Television critic David Bianculli considers the networks' penchant for the docudrama and looks at NBC's upcoming movie, "Howard Beach: Making the Case for Murder."
Artist-teacher Tim Rollins and his student Carlos Rivera. In collaboration with his South Bronx high-school students Rollins has created "excellent...slightly miraculous art." ("New York" Magazine). Since 1981, the group known as K.O.S. (for Kids of Survival -- mostly black and Puerto Rican students), has had showings of its work in over 50 shows. Now there's a showing of their own, "Amerika," in New York.
Actress and comedienne Lily Tomlin. For years she's been doing her impressions of such characters as Ernestine, the nasal telephone operator on "Laugh-In." Now she's doing a whole cast of characters in the revival of her one-woman show, "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe."
John L. Marion, chairman and chief auctioneer for Sotheby's auction house. Marion's brought the gavel down on more than 50-million dollars worth of fine art and antiquities, and presided over the recent explosion in art prices. Marion's written a beginners guide to collecting, called "The Best of Everything."
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews clarinetist John Carter's new album, "Shadows on a Wall." The album concludes Carter's 5 album musical saga of the African-American experience. Kevin says the series doesn't recreate history, but it DOES reimagine it.
Photographer Bert Andrews. Since the early '50s, Andrews has been photographing the African-American theatre. There's now a collection of Andrews' photos, called "In The Shadow of the Great White Way: Images From the Black Theatre."
Historian and author Frederic Morton. Morton's new book is "Thunder at Twilight: Vienna 1913/1914." In it, Morton examines that city on the eve of the First World War. Book critic John Leonard described the mix of intellectualism, arts, and political intrigue going on in Vienna at that time as "waltzing on the edge of the abyss." Morton's previous book, "A Nervous Splendor," looked at Vienna in 1888 and '89.
Winemaker Robert Gerald Mondavi. He's credited with being, "one of the world's two or three most influential wine makers." ("New West" magazine). In the 1960's he severed ties with the family's Winery in Napa Valley where his father had been producing bulk wine since the 1930's. He went on to form his own winery, Robert Mondavi Winery, and to put California on the map as a world-class wine producer.
Record producer Daniel Lanois (len-wah). He's considered one of the premier record producers of the 80's. He produced U2'S "Joshua Tree," Bob Dylan's new record "Oh Mercy," the Neville Brother's "Yellow Moon," and Peter Gabriel's "So." He's currently on tour performing songs from his own first solo album, "Acadie" (ah-kah-dee). On it you can hear the influence of his own French-Canadian folk roots, and the atmospheric, ambient sounds he produced with Brian Eno.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the recordings of music by composer, Sofia Gubaidulina (So-FEE-ah Goo-bye-DOO-lee-na). She's the Soviet Union's leading female composer.
Television critic David Bianculli reviews "The Neon Empire" a new mini-series on Showtime which stars Martin Landau, Gary Busey, and Ray Sharkey. It follows in the footsteps of NBC's belated "Crime Story."
Rock critic Ed Ward profiles Miami's TK Studios. In the mid-70s, TK cranked out some of the biggest hits of the disco era, such as "Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae and "That's the Way I Like It" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band.
