Now I've Heard Everything

Perhaps no one personified the folk music trend of the 1960s like Peter, Paul and Mary.

With a repertoire that included not only their own songs but covers of songs by Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary became superstars.

One of their most enduring hits was the wildly popular, to this day, Puff the Magic Dragon.

But it wasn't until 2007 that the story of Puff the Magic Dragon was turned into an illustrated children's book.  That was the effort of Peter Yarrow, the co-writer of the song. And the book turned into a huge, huge commercial success.

That year is when I first met Peter yarrow, and we talked about his book about puff. A couple of years later we had another interview when he came out with another similar book based on their song. Day is Done.

Once upon a Time three staffers for a United States Senator decided to put on a little Christmas show, just a little thing with song parodies and skits, just for entertainment.

They're little show was a hit and they endd up putting on that show for a few other small private groups.

Before long, a few other Hill staffers join them and they're little events. Became bigger events more organized events with bigger audiences

The year was 1981 and that's how the capital steps was formed.  And over the next four decades. The capital steps became the nation's premier political satire group.

Two of those founding members, Bill Strauss and Elaina Newport wrote a book in 1992 called fools on the Hill and that's when I had a chance to meet them.

For over five decades actor Michael York has been a fixture in Britain and in the US, in film and on television.

Beginning in the late 1960s, York starred in a number of huge hit movies, including Romeo and Juliet, Cabaret, and Logan's Run. Younger fans may even remember him best from his role in the Austin Powers series.

In 1992. Michael York published an autobiography, and that's when I had the chance to talk with him.

Ever since there have been movies in America -- that's over a hundred years now -- people have been putting together their lists of their favorite movies. Their favorite classic movies.

Some 30 years ago Bob Dorian, the longtime host on American Movie Classics (now known simply as AMC) assembled a list of  the greatest "classic" movies.  

Now  these weren necessarily 't classic" in the sense that we typically think of classic movies, but they were movies that were timeless and important in their own way. 

I had a chance to talk with Bob Dorian in 1990 when that book came out. So here now from 1990. Let's talk some old movies with Bob Dorian

Last week the United States Supreme Court overturned the nearly 50-year-old Roe vs Wade decision, which afforded women the constitutional right to an abortion.

That was a court battle fought, and one, by a young Texas attorney. In fact, Sarah Weddington was only 27 when she argued the case before the high Court on behalf of her client, the pseudonymous Jane Roe..

When 20 years later, Sarah Weddington was still gravely concerned about the future of the ruling that she won.

And now, we see that her concerns were well founded.

And Sarah Weddington, as it turns out, had a persnal interest in the outcome of Roe vs. Wade.

Who knew that a little boy born to a lower middle-class family in England, who grew up with asthma and put up with teasing from his classmates, and like to smoke by the time he was aged 10, would grow up to become one of the world's greatest rock singers? 

That's kind of the short version of the life of Eric Burdon, who in 1962 joined a quartet that soon became known as the animals. Burdon was their lead singer.

As a leading member of the British invasion, the animals produced a number of hits.

In 2002, Eric Burdon wrote an autobiography, a book called. Please Don't let me be misunderstood. And that's when I have a chance to talk with him by phone. So here now, from 2002, Eric burdon.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder but in modern western society the beholders are usually men and the men make the rules of that social construct that we call beauty.

That's the essence. Kind of boil down into my own words of Naomi Wolf's blockbuster breakthrough 1991 book The Beauty Myth.

The Beauty Myth created some big waves when it was published. In fact, later the New York times even said it was one of the 70 most influential books of the entire century.

But it has also generated a lot of controversy for Naomi Wolf.

A third-rate burglary” at Washington’s Watergate hotel and office complex in the summer of 1972 launched a scandal that ultimately brought down the presidency of Richard M. Nixon.

At the very center of that burglary, and ensuing Scandal, was G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent who headed the the infamous White House “Plumbers” unit.

After serving prison time for his role in Watergate, Liddy wrote a book called “Will,” which became a bestseller for years to come.

In 1991 Liddy updated his book, adding ne information that had been revealed in a book by two journalists,Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin, called “Silent Coup.”