Chat With Merle Haggard, Vernon Reid

I'm in the process of learning about country right now, since I realized that I was being remiss by being so ignorant about it. The first CD I borrowed from my roommate was Merle Haggard, and I tell you, it wasn't bad. Still don't know much about him, but apparently he was the most important country artist to come to fame in the 1960s, and is best known for "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive," "The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde," "Okie From Muskogee" and countless others. Chat with him on yahoo.com at 6 p.m. EST, 5 p.m. CST, 4 p.m. MST, 3 p.m. PST.

If you read "Angela's Ashes," like I did (that's right baby, I read a book -- heh heh, pretty impressed, aren't you?), you know who Malachy McCourt is. Even though I knew the book was a memoir, it's still a bit of a shock to realize that Malachy is a real person, who has, as it happens, written several books of his own, and with whom, as it happens, you could chat on barnesandnoble.com at 7 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. CST, 5 p.m. MST, 4 p.m. PST.

I find this new film "Lost Souls" endlessly intriguing. Not because of the plot or premise or content, about which I know nothing, but because it stars Winona Ryder. She's purty. And this dude Janusz Kaminski must of hung around her a whole lot, since he was the film's director and all. I personally have a whole lot of questions to ask ("So what's Winona really like?" "Did you ever catch her eyes in the early dusk, when the light shadows dapple over her face like a sweet caress?") in a chat with him on scifi.com at 10:30 p.m. EST, 9:30 p.m. CST, 8:30 p.m. MST, 7:30 p.m. PST.

Well, after that, I think I'll try to reclaim some dignity and tell you about Marvin Hamlisch. Hamlisch is the Principal Pops Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra, has won three Oscars, four grammys and three Emmys for his musical scores. Most recognizable have been his music for "The Way We Were," "Sophie's Choice," and his adaptation of Scott Joplin's music for "The Sting" ? as well as a little thing called "A Chorus Line." Chat with him on washingtonpost.com at noon EST, 11 a.m. CST, 10 a.m. MST, 9 a.m. PST.

When was the last time someone came along and shocked the guitar-lovers with a brand new style? Maybe Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine? I'm not a guitar freak myself, but I love the devotion to the artistic fervor for guitar-playing that has lead to canonization of guys like Eddie Van Halen and Vernon Reid. Reid was the main attraction of Living Colour, the hard rock band known as much for Reid's dynamic playing as the fact that they were African-Americans. Chat with Reid on musictoyz.com at 9:30 p.m. EST, 8:30 p.m. CST, 7:30 p.m. MST, 6:30 p.m. PST.