Season 1

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"If your fidelity to perfectionism is too high, you never do anything." - David Foster Wallace Interview by Leonard Lopate, WNYC March 4, 1996 Interview originally aired on the Leonard Lopate Show

"There's a way we talk and it includes profanity. We never figured we'd be arrested for it." - Mike "Mike D" Diamond Interview by Rocci Fisch for ABC News Radio 1985, Washington, D.C. Cassette Tape

"I think a lot of ladies found me so attractive because I was different." - Wilt Chamberlain Original interview aired in 1992 on "Sports Innerview with Ann Liguori"

"Black is not a color; it's an attitude. It's the attitude of independence, respect and dignity." - James Brown Interview by Rocci Fisch 1984. Washington, D.C. Convention Center Originally recorded for ABC News Radio

"I still think the same way I thought as a child. I still worry. I'm still frightened... Nothing changes." - Maurice Sendak Interview by Andrew Romano and Ramin Seetodeh 2009. Sendak's home in Connecticut

"You've got to be good or as bad as the devil. ... Even if we had two, three days off I still had to blow that horn a few hours to keep up the chops." - Louis Armstrong Interview by Michael Aisner and James R. Stein 19…

"I've got on these stiletto heels aimed for his face." - Farrah Fawcett Interview by Lawrence Grobel 1994, Hollywood

"If this Revolution falls, what we will have here in Cuba is a hell. Hell itself." - Fidel Castro Clark Hewitt Galloway interviewed Fidel Castro in Havana in 1959 in the midst of the Cuban revolution. His story ran in …

"In my insides, it really hurts if someone doesn't like me. It's silly." - Janis Joplin Howard Smith interviewed Janis Joplin by phone on September 30, 1970. This turned out to be the last interview Janis ever did. She…

"If somebody don't like something that I do, that's his or her prerogative. Just like it's mine." - Ray Charles.  Joe Smith interviewed Ray Charles on June 3, 1987 during the writing of Off the Record–his oral history …

"I even thought that I was gay. I thought that might be the solution to my problem." - Kurt Cobain Interview by Jon Savage July 22, 1993. Cassette Tape

"When we fell in with the Acid Tests we a started having the most fun we had ever had." - Jerry Garcia Interview by Joe Smith May 23, 1988 Cassette Tape

"He turned to me suddenly and asked: 'Is that a Givenchy you're wearing?' And I said, 'why how clever of you, Mr. President. However did you know?'" - Grace Kelly Interview by Paul Gallico / JFK Archives June 19, 1965 …

"If I was white I would have been like John Wayne... I feel like a tragic hero in a Shakespeare play" - Tupac Shakur Interview by Benjamin Svetkey March 1994 Microcassette recorder Related profile appeared in Entertain…

"There is the fear that you somehow neglected to say what was really yours to say" - John Updike Interview by John Freeman Spring 2002 Microcassette recorder

"When a man is making love, the last thing he thinks about is war" - Barry White Interview by Joe Smith April 3, 1987, Los Angeles Tape recorder

"When I looked in his eyes, he was there. He was home... I had a dad." - Carol Burnett Interview by Leonard Lopate August 19, 2003, WNYC Studios Original interview aired on the Leonard Lopate Show

"I've done some dastardly things, but what can I do except make amends and apologize?" - Stan Getz Interview by Joe Smith August 7, 1987, Los Angeles Tape recorder

"My nervous energy is usually the easiest form of energy to tap into" - Heath Ledger Interview by Christine Spines Fall 2005, Cassette Tape Her profile ran in Entertainment Weekly

"I just hope and pray I can die with my boots on" - Johnny Cash, 1996 Interview by Barney Hoskyns

"It's all true, folks: all you need is love." - John Lennon, 1969 Interviews by Howard Smith

"On stage or in the movies I could do whatever I wanted to. I was free." - Gene Wilder, March 2007 Conversation with Ms. magazine founding editor Letty Cottin Pogrebin

"I never really felt like a rock singer or a rock star. I always felt a little bit out of my element" - David Bowie Interview by Joe Smith

"Learning how to die is therefore learning how to live" - Philip Seymour Hoffman Conversation with Simon Critchley recorded live at the Rubin Museum of Art on Dec 22, 2012

"It's very humbling to imagine somebody else's really life and their pain ... It's my drug" - Meryl Streep Interview by Christine Spines, 2008

"When things get too heavy just call me helium--the lightest known gas to man." - Jimi Hendrix in his final interview

"My singing… i'll just say it simple as possible: it's just godly." - Michael Jackson in January 1980

"I think men have got to change an awful lot. They still prefer the little woman." - Bette Davis in 1963

"Anyone that dares begrudge what I have today, just better get off their duff and do something about it" - Liberace in 1968 as told to Jay Kent Hackleman

"The only way you can be a mark is if you want something for nothing. If you're greedy, you're set up." - Maya Angelou, as told to Studs Terkel in 1970

"I'm pouring my guts out so they can feel like your guts at the same time." - Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips in 2002

"Comedy is there to basically show us we fart, we laugh. To make us realize we still are part animal.... So you don't take yourself seriously and destroy the species." - Robin Williams in 1991, as told to Lawrence Grob…

"If I knew how it was going to end, I probably wouldn't write it." - Tom Robbins in 1994, as told to Tod Mesirow

"A lot of people are kind of depressed. I'm happy some of the time, and some of the time I'm not." - Elliott Smith in 1998, as told to Barney Hoskyns

"I don't like to feel that I owe anything. I like to feel that I pay my own way, no free lunch." - B.B. King on September 5, 1986, as told to Joe Smith

"I write a song called 'Heroin', you would have thought that I murdered the Pope or something" - Lou Reed on March 20, 1987, as told to Joe Smith

"Mama just always said, 'you be what you are and you don't have to worry about nothing'" - Dolly Parton as told to Lawrence Grobel on March 13, 1978

"Nobody else is going to give a damn what you're doing, so you need a few other people like yourself" - Ray Bradbury as told to two college kids on road trip in 1972

"I want to be the force which is truly for good." - John Coltrane in 1966, as told Frank Kofsky

"I didn’t like the sound of people gasping at the mere mention of my name. It horrified me." - Joni Mitchell in 1986, as told to Joe Smith

" I have no faith at all. I only hold convictions." - Ayn Rand on February 25, 1959, as told to Mike Wallace

"I have innate confidence that I am right. Partially out of conviction and partially as a pose." - Roger Ebert in 1990

"I did as much as I could do at that time in my life ... I tried as hard as I could and I couldn't do better" - Dustin Hoffman in 1971

“I keep my mouth shut now. I’ve turned into a professional coward.” - Hunter S. Thompson in 1967

"I don’t know what the ‘big time’ is" - Tom Waits in 1988. Tom Waits had just released the concert film, Big Time, when he was interviewed by Chris Roberts in September 1988. The interview was recorded on cassette tape…

"I'm sorry, I‘m a coward. I didn’t want to die." - Patty Hearst in 1982 in the first interview she gave after getting out of prison

"I‘m just an obnoxious guy who can make it appear charming, that’s what they pay me to do" - Bill Murray in October 1988

"Nothing means anything" - Kurt Vonnegut on November 8, 1970

"I feel more alive now than I ever have in my life. I have a chance to live, as I've dreamed." - Nina Simone in July, 1968

“My family was shocked when I came home with a volume of Hemingway … There was a price to be paid for being interested in fiction.” - Garrison Keillor in 1994. In this new episode we have a conversation with a true sto…

“I wish that there had been another woman on my flight. I think it would have been a lot easier.” - Sally Ride in 1983. Interviewed by Gloria Steinem. Hear more outtakes from the interview @ http://blankonblank.org/sal…

“Any man who really has faith in himself will be dubbed arrogant by his fellows” - Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957, as told to Mike Wallace If you’ve ever been to Illinois, you’ll know all about the defining features of its…

""Everything in my mind works like a search engine set for the image function."" - Temple Grandin in 2008, from an oral history at Colorado State University Hear more interview outtakes and learn more about Temple Gran…

"Animals were my passion from even before I could speak apparently. When I was about 10, 11 I fell in love with Tarzan" - Jane Goodall, as told to Ira Flatow in 2002 Hear more interview outtakes and learn more about Ja…

"I have to make my life worth saving, and each day you spend as if it would be your last" - Dame Stephanie Shirley in 2010 from an oral history at the British Library Computers had their start as a way to turn over the…

"I must reorganize the environment of man by which then greater numbers of men can prosper." - Buckminster Fuller in 1965, as told to Studs Terkel Buckminster Fuller was kicked out of college, and booted by Harvard not…

"The key was somehow to know what was important and what was not important, what was exciting, because I can’t learn everything." - Richard Feynman in 1966 Richard Feynman sat down for several hours of interviews in Al…

"A literal reading of the Bible simply is a mistake; I mean it’s just wrong" - Carl Sagan on October 4, 1985, as told to Studs Terkel. We found this conversation between Studs Terkel and Carl Sagan in the WFMT Studs Te…

"Sometimes when it all comes together ... you become the film you’re making." - Martin Scorsese in 1990, as told to T.J. English. In this new episode we have a previously unheard conversation with legendary director, M…

“When people say fuckin‘ shit, they don‘t think of a big turd, or two people makin‘ it anymore” - Patti Smith in May 1976, as told to Mick Gold In the spring of 1976, Patti Smith made her debut in London. She wasn't ev…

“I’m a cookie-decorating mom. I don’t bake them. I decorate them.“ - Cher in 1999, as told to Benjamin Svetkey. On a spring afternoon, Svetkey drove to Cher's house in Malibu for an interview. Her assistant led him up …

”The most unfettered imagination belongs to young people, and they don’t walk through life; they fly” - Rod Serling in 1963. The Twilight Zone was mesmerizing audiences across the U.S. when he was interviewed for Austr…

"I don‘t think that there‘s a girl around that would fit in with what we do" - Frank Zappa on June 6, 1971, as told to Howard Smith. Frank Zappa had a few opinions. Surly? Matter-of-fact? Misunderstood? We'll let you d…

“I'm never going to become rich and famous” - Bob Dylan in 1962. This interview originally aired on WBAI FM in New York City in February of 1962. Dylan was 20 at the time and it was his first appearance on the Folksing…

"It’s okay being a woman now. I like it. Try it some time.” - Nora Ephron. This interview by Studs Terkel with Nora Ephron was recorded on July 28, 1975 and comes from the remarkable WFMT Studs Terkel Radio Archive.

"I have never used my body. I have played roles where the legs were used and the body was used but in life, I have never done that" - Marlene Dietrich. Interview by Jay Kent Hackleman recorded in 1969 for Houston radio…

"If you want to preserve your power indefinitely, you have to get the consent of the ruled" - Aldous Huxley. In this remarkable interview, Huxley foretells a future when telegenic presidential hopefuls use television t…

"If God didn't want me to sing it, he wouldn't have given me the talent to do it“ - Stevie Wonder in 2005. Barney Hoskyns recorded this interview with Stevie Wonder on March 26, 2005.

“How did I get over being poor? I got a job as a sports announcer and it led to everything else.“ - Ronald Reagan. Interview by Bill Moyers recorded on April 30, 1979 - six months before Reagan announced his run for p…

“Although I have prayed a good bit, and do, I've never asked God to let me be President.“ This conversation was recorded on May 6, 1976, six months before Jimmy Carter was elected President and comes to us from WNET an…

“I don’t feel any compulsion just to stand under the spotlight night after night unless I have something to say“ This interview by Kathleen Kendel was recorded on December 4, 1974 when Leonard Cohen appeared on WBAI FM…

”Death is on the back of everyone’s minds whether they want to admit it or not.” This interview was recorded on July 28, 1996 when Francis Ford Coppola was promoting the film, Jack, starring Robin Williams.

“We think in a different way as children. We tend to think around corners instead of in straight lines.“ Conversation recorded on October 22, 1989 and originally aired on the Public Radio Book Show. It comes to us cou…

”I’m very interested in how people adapt to extremes” This interview was recorded on July 28, 1996 for the Cover-to-Cover radio show on WGBH-FM in Boston.