pedro Páramo . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Nov 06, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast We remember renowned composer, arranger and producer Quincy Jones and listen back to Terry Gross's 2001 interview with him. He died Sunday at the age of 91. He got his start playing with Ray Charles when they were both in their teens. Jones became famous as an arranger and producer for musicians including Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, and Michael Jackson on his albums Bad , Off the Wall and Thriller . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Priva...
Nov 05, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Oscar-winning actor Al Pacino talks with Terry Gross about growing up in the South Bronx with a single mother, getting his start in Greenwich Village performing in avant-garde theater, nearly dying of COVID, and his life today. We'll also talk about The Godfather , and why he almost passed on Part II . His new memoir is Sonny Boy . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Nov 04, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Alex Van Halen has written a new memoir about forming the rock band Van Halen with his brother Eddie. It takes readers from their childhood to the wild ride of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Eddie Van Halen died in 2020. Alex talks with Tonya Mosley about his grief and reflects on their relationship. Also, artist Titus Kaphar talks about his new movie, Exhibiting Forgiveness , based on his life. It's about a celebrated painter whose world unravels when his estranged father suddenly resurfaces. C...
Nov 02, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast We remember actor Teri Garr, who died last week at age 79. She charmed audiences in her film roles and appearances on late night TV. She's best known for her role as the dim witted seductive lab assistant to Gene Wilder's mad scientist in Mel Brook's Young Frankenstein . She was later nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Tootsie . After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Garr became a spokeswoman for MS research and support. She spoke with Terry Gross in 2005. Also, Justin Chang r...
Nov 01, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast New Yorker journalist David Kirkpatrick says a government command hub is tasked with tracking and protecting U.S. elections from foreign adversaries who try to disrupt them by sowing discord and foment violence. Guest jazz critic Martin Johnson remembers composer Benny Golson, who died last month at the age of 95. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Oct 31, 2024•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast New York Times reporter Ken Bensinger says the America First Policy Institute, which has nearly 300 executive orders ready to be signed, would influence a Trump second term more than Project 2025. Also, John Powers reviews the movie A Real Pain . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Oct 30, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
