June 2000

The Flashboat -- Poet and critic Catherine Bowman reviews Jane Cooper's new collection called, The Flashboat: Poems Collected and Reclaimed. Cooper is a 76-year-old from Jacksonville, Florida who writes spare poetry. (5:00)

Big Stone Gap -- Writer Adriana Trigiani reads from her new novel Big Stone Gap. (3:00)

Andrew Hill -- By the time he was 20 years old, Andrew Hill had studied with composer Paul Hindemith and played with jazz great Charlie Parker. Alfred Lion - founder of Blue Note records - was so impressed with the young pianist in 1963, that he signed him to a contract. Within eight months Lion had recorded five albums worth of original Hill compositions. Hill's music is challenging. Not in a thorny, avant-garde way. It's just complex. So, despite being a legend among jazz fans and musicians, he's never had a huge audience. But Hill doesn't seem to mind. He's pursued a career at his own pace. Now he has a critically-acclaimed new CD called Dusk. Tom Vitale reports. (7:45)

Portrait Of The Artist As An Old Man -- Novelist Joseph Heller, author of the celebrated book CATCH-22, died this winter at the age of seventy-six. He left behind one last completed work of fiction. It's called, Portrait of an Artist, As An Old Man. Alan Cheuse has a review. (2:00)

Golf Books -- Golf books are in an abundance these days. There are dozens of new titles available for the avid golfer. With the final round of the US Open and Father's Day coinciding this Sunday, we offer a survey of several books that were just published. The titles include: Shrink Your Handicap, by sports psychiatrist Dr. Phil Lee and Jeff Warne ( published by Hyperion), A Golfer's Day with the Master: Spiritual Wisdom from the Fairway, by Sister Dorothy Ederer (published by Doubleday), Shakepeare on Golf, by David Goodnough (publish by Barricade Books), and Golf Astrology, by Michael Zullo (published by Andrews MCMeel Universal Company). (7:30)

Cuban Music -- Tom Moon reviews Muy Divertido, the second exploration of Cuban music by Marc Ribot, a New York rock guitarist. Moon says that Ribot's take on Cuban music is respectful, but he also puts his own spin on the sound. It's on Atlantic Records.(3:15)

Summer Books -- Our book reviewer Alan Cheuse has put together his annual summer reading recommendations. We'll hear selections from; Charles Baxter with The Feast of Love, Edna O'Brien and Wild Decembers, Storm Riders, by Craig Lesley, Spytime, by William F. Buckley, Grant, by Max Byrd, Captain Blackman, by John A. Williams, House of Leaves, by Mark Danielewski, In the Gloaming by Alice Elliott Dark, Sam the Cat, by Matt Klam, The Toughest Indian in the World, by Sherman Alexie and finally, Miles and Me, by Quincy Troupe. (12:30)

Lee Feldman -- David Greenberger reviews Lee Feldman's second album called, The Man in a Jupiter Hat. Feldman is a piano player in New York. (4:30) Lee Feldman's CD is on Bonafide Records/Mercury Records, Copyright 2000, catalog # 1002.

The Married Man -- Alan Cheuse reviews Edmund White's new novel, The Married Man. He says it tells the story of an extraordinary love affair between two ordinary people. (2:00)

Kid Journalists -- Linda Wertheimer talks to Linda Ellerbee, author of Girl Reporter Stuck in Jam, about her book series for adolescents. Ellerbee talks about combining her experience as a reporter with her experience in children's television programming to write books that will inspire the journalists of the future. (5:45)

Kronos -- Banning Eyre reviews the latest recording from the adventurous California-based string quartet, the Kronos Quartet. The CD is called Caravan and is an exploration of music from places as far-flung as Portugal, Romania, Iran, India, and Argentina. (3:00)

Privacy -- Robert talks with Jeffrey Rosen about his new book, The Unwanted Gaze: The Destruction of Privacy in America. It's about the legal, technological and cultural changes that have affected the amount of people's personal information now available to others. Rosen is a legal affairs editor at The New Republic and an Assistant Professor of Law at George Washington University. (7:30)

The Fourth Great Awakening -- Robert talks to Robert William Fogel -- winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Economics -- about his book The Fourth Great Awakening: and the Future of Egalitarianism. In the book, Fogel analyzes the cycles of technological, political, and religious change in the U.S. He says the cycles start in reaction to technological change, which historically has changed the economic landscape, and then threatened the dominant culture. He points to the "First Great Awakening" which took place during the industrial revolution in 1730, which laid groundwork for the American Revolution. The second was associated with Abolition, and the third was associated with the New Deal. This current awakening period started in the 1960's. Fogel is a professor at the University of Chicago, where he is also director of the Center for Population Economics.

William Parker -- The Village Voice calls him, "the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time." Another critic likens Parker to Mister Rogers. A fierce player with a gentle personality, Parker made a name on the N.Y.C. jazz scene in the 1980's playing with pianist Cecil Taylor. He's gone on to perform and record with Don Cherry and Roscoe Mitchell. In addition to a recent solo bass record (Lifting the Sanctions No More Records No. 6), Parker has just released a new CD with his Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra (Mayor of Punkville AUM Fidelity AUM 15/16). Karen Michel has a profile. (7:45)

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