Places & Travel

Composer Antonio Carlos Jobim, who introduced America and Europe to bossa nova, the sensual, urbane musical idiom of Brazil. Before he started composing bossa novas in the 50s, he wrote symphonies, drawing from his training as a classical musician. His most widely circulated works include "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Desafinado."

Film director William Friedkin. He won an Academy Award for the thriller "The French Connection." His other films include "The Exorcist," "The Boys in the Band" and "The Night They Raided Minsky's." His latest work is an action-adventure film for television. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Cinematographer Nestor Almendros. The films he has photographed include "Sophie's Choice," "Kramer vs. Kramer" and "Days of Heaven," for which he won the Academy Award. He has directed the photography for films by Eric Rohmer and Francois Truffaut. Almendros worked in Havana in the early years of the Castro regime before he had a falling out with the authorities.

Painter Jacob Lawrence. For nearly five decades, Lawrence has been widely regarded as one of America's most important black artists. His work depicts the black American experience from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement. In 1986, a major traveling retrospective of his work was brought together by the Seattle Art Museum.

Poet W.S.Merwin. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1970 work, The Carriers of Ladders. His books of poetry include The Song of Roland, The Compass Flower and, his latest collection, The Rain in the Trees.

Critic-at-Large Laurie Stone reviews the Broadway play "M Butterfly."

Rock Critic Ken Tucker reviews "Shoes Best," a collection of 22 songs by Shoes, a grass-roots band from Zion, Illinois that is still trying to make it in the rock world on their own terms, without glitz and hype. They grant few interviews, never tour, and insist on complete control of their image.

Book critic John Leonard reviews The New Confessions, a novel by the British writer William Boyd. Boyd's earlier novels include Stars and Bars and An Ice Cream War.

Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe. Achebe is one of Africa's foremost writers. His earlier works include Things Fall Apart, A Man of the People and Arrow of God. His latest work, his first novel in 25 years, is titled Anthills of the Savannah.

Rock star, teen throb and matinee idol Rick Springfield. Springfield, who starred in the popular daytime soap "General Hospital," has a new album, his first in three years.

New Orleans pianist and singer Mac Rebennack, a.k.a. Dr. John, performs the last segment of a seven-part performance series. Up to now he's payed homage to other New Orleans musicians, like Professor Longhair and Louis Armstrong. But this time he plays his own music. He calls it "homegrown Dr. John the Night Tripper Music."

Thomas Martinez. His book Brotherhood of Murder, details his involvement with The Order, the extremist, right wing hate group that was implicated in numerous bank robberies and three assassinations, including the murder of Denver talk show host Alan Berg. The book details how Martinez, who grew up in a white slum in Philadelphia, was persuaded by The Order's teachings and how he was recruited for the criminal activities that supported the group. He later turned informant for the FBI.

British conductor Simon Rattle. While Rattle has won acclaim for his guest conducting in America and Europe, he is best known for the success of his City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Rattle's success has created a new legitimacy in England for regional orchestras. The orchestra is now touring in America.

Language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg looks back on the long nights he spent in a private club in Rome where the only requirement for membership was that you be a native-English speaker. He reflects on how the language brought together people who otherwise had nothing in common.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles the work of TK Productions, the Miami recording company that in the mid-70s brought out acts like K.C. and the Sunshine Band ("That's the Way I Like it" and "Get Down Tonight"), George McRae ("Rock Your Baby") and Betty Wright ("Where is the Love"), musicians who combined classic southern rhythm and blues with the up-tempo beat of disco.

Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar. He compares his films, like "Law of Desire" and "What Have I Done To Deserve This?," to the films of the American film director John Waters. Like Waters, Almodovar's films take a humorous view of popular culture's cliches.

New Orleans pianist and singer Mac Rebennack (also known as Dr. John) plays two songs recently made popular by other New Orleans artists. This is part six of a seven-part performance series.

Tango innovator Astor Piazzolla. Since the early 60s, Piazzolla has been leading groups that play an updated tango that connects this Argentinian form with the musical innovations from Europe and America, both classical and contemporary. The adjustments have earned him the enmity of Argentinians, and for most of the 70s he lived in France where he wrote film scores. Piazzolla is a classically trained composer who wrote symphonies and studied with Nadia Boulanger, the renown French instructor of composition.