Monday, September 20, 2010
Thomas Geoghegan snuck out of his workaholic American life to see what life is like in Europe. The book Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? is his report to his fellow captives here in the U.S. Then, Mark Boyle lives without cash and he manages just fine with his off-the-grid caravan, solar laptop and toothpaste made from washed-up cuttlefish bones. Boyle was a successful businessman but he became disillusioned with society’s obsession with money. So in 2008, he decided to try living for a year with no money at all. His story is told in a new book titled, Moneyless Man.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Esperanza Spalding’s philosophy of jazz is diametrically opposed to that of Wynton Marsalis. The 25 year-old bassist and singer belongs to a growing group of jazz artists who approach the music less traditionally, less formally. And her albums are out-selling typical jazz releases by the tens of thousands. President Obama has declared that he “loves listening to Esperanza,” so much so that she has performed for him three times, once after the President’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. Esperanza Spalding’s new release is called Chamber Music Society.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Patrick Hennessey graduated from Oxford with a degree in English, and then joined the British Army in 2004. The Junior Officer’s Reading Club was formed by Hennessey and his friends to discuss books, music, and culture from behind mess tents. He shares his stories as a member of the coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and reflects on the progress of those wars since he left the military. Then, Josh Russell’s second novel My Bright Midnight is about a German immigrant living in New Orleans in the 1940’s. It’s a story of survival, friendship and love.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s new film Howl follows the obscenity trial brought by the State of California against poet, publisher, and bookstore owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti, portrayed by Andrew Rogers. Actor James Franco plays the young Allen Ginsberg who, along with Ferlinghetti, fights to defend his work that became the anthem of the Beat generation. Then, in the film Me and Orson Welles, Zac Efron plays a young actor who stumbles into the role of Lucius in the 1937 Broadway production of Julius Caesar. The young man actually cast in that stage role was Arthur Anderson. Now eighty-eight years old, Anderson went on to have a long career in radio and television. Anderson is the author of Let’s Pretend and the Golden Age of Radio, and most recently, An Actor’s Odyssey: Orson Welles to Lucky the Leprechaun.
Friday, September 24, 2010
David Broder of The Washington Post joins Bob to talk politics. Next, The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by journalist John Vaillant charts the 1997 battle between people in a small Eastern Russian town and the Siberian tiger out to annihilate them. Combining the breathless adventure of their stand-off with the history of this region, Vaillant uses this little-known story to shed light on this super-predator. Then, in this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, we hear the contemporary essay of freelance writer Carla Saulter, then she talks with Bob about her beliefs. Also known as the Bus Chick, Saulter blogs about transit riding for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website. Saulter serves on King County’s Transit Advisory Committee and Regional Transit Task Force.