Baby It’s You: The Shirelles

The Shirelles, one of the greatest girl groups of the 60s, had a hit with this song, co-written by, oddly enough, Burt Bacharach. The Beatles thought enough of the song to do a very good cover of it on their first album.

Thanks to YouTuber Nipstersongs1

A Creature Wanting Form: Luke O’Neil

A few weeks ago, I was happy to read a short story on the air titled “Thy Kingdom Come” by Luke O’Neil from his new collection of short fictions called A Creature Wanting Form. If you heard the reading, then you know that Luke O’ Neil is a powerful writer who takes journalistic impulses and turns them into sharp accounts of the present and near future world. I was happy to have Luke on the show as our guest.

Click the triangle or mp3 link above to listen to the interview with Luke O’Neil, as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Don’t Look Back But It’s Our 9th Anniversary!

Great Balls of Fire and other exultations of exclamatory joy! Hoo-roo and hoo-rah! We made it by the skin of our teeth through one more year of daily posts. I hope they’ve provided some sort of diversion and interest for you. As is my custom, on anniversary day, I post what I feel were my favorite audio pieces of the year. I’ll try to keep the list short this time, a baker’s dozen, so that you can get a chance to sample the ones you missed or re-visit posts that you enjoyed.

Thy Kingdom Come

Hey Guys, Watch This: Nellie McKay

The Underground Empire

Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse

John Sayles’s New Novel: Jamie MacGillivray

Coriolanus: Class War

“Shakespeare Without Tears”: Hamlet and the All-Seeing Surveillance State

Julian Assange In His Own Words

From Approximately Coast To Coast…

The Quiet Epidemic

The Theater of Three Card Monte

Our End-Of-Year Arts Express Thank You Poem

2nd Chance: Sex, Violence and Bulletproof Vests

The Actor’s Life: Mary Murphy

 The SAG-AFTRA actors strike has now been going since July 14th, more than 3 months without a contract. We’ve heard a lot in the press from both sides about the seemingly intractable negotiations–when there are negotiations–but I thought it could be brought closer to home by talking with someone who our regular listeners know, having done so many wonderful readings and performances on Arts Express, the wonderful actress Mary Murphy.

Click on the triangle or the mp3 link above in order to hear my interview with Mary Murphy as as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program today on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the country.

Runnin’ On Empty: Jackson Browne

Monday Morning, Jackson Browne worries about a fuel shortage.

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In ’65, I was 17 and running up 101
I don’t know where I’m running now, I’m just running on…

Thanks to YouTuber upfront27

With A Smile And A Song: Barbara Cook

Thanks to David Kenney, who played this song on his radio show Everything Old is New Again today–I had never heard it before. Though the lyric is very Disney, the gorgeous voice of Barbara Cook makes the song something special.

Thanks to YouTuber BlondieJohnson