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WHAT MAKES A CLASSIC?

Program 05-11-13-A

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What makes a classic? Well, for one thing, it's got to have some staying power. The Bob Dylan song, "Like A Rolling Stone," certainly fits the bill. It was recorded forty years ago but it's still considered by many to be the greatest pop single ever made. In this hour of the Peabody Award-winning To the Best of Our Knowledge, Greil Marcus tells us what makes "Like A Rolling Stone" a classic. Also..."Lolita," "Leaves of Grass" and "Psycho."

SEGMENT 1:

Music Critic Greil Marcus is the author of "Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads." Marcus tells Steve Paulson why that song was an anthem for the sixties and a critical turning point for Dylan as an artist. And of course we hear the excerpts of the song in a couple of versions. Also, Doug Gordon reports on Gus Van Sant's efforts to re-make the classic 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film, "Psycho."

SEGMENT 2:

Michael Cunningham won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel "The Hours," which re-imagined the life and deat of Virginia Woolf. His new novel is called "Specimen Days" and involves Walt Whitman. Cunningham tells Jim Fleming why he took on another literary figure. Also, Steve Paulson reports on the controversy and continuing influence of Vladimir Nabokov's scandalous novel "Lolita." We'll hear from writers and editors including Martin Amis, Donna Tartt and Amy Tan.

SEGMENT 3:

We visit the National Lampoon Radio Hour for their version of "Waiting for Godot." Then, Anne Strainchamps talks with Anne Fadiman, daughter of Clifton, about her book "Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love." Fadiman explains why her favorite re-reading was reading all of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy to her son.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 05-11-13-A.

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Books:

• Greil Marcus, Like A Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads (PublicAffairs)
  
• Michael Cunningham, Specimen Days: A Novel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
  
• Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (50th Anniversary Edition) (Vintage)
  
• Anne Fadiman, editor, Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love (Frarrar, Straus and Giroux)

Links:

• -- Greil Marcus
  http://eyecandypromo.com/GM/Greil.html
  
• -- Bob Dylan
  http://www.bobdylan.com/index.html
  
• -- Gus Van Sant's "Psycho"
  http://www.psychomovie.com/#
  
• -- Get in touch with your inner Alfred Hitchcock and Gus Van
  Sant by editing your own version of the classic "Psycho"
  shower scene. No film school required!
  http://www.saulbass.net/psychostudio/
  
• -- Michael Cunningham
  http://literati.net/Cunningham/
  
• -- "Lolita" Reader's Guide
  http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/read/lolita/
  
• -- Anne Fadiman on the Web
  http://www.k-state.edu/english/nelp/links/anne_fadiman.html

Clips:

• -- "Psycho Path: An Intimate Look at the Making of 'Psycho',"
  a documentary included on the "Psycho" (1998) DVD
  (Universal Studios)
  http://homevideo.universalstudios.com/title_old.php?titleId=1193
  
• -- "Psycho" (1960) DVD (Universal Studios)
  http://homevideo.universalstudios.com/title_old.php?titleId=1668
  
• -- "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov Read by Jeremy Irons
  (Random House Audio)
  http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780739322062
  
• -- ""America"/Walt Whitman
  from the box set, "In Their Own Voices: A Century of Recorded Poetry"
  (Rhino/Wea)
  
• -- "Classics of the Contemporary Drama: 'Waiting for Godot'"
  from the box set, "Buy This Box or We'll Shoot This Dog: The Best
  of the National Lampoon Radio Hour" (Rhino/Wea)
  http://www.marksverylarge.com/nlrh/nlrhintro.html
  http://www.marksimonson.com/
  

Music:

• -- "Like A Rolling Stone"/Bob Dylan
  from the CD, "The Essential Bob Dylan" (Columbia)
  
• -- "Come Una Pietra Scalciata" ("Like A Rolling Stone") (Remix 2003)/Articolo 31
  from the CD, "Masked and Anonymous: Music from the Original Picture"/Bob Dylan and Various Artists
  http://www.articolo31.com/
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
• -- Music used in "Psycho" story --
  "Psycho (A Narrative for Orchestra)"/London Philharmonic Orchestra
  Bernard Herrmann, conductor
  from the CD, "Bernard Herrmann: Music from Hitchcock Films
  (MHS/The Decca Record Co.)
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
  
• -- "Herrmann"/Arling & Cameron
  from the CD, "Arling & Cameron Present Music for Imaginary Films"
  (Emperor Norton Records)
  http://www.emperornorton.com/mod/
  http://www.xs4all.nl/~drive/
  
• -- "The Kiss"/Philip Glass
  from the CD, "The Hours: Music from the Motion Picture"/Composed by Philip Glass (Nonesuch)
  
• -- "Dead Things"/Philip Glass
  from the CD, "The Hours: Music from the Motion Picture"/Composed by Philip Glass (Nonesuch)
  (also used under Jeremy Irons' "Lolita" reading)
  
• -- "A Little Library Music/Going to a Show"/Jon Brion
  from the CD, "Magnolia: Original Motion Picture Score"/Composed by Jon Brion
  (Reprise Records)
  

Distribution dates:

week of 11/12/2006 - hour 1 week of 11/13/2005 - hour 1

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