New UTLA President; Orange County Journalist Roundtable; Gunner Palace; East L.A. Music
New UTLA President
On Tuesday the United Teachers Los Angeles ousted their current union leadership, including president John Perez, and elected special ed. teacher, and longtime UTLA organizer, A.J. Duffy to head the teacher’s union. Larry speaks with Mr. Duffy about his stand on “No Child Left Behind”, merit pay for teachers and other subjects. Roy Romer, superintendent of the LAUSD and labor law expert, Chris Cameron, also join the conversation.
Orange County Journalist Roundtable
Larry Mantle talks with Orange County journalists Chris Reed, Orange County Register op-ed column editor, Jean Pasco, Los Angeles Times staff writer and Gustavo Arellano, Staff Writer for the OC Weekly, about the latest news events and developments in Orange County.
Gunner Palace
We hear countless stories about the war in Iraq, but what do we really know about the lives of the American soldiers who are there? Gunner Palace is an intimate portrait of the fragmented, chaotic, and stress-filled existence of American soldiers in Iraq. Filmmakers Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein, captured the lives of the members of the 2/3 Field Artillery, known as the "Gunners", who are housed in Uday Hussein's Azimiya Palace, situated in the middle of the most volatile area in Baghdad. Three soldiers from this Gunner Unit were featured on the cover of Time Magazine's 2004 Person of the Year issue. (Dec 21. 2004) Senator John Kerry invited his colleagues to a screening of Gunner Palace in the Senate Office Building in mid February. U.S. Representative Jim McDermott (D-Washington) also screened the film.
GUNNER PALACE opens Friday, March 4 in Los Angeles and other select cities. It opens nationally on March 11.
East L.A. Music
Larry Mantle talks about the evolution of the East Side Sound with his guests, Hector Gonzalez, owner of Rampart Records, and Josh Kun, Associate Professor in UC Riverside’s English Department. They trace the rise of East Side music, from Ritchie Valens to Cannibal and the Headhunters and their famous “naa, na, na, na, naaa” to Willie G and Thee Midnighters to Los Lobos and more contemporary bands like Ozomatli. What forces of social change swirled around the creation of this sound? What happened to the groups who created the East Side Sound? What is its legacy?