Former first lady Nancy Reagan. When the Reagans entered the White House, Nancy was a relatively anonymous first lady, best known for her strident "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign. But toward the end of President Reagan's second term, it became more apparent that Nancy Reagan's role in running the government was much larger than imagined, and it turns out many of her and her husband's decisions were influenced by a California astrologer. Nancy Reagan has a new memoir, called "My Turn."
World music commentator Milo Miles explains how Peter Gabriel transformed folk music of the Middle East into the world pop sound that became the soundtrack for Scorsese's film "The Last Temptation of Christ."
Choreographer Eliot Feld. He founded the Feld Ballet in 1974 as a place where classical ballet and modern dance could exist together. The company is still going strong, touring throughout America and overseas. Feld has also created ballets for many of the world's great companies, among them the American Ballet Theatre, the National Ballet of Canada, and the New York City Ballet.
Paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould. Gould is a professor of geology and curator at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. He writes columns for "Natural History Magazine" and "Discover Magazine," and has written several books, including the award-winning "The Mismeasure of Man." Gould uses his writing and teaching to illuminate and demystify the scientific method and to provide a historical perspective on science for the layman.
Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews two new albums: "Wild Weekend" by NRBQ and "The People's Republic of Rock n Roll" by Peter Stampfel and the Bottle Caps. Ken says while they may not have much in common, both are critically-acclaimed cult groups releasing albums after a long silence.
Book critic Maureen Corrigan takes a look at the book reviewers bible, "Publishers Weekly." She examines how PW has often hawked new books that went nowhere, while barely mentioning books that went on to become classics.
Anthropologist Richard Nelson. His new book, "The Island Within," is an account of Nelson's explorations of an uninhabited island near his Pacific Northwest home.
Writer Lawrence Grobel (pronounced gro-BEL). Grobel has just written "The Hustons," a profile of the film industry's most famous dynasty. The book centers around actor and director John Huston, but also follows the lives his father Walter and his daughter Anjelica, a trio that represents three generations of Oscar winners. For the book, Grobel conducted more than 200 interviews with the Hustons, the friends, enemies, and associates.
Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg examines the blurbs on book jackets...those hyperbolic quotes that declare seemingly every new book to be "a blockbuster" or "runaway best-seller."
Songwriter/musicians Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook. They started the rock group Squeeze in the late 70s, broke up in 1982 as the band was about to make it big, and reformed 1985. Nevertheless, the band had a series of hits in their native England and have drawn critical praise in this country. The band's new album is called "Frank."
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews three reissues of music by composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Korngold was a success at both serious composition and writing music for the movies...among his film scores are the classics "The Sea Hawk," and "The Adventures of Robin Hood."
Violinist Shlomo Mintz. Mintz was born in Moscow and emigrated with his family two years later to Israel. He made his concerto debut at age 11 with Zubin Mehta, and has continued to appear with Mehta each season since. Mintz is considered one of the foremost violinists of this generation.
Rock historian Ed Ward profiles Leon Huff and Kenny Gamble, creators of the Philadelphia International label -- one of the great black pop record labels of the early '70's.
This week marks the 10th anniversary of ABC's "Nightline," and television critic David Bianculli examines how the show went from a special on the hostage crisis to one of the most important programs in broadcast journalism.
Chinese chef Ken Hom. He's the author of the new cookbook, "Fragrant Harbor Taste: The New Chinese Cooking of Hong Kong." Hong Kong is in the midst of a culinary revolution, with Japanese, European, and American foods and styles of preparation all merging with traditional Chinese cuisine. Hom has taught cooking in Hong Kong for the past ten years. He's also written several previous cookbooks and hosted the public T-V series "Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery."
Commentator Patsy McLaughlin (mc-LOFF-lin) reflects on advertising's "Breck" girl becoming the "Breck" woman. McLaughlin will speak with this year's Breck model, Pamela Chew.
