Shit.

Studs Terkel made it to 96, not bad. He's one of my heroes for his amazing oral history of the (first) great depression, Hard Times. Reading that really puts the present crises into perspective (anyone gnawed on a shoe for dinner lately?). Like The Grapes of Wrath, its a book that makes your bed a little softer at night, your food a little tastier and stays with you for a long time.

Always a music lover, Terkel had a radio show, often interviewing up-and-coming talent. In 1963, he interviewed Bob Dylan and started with the question, "Where do you come from, Cotton-Eyed Joe?"

RIP Studs.