Customer Reviews

All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors Musicians, and Artists

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Terry Gross first began interviewing celebrities in the arts world on National Public Radio station WHYY in Philadelphia in 1975. As the queen of research and often surprising personal questions, Gross interviews her guests with a candor and appreciation of their art that surpasses that of most hosts. She has hosted the hit NPR interview show "Fresh Air" for nearly 30 years.

Her stock in trade is to mine surprising insights from her guests. Often, the more well known the artist is, the more gracious he or she is in an interview. Gross is very sensitive to their feelings and asks them if there are subjects that are off-limits. Sometimes, however, a guest will push her buttons and she takes her gloves off. She includes a couple of interviews where the guest is so totally obnoxious that the verbal blows begin to fall. But these instances are rare indeed, and regular listeners to her show usually are entertained and charmed by the genuine camaraderie that prevails.

The broadcasts range from 1988 through 2004, with such notables as Nicolas Cage, Dennis Hopper, Dustin Hoffman, Jodie Foster and John Updike, to the late Divine, Mario Puzo, Johnny Cash, and James Baldwin. Gross opens each excerpt from the selected interviews in the book --- there are 39 in all --- with personal remarks about the occasion. She has grouped some interviews together, such as the various people involved in the making of the movie Taxi Driver.

Nick Cage describes eating a cockroach live in an early vampire movie called Vampire's Kiss, and then discusses his views on death and dying. Dustin Hoffman turns out to be a charming and introspective guest as he talks about his first splash into stardom with The Graduate, his childhood, and the rather surprising best advice he ever received from Mike Nichols, which he says is what has kept him on the marquee since that movie.

Jodie Foster discusses her TV appearance at age three in a Coppertone commercial. She went on to play the controversial role of a child prostitute in Taxi Driver and talks about the repercussions of the John Hinckley attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, since he was supposedly obsessed with that movie.

Dennis Hopper's interview is characteristically off the wall, but we learn some surprising insights into his early life. Can any of us who are familiar with his work imagine him rising at dawn on a Kansas farm to milk cows before going off to school?

Gross's unique ability to draw celebrities out has made her one of the broadcast media's most admired interviewers. ALL I DID WAS ASK is a colorful and interesting look behind the scenes at one of the longest running interview shows on radio.

--- Reviewed by Roz Shea

ALL I DID WAS ASK is one of those satisfying books that tells you "everything you wanted to ask about these people, but didn't know what to ask"

I've heard it said that intelligence shows itself better in questions than in answers. It is also a rare quality to hear questions that are immediately so obvious and so much what you would like to know, but would have never thought to ask on your own. Terry Gross has both these qualities in spades, It's no accident that she has been on the air for so long; it's because she asks the questions that we all wish we were thoughtful and intelligent enough to come up with. Get this book to satisfy your curiosity about these people and them emulate Terry in the questions you ask and you, too, will find yourself demonstrating your intelligence.

I listen to Fresh Air as much as I can, and I completely disagree with the other reviewer. I believe Terry Gross is the best interviewer out there--she is brash, smart, articulate, interesting, well-read and well-informed, and obviously has both a great heart and also loves even the guests she may not agree with. In her book--all of that comes through. You can learn so much from listening to Terry's show, or from reading this unexpectedly fresh, original and insightful book. And I also loved her subjects!

It's fascinating to listen to interviews on the radio, and Fresh Air is among the very best. But how often I've asked myself, now what did he say right there. But the fleeting moment had passed, and even by asking I've missed the next things that was said. Thank God for the printed word that lasts forever and sits on the shelf to be reviewed as needed. ==Here are some three dozen transcripts of interviews. Some of which you undoubtedly missed. Some of which are artfully edited from multiple broadcasts. The editing though was carefully done to not change the tone of the interview, nor does it appear that Ms. Gross has taken the opportunity to make herself look better. ==As you would expect, some of the interviews are more interesting to me than others. You may of course, not find the same ones of interest. But if you like the show, you will like the book, basically a transcript of the interviews

With the plethora of bad talk shows on the air (Ellen and Letterman excepted), I happen to think Terry Gross stands out as one of the best interviewers around. I tune into NPR just to listen to her Fresh Air program every chance I get in the evenings, which to be honest, is not very often. That's why it's a particular joy that she has decided to transcribe verbatim 39 of her favorite interviews in this book. Even though she excludes political figures and consequently some of her most cutting comments, she includes some intriguing people from the arts world as she culls from broadcasts going back to 1988. The result is a series of fascinating insights into celebrities who may not have struck you as all that interesting in the first place.

What really shines through these conversations is the level of preparation that Gross brings to bear on each interview. Her excellent questions are obviously the fruit of her tenacious research, and her extensive broadcast experience shows how she is prepared for any situation no matter how potentially sweat-inducing. For example, she makes mincemeat of KISS bassist Gene Simmons in spite of her best efforts to deflect the verbal sparring he was intent on displaying mainly at her expense. But others come off quite well. Jodie Foster is obviously sharp and open about the repercussions of John Hinckley's attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, since he was supposedly obsessed with her performance in "Taxi Driver". Dustin Hoffman is surprisingly introspective, as are Nicolas Cage and even the eccentric Dennis Hopper. My favorite piece is with pulp novelist Mickey Spillane, who reveals how he was beaten up constantly as a child for the Buster Brown pageboy haircut his mother insisted on giving him. He explains that's why he wore a crewcut into his seventies. Some of the subjects are less well known to the mass audience, such as Mary Woronov, Joyce Johnson or Mary Carr, so they won't resonate with everyone. And I actually would have liked more of her own personal insight interspersed with the interviews themselves. Nonetheless, this is quite a fun read and highly recommended for fans of Gross.

I've always loved Terry Gross' show. As a computer industry journalist, I've had to do way too many interviews myself, often with recalcitrant company representatives or people who want to get "their message" across (whether or not anybody cares). So I recognize just how wonderful her technique is. In particular, she asks the *best* questions -- and elicits responses that come from the heart.

I'm also enamoured of anything that approaches the question of "how do we create?" -- which must be what people mean when they ask authors, "Where do you get your ideas?" Yet by "observing" the act of creation, we almost always destroy it. As Sonny Rollins tells Gross during an interview, "When I'm on stage and performing, the optimum condition is not to think. I just want the music to play itself. I don't want to have to think about it. If I have to think about what I'm doing, then the moment is already gone."

The interviews span actors, musicians, writers, and a few other creative people. Many of them are names we all know: Nicholas Cage, Mario Puzo (author of The Godfather), Jodie Foster, John Updike. Quite a few of them are unfamiliar to me, probably because I pay little attention to jazz or rap music. But that's part of the charm -- I discovered creative people I didn't know about, and peeked into the window of their souls.

I don't mean to imply that this book is a collection of interviews in which Gross wallows in the creative process. Plenty of her questions are biographical ("How did you end up taking [singing] lessons in the first place?") or about the distance between art and life (such as asking Nick Hornsby how he files his records). As with any collection, some resonate more with me than do others.

To my mild surprise, several of the interviews are from the 80s and 90s. I would have expected most of them to be recent, but as Gross says in the preface, some interviews simply don't translate well to the printed page.

I also bought All I Did Was Ask with the expectation that it'd be a great bathroom book. After all, it's lots of standalone items that are 8-10 pages long! But it was fascinating enough that I consumed it in a couple of evening of nighttime reading.

If you're interested in the creative process, want to see examples of the finest interviewing skills around, or simply would like a little more insight into many justifiably-famous people, then buy this book. It's worth the money.

I'm enjoy Fresh Air and just wanted to make a few quick comments for other frequent listeners. PRO: If it's hard for you to devote 100% attention to the radio broadcast, you may enjoy having a bit more time to focus on the content. CON: as a frequent listener you probably recall much of what's here and won't have many A-Ha moments. Finally, these interviews are art/music/acting focused; this book does not include any of Ms Gross' interviews with current-events or political figures. In short, a nice read but not earth-shattering for the frequent Fresh Air listener. Recommend.

Terry Gross has that rare gift in an interviewer - an ability to be probing and thoughtful at the same time. She blends curiosity with compassion, and is able to confront without being in the least bit offensive. She is truly my favourite interviewer in any medium. I was not sure whether the tone and feel of her show would transfer well into print, but this collection of interviews (which I hope is just the beginning in a series, since she has done so many fine interviews over the years) highlights both the quality of the guests that she is able to get on, and the unique perspectives she is able to draw out of them, time and time again.

There is a mix of the salacious (Gene Simmons - what a jerk) and those who are salubrious and uplifting (John Updike, Chris Rock and others) by their humanity. Terry's interviews usually evoke in me a feeling of being a dinner guest listening in, and although we miss some of the inflection, the spirit is here in spades.

Interesting collection of profiles that read unremarkably like Terry Gross' interviews sound: light and playful, meant for entertainment more than insight. Makes a good bedside or travel companion. The Uta Hagen and Gene Simmons interviews I found most entertaining and revealing. Would recommend to anyone I would have to face afterwards.

If you love Fresh Air and Terry Gross, but can't catch all of the interviews, this is a great way to catch up on some of the most significant. This book covers writers, actors, musicians, and artists, and includes figures as diverse as Gene Simmons from Kiss to Eric Clapton to John Updike to Conan O'Brien. Keep in mind that the interviews are edited for inclusion in this book, so some are shorter than others, and some are combined with other interviews Terry has conducted with the person.

The best thing about the interviews chosen is that every one offers fascinating information, whether it is about a trade, like writing or acting, or about the figure, like Jodie Foster's feelings on her childhood stardom. Another added bonus to this book is Terry's introduction to each interview. In some, she adds some context around the interview, such as what she thought about the guest or newspaper reports about the interview. In others, she offers personal information on her preferences and passions, and in others, she provides further biographical information about the guest.

I greatly enjoyed reading this collection and read every interview. This is a book that I will keep for years to come, but I am hesitant to give it five stars because I can't imagine getting anything additional out of it if I reread it. Perhaps some of the interviews would be more meaningful at one time in my life or another, but they aren't as in-depth or complex as a novel, memoir, or biography, so I don't feel that this book, as enjoyable and fascinating as it was, is multi-layered.