Russell Baker Reflects on "The Good Times" and Bad

Before starting his anarchic, avant-garde band the Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa wrote chamber music and played in lounge bands. His new memoir explains how he went from a freelance guitarist to an unwitting rock star.

Rock historian Ed Ward looks at how country musicians in the age of Elvis took their cues from African American blues and boogie-woogie to develop a new, electric guitar-fueled style.

Cooper says his new novel Closer -- which features explicit depictions of sex acts -- is meant to disturb, but not shock or arouse. While honing in on the experiences of gay men, Cooper sidesteps the issue of AIDS; he says sexuality generates enough anxiety on its own.