Mr. Media Interviews By Bob Andelman

From 2011: Addict Nation divides the participants in America’s addictions to everything from pills and alcohol to guns and sugar into twelve chapters that start with “The Stuffers: Addicted to Consumption” and ends with “The Sobers: Emotional Sobriety.” Velez-Mitchell and co-author Sandra Mohr tackle addiction by producing a high-tech, graduate-level research report on the subject.

From 2010: On the NBC freshman sitcom hit “Community,” Donald Glover plays “Troy,” a self-involved, former high school football star trying to find a place for himself in a junior college setting where his athletic accomplishments don’t mean much. On the other hand, the pretty young girl in his study group, Annie—played by Alison Brie—thinks Troy can do anything. Anything with her, that is.

From 2010: Okay, fanboys today’s your lucky day—if you don’t mind living vicariously through me. My guest is Laura Vandervoort, one of the most stunning young women with a virtually unpronounceable name since Paulina Porizkova.

From 2011: The Extra 2% is this year’s version of Moneyball, the book about how the Oakland A’s made more from less. It’s a book with a real story, a beginning, middle and end, heroes and goats, and a pretty happy conclusion for any baseball fan but us Rays fans in particular. I hearby cede the title of author of best book about the Tampa Bay baseball franchise to Jonah Keri.

Rolling Stone originally named The MC5 album "Kick Out the Jams" a “ridiculous, overbearing, pretentious album.” Certainly the magazine had second thoughts: years later it named it one of the 500 best ever. And it called Wayne Kramer, my guest today, one of 100 greatest guitarists of all time. This year, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of" Kick Out the Jams," Kramer is back on the road. And the guitarist has written a memoir, "The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, The MC5 & My Life of Impossibilities."

From 2009: Jane Friedman is publisher and editorial director of the Writer's Digest community at F+W Media in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she oversees all facets of the Writer's Digest brand, including Writer's Digest magazine, Writer’s Digest Books, annual market guides, online education, events, and competitions. Her blog, "There Are No Rules," discusses how writers can succeed in an era of change in the writing and publishing industry.

From 2010: Andrea Lin is the host and star of an instructional series of DVDs called “Dance A GoGo.” The latest is the “Dance A GoGo: Sexy Nightclub Workout Series” in which Andrea and some of her beautiful friends demonstrate moves that will not only get attention in the clubs but sure you a good time while working out at home.In addition to the DVD series, Andrea is organizing Dance A GoGo bootcamps at Studio City in Los Angeles and Rancho Cucamonga’s Inland Empire.

From 2011: In another generation, Faith Ford could have been the star of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” She’s got that same TV spunk. But being recognized for nearly a decade of fine work as ditzy Corky Sherwood on the TV news satire “Murphy Brown” worked out pretty well for her as she got to nurture the character all the way from airhead to featherweight.

From 2011: This young woman has one of the richest, most engaging voices I’ve heard in years. She has a striking style, confidence, and delivery. Charlene Kaye, best buddy of "Glee" star Darren Criss, just finished playing multiple dates at the 2011 South By Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, and is working on her second album with her band, The Brilliant Eyes. Want to hear the future of music? Forget American Idol — support Charlene Kaye!

Everybody needs a niche and Elizabeth Fournier has one. She’s America’s friendly, neighborhood mortician. She also has a color. Green. As in, Elizabeth Fournier is America’s green mortician, writing books and spreading the word that funerals and burials need not be expensive, anti-environmental affairs. She recently published her third book, "The Green Burial Guidebook: Everything You Need to Plan an Affordable, Environmentally Friendly Burial."

From 2009: I graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville in 1982. I never took much to life in a college town, but over the last X-number of years—and you can do the math if you care to—I’ve come to appreciate my collegiate heritage a great deal more and become a pretty big fan of those Florida Gator football teams. So how could I pass up the opportunity to give Kevin McCarthy this forum to promote his new book, "Historic Photos of Florida Football"?

From 2009: It’s not pleasant when a man’s good fortune comes at the hands of another man’s loss. What would you call it when you’re Mark Ribowsky, the author of a new book about a Motown act, Diana Ross and The Supremes, that fizzled out more than 35 years ago—but another Motown star of that era, Michael Jackson,  dies the week before your years of research are published, making your book front and center?

From 2009: Morgan Langley, son of COPS’ original producer, John Langley, joined the show as a production assistant and has risen to become a producer of this show and many other reality-based series produced by the family business.

From 2009: Like a bad rash, Mr. Media is making his way through the entire squad room of the new NBC TV drama, “Southland.” Regular listeners will recall that last spring, at the end of the show’s first season, Regina King, Michael Cudlitz and Shawn Hatosy all scratch their media itch right here. And now I’m delighted to welcome Michael McGrady, who plays Detective Daniel “Sal” Salinger.

From 2009: I have steadfastly avoided inviting soap stars to be my guests on Mr. Media Radio for a simple reason: I don’t watch soaps. Oh, I did for a year or two in the late ‘80s when my new wife was hooked on All My Children and she recorded the show daily for playback after work. But I was a newlywed then—I had an excuse. So what is Kevin G. Schmidt, who plays Noah Newman on The Young and The Restless, doing here today?

From 2009: Patrick Muldoon needs to make a decision: What does he want to be when he grows up? The man has appeared in Starship Troopers, a season of “Melrose Place” and has an upcoming role alongside Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame, so we know he can act. Isn’t that enough? Muldoon also sings and plays guitar in a band, The Sleeping Masses. They’ve even placed a song on the ABC series “Beautiful People" and have a record out on iTunes and CDBaby.com. Isn’t being able to work in two enviable jo

From 2009: My guest today, Air America morning radio host Lionel, is waaaaay smarter than me. I’m not going to offer any pretense that I can battle him to even a draw in a battle of wits: I can’t. Lionel—Michael LeBron for those in the know—has been a voice heard on my radio for some 20 years. I first heard him as a frequent irritant—I mean caller—to host Bob Lassiter on WFLA 970 AM in Tampa. Sometimes, as I remember it, he agreed with Lassiter. But mostly, he drove him nuts.

From 2009: Joining me to talk about Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon is the man who wrote the text, Mark Schultz. An artist himself, Schultz is the creator of Xenozoic Tales, a comic featuring the crazy interaction of Cadillacs and dinosaurs. In fact, it was adapted as a Saturday morning cartoon several years ago called—you guessed it—“Cadillacs and Dinosaurs.”

From 2009: Think about seeing your life flashing before your eyes. Got the picture? Now think about Rick Fox’s life flashing before your eyes. First round NBA draft pick by the Boston Celtics in 1991.  Seven years—and three world championships—with the Los Angeles Lakers, playing elbow-to-elbow with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Marriage to the most beautiful and most famous Miss America ever, Vanessa Williams. Fatherhood with the same Miss Williams, now a star on ABC’s “Ugly Betty."

From 2010: If you haven’t seen actress and singer Brandy in a while, let me warn you that she is smoking hot as a young lady and a competitor on the new season of Dancing with the Stars. As for former L.A. Laker Rick Fox, who is also on the show—he’s still very tall. And, I guess, handsome, but I’m not interested in guys. They’re both in one of the most diverse seasons ever for the show. Stepping to the cha-cha-cha this time around, you’ll find Sarah’s famous daughter, Bristol Palin...