Rock critic Ken Tucker says that Wire's first new album in seven years doesn't capture the intensity of their debut Pink Flag, but it's still a provocative listen.
Puerto Rican songwriter and performer Roy Brown discusses the Nueva Cancion movement, which sets politically-charged poetry to music. He performs several songs in studio.
Brothers Luis and Daniel Valens' collaborated on a biopic of the late singer's life, called La Bamba. They discuss how they tracked down Valens' family to learn more about his early life.
Pianist Shura Cherkassky claims he never plays the same piece twice. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says the versions of Liszt and Stravinsky pieces Cherkassky recently committed to tape are worth the listen.
Feminist activist and writer Liz Carpenter and her husband started their own news organization. Later, she worked in President Johnson's administration as a speechwriter and first lady Lady Bird Johnson's press secretary. Her memoir, about aging and widowhood, is called Getting Better all the Time.
Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on recent efforts to make English the official language at the state and federal levels. He says that such measures only hurt immigrants seeking essential services.
Book critic John Leonard recommends Wilfrid Sheed's new novel The Boys of Winter. Set in the Hamptons, in questions the nature of authorship, narrative, and creativity.
Sonny Burgess was known as much for his monochromatic look as he was his wild music. Ed Ward says the word to describe him is "weird" -- Burgess favored unconventional instrumentation and bizarre lyrics.
Ralph Allen says that burlesque theater started off at the turn of the century as a comedy revue; it wasn't until the 1930s that the tradition took on its more erotic elements. Allen cowrote the play Sugar Babies, which has been produced worldwide.
The San Francisco Chronicle columnist's new book explores womanhood and gentrification, among other things. The humorist is credited with coining the term "yuppy."
Taking advantage of new recording technologies, Ellington's son Mercer leads his father's big band on a new CD. Jazz critic Francis Davis says the performances are excellent in their own right, but the album doesn't offer anything new or surprising.
TV critic David Bianculli has been following the networks' coverage of Oliver North's congressional testimony on the Iran-Contra affair. While each station uses the same camera feeds, they deploy commentary and supplementary information in different ways, in alternately successful and distracting ways.
Writer James Miller talks about the history of the New Left and the work of the Students for a Democratic Society, who believed that college students and intellectuals were best equipped to lead democratic movements. In his new book, Democracy in the Streets, Miller outlines how their ideologies led to street protests.
Critic-at-large Laurie Stone says that the recent crop of movies left her cranky, with their focus on style over substance. But they weren't all bad -- she recommends seeing RoboCop, Withnail and I, and Innerspace.
Merrill Markoe is one of the few prominent women television writers. She specializes in comedy, and helped launched Late Night with David Letterman. She is currently developing an HBO special show with Harry Shearer.
Before becoming a Pulitzer Prize-winning style writer for the Washington Post, Paul Hendrickson entered the seminary--just before Vatican II began to transform the Catholic Church. He left weeks before the time came to say his priesthood vows, and writes about the experience in his memoir, Seminary.
Dave Brody is an entomologist who helps directors use insects in their movies. While those films are designed to inspire fear and disgust, Brody, who by day works for the Museum of Natural History in New York City, is a great lover of insects who avoids hurting or killing the animals at all costs.
The long-running band continues to gain new fans, even straight-laced yuppies. Rock critic Ken Tucker says In the Dark is their best album in over a decade, coming close to capturing the spirit of their live shows.
