Tag Archives: Arts Express

Al Pacino On Acting For The Stage and Screen

13 Friday Apr 2018

Posted by in Performance, Theatre

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AARP's 2nd Annual Movies For Grownups Film Showcase - "The Humbling"

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Al Pacino is one of only a handful of Hollywood actors who has regularly gone back to his roots in the theater.  At a recent press screening of his re-released films, Salome and Wilde Salome, he held forth on, among other things, the differences between acting in film and acting in the theater. Even at age 77, Pacino is a funny, enlightening, and honest speaker.

You can listen to his talk, as broadcast yesterday on the radio segment I prepared for the WBAI Arts Express radio program, by clicking on the grey triangle above.

 

Extreme Whether

16 Friday Feb 2018

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In this radio interview broadcast yesterday on WBAI 99.5 FM, I talk with playwright Karen Malpede about her new cli-fi drama, Extreme Whether, a theatrical exploration of the climate change wars. It opens in March at LaMama in New York City. For more information about the play and tickets, go to http://theaterthreecollaborative.org/extreme-whether

Click on the grey triangle above to hear the interview.

Longing Lasts Longer: Penny Arcade

26 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by in Comedy, Life, Music, Performance, Theatre, Writing

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Penny Arcade, the definition of underground performance artist, creator of dozens of killer performance pieces over the last thirty plus years, including her current worldwide theatrical hit, Longing Lasts Longer, spoke with me in a wise and funny radio interview, broadcast yesterday on the Arts Express program on WBAI.

Click on the grey triangle above to hear the wonderful Penny talk about her performance roots, the downtown art scene, why it gets better, cupcakes, gentrification of the mind, and the pursuit of approval.

“Ze Little Grey Cells”

22 Friday Dec 2017

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Agatha Christie, the Queen of mystery stories, not only wrote dozens of novels, but over 150 short stories as well.  Recently, four of her short stories were read at New York’s Symphony Space, as part of the estimable radio series Selected Shorts, featuring a cast of well-known actors, and including commentary by essayist Fran Leibowitz. Click on the grey triangle above to hear my review, as broadcast yesterday on WBAI radio’s Arts Express.

 

Sleepwalking to Armageddon: Helen Caldicott

01 Friday Dec 2017

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Long time anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott talks with me in this radio interview, broadcast yesterday on WBAI’s Arts Express program, about the continuing danger and threat of nuclear war; the relationship of the nuclear power industry to the nuclear weapons industry; and what ordinary people can do to stop the nuclear madness.

Caldicott, named by the Smithsonian Institute as one of the most influential women of the 20th century,  has just edited a new book, Sleepwalking to Armageddon, a short but sobering compilation of essays that outlines where the world stands now in relation to the nuclear danger, and what must be done.

Click on the grey triangle above to listen.

Dealt: Fate Shuffles The Deck For Magician Richard Turner

24 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by in Magic, Performance

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Magician Richard Turner, the fabled blind card mechanic, is the subject of a compelling new film documentary directed by Luke Korem called Dealt. I interviewed Korem who spoke about the challenges and pleasures of making the film. Though ostensibly about magic, the story is also about independence, disability, discipline, creativity, and about learning how best to play the hand that life has dealt us.

Click on the grey triangle to listen to the interview as broadcast yesterday on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI 99.5 FM..

 

My Six Red Months In Russia

10 Friday Nov 2017

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“Every one leaving the Palace was searched, no matter on what side he was. There were priceless treasures all about and it was a great temptation to pick up souvenirs…”

A hundred years ago this month, The Russian Winter Palace was taken over by the Bolsheviks as the culminating act of the Russian Revolution.  American journalist Louise Bryant was an eyewitness to these events, and wrote about them in her exciting memoir of the period, Six Red Months in Russia.

Mary Murphy and I produced this 10-minute radio segment featuring readings from Bryant’s memoir, broadcast yesterday on the Arts Express program on WBAI-FM.

Click on the grey triangle above to listen.

Late In The Day: Constance Norgren

15 Friday Sep 2017

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I was happy to welcome back poet Constance Norgren yesterday to the Arts Express radio program on WBAI 99.5 NY to read from her latest collection of previously unpublished poems, Late In The Day. Click on the grey triangle above for some wonderful short poems.

Mike and Ruthy’s Hoot Love

25 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by in Life, Music, Performance, Writing

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Mike Meranda and Ruthy Ungar, musicians extraordinare, talked with me about making a meaningful life in art.

Click on the grey triangle above to learn how a family survives and thrives carrying on the humanistic music path trod by Woodie Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and then goes on to make their own distinctive mark in music.

The interview was broadcast yesterday on the Arts Express program on radio station WBAI.

For more about the Ashokan Summer Hoot click here at Hoot.Love.

The Voice Actor: Fireside Mystery Theater

14 Friday Jul 2017

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The suspenseful Fireside Mystery Theater has become an unexpected podcast success, with over a million downloads of its contemporary radio performances of macabre and off-center scripts, reminiscent of the Golden Age of Radio. You can listen to an interview broadcast yesterday on the Arts Express radio program over WBAI FM that I did with the two creators of the company, Ali Silva and Gus Rodriguez, by clicking on the grey triangle above.

Four Futures, Part Two: Peter Frase

30 Friday Jun 2017

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Yesterday, WBAI-FM radio’s Arts Express broadcast part two of my interview with Peter Frase, author of the new book Four Futures.

Frase has an intriguing set of ideas about what the future might look like after capitalism destructs, given the ecological constraints of abundance/scarcity and the political constraints of equality/inequality. In this final segment we talk about what might happen if the world’s resources turn out to be strictly limited.

Click on the grey triangle above to tune in.

You can listen to Part One here:

https://jackshalom.net/2017/06/23/peter-frase-four-futures-life-after-capitalism-part-one/

Peter Frase: Four Futures, Life After Capitalism–Part One

23 Friday Jun 2017

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Yesterday, WBAI-FM radio’s Arts Express broadcast part one of my interview with Peter Frase, author of the new book Four Futures. Frase has an intriguing set of ideas about what the future might look like after capitalism destructs, given the ecological constraints of abundance/scarcity and the political constraints of equality/inequality.

Click on the grey triangle above to tune in.

You can listen to Part Two here:

https://jackshalom.net/2017/06/30/four-futures-part-two-peter-frase/

Why I Can’t Find My Keys

09 Friday Jun 2017

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Yesterday, the Arts Express radio program on WBAI broadcast my audio essay concerning a surreal day in the park this past Memorial Day weekend.

You can listen by clicking on the grey triangle above.

How I Became A Poet: Langston Hughes

12 Friday May 2017

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I had long known of Langston Hughes’s poems, but I didn’t know until very recently what a delightful speaker and storyteller he was. In this audio clip he is talking to a group of graduate students in Berkeley about his upbringing. What a lovely man. Click on the grey triangle above to hear.

The audio clip is just the beginning of a one-hour Hughes talk from an astounding collection of over 1300 hours of audio from the archives of Pacifica Radio. The collection is called Voices That Change The World. It’s not cheap, but on the 64GB flash drive (you get two for the price of one) there is an extraordinary range of audio from the most remarkable people of the last fifty years—singers, poets, writers, politicians, artists, scientists, religious figures, audio books. It’s an amazing resource.

More here: http://www.give2wbai.org/product_p/fd0007-w17.htm

And if you buy one, please mark down that you’re donating for the Arts Express program.

Lies Like Truth: “Inside” at St. John the Divine

07 Friday Apr 2017

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Yesterday the Arts Express radio program ran my audio essay on a new site-specific performance piece called Inside by PopUp Theatrics.  The more I tried to write a conventional review,  the more I realized I had to do it in another way.  Sometimes when a work of art leaves you feeling unsettled, it’s a good thing. For a meditation on the power of memories and stories, and the way they blur the line between truth and fiction, click on the grey triangle above.

The Comedian: Robert De Niro

27 Friday Jan 2017

Posted by in Comedy, Life, Performance

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The Comedian is the new Robert De Niro movie in which he plays a washed-up comedian trying to make a come-back years after his initial fame. It has a great cast including Danny DeVito and Patti LuPone, and a raft of cameos. Is it worth seeing? You can hear my review of the film, which was broadcast yesterday on radio station WBAI, by clicking on the grey triangle above.

Crowds and Party by Jodi Dean

30 Friday Dec 2016

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Crowds and Party by Jodi Dean is a fascinating must read for anyone interested in how political change happens, and what the left must do now. In this book, Professor Dean talks about those “beautiful moments” that have happened throughout history—think The Paris Commune and Occupy Wall Street—where The Crowd has created a disruption in the usual fabric of capitalist society. But those “beautiful moments” are short-lived, ephemeral, and seem to disappear into forgotten hope. How can a movement hold onto and build on these precious historical moments? Jodi Dean tackles crowd theory and the concept of a working people’s political party, reviews the relevant literature, and presents her analysis in her new book, Crowds and Party.

The book is not always easy reading, so I was happy to have the opportunity to engage in a spirited conversation with Professor Dean, broadcast on WBAI 99.5 FM NY radio yesterday on the Arts Express program. Dean was so interesting that we decided to do two parts to the interview, broadcast one week after the other.

You can listen to Part One by clicking on the grey triangle above.

Click Here for Part Two.

Notes From The Field: Anna Deveare Smith Explores the School-to-Prison Pipeline

25 Friday Nov 2016

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Anna Deveare Smith portrays 17 different people—students, teachers, parents, judges, Congessmen, social justice workers—in her new, almost one-woman play, Notes from the Field. Your intrepid reporter reviewed it for WBAI radio yesterday.

Click on the gray triangle to listen.

Lance Burton Talks Magic and More

19 Saturday Nov 2016

Posted by in Life, Magic, Performance

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Magician Lance Burton retired five years ago, after an astounding 15,000 performances, but he’s still a busy man. Last Thursday, WBAI radio broadcast my interview with him. Due to time constraints, they played an edited version of the interview, but the audience of this blog is more magic-oriented, so I thought you might like to hear the uncut version.

In the interview Lance talks about Johnny Carson, growing up with magician Mac King, life in Las Vegas, working with doves, and what he considers the most important thing he knows about magic. Click on the grey triangle to catch up  with magician Lance Burton.

The Second Time Around

14 Friday Oct 2016

Posted by in Comedy, Life, Performance, Theatre, Writing

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My colleague Mary Murphy and I had such fun making the WBAI membership promos, that we created three more amusing promos, specifically for the Arts Express radio magazine show.

You can hear the three one-minute promos by clicking on the grey triangle above.

Two Macabre Stories by Ambrose Bierce

30 Friday Sep 2016

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“Mrs. Dennison’s Head,”and “Oil of Dog” are two delightful macabre short stories by Ambrose Bierce which the the marvelous actor Mary Murphy and I performed on the Arts Express radio program yesterday.

Click on the grey triangles below to listen.

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Click here for “Mrs. Dennison’s Head,” read by Mary Murphy:

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Click here for “Oil of Dog,” read by Jack Shalom

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Hold the Mustard: Joey Chestnut’s Large Life of Competitive Eating

09 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by in Life, Performance

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Possibly the Greatest Major League Eater of all time—70 hot dogs and buns downed in 10 minutes just scratches the surface—Joey “Jaws” Chestnut talks to your intrepid reporter on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York.

Click on the grey triangle to hear the interview.

A Visitor From Another Century

01 Friday Jul 2016

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Yesterday, radio station WBAI’s Arts Express program played my interview with Karl Marx. Well, not Karl Marx exactly, but with actor Jerry Levy who plays Marx in a new one-man play that Levy wrote called The Third Coming.

Click on the grey triangle above to hear Levy talk about Marx, anarchism, Howard Zinn, and how he prepared to act the role of a lifetime.

Judy Blume: In The Unlikely Event

24 Friday Jun 2016

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My interview with author Judy Blume was broadcast yesterday on WBAI radio. The gracious writer talked about her new novel, her first attempts at writing, her writing process, and finally, her wise advice for would-be novelists. Listen to the warm voice of Judy Blume speaking about her art and craft by clicking on the grey triangle above.

Proletarian Promo

21 Tuesday Jun 2016

Posted by in Comedy, Life, Performance, Theatre

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Recently for WBAI radio’s Arts Express program, I interviewed actor Jerry Levy who plays Karl Marx in Jerry’s one-man play, The Third Coming. We collared him for an interview, and he was also kind enough to do an amusing promo for the show that I put together.

You can hear the 30-second spot by clicking on the grey triangle above.