Radio Free Earth
Podcasts Channel
Welcome to Radio Free Earth!
The first show published on Radio Free Earth is "The Voice of Free Earth" which began life as a novel by Michael Klein, a book of stories published in 1992 to critical acclaim, and remains in print to this day, including both Kindle and Google Play ebook editions. Thirty years later, in 2022, these stories were rewritten for the spoken word and given voice by the aging author himself in weekly, thirty-minute episodes.
Set in Free Earth, a farming community in California's rural San Joaquin Valley, they are the stories of Christopher Beale—something of a chronicle of his life as the son of a larger-than-life country doctor, Doc Beale. Doc Beale is the main character, as seen through the lens of Christopher. It is a story filled with humor, joy, and the overriding feeling that danger and violence is always imminent—Christopher always in denial struggling to normalize the madness.
When Nashville singer/songwriter Julie Grower, having been deeply moved by the novel, introduced the author to her original song "Hometown Hallelujah," it was magical. Michael Klein saw the beautiful bright light of an idealized hometown, and the dissonance between it and the stories about Christopher’s hometown, was delicious. Rich in irony and truth. Hometown Hallelujah greets the listener, then that beautiful voice soothes under Julie’s blue skies. Grab a copy of your own on iTunes where you'll find all her songs and albums.
Musical credits: As folks in Nashville have learned over these past twenty-some years, Julie loves collaboration and thanks her co-writers; Bruce-jon Brigham / Ear Friendly Music (SESAC), Julie Grower / Be Ready Music (ASCAP), and Lori "Queenie" Mullinix / Cowgirl Dreams Music (SESAC).
Julie Grower: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/julie-grower/18765528
https://www.facebook.com/michael.klein.104418
Now in 2024, a new show titled "WHITE SKIN - DARK TRUTH."
Michael Klein takes us on one amazing trip in his first essay in this new series WHITE SKIN - DARK TRUTH: NEGROES FOR SALE. It is a wild fast-forward, chronicling slavery in America from 1619 right through to 1865, and on to the enduring legacy of racism that threatens our very humanity to this day. The magic is that he forces us to look in the mirror, as this sweeping portrait of our history flashes by. His words spoken with anger and shame. Pulling no punches, he takes on Harvard’s seminal role in rationalizing slavery and racism, promoting it with Harvard Zoologist Louis Agassiz’s pseudoscientific theory of polygenism — all the while profiting from it mightily as the plantation rich filled Harvard's coffers for two-hundred and forty-six years. The campus is filled with their statues, and buildings covered in ivy bearing their names. Klein's invective spills over to nearly everyone one of our White Skin ancestors, a rogues gallery of our most hallowed leaders, making a mockery of Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence declaring “all men are created equal” while owning six-hundred slaves of his own. And George Washington, owning slaves while serving as our first President. The list is long, no one is spared. Yet somehow Klein manages to both provoke and entertain, skewering the bigots for their fake news, while finding beauty in the resilience of the enslaved and dehumanized — then soothing us with the soulful artistry of poet Forrest Hamer and slave work songs recorded by Alan Lomax. Michael Klein's own fury, balanced by his deep empathy for the human beings that built this nation in an era of unimaginable inhumanity. All the while, Klein demands that we look in the mirror, that we listen and hear, because as he says “We must!” Catherine Albrecht, Editor Radio Free Earth
Contact the author:
"X" Michael Klein @rhinofarm
Messenger on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/michael.klein.104418
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