tonight, a conversation with two-time grammy winner, with melissa etheridge, "this is m.e." her most personal and uplifting over her 25 plus year career. she received 15 grammy nominations and an oscar win for a song she wrote, "inconvenient truth." being an advocate for cancer research, she will close the song tonight with a performance called "a little bit of me." glad you could join us with a conversation with melissa etherid etheridge, coming up right now. ♪ >>> the california endowment health happens in neighborhoods. learn more. hands by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >>> melissa etheridge has two grammy awards and a slew of nominations. five platinum albums and two gold albums over a 25-year career. she is thankfully, a ten-year breast cancer survivor. her latest cd is "this is m.e." she describes it as personal and uplifts. she will close the show with a performance of "a little bit of me." m.e., it is good to have you see me. how are you? >> happy. i'm glad to be here. >> put the cover of the cd up for me, if you wouldn't mind.

: it's been a big year for melissa etheridge, personally and professionally. she got married to hollywood producer linda wallem, shook up her 35-year music career by founding her own record label and used it to release her 14th album: "this is m.e." >> ♪ ♪ the 53 year-old rocker was born in kansas, earning her at one point in her career the label: "queen of the heartland." >> ifill: hits like this one, from her 1988 self titled album, rocketed her into the spotlight for their raw and honest lyrics. she went on to win two grammies for the songs "ain't it heavy" and "come to my window." in 1993 she came out at an inaugural party for president bill clinton. >> i'm proud to say i have been a lesbian all my life. >> ifill: by 2005, she'd earned 14 grammy nominations and a star on the hollywood walk of fame. that was the year of perhaps her biggest grammy star turn, singing janis joplin's "piece of my heart," bald after medical treatment, as she was recovering from breast cancer. etheridge also nabbed an oscar in 2007 for the song "i need to wake up" from the docume

don't invite me to one of your gay parades or gay weddings or whatever it is you do between melissa etheridge albums. so the big shocker is, folks, the shocker tonight is i have to rethink the feud that is simmering like lamb in the tandoor. i'm talking of course about the bollywood brew huh -- brouhaha between heartthrob shah rukh khan and amitabh bachchan. and indians, don't tell me it is pronounced ummy-tha, if that is the way you want to say, that is how you should spell it. anyway, these two have been feuding ever since amitabh snubd khan by skipping his new year's party. if are you wording why people are answering your calls seem on edge lately, this is why. i weighed in, i weighed in on the dispute last week and i came down to a dance contest. both of the actors starred in the hit film "mo-habba-teen". and i went with khan based on his superior move busting. it is like amitabh wasn't even trying. but then someone hipped me to another movie starring both amitabh and khan, 2001's "kabhi kushi kabhi gham", jimmy, show them what i'm talking about. >> ladies and gentlemen -- ah, forget it.

join me for a conversation with melissa etheridge and her new cd, "this is me." that's next time.ee you then. ♪ >>> contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. % >> hello, and welcome to this is us. i am inside the skeleton of a blue whale, they are the largest mammals on earth. you can come here on long marine lab in santa cruz. tonight, we are going to go inside marine lab and look at the studies they have in real life >>> and we are also going to get up and personal with some dolphins. >>> we are going to meet a river man along the guadalupe river, and a scientist from nasa who is looking for inhabitable planets. >>> and it all starts right now. >> % % >> [ music ]. >>

from charles bradley to the beatles to melissa etheridge, get an earful on art beat. that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and a reminder about some upcoming programs from our pbs colleagues. gwen ifill is preparing for "washington week," which airs later this evening. here's a preview: >> ifill: from the streets of ferguson to the billion-dollar mid-term elections, from syria to ukraine to north korea, from congress to the supreme court to the white house, we take a special look at the year-end review tonight on "washington week." judy? >> woodruff: on tomorrow's edition of pbs newshour weekend. the latest installment in special correspondent john larson's series "flying coach," which offers a different take on air travel-- the stories of people he encounters in coach class. tomorrow, john tells us the story of one woman's remarkable journey growing up in the south. and we'll be back, right here, on monday, with an interview with the assistant secretary of state about restablishing formal relations with cuba. that's the newshour for tonight, i'm judy wo