Today, we'll talk about the high temps and strong winds that are a perfect recipe for wildfires. How can we stay safe and prepared? Then, gay NFL player Michael Sam is a goldmine for marketers. Plus, the tiny house movement comes to LA, 'Alien' artist HR Giger dies at 74, and much more.
High temps, strong winds make for fire danger in SoCal
Temperatures around Los Angeles are supposed to be in the mid- to high-90s this week.
RELATED: Keep up with SoCal wildfires with out FireTracker
It's a plus if you own an ice cream shop, it's a problem if you're trying to avoid fires. The heat plus the drought plus those Santa Ana winds are a perfect recipe for fire. Something that Mike Mohler's all too aware of. Mohler, a fire captain with Cal Fire, joins the show tell us how to stay safe during fire season.
Interview highlights:
How does the heat make conditions worse?
"Our fuels are already in critical condition, as you know, we had no precipitation to speak of really this winter. Then you have the heat, which pretty much pre-heats those fuels and then you add that wind and low humidity again and it's conducive to carrying a large fire."
What are the problem areas you're watching around L.A.?
"I can tell you really everywhere, all of Southern California, is currently under a red flag warning until 8:00 p.m. tomorrow evening, so anywhere from San Diego all the way to Ventura County. Even up to our coastline has the threat of a large wildfire due to the weather conditions that we're showing right now."
Any safety recommendations?
"We always ask residents to refer to readyforwildfire.org, not only will this give them a plan on how to prepare their home, but also an evacuation plan that we ask residents to exercise with their families, so that they're familiar with that evacuation plan. If we do ask you to evacuate, please do so early and do so safely."
Have you been anticipating a worse than usual fire season because of the drought?
"There's a thing in the fire service, we don't predict fire season, but I can tell you that the condition that we see and the 200-percent increase of fires this time over last year, we're again, the conditions are inline to have a large wildfire this season."
How a warming planet can increase spread West Nile Virus
Heat like we're seeing this week is only going to become more common with global climate change.
The National Climate Assessment put out by the White House last week points to more heat, more often, particularly in urban areas of the Southwest. That could cause a number of problems, like extended droughts, water shortages, and an increase in infectious diseases spread by insects.
Among those is West Nile virus, a relatively new disease here in America which is spread by mosquitoes. Brittany Patterson, who wrote about the spread of West Nile for the Atlantic, joins the show with more.
Oak-killing fungus could add fuel to wildfire season
We all know how heat, drought, wind can increase the odds of a fire, but now there's another factor to think about: fungus.
Many oak trees in California have been afflicted by a fungus that cuts off its nutrients and water, eventually killing the tree and leaving more fuel for wild brush fires. Akif Eskalen, plant pathologist at UC Riverside, joins the show with more.
Donald Sterling's PR challenge and 'model minority' problem
Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling continues to dominate the airwaves, finally speaking out for the first time in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.
In the interview, he apologized for his words in the now-infamous audio recording, but also dug a deeper hole with new inflammatory comments. Sterling has yet to secure a law firm to represent him as he looks to fight to keep the Clippers, with some firms refusing to take his case.
With the media swarm around him and V. Stiviano, what's the best strategy to repair his image at this point? Can anything be done? R.J. Garis, National Publicist and Crisis PR Consultant joins us to discuss the challenges of changing the public perception of Sterling as well as his reputation in business matters.
What Donald Sterling's "model minority" views say about racism in the U.S.
Sterling claimed in his interview with Cooper that he was "not a racist", but in the past he has been accused of discriminatory comments and actions towards African-Americans and Latinos.
What has not received as much attention is his preferential treatment of Asians, whether in his apartment buildings or in his workplace. His preference comes from the concept of the "model minority," an issue discussed in a recent Slate article co-written by Dr. Hua Hsu, who joins the show to discuss.
The marketing power of gay NFL player Michael Sam
Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted by the NFL, made huge headlines over the weekend for his selection by the St. Louis Rams. But also for the kiss he shared with his boyfriend on camera.
There's another interesting milestone Sam can claim as well. Although he was almost at the end of the draft, his jersey outsold almost all of the other players jerseys. The only player that outsold him was Johnny Manziel, who was chosen in the first round by the Cleveland Browns.
Add to that an endorsement deal already inked with Visa, and many believe that Sam could be an extremely marketable option for companies. So how could this affect his deal with the team? Could his prominence transition to dollars?
We'll talk to Andrew Zimbalist, the Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College.
The tiny house movement comes to Los Angeles
Maybe a little like our waistlines, the size of the American house has been growing and growing. In the 1970s, the average house was about 1,500-square feet. Today, houses are closer to 2,500-square feet.
Countering this desire for ever more space, there's an established movement to build and inhabit small houses. Really small houses. Big enough to hold only the most basic necessities. With rents higher than they've ever been in Southern California, some Angelenos are building their own tiny houses as an alternative.
L.A. residents Jenna Spesard and Guillaume Dutilh are about 80-percent finished building their own little house in Westchester, but they brought it to the KPCC studios to give us a tour.
Interview Highlights:
There's a tiny frying pan in your kitchen that looks like a toy!
Jenna: "Right, that's sort of like a novelty item that Guillaume's grandmother got us. It's about big enough for one egg, I would say. But, you know, you're going to get a lot of tiny things when you have a tiny house, and it sort of brings the charm into the home."
Also, only one room pretty much.
Jenna: "We have a bathroom and loft, but it encompasses the kitchen, and it encompasses the office and the living room and the closet."
The closet looks like its made of very old fruit crates?
Guillaume: "Absolutely. We got those creates down in Venice, and we decided to make a staircase out of them so it actually has a dual purpose of storage and staircase to get up to our loft."
Have you had to downsize your wardrobe?
Jenna: "Yeah, we have immensely downsized our wardrobe. Guillaume is still in the works of downsizing. It's an ongoing process. Every time you buy something, you have to get rid of three things."
Where's the bathroom?
Jenna: "Well, it's still being built, but it's actually behind this wall in the very back of the house. There's going to be a standing shower and composting toilet."
Why try and live in a space this small?
Guillaume: "Well, to redefine the American dream in a way. Today, houses are basically unaffordable in big cities, and we didn't want to get stuck into a 30-year loan and live paycheck by paycheck to make sure that we can afford our house that we barely use. We decided to take another approach. I am a photographer, and Jenna is a writer, and we aren't planning on making a lot of money, and we want to still live nicely in a little place that feels cozy and warm. So we decided to build this little house and put it on a trailer and maybe travel with it."
Why is it on a trailer? Why not just set down root somewhere?
Jenna: "Well, building codes is one answer. There's law that, I think, the international law is that you can't build something about 220-square feet in international building code on a foundation. So in order for this house, which is about 140 square feet, to be able to be a dwelling, it has to be on wheels, because RVs and travel trailers don't follow the same building codes as structural homes."
Is this actually on the larger side of some of the tiny houses?
Guillaume: "Well, they go down to, like, 77-something square feet, depending on which trailer you build. We figured we're going to live in here — both of us and our dog — so we needed kind of like amenities and comfort zone. So we decided to go on a 20-foot trailer, which ended up being 120-square feet."
How much does it cost to build and how much time?
Guillaume: "So we started back in September, so about eight months, nine months ago, and we're probably a little over $25,000 in."
Do you feel there are things you've given up?
Jenna: "Yeah, I mean, I think I'm going to miss having a full size oven, a full size refrigerator, a washer, dryer, a dishwasher, things like that. I mean, you could get those in these tiny homes, but you have to allocate the space for it, and it's a little bit of a sacrifice. We wanted it to be more open, so we're going with minimal kitchen appliances, a mini-fridge, a two-burner stove, and I think that will be a difficult transition, but, you know, it's also part of the lifestyle."
You're not afraid that you'll drive each other crazy?
Jenna: "Yeah, that's definitely a concern, but I always say the outside of our house is like an external room, and if we need some space, we'll just go for a walk."
Guillaume: "The door is not that far."
Find out more about Jenna and Guillaume's progress on their blog, Tiny House Giant Journey.
Tuesday Reviewsday: The Black Keys, Swans, Joseph Arthur and Walter Martin
It's time again for Tuesday Reviewsday, our weekly new music segment. This week, Hollywood Reporter music editor Shirley Halperin and Spin Magazine senior writer Chris Martins are back with some new tunes.
Shirley's Picks
Artist: The Black Keys
Album: "Turn Blue"
Release Date: May 13
Songs: "Fever," "Lovers"
This is their eighth studio album for the duo that cut its teeth on the grit of the blues. Here they're progressing as a band, and certainly frontman Dan Auerbach is progressing as a producer. In the past two years, he's recorded with everyone from Dr. John to Ray LaMontagne to Lana Del Rey, but he's most freed up working on his own material. At the same time, working with Danger Mouse on the Black Keys has rubbed off on him, and you can hear the contemporary trends and concentration on what constitutes a hook:
Here we have farfisa organ, hokey gang vocals, drummer Pat Carney anchoring the song on drums
psychedelia, warm fuzzy cloud. Perhaps a nod to Gorillaz? But the Black Keys are also straddling multiple worlds, wearing their influences on their sleeve (like you can hear some Prince, nod to Motown Stevie Wonder). It drifts a bit into New Wave territory, and feels kind of stitched together.
Always a blues based band and this stuff is much less so.
Artist: Joseph Arthur
Album: Lou
Release Date: May 13
Songs: “Satellite of Love,” “Walk on the Wild Side”
We Lost Lou Reed in October and many musicians are still processing that grief. One of those is singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur, who’s been around since the late '90s when he released his first album. Not quite a contemporary, but of that age where the resonance of Lou Reed and Velvet Underground could be felt very strongly. This is Joseph Arthur’s appreciation of Lou as a songwriter and he’s chosen albums from all different points in his career – like signposts:
Helping us remember Lou via his relationship with NYC – that's a perspective and connection that Joseph Arthur clearly made. It's easy to roll your eyes at the concept but it’s brave move. Some of his choices are obvious, some not so much. But Arthur represents a generation of people who moved Lou Reed’s career forward.
Chris's Picks:
Artist: Swans
Album: "To Be Kind"
Release Date: May 13
Swans have been around, terrifying music fans, as long as I've been on this earth — since 1982. They're led by a genuine musical genius named Michael Gira. They emerged as part of New York's no wave art scene, which musically meant some combination of post-punk, jazz-funk and avant garde rock.
They were about as confrontational as you could get. Gira was famous for attacking fans — stepping on any fingers resting on the stage, pulling hair, and freaking out on anyone caught headbanging at his show. In 1997, he disbanded Swans, partly to do with that rep. The anger attracted the wrong crowd, and the experimentalism got them labeled "noise." So when Swans returned in 2010, it was with a new mission.
'To Be Kind' is their 13th album. It continues a tradition of grandness — both in terms of orchestral ambition, and sheer size. This one's a double-disc-er, with only 10 songs that run a total of two hours. Every single track is a glorious slog through hell — boom, bile, and constantly building blackness. But in a weird way, Swans music is also uplifting. In that rapturous, roll-your-eyes-back, let it carry you sort of way. There's also the occasional quieter moment. Like the duet with St. Vincent, "Kirsten Supine," which happens to have been inspired by Dunst's nude scene in Melancholia.
Artist: Walter Martin
Album: "We're All Young Together"
Release Date: May 13
The Beatles wrote plenty of kid-friendly songs, and the "Rockabye Baby!" franchise has remade plenty of Beatles songs for children. But Walter Martin has made the perfect kids song about the Beatles. It's called "The Beatles (When Ringo Shook His Mop)" and it's the best primer you'll hear:
There's no reason adults can't love it, too, which goes to the title of this man's album: "We're All Young Together." The playful tone of the record may surprise those who recognize his name. Walter Martin is/was the organist (etc.) for New York indie- rock icons, The Walkmen.
The band kind of broke up this year, but it actually multiplied into three mutually supportive solo projects. Singer Hamilton Leithauser's got an album out, bassist Peter Matthew Bauer has one on the way. But none is making music as divergently bright as Martin.
Pre-K report finds enrollment dropped, funding increased in 2013
Universal preschool has gotten national attention and bipartisan support, but a new report out today raises concerns about the quality and access to pre-K education for most 3- and 4-year-olds.
The "State Preschool Yearbook" is put out each year by national education nonprofit, the National Institute for Early Education Research, and this year's addition also takes stock of state-funded preschool over the last decade.
Here to tell us more is Steve Barnett, Director of National Institute for Early Education Research.
Governor Brown announces revised CA budget proposal
In January, Governor Jerry Brown released the first draft of his proposal for California’s nearly $155 billion budget. What has happened since January that prompted changes to his plan?
Capital Public Radio’s Ben Adler joins the show to talk with us about what Brown's new plan has in store.
Nearly 2 years after state takeover, Inglewood schools still bleeding red ink
The Inglewood Unified School District admitted two years ago it couldn't handle its finances. It was on the brink of bankruptcy and invited the state to take it over. But KPCC's Adolfo Guzman Lopez says the money issues haven't gone away, and that's creating a lot of friction.
Does having kids really make you happier?
Over the past few decades, much of the research on parents and happiness has found that parents are worse off than non-parents. That they're less happy, and more depressed and anxious, than their childless counterparts.
But a new study finds that parents today are actually happier compared to non-parents. John Ifcher, an economics professor at Santa Clara University, joins the show to explain why.
Mother/Daughter BFFs: Why they're closer and why they fight
It's not so strange these days to hear a daughter say her mom is her best friend. Mothers and daughters are closer than ever before, chatting often, sharing about their personal lives, fighting.
A close friendship between any mother and daughter can be tense. After analyzing hours' worth of conversations between moms and their daughters, Linguistics Professor Dr. Deborah Tannen found that fights often break out when conversations shift from friend mode to mom mode.
Dr. Tannen joins the show to help us explore why this happens and what both parties can do to avoid the next big argument.
SoCal drought: More on the problems with groundwater
Southern California is home to numerous aquifers, underground lakes holding billions of gallons of water.
RELATED: Drought: SoCal relies more on groundwater, but there are problems
Local water managers see these aquifers as a hedge against future supply disruptions if the current drought turns out to be more trend than aberration. Problem is many of these aquifers are polluted, and in many cases, it’s unclear who has the right to use the water.
KPCC environment reporter Molly Peterson lays out the challenges facing water managers when it comes to these underground lakes and the options they have to make them a bigger part of the region’s water supply.
Despite extreme drought, state's water restrictions rare
Scientists report most of California is experiencing an "extreme" or even "exceptional" state of drought. That's the highest designation the federal government offers.
You might think that cities and counties across the state would be demanding less watering, shorter showers, and such. But for the California Report, Amy Standen says not exactly.
'Alien' artist HR Giger dies at 74
Swiss artist H.R. Giger, who is perhaps best known for designing the creature in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror classic "Alien," has died at age 74 from injuries suffered in a fall, his museum said Tuesday.
Sandra Mivelaz, administrator of the H.R. Giger museum in Gruyeres in western Switzerland, told the Associated Press that Giger died in a hospital on Monday.
Giger's works, often showing macabre scenes of humans and machines fused into hellish hybrids, influenced a generation of movie directors and inspired an enduring fashion for "biomechanical" tattoos.
"My paintings seem to make the strongest impression on people who are, well, who are crazy,"Giger said in a 1979 interview with Starlog magazine. "If they like my work they are creative, ... or they are crazy."
Born Hans Ruedi Giger on Feb. 5, 1940, in the southeastern Swiss town of Chur, he trained as an industrial designer because his father insisted that he learn a proper trade.
His mother, Melli, to whom he showed a lifelong devotion, encouraged her son's passion for art, despite his unconventional obsession with death and sex that found little appreciation in 1960s rural Switzerland. The host of one of his early exhibitions was reportedly forced to wipe the spit of disgusted neighbors off the gallery windows every morning.
A collection of his early work, "Ein Fressen fuer den Psychiater" — "A Feast for the Psychiatrist" — used mainly ink and oil, but Giger soon discovered the airbrush and pioneered his own freehand technique. He also created sculptures, preferably using metal, Styrofoam and plastic.
Giger's vision of a human skull encased in a machine appeared on the cover of "Brain Salad Surgery," a 1973 album by the rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Along with his design for Debbie Harry's solo album, "Koo Koo" (1981), it featured in a 1991 Rolling Stone magazine list of the top 100 album covers of all time.
Giger went on to work as a set designer for Hollywood, contributing to "Species," ''Poltergeist II," ''Dune" and, most famously, "Alien," for which he received a 1979 Academy Award for special effects. Frequently frustrated by the Hollywood production process, Giger eventually disowned much of the work that was attributed to him on screen.
The image of a brooding, mysterious artist was nurtured by Giger, who worked only at night, kept his curtains permanently drawn and dressed mainly in black — a habit he acquired while working as a draftsman because it made Indian ink stains stand out less on his clothes.
While his work was commercially successful, critics derided it as morbid kitsch. His designs were exhibited more frequently in "Alien" theme bars, short-lived Giger museums and at tattoo conventions than in established art galleries.
In 1998, Giger acquired the Chateau St. Germain in Gruyeres and established the H.R. Giger Museum.
Giger was pleased that his idea of machines with human skin became a popular motif in body art.
"The greatest compliment is when people get tattooed with my work, whether it's done well or not," he told Seconds magazine in 1994. "To wear something like that your whole life is the largest compliment someone can pay to you as an artist."
Details on survivors and funeral plans were not immediately available.