This Weekend’s Show

Bob Edwards Weekend Highlights – July 23-24, 2011

HOUR ONE:

Jimmy Buffett is like a pied piper, but with a guitar, leading his Coral Reefer Band and his legion of fans known as Parrot Heads. Bob visits with Buffett in the state of mind called Margaritaville to talk about the song, his many commercial enterprises, the satellite radio channel and about his connection to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

In this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, we hear the essay of Lex Urban.  He believes in living for the moment. Choosing to follow his interests, no matter the naysayers, has been fruitful for him. Urban was the captain of his college tennis team, and after graduation, chose service to others instead of chasing the almighty dollar. His experience with AmeriCorp helped shape his opinion about the important things in life.

HOUR TWO:

Five foreigners, including an American, were pardoned by the Somali government last week after being arrested in May for bringing millions of dollars into the country to pay a ransom to Somali pirates. The UN estimates more than $110 million has been paid just in the last year. Jay Bahadur spent a year in Somalia infiltrating the remote pirate havens of the war-ravaged country. His book, The Pirates of Somalia, is a first ever, close-up look into the lives of these men —— how they live, how they spend the ransom money, how they treat the hostages, and the forces that created piracy in Somalia.

Director Chris Weitz talks with Bob about his latest film A Better Life.  This unsentimental drama focuses on a Mexican immigrant illegally living in Los Angeles and struggling to provide his son with opportunities he never enjoyed himself. 

Bob Edwards Weekend is heard on XM 121 & Sirius 205 on Saturdays from 7-9 AM EST.

Visit Bob Edwards Weekend on PRI’s website to find local stations that air the program.