Terry Gross

He's starring in the new film The United States of Leland. His other films include Boogie Nights, Ocean's Eleven and Traffic.

From Showtime's drama The L-Word, actor Jennifer Beals and creator Ilene Chaiken. Beals became a star for her role in the 80's dance classic, Flashdance. She's also starred in Devil in a Blue Dress, The Last Days of Disco and The Anniversary Party. On The L-Word, she plays Bette Porter, a gay art curator. Chaiken's previous TV work includes writing Damaged Care and Dirty Pictures. The L-Word wraps up its first season this weekend.

Barry's new book is The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History. In 1918, the influenza virus emerged, and in the next year killed millions of people. He writes "before that worldwide pandemic faded away in 1920, it would kill more people than any other outbreak of disease in human history." Scientists are still trying to figure out why the virus spread so rapidly and killed so efficiently. The story has relevance today as scientists believe we are due for another flu pandemic.

Sullivan is the author of the critically acclaimed books, The Meadowlands and A Whale Hunt. His new book is Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants. One reviewer writes, "in prose worthy of Joseph Mitchell, a... skittering, scurrying, terrific natural history." Sullivan is a contributing editor to Vogue and a frequent contributor to The New Yorker.

TV and movie score composer Mancini created the title theme to the The Pink Panther movies. A new special DVD 40th anniversary collection of Pink Panther films is available April 6. There's also a tribute CD, Pink Panther's Penthouse Party. His other film scores included Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Glenn Miller Story and The Days of Wine and Roses. He also wrote the theme for the TV show Peter Gunn.

The legendary songwriting trio, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland wrote many early Motown hits, and helped turn the company into powerhouse. Their songs include "You Can't Hurry Love," "Reach Out I'll Be There," "Baby, I Need Your Loving," "Heat Wave," and "Stop! In the Name of Love." Their songs were recorded by Diana Ross and The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, and Martha Reeves and The Vandellas. In 1990 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

John Dominic Crossan is professor emeritus of biblical studies at DePaul University in Chicago. A native of Ireland, and ordained as a priest in the United States, he left the priesthood in 1969. Crossan is a founding member of the Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars who meet to determine the authenticity of Jesus' sayings in the Gospels. Crossan wrote the books Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, The Historical Jesus and Who Killed Jesus? Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of The Death of Jesus.

He calls his latest project a musical novel. This is part two of our interview with Young about his new CD Greendale. The 10-song album is set in a fictional California seaside town. Young also shot a feature film version of the album on Super8, which made the film festival circuit and goes into wider distribution in April. There is also a DVD, Inside Greendale, which includes in-studio footage of Young and his band Crazy Horse and scenes from the film. Over the years, Young has made excursions into country, blues, electro, rockabilly and soul.

He's the principal scientific investigator for the twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, on Mars. The two landed on the surface of Mars in January, and are helping astronomers to determine whether or not there was life on the planet. Squyres will talk about the many gadgets they created to work on Mars, and what it's like working on "Mars time." Squyres is also a professor of astronomy at Cornell University.

His new novel is Hard Revolution. It's set in Washington, D.C. in 1968, during the riots sparked by the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Pelecanos is also the author of Right as Rain, Soul Circus, Hell to Pay, Sweet Forever, King Suckerman, The Big Blowdown, Down By the River Where Dead Men Go, Shoedog, Nick's Trip and A Firing Offense. (This interview was originally broadcast on Aug. 25, 1998.)