Segments by Date

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles the late New Orleans blues pianist and singer Smiley Lewis, a talent Ward says was consistently overlooked.

Folksinger Hazel Dickens. She sings and appears in the John Sayles film "Matewan." Dickens is best known for her traditional renditions of country and folk tunes and for her songs of protest.

Television Critic David Bianculli previews the new PBS comedy series titled "Trying Times."

Mark Mathabane. He grew up in poverty in a black township in South Africa. His skill at tennis caught the attention of Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith, who brought him to the U.S. on an athletic scholarship. He's written a book about his upbringing and the horrors of Apartheid. It's titled Kaffir Boy.

Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a reissue of the "The Complete Coleman Hawkins," a set of four compact discs that captures highlights of the 1944 recording sessions of the renown tenor saxophonist.

Ken Tucker will review the home video release of the 1955 classic "The Night of the Hunter," starring Robert Mitchum as a creepy Appalachian preacher, and Shelly Winters as a gullible widow.

Performance artist Meredith Monk. Her interdisciplinary art fuses elements of dance, film, theater and music. Her new collection of songs combines half-sounds like shrieks, sobs and moans into a unified and startling whole.

Brazilian composer and guitarist Orlando Haddad will perform two songs popularized in Brazilian films.

Playwright Albert Innaurato. His works include the long-running hit "Gemini," "Coming of Age in SoHo" and "The Transformation of Benno Blimpie."

A live concert featuring Kansas City pianist Jay McShann. As a big band leader in the 40s and 50s, McShann helped start the careers of jazz stars like Charlie Parker and Big Joe Turner.

Film Critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Best Seller," the cop thriller starring James Woods and Brian Dennehy.

Richard Ford, who wrote the critically acclaimed novel The Sportswriter.

Rock Critic Ken Tucker will review "Tunnel of Love," the new and long-awaited Bruce Springsteen solo album.

Book Critic John Leonard reviews The Fords, by David Horowitz and Peter Collier, the biography of the family that built the automobile empire. The Fords follows Horowitz' and Collier's books on the Rockefellers and Kennedys.

Moe Tucker, drummer for The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed's band that won cult status in the mid-70s.

Filmmaker Albert Maysles. He was a pioneer of the cinema verité style, where the camera acts as an eye and the film proceeds without narration or script. With his late brother David, Albert Maysles made the films "Gimme Shelter," and the recent "Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic," which won two Emmys.

Rock historian Ed Ward looks at Smokey Robinson's early recordings, when he was the lead singer of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and one of Motown's top acts.

Television Critic David Bianculli reviews "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the syndicated series that features an entirely new cast of voyagers.

Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews "Shades," the new album by pianist Andrew Hill.

Betty White, longtime television actress. She currently stars in the NBC series "The Golden Girls."