John Savage Talks Kent State, Deer Hunter, PTSD, Malcolm X, Finding Nicole And More. The veteran actor revisits the death during his youth of his best friend killed by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State, in that terrible iconic photograph.

** Jeff was at Kent State, and I was going home late one night. And the front page of the newspaper was Jeff Miller lying on the ground there with the young lady over him crying - oh my god, I was angry..."

John Savage Talks Kent State, Deer Hunter, PTSD, Malcolm X. The veteran actor revisits the death during his youth of his best friend killed by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State, in that iconic photograph. Savage also discusses how his own father's World War II PTSD has informed his choices of characters to play, including the soldier who loses his legs in Vietnam in The Deer Hunter, and a struggling farmer with a damaged military son in Seal Team. 

Savage, whose films have included Salvador, The Thin Red Line, Hair, In Dubious Battle, Do The Right Thing, Summer Of Sam, Godfather II and The Anarchist Cookbook describes working behind the camera as well, on Spike Lee's Malcom X. After an encounter while Lee was filming scenes in South Africa, and Savage was struggling side by side with Nelson Mandela for six years there, against apartheid.

Poetry Corner: On surviving racism in America...

** "In the film Statues Also Die, the statues wrenched out of their cultural context appear to tear up - wither and die in the asphyxiation of colonialism."

Bro On The Global Cultural Beat. Arts Express Paris correspondent Professor Dennis Broe examines in this week's episode, Statues Also Die, Black Lives Matter and European colonialism. Touching on France's George Floyd; Sartre and French terrorism in Algeria; and stolen African art residing in the Louvre while the French army is still in Mali, Mauritania, Burkino Faso, Niger and Chad.

** "In our artist hangout online sometimes people will talk about a piece of art that they're working on. Or they'll talk about how paralyzed they feel in this moment, and don't really know how to express what's going on - for themselves and in the world."

Jack Shalom In A Conversation With Ellen Kodadek: The artistic director of Flushing Town Hall in NY discusses how artists are adapting to the pandemic, and new ways for them to connect under the lockdown. Including virtual jazz jams, and call and response artist showcases.