Bill Thompson – Now I've Heard Everything

A Baseball Career Done In By Drugs: The Steve Howe Story

June 20, 2025Bill Thompson

Hard-throwing left-handed relief pitcher. Steve Howe joined the major leagues in 1980 at the age of 22. He was National League Rookie of the Year that year.

In 1981, he helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series.

But by 1982 Steve Howe’s life and baseball career were starting to unravel, done in by alcohol and cocaine abuse. In 1984 Howe was banned from baseball but reinstated on appeal.

By 1987 his baseball career appeared to be over for good. It would be another four years before he was able to re-sign with another team, this time the New York Yankees.

While he was away from the game, Howe wrote a book, an autobiography that he called Between the Lines. I talked with him in the summer of 1989 about the book

So here now, from 1989, Steve Howe.

Steve Howe retired from baseball in 1997. In 2006 he was killed in a single-vehicle accident – a toxicology report later showed methamphetamine in the system. He was 48.

Yyou May Not Be a Lawyer, But It Can Pay To Tthink Like One: TV’s Lis Iwehl

June 18, 2025Bill Thompson

Remember what Professor kingsfield said in the movie The Ppaper Chase?

Can thinking like a lawyer help you in everyday life and everyday situations

Well, thinking like a lawyer is precisely what noted trial attorney and cable TV legal analyst Lis Wiehl recommended in her 2004 debut book called Winning Every Time.

Trying to convince your boss to give you a raise? Having a disagreement with your spouse over whether to buy that expensive car? Trying to convince your teenager that it’s wise to stay in school?

All things can be accomplished if you use the skills of a lawyer, Wiehl says.

I had a chance to talk with her when her book came out in the summer of 2004.

So here now, from 2004 Lis Wiehl.

Lis Wiehl will be 64 later this summer. She lectures and regularly appears on TV and radio as a legal analyst.

Krist Novoselic: The Rock Star / Political Activist On How to Fix Our Democracy

June 18, 2025Bill Thompson

It’s been almost 40 years since bass guitarist Krist Novoselic and his buddy Kurt Cobain formed a band they called Nirvana Novoselic wound up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a result.

He continued his music for over 20 years after the end of Nirvana.

But he also had a deep and abiding interest in politics and democracy. And that’s how he came to write a book in 2004, that he called Of Grunge and Government.

His publisher offered me a few minutes with him in the fall of 2004, and, being the father of teenage daughters who loved Nirvana, I couldn’t say no.

So here now, from 2004, Krist Novoselic.

Krist Novoselic turned 60 last month. Last year he founded the Cascade Party of Washington.

Tennessee Ernie Ford’s Son On Fame, Family, and the Price of Success

June 18, 2025Bill Thompson

In the mid-1950s a former country music disc jockey from Pasadena seemed to be everywhere.

Tennessee Ernie, he called himself on the radio. Ernie Ford not only had a hit record but guest appearances on “I Love Lucy” propelled him into a TV show of his own.

An album of Christian hymns put Tennessee Ernie Ford on Billboard’s chart for over five years.

At home, watching all of this unfold, was Ford’s son, Jeffrey Buckner Ford, often known simply as Buck.

Buck and his little brother saw the good times, and the rough times, as the double-edged sword of success impacted the family.

Both Ernie and wife Betty grappled with substance abuse, and Betty Ford took her own life in 1989. Ernie Ford died 2 years later.

In 2008 Jeffrey Buckner Ford wrote a critically acclaimed book about his parents, called River of No Return. He and I met 1 day that spring at our local Borders bookstore to talk about it.

So here now, from 2008, Jeffrey Buckner Ford.

Tennessee Ernie Ford died in 1991 at age 72. His son Buck Ford is now 75.

The Story Behind the Voice: Radio’s Diane Rehm

June 18, 2025Bill Thompson

One day in 1973 a 37-year-old former State Department secretary with no radio experience walked into a public radio station in Washington DC to be a volunteer.

Within six years she was on the air, and soon after that Diane Rehm was given her own talk show. And for the next 32 years Rehm was a popular fixture on radio not just in the nation’s capital, but across the country, syndicated by public radio.

But in her early 60s Rehm faced a serious health challenge, a vocal cord disorder that threatened to silence her familiar voice. Ultimately she found the treatment that allowed her to continue her career.

In 1999 Diane Rehm wrote a long-awaited autobiography called Finding My Voice, and the woman who had spent years interviewing the famous and the powerful now became the interviewee herself .

She and I talked about her book one day in the fall of 1999.

So here now, from 1999 Diane Rehm

Diane Rehm is 88 now. She still hosts a weekly podcast.

Actor John o’Hurley’s Ode to Fatherhood, As Told by His Dog

June 18, 2025Bill Thompson

30 years ago actor John O’Hurley took on a role that would help define him for the rest of his career.

O’Hurley’s portrayal of the idiosyncratic entrepreneur J. Peterman became one of the most memorable characters on TVs “Seinfeld.”

After the series ended, he took on a new role, game show host. He even competed on “Dancing With The Stars.”

And John O’Hurley writes books, including a 2007 volume called Before Your Dog Can Eat Your Homework First You Have To Do It

Despite a title that may make you think the book was just a gag, it’s actually a thoughtful, even poignant book inspired by the birth of his son, his first child. And it’s a book that may Inspire other fathers.

So here now, from 2007, John O’Hurley.

John O’Hurley is 70 now. He sits on the board of directors of the real J. Peterman Company.

Beyond “Dead Man Walking”: Helen Prejean’s Fight for Justice

June 18, 2025Bill Thompson

For more than 30 years 1 of the most vocal and effective campaigners against capital punishment in the U.S. has been a Roman Catholic nun from New Orleans.

But until 1993 few people in the general public had ever heard of Sister Helen Prejean. That changed when she wrote a book called Dead Man Walking, which was later made into a highly acclaimed movie.

Leveraging her newfound influence, Prejean pushed forward with her campaign against the death penalty. She helped establish the Moratorium Campaign, and she started a group to counsel families of murder victims.

One major part of her effort has been to prevent executions of innocent defendants, who frequently are swept up in a dizzying array of legal technicalities that overlook their humanity.

In 2004 Prejean wrote a second book, called The Death of Innocents, drawing on the stories of two men she counseled who were executed despite what she believed was their innocence.

She and I talked about that book in 2005, the first time we had met since 1993.

So here now, from 2005, sister Helen Prejean.

Sister Helen Prejean Is 86 now. Based in New Orleans she continues to travel the country campaigning against the death penalty.

What Sports Could Teach Washington: Thoughts From Former Virginia Senator George Allen

June 8, 2025Bill Thompson

George Allen grew up around football. His father, also named George Allen, was famously an assistant coach with the NFL’s Chicago Bears, and later head coach for the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins.

Spending a lot of time in that atmosphere shaped the young George Allen’s worldview, especially after he entered politics.

First as a State Delegate in Virginia, then as the state’s Governor, and later one term as US senator. There was even a little talk about Alan running for president.

Allen frequently used sports analogies when talking politics, or making a point.

So, unsurprisingly perhaps, his 2010 book was called what Washington Can Learn From The World of Sports. I met him one day that summer in his office in Alexandria, Virginia to talk about it.

So here now, from 2010, George Allen.

George Allen is 73 now. He lives in Virginia Beach.

The Memoir of The Puppeteer Who Brought Elmo To Life

June 8, 2025Bill Thompson

If you’ve had a small child in your life anytime in the last 30 years or so you know this voice. That’s Elmo, the furry red monster from Sesame Street and one of the most popular Muppet characters ever.

The puppeteer who made Elmo and his giggle famous is a Baltimore native named Kevin Clash.

Growing up in the ‘60s Clash was entranced by everything from Kukla Fran and Ollie to Captain Kangaroo and Sesame Street. At age 10 he started making his own puppets.

At 19 he was so skilled he joined the Captain Kangaroo show as a puppeteer.

And in 1984 he joined the cast of Sesame Street. Elmo came along a year later, and for the next 27 years Kevin Clash was 3-year-old Elmo.

In 2006 Clash wrote an autobiography, a book he called My Life As a Furry Red Monster. That’s when I had the chance to meet him.

So here now, from 2006, Kevin Clash.

Kevin Clash will be 65 this fall. In 2012 he publicly came out as gay

The Magic And Charm of Loretta Lynn: A Conversation With A Music Legend

June 1, 2025Bill Thompson

Most of the interviews I did over a 30-year span were aimed at extracting information of one kind or another from my interviewee. An interesting anecdote, perhaps, or some inside scoop about Hollywood or politics or dports.

But on rare occasions, I just threw my notes away and just had a fun conversation. And one of the most fun interviews I ever had was the ten minutes that I had on the phone one day in the fall of 2002 with the great Loretta Lynn.

She had just published her second autobiography, called Still Woman Enough. When I was offered a 10-minute slot with her, I couldn’t wait.

So here now, from 2002, Loretta Lynn.

Loretta Lynn died in 2022. She was 90.