The former poet laureate reflects on his brother's passing in the new poem "August Notebook: A Death." The elegy is included in Hass' new collection, The Apple Trees at Olema, which includes material from his first five works — as well as new poems on the art of storytelling and personal relations in a violent world.
The Plimsouls, an L.A.-based band led by singer-songwriter Peter Case, performed extensively during the early '80s. The new release of a Plimsouls performance from Oct. 31, 1981 (called Live! Beg Borrow and Steal) leaves critic Ken Tucker feeling freshly enthusiastic about the continued vitality of The Plimsouls' music.
Author Yoko Ogawa's Hotel Iris, published in Japanese in 1996, is the latest of her books to be translated into English. Critic Maureen Corrigan says the story, about a 17-year-old girl who begins an intense, sometimes violent affair with a tenant of her mother's rundown hotel, is decadent and profoundly sad.
In middle age, most of us get forgetful and easily distracted. But new research finds that our minds improve in some ways as we age: We're better at seeing the big picture and comprehending complexity. Writer Barbara Strauch details how the middle-aged brain grows and changes in The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain.
Package tours in the early years of rock and soul were varied grab bags. But none were like The T.A.M.I. Show. Filmed in October 1964 in Santa Monica, the lineup included performers who weren't stars yet — like The Rolling Stones — and those at the peak of their fame, like Lesley Gore and Jan and Dean. Critic Milo Miles reviews the concert, just released on DVD.
In 1937, frustrated by a conservative Supreme Court that struck down a series of his New Deal programs, President Franklin Roosevelt set about to reform the court — by expanding it and adding as many as six liberal justices. The controversial proposition is examined in writer Jeff Shesol's new book, Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court.
Wolf was the lead singer of the J. Geils Band, which led many to assume he was J. Geils. He explains how the band — with hits such as "Centerfold," "Freeze Frame" and "Love Stinks" — actually got its name and discusses his new country-influenced solo album, Midnight Souvenirs.
Comedians Tina Fey and Steve Carell play a couple bored with their suburban existence in the new comedy Date Night. Critic David Edelstein says the comedic duo can't save a "bloated and generic" film.
The Grammy-winning country-music fiddler is still recording new tracks 70 years after he picked up his first instrument. Gimble's new album, Playing With Friends, features Vince Gill, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Garrison Keillor.
David Lynch's mysterious, groundbreaking serial drama premiered on April 8, 1990. Twenty years later, critic John Powers looks back at the cult series, which he says "smuggled avant-garde into prime time."
Jazz drummers leading their own bands often feature intricate rhythms and brisk, driving momentum. Paul Motian, with his slow tempos, loose timing and tunes that go with rainy days, is so self-effacing, he's almost an anti-drummer. A little rustle of brushes and the faint boom of a bass drum may be all he'll use to nudge the music on.
Writer George Prochnik says there's plenty of evidence that noise can be harmful as well as annoying, with studies pointing to hearing loss — and even risks of higher blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. His new book, In Pursuit of Silence, is a study of noise in the modern world.
As the chief of the Cherokee Nation for a decade, Wilma Mankiller championed health care and education — and tribe enrollment tripled. Mankiller died on Tuesday. Fresh Air remembers her with excerpts from a 1993 interview.
By 16, Frank Meeink had become one of the most well-known skinhead gang leaders on the East Coast. His defection from the white supremacy movement is the subject of his memoir, Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead.
Last April, Merchant Marine Capt. Richard Phillips became the first American seaman to be captured by pirates in two centuries. After attempting to escape, Phillips was beaten and bound by his Somali captors. Five days later, Navy SEAL snipers killed the pirates and rescued Phillips. His new memoir, A Captain's Duty, recounts the ordeal.
So Much For That, Lionel Shriver's new novel, is about a middle-aged man forced to give up his dream of retirement on a tropical island when his wife falls ill and he's forced to go back to work to keep his employee health insurance. Critic Maureen Corrigan says the novel "acknowledge[s] the dramatic depth that fiction can bring to the debate over current events."
David Simon and Eric Overmyer met when they worked on the TV series Homicide: Life on the Streets. They also worked together on Simon's acclaimed HBO series The Wire. Now they have a new series called Treme — about the musicians and other locals rebuilding their lives after Hurricane Katrina.
After profiling Baltimore's citizens, politics and problems in the HBO series The Wire, David Simon heads south to New Orleans — to look at the city three months after Hurricane Katrina. TV Critic David Bianculli reviews the series, which he says is "like a haunting piece of jazz from the French Quarter."
Clash of the Titans stars Avatar's Sam Worthington as Perseus and Ralph Fiennes as the malevolent god of the underworld, Hades. Critic David Edelstein says the new 3-D Clash — a remake of the 1981 epic original — "is not a train wreck: a train wreck would be more entertaining."
Formed in the late '90s by guitarists and singer-songwriters Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, the Drive-By Truckers hit a peak of critical success with its 2001 release Southern Rock Opera. Critic Ken Tucker says their latest album, The Big To-Do, is "head-clearingly refreshing."
