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 Michael Franti on Politics and Music: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Michael Franti has never been shy about his politics. The latest album by Franti and his band Spearhead, called All Rebel Rockers, mixes the songwriter’s progressive-minded lyrics with some of the best music of his career. It’s also been his most commercially successful album, showing that people are hungry for consciousness-raising music.

In the latest episode of the UtneCast, senior editor Keith Goetzman talks with Franti about recording All Rebel Rockers in Jamaica, Franti’s politics of inclusion, and his music’s role in rallying progressives.

You can listen to the interview above, or to subscribe to the UtneCast for free through iTunes, click here.

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 Podcast Interview with Irena Salina and Maude Barlow on the Global Water Crisis: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The world is facing a potentially catastrophic water crisis. More than a billion people currently lack access to clean, safe drinking water. Multinational corporations including Nestlé, Vivendi, and Coca Cola are buying up the world’s fresh water supply and selling it back to people at a profit. A movement is growing, however, opposing the tide of privatization, wrestling control away from the corporations, and working to bring water to everyone.

The documentary FLOW: For Love of Water explores this fight over who owns the world’s water. For this episode of the UtneCast, I spoke with Irena Salina, director of the film, and Maude Barlow, one of the world’s most prominent activist against the privatization of water.

You can listen to the interview above, or to subscribe to the UtneCast for free through iTunes, click here.

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 Understanding Statistics and the Bailout with Joel Best: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Right now, congress is negotiating a $700 billion bailout plan for Wall Street. For most people, $700 billion is an inconceivable figure. “The mind boggles,” Joel Best writes in his new book, Stat-Spotting: A Field Guide to Identifying Dubious Data. “We may be able to wrap our heads around a million, but billions and trillions are almost unimaginably big numbers.”

During campaign seasons, confusing statistics and unimaginably large numbers are commonplace. For the latest episode of the UtneCast, I spoke with Best about how regular people can make sense of statistics, polls, and the $700 bailout.

You can listen to the interview above, or to subscribe to the UtneCast for free through iTunes, click here.

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 An Interview with Jason Barnett of the UpTake on Media and the RNC : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Throughout the Republican National Convention, the offices of the UpTake were a central hub for bloggers and independent media. Located just outside the security barrier that protected the Xcel Center in downtown St. Paul, bloggers including Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake, Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com, Matt Stoller of Open Left, and many others used the office to file stories and report on both the official RNC events and the protests.

For the latest episode of the UtneCast, I spoke with Jason Barnett, executive director of the UpTake, about what his organization hopes to add to the coverage of the RNC and how technology is changing the media.

You can listen to the interview above, or to subscribe to the UtneCast for free through iTunes, click here.

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 Interview with Cass Sunstein: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From health care plans and investments options to the small choices of what to have for lunch, Cass Sunstein wants to help people make better decisions. Sunstein, a professor at Harvard Law School, is the coauthor, along with economist Richard Thaler, of Nudge about the subtle ways that government can push (or nudge) people into making better decisions.

For the latest episode of the UtneCast, I sat down with Cass Sunstein to talk about the benefits and dangers of using nudges in government and business. And since Sunstein is also an informal advisor to presidential candidate Barack Obama, I asked him about the ways in which both candidates are nudging voters.

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 Interview with Del McCoury: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Moneyland, the new album by bluegrass legend Del McCoury, is a scathing indictment of the rampant corruption and greed in America today. The album features both classic bluegrass standards and newly recorded songs, with guest appearances by Merle Haggard, Tim O’Brien, Emmylou Harris, Patty Loveless, Bruce Hornsby, and Gillian Welch.

Having grown up on a farm in Pennsylvania, McCoury has witnessed the decline of traditional rural life in America, but as the consummate gentleman, he isn’t trying to influence people’s politics. He’s just calling attention to the fact that “many working folks all across America are in a tough spot.”

You can listen to the interview above, or to subscribe to the UtneCast for free through iTunes, click here.

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 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This Sunday, HBO is airing the first episode of Generation Kill, a darkly funny miniseries about American soldiers on the eve of the Iraq invasion. The show was produced by David Simon and Ed Burns, the acclaimed creators of the police drama The Wire. For the latest UtneCast, I spoke with Susannah White, who directed four of the seven episodes of Generation Kill. We talked about what she hopes to accomplish with the series and what it was like as a British woman directing a series about testosterone-filled American soldiers.

To subscribe to the UtneCast through iTunes, click here, or just listen to the interview at the top of this post.

And to watch a preview from Generation Kill, click on the YouTube video below.

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 UtneCast 37: Walljasper on Great Neighborhoods / Film: Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode, you’ll hear Leif’s recent interview with Jay Walljasper, formerly editor of Utne Reader. Jay’s passion for creative ideas to make cities more sustainable led him to write The Great Neighborhood Book, together with his colleagues at the Project for Public Spaces. The book is full of stories about people who have revolutionized their own neighborhoods, plus tons of ideas and resources to help you do the same in your neck of the woods.

And this week, Utne Reader assistant editor Bennett Gordon reviews the new film Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?, an entertaining documentary about an idealistic college professor’s quixotic run for Congress.

Episode sponsor: Mother Earth Coffee & Tea