Places & Travel

Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck. He's also the new Minister of Culture in Haiti. His most recent movie is "The Man By the Shore", a dark movie set in a seemingly sleepy, run-down fictional town during the middle of the dictatorship of Francois (Pappa Doc) Duvalier in the 1960s. The film is being distributed by a small New York entertainment group, KJM3 (tel. 212-689-0950). It opens on Friday May 17 at the Quad Cinema in Manhattan.

Chinese-Canadian journalist, Jan Wong.... She went to China as an idealistic radical student in the 70's and believed in the Cultural Revolution and even informed on a couple of people. But she eventually left China, totally disillusioned. Years later she returned as a reporter for the Toronto Globe and Mail and covered the Tiananmen Square massacre. She talks about her new book, "Red China Blues". (Doubleday/Anchor Books, 1996)

Commentator Dagoberto Gilb on this trip to New York City with his son.

Novelist Terry McMillan. The film adaptation of her 1992 novel, "Waiting to Exhale" was last year's box office hit.The book sold nearly 4 million copies. McMillan has recently completed her fourth novel, "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" (Viking) which is available in bookstores this week. It tells the story of a 42-year old career woman on vacation in Jamaica who falls in love with a 20-year old unemployed resort worker. According to McMillan, "it's as close to autobiography as I've written in a long time".

Center for the Houston Rockets, Hakeem Olajuwon He was born in Nigeria, and came to the United States on a basketball scholarship to attend the University of Houston. He helped the team reach the NCAA Final Four. He's written his memoir, "Living the Dream: My Life and Basketball," (Little, Brown).

World Music critic Milo Miles tells us about the concert he recently attended by the albino singer from Mali, Salif Keita. His new album is "Folon" on the Mango label.

Milo Miles reviews "Heart of the Congos" by The Congos. (Blood and Fire, USA--in L.A.)

Photojournalist Edward Serotta has documented the community of Bosnian Jews in Sarajevo, and their efforts to rescue their Muslim, Serb, and Croat friends and neighbors during the siege. His book is "Survival in Sarajevo: How a Jewish Community Came to the Aid of its City." (Central Europe Center for Research & Documentation). Terry will also talk with him about his recent trip to Sarajevo to look for the the legendary Sarajevo Haggadah -- a 700 year old Spanish masterpiece that's valued at 10 million dollars. During the Holocaust, Muslims hid it from the Nazis.

Rock critic Ken Tucker tells us about the latest British invasion: Spacehog (their new album is "Resident Alien"--Sire Records), Black Grape ("It's Great When You're Straight"--Radioactive Records) and Pulp ("Different Class"--Island Records).

Poet Robin Becker reads "The Roast Chicken" from her collection "All-American Girl."

World Music critic Milo Miles comments on his three favorite Latin releases of the last few months.

Film Critic for the L. A. Weekly Ella Taylor reviews the new movie "Chungking Express" by writer/director Wong Kar-Wai.

China scholar Orville Schell, and Vice Chairman of Human Rights Watch, Asia. He will be talking about the crisis between China and Taiwan. SCHELL has written nine books on China, as well as contributing to magazines and television. His latest book is "Mandate of Heaven: A New Generation of Entrepreneurs, Dissidents, Bohemians, and Technocrats Lays Claim to China's Future." (Simon & Schuster, 1994). Schell is also a board member of Human Rights in China. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

President of the Social Democratic and Labour Party of Northern Ireland, John Hume. He's been an advocate of nonviolence throughout the 25 years of violence in Ireland. He has received numerous peace and humanitarian awards, has been nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and is thought to be a leading contender for the award this year. He has a new memoir "A New Ireland: Politics, Peace, and Reconciliation" (Roberts Rinehart Publishers). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Film critic John Powers reviews the new film by the Coen Brothers, "Fargo."

British musician Sting was the bassist and lead singer for the Police, which from 1978 to 84 produced a creative and popular blend of jazz and rock. Since beginning his solo career in 1982, Sting has released six albums. His latest "Mercury Falling," is scheduled for release in the United Sates on March 12.

On November 11, 1994, Eddie Polec was clubbed to death in a Philadelphia suburb by a group of rival high school kids. He was clubbed with a baseball bat on the steps of the St Cecilia's Church where he had been an altar boy. Investigators say he was beaten until limp and then held aloft "to give the bat-wielding youths a better shot." He had been waiting for his young brother, to walk home together when the group of kids arrived, looking for a fight. Eddie hadn't been part of the rivalry. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On November 11, 1994, Eddie Polec was clubbed to death in a Philadelphia suburb by a group of rival high school kids. He was clubbed with a baseball bat on the steps of the St Cecilia's Church where he had been an altar boy. Investigators say he was beaten until limp and then held aloft "to give the bat-wielding youths a better shot." He had been waiting for his young brother, to walk home together when the group of kids arrived, looking for a fight. Eddie hadn't been part of the rivalry. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Disappearance: A Map," by Sheila Nickerson, a meditation on loss. (Doubleday).

Anthropologist Elizabeth McAlister is an expert on Haitian Vodou and she's studied Haitian Vodou in Brooklyn and in Haiti. She's compiled a new album of sacred and ceremonial music recorded in Haiti and in New York, "Rhythms of Rapture" and contributed to a new book "Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou." (Smithsonian Folkways).