Terry Gross

McNally is best known for the script he wrote for "Kiss of the Spider Woman," based on the Manuel Puig novel which was made into a movie and has recently been made into a Broadway musical. His newest play is, "A Perfect Ganesh." McNally helped develop Off- and Off-Off Broadway in the early 70s.

An expert on Central Asia and Afghanistan, Barnett Rubin, Associate Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, and a former Peace Fellow with the United States Institute of Peace He's just returned from three former Soviet republics which have large Muslim populations, which he says are now run by ex-communists. Rubin will also discuss the aftermath of the Afghan War, and how many of the radical Arabs who went to Afghan to help the rebels are now taking their "holy war" elsewhere.

A concert with the McGarrigle sisters, Kate and Anna. There are new CDs of their first two albums, released in the late 70s: "Kate & Anna McGarrigle" and "Dancer with Bruised Knees." The McGarrigles are known for their close and "subtle harmony." Their music is considered hard to categorize, although it sounds folky. The sisters absorbed an eclectic blend of music when they were growing up in Canada: Victorian ballads, blues, jazz, French-Canadian folk songs, Broadway tunes, and country music.

Behind the scenes during the golden age of the Broadway musical: Susan Loesser, daughter of Frank Loesser, composer of the classic songs "Heart and Soul" and "Baby It's Cold Outside". He also wrote the score for "Guys and Dolls" which is now being revived on Broadway. Loesser's new memoir of her father is called "A Most Remarkable Fella."

Nielsen is best known for his comic roles in Airplane! and the Naked Gun films. He's been acting since the late forties, after he was taught radio broadcasting by Lorne Greene. He's just written a "fictional autobiography" called "The Naked Truth," a pun-encrusted look at nearly fifty years of show business.

Robert Shope, Co-chair of the Committee on Emerging Microbial Threats to Health. Shope is also a physician and professor of epidemiology at the Yale University School of Medicine, and was part of the team that identifyied the virus that caused Lyme disease. Terry will talk with him about a new virus strain discovered in the Southwest.

Lincoln's new record is "Devil's Got Your Tongue." Once married to legendary jazz drummer Max Roach, she's made her mark on jazz for almost 40 years, singing with giants like Benny Carter, Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins. Lincoln has been hailed by one critic as the "Last Great Diva", and says herself that she sings in the tradition of Sarah Vaughan, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday.

Arnold Rampersad, professor of Literature at Princeton, biographer of Langston Hughes, is coauthor of tennis star Arthur Ashe's memoir, "Days of Grace." Ashe died this year at age 49 from AIDS he contracted during open heart surgery. He was the first African American tennis champion, winning the United States Open in 1968, and going on to capture three Grand Slam titles. He has remained a vital presence in the sport, and his autobiography features portraits of the great celebrities of tennis.

For 45 years, Bowles has been writing novels, stories, essays, poetry and autobiography. He started out as a composer, studying with Aaron Copeland. Bowles was friends with Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas, and later became a "resident guru" for several generations of American writers including Tennesee Williams and William Burroughs. Since 1947, he's lived in Tangier, Morocco. Best known for his novel "The Sheltering Sky," he has a new anthology, called "Too Far From Home."