The White House narrative behind Comey’s dismissal became even more convoluted when Trump said he had long planned to fire Comey - we parse through the latest; what internet data tells us about our lying habits; we chat with "La la land" composer about the upcoming live concert set to the film; and more.
In interview, Trump admits wanting to fire Comey before recommendations; in Tweets, threatens to cancel White House press briefings
The White House narrative behind Comey’s dismissal became even more convoluted last night during an interview with President Trump and NBC’s Lester Holt.
In the interview, the president admitted to seeking recommendations in order to fire Comey, instead of the other way around as implied in his own letter dismissing Comey. He later stated that he had long planned to fire the director, and accused Comey of being a “showboat.” When questioned about the statement that the director informed the president he wasn’t the subject of an FBI investigation, Trump told Holt that Comey informed him over dinner.
Tweeting this morning, Trump
As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
, stating he’s so “active,” “it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!....,” with the implication that he may cancel White House press briefings. He also made headlines with a tweet implying that he
James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
of Director Comey informing him he wasn’t under investigation, which he would unveil if Comey ‘leaked.’ Questions abound about the exact nature of Comey’s dismissal and the future of the Russia probe, as the President has come down both for and against the investigation within the last 24 hours.
Host Larry Mantle sat down with Politico’s Elana Schor and John Wagner, Washington Post White House Correspondent, to help unpack the latest development in Comey’s dismissal.
Guests:
, Washington Post White House reporter who has been following the story; he tweets
Elana Schor, congressional reporter for POLITICO who has been following the story; she tweets
What DOJ reversal of Holder-era initiative on drug crime prosecutions means for California
Thursday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed the initiative of his Democratic predecessor Eric H. Holder Jr. and directed federal prosecutors to charge defendants with “the most serious offenses.”
The new instructions, once adopted, would overturn the previous memo that aimed to reduce harsh punishment for low-level drug crimes, citing overcrowding in prison and overspending by taxpayers.
“Charging and sentencing recommendations are crucial responsibilities for any federal prosecutor,” Sessions wrote in a memo to U.S. attorneys, "This policy affirms our responsibility to enforce the law, is moral and just, and produces consistency.” If a prosecutor does not wish to pursue the most serious charge, Session notes he or she must get approved by a supervisor such as an assistant attorney general.
Host Larry Mantle sits down with Laurie Levenson, former federal prosecutor and professor of law at Loyola Law School, on the ramification of this policy reversal in the state of California.
Guest:
Laurie L. Levenson, former federal prosecutor and a professor of law at Loyola Law School
Pants on fire: What web data tells us about our lying habits
What percentage of Americans as racist? Does online advertising really work? Do video games really make our kids more violent?
These are just some of the big questions “Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us about Who We Really Are” attempts to answer. In his new book, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz points to the mountain of misinformation we received due to the simple fact that people lie. To get around the facade of how people feel, Stephens-Davidowitz uses Google search results to shed a light on our collective human behavior.
Host Larry Mantle checks in with the economist and former Google data scientist to talk about how new data can help us dive deeper into the core of human psyche.
Guest:
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, contributing op-ed writer for the New York Times, former Google data scientist and author of “Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us about Who We Really Are” (HarperCollins, 2017); he tweets
FilmWeek: ‘Snatched,’ ‘King Arthur,’ ‘The Wall’ and more
Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Claudia Puig and Lael Lowenstein review this weekend’s new movie releases including:
- "Snatched" in wide release
- "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" in wide release
- "The Wall" in select theaters and Amazon
- "Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story" at Laemmle's Monica Film Center, Laemmle's Playhouse & Laemmle's Town Center
- "A Woman's Life" at Laemmle's Playhouse & Laemmle's Royal Theatre
- "Lowriders" select theaters including ArcLight Hollywood, Rave Cinemas 18 & many of the AMC theaters
- "Folk Hero & Funny Guy" at Los Feliz
- "Paris Can Wait" at ArcLight Hollywood & The Landmark
Critics' Hits
- Claudia & Lael: "Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story," "A Woman's Life" & "Folk Hero & Funny Guy"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfc3aAQ_UTI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWQwA_cRH9M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdBCp60TpN0
Mixed Feelings
- Claudia: "Snatched"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcyeYFXdHNQ
- Lael: "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX9y5JPuRHY
Misses!
- Claudia & Lael:"Paris Can Wait"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoNw4AsWZcw
Guests:
Claudia Puig, film critic for KPCC and president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association; she tweets
Lael Loewenstein, KPCC film critic
Hear ‘La La Land’ under the stars, live-to-film at the Hollywood Bowl
And the “La La Land” fever continues.
The modern-day movie musical has swept up Hollywood by its feet, and now fans have a chance to see and hear Oscar-winning composer Justin Hurwitz conduct his score live-to-film, for two nights at the Hollywood Bowl this Memorial Day weekend.
The film’s soundtrack will be conducted by Hurwitz both nights, featuring a 100-piece symphony orchestra, jazz ensemble, choral groups and firework finale.
Concert director Richard Kraft, who also directed Disney’s “The Little Mermaid’s” live-to-film concert at the Hollywood Bowl, has teamed up with veteran creatives of the Tim Burton music concerts, “A Whole New World of Alan Menken” and more to bring Angelenos “La La Land in Concert: A Live-to-Film Celebration.” The Technicolor movie marvel is the premiere launch of a world tour to debut in the UK, Canada, Mexico, Italy, Turkey, Switzerland and other cities yet to be announced.
But what goes into all the prep for performing live music under a motion picture on the big screen? And how will the voices of Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling and John Legend play out during the night? Host Larry Mantle speaks with Hurwitz about the challenges of timing arrangements to scenes in the film, what rehearsals have entailed and more.
“La La Land in Concert: A Live-to-Film Celebration” comes to the Hollywood Bowl on Friday and Saturday, May 26 and 27, 2017. For more information about the event, visit here.
You can hear the full interview above by clicking the blue playhead, or read more highlights below.
Interview Highlights
ON THE IDEA OF DOING A LIVE MUSIC ACCOMPANIMENT TO THE FILM
Hurwitz: Well I remember a few years ago before we even made the movie, Damien and I talked about it. We talked about, "Wouldn't that be cool one day to do it at the Hollywood Bowl." This is before we had even made the movie (laughs). I mean the whole movie was kind of a pipe dream at one point...everything was kind of pipe dream, and that was one of the lofty sort of dreams [...]
It came up a couple of times later in the process...and then it became a very real thing a few months later as we were actually launching the movie...a few people from the studio and producers came up to me and asked if we could do it and if I could conduct it, and I was delighted to do it. Very excited to show people what went into making that music and what the musicians brought to it.
ON WHAT KINDS OF CHANGES AND ACCOMMODATIONS ARE BEING MADE TO ADAPT LIVE-TO-FILM
Hurwitz: There are not many changes because it's the kind of score that really was played in the room by an orchestra. We didn't stripe the orchestra, we didn't record the brass separately and then the strings separately and then the winds separately. It really was 95 musicians making music in a room together. So a lot of the score converts very well.
There's a little adjustment you have to make in that, when you're recording a score, you're stopping and starting for different sections, and this has to flow all the way through and you need to think about how the wind and brass players are breathing, and make sure that they have a second to get their breath. So there are little moments where things need to glue together slightly differently because it's flowing straight through, but generally it's the same thing [...]
And there's a little bit of new music actually that I've spent some time on. There was always going to be an overture in the movie...it was in Damien's script from the very first draft of the script. His script started in instrumental overture based on the theme of the movie, "Mia and Sebastian's Theme." This instrumental overture plays over the imagery of I think it was a sunrise or something, and this was before the camera tracks down into the "Another Day of Sun" sequence...it was always the plan for the movie and it was literally the first piece of music I composed back in 2011, the first piece of music that I orchestrated.
ON HOW THE VOCAL ENSEMBLES WILL BE HANDLED
Hurwitz: It's tricky because we put so much care into the lead vocal soloists. We spent a lot of time finding the right voices, calibrating the singing, and Damien and I are so proud of where we ended up in the movie that we want to preserve as much of that as possible, but we also want to give people a window into the amazing talent that went into making it. So we're finding kind of a middle ground with the opening number and we're going to show some of the singing live.
ON PREPARING TO PERFORM BEFORE AN AUDIENCE OF OVER 17,000
Hurwitz: I grew up playing classical piano doing recitals so I've been in front of people, but I'm most comfortable at my piano, alone, composing. That's why I'm a composer, not really truly a performer and that's why I'm not doing that with my life. This is obviously the biggest crowd I've been in front of in my life so it's a little scary, but the Hollywood Bowl crowd is always such a great crowd and they love music and they come to see orchestras, so I think it'll be fun and I'm putting a lot of preparation in for it.
Interviews have been edited for clarity. Hear the full discussion by clicking the playhead above.
Guest:
Justin Hurwitz, Oscar-winning film composer and television writer; Hurwitz won best original score for “La La Land,” including best original song for “City of Stars;” he also composed the 2014 Oscar-winning film “Whiplash”