Month: November 2005

Girl Groups of the Sixties: LISTEN ONLINE
Raw emotion, youthful energy, and teenage angst in a new 4-CD Rhino box set: One Kiss Can Lead To Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost & Found. Jon Pareles of the New York Times wrote, “to hear all these long-suffering voices is to realize that feminism didn’t arrive an instant too soon.” GARY STEWART and CHERYL FARBER, producers of the 120-track collection, will explain. PLAYLIST: “Needle in a Haystack,” The Velvelettes (1964); “Nobody Knows What’s Going on in my Mind but Me,” The Chiffons (1965); “Nothing but a Heartache,” The Flirtations (1968); “I Never Dreamed,” The Cookies (1964); “I’m Blue (The Gong-Gong Song),” The Ikettes (1961)

PLUS: The war in Iraq has reached a decisive moment, now that all major Iraqi political parties have called for an American withdrawal. TOM HAYDEN asks “is the war ending — or is the anti-war movement ending in 2006?” Tom will talk about “What To Do For Peace Now.” Plus Tom’s appeal for clemency for Stanley “Tookie” Williams, the convicted murderer facing the death penalty despite his important work for a gang truce.
Tom’s most recent book is a new edition of The Port Huron Statement: The Visionary Call of the 1960s Revolution, for which he’s written a new introduction, “The Way We Were.”

ALSO: President Bush in a speech today announced a “National Strategy for Victory in Iraq.” For comment and analysis we turn to DAVID CORN — he’s The Nation‘s Washington editor and he writes the “Capital Games” column for the magazine. He’s also a commentator on Fox News, and his most recent book is The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception.

BOB SCHEER UPDATE: Susan Brenneman, Deputy Op-Ed Editor of the L.A. Times, invited MIKE DAVIS to write a “long essay” for the Times op-ed page. Mike replied: “Dear Susan, I hate to respond to your kindness with a polemic, but after the purging of Bob Scheer there is no way that I would contribute to the Op-ed section or even allow one of my pieces to be reprinted. As in the past, please be assured that I have only the highest respect for you and other friends at the LAT, but I won’t collaborate with the institution. Hope you understand. warmest, Mike Davis”

LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW

IRAQ UPDATE: For the first time, Iraq’s political factions on Monday collectively called for a timetable for withdrawal of US forces, putting new pressure on the Bush White House. ROBERT SCHEER will provide comment and analysis: in his column today, at RobertScheer.com, he says “You’ve got to hand it to Dick Cheney; no other modern politician has come so close to perfecting the theater of the absurd. Even as he protests his innocence of lying about matters of state, he lies about matters of state.” Next Tuesday Scheer launches TruthDig.Com— a web magazine providing provocative content and in-depth coverage of current affairs — sign up today!

The art and soul of Sam Cooke: a black performer who was among the first to blend gospel music and secular themes — from “You Send Me” in 1957 to “A Change is Gonna Come” in 1964.
Friend of Malcolm X and Cassius Clay, he was shot and killed in Los Angeles in 1964. PETER GURALNIK , author of DREAM BOOGIE, will talk about the triumph of Sam Cooke – and we’ll listen to some Sam Cooke songs.
PLAYLIST: “Touch the Hem of His Garment” 1956
“You Send Me” 1957
“Bring it on Home to Me” 1962
“A Change is Gonna Come” 1964
“Twistin’ the Night Away” 1962

ALSO: E. L. DOCTOROW’s amazing new novel, THE MARCH
is set in the middle of Sherman’s Civil War march from Atlanta to the sea, the moment of revolutionary destruction of planter property and liberation for thousand of slaves. Richard Eder of the L.A. Times described it as “a serious novel that is at the same time entrancing fun: a panoramic vision of war filtered through its disorders; often brutal and, at times, oddly human.”
DAVE ULIN, book editor of the L.A. Times, will comment – he wrote about Doctorow for The Nation.

LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW

ARNOLD’S INITIATIVES:
HAROLD MEYERSON will have analysis of Tuesday’s election results, where voters rejected every one of Schwarzenegger’s ballot propositions — plus an abortion-parental consent initiative designed to get conservatives to the polls. It’s a stunning defeat for the governor.

Harold is political editor of the LA Weekly, editor at large of the American Prospect, and op-ed columnist for the Washington Post.
(Arnold portrait by Caricature Zone.)

PLUS: Republican defeats around the country:
JOHN NICHOLS comments on good news for Democrats from New Jersey and especially Virginia, a red state where Bush himself campaigned last week. John is co-author with Robert McChesney of a new book, TRAGEDY & FARCE: How the American Media Sell Wars, Spin Elections, and Destroy Democracy.
John Nichols is Washington correspondent for The Nation; Robert McChesney teaches at the University of Illinois.
Nichols and McChesney will be talking about Tragedy and Farce Wed. nite at 730pm at Barnes & Noble, 1201 – 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica.

ALSO: DON’T GET TOO COMFORTABLE: DAVID RAKOFF looks at American greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity — and explains why “the cudgel-like USA Patriot Act” convinced him he should become an American citizen. (He had been a Canadian citizen.) David Rakoff is a regular contributor to Public Radio International’s “This American Life” with Ira Glass.

Bad news: the LA Times is killing Robert Scheer’s column. Scheer has been a hero and friend of mine for 25 years, and his column has been indispensable, exposing the lies and coverups of the Bush White House — and has been attacked relentlessly by Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh. The Times‘s publisher seems to think a blander, more centrist op-ed page will help slow their declining readership. Let the Times know we want Robert Scheer back: Write a letter to Jeffrey M. Johnson, Publisher; Los Angeles Times; 202 W. 1st St.; Los Angeles, CA 90012