Satirist Al Franken, former writer for Saturday Night Live, and creator of Stuart Smalley (author of "I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!"). His new book is "Why Not Me: The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency" (Delacorte Press). It's the story of America's first jewish president, himself, Al Franken!
Rock historian Ed Ward remembers the record label, Red bird, founded by songwriters and producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Their hits included "Chapel of Love," and "Leader of the Pack."
We remember writer and urbanologist WILLIAM WHYTE. He died yesterday at the age of 81. The former editor of Fortune Magazine began a second career studing the life of urban cities. Whyte was best known for his 1956 book "Organization Man," a groundbreaking work that examined the mechanized rituals and routines of the corporate culture. His other books included, "The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces" (1980), and "City" (1989). (REBROADCAST from 2/22/89)
Actor-producer James Woods. He's currently starring in the new film, "Another Day in Paradise" based on the semi-autobiographical novel of ex-con Eddie Little. It's about a makeshift family of professional thieves looking for the big score and is directed by Larry Clark who made the gritty film, "Kids." Woods previous films include "Salvador," "Ghosts of Mississippi," "The Onion Field," and "Contact."
Music writer Peter Guralnick has written volume two of his biography of Elvis Presley. "Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley." (Little, Brown and Company). Part One of his biography is, "Last Train to Memphis."
Aaron Sorkin is creator of the new ABC TV show, "Sports Night" a behind-the-scenes look at a cable sports newscast, like ESPN. It's been described as "a home run" and "the most consistently funny, intelligent, and emotional of any new-season series." Sorkin also wrote the films "An American President," and "A Few Good Men."
Criminologist Richard Wright. He teaches at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He'll discuss the statistics released last month by the Justice Department showing that the crime rate has been falling steadily since 1991. He'll also discuss the link between the crime rate and the decline in crack use which he has studied. Wright is the co-author of the book, "Armed Robbers in Action: Stickups and Street Culture" (1997, Northeastern University Press).
Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Fanny Trollope: The Life and Adventures of a Clever Woman" (Viking) a biography of the mother of novelist Anthony Trollope.
Musician and singer Peter Wolf. He's the former lead singer with the J. Geils Band which he was with for 17 years. He's been a solo artist for a while. On his latest CD "Fool's Parade" (Mercury) he's incorporated the Memphis sound.
Richard Ford, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of the novel "Independence Day," has edited and collected a new selection of short stories by the great Russian playwright and short-story writer Anton Chekhov. It's called "The Essential Tales of Chekhov" (Ecco Press)
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the new PBS documentary "The Rodgers and Hart Story: Thou Swell, Thou Witty." It's part of the Great Performances series and is broadcast in most cities on January 6.
First violinist Arnold Steinhardt is one of the founding members of the Guarneri (Gwa-NAIR-ee) String Quartet, which has been playing together for 35 years. He's written a new memoir, "Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony" (Farrar Straus & Giroux). The Quartet is considered to be one of the finest string quartets performing today.
John Boorman directed the new film the The General, based on the life of the notorious Irish thief and gangster Martin Cahill. Cahill stole about 60 million dollars in a series of ingenioius robberies he masterminded in the 1980's. Boorman has directed many other films including Deliverance, Point Blank, Hope and Glory, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, and Beyond Rangoon.
Jon Voigt is one of the stars of John Boorman's new film The General. Voigt and Boorman go back a long way.Voigt co-starred in Boorman's 1972 film Deliverance. But it was Voigt's leading role in the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy that made him a star. Jon Voigt won an Academy Award in 1979 for his role as a paraplegic Vietnam veteran, in Coming Home. His recent films include Mission Impossible, and The Rainmaker. He's also in the new film Enemy of
the State.
