ROAD SCHOLAR

Tell NBC we have the replacement for David Letterman. He is Andrei Codrescu, Transylvania-born poet, politcal refugee, beatnik philosopher, humorist, observer of llife, NPR contributer an dnewly-liscenced driver. Behing the wheel of a shiny red Cadillac convertible, Andrei treks cross country, from the prison adjoining Walt Whitman's house to Biosphere II, from the Motown Museum to “Indian schlocktarias” of the southwest (no, he never gets to Cleveland). To got with him is to see the USA afresh through wary but loving immigrant eyes. Time-frozen hippies, gospel roller-skaters, alien contractees, Haitian squatters, and gun nuts all appear in Mondo Condrescu, but your guide's congenial, quotable wit (“Crystals must be to New Age what velvet paintings are to Art”) is what really makes this the best ever no-tank trip.