I was happy to speak with Judith Tick, famed musicologist and professor emerita of music history at Northeastern University, and also author of the new biography of Ella Fitzgerald, Becoming Ella Fitzgerald.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to listen to part one of our interview, as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation. Next week, we’ll run part two of the interview.
If there’s anything that defines today’s political era, it is the amount of pure BS that is spouted and accepted every day. One of my favorite writers who cuts through all that is Australian based Caitlin Johnstone. With a sharp eye and a sharp tongue and a sharp pen she states the obvious, but forbidden, that the emperor has no clothes.
Here are two poems of hers written within the last year that I particularly like. The first is called “In Times Like These” which is self-explanatory, and the second is called “Thank You for Your Service,” written on the occasion of the death of whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear my reading of the two poems, as broadcast yesterday on Arts Express radio on WBAI FM and Pacifica affiliates across the nation,
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.
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.
Hey Guys, Watch This: Nellie McKay
Virginia Woolf’s To The Lighthouse
John Sayles’s New Novel: Jamie MacGillivray
“Shakespeare Without Tears”: Hamlet and the All-Seeing Surveillance State
Julian Assange In His Own Words
From Approximately Coast To Coast…
The Theater of Three Card Monte
Our End-Of-Year Arts Express Thank You Poem
2nd Chance: Sex, Violence and Bulletproof Vests
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.
Some years ago I had the privilege of reading on the air a selection from author Luke O’Neil’s terrific collection of essays called Welcome to Hell World. Now Luke has come out with a new collection of short fiction pieces called A Creature Wanting Form, published by OR Press. This new collection is a kind of perfect companion for the current ashes in the air. I thought the best way for you to get the flavor of the book was for me to read one of the stories from the book, a piece called “Thy Kingdom Come.”
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the story as performed on the Arts Express radio program, broadcast today on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
I find that as the world seems ever more bleak, I enjoy turning to the poetry of Mary Oliver. Her poems of disappointment, hope, and eventual learning from the natural world can get me through to the next day.
Here then is Arts Express favorite, actress Mary Murphy, superbly voicing a selection of poems by Mary Oliver.
Click on the mp3 link or arrow above to hear the poems as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
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.
Last week we brought you Part 1 of an interview with Jayne Loader, one of the directors of the classic 1982 film documentary called The Atomic Cafe, a darkly comic and horrifying collage of government propaganda clips and popular culture surrounding the development and deployment of US nuclear weapons. In Part 1 we talked about the dropping of the A-bomb and the lies that were told about it. This week, Jayne talks about how she and her co-directors obtained the material and the impact the cold war and nuclear weapons had on American culture from duck and cover drills in schools to the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
Here now is Part 2 of my interview with Jayne Loader director of The Atomic Cafe.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the interview as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program this week on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
Part 1 is here:
Forget about Oppenheimer. The year 1982 saw the release of one of the darkest, most horrific and yes, funniest documentaries ever made. I’m talking about film The Atomic Café which was a head-spinning stew of actual atomic age propaganda of the 1940s fifties and beyond, crafted from government-produced educational and training films, newsreels and advertisements. The film exposed the vast propaganda machine that the US state uses to deceive and market its insane atomic policies. Now it’s in re-release, and I think more relevant than ever, and I was very happy to be speaking today with one of the original directors of The Atomic Café, Jayne Loader.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear Part One of my interview with Jayne Loader as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio show heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
Part Two is here:
As you may know, not only are film and tv writers out on strike, but now film and tv actors have joined them. I recently spoke to actor/comedian Jay Potter, who is on the board of the New York local of SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ film and television union, to get more clarity about what is happening. In that conversation, fresh from a day on the picket line, Jay spoke about some of the key issues and the wider implications of the current exploitative Wall Street/Hollywood mode of film and series production.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear my interview with Jay as broadcast yesterday on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the country.
Veronica White was a local artist and activist who was full of surprises. In a new short film documentary called Veronica White: A Life in the Key of the Community, her many facets are explored. I was happy to speak with Director Chuck Moss and Executive Producer Julius Hollingsworth about the film.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the conversation as broadcast yesterday on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI FM NY and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
The Unit, a TV series which aired about fifteen years ago, while not my particular cup of tea, was widely recognized as one of the best written series on television. That was in no small part because playwright and screenwriter David Mamet was the creator of the show. A little while after the series was cancelled in its fourth year, a leaked memo from Mamet to the writing staff emerged. In it, Mamet gave some of the best and most succinct writing advice that can be given for writers of a screenplay. Here’s David Mamet’s memo to the writing staff of The Unit.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear my reading of that memo, as broadcast this week on the Arts Express radio show, heard on WBAI FM NY and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
Yes, it’s yet another episode of our ersatz Bob & Ray comedy segment with yours truly and Rick Tuman. In this new episode, we hear from the CEO of the Neighborly Rent-a Robot Company and also from a master of the denizens of the deep, the Shark Whisperer.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the segment as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation.
We’ve been putting together a fundraising show for WBAI, Arts Express’s parent radio station, so that’s what we’ve been up to in the last few weeks. We dived deep into the Arts Express archives and put together a fantastic flash drive with some classic interviews done by host Prairie Miller as a donation premium. In order to pitch it, we ran a show last night that contained some excerpts from some of those interviews, which you may enjoy listening to. The show contains pieces of interviews with Queen Latifah, RFK Jr., The Rolling Stones, Isabel Allende, and Mike Africa Jr. Click on the triangle or mp3 link above, in order to hear the program as broadcast last night on WBAI FM NYC.
It’s quite wonderful how powerful and evocative our sense of hearing can be. Worlds can be conjured up and recalled from just a subtle sound. It may seem contradictory, but my guest on Arts Express this week was the creator of a new film all about sound, 32 Sounds, Sam Green. We had lot of fun discussing that favorite topic of ours.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear my interview with Sam Green as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program as heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the country.
“Welcome to the Silver Age of Radio. We’re sorry to say we’ve reached the end of our run of Gunsmoke episodes starring William Conrad, Zazu Pitts, and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr, after airing a grand total of 32,647 episodes. But have no fear, we’ve dug down deep into our dusty archives and have come up with episode two of the Jack & Rick Bob & Ray homage, first broadcast way back on April 19th 2023 on the Arts Express radio network. So, without more ado, it’s Jack & Rick…”
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear our second Bob & Ray homage as broadcast today on the Arts 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.
Imagine please: A working class uprising. The lower classes are starving. They demand the right to eat. They want access to the great stores of grain that have been won in the recent war, confiscated from the enemy, but withheld from the peasants. And so begins the most class-conscious play that Shakespeare ever wrote, called Coriolanus.
Click on the triangle above or mp3 link to hear our commentary on Coriolanus, as broadcast yesterday on the Arts Express radio program, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation
The wonderful Connie Norgen, reading some of her recent poems, as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI FM NY and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to listen
March is the birthday of golden age radio comedians Bob and Ray, so herein, our Bob & Ray-ish radio segment, featuring Rick Tuman, as broadcast yesterday on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI FM NY and Pacifica affiliates across the nation
Cllck on the triangle or mp3 link to listen.
Before there was Covid, before there was Swine flu, there was a then mysterious sickness called Lyme disease. When Lyme disease was first identified in 1975, little did the medical community suspect that soon Lyme disease would become the center of one of the most controversial, divisive, and vicious medical debates in medicine today. A new film called The Quiet Epidemic explores that controversy by focusing on one young girl from Brooklyn and a doctor who refuse to abide by the conventional medical wisdom. I talked with the directors of The Quiet Epidemic, Lindsay Keys and Winslow Crane-Murdoch, for Arts Express radio.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the inteview as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio show on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the country.
Last week I took a look at the theatrics of a classic con game, three card monte. This week, I take a look at some of the most interesting films that have been made about con artists–and there are a lot of them. I managed to con myself into watching or re-watching hours of such movies this week, and if I don’t mention one of your favorites, rest assured this is not a definitive list by any means, just the ones I caught this week. I’ll rate them from one to five stars just for fun.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the review as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program today, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the country.
This is a radio segment based on an article I wrote a few decades ago about the theatrical elements of hustles like three-card monte.
Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the piece as broadcast today on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.
