Chicago

Freeman's time studying with Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) was crucial to his musical development. A student of both the avant-garde and traditional bop traditions, his compositions draw inspiration from different facets of the African American experience.

Rhythm guitarist Marty Grosz will play two tunes, including the Franny Brice hit from the 20s, ``The Rose of Washington Square.''

Writer Jan Novak. He has just published his second English novel, titled The Grand Life. His first was titled The Willys Dream Kit. Novak emigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia 17 years ago.

Film director William Friedkin. He won an Academy Award for the thriller "The French Connection." His other films include "The Exorcist," "The Boys in the Band" and "The Night They Raided Minsky's." His latest work is an action-adventure film for television. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Newsweek correspondent Sylvester Monroe. He recently returned to the ghetto housing project in Chicago where he was raised for a reunion with his boyhood friends. He chronicles their successful and failed attempts to escape the ghetto and ghetto culture in his book Brothers.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles the late guitarist, whom he knew personally. Bloomfield grew up a rich kid in Chicago, and later started one of the city's first integrated blues bands. He's notable for updating the genre by linking it to folk traditions.

Columnist Mike Royko. For 26 years, Royko has written a daily column on happenings in his native Chicago and throughout the world, and he's just released his 6th collection of his writings. Along the way, Royko has earned the Pulitzer, the Mencken, and Pyle Award. His column is now carried in more than 500 papers. Royko also wrote "Boss," a best-selling portrait of Chicago mayor Richard Daley.

Jazz vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. He introduced the vibes to the jazz world and remains one of it's undisputed masters. In the 1930's he played with the Benny Goodman's band -- being one of the first blacks to play with a white band. He's just written an autobiography, "Hamp." Al Capone and Louis Armstrong also play surprising roles in his life.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews Sylvester Stallone's new movie "Oscar," a 1930s gangster comedy that feels like a 1960s French stage play. Schiff says it lacks the over-the-top approach needed to make farce succeed.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead has just returned from the Chicago Jazz Festival, where Swiss composer George Gruntz premiered his "Chicago Cantata."

Former Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne. She’s written a new memoir of her years in Chicago politics, called My Chicago. It’s published by W.W. Norton).

Stephen Schiff reviews "Hero," directed by Stephen Frears and starring Dustin Hoffman, Joan Cusack, Geena Davis, and Andy Garcia. It's got a twisting plot reminiscent of films from the 1930s and '40s.

Freshman Congressman Bobby Rush (D-Illinois), who in the late 60's and early 70's was a leader of the Black Panther Party. At one time he served as Minister of Defense for the Panthers. From 1983 till his election to Congress last year, he served as an Alderman in Chicago.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new movie starring Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte. Schiff says it never manages to get beyond kind of cute.

T.V. critic David Bianculli has a review of tonight's episode of "E.R." It will be directed by Quentin Tarantino, director of "Pulp Fiction."

Rock historian Ed Ward looks at Chicago's contribution to music. Artists discussed include Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Fontella Bass, The Dels, The Chi-Lites, and Earth, Wind, and Fire.

Royko died Tuesday at the age of 64. For more than 30 years, Royko has written a column on happenings in his native Chicago and throughout the world. Royko has earned the Pulitzer, the Mencken, and Pyle Awards. His column was carried in more than 800 papers. Royko also wrote "Boss," a best-selling portrait of Chicago mayor Richard Daley. (Originally aired 10/26/89)

Authors Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor are the authors of American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley, His Battle for Chicago and the Nation” (Little, Brown & Co). In the book, the authors look at Daley’s legacy, how he transformed Chicago into a modern metropolis, but also turned it into the nation’s most segregated city.

Venkatesh, an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of African American Studies at Columbia University in New York. His newest book –American Project: The Rise and Fall of the Modern Ghetto,— (Harvard 2000) was awarded the 2000 Professional/ Scholarly Publishing Award of the Association of American Publishers. His research interests are based in investigating the social organization of poor urban neighborhoods. He lives in New York City.

His new book is Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago. It*s about a 1995 heat wave in that city which proved to be an insidious natural disaster. Streets buckled, electric power blew, and over 700 people died. Klinenberg is an associate professor of Sociology at New York University.