Society & Culture

Poet Mark Halliday reads one of his works.

Photographer Bert Andrews. Since the early '50s, Andrews has been photographing the African-American theatre. There's now a collection of Andrews' photos, called "In The Shadow of the Great White Way: Images From the Black Theatre."

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews clarinetist John Carter's new album, "Shadows on a Wall." The album concludes Carter's 5 album musical saga of the African-American experience. Kevin says the series doesn't recreate history, but it DOES reimagine it.

Rock historian Ed Ward reacquaints us with the music of Louis Jordan. In the late 1940's he was one of the highest-grossing black acts in the country.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg examines the epitome of Americans trying to cop some highbrow British style, using the word "shall" when they mean "will."

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews "Time Passages: Collective Memory and American Popular Culture" by George Lipsitz. The book examines how our collective memory has been shaped by popular culture since World War 2.

Bandleader, singer, songwriter, and talent scout Johnny Otis. His musical career spans the big band era, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll. In the 40's he played and traveled with the big bands, with the Ink Spots and Louis Jordan. Later, with a pared down band, he was on the forefront of the rhythm and blues. He's credited with discovering Etta James, Big Mama Thornton, Jackie Wilson and Ernestine Anderson.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Isara" (ih-sare-ah) Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka's (wolly Soy-enk-ka) memoir about his father.

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.

John Fairchild, the publisher of "Women's Wear Daily," and "W." "Women's Wear Daily" is to the fashion industry what "The Wall Street Journal" is to the financial community. "W" is a glitzy fashion magazine. Fairchild has just written an insiders exposé of the fashion world, called "Chic Savages."

Jazz composer/clarinetist John Carter. He has just completed a five part music series chronicling the black migration experience from Africa to America: "Roots and Folklore: Episodes in the Development of American Folk Music. The final program in the series, "Shadows on A Wall," premiered recently as part of the New Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The festival celebrates performers working on the edge of classical, rock, and jazz styles. Carter's performances are also out on disc.

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.

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."

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.

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.

John Malpede and Kevin Williams of the Los Angeles Poverty Department, a performance group comprised primarily of homeless and formerly homeless people. The LAPD tries to show the reality of life on the streets. John Malpede is a former performance artist and founder of LAPD (in 1985). He now serves as the group's director and a legal advocate for the homeless. Kevin Wiliams is LAPD's assistant director and former resident of Skid Row.

Television critic David Bianculli previews "Cross of Fire," a four-hour NBC miniseries based on true events in the 1920s, when a charismatic leader of the Ku Klux Klan came to power in Indiana.

Writer Marita Golden. Her new novel, "Long Distance Life," examines half a century in the life of a black middle-class family in the other Washington, D.C., the one not filled with shiny buildings and corridors of power. Previously, Golden published a widely acclaimed memoir, "Migrations of the Heart."

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.

Former U.S. senator James G. Abourezk (AB-er-esk). In his new memoir, "Advise and Dissent," Abourezk tells of Arab-American heritage, his coming of age in the North Dakota Indian country, his early political days, his 8 years in Congress, and his decision not to run for re-election in 1979. These days Abourezk is an attorney in Washington, D.C., and is National Chairman of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.