WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Cally Crossley This is the Cali Crossley Show. Today we're hitting the rewind button on this week's news from the great lady's front pages to the stories on the small screen and the reporting that went under the radar. It's a hyper local look at the news that was and wasn't. We'll be dropping in on online communities and alternative presses. For a look at the big stories from the small papers where today's neighborhood news becomes tomorrow's mainstream headlines. Well top of the hour venturing from the serious to the sublimely ridiculous with Greg time on tour of the tabloids and a round up of this week's pop culture. Up next on the callee Crossley Show from gumshoe reporting the gossip rags. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Louise Schiavone. Encouraging hiring figures today the Labor Department reports employers added two hundred forty three

thousand jobs in January. The most in nine months with the employment rate at 8.3 percent. President Obama says he's encouraged coverage is speeding up and we've got to do everything in our power to keep it going. Not surprisingly Republicans have a different view. Here's Speaker of the House John Boehner. But the American people were promised by the president that unemployment would not exceed 8 percent and there were 36 straight months of unemployment over 8 percent. Economist Steven Breaux NARS at Welch Consulting says young employment figures don't speak for themselves. I don't want to seem pessimistic as it is very good news but we'd like to see this for a couple couple more month. Because a lot of the gains that we're seeing are really that the declines in employment that we typically see in January just weren't as large as they have been hiring in January accelerated across the economy. The FBI and Scotland Yard are trying to figure out how someone managed to hack a private conference call that was about catching hackers more from

NPR's Philip Reeves. It's a conference between the FBI and detectives in London and embarrassingly It seems to have been hacked by the very people. Agents are trying to catch the FBI says it's launched a criminal investigation. The conversation's illegally obtained and intended for law enforcement officers only it says. Scotland Yard says it's assessing the situation but so far thinks the hacking is not risk to its operations. Anonymous and other like minded hacker groups relish carrying out high profile and brazen cyber attacks previous targets include the CIA the Mexican government the Church of Scientology and credit card companies. A Twitter message purportedly posted by anonymous claims the group's been able to read FBI internal messages for some time. But it reads NPR News London. NATO's allies are developing a new strategy for dealing with attacks on coalition troops from within Afghan security forces. Teri Schultz has the story. NATO's stepping up measures to detect infiltrators among the Afghan armed services. The killing of

four French troops by an Afghan soldier last month led to the French government deciding to pull out of Afghanistan early. NATO's secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the new strategy will be ready this month. We have already taken a lot of steps but in light of recent events we agreed to strengthen those efforts. The timeline for a handover to full Afghan control is still a matter of debate. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta created confusion at the meeting by suggesting U.S. combat operations could end next year before the full transition is completed in 2014. For NPR News I'm Teri Shultz at NATO headquarters in Brussels. On Wall Street the Dow is up 154 points at twelve thousand eight hundred sixty. The Nasdaq up 47. This is NPR. As Iran's international tensions rise Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is calling on is calling Israel a quote cancer and says Iran will assist any nation or group that confronts Israel. Meanwhile speaking at a U.S. air base in Germany

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called on the world community to maintain economic sanctions to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Supporters of the activist group Anonymous hacked into the website of the Greek justice ministry today and posted an anti austerity video as Joanna kisses reports from Athens. The video b rated Greek leaders for taking billions in bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund cracking down on its people. Greetings Greece. We are Anonymous. The two minute film show someone in a mask and black cloak reading the news like an anchor. What is going on in your country is an acceptable Dema Krissy was given birth in your country but you have now killed it. The video goes on to criticize the Greek government for punishing its people with a wage and pension cuts and tax hikes. The Death Us ministry says the site is now off line until it secured. Greek leaders an international lender say they're on the verge of announcing a debt swap deal and a second bailout to save the country from default

and a possible EuroZone exit. For NPR News I'm Joanna Kaye casus in Athens in southwestern China. A coal mine explosion has killed several miners according to the news agency a rescue operation is underway. Accidents like these are frequently called by a build up of methane gas. I'm Louise Schiavone NPR News Washington. Support for NPR comes from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation making grants to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. On the Web at Hewlett dot org. Good afternoon I'm Cally Crossley. This is the Cali Crossley Show. Today we're hitting the rewind button on the week's news. Taking a hyper look local look at the stories that went under the radar. I'm joined by Howard Manley the executive editor of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia managing editor of Elle Panetta. Welcome back you

two had. Great to be back. Kelly Marcel I'm going to start with you with this huge story in East Haven Connecticut though I have to say during the week I just mentioned it in passing to a couple of people and it definitely is still under the radar for a lot of folks. And it is. A little bit shocking. It's a day and these days and times and the essence of it is there a police chief in East Haven Connecticut to be clear not New Haven East Haven Connecticut has been accused under his watch for four policemen have been arrested for harassing and racially profiling Latinos in the community. Now this is been an ongoing complaint but couldn't prove it. Justice Department took a look at it said oh yes it's definitely going on there's documentation of it and arrested these four police officers and then the mayor was asked his response to it. And I'll let you tell the rest of the story. Marcello is just gotten from worse to worse really.

And then you know what happened. It all originated actually by by a complaint that percent that the the a group of Yale students because the Yale School of Law has this group of students that were with community cases and they start investigating pressuring and they long story short they file a complaint and then after months months of investigation the FBI came down and arrested this four policeman again because under charges that they were racially doing racial profiling even in some and some cases and forcing immigration laws that they shouldn't have intimidating business to business owners. And then after all this is happening that the mayor is being interviewed and he's as well what can you do to make the Latino community feel better. Or how to improve I guess the most fear and I think he just said you know I guess I'll just go home and eat tacos for dinner. Which is an unfortunate incident but the thing I think he as that has made it worse is that he really doesn't see

what the problem with his column was and now you say it's a it's a story that has been a little bit under the radar it's a raging regional news for us because it's New England but at the same time nationally in the Latino community people are incensed. Their rage that it's it's just amazing that this would fly I mean they're calling for the resignation the New York Times. They did an editorial on the on the issue and they you know call for his resignation as well so it's just still surprising that he hasn't. Oh and you know the pressure also from the communities also mounting a lot of community organizations that work with the Latino the Latino community there have been you know staging certain actions like they send them a hundred tackles one day you know to his office and he just he's not going anywhere apparently. So it's pretty unfortunate and it also shows I mean beyond the back Tay's best. That community is mostly Ecuadorian So you are only making fun of them but you don't you

showing that tacos are Mexican you know so. So people are the you don't even know who live Sierra and you're trying to make because he apparently tried to make a joke by that. You know common if we are to believe him but. But it's just very unfortunate and again Latino community. Communities that nationally there are very very pissed off about this. To say the least and not just Latino community is there others too because this strikes at the heart of the issue of profiling. And for anybody listening to saying OK well what's the problem if these people were undocumented. Let's be clear that what the what the investigation showed is that they were grabbing up folks with without any regard to right were whatever and they were just legitimate business persons. There was one shop with that was seemed like it was almost a tactic of going in there and bothering the business owner and so there's a lot going on here and the rest of the community folks of goodwill are quite upset about it and also

about how they're perceived in the press and the rest of the nation. Howard. This is it's this is bad news right. I mean sort of we can have fun with I guess the new form of Boss Hog down there all day but I mean underneath all that is a major major constitutional problem and one of the dangers that you have by giving the law enforcement undue power to just randomly arrest folks just on perception. And so I'm not all that familiar with the East Haven case but those issues I know have attracted I mean issues between police and the community have attracted the attention of the National Association of Colored People. And it's one of those things that just rises to the level that you thought we had sort of conquered this racial profiling issue and we haven't and that's sort of the groundswell of any community activism over there. Yes the comments are bad. The taco response by some of them all that and just a blatant nigger it's ok we can have fun with that. But there are some large large issues which get in and around immigration yet again that's

unresolved and with no end in sight. The other thing to mention is that which I thought just thought was wow this is really a lack of connectedness. He made his comment his talk a comment to a Latino informant. I just mean how can you think that you can joke about this with so many covers Latino community that sensitive to this community. Yeah it's complete and I gave him a chance he said. Oh yeah yeah yeah what do you say I can't do you still get even more power supporting this community does have a long history of targeting communities of color I think in 1990 in the 90s they there was also another investigation involving some African-American. I don't know some shooting and they did get involved. So it is unfortunate. And just to put a button on this is just want people to know we're not talking about one or two people being harassed we're talking about hundreds of people are being caught up in this kind of net by these I guess they'd be rogue

cops because others say that this is not representative of the entire the other police is that it's been reported that the FBI has not done that there. There there's more arrests to come so it should just I think we should all just keep an eye there because there'll be more news to come out of there. Yeah and see whether the mayor holds his position or not by the way the other thing about it too that one should mention is that the police chief. You're home these four who have been arrested and others have been accused. Is retiring and is leaving with all kinds of amenities and perks and many people are unhappy about that and say that he should be fired so he would not be eligible to receive all this money and other perks but as you say luckily been given time. All right over to you Howard in the Bay State Banner is a very interesting piece about the developer name for the Ferdinand building and some of the city seems like a very engaged community. A meeting with members of that development team personally

excited and I think a lot of folks are really excited about the possibility that Dudley Square could become sort of a destination point in all of Boston sort of neighborhood. The developer big time Shawmut design and construction are the same developers of the new Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum which has received rave rave reviews were its architectural splendor and. And the Ferdinand building deserves that kind of quality because I don't remember the exact style of it but it's an art deco building that's been boarded up in the for the last at least three decades and so is it right in the heart of Dudley Square and that through the Mayor Menino they're going to redo some of the other buildings on the side of it and it's just like I say it's an exciting time Adela square because the community has been talking and meeting for 20 years about how do we develop this place. And now it's finally seemingly come into action. Community folks who met were the initial The meeting was really about to speak to them about

workforce opportunities to make sure that folks in the community got jobs but they also raised other issues about just the dust and the traffic problems and all that and I thought one person's comment about the rate of asthma in in that community and being concerned that a lot of dust would aggravate it was right on point. Well I think so too and that's one of the good things that the community has done and has stayed on top of things like jobs to local residents. There are mitigating efforts that construction companies could do to sort of help with the dust and all that sort of noise and all that with the construction. But the one thing that we haven't really talked about yet is is just how do you sustain it once it's up. And so yes they'll be the city's school department will be located there. But you need that area to sort of grow and have food places and restaurants. And will it be supported. So those are the questions that remain on the table but you don't know until you start building it seems to be Marcella a lot of engagement by city council Tito Jackson.

He's sort of stepping up to be one of the point person as it is in his area but so that makes sense but it doesn't surprise me you know he thought he's always been really invested in that community and he should get the same market that for you. What do you guard your way to do that work imagine that such an it but it's a beautiful building and I'm really looking for in terms of Boston's architecture this will add to one of those unique items and that's it has to be on the up side of the equation but again it's about whether it can sustain that neighborhood over the long haul. And that's what the community ultimately is IC's are excited about. Well I will say this and both of you can address it but if they're not representative folks hired for the building there's going to be such a problem. Yes but you know they've been an issue right. Yeah you know action is going to make sure that that gets addressed. But but but you know with all of this talk with all of this things that you have been covering We have been talking about this for a while already. They have to make sure that people get jobs

there. And down the street a little bit as these other parcels we also had a little story about a new hotel that's coming up oh you know you can see they're all part of this sort of grand plan to just bring this part of Boston anchored with very strong tenants and very strong. So this hotel that's coming up. It's right across from the Jim Rice field on Monday a cast and it will have a jazz club and market rate apartments and and a big hotel. That's next to another place which they're going to expand that old tropical foods grocery store and you know Marcella. This is the OS so it will be even expanded to you know keep the community happy there so and there will be affordable housing there and that will be developed medicine part. So it's an exciting time for Dudley Square and this and not to mention the Nu-Wood your street Health Center which is celebrating their opening

this Monday. So the Roxbury and the square is finally catching up with the rest CASSIDY It's a happening place by real estate now. Well I will say for people who've not seen the Ferdinand building even in its disrepair right now and it's got its day and it's a gorgeous building it just stands out so these people obviously know how to do work artfully so. So it'll probably look pretty beautiful at the instrument and design and construction are the folks. All right we've got much more to talk about and we will continue to do it I'm Kalee crossing We're taking a hyper local look at this week's news with Howard Manley of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia of El planaria. You're listening to WGBH Boston Public Radio. This program is made possible thanks to you.

And Hannaford and Dumas commercial printers offset and digital printing finishing and mailing from one source. You can find more information at Hanaford Dumas dot com or by calling 8 6 6. Quote HD. And masterpiece. The war is near an end in the aristocrats and servants put their lives back together. Don't miss Downton Abbey Sunday night at 9:00 on WGBH too and the encore Tuesday night at 9:00 on WGBH 44. And the 15000 WGBH sustainers who helped the station save thousands of dollars by having their contributions of 5 8 or 12 dollars a month automatically renew. Learn more about sustaining membership at WGBH dot org. One comedy writer will riser was 24 and sick with cancer. He amused himself by dreaming up ludicrous cancer comedies after he was cancer free he wrote the romantic comedy 50 50 about a guy with cancer. It's now out on DVD. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt who plays the character based on riser on the next FRESH AIR we hear from both of them join us.

This afternoon we are on eighty nine point seven. WGBH. Because a small gesture can make a big impact hitting 9.7 would like to recognize WGBH sustainers supporters who make monthly gifts that automatically renewed thanks to them. February is fundraiser free if you love fewer fundraisers make a sustaining gift of $5 a month and eighty nine point seven will say thanks with a new CD from NPR's Story Corps. All there is. Love stories we have is the difference was when we started a conversation 20 years ago and we have never stuck here a sample of WGBH thought org. I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Kelly Crossley Show if you're just tuning in we're looking at the week's news hyper locally. Joining me to talk pursuing the headlines are

Howard Manley the executive editor of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia the managing editor of Elle plummet. Marcella big piece about President Obama's education person coming to Rhode Island for this very interesting program. Yeah. The White House initiative for excellence educational excellence for Hispanics apparently has been around for 20 years but but this this administration has given it a more community based approach or perspective. They have been conducting summits all across the country in cities engaging communities in this. He's been a Community Action Summit in Providence was a tent city that they visited I guess you know in a period less than a few months less than a year definitely. It was a big deal for them to be selected right. Yeah it's it's kind of confusing though because he then because he was in Providence the director who said Rico sat down with us to talk about the

initiative and what the goals are and what have they been finding. And it is really a mix of the community in gauging the initiative and putting together this summit. But then then again they they won't come to anybody that just asked. Apparently there have to be some conditions of what they want is community organization this guy used to be a community organizer in Chicago. So that's being his background as an organizer he really came up with this approach to to the as a director to this initiative. So it's it's a mix it's interesting because it's the White House and there's always this disconnect between federal level and local level. And here there seems to be a special synergy and what they do is really they lead the community set the agenda they don't. They don't really come in and do presentations or big PowerPoint or whatever they talk about how great the Latino community is because this is what happens sometimes in the summits that everybody talks about oh this is how great we are and you're just preaching to the choir. So what

he wanted to do again is just get together all these community leaders and from all sorts of backgrounds whether it is health educators or people involved in the school system even parents whatever and just talk to them about what they need to do or who they need to get involved with in the buy houses because they have. He called it the power of the White House you know they have the this ability to to summon certain key leaders in the White House from different agencies that would have an impact in this community so this is what they've been doing. Obviously the question for me to them was why not Boston you know we have some challenges here too and again he he kept telling me you know that the community if they want us to come we will come. But there has to be like community organization. I asked ready or I'm asking for it because they don't have any representatives locally obviously him.

Well let me just say that one of the chief. One of the core points of this initiative is a doubling of the number of work study jobs which are something that President Obama mentioned in his State of the Union address and apparently this is one of the reasons where a lot of Latino students who make it to college can't say yeah because I mean just look at the numbers and this is why this is this becomes really important. In 1990 when this initiative was created there were only only 12 percent of Latinos had a college degree. Now it's only 13. It's the same number nothing has changed. But in the years between 2000 and 2010 the height of the chart the sharpest increase in Latino Romans in college was registered 20. It grew 24 percent. Now there's Twenty twelve point two million see millions of Latinos in college which is the highest number ever. So what happens they're not graduating. You know they're dropping out or they're in community

colleges or they're in vocational or technical schools. So this is where the work study program would mean. So much for them to finish because they're already enrolled. Right but the problem is that they get these barriers whether they have to work for their families when there is poverty or when there is. You name it there. These are the challenges and there's a lot of first generation people correct answers so that there is not necessarily a social support because you're coming from a family that is really understand what you're trying to do and correct and you don't know the system to where we Latinos are averse to loans for example. There are so many things that you can. And again of course there's also immigration. We're talking about Latinas that can't go to college yeah I mean the one we're not right now we're not even yet we're not even talking about those folks. But but yeah that's also that's why it became especially relevant last week because they were in Providence the day after. The president's speech the president's State of the Union. So so hopefully locally this is

another story that we keep we're going to be keeping an eye on. LAWRENCE It's also a region that of course would greatly benefit from this initiative but it's you know a political hot potato this is so this is Providence. Howard and just this week the mayor of Providence they're close to declaring prop bankruptcy. So you know you've got I mean this is money situations all around and trying to. And then there's when people are making choices about where to put their funds it seems as though overall whether it's Latino Initiative or not that kids in college are taking a hit. The interest rates on Pell grants across the board are going doubling in July. Some of the reasons is this people get into college they can't stay because their folks can't afford to help them. That's in the larger context of just everybody. And so you know when you have some Latino students or maybe closer to the poverty line so it makes it worse in terms of percentage. But this is this is bad news

in terms of training the next generation of leaders. We talk about this. All the time about this sort of lack of investment in the future. And one of the things that is really debilitating to inch make in some sort of guarantee on this is the ordinate expense of college loans. I mean most kids they say the average is 80 grand that you come out of school owing when you're 22 years old whatever. As a parent of three kids all in college. Yeah. I'm hurt. Yeah. You know and I think a lot of people are hurt and they're even more hurt that the fact that these kids can't once they get out find a job. And so they're stringing together they had this life up to three jobs and all that. Now if you had to complicate this issue and this is why the DREAM Act was so important there has to be some reward at the system at the end for me to stay here. So you see a lot of Latino folks just not. What's the point. If I have to be deported even if I go to college and so again this is where the lack of immigration reform

comes in this is where the lack of national will comes in the dropout rates among Latinos. It is in ordinate Lehi and president's initiative which those started under George Bush to his credit has not produced the results that we need it to produce and so you get a federal program that is here to insure people's education for their own national interest. It's incumbent upon them to sort of step it up a little bit. Well be interesting to see where this goes because yeah I think people are very interested in this saying we cannot afford to not educate this population you know. Yeah but then again you know what the flip side I'm not saying if I can't get a good education I will go out and sell drugs and Rob. Yeah but more than likely if you look at the sort of high school and college folks you know they have to deal with the overly aggressive criminal justice system. You're going to pay one way or the other. All right well let's move from that depressing story.

So Howard while you're talking you have a piece this is interesting and I have and I really totally This is under the radar on every murder this made Marcel I heard it about folks going downtown to protest at General Electric because they didn't pay any taxes in 2010. Yeah this is the ongoing sort of 1 percent or 99 percent or Occupy Boston but mass uniting is a coalition of activists and labor organizers who've you know come together to sort of protest just the corporate. Status in America right now and so they're making their their voices heard and so they went down to the General Electric which I guess didn't pay any taxes in 2010. And just to put. Folks on notice that they're aware of the situation and that it's unfair in their minds that corporations and it comes out right after a week after Mitt Romney files his taxes and you see that he made twenty one million dollars and he paid a 15 percent tax rate well still 15 percent of 21 million is

a lot more than say the tax rate of 28 at 50000 but even at the math of all that you still can make whatever argument you can to support that tax rate. It's blatantly unfair. And this is what is at the heart you know protests. I didn't know about this one but I knew about and how the protests that mass uniting did last week were they. They were a lot of things yeah. They've been protesting the predatory lenders now I think they were some New York ales and wetsuits because they they were talking or making the point of how a lot of mortgages are submerged under water. MARTIN So but you know it came to our attention too because this week we ran a piece that our sister publication The Boston Phoenix ran the under cover story Christopher on wrote it and it's about an organizer with Matthew Knight who used to be like this gangsta rapper from Dorchester and he turned his life around in

the sense that he started working as an activist and now he's one of the main leaders of this protest and most uniting because they really really are having the keeping active in their in their actions of you know doing just being there and protesting and about you know against banks and and all this which is very very admirable and I guess they do have. The community in their minds because this is all people have been evicted is going to have wrecked their house and this is just a you know it's not simple it's not you know symbolic or anything that they are really the face of what's happening Dorchester Iraq's where people just losing their houses and their focus is on the money. And one of the things that we always associate with sort of the wild hippie protests in this particular case they're really looking at these bank practices and these mortgage loans which clearly were wrong which clearly didn't nearly bankrupt the entire American economy. And saying this is wrong and we and politicians need to get on the right side of this issue.

Well what I took from this. Again I hadn't heard about it is that you know we heard a lot about Occupy I mean the general theme through all of this is income inequality and how are we going to or if we are as a society going to redistribute or highlight or pay attention to folks who have some serious issues with regard to both housing and taxes and how is it going to work. And these are grown folk as you say Marcella. Well who have who are living the experience not just as some have characterized the Occupy people. Yeah young people know with you know nothing really to risk. So that's kind of interesting to me that this is this group and they're getting large crowds when they when they're protesting So they're going to keep that up so that's one way of looking at it. On the lighter side you gotta love local rapper going to when it gets down to 0 0 0 0 3 that you're going to ask me about this next top rapper who ever heard of it I never heard of American Idol but that's a big show out of it. I

never heard of America's Next Top rapper. Well there it is it's in the band I'm about under right under the radar. Yankees or Chester is a really like for you rappers and hip. Yeah yeah I mean it's a closer to the record. Yes and Boston does Marshall actually right go back to the days of guru who legendary rapper who just came back and said I always get lost as a rapper as a hip hop artist. OK I'm old I don't get it when up is over arching and then beneath that you can be a rapper. Oh yeah. Well let me break it down for you. Continue. Thank you. Kelly. So this guy the painter from Dorchester gets a shout out Hey. And so he's going to Las Vegas to do his beats in his rap and apparently has he lost a brother who is how he got into the sort of beat makers and so he's dedicated his work to his brother and that's why you see his interesting stage persona which is the sort of the two faces if you

remember that from the Batman days and two faced and I guess that's and that's his that's his stage and stage yeah and he's a son of Cape Verdean immigrants I can't burn you know. Right. So let's this is no little money the big the big prizes one hundred thousand dollars. So you know a distribution right and you got 5000 by winning the local regional So he's on his way. That's pretty impressive. Yeah pretty impressive this is this is not $200 this is this is making it. Yeah well I'm up I have no idea where America's Next Top rapper Erik Yeah but I guess I'll find out anyway. Contests is in Vegas so we'll see. Now over to you Marcella because saving the best for last Super Bowl everybody's talking Patriots versus Giants but you got a lot to you know. How do you know how no say. Thank you yeah yeah yeah yeah. Tell us I know I do. Well it was very interesting because right after it was known you know the

pagers won that that game that put them in the Super Bowl and then the Giants. So everyone immediately make the connection like everyone like my my Twitter my face was blowing up with you know the Puerto Rican power and it's the first time what I did for you was right where we can power you know we have I don't I don't and this is who is a superstar in the pages he says. One of the best players right now and and yeah I mean it was he was elemental in the whole season. And then there's big cruise with the Giants who's actually kind of a local cause he went to Mass. He said his mother I think he's Puerto Rican and he's that African-American and he's grandmother used to teach him how to dance sunset. So he started to become famous during the season because every time you score a touchdown he would dance right there and I know that's oh oh my god I would be. This is videos of him dancing it's hilarious So listen man yesterday and you know who knows

that both of them are going to be in the Super Bowl. Everyone is like talking about all of this is the first player to reconsider. What do you say. So we decided to do this cover with an illustration of both of them big cruise dancing town center and Atlantis and then does versus cruise but in reality really the Latino community is very very energized about this because football is not our game definitely And so the fact that these guys are there representing very good players Cruz's dynamite player for the Giants and Hernandez has been there while Steve Kahn cowskin his ankle you know a lot of the attention. Hernandez has played not only tight end but he's also been a running back and has been very very very effective so they're not at the level of Tom Brady. But it's going to be a great game. Plus young This is only their second writer writers around rather than around going to the Super Bowl. Both of them. Yeah it is impressive. So it's definitely not the first time a Latino makes it to the Super Bowl but it is relevant that no matter who wins a player is going to be right in so

so impressive players so it could be decided this year. Disapproval by a Latino. Right and that's exactly right. I want you to explain this is call it's been referred to a Super Bowl pronounce the word and tell me what it is that nobody is the way that put it weakens call themselves. That's another name that we call butter weakens body Quest. So it's Super Bowl buddy. So this is a superstar trans like the Super Bowl Puerto Rican So yeah I think so. OK. Well I don't want to get all the Puerto Rican but I want to cheer personally for Chad Ochocinco. Yeah he's getting those six million dollar contract it hasn't really performed up to snow but if he answers the bell the Super Bowl for whatever reason if the Hernandez can't get it done maybe of course they'll get in in the end zone. Yeah I don't know if they think outside the press conference that she's going to sing in the halftime and she was dancing south at the press conference when I said that there's going to be universal support for these guys because everybody's going to be eating salsa.

During the game that's all I know about this part something. That's it for me. I'm just getting started we're going to talk about sports overnight Danica gotta go thank you all thank you both. We've been talking news and sports with Howard Manley executive editor of the Bay State Banner and Marcella Garcia managing editor of thank you both for dating I thank you Kat from lovely headlines we turn to the latest pop culture headlines in rag time. You're listing to the Calla Crossley Show on eighty nine point seven. WGBH. From. WGBH programs exist because of you. And the Harvard innovation lab a

university wide center for innovation where entrepreneurs from Harvard the Austin Community Boston and beyond engage in teaching and learning about entrepreneurship. Information at I lab at Harvard dot edu. And UMass Memorial Medical Center and their Euro gynecology team specializing in surgical and nonsurgical solutions for urinary incontinence and other pelvic floor disorders. White papers online at UMass Memorial dot org slash for women. Samir they draw me studied in the US. He's passionate about sports. And now back home in India he's realizing a dream to play a sport all represent like a city or a club. Let me just give it a shot. With American Football American style football is a new sport in India. Organizers hope it will someday rival cricket a Super Bowl in India. That's next time on the

world. Coming up at 3:00 here on eighty nine point seven WGBH. This Valentine's Day Celebrate the perfect pairing with the WGBH wine loves chocolate chocolate lovers wine event Tuesday night February 14th from 6 to 8 right here at the WGBH studios. You and yours will be treated to a variety of decadent chocolates in fine wine. Then at the end of the night you decide which pairs were meant to be and which ones work better on their own. Tickets are $25 and there's a discount for the member visit WGBH dot org slash taste of WGBH. Brian O'Donovan Come join me every Saturday at 3 for the good old fashioned session on a Celtic sojourn on a 9.7 inch. It's Bragg time. A look at popular culture the salacious the

ridiculous and everything in between. But this being public radio we'll conduct our review with the help of some highbrow analysts in our pointy head of pop culture Thomas Connelly and Rachel Reuben Thomas Connelly is a professor in the Department of English at Suffolk University and Rachel Reuben is the chair of the department of American studies at UMass Boston. Welcome. Hello again. Well we're starting off with a little bit of sad news. I feel as though sometimes every week we're losing someone of an iconic stature. And so it was this week when we learned that the long time host of Soul Train Don Cornelius committed suicide at the age of 75. Not sure about the details of some of he ended the very rocky divorce that he went through and also some health issues may have led him to that. But more importantly it was a legacy he left behind with the show Soul Train which first began airing in 1970 and recognizing that there are a lot of people listening now who

do have never heard of this show don't know what we're talking about. Let me play just a bit of the music of Soul Train and you'll hear Don Cornelius right off the top with his signature or goodbye at the end of each show. So here it is the best trailer to the best of Soul Train. And it's. Always good. So Rachel that was a music that was Don Cornelio is the longtime host with his signature sign off. And tell us about why this was so important Soul Train Soul Train really mattered because it was completely crucial in bringing black urban culture into the cultural mainstream. And in fact in that we have served a really really important integration dysfunction because the television show brought black people

into white living rooms. You know at at a time where you know outside of the television that wasn't going to happen yet. And then after that those 70s moments that you just we just heard a little bit of. He also you know featured on the show people like Run DMC and Curtis split Oh so you know sort of remained important again for bringing black cultural practices into the mainstream and not just the music because there was also dance and fashion. It was sort of you know it it it was a sort of like window on a whole what's now our national culture. And Tom you know a lot of people know about some of the if they know anything about the show they know that he did what Rachel said bringing these acts before a mostly white audience. But he also had some white acts that became very popular Average White Band David Bowie also a pianist you know he was an extraordinary impresario and the fact that this was a syndicated show so that he really created it and sold it from the ground up and brought it all across America. I mean people of our age just this is it's an iconic

the whole look I mean I can see the letters across the screen the whole thing. It was it was big. And also people said well you know it was a counter to American Bandstand but it was very different very different. That's a yes that you know was a music show on the weekend. But the way the energy that that show had was so different to put it very mildly from what American Bandstand was. You also had the sense I mean I can read watching as a kid. You had the feeling that some of this was real like these were the summer there was something spontaneous about it whereas American Bandstand was canned from the get go and things happened on Soul Train that just weren't going to happen anywhere else and I think that's why it caught fire across the country because you knew every week on this show you'd see something new and exciting and hear the kind of music you absolutely would not get anywhere else. Well we should say that when he started the show he used local kids and they became popular and and and famous one of the dancers was named famous as a matter of record. That's right. Yeah. I just I was just as we're sitting here I was thinking of that's a very very sweet moment in Spike

Lee's movie has all of semi-autobiographical movie Crooklyn where he the main character and all the kids are watching Soul Train and just sort of squealing with the light it's very sweet. And for people who always wanted to know the Soul Train line came from Soul Train for the show. So now you know in terms of your pop culture IQ OK superball right upon us on Sunday and with that comes all of these interesting ads. We no longer have to wait Tom until the ads are shown in the Super Bowl so for folks like myself who are never watching the Super Bowl I can see the ads now. Yeah. It's anything the way these things have been especially the one with Matthew Broderick has been leaked a few seconds at a time and then finally it says you know you get this advance word. Well tomorrow at you know 12 15 you know point 0 6 0 9. You can watch the whole thing. And what a letdown. OK well let's let people hear it see if they agree with you.

This is Matthew Matthew Broderick in the Super Bowl ad for a car which we'll talk about on the other side. And it's a takeoff on his very famous film Ferris Bueller's Day. Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Sure what it is. I guess I'll be OK. I'm calling the studio Matthew you're not shooting today. No. Movies bring so much joy. Don't just get some rest. Diva. He bought it. I had to work on a day like today. One of the worst performers of my career and I never doubted it for a second. I kind of get my CRV brought up please. Got a lot to do. Broderick. Broderick. Rachel you got to know the first Bueller's Day Off to get the joke for how no farewell maybe except people are talking about it so yeah right it's fascinating to hear we're talking about how you don't have to wait you get to watch the commercial ahead of time like that's some kind of privilege you know and

it is like it has happened I think to a much greater degree that you know the idea that the advertisements are a kind of artistic you know format that we are you know eager to sort of be on the inside of right because you know if you have to watch if there are people who get that well it's just like there's a certain you know cultural Like you said pop culture IQ right in some sort of extending that to advertisement so that we feel really good if we're on the inside of that instead of you know that we're doing the work for the for the companies. Tom's point however is well taken the way that we talk about it as if it's good and this is kind of OK. Yes I almost got excited. You know so I have I don't think was bad but it's not that exciting. No. And also the contrast between what Ferris Bueller's Day Off was about and what this is about. Yeah I get it to your point Rachel this really shows you it's just about selling some car. It's you know how dare they be smart people.

All right well we got to talk about Madonna Elton John and she are having some ongoing feud and he says she'll be lip sinking and that it will be a horrible form is because he's never seen a good halftime performance. Any response from you two. Well who isn't Madonna feuding with I mean this is indicates to me she has really lost it in terms of being able to manipulate her fans and manipulate the media. Unless it's her aim to remake herself as a bitter self-obsessed in the sense that she doesn't want to leave her room because no one else is worth talking to. I mean it's really disturbing that kind of dark. Well I mean I'm not really. She's the pomposity and your holier than thou attitude which you know if you look at Madonna's crib that she's always been able to step back but now she's just not has no sense of perspective whatsoever. Do you think she'll be good. Rachel Well I mean she does. I think she has always known how to sort of attach herself to something that is hip or you know current And I think she's definitely still doing

that she's got. And Nicki Minaj performing with her. And so you know that I think that in and of itself. And she's also very very sort of cleverly or in a very savvy. She's you know promoting with this performance and her album that's going to be out in March and so is Nicki Minaj for that matter so I think she's still I think she's still able to do what she was best at. Well be interested to see what she I mean this movie W.E. which has gotten universally bad reviews Yeah even from most most angry are her fans were disappointed that is so bland. Well right. So she better pump it up on the she says she's been practicing so we'll see. One thing that's going to sound like suck up again as we've talked about here but Downton Abbey which is airs on WGBH is a mixture really really popular series that comes out of Britain. And now it's going to be more popular I think because of the addition to the cast. So first for those who are not watching it here's a little taste of the music of Downton Abbey.

OK so then you get the sense of it's you know all these great stories going on but in this great castle joining them Rachel will be Shirley MacLaine and another of her nine lives as an actress. Playing Martha Levinson I was going to go I was going to say you know I was going to like go take the high road in there. Yes and I think the interesting thing about her addition to the cast is that then now within the sort of the realm of the show what she represents is Americanness. And so if you're going to take you know one character one actor one figure and say this represents what it means to be American that's always very very late and so if you know everybody you can sort of think through your mind of phrases that you know like all American right. The average American and so forth and and what what would each of us think would need to be in that container in this case it's Shirley MacLaine. So I

want to watch and see how that plays out how she is able to sort of represent all of that. She'll be the mother to Elizabeth McGovern McGovern's character who plays and Elizabeth McGovern plays Lady Cora. Yes I'm interested in seeing you knowing Julian Fellowes as politics. I'm envisioning this as Chris sort of he's going to be this sort of transatlantic or mid Atlantic semi Demi English American character who has no grounding in especially given you know what Shirley MacLaine's flights of fancy that we know about. I think it's an excellent casting and very interesting in its own right. I just can't wait. So much of her career not even in the later part but even the early part she's played someone's mother and to great effect. So also there you know I'm looking forward to the exchanges between her and Maggie Smith So that's got to be that's worth the price of the ticket right there don't tell me I'm waiting til the end of the season. So we learned this week that something I think very important is happening Alan Lomax and that's a name that a number of people will not know but he went

around the country making field recordings that are in the the and has a collection of Alan Lomax collection from the American Folk Life Center. And these were songs that are some of them gone now from from our culture and history he was really capturing them at the moment. And the announcement is that they're going to be able to be digitized for an online collection so other people can hear them. Let me give you a sample of what Alan Lomax collected this is Mississippi Fred McDowell his rendition of Good morning little schoolgirl good Mongolians. Longer can I. AM No. Longer worried. Rachel why is it so important that people have access to this closeness that was so first of all

conscious it was so good. I love the talking guitar and the singing. Why is it so important. Well all of these things he collected it's really it shows you how much you can learn from music on there's work songs there's worship so you can see Could he see there's music people listen to the work too. There's music people listen to the worship too there's music people listen to dance to uncork to and all of that. So it really is this sort of very rounded picture of of people's lives. And long before he had this idea Alan Lomax of the what he called the Global jukebox. And this he came up with long before the Internet sort of came along and said OK here is a global jukebox right it's as you know exists in all of these different places. And that's why I think it's really fitting that all of this sort of streams free on the Internet and you know and also because that this is you said a sea sort of froze this moment a crystallized and distilled this musical moment that belong to you know of different cultures of the United States and so I do kind of feel this romantic way it belongs to everybody and it should be

free and it should be accessible. So I'm completely thrilled 5000 hours of music 3000 videotapes 5000 photographs 400000 feet of film and several several manuscript is absolutely extraordinary. It's also international companies primarily American B he did go all over the world and you know anyone who's studied or read about American culture in the name of Alan Lomax is you know way beyond something just to conjure with and this is just such a magnificent effort that this is going to be available like this. And it's also from a much more idealistic time in cultural studies when there was a real conscious effort to link cultures and to put things out there in terms of the connections that can be made rather than I'm studying this and I'm going to put it in my work and it's going to stay in my institution. Well Max was absolutely the it was nice of them actually had a reputation for being sometimes uncomfortably proprietary about the people whose music he collected. You know just. But out there that it wasn't all you know all rosy in the ME but the music now

stands and it's it's completely fantastic. Even if the relationship he insisted on having with some of the musicians particularly the African-American ones is uncomfortable like I don't want to you know I don't want to deny that as thrilled as I am by the music's availability. He died in 2002 by the way and you know there is a wonderful documentary about him the name of which I cannot recall at the time which shows you how he collected some of this fabulous music. Just last quick response to the new movie Game Change which is going to be an HBO film starring Julianne Moore as Sarah Pailin and that'll be coming out very soon. What do we think about Sarah Pailin Julianne Moore playing Sarah Palin and for that matter this movie and by the way it's based on a book. Yeah. You know it's been it's funny because first we had Tina Fey play Sarah pail and this one it seems to play her more as this like woman you know who is Shakespearean ambition you know and it's so it's like I feel like it's a reversal of Marx we're getting history repeating

itself. Not but but first time as far since second time as tragedy. Yeah it's definitely being played as Julianne Moore's performance looks delicious Lee over the top. And the film has a release from the clips they've shown a very serious tone to it and dad Ed Harris is as John McCain looks completely bewildered by everything that's going on around him so wonderfully. I think this is going to be one that's going to get quite a bit of attention not just because of the casting but because there's a lot of meat to this book and they got a lot of behind the scenes stuff while the campaign was going on you know and then after so we'll see. Well thank you both Professor Rachel Rubin professor Thomas Connelly for joining us for another edition of ragtime. You can keep on top of the Calla Crossley Show at WGBH dot org slash Calla Crossley follow us on Twitter or become a fan of the Calla Crossley Show on Facebook. Today Show was engineered by Jane Pitt produced by Chelsea Mertz will Rosalynn and Abby Ruzicka the callee Crossley Show is a production of WGBH radio.