The Bob Edwards Show, August 12-16, 2013
Monday, August 12, 2013: Orson Welles was one of the 20th century’s greatest film directors, actors, writers, and producers. He was also one of the last century’s true raconteurs: a storyteller and wit who could expound on almost any subject. Proof of his ability – and his sharp tongue— is found in the new book My Lunches with Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles. Film historian Peter Biskind edited this collection of transcripts. Then, she’s been called “the sexiest violinist since Thomas Jefferson.”Amanda Shires joins Bob to talk about her new album Down with the Doves which includes the reverential and flirty A Song for Leonard Cohen. The song concerns Amanda’s fantasy about “comparing mythologies” with her favorite songwriter over a drink or 12.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013: Ralph Nader joins Bob in studio to talk current events, past events, and his confidently titled new book,Told You So: The Big Book of Weekly Columns. Then, we hear a new commentary from children’s book writer and illustrator Daniel Pinkwater.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013: Mario Livio reports on colossal mistakes made by great scientists that led to changing our understanding of life and the Universe in his new book, Brilliant Blunders. Then, Bob talks with Reggie Pace and Lance Koehler about founding the No BS Brass Band. With four trombones, three trumpets, a sax, a tuba and drums, the band can really make some noise. They’ve been rocking fans in the Richmond, Virginia area for years, now the band is hoping to introduce its sound to the rest of the country. They will start by blowing the windows out of our performance studio. The No BS Brass Band has two new CDs out now, RVA All Day and Fight Song: A Tribute to Charles Mingus.
Thursday, August 15, 2013: Writer Uzodinma Iweala follows up his critically acclaimed novel Beasts of No Nation with a nonfiction account of the AIDS crisis in Nigeria titled Our Kind of People: A Continent’s Challenge, A Country’s Hope. He interviewed scores of people whose lives have been touched by the disease. Then, Bob talks with Susan Richards Shreve, the author of fourteen novels. Her latest is You Are The Love Of My Life and it’s now out in paperback.
Friday, August 16, 2013: Doyle McManus, Washington columnist for the Los Angeles Times, joins Bob to discuss the latest political news. Next, hidden behind the long shadows of the World Wars, Otto Von Bismarck is a largely unknown figure to most Americans outside the study of history. David Wetzel illuminates Bismarck’s qualities in his books and lectures, calling him “the very model of diplomacy” and “a statesman of a wholly superior order.” Wetzel is the author of 2003’s A Duel of Giants and the recent follow-up A Duel of Nations, both about the Franco-Prussian war of the early 1870s. Wetzel is a popular lecturer in the history department of UC Berkeley, where his classes are podcast on iTunes University.Finally, the latest installment of our ongoing series This I Believe.