The Bob Edwards Show, August 19-23, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013: Rita Moreno is one of the few performers to win an Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress in West Side Story (1961); a Tony, in 1975 for The Ritz; a Grammy, as part of The Electric Company Album (1972); and finally, two Emmys: one for her guest appearance on The Muppet Show in 1976 and one for her role in The Rockford Files. She tells her fascinating life story in her autobiography Rita Moreno: A Memoir. Then, Bill Roorbach’s latest mystery novel, Life Among Giants, is filled with contemporary cynicism, opulence, and what one critic calls a “Gatsbyesque portrayal of celebrity.” Roorbach’s book out in paperback tomorrow.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013: Beloved writer Judy Blume has been the voice of young people’s literature for over 40 years. The author of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, the Fudge books, and many others, Blume can now add screenwriter to her resume. Based on her 1981 novel, Tiger Eyes follows a young woman forced to cope with the aftermath of her father’s murder. Tiger Eyes was directed by Blume’s son, Lawrence, and is available on Video on Demand.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013: In Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate, Rose George once again chronicles a little-known world that we’d prefer to know little about. Her last book, The Big Necessity, was an anthropological study of human waste. In this new book, George asks, “Who cares about the men who steered your breakfast cereal through winter storms?” Then, football is the most popular sport in the United States, from the NFL all the way down to the Pop Warner leagues. In Belle Glade, Florida, high school football is more than a popular pastime; it’s a path to salvation. In the book, Muck City, Bryan Mealer tells the history of Belle Glade. It rose from swampland, carried an empire of sugar, collected thousands of migrant laborers from several countries, and now produces a bumper crop of talented football players. Mealer’s book is now available in paperback.
Thursday, August 22, 2013: In 2010, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi put their individual groups on hold to form a family band that would allow them to take the kids on the road. Trucks was a slide guitar prodigy who began touring with some of blues and rock music’s biggest names when he was just nine-years-old. Likewise, Tedeschi has been playing in bands since she was 13, but has come a long way since her first all-original group The Smokin’ Section. Derek and Susan take a break from their extensive tour to talk with Bob about family life on the road and their second studio album, Made Up Mind. Then, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Timothy Egan recounts the life and career of the turn-of-the-century’s most famous photographer, Edward Curtis, in his book Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis and it’s now available in paperback.
Friday, August 23, 2013: Political Junkie and former NPR political editor Ken Rudin reunites with Bob to discuss their favorite political stories of the week. Next, The team behind the cult favorites Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007), director Edgar Wright and actors Nick Frost and Simon Pegg return with the last of the so-called “Cornetto Trilogy,” The World’s End, a tale of a bar crawl that unveils an alien invasion. Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike, Bill Nighy and Pierce Brosnan co-star. Finally, the latest installment of our ongoing series This I Believe.