Remembering Pere Ubu's David Thomas, a frontman who preserved chaos
Thomas' April 23 death at age 71 brings to a close one of the most significant avant-garde experiments ever conducted within the confines of pop music. Rock critic Ken Tucker reflects on his legacy.
Eric Dolphy's 'Musical Prophet' Reissue Is Both Adventurous And Catchy
Seven months before his 1964 masterwork Out to Lunch! Dolphy recorded a pair of sessions with producer Alan Douglas. Critic Kevin Whitehead says this reissue is long overdue.
Alan Alda On 'M*A*S*H*' And His 'Tremendous Education' Growing Up In A Burlesque Club
Alda, who spoke to Terry Gross in 1997, is being awarded the lifetime achievement award by the Screen Actors Guild on Sunday for his humanitarian efforts and acting roles.
Comic Roy Wood Jr. Taps Into America's Psyche On 'The Daily Show'
In 2018, Wood explained how the years he spent performing in comedy clubs in the South and Midwest — sometimes in places where he felt unsafe as a black man — prepared him for The Daily Show.
'The Friend' Novelist Grapples With Suicide, Grief And Student-Teacher Relationships
Sigrid Nunez's National Book Award-winning novel is narrated by a woman grieving the suicide of her longtime friend and former writing professor, whom she slept with once.
Host Of The Prison Podcast 'Ear Hustle' Reflects On His 27 Years Behind Bars
Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor started the podcast Ear Hustle when Woods was a prisoner in San Quentin. Woods' sentence was recently commuted, but the two continue to tell stories of life behind bars.
The 'Very Particular' History Being Presented At Confederate Sites
Journalist Brian Palmer toured several Confederate sites and monuments across the South and found a distorted message that celebrates the Confederacy and often omits the fact of slavery all together.
Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. On DNA Testing And Finding His Own Roots
As host of the PBS series Finding Your Roots, Gates tells celebrities about their family history. He reflects on his own history and some of the more controversial aspects of DNA testing.
M. Night Shyamalan's Superhero Thriller 'Glass' Overflows With Preposterousness
Shyamalan's latest film stars Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson and James McAvoy in an eccentric, perilously self-indulgent sequel that braids together two previous movies: Unbreakable and Split.