The first issue Obama has to tackle now that the election is over? The looming fiscal cliff, which threatens to push the U.S. into recession and raise the unemployment rate. Plus, singer-songwriters Jill Sobule and Gary Eaton join the show for a political, but friendly battle of the bands, a LA-based training course helps new dads become better fathers. then, The Dinner Party gives us something to talk about this weekend and we take a look back at the week's news with our Friday Flashback.
What will the fiscal cliff mean for the US?
Undoubtedly, the first thing on the President's plate as he starts his second term is this fiscal cliff predicament.
According to a Congressional Budget Office report released yesterday, if the automatic spending cuts kick in the, economy would slide into recession next year and the unemployment rate would jump spike from October's 7.9 percent all the way up to more than 9 percent.
For the latest on Capitol Hill negotiations, we go to Major Garrett, Congressional Reporter for the National Journal.
The Dinner Party: The flying trapeze and sushi cologne
Rico Gagliano and Brendan Francis Newnam, the hosts of the Dinner Party radio show and podcast, are here with your weekly conversation starters.
Friday Flashback: Election, election, election
James Rainey, reporter with the LA Times and Molly Ball, political reporter for The Atlantic are here to help up wrap up the week's big stories, such as that little election thing.
Obama addresses fiscal cliff during White House remarks
Today President Barack Obama is scheduled to make a statement from the East Room of the White House. It's expected that he will discuss his strategy for averting the fiscal cliff.
We'll carry his statements live and follow with NPR coverage.
Mike Brown fired as coach of the LA Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers have fired coach Mike Brown after a disappointing 1-4 start to the season, KPCC has confirmed, according to sources in the Lakers organization.
"This was a difficult and painful decision to make," Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak said in a press conference, NBC Los Angeles reports. "Mike was very hard-working and dedicated, but we felt it was in the best interest of the team to make a change at this time. We appreciate Mike's efforts and contributions and wish him and his family the best of luck."
Brown's firing comes as a bit of a surprise, as just yesterday ESPN's Ramona Shelburne wrote a piece quoting Lakers owner Jerry Buss endorsing Mike Brown as coach of the Lakers.
"I have no problems with Mike Brown at all," Buss told ESPNLosAngeles.com. "He just works too hard and he's too knowledgeable for this to be happening." News came down Friday morning that Brown had been ousted as coach.
Despite Buss's endorsement, Take Two's A Martinez, who is also a contributor to ESPN Radio, says that the Lakers' position in last place is what sealed Brown's fate.
"Lakers and last place cannot be associated in the same sentence. Jerry Buss is the owner of this team, he's been the owner for the longest time, decades, and he's always prided himself in never allowing his team to have any dips of success," said Martinez. "In his stewardship of owning this team, they've been in the final half the time he's owned this team. That's how successful they are."
Lakers assistant coaches will take over in the interim, but it's unclear who will be the replacement coach or the coach in the long term. Sources tell KPCC that assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff will coach the team Friday night, while NBC Los Angeles reports Bickerstaff is taking over as interim coach. The Lakers are carrying out a national search for a new head coach, sources tell KPCC.
Martinez predicts that the Lakers may possibly look for a new coach in Mike D'Antoni, who ran the Phoenix Suns and coached Steve Nash into two MVP titles. He says another option could be Nate McMillan of the Portland Trailblazers and the retired Jerry Sloan, who coached the Utah Jazz and has the clout and locker room presence to gain both the respect and control over a team made of NBA veterans like the Lakers veteran team.
The Lakers added Dwight Howard and Steve Nash to make another run at a championship.
Martinez added his thoughts on the offense Brown used in his coaching. "It's called a Princeton offense, and it's an offense that typically for a team like the Lakers that has superstars like Steve Nash and Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant, typically isn't one that you'd think they would be able to adjust to, and they haven't. There have been reports out of the locker room that they are not happy with the offense and that it doesn't mesh well with what talents and abilities they have, and it's been expressed on the court because they've looked lifeless and they've looked like a team that doesn't want to be playing on the floor."
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
Correction: Earlier versions of this story misidentified Bernie Bickerstaff as Mike Bickerstaff, and said that the news broke Thursday rather than Friday morning.
Jill Sobule and Gary Eaton's friendly political battle of the bands
From Kid Rock and Randy Owen performing on behalf of Mitt Romney to Bruce Springsteen rocking out for Barack Obama, there has been no lack of music during the heated race for the White House.
The race is now over, but the music hasn't stopped. Southern California is home to two accomplished singer-songwriters known for their very different political agendas.
Democratic singer songwriter Jill Sobule is perhaps best known for her hit song, “I Kissed a Girl,” and Gary Eaton was a member of the band Continental Drifters. He's now the front man for the Tea Party band, The Army You Have.
They join Alex Cohen for a political battle of the bands
Sobule is a self-proclaimed news junkie and has been intrigued by politics since the Watergate scandal. Recently, she has found inspiration stemming from right-wing political blogs and outspoken political commentators like Bill O’Reilly. Sobule explains that right-wing complaints of losing a traditional America were perplexing since the country has always been a nation of immigrants.
Her song, “We Want Our America Back,” is a reflection of this confusion. Sobule has a knack for quirky political tunes, which she demonstrated with her newest song titled, “Karl Rove versus Nate Silver.”
Eaton, however, is on the other political spectrum, and has made a living out of campaign theme songs like, “Herman Cain Train,” which was created for GOP candidate Herman Cain during the 2008 election. His new song, “We Are The Enemy,” is an attempt to bring inspired and informed music back to his party.
Sobule claimed she felt like her party really has had the advantage because so many mainstream musicians and artists identify as liberal. Eaton, agreeing with Sobule, said, “We need to win the culture wars, we need to be better in the arts. So many on our side write these songs and I hate to be dissing on my side, I know I’m going to get some hate for it, but a lot of people write these political songs on our side that are just like sledge hammers and they forego art.”
It is essentially Eaton’s efforts that contrast his party’s flat and lackluster music, that attracts audiences with varying political opinions and affects people like Sobule.
Fundamentally, both artists have a knack for witty and intellectual music, proving that while everyone may not politically fall on the same mark, music can still cross boundaries and possibly even help bipartisanship.