Cello player David Eyges and saxophonist Byard Lancaster have been playing together since 1979. Eyges is trained and classical and chamber music, but has added jazz to his repertoire. Lancaster is a native Philadelphia who was played with many jazz legends. He also plays in the band Philly Funk. Eyges and Lancaster released the album "The Arrow" as a duo, and with, Sunny Murray, the album "Crossroads" as the David Eyges Trio. The trio will begin a residency at the Painted Bride Arts Center.
Pianist Kenny Barron is part of the band Sphere. One of the group's largest influences and inspirations is Thelonious monk whose work is featured on their newest and first album "Four in One." Native Philadelphian Barron has also recently released two solo albums "Kenny Barron at the Piano" and "Golden Lotus."Barron also teaches music at Rutgers. Sphere will perform at the Afro-American Museum.
In 1952 jazz singer Cleo Laine joined The John Dankworth Band; in 1958, she and Dankworth married. They continue their collaboration: Dankworth produces and arranges Laine's albums and manages her career. Their latest effort is the album "Smilin' Through," which features Dudley Moore on piano. The English couple began touring the United States and Canada in the 1970s and Laine has sung in many prestigious venues. Dankworth has also written the scores for several films. The two are in town to perform at the Valley Forge Music Fair.
Philadelphian John Zacherle (sometimes credited as Zacherly) is the exemplar of the horror movie show host. He plays the character of "Roland" (pronounced "Ro-LAND) on his television show "Shock Theater." He not only introduces the films he plays, he also adds in cut-aways that often mock the movie or the genre itself. Zacherle is also had a top-ten hit with the novelty song "Dinner with Drac" and also works a d.j. Zacherle will join the Philadelphia Pops for a performance of "The Raven" this weekend.
Fresh Air arts critic Judy Stein shares upcoming arts events in Philadelphia and reviews the New Expressionist show of painting and photography, "The Raw Edge," at the Cheltenham Arts Center, as well the show of Post-Modern prints, "The New Image" at the Association of American Artists Gallery.
Larry King is the host of the radio talk show "The Larry King Show." The late-night program features guest interviews and listener calls and is aired between midnight and five thirty. He's recently written the memoir "Larry King." He will be airing his show live from Philadelphia this week.
Film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert come from two competing Chicago newspapers, but teamed up for the hit PBS show "Sneak Previews," which won an Emmy in 1979. The two have recently left PBS for a new, nationally-syndicated show. "At the Movies."
University of Pennsylvania folklorist Henry Glassie has been the last ten years studying the Northern Irish community of Ballymenone. Glassie sees the conflict and history of this community as a microcosm of Ireland's at large, and says he wanted to present the "workaday reality" of average people. His study has been compiled into the book "Passing the Time in Ballymenone: Culture and History of an Ulster Community," and contains stories, songs, and Glassie's own descriptions and analyses.
Donald Bogle is an author, film critic, and staff writer for Ebony, who wrote "Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks; An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films." Bogle, who also works as a story editor for Otto Preminger, has recently released "Brown Sugar: Eight Years of America's Black Female Superstars." He joins the show to discuss film images of African Americans and the role of race in the motion picture industry.
Jules Feiffer is a cartoonist known for satirizing the middle class, politicians, and sexual attitudes in his comic strip "Feiffer.". He began his career at The Village Voice and is now syndicated nationally. Feiffer has also written several screenplays, including "Little Murders." A new collection of his work "Jules Feiffer's America: From Eisenhower to Reagan."
Jessica Savitch is one of the most prominent women journalists on broadcast television. She began her career as a Philadelphia newscaster. Her autobiography "Anchorwoman" discusses how she made her career in a male dominated industry. She joins the show to discuss journalism and women.
Paul Fussell is an academic who has written several works of cultural history and literary criticism. His is particularly interested in the writing, photography, and art produced during World War II. His latest collection of essays is "The Boy Scout Handbook and Other Observations."
Painter Neil Welliver is known as "neoimpressionist" and for his landscapes of the Maine countryside. He divides his time between Maine and Philadelphia where he works at the University of Pennsylvania. The Institute of Contemporary Art at the University is hosting a exhibition of his work, "Neil Welliver: Painting 1966-1980."
Noam Chomsky's linguistic theories revolutionized the field, and he is also known as a political radical. He has written many works of social, political, and economic analysis, and his latest work "Towards a New Cold War," consists of essays tracing the evolution of American foreign policy and ideology since the 1970s. A new collection of his essays called "Radical Priorities," has also been released. Chomsky, who grew up in the area, is in Philadelphia to deliver a talk on the relations between the United States and Israel.
Robert A. Harris is the producer, and along with Kevin Brownlow, one of the reconstructionists of the 1927 French silent film "Napoleon." The film used techniques such as montage, "poly-vision," and rapid edits. Harris and Brownlow tracked down missing footage across England, France, and the United States. Harris is the head of Image Film Archive, a film distribution company. Harris joins the show to discuss the film and the efforts to reconstruct it.
Eldridge Cleaver was active in the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and early 1970s. He fled the country after his involvement in a shootout with Oakland Police and returned in 1975. Cleaver served 9 months in jail before being released, and he finishes his last day of parole today. He joins the show to discuss what has happened since his return, including his political involvement (which has become more conservative) and return to Christianity.
Paul Zimmerman is the screenwriter of the upcoming film "The King of Comedy," directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert DeNiro and Jerry Lee Lewis. Zimmerman was previously the movies editor for Newsweek and has written several books. ZImmerman is based in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and has become active in the Bucks Alliance for Nuclear Disarmament (B.A.N.D.). The group has invited Helen Caldicott of Physicians for Social Responsibility to speak at a local event.
Hans Bethe won the 1967 Nobel Prize for Physics for determining the nuclear processes that power the sun and stars. Bethe was also involved in the creation of the atom and hydrogen bombs at the Los Alamos project during World War II. Bethe is now an activist for a nuclear freeze, and co-authored a New York Times op-ed on the topic. He joins the show to discuss the development and future of nuclear arms.
Geoffrey Stokes has been a staff writer for The Village Voice since 1973. He is the editor of the "New Village Voice Anthology," a collection of articles from the newspapers from 1956-1980. Stokes joins the show to discuss the Anthology and the Voice's history.
William Murray is the son of atheist crusader Madalyn Murray O'Hair, whom the family considered "the most hated woman in America." At the age of 14, Murray was the plaintiff in a Supreme Court case his mother filed to remove prayer from the Baltimore Public Schools. Murray experienced a difficult relationship with Murray O'Hair, who terrorized him as child. As an adult, Murray converted to Christianity and hasn't spoken to his mother since 1977. His new book is "My Life Without God."
