Tag Archives: radio

Action Will Be Taken!

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“Probably one of the strangest interludes in my life was the time I spent as an employee in Alfred Wunsiedel’s factory…”

This time, for Labor Day weekend, I’ll be reading a droll story by Heinrich Böll about a pensive worker who finds his true calling in a world that seems to demand action at all costs. It’s called Action Will Be Taken.

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear our Labor Day Noir, as broadcast on the Arts Express radio program heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Return to Fukushima Pt 2

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Last week we began our conversation with investigative journalist and professor Thomas Bass, author of a new book called Return to Fukushima. We discussed how the explosion of the nuclear reactors at Fukushima Japan in 2011, set off by an earthquake and tsunami, is still an ongoing international danger. We left off last week discussing how on Thomas’s visits to Fukushima he discovered that the radiation levels are still high in Fukushima, particularly for food stuffs that are exported world wide. We left off where I was appalled to learn about the danger from…wait for it…blueberries.

Click on the small traingle or mp3 link above to hear part two of our conversation with Thomas Bass, author of Return to Fukushima as heard on the Arts Express radio program broadcast on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Return To Fukushima

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This month, the 80th anniversary of the dropping of US atom bombs on Japan makes us think about more recent man-made atomic disasters. Never mind 9/11, on 3/11, 2011, the nuclear reactors at Fukushima, Japan exploded, with not only immediate effect, but long-lasting and far-ranging consequences for all of us, ongoing, still spilling radioactive components into the air and water on a large scale. Investigative Journalist and professor Thomas Bass spoke first-hand with the workers, engineers, politicians and remaining inhabitants of Fukushima to uncover the hidden and often distorted truth. He‘s detailed it all in a stunning book called Return to Fukushima, a great piece of personal reporting. I was happy to have him as my guest this week on the Arts Express radio program.

To hear my conversation with Thomas Bass, as broadcast on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the country, click on the small triangle or mp3 link above.

Union Pt 2

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Last week we aired part one of our interview with Brett Story and Stephen Maing, directors of the recent film documentary Union. Union tells the story of the odds-defying independent Amazon labor union drive led by the extraordinary Chris Smalls in Staten Island. Today in Part two, we’ll explore union strategy, the international scene, and what the possible win of Zohran Mamdani for NYC mayor might mean for labor.

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

UNION

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We’ve recently been assaulted with Jeff Bezos’s 50 million dollar wedding, but now let’s turn back the clock to the spring of 2021. Bezos had sent a rocket into space, but down on the ground Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island were fed up and ready to fight back. The workers there, led by the indefatigable Chris Smalls, were fighting for the first Amazon union representation ever in the US. Directors Brett Story and Stephen Maing were able to literally get the inside story on the drama and power of that 11 month union drive in a new film documentary called Union, and I was happy to speak with them.

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear my interview with Brett Story and Stephen Maing, directors of Union, as broadcast on the Arts Express radio show, heard this week on WBAI-FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Beat The Reaper With The Firesign Theatre

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If you are of a certain age, growing up as a high school or college kid during the late 60s or early 70s, then odds are that at least one time as you were toking up, the surrealist record LPs of the Firesign Theatre invaded your brain. As the albums brilliantly shifted in and out of tv, film and radio parody, they broke down walls of time, space and authority. Now in a new book about the Firesign Theater, called Firesign, author Jeremy Braddock provides a wonderful non-linear look at the four influential guys who turned the art of radio and recording upside down. I was happy to have as our guest on the show, the author of Firesign, Jeremy Braddock.

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

Part Two here:

Firesign Theatre: Part Two

The Strike

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I’ve watched a lot of film documentaries this year, but none more  powerful than The Strike. It’s the story of how the inmates of Pelican Bay prison in California, incarcerated in solitary confinement sometimes for decades, went on a life-threatening hunger strike in order to regain their rights and dignity. I was happy to speak to the the directors of The Strike, JoeBill Muñoz and Lucas Guilkey for Arts Express.

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

And Part 2 is here…

The Strike: Part 2

The Ultimate Hidden Truth Of The World

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A posthumous collection of essays by anarchist anthropologist David Graeber, who coined the phrase “We are the 99%,” has just come out, and we look into one of its most interesting pieces.

Click on the triangle above or mp3 link to hear my commentary on the book, as heard on the Arts Express radio program this week, broadcast on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

The Mockingbird

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An anti-war story by the great Ambrose Bierce, which I adapted for radio and broadcast yesterday on Arts Express, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to listen.

My Friend, The Terrorist

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“The song you just heard is from a poem by Jose Maria Sison, also known as Joma. But more than a poet, for the first 25 years of Joma’s adult life, he was known as the Fidel, Mao, and Che of the Philippines. However, for the next 35 years, he lived in exile in the Netherlands with his wife and comrade in arms, Julieta de Lima, thousands of miles from the Filipino battle grounds, giving counsel to the guerrilla army which he had founded. Now, a new film documentary about Joma and Julieta’s lives has been released, co-directed by Malcolm Guy and Demetri Estdelacropolis, called My Friend, The Terrorist: A Tale of Love and Revolution…”

Click on the small triangle above or the mp3 link to hear my interview with Malcolm Guy, co-director of My Friend, The Terrorist, as broadcast last night on Arts Express radio, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

And…Part 2 here:

My Friend, The Terrorist, Part 2

Sonny Boy: Al Pacino

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“It’s said that talent is common, and that’s true. But what is much more rare than talent is longevity. How does one take talent and have it develop and last decade upon decade? I’m thinking about this, because I’ve just finished reading the new autobiography by Al Pacino called Sonny Boy, and it was totally engrossing. No one would call It a work of literature, but you can certainly hear Al’s voice loud and clear, as if he were sitting in a bar with you telling intimate stories about his life and work…”

Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear my complete review of Al Pacino’s memoir, Sonny Boy, as broadcast yesterday on the Arts Express program, heard on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Speechless

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“We have just had our elections, and I’m not even going to speak one way or the other about the results. It was an awful choice, if you want to even call it a choice. But I think no matter what point of view you had about the candidates, the one thing that could not be escaped was the absolutely idiotic and moronic level of discourse. To anyone who loves words and rhetoric and language it seemed that the very concept of speech had been broken and bent out of all proportion. Now, by an interesting coincidence, in this year, which happens to be the 65th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, across my desk came a book published by Seven Stories Press called the Fidel Castro Reader. And what it is, is a large 500 plus page book of Fidel Castro’s speeches translated into English, which is a great boon to me, since I’m not a fluent reader of Spanish. I had to laugh when I thought about the prospect of a 500 page book on the speeches of Kamala Harris, or Joe Biden, or God, help us Donald Trump…”

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear the rest of the segment as broadcast last night on the Arts Express radio program over WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

“Jikininki”

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Our radio drama of a Japanese ghost story for Halloween by Lafcadio Hearn.

Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the story as broadcast on Arts Express yesterday on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

CIA: Drugs R Us!

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If you are a conspiracy fan and a music fan, then have I got a film documentary for you. It’s called CIA: Drugs are Us and it’s kind of a greatest hits of some of the most evil and deranged programs that have been set into motion by the CIA over the years...

Click on the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear my entire review as heard on Arts Express broadcast on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

Jack & Rick Ride Yet Even Again

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After nearly a year off, back from hiatus–which is ten miles east of Dallas–The Jack & Rick Worldwide Network and hamburger stand is happy to announce the return of Jack & Rick’s Radio Shack! Thanks to Rick Tuman!

Click the small triangle or mp3 link above to hear the satirical segment, as broadcast on Arts Express on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

A Painter of Revolutionaries

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Carlito Rovira with his portrait of Puerto Rican revolutionary Lolita Lebrón

What makes a person become an artist? Are they born or are they made? And what is the purpose of art? Our guest yesterday has very definite views about these and other questions, and I was happy to be talking with a man whose portraits are filled with meaning, artist, revolutionary and member of the Young Lords, Carlos “Carlito” Rovira.

Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the interview with Carlito, as broadcast on Arts Express radio yesterday on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica affiliates across the nation.

And you can find Part 2 here:

A Revolutionary Artist: Part 2

Three By Caitlin Johnstone

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If you feel like us, that our concerns in this election cycle have been stuffed into the washer and hung up to dry, and that the elections are a senseless distraction, take heart. Mary Murphy and myself have come to the rescue. We perform three short pieces by the great Caitlin Johnstone, and they’re the the last segments you’ll ever need to hear again about the the so-called elections. Halleluljah.

Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear the segment as broadcast on Arts Express this week on WBAI FM NYC and Pacifica stations across the nation.

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.

Julian Assange In His Own Words

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It was just announced that Julian Assange has been granted a plea deal that will allow him to plead guilty to one charge and be freed from Belmarsh prison and come home to Australia.

Given the massive terrible propaganda assault against Assange by the US government, a government caught committing war crimes in video footage that Wikileaks had released, and the government’s attempt to smear, silence, and murder Assange, it’s more important than ever to really understand what Assange was doing and the important message he had.

In lieu of this very important news, I am re-posting a piece I put together a little less than two years ago consisting of passages from Assange’s speeches and writings, read by a cast of WBAI and Arts Express friends. Click on the title below to hear the piece.

Julian Assange In His Own Words

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.

King Lear: Apocalypse Now

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This week, it’s 460 years since the birth of Shakespeare, and since we are living in what can only be termed apocalyptic times, it might be fitting to take a look at the most apocalyptic of Shakespeare’s plays, King Lear. Let’s call this episode of my continuing series,“Shakespeare Without Tears,” King Lear: Apocalypse Now.

Click on the triangle or mp3 link above to hear my commentary as broadcast today on WBAI-FM and Pacifica 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.

Team Human

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In which I talk about Douglas Rushkoff’s brilliant but frustrating book about how tech is leading us to a dehumanized society.

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