Author Archives: Jack Shalom

Newport And The Great Folk Dream PT 2

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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

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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

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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

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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!

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“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.

Return to Fukushima Pt 2

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Last week we began our conversation with investigative journalist and professor Thomas Bass, author of a new book called Return to Fukushima. We discussed how the explosion of the nuclear reactors at Fukushima Japan in 2011, set off by an earthquake and tsunami, is still an ongoing international danger. We left off last week discussing how on Thomas’s visits to Fukushima he discovered that the radiation levels are still high in Fukushima, particularly for food stuffs that are exported world wide. We left off where I was appalled to learn about the danger from…wait for it…blueberries.

Click on the small traingle or mp3 link above to hear part two of our conversation with Thomas Bass, author of Return to Fukushima as heard on the Arts Express radio program broadcast on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Return To Fukushima

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This month, the 80th anniversary of the dropping of US atom bombs on Japan makes us think about more recent man-made atomic disasters. Never mind 9/11, on 3/11, 2011, the nuclear reactors at Fukushima, Japan exploded, with not only immediate effect, but long-lasting and far-ranging consequences for all of us, ongoing, still spilling radioactive components into the air and water on a large scale. Investigative Journalist and professor Thomas Bass spoke first-hand with the workers, engineers, politicians and remaining inhabitants of Fukushima to uncover the hidden and often distorted truth. He‘s detailed it all in a stunning book called Return to Fukushima, a great piece of personal reporting. I was happy to have him as my guest this week on the Arts Express radio program.

To hear my conversation with Thomas Bass, as broadcast on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the country, click on the small triangle or mp3 link above.

Join ICE

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Jesse Welles, as always, up to the minute, gives some recruiting advice, in lieu of the current budget allocation of 75 billion dollars to reward our national gestapo/paramilitary

More at Jesse Welles

Union Pt 2

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Last week we aired part one of our interview with Brett Story and Stephen Maing, directors of the recent film documentary Union. Union tells the story of the odds-defying independent Amazon labor union drive led by the extraordinary Chris Smalls in Staten Island. Today in Part two, we’ll explore union strategy, the international scene, and what the possible win of Zohran Mamdani for NYC mayor might mean for labor.

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

UNION

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We’ve recently been assaulted with Jeff Bezos’s 50 million dollar wedding, but now let’s turn back the clock to the spring of 2021. Bezos had sent a rocket into space, but down on the ground Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island were fed up and ready to fight back. The workers there, led by the indefatigable Chris Smalls, were fighting for the first Amazon union representation ever in the US. Directors Brett Story and Stephen Maing were able to literally get the inside story on the drama and power of that 11 month union drive in a new film documentary called Union, and I was happy to speak with them.

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear my interview with Brett Story and Stephen Maing, directors of Union, as broadcast on the Arts Express radio show, heard this week on WBAI-FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

The Great Caucasian God

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Jesse just keeps knocking out the songs with alacrity and aim.

More at Jesse Welles

Public Health And Morale

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This 1943 painting by N.C. Wyeth (father of Andrew, and iconic illustrator of Treasure Island and other favorites) struck us at our recent outing to the Brandywine Museum of Art in Chadd’s Ford, Pa. The painting was commissioned by Bristol-Myers Squibb as an advertising window display for its products. It is unironically titled “Public Health and Morale.” Your mileage may vary…

Brandywine Museum of Art

Chadd’s Ford, Pennsylvania

Where Biology Ends and Bias Begins

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It seems every generation there is a new upsurge of white supremacy and with that new attempts to justify it in some pseudo-scientific manner. We’ve had some great books in the past such as those by Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin laying out the scientific fallacies of those racist justifications. And now with the advances in genetic technology, it’s only natural that we have to update that scientific de-bunking. I was happy to talk with the author of a new book called Where Biology Ends and Bias Begins, Dr. Shoumita Dasgupta.

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

Guitars!

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Monday morning finds Jesse Welles with just the greatest smile and joy singing about his true passion in life! What a kick.

More at Jesse Welles

Repurposing Resources

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This American Robin turned this empty feeder bowl into a holder for her nest, where she is currently incubating her eggs.

Prospect Park,

Brooklyn, New York

The Prison Poetry of Ho Chi Minh

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This week marks the convergence of a number of important dates: May Day, the end of National Poetry Month (April 30th), and the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon (also April 30th). So I thought I’d acknowledge all of them at once with the poetry of Ho Chi Minh. He was arrested as a spy in August 1942 by the Kuo Min Tang and put into a series of Chinese prisons, enduring harsh conditions. He wrote over hundred short poems in prison, mostly in quatrain form, and they have been translated by several English translators including Aileen Palmer, Timothy Allen, and Kenneth Rexroth.

Click on the small triangle or MP3 link above to listen to a selection of the poems, as broadcast this week on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI-FM and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away

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This swan has good reason to be sitting on her nest, hiding in the reeds–one of her eggs had been stolen the year before by a so-called human.

Prospect Park

Brooklyn, New York

The Winter’s Tale: Preserving Possibility

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“It’s Shakespeare’s 461st  birthday coming up April 23rd, and you might wonder, what does an author write after it seems like he’s done it all?”

For the answer to that, click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to listen to my commentary, as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

They Live Among Us

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Looking like some ancient pterodactyl, the Brown Pelicans seem to have no fear at all of humans in the water, and merrily go their way swooping among us diving for fish.

Playa Biesanz,

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Lead Belly!

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The great Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, King of the 12-string Guitar, one of the most important musicians in American music, is the subject of a recent film documentary, titled Leadbelly: The Man Who Invented Rock and Roll. Perhaps it would be more telling to subtitle the film, The History of Being an Exploited Black Musician in America. What makes this film special is that the producer of the film, Alvin Singh II, is the great-nephew of Leadbelly, and the film includes not only his remembrances of Leadbelly, but also the wonderful on-screen memories of Tiny Robinson, Lead Belly’s niece.  And to top it off, we get plenty of first-hand accounts of Leadbelly from interviews with a dazzling array of musicians— Odetta, Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte, BB King, Oscar Brand and more…

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to listen to my review (and more Lead Belly music!), as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.