Calvin Trillin: 2012 Politics in Verse: KPFK 12/26

LISTEN online HERE— SUBSCRIBE to iTunes podcast HERE
CALVIN TRILLIN has written an epic poem about the 2012 election–for example, a verse on Michelle Bachman, to the tune of the Beatles song:  “Michelle, our belle/Thinks that gays will all be sent to hell.”  Trillin writes for The New Yorker and serves as The Nation‘s Deadline Poet; his new book is DOGFIGHT.

Plus:  JOHN NICHOLS with The Nation’s Progressive Honor Roll for 2012: from Bernie Sanders to Boots Riley, from Marcia Moody to Jane McAlevey, we salute activists, movements and politicians.

Also:  it’s time to listen again to BOB DYLAN’s 2009 Christmas album!  Is this a joke — or a tragedy?  SEAN WILENTZ explains — he’s official historian at the official Bob Dylan website (he also teaches history at Princeton.)  READ Sean Wilentz on Dylan’s Xmas album HERE.   PLAYLIST: “Here Comes Santa Claus”;  “I’ll Be Home for Xmas”; “Must Be Santa,” “Winter Wonderland”; “O Little Town of Bethlehem”  (originally broadcast 11/11/09).

Tarantino vs. Spielberg on Slavery: The Nation 12/25

Two films about American slavery in the Civil War era are currently playing in theaters.
Steven Spielberg’s film “Lincoln” begins with a black soldier reciting the Gettysburg Address.
Quentin Tarantino’s film “Django Unchained” begins with a black slave being recruited to kill two whites murderers. . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

David Nasaw on Joe Kennedy: KPFK 12/19

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JOE KENNEDY, the famous father, was said to be a Nazi sympathizer, an anti-Semite, a bootlegger, and a Wall Street swindler.  Only some of that is true, says DAVID NASAW — his new book THE PATRIARCH: THE REMARKABLE LIFE AND TURBULENT TIMES OF JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, was named one of the ten best books of the year by the New York Times.

Plus: What will Barack Obama do with his second term?  Cut military spending, and a mount frontal attack on global warming?  The far right thinks so; TOM FRANK doesn’t agree.  His column in the new Harper’s is “Second Chance”.  Read The Baffler on gun culture HERE.

Also: LEONARD COHEN‘s songs combine intense emotion and impressive intelligence with a rich musicality.  SYLVIE SIMMONS talks about his life and unforgettable work — her new book is I’M YOUR MAN: THE LIFE OF LEONARD COHEN.
Playlist: “Suzanne”;  “I’m Your Man”; “Tower of Song”; “Democracy”;  and of course “Hallejulah.”

Q&A with Calvin Trillin: The Nation 12/17

Jon Wiener: Your new book is not just a collection of verse from your Deadline Poet contributions to The Nation—it’s a 150-page narrative poem.
Calvin Trillin: Let’s not be afraid of the word “epic” here. It’s a long epic poem in iambic pentameter, interrupted at points by what we call “a pause for prose.” There’s a prose piece, for instance, that’s called “Callista Gingrich, Aware That Her Husband Has Cheated On and Then Left Two Wives Who Had Serious Illnesses, Tries Desperately to Make Light of a Bad Cough.” . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com, HERE

Oliver Sacks: Tripping in Topanga, 1963:
L.A. Review of Books 12/11

Oliver Sacks is the legendary neurologist and New Yorker essayist whose books include the classic The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. His new book is Hallucinations.
Jon Wiener: In your book Hallucinations you mention what you call your “long virginity” in experience with hallucinogenic drugs.
Oliver Sacks: I was afraid you’d get onto this. That was the last chapter I wrote, and I wasn’t sure whether it should be in the book or not. I think it probably should. I think I was afraid of hallucinogenic drugs. . .
. . . continued at the LA Review of Books, HERE.

Oliver Sacks: Hallucinations in Topanga: KPFK 12/5

LISTEN online HERE — SUBSCRIBE to iTunes podcast HERE
OLIVER SACKS talks about seeing things, hearing voices, and his own experiences getting stoned in Topanga in the sixties.  He’s the legendary neurologist and wonderful  New Yorker essayist whose books include the classics The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Awakenings.  His new book is Hallucinations — it’s eloquent, compassionate, and fascinating.  “Sacks deftly integrates literature, art, and medical history around his very human, often riveting, case histories“–Library Journal.

 Plus: Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States – it’s a 10-part documentary, running now on Showtime Mondays at 8 – and it’s also a big book, co-authored by historian Peter Kuznick.  Analyzing the American empire especially after WWII, it’s provocative, massively documented, and a necessary antidote to the mainstream media’s celebration of American triumphalism—
–and the book is our featured thank-you gift in the KPFK fund drive.