Bill Bratton's impact as a law enforcement officer, Pee-Chee folios depict excessive force by police officers, what if all of the energy you spent on the 405 could be harvested for electricity?
What will happen when Lee Baca goes on trial?
It's official: former L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca will be going on trial.
It's the latest turn of events that all started with federal investigators looking into allegations of abuse within the L.A. County jail system. Baca is accused of lying to federal officials in the middle of that investigation.
A high-profile trial is ahead, and for analysis Loyola Law School professor Stanley Goldman joins Take Two.
NYC Police Commissioner William Bratton to step down
After 45 years working in public service from coast to coast, New York City's Police Commissioner William Bratton will step down next month, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.
NYPD's top chief, James O'Neill, is set to succeed Bratton, according to the Associated Press.
Bratton said he's leaving the post "with great reluctance" in September to accept an undisclosed offer in the private sector, AP reports.
Bratton served as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 2002 to 2009 before returning to New York in 2014.
During his tenure as New York's commissioner, Bratton was regarded for keeping crime numbers down and navigating tensions between police and minority groups, AP reports.
"He is a change agent, that’s what he likes to do, that’s what he’s good at," Joe Domanick, associate director of the Center on Media, Crime and Justice, told Take Two. "Stop-and-frisk is no longer an issue in NYC."
Bratton's career began on the streets of Boston as a police officer, and he quickly rose through the ranks.
"Bratton was a boy wonder in the Boston Police Department," Domanick said. Before long, he was the No. 2 in Boston PD, looking for a top spot. That led him to his position at the New York police force in the mid-'90s under then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani where he introduced the very tactics, like stop-and-frisk, the department has worked to scale back in recent years.
Known as "broken windows policing," Bratton's style is marked by aggressive crack-down on low-level crime, which he defended to NPR despite criticism that it disproportionately targets minorities.
"It's what made this city safe in the first place," Bratton told NPR in 2015.
The announcement comes one day after The Guardian reported protesters affiliated with Black Lives Matter filled a park next to New York's City Hall demanding that Bratton be fired and broken windows policing end.
Between his two different runs as NYC's police commissioner, Bratton had his seven-year run as L.A.'s chief of police despite initial hesitations from the city, Domanick said.
"They didn’t want to hire him. They felt that he was a Broadway bill, publicity-seeking guy who made his mark just doing that," Domanick told Take Two.
In 2002, Bratton entered the LAPD at a height of allegations of police brutality and cops' code of silence but turned things around by doing things like firing Metropolitan veterans.
"When he was hired he was so savvy about the police," Domanick said. "So savvy about how to counteract any revolt in the ranks, particularly in the command staff, that he quickly took hold of the department and put them on the road to reform."
But Bratton is not a young man anymore, and it has been "an exhausting haul" since his re-appointment as New York's police commissioner in 2014, Domanick said.
At the same time, Domanick suggested the nation's top cop may have political reasons for his resignation.
"He's not a guy who loves being in the private sector either, I don’t think," Domanick said. "What I do think is that he’s very, very close with the Clintons, always has been since his tenure in New York City."
Audio coming soon.
SoCal artist uses Pee-Chee style to document police use of force
Ah, the Pee-Chee folder.
For people young and old, the name might bring back memories of pastel-colored portfolios and drawings of athletes in action. Students in the U.S. have toted them to class since the mid-1960s.
Millennial and L.A.-based artist Patrick Martinez grew up with the folders, but when he got older, he decided to use the medium to portray another side of American life: controversial incidents of use of force by police officers.
He now replicates the folders on large wood panels; running and jumping sportsmen have been replaced by scenes all-too-familiar to media watchers: the choking death of Eric Garner, the shooting of Laquan McDonald and the arrest of Sandra Bland.
For the Southern California native, art and activism go hand in hand.
Take Two's A. Martinez sat down with the artist recently in his downtown L.A. studio.
(Transcript has been edited for clarity.)
Highlights
I want to start with the obvious question: Why Pee-Chee folders?
I did the first one in 2005, and it was about taking these all-American scholastic items and introducing the fact that high schools and middle schools across America were being policed. Now, with all the stuff that's happening in America, I'm updating the folders to make it more realistic in the times that we're living in, putting people's portraits and situations across the front and the back of the folder.
There's this uncomfortable juxtaposition in these works: on one hand, Pee-Chee folders are fun and innocent — they're for kids. But on one of them you show a college student arrested in her cap and gown while pushing for the Dream Act. On the same folder, there's a picture of the Texas pool party incident — the cop has his knee on a girl's back. Would you say the point is to make people uncomfortable?
Sure. I think that's what some art can do — make you feel like you're questioning things that are going on. It's also to record these happenings. It can cement something in American history. We tend to learn different cultures through their art, so this is what I'm presenting in terms of our culture — this is what's happening right now in the time that we're living in. It's so much content to work with; it's incredible. I can just keep on doing these things. It's amazing.
Isn't that sad? You can keep on creating these images — it's almost like you will never run out of things to paint.
I think it's important to do it, but then it takes a lot out of you because you're winded on this stuff. I love to paint and draw, but it's just so much to talk about. You wish it could be a different situation, but this is what we're presented with, and we can't ignore it, and we can't put it underneath a rock. We have to deal with this, so this is how I'm dealing with it.
You try to give the benefit of the doubt, right? If some dude was a threat then, you know, you can't really knock that. But then, a lot of these people are just being targeted, whether it's a traffic stop or they thought he was someone.
I know some people might see this and say, "Okay, where are the images that aren't negative toward the police officers?" On the same work where you have the officer shooting at Alton Sterling, there's one to the left of the Dallas Police officers who were fired upon. It's not necessarily one-sided. There are two sides to everything you seemingly do.
These officers are obviously distraught and torn up. In this piece, I wanted to show how much violence can happen in one week in the United States. People are accusing cops of being insensitive, and I'm showing them in a sensitive situation where they're crying, or they're distraught, holding their heads or their mouths.
What do you hope that younger people get out of this?
I'd hope that people are paying attention. In America, we like to forget about things and push things aside. Like, "Oh, I'm fine, so you're fine." That's not necessarily the case. I'm trying to show in these paintings solidarity, that these things are happening, documenting that someone cares.
More of Patrick's works can be seen here.
His original works are viewable at the Charlie James Gallery in Chinatown.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
The Brood: How to talk politics with kids
This week on The Brood, Take Two's weekly parenting segment, we tackle politics and this year's presidential election.
At the conventions, the candidates talked about our children with ease, but talking to your kids about the candidates and the election may be a bit trickier.
Boiling down things like caucuses and electoral votes for a five-year-old is no small feat. And then, of course, there are the deeper issues, like how we talk about the candidates themselves, especially when our emotions around politics run high.
Take Two's Alex Cohen spoke with Sharon Lee, a mom who's taught kindergarten age kids for more than 25 years and high school educator Ashley West. She teaches U.S. Government and Politics at Synergy Quantum Academy in Los Angeles.
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview
1 in 5 charter schools 'illegally' screens applicants, report says
A spat in the ad industry puts spotlight on gender diversity
The Mad Men days seemed great: wearing nice suits, having three martini lunches and jet-setting around the world.
But then again, overtly sexist ads weren't out of the question.
Some argue that the advertising industry in 2016 has not progressed very far from its male-dominated roots.
Those people had a fierce reaction to Kevin Roberts, a powerful ad exec who claimed it did.
Roberts, who's with one of the world's top advertising firms Saatchi & Saatchi, said in an interview with Business Insider, "the fucking debate is all over."
"I can't talk about sexual discrimination because we've never had that problem, thank goodness," he added, backing his claim up by saying more than half of his firm is composed of women.
Those comments drew fire from Cindy Gallop, an ad consultant who frequently speaks about improving gender diversity within the advertising industry.
‘Look at how many women I hire’ has become the advertising equivalent of ‘I have so many black friends’
— Cindy Gallop (@cindygallop)
‘Look at how many women I hire’ has become the advertising equivalent of ‘I have so many black friends’ @StopPressNZ https://t.co/86WUJ10mi8
— cindygallop.eth (@cindygallop) August 2, 2016
"At the top of every industry is a closed loop of white guys talking to white guys about other white guys," Gallop tells Take Two, stating that women are often locked out of top positions within many firms. "Ninety-seven percent of all advertising agency creative directors are men, and so we as women are played back to ourselves through the male gaze."
She says women are the primary purchasers and purchase influencers in the country, and that agencies should employ people who are able to understand and speak directly to that audience.
"We are missing out on the enormous creativity, innovation and disruption that comes from the talents of women and people of color," says Gallop.
If they are behind the scenes, she argues, then they can push for messages that are not based on gendered and negative stereotypes.
"Not only will we see better depictions of women in advertising, but we'll be better depictions of men," she says. "I'm really tired of seeing young male morons in beer ads and hapless husbands: it's disrespectful to men."
Hear more of what Gallop says by clicking the blue audio player above.
Flossing's benefits are overblown: AP report
It's a familiar scene in a dentist's office: he or she asks if you've been flossing regularly.
Of course you say "yes"...whether it's the truth or not.
But according to a new report by the Associated Press, what is true is a revelation that might shock you to your gums: the case for flossing is "weak, very unreliable."
"It all came about when my son was visiting an orthodontist," says investigative reporter Jeff Donn, "and he said, 'I have a real investigative story: there's really no proof that flossing works.'"
Despite his initial skepticism, Donn discovered that the orthodontist was right. Out of 25 studies he reviewed on the subject, nearly all said that the benefits of regular flossing were minimal.
"Research as recent as last year can't demonstrate that it actually works," he says.
Flossing was first recommended by the American Dental Association in the early part of the 20th century.
"They based that recommendation in 1908 simply on what dentists said they were doing," says Donn.
Many studies since that time claimed floss is effective, but they were conducted by companies that made floss.
"That doesn't mean, per se, that they're bad studies but it does raise questions of bias," he says.
One recent study suggested some evidence that flossing may help with gum inflammation, but that the benefits might not be enough for the user to notice a change.
Donn says that continuing to floss isn't necessarily detrimental – and it can really help to get at some nasty food stuck in your mouth – but dentists do say most people are flossing the wrong way.
"Slide the floss in between the teeth," he says, "and up the sides of the tooth, in effect, not like sawing a motion."
LA's freeways could one day power your fridge: The science of piezoelectricity
No one loves a traffic jam, especially in Los Angeles. But pretty much everyone can agree that electricity is awesome and necessary for our modern world.
With encouragement from Assemblyman Mike Gatto, the California Energy Commission is providing funding for a small pilot project to test out technology that would harvest electricity from L.A.'s freeways. It's a process called piezoelectricity.
Phyllis Nelson, chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Cal Poly Pomona, joined the show to explain exactly what piezoelectricity is, and if it's a realistic option for the city.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
Olympics: Is it possible to have a good, clean game anymore?
We're a few days away from the opening of the Summer Olympics.
But a cloud of doping allegations is threatening to dampen the sunny Rio festivities.
The World Anti-Doping Agency released a report last month alleging Russia's sport authorities covered up a widespread system of cheating doping tests at the Sochi winter games.
It's the latest in the decades-long effort to keep competition pure -- but can the Olympics ever be truly "clean?"
Donald J Polden with the Institute of Sports Law and Ethics at Santa Clara University joins Take Two to discuss whether or not doping can ever be completely eliminated from the Olympics
To hear the full segment click the blue player above.
Tuesday Reviewsday: Money Chicha, Nels Cline and Aki Kumar.
Every week we get the latest music that you should be listening to. This week, music journalist Steve Hochman, who started by introducing us to a band called Money Chicha. Here they are performing live.
Money Chicha is an off-shoot of Austin, Texas’ Grupo Fantasma. They make a wide range of exciting Latin-rooted music — salsa, boogaloo, merengue, even some wild Led Zep covers. They even got hired by Prince to be his band at a Golden Globes party a decade ago. But even that can’t contain its musicians’ full desires for exploration, so it’s spawned some spin-offs: Brownout, for one, is a tight Latin-funk act.
Money Chicha dives into psychedelic cumbia, with great results.Their all-instrumental debut album “Echo en Mexico” (love the play on words of the title) echoes not just Mexico, but perhaps even more the ‘60s and ‘70s variations of Colombia, Peru and elsewhere in Latin America. It’s a style known for its loping beats, burbling folk percussion and stinging, elastic electric guitar lines. Call it Andean surf music. Never mind that there aren’t any beaches in the Andes.
Opening track “Lamento en la selva” (“Lamentation in the woods”) digs back to 1973 for a song by Peruvian band Los Mirlos, a staple of the compilations of this music, which have proliferated in recent years, popular among world music nuts and hip deejays alike. Money Chicha doesn’t reinvent the form — heck, one song is even titled “Cumbia Familiar.” But its approach is, well, money.
As for chicha, it’s a potent beverage which we last cited in March via the song “Chicha Roja” by Argentine “nu cumbia” artist La Yegros. Here we get a song “Chicha Negra,” musically a raw, clip-clop cadence with an almost circus sounding guitar line. And then there’s the title, song, which almost could be a theme for a Colombian spy movie, just enough mystery and mystique — we’ll take that chicha shaken, not stirred.
Next he brings us an unusual artist, Aki Kumar, and his album “Aki Goes to Bollywood.”
Aki Goes to Bollywood, is an unexpected and unexpectedly wonderful meeting of American blues and Indian pop. The meeting happened, though, in California’s Bay Area. The project is part of the Little Village Foundation’s mission to uncover the hidden cultures and music of the state. Other releases have covered folk, blues, mariachi and Latin American traditional music (some of the latter coming from communities where the language is neither English nor Spanish, but pre-Colombian dialects).
But this? Go figure! The story behind the album is surprising enough. Akarsha Kumar was born in Mumbai, moving to Silicone Valley at 18, eventually becoming an Adobe software engineer. He’d studied Hindustani traditional music as a child, but over here became infatuated with blues and early rock and took up the harmonica, playing in club bands at night after work. At some point along the way, he realized that some Bollywood pop was heavily influenced and modeled on American rock and pop and might lend itself to some specifically blues-rooted interpretations.
Jim Pugh, executive director of the Little Village Foundation and an accomplished blues keyboard player as well, agreed when he encountered Kumar a few years back. And here we are with something likely never before heard, whether in California or Calcutta.
For the most part the songs find a great balance between the styles, the best featuring stinging guitar lines, roiling piano, hard-four beats and Kumar’s blowzy harp fitting perfectly with the buoyant froth of some classic Bollywood production numbers. On first listen to such delights as the opening “Badan Per Sitaare” (the original found in the 1969 Bollywood movie “Prince” and sung on that soundtrack by icon Mohammad Rafi) it’s a perfect tease — a riff that sets you up for Muddy Waters instead leading to bubbly Hindi.
Songs that are basically blues with Indian touches, such as the slow stomper “My Home is a Prison” (with guitarist Kit Anderson adding a little sitar), are less successful, but still worthy experiments.
There’s much to delight here, but the absolute must-hear is Kumar’s take on “Eena Meena Deeka,” originally from a big band boogie-woogie fantasy sequence in the 1957 Tamil movie “Aasha,” featuring the voice of all-time top playback singer Asha Bosle. Kumar and band transform it into pure Southside swing scorcher. It’s Chicago deep-dish pizza — masala style.
And finally, we hear about Nels Cline, and his new album, “Lovers.” Here is a video of Nels performing, "I Have Dreamed."
If you’ve seen Wilco in the last decade or so, you’ve certainly noticed that tall, lanky blond guy going absolutely nutso on his guitar, adding touches of everything from sheets and shards of skronk to fragile lyricism, always taking the songs to unexpected, but perfect places. And you’ve probably walked away shaking your head in wonder at the range and depths of his talents.
But you still may be surprised to hear how Nels Cline sounds on “Lovers,” his first album for jazz legacy label Blue Note. Even if you’ve followed his very multi-faceted solo and collaborative career through the years, you may well be surprised to hear him in the context of some sensually romantic jazz, both standards and originals, though you won’t be surprised by the combination of facility and imagination he brings to this. Of the former, we’ve got some tunes by Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Henry Mancini and Gabor Szabo, complemented by a few modernists including Arto Lindsay and Sonic Youth. Working in settings from small combo (including his twin brother, Alex, on drums) to large ensemble with various combos of brass, woodwinds and strings (arranged and conducted by Michael Leonhart), Cline fashions sounds he’s termed here as “mood music,” though really it’s a plurality of “moods music.”
He says it’s a concept he’s been pursuing for more than 25 years, inspired by such icons as Bill Evans, Jim Hall, Gil Evans, Mancini and others. At times he evokes other eras. The Kern/Hammerstein classic “Why Was I Born?” sounds like it could have been played at Gatsby’s party. Yet somehow it evokes a sense of now as strongly as any wistful then. The same is true in reverse for the originals and other pieces, reaching back to some dream past from a very current foundation. Prime example: The Sonic Youth piece, “Snare, Girl,” transformed from its spare 1998 original version into a dreamily lush drift somewhere between Santo & Johnny’s “Sleepwalk” and Martin Denny’s tropical-inspired lounge music (that’s a compliment). You could easily hear something like this in a major movie score. Ditto on the latter sense of his approach to a medley of jazz experimentalist Annette Peackock’s “So Hard it Hurts” and “Touching,” given melancholy atmospheric lyricism akin to Gil Evans’ most subdued works. And those both connect with the touching tones brought to the Rodgers and Hammerstein chestnut “I Have Dreamed.”
Most intriguing, perhaps, are the five Cline compositions, as far from the fierce playing for which he may be best known as he can get. “Hairpin & Hatbox,” “The Bed We Made,” “You Noticed”… These are lovely miniatures, fireside music, delicate and, yes, romantic, a la Jim Hall or Joe Pass, as intimate as it gets. Now that’s a mood.