Norman Mailer is a journalist, novelist, and essayist whose latest novel is "Ancient Evenings." Mailer delivers a talk on "The Problem of Writing" at the University of Pennsylvania.
Poet Gwendolyn Brooks was, in 1954, the first black person to receive the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Brooks has written over fifteen books, her poetry has been widely anthologized, and has received over forty honorary doctorates. Brooks is also the Poet Laureate of Illinois. Brooks is in the are to deliver the "Marion Moore Poetry Reading" at Bryn Mawr College. Brooks discusses her career and reads some of her poetry.
Gerontologist Roy Walford is currently researching the aging process and how to extend life expectancy. His new book "Maximum Life Span," explores the theory he is currently developing on using caloric restriction, or what Walford calls "under nutrition," to extend life expectancy. Walford has been on the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) since 1954, and has won many awards for his research and work.
Seymour Shubin is a novelist whose previous work "Anyone's My Name," was a best seller. Shubin is the former managing editor of Official Detective Stories, and has written for medical and psychological journalists. His new novel, "The Captain," is a suspense story that explores the anger and resentment a retired detective living in a nursing home feels towards the nurses, doctors, and the family members who put him there. The novel has been nominated for an Edgar Award.
Stan Mack's cartoon strip "Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies," has run in the Village Voice since 1974. The strip comes with the guarantee "all dialogue reported verbatim," and consists of absurd conversations overheard by Mack. Mack began his career as an art director at The New York Tribune and The New York Times. Mack's new book "In Search of the G Spot" is a collection of "sex spoof jokes."
Peter Bogdanovitch is a screenwriter, director, and producer, whose movies include "The Last Picture Show," "What's Up Doc?," and "Paper Moon." He got his start working for Roger Corman. Bogdanovich is also a critic and journalist, who has written for the Village Voice and Esquire, and also an author of several books about U.S. film directors. His latest film is a romantic comedy titled "They All Laughed," and Bogdanovich is currently distributing it himself through his company Moon Pictures.
Alice Neel is a painter known for her portraits and nudes. Neel was born in 1900 in the Main Line and studied at the Philadelphia School for Design for Women, later Moore College of Art. Neel's work is featured in an exhibit at the Philadelphia College of Art, [later University of the Arts] focusing on women artists whose work appears in the archives of the Women's Interart Center in New York. She discusses her life and career as a woman artist.
Pianist and composer Philip Glass is known for his avant-garde "minimalist" music. Glass was trained classically at Juliard and in Paris. Glass discusses his album "Music With Changing Parts."
Marita Golden became part of a group of black radicals as student at American University in Washington, D.C. After graduating from the Columbia School of Journalism, Golden married a Nigerian and moved to Nigeria with him. Golden was shocked by the role of women and wives in the country, which she found stifling. Taking her son with her, Golden left her husband and returned to the United States. She discuss her life and experiences in her memoir "Migrations of the Heart."
Dr. Walter Lear is the founder and co-chair of the National Gay Health Coalition, the former state Health Commissioner, for Southeast Pennsylvania and the president and founder of the Institute of Social Medicine and Community Health in West Philadelphia. Dr. Nick Ifft is the secretary of Philadelphia Health Professionals for Human Rights (an organization of gay and lesbian physicians and dentists), the coordinator of the Philadelphia A.I.D.S. Task Force, and a general practitioner at South East Health Center in Philadelphia. The doctors join the show to discuss A.I.D.S.
Joyce Johnson became a part of the circle known as the Beat writers: Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Jack Kerouac, when she broke away from her middle class Jewish family life and joined the bohemian Greenwich Village crowd. Johnson met Kerouac in 1957 and was in a romantic relationship with him for two years. Her new memoir, "Minor Characters," discusses not only her experiences but also the role of women in the Beat generation. Johnson is also an editor and novelist.
There have been many changes in Philadelphia since the 1950s: the renovation of Society Hill, the Chestnut Street Transit Way, Penn Center, Galleries 1 and 2, and Penn's Landing. Barbara Kaplan is the current Executive Director of the Philadelphia Planning Commission. Prior to attaining the role, she served for eight-and-a-half years on the commission in various roles, and for planning agencies in Dallas/Fort Worth, San Diego, and Los Angeles.
Poet Nikki Giovanni joins the show to discuss her latest work "Those Who Ride the Night Winds," the life of a poet, African American poets, rap, and women poets.
Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb are one the most popular songwriting teams in the country. They wrote the music for Broadway shows such as "Cabaret," "Chicago," and "Woman of the Year." They've also composed the music for movies such as "Funny Lady" and "New York, New York." Their song of the same name from the latter film became a hit when sung by Frank Sinatra. Their new musical, "Zorba," stars Anthony Quinn.
Drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson has worked with jazz legends such as Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler, and Ornette Coleman during his Harmolodics period. Jackson's new album is "Man Dance."
Singer and lyricist Peggy King was well known in the 1950s, especially for her appearances on television variety programs, such as the Mel Torme Show. She left the business to raise her children in Philadelphia, but has returned to performance. King will perform with the Philly Pops, singing a Johnny Mercer set.
Willy Perryman, better known as Piano Red, is a pianist who has been playing the blues and boogie woogie since the 1920s when he got his start playing rent parties in Georgia. Piano Red also hosted a live radio show on WAOK in Atlanta where he was known as "Dr. Feelgood." He began touring internationally in the 1970s and is in town to play several concerts.
Les Blank is one of the filmmakers who directed the documentary "Burden of Dreams," which will be playing at the International House in Philadelphia. The documentary is about the making of Werner Herzog's fictional film "Fitzcarraldo," which chronicles an Irishman trying to build an opera house in the Amazonian jungle. This interview originally aired on Michael Goodwin's radio program about film on Pacifica Radio Station KPFA in Berkeley. (INTERVIEW BY MICHAEL GOODWIN)
On this edition of "Interval," Francis Davis finishes his series on the best jazz recordings of 1982 with his top ten list of "mainstream" jazz albums:
