In a geopolitical world where the US is increasingly using every tool of control and coercion it can on other countries, the truth can be deeply hidden. Now a new book titled, Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy, clearly outlines the ways in which technological and economic choke points, many on U.S land, are being weaponized to pressure the worlds’ foremost powers into complying with America’s interests. I was happy to interview the authors of Underground Empire, Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman.
Click on the mp3 link or triangle to hear the interview as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the country.
I’m grateful to Stephanie Schubert, Operations Coordinator of the Pacifica Network, for conducting and publishing this interview she did with me about the recent Arts Express production of To The Lighthouse. At the end of the article, you’ll find a link to our podcast page, if you’d like to hear the production.
The song “Shy” from the Broadway musical, Once Upon a Mattress, made a star out of Carol Burnett. The score was composed by Mary Rodgers, and of course, the last name Rodgers should ring a bell because indeed, Mary Rodgers was the daughter of Richard Rodgers, which was both her blessing and her curse. “Shy” is not only the name of the song but also the name of Mary Rodgers’ recent autobiography, published posthumously with the help of NY Times theatre critic Jesse Green. if there is a major theme in the story of Mary Rodgers life, it is how does a talented daughter get out from under the shadow of a very famous musical genius.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear my review of Shy, as broadcast today on the Art Express radio program, heard on WBAI-FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
Filmmaker, actor, and writer John Sayles captured my imagination ever since his first film, Return of the Secaucus 7. Soon, other great films followed: Brother From Another Planet, Matewan, Eight Men Out, Amigo, and so many others. But of course, John Sayles is not only a filmmaker, but also the author of short stories and novels including Union Dues, Amigo, and Yellow Earth. Now he’s come out with a new novel called Jamie Magillivray: The Renegade’s Journey. I was very happy to speak with John Sayles on the Arts Express radio program.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to listen to my interview with John Sayles as broadcast today on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the country.
The wild comedic imagination of Eleanor Morton takes the gender switching theme from the Robin Williams film, Mrs. Doubtfire, and transplants it into Robert Louis Stevenson’s horror story. A really brilliant turn by Ms. Morton.
Well, we’re kind of late this year, but we’re trying something completely different: A holiday giveaway.
Look, frankly, the contest each year is mainly an excuse for me to giveaway some magic books from my bed in order to make some room so that I can sleep. So I thought this time I’d just cut out the middleman, skip the contest, and just give them away.
Well there is one hitch. These are very good books, believe me. It’s just that at this point something has to give. So here’s what I’ll do. I have generated a list of random whole numbers between 1 and 10,000. Email me a whole number between 1 and 10,000 at jshalom@worldshare.net Put the word “Contest” in the subject line. Make sure to include your shipping address.Do this before a week from now. Deadline is Saturday, December 3, 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, but everyone else is welcome.) Please follow all the bolded directions, or I cannot accept your entry. 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 books at least one of which, I guarantee, you will be very happy to have.
Any course can be taken as the right course to take, but no course like that can be the course taken always.
Any name can be named to determine what is or should be, but no name like that can be what determines them always
Those are the opening lines of one of the oldest pieces of literature known, the Tao Te Ching. Aside from the Bible, it is also probably the most translated piece of literature known, written in about 400BC. Now, in a new translation by Brook Ziporyn transliterated as the Daodejing, English readers can get some new insight into this provocative and ambiguous classic, which I’ll be reading from.
If you’ve never encountered the Daodejing, you may be startled by its startling modern dialectical approach to life. This new translation with be published this January by Liveright Publishing; you can find more info here.
Click on the triangle or the mp3 link above to hear the reading as heard today on the Arts Express radio show broadcast today on WBAI FM NY and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
And for our NY friends–we’re on at a new time on WBAI FM: Wednesdays, 9pm.
Julian Assange, the most important news publisher of our time, is unjustly imprisoned in Belmarsh Prison in England, with the threat of extradition to the US hanging over him. He is charged with violations of the Espionage Act, for publishing the truth about US war crimes. Prosecution under that act will gag him from talking in court about the very war crimes he revealed in secret documents.
There has been a global outcry at Assange’s imprisonment. Recently, Karen Sharpe has edited a book for the publisher OR Books consisting of quotes from Julian Assange’s speeches and writings called Julian Assange In His Own Words. With permission of the publisher, we present to you a reading from the book by some of our radio friends inspired by Assange’s courageous acts. It is critical that Assange’s words and ideas not be silenced; only massive public protest can hope to free him.
And so, now, with the help of our radio friends, Julian Assange In His Own Words.
Click on the grey triangle or mp3 link to hear the segment as broadcast today on Arts Express on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
Well time flies when you’re having fun, and here we are at the 8th iteration of the Shalblog Industries® (division of Axlotl International) daily blog anniversary. As is our wont on such occasions (and who wouldn’t want to wont on such an occasion?) herewith a list of some of our favorite radio work of the past year that you may have missed.
As wars rage all around us, one war, WW II, still stands as the exemplar for the Good War. But is that a useful or accurate designation? And if not, why does that view still have such an outsized influence in the national discourse? I spoke with David Swanson who has written a book called Leaving World War II Behind which challenges the notion of WWII as the Good War.
Click on the grey triangle or mp3 link above to hear my interview with David Swanson on the Arts Express radio program on Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
** Fighting Times: Organizing on the Front Lines of the Class War: a special extended conversation with veteran union UAW organizer and hellraiser, Jon Melrod
**Little Amal Comes to Brooklyn: Little Amal is a 10-year-old refugee from Syria. She is also a 12-foot puppet who has traveled 5,000 miles across Turkey and Europe and now to Brooklyn, in search of her mother. A photo essay.
** Dennis Broe on Robert Colescott’s Anti-Racist, Anti-Imperialist paintings
Get your free email subscription to the Arts Express Magazine, the companion magazine to Arts Express Radio, by sending an email with the word “subscribe” in the subject line to: artsexpresslist@gmail.com
Fewer than 10 years ago, former NSA employee Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the US government’s illegal, unconstitutional, worldwide warrantless surveillance. Throughout history, brave whistleblowers have risked their lives and livelihoods for what they considered the greater good. But what is the cost these whistle blowers pay, and more importantly, how do the successful whistleblowers succeed?
I was happy to talk with author Tim Schwartz who has written a how-to guide for would-be whistle-blowers, uncovering many of the traps and missteps one can fall into, A Public Service: Whistleblowing, Disclosure, and Anonymity.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the conversation with Tim Schwartz as broadcast today on the Arts Express program on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
As corporations are making record profits, workers are being squeezed more than ever. But workers are fighting back in surprising ways. Jon Melrod, has been involved as hell raiser and union organizer for decades, ever since his groundbreaking union organizing on the shop floor for the United Auto Workers in the 70s and 1980s. He’s now written a rip-roaring memoir called Fighting Times: Organizing on the Front Lines of the Class War about his fight to make workers lives better, and I was happy to get the chance to interview him.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear my interview with Jon Melrod, as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
Get your free subscription to the Arts Express Magazine, the companion magazine to Arts Express Radio, by sending an email with the word “subscribe” in the subject line to: artsexpresslist@gmail.com
In our Arts Express Playhouse, a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Gilman is best known for her novella The Yellow Wallpaper, but she also wrote hundreds of other short stories. The one I’m reading above, “If I Were a Man,” was written in 1914, before women even had the right to vote in the US, but it seems a whole lot more modern.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the story as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio show, heard on WBAI-FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
The American mass obsession with guns is clearly unique and filmmaker Richard Chisolm has made an intriguing short documentary called Gun Show which details one artist’s attempt to come to grips with the national gun worship.
Click on the triangle above or the mp3 link to hear my review as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
Kenneth Patchen’s poetry is a bullet right between the eyes.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear Mary Murphy and me read a selection of poems by Kenneth Patchen, as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the country.
The newest book by Marxist economist Michael Hudson has the imposing title of The Destiny of Civilization: Finance capitalism, industrial capitalism or socialism. It’s not exactly summer beach reading but it is one of those books that has added to my framework for understanding world events and I greatly appreciate that.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear my review of the book as broadcast today on Arts Express radio program heard on WBAI-FM and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
** Castro’s Spies: Director Gary Lennon phones in from Dublin to talk about his documentary depicting the heroic undercover Cubans infiltrating Miami, known as the Cuban Five.
**Decolonizing Museums: A review of the new book by Shimrit Lee on the service of museums to imperialism
** Lost People, Places and Spaces: Dennis Broe on the international crime novel writing festival in Lyons
A memorable day in any big city child’s upbringing is when they first enter a large museum and experience the wonders of a giant dinosaur, skeleton, or an ancient mummy. But in a new book, Decolonize Museums, our guest Shimrit Lee suggests that maybe museums are not as innocent as they seem…
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear my interview with Shimrit Lee as broadcast today on the Arts Express program on WBAI and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
It’s May, and May brings up thoughts of Mayday and revolution and Karl Marx’s birthday, May 5,1818, so I thought it might be worthwhile to read from the surprisingly readable Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels.
Click on the grey triangle or mp3 link above to hear the reading as broadcast today on Arts Express on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the country.
In 1954, the Supreme Court issued their ruling on Brown vs. Board of Education, which was supposed to end segregation in US public schools. While that struggle was most visible in the South, it was occurring in different ways up North. In her book, Desegregation of the New York City Schools: A Story of The Silk Stocking Sisters, author Dr. Theresa Canada was part of a desegregation experiment herself as a student in NYC in the early 1960s.Through her own example and the oral histories of others, A Story of The Silk Stocking Sisters provides insight into the slow process of desegregation and eventual re-segregation within the New York City Public Schools during that time and the lessons learned. I was happy to speak with Dr. Theresa Canada about her experiences.
Click on the grey triangle or mp3 link above to listen to my interview with Dr. Theresa Canada as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation.
