The Iranian President’s Letter To The American People

Posted on by
Reply

During these past weeks of the American-Israeli War on Iran, we’ve been deluged by the unhinged words and actions of Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth. It’s been much rarer to hear the direct words of those from the Iranian administration, but In a bold statement, the President of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, posted a letter on social media directly addressed to the American people. Pezeshkian, who before going into politics was a heart surgeon trained at the Tabriz University of Medical Science and who served as a doctor in the Iran-Iraq War, has a wide historical perspective. I thought you might be interested in hearing the letter that he wrote, so I’ll read it in full now…

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear the letter as read on the Arts Express program, heard on WBAI FM NYC, WBAI.org, and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Crucible: John Sayles’s New Historical Novel About Henry Ford, Labor and Cars

Posted on by
Reply

“John Sayles, filmmaker and novelist, known especially for his labor films, including the celebrated Matewan, has a new novel out. In his latest historical fiction, Crucible, Sayles furthers the story of the struggle of American labor, when organized labor in Michigan took on that force of nature–or better, force of capitalism–Henry Ford…”

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear my interview with John Sayles as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program, as heard on WBAI FM NYC, WBAI.org and Pacifica affiliates across the nation

FIxin’ To Die Rag

Posted on by
2

Country Joe McDonald at Woodstock, RIP

(WordPress is having problems with displaying video–if you don’t see one, click on the title to go directly to the blog post.)

Teaching in Prisons and More: Andy Teirstein Part 2

Posted on by
1

“Hi this is Jack Shalom, Last week we began our conversation with composer, professor, performer, activist Andy Teirstein. I had met Andy through our mutual immigration rights work at the NYC immigration courts for the New Sanctuary Coalition. In the process of getting to know him I learned that he had taught music and theater at a couple of upstate prisons. We left off our conversation as Andy was describing what it was like for both him and the men in prison to learn in that setting. So here’s Andy…”

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear Part two of my interview with Andy Teirstein on the Arts Express radio program broadcast on WBAI FM NYC, WBAI.org and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

You can find Part One here:

https://jackshalom.net/2026/02/19/of-immigration-court-and-teaching-in-prisons-part-one-andy-teirstein/

Of Immigration Court And Teaching in Prisons, Part One: Andy Teirstein

Posted on by
Reply

“We’re going to do something a little bit different today. My guest is someone who I just only recently met a few Fridays ago at an immigration court accompaniment, under the auspices of the New Sanctuary Coalition here in NYC. We started talking and I found him to be a fascinating guy with a really eclectic, creative, and political background including all kinds of awards and honors. So, I’m happy to be speaking today with actor, musician, composer, professor and political activist, Fellow at the Center for Ballet and the Arts, and also BMI Woody Guthrie Fellow, Andy Teirstein…”

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear my wide ranging conversation with Andy, as heard on the Arts Express radio program broadcast on WBAI FM, WBAI.org and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

And you can find Part Two here:

Teaching in Prisons and More: Andy Teirstein Part 2

Bird City: Part 2!

Posted on by
Reply

“Last week we began our delightful conversation with Ryan Goldberg, author of Bird City: Adventures in New York’s Urban Wilds. Ryan talked about how the social and even political structure of New York city has been shaped by, and shaped, New York’s birds from beaches to parks, cemeteries to garbage dumps, airports to salt marshes. We left off our conversation where I had asked Ryan about the New York City so-called celebrity birds that from time to time blow up on social media…”

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear the continuation of my interview with Ryan Goldberg, author of Bird City: Adventures in New York’s Urban Wilds, as broadcast this week on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI-FM NYC, WBAI.org, and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

(You can find Part 1 of our conversation here)

Bird City

Posted on by
3

“When most New Yorkers look up they see skyscrapers, but award winning journalist Ryan Goldberg sees birds. In fact, he sees birds everywhere: New York City beaches, parks, cemeteries, even garbage landfills–and discovers how  birds help tell the social, cultural and even political story of our city…”

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear my interview with Ryan Goldberg, author of Bird City: Adventures in New York’s Urban Wilds, as broadcast this week on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI-FM NYC, WBAI.org, and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

(You can find Part 2 of our conversation here)

Cast Your Fate To The Wind

Posted on by
Reply

As we shovel out, or just look out the window Monday morning, George Winston plays the Vince Guaraldi composition with some improvisation of his own.

More at George Winston

Renee Good: On Learning To Dissect Fetal Pigs

Posted on by
2

“Renee Good, among other accomplishments, was an award winning poet and was deeply interested in questions of faith. She grew up as an evangelical Christian, but in 2016, now married, at the age of 28 she started college, and the clash of religious ideas versus science and secular ideas was explosive for her. In 2020, she wrote a poem about her trying to reconcile the two ways of experiencing the world, which foreshadowed the change in her political beliefs. The poem was called “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs” and it won the Academy of American Poets University & College Poetry Prize. I’m going to read it now…”

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link to hear a reading of the poem as broadcast on the Arts Express radio show, as heard on WBAI FM NYC, WBAI.org, and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

“Something That Was Once Potentially Good”

Posted on by
Reply

How do you write fiction in a world that is perhaps post-fiction? When the horrors of the present world outstrip what our imaginations imagine? Arts Express favorite, Luke O’Neil, author of Welcome to Hell World and A Creature Wanting Form, writes stories that are full of the pain of men and women–but mostly men–who are trying to figure out how to deal with the helplessness and terror that make a mockery out of any John Wayne or Ernest Hemingway definition of manhood.

Now O’Neil has come out with his third collection of short stories called We Had It Coming, published by O/R Books.. We’ve always resonated with his work, but in this new collection especially, O’Neil’s short pieces are to our time what Raymond Carver’s short stories were to his. Stories of the soul and body struggling to make sense of the senseless cages in which capitalism has trapped us.

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear my reading of “Something That Was Once Potentially Good,” from We Had It Coming, as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI FM and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Venezuela: A European Perspective With Dennis Broe

Posted on by
Reply
Screenshot

“If you’re anything like me you woke up this past Saturday with shock and horror that Nicholas Maduro, the elected president of Venezuela, was kidnapped by US forces on the flimsiest of pretexts. Caracas was bombed and at least 40 people were murdered. And now Maduro is incarcerated in Brooklyn, ostensibly to be tried as a drug criminal, in the same prison where Luigi Mangione is being held . I’m really happy to have with us on Zoom our Paris correspondent and cultural critic, Dennis Broe, to give some of his insights from a European perspective…”

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to listen to my conversation with Dennis Broe, as broadcast this week on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation.

We Did Okay, Kid: Anthony Hopkins

Posted on by
1

“Earlier this year we had the great Al Pacino’s memoirs published, and now we have the new memoir of another great actor available, Anthony Hopkins, who as a child had to hear his schoolmates call him “Elephant Head.”  And while both Pacino and Hopkins grew up in working class circumstances with difficult upbringings, their writing voices, like their acting voices, could not be more different…”

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above for my commentary on the new Hopkins memoir, We Did Okay, Kid, as broadcast this week on the Arts Express radio show, heard on WBAI-FM and Pacifica stations across the nation.

Culture and Barbarism With Dennis Broe

Posted on by
Reply

Part One:

Part Two:

I was happy to have this cross-continental conversation with cultural critic, novelist, and Arts Express Paris Correspondent, Dennis Broe. I think you’ll have fun listening to our wide-ranging conversation with topics from the French street uprisings to media consolidation to AI to Robin Hood to Zohran Mamdani. We broadcast it last week and this week on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the country.

This was conceived originally as a fundraiser for listener-sponsored radio station WBAI, home of Arts Express, but we edited the conversation for the affiliates (and this blog!) to eliminate most of the pitching.

Click on the small triangle or mp3 links to play.

And The Envelopes, Please…

Posted on by
Reply

For the 11th Annual Shalom Blog Magic Contest, that is. Here are the winners!

  1. Jay Baker
  2. Mike Kamlet
  3. Frank Yuen
  4. Chet Day
  5. Sean-Dylan Riedweg
  6. Richard Hatch
  7. Daniel Terelmes
  8. Ron Soucie
  9. Steve Cobb
  10. Steve Hook

Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to those who entered! The world of random numbers can be a fickle mistress, but these ten people have managed to prognosticate with an acumen and foresight that Carnac The Magnificent would be proud of.

Prizes will go out as soon as I hear back from everyone on the above list. (Please, if you haven’t responded to me yet, please check your email and spam folder and get back to me ASAP.)

Happy Holidays all!

Eleventh Annual Shalom Blog Magic Contest

Posted on by
Reply

Once again, In the never-ending battle for shelf place, I’m giving away some very nice magic books. One of them can be yours. Here’s what to do:

Please follow ALL the bolded directions, or I cannot accept your entry. I have generated a list of 10 random whole numbers between 1 and 10,000. Email me, at jshalom@worldshare.net one whole number between 1 and 10,000 that you think might be on the list. Put the word “Contest” in the subject line. Make sure to include your full name (not a company name!) and a current shipping address. One entry only please. If you won a prize last year, please do not enter this year to give others a chance. Do this before the deadline. Deadline is Sunday, November 30th 11:59 PM Pacific Time. That’s it. (Sorry, but due to shipping costs, this is only open to folks who live in the Continental US.) Please follow ALL the bolded directions, or I cannot accept your entry. Prizes will be awarded in December.

Whoever is closest to the first number on my random list gets first prize; whoever is closest to the second number gets second prize, and so on. There will be 10 prizes given out.

First prize is first choice from the terrific grab bag of magic books I’ve put together; second prize is second choice from the grab bag; and third prize, in a parallel, numerically pleasing manner, is third choice from the grab bag, and so on, down to 10th prize gets 10th choice. The items in the grab bag are all commercial magic books at least one of which, I guarantee, you will be very happy to have.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Ensh*ttification

Posted on by
Reply

“Crap, crap crap crap crap. I’m saying crap because that’s the euphemism I’m going to have to use now for the new book by Cory Doctorow whose name will not pass FCC rules, so I’ll just call the book Encrappification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What You Can Do About It, though of course  the real title rhymes with Ensittification. If you’re wondering why everything, especially the internet and Big Tech, which Doctorow primarily focuses on, is in the crapper, this is the book for you…”

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear my commentary as broadcast on the Arts Express radio show this week, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation

The Black Cat

Posted on by
Reply

And now a little Halloween cheer with the short story, The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe, adapted for Arts Express Radio.

Click on the mp3 link or small triangle above to hear the tale as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Just Phenomenal

Posted on by
2

One of the most astonishing and entertaining magic acts I’ve ever seen. Belgian Magician Laurent Piron stuns Penn & Teller, the audience, and certainly me.

More at Laurent Piron

The Last Extinction

Posted on by
Reply

“Among geologists and paleontologists, The Dinosaur Wars have been known as a fearsome conflagration of powerful beings. No, I’m not talking about battles among those long extinct creatures, but among human beings, mostly male, at scientific war in the present day, lined up against a female scientist whose ideas threatened their theories and privilege. And I’m happy to have as our guest today, the woman who has been at the center of this controversy for decades, Dr. Gerta Keller, Professor Emerita at Princeton University, and the author of the new book about her groundbreaking work and discoveries, titled The Last Extinction: The Real Science Behind the Death of the Dinosaurs.“

Click on the mp3 link or small triangle above to listen to my interview with Gerta Keller as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Newport And The Great Folk Dream PT 2

Posted on by
Reply

We’re back this week with more of our conversation with Robert Gordon and Joe Lauro, director and producers of the film Newport and the Great Folk Dream, about the Newport Folk Festival in the years 1963 to 1966. The festival, started by George Wein and Pete Seeger–where all artists got paid the same–led to an incredible diversity in the music showcased there.

Click on the mp3 link or small triangle above to listen to the interview as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation.

Newport And The Great Folk Dream

Posted on by
Reply

In the cultural and political explosion that became known as the 60s, music was an incredible unifier, and arguably the most important cultural and political form of expression. But what culminated in Woodstock in 1968 had its precursor in the Newport Folk Festival from the early 60s. Now, a new documentary about the Newport Folk Festival based on archival footage that hasn’t been seen in sixty years has been released called Newport and the Great Folk Dream. I was happy to talk with the director and producers of the film, Robert Gordon and Joe Lauro.

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear the interview, as heard this week on the Arts Express radio program, broadcast on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

And you can find Part 2 here:

Newport And The Great Folk Dream PT 2

Copaganda Part 2

Posted on by
Reply

Last week we began a fascinating discussion with Alec Karakatsanis, author of the recent book called Copaganda. Now, copaganda is the unique form of propaganda that the cops and the rest of what Alec calls the punishment bureaucracy use to convince the public to endlessly fund their corrupt and provenly useless law enforcement institutions. Today we’ll continue our discussion about how copaganda works. Alec tells us that it not only has to do with the sheer number and volume of media scare stories, but also with the careful selection of anecdote.

Click the triangle or mp3 link to hear the continuation of our interview with Alec, broadcast on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Copaganda

Posted on by
Reply

In a world where narrative control is essential for the ruling class to maintain dominance, one of the main weapons in the class war is media manipulation. As applied to the world of so-called law enforcement, or what our guest today calls the punishment bureaucracy, you get a particularly insidious and dangerous form of propaganda called copaganda. And Copaganda is the name of the highly readable and eye-opening book written by our guest on the show today, public defender, civil rights lawyer and journalist, Alec Karakatsanis.

Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear my interview with Alec Karakatsanis, as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Part two is here:

Copaganda Part 2

Action Will Be Taken!

Posted on by
Reply

“Probably one of the strangest interludes in my life was the time I spent as an employee in Alfred Wunsiedel’s factory…”

This time, for Labor Day weekend, I’ll be reading a droll story by Heinrich Böll about a pensive worker who finds his true calling in a world that seems to demand action at all costs. It’s called Action Will Be Taken.

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear our Labor Day Noir, as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.