Person Place Thing

Tonight at 10:30 on Person Place Thing, The Wall Street Journal's language columnist Ben Zimmer, discusses his person - William of Orange - his place - South Orange, New Jersey - and his thing - oranges.

Tonight at 10:30 p.m. on Person Place Thing, Bill McKibben a fine writer and an ardent environmentalist, counts himself lucky to have worked with William Shawn at The New Yorker who says Shawn was “the greatest editor of the 20th century.” Also listen in on McKibben’s place, Crane Mountain, and his cross-country skis.

This week on Person Place Thing, Architect Bernard Rudofsky created buildings from Montreal (Habitat 67) to Singapore (Jewel Changi Airport), but Jerusalem -- the center of three Abrahamic religions, where people have lived for 6,000 years – is different: “It takes an act of real arrogance to build in a city like that. It was quite emotionally wrenching,” Rudofsky says.

Tonight at 10:30 p.m. on Person Place Thing, we break format with trumpeter-composer Herb Alpert. We devote the entire episode to his conversation about one person, songwriter Burt Bacharach. A million-selling musician talks about a billion-selling musician.

This week on Person Place Thing, we break format with trumpet player/composer Terence Blanchard, best known for his scores for the last bunch of Spike Lee movies. Instead of “Person Place Thing,” Blanchard talks about three pieces of music: "The Prayer" by Miles Davis from Porgy and Bess, Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” and "He Ran to the Train” by Bobby McFerrin.