Bob Edwards Weekend
Bob Edwards Weekend is a two-hour interview showcase, in which celebrated host Bob Edwards highlights the life and work of interesting people, from newsmakers, historians, and authors to artists, actors, and regular folks too.
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244 Episodes of this Podcast:
Bob Edwards Weekend Hour 2: actors Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster and director/screenwriter Oren Moverman; author Barbara Kingsolver
Published: 2009-11-13 16:05:46In the new film, "The Messenger," WOODY HARRELSON and BEN FOSTER portray members of the Army's Casualty Notification service, representatives of the military who must deliver the news of fallen soldiers to the next of kin. Harrelson, Foster and screenwriter and director OREN MOVERMAN discuss the film, and describe the tense, improvisational scenes of notification. Harrelson and Foster didn't know what their fellow actors planned to do to show their grief.
Writer BARBARA KINGSOLVER is one of America's most respected novelists. She is the author of "The Bean Trees," "The Poisonwood Bible," and "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," a non-fiction account of her family's attempt to eat locally grown food. Kingsolver's new book, "The Lacuna," is her first novel in nine years. It's follows a Mexican American writer who travels between Mexico City and South Carolina, mixing historical events with fiction.
Bob Edwards Weekend Hour 1: our documentary "The Mirage of War: A Day in the Life of the Army's National Training Center"; This I Believe, Inc. Executive Director Dan Gediman
Published: 2009-11-13 15:27:26We visit the Army's billion-dollar NATIONAL TRAINING CENTER at Ft. Irwin and meet some of the people who help prepare our troops for combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Covering more than a thousand square miles of California's Mojave Desert, the NTC includes realistic mock villages populated by role-playing Iraqi nationals and military wives who aim to give the soldiers a taste of what's to come overseas. We witness a group of Army reservists for the 244th Engineers training in a "trauma lane." Amid IED blasts and sniper fire, the untested medics encounter role players pretending to be the enemy, frightened villagers demanding their attention, and actual amputees who pretend to be injured in explosions. The commander of the 244th, SERGEANT FIRST CLASS BERTRAN SCHULTZ, describes the action and gives a blow by blow account of what his men are getting right and wrong.
In this week's installment of our ongoing series THIS I BELIEVE, Bob talks with executive director DAN GEDIMAN about the essay from Percy Lee. She served four terms as the national president of the League of Women Voters from 1950 to 1958. The daughter of the inventor of the Maxim gun silencer, Lee passed up college to marry at age 19 and raise a family.
Bob Edwards Weekend Hour 2: documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger; book critic Laura Miller; author Jonathan Lethem
Published: 2009-11-06 15:07:51For three years, director JOE BERLINGER gathered footage for his new documentary "Crude." In the classic battle between the "haves" and the "have nots," the film examines both sides of the legal case known as the "Amazon Chernobyl." Thirty thousand residents of the Ecuadorian Amazon rain forest claimed that the American oil giant Chevron contaminated an area roughly the size of Rhode Island, resulting in high levels of cancer, birth defects, and other health problems.
Salon.com book critic LAURA MILLER shares some of her favorite new books, including "Blame" by Michelle Huneven, "The Children's Book" by A.S. Byatt, "The Magicians" by Lev Grossman and "Chronic City" by Jonathan Lethem.
JONATHAN LETHEM describes his new novel this way: "It's set on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, it's strongly influenced by Saul Bellow, Philip K. Dick, Charles G. Finney and Hitchcock's 'Vertigo,' and it concerns a circle of friends including a faded child actor, a cultural critic, a hack ghost writer of autobiographies, and a city official. And it's long and strange." "Chronic City" is Lethem's seventh novel. His previous books include the bestsellers, "Fortress of Solitude" and "Motherless Brooklyn."
Bob Edwards Weekend Hour 1: Paul D. Miller, better known as DJ Spooky; Executive Director of This I Believe, Inc. Dan Gediman
Published: 2009-11-06 15:00:40PAUL D. MILLER, better known as DJ SPOOKY, is a conceptual artist, spoken word artist, writer and musician whose work has appeared in the Whitney Biennial, the Andy Warhol Museum and the Village Voice. He "re-mixed" a famous 1915 silent film about race relations in America. His updated version is called "RE-birth of a Nation." Last year he traveled to Antarctica for a new, large scale multimedia performance piece. Miller discusses those projects, his book titled "Sound Unbound," and his new album, "The Secret Song," which he describes as "meditation on hip hop and electronic music's relationship to philosophy, economics and the science of sound."
In this week's installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, Bob talks with executive director Dan Gediman about the essay from General Lucius D. Clay. During World War II, Gen. Clay was Director of Material for the Army. After the war he was U.S. Military Governor of Germany. Clay ordered and organized the massive airlift to feed people in Soviet blockaded Berlin. Then Bob talks with Don Whitford, a veteran of the Korean War who won an Army sponsored This I Believe essay contest in the 1950s. Finally, we offer a sneak preview of next weekend's program, a behind-the-scenes documentary about the Army's National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, California.
Bob Edwards Weekend Hour 2: journalist Patricia Murphy; oceanographer and author Sylvia Earle
Published: 2009-10-30 13:03:28The 2010 Census is slated to begin soon. And 18 months ago, as required by law, the Census Bureau submitted to Congress the exact wording of each of the 10 questions that would be included on the survey. But now Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter has introduced an amendment that would require an 11th question: "Are you an American citizen?" PATRICIA MURPHY writes "The Capitolist" column for Politics Daily and explains the controversy over the proposed 11th question.
With everyone from the environmental movement to big business "going green," oceanographer SYLVIA EARLE urges us to remember the blue. In her new book, "The World is Blue," Earle describes the deteriorating health of our oceans and how their decline affects other animals, including humans. Earle is a National Geographic Society explorer in residence and she led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 1990-1992.
Bob Edwards Weekend Hour 1: former CBS cameraman Isadore (Izzy) Bleckman; Executive Director of This I Believe, Inc. Dan Gediman
Published: 2009-10-30 12:56:13Beginning in the late 1960s, Charles Kuralt headed out with a small crew to document unusual and overlooked stories from America's back roads. Logging more than a million miles and going through several motor homes, the resulting vignettes became "On the Road," and dozens of those segments are now available on DVD. ISADORE (IZZY) BLECKMAN was Kuralt's cameraman for more than two decades, and he shares his stories from the road.
In this week's installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, Bob talks with executive director Dan Gediman about the essay from Robbins Milbank. A Princeton graduate and son of a prominent New England family, Milbank worked as a logger in British Columbia for six years. He later moved into advertising, becoming a vice president for his agency, and he wrote docudrama scripts for television.
Bob Edwards Weekend Hour 2: teacher and author Rafe Esquith; writer and satirist Paul Rudnick
Published: 2009-10-23 12:22:46RAFE ESQUITH teaches fifth grade at Hobart Elementary in Los Angeles. He's the only teacher ever to win the National Medal of the Arts and he returns to the show to discuss his new book, "Lighting Their Fires: Raising Extraordinary Children in a Mixed-up, Muddled-up, Shook-up World." His students not only graduate high school and go on to college, but they attend some of the country's best universities. Esquith's first book was a guide for fellow teachers, while this latest one is meant for parents.
Any fan of Libby Gelman-Waxner's monthly column, "If You Ask Me," in Premiere magazine (1987-2007) could tell you all about Libby's home life and her hilarious observations on Hollywood and films. But many of those fans never knew that "Libby" was actually a pseudonym for screenwriter, playwright, and novelist PAUL RUDNICK, one of America's greatest humorists. Rudnick's most recent book is a memoir about his work in the theater world, titled, "I Shudder: And Other Reactions to Life, Death, and New Jersey."
Bob Edwards Weekend Hour 1: environmentalist Bill McKibben; writer Sidney Offit; Executive Director of This I Believe, Inc. Dan Gediman
Published: 2009-10-23 12:08:47The number 350, as in parts per million, is the level scientists have identified as the safe limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Environmentalist BILL MCKIBBEN talks about his latest project, www.350.org and why this year is so crucial to scientists concerned about climate change, and what the group has planned for this weekend. October 24th is the International Day of Climate Action.
Author Kurt Vonnegut is gone but not forgotten. His works are celebrated for their satirical humor and a startling creativity that experimented with traditional narratives. A new book collects some of Vonnegut's previously unpublished short stories. It's called "Look at the Birdie." Vonnegut's longtime friend SIDNEY OFFIT wrote the forward, and he joins Bob to reminisce about Vonnegut's early career. A writer himself, Offit is the author of two novels and two memoirs, and serves as the curator of the George Polk Awards in Journalism.
In this week's installment of our ongoing series THIS I BELIEVE, Bob talks with executive director DAN GEDIMAN about the essay from Bobby Doerr. He was the second baseman for the Boston Red Sox from 1937 to 1951, played in nine All Star Games and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986. Doerr now lives in Oregon on land he bought when he was a teenager. That's where we reached him by phone to reflect on the essay he recorded decades ago.
Bob Edwards Weekend Hour 2: writer Nick Hornby; director Lone Scherfig; musician Paul Burch
Published: 2009-10-16 21:51:59Novelist NICK HORNBY has made a career of writing about the issues facing many contemporary men. "High Fidelity," "About A Boy" and "Fever Pitch" were best-selling books, and each was also made into a successful movie. Hornby's latest book, "Juliet, Naked," tells the story of an obsessive music fan named Duncan, who discovers an unplugged version of one of his favorite albums and his effort to connect with the record's now washed up creator.
Danish director LONE SCHERFIG is best known for her film "Italian For Beginners." Her most recent film, "An Education," is based on a memoir by English journalist Lynn Barber and adapted for the screen by the previous guest, Nick Hornby. This young English girl's coming-of-age tale won the Audience Choice and Cinematography awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Ten years after his first album, Nashville favorite PAUL BURCH continues to write honky tonk music that even the most staid of Yankees can't help but enjoy. His latest album, "Still Your Man," showcases new music from this musician who is proud to include Marianne Faithful and Chet Atkins in his fanbase.
Bob Edwards Weekend Hour 1: composer, conductor and PBS host Michael Tilson Thomas; Executive Director of This I Believe, Inc. Dan Gediman
Published: 2009-10-16 21:43:24As one reviewer put it, "If you think classical music is boring, you haven't met MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS." Thomas is doing for classical music today what Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts did in the 1950s and 60s. Thomas is music director of the San Francisco Symphony and the host of the PBS program, "Keeping Score." The program was created in 2006 to make a general audience "more comfortable" with classical music. This month, three new episodes are scheduled, highlighting Shostakovich's "Symphony No. 5," Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" and Ives' "The Holidays Symphony."
In this week's installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, Bob talks with executive director Dan Gediman about the essay from critic, journalist, novelist and feminist Rebecca West. She is known for her reporting on the Nazi war crimes trials at Nuremburg, for which President Harry Truman called her "the world's best reporter." In 1959, West was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire, the female equivalent of an honorary knighthood.
Copyright info: 2007
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Now Playing: Bob Edwards Weekend Hour 2: actors Woody Harrelson, Ben Foster and director/screenwriter Oren Moverman; author Barbara Kingsolver
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