Two Way Street

Platinum-selling songwriter Jimmy Webb stopped by our studio last October to talk about his first memoir, " The Cake And The Rain ." Artists from Frank Sinatra to Barbara Streisand have recorded Webb's songs. Some of his hits include “Up, Up and Away,” “Wichita Lineman,” “MacArthur Park,” and “By The Time I Get to Phoenix.” Our conversation begins with a discussion of his childhood in rural Elk City, Oklahoma. He explains how his mother’s “iron will and sometimes anger” drove him to the piano.

Today on “Two Way Street” we’re discussing The New York Times obituary project “ Overlooked ” with its co-creator Jessica Bennett . From Ida B. Wells to Emily Warren Roebling , “Overlooked” features the retroactive obituaries of prominent women whose stories initially failed to make it into the Times obit section. Jessica, the Times’ newly appointed gender editor, joins us to discuss her work on “Overlooked” with the digital editor of the obituary desk Amisha Padnani . And since no conversation

Author Tom Wolfe died at age 88 on May 14, 2018. This conversation was recorded in October 2017. On this edition of Two Way Street, we mark the 20th anniversary of the publication of Tom Wolfe’s smash best-seller “A Man in Full,” the long-awaited follow up to his novel “Bonfire of the Vanities.” “A Man in Full” is the story of the flamboyant Atlanta developer Charlie Crocker as he tries to save his collapsing Georgia real estate empire. Wolfe spent months researching characters and locales in

On this edition of Two Way Street our guest is Shuler Hensley, the Tony-award winning Broadway actor who was born and raised in Marietta and still makes his home here. Shuler’s mother Iris was the founder of the Georgia Ballet. She encouraged her son from an early age to seek a career as a Broadway performer. And he did just that. Shuler has played leading roles in a number of iconic Broadway musicals: his break-out performance came when he played the villainous Jud Fry in a 1999 revival of

On this edition of “Two Way Street,” Bill talks to author Bruce Feiler , whose life’s work is to reinterpret ancient stories in a way that allows us to think more deeply about who we are today. Last year, he came to our studio to talk about his book, “ The First Love Story: Adam, Eve, and Us ,” which challenges the common narrative of Adam and Eve. “Eve has been victim to the greatest character assassination the world has ever known,” Feiler tells us. He explains why he believes that Adam and

On this week’s “Two Way Street,” Bill talks with Lamont “ U-God ” Hawkins, one of the founding members of legendary hip hop group, the Wu-Tang Clan. He and RZA, GZA, Method Man, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, and Masta Killa put East Coast rap back on the map at a time when California rap was dominating the genre. His new memoir “ Raw: My Journey Into The Wu-Tang ” tells the story of ascent out of poverty into fame. Hawkins tells us about the journey that took him

On this edition of "Two Way Street," we're asking the question—who is Atticus Finch? He was a beloved champion of justice in “ To Kill a Mockingbird ” but a bigot in “ Go Set a Watchman .” That question—of who Atticus Finch is really—is now the subject of a lawsui t. Harper Lee’s estate is suing writer, Aaron Sorkin, for how he portrays Atticus Finch in his Broadway adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” It’s a question we’ve also asked ourselves. After the release of “Go Set a Watchman,” we

On this edition of “Two Way Street,” we’re talking to Tony-award winning director, Kenny Leon , about his Broadway revival of the play, “ Children of a Lesser God .” “Children of a Lesser God” is a love story between a hearing man and a deaf woman. For his revival, Leon decided to learn sign language. And when it came time to cast the show, he began wondering—could his deaf sign language teacher, Lauren Ridloff , make the perfect leading lady? Hear why he took that chance—and how it paid off—on

On this edition of “Two Way Street,” we’re talking to the “royal family of roots music,” Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn , about their new album, “ Echo in the Valley .” This is their second collaboration, following the success of their self-titled debut, “ Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn ,” which took home the Grammy for “Best Folk Album” in 2016. We hear about the early influences that drove Béla to the banjo, despite growing up in the urban center of New York City. Plus, we learn about the

On this edition of “Two Way Street,” we’re diving into the extraordinary life of “ Krazy Kat ” cartoonist, George Herriman .“Krazy Kat,” which ran in American newspapers from 1913-1944, featured characters Krazy and Ignatz in the setting of Coconino County, Arizona. Our guest is Michael Tisserand , author of the biography “ Krazy : George Herriman, a Life in Black and White .” Herriman lived with a closely guarded secret: he was born into a Creole family but passed for white his entire life His

On this “ Two Way Street ,” we’re talking about what dogs think and feel with a neuroscientist who has spent years studying them— Dr. Gregory Berns . His book, “ What It’s Like to Be a Dog ,” details his years of research on canine cognition. Berns leads The Dog Project at Emory University, which has scanned over 90 dogs’ brains of since its inception in 2012. Hear about The Project’s unlikely origins and the epiphany Berns had while watching news coverage of the Navy SEAL mission that killed

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth. Bernstein , a legendary composer, educator, and humanitarian, was born in August 25, 1918. To celebrate this milestone, orchestras and theatres around the world are preforming his vast range of work. Here in Atlanta, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Alliance Theatre are teaming up for a production of Candide , one of Bernstein’s most iconic musicals. That show and Bernstein’s life are the topic of this edition of “Two Way

On this episode of “Two Way Street,” we’re reairing our conversion with Country legend, Bill Anderson . Whisperin’ Bill Anderson came on our program last April to discuss the release of his memior, “ Whisperin’ Bill Anderson: An Unprecedented Life in Country Music .” There are few artists in the music business that have had the kind of career Bill Anderson has had. He wrote his first number one hit at age 19 while working as a disc jockey in Commerce, Georgia back in 1957; and since then he has

What’s your idea of quality time? Author David Giffels has an unusual answer to that. He enlisted his father to help him build his own coffin. That project is the subject of David’s new book, “ Furnishing Eternity: a Father, a Son, a Coffin, and a Measure of Life . David is an Akron-based writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic , and The Wall Street Journal . He is also the author of several books and previously wrote for the MTV series “Beavis and Butt-Head.”

On this episode of "Two Way Street," we’re separating fact from fiction about the Gullah people. Our guest is Rutgers University History Professor, Melissa Cooper , author of " Making Gullah: A History of Sapelo Islanders, Race, and the American Imagination ." Our conversation with Cooper focuses on the many people and factors that have contributed to our misunderstanding of the Gullah. We're unpacking the stories that have been told about the Sapelo Islanders over time and how they compare to