All Things Considered

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

To talk more about this, we're having our weekly political commentator David Brooks of the New York Times weigh in and filling in for E.J. Dionne is Clarence Page, columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Welcome gentlemen.

CLARENCE PAGE: Hi, Audie.

DAVID BROOKS: Good to be here.

CORNISH: So let's get going with those job numbers. Setback for the president, meaningful setback, David?

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Philippe Coquard could use some sleep. He's the co-owner of the Wollersheim Winery in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. And he's been up two nights in a row. He blames it on the weather.

PHILLIPPE COQUARD: The month of March was like summer, which we never see that in Wisconsin. And everybody is so happy and it feels like summer. Well, it's not good to us.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

We head to Ohio now for Bruce Lackey's view of the economy. He's CEO of Happy Chicken Farms, a wholesale egg and dairy distributor in Urbancrest, Ohio. The company has been in business since 1953, now has 32 employees. Mr. Lackey joins me from his office. Welcome to the program.

BRUCE LACKEY: Well, thank you very much for the invitation.

When I hear the word "Titanic," I picture a tuxedoed Leonardo DiCaprio, waiting at the bottom of a gilded staircase while the voice of Celine Dion swells in my mind. It's all Edwardian glitz and glamour, decadence and passionate love, the kind best enjoyed in a dark theater with plenty of popcorn. And then I quickly remember that the ship sinks, and that Titanic is more than just an epic film from my youth. On April 15, a century will have passed since the ship plummeted into the icy Atlantic, and it is the tragedy we should remember, not just the mythology surrounding it.

Kerry Washington knows that her new drama, Scandal, will inevitably be compared to another drama about D.C.: The West Wing. Scandal tells Audie Cornish on today's All Things Considered that it even has Josh Malina, a West Wing cast member, for a little of what she calls "secret D.C. credibility."

Former Child Star Fatigue. Many of us have suffered it, given the drug problems, the meltdowns, the awful nude photos.

But then there's Fred Savage, who starred in the ABC show The Wonder Years from 1988 through 1993. Now he's a successful, slightly offbeat 35-five-year-old television producer and director. He works on wicked, slightly warped comedies including Party Down, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and as of today, Best Friends Forever. His first network sitcom premieres tonight on NBC.

"Political fundraiser" has a fancy ring to it — tuxedos, famous singers, billionaires. In fact, most political fundraisers aren't that glamorous.

Think instead of a dozen lobbyists eating breakfast with a Congressman in a side room at some DC restaurant. Off in a corner, someone who works for the Congressman is holding the checks the lobbyists brought to get in the door.

Audie Cornish talks to NPR's Ron Elving, Ari Shapiro and David Welna about the Republican primary in Wisconsin.

Audie Cornish talks to NPR's Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving about Tuesday's primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

Historically, young people have been much less likely to vote than older Americans.

That trend has started to change in the past few presidential election cycles, especially in 2008, when a census report found that 49 percent of those ages 18 to 24 who were eligible to vote participated in the presidential election.

Right now, Dan Auerbach is living a rock-star moment, with his hard-hitting blues-rock duo The Black Keys selling out arenas all over the country. Lots of people want him on their records. So what does he do? He seeks out the 71-year-old Dr.

Audie Cornish speaks with Richard Gonzales, about Monday's shooting rampage at a university in Oakland. Seven people were killed and three others wounded when a gunman opened fire.

You know who's got a country album out right now? Lionel Richie. The same Lionel Richie who started his career in the funk band The Commodores — that's right, the group that made "Brick House."

But on his new album, titled Tuskegee, country artists from Tim McGraw to Darius Rucker re-imagine the ballads that made Richie famous. These are the songs that have become slow-dance staples at proms and weddings everywhere.

We have all felt the ethereal siren song of other universes — the thrilling suspicion that touching a certain ring may in fact suck you into a Wood Between the Worlds, or that if you walk just so between platforms nine and 10 at King's Cross Station, you might find yourself departing from platform nine and three-quarters. For some, the tingling sensation of magical lands fades after leaving childhood behind. But I still peer curiously into wardrobes, and thus here are three blazingly intelligent adult novels for the untamable Alice in all of us.