Tag Archives: interview

The Case For Open Borders

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One of the most volatile issues facing the US electorate this year concerns so-called open borders. Despite whatever rhetoric may be coming from the two major US political parties, their basic positions are the same—they see open borders as a threat to the country. But is any of the fearmongering true? My guest on Arts Express is a journalist and translator who writes for the Arizona Luminaria, John Washington. He has written a compelling new book called The Case for Open Borders.

Click on the grey triangle or mp3 link above to hear my interview with John Washington as broadcast yesterday on the Arts Express radio program on WBAI FM and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Finding The Money Part 2

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Our conversation about how the US economy really works, with Stephanie Kelton and Maren Poitras of the documentary Finding The Money, continues.

Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the interview as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation.

Part One can be heard by clicking here

Finding The Money

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What if everything you thought you knew about the way the US economy works was wrong? I mean everything: the national debt, the role of taxes, even what money is. Now a new documentary Finding The Money challenges the story that we’ve all heard about how the national debt is out of control. The film flips the narrative on its head, challenging the arguments of those who say we can’t afford social spending. I was happy to have on Arts Express filmmaker Maren Poitras, and also one of the major subjects of Finding the Money, economist and former advisor to Bernie Sanders, Stephanie Kelton.

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear part one of the interview as broadcast last night on the Arts Express program heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Part Two is here:

Finding The Money Part 2

Taking Venice: The US And The Cold War Culture War

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At the height of the Cold War, the U.S. government was determined to showcase US culture to the world as proof of capitalism’s superiority as an economic system. And so in 1964, the US government embarked on a daring plan to make artist Robert Rauschenberg the winner of the Grand Prize at The Venice Art Biennale, the world’s most influential art exhibition. A new film documentary, Taking Venice, gives us an inside look at how the Biennale was manipulated, and more than that, a look at the enigma that was Robert Rauschenberg.

I was happy to interview the director of Taking Venice, and an art critic in her own right, Amei Wallach. Click on the small triangle above or the mp3 link to hear the interview as broadcast on Pacifica affiliate stations across the nation.

Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story

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Asian-American photographer Corky Lee used to carry a business card with him which read, “Corky Lee the undisputed, unofficial Asian-American photographer laureate.” And undisputed, was right: his fifty plus years of documenting Asian-American life in photographs, and his knack for being in the right place at the right time, made him a cultural hero to millions of Asian Americans, particularly in New York City.

A recent film documentary about Corky Lee, called Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story is now in release, and I was happy to have as our guest on Arts Express radio, the director of Photographic Justice, Jennifer Takaki.

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear my interview with Jennifer Takaki as heard on the Arts Express radio program, broadcast today on WBAI-FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation.

The Berman Murders

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My guest, Doug Kari, author of The Berman Murders, looks back at a double murder from more than 35 years ago and takes the reader through an international  labyrinth of deceit and crime that leads to the killer—who, by the way, has never been prosecuted for those murders. I was happy to be talking with journalist and lawyer Doug Kari, author of The Berman Murders.

Click on the mp3 link or triangle above to listen to the interview as heard today on the Arts Express radio program, broadcast on WBAI-FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation.

My Perfect Five Song Set: Paul Simon

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I’m not a big fan of Colbert, but this is a great extended interview with Paul Simon. Highlight: his recitation of the lyrics to “Darling Lorraine.”

Thanks to YouTuber The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Ru$e: Lying The American Dream From Hollywood To Wall Street

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One thing that Hollywood and Wall Street have in common is that their core businesses are based on illusions, money and lies. My guest has been intimately involved with both worlds and has recently written a page-turning memoir called RUSE: Lying the American Dream from Hollywood to Wall Street. I was happy to talk with author Robert Kerbeck.

Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to listen to the interview as broadcast on the Arts Express radio show, heard on WBAI-FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation.

Until Tomorrow, Comrades

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We’ve featured the work of the revolutionary fiction writer Manuel Tiago on Arts Express several times with dramatic readings from some of his short stories. Those stories are a part of an eight book cycle about the 40 year fight against the Portuguese fascists from the 1930s to the 70s. That series has recently come to completion with the publication of the last book to be translated into English, titled Until Tomorrow, Comrades. I was happy to speak with Eric Gordon, the translator of the series.

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

Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: Part Two

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This is part two of my interview with Judith Tick, musicologist and author of the new biography, Becoming Ella Fitzgerald. In this part, we talk about Ella’s relationship with her producer Norman Granz, the songbooks, and her later years.

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

You can hear part one here:

Becoming Ella Fitzgerald, Part One

Becoming Ella Fitzgerald, Part One

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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.

And here is part two of the interview:

Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: Part Two

A Creature Wanting Form: Luke O’Neil

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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!

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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

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 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.

The Underground Empire

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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.

To The Lighthouse Interview

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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.

Jack Shalom Discusses To the Lighthouse, the Latest Radio Play from Arts Express

The Atomic Cafe–Part 2!

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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:

The Atomic Cafe: It’s The Bomb!

The Atomic Cafe: It’s The Bomb!

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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:

The Atomic Cafe–Part 2!

Actors On Strike!

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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.

A Life In The Key Of Community

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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.

Arts Express Conversation Classics

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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.

John Sayles’s New Novel: Jamie MacGillivray

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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 Quiet Epidemic

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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.

Angola Do You Hear Us?

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 What does it take for a writer/actress to perform a play she’s written about prisons, at a prison? And in particular, at one of the most notorious prisons in the country, Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary, America’s largest prison-plantation. A new documentary about that performance and its aftermath, titled Angola Do You Hear Us?, has been shortlisted for the Oscar for Documentary Short Subject. I was happy to speak with the director of the film, Cinque Northern, and the playwright/performer, Liza Jessie Peterson.

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

The film is streaming on Paramount +

2nd Chance: Sex, Violence and Bulletproof Vests

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Why would a man shoot himself in the chest 192 times? In a country that worships guns, explosives, and comic book super heroes, what kind of stories move product? And finally in a country that professes to be deeply Christian and compassionate is there a second chance for all of us—even the worst among us? All this and more are explored in a really intriguing documentary called 2nd Chance. I was happy to talk to the director of 2nd Chance, Ramin Bahrani.

To hear the interview as broadcast today on the Arts Express program on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation, click on the triangle or mp3 link above.