The latest updates on the Metrolink crash, Alaska becomes the third state to legalize recreational marijuana, Tuesday Reviewsday.
Supreme Court to hear Abercrombie & Fitch headscarf case
A case before the Supreme Court this week involves a young Muslim woman living in Tulsa, Oklahoma named Samantha Elauf.
Back in 2008, Elauf applied for a job at Abercrombie & Fitch and showed up for the interview wearing a head scarf. She didn't get the job.
At the time, the clothing company had a strict "look policy" that included a ban on any type of head covering.
Jess Bravin, Supreme Court correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, joined Take Two to discuss the case.
The Pot Frontier: Navigating legalization, States study each other
In states where measures to legalize recreational pot have passed, lawmakers are pressed to forge smart policies in an area with little precedence to draw from.
Public safety and regulating purity must be considered. Where can dispensaries be located? Who is eligible for a retail pot license? Who can grow the plants? How many can they grow? Should medical marijuana policy change at all? And, of course, there's the issue of taxation.
The first - Colorado and Washington
So far, legal recreational marijuana is a frontier that only two states have really explored - Colorado and Washington. Voters passed ballot measures legalizing marijuana in those states in 2012.
Now - Alaska and Oregon
Tuesday, Alaska became the third state in the US to legalize pot, when a voter initiative takes effect making possession and cultivation of limited amounts of marijuana legal. Alexandra Gutierrez, reporter with Alaska Public Media in Juneau, joined Take Two to talk about legalization in the state.
“The initiative we had on our ballot was very similar to the ones that passed in Washington and Colorado,” said Gutierrez. “With the concept being that you want to regulate marijuana like alcohol instead of having it sold on the black market.”
But unlike other states, Alaska has a legal history with marijuana that stretches back to the 1970s, including a landmark case that made small amounts of marijuana legal within a private home.
“You could already have marijuana in your home before the legalization initiative, there was just no way to aquire it,” said Gutierrez.
With that settled, there are other issues springing up, including how pot will be marketed and sold and how officials will respond to concerns from some tribal communities.
The next step for the state is to set up a regulatory board that would oversee licensing of dispensaries and other rules around marijuana use. In the meantime, it's still illegal to sell marijuana in the state.
Oregon voters also passed a similar law to that in Alaska. Marijuana will begin to be legalized there in July.
No doubt, lawmakers there are looking to Colorado and Washington for guidance as well. But the legalization process in those two states hasn't exactly been smooth sailing.
In Colorado, advocates for making recreational pot legal cited a number of reasons, including the economic incentive. But it turns out that their projections for the first year were high. The state brought in about $44 million in tax revenue from retail pot sales - much less than the $70 million estimated.
But the revenue shortfall doesn't have legalization advocates too discouraged. Adam Orens studies how marijuana policy effects state economies for the Marijuana Policy Group, based in Colorado. He told Take Two that, despite bringing in lower sales tax revenue than expected, voters in Colorado still back legalization.
"You know, the sky's not falling out here. Yeah, we didn't make as much money as we thought we would. But...that's it," said Orens.
Other challenges are also surfacing in both Colorado and Washington. For example, retail marijuana sellers have struggled with a tax system they say forces their prices up. And both states are contending with persistent black markets. How will the two states meet these challenges?
Next? - California
That's something that policymakers in California are interested in. There's a strong chance an initiative to legalize recreational pot will be on the ballot in the state again next year.
In preparation, Santa Clara University Law School is offering a "Drug Policy Practicum" class to explore the policy considerations involved.
Professor W. David Ball teaches the class, and he told Take Two that he and his students are studying what's been done in Washington and Colorado. But he says there are many other ways to build policy in uncharted legal territory like this.
For example, Ball's students examine California's experience with regulating alcohol and tobacco. And they look at what was done nationally during the end of the prohibition of alcohol as well.
But legalizing marijuana presents new and unique challenges, especially in California where the black market is so robust and a great number of residents have legal access to medical marijuana.
"A lot of it is going to involve student creativity," said Ball. "And saying, 'Well, if A and B are true, then what about the novel cases of C and D? How can we possibly extend the law or how might we imagine the law might extend to cover these new cases?'"
Ball's students work is posted at Druglawandpolicy.com, where they hope policymakers will go for further study.
Audio of all 3 interviews - with Alexandra Gutierrez, Adam Orens, and W. David Ball - is above.
FCC set to vote on net neutrality rules this week
Later this week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote on new rules about government regulation of the Internet.
It's the culmination of years of debate among internet providers, tech companies and the FCC over net neutrality. And it's an issue that really gets people fired up— in the past year alone, the FCC received more than four million comments from the public on the subject.
Jon Brodkin, senior IT reporter with Ars Technica, joined Take Two to explain what the vote could mean for the future of the Internet.
Saying goodbye to Parks and Rec with two of the show's writers
Tuesday, NBC will air the very last episode of the hit show Parks and Recreation.
After seven seasons, viewers will finally bid goodbye to Leslie Knope, a hard-working local politician played by Amy Poehler.
For a look back at what life was like behind the scenes, Take Two spoke to two of the shows writers - Joe Mande and Aisha Muharrar.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On researching local California politics to get a sense of what small-town politics is like
AM: In Season 2, we went to a few city council meetings and local government meetings, and we wondered if we had been exaggerating things on the show.
We went to one, and it was pretty much exactly like we had imagined. There was about fifteen minutes spent on a woman arguing over her missing cat named Kitty Pants, and talking about how she was very aggrieved that someone else had adopted it and it was actually her cat, and this went on for a long time - just people over and over saying 'Kitty Pants' in just the most serious tone.
There were like ten comedy writers in the back just trying not too lose it.
JM: But we kind of made up a lot of stuff, and we would hear back from people in parks and recreation departments across the country who'd say, 'You guys got it spot on. This is exactly what it's like.'
On preparing for the final episode
JM: I've been writing since season 5, and was a part of what we thought were three season finales. We always were on the precipice of cancellation or we had no idea if we were going to be renewed or not.
This season, we knew we had thirteen episodes and we were in control and we knew the whole season would take place three years in the future and that was a delight to write.
On the recent loss of Parks and Rec writer and producer, Harris Wittels
AM: With TV, things are made so far ahead of time, so for the writers and the cast and crew, we wrapped December 14, we had a wrap party, Harris was there. So a lot of us were celebrating the run of the show together, that we were all very proud of.
And now this week, obviously, I'll miss Harris tremendously. So that's been the main thing on my mind.
Fortunately, we all had time to share the ending of our show together as a group, and now it's fans' and viewers' chance to have their ending. At least for me, those things are separate, and I'm very thankful they are.
Harris was a great friend of mine, and he was a great friend of the show. It's an indescribable loss. It's been very difficult.
Tuesday Reviewsday: Dom La Nena, Ibeyi and The Sway Machinery
Tuesday means it's time for Tuesday Reviewsday, our weekly new music segment. This week music journalist
joins A Martinez in the studio with releases from around the world.
Steve Hochman
Artist: Dom La Nena
Album: "Soyo"
Songs: "Vivo Na Maré," "Llegaré"
Notes: Brazilian Portuguese may be the most musical language there is, with all those soft, sensual shhh and jhhh sounds. So it’s a bit of a shame that Brazilian artist Dominique Pinto — a.k.a. Dom La Nena (Dom the Little One) — sings only three of the 11 songs on her new album in that language. There are five in Spanish and one each in French and English.
But then, though she was born in the coastal Brazilian town Porto Alegre, her family split time between there and Paris and she spent much of her teen years studying cello in Spanish-speaking Argentina. And all of those places, all that experience, figures heavily into her music in delightfully impressive ways. Pinto, just 25, has an imaginative sonic touch, building on the more cello-centric approach of her 2013 debut Ela to piece together various melodic and rhythmic elements into songs of both beauty and depth. And that is very Brazilian.
She gets compared to Joanna Newsom and Cat Power and even Brian Wilson, and has in the past covered a song by the National. But she fits into the Brazilian tradition of putting together native rhythms, be they from the rain forest, the beaches of Bahia or the streets of Rio, with styles imported from Europe and North America: Heitor Villa-Lobos bringing in Bach and modernism. The bossa nova lilt of Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto. The psychedelic touches and social commentary of Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Os Mutantes in the ‘60s and ‘70s. The more recent pop-electronic hybrids from Bebel Gilberto and others.
Dom La Nena’s music is, on the surface, more pop. But just under the surface, Brazilian rhythms are readily found. On “Vivo Na Maré,” one of the Portuguese songs, the shakers and light drums shift and shuffle, with Pinto’s voice dancing and skipping along, a distinctive mix of joy and melancholy. If you don’t understand the words, the joy may seem more prominent. With a translation it skews the other way: “I have no home,” she sings. “I live in the tide.” And the theme continues, whatever the language. In “Llegaré” she sings in Spanish “If I want to rest, I cannot think where, when, how I will come.”
And there are other juxtapositions. “Carnaval,” describing the very Brazilian festival just passed, is the one she chooses to sing in English. And the French one is “Juste Une Chanson” — “just a song.” Just? Nothing here is “just” a song, whatever the language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHRAPIwsS5I
Artist: Ibeyi
Album: "Ibeyi"
Songs: "Oya," "River"
Notes: Twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz, just 19, go well beyond their Cuban-French roots on their debut album under the duo name Ibeyi, which is creating considerable buzz both in world music and international pop circles. They sing largely in English, with voices somewhere between young Billy Holiday and a more-restrained Bjork. They use contemporary production to shape the songs’ enticing atmospheres. They’re not by any means doing traditional music of any sort.
But the roots are the strong foundation, and crucial to the striking artistry. Their father was Cuban percussionist Anga Díaz, part of the global sensation Buena Vista Social Club. When he died at just 45 — they were only 11 — they took up music together, learning percussion and the folk songs that came to Cuba from the Yoruba culture of West Africa in the slave trade era and remain core to local sounds. (Ibeyi means twins in the Yoruba language.)
You can hear that in the swaying undercurrent of “Oya,” understated as is much on this album, but somehow more powerful for that subtlety. Over that, the French part (the twins live in Paris) comes via the quiet sophistication of the music and voices, a breezy, confident calm to it all, but carrying with it a richness of emotions. “Mama Says,” a muted portrait, very much evokes Holiday, via Angelique Kidjo, perhaps. And “River,” with its bass drum pulse and cricket-like touches, finds a place between African and Caribbean village songs and Bjork, not unlike some of Merrill Garbus’ music as Tune-Yards. The images of water are as something providing both comfort and dread, a sense captured in the simple but indelible, and slightly disturbing video. It’s indeed a duality, but then what else should we expect from twins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35vLGhI4hp8
Artist: The Sway Machinery
Album: "Purity and Danger"
Songs: "Magein Ovus," "My Dead Lover’s Wedding"
Notes: In 2010 a rock band from New York trekked to Mali to appear at the famed Festival of the Desert and collaborate with some of the top Saharan artists. Noteworthy, but not that unusual. But, oh, did we mention that the band bases the bulk of its material around centuries-old Jewish Cantorial music?
That continues to be the defining moment for the Sway Machinery, those clashes of cultures now refined into an enticing, exciting mix on the band’s new, third album, Purity and Danger. The thing is, with the vision of founder and leader Jeremiah Lockwood, whose grandfather was in fact a famed New York cantor, there are no clashes at all.
Such songs as “Magein Ovus” show how natural a fit this combo is — surprising maybe to some, but not at all to those who know of the intertwined cultures the spread for centuries from the Mediterranean up through Europe and down through the northern part of the African continent. No shoehorning was needed to get the Jewish melodies (which are, of course, related to Arabic and African melodies) to mesh with the skittering modern African rhythms.
It helps that the band was assembled with an elastic embrace in mind. The core includes musicians who have been part of the Brooklyn Afrobeat ensemble Antibalas, with such other contributors as sax player Matt Bauder, who has worked with artists from avant-garde composer Anthony Braxton to Arcade Fire.
This is also an American rock band, though, so Lockwood finds a place for some harder guitar sounds, some foursquare drive and even some punk/metal/alt-rock in his adaptations of the spliced styles. The overdriven surf guitar that opens “Longa” is like Dick Dale goes to the Sahara. Or the Kibbutz. Or Coachella. Or all three at once. Hey, that sounds like fun! As does “My Dead Lover’s Wedding,” despite the ominous title. Here the Sway Machinery obliterates borders not just of cultures and eras, but of sensibilities. There’s a lot to be appreciated in the seamless combinations. Or you can just enjoy the grooves.
Impact of reported Burning Man ticket sale hack
Brian Doherty, author of "This Is Burning Man," explains how the Burning Man community is reacting after the ticket site may have been hacked.
America's quietest places can help humans, wildlife
National Forest Service senior scientist Kurt Fristrup explains how a map of America's quietest places is helping humans and wildlife alike.
KPCC exclusive with The Airborne Toxic Event's, Mikel Jollett
You can't force the creative process.
That's one of the takeaways from a conversation between The Airborne Toxic Event's,
, and Take Two's Alex Cohen regarding the band's newly released album "Dope Machines."
Take, for instance, the song "California" off the new album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2JUnKUd9k0
Jollett was working with writer Linda Perry at the time when it all came together.
"We sat in this big huge studio for a while and we threw melodies back and forth and nothing really stuck. And then I got kind of dizzy because I was feeling light headed, because I didn't eat or something. And so we went into the kitchen... and she like offered me some food and we sat. And then she's like, 'Well what do you think about this?' And she played this little, I wanna say eight seconds of a melody that had a little line about California. And it was like, oh we got something there!... And we just sat there in the kitchen. Multi-million dollar studio and of course we're in the kitchen writing."
Jollett grew up in California, raised, he says, by hippy parents. It was a life full of group weddings, communes and always moving V.W. busses, he says. "I always thought of California as this place you go to get away, to start a new life." But his experiences haven't always matched up with that perfect picture of the Golden State.
"I wanted to write a song that kind of dealt with this daydream of a place that kind of turned into a nightmare, then existed simultaneously as both."
Jollett's not afraid of heady statements or introspective journeys. Take for instance his vision quest, via motorcycle, from the middle of the country to California. That's when he worked out "Hell and Back," which was the lead song in the movie "Dallas Buyers Club."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgRJwxvvDr8
These songs that Jollett pushes out can be found on the band's fourth studio album, out today.
But those who are interested in more than just one album are in luck. In a radio exclusive, Jollett announced on Take Two that, in addition to "Dope Machines," which is primarily based on beats and synthesizers, the band is releasing a full rock and roll/acoustic album as well.
It's called "Songs of God and Whiskey," and it was recorded in a small studio in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles. The songs were written over the last ten years. Some are old, some are new, but Jollett says that they're close to the group's heart.
Take for instance, the song "Fall of Rome."
"It's a very personal song. It was written for a person who I was with for a long time, and kind of about what it's like to try and have a relationship in the midst of a rock and roll life style where you're gone at a year at a time. And there's so much headiness to it. It's romantic... I think she really liked it. I would write songs about her. Or write songs that she particularly enjoyed. And she hated that I'd be gone. And there's all kinds of stresses that are put onto the relationship... You say the fall of Rome about things that are these massive events... And you know, I think in the song it's used as a device to, this sort of emotional weight that a relationship can carry in your life... You look back on certain points in your life and you're like, oh my god, that was a whole thing and when it ended, it was like the fall of Rome. Like, everything in my life changed overnight because me and this person were no longer together."
Check out the full in studio conversation between Jollett and Cohen in the audio attached to this post.