Avant-garde guitarist and producer Henry Kaiser. He's known as an innovative and versatile musician. He's recorded and/or performed with a number of artists including, Herbie Hancock, Richard Thompson, Bob Weir, The ROVA Sax Quartet, Sergei Kuriokhin, and Sonny Sharrock. He's just completed a recording of music of Madagascar, "A World Out of Time: Henry Kaiser & David Lindley in Madagascar," (on Shanachie records). (This interview was done by Fresh Air Producer Amy Salit)
Southeast Asia Correspondent for The New York Times, Philip Shenon (SHE-none). He's been following the protests between Thai troups and pro-democracy protestors in Bangkok, Thialand. The protestors: students, professionals, and workers have been demanding that the Prime Minister Suchinda Kraprayoon step down. Suchinda, a former military leader, led a coup last year against the democratic Government and took power in April as an unelected Prime Minister. Many people have died in the protests. SHENON will update us on the situation. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)
James McCloskey, founder of Centurion Ministries, Inc., which was organized to free innocent men and women from prison. Terry last talked to him in March after he helped free two prisoners from a California prison who were both serving life sentences. But yesterday, McCloskey lost a battle with the execution of Roger Keith Coleman. Coleman was convicted of raping and killing his sister-in-law in 1981, but always maintained his innocence. He was put to death in a Virginia prison. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)
Marty talks with science writer Seth Shulman about how the military has left toxic wastes in bases all across the country. His new book is "The Threat at Home: Confronting the Toxic Legacy of the U.S. Military." (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the new CD by avant-garde multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell, "Hal Russell and NRG Ensemble, The Finnish/Swiss Tour" (on ECM)
Performance artist Rhodessa Jones. She wrote and performs "Big Butt Girls, Hard Headed Women," a theatre piece that grew out of her work as an aerobic instructor in the San Francisco City Jail. Her work has been seen in international festivals in Amsterdam, Munich, and Boston. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)
Pop artist and sculptor Claes (klaus) Oldenburg. He turns everyday objects into colossal public monuments. He created a giant clothespin for Philadelphia, a rubber stamp for Cleveland, a fruit bowl for Miami, and others. Before taking on the large public sculptures, CLAES worked in multiples, where a small object is repeated. A new book about this period of his work is called, "Claes Oldenburg: Multiples in Retrospect 1964-1990." (by Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.)
We mark the anniversary of Malcolm X's birth with historian and writer Clayborne Carson editor of "Malcolm X: The FBI files." CARSON is the Director and Senior Editor of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers Project. He also co-edited the companion reader to the PBS series "Eye on the Prize."
Actor John Cullum. He plays Holling Vincoeur on the TV show "Northern Exposure." Holling is a 63-year-old bartender in a relationship with an 18-year-old beauty queen. Cullum is best known for his broadway roles in "Camelot," "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever," and others. Cullum talked with Terry before a live audience in Seattle.
Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews "Clockers," the new novel by Richard Price about the world of a black crack dealer. (published by Houghton Mifflin).
Controversial author Salman Rushdie. Terry last talked to him in late 1990 about his life. For over three years, Rushdie's been in hiding, a result of the reaction to his novel "The Satanic Verses." That novel offended many Muslims and led to the Ayatollah Khomeini putting a one-million-dollar death sentence on Rushdie's head. Just lately, he's begun to travel and make public appearances, even though he's still a target for assassination. Rushdie called us from his hiding place somewhere in Great Britain.
Frances Lear founded Lear's Magazine. At one time she was married to TV producer Norman Lear, and though her life, from the outside, seems quite pleasant and successful, her new memoir "The Second Seduction" details a life full of pain.
Cinematographer and director Ed Lachman. He's shot films for many famous directors both in Europe and America, including Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, Bernardo Bertolucci, Paul Schrader and David Byrne. He's also shot his own films and videos. He most recently worked on the new Hanif Kureishi film "London Kills Me."
Actress Christine Lahti. She starred in the movie "Housekeeping," co-starred with Goldie Hawn in "Swing Shift," which won her the New York film Critics Award as Best Supporting Actress, and is now in the new film "Leaving Normal." (Universal Pictures) She also has a long stage career, appearing in "The Heidi Chronicles." She talks about how hard it is for women to get good roles in Hollywood, and how she's turned many down because she didn't like the characters she'd be portraying.
Stan Sesser, a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine, just wrote a lengthy article called "Report From Cambodia." A country that's been dirt poor for several decades is experiencing a new prosperity since the United Nations peace agreement was signed last October. Oddly, the agreement calls for a sharing of power with the Khmer Rouge, an action Sesser equates with allowing the Nazis back into power in post war Germany. (The article is in the May 18, 1992 issue of The New Yorker.)
