FRESH AIR
Actor Steve Carell has elicited laughs with his deadpan humor in films like Little Miss Sunshine and The 40 Year Old Virgin. Now, the star of NBC’s The Office takes on a vintage role for the summer blockbuster season: Carell plays the always eager Agent Maxwell Smart in Get Smart, based on the 1960s television cult classic. Carell talks with Fresh Air’s Terry Gross about awkward moments on film and his unexpected fame. PLUS, rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Evil Urges, the new album by the Kentucky indie-rock band My Morning Jacket. The band moves away from their Southern influences, instead using Manhattan as their muse for the album.
RADIO TIMES
Hour 1
During our weekly hour on national politics, we discuss potential vice presidential candidates for John McCain and Barack Obama, the Republican and Democratic party presumptive nominees for President of the United States. Our guests are DICK
POLMAN, National Political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. His blog is called Dick Polman’s American Debate and SUSAN MILLIGAN, National Political reporter for the Boston Globe in its Washington Bureau. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3
Hour 2
In her new book, The Age of American Unreason, writer SUSAN JACOBY argues that Americans have grown increasingly uninterested and uninformed in a culture that values “infotainment,” over critical thinking. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3
THE WORLD CAFE
Rock legend Steve Winwood stops by the World Café to discuss his new release Nine Lives. Describing his latest as “the opposite of a concept ablum,” each track tells a story drawing from the different styles that shaped his career. The record moves from blues and soul reminiscent of the Spencer Davis Group to the psychedelic rock of Traffic, all with a foundation steeped in the world music rhythms of his solo work. Winwood is even joined by old friend and long-time collaborator Eric Clapton on the hit single “Dirty City.”
SPENCER DAVIS GROUP: Nobody Loves You When You’re Down And Out