Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Stevie Nicks, Nirvana, Warren Zevon. These are just a few of the rockers that journalist, PR person and manager DANNY GOLDBERG has worked with over his many decades in the business end of rock. Tune in tonight as Danny shares a few of his stories about trying to get some press for a Zeppelin that critics hated, or his helplessness at seeing Kurt Cobain descend into addiction. Goldberg’s amazing memoir is BUMPING INTO GENUISES: MY LIFE INSIDE THE ROCK AND ROLL BUSINESS.
Friday, August 28, 2009 - 11:54am
Monday, August 24, 2009 - 8:30am
During the past few months we've spoken with winemakers and wineries especially the women in wine. This time we shift gears and talk with the people who bring the wines from around the world to America. One such person is Brian Larky.In 1989 Brian moved back to the U.S. after five years as winemaker at the prestigious Italian estate Ca’ del Bosco. Wanting to bring Italy’s finest wines to American tables at affordable prices, he founded Dalla Terra Importers in 1990. Before working in Italy Brian earned a U.C. Davis Fermentation Sciences degree and held production jobs in Napa Valley wineries such as Far Niente and Domaine Chandon. So the next time you taste a fine Italian wine just say "bravo" to Brian Larky
Monday, August 24, 2009 - 8:09am
What movie made Jack Nicholson drop everything and go to Hollywood to become an actor? What noted astronomer cited “All That Jazz” as the film that changed his life? Tonight on Inquiry we have an endlessly fascinating conversation with the Senior Editor of Variety, ROBERT HOFLER about his just published collection of interviews VARIETY’S “THE MOVIE THAT CHANGED MY LIFE” : 120 CELEBRITIES PICK THE FILMS THAT MADE A DIFFERENCE (FOR BETTER OR WORSE). Tune in and find out which films Candace Bushnell, Timm Gunn, Joan Rivers, and Kurt Vonnegut Jr, chose as the ones that changed their life.
Inquiry: Daniel James Brown: THE INDIFFERENT STARS ABOVE: THE HARROWING SAGA OF A DONNER PARTY BRIDE
Sunday, August 23, 2009 - 5:46pm
In the 1840s, a hardy caravan of pioneers set off from St. Joseph Missouri to head for the promised land of California. Lured by glowing tales of teeming game and fertile land as far as the eye could see, these westward heading migrants had no real sense of how to get to their destination, no good maps; did not know the best trails over the mountains. These men, women and many children embarked on what would be one of the most harrowing and horrifying adventures in the history of America. Crossing the Wasatch and then the Great Salt Desert, losing possessions and people all along the way, the party finally got trapped near a lake high in the Sierra Nevadas as a brutal winter set in and supplies ran out. What happened next is described in detail in DANIEL JAMES BROWN’S terrific new history THE INDIFFERENT STARS ABOVE: THE HARROWING SAGA OF A DONNER PARTY BRIDE. If you have always wondered what life was like for these pioneers, do not miss tonight’s show.
Sunday, August 23, 2009 - 5:42pm
A language is a messy, inconsistent and unruly thing. All those tenses and irregular verbs! All those exceptions to the rules! For centuries there have been small number of utopian and eccentric linguists who have taken on the task to create their own artificial and more perfect language in the hopes of creating a better world. There have been logic-based languages; feminist inspired languages, symbolic languages and even a language based on chipmunk noises. Unsurprisingly, none of these have captured the wide audience their inventor desired, and that can tell us a lot about how traditional spoken languages evolve. Tonight on Inquiry, we talk with linguist ARIKA OKRENT about her latest fascinating and very entertaining book IN THE LAND OF INVENTED LANGUAGES: ESPERANTO ROCK STARS, KLINGON POETS, LOGLAN LOVERS AND THE MAD DREAMERS WHO TRIED TO BUILD A PERFECT LANGUAGE.
Friday, August 21, 2009 - 9:57am
Most of us are now on Facebook, but do you have any idea how it was “invented”. It started as a prank at Harvard created by classic geeks wanting find girls and ended up a sordid tale of drugs, lawyers and deep betrayal. Along the way there are dates with Victoria’s Secret models, a koala was eaten on a yacht, and billions of dollars were made. Tonight on Inquiry we talk with writer and columnist BEN MEZRICH about his wild and wooly tale social networking and big bucks titled THE ACCIDENTAL BILLIONAIRES: THE FOUNDING OF FACEBOOK: A TALE OF SEX, MONEY, GENIUS, AND BETRAYAL.
Thursday, August 20, 2009 - 1:15pm
From the beginning of experimentation, humans have used a wide variety of animal and plant life as equipment in a “living laboratory”. From Galvani’s experiments using frog’s legs and electricity to the Vacanti mouse, with a human ear attached to it’s back, animals have been an intimate part of the human quest for knowledge. How have these animals been used? Who were the people who used these animals? Were humans ever used as part of an experimental apparatus? And finally, what about the morality of using living things in scientific experiments? Tonight on Inquiry we welcome an expert on this controversial history of science: ROM HARRE, Emeritus Fellow of Philosophy of Linacre College, Oxford and Distinguished Research Professor at Georgetown University. He to talks about his very important new book PAVLOV’S DOG AND SCHRODINGER’S CAT: SCENES FROM THE LIVING LABORATORY.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - 6:43am
Women have power. In Womenomics, journalists Shipman and Kay
deal in facts, not stereotypes, providing a fresh perspective on the
largely hidden power that women have in today's marketplace. Why?
Companies with more women managers are more profitable. Women do more
of the buying. A talent shortage looms. Younger generations want to
work flexibly, too. It all adds up to a workplace revolution that is
great news for professional women—not to mention men and businesses as
well. As Brenda Barnes, CEO of Sara Lee, notes: “Companies need to
recognize that this kind of flexibility offers employees the ability to
manage and balance their own careers and lives, which in turn improves
productivity and employee morale.” This new way of thinking and working
is all the more valuable in a recession, as companies begin offering
flexible schedules, four-day workweeks, and extended vacations as a way
to avoid layoffs, save costs, and still reward employees.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009 - 11:40am
How do ants navigate enormous stretches of featureless Saharan desert and still manage to find their way back to their nest? How do Pacific Island cultures find their way across vast stretches of ocean out of sight of land? Why do most of us still get lost in a mall? Humans have an unrivaled ability to understand physical space, but we still have trouble drawing a map for getting across town to our house. If you would like some answers to these questions of space and mind tune in to Inquiry tonight when we talk to COLIN ELLARD, Experimental Psychologist at the University of Waterloo and Director of its Research Laboratory for Immersive Virtual Environments. Professor Ellard will be discussing his endlessly fascinating book: YOU ARE HERE: WHY WE CAN FIND OUR WAY TO THE MOON, BUT GET LOST IN THE MALL: WHAT SCIENCE SAYS ABOUT OUR SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE AND HOW IT SHAPES OUR CONNECTIONS TO NATURE, CITIES, HOMES AND VIRTUAL WORLDS.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 3:36pm
Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois is home to the largest proton accelerator in the United States. Here scientists conduct cutting edge high-energy physics experiments to learn about the ultimate structure of matter and learn more about particles like quarks. How does a megascience facility like this get built? How do you manage a place so big it contains a restored prairie and a herd of buffalo? Is America still on the cutting edge of “big science”? Tonight on Inquiry we talk about the history of Fermilab with LILLIAN HODDESON, Professor of History of Science at the University of Illinois; ADRIENNE W. KOLB, Fermilab Archivist; and CATHERINE WESTFALL, Visiting Associate Professor at Michigan State University. Together they have written one of the great histories of American science: FERMILAB: PHYSICS; THE FRONTIER AND MEGASCIENCE.
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