Physician and activist Patch Adams started a collective of medical professionals which provides free, community-based healthcare out of a suburban home. A strong critic of the for-profit health care industry, he advocates against unnecessary procedures and more patient-centered care.
Bill Lee pitched for the Boston Red Sox from 1969-1979. He was later traded to the Montreal Exos where he played until 1982. Lee, known as "Space Man," was known for hid antics and sarcastic quotes. He currently plays baseball in Canada and South America and does commentary and book reviews for the CBC. Lee has written a new memoir called "The Wrong Stuff."
One of the largest Bram Stoker repositories is here in Philadelphia at the Rosenbach Library. English writer and professor Clive Leatherdale is in town to research Bram Stoker and vampire folklore for an upcoming book whose working title is "Dracula: The Novel and the Legend." Leatherdale is a teacher at Aberdeen University in Scotland.
Acoustic jazz guitarist and composer Marty Grosz began playing at the age of 13. He is the son of satiric artist George Grosz who fled Germany with his family in 1933. Grosz takes inspiration from obscure jazz and pop from the 1920s. He regularly plays with Woody Allen at Michael's Pub. Grosz is in town for the Cool Jazz Festival and his brought his guitar into the studio.
Julia Robinson is the Philadelphia Director of Housing. She began her career as an activist in the Fair Housing movement in the 1960s, when she found that she and her husband could not purchase a suburban house because they were black. Robinson has an M. A. in city planning from the University of Pennsylvania and has taught there and at Temple University. Robinson is also the head of the Mayor's Task Force on the Homeless. She joins the show to discuss housing and neighborhood issues in Philadelphia.
Kenny Burell has been one of the premier jazz guitarists since the 1950s. His new album is "Groovin' High." Burrell is in town to participate in the Philadelphia Jazz Arts Conference, where he delivered a talk on the importance of Duke Ellington. Burrell joins the show to discuss his guitar-playing brothers, his influences, and why he was Duke Ellington's favorite guitar player despite not having recorded with him.
Composer and arranger George Russell is in town to speak at the Philadelphia International Jazz Arts Conference. Russell began his career as a jazz drummer before devoting himself to composing. He has since become central to the development of jazz and 20th century music theory. He has developed his on theory of harmony based on jazz called the Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization. Russell has taught at the New England Conservatory of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts since 1969.
Richard Schickel has been the film critic for Time magazine since 1973. He is also the author of several books, and has written and produced several documentaries about film for television. His new biography is "D. W. Griffith: An American Life." Schickel joins the show to discuss Griffith, film and film criticism, and journalism.
Bob Greene is a journalist whose Chicago Tribune column is nationally syndicated. He also writes the "American Beat" feature for Esquire and is a contributor to the television show "Nightline." Greene has written a book chronicling the changes he experienced upon becoming a father, "Good Morning, Merry Sunshine: A Father's Journal of His Child's First Year." Greene will discuss being a working father, balancing home and family life, and respond to listener calls.
Lady Borton is an American Quaker who has done extensive aid work in Vietnam and with Vietnamese refugees. In 1980, she served as Health Administrator of Pulau Budong, the largest Vietnamese refugee camp in Malaysia. Borton describes the conditions as terrible, including, overcrowding, lack of food, and a rat infestation. Borton has a written a memoir of her time working in the camp, "Sensing the Enemy: An American Among the Boat People of Vietnam."
Folk artist Howard Finster was born in 1916, but did not start painting until 1976 when he had a vision that told him to devote his life to making sacred art. Finster has been working as a preacher since the age of 16. Finster has spent 20 years working on "Paradise Garden," a two-and-a-half acre mixture of sculpture, painting, vines, vegetables, and discarded objects. "Howard Finster, Man of Visions: The Garden and Other Creations: A One Person Show" is opening at the Philadelphia Art Alliance.
General Alexander Haig came to national prominence during the Nixon administration, where he served in several roles including as Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs and Chief of Staff. He continued working for the Ford administration, leading to his appointment as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. Haig served 18 months as the Secretary of State for President Ronald Reagan. He often clashed with the president and his staff, and resigned in 1982. His new memoir: Caveat: realism, Reaganism, and Foreign Policy," details his time in the administration.
Robert Parker is a writer of detective and crime novels. His latest work "Valediction" is the eleventh book in the author's "Spenser" series of novels. Parker joins the show to discuss his work and detective and crime fiction and films.
Legendary writer James Baldwin is the author of modern classics such as "Notes of a Native Son," "Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone," and "Go Tell It On the Mountain." Here, Baldwin delivers a lecture and has a "rap" session with students at an event at Lehigh University.
Vietnam War veteran Michael Milne joins the show to discuss the health problems he believes were caused by his exposure to Agent Orange while working for the U. S. military. He also discusses his court case and the organizations he believed knew the dangers of Agent Orange.
Vietnam veteran George Ewalt and his wife Sheila Ewalt of Roxborough discuss the court case related to Agent Orange. Their daughter was born with health problems, and George suffers from nerve damage.
S. Maynard Turk is the Vice-President and Counsel of Hercules Incorporated, a manufacturer of Agent Orange and one the companies involved in the recent lawsuit.
Madeline Cartwright worked as a teacher in Philadelphia public schools from 1959 to 1978, before moving into administration. Currently she is the principal at Blaine Elementary School, in the Strawberry Mansion section of Philadelphia, and she has spent the last five years transforming Blaine from a typical low-income school into a community that sparkles. Cartwright's staff has nominated her for the John N. Patterson Award for Excellence in Public Education. Cartwright joins the show to discuss the problems that are facing Philadelphia schools and her approach to solving them.
Bishop Desmond Tutu is an Anglican parish priest in Soweto, South Africa. Tutu is the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, and is one of the most prominent figures in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Tutu is seen as a moderate, and does not endorse violence. He travels extensively to mobilize support for the cause. His passport has been revoked twice.
Fred Friendly joined CBS television in 1950, and eventually became president of CBS news. Friendly worked extensively with famed journalist Edward R. Murrow. He resigned from CBS in protest after executives went against his decision to telecast the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Vietnam, and instead aired reruns. After leaving CBS, Friendly became one of the architects of public television. Friendly is currently a professor at the Columbia School of Journalism, and his written several books about history and the Constitution.
