Writer Clifford Wright. His new book is “A Mediterranean Feast: The Story of the Birth of the Celebrated Cuisines of the Mediterranean, from the Merchants of Venice to the Barbary Corsairs, with more than 500 Recipes.” (Morrow) As you can tell from the title, it’s a comprehensive look at Mediterranean foodstuffs, cooking and culture, at over 800 pages. It won the James Beard Cookbook of the Year award, and it is being developed into a 13-part series for PBS called “A Cook’s Tour: Mediterranean Journeys with Clifford Wright.”
Actress Amy Sedaris. She’s the star of the comedy series “Strangers With Candy” that airs Monday and Saturday nights on Comedy Central. Sedaris plays Jerri Blank, a 47-year old ex-con, ex-prostitute lesbian high school freshman. She’s the sister of David Sedaris, a humor writer who has been on Fresh Air several times. Amy and David have produced and written several plays together, including the 1996 Obie award winning “One Woman Shoe.”
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz talks about making the familiar fresh and the unfamiliar accessible. He has a review of two recent concerts.
Description (Program)
British writer Linda Grant. She’s the author of the new memoir, “Remind Me Who I Am, Again” (Granta Books) about her mother’s disappearance into dementia (diagnosed as Multi-Infarct Dementia). She first wrote about her mother’s situation in the pages of the Guardian. Grant’s other books include “Sexing the Millennium” and “The Cast Iron Shore.” (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).
Pro-democracy leader Zainab Bangura (ZI-nab bahn-GUHR-rah). She is a human rights activist and pro-democracy leader in Sierra Leone. She’s been threatened both by the government and the rebels because of her outspokenness.We’ll speak to her about the situation as it stands right now.
We talk about the controversial efforts to bring peace to Sierra Leone. As part of the agreement to end the civil war, members of the rebel forces were invited to participate at high levels of government…these were the same people who committed atrocities such as hacking off the limbs of children. First, we’ll speak with anthropologist Joseph Opala(oh-PA-la) Opala is an American who lived in Sierra Leone for 23 years. This past May, the Sierra Leone army staged a coup and Opala thought he would be safe in the hotel where the Nigerian General was staying.
Actress Tracey Ullman. She plays Frenchy, a manicurist married to an ex-con dishwasher in Woody Allen’s new comedy “Small Time Crooks.” She also worked with Allen on two of his previous films “Bullets Over Broadway,” and “Everyone Says I love You.” Ullman is the star of her own shows, HBO’s “Tracey Takes On,” and “The Tracey Ullman Show.”
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.
Director and actor Paul Bartel died on Saturday at the age of 61. He had been diagnosed with liver cancer. We’ll listen back to his interview. Bartel's acting credits included roles in "Fame" and "L.A. Law," but he was best known for his direction of several black comedies, such as "Eating Raoul," which he also co-wrote and acted in and "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills." (REBROADCAST from 7/5/89)
In this program we hear selections of his music performed by singers Vernel Bagneris and Terry Burrell, and pianist Dick Hyman. We also hear from Marva Carter who is writing a biography of Cook. She is the director of Graduate Studies at the School of Music at Georgia State University.
Conductor Maurice Peress. He specializes in reconstructing historic American concerts. He’s worked with Ellington and Bernstein, and is the author of the forthcoming book, “Living With American Music: Dvorak to Duke Ellington.”
Performances continue and we hear from Tom Riis who compiled and edited a book containing the complete score of “In Dahomey.” Riis directs the American Music Research Center at the University of Colorado and is the author of “Just Before Jazz.”
Forensic entomologist M. Lee Goff is the author of the new book “A Fly for the Prosecution: How Insect Evidence Helps Solve Crimes” (Harvard University Press). Goff examines the insect life that inhabits a decomposing corpse, to understand when a person died and other circumstances of death. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES THRU THE END OF THE SHOW).
Our guest pianist tomorrow will be Dick Hyman. One of our guest singers will be Vernel Bagneris who has explored this period in his own musical revues. To give you a preview, we asked him to sing a sing that he's performed on stage, which was originated by Bert Williams. It's called "Somebody Lied."
