FRESH AIR
When President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran spoke at the United Nations this week, his translator was Hooman Majd. But Majd isn’t a professional translator. He’s been a record executive, a film producer, and a writer. Based in New York, he’s written for GQ, The New York Times, The New Yorker and Salon.com; he’s also a contributing editor at Interview, and he contributes occasionally to The Huffington Post. His new book is called The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran.
RADIO TIMES
Hour 1
Farnaz Fassihi, the Wall Street Journal’s deputy bureau chief of the Middle East and Africa, covered the war in Iraq and its aftermath until 2005. Her new book, “Waiting for an Ordinary Day,” is a memoir of her experience writing about the war and witnessing the unraveling of life for ordinary Iraqis. She joins us in the studio. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3
Hour 2
From Wall Street to Main Street, psychology drives the way we invest. Greed, fear, risk, exuberance are terms used to describe the emotions that shape our financial lives. We talk about what that all means in the corporate environment and for the average investor with HERSH SHEFRIN, a professor at Santa Clara University, and Motley Fool analyst BILL BARKER. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3
THE WORLD CAFE
Using the Bon Iver moniker, Justin Vernon became an instant critics’ darling upon the release of For Emma, Forever Ago early 
this year. Following the difficult breakup of a long-term relationship — as well as that of his previous band, DeYarmond Edison — Vernon escaped to a secluded Wisconsin cabin and, in spite of his intentions to simply hibernate, began to write. The result is an album that sounds naked without coming off as pretentious, and emotional without seeming precious. Vernon’s primal falsetto accentuates his sparse and ghostly arrangements in this session on World Cafe. Vernon is accompanied here by a four-piece backing band, which includes Vernon’s former guitar student Mike Noyce and drummer Sean Carey, who was inspired by For Emma and decided that he was the best person to help realize the songs live.
BON IVER: Creature Fear
[Dir. by SCOTT LODWICK]