Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews Rising Sun, starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes. It's based on a novel by Michael Crichton, who also wrote Jurassic Park.
Travel author and novelist Paul Theroux. In a new issue of the Conde Nast Traveler magazine --July 1993-- Theroux recounts the abundant ailments and diseases he's contracted during his thirty years of world travel. Luckily, "Kuru" isn't one of them: a Papua New Guinea affliction of the nervous system where one goes mad, then dies trembling. The only way to catch it is after eating human brains.
Professional New York house cleaner and NPR commentator, David Sedaris. Sedaris occasionally reads from his diaries on NPR; he started this year around Christmas time, when he recounted tales of being a Macy's elf named Crumpet during the holiday season. Other pieces have covered life with window hangers, the world of soap operas, and smoking on a bench in Central Park with a non-smoker. He's recently signed with Little, Brown for a book of short stories and a novel.
Journalist and professor Randall Balmer. He hosted the PBS series, "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America," which aired in May. Balmer is Associate Professor of Religion at Barnard College, Columbia University.
Betsy Lieberman, Executive Director of AIDS Housing of Washington which has built the country's first nursing home designed for people dying of AIDS. It's called the Bailey-Boushay House. The House also offers adult day-care services and activities for people with AIDS. The House has been in operation for a little over a year now. Since then more than 130 people have died there. A new book about the project has been published, "Breaking New Ground: Developing Innovative AIDS Care Residences." (published by AIDS Housing of Washington, Original Trade Paperback).
U.S. Congressman Barney Frank, Democratic Representative from Massachusetts, and one of two openly-gay members of Congress. He's been lobbying for lifting the ban on gays and lesbians in the military. Terry will talk with him about President Clinton's announcement last week about gays and lesbians in the military. (In a recent Washington Post op-ed piece, Frank defends Clinton, blaming, instead, those allied against lifting the ban.)
The man known as "the King of the Surf Guitar," Dick Dale. He launched surf rock in 1960 with his band, the Deltones. He described the surf sound in a 1963 article as "a heavy staccato sound on the low-key guitar strings, with a heavy throbbing beat--like thunder, or waves breaking over you." It's also played loud and with plenty of reverb. Dale defined the California sound, and influenced The Ventures, The Beachboys, and Jan and Dean. He also influenced later groups like Sonic Youth.
Writer Anne Lamott teaches her son about death. She's the author of the book, "Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year." (Pantheon Books).
Chubby Checker got the credit for "The Twist," but the real credit goes to Hank Ballard who wrote the song and recorded it first (with the Midnighters') in 1958. Balalrd was a notorious figure in the early days of rhythm and blues. His song "Work with me Annie," was considered too lewd for many stations to play. Anyway, Ballard gets the credit for "The Twist," in a new documentary, "Twist" by film maker Ron Mann. Terry talks with both Hank Ballard and Ron Mann.
First-time film-maker Tiana (the Americanization of the name Thi Thanh Nga) has made a personal documentary tracing her 1988 journey back to Vietnam, where she was born: "From Hollywood to Hanoi." Her father was the head of press relations for the South Vietnamese government, and she enjoyed a privileged childhood. But her father moved the family to the United States just before the fall of Saigon. Tiana was raised in California from the age of three and became an actress in low-budget exploitation films.
Editor of the editorial page at the Des Moines Register, Dennis Ryerson. Ryerson and the staff are putting out the paper during the floods, without running water or electricity; they work in daylight with pencils and typewriters. Ryerson was in the unique position to report on the near fistfight between the Des Moines mayor and its city council over the right time to turn on the city's water supply.
Forty year Hollywood veteran, and director of almost fifty films, Richard Fleischer. He's the son of the legendary cartoonist, Max Fleischer, who created Betty Boop. Richard Fleischer's films include "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", "Fantastic Voyage", "Doctor Doolittle" and "Conan The Destroyer".
Regional Director of four women's clinics in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Omaha, Nebraska, Diane Strauss. Three of her clinics were the target of Operation Rescue's protests last week. Before that, Strauss has been harassed at home by the group. In 1987, one of STRAUSS's clinics was the first clinic to be targeted by Operation Rescue outside of Binghamton, New York where the group is based.
Founder of the anti-abortion group, "Operation Rescue," Randall Terry. Last week his group tried to stop abortions by blocking access to clinics in seven cities across the United States, including Philadelphia. TERRY also has a new book, "Why does a nice guy like me keep getting thrown in jail?" (Huntington House Pub., Lafayette, LA; Resistance Press, Windsor, N.Y.)
