Terry Gross

Oh, great.

Do you want to quote one?

Guillermo del Toro, it's been such a pleasure talking with you.

Thank you so much for coming back to the show.

I really appreciate you saying that.

I love talking with you.

My guest Cameron Crowe is known for writing the screenplay for Fast Times at Ridgemont High and writing and directing Say Anything, Jerry Maguire, Vanilla Sky, and Almost Famous, for which he won an Oscar for Best Screenplay.

It's the story of a 15-year-old who in 1973 manages to become a rock critic and somehow get backstage interviews with important musicians.

By the age of 16, he's published in Rolling Stone and even writes a cover story.

As improbable as that may sound, it's based on Crow's own life as a teenage music writer.

His new memoir, The Uncool, is about that period of his life and more, including his adventures and misadventures, writing about musicians like Greg Allman, Chris Christopherson, Jimmy Page, and David Bowie.

He also writes about what life was like in his family when he was growing up and how reluctant his parents were to allow him to go on the road with musicians before he'd even graduated high school.

Let's start with a clip from early on in Almost Famous.

The Cameron Crowe character, William, is about 11, listening to an argument between his mother, played by Frances McDormand, and his older sister, played by Zooey Deschanel.

The mother speaks first.

No, I haven't.

Cameron Crowe, welcome back to Fresh Air.

It's a pleasure to talk with you again.

Was your mother at all like the Frances McDormand character and how unusual she was and how opposed to rock and roll?

Even Simon and Garfunkel, who she probably hadn't even heard yet.