All Of It with Alison Stewart

Artist, author and photographer Patti Smith joins us to discuss her latest photobook, A Book of Days, a collection of her photography taken over the course of one year.

This segment is guest-hosted by Arun Venugopal. 

We air our full conversation with biographer RJ Smith about his new book, Chuck Berry: An American Life. It was our selection for Full Bio this month. 

[REBROADCAST FROM September 30, 2021] For the first time in 17 years, Rolling Stone threw out their working list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and rebuilt the list from scratch. Rolling Stone reporter Jon Dolan joins us to discuss remaking the list, defend the rankings, and take calls from listeners on what they think are the greatest songs of all time.

For our final installment of this month's Full Bio, we discuss Chuck Berry's final days, and his troubled history of sexual misconduct. RJ Smith, author of Chuck Berry: An American Life, joins us to discuss.

In November of 1922, BBC radio first crackled into the homes of Londoners. Over the next century, the BBC would expand far beyond news and become one of the world’s preeminent forces in arts and cultural programming. It’s now the world’s largest broadcaster, beloved by NPR listeners and carried in countries around the world, where it provides programming in languages from Arabic to Yoruba. Its story is chronicled in the new book, The BBC: A Century On Air, by David Hendy, a media historian and former BBC producer.

Hendy joins us for a special hour-long program, 100 Years of the BBC, exploring the history of the BBC. Listeners will hear sound from reporters on the beaches during D-Day, Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, the rise of the Beatles, and popular BBC radio and television programs of the past – as well as a glimpse of the broadcaster behind the scenes.

"100 Years of the BBC" is produced by Luke Green and Kate Hinds.

We continue our Full Bio series discussing the life of Chuck Berry with biographer RJ Smith, author of the new book Chuck Berry: An American Life. Today we discuss Berry's forays into film and television.

"Evanston Salt Costs Climbing," a new play from The New Group, follows two salt truck drivers in Evanston, Illinois, over the course of three winters. The play is written by Will Arbery, Pulitzer Prize finalist for his play "Heroes of the Fourth Turning." Ken Leung, who also stars in the latest season of HBO's Industry, plays one of the drivers. Arbery and Leung join us to discuss the production, which runs through December 18 at The Pershing Square Signature Center.

The 2000 film "Almost Famous," the beloved semi-autobiographical film from Cameron Crowe, has now been adapted for the Broadway stage. Pulitzer Prize winning composer and co-lyricist Tom Kitt joins us to discuss the production, alongside Solea Pfeiffer, who is making her Broadway debut as Penny Lane, an alluring and charming woman who follows the band Still Water on the road. And we're also joined by Casey Likes, who stars in the show as young rock journalist William Miller.

For the first time in history, all 10 of the top Billboard Hot 100 songs were by female artists... and by the same female artist, Taylor Swift. Her latest album Midnights presents a more bedroom pop feel for the mega star. But how does it compare to her other work? Ann Powers, music critic for NPR, joins us to discuss what she called Taylor Swift's "most challenging album."

For this month's Full Bio, we are discussing the life of music legend Chuck Berry, who some consider to be one of the architects of Rock n' Roll, with RJ Smith, author of the new biography Chuck Berry: An American Life.