WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Cally Crossley and this is the Kelly Crossley Show. The policies of No Child Left Behind had a debilitating effect on music education. But in Providence Rhode Island out of a storefront space in a poor part of town. Community Music Works has been picking up the slack bringing the power of music from performance to education to the city and the city's kids for nearly 15 years. Today we talk to Sebastian Ruth who founded community music works out of a desire to combine his love of music with his passion for community service. We'll ask him what's next now that he's a fresh recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant. But first it's more election coverage with Arnie Arnesen take on the regional races. And along the way we look at the spike in documentary films this year with our film contributor Karen Daly. Up next from political machinations to music education. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Article

32 hearing of the man accused in the Fort Hood shootings is being delayed until tomorrow after beginning just hours ago. So far no witnesses have been called the investigating officer in the case of Major Nidal Hasan says he'll consider whether to grant the defense a postponement until next month. His son is accused of killing 13 people and injuring 32 at the Army complex in Texas last year before he was shot and wounded by police. NPR's Wade Goodwyn gives this account of Hasan's appearance today. The facts that are confirmed is that the dollar Sana was shot minutes after the rampage by two military police are responding to the murder the state has now. Paralyzed he came in to day he was wearing at the wrist and wearing a knit stocking cap because it's hard for him now he is paralyzed and regulate his core temperature. And he was expressionless the entire time. NPR's Wade Goodwyn the White House is rejecting calls for a broad based moratorium on home foreclosures as anger mounts over reports that banks allegedly cut corners

to speed up the foreclosure process. NPR's Paul Brown reports the Obama administration's worried a moratorium could lead to unintended negative consequences in the housing market. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says a comprehensive foreclosure moratorium could impede a housing market recovery by trapping home sales. Banks and homeowners in a web of delay and that in turn could affect overall economic recovery. Gibbs says the administration does want to determine if there have been overly quick foreclosures. Financial and real estate industry groups say a temporary full stop on foreclosures could make new mortgages more expensive and harm pension funds. J.P. Morgan and GMAC have already announced partial foreclosure halts while they review records and the nation's biggest mortgage servicer Bank of America has stopped foreclosures nationwide as it completes a review of its procedures. Paul Brown NPR News Washington. Hurricane Paul is bearing down on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula putting popular tourist hubs

on high alert. More from NPR's Jason Beaubien Paula formed rapidly off the coast of Honduras and is now moving through the Caribbean towards Mexico. The storm caused heavy flooding closed schools and destroyed some homes as it moved west along the Honduran coast. Mexico has issued hurricane warnings for the entire East Coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. This year according to Mexican officials has been the worst rainy season on record. The first named storm of the season Alex made landfall in northeastern Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane in late June and caused significant damage in the industrial city of Monterrey. Hurricane coral flooded vast parts of Veracruz and now some of Mexico's premier resorts near Cannes Koon are bracing for Paula. Jason Beaubien NPR News Mexico City. Dow's down 42 points. This is NPR. The first of the 33 trapped miners in Chile could be brought to the surface as early as tonight rescuers are hoping to get all the men out within days. The crew

has finished reinforcing an escape shaft that's barely wider than a man's shoulders. Rescuers say he has also repeatedly tested a rescue chamber that will be sent nearly a mile underground. The miners became trapped during a mine collapse in early August. A congressional panel meets today in Southern California to examine the response to a deadly forest fire near Los Angeles last year. Steve Julian of member station KPCC says the focus may be on a U.S. Forestry Service memo written shortly before the fire broke out. The memo encouraged forest supervisors to hold down costs and when possible avoid calling in non federal firefighting resources which are less expensive than local agencies and contractors. When an arsonist ignited the station fire a year ago August it remained small overnight. Fire commanders called for an aerial assault to begin at 7:00 the next morning. But the aircraft didn't arrive until about 9:00 giving the fire the time it needed to rage out of control. It burned for six weeks and

killed two firefighters. Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff whose district includes part of the engine listening action a forest has called witnesses to answer among other questions whether the federal government was more interested in saving money than getting air crews overhead. For NPR News I'm Steve Julien in Los Angeles. See Obama administration says it's lifting a six month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico imposed after the BP oil spill. This is NPR. Support for NPR comes from the John D and Catherine team across the foundation committed to building a more just verdant and peaceful world. More information at Mac found dot org. Good afternoon I'm Cally Crossley and this is the Kelly Crossley Show. Today we continue our political coverage with a look at regional politics. Joining me is our contributor Arnie Arnesen. Arnie Welcome back.

Oh it's a pleasure. I love it thank you. Things are getting really wild now Kallie. Well that's what I was going to say we have to start with the drama here in Massachusetts in an other wise kind of snoozer of a governor's race tomorrow Tim Cahill goes to court to get a permanent injunction against. Let's Coco Paulus Coco who was the lieutenant governor for him releasing or giving any information proprietary information about his campaign to the baker campaign. Even though let's go go quit city supporting Baker. JIM GALE can't win and he was therefore going to be in the baker camp. You know where does this sit now a lot of people how do people respond to this lawsuit. Well for the lawsuit I mean everything is now a distraction from the issues. I mean let's be honest here. And the problem is I was reading a couple blogs they're saying all people who just hate this is getting so sordid is the kind of politics people just don't pay attention to. Actually sadly they don't pay attention to the issues this is exactly what they pay attention to who's on first who's on second who's suing who

as if somehow this has anything to do with the quality of leadership. I think this is a really sad commentary about all this. I don't think Cahill is going to look better because of the lawsuit. I think everyone is being petty because now Baker is accusing Cahill of playing footsie with the governor and the whole thing looks sordid and all you want to do is take a shower and I'm going to make one suggestion. This is another reason why you probably should even have a lieutenant governor. Because in the state of New Hampshire we don't so we don't get involved in these kinds of problems. I mean it sounds awful but but what's what's so pathetic about this whole thing is is that unless Coco knew from the very get go that this was a long shot. He decided that he was going to leave his party for the most part it was going to walk away and become an independent from his party and that they were going to walk this sort of interesting line. It was never going to guarantee a win but it was going to talk about different politics. Well nothing is different. Kelly it is still the same. It's all kind of shenanigans at the very end and none of them have improved the political conversation. None of them.

All right well let me just ask this question. OK I take your point it's a distraction and we're not talking about the issues. But part of what I think a lot of voters look at when they make a decision about whom to vote for is character. And so what are we saying about the character of a guy who left one person and then went over and stabbed him in the front and went to another person. But more importantly will this kind of slime stick to Charlie Baker who was the recipient of of cocoa support now. Well you know to be honest with you I think Koko heard himself and heard Baker Baker should never have met with him the night before he made the announcement that he was leaving because it was Coco is leaving. He should have just left. Baker should have read about it in the news because by meeting behind closed doors it creates the illusion that somehow there was a quid pro quo. OK I'll deliver my supporters and you know I will undermine Kail by coming to your side what do I get for this. Well that email is now you know they were negotiating something for us. Exactly and so and so everyone looks like they're cutting deals and the

public be damned. That's why it that's why it's really going to hurt. It should hurt Baker. It should should hurt. It frankly and then they're coming back against Deval Patrick saying that really Cahill and Deval were in cahoots from the get go because you know that from the beginning of this race we have been hearing over and over again that Baker was out to get Cahill he was worried the case he was going to take votes away from him. So from the very beginning there's been this tremendous animosity between these two men. So it is no surprise that it was going to get more sordid and more disgusting by the end because there's too much on the line. And frankly Baker Hazell and in some ways has a lost opportunity. The Republicans are. On the rise there is an enthusiasm gap on the side of the Democrats. And so instead of you know somehow throwing this into this filth pot he could have just you know sort of continued to walk and say I'm focusing on the issues. Thank you very much for your support. It's too bad that you made the mistake at the very beginning and kept moving but instead you got e-mails everywhere you got lawsuits

everywhere you got people accusing everyone it's a circular firing squad. And I don't think the political landscape is enhanced by this. But I do think that in some ways Baker is losing a bit of an opportunity here because he has the enthusiasm because Republicans have the enthusiasm not because Republicans are being embraced but anything that's not elected is being embraced and he's one of those individuals. What do you make of there's a program here on Channel 5 called on the record. The last question to Charlie Baker which was taped before these e-mails surfaced was what characteristic Did he thought what virtue did he think was most overrated. And he answered loyalty. I just wonder how voters interpret that given the muck we're in now. That was the most overrated was loyalty. Well that that that. That's incredible. At this point if you come back to haunt him. If nothing else because that's problematic. And again there are all these other things that are just happening out if you saw over the weekend. But here is Baker who's been basically you know saying you know pulling union endorsements and saying this

means you're selling out the taxpayers and this means that you're going to be you know sleeping with the union. And then what happened over the weekend was he got the endorsement of the State Police Association excuse me what's that all about. You know so so every union is a terrible thing except for the State Police Association all these things are going to come back to haunt him because in the end no one is really focusing on what people ultimately care about which is the direction of their government in the direction of the state of Massachusetts. And at the same time people love the mud. It's an attractive nuisance. So the final question on this whole thing. Is this an automatic benefit to Deval Patrick. No. And the reason is and the reason I say that is is that once again what you see is is that there is this frustration and this anger and their names are in the news. The frustration is in the news. But still what Baker has which he may be squandering to up a bit is that there is a tremendous amount of excitement there is better organization and more money

swirling on the Republican side of the aisle than we have ever seen probably in the history of the United States. And as a result even though this should definitely benefit DEVAL PATRICK Right now the only thing that will benefit him is that he can get people to the polls. That's his biggest fear right now. It's not who's winning who's losing in the media wars it's who's going to show up. And Deval has a lot of pressure on him to get people into the voting booth. Now you mention that the mojo is with the Republicans we've been hearing that for a while that's on the national scene but locally you know it's always been a struggle here for the small enrolled group of Republicans though this go around it looks like the independents are going with them. And I'm looking at the John Tierney race this is in the Sixth District now. This of course is scandal has touched his campaign as well. But it seems to me looking at it from a long lens that we have a situation where Barney Frank for the first time is serious competition in the eighth John tyranny through no fault of his own or maybe so. We don't know yet is in a

predicament in the Sixth District Suzanne bump who is a Democrat running for auditor here against Mary cannot in all kinds of stuff is swirling around all of these campaigns and it may be that Massachusetts is just a lot less blue than it was on November the 2nd. A Massachusetts cannot inoculate itself from the anger and the tantrum that is happening with voters universally Cali voters are having a tantrum and it's not that they are. They don't even know what they want. You sent me an email about the new Harvard Kaiser I think foundation Paul there has a poll that came out. And you know what the poll really said is that Americans are just incredibly disappointed they're disappointed in government. They're disappointed in leadership. They're disappointed in their country. They're disappointed in their economy. And when you're disappointed you're not even sure what the answer is. And sometimes when you're not sure what the answer is anything other than what's there

appears to be the answer. They'd rather break what's there and try something else. Even though the something else doesn't necessarily Has anyone offered them solutions. It's just that they don't know where to focus that sense of frustration. It isn't about big government. It isn't about small government. It's about disappointment and what's ironic in this is something that I haven't heard and I think it's in part the fear of some members of the political you know the political teams out there is a people are disappointed in government because what I'm disappointed in I'm disappointed in corporations. What about their loyalty to people. What about the fact that they care about the future of this country. I mean corporations would not be successful but for this nation would not be successful but for this infrastructure but for this educational system. And what did they do. We belt out Wall Street. You know there should be disappointment in Wall Street. But isn't it fascinating that as this economy has imploded all the anger has been focused on the disappointment in government not on the disappointment in the private sector that led us down this road.

Well that's because the people are looking at the leaders who are supposed to be there to represent all of us and so when you get the poll that you just referred to by The Washington Post the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard University six in 10 Americans say the U.S. is on the wrong track and they believe the federal government gets a lot of the blame for that and that's because of the leadership. Listen I think it's interesting that if you look further into the poll 47 percent of these people polled gave congressional Democrats a C or a D and 56 percent grade Republicans a C or D. So it's not like anybody's wildly happy with either party. And that's and that's why the tyrannies are in trouble and that's why that's why what is there is in trouble because it's not like they're wildly enthusiastic about the Republican alternative. They just want a different name because maybe it will make a difference. They're not even looking at party labels. They're saying OK tyrannies there then let's look at something else. And and that that's not that doesn't lend itself to informed decision making. You know democracy predicates itself on people making informed decisions about

their policy in their lives. People are just ticked off. Well that is a very thoughtful decision. I'm going to push back and say perhaps that is an informed decision and then people are saying not only am I ticked off but hey somebody else can't do any worse. So for me if I have to rat out the bombs or the ones I perceive to be the bombs because they're in position now I'll get some fresh and new and then I'll have new bombs to complain about. But I did tell me no. I'm not here. Here's here's the killer. The killer is when you look at what the Republicans are saying. Not not that they're not their names what they're saying. You know they want less government they want smaller government they want more deregulation they want all this stuff. And then you look at what caused all these problems with BP with Wall Street with everything else. It was deregulation it was looking the other way it was winking and nodding. And I'm going OK if you're unhappy with Democrats who maybe in part contributed to that. You're going to get that in steroids in steroids as well. So the irony is is that if you look at the sense of disappointment that government has failed you were not talking about government check it out.

That's not government it's going to fail. That's government it's only going to be there. So it's interesting. Let me ask you this quick question about the tyranny race. Can he recover from that. This is his wife has just been charged with. Well it's some financial mismanagement on a huge scale 7 million dollars. Is that something that he can recover from or people just can't. Voters just can't even hear it. And they have to go to the alternative. Why doesn't Geraldine Ferraro come roaring back into your head. Remember that with her husband and all the trouble for those listening who don't know ran for. That's right she was on the vice president's. You cannot just say that she was she was from New York she was the first female vice presidential pick under Mondale who was just on the radio today with us going to have today and Geraldine Ferraro's husband was in real estate and got himself into a lot of trouble and the question is did she have imputed knowledge did she know part of the promise and I'm going to I don't think tyranny can say this but I will say this. How many of you know what your spouses really do want a daily

basis. If your spouse is an attorney do you know his clients are. Do you know what he's dealing with. I mean I'm not it's and it's a little more difficult for tyranny because this isn't just a client this is her family. Exactly. This is her brother. You know and it becomes And yet at the same time apparently eight years ago everyone said well you know no one knew what they were doing and this wasn't a problem but eight years later you know as more information and more T tails come out it looks it doesn't look good for anyone. Can tyranny walk away. He should have maybe an historic period of time been able to separate himself from his spouse even now that everyone is so angry. It's going to be much much harder. Again I go back to money and enthusiasm there is so much money in this race that you can take a story that should be explainable and make it totally not only not explainable but nuclear waste. Well let's go to your neck of the woods in New Hampshire and speaking of Republican mojo. Everybody's been droppin in big names that is to support John Steven who is the Republican candidate for governor even though it looks like there's a 10 point spread between

John Steven and John Lynch. John Lynch who is the current governor and a Democrat Mitt Romney Haley Barbour Tim polenta That's a lot of a lot of national interest in New Hampshire jealous. You're not the first in the nation primary this is all what this is all this is about. Well John Sununu who is the chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party is a smart cookie. I may not be a nice person but he's a smart political. And what he has understood is is that you need to have money and support for your candidate for governor not necessarily because that candidate will win but because you need to prop him up so that that those numbers will not hurt your U.S. Senate candidate your congressional candidates and everything else running for the legislature and time and time again especially against a Democrat like John Lynch who is really more of a very moderate Democrat almost quasi liberal Republican. I mean that's really what he is. He he doesn't offend Republicans he's in fact got support from Republicans. So in order to make John Stephen look even more credible you bring in all the presidential candidates who want to touch him

who can then sprinkle their fairy disk dust called money on the New Hampshire political landscape. John is actually doing better than most people thought because John Lynch is such a moderate Democrat and so embraced by both the electorate and Republicans that John Steele is going to a very tough time of it. But with all these repub. Candidates showing up not only do they encourage the enthusiasm that Republicans now have over Democrats but it also helps because that means there's more money pouring into this race. And don't forget Kelly there is not going to be probably a Democratic primary which means the Republicans are going to come to New Hampshire to regroup to get to ready to run against Barack Obama. They would love to see as many Republicans in seats of power because it makes it easier for them to organize the state. What about Kallio in the senatorial race it looks like she's going to win that according to the latest polls she she has she has a lot going for her and one of the things she has going for her and I'm going to go back to John Lynch.

She was the person the legal counsel for the former Republican governor of a governor named Craig Benson who was despised by everyone. Craig Benson then appointed her as his attorney general. John Lynch gets elected within two years later and he re appoints her as the attorney general. So Kelly by definition has the embrace of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. And within months of being re appointed as attorney general leaves to run for the United States Senate. So not only is she female but she can also say that she has been you know chosen by the top you know executive in the state of New Hampshire both Republican and Democrat to be the attorney general. She has never played pure politics because this is an appointed position and she will bring change to Washington and she has a really a really good shot. All right. Again it's about it's about money and I'm going to turn to John Sununu. He knows what he's doing and New Hampshire is going to face the music in November. All right well we're facing the music here right now but thanks for your insight Artie. I'm telling you honestly

we've been speaking with Arnie Arnesen a radio and TV commentator based in New Hampshire. And our political contributor Arnie Thanks for joining us. It's a pleasure Joe. Coming up it's our film contributor gerund daily on the influx the influx of documentary films this year Stay with us. The. Support for WGBH comes from you and from opera Boston presenting Fidelio Beethoven's only opera. A story of faithfulness and love. October 22nd 24th and 26 at the Cutler Majestic Theater starring soprano Christine Gurka as léon ora opera Boston dot org and from the New England mobile book fair in Newton. For 53 years New England's independent bookstore. The New England mobile book fair find them online at any book fair dot com. That's an e-book fair dot

com. The AK 47 created by the Soviets after World War 2 became the weapon of choice for insurgents terrorists and child soldiers. And the next Pulitzer Prize winning reporter C.J. Chivers talks about his new book The Gun. And we'll talk about coming under fire by Taliban with our reporting from Afghanistan for The New York Times. Join us. This afternoon at two of the GBH. Baseball a film by Ken Burns which now includes the 10th inning is now available to order online at shop dot WGBH dot org. Your purchase will support more great programs from Public Broadcasting and for a limited time when you buy baseball or just the tenth inning. You can claim a 20 percent

discount on any other Ken Burns DVD collection. Great save at shop dot WGBH. I'm Michele Norris from NPR News and you're listening to eighty nine point seven. WGBH radio. Stay with us for the bigger picture behind the day's news on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. Coming up at 4:00 here on Boston's NPR stations for news and culture. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. Our film contributor Guerin daily is back to talk about this year's bumper crop of documentary films Gary welcome back. I How you doing. You know there was a time when I could bring up Harvest Of Shame for people who really knew documentaries that was a documentary that aired on the VIN Tiffany network CBS and people would nod the very small group of people who know. And that would be about it but these days documentaries are all over the place.

Yeah and it's kind of interesting because as you know I used to be an exhibitor. And people would ask me to play some documentaries and I'm going yeah off white people would absolutely love me you can't. It wouldn't pay the bills. Now it's a completely different story. You take Fahrenheit 9/11. It grossed over 100 million dollars and it's not unusual for a documentary to make two or three million dollars at the box office before DVD sales. Now that's a far cry from even 10 years ago. And you have to start wondering well what has changed and that period that the documentaries are doing so well in theaters. And for me it's a combination of reality TV. We seem to be totally stuck on what's going on with reality TV and documentaries are a form of reality TV. But more importantly you mention Harvest of Shame. That's when the broadcast networks their news divisions would go out and really go after these hard hitting stories and earn their chops as journalists. That's not happening anymore. There was a void out there because you know basic cable and broadcast news is more

concerned with ratings more concerned with infotainment rather than really hard news. So the the. Gap is being filled by these documentarians who've also been blessed with low production costs because of DV cameras and the digital age. One of the things that I wanted to know before we you know listen to a few documentaries that just tell us a lot about the how this whole field has changed. It's just I took a look at the weekly box office from October the 8th through the 14th and discovered that there were a number of documentaries listed in the top 100 Yeah. At 16 is waiting for superman at 19 is Catfish at 28 as Hubble thirty nine forty nine is inside job 63 is The Tillman Story 68 his wildest dreams in 76 a Film Unfinished 77 Freakonomics that's just to give you a sense of it now this is the same week that Social Network The big feature film is number number one making 15 million plus. And Life As We Know It is number two. I think that. Says a lot that all of these you know. OK relatively speaking that's a lot of

documentaries on the list of 100 most viewed films this past week and you have to again say why do people want to see it. Now I have to say that one of the things that I kind of felt was I was investigating this a little more deeply was how a lot of films been people go see it. They're looking for a reaffirmation of what they are want to feel like the romantic story you want to feel that romance is a scary story you want to feel that scarcity being reaffirmed in some way that your films your sense your films are fictional film. I think with documentaries what you're looking at is almost a preaching to the choir. It reaffirms what you already believe. I have a really hard time believing that someone of a conservative stripe is going to go see a Michael Moore film unless they're going to use this ammunition in an argument. They're not there to you know be to be instructed they're looking for something that they can fight against whereas the people who are going to see Michael Moore want to be told something they already believe. Well that already speaks to the way documentaries have changed. I just want to play people a

clip from a filmmaker of some note he's from this area. This is from Frederick Wiseman 1067 documentary to cut fall is the film focuses on the treatment of the inmates and patients at Bridgewater State Hospital for the criminally insane. And the title to the cut Follies is taken from a talent show put on by the hospital's inmates. The. The the. OK OK. Now Gary the reason I mention that is because I think at the time you'd go to see that you would know you don't have any particular way of thinking about it you just go see it or you would watch it to find out what is the information I need to know about this is asylum. What is it that I that the filmmaker wants me to know about it as opposed to what you just said as if you say Michael more people come to the table with an expectation of a certain kind of thing.

Right but you know we should also notice that you know Frederick Wiseman and Ted Koppel is considered one of the changing pivotal moments in documentary filmmaking along with the Mayfly brothers who did great gardens and Richard Leacock these three directors are for recount the Bracey brothers as to how they created the new interpretive direct cinema documentary where they were able to. Use personal stories and follow the personal story all the way through making it much more accessible to the audience as opposed to just you know sort of imposing an issue on people. I think that's the way that people thought documentaries were sort of a big snore. Well and again let's go back to the word documentary. We think of it as black and white and that's that and something that Ken Burns once said every photograph is a document. We think the same thing with film. Let's even though we know that it is being manipulated in many different ways. Let's talk about Hal your point about moving this form moving away from network and away what he might have seen a Harvest Of Shame at some point on the air just you

know as you would watch 60 Minutes. It's very different now where cable has taken over so you're talking about an HBO for example becoming a powerhouse in documentary distribution. Correct. And that's amazing. It is amazing. But again it's part of that convergence of what's going on in the media business. It's no longer as stratified as it once was where you now have you know HBO or you have a Stars or you have somebody from the the cable or broadcast network funding these films bringing them out into the marketplace and then putting them on their station. And these are tough issues. This is. From Errol Morris is 1088 documentary The Thin Blue Line of film where Morris successfully argued that a man was wrongfully convicted of murdering a police officer. And in this clip we hear from one of the eyewitnesses. Emily Miller I'm always looking because I never know you know what Mike and I have been here. I like to have you know in situations like this.

You know it's always happened in the area where I go you know there's. Killings or anything you know. Even relatives we have been and I was looking to get it. You know I never did it. What's going on. Well you know there's a couple things that just jumped out at me with that the first thing. Did you notice the music. Yes absolutely. Music is and this is one of the things that Earl Morris did very very well. He started bringing in techniques of fictional films and using things like color and black and white dramatizations which were not really used before because it's all that direct some of that interpretive cinema. And he started bringing those techniques into the process of documentary filmmaking. Thus changing everything that was going on within that particular film won an Oscar. And it really. Again just like the maze lays and the Wiseman's by the way Wiseman has a new film called Boxing Gym coming up. Something to look forward in theaters coming up in a couple months. But that's both of those.

Those are two distinct breaking points within the documentary world and I should say that there are some continuing discussion about whether or not that's appropriate. As one who's worked on a documentary that was quite journalistic here is the information all music used was not added but that of those people who are participants. That's a different thing than Errol Morris has done right and in fact when you take it to the extreme there's actually a term called Doc Uganda which is you know where it's you crossing documentary docu drama and propaganda film and mixing them all together not unlike what Lenny Riefenstahl did with triumph of the will or Olympiad. So when we worked on eyes on the prize we had to document everything and we were not allowed to move around music so that was a little bit different. Now I want to talk about Waiting for Superman which is the hot documentary number 16 as I said on the box office list. And this is a clip from this new documentary. The director Davis Guggenheim follows a handful of promising kids through the American education system. We're trying to really transform someone's life and that that is not an easy thing to do do you believe.

Run. On. You look a little bit like you in a suit. Every one of us wrote the leadership and said look I did manage to take a stand on education. We would make this a better country for all of our children. Thank you everybody. That I. Like and I do. It just with different and I don't. See a lot of in a lot of parents of. Kids. The only way to write. This film is made six hundred thirty thousand dollars already right. And that's impressive for a documentary. Right it'll probably end up grossing close to three million dollars and because again it's not one of those films where they have 4000 or 5000 screens it's usually on 20 or 30 screens and it slowly develops. But you know when you listen to that clip again we were to just listening to it. You can see that they're doing quick edits and they're trying to keep the viewer interested in what's

going on. And what makes Waiting for Superman like inside job which is just coming out which is about the economic crisis or even a new film that's coming out later called Budrus which is about the Palestinians attack you know protesting the Israeli building of the wall. These films are defining a wrong. And then by the end of the film it's a call to action not unlike an infomercial. Where there's a time with a cough you know there's a perceived need and then a call to action for people to respond to. And that's one of the differences of the documentaries now because the call to action is so blatant where something into the cop shows you and let you draw your own conclusion. After reflection These are telling you go out and do something. I wonder if we should change the name of this genre because documentary was used to differentiate between fictional feature films in the past and now as you've just said and as we've been talking all these things are now part and parcel of so many in that genre now. I think we're at some point we may have to start differentiating a little bit more on what's happening but

for right now I think see it as a as almost a golden age for documentaries because there are no real boundaries of what you can and can't do as long as you remain within the structure of telling a story that is based on true people in a true situation or a perceived truth. But I have to tell you I get annoyed by the slanting just put it out there in an interesting way and let me come away with what I think is the issue. But I'll tell you something if you go back to 1920 six thousand nine hundred twenty six was when the documentary was first used before that was called actuality films in one thousand twenty six Robert Flaherty's film called Muna was called a documentary by a critic. And if you go back and take a look at what Robert Flaherty did Robert Flaherty. Purposely selected shots left things out and was creating a romantic vision. He was not creating a documentary. He's considered the father documentary. I think every single document not every single but a lot of the documentaries that become popular have a bias already built into it because of who the person is directing the film to shot selection what they choose to leave in what they choose to

leave out. So I agree with you that I am a more traditional. I like the straight ahead documentary because I like the idea of learning something but at the same time when there is such a gap in our ability to get information from the mainstream media that documentaries are serving a really good purpose right now of getting people excited about issues that they would not normally get excited about. Well I tend toward the front lines let me mention frontline as you know in a great house for straight ahead documentaries featuring some tough subjects done in a very interesting way. They certainly have a good audience for the films that they're creating. HBO survives by doing such a variety right now they've got Monica and David Sins of My Father Teenage Paparazzo. All very different subject matters and of course they provided a home for Spike Lee to do. Not one but now his second documentary on the aftermath of Katrina the new one is called If God is willing and the creek don't rise. So I mean there are spots and places but the ones that get to the box

office Gerin the top six grossing documentaries are by Michael Moore. I mean some of the top six. Yeah. You know but march of the Penguins rabbits too. That's true. Earth is number three right in truth I think being welcomed by you and oceans is number seven so I mean there is you know again those are straight ahead documentaries. But I think that there is ample room for fertile ground here and I think if we as viewers we are aware of the techniques being used to convince us of something. I think that's very helpful because again we are being bombarded with so many images. There's a very interesting film right now called a Film Unfinished directed by Yahoo. Who is a young Israeli director had a chance to talk to her. She made this film because it's a documentary about a documentary it is a documentary originally shot in 1942 by Nazi cameramen depicting the life inside the Warsaw Ghetto. Three months before the extermination of thousands and millions of Jews. And in her film she looks at how and breaks it

down how these filmmakers staged everything and how for years many people thought that there was actual real footage of the ghetto there but it really was staged. Understanding that the visual images that are being bombarded by at us by not only just these documentaries but you know that the cable news stations commercials understanding that these images are impacting us and understanding the techniques behind them really makes us better citizens in my estimation. All right well what do you think will be the next top movie past Waiting for Superman. Oh boy the next one after that. Well there is a one called gerrymandering is about all about our good Alexa. Yes I've heard that's really interesting and I'm dying to see that. OK all right. Well gerund daily is the host of the gerund Daily Show on 15 50 W in t and Karen always a pleasure. My pleasure as well. Up next it's the genius next door. We'll talk with a violinist and violinist Sebastian Ruth. He's been awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant for his work in music education. We'll be back

after this break stay with us. The. Support for WGBH comes from you and from Skinner auctioneers and appraisers of antiques and fine art. You might consider auction when downsizing a home or selling a collection 60 auctions annually 20 collecting categories Boston in Marlborough online at Skinner Inc dot com and from Boston baroque presenting Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and

arias from Keira Beanie's opera midday are sung by dramatic soprano Barbara Quintal Ianni October 15th and 16th info at Boston baroque dot org and from the growing number of WGBH sustainers who manage their contributions to public radio with the help of monthly installments and automatic renewals. Learn more about sustaining membership at WGBH dot org. Next time on the world political parties on the extreme right are gaining popularity in Europe. That's true in France. That's what you don't think. Polls show that the National Front his daughter placed third if elections were held today. The resurgence of the far right in Europe. Next time on the world. Coming up at 3 o'clock here at eighty nine point seven. Believe it or not 2011 is right around the corner. But before the ball drops. Eighty nine point seven needs your help in meeting the WGBH 2011 challenge. If

2011 listeners become WGBH sustainers before January eighty nine point seven can eliminate the first fundraiser of the year. Make the switch to sustainer and make eighty nine point seven Your NPR station for more news more music and much fun raising more on line at WGBH dot org. This is eighty nine point seven WGBH Boston's NPR station for trusted voices and local conversation with FRESH AIR and the Emily Rooney show. The new eighty nine point seven WGBH. Good afternoon I'm Kalee Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. My guest Sebastian Ruth is a member of the Providence string quartet string quartet. We're listening to them perform Brahms piano quintet in fast minor Opus 34 with pianist Jonathan Davis. Sebastian Ruth is among one of this year's MacArthur Foundation fellows. He is a

violinist and violinist who founded community music works a music education program in Providence Rhode Island. And as I mentioned before he's also a member of the Providence string quartet. Sebastian Ruth welcome. Thank you. I want to make it clear as I'm stumbling over that that you played the violin and the viola. That's right it's a oh yeah I'm a switch hitter that exactly. Congratulations. Thank you so much. It's so exciting to talk to all of you in the region there about five of you MacArthur Genius grant awards and we're all we're very excited to speak to you and find out about your work. So I'd like to start back in the beginning when you were a student at Brown University and got an inspiration to do what the work that you're doing now. Tell us tell the story from Brown University days forward if you would. Yeah well as an undergraduate I was playing in a string quartet with three close friends including my now wife Mina. And I knew that string quartet playing would be an

important part of my life and career at the same time I was working on. The projects in the Education Department with my advisor Ted Sizer and others thinking about the intersection between music and education and social change. And I had the opportunity to to apply for a public service fellowship from from Brown from the Center for Public Service and and design an artist residency and then a quartet residency in the south side of West End of Providence. I have to say that most people might be inspired as you were by Ted Sizer and other mentors but they might you know do this twice a week and then go back to wherever they come from and that would be that. But this is because home to you this is become your life's work. I mean it really took root if you will.

Yeah well the inspiration was really in finding a way to. To make a career for musicians that would involve performance and that would involve working with young people and then importantly would involve a notion of service and in some ways a new definition of service for musicians so that that permanent or full time effort was really part of the design was to say could we set a precedent here for musicians to have publicly gauged careers that are also very satisfying in performance and in education. Now what you do is offer free music lessons to kids ages 7 to 18 in seven provinces neighborhoods and most of them poor. And right now you have about 100 kids and that's up from you I think you started with one violin student and it's grown. That's right I made it. It was during my senior year of college I was teaching one violin student in the Elmwood neighborhood and

that's where I really started to connect with that neighborhood of Providence and then within our first year of programming we had about 15 kids and grew from there. I want to go back and emphasize something that you mentioned which is about redefining service because at first glance you know community music works it sounds like. And we just said you do you offer free music lessons. It's just a music program. But really what you've done here is put music at the center of a community program. And there is a difference and I wonder if you could articulate that difference. Sure. Yeah. I think the the definitions around community music works are nuanced and. We talk about it as a youth program which it is. We talk about it as a residency for professional musicians which it is and we talk about it as a community development program also which it is and really what we're trying to do is is strike that that balance or that combination if you will

of musicianship and and public service in such a way that it's all of those things combined. And so as as professional musicians we live and work and teach and perform in this neighborhood and have a life as a string quartet and as other musicians as well in in performing actively both in this community and around the city and beyond. But but really combining that with our teaching and with our community organizing activities if you will calling people up making sure people are available to come here the concert the kids are playing and organizing the kids to you know not only learn their music but in some cases organize their own community performances around the city and things like that. Now you have three phases of this program so you know the first phrase obviously is is teaching the kids. But the other phase is really address what you've just

spoken to which is integrating the community into support of this program and really beyond. Right right so. Phase two is it is for teenagers. We started phase two about in our seventh year when the young kids we had worked with were becoming teenagers and starting to kind of fall away and think that playing music was something they did when they were little and therefore now that they're cool and they're teenagers they had to sort of choose something else and we and we started phase two as a way to make a really fun social environment that met on Friday nights for kids to come and really beyond sort of keeping them engaged it was a way of introducing them to the next level of being a musician which was not only how do you play but how do you work that into the questions that you're living. The questions of what are the issues in our in our community the questions of what is my identity what is my worldview so

cut side by side with the sort of fun relax social environment where we eat and and play music we also have group discussions and that's been an ongoing theme and every year takes on a different subject and one year it was broadly defined it was social justice and justice. And we asked the kids to continue to explore that idea and come up with a performance that in some way represented the questions of social justice and and the kids chose to make a performance about the access to arts in public schools and how it's a social justice issue of kids have access to creative and artistic experiences so they put on a fabulous what we call youth salon sort of a variety show with performances and speeches and presentations by the kids. So that's that's the place where they're sort of becoming engaged in some of the bigger questions of civically engaged as a musician. And

then beyond that we have a Phase 3 program for the oldest. Kids who are playing at an advanced level who are ready for some string quartet playing or other small ensemble playing and also who need after school jobs and we found again as kids became 1718 they would start drifting away because of a need to work and so Phase 3 is a combination of of more intensive chamber music playing and rehearsing but also being paid for their performances around the city and increasingly we get calls from event that's going on sometimes it's from the mayor's office. Do you have kids who could come and play for a special event and we send Phase 3 and that's an awesome leadership development opportunity for them as well to to go and represent community music works and play at a high level. Oh absolutely. I read somewhere that you said that when you started this work that nobody was actually crying out for string quartet in the areas that you

work but you've made it work there and you've made kids who let's it's I think it's fair to say might be more interested in hip hop than string very interested in these instruments and in this music and how so. What do you think really you've been able to tap into. Yeah well it's truly you know when we started it wasn't out of a response to to as you say people crying out for a string quartet more it was a question of as. String players are selves as a collection of professionals. What are we passionate about. And how can we share that in an authentic way with the community and so it wasn't a statement of saying this is somehow better than hip hop or this is the music that that kids should be listening to but it was to say there's something we really love and we'd like to share it. So I think out of our own enthusiasm and also out of making our own practice

as a string quartet and as and as a bunch of professional musicians making a practice visible makes it appealing for kids because literally we rehearse in a store front in the neighborhood kids can walk by and see what we're doing. Also here what we're doing when we remember too we flip on the the switch that broadcasts are a rehearsal out into the street. So so any passer by sees this sort of you know what could be a pretty unusual sight of a quartet doing its work rehearsing in and hearing the sounds on the street. But but that that beat that can become a sort of you know informally contagious event and the kids could see what's going on. Become curious sign up for the program and then for the kids who are really involved like in the in the face to buy buy buy time face to especially they're starting to play chamber music and they look to us and they see how much excitement we have for what we're doing and that gets them charged as well and you know what.

One fun story was a student of ours who is a cellist who heard one of our concerts we were playing the Mendelssohn Octet and afterwards she was flipping out about it she was like that was so cool and when when that when the child was replying that part of it was against all the other parts and I and she was and was like yeah that's the metal's octet isn't a great shtick no no we don't get it like before this. Like I want this on my iPod like. For this you know classical music that's what I did in my lessons but like I want to hear this all the time. Yeah that's that's because this is a great music and she just couldn't convince us that she had just had this opinion like from now on she's going to be putting this on her iPod it was great. It was a great moment to see and and see how how that can happen where kids fall in love with it for their own reasons. And yet you said and by the way it should be noted that you all live in the neighborhood too unlike some other folks who may come in and do programs of this sort but

don't live there. It's designed it's not it's not a hard and fast requirement but it's the design and so many of us do live in the neighborhood there. The point of your program because you have so many layers to this is not so much turning out. The next string quartet per say professional string quartet. But to really enrich these kids lives through the arts. Right. Right and and that's exactly right and yet at the same time we we struggle as educators to define what that means because what it doesn't mean is that we don't have high expectations for the kids or that we don't expect they could become professionals. In fact we want to provide them an educational opportunity that could prepare them for a serious you know college preparation and beyond to become professionals. But the same time it's not our primary goal. And so we don't for instance weed out kids who are not

promising or who don't show a natural talent for things. It's a really about being inclusive to any any kid in the neighborhoods we work in to to experience musicianship to experience the joy of community that comes with it and to experience the deep mentoring that goes on when they work one on one with a teacher over the period of many years. Well now that you're flush as we say what are you going to do with the money. Yeah you know it's the question everyone wants to ask and one of the you know vague answers I'll give is that the MacArthur Foundation gives you a few months to think about it before they give you a dime so I'm still in that thinking phase. I know there's a significant reinvestment that I'll make in community music works and. It being a nonprofit organization that'll that'll be a very satisfying thing to to have some money to be able to to give significantly. But within that I I've been very I think Lucky as a

musician to have been offered the opportunity to try out an experiment and to be creative and and risk taking and I'd like to make the same kind of risk taking and creativity possible to other musicians. So those are the kinds of things I'm thinking about. Well that's great. It seems to me the beauty of the MacArthur Genius Award is that you just recognize for doing what you were doing and you're just going about your business and then you get you get a little fairy dust sprinkled on you and that's wonderful So congratulations again. That's great thanks. We're going out on the Providence string quartets performance of the second movement of Schubert's cello quintet. Sebastian Ruth thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. He is a violinist a violinist and founder of community mirth. Music works based in Providence Rhode Island. He's one of this year's MacArthur Genius Award foundation fellows. To learn more about community works visit the Calla Crossley Show Facebook page or go to community works. Music works or you

can keep on top of the Calla Crossley Show it WGBH dot org slash Calla Crossley follow us on Twitter or become a fan of the Calla Crossley Show on Facebook. This is the family crossing show where production of WGBH radio Boston NPR station for news and culture.