Fresh Air at 7

Weekdays at 7pm
Hosted by: Terry Gross

An evening encore of the 2PM edition of Fresh Air.

Fresh Air opens the window on contemporary arts and issues with guests from worlds as diverse as literature and economics. Terry Gross hosts this multi-award-winning daily interview and features program. The veteran public radio interviewer is known for her extraordinary ability to engage guests of all dispositions. Every weekday she delights intelligent and curious listeners with revelations on contemporary societal concerns.

In addition to Terry's fascinating interviews and features, Fresh Air's stellar roster of contributors includes classical music reviewer Lloyd Schwartz of The Boston Phoenix, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism; language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg, usage editor of The American Heritage Dictionary; rock critic reviewer Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly; John Powers of Vogue; Maureen Corrigan, book reviewer and professor of literature at Georgetown University; David Bianculli, TV critic for the New York Daily News; and critic-at-large Gerald Early.

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Technology
11:31 am
Thu September 6, 2012

Why Your Cell Phone Could Be Called A 'Tracker'

Originally published on Fri September 7, 2012 9:29 am

Your cellphone is a tracking device collecting a lot more information about you than you may think, says ProPublica investigative reporter Peter Maass.

"They are collecting where we are — not just at one particular moment in the day, but at virtually every moment of the day," Maass tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies. "They are also taking note of what we are buying, how we're purchasing it, how often we're purchasing it."

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Interviews
11:20 am
Thu September 6, 2012

Advocate Fights 'Ambient Dispair' In Assisted Living

Originally published on Fri September 7, 2012 9:31 am

Martin Bayne entered an assisted living facility at 53 after he was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson's disease. The disease affected his nerves so severely, it was impossible for him to take a shower and get dressed by himself.

"When I was in my 40s, I was physically fit and very active," Bayne tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "And to have to give all that up and stay in a wheelchair now and be helped by so many people to do the simplest of things — it takes a little getting used to."

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Music Reviews
9:14 am
Thu September 6, 2012

Harmony, Teenagers And 'The Complete Story Of Doo-Wop'

Originally published on Fri September 7, 2012 9:31 am

Economy
12:39 pm
Wed September 5, 2012

Journalist Evaluates Obama, Romney Economic Plans

Credit Earl Wilson / The New York Times
David Leonhardt, the Washington bureau chief of The New York Times, won a Pulitzer Prize last year for his columns about the economy.

Originally published on Wed September 5, 2012 2:39 pm

On Monday, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan told a campaign rally audience in North Carolina that "the president can say a lot of things, but he can't tell you you are better off." Later that day in Detroit, Vice President Joe Biden responded "America is better off today than they left us."

New York Times Washington bureau chief David Leonhardt argues that both Ryan and Biden are right: It's partly semantics.

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Book Reviews
12:37 pm
Wed September 5, 2012

Was Zadie Smith's Novel 'NW' Worth The Wait?

Credit Sergio Dionisio / AP
British author Zadie Smith in 2005.

Zadie Smith wrote her last novel On Beauty seven years ago — a long time in the anxious world of publishing. Her new novel NW was released in the U.S. on Monday. Critic Maureen Corrigan asks: Was it worth the wait?

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Author Interviews
11:15 am
Tue September 4, 2012

Mickey Edwards On Democracy's 'Cancer'

Credit Gia Regan / Yale University Press
Mickey Edwards served as a Republican congressman for Oklahoma's 5th Congressional District from 1977 to 1993.

Originally published on Tue September 4, 2012 11:48 am

In his 16 years in Congress, Republican Mickey Edwards came to a strong conclusion: Political parties are the "cancer at the heart of our democracy," he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross.

In his new book, The Parties Versus the People, the former Republican congressman from Oklahoma details how party leaders have too much control over who runs for office, what bills make it to the floor and how lawmakers vote.

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Author Interviews
10:48 am
Tue September 4, 2012

Conservation Biologist Explains Why 'Feathers' Matter

Originally published on Tue September 4, 2012 11:11 am

It was the absence of feathers that got conservation biologist Thor Hanson thinking about the significance of them. Hanson was in Kenya studying the feeding habits of vultures, and he noticed the advantages that vultures had relative to other birds because of their bare, featherless heads.

"Having lost their feathers allows [vultures] to remain much cleaner and more free from bacteria and parasites and disease," Hanson tells Fresh Air contributor Dave Davies.

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Music Reviews
9:30 am
Tue September 4, 2012

When Ian Hunter Is 'President'

Originally published on Thu September 6, 2012 12:54 pm

Recently, I was listening to a new tribute album covering the songs of Fleetwood Mac, and thought once again how dreadful most tribute albums are: They don't add much to the legacy of the artists being saluted, while inadvertently freezing vital old music in an amber of sentimentality. Then I turned to When I'm President, an album of new songs by Ian Hunter.

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Music Reviews
9:03 am
Mon September 3, 2012

Miguel Zenon And Laurent Coq Play 'Hopscotch'

Originally published on Mon September 3, 2012 11:57 am

The new quartet album by alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón and pianist Laurent Coq is called Rayuela, which means "hopscotch." It's named for Julio Cortázar's novel, the fragmented tale of a wandering bohemian and his social circles in Parisian exile, as well as back home in Buenos Aires.

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Interviews
9:03 am
Mon September 3, 2012

Joan Rivers Hates You, Herself And Everyone Else

Credit Courtesy of the author
Joan Rivers says her material has only gotten stronger with age. "I always say, 'What are you going to do? Are you going to fire me? Been fired. Going to be bankrupt? Been bankrupt.'"

Originally published on Mon September 3, 2012 11:57 am

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