The Business Of Bubbles: The Coca-Cola Company; A Journey Through The Chocolate Underbelly Of America; Los Lobos
The Business Of Bubbles: The Coca-Cola Company
Coca-Cola has become such a ubiquitous American symbol such that it's often hard to distinguish the substance of coke (its formula is a secret as closely held as military stealth technology) from its seductively overwhelming marketing. But in the 1980s and '90s, Coke's new corporate management transformed it from a reliable, if somewhat stodgy, icon of American industry into one of the hottest stocks in a notoriously overheated bull market. That corporate evolution is the focus of veteran New York Times beverage industry reporter Constance Hays' cautionary business history. She joins Larry Mantle to talk about her new book, The Real Thing.
A Journey Through The Chocolate Underbelly Of America
Candy Historian and author Steve Almond joins Larry Mantle to discuss to fine and forgotten art of candy making in America. In his new book, Candy Freak, he takes a serious yet humorous look the candy business from various different angles touching on the effect of corporate consolidation that wiped out hundreds of smaller candy companies all of which produced their own bars with names like Tween Meals, Alabama Hot Cakes and Mallow Puff. Almond mourns the loss of so many delicacies and attempts to answer the larger question: where have all the candy bars gone?
Los Lobos
Host Larry Mantle interviews two members from the legendary East LA band, Los Lobos. The band just released its 12th album, "The Ride." Louie Perez and Steve Berlin talk about their musical roots in East LA and how the wolf has survived over the past twenty years. Among those who contributed to Los Lobos" new album were salsero legend Ruben Blades; prodigious British songwriter Elvis Costello; R&B queen Mavis Staples; pioneering British musician Richard Thompson; soul legend Bobby Womack; the inimitable Tom Waits; popular Mexico City rock band Cafe Tacuba; one-time Blaster Dave Alvin and East L.A. cultural icon Little Willie G, lead singer for the '60s Chicano rock band Thee Midnighters.