Jazz trumpeter, cornetist, and composer Olu Dara describes his music as "rhythmic fusion," and is the leader of the Okra Orchestra. His live shows are unusual among jazz concerts due to their dancing audiences. Dara joins the show to discuss his life, career, and contemporary jazz.
Activist and journalist Susan Brownmiller is known for her seminal work "Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape," one of the first to make the assertion that rape is about violence and not lust. Her new book os "Femininity." The book examines the aesthetic of femininity, explores it origins, and suggests its implications for women. Brownmiller describes femininity as a competitive survival strategy. Brownmiller is also the co-founder of Women Against Pornography.
Dr. Mary Steichen Calderone is known for her groundbreaking work in reproductive health and sexual education in public schools. Calderone attended medical school later in life, and from 1953-1964 was the Medical Director of Planned Parenthood. In 1965 Calderone founded Sex Information and Education Council in the United States (SIECUS), an organization devoted to establishing sexuality as a part of physical and mental health. Calderone delivers a talk on her life and career.
Godfrey Reggio is an experimental filmmaker whose work makes uses of montage and sound. His first film, a documentary, "Koyaanisqatsi," derives its title from the Hopi word meaning "unbalanced life." The film manipulates images of cityscapes, and Reggio describes it as showing "the beauty of the beast." The film's music is composed by Philip Glass. Reggio intends the documentary to produce a mind-opening experience for the viewer through the fusion of music and image--to be inspiration, not entertainment.
Jane Ira Bloom is a jazz soprano saxophonist and composer. Her most recent album is "Mighty Lights." She joins the show to discuss her choice in instruments as a child, working as a woman in the jazz industry, and branching out into producing her own music.
Judge William Marutani, who was appointed by President Carter to the United Commission on War Relocation and Internment of Civilians, opens up about what judges do, like, and think.
Ethnomusicologist Steven Feld shares soundscapes of the daily life of indigenous rain forest communities in New Guinea. He explains the importance of song as a mode of communication in the cultures he studied.
Etheridge Knight began writing poetry while serving a sentence for robbery. He talks with Fresh Air producer Danny Miller about how he draws inspiration from his past experiences as a former prisoner and drug addict.
W. D. (BIll) Ehrhart and Jan Barry are poets and publishers whose literary work centers on veterans of the Vietnam War. Ehrhart was recently featured on the PBS series Vietnam: A Television History. Both men read several of their poems on air.
The civil rights leader is running for president as a Democrat on a platform of supporting racial minorities and the economically disadvantaged. Despite the appeal of his positions, many in his party doubt whether he has the ability to defeat Ronald Reagan.
76ers general manager Pat Williams and sportswriter Bill Lyon have co-authored a book about the Philadelphia basketball team's history and recent success. Fresh Air listeners call in with their questions.
The married couple joins Fresh Air's Terry Gross to discuss their experiences a black actors, the need for strong African American writers for theater and television, and their work to promote new works by and about marginalized groups.
Author Jack Chambers has a new biography about the life of jazz legend Miles Davis. Chambers pays special attention to the trumpeter's early years playing, recording, and living with saxophonist Charlie Parker.
Goode will be the first African American mayor in the city's history. He was elected on a platform of job growth, crime reduction, and an improvement of government services. WHYY City Hall reporter Tia O'Brien asks him how he plans to achieve his goals. Fresh Air listeners call in with their questions.
Louis Armstrong grew up in poverty and was raised by a single mother. Despite his later success, he remained shy and modest until the end of his life. Biographer James Lincoln Collier looks at the jazz musician's personal and musical development in New Orleans and Chicago.
Esther Rolle played a maid in the television show Maude, a role which she hoped would subvert the racist tradition of mammy characters typically given to African American actresses. Rolle now works mostly in theater, and is featured in a production of Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding.
In conjunction with the Design Since 1945 exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, consumer rights activist Ralph Nader delivers a lecture about the political aspects of aesthetics.
After relocating to England and publishing a book documenting Chinese life, Eve Arnold returned to her home country to capture different facets of the American experience, including Native Americans, biker gangs, Jerry Falwell, and the Ku Klux Klan,
Historian Paul Fussel has observed nine distinct class categories in the United States. He says that, while belief in social mobility is strong in American culture, few people are able to move out of the class into which they were born.
