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

Rating:
Summary: mixed messages
Review: a slightly interesting but at times bothersome collection of interviews that left me with very mixed feelings. Interviews such as the hilarious one done with Gene Simmons, of KISS, were awesome except for the brazen way in which she verbally attacks her guest. However, I do credit her for including that one, despite its unflattering characterization of her. In the debate realm, she certainly held her own.

What Terry Gross achieves in her, at times, skillful and intelligent style is hampered by her condescension and air of superiority. Yes, some the egos of these interviewees needed to be held in check, but I thought there were journalistic standards of objectivity in the realm of NPR. One is often wondering whose ego will win out between MS. Gross and her guest.

If it's Howard Stern-like entertainment she's going for, then great...just start calling a spade a spade and dispense with the aura of hubris, please. She's obviously very talented but seems a tad too intoxicated by her own presence to really shine unlike any other host.



Rating:
Summary: Looking forward to Volume Two...
Review: As a big fan of 'Fresh Air', it was very exciting for me to see that Terry Gross had decided to put her interviews in print, although this was just a fraction of them. It was not a disappointment, in fact, I couldn't put the book down. And even though I had heard many of these interviews on the radio, there was something new about reading the words. And I learned about people, books, movies and music that I hadn't known before.

Apparently some reviewers here didn't get that these interviews had to be edited for the page and therefore seemed disjointed. Ms. Gross explained this in her introduction. She is, as an interviewer, very professional, intelligent, fun, has a great sense of humor, and is a breath of fresh air.

Rating:
Summary: What Did He Say is Now Answered.
Review: It's fascinating to listen to interviews on the radio, and Fresh Air is among the very best. But how often I've asked myself, now what did he say right there. But the fleeting moment had passed, and even by asking I've missed the next things that was said. Thank God for the printed word that lasts forever and sits on the shelf to be reviewed as needed. ==Here are some three dozen transcripts of interviews. Some of which you undoubtedly missed. Some of which are artfully edited from multiple broadcasts. The editing though was carefully done to not change the tone of the interview, nor does it appear that Ms. Gross has taken the opportunity to make herself look better. ==As you would expect, some of the interviews are more interesting to me than others. You may of course, not find the same ones of interest. But if you like the show, you will like the book, basically a transcript of the interviews

Rating:
Summary: "TERRY GROSS INTERVIEWED STEPHEN SCHIFF
Review: on her March 24th show, Fresh Air. He wrote the screen play for the novel True Crime. She asked him if he ever changed anything when he adapted a novel for the screen. "Sure," he replied, "lots of times." If something doesn't ring true, he changes it." So did I start a chapter titled 'Bias' in a book I wrote during the late 1990's.
My point? This particular interview probably interested very few people. Most of her interviews do not interest me in the least. But, to get to the few that do, I have to briefly look at all of them. This book, "All I Did Was Ask," is a good staring point to find out if any of her interviews interest you.
Is she a good interviewer? Maybe. I know two things. One, she talks to people that I will never talk to (for whatever reason). Two, she elicited information from Stephen Schiff that I suspected to be true, but could never pin down. Those two things make her an excellent interviewer, in my opinion.
But, buy the book and listen to the interviews that interest you. Then, make up your own mind.

Rating:
Summary: EnGrossing
Review: Skeptical that much would be lost in the translation from interviewer Terry Gross' popular radio show put into print, I approached "All I Did Was Ask" hesitantly, without expecting much. Perhaps that is why I am so impressed with the book. This collection of noteable transcripts taken from the popular NPR show "Fresh Air" immediately capitivates the reader with as much, if not more, power and force as if you were listening to the show itself.

Gross has a true talent for asking questions that provide insightful and illuminating glimpses of her subjects. This collection of interviews is especially a treasure for any readers involved in the arts or literature. Through these "Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists", an inordinate amount of information is imparted and expounded upon by various masters of these crafts in a way that is both educational and inspiring.

Moreover, the selection of interviewees included in this anthology (hopefully first of many) spans so many diverse movements, time periods, and subsects of popular culture that it would be impossible to walk away from this book without learning something. Even the interviews that, upon first glance, did not interest me, ended up offering up what became a fascinating introduction to literature, film, or music, that I otherwise would never have discovered.

Finally, this is an ideal book for anyone on the go or with brief pockets of time available for reading. Each interview is 3-6 pages, making "All I Did Was Ask" the most thought-provoking light reading to be published in years.

Rating:
Summary: Colorful, interesting, behind-the-scenes look at "Fresh Air"
Review: Terry Gross first began interviewing celebrities in the arts world on National Public Radio station WHYY in Philadelphia in 1975. As the queen of research and often surprising personal questions, Gross interviews her guests with a candor and appreciation of their art that surpasses that of most hosts. She has hosted the hit NPR interview show "Fresh Air" for nearly 30 years.

Her stock in trade is to mine surprising insights from her guests. Often, the more well known the artist is, the more gracious he or she is in an interview. Gross is very sensitive to their feelings and asks them if there are subjects that are off-limits. Sometimes, however, a guest will push her buttons and she takes her gloves off. She includes a couple of interviews where the guest is so totally obnoxious that the verbal blows begin to fall. But these instances are rare indeed, and regular listeners to her show usually are entertained and charmed by the genuine camaraderie that prevails.

The broadcasts range from 1988 through 2004, with such notables as Nicolas Cage, Dennis Hopper, Dustin Hoffman, Jodie Foster and John Updike, to the late Divine, Mario Puzo, Johnny Cash, and James Baldwin. Gross opens each excerpt from the selected interviews in the book --- there are 39 in all --- with personal remarks about the occasion. She has grouped some interviews together, such as the various people involved in the making of the movie Taxi Driver.

Nick Cage describes eating a cockroach live in an early vampire movie called Vampire's Kiss, and then discusses his views on death and dying. Dustin Hoffman turns out to be a charming and introspective guest as he talks about his first splash into stardom with The Graduate, his childhood, and the rather surprising best advice he ever received from Mike Nichols, which he says is what has kept him on the marquee since that movie.

Jodie Foster discusses her TV appearance at age three in a Coppertone commercial. She went on to play the controversial role of a child prostitute in Taxi Driver and talks about the repercussions of the John Hinckley attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, since he was supposedly obsessed with that movie.

Dennis Hopper's interview is characteristically off the wall, but we learn some surprising insights into his early life. Can any of us who are familiar with his work imagine him rising at dawn on a Kansas farm to milk cows before going off to school?

Gross's unique ability to draw celebrities out has made her one of the broadcast media's most admired interviewers. ALL I DID WAS ASK is a colorful and interesting look behind the scenes at one of the longest running interview shows on radio.

--- Reviewed by Roz Shea

Rating:
Summary: How did she land the job?!?
Review: Terry Gross leaves much to be desired as an interviewer. Her guests are excellent, but Gross's line of questioning often lacks direction. One can often sense an uncomfortable tension between herself and her guests. She seems to be easily shaken and thrown off, resulting in her losing a train of thought and coming back with bizarre questions, which seem to say "I didn't hear a word of what you just said, so I'm going to try this generic, random, non-sequeter." Because of such frequent distractions, I cannot listen to her show. Perhaps her writing is more impressive.

Rating:
Summary: Fresh Air
Review: Terry Gross points out that Fresh Air is a team product. Also, she says, it violates the etiquette of conversation. In the interviews we discern John Updike, a small town boy, was jealous of Kerouac. Updike needed to support four children. THE NEW YORKER ran domestic stories and Updike wrote domestic stories.

Johnny Cash's mother worked to get music lessons for him to enable him to leave the farm. Andre Dubus speaks of forgiveness and the New Testament. Tobias Wolff told him after he was injured that body and spirit are one. Uta Hagen does not want to discuss her craft. Lay people misunderstand at profound levels acting technique. Walter Mosley explains that if reputation is all a person has, he may be driven to kill to protect it. He believes that in Los Angeles everyone is looking for a new life.

Mario Puzo invented terms the Mafia now uses. Puzo's mother believed that reading did not help a person earn a living. Paul Schrader grew up in a Calvinist household and saw no movies as a child. He moved from a desire to be a minister to becoming a film critic, a screenwriter, and a director. Schrader wrote the TAXI DRIVER script in ten days in two drafts. Schrader really loves doing the unreliable narrator.

Divine is a John Waters character. The actual Divine, the man, was a character actor. Mary Woronow relates that in the beginning the entire basis of the Warhol movie was the drag queen. As an impressionable young woman, Joyce Johnson became part of the rebel subculture through her association with Jack Kerouac. Most of the reviews for ON THE ROAD were hostile and humiliating. Kerouac's mother had always been a refuge for him. He dreamed of having a quieter literary success than the one granted to him. When Kerouac wrote to his male friends he assumeed a persona.

Larry Rivers painted his mother-in-law naked which seems like a real taboo Terry Gross avers. The response of Larry Rivers is that he did it to make a painting. Sonny Rollins, tenor saxophonist, grew up in Harlem. His parents were from the Virgin Islands. Movies provided him with many of the songs he enjoys playing. Isabella Rossellini thought that her relationship with Lancome should go beyond age 42 but the company had a different view. As she aged Isabella Rossellini came to see how much she resembles her mother. Dennis Hopper worked summers at wheat farm in Garden City, Kansas. He grew up during the last days of the dust bowl. He thought of James Dean as his teacher. When Dean died it destroyed Hopper, then age 19. Hopper wanted EASY RIDER to be an art film.

Chuck Close suffered a collapsed spinal artery and became within minutes a quadraplegic. Fortunately he already knew how to paint. His financial success permitted him to continue with his art-making. Frank Stella became known for wild color. He went to Princeton and escaped the draft by having a crushed left hand. After graduation he had gotten a studio for painting and he was able to continue right there. Lastly, Carol Shields did not like book club-like questions at the end of her books. In the beginning of her writing career she saw how writing could be done in small units.

All in all the selection of guests and the care in the preparation of the transcripts combine to make a very interesting collection of interviews.

Rating:
Summary: Diverse Confessions by literary arts figures.
Review: This collection included just a few (36) of the interviews Terry Gross chose from her daily talk show on public radio which she has done for thirty years. This one features people in the arts. Whereas 'timely' interviews can become dated quickly, the pleasure we gain from the best books, movies and music stay with us. Most of these shows were taped in 1994.

I chose six totally different, most of whom had new books just released when they appeared on 'Fresh Air'. Perhaps they needed the exposure to promote a new book. I've never heard this NPR program, and her pointed questions about their personal lives goes beyond a sense of propriety, to entertain her audience. It makes me wonder why anyone would agree to be on her show a second time. She puts people 'on the spot' to the point of rudeness, telling them to 'cut to the chase' to be concise with brief answers, as every minute counts on radio.

Isabella Rossellini had scoliosis, a spinal deformity similar to osteoporsis, as a child, which was very severe and painful. She lost the ability to walk and endured operations to fuse the vertebrae in her spine and was immobilized for six months during the lenghthening and straightening procedures to correct the curvature of the spine. She had to wear a heavy body cast for two years. It was wonderful to overcome all the odds, she said. She modeled for seventeen years under a contract similar to movie stars of the forties. Her mother Ingrid Bergman created a scandal back then which could have ended her career. The last image I remember seeing of Isabelle shows her distinct resemblance to her mother in looks and morals. She is an unwed mother. After taking acting lessons, she played an abused woman in 'Blue Velvet,' a movie I'm glad I missed. She wrote a memoir called SOME OF ME in 1997.

The David brothers were lyricists extraordinaire. Mack David came up with the lyrics of 'Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White,' 'It Must Be Him,' and the t.v. themes for 77 Sunset strip, Surfside 6, and others. On the other hand, his brother Hal David wrote (among many hits) the lyrics for the first ALFIE.

Michael Caine's first film to be released in the U.S. was 'Alfie' and he admits he's played all sorts of weird characters in more than 70 films in 30 years. He told her he had made a career out of what all the American stars didn't want, which was usually flawed characters. He won an Academy award, and wrote his autobiography in 1992.

Johnny Cash also had out his life history in 1997. In his show with Ms. Gross, he admitted that he had a high tenor voice as a teenager and got a kick out of singing the old Irish folk songs he'd heard Dennis Day sing on 'The Jack Benny Show.' He sang gospel for his mother, who took in washing so she could pay for his singing lessons. He toured with Elvis Presley in the fifties, then started singing prison songs. His first big hit was 'I Walk the Line.' I've been told he had a good version of 'The Long Black Veil.' He teamed up with June Carter in 1962. They both died last year.

Johnny Cash went to prisons to give concerts. Jazz musician, Sonny Rollins, went to prison on occasion due to drug use and was homeless in Chicago. He had a special place on the pedestrian walk of the Williamsburg Bridge in New York which was on top of the subway where he could blow his tenor sax to his heart's content. He grew up in Harlem with musical siblings.

She did interview children's book illustrator, Maurice Sedak, on more than one occasion. His best known book WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, a fantasy, and he told her that he had based the monsters on old relatives in Poland. He told about how the children who love his books regard him as one of the monsters because he's short and elderly. He revealed the illnesses which almost 'did him in' as a sickly child, and spoke of the angel who came to him. In his new book, WE ARE ALL IN THE DUMPS, he uses spirits to encourage children to believe they are being watched over. He is compared to Lewis Carroll.

All I got out of the John Updike conversation was that he wrote those sexually oriented books about a car salesman named Rabbit to titillate men. Commenting on his first attempt at writing when he was fourteen, she said to him "the more you know, the more interesting detail you can put in fiction." He agreed, "You wind up using everything you know, and often more than once." Enough said.

In 2003, she received public radio's highest honor, the Edward R. Murrow Award.

Rating:
Summary: Terry Gross: Interviewer Extraordinaire
Review: With the plethora of bad talk shows on the air (Ellen and Letterman excepted), I happen to think Terry Gross stands out as one of the best interviewers around. I tune into NPR just to listen to her Fresh Air program every chance I get in the evenings, which to be honest, is not very often. That's why it's a particular joy that she has decided to transcribe verbatim 39 of her favorite interviews in this book. Even though she excludes political figures and consequently some of her most cutting comments, she includes some intriguing people from the arts world as she culls from broadcasts going back to 1988. The result is a series of fascinating insights into celebrities who may not have struck you as all that interesting in the first place.

What really shines through these conversations is the level of preparation that Gross brings to bear on each interview. Her excellent questions are obviously the fruit of her tenacious research, and her extensive broadcast experience shows how she is prepared for any situation no matter how potentially sweat-inducing. For example, she makes mincemeat of KISS bassist Gene Simmons in spite of her best efforts to deflect the verbal sparring he was intent on displaying mainly at her expense. But others come off quite well. Jodie Foster is obviously sharp and open about the repercussions of John Hinckley's attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, since he was supposedly obsessed with her performance in "Taxi Driver". Dustin Hoffman is surprisingly introspective, as are Nicolas Cage and even the eccentric Dennis Hopper. My favorite piece is with pulp novelist Mickey Spillane, who reveals how he was beaten up constantly as a child for the Buster Brown pageboy haircut his mother insisted on giving him. He explains that's why he wore a crewcut into his seventies. Some of the subjects are less well known to the mass audience, such as Mary Woronov, Joyce Johnson or Mary Carr, so they won't resonate with everyone. And I actually would have liked more of her own personal insight interspersed with the interviews themselves. Nonetheless, this is quite a fun read and highly recommended for fans of Gross.