News & Media

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles arranger and producer Thom (pronounced "tom") Bell. Bell's responsible for much of what came to be known as the "Philly" sound, a result of his work with groups such as the Delfonics and the Stylistics.

Rock historian Ed Ward takes us back to 1980 for the birth of rap music.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Quincy Jones' new album "Back on the Block." Jones produced the album, co-wrote some of the numbers and performs a bit, but mainly it's a showcase for some of his favorite performers, ranging from Dizzy Gillespie to the rapper Ice-T.

Consumer electronics expert Howard Blumenthal. He writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column called "The Hi-Tech Home," and has also written "The Electronic Home Advisor," a guide to consumer electronics products. In his books and columns, Blumenthal writes about new developments like HDTV, and gives advice on buying everything from VCR's to laptop computers.

Photographer Cornell Capa. He's a former president of Magnum Photos, Inc. a collective of the world's most renowned photographers whose founders include, Cornell's brother, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Maria Eisner and others. In 1967 he founded and directed the International Fund for Concerned Photography, an organization formed partly in memory of his brother, Robert, who was killed in Vietnam while on assignment. Cornell Capa has been a staff photographer for "Life" magazine and has published a number of books of photographs.

Rock singer, guitarist and record producer Dave Edmunds. Although he was born in Wales, his music is influenced by the American roots of rock and roll. As a producer, he's worked with the Stray Cats, The Fabulous Thunderirds, and he produced the come-back albums of the Everly Brothers and Dion. In the 1970's, he got together in London with Nick Lowe and formed the band Rockpile. Edmunds has a new album coming out soon on Capitol called "Closer to the Flame." It's his first in five years.

Record producer Daniel Lanois (len-wah). He's considered one of the premier record producers of the 80's. He produced U2'S "Joshua Tree," Bob Dylan's new record "Oh Mercy," the Neville Brother's "Yellow Moon," and Peter Gabriel's "So." He's currently on tour performing songs from his own first solo album, "Acadie" (ah-kah-dee). On it you can hear the influence of his own French-Canadian folk roots, and the atmospheric, ambient sounds he produced with Brian Eno.

Critic Owen Gleiberman reviews the video "Vengeance is Mine." It's a Japanese movie made in 1979.

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.

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."

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.

Critic Owen Gleiberman (GLY-ber-man) reviews the 1964 movie "Bedtime Story" starring David Niven and Marlon Brando as a pair of conniving womanizers. It's now out on home video. That movie inspired last year's film, "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."

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.

Sports writer Mike Sowell (rhymes with "powell"). Sowell's book, "The Pitch that Killed," is the true-life account of the death of Ray Chapman. Chapman was the Cleveland Indians shortstop who died after being hit in the head by a pitch thrown by New York Yankee Carl Mays. The incident occurred in late August, 1920, as the Yankees and Indians were battling for the American League pennant.

Critic Owen Gleiberman reviews a new home-video documentary on actor, writer, and director John Houston.

Record producer Arthur Baker. The eclectic Baker has produced or mixed for musicians as diverse as Bob Dylan, Jimmy Cliff, Cyndi Lauper, U2, and Bruce Springsteen. Now he's come out with his own album, "Merge." He's chief songwriter and plays keyboards as well as producing.

Commentator Owen Gleiberman (GLY-ber-man) reviews "Bloodsport," a 1987 martial arts film which has just been released on video. The film stars Jean Claude Van Damme, the successor to martial arts film star Bruce Lee. His current film, "Kickboxer," is currently being shown in theaters, but "Bloodsport" is the film that introduced Van Damme to martial arts audiences.

Photojournalist Eugene Richards. His new book, "The Knife & Gun Club: Scenes from an Emergency Room," has been called the "modern day version of Dante's 'Inferno.'" It chronicles the trauma center of the Denver General Hospital where Richards spent twelve to twenty hours a day photographing and talking to the staff.

Syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman. Goodman's new collection of essays, called "Making Sense," examines the issues surrounding sexuality, feminism, abortion, parenting and childcare. Goodman's column appears in more than 400 papers nationwide, and in 1980 her writing earned Goodman the Pulitzer Prize. (NOTE: Ellen Goodman's been on Fresh Air before, but this is a new interview.)

Gossip columnist-turned novelist Michael Musto. Musto writes a column for The Village Voice (called La Dolce Musto) that follows New York City's avant-garde social scene. Musto's columns usually ignore the comings and goings of the Donald Trumps in favor of highlighting some about-to-be-discovered artist or performer. In 1986, Musto wrote Downtown, a guide book to the Manhattan party scene. His new book, Manhattan On The Rocks, is a novel about the party scene and the most sought after gossip columnist in New York.