Monday, December 22, 2014: Bob talks with Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist, the husband and wife musicians from the band Over the Rhine. In a brand new interview, they’ll discuss the holiday-inspired music from their latest CD titled Blood Oranges in the Snow. It’s a concoction they call “Reality Christmas Music.” Then, we continue our own holiday tradition with Anthony DeCurtis, contributing editor for Rolling Stone. Just in time for your last minute gift shopping needs, he’ll share a list of his favorite music of 2014.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014: Dan O’Keefe was a writer on Seinfeld when he decided to incorporate some unusual family traditions into the show’s plot-less plot. And that’s how America found out about Festivus. O’Keefe reminisces about his unique upbringing and the vision of his father. Then Bob speaks with the public face of this holiday “for the rest of us.” Jerry Stiller played Frank Costanza on Seinfeld and is half of the legendary comedy duo Stiller & Meara. For this conversation, he’s joined by his wife, Anne Meara…a true Festivus miracle.
Wednesday, December 24, 2014: Bob talks with author and religious scholar Bruce Feiler about the roots of religion. He’s written several books on the intersection of Islam, Christianity and Judaism — including Abraham, Walking the Bible and Where God Was Born. Then, Bob talks with former nun and comparative religious scholar Karen Armstrong. She’s the author of The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions, which traces the kernels of today’s religious thought back 2,900 years.
Thursday, December 25, 2014: Merry Christmas and happy birthday to Jimmy Buffett. He’s 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, the commercial enterprises, the Sirius XM satellite radio channel and about his connection to New Orleans. We caught up with Buffett during one of our two trips to Jazz Fest and this hour-long conversation is our present to you.
Friday, December 26, 2014: Today we focus on the ocean. First Bob talks with oceanographer Sylvia Earle and with Robert Nixon, the co-director of their documentary Mission Blue. Earle has spent thousands of hours underwater studying our planet’s marine life and is alarmed by what she’s seen. After witnessing the glaring effects of pollution, overfishing and climate change, Earle says we must get past the mindset that our oceans are too big to fail. Then we go from someone who loves the ocean to someone who must despise it. Today is the 10 year anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami which killed nearly a quarter million people, including my next guest’s parents, husband and two children. In 2004, Sonali Deraniyagala and her family were vacationing in Sri Lanka when the tsunami swept them all away, leaving only her alive. Deraniyagala’s powerful book is titled Wave, and was an Amazon and New York Times Best Book of 2013.