Patrick Schwarzenegger, Waldorf Astoria, Investigation into Dialysis Companies - podcast episode cover

Patrick Schwarzenegger, Waldorf Astoria, Investigation into Dialysis Companies

Jun 22, 202551 min
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Summary

CBS News investigates serious concerns in the for-profit kidney dialysis industry, highlighting patient experiences, market concentration, and questions about care quality. The episode also features actor Patrick Schwarzenegger on his breakout role in The White Lotus and navigating his famous family name, a tour of the newly renovated Waldorf Astoria hotel, a look back at the influential band The Doors, a profile of Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski's independent political path, and a visit to a unique school for professional child actors.

Episode description

Hosted by Jane Pauley. In our cover story, Erin Moriarty reports on a CBS News investigation into serious concerns about the kidney dialysis industry. Also: Lee Cowan interviews actor Patrick Schwarzenegger, star of HBO’s “The White Lotus”; Norah O’Donnell sits down with GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski; Gayle King tours the recently renovated Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York; and Mo Rocca attends a New York City school for children who divide time between the classroom and the stage. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Intro / Opening

Now streaming. When people go missing, I get hired to help find them. When lives are on the line. Coulter, please find my daughter. He's the man for the job. I'm gonna do everything I can. Don't miss a moment. Coulter's in trouble, I can feel it. Of TV's number one. These people are dangerous. I'm doing this alone. Not at all. Every Batman gotta have their Robin. Call time! I made a promise. I would never stop looking. All episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus and returning CBS Fall.

Now streaming. Everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery. We don't know what we're looking for. Their bodies are the scene of the crime. Their symptoms and history are clues. You saved her life. We're doctors and we're detectives. I kind of love it if I'm being honest. Solve the puzzle. Save the patient. Watson. All episodes now streaming on Paramount+.

Intro and Episode Preview

good morning i'm jane paulie and this is sunday morning with more than half a million americans on dialysis there's a pretty good chance you know someone who's used this treatment which extends the lives of people with end-stage kidney disease. Lots of patience also means big money. And this morning, Erin Moriarty will share results of a CBS News investigation.

into why the dialysis business is prompting some very serious questions. It's a life-saving treatment for hundreds of thousands of Americans, but as patient care... being sacrificed for profit. How would you describe the treatment of kidney disease today? We have a corporate model that provides the least amount of care for the most amount of profit.

for shareholders. An in-depth look at the dialysis industry where the treatment of critically ill patients is fueling questions and outrage ahead on Sunday morning. Patrick Schwarzenegger may have grown up in the shadow of his famous parents, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. But after his eye-opening performance in The White Lotus earlier this year, the actors become a star in his own right. He speaks with our Lee Cowan. I hear you're a douche.

That may indeed be the most succinct way to sum up Patrick Schwarzenegger's character on the White Lotus. Unseemly at best, but he says he'd do it all over again. I said, if you don't hire me again, I'll come and be the head of craft services. I'll come and hire me as your scouting location guy because I just want to come and be part of the journey. His journey from unlikable character to the talk of a town. Later.

on Sunday morning. They were born amidst the psychedelic counterculture of 1960s Los Angeles. Soon they'd break on through with some of rock's most enduring songs before leaving behind a tragic legacy. Anthony Mason is looking back with The Doors. 60 years ago, a new American band would light the world on fire. Coming up on Sunday morning... Surviving members John Densmore and Robbie Krieger go back to where it all started. This is the London fog. For the Doors.

Let's look inside. Gayle King this morning gets a behind-the-scenes look at the world-famous, newly renovated Waldorf Astoria, a landmark New York City hotel. Nora O'Donnell talks with Alaska Senator Lisa Borkowski about life as a Republican moderate. Mo Rocca heads to a school that for more than a century has been educating working showbiz kids with alums like Scarlett Johansson and Rita Moreno. and more on this first official sunday morning of summer june 22nd 2025 we'll be right back

Dialysis Investigation Begins: Profit Concerns

Not long ago, it was a life-saving medical milestone. Now, Erin Moriarty with a CBS News investigation into dialysis, a revolutionary treatment that's become a big business. A very big business. A suspect is in custody on an attempted murder charge. A tranquil suburb of Terre Haute, Indiana was shaken by reports this past January that one doctor who treats kidney patients had been shot and wounded by another outside his home.

Almost as jarring as the crime was the apparent motive of the alleged assailant, Dr. Andre Abua. Abua allegedly told a nurse that there was a multi-million dollar scam involving several doctors and said... This was not just... just a conflict between two doctors. Our reporting has found evidence that the shooter may have been inspired by the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO last December.

In letters sent to CBS News from jail, Dr. Abuwa writes that he's trying to expose the harm he sees to patients in an area of medicine that gets little attention. the big business of dialysis. LQ, is it fair to say you're living literally day to day? Yes, literally. Literally. This is how 35-year-old Laquaya Goldring, she goes by LQ, spends up to four and a half hours of most days hooked up to a dialysis machine.

yeah that's good that does what her kidneys no longer can it takes the blood from her body removes waste and excess fluids and cycles it back in Without this treatment in her home near Louisville, Kentucky, she would die. Every day I wake up, I am thanking God that my feet even hit the ground and that my eyes open and I can still breathe on my own. These are me as a...

toddler before I was sick. Goldring was just three when cancer destroyed one kidney and badly damaged the other. This was the day. A kidney transplant she received as a teenager gave her back her life, but after it failed in 2014, she had to go back on dialysis. She's been waiting more than 10 years for another kidney. Every day, it's war. And it's a harder fight every day. And the more years I'm on it, the harder it is.

The life expectancy for patients on dialysis is only five years. Patients are often older with other serious health issues. Goldring has been able to survive in part because she gets her dialysis treatment at home when she needs it and for as long as she needs it. The great majority of patients instead get dialysis in outpatient clinics, almost always run by for-profit corporations, and where critics say the treatment is designed to...

For-Profit Model and Patient Outcomes

maximize company profits over patients' needs. This is fast food dialysis, if you will. One size fits all, in and out as quick as possible, and how's our stock price doing? Tom Mueller is the author of How to Make a Killing, an investigation of the dialysis industry, currently dominated by for-profit corporations, resulting, he says, in not just higher costs,

but also among the highest mortality rates. In America, patients on dialysis die one to two times faster than in any other developed country. And why is that? People are not given the tailored treatment that they need, and above all, they're given too brief dialysis and too high ultrafiltration, right? So too aggressive dialysis. And it's done in order to pack more patients into... diocese clinics.

Companies profiting from a life-saving treatment is not what Congress had in mind, says Mueller, when it decided in 1972 that taxpayers would pay for dialysis through Medicare. Mr. Duff suffers from what is known as chronic kidney failure. In the 1960s, when dialysis was first made possible, there were so few machines and the cost was so high. These are volunteers.

That a hospital in Seattle formed a panel of peers to decide who should get dialysis. This was the group who decided who would live and who would die. Mr. Duff, what happened to those who had turned down? They're dead. The panel was called the God Committee. Was that really one of the incentives for Congress to say,

we've got to make this fair for people. Absolutely. When it's life or death. A number of people were saying, we're giving billions to the arms race and we can't save our own citizens.

Industry Concentration and Clinic Failures

Back then, there were fewer than 10,000 people who needed dialysis. But today, the number of patients has skyrocketed to more than half a million Americans, while some have private insurance. Most still rely on the federal government to foot the bill. And that bill is enormous. We're spending over $40 billion a year through Medicare. In fact, it's actually 1% of the entire federal budget, which is a staggering statistic.

Ryan McDevitt, a professor of economics at Duke, is co-author of a recently released study which suggests the high cost of dialysis can be blamed on the lack of competition. At this point, we have two firms, Davida Fresenius. They have almost 80% of facilities across the country. This is the most concentrated healthcare sector across the entire U.S. We've never seen anything like this. corporate model that provides the least amount of care for the most amount of profit for shareholders.

Dr. Leonard Stern, a nephrologist at Columbia University in New York, says he speaks from experience. He served as medical director at what he says was one of the nation's premier centers, which was then sold. to DaVita in 2005. You were the clinic's director. Right. I didn't have a choice of who I hired. DaVita took over that responsibility. If I wanted the patient to get...

five hours of treatment that day. I typically wasn't able to order it. What do you mean? They refused. Dr. Stern left the clinic in 2013. Serious concerns about the dialysis industry as a whole continue to this day. A CBS News investigation found that one-third of all dialysis clinics nationwide failed to meet federal performance standards this year alone. Let me tell you about a moment I was in there.

there was enough for me lq goldring also spent years getting dialysis at a clinic run by another for-profit company my arm at the time was bleeding a lot and this point had been almost two hours. And I'd ask for them to call the EMTs and they didn't. Instead, they rode my chair to the side and said, Ms. Godering, we're putting another patient in your seat. We'll be back with you. Since 2013, centers have been cited for more than

115,000 deficiencies. Around 67% of those deficiencies were split between clinics reported to be owned by DaVita or Fresenius. You'd sometimes find bloodstains still on the armrest, bloodstains in front of you on the floor that no one's been able to clean up because they're too busy.

Corporate Response and Legal Issues

53-year-old Jeff Park, who lives in Ellington, Florida, has been on and off dialysis for nearly three decades. He now gets dialysis four days a week using Fresenius equipment at home. But for years, he went to Davida and Fresenius clinics, where the dialysis flow rate, he thinks, was too fast.

Your blood pressure is dropping dramatically, or sometimes it's going up through the roof. How often will that happen to you in center? All the time. And if you find yourself in a crisis as a patient, there's no call button. You're yelling. You're screaming. It's happened to me many times. Both Davida and Fresenius declined on-camera interviews. In a statement, Fresenius says, providing high-quality care is our standard. And Davida states they consistently deliver high-quality individuals.

care and to mischaracterize anomalies as systemic care failures is reckless, fear-mongering, and puts patient well-being at risk. Since 2015, Fresenius and DeVita paid out at least $1.13 billion in settling 25 civil lawsuits. I have not seen any improvement in care following these settlements. This is like paying the rent or paying your employees. It's better to break some rules and pay a fine than to give up these billions of dollars in profits.

Last year, the two companies combined brought in $33 billion from all their businesses. Which brings us back to that disturbing case in Indiana. where a kidney specialist was shot. The accused assailant, Dr. Andre Abua, says he was convinced that some doctors were prescribing an off-label medication. that could put dialysis patients at risk.

In his letters, Abuwa also hinted that he had been inspired by Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. And like him, Abuwa wrote, There was Monopoly money in the car when I was arrested. Dr. Abua is scheduled to go on trial for attempted murder this August. The county prosecutor told us that resorting to violence is never the way to bring attention to an issue.

Seeking Change and Patient Struggle

But those who study dialysis do think something needs to change. Go back to the system we had 20, 30 years ago, fragmented, competition working, competing for patients, giving them a choice. potentially advocating for more home dialysis. But even home dialysis takes a terrible toll. My face and my chest swell. My heart hurts all the time right in this area. LQ Goldring is now on three wait lists for a kidney transplant, the only way off dialysis. The odds are against her. There is 100.

It's about 103,000 people waiting for kidneys right now. I'm just one. Trying to be a voice for all of us. Just hoping that more of us will be transplanted. All right, getting ready to help you on that side. Until a kidney is found, she's doing everything she can to speed up the process. I basically became my own marketing team. Gives me hope. But her time is running out.

Every day I feel like I am standing with one foot in the grave and one foot on this side, waiting by the phone, hoping that it rings. with lenovo build your own pc you build the machine that fuels your vision need a color accurate display a processor that crashes 4k done whether you're editing animating or producing your next masterpiece Without compromise, build your dream setup at lenovo.com forward slash custom. Lenovo. Smarter tech. Made your way.

Now streaming. When people go missing, I get hired to help find them. When lives are on the line. Coulter, please find my daughter. He's the man for the job. I'm gonna do everything I can. Don't miss a moment. Coulter's in trouble, I can feel it. Of TV's number one. These people are dangerous. I'm doing this alone. Not at all. Every Batman gotta have their Robin. Call time! I made a promise. I would never stop looking. All episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus and returning CBS Fall.

Waldorf Astoria: Renovation and Reopening

one of new york's most iconic hotels the waldorf astoria is reopening after a lengthy makeover with gail king let's check it out When is a hotel more than a hotel? When it's the Waldorf Astoria. Soaring 600 feet over Manhattan, stretching a full city block. It set a standard of luxury, history, and celebrity for nearly a century. Shuttered for eight years. It took an army of artisans to bring it back to life.

And now this Art Deco beauty has reawakened. The Waterford Story of New York is the most important hotel in the world. We are bringing it back to its former glory in a way where it will be again. Chris Nassetta is president and CEO of Hilton Worldwide, which operates the Waldorf. There is no getting away from the fact that this is the hotel that invented... luxury hotels it is just part of history in a very very unique way

First hotel with a private bath for every guest room. First hotel to introduce room service. Yes. First hotel to have electricity on every floor. On every floor. 1931. First hotel to allow single women as guests. I know. As we reopen, it's a 375-room hotel and about the same number of residences that are being sold. So it's a very different hotel.

History, Icons, and Luxury Details

Rooms begin at around $1,500 a night. After all, this is the Waldorf Astoria. And we'll go as high as what for the best suite? What is that? For the best suite, it's a four-bedroom suite called the Waldorf suite, and that would be $50,000. A night? A night. I was going to say, for a week? The Waldorf was a combined creation of two of the wealthiest people on earth. William Waldorf Astor and his cousin, John Jacob Astor, built hotels side by side in the 1890s.

The properties merged into one and led to the 1931 opening of this Twin Tower treasure. This is a space that is designed to make an impression from the moment of encounter. David Freeland is the author of American Hotel. What did you call the experience of entry? The Waldorf has always been conceived as a city within the city. So you enter on Park Avenue and you walk into this bright expanse, beautiful creamy surfaces with that...

beautiful tile mosaic by Louis Regal, The Wheel of Life, and you look up and you're in a special place. You just know you're going to have a special experience. And then that experience continues as you move through the building. The architects created the Waldorf as a beautiful sequence of spaces. Queen Elizabeth Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso were guests. Mr. Johnson flew to New York. So was every president, from Herbert Hoover to Barack Obama. Battles over women's rights, racial equality.

communism welfare gay rights all of those played out within these walls big statements and boldface names frank sinatra marilyn monroe and Michael Jackson lived in the towers. Cole Porter, also a resident, wrote some of his biggest hits on this piano.

Culinary Legacy and Childhood Memories

The classics also include cuisine creations. Eggs Benedict was hatched at the hotel. And yes, of course, the Waldorf salad. I see apples and grapes cut in half. This is the new Waldorf salad. Chef Michael Anthony oversees the Waldorf restaurant. There's a lemon dressing that has a little fresh lemon juice and a touch of honey. You could make a meal just off of this. Yes. Give me some bread and butter. I'm good to go. Where did you get the dog, Ferris?

paris hilton the great granddaughter of hilton founder conrad hilton actually grew up within its walls it just was like a fairy tale so beautiful Just every day, new adventures. We would be running through the halls. Sometimes I would have roller skates on. I would roller skate on the marble over there. Did anybody say Paris knocked that off? Sometimes but everyone was no they didn't they were so nice she remembers bumping into Nancy Reagan as a little girl

I took all these cute pictures with her and there's this really sweet one where it's like me and her upstairs in one of the suites and I'm kind of like running away from her. Did you know who she was at the time? No. I was only two. We're at the most important place in the Waldorf Astoria, which is the clock.

Built in 1893 for the Chicago World's Fair, William Walter Faster bought it. And this is the famous place that everybody has talked about for a generation or two or three, which is I'll meet you at the clock. And so a grand hotel begins a new chapter. Chris Nassetta says you don't have to be a guest to be captivated by the Waldorf Astoria. It looks.

fabulous. But you really bring a hotel to life with the people, with the hearts and souls that work here. Many of the people that were here are going to come back. We want everybody that's in New York to to enjoy it and revel in the history of a hotel that has sort of defined hospitality. Though he's got one of the most famous last names in Hollywood, actor Patrick Schwarzenegger,

Patrick Schwarzenegger: White Lotus Role

Truly made a name for himself with his performance on the hit series, The White Lotus, earlier this year. He's in conversation with our Lee Cowan. Every time I'm out in like... That's kind of where I like to do my prayers or gratitude list. It's got a lot to be grateful for now, huh? Amen. Patrick Schwarzenegger is indeed counting his blessings.

even though the role he was recently blessed with is anything but reverent. Dude, those long plane rides make me so horny. It's like a lot of hot women away from home. He's the much-talked-about and much-hated Saxon Ratliff. He plays the eldest son of a wealthy family visiting Thailand in the latest incarnation of HBO's The White Lotus. Saxon doesn't do drugs. I am the drug.

Saxon is a chiseled car crash, a sex-obsessed, protein-shaped, chugging bro who is so irredeemably into his own masculinity that he offends even his own sister. Girls aren't into super jacked guys, by the way. Really? What are they into, Piper? Gender goblins that tuck their in between their legs like that? For his audition, he says all he was given was a short sentence, describing Saxon's excitable personality. Nice to meet you.

The wording was that he flirted with anything, so I just took the first few seconds and just kind of, you know, stared at the camera in a loving way. Did you have any reservations? Because he was...

Family Influence and Acting Journey

Yes. The way he was? I was worried. Yes, I was worried. I didn't want him to come off as just this one note character. And early on, he didn't even know yet. just how sexually awkward things were going to get. I can't remember last night at all. We both blacked out.

Yeah, I mean, it's fine. Everyone has their thing. It's fine. It's not a thing. It's not a thing. It's definitely not a thing. When I was auditioning, they had said, are you OK with performing things sexually? Are you OK being nude at times? So I knew. an idea of where it could go. I didn't know to what extent the show would go. The show's creator, Mike Weick, has spent three seasons pushing the envelope.

Whenever I stay at a White Lotus, I always have a memorable time. Always. Writing exotic whodunnits that along the way skewer the rich and privileged vacationing at White Lotus resorts all around the world. A world he knew. Patrick probably understood. There was a joke because he was always like, you don't look like you're rich. You're not walking rich. Aren't you a Schwarzenegger? Aren't you a Kennedy? Aren't you rich in real life? You don't look like you're rich at all. You are so talented.

The first season, set in Hawaii, debuted during the pandemic in 2021, and it hit Schwarzenegger and his family head on. It was me, Abby, my fiance, and my mom. We lived together, us three. During the pandemic? During the pandemic. So you can imagine how fun that was. And then they were always like, you need to be in the show. You need to audition. This is such a perfect thing. Blah, blah, blah, blah. His fiance is fashion model Abby Champion.

his mom, his journalist and member of the Kennedy clan, Maria Shriver, and his dad... I'll be back. Well, that goes without saying. Your dad had said that there were times when... He didn't even recognize you in the role, which when he said that to you, you were kind of like, wow, really? Yeah, it would be a little bit alarming if he didn't recognize a lot of those characteristics. His best friends are his family.

They're also his greatest fans. When he got the part, there were tears all around. Patrick Schwarzenegger has emerged from the White Lotus as a standout among standouts. The kind of breakout he hopes will put to rest any suspicions about nepotism. To me, the name Schwarzenegger always meant a big plus. In a recent chat with his dad on Variety's Actors on Actors, Patrick revealed that...

he worried his name might get in the way. There were times earlier in my career where I was wondering, you know, does it make sense to go under some sort of... alias does it make sense to go under a you know a different name well i'm glad that you kept the name because now i can take credit yeah my son the apple doesn't fall far from the tree He idolized his dad growing up, spending time on movie sets that became his playground.

By the time he was 13, he was on his own sets. But he says he rarely brought up his dad. I mean, I always know that there's, you know, my last name, there's connections, there's, you know, things that are going to help me. But I just... I wanted to try to take a different path than that. He did, however, follow his dad's path on matters of money, how to run a business, how to create a brand. My dad put me in charge of his memorabilia when I was 10.

And so I would take these different photos of him, you know, at Muscle Beach, and we would frame them. I took replica of the Conan swords and get him to sign them, and I would sell them for $10,000 a pop. It was all for nonprofit. I didn't make any money, but it was. to understand how to sell. He actually majored in business at USC, starting college just about a year after his dad and mom had left the governor's office. Politics has been in his genes, after all.

And so is the idea of public service. His grandfather, Sergeant Shriver, was a founding director of the Peace Corps. His grandmother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics. Have you yourself ever thought about going into politics? I think it was instilled in us to find ways to give back at an early age. It doesn't have to be through public office to find ways to give back. Through it all though, his focus on acting...

remained pretty singular. You know I know the real story, right? He spent a decade in acting class, building a resume one part at a time, recently landing opposite Colin Firth in HBO's The Staircase. What happened? What happened? Are you okay? What happened to Kathleen? The staircase was the first time that the people in the industry were able to see me in a dramatic role. How do you think you were seen though before the staircase versus after? Before people maybe didn't take me serious.

They didn't know if I was really, you know, in it for the long haul. Was I, you know, really working on my craft? I don't have any interests. I don't have any hobbies. Okay, if I'm not a success, then I'm nothing. And I can't handle being nothing. He hopes his next role will be a character with a few less character flaws than Saxon Radcliffe. That said, Patrick Schwarzenegger would happily check back into The White Lotus anytime Mike White.

I said, if you don't hire me again, I'll come and be the head of craft services. I'll come and hire me as your scouting location guy because I just want to come and be part of the journey. Now streaming. Everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery. We don't know what we're looking for. Their bodies are the scene of the crime. Their symptoms and history are clues. You saved her life.

We're doctors and we're detectives. I kind of love it if I'm being honest. Solve the puzzle. Save the patient. Watson. All episodes now streaming on Paramount+.

Professional Children's School: Overview

We see them all the time, talented kids performing in music groups, on stage, even on screen. You can't help but wonder, how do they balance work with school? Mo Rocca introduces us to some star students. I tell people to work here, if you're going to be jealous of kids' resume, you should probably find a different place to work. James Dawson is head of school at New York's Professional Children's School, where work study takes on a whole different meaning.

And there are few kids who actually make more money than their entire family. You know, they're the major breadwinner. So we're one of the few schools that has to look at kids' tax forms when they're asking for financial aid. It's definitely different. Lots of schools have a famous alum or two, but PCS boasts a Rolodex of notable names. You sure about this? Scarlett Johansson. It's going to be fun. Yo-Yo Ma. Macaulay Culkin. I'm in good shape. His brother Kieran. This guy.

Vera Wang, Milton Berle, Carrie Fisher, Leslie Uggams, Christopher Walken, Ashley Tisdale, Uma Thurman.

PCS Philosophy and Student Life

And before she picked up an Oscar for West Side Story, Rita Moreno went to PCS. Don't confuse PCS with the public high school made famous by the movie and TV show Fame. The students at that school, now called LaGuardia, aspire to careers. Professional Children's School with an annual tuition of nearly 60,000 is for students who are already working to make sure they get the education they need on a schedule tailor-made to fit theirs.

I came in sixth grade, so I've really been here a while. I started here because I booked a TV show called Single Parents. Immigrating the purple, I should have dressed like a normal kid. Devin Campbell was just seven and in a regular school when he landed his first Broadway show. I was out a lot. There never really was any time that I was here doing school regularly, so I needed a school that really accommodated to.

the working child. Kids in showbiz is nothing new, but they weren't always celebrated. In the early part of the 20th century to be an actor was considered a really inappropriate occupation for a child. So actually schools would not let a kid who was acting on Broadway come to school and the two women who started the school went backstage.

and noticed kids playing cards. And they were like, what are you doing? And why aren't you at school? And they said, we can't go to school. So on January 6, 1914, four kids came. Within a year, it was 100 kids. And it really grew from that. I have to go away for maybe a few weeks or a month or two because I have several concerts in foreign countries.

You might think schoolwork for ninth-grader slash concert pianist Tyga Wang would be an annoyance, but he says it's part of his development as an artist. Even for our professions, if you truly want to understand music, you might want to reference Dante sometimes, also like Shakespeare. I view it as I want to have a balance in my life, a balance between ballet and school. Tenth-grader and ballet dancer Athena Shevorkin leaves school each morning at 10.30 to train.

There's always a lot of sacrifices to be made within a profession. If it is attending a normal school, if it is hanging out with friends after school, or doing normal teenager or kid activities. Was there a prom? There was. I went to the prom. And did you get asked the prom through an agent? No. No, no, no. I got asked just by normal, normally. Tyler Peck enrolled in PCS as a freshman and became an apprentice with New York City Ballet at age 15. Today, she's a principal dancer.

I remember going to Dr. Dawson and saying, you know, it's really hard being in the company and trying to get four full years of high school done. You're on every night in every ballet. And so he actually worked with me and my teachers that I could do.

my high school in three years. Some of these kids experience rejection on a pretty big scale. You have teachers who understand that maybe we stopped the class today because we need to talk because Johnny just lost his job or the show just got closed.

because the producer screamed and yelled and said he's an ugly, horrible person. Let's all talk about that. But James Dawson sees rejection as part of their education. I think it gives them wisdom to some extent because, in fact, they have to learn to live through it.

The Doors: Origins and Sound

See my name bright in lights up there on the marquee All I need from you now is to wake up and see I'm a star They're one of the best-selling bands of all time, members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for more than 30 years. But there was always something more profound to the Doors than just record sales and accolades. Our music man, Anthony Mason, explains. you know the day destroys the night night divides the day

In 1967, this video introduced a new American band. The Doors would quickly light the music world on fire. with a sound hypnotic, mystical, and almost menacing. They came together 60 years ago in Venice, California. Jim Morrison, a poet in leather pants, backed by Ray Manzarek on keys, Robbie Krieger on guitar, and John Densmore on drums. The Doors soon got their break in May of 66 at a tiny club on the Sunset Strip. This is the London fog. The Doors banned from Venice.

it's a barber shop now oh i need a haircut densmore and krieger are the last surviving members let's look inside

Morrison's Impact and Band Legacy

It's the same floor. All right, I just need a little trim. Eric, you got it. Where was the stage? Here. Right there in the corner? On the sign out front, the band shared a bill with Rhonda Lane, a go-go dancer. Was she like in a cage up there or something? Yeah, yeah. Was she a good go-go dancer? I'm not the best. Not the best, Robbie. You're cruel. The barbershop's owner, Chad Oranger, an avid Doors fan, asked for a photo.

I'm glad we could ruin your life. The band was fired by London Fog, but quickly got another gig just a few doors down sunset at the Whisky-A-Go-Go. How big a deal was it to play this place? It was the biggest deal in town. Yeah. This was Mecca. How different was this room in 66? Not much. I mean, the stage is lower. This was lower.

You could dance up front, which was actually right here. And they would just all be down there writhing around. Very inspirational. When you heard Jim's lyrics, did you hear? Drum beats in your head? Yeah. Ray handed me a crumpled piece of paper and it said, day destroys the night, night divides the day. Tried to run, tried to hide. Morrison had never sung lead before, and Densmore wasn't sure about him at first.

He was so shy, it was ridiculous, and I thought, this is not the next Mick Jagger, but I love playing music, so I'll fool around here. Why did you have confidence the band would work if he was so inexperienced as a singer? It was the words. Robbie's right. It's the words. Yeah. Gifted. Yeah, they were so different than anything that was out there. Yeah. It was... Let's swim to the moon, let's climb through the tide. A psychedelic love song.

Or when the steel sea conspires in armor and our sullen and aborted currents bring tiny monsters. True sailing is dead. True sailing is dead. In 67, LADJ Dave Diamond began playing their records. Folks in the diamond mine, down underneath the cheetah rock cow. the diamond mine and he would call us all the time and say hey man every time i play light my fire people go nuts

Light My Fire, written by Krieger, went to number one. But Morrison's troubles with alcohol and drugs were already apparent. At first, I remember we talked about, oh he's a... Irish drunk, he'll live forever. But deep down, maybe he's just a shooting star that'll be a quick impact. You knew that right away? Kind of sensed it. Was that hard to accept? Yeah. i mean i we miss his our artistry like crazy we don't miss his self-destruction after his sudden death in paris in 1971

At age 27, Densmore and Krieger didn't always agree with Manzarek about the band's legacy. At times I felt he was selling the doors too much. It's for the critics to do that. He would try to spread the rumor that Jim's not really dead. Why did he do that, do you think? He loved the mythology. I mean, that was his whole life, you know, and he didn't want to be over.

60th Anniversary and Current Status

The band's 60th anniversary is celebrated in a new book, Night Divides the Day. To the end, the Doors were an improvisational group. One of their best known songs grew out of another tune they were jamming on in a session. We're goofing around. Yeah, we're just playing. It morphs into... Riders on the Storm. would be Morrison's final recording. Did you ever think that we'd be lasting this long? Densmore is 80 now, Krieger 79.

At the Whisky-A-Go-Go every month, Krieger has been playing a Doors album in its entirety. Now our special guest, Mr. John Densmore. Densmore recently sat in. on drums Riders on the storm Into this house we'll pour Well, these two geezers are still breathing Keith and Mick are 80 and they're out there pumping. Yeah, there's other roads So the doors are alive We're still here. We're still here.

Senator Lisa Murkowski: Alaska Moderate

She's something of a rare breed in the nation's capital, not only because she's a moderate Republican willing to publicly disagree with President Trump, but also because of where she's from, a state more than 3,000 miles away. Nora O'Donnell is talking with Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski. the last frontier. But for Senator Lisa Murkowski, it's her favorite frontier. The third-generation Alaskan is as familiar in the halls of Congress

as she is on an Alaska Airlines flight, where even the flight attendants call her Lisa. She flies home nearly every weekend. and invited Sunday morning to America's northernmost state. No, Lisa. I'm too old now. You are not too old. You're never too old. You hang in there. Keep working on our energy. I like it. You've got it. Each day is packed with constituent meetings. It's good to be back home. The state's senior senator says it's what keeps her connected.

to the needs of Alaskans. You're not leaving. I've got to stay here. From the high cost of living and childcare, What's happening to your budget as you're looking to feed all these kids? To the shortage of housing. We were trying to find ways to reduce that energy footprint. She writes about being a moderate in a polarized Washington in her new memoir out this week, Far From Home. Do you want to know the story behind the picture? Sure, yeah. I had brought my parka back to Washington, D.C.

for the inauguration because we knew it was going to be cold. We're going to take a picture in the snow. We're in the parka with the capital. When you say parka, that's a different kind of parka than I have. That's like an Alaska, like it's got fur and hide. That's wolverine, that's beaver, that's a little bit of fox. Lisa Murkowski came to Washington in 2002 after a career as a lawyer and state legislator. Her father appointed her to fill his seat when he became Alaska's governor.

She faced charges of nepotism, which Murkowski calls accurate. She was ultimately elected to a full term, but each election has been a challenge.

Write-In Victory and Independence

None as difficult as in 2010, when she was primaried by the Tea Party and lost. And then you had to make this difficult decision. Could you do what no one else has done, essentially? and win as a write-in candidate in a state like Alaska with the last name Murkowski. Nine letters. Yeah. And Norit, it had to be spelled right because we weren't sure how the courts were going to interpret it.

If it was Murkowski with a Y at the end instead of an I, was that going to be sufficient to count? Murkowski. M-U-R-K-O-W-S-K-I. That is correct. It worked. You get all the easy ones. And gave Murkowski what she calls a new freedom. Did that enforce in you this idea that, okay, I've got the backing of my constituents to do what I think is morally right?

sort of strike out in this independent way. It absolutely reinforced that. It's a daily reminder of how I was returned to the United States Senate. It was not through the help or the assistance of the Republican Party. It was through the help and the assistance and the persistence of Alaskans all across the board. Is that why you feel no allegiance to the Republican Party? What I say is...

I still have the same Republican values that I have long held. But my allegiance is not to the Republican Party. It's not to a party. It is to the people who returned me.

Navigating a Polarized Washington

And those people were Republicans and Democrats and independents and nonpartisans. And so when people back here in Washington talk about, well, I need to answer to the base, my base. is so beautiful and diverse and eclectic and genuine. Senator Murkowski is proud to be a Republican in Washington who never voted for Donald Trump.

You've warned your Republican Senate colleagues not to cede ground to President Trump. How's that going? Well, just to put it into context, and to be fair, I don't think that we should cede, we, the congressional branch, should cede ground to anybody, not to the courts, not to the executive. I think we have a role to do. We cannot whether it is with tariffs, whether it is with spending, whether it's the role of advice and consent, we have a role that is prescribed.

under Article I of the Constitution. We need to take that seriously. And I fear that what we're seeing more and more is a Republican conference. in both the House and the Senate that may agree with the goals of President Trump. And so they're good with however we get there. But we need to ask ourselves if this

was President Biden, or if this were to be a President Booker, how would we respond? Because I don't think we would just sit back and say, it's OK that you use that. You think there would be more oversight. I think there would. If not oversight, at least feigned outrage. But we are basically saying, whatever way you want to get there. Is going to be okay because Is that a capitulation by the U.S. Congress? I think it's Congress not doing their job.

That job right now, deciding whether or not to pass President Trump's so-called big, beautiful bill. A lot of concern on the Medicaid side, the clean energy tax credits. Those are probably the biggest hotbags. Senator Murkowski will likely be a deciding vote. Alaska relies more heavily on federal funding and programs. than perhaps any other state in the country. Are you worried that your constituents may be punished for your independence? I realize that my job number one is to be effective.

for Alaska. And so I have to be aware that my effectiveness is gonna be tied to relationships, right? And so... how I am able to develop relationships in an administration where it is no secret that I did not support the president, and it's also no secret that the president did not support me. You must vote. Republican and do it quickly and get Murkowski out of here because she's not a Republican. He actively campaigned against me in the state, but at the end of the day, he won, I won.

Thank you for listening. Please join us when our trumpet sounds again next Sunday morning. Now streaming. When people go missing, I get hired to help find them. When lives are on the line. Coulter, please find my daughter. He's the man for the job. I'm gonna do everything I can. Don't miss a moment. Coulter's in trouble. I can feel it. Of TV's number one show.

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