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All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists - Paperback | Diverse Reads

All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists

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A fascinating collection of revealing and entertaining interviews by the award-winning host of National Public Radio's premier interview program Fresh Air.

Over the last twenty years, Terry Gross has interviewed many of our most celebrated writers, actors, musicians, comics, and visual artists. Her show, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, a weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues produced by WHYY in Philadelphia, is one of National Public Radio's most popular programs. More than four million people tune in to the show, which is broadcast on over 400 NPR stations across the country.

Gross is known for her thoughtful, probing interviewing style. In her trusted company, even the most reticent guest relaxes and opens up. But Gross doesn't shy away from controversy, and her questions can be tough--too tough, apparently, for Bill O'Reilly, who abruptly terminated his conversation with her. Her interview with Gene Simmons of Kiss, which is included in the book, prompted Entertainment Weekly to name Simmons its male "Crackpot of the Year."

For All I Did Was Ask, Gross has selected more than three dozen of her best interviews--ones of lasting relevance that are as lively on the page as they were on the air. Each is preceded by a personal introduction in which she reveals why a particular guest was on the show and the thinking behind some of her questions. And in an introductory chapter, the normally self-effacing Gross does something you're unlikely ever to hear her do on Fresh Air--she discusses her approach to interviewing, revealing a thing or two about herself in the bargain.

The collection focuses on luminaries from the art and entertainment world, including actors, comedians, writers, visual artists, and musicians, such as:

  • Conan O'Brien
  • Chris Rock
  • Michael Caine
  • Dennis Hopper
  • Dustin Hoffman
  • Jodie Foster
  • John Updike
  • Mary Karr
  • Mario Puzo
  • Nick Hornby
  • Chuck Close
  • Eric Clapton
  • George Clinton
  • Sonny Rollins
  • Samuel L. Jackson
  • Johnny Cash
  • Isabella Rossellini
  • Divine
  • Uta Hagen
  • Carol Shields

    • ISBN-13: 9780786888207

    Media Type: Paperback

    Publisher: Hachette Books

    Publication Date: 10-05-2005

    Pages: 384

    Product Dimensions: 5.19(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

    Age Range: 13 - 18 Years

    Terry Gross started out in public radio in 1973 at WBFO, the NPR affiliate on the campus of her alma mater, the State University of New York at Buffalo. She became producer and host of Fresh Air in 1975, when it was still a local program. Fresh Air won a Peabody Award in 1994 for its "probing questions, revelatory interviews, and unusual insights." In 2003, Terry herself received public radio's highest honor, the Edward R. Murrow Award. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, the writer Francis Davis.

    Read an Excerpt

    "You may be wondering what the point is of reading interviews that were meant to be listened to. I've asked myself that. But in going through transcripts in preparation for this book, I was pleasantly surprised that so many of the interviews I remembered as having been good radio also made for enjoyable reading. In reading the ones gathered here — I probably shouldn't admit this—I've learned things from them that went right by me in the studio." —from the Introduction

    Table of Contents

    Introduction ix
    Don't Do It 1
    Like a Skinny Boxer 13
    Being Square 19
    A Man's Voice 29
    Lift Everything Up 37
    Erotic Cheese and Crackers 45
    A New Gift 53
    The Craft Itself 63
    Use the Disadvantage 69
    Right in the Gut 81
    You Will Not Find the Word "Lesbian" 87
    We All Die 95
    A Family Courtesy 103
    Make Sense of It Later 111
    Bootzilla Twenty-seven Hours a Day 119
    Dissonance 127
    In the Junkyards 137
    Alive in a Coffin 143
    A Difficult Place to Grow Up 157
    I Never Told Jokes 167
    Beauty Gone Berserk 177
    Kissing and Licking Boots 185
    To Iron a Shirt 193
    So What? 205
    Not to Think 213
    Send the Salami 221
    Like Raw Meat 227
    A Little out of Whack 237
    The Way People Look 247
    It Gets Harder 255
    Mom, Dad, I Want to Be a Tap Dancer 263
    Nothing Else Would Matter 277
    A Large Feminine Side 287
    Too Much for You to Take 293
    Dramatic Beats 305
    Stop Acting 319
    In That Hurricane 327
    A Place of Protection 331
    A Fraudulent Angel 339
    Acknowledgments 347