Places & Travel

Edward James Olmos. He plays Lt. Castillo in the popular television series "Miami Vice" and is now starring in a soon-to-be released film "Stand and Deliver." Olmos also starred in the films "Zoot Suit" and "The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez" and "Blade Runner."

Singer Mick Moloney returns to play two Irish folk songs.

Rita Mae Brown, author of the classic feminist novels Rubyfruit Jungle and Southern Discomfort. Her other novels include High Hearts and Six of One. Her latest work, Starting From Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer's Manual, shares with writers her own tips and techniques.

Rock historian Ed Ward looks at the music of Mardi Gras as performed by Professor Longhair, the Neville family and The Hawkettes.

Dr. Robert Thurman, the first American to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. He later returned to the United States and established The Institute for Buddhist Studies at the University of Massachusetts. He visited Tibet in the fall of 1987 and is now setting up a Tibet House in New York City.

Brazilian guitarist Orlando Haddad performs two songs popular during "Carnaval," the holiday that preceded Lent.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," based on the 1984 novel by Czech writer Milan Kundera. The story is set in Prague in 1968 on the eve of the Russian invasion. The film stars British actor Daniel Day Lewis, who received critical acclaim for his roles in "My Beautiful Laundrette" and "Room With a View."

Actress Joan Chen. She co-stars in the epic film "The Last Emperor" as the Emperor Pu Yi's wife. In her native China, she was one of the country's leading actresses. Since moving to the United States, she has also appeared in the film "Tai-Pan."

Philippine journalist Ninotchka Rosca. For years, she worked as a journalist in the Philippines. After imprisonment by the Marcos regime, she went into political exile in the United States. She returned to the Philippines just as Marcos was losing power. She recalls that period in a book titled Endgame.

Author Kate Simon. Simon is best known for her travel books (Kate Simon's Paris, New York: Places and Pleasures) and for her two vivid memoirs of coming of age in the New York City of the 1920s and 30s. The first, Bronx Primitive: Portraits in a Childhood, portrays the immigrant neighborhoods just after World War I. In the second, A Wider World: Portraits in an Adolescence, Simon recalls her tumultuous adolescence as she discovered the world beyond the neighborhoods of her youth.

Canadian author Jane Rule, one of the best known and most widely read lesbian writers. Rule is best known for her 1985 novel Desert of the Heart, which was later adapted into the movie "Desert Hearts." Her new book is titled Memory Board.

Autobiographical monologist Spalding Gray. Gray is best known for his monologue "Swimming to Cambodia," about his experiences during the filming of the movie "The Killing Fields." "Swimming to Cambodia" was produced as a film last year, and Gray appeared in the David Byrne film "True Stories," as well as a recent installment of the PBS comedy series "Trying Times." Gray is wrapping up a 10-month residency at the Mark Tapper Forum in Los Angeles where he worked on several new monologues.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Downriver by Loren D. Estleman, the new mystery novel, the eighth in a series, featuring Amos Walker.

Musician Allen Toussaint. For over twenty years he's been a force in New Orleans rhythm and blues as a singer, songwriter and piano player. He wrote hits such as "Working in a Coal Mine," written for Lee Dorsey, and "Mother in Law," written for Ernie K. Doe.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles Roky Erickson and the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, a sixties group that put Texas on par with the psychedelic bands from California.

Critic-at-large Laurie Stone reviews the film Sammy and Rosie Get Laid.

Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan, who headed the six-year effort to fly a plane around the world without refueling. They completed their nine-day flight in their light-weight craft called The Voyager on December 23, 1986. They have written a book describing the adventure.

Film director and actor John Sayles. His films include "The Return of the Secaucus Seven," "Baby It's You" and "Brother From Another Planet." His new film is "Matewan," about a coal miner's strike in West Virginia.

Film Critic Stephen Schiff will review "The Last Emperor," the Bernardo Bertolucci epic set in 20th Century China.

New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger will discuss the contemporary urban skyline.