On Tuesday, Take Two will discuss the challenges with ISIS, reaction from LA Muslims to the ISIS threat, the latest college rankings, a new book of lost Dr. Seuss stories, Apple's next big gadget, Tuesday Reviewsday and more.
LA Muslim group reacts to violence by Islamic State
News of the Islamic militants calling themselves the Islamic State or ISIS has been dominating headlines.
The group has released videos showing the beheading of two U.S. journalists and other acts of violence.
Related: Steven Sotloff beheading video: US confirms authenticity, Obama says ISIS won't intimidate US
Although these acts are far from home, can they influence the way Muslim Americans are perceived?
Salam Al-Marayati, President of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, discusses how the Muslim community in Los Angeles has been reacting to news of the Islamic State.
Obama plan on ISIS could aim at long-term strategy
President Obama is meeting with congressional leaders at the White House Tuesday to discuss how to respond to the rise of Islamic militants in Iraq and Syria, the group that calls itself the Islamic State, or ISIS.
This comes ahead of Obama’s much-anticipated speech Wednesday on the issue.
Related: Obama to speak Wednesday on US strategy against ISIS
For more, Take Two is joined by Eric Schmitt, reporter with the New York Times. His latest reporting outlines a long-term strategy that the Obama Administration is considering.
Compound creams: Workers comp fraud and the high price of the growing medication
A dozen doctors and pharmacists in Orange County will be arraigned this week in a huge workers comp fraud case.
Prosecutors claim they scammed people over a little known - but lucrative - business of compound creams.
One tube of cream can cost thousands of dollars.
Southern California Public Radio's investigative producer Karen Foshay looks into what's in these creams and why they are so expensive.
Related: The price of pain: High costs spur questions about compound creams
In midst of Texas drought, Mexico owes the US water
Texas, like other areas of the United States, is suffering from a drought.
But to add insult to injury, Mexico owes the area water as part of a 1945 treaty agreement between the U.S. and Mexico and is significantly behind on its payments.
Mexico currently owes the United States 380,000 acre-feet of water, more than all the water consumed in a year by the 1.5 million Texas residents living in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, the Washington Post reported.
A Texas A&M study cited by the Washington Post estimated that Mexico’s failure to share water was causing a loss of nearly 5,000 jobs and $229 million in revenues from crops such as cotton, corn, sorghum and citrus fruits.
But Mexico claims its own water shortage is preventing it from sharing its supply.
For more on the treaty agreement and what the current situation means for the U.S. and Mexico, Mexico correspondent for the Washington Post Joshua Partlow explains.
Dr. Seuss expert finds more 'lost' stories
A book of "lost" stories from Dr. Seuss comes out Tuesday so it is only appropriate to share the news with rhyme.
Good news, dear listeners, I am about to bear.
For readers who adore all Dr. Seuss fare
There's a new book out, of the master's lost stories.
With pictures and rhymes and all Dr. Seuss glories.
Discovered by a dentist living on the east coast,
Who now is my guest, I am happy to boast.
Dr. Charles D. Cohen is no relation of mine,
But happily he joins us today on the line.
There are so many questions I'd like to ask you,
Dr. Charles D. Cohen, welcome to Take Two!
Related: Horton meets a ... who? Introducing the Kwuggerbug, from Seuss' 'Lost Stories'
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
When did your fascination with Dr. Seuss begin?
Like most people, born especially after 1957, I grew up reading Dr. Seuss books and they made quite an impression on me. I was particularly taken with the messages about tolerance and the importance of the imagination. And then in the late 1980s I caught an exhibit called "Dr. Seuss: From Then to Now" that was touring the country and that's when I learned that Dr. Seuss, or Ted Geisel, had done something outside his Dr. Seuss books. He died a few years later in 1991 and I started trying to find out a little more about him. The more I tried to learn the more misinformation I found and that made me obsessed to find out what the truth was. Twenty-five thousand hours of research later, here we are.
Tell us about this new book, "Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories."
The title story stars Horton the Elephant, the same character that hatches the egg and heard the Whos. Marco Comes Late has the same young boy from "And To Think That I Saw it On Mulberry Street." And there's a Grinch in the final piece called "The Hoobub and the Grinch" so the characters and places should have some familiarity for people but the stories they've probably never heard of, let alone read.
Where did you find these "lost" stories?
They were around it's just that nobody had seen them in about 60 years and for many people that amounts to them not being available during their lifetimes. I spent a full year trying to track down the four parts to the first story I was looking for and then I began to track down other ones, eventually turning to eBay, garage sales, used bookstores, wherever I could find them.
These are mostly in Redbook magazines and things like that, right?
All the ones in "Horton and the Kwuggerbug" are from Redbook.
You have really interesting notes about Dr. Seuss at the beginning of the book where you mention this theme of "logical insanity" that runs throughout his books. Can you explain that?
He had a famous quote about logical insanity. He said if he created a two-headed animal, there had to be two hats in the closet, two toothbrushes in its bathroom, and two sets of eyeglasses on its nightstand. He felt if he took a crazy idea but stayed consistent and played it out to its logical conclusion, readers would accept it.
The very last story in this book is titled "The Hoobub and the Grinch." The Grinch in this one is less like the Grinch who stole Christmas and more like Sam I Am in "Green Eggs and Ham." He's really selling something. You write that Ted Geisel was in advertising. How do you think that chapter of his life affected the books he wrote?
There is a race of Grinches, first of all. This one still tries to manipulate the consumerist feelings people have and tries to get them to buy things they don’t really need and I know that goes back to his advertising days.
He became known as Dr. Seuss, not for writing children's books, but for advertisements that he did. This whole book comes about because Ted was trying something different. These stories from Redbook were an attempt to get children to read at a younger age. He had an experience of a young boy, supposedly three years old, who recited all of "Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose" to him. He learned that the sound of his language is so infectious that even though the kids can't read yet, they can memorize what's going on in the stories. So if you pair that language with pictures that engage them, they're going to be drawn to it and want to learn how to read. These stories were his experiment of getting people to read out loud to their children and see if this would work. It's really hard to explain how he went from writing prose predominantly—he had 10 stories published before the first Redbook one and only four of them rhymed. These stories are how he got there.
Tuesday Reviewsday: Robert Plant, Aurelio, Francisca Valenzuela and Diana Fuentes
It's Tuesday Reviewsday time! This week music critic
and
, associate editor of Latin at Billboard Magazine, join Alex Cohen in studio with their favorite new music picks.
Steve Hochman
Artist: Robert Plant
Album: "lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar"
Songs: “Little Maggie,” “Embrace Another Fall”
"lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar"
Notes: Presumably we don’t have to give you the background on Robert Plant. But if you need to Google him... we’ll wait.
Okay? So now that we’re up to speed, the full weight of this next statement will be appreciated:
"lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar", unwieldy title and all, is the best album Plant has made since…. well…. since he was in that li’l ol’ Zep band. And yes, that counts Raising Sand, his glorious, 2008 Grammy Best Album-winning collaboration with Alison Krauss and its just-as-good follow-up, Band of Joy, featuring his then-partner Patty Griffin. (Yes, a case could be made for 1994’s Unledded, the reunion with Zep cohort Jimmy Page. Though as good as those reworkings of their classic material were, it was a dip back into the old catalog, so we’ll give it an asterisk.)
How so, you ask? Well, not everyone may agree. Raising Sand and Band of Joy stand tall, monuments to an iconic artist still seeking new experiences and expression. But there’s a mannered quality to the music. And neither album utilizes the full range of music that Plant has embraced and absorbed in his explorations since he first emerged as rock’s Golden God some 45 years ago.
The new one does.
Take the very first track, “Little Maggie,” at its roots an Appalachia-via-Britain folk tune built around a spritely banjo and Plant’s unmistakable voice — more plaint than his old banshee wail. But before those things even kick in, there’s a bit of electronic beat-ambience and rough-hewn plucking that’s more African than Anglo-American, both of those intensifying later in the song in an ancient-modern dance of West African fiddle and surging, quasar-like electronic pulses. It’s a bracing mix, a visionary melange and a colorful musical portrayal/complement/enhancement of the somberly yearning lyrics that Plant so effectively understates, as if they were being sung to you, in confidence.
None of this will be a surprise to anyone who saw Plant touring over the last year with the band backing him here, the perfectly dubbed the Sensational Space Shifters. Core members of the band have been with him for years, pre-dating the Grammy recognition, crucially guitarist Justin Adams who has been instrumental in spurring and sharing Plant’s passion for incorporating global sounds, particularly West and North African, into his music. Adams also adds a variety of stringed and percussion instruments from several cultures, and gets credit for bringing in Gambian musician Juldeh Camara, whose ritti (a one-stringed fiddle) and kologo (an ancestor of the banjo) are secret weapons for much of this. But it’s a real, solid unit, with Liam “Skin” Tyson’s guitar and banjo, John Baggott’s keyboards and electronic atmospheres, Billy Fuller’s bass and Dave Smith’s drums swirling together hypnotically.
Shifting space, sensationally, is just what they did in the concerts, turning an assortment of treasures from his Zep and solo years plus some Delta and folk chestnuts into various shades of psychedelic African trance blues. This set of largely new material occasionally gets as explosive here as that could (the critical-mass fury of the closing “Arbaden/Maggie’s Baby,” most dramatically), but even the more somber passages sport a sort of contained combustion with no lack of heat and intensity, both musical and emotional.
“Embrace Another Fall” is one that has it all, an examination of loss, the end of something, a sense of disorienting transition with Plant at once pleading and accepting, the band drawing a line between “Kashmir” and North Africa and, well, an ever-shifting space of inner turmoil. Certainly many will interpret this as coming from his breakup with Griffin, with whom he’d been living in Austin, Texas in recent years. Could well be. But it’s really a realization of what he’d been working toward for some time now.
And you know what? That title is pretty apt. This is music that is at once a soothing, comforting lullaby and a full-out roar, from the very rare artist who is scaling new peaks this far into a career.
Artist: Aurelio
Album: "Lándini"
Songs: “Sañanaru,” “Lándini”
Notes: There is a growing consciousness in recent years about stateless people, or people whose “nationality” transcends, or ignores, official borders. And a good deal of that consciousness and awareness is coming from their music: The desert blues of West Africa’s Tuareg people, the vibrant folk and jazz of the Roma spanning from Rajasthan to Spain, the forceful ballads of the Kurds have all brought their respective cultures to the world.
Honduras’ Aurelio Martinez, more than anyone right now, represents Central America’s Garifuna culture, which is found in the region of his nation, Belize, Guatemala and other neighboring countries. Not only has he become the leaving figure in the vibrant music of his people, but a few years back he represented them in the Honduran government, one of the first people of African descent ever elected to the country’s National Congress.
The music on this album, produced by Belize star Ivan Duran and being released by Peter Gabriel’s Real World label, is not overtly political. It is, though, deeply cultural. The album title means “landing” in Garifuna, as in a place where one has landed, where a culture has landed, where it has grown — where it belongs. On the most personal, literal level for Martinez, that’s the boat landing in the tiny fishing village of Plaplaya on the Caribbean coast, where he grew up. There was no electricity, but there was much music, guitars and drums and singing that filled the nights and, in the process, kept alive culture that was losing ground in the encroachment of the modern world. The title song celebrates that with both nostalgic joy and a sharp eye for the hardships of that life.
Other songs are at turns funny, such as “Nari Golu (My Golden Tooth),” or desolate, with “Litun Weyu (Sad Day)” a song by young Belize Garifuna composer Shelton Petillo from the point of view of a young man in a hospital, forgotten by his family and friends. Overall there’s a sense of melancholy both cultural and individual, the latter there in the opening “Sañanaru (I Can’t Handle Her)” about a personal conflict. Through it all there’s a tropical lilt to the music, the energy that fuels the rump-shaking punta rhythms most popular in Garifuna music, as well as some ties to other Afro-Caribbean sounds (the quasi-rhumba of “Nando (Leonardo),” with the wooden clavé at the heart of the rhythm). But with “Funa Tugudirugo (Newborn Child),” the drums and guitars that are the core of Garifuna music are largely unadorned and Martinez — and we — are right there on the beach by the landing.
Garifuna, legend has it, has it origins in a 17th century wreck on St. Vincent Island of a slave ship coming from Africa. The survivors mixed with the indigenous people, and later their descendants were deported to Central America by the British colonizing the Caribbean. The language and culture spread through the region, evolving over generations and absorbing elements of French, English and Spanish presences. Throughout the region it had no official home, no official place.
In recent generations, though, a new sense of pride and identity has emerged. Young musician Andy Palacio became the central figure in this, tirelessly building on and promoting traditions with a modern perspective and mentoring others, including Martinez, both in music and politics. When Palacio died at just age 48 in 2008, Martinez left politics to focus on the music and culture. Much of his work has shown a large vision, an interest in the global stage as much as in his roots. His last album, 2011’s Laru Beya, also produced by Duran and on Real World, featured collaborations with Senegal’s Youssou N’Dour and Orchestra Baobab. This one keeps the lens on home. That focus makes it his best yet.
Justino Aguila
Artist: Diana Fuentes
Album: "Planeta Planetario"
Songs: “Será Sol,” “La Ultima Vez”
Notes: Diana Fuentes is classically trained and that versatility stands out in her new album Planeta Planetario.
The Cuban singer/songwriter, who has studied at schools like the National Art School of Cuba, performed for several years with the Afro-Cuban jazz group Sintesis, the band that went on to receive a Latin Grammy nomination for best contemporary tropical album. Then she began performing on her own.
Fuentes, who is married to Calle 13's Visitante, is now creating her own musical path with Planet Planetarium, which highlights her powerful voice in ballads and much more. The project takes on several musical themes and show’s her depth further in songs such as “Será Sol,” a cover from Carlos Varela.
A thoughtful songwriter, Fuentes’ strong writing abilities illustrate her tenure in music. Her ballad work is impressive and shows the artist's poetic side, one that also sheds light on causes and themes that are important to the entertainer.
Fuentes, who signed to Sony Music Latin last year, makes each song intimate by putting her life experiences into each composition. Visitante, also known as Eduardo Cabra, produced the album.
A career arc that’s approaching 20 years in the music business, Fuentes’ impressive career continues to grow and show her maturity as a singer/songwriter in music that is powerful, charming and compelling.
Artist: Francisca Valenzuela
Album: "Tajo Abierto"
Songs: "Prenderemos Fuego Al Cielo," "Siempre Eres Tu"
Notes: Francisca Valenzuela, the Chilean-American singer, returns with Tajo Abierto (Sliced Open), a new album of pop music that has bite, complexity and musically rich lyrics.
Valenzuela’s new music shows that the singer/songwriter continues to take her musical chops to new levels as the songstress goes deep in her writing and compositions, which grow with every verse in songs such as the single “Prenderemos Fuego Al Cielo” (We’ll Set the Sky on Fire).
The singer released her first album Muerdete la Lengua (Bite your Tongue) in 2007. In 2011, her second album, Buen Soldado (Good Solider) went gold in Chile. The current album has been released under Valenzuela’s own label, Frantastic Records.
"Siempre Eres Tu"
At a recent showcase in Los Angeles, Valenzuela mesmerized her fans with her music—compositions that resonate universally from a songwriter whose reach continues to expand and delight.
"Prenderemos Fuego al Cielo" has a strong pop approach and a retro feel; it is musically captivating and danceable. "Siempre Eres Tu," about a relationship, has a slower tempo that feels haunting with Valenzuela's smooth vocalization to match a chilling and killer piano accompaniment. The album, which also features an track in English ("Almost Superstars"), delivers.
Ray Rice elevator video sparks talks of domestic violence
On Monday morning, TMZ released a recording showing former NFL player Ray Rice knocking his then-fiancé unconscious in an elevator. Since the video emerged, the Baltimore Ravens have released Rice, the NFL has indefinitely suspended him, Nike has dropped their endorsement deal with him, and many have taken to Twitter to either defend or attack his now-wife Janay Rice.
Related: Baltimore Ravens cut Ray Rice after domestic violence video
The video also prompted writer Beverly Gooden to start a conversation on Twitter hashtagged #WhyIStayed, which aims to give people an insight into why women stay in abuse relationships. The hashtag #WhyILeft also came out of the conversation.
I stayed because my pastor told me that God hates divorce. It didn't cross my mind that God might hate abuse, too.
— Beverly Gooden (@bevtgooden)
I stayed because my pastor told me that God hates divorce. It didn't cross my mind that God might hate abuse, too. #WhyIStayed
— Beverly Gooden 🌸 (@bevtgooden) September 8, 2014
He said he would change. He promised it was the last time. I believed him. He lied.
— Beverly Gooden (@bevtgooden)
He said he would change. He promised it was the last time. I believed him. He lied. #WhyIStayed
— Beverly Gooden 🌸 (@bevtgooden) September 8, 2014
Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, joins the show to talk more about domestic abuse raised by this case. O'Neill says the NFL has a "woman problem," in the way it handles cases of violence, harassment and objectification.
College rankings: US News adds campus safety, loan default info to its report
For the first time, US News and World Report is adding data on campus crime and students' loan default rates in its yearly college rankings.
Anita Narayan, education editor at US News, says adding this data to each school's profile will provide even more information to help prospective students decide where to go.
LA's sluggish economy spurs debate on legalized street vending
With the economy in Los Angeles flagging in recent years, more people have taken to the streets to sell goods, such as food and homemade commodities,.
This has led officials to a debate on whether street vending should be made legal, according to an L.A. Times report.
Host Alex Cohen spoke to Rudy Espinoza, an urban planner and executive director of Leadership for Urban Renewal Network (LURN). It’s part of a coalition working to create a permit system for sidewalk vending.
"We believe that the system should be an affordable system that is reasonable so that folks can actually access this resource, but it should be one also that considers other small businesses in our neighborhoods," he said.
Arnold Schwarzenegger unveils official portrait at California state capitol
Arnold Schwarzenegger made the line "I'll be back" famous 30 years ago in the sci fi thriller "The Terminator."
Monday, he lived up to those words in Sacramento.
After nearly four years away from this political hub, the former governator returned to unveil his official portrait under the capitol dome.
Related: Schwarzenegger unveils official portrait by Austrian artist
The former governor waxed nostalgic about his time in office and environmental issues he addressed, calling that period the "most fulfilling years I ever had in my life," KQED reported.
KQED's political editor John Myers was there and shares more on the portrait and Schwarzenegger's legacy.
California drought prompts San Francisco to utilize treated waste water
As California's drought drags on, one water district east of San Francisco is getting creative in their water recycling efforts.
The water district is giving away treated sewage water to be utilized for landscaping. Reporter Rachel Dornhelm, of San Francisco Public Radio station KQED, says the program is the first of its kind in the country.
Drought: Northern California nudist colony running out of water
California's ongoing drought has been taking its toll on towns throughout the state.
One place that has been hit especially hard is the Lupin Lodge in northern California. It's one of five community water districts to land on an official state drought watch list. It also happens to be a nudist colony.
Lori Kay Stout, owner of Lupin Lodge, joins Take Two for more on the water-saving measures they've adopted in response to the drought.
Katey Sagal gets star on Hollywood Walk of Fame as 'Sons of Anarchy' debuts final season
Actress Katey Sagal has played some memorable moms.
First, Peg Bundy on the long running Fox sitcom "Married with Children."
And most recently Gemma Teller Morrow on the FX drama "Sons of Anarchy."
"Sons" enters its seventh - and final - season Tuesday night.
Also on Tuesday, Sagal will receive her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Amid her television success, Sagal is also a singer, which is how she began her show business career.
Take Two spoke with Sagal last year--as she was about to play a show at the El Rey--about how she got started in music.
Related: Actress Katey Sagal has classic tunes 'Covered' in new album
Here's her rendition of Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ytCTsBVhUY
Apple's new product lineup: Should you be excited?
Now, it's time to arise and stand for the church of Apple doth commence its unveiling of the mysteries.
The cult tech company made some big announcements about new products from its home base in Cupertino Tuesday.
Among the new products announced are:
- Apple Watch: a customizable timepiece that includes communication, health and fitness features
- Apple Pay: A one-tap payment system used with the iPhone by tying into major payment networks American Express, MasterCard and Visa
- Slimmer iPhone 6 with high-resolution 4.7-inch 720p display
- Larger iPhone 6 Plus with full 1080p HD resolution onto a 5.5-inch display.
- iOS8: Updated operating system that goes live Sept. 17, according to CNET
Related: Apple's next big thing: Apple Watch revealed, plus iPhone 6, ApplePay (slideshow)
Ian Sherr from CNET talks about the products announced Tuesday, the spectacle of Apple events and whether or not we should be excited about these updates.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
So what are the details of Apple's new iPhones?
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. They both have larger screens than previous iPhones. They have larger batteries, which thankfully will help to keep them running longer. They also have new chips that are 50 percent more power efficient, better cameras and all sorts of other nifty things. One of the things they just announced is Apple Pay where you can take credit cards through iTunes and pay at merchant terminals using American Express, Master Card and Visa so they are trying to branch out the iPhone. They want to make it as secure as possible because we've had so many security lapses with our credit cards.
Why is Apple going with bigger, as opposed to smaller, iPhones?
The entire industry has moved counter to what Apple has been doing. If you go down to an AT&T or Verizon store you see the iPhone and then there are all these other phones that are much larger. If you go to Asia, it's even more dramatic. A lot of people in the developing world are getting their first smartphones and getting phones instead of computers. So it makes a lot of sense because they don't have a larger screen to sit down at when you get home. Now they've built new technology and software that allow you to use it a little better with one hand but you can use a larger screen.
When does the iPhone 6 actually come out?
September 19. It will start at $199, standard price for an iPhone. The 5.5-inch one is $299 for the larger screen and you get a little more battery life out of it. Apple has been releasing their iPhones about a week and a half after they announce them. They want to be able to set up the retail relationships and what not and allow reviewers to have that week to be able to review the product in an in-depth way before people make their purchasing decisions.
What about an iWatch?
Everyone expects Apple to get into the wearable space. Stuff that goes on your wrist, your head, whatever has gotten really popular. And it makes sense because our phones have become such behemoths of information but they are almost—as you're walking down the street or you're driving—uncomfortably sending so much information to you. Now there's this growing industry of devices that filter the information coming to your phone. For example, I am wearing a smart watch called a Pebble that takes email notifications, texts messages, phone calls because I've had my phone vibrate on my side so often that I now don't even recognize when it's sending me a message. It's unclear whether consumers will really adopt this stuff.