Schiavelli just written a memoir about growing up in Brooklyn, New York. It's called "Bruculinu, America: Remembrances of Sicilian-American Brooklyn, Told in Stories and Recipes." (Houghton Mifflin) Schiavelli is a character actor who's been in the films "Ghost," "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "The People Vs. Larry Flynt."
Azim Khamisa and Ples Felix talk about the 1995 shooting incident that brought them together. Assign's 20 year-old son, Tariq Khamisa was fatally shot by Felix' 14 year-old grandson Tony Hicks. Azim Khamisa reached out to Ples Felix in the aftermath and became friends. Azim later founded the Tarik Khamisa Foundation in San Diego and both men work to educate children on the devastating impact of youth violence. Azim Khamisa has written a new book about his experience in "Azim's Bardo: A Father's Journey from Murder to Forgiveness." (Rising Star Press)
Rock historian Ed Ward tells us the tale of Joe Tex, a black man who longed to be a country singer, a preacher who renounced Christianity, and a life-long teetotaler who died of drug and alcohol abuse.
Linguist Geoff Nunberg talks about the new knowledge fad. He says terms that include the word knowledge, like "knowledge workers" and "knowledge assets" are sweeping corporate and academic America.
Carl Sferrazza Anthony is an authority on First Ladies, and the author of a new biography of the determined and unconventional Florence Harding, wife of Warren G. Harding. She met and married Harding while working for a weekly newspaper. It was she who pushed him to the presidency, and then endured his many adulteries. Her husband died after only two years in office but came to be known as the most "scandalous president." After his mysterious death there was speculation that Florence had a hand in his demise.
Kelly made her directorial debut with the documentary "Full Tilt Boogie," a comedy about the making of the Quentin Tarantino action vampire film, "From Dusk Till Dawn." Kelly previously worked on Tarantino's production team for the films "Killing Zoe" and "Pulp Fiction."
Advocacy Director for Physicians for Human Rights Holly Burkhalter talks to guest host Marty Moss-Coane about the plight of women under Afghanistan's Taliban government.
While writer Fred Haefele's re-evaluated his life's priorities during middle-age, he put together an Indian motorcycle from parts. His memoir is called "Rebuilding the Indian."
Zohra Rasekh, Senior Health Researcher for Physicians for Human Rights, co-authored "The Taliban's War on Women: A Health and Human Rights Crisis in Afghanistan." She's identified several discriminatory policies against women in that country, including the demand they wear a burqa at all times outside the home.
Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews a new release of previously unheard Woody Guthrie lyrics put to music by British folksinger-songwriter Billy Bragg. Bragg composed music for the lyrics with the help of the American band Wilco. It's called "Mermaid Avenue." (Elektra)
Hoskins starred in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" "The Long Good Friday," "Mona Lisa," and "The Cotton Club." He also directed the two films, "The Raggedy Rawney" and "The Rainbow." Recently he starred in the British film "TwentyFourSeven." It won him the best actor award at the European Film Awards this year.
Emily Colas has written her first book, a memoir, "Just Checking: Scenes from the life of an obsessive-compulsive." (Penguin-Pocket books). She writes about her many worries and fears about germs, and food poisoning, and her compulsion to trace the design of a star in her head, while having conversations with people. Colas eventually was treated for the disorder.
Writer and housecleaner Louise Rafkin. Her articles have appeared in "The New York Times," "The Utne Reader," and "Los Angeles Times." Her new book about cleaning is "Other People's Dirt: A Housecleaner's Curious Adventures" (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill).
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews three new CDs by clarinetist Ben Goldberg: "12 Minor" (Avant); "Here by Now" (Music & Arts) and "What Comes Before" (Tzadik).
We feature a special radio documentary about one guy's infatuation with what might have been. As a child, Dan Gediman was chosen to be one of the "Zoom" kids on the 1970s public television show "Zoom." But the deal fell through. As an adult Gediman went to find and interview the kids who were on the show to see what he missed. This segment can also be heard on the next edition of the Public Radio International program This American Life, from WBEZ.
