How did the internet change the game of poker and those who play it? We'll also preview the annual Playboy Jazz Festival and talk to two musicians who will be playing there in June. Then, Larry Tye discusses how Superman became America's superhero, and we'll examine the shifts in immigration reform and look ahead at the legislation to come.
How online gambling forever changed the game…and the players
Professional poker players Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback could not believe their eyes at the 2006 World Series of Poker – Players barely legal to play the game were holding their own against veteran poker players. How did they play (and win) millions of hands before they were of legal gambling age?
The internet. Grotenstein and Reback’s new book, “Ship It Holla Ballas!” looks at the legacy of the Holla Ballas, a crew of young college dropouts that collectively won $40 million in poker before they were 30 years old.
Andrew Robl, or known online as Good2cu, was an avid video gamer and working as a janitor for some cash when he was in high school. When he got introduced and addicted to the world of online gambling, he formed the Holla Ballas. Members of group would play as many as 12 online games at a time, travel the world in hotel rooms, and drop tens of thousands on drinks and strippers. They spent big and lived fast. As Robl documented their life online, they became internet and poker celebrities. In “Ship It Holla Ballas,” Grotenstein and Reback write about how they trashed hotel rooms, crashed a BMW, and made $5,000 by jumping into shark-infested waters.
How did the internet change poker? What happens to young players? Do they have the maturity to handle the fast gains and losses of the game? Or do they have an advantage because they have nothing to lose? What happened to the Holla Ballas crew?
Guest:
Jonathan Grotenstein, author of “Ship It Holla Ballas”
Talking with Playboy Jazz Festival artists George Duke and Gregory Porter
Update Aug. 6 11:15 a.m.:
Grammy-winning jazz keyboardist and producer George Duke died on Monday, Aug. 5 in Los Angeles. His sound infused acoustic jazz, electronic jazz, funk, R&B, and soul. George Duke was being treated for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He was 67.
Duke appeared on a number of Frank Zappa's albums, played keyboard for Michael Jackson, and was a producer for music legends like Miles Davis, Smokey Robinson, and Natalie Cole. He also released more than 30 solo albums.
Earlier this year, AirTalk host Larry Mantle asked Duke what draws him to a project:
"For me, it's just the joy of music. I mean, if a musician has the ability to play different styles of music, I don't see any reason they shouldn't be allowed to do that. I think categorization is for people who want to sell the music," said Duke on AirTalk in May. "In terms of a musician, they should be allowed to play whatever they feel led to play, or sing, or whatever. So, I used to consider myself what I call a multi-stylistic artist. What leads me that way? The joy and love of music."
Earlier:
Every year, the annual Playboy Jazz Festival takes over the Hollywood Bowl for two full days of jazz greats, both young and old. Now in it’s 35th year, the festival has become a fixture on the jazz scene, and this year’s lineup, including Sheila E. and Herbie Hancock, is as eclectic as the modern scene itself.
Gregory Porter is a great example of the new generation of jazz. The smooth-crooning vocalist has been a sensation since the release of his 2010 album “Water,” which won a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal album in 2011.
On the other end of that spectrum is living legend, George Duke. A keyboardist by trade, in his 40-plus-year career, Duke has worked in just about facet of music, from soloist to music director. He’s played with Zappa and been sampled by Kanye, and his view of the genre of jazz is as open as his music. Porter and Duke are featured artists in this year’s Playboy Jazz Festival.
The pair of jazz greats join Larry on AirTalk to talk about their long careers in music and the state of jazz in America.
Guests:
George Duke, jazz musician
Gregory Porter, jazz musician
How Superman became America’s real superhero
Before he was Clark Kent, the adopted son of Kansas farmers, he was Kal-El, born on the doomed planet of Krypton. And before they were the creators of the iconic character Superman, Jason Siegel and Joe Shuster were a couple of awkward teens from Cleveland looking for a hero to revere or even to become.
Larry Tye explores the life of Superman and those who helped create him in Tye’s book “Superman: The High-Flying History of America’s Most Enduring Hero.”
"It was a hard enough sell that it took them five years to finally find a publisher," said Tye on AirTalk. "When they did, they sold the rights to Superman for a grand total to be divided between the two of them of $130, which is a sign of just how desperate they were."
The book takes a look at the cultural history of Superman over the decades—from battling Adolf Hitler and the Nazis to his encounters with the Ku Klux Klan—and simultaneously chronicles the struggles that the superhero’s creators endured.
Siegel had endured abuse at the hands of bullies throughout his childhood in Cleveland, Ohio, and he initially imagined his Superman character (first known as The Super-Man) to be a mean-spirited fighter of bullies. After all, there's nothing a kid wants more than to be able to fly away in those moments of bullying.
"Jerry couldn't fly away, but what he could do is go to bed every night with a pencil and paper and dream up what in his mind was the perfect hero to fight back against these bullies on the playground," said Tye. The character that he came up with initially … was not a very nice guy, it was just the kind of person that a teenager looking to fight back against bullies would dream up."
That all changed after a tragic incident that happened just after his 17th birthday. Siegel's father, Michael, owned a haberdashery, and one day a group of men came in, try on suits and walk out without paying. The elder Siegel goes to chase after the thieves and just as he comes to the threshold of the outside, he collapses dead of a massive heart attack.
"Not long after that, Jerry, who was the youngest of 6 kids, went to bed with his pencil and paper and he redesigned his Superman hero," said Tye. "The first scene of Superman that was ever drawn was Superman winging in to rescue a guy, who looked a whole lot like Michael Siegel, who was being robbed."
Though the first Superman comic came out nearly 75 years ago, Tye’s book attempts to illustrate how the Man of Steel became a timeless American icon.
Is there any American superhero that compares to Superman? What are your memories of Superman throughout the years? How did the comics or books influence you?
Guest:
Larry Tye, author of “Superman: The High-Flying History of America’s Most Enduring Hero”
Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero
A Path Forward: the shifting landscape of immigration reform
It's a critical time for immigration reform in this country. Washington is getting set to make major changes, the likes of which haven't been seen since the 1980's under President Ronald Reagan. The issues affect families every day, alter economies for years and touch every aspect of American life. We are, after all, a nation of immigrants.
Who has the power to shape this new legislation? How will problems of border security, visas, cultural differences, family unification and more be solved? Why are lawmakers keen to enact change now? Has there been a paradigm shift? AirTalk's Larry Mantle speaks with stakeholders and audience members during this timely discussion, sponsored by Community Advocates, Inc.
Guests:
Professor Gabriel J. Chin, Professor Chin is a professor of law at the University of California, Davis Law School. He is a scholar of immigration law, criminal procedure and race and the law. He has been widely published in law journals and in lay publications on the issue of immigration.
Jessica Vaughan, Ms.Vaughan serves as Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, DC-based research institute that examines the impact of immigration on American society. Her articles have appeared in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, The Economist, In the National Interest, Providence Journal, Hartford Courant, Arizona Republic and other publications.
Professor Dowell Myers, Professor Myers is professor of policy, planning, and demography at the University of Southern California, where he also directs the USC PopDynamics Research Group. Professor Myers is an interdisciplinary scholar well known for his research on the interaction between demographics and many aspects of public policy. He also is the author of the award-winning book Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America.
Mickey Kaus, Mr. Kaus writes the Kausfiles, a blog at the Daily Caller. In 1999 he was among the first American political bloggers on the internet. He was a candidate for the California Democratic nomination for the US Senate in 2010. Kaus is the author of The End of Equality and has worked as a journalist for Newsweek, The New Republic and Washington Monthly, among others.