Terry Gross

Curtis Mayfield. He's been called "the thinking man's soul man." He's known for his floating falsetto voice, gospel sound, and social commentary. He was with the group, "The Impressions" for 12 years recording such classics as "Gypsy Woman," "I'm so Proud," and "People Get Ready." After that he went solo. His score for "Superfly," was considered a musical breakthrough, and has inspired many of today's hip-hop performers.

Dr. Paul Mayewski, chief scientist with the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2. The project archives tubes of ice extracted from Greenland which chronicle 250,000 years of the earth's atmosphere, and changes in the climate. From the ice, scientists can pinpoint the start of the industrial revolution, or the end of the ice age. Scientists hope, by looking at the ice, they can better understand rapid changes in the earth's climate. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Novelist Amy Tan. Her debut novel, "The Joy Luck Club," was a huge critical and commercial success, and it earned Tan a nomination for the National Book Award. It's now been made into a movie. Tan and Ron Bass wrote the screenplay. Marty will talk with Tan and Bass about making "The Joy Luck Club" into a movie. Ron Bass also wrote the screenplay for "Rain Man" for which he won an Academy Award. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Journalist Stan Sesser, who details the successful marketing of American cigarettes in Asian countries in a New Yorker article, (September 6, 1993). Sesser claims the continent of Asia consumes half the world's cigarettes. Of particular interest to American tobacco firms is China -- despite explicit laws prohibiting the sale or advertising of foreign cigarettes -- because three hundred million people smoke (more people than the entire population of the United States).

Elementary school principal Madeline Cartwright took over the run-down Blaine Elementary School in a run-down, drug-infested neighborhood in North Philadelphia and turned it into a school that works. One of her first acts when she took over the school was to get down on her hands and knees and scrub the foul-smelling children's bathroom.

Terry talks with two authors of children books which were once part of the reading list for the Rainbow curriculum in the New York Public schools. The two books were controversial, and removed from the list, because they dealt with children of gay parents. Leslea (Les-LEE-ah) Newman is the author of "Heather has Two Mommies," and Michael Willhoite wrote "Daddy's Roommate." (Both books are published by Alyson Publishers, Boston, Mass).

Satirist Harry Shearer. Shearer has an eclectic career: he does many of the voices on the TV series "The Simpsons," he has a weekly program on many public radio stations called "Le Show," he often has character roles in movies, and he's one of the members of the parody heavy metal parody combo "Spinal Tap", who toured the world last year. Shearer has a new book of the columns he wrote for the Los Angeles Times Magazine: "Man Bites Town" (St. Martins) (Rebroadcast from 4-28-93).

Actor Leslie Nielsen. Perhaps best known for his comic roles in Airplane! and the Naked Gun films, Nielsen has been acting since the late forties, after he was taught radio broadcasting by Lorne Greene. He's just written a "fictional autobiography" called "The Naked Truth" (Simon & Schuster) a pun-encrusted look at nearly fifty years of show business.

Jazz singer/songwriter, Abbey Lincoln. Her new record is "Devil's Got Your Tongue" (Verve). Once married to legendary jazz drummer Max Roach, she's made her mark on jazz for almost 40 years, singing with giants like Benny Carter, Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins. Lincoln has been hailed by one critic as the "Last Great Diva", and says herself that she sings in the tradition of Sarah Vaughan, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday. (Rebroadcast from 6-16-93).