James Barron is a reporter on the metropolitan staff of The Times.  He wrote the minute-by-minute stories on the 9/11 attacks for The New York Times on the web and the front page lead story on the 2003 blackout.  He initiated the "Public Lives" column (later called "Boldface Names") and currently writes a podcast for The Times's Web site summarizing the next morning's front page.  Barron wrote the timeline summaries for The New York Times: The Complete Front Pages :1851 - 2008, and is the author of Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand.