Kamala Harris has announced she will run for Barbara Boxer's open U.S. Senate seat. Target's new Lilly Pulitzer line will offer plus sizes, but only to Internet shoppers. And, a look at how protest music has evolved over the generations.
What kind of Senate candidate will Calif. AG Kamala Harris be?
Today California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced she is entering the race to replace Barbara Boxer in the U.S. Senate.
In what's expected to be a crowded race for Boxer's open seat in 2016, Harris is the first to throw her hat into the ring.
John Myers, KQED's Senior Editor for California Politics and Government, joined Take Two to talk about Kamala Harris' background and what kind of Senate candidate she will be.
In state politics, does Northern CA have the edge?
When it comes to US Senators from the Golden State, northern California has reigned supreme for a long time.
Barabara Boxer hails from the Bay Area has been in office since 1993. Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco has held the other spot since 1992.
Might this be the moment for a So Cal Senator and, if so, who?
For more, we're joined by two guests.
Barbara O'Conner is Emeritus Professor of Communications and Director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at Cal State University Sacramento.
And Sherry Bebitch-Jeffe is Professor of the Practice of Public Policy Communication at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.
Jury selection begins in trial of accused Silk Road founder
Drug trafficking, money laundering, murder for hire; all are issues sure to come up in the trial of Ross Ulbricht.
He allegedly ran The Silk Road, a website known as a marketplace for illegal drugs. Jury selection in Ulbricht's case began Tuesday.
is the Tech Policy Editor for Ars Technica and he's going to be covering the trial. He joins Alex Cohen from New York for a conversation on the matter.
Target's plus-sized problem
The average American woman is a size 14, so you'd think 14 would be the most common size sold on the racks.
Think again.
Retailers seldom carry clothes in the double digits, and the latest sting for plus-sized fashionistas comes from Target.
The retailer announced a new collaboration with fashion label Lilly Pulitzer last week, but the plus-sizes won't be available in store -- only online.
Many fashion bloggers took their frustration to Twitter.
It's like Target is dating a fat girl but won't take her out in public..that's how I feel right now
— grownandcurvywoman (@grownandcurvywo)
@AskTarget @FatGirl_fashion @styleit It's like Target is dating a fat girl but won't take her out in public..that's how I feel right now
— grownandcurvywoman (@grownandcurvywo) January 7, 2015
they're really saying we only want 40% of customers to be seen in store.
— Sarah Conley (@styleit)
@grownandcurvywo @AskTarget @FatGirl_fashion they're really saying we only want 40% of customers to be seen in store.
— Sarah Conley (@imsarahconley) January 7, 2015
Michelle Dalton Tyree from Fashion Trends Daily says the tension between retailers and plus-sized shoppers isn't new.
But what is different is the growing plus-sized market and the influence of fashion bloggers.
Tuesday Reviewsday: Belle and Sebastian, Swamp Dogg and Zomba Prison Project
Music journalist
joins A Martinez with some brand new music for this week's Tuesday Reviewsday.
Steve Hochman
Artist: Swamp Dogg
Album: "The White Man Made Me Do It"
Songs: "The White Man Made Me Do It," "Lying, Lying, Lying Woman"
Notes: Forty-five years ago, songwriter and producer Jerry Williams Jr., under the name Swamp Dogg, released "Total Destruction" to Your Mind, one of its era’s most dynamic mixes of soul, rock, funk, psychedelia and even country, all bound with a biting socio-political edge. Pretty much no one noticed.
Over the years, though, "Total Destruction" won a small, but impressive and influential cult of fans, who equally cherished further Swamp Dogg albums, even if he was obscured behind such kindred spirits as Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield and George Clinton.
Now the original D-O-Double-G has released what he’s billing as the long-awaited sequel to that masterpiece. And you know what? "The White Man Made Me Do It" lives up to that hype.
Dogg/Williams is now 72, but this album taps into the same feisty spirit and ambitiously wide reach of the original, right from the intensely buoyant opening salvo of the title track — seven minutes-plus of pointed, stinging, rockin’ funk. It does kind of pick up with "Total Destruction" left off, but with a new vitality. Some of that comes from young musician known as MoogStar, who has been leading Dogg’s band as he’s returned to active performance in recent times and co-produced the album. But anyone who’s seen Swamp Dogg in those shows knows that he’s got no lack of energy or wild spirit. Not to mention a caustic, provocative take on things, as the title and video for the title song make clear. This is not a nostalgic look back, but a statement of how he sees things right now.
That said, there are ties to the past in this album, with homages to hero Sam Cooke with a tasty "You Send Me," and to the great ‘50s doo-wop and R&B with witty renditions of the Clovers’ "Your Cash Ain’t Nothin’ But Trash" and the Jerry Lieber-Mike Stoller classic "Smokey Joe’s Cafe." There’s also a nod to his penchant for controversy and shock-value cover art, such as his old Rat On on which he was pictured riding a giant, you guessed it, rat. The rodent makes a return appearance here, normal sized and being walked by Swamp Dogg on a leash.
And then there’s a tribute to someone who serves as both a role model and cautionary tale, Sly Stone, with the original "Where Is Sly?" Well, Sly is a lost soul. But in such songs as "Lying, Lying, Lying Woman," politically incorrect as it may be, the soul of Swamp Dogg is very much found.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP6y7k2eyeo&feature=youtu.be
Artist: Zomba Prison Project
Album: "I Have No Everything Here"
Songs: "A Message (I Will Take You)," "Forgiveness"
Notes: From the guy who brought us the Malawi Mouse Boys — Christian gospel music by three young men in Malawi whose day job is selling the local snack of roasted, yes, mice on the roadside — comes a powerful new collection, with a different tone. While in Malawi in 2013, On one of his trips to Malawi, Bay Area producer-musician Ian Brennan and Italian filmmaker Marilena Delli were granted access to the Zomba Central Prison in exchange for giving violence prevention classes to prisoners and guards.
There they found a decaying, desolate, horribly crowded facility with horrible crowding, brutal conditions and a paralyzing bureaucracy that has kept inmates there for many years without trial. Some of the prisoners are children serving for the crimes of their mothers. But they also found music, the means in which inmates are able to express their fears, regrets and despair — and even a little hope.
In an endeavor recalling John and Alan Lomax’s recordings at the Parchman Farm prison in Mississippi in the ‘30s (where they discovered the bluesman known as Leadbelly, among others), Brennan and Delli filmed and recorded inmates performing, often their own compositions. The titles tell much of the story: "Listen to Me (Or I Will Kick Your Ass)," "Please Don’t Kill My Child," "Give Me Back My Child," "Taking My Life," "Don’t Hate Me," "Prison of Sinners," "Last Wishes," "I Am Alone," "I Kill No More," "Forgiveness," just to cite some.
But the performances, even without knowing what the words mean, are the story, heartfelt, intimate, gripping, even as they are often low-key and casual. Brennan reports in the liner notes that the men in the prison had better access to instruments and more time to work on music in a semi-formal way. That shows in some at least rudimentary arrangements, as on the song "A Message (I Will Take To You)," written and sung by prisoner Ben Masekese. The women have to get by with less, but that often gives the songs a raw immediacy that is devastating. These are compact, direct songs, often less than a minute long, as when a woman named Elube Chalema asking for "Forgiveness."
Brennan has long had an ear for beauty and meaning in sadness and hardship, but perhaps never as movingly as with this project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgb8am3NQU0
Artist: Belle & Sebastian
Album: "Girls In Peacetime Want to Dance"
Songs: "Nobody’s Empire," "The Cat With the Cream"
Notes: The first line of the album is a giveaway: "I was lying on my bed reading French," delivered in a slightly disaffected, nostalgic, effete tone with a bit of a Scottish lilt. If you’re even a little familiar with the band Belle & Sebastian, recognition should be immediate. The song, "Nobody’s Empire," kicks off the new album with the mix of literary sensibilities, backward glances, faded colors and blurred lines between personal and political conflicts, all in nicely catchy pop settings. This sort of thing has been the signature of founder/leader Stuart Murdoch since he made the band’s first album nearly 20 years ago — as a college music business class project.
As with that opening line, much of what he writes still calls to mind collegiate scenes — students exploring life in dorm lounges and library conversations. And yet as you listen further, you’ll find that "Girls in Peacetime" goes some new places for the group. The big chamber-pop sounds of the past, with horns and strings, gives way to a leaner lineup, and a good portion of the songs sport are built on ‘70s-‘80s dance rhythms, even some electronics here and there.
It’s a mixed bag. The pulse of "Enter Sylvia Plath" (as we were saying) contrasts nicely with the evocations, but the light disco of "Perfect Couples" is a bit mundane (though come to think of it, that could well be intended as a portrayal of a “perfect” couple….. hmmm). And the pop hooks always break through, not matter how straight the beat might be. Glorious choruses rise up throughout, and the judicious use of Sarah Martin’s voice as a female foil to Murdoch (another B&S signature) keeps things from ever getting glum.
Recorded in Atlanta, of all places, the album gives up none of the band’s essential U.K.-ness. "Party Line" refers to the Tories. And this doesn’t really sound "American." That’s good. Perhaps Murdoch still sees Georgia as a colony. The sun never sets on "Nobody’s Empire." Or something like that.
It’s not the spritely pop and dance-y beats that provide the album’s highlight, though. That comes with Murdoch at his most somber, most atmospheric, most pensive in the muted yet still verbally playful "The Cat With the Cream." If even mentions a library. Perfect stuff for when you’re lying on your bed reading French.
Hernan Vera talks establishing LA County Sheriff's oversight committee
Lawyer Hernan Vera has been chosen to lead the group that will set up the L.A. County Sheriff's Department oversight committee.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved the committee's formation last month, after much debate. The group aims to provide more transparency into the workings of the division.
Vera speaks to host A Martinez about his role, and what the committee will look like.
An earlier version of this Take Two post incorrectly referred to Hernan Vera’s role in the oversight committee for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Vera is not the head of the committee, but rather leads the working group that will set up the committee. KPCC regrets the error.
Origins, concerns of LA County child welfare algorithm system
Many hope 2015 is a year of reform for Los Angeles County’s troubled child welfare system.
Problems came to a head in 2013 after the death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez in Palmdale. Last year, a Blue Ribbon Commission examined how the county protects its foster children, and responds to abuse claims. It declared the system in a "state of emergency," and recommended dozens of reforms.
One of those was for the county to share data between departments, and use technology to better assess risk.
Southern California Public Radio's Andrea Gardner has more about the program.
Read Andrea Gardner's full story: Can an algorithm predict child abuse? LA county child welfare officials are trying to find out
Gay rights magazine ONE caused Supreme Court stir in 1950s
These days, same-sex marriage seems to be the crucial issue for gays and lesbians at the Supreme Court. But this wasn't always so.
L.A. Times reporter David Savage recently wrote about a 1950s High Court case involving a Southern California-based magazine called ONE. He joins Take Two with more.
The evolution of protest music
Let's take a look at the fuel of protest: music. Melodies helped the marchers in Selma, Alabama and today music still plays a role in struggles for social change. For more on this A Martinez speaks with
- Associate Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of California. He'll also be speaking with
a hip hop activist and founder of the media literacy organization, 1Hood.