John Hammond Shares His Harmonica Playing Inspirations in Concert.

Washington Post chief defense correspondent George Wilson. His new book, Mud Soldiers: Life Inside the New American Army, is an analysis of the efficiency and morale of the all-volunteer Army Infantry, the combat branch that would bear the brunt of any war, and which almost certainly sustain the highest loses. Wilson spent a year with 200 recruits, following them from basic training to maneuvers in the Mohave Desert, to their first assignments. Wilson's other books include Army in Anguish and Supercarrier.

Comic monologuist David Cale. He is one of the rising stars of the loosely-knit New York performance scene that brought out stars like Spalding Grey, Eric Bogosian and Laurie Anderson. In "Smooch Music," one of his best-received monologues, Cale, accompanied by a saxophonist, interweaves 23 vignettes on romance in New York City, with characters that range from the president of a swinger's club to pubescent boy who makes hickeys on his neck with a vacuum cleaner hose.

Critic-at-Large Laurie Stone reviews the work of the young singer Alva Rogers. Rogers has performed in clubs throughout the New York City area over the last several weeks.