Journalist Jim Crogan is a freelance writer with the L.A. Weekly and Newsweek. He covered the O.J. Simpson trial for the past 15 months, and the Los Angeles Police Department for several years.
Journalist Stephen Adler. He is former legal affairs editor of The Wall Street Journal and is now the paper's investigative editor. Terry will discuss with him the O.J. Simpson trial and the jury process. Last year Adler's book about what's wrong with the jury system and how it can be fixed, was published: The Jury: Trial and Error in the American Courtroom, (Times Books/Random House). Adler looked at the history of the jury system and how our attitudes about juries changed over the years.
Silent film legend Buster Keaton was born 100 years ago today. Kino Video collected many of Keaton's films in box set. An interview with Keaton from the set will be played. We will also hear a portion of guitarist and composer Bill Frisell's score for Keaton's film "Go West."
Satirist, columnist, one of the creators of and performers in the mock-rock group Spinal Tap, and host of the syndicated radio program, "Le Show," Harry Shearer. He also does several voices on "The Simpsons." Shearer has collected onto a CD his satirical pieces about the O.J. Simpson trial: "O.J. on Trial: The Early Years." (to order call, 1-800-YES-OJ-CD). These pieces originally were aired on "Le Show."
Critic Milo Miles reviews the newest book by Walter Mosely. It's not an Easy Rawlins book. It's R.L.'S Dream, (Norton) a book about the blues told in the voice of down and out, country-blues musician Soupspoon.
Nicholas Pileggi discusses his book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas. (Simon & Schuster Oct. 1995) It is based on the true story of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal and his account of how the mob controlled several casinos in Las Vegas in the 1970s and early 80s. Pileggi also wrote the screenplay for a movie based on "Casino." A film directed by Martin Scorsese starring Robert DeNiro, Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci. Pileggi's best-selling book Wiseguy was used as the basis for the film "Goodfellas." Pileggi lives in New York City.
San Antonio Police officer Roger Mangum. In 1982, he shot and killed a man in the line of duty. Recently he and other officers set up a support group for officers involved in "critical incidents." The group is called, Police Officer Support Team (P.O.S.T.). In 1992 Mangum left the police force, and began teaching at the San Antonio Police Academy.
Music director and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. This month he took over the San Francisco Symphony. He's been conducting for 25 years. At the age of 24 years old he was appointed assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony, and began filling in regularly as conductor when the musical director's health began to fail. THOMAS was mentored by Leonard Bernstein. However, Thomas's roots are in the theater: His grandparents were Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, who founded the Yiddish theater in New York. There's a new book about him, Michael Tilson Thomas: Viva Voce.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a reissue by the late mezzo-soprano Cathy Berberian: Luciano Berio's "Recital I for Cathy and Folk Songs." (RCA)
Guest film critic Steve Vineberg reviews "Nadja" a vampire movie set in contemporary New York City. David Lynch was executive producer, and has a cameo role.
British writer Nick Hornby. His autobiographical memoir about being an obsessed soccer fan, Fever Pitch (1992, now in paperback, Penguin) achieved cult status. With his second book, and his first novel High-Fidelity one reviewer writes that Hornby has "established himself in England as a maestro of the male confessional." High-Fidelity (Riverhead Books, div. of Putnam) is about 36-year old Rob Fleming, an obsessed record-collector, who's just lost his girlfriend, a casualty of his devotion to music.
Rock writer and critic Robert Palmer. He was the New York Times's first full-time rock writer and chief pop critic, and he's a contributing editor at Rolling Stones. He's written several books on blues and rock and roll, and was the writer and music director for the award-winning documentary films, "The World According to John Coltrane," and "Deep Blues." His latest work is chief advisor to the ten-part PBS documentary, "Rock & Roll: An Unruly History," currently airing on PBS. He's also a companion book (Harmony Books).
Pop star Boy George. In 1982, he and his band Culture Club first hit the charts with, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" He has a new autobiography in which he says he got "trapped" in the image he created. His band feel apart, his relationship, and he developed a drug addiction. He's now recovered. He has a new autobiography, Take It Like a Man: The Autobiography of Boy George. (written with George O'Dowd, published by HarperCollins.) He also has a new release, "Cheapness & Beauty," (Virgin).
TV Producer Michael Berk for the show "Baywatch." The show, which is filmed in Malibu, California, is about a group of lifeguards who patrol the beach. It's been called the "number one show on earth." It has one billion viewers in more than 110 countries.
Guitarist Danny Amis from the band, "Los Straitjackets." The group hails from Nashville. They perform in Mexican wrestling masks, and play instrumental surf-rock with a "dark vibe lurking in the mix." (Guitar Player). They have a new CD, "The Utterly fantastic and totally unbelievable sound of. . . Los Straitjackets." (Upstart records 617-354-0700).
