November 17, 2024 • 37 mins
Mark Thompson fills us in on:
Plane Crash//M Pox Case in California
Amazon Returns// Bye Twitter Hello Bluesky
Tom McCoy and Cathy Rigby of La Mirada
Plane Crash//M Pox Case in California
Amazon Returns// Bye Twitter Hello Bluesky
Tom McCoy and Cathy Rigby of La Mirada
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
The batbeam went up and I am a year excited
to be here. Amidst all kinds of news that is
affecting California, Southern California, there's that plane crash, which is
truly bizarre. Andrew, you can fill me in just because
of the bizarre nature of it. Yeah, I mean it
(00:24):
was near this track at the Pomona Dragstrip. Yeah, that
was you know where they race the hot rods. Yeah,
I'm there every Friday night. I know exactly where it is.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
So what's interesting about this is, I mean it was
like full capacity because this was like the finals of
the NHS the National hot Rod Association's a competition.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Again, you don't need to tell me, but yes, okay,
go ahead.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Well for those that are that are uneducated.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
With what they yes, no, thank you for setting the scene.
So it's the finals of the NHRA and Pomona. Yeah,
and what happens.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Well, a plane was coming in for a landing because
literally right next door on the other side of the
drag strip is the is the U in Laverne. It's
the city of Laverne. Right there is the airport for
I believe it's Bracket Brecket Airport that's right there. And
it appears, based on the images on social media that
the plane did come up too short right before the
(01:16):
drag strip and crashed into a series of RVs right there.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
So three people were injured. No one lost their life
in all of that, right that we know of.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Yeah, no reports of any deaths. Three passengers on the
plane and the pilot were transported to the hospital and
reports from the scene do say no bystanders or anyone
there that was a spectator was injured.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And then the news you really wanted to hear, racing
was paused. Of course, first responders get in, they attend
to the people involved in the crash, and then what
they resume the action. That's right, because this is America.
A plane goes down, they sweep it up, they scrape
(01:58):
it up, they make sure everybody's okay, those who need
attention get it and then action is resumed. As of
one o'clock today, it was a single engine plane, but
still a bizarre, bizarre accident on this Sunday. The other
thing that's somewhat bizarre is this wild outbreak in California
(02:24):
of the empox virus.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
California is confirming the first domestic case of the more
severe strain of EMPOCS. According to the CDC, it was
identified in a person who recently traveled from eastern Africa.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, that's where it comes from. It comes from Congo,
I'm fairly certain.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
But they were treated shortly after returning to the US
and released. State health officials say their symptoms are improving.
Health officials are now working to identify anyone who may
have been in contact and exposed. The agency stresses the
risk to the public remains low.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, Eastern Congo is where it comes from, and so
this person and had traveled to eastern Africa being treated
in northern California. Symptoms are improving, and as you just heard,
the risk to the general public is low. It's endemic
in parts of Africa. Of course, people are infected through
generally bites from rodents or small animals. There's far more
(03:19):
human interaction with wildlife there. But you know, if it
really if you get a bad case, a severe case
of EMPOCS, there are you know, you get lesions on
your face, in your hands, you know, in your private area.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
So it's a.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
New form of empocs in Africa that they were saying
scientists were emerged earlier this year, and again cases fairly
limited in travelers from there to the US, but more
than thirty one hundred cases overall reported since September. You
(04:00):
know what I did last night? Went to Orange County
to the Lamarada Theater where I saw and I mentioned
this because I'm embarrassed about something, and I'll tell you
what it is. I'm embarrassed that I've never been to
the Lamarada Theater in Orange County.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
It's an incredible place.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I mean to me, the acoustics, the seats, the way
they are laid out, even the intermission refreshments, the bar,
everything is better than Broadway.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
And I've gone to a lot of Broadway.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
You know, I grew up in Washington, DC, and I
was kind of a theater rat, so I went to
I've been to every theater on Broadway pretty much, I think.
And on Broadway they pack you in. At Lamarata, they
there's no sense that you're being packed in. The spacing
between c is strategic. Anyway. I was so impressed by it,
(05:04):
and it was Fiddler on the Roof. Jason Alexander is
playing Teva, the lead in Fiddler on the Roof. So
he's spectacular, He's unbelievable. He just absolutely inhabits this role.
You know, you'd think a guy who played George in
Seinfeld almost would be handcuffed in terms of doing anything
(05:28):
else or performing any other role, right, because you just
see him and you think George. But the reality of
Jason Alexander's career is that he was a song and
dance guy way before Seinfeld. I mean, he was an
accomplished actor in legit theater. I mean I'm talking about
Broadway theater. Before Seinfeld, he was a New York actor.
(05:50):
So then Seinfeld explodes, right, and he is now George to.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
All of us.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
And I'm sure it's was obviously a great gift to
his family that he becomes this guy who is so
well known and does so well, and it's a great
career and it's its wealth and it's fame and it's
all that stuff, and it gives him show business leverage,
but his ability to do other stuff is much limited
by that that which we associate with George from Seinfeld.
(06:20):
So anyway, I was kind of just hoping that I
could get past that as he came out on stage.
So he comes out on stage as Tavia in Fiddler
on the Roof, and right away you get past it.
I mean, the guy was incredible. I mean, he absolutely
inhabited this character. It was and I've seen Fiddler so
(06:41):
many times. I'm saying so many times. Maybe I'm gonna
say I've seen it five times, maybe in different stage productions.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
And the movie.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I saw the movie when I was a kid, and
the movie honestly is the thing that I remember. But
more to the point, you know, because of that memory,
he's got some work to do to kind of make
it his own thing as opposed to sort of aping
somebody else's version of Teva the lead character, and he does.
(07:11):
I was so impressed by him. I don't know him.
I mean, i've played cards with him a few times.
Very nice guy. But it's not like I've got to
give him a positive review. I was really impressed, but
more impressed even or as impressed.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
By the Lamarada Theater.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I was just as I say, I'm embarrassed that I
had never been there before and now I'm going to go.
I actually planned to go to another production. I mean
I have yet to you know, work out all the tails.
But as I was looking at their calendar, I thought,
I want to go that. I want to go to that.
So the Lamarada people, I said, hey, come on, just
talk about what you're gonna do it here for Christmas
(07:48):
maybe or something.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Today. And so they are.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
They're gonna, in fact, and they are interesting in another
way because the two execus, the producers down there, Tom
McCoy and Kathy Rigby. Kathy Rigby is to a certain
vintage of person in America, sort of America's sweetheart. She
was an insanely successful and virtuoso gymnast and she then
(08:20):
went on to be an actress on Broadway in peter Pan.
I think she'd played in peter Pan for thirty years.
So she's this actress who you know, she won Tony's
and was nominated for a gazillion Tony's. And this is
a person who has essentially become accomplished in another area,
legitimate theater. So she and her husband run a lot
(08:43):
of the stuff down there at Lamorada. Again, I didn't
know them, but bumped into him in the lobby. I said, hey,
come on, ka fi to tomorrow just for a minute
or two and get us up to speed on what's
happening for Christmas, and then I see the news this morning.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
This is just how life works.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
That Bella COOLi, the longtime gymnastics coach of the American teams.
He died. He's just died. He was eighty two. And
he's also insanely controversial. He controversial in his later career,
(09:19):
celebrated in his early career, I mean really associated with
American dominance in gymnastics early on, but then later associated
with some of the horrors that we hear about in
gymnastics and in gymnastics coaching later in his career. So
if Kathy Rigby joins us, I may ask her to
comment on that as well.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
So much to do. Glad you are with us on
this Sunday.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I was noticing something as I was reading about, like
the coming Black Friday rush for sales and stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
You know, this is a time of year that a.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Lot of businesses, small business, isn't big businesses really make
their entire year, that is to say, the commerce that
they'll do, the business that they'll do between now and
the end of the year that can make or break
their whole year. So this fact really jumped out. I mean,
I thought I would share it with you, just because
it relates to returns, okay, to all the stuff that
(10:21):
is returned on top of that tsunami of big money
that comes in with sales. So the National Retail Federation
is saying that for every one billion dollars in sales,
the average retailer gets all right, I'll ask you.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
We'll go around the horn.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
For every one billion dollars in sales, how much does
the average retailer sustain in returns? Okay, so they'll do
a billion dollars in sales, and out of a billion,
for every billion, how much is a return?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Is it a million? Is it ten million? Is it
you know, fifty more? What is it? Andrew? You have
a guess? Sorry, he's busy.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
I do not have a guess. I'm sorry, all right,
I can see this is already going nowhere. When Andrews said, like,
and Mark, I'm busy. There's a plane crash, there's other crap.
I don't have time for your bogus questions. How dare you?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
I have a great guess?
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Mark?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Yeah, thank you, Caleb, Please go ahead and I'm pretty
sure I'm right, So I'm sorry to end this so quickly.
I'm going to guess a million mark. Well, I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
You're danging only one hundred and forty four million off,
which is really Yeah, the for every billion dollars in sales,
the average retailer will sustain one hundred and forty five
million in returns. For every billion in sales, one hundred
and forty five million comes back.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Think of it that way. I mean, that's.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
That's not only incredible, but I would say that returns
are a big part of retail business.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Now.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Isn't that one of the reasons you go to Amazon?
It's just so easy to return stuff. I mean, you
can just return stuff to Amazon without the third degree
on why are you returning it? Is it in the
original packaging? Do you have the original receipt? These are
none of these things are relevant if you're returning something
(12:26):
to Amazon. Anyway, I think the return story is a
big one. So for every billion, one hundred and forty
five million in returns comes back. The hack on Amazon
that I've just become aware of, that I will share
to you because somebody just shared it with me. If
you go to Amazon and you see something new, I'm
(12:51):
about to tell you something and you're going to go, yeah,
no kidding, dude. But I didn't know this, so there
might be others out there who didn't know this. If
you go down past the new item, the used items are,
generally speaking, and you can give me the exact wording
on it, because I don't have it in front of me,
(13:11):
but the first blast of used items are generally brand
new items that were just returned. So when you return
an item to Amazon, it goes into that category of used,
but they're not really used. They were actually just opened
and then returned. What I've been able to find is
(13:32):
great stuff, particularly electronics that is perfectly fine. I mean
it's it's like new, and it's discounted wildly. I mean
it may be twenty or thirty percent less. So I
really encourage you as you get into this giving season
if this is the kind of giving you're doing, and
you're doing it on Amazon. And I understand there a
bunch of people I don't go to Amazon because if
(13:53):
you have bezols because of the environment, whatever, I get it.
But if you are on Amazon, be aware of that.
I think it's a great way you can save some
money and get a product that's just just as good.
A lot of people are leaving Blue or leaving Twitter
for Blue Sky. They're leaving Twitter for the same reason
(14:15):
people have problems with Jeff Bezos or what. A lot
of these jillionaires are running into some sort of kind
of cultural headwinds when it comes to the way the
public sees them. You know, Musk is seen as this
richest man in the world. He's bought a president now
and now he's going to influence US policy. I don't
want anything to do with Tesla. I don't want anything
(14:35):
to do with X, I don't want anything to do
with whatever. So there's a lot of that, and there's
that with Bezos. Bezos runs a Washington Post. The Washington
Post didn't endorse a presidential candidate, and for that reason,
I want nothing to do with Amazon anymore.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
So these billionaires are kind of.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Again, I'd suggest they're just generally cultural headwinds, but there
might be some actual commercial headwinds associated with it. In
the case of Besos, for example, two hundred and fifty
thousand subscribers dropped the Washington Post just because they didn't
endorse a candidate I thought that was a mistake. But
you know, that's a conversation for another time. But in
(15:16):
the case of Musk, he's still out there, and he's
so prominent in his manipulation of X, in his ownership
of Tesla, in his articulation of controversial policies for the
new president. So people are dropping out of his social
media platform X, and they're going to this Blue Sky,
(15:41):
the president of the president elect, who is returning to
the White House having given Musk this position, you know,
this government efficiency position and which does spell out doge,
which is a coin, as you know, which is sort
of a lark that Musk.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Embarked on. Anyway, he's.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Ended up with X being let's just say, it's a
little radioactive to some people. So Blue Sky is a
decentralized social media app. And this is what I would
say to many of those who are going over there.
I mean, be careful. It's like, you know, here comes
the new boss, same as the old boss. I mean,
what you have in a decentralized social media app is
(16:27):
you really don't have the kind of moderation of the
platform that you complained about in X. I mean, I
get that you don't like musk and there is. One
of the first things he did was to get rid
of the moderation on his platform. He shed so many
employees who were associated on the Twitter slash x platform
with managing. When I say moderating, I mean managing all
(16:50):
the information and all of the conversation there, right, So
it gets rid of, you know, it reduces the trolling,
the porn, the the stuff that really kind of is
is bad for the image of the brand. Okay, so
all that stuff when he got rid of those moderators
(17:10):
started to completely populate the brand of X. So I
had a lot of trolling, You've had a lot of porn.
You had, all of a sudden, the changing relationship that
x slash Twitter had with the users. So it was
no longer just an information platform. It became almost a
propaganda platform in the views of many.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
So they go over to Blue Sky.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
But what I'm getting at with blues guys, Blue Skuy
is a decentralized social media app. There are no moderators,
are very few from what I've been able to see.
And you can, and I think this is what they advertise.
You can curate your own feed to the point that
you can tune out some of that stuff that I
(17:54):
just mentioned. So if you find objectionable content in your feed,
you can get rid of it completely, and in fact,
you can shape your feed from what I understand, so
completely that you just never see any of that stuff.
And the Blue Sky thing was started, or at least
the one of the guys involved was Jack Dorsey. I
(18:17):
mean again, Jack Dorsey started Twitter, so he was the
former CEO. He went over the Blue Sky and he
got this thing started, which is why if you go
to Blue Sky, it quacks a lot like Twitter slash X.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
It kind of looks like Twitter slash X.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So Dorsey gave it that feel along with others, and
then Dorsey left. I believe he's left the platform or
step back from any kind of creative role. And now
you have others involved who are again creating a certain
image that is similar to X and Twitter, but it
(18:53):
is not again identical. I'm going to give it a shot.
So what's happened though overnight, not quite literally, but this
week is that a lot of people are going to
this new social media app, Blue Sky, and a lot
of people are leaving the X platform. When we come back,
(19:14):
the Lamarada Theater is sold out. They're sold out with
this with Jason Alexander playing Tavia and Filler on the roof.
But more to the point, what an amazing jewel in
southern California is the Lamarada Theater. Kathy Rigby and Tom McCoy,
the executive producers of those shows down there.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
They join us next.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
So as we continue, you're listening to KFI AM six
forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
I wanted to draw your attention to something you're probably
already aware of, but I'm embarrassed to say. It was
my first trip to the Lamarada Theater last night, and
I had a great time, but I the only butt
was I felt like, but I wish I'd come here
years go, because I started to look at all of
the great productions they've had down there, and I realized
(20:03):
I've missed a lot. So I bumped into the guy
who makes it all happen there, and I bumped in
him in the lobby and I said, Hey, would you
come on KFI and just talk about this great place, which,
as I say, I just and I was mentioning earlier
in the hour, I think exceeds a lot of theatrical
venues that I've seen. I mean, I include Broadway. So
Tom McCoy and his wife, who is really the star?
(20:26):
Kathy Rigby is on the phone now, and.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
We can do both.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yes, it's true, Kathy to a to me, you're America's sweetheart.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
I've just said, Mark, I'm just sitting here folding laundryes.
You know so.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Well, even America's sweethearts have to fault laundry.
Speaker 7 (20:44):
Yeah, I and Mark, it was great to see you
last night. Better late than never, my friends, and no
butts about it, okay.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, no, you're right. I'm so glad that I've discovered
it now. In fact, I well, look this, I was
telling everybody earlier that the production of Fiddler was spectacle.
First of all, you you know, in Jason Alexander, you
have a guy who has legit cred as a Broadway star.
I mean, he's a legit theater guy. We think of
him as George on Seinfeld. But before that, he was
(21:13):
already you know, a real musical Theaters of Forrest, was
he not he?
Speaker 7 (21:18):
You know, he was in a musical thirty years ago
called Jerome Robbins Broadway, which were snippets of Jerome Robbins
shows West Side story, Peter Pan and Center on the
Roof and among others. A newcomer named Jason Alexander was
in the fifteen to twenty minute segment of Fiddler in
(21:39):
this Broadway show, and he won the Tony Award for
being on stage for fifteen or twenty minutes. So now,
Jason is a brilliant actor, and he you know, he
made his mark on Broadway and on stage and then
then then in television. But you know, at Mark I
think I just said this to you on your podcast
a bit ago, but there are two people in my
life that I know we're meant to play a role.
(22:01):
Kathy Rigby was meant to play Peter Pan on Broadway.
She was meant to play If you've never seen Kathy
Rigby play Peter Pan, it's an awesome experience. And Jason
Alexander was meant to play Teva instead of on the Roof.
And we're thrilled to have him at Lamarada. And you know,
we're you know, we're hoping to take it beyond believe
it or not.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Yeah, no, I absolutely, In fact, I you know, I
know that seems maybe like an over the top thing
that a producer would say at theater producer.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
But I really think that that's true.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I was really taken by two things. One, I knew Fiddler.
I remembered the movie really well because I saw it
as a kid, I think, and I just remembered it
very well, and I'd subsequently seen it on stage maybe
four times. But so I thought, gosh, it would be
so easy just to ate the kind of the versions
(22:48):
of Tevia that you've seen. But he really inhabited that
role completely differently. Was it was spectacular to see it.
Really I lost track of George right away, you know, Kathy,
jump in here, honey.
Speaker 7 (23:01):
Oh well, I was just.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
Going to say, Mark, I think that one of the
great things is he just tells the story. You know,
it's not and the music and the and the sets
and the costumes and everything are brilliant, and the lighting
and all that, but it isn't about It is about that,
But it's about telling the story. And he's such a
fine actor, and he's wanted to do this role again
(23:22):
for years and years, and and he has created a
family with the other actors in the fact that one
of the first things he says, and you know, when
he does it every night, they all get together. They
kind of hold hands and they all look at each
other and they say, I got you. And and it's
about you know, tradition and family and caring about each
(23:44):
other no matter your differences. And it's just that's what
they bring to the stage. It is as if they
are in Antetka and they are a community and they
you know, they have their traditions and their family and
lots of changes, difficulties and I'll ye know, similar to
what's going on in the world.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
But it's an it's.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
An emotional show, Kathy, I mean it really, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I know that as I get older, I probably get
more emotional, so I may be touched by even more moments.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
But wow, it was really emotional.
Speaker 7 (24:14):
I thought, Oh, you know, Mar you know, Mark, you
said it right. Jason, Jason's made this role his own.
He is you know, Tolpel was in the film and
was brilliant, and lots of great, great actors have played
the role over the past sixty years. But Jason Alexander
makes this role his own, and he is you know,
I poppingly wonderful in this role. And again that's why we,
(24:37):
you know, we have high hopes that it will go
beyond Lamarada Theater.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yeah, and I got to say, as Kathy says, it's
the production. It's not just Jason. I mean, I thought
everybody on stage, by the way, they're sold out down there.
So I'm not trying to sell tickets for these people.
I'm just having a conversation about this. For a terrific
production I saw, but I thought the entire the entire
thing just hung together so beautifully. I really congrats. What's
(25:01):
happening for the for the winter season? I mean, what
else is coming?
Speaker 7 (25:05):
You know, we're doing an hysterical, an hysterical play that
was a big hit on Broadway called The Play that
Goes Wrong and the Aminsen just had Peter Penn That
Goes Wrong, same company, different show, and that's a that's
here in January. I'm doing you know, we're doing Legally Blonde,
the Big Musical in April, and we're doing Frozen, the
Big Disney Musical. We're one of the first regional theaters
(25:25):
to get it in the area, so we're doing that
in June. So it's you know, it's a great it's
a great spring of twenty five coming up. But you
know what, we are riding high on Fiddler, and we
we actually, you know, Mark, we actually added a performance
this coming Wednesday, November twentieth, so there are seats available.
Nobody wants to see the show after that, there are
it's spotty, there are ones and twos here and there.
(25:47):
The show runs through December the first, but this coming Wednesday,
we've opened up an entire you know, performance, twelve hundred
and fifty seats at Lamade Theater. So if anybody wants
to see it, run and check out this Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, I'm out of theater for the Performing Arts and
r and County. Hey, Kathy Araby, as long as I've
got you, I've got to ask you about this. And
you you've been outspoken on this subject before, so I'm
not really confronting you with something that I think is
going to make you too uncomfortable. But I saw that
Bella COOLi died today and you know you were, I
mean great, this virtuoso gymnast. I mean, i'd say kind
(26:19):
of the first of the generational American gymnasts who were
dominant in the sport. And uh, in Bella Coola, you
had this person who was celebrated for so long as lifting.
Uh gymnastics to this level with in America, with the
with all of these awards, et cetera. I'm talking about
(26:40):
gold medals, et cetera. And they became sort of the
top of the mountain. But then all this stuff came
out about what they did and and and and essentially
the abusive nature of the camp that they ran.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Can you speak to it please?
Speaker 6 (26:52):
Well, yes, I you know, Unfortunately I didn't come from
that kind of a background.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
I was.
Speaker 6 (26:58):
I stayed at home and train actually Long Beach, California,
and I knew Bella. I worked with Abacy Sports for
eighteen years. And and there were I think there were
was the public side of Bella and uh, he could
be as charming and as kind and lovely. I think
in training it was. You know, first of all, he
also came from an Eastern European country, who where anything
(27:22):
goes with the training, and you know, you could be
as abusive as you want and as long as you
create a champions it was. It shouldn't have been that
way in the US or anywhere, but you know, he
came and they had this machine. I've heard stories both
ways that he was the best coach. You've also heard
that you know, Marta was incredibly difficult to be with,
(27:44):
and that she was cold and heartless and all yeah,
and that that you know, if you were not you know,
she had no trouble saying you're not going to be
on the team because you're not any good. It was
very abrupt and brasive, and I think that there were
things that went on, and obviously we heard all about,
you know, with all the sexual abuse and all that.
(28:06):
I don't know if Bella knew anything about that. I
think he was mainly in the gym. But I don't
know how you couldn't know about it. You know it,
You know, the very thing that you know makes you
great or good at something is that you know, that
dedication and that drive and an obsessive, compulsive nature to
be the best, and a lot of manipulation can go
(28:28):
on even if it wasn't you know, corporal type punishment
or sexual abuse. You you look to your coach to
you know, tell you everything, how to how to think,
how to feel, how to act, how to do At
least at that time, it's it's changing, I think there.
You know, there are still some that coach in that matter,
(28:49):
but as we have seen, you can still win and
you don't have to be you know, fifty pounds underweight.
You can't win without the abuse.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Yeah, you're spoken, you or you were quote out spoken
about boliemia, I think, and yeah, yeah, And but.
Speaker 6 (29:05):
At that time everybody was trying to you know, they
were trying to win, and they thought, you just buck
up and you do it, you know, And even the
parents that were were there, they you get trapped in
wanting so much for your child and them saying, don't interfere,
don't interfere, uh, and and them being naive and not
knowing what to say or do. You're used to just
(29:27):
taking orders and they must.
Speaker 8 (29:30):
And know best.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
And so I think with Belli, he came from a
country where you know, he was, he was king. He
certainly changed a lot and gave a lot to the
sport job, but I think it came at a cost.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Yeah, that's a great way to summarize it at all. Well, Well,
Kathy Rigby, you're just a treasure. You'll always be a treasure.
I love that you've been so successful in you know,
the extensive, extensive second chapter that you've had, you know,
passed gymnastics in thirty years. As Peter Panna now at
the Lamarade Theater of the Performing Arts. In creating all
of these great productions. Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Yeah, thank you, mar.
Speaker 6 (30:05):
Thank you for having us on. It's so appreciate it. Yeah,
we love KFI.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Oh that's terrific.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Well, I can't wait to come down and visit again
through the winter season the Lamarade Theater for the Performing Arts.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Check it out.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Tom, thank you so much, Kathy, thank you, and having
a great, great holiday season.
Speaker 7 (30:21):
Thank you, thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
You too, my friend.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
There is I'm told my producer Kayla, our first talkback
of the day, and I've forgotten even that we have
this talkback feature on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
And here's how it works.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
If you're listening on the R Heart radio app, there's
a little microphone. It's actually maybe one of the most
straightforward processes to get something done technically that you can find.
It's so easy that I almost can't believe that it
was not made more complicated. So on the iHeartRadio app,
(31:03):
there's a little microphone. When you're listening to KFI, it's
right next to the stop and play, and so you
hit the microphone and you can leave a message. And
I've never used it, but it was cool to get
my first talkback.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I don't think I'll ever forget my first talk back here.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
It is I want you all to hear it is
the first talkback I've ever received here at iHeart kind
of emotional about it.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Let's give it a listen.
Speaker 9 (31:31):
Hey, this is John from Claremont, and I just want
to say how nice it is to have Mark Thompson
on the air on a Sunday afternoon. It's a real treat.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Well, you know what, that is my new favorite person
right there.
Speaker 9 (31:46):
Hey, this is John from Claremont.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
John from Claremont is my new favorite person. I don't
think we talk enough about John from Claremont on this station,
And if I ever come by again, there'll be more
to talk about John from Claremont.
Speaker 9 (32:01):
Hey, this is John from Claremont.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Exactly who took time out of his schedule on a
Sunday to say how much he enjoyed.
Speaker 9 (32:10):
Those want to say how nice it is on a
Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
He could have stopped there, but he didn't. He tagged it.
He stuck the landing with this.
Speaker 9 (32:22):
It's a real treat.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
It's a real treat. I love that.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I thought it was well conceived, it was authentic, it
was ad libbed, and he is my new favorite person.
Hey this is John from Claremont exactly. Hey this is
John from Claremont. Is my new favorite thing to hear,
and I'm so glad I had a chance to share
it with you. That is our first talkback here at KFI.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Again.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
If you want to participate, you go to the KFI
on iHeartRadio. You go to KFI Listening the listening post.
What you call it a listening you know place listening,
you know where you listen and then there's a little
microphone and you will have it very cool. I mean, look,
you can be the second person. John from Clairemont took
(33:12):
the first, but you you can now have second.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Top three is very respectable.
Speaker 9 (33:17):
Hey this is John from Claremont.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Yeah, I get it. Hey this is John from Claremont.
Will always be number one, but you can be. Hey,
this is fill in your name from fill in your place,
and you could be number two.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
How's that?
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Joe Biden is in the Amazon Jungle. First US president
to visit the Amazon.
Speaker 8 (33:41):
And President Joe Biden will become the first sitting US
president to set foot in the Amazon rainforest during his
stop in Brazil today. Now this comes as President Biden
met with Chinese President Hizen Jing yesterday, who said he
is ready to work with Donald Trump for a smooth transition.
The two leaders meant for the final time in Peru
while attending the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
I mean that Amazon Jungle, as you well know, is
probably one of the biggest carbon sinks in the world.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I think it's the biggest.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
In other words, more greenhouse gases, if you want to
think about that, are removed from the atmosphere through the
Amazon than any other place on Earth.
Speaker 10 (34:21):
As you indicate it to the people around the world,
we are the most important alliance, or the most important
relationship in the entire world, and how we got along
together is going to impact the rest.
Speaker 7 (34:33):
Of the world.
Speaker 8 (34:33):
During their meeting, President Biden also was expected to urge
the Chinese president to convince North Korea to stop supporting
Russia's war on Ukraine.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yeah, the North Koreans, of course, are sending.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Fighting forces over to Russia to fight that war in Ukraine.
They flew over a stretch of the Amazon and a helicopter.
Biden saw severe erosion that's reported here, ships grounded and
fire damage. Also passed over a wildlife refuge, and the
(35:06):
rivers that join the Amazon are significant, although they are
drought ravaged. They are having a nasty drought that is
affecting the Amazon as well. Biden met with indigenous leaders,
visited a museum at the gateway to the Amazon. And
in Donald Trump's second term, the administration may be redirecting
(35:34):
a lot of the funding that goes toward the Amazon Fund.
That's the most significant international fund that's dedicated to preserve
the rainforest. We earmark five hundred million dollars a year
for that, so so far the US government said it's
given fifty million and there's another fifty million coming. So look,
(35:57):
it takes the world to sort of preserve the Amazon.
It's such a vast region and it can't be done
by one country, even the country that it occupies. I mean,
it's too expensive and endeavor for Brazil to maintain. And
by the way, there are a lot of conflicting feelings
about preserving it even in Brazil. But the Amazon is
(36:18):
not going to be prioritized in the incoming administration. Anything
related to climate changes, you know, is not going to
make it. So this is sort of I suppose maybe
the coda, like the last thing that Biden does with
respect to the environment, slash to the Amazon because I
don't know that the United States so participate in much
(36:40):
more when it comes to that. But anyway, that trip
is ongoing and he's the first US president to do it.
So when we come back, it's all about Thanksgiving. Oh
and bird flu. Yeah, I'll fill you in
Speaker 1 (36:55):
KFI AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
The batbeam went up and I am a year excited
to be here. Amidst all kinds of news that is
affecting California, Southern California, there's that plane crash, which is
truly bizarre. Andrew, you can fill me in just because
of the bizarre nature of it. Yeah, I mean it
(00:24):
was near this track at the Pomona Dragstrip. Yeah, that
was you know where they race the hot rods. Yeah,
I'm there every Friday night. I know exactly where it is.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
So what's interesting about this is, I mean it was
like full capacity because this was like the finals of
the NHS the National hot Rod Association's a competition.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Again, you don't need to tell me, but yes, okay,
go ahead.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Well for those that are that are uneducated.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
With what they yes, no, thank you for setting the scene.
So it's the finals of the NHRA and Pomona. Yeah,
and what happens.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Well, a plane was coming in for a landing because
literally right next door on the other side of the
drag strip is the is the U in Laverne. It's
the city of Laverne. Right there is the airport for
I believe it's Bracket Brecket Airport that's right there. And
it appears, based on the images on social media that
the plane did come up too short right before the
(01:16):
drag strip and crashed into a series of RVs right there.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
So three people were injured. No one lost their life
in all of that, right that we know of.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Yeah, no reports of any deaths. Three passengers on the
plane and the pilot were transported to the hospital and
reports from the scene do say no bystanders or anyone
there that was a spectator was injured.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And then the news you really wanted to hear, racing
was paused. Of course, first responders get in, they attend
to the people involved in the crash, and then what
they resume the action. That's right, because this is America.
A plane goes down, they sweep it up, they scrape
(01:58):
it up, they make sure everybody's okay, those who need
attention get it and then action is resumed. As of
one o'clock today, it was a single engine plane, but
still a bizarre, bizarre accident on this Sunday. The other
thing that's somewhat bizarre is this wild outbreak in California
(02:24):
of the empox virus.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
California is confirming the first domestic case of the more
severe strain of EMPOCS. According to the CDC, it was
identified in a person who recently traveled from eastern Africa.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, that's where it comes from. It comes from Congo,
I'm fairly certain.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
But they were treated shortly after returning to the US
and released. State health officials say their symptoms are improving.
Health officials are now working to identify anyone who may
have been in contact and exposed. The agency stresses the
risk to the public remains low.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, Eastern Congo is where it comes from, and so
this person and had traveled to eastern Africa being treated
in northern California. Symptoms are improving, and as you just heard,
the risk to the general public is low. It's endemic
in parts of Africa. Of course, people are infected through
generally bites from rodents or small animals. There's far more
(03:19):
human interaction with wildlife there. But you know, if it
really if you get a bad case, a severe case
of EMPOCS, there are you know, you get lesions on
your face, in your hands, you know, in your private area.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
So it's a.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
New form of empocs in Africa that they were saying
scientists were emerged earlier this year, and again cases fairly
limited in travelers from there to the US, but more
than thirty one hundred cases overall reported since September. You
(04:00):
know what I did last night? Went to Orange County
to the Lamarada Theater where I saw and I mentioned
this because I'm embarrassed about something, and I'll tell you
what it is. I'm embarrassed that I've never been to
the Lamarada Theater in Orange County.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
It's an incredible place.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I mean to me, the acoustics, the seats, the way
they are laid out, even the intermission refreshments, the bar,
everything is better than Broadway.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
And I've gone to a lot of Broadway.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
You know, I grew up in Washington, DC, and I
was kind of a theater rat, so I went to
I've been to every theater on Broadway pretty much, I think.
And on Broadway they pack you in. At Lamarata, they
there's no sense that you're being packed in. The spacing
between c is strategic. Anyway. I was so impressed by it,
(05:04):
and it was Fiddler on the Roof. Jason Alexander is
playing Teva, the lead in Fiddler on the Roof. So
he's spectacular, He's unbelievable. He just absolutely inhabits this role.
You know, you'd think a guy who played George in
Seinfeld almost would be handcuffed in terms of doing anything
(05:28):
else or performing any other role, right, because you just
see him and you think George. But the reality of
Jason Alexander's career is that he was a song and
dance guy way before Seinfeld. I mean, he was an
accomplished actor in legit theater. I mean I'm talking about
Broadway theater. Before Seinfeld, he was a New York actor.
(05:50):
So then Seinfeld explodes, right, and he is now George to.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
All of us.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
And I'm sure it's was obviously a great gift to
his family that he becomes this guy who is so
well known and does so well, and it's a great
career and it's its wealth and it's fame and it's
all that stuff, and it gives him show business leverage,
but his ability to do other stuff is much limited
by that that which we associate with George from Seinfeld.
(06:20):
So anyway, I was kind of just hoping that I
could get past that as he came out on stage.
So he comes out on stage as Tavia in Fiddler
on the Roof, and right away you get past it.
I mean, the guy was incredible. I mean, he absolutely
inhabited this character. It was and I've seen Fiddler so
(06:41):
many times. I'm saying so many times. Maybe I'm gonna
say I've seen it five times, maybe in different stage productions.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
And the movie.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I saw the movie when I was a kid, and
the movie honestly is the thing that I remember. But
more to the point, you know, because of that memory,
he's got some work to do to kind of make
it his own thing as opposed to sort of aping
somebody else's version of Teva the lead character, and he does.
(07:11):
I was so impressed by him. I don't know him.
I mean, i've played cards with him a few times.
Very nice guy. But it's not like I've got to
give him a positive review. I was really impressed, but
more impressed even or as impressed.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
By the Lamarada Theater.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I was just as I say, I'm embarrassed that I
had never been there before and now I'm going to go.
I actually planned to go to another production. I mean
I have yet to you know, work out all the tails.
But as I was looking at their calendar, I thought,
I want to go that. I want to go to that.
So the Lamarada people, I said, hey, come on, just
talk about what you're gonna do it here for Christmas
(07:48):
maybe or something.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Today. And so they are.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
They're gonna, in fact, and they are interesting in another
way because the two execus, the producers down there, Tom
McCoy and Kathy Rigby. Kathy Rigby is to a certain
vintage of person in America, sort of America's sweetheart. She
was an insanely successful and virtuoso gymnast and she then
(08:20):
went on to be an actress on Broadway in peter Pan.
I think she'd played in peter Pan for thirty years.
So she's this actress who you know, she won Tony's
and was nominated for a gazillion Tony's. And this is
a person who has essentially become accomplished in another area,
legitimate theater. So she and her husband run a lot
(08:43):
of the stuff down there at Lamorada. Again, I didn't
know them, but bumped into him in the lobby. I said, hey,
come on, ka fi to tomorrow just for a minute
or two and get us up to speed on what's
happening for Christmas, and then I see the news this morning.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
This is just how life works.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
That Bella COOLi, the longtime gymnastics coach of the American teams.
He died. He's just died. He was eighty two. And
he's also insanely controversial. He controversial in his later career,
(09:19):
celebrated in his early career, I mean really associated with
American dominance in gymnastics early on, but then later associated
with some of the horrors that we hear about in
gymnastics and in gymnastics coaching later in his career. So
if Kathy Rigby joins us, I may ask her to
comment on that as well.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
So much to do. Glad you are with us on
this Sunday.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I was noticing something as I was reading about, like
the coming Black Friday rush for sales and stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
You know, this is a time of year that a.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Lot of businesses, small business, isn't big businesses really make
their entire year, that is to say, the commerce that
they'll do, the business that they'll do between now and
the end of the year that can make or break
their whole year. So this fact really jumped out. I mean,
I thought I would share it with you, just because
it relates to returns, okay, to all the stuff that
(10:21):
is returned on top of that tsunami of big money
that comes in with sales. So the National Retail Federation
is saying that for every one billion dollars in sales,
the average retailer gets all right, I'll ask you.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
We'll go around the horn.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
For every one billion dollars in sales, how much does
the average retailer sustain in returns? Okay, so they'll do
a billion dollars in sales, and out of a billion,
for every billion, how much is a return?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Is it a million? Is it ten million? Is it
you know, fifty more? What is it? Andrew? You have
a guess? Sorry, he's busy.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
I do not have a guess. I'm sorry, all right,
I can see this is already going nowhere. When Andrews said, like,
and Mark, I'm busy. There's a plane crash, there's other crap.
I don't have time for your bogus questions. How dare you?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
I have a great guess?
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Mark?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Yeah, thank you, Caleb, Please go ahead and I'm pretty
sure I'm right, So I'm sorry to end this so quickly.
I'm going to guess a million mark. Well, I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
You're danging only one hundred and forty four million off,
which is really Yeah, the for every billion dollars in sales,
the average retailer will sustain one hundred and forty five
million in returns. For every billion in sales, one hundred
and forty five million comes back.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Think of it that way. I mean, that's.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
That's not only incredible, but I would say that returns
are a big part of retail business.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Now.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Isn't that one of the reasons you go to Amazon?
It's just so easy to return stuff. I mean, you
can just return stuff to Amazon without the third degree
on why are you returning it? Is it in the
original packaging? Do you have the original receipt? These are
none of these things are relevant if you're returning something
(12:26):
to Amazon. Anyway, I think the return story is a
big one. So for every billion, one hundred and forty
five million in returns comes back. The hack on Amazon
that I've just become aware of, that I will share
to you because somebody just shared it with me. If
you go to Amazon and you see something new, I'm
(12:51):
about to tell you something and you're going to go, yeah,
no kidding, dude. But I didn't know this, so there
might be others out there who didn't know this. If
you go down past the new item, the used items are,
generally speaking, and you can give me the exact wording
on it, because I don't have it in front of me,
(13:11):
but the first blast of used items are generally brand
new items that were just returned. So when you return
an item to Amazon, it goes into that category of used,
but they're not really used. They were actually just opened
and then returned. What I've been able to find is
(13:32):
great stuff, particularly electronics that is perfectly fine. I mean
it's it's like new, and it's discounted wildly. I mean
it may be twenty or thirty percent less. So I
really encourage you as you get into this giving season
if this is the kind of giving you're doing, and
you're doing it on Amazon. And I understand there a
bunch of people I don't go to Amazon because if
(13:53):
you have bezols because of the environment, whatever, I get it.
But if you are on Amazon, be aware of that.
I think it's a great way you can save some
money and get a product that's just just as good.
A lot of people are leaving Blue or leaving Twitter
for Blue Sky. They're leaving Twitter for the same reason
(14:15):
people have problems with Jeff Bezos or what. A lot
of these jillionaires are running into some sort of kind
of cultural headwinds when it comes to the way the
public sees them. You know, Musk is seen as this
richest man in the world. He's bought a president now
and now he's going to influence US policy. I don't
want anything to do with Tesla. I don't want anything
(14:35):
to do with X, I don't want anything to do
with whatever. So there's a lot of that, and there's
that with Bezos. Bezos runs a Washington Post. The Washington
Post didn't endorse a presidential candidate, and for that reason,
I want nothing to do with Amazon anymore.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
So these billionaires are kind of.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Again, I'd suggest they're just generally cultural headwinds, but there
might be some actual commercial headwinds associated with it. In
the case of Besos, for example, two hundred and fifty
thousand subscribers dropped the Washington Post just because they didn't
endorse a candidate I thought that was a mistake. But
you know, that's a conversation for another time. But in
(15:16):
the case of Musk, he's still out there, and he's
so prominent in his manipulation of X, in his ownership
of Tesla, in his articulation of controversial policies for the
new president. So people are dropping out of his social
media platform X, and they're going to this Blue Sky,
(15:41):
the president of the president elect, who is returning to
the White House having given Musk this position, you know,
this government efficiency position and which does spell out doge,
which is a coin, as you know, which is sort
of a lark that Musk.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Embarked on. Anyway, he's.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Ended up with X being let's just say, it's a
little radioactive to some people. So Blue Sky is a
decentralized social media app. And this is what I would
say to many of those who are going over there.
I mean, be careful. It's like, you know, here comes
the new boss, same as the old boss. I mean,
what you have in a decentralized social media app is
(16:27):
you really don't have the kind of moderation of the
platform that you complained about in X. I mean, I
get that you don't like musk and there is. One
of the first things he did was to get rid
of the moderation on his platform. He shed so many
employees who were associated on the Twitter slash x platform
with managing. When I say moderating, I mean managing all
(16:50):
the information and all of the conversation there, right, So
it gets rid of, you know, it reduces the trolling,
the porn, the the stuff that really kind of is
is bad for the image of the brand. Okay, so
all that stuff when he got rid of those moderators
(17:10):
started to completely populate the brand of X. So I
had a lot of trolling, You've had a lot of porn.
You had, all of a sudden, the changing relationship that
x slash Twitter had with the users. So it was
no longer just an information platform. It became almost a
propaganda platform in the views of many.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
So they go over to Blue Sky.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
But what I'm getting at with blues guys, Blue Skuy
is a decentralized social media app. There are no moderators,
are very few from what I've been able to see.
And you can, and I think this is what they advertise.
You can curate your own feed to the point that
you can tune out some of that stuff that I
(17:54):
just mentioned. So if you find objectionable content in your feed,
you can get rid of it completely, and in fact,
you can shape your feed from what I understand, so
completely that you just never see any of that stuff.
And the Blue Sky thing was started, or at least
the one of the guys involved was Jack Dorsey. I
(18:17):
mean again, Jack Dorsey started Twitter, so he was the
former CEO. He went over the Blue Sky and he
got this thing started, which is why if you go
to Blue Sky, it quacks a lot like Twitter slash X.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
It kind of looks like Twitter slash X.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
So Dorsey gave it that feel along with others, and
then Dorsey left. I believe he's left the platform or
step back from any kind of creative role. And now
you have others involved who are again creating a certain
image that is similar to X and Twitter, but it
(18:53):
is not again identical. I'm going to give it a shot.
So what's happened though overnight, not quite literally, but this
week is that a lot of people are going to
this new social media app, Blue Sky, and a lot
of people are leaving the X platform. When we come back,
(19:14):
the Lamarada Theater is sold out. They're sold out with
this with Jason Alexander playing Tavia and Filler on the roof.
But more to the point, what an amazing jewel in
southern California is the Lamarada Theater. Kathy Rigby and Tom McCoy,
the executive producers of those shows down there.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
They join us next.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
So as we continue, you're listening to KFI AM six
forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
I wanted to draw your attention to something you're probably
already aware of, but I'm embarrassed to say. It was
my first trip to the Lamarada Theater last night, and
I had a great time, but I the only butt
was I felt like, but I wish I'd come here
years go, because I started to look at all of
the great productions they've had down there, and I realized
(20:03):
I've missed a lot. So I bumped into the guy
who makes it all happen there, and I bumped in
him in the lobby and I said, Hey, would you
come on KFI and just talk about this great place, which,
as I say, I just and I was mentioning earlier
in the hour, I think exceeds a lot of theatrical
venues that I've seen. I mean, I include Broadway. So
Tom McCoy and his wife, who is really the star?
(20:26):
Kathy Rigby is on the phone now, and.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
We can do both.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yes, it's true, Kathy to a to me, you're America's sweetheart.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
I've just said, Mark, I'm just sitting here folding laundryes.
You know so.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Well, even America's sweethearts have to fault laundry.
Speaker 7 (20:44):
Yeah, I and Mark, it was great to see you
last night. Better late than never, my friends, and no
butts about it, okay.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, no, you're right. I'm so glad that I've discovered
it now. In fact, I well, look this, I was
telling everybody earlier that the production of Fiddler was spectacle.
First of all, you you know, in Jason Alexander, you
have a guy who has legit cred as a Broadway star.
I mean, he's a legit theater guy. We think of
him as George on Seinfeld. But before that, he was
(21:13):
already you know, a real musical Theaters of Forrest, was
he not he?
Speaker 7 (21:18):
You know, he was in a musical thirty years ago
called Jerome Robbins Broadway, which were snippets of Jerome Robbins
shows West Side story, Peter Pan and Center on the
Roof and among others. A newcomer named Jason Alexander was
in the fifteen to twenty minute segment of Fiddler in
(21:39):
this Broadway show, and he won the Tony Award for
being on stage for fifteen or twenty minutes. So now,
Jason is a brilliant actor, and he you know, he
made his mark on Broadway and on stage and then
then then in television. But you know, at Mark I
think I just said this to you on your podcast
a bit ago, but there are two people in my
life that I know we're meant to play a role.
(22:01):
Kathy Rigby was meant to play Peter Pan on Broadway.
She was meant to play If you've never seen Kathy
Rigby play Peter Pan, it's an awesome experience. And Jason
Alexander was meant to play Teva instead of on the Roof.
And we're thrilled to have him at Lamarada. And you know,
we're you know, we're hoping to take it beyond believe
it or not.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Yeah, no, I absolutely, In fact, I you know, I
know that seems maybe like an over the top thing
that a producer would say at theater producer.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
But I really think that that's true.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I was really taken by two things. One, I knew Fiddler.
I remembered the movie really well because I saw it
as a kid, I think, and I just remembered it
very well, and I'd subsequently seen it on stage maybe
four times. But so I thought, gosh, it would be
so easy just to ate the kind of the versions
(22:48):
of Tevia that you've seen. But he really inhabited that
role completely differently. Was it was spectacular to see it.
Really I lost track of George right away, you know, Kathy,
jump in here, honey.
Speaker 7 (23:01):
Oh well, I was just.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
Going to say, Mark, I think that one of the
great things is he just tells the story. You know,
it's not and the music and the and the sets
and the costumes and everything are brilliant, and the lighting
and all that, but it isn't about It is about that,
But it's about telling the story. And he's such a
fine actor, and he's wanted to do this role again
(23:22):
for years and years, and and he has created a
family with the other actors in the fact that one
of the first things he says, and you know, when
he does it every night, they all get together. They
kind of hold hands and they all look at each
other and they say, I got you. And and it's
about you know, tradition and family and caring about each
(23:44):
other no matter your differences. And it's just that's what
they bring to the stage. It is as if they
are in Antetka and they are a community and they
you know, they have their traditions and their family and
lots of changes, difficulties and I'll ye know, similar to
what's going on in the world.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
But it's an it's.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
An emotional show, Kathy, I mean it really, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I know that as I get older, I probably get
more emotional, so I may be touched by even more moments.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
But wow, it was really emotional.
Speaker 7 (24:14):
I thought, Oh, you know, Mar you know, Mark, you
said it right. Jason, Jason's made this role his own.
He is you know, Tolpel was in the film and
was brilliant, and lots of great, great actors have played
the role over the past sixty years. But Jason Alexander
makes this role his own, and he is you know,
I poppingly wonderful in this role. And again that's why we,
(24:37):
you know, we have high hopes that it will go
beyond Lamarada Theater.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yeah, and I got to say, as Kathy says, it's
the production. It's not just Jason. I mean, I thought
everybody on stage, by the way, they're sold out down there.
So I'm not trying to sell tickets for these people.
I'm just having a conversation about this. For a terrific
production I saw, but I thought the entire the entire
thing just hung together so beautifully. I really congrats. What's
(25:01):
happening for the for the winter season? I mean, what
else is coming?
Speaker 7 (25:05):
You know, we're doing an hysterical, an hysterical play that
was a big hit on Broadway called The Play that
Goes Wrong and the Aminsen just had Peter Penn That
Goes Wrong, same company, different show, and that's a that's
here in January. I'm doing you know, we're doing Legally Blonde,
the Big Musical in April, and we're doing Frozen, the
Big Disney Musical. We're one of the first regional theaters
(25:25):
to get it in the area, so we're doing that
in June. So it's you know, it's a great it's
a great spring of twenty five coming up. But you
know what, we are riding high on Fiddler, and we
we actually, you know, Mark, we actually added a performance
this coming Wednesday, November twentieth, so there are seats available.
Nobody wants to see the show after that, there are
it's spotty, there are ones and twos here and there.
(25:47):
The show runs through December the first, but this coming Wednesday,
we've opened up an entire you know, performance, twelve hundred
and fifty seats at Lamade Theater. So if anybody wants
to see it, run and check out this Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, I'm out of theater for the Performing Arts and
r and County. Hey, Kathy Araby, as long as I've
got you, I've got to ask you about this. And
you you've been outspoken on this subject before, so I'm
not really confronting you with something that I think is
going to make you too uncomfortable. But I saw that
Bella COOLi died today and you know you were, I
mean great, this virtuoso gymnast. I mean, i'd say kind
(26:19):
of the first of the generational American gymnasts who were
dominant in the sport. And uh, in Bella Coola, you
had this person who was celebrated for so long as lifting.
Uh gymnastics to this level with in America, with the
with all of these awards, et cetera. I'm talking about
(26:40):
gold medals, et cetera. And they became sort of the
top of the mountain. But then all this stuff came
out about what they did and and and and essentially
the abusive nature of the camp that they ran.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Can you speak to it please?
Speaker 6 (26:52):
Well, yes, I you know, Unfortunately I didn't come from
that kind of a background.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
I was.
Speaker 6 (26:58):
I stayed at home and train actually Long Beach, California,
and I knew Bella. I worked with Abacy Sports for
eighteen years. And and there were I think there were
was the public side of Bella and uh, he could
be as charming and as kind and lovely. I think
in training it was. You know, first of all, he
also came from an Eastern European country, who where anything
(27:22):
goes with the training, and you know, you could be
as abusive as you want and as long as you
create a champions it was. It shouldn't have been that
way in the US or anywhere, but you know, he
came and they had this machine. I've heard stories both
ways that he was the best coach. You've also heard
that you know, Marta was incredibly difficult to be with,
(27:44):
and that she was cold and heartless and all yeah,
and that that you know, if you were not you know,
she had no trouble saying you're not going to be
on the team because you're not any good. It was
very abrupt and brasive, and I think that there were
things that went on, and obviously we heard all about,
you know, with all the sexual abuse and all that.
(28:06):
I don't know if Bella knew anything about that. I
think he was mainly in the gym. But I don't
know how you couldn't know about it. You know it,
You know, the very thing that you know makes you
great or good at something is that you know, that
dedication and that drive and an obsessive, compulsive nature to
be the best, and a lot of manipulation can go
(28:28):
on even if it wasn't you know, corporal type punishment
or sexual abuse. You you look to your coach to
you know, tell you everything, how to how to think,
how to feel, how to act, how to do At
least at that time, it's it's changing, I think there.
You know, there are still some that coach in that matter,
(28:49):
but as we have seen, you can still win and
you don't have to be you know, fifty pounds underweight.
You can't win without the abuse.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Yeah, you're spoken, you or you were quote out spoken
about boliemia, I think, and yeah, yeah, And but.
Speaker 6 (29:05):
At that time everybody was trying to you know, they
were trying to win, and they thought, you just buck
up and you do it, you know, And even the
parents that were were there, they you get trapped in
wanting so much for your child and them saying, don't interfere,
don't interfere, uh, and and them being naive and not
knowing what to say or do. You're used to just
(29:27):
taking orders and they must.
Speaker 8 (29:30):
And know best.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
And so I think with Belli, he came from a
country where you know, he was, he was king. He
certainly changed a lot and gave a lot to the
sport job, but I think it came at a cost.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Yeah, that's a great way to summarize it at all. Well, Well,
Kathy Rigby, you're just a treasure. You'll always be a treasure.
I love that you've been so successful in you know,
the extensive, extensive second chapter that you've had, you know,
passed gymnastics in thirty years. As Peter Panna now at
the Lamarade Theater of the Performing Arts. In creating all
of these great productions. Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Yeah, thank you, mar.
Speaker 6 (30:05):
Thank you for having us on. It's so appreciate it. Yeah,
we love KFI.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Oh that's terrific.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Well, I can't wait to come down and visit again
through the winter season the Lamarade Theater for the Performing Arts.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Check it out.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Tom, thank you so much, Kathy, thank you, and having
a great, great holiday season.
Speaker 7 (30:21):
Thank you, thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
You too, my friend.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
There is I'm told my producer Kayla, our first talkback
of the day, and I've forgotten even that we have
this talkback feature on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
And here's how it works.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
If you're listening on the R Heart radio app, there's
a little microphone. It's actually maybe one of the most
straightforward processes to get something done technically that you can find.
It's so easy that I almost can't believe that it
was not made more complicated. So on the iHeartRadio app,
(31:03):
there's a little microphone. When you're listening to KFI, it's
right next to the stop and play, and so you
hit the microphone and you can leave a message. And
I've never used it, but it was cool to get
my first talkback.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
I don't think I'll ever forget my first talk back here.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
It is I want you all to hear it is
the first talkback I've ever received here at iHeart kind
of emotional about it.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Let's give it a listen.
Speaker 9 (31:31):
Hey, this is John from Claremont, and I just want
to say how nice it is to have Mark Thompson
on the air on a Sunday afternoon. It's a real treat.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Well, you know what, that is my new favorite person
right there.
Speaker 9 (31:46):
Hey, this is John from Claremont.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
John from Claremont is my new favorite person. I don't
think we talk enough about John from Claremont on this station,
And if I ever come by again, there'll be more
to talk about John from Claremont.
Speaker 9 (32:01):
Hey, this is John from Claremont.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Exactly who took time out of his schedule on a
Sunday to say how much he enjoyed.
Speaker 9 (32:10):
Those want to say how nice it is on a
Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
He could have stopped there, but he didn't. He tagged it.
He stuck the landing with this.
Speaker 9 (32:22):
It's a real treat.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
It's a real treat. I love that.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I thought it was well conceived, it was authentic, it
was ad libbed, and he is my new favorite person.
Hey this is John from Claremont exactly. Hey this is
John from Claremont. Is my new favorite thing to hear,
and I'm so glad I had a chance to share
it with you. That is our first talkback here at KFI.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
Again.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
If you want to participate, you go to the KFI
on iHeartRadio. You go to KFI Listening the listening post.
What you call it a listening you know place listening,
you know where you listen and then there's a little
microphone and you will have it very cool. I mean, look,
you can be the second person. John from Clairemont took
(33:12):
the first, but you you can now have second.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Top three is very respectable.
Speaker 9 (33:17):
Hey this is John from Claremont.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Yeah, I get it. Hey this is John from Claremont.
Will always be number one, but you can be. Hey,
this is fill in your name from fill in your place,
and you could be number two.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
How's that?
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Joe Biden is in the Amazon Jungle. First US president
to visit the Amazon.
Speaker 8 (33:41):
And President Joe Biden will become the first sitting US
president to set foot in the Amazon rainforest during his
stop in Brazil today. Now this comes as President Biden
met with Chinese President Hizen Jing yesterday, who said he
is ready to work with Donald Trump for a smooth transition.
The two leaders meant for the final time in Peru
while attending the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
I mean that Amazon Jungle, as you well know, is
probably one of the biggest carbon sinks in the world.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I think it's the biggest.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
In other words, more greenhouse gases, if you want to
think about that, are removed from the atmosphere through the
Amazon than any other place on Earth.
Speaker 10 (34:21):
As you indicate it to the people around the world,
we are the most important alliance, or the most important
relationship in the entire world, and how we got along
together is going to impact the rest.
Speaker 7 (34:33):
Of the world.
Speaker 8 (34:33):
During their meeting, President Biden also was expected to urge
the Chinese president to convince North Korea to stop supporting
Russia's war on Ukraine.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yeah, the North Koreans, of course, are sending.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Fighting forces over to Russia to fight that war in Ukraine.
They flew over a stretch of the Amazon and a helicopter.
Biden saw severe erosion that's reported here, ships grounded and
fire damage. Also passed over a wildlife refuge, and the
(35:06):
rivers that join the Amazon are significant, although they are
drought ravaged. They are having a nasty drought that is
affecting the Amazon as well. Biden met with indigenous leaders,
visited a museum at the gateway to the Amazon. And
in Donald Trump's second term, the administration may be redirecting
(35:34):
a lot of the funding that goes toward the Amazon Fund.
That's the most significant international fund that's dedicated to preserve
the rainforest. We earmark five hundred million dollars a year
for that, so so far the US government said it's
given fifty million and there's another fifty million coming. So look,
(35:57):
it takes the world to sort of preserve the Amazon.
It's such a vast region and it can't be done
by one country, even the country that it occupies. I mean,
it's too expensive and endeavor for Brazil to maintain. And
by the way, there are a lot of conflicting feelings
about preserving it even in Brazil. But the Amazon is
(36:18):
not going to be prioritized in the incoming administration. Anything
related to climate changes, you know, is not going to
make it. So this is sort of I suppose maybe
the coda, like the last thing that Biden does with
respect to the environment, slash to the Amazon because I
don't know that the United States so participate in much
(36:40):
more when it comes to that. But anyway, that trip
is ongoing and he's the first US president to do it.
So when we come back, it's all about Thanksgiving. Oh
and bird flu. Yeah, I'll fill you in
Speaker 1 (36:55):
KFI AM six forty on demand
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