Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new recording of Pierre Boulez conducting Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire. (on Deutsche Grammophon).
Comedienne Joy Behar. She can be seen regularly on the ABC women's talk show, "The View." She also appears as a neurotic patient on "Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist for Comedy Central." She has a new book, "Joy Shtick: or What is the Existential Vacuum and Does it Come with Attachments?" (Hyperion)
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Charles Simic. He is part Serbian, and was born in Belgrade. He emigrated to the U.S. as a teenager over 40 years ago. His new collection of poems is "Jackstraws" (Harcourt Brace). SIMIC also edited and translated an anthology of Serbian poetry, "The Horse Has Six Legs" (Graywolf Press, 1992)
Mark Linkous of the rock band Sparklehorse. He writes, sings, and plays nearly all the music. They debuted in 1995 with the album, "Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot." Their latest release is "Good Morning Spider" (Capitol).
Poet and novelist Michael Ondaatje (on-DAH-chay). He won Britain's highest literary prize, the Booker Prize, for his novel set in post World War II, "The English Patient," which was made into a film. Ondaatje was born in Cylon (now Sri Lanka), emigrated to England, and now lives in Canada. He has a new book of poetry, "Handwriting" (Knopf)
British playwright David Hare. He's had four works on Broadway in the past year: "The Judas Kiss" starring Liam Neeson, "The Blue Room" starring Nicole Kidman, "Amy's View" starring Judy Dench, and "Via Dolorosa" a one-man show in which he stars himself.
From the off-Broadway musical, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" composer-lyricist Stephen Trask, and actor/singer Michael Cerveris. The musical is about a failed rock singer who happens to be a German transsexual.
Rock historian Ed Ward reviews "The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966: The 'Royal Albert Hall' Concert" (Columbia). The series documents his controversial world tour when he plugged in his electric guitar. The Royal Albert Hall concert took place in Manchester, England.
Salman Rushdie has written the new novel "The Ground Beneath Her Feet." (Holt) It is his sixth novel but the first to be set largely in the United States. His previous novel "Satanic Versus" offended many in Iran which resulted in the government calling for his death. Rushdie lived in hiding for years. The Iranian government has since rescinded its "fatwah."
New York Times Foreign Affairs columnist Thomas L. Friedman is the author of the new book "The Lexus and The Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization." (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Friedman won two Pulitzer Prizes for his reporting in Lebanon and Israel. His 1989 book "From Beirut to Jerusalem" which was on the NYT's bestseller list for 12-months won the National Book Award for non-fiction. In January 1995, he became The Times Foreign Affairs Columnist. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Brandeis University.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the re-issue of "These are my Roots: "Clifford Jordan plays Leadbelly" by Koch Jazz. It originally came out in 1966.
Film producers Dustin Hoffman and Tony Goldwyn. Their new film is "A Walk on the Moon" by Miramax. Goldwyn, who also directed the film, is the grandson of studio executive Samuel Goldwyn of MGM. . Dustin Hoffman is a veteran actor whose first big break was starring in "The Graduate." Some of the films he's starred in include: "All The President's Men," "Kramer vs. Kramer," "Rainman," and "Tootsie."
Film critic John Powers reviews two new French films "The Dreamlife of Angels" and "I Stand Alone." Both films take place in the city of Lille, France. The Dreamlife of Angels received Best Actress (for both Elodie Bouchez and Natacha Regnier) at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
Belgrade writer and historian Aleksa Djilas, talks about the NATO bombing of his city. He talks to us by phone from his home in central Belgrade. He says many thousands of Serbs have relocated to neighboring countries to escape the bombing. Also, He says the majority of Serbs are not using available bomb shelters because the air strikes last for up to twelve hours. Djilas is the author of the book The Contested Country: Yugoslav Unity and Communist Revolution. And he's a former research associate at Harvard's Russian Research Center.
