"We're talking about taking back the country."

— Barry Gordon

"You're ... setting an example to others in

the media: that you don't have to be timid."

 — Rep. John Conyers Jr.

"Barry, you keep speaking your words,

speaking your mind, speaking your heart."

— Burt Bacharach

BARRY GORDON — lifelong entertainer, longest-serving president of the Screen Actors Guild, and former candidate for Congress — is talking politics, entertainment, and other hot topics. Down-to-earth, with a voice known to millions, Barry's takes on the political ballgame are smart and lively, filled with passion and humor. Throughout this last year, Barry has fielded calls from listeners and interviewed some of the top guests on the air today: 

Political Leaders, including ...

Senator Barbara Boxer

Senator Byron Dorgan

Former Senator and Presidential Candidate Gary Hart

Rep. John Conyers Jr.

Rep. Brad Sherman

Rep. Henry Waxman

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich

Former Ambassador Peter Galbraith

Former Ambassador Swanee Hunt

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson

Jerry Brown, California Icon

Bev Harris, Founder of BlackBoxVoting.org

Dolores Huerta, Legendary Labor Leader

Paul Rieckhoff, Veterans Activist 

Scott Ritter, Former U.N. Weapons Inspector

Cindy Sheehan, "Peace Mom"

Andy Stern, President of the SEIU

John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO

Bestselling Authors, Renowned Commentators, and Respected Scholars, including ...

Dr. Helen Caldicott, The World's Leading Anti-Nuclear Activist

Noam Chomsky, Professor of Linguistics and Advocate for Peace

David Corn, Washington Editor of "The Nation" and Bestselling Author

Craig Crawford, Washington, DC Columnist and TV Commentator

Catherine Crier, Court TV Host and Bestselling Author

John Dean, Watergate Principal and Bestselling Author

Lou Dobbs, CNN Business and Financial Anchor

Michael J. Gerhardt, Professor of Constitutional Law

Robert Greenwald, Documentary Filmmaker

Thom Hartmann, Progressive Talk Show Host

Arianna Huffington, Author & Multi-Media Commentator

Paul Krugman, New York Times Op-Ed Columnist

Robert Kuttner, Co-Founder of "The American Prospect"

Michael Lerner, Progressive Rabbi

Mark Crispin Miller, Author/Activist/Scholar

Markos "Kos" Moulitsas, Top Blogger

Greg Palast, Investigative Journalist

William Rivers Pitt, Bestselling Author

Ron Suskind, Bestselling Author

Helen Thomas, Dean of the White House Press Corps

Gore Vidal, Iconic American Writer and Intellectual

Jim Wallis, Progressive Christian Leader

Lawrence Wright, Bestselling Author

Howard Zinn, Legendary Historian and Activist

Representatives of Influential Organizations and Publications, including ...

ACLU

Amnesty International USA

Campaign for America's Future

Center for American Progress

Center for Public Integrity

Common Cause

Demos

Economic Policy Institute

Free Press

"The Hotline" from the National Journal Group

IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America)

Media Matters for America

"Ms." Magazine

Planned Parenthood

Sierra Club

WakeUpWalMart.com

Celebrated Entertainment Figures, including ...

Ed Asner, Barry's Fellow Former President of the Screen Actors Guild

Burt Bacharach, Legendary Composer

Ed Begley Jr., Actor and Environmental Activist

Terence Blanchard, Grammy-Winner

Chris Bliss, Comedian / Activist / Juggler Extraordinaire

Andy Borowitz, Humorist

Scott Dikkers, Satirist, Editor-in-Chief of "The Onion"

Nora Dunn, "Saturday Night Live" Alum

Argus Hamilton, Comedian and Nationally Syndicated Columnist

Chris Lemmon, Actor/Author Son of Barry's Old Friend Jack Lemmon

Lisa Loeb, "Billboard"-Topping Singer/Songwriter

Robert Loggia, Actor

Jim Meskimen, Impersonator (Jibjab), Improvisationist, & Funnyman

Chef Harry Schwartz, Popular TV Personality

Kenneth Turan, Film Critic of the Los Angeles Times

Billy West, Voice Artist ("Ren & Stimpy" and many others)

Michael Wilmington, Film Critic of the Chicago Tribune

And Many More!

Please see the Podcast Archives for a complete rundown of our great guests and diverse topics.

HOW TO LISTEN TO OUR PODCASTS

FIND A SHOW BY THE GUEST

FIND A SHOW BY THE DATE

PODCASTS: JUNE 2006

June 25, 2006

In the first hour, Barry talks with author Penny Coleman — whose husband, a Vietnam veteran, killed himself — about her powerful new book "Flashback: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Suicide, and the Lessons of Vietnam" and how the Bush administration has not learned those lessons and is neglecting the needs of our veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the second hour, Barry interviews Mona Cadena, of Amnesty International USA, about their efforts as part of a coalition of human rights, civil liberties, and faith organizations that has declared June 2006 as Torture Awareness Month — June 26th proclaimed by the United Nations as International Day in Support of Survivors and Victims of Torture — with special attention given to the growing evidence that the United States government is engaging systematically in the use of torture and inhuman treatment as part of the "war on terror."

And in the third hour, Barry welcomes celebrated comedian Chris Bliss, who when not performing his "Smart Comedy for the Information Age" on "The Tonight Show" or being watched by millions in his extraordinary hit videos — juggling to music by the likes of the Beatles or Fatboy Slim — is passionately promoting his monumental project MyBillOfRights.org.

June 24, 2006

Barry fills-in again as guest host on "The Many Moods of Vince Daniels" on KCAA 1050 AM and kcaaradio.com.

In the first hour, Barry first talks with Vince Daniels' regulars, "from right field," Jay Boatman and Crista Curtis, before talking with Guy McCarthy, a staff reporter for the San Bernardino Sun newspaper, about the on-going federal investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), of the Inland Empire, who has been accused of using his powerful position as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee inappropriately, as in his dealings with the lobbying firm involved in the scandal that sent San Diego congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham to prison.

In the second hour, Barry discusses the issue of lobbying and the corrupting influence of big money in our democracy with Alex Knott, who is Political Editor at the Center for Public Integrity and was the project manager for their bestselling book "The Buying of the President 2004."

In the third hour, Barry talks with TV celebrity Chef Harry Schwartz, who is touring the country in his "Watermelon Express" bus and promoting his new book "Fit Foundation," which offers kids and their parents healthy, tasty solutions to the national epidemic of childhood obesity.

June 18, 2006

Barry presents some breaking news and a line-up of guests who pay tribute to Father's Day ... "from left field."

To begin the show, Barry shares reporting by his intrepid newsblogger Kelley Willis, aka "Cal Damage," who attended this week's Take Back America 2006 convention, in Washington, DC — the largest annual gathering of progressives in the country — featuring audio clips from the likes of Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and John Kerry.

Later in the first hour, Barry talks with Michael Berg, who as a Green Party candidate for Congress from Delaware champions the cause of peace — he takes no pleasure from the recent death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, even though the terrorist had publicly beheaded Michael's son, Nick Berg, in Iraq: one father's powerful statement on the family value of love.

In the second hour, Barry talks with noted author and scholar Riane Eisler, president of the Center for Partnership Studies, who promotes a compelling vision of a truly progressive family structure, with fathers and mothers equal partners in the raising of their children, who are encouraged to think for themselves; Riane argues, "We cannot build a healthy democracy on a foundation of authoritarianism and intolerance — in the home and outside it."

And in the third hour, Barry has the great pleasure of talking with his former fellow Screen Actors Guild board member Chris Lemmon, who has recently written "A Twist of Lemmon," a heartfelt tribute to his father, the late legendary actor and Barry's old friend, Jack Lemmon.

We apologize that this particular podcast has several drop-outs, due to temporary technical difficulties at the station.

June 11, 2006

Barry devotes his entire show to the powerful book "Inequality Matters: The Growing Economic Divide in America and Its Poisonous Consequences," as he interviews several of its major-league contributing authors and discusses its theme of the growing divide between the ultra-rich and the rest of us — which has never been so dramatic since the Great Depression. No issue is more important to Barry, nor to our country.

In the first hour, Barry talks with Robert Kuttner, co-founder of both the Economic Policy Institute and "The American Prospect" magazine, who in those endeavors and in his numerous books, articles, and national radio and television appearances has examined the relationship between the marketplace and a democratic society.

In the second hour, Barry first talks with Richard Kahlenberg, a Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation, who in books, articles, and nationally broadcast interviews has developed sometimes controversial, always well-reasoned considerations of education, equal opportunity, and civil rights. 

Later in the second hour, Barry talks with Joel Bakan, professor of constitutional law, contracts, and socio-legal courses at the University of British Columbia, who has written such powerful, internationally renowned works as "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power," his book which he later adapted as a documentary film and television miniseries.

In the third hour, Barry wraps up this discussion of "Inequality Matters" with Miles Rapoport, former Connecticut legislator and current president of Demos, the think tank / activist group that brought together the many remarkable contributors to this forum in June 2004 — cosponsored by such groups as ACORN, Center for American Progress, Common Cause, and National Council of Churches — out of which was produced this compilation publication.

June 4, 2006

Barry hosts one more Take Back the Congress hour as well as powerful interviews with some other great guests.

In the first hour, Barry interviews Charlie Brown, Lt. Colonel, USAF Ret., Democratic candidate vying to go up against embattled GOP Rep. John Doolittle, in a northern California race drawing national attention, and also Jerry McNerney, competing with the previous week's guest Steve Filson to be the Democratic candidate to go up against yet another ethically challenged, very vulnerable Republican congressman in a traditionally very Republican district, Rep. Richard Pombo, of central California.

In the second hour, Barry hosts none other than internationally renowned progressive investigative journalist Greg Palast. They discuss his latest pulls-no-punches book, "Armed Madhouse: Who's Afraid of Osama Wolf? China Floats, Bush Sinks, The Scheme to Steal '08, No Child's Behind Left, and Other Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Class War."

In the third hour, Barry talks with his good friend, former L.A. teacher and highly respected California Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg about California Proposition 82, which proposes increasing taxes on the wealthy to make preschool available to all four-year-olds in the state and to improve the quality of preschool education, as by raising standards for teachers.

And finally, Barry talks about the power of the blogosphere — including its use by law enforcement and by those accused of or plotting crimes up to and including mass murder — with L.A. attorney Adrienne Crew, co-author of the book "Blogosphere: Best of the Blogs."

Don't miss Barry's TV talk show,

Webcast 9 to 10 p.m. PT,

Tuesday through Thursday,

on Pasadena56

"Radio Host Shows It's All Right to Be Left" (The Jewish Journal, 9/8/06)

"Wide Range of Topics Take the 'Field'" (San Bernardino Co. Sun, 2/12/06)

"So Very Barry" (Pasadena Star News, 1/12/06)

Barry Gordon From Left Field Press Kit