And here’s a link to purchase the latest collection of the original 1950’s essays, edited by Dan Gediman.

Edward R. Murrow’s This I Believe

The invasion of Iraq started on March 20, 2003 – that was seven years ago.  It’s astonishing that this film, Severe Clear, about that invasion, is still relevant. Plus, there is new and shocking footage. First Lieutenant Mike Scotti said he wanted to film the invasion on his personal mini-DV recorder to be able to show a different side of the war – the real side – not some fluffy PR piece.  There is no question during any point of the film of Scotti’s dedication to the U.S. Marine Corps.  That’s not to say that over time, even a patriot like First Lieutenant Scotti started to ask questions of his own about why the United States was in Iraq.

There are some graphic descriptions in the film (and the interview) – so be forewarned.  But, like Kristian Fraga (Severe Clear producer) says, that footage is included intentionally, to provide a full portrayal of what the Marines experienced. 

For information about the film, go to its web site, or look for it in your area.  Theatrical release dates are:

March 12th: New York and San Diego

March 19th: Beverly Hills, Leammle Music Hall

March 24th: Dallas

March 25th: Houston

April 1st: Salem, MA

HOUR ONE

The Pacific is a 10-part miniseries that portrays the real-life journeys of Marines fighting across the Pacific Theater during World War II.  Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are the producers of the HBO program which is based on the book also titled The Pacific by historian Hugh Ambrose. He talks with Bob about the stories from his book, which is the official companion to the miniseries premiering this weekend on HBO.

In this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, Bob talks with curator Dan Gediman about the essay of Robert A. Heinlein.  He won four Hugo Awards during his 50-year career as a science fiction writer. Born and raised in Missouri, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1929 and did aeronautical engineering for the Navy during World War II. Heinlein’s books include Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land.

HOUR TWO

For the first time, the best essays of Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss have been collected into a single volume. Into the Story brings together essays about Bill Clinton’s childhood in Little Rock, Barack Obama’s rise through the dreams of his mother, Jesse Jackson’s relationship with Martin Luther King and many other stories by Maraniss about his journey through life, politics, sports and loss. 

Suzi Ragsdale has sung background vocals on more than 60 albums including Whisper My Name by Randy Travis, but recording her own music has been a slower process.  This year, the songwriter, vocalist and pianist has released a double album.  The project and the first CD is titled Best Regards, an eclectic set of Ragsdale’s most recent tunes. Disc two, Less of the Same, is a mix of songs written over the course of her career.

Bob conducted this interview a month ago, and ever since I volunteered to produce it he’s been asking how I like Suzi’s music. Bob has become a big fan and once I finally started mixing the songs together with their conversation, I also began to appreciate her talent. The songs really are good. Her latest CD is actually a double album. The project and disc one are both called Best Regards. It contains six new songs. Disc two features two new songs and four older songs and is titled Less of the Same. Suzi Ragsdale is the daughter of music icon Ray Stevens, who is known for novelty songs like Ahab the Arab, The Streak and Guitarzan. He’s also the guy who put fiddles and a banjo on his arrangement of “Misty” and won a Grammy for it. A five-year-old Suzi got her start in professional music as part of the children’s chorus on her dad’s feel good song “Everything is Beautiful” and today he is her music publisher. Despite her early start in music and family connections, Suzi was actually a late bloomer and took the slow road to the front of the big stage, singing on demos and playing with and behind other artists first. Now she is emerging as a unique artist on stage and in the recording studio. She also spends a lot of time in the kitchen and in the yoga studio.

Sing for your Supper- Valentine’s Brunch from Suzi Ragsdale on Vimeo.

Find Suzi’s recipe for grilled pork tenderloin in this link.

And if you ever need to feed 70 people, try her recipe for Silver Moon Chili.

Suzi Ragsdale is also WAY into yoga, as evidenced by this picture. She says she’d like to arrange a tour of posh spas around the country combining a yoga class, homemade dinner and a musical performance. Sounds perfect for her.

Politico’s White House correspondent Eamon Javers went deep into the world of corporate spies and found a hidden battlefield growing in size and importance for the rest of us.  In Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy Javers profiles Chinese spies stealing trade secrets from Western high tech firms, ex-KGB officers working in American law firms and CIA agents moonlighting for private companies while still on the federal payroll.

In this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, Bob talks with curator Dan Gediman about the essay of Robert B. Powers.  He entered police work after serving as a cavalryman in World War I. He was a deputy sheriff in New Mexico and Arizona, and was chief of police for Bakersfield, California. Powers co-authored “A Guide to Race Relations for Police Officers.”

HOUR TWO

Entertainment critic David Kipen talks with Bob about Sunday’s Academy Awards.

The Last Station tells the story of the final years of Russia’s greatest literary figure, Leo Tolstoy. Bob talks with director Michael Hoffman about the film and about stars Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren. They’re both nominated for Academy Awards for their roles as Tolstoy and his long-suffering wife Sofya.

Here’s a link to purchase the latest collection of the original 1950’s essays, edited by Dan Gediman.

Edward R. Murrow’s This I Believe

David Broder of The Washington Post joins Bob to talk politics. Next, Peter Hessler, former Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, spent seven years driving through China’s vast and seemingly impenetrable landscape.  He writes about the migrant workers, farmers, and peasants he met far from China’s big cities, just as their lives began to be affected by the modern world. Hessler’s book “Country Driving; A Journey Through China From Farm to Factory” is the final installment of his trilogy, which includes “River Town” and “Oracle Bones.” Then, in this week’s installment of our ongoing series “This I Believe,” Bob talks with curator Dan Gediman about the essay of Robert B. Powers.  He entered police work after serving as a cavalryman in World War I. He was a deputy sheriff in New Mexico and Arizona, and was chief of police for Bakersfield, California. Powers co-authored “A Guide to Race Relations for Police Officers.”

Phillip Hoare’s book The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Deep won the UK’s 2009 Samuel Johnson Prize for nonfiction last year. And it also won rave reviews including this one from the Guardian newspaper: “A magnificent monster of a book, combining a huge wealth of whale lore, zoology, literature, history and personal account. Written with great elegance, enthusiasm and insight, it takes us on an enthralling voyage into the underwater world of the whale and to the heart of an obsession.” Then, Patsy Cline defined the “Nashville Sound” of the 1960s. Transport her a few thousand miles to the northeast, and a few decades into the future, and you get Lovisa Elisabet Sigrunardottir. Sigrunardottir grew up in Reykjavik, learning to play piano and guitar at an early age. Under the stage name “Lay Low,” she has captured the attention of everyone from Sufjan Stevens to Lucinda Williams with music that mixes folk, blues, and country twang. Lay Low’s new album is titled, “Farewell Good Night’s Sleep.”

Parents will find the book simultaneously rewarding and difficult. Strongin writes so well about her happy, precocious first-born son — detailing his favorite things, recounting family vacations — that we begin to forget that word “disease” too. The inevitable result of Fanconi anemia comes as a shock, even in print. Strongin says she thinks of Saving Henry as a hopeful book, and I agree. There’s a lesson in it about eating dessert first, putting fun ahead of chores, and learning not to sweat the small stuff.

Goldberg continues to write letters to his son at this blog. And he and Strongin decided to share Henry’s positive outlook on long-term hospitalization through the foundation Hope for Henry, which brings a little joy to children with life threatening illnesses.

-Geoffrey Redick