NightSide News Update 2/20/25

It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZY, Boston's news radio.

Thanks Nicole. In spite of all of that, folks, I'm here till midnight, and many of you will be as well. My name is Dan Ray, host of Nightside, and we carry on. Just like the post office snow rain Tornados, they deliver the mail most of the time. We deliver Nightside to you five nights a week, four hours a night, from eight until midnight, no matter what else is going

Oh my gosh, thank you Dan so much for the warm introduction. I'm doing great. I know it's cold out, but i have visions of summer already in my mind and I'm super happy to talk with you.

Yeah, cold, I think it was beautiful today. I mean it was almost like summer like today, the wind would die down. And who doesn't want to talk about Tanglewood at any time of the year, And we're going to talk tonight about Tanglewood, which is right around the corner as far as I'm concerned, one of the great great activities of the summer here in New England Tanglewood. The

Alex Yeah, absolutely, I have to say the Popularist Series is one of my favorite parts of the job. We get to create this really cool lineup of folks from the rock and the folk and jazz sectors are coming together to this incredibly beautiful space to have a party basically. So this year we've got some really cool stuff coming

A five year absence. Yeah, he's off in a fixture in a lot of folks mind. Yeah, that's great. Where's he ben? The question? He should be there every year.

He's very I agree. You know, he was doing a solo tour in New England last year and I went up in the summer and I saw him in it and it was one of the most fun things I've seen in a long while. So we cannot contain our excitement to welcoming back Une twenty first.

He's June twenty or seven o'clock. And then you get James Taylor for two nights of the Night before the fourth and the night of the fourth.

That's right, you know, James Taylor is the Tanglewood legend. He has been with us for decades, coming on the July fourth and the July third evenings. These are really special concerts. You know, people come from fire and wide to hear their favorite songs. You know, everybody's got a favorite. Mine might be you know, Carolina on my mind, and he just creates this really intimate evening even though there are, you know, thousands of people with you enjoying an incredible

But I'm going to warn folks. The concert on the fourth of July on your website says it's already sold out, So if they're James Taylor fans, they better be thinking about July third pretty quickly because that will probably sell out pretty quickly. So it says sold out July.

Yeah, that's exactly right, We're currently sold out. I always check the website. You never know what shows up, all right, And then yeah, moving on after that July eighth, we're really excited to welcome Baar Naked Ladies. They're doing a tour with Sugar Ray and Fastball and so you know, this is the perfect nineties two thousands nostalgia tour. There on top of their game, they're going to play the greatest hits. It's gonna be a really fun party. You know.

Here's my question. Okay, For first of all, July eighth is my birthday, so that's always very special. I do not share birthday. Were oh J. Simpson, he was July ninth, I'm July eighth. But Beard Naked and eight Ladies I could never figure. And I know a lot of sports less about music. Where did they come up with that idea beard naked ladies? They're not ladies and they're not bare naked.

That is a great question. I don't have the answer for why they chose the name, but they they I mean, you know, early nineties, late eighties. You want to choose a name that gets you recognitions.

Good one. Yeah, a lot of people showed up to the concert not not expecting what they got. But that's that's neat. They're hearing it there and then later on later we're on in the summer, you got Emmy Lou Harris and Graham Nash tell us about that.

Yeah, all right, So this is a really special concert because they're both going to perform. They're each going to perform. They're full sets, so they're going to do a first half the second half where they're going to come on stage independently and they're going to sing their greatest hits. And Emmy Lou, Harris Graham Nash are some of the best composers of their their day and probably even today. And you know, Graham Nash found of Crosby, Stills, Nash

Wow.

This is a great lineup, and you finish off sadly on the night of August thirty first, which is always a tough night because you're trying to hold on the summer. The next day is September first, But you've got a great artist on the thirty first of August.

We absolutely do. Bonnie Ray is going to come back to Tanglewood, and she is a legend. She is just you know, slide guitar, soulful voice. She's going to sing, you know, all the hits that you know and love. She's literally a powerhouse and she brings the house down. So I'd say keep your eyes open. We might be announcing other stuff in the future. Hint, hints, check our website Tanglewood dot org. But it's going to be a great, great season.

Okay, So look, you get tickets to Tanglewood dot org. It's never too early to do it, you know. Make sure the seats don't go allway. It's it is a jewel of every summer in New England and I just, uh, it warms me right now just to think about this. I'm ready for summer. I'm ready for spring. Alex, your great guest, you, your enthusiasm is contagious. Thank you so much for joining us tonight, and the best of luck with this summer and keep us posted on and they

Thanks so much, Thank you so much for having me. I'll see you on the lune.

I hope so, I hope, so thanks Alex. All right, waken back. We're going to talk about an other New England tradition. Perhaps not as well known as Tanglewood, but the black Stone Heritage card trail. I'm gonna be talking with Donald Williams on the other side of this break. My name's Dan Ray. This is WBZ. You are listening to Nightside on ten thirty AM on on your AM dial.

Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.

Well, last segment we talked about Tanglewood in the summer, let's talk about the black Stone Heritage. Carter's in the spring. They have a spring hiking series and with us as Donna Williams, he's just board member of the Blackstone Heritage Karda. Donald Wiideside.

Hello, Jan, I'm so glad to be here. Thanks so much for having me.

Well, I'm glad you were here too. When I had a little hesitation, I said, boy, I hope Donna is here. So tell us I think everyone knows in New England should know kind of the location of the Blackstone River. It's down kind of in the southeast corner of the state, maybe a little bit more towards the middle southeast corner of the state. If you will locate us for us and tell us about this great series you have these trail Ambassadors. How long have you folks been doing.

This, Well, we've had the Trail Ambassadors have been active for well, they were active before COVID, and then it kind of took a hiatus during COVID, although people were certainly out and about a whole lot more in the fresh air. But now since COVID they've done many, many of these hikes. They've just finished up the Winter series and now we're doing the Spring series. But your correct

Sure, so, how many different how many different trails are there to choose from these trails that are laid out? Or are these trails that want of your ambassadors would know and he would take people on a hike through the woods? Explain that to us.

Well, there are twelve hikes planned with the Leader between March eighth and June fourteenth. They're on Saturday or Sunday once a week through those months, and they're on existing trails. Some of them are in state forests, some of them are at farms conservation areas.

How challenging it, I'm sure people out there saying, she, I'd like to do this, But we're talking about up and down hillsides? Are they do you have to have special equipment or is it something that most folks can do? How long are we talking about I'm just trying to make sure that people take advantage of this if they're if they are able to, that's.

All right, varying levels of expertise. You never need equipment you might want to bring your hiking poles, but often it's it's flat. But it's always on trails that are well marked and UH people can find out, well.

You're not really you're not talking when you when you hear the word trails, you're not talking about you know, going up a half a mile or whatever, you know, and then having to come down and or over rocks or anything there. It's it's fairly flat ground. And how how long a couple of miles each or more?

Well it firies. Some of them are four miles, some are two. People can find out more about these UH trail hikes on our website Blackstone Heritage Quarter dot org and they can.

All We'll give that a couple of times because that's important. They also can do what.

They can also RSDP on the website for these for these trails, and they give a good description of each of the trails and the degree of difficulty. None of them are difficult.

But what's the cost associated with this? Is there a ticket? And then I assume you you give a little bit of a gratuity to your to your guide.

Well, no, no, this is all free and it's it's these are the leaders are volunteers, uh Phil from Massachusetts and Ernie in Rhode Island. They volunteer their time and expertise because they love being out in the woods and exploring them with new folks and helping all of them learn to love this area.

Any special I'm assuming that folks should at least wear their most comfortable shoes. You don't want to be out there on high heels, I assume. And is it smart to have uh, you know, pants that are long pants, and maybe even pants that are are you can tie them up a little bit so you're not picking up ticks or something like that. I don't want to intimidate anyone, but I just want to make sure that they show up prepared.

Well, did you raise a good point. Yes, it's a good idea to have long pants on. Maybe tuck your pants into your socks, but good hiking shoes, long sleeves, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen.

Yeah. Okay, Well, I just think that you and I might take that for granted, but someone might not. So I assume, because they're different trails, you'll get directions as to where you would park. I assume that there's a meeting place for each of these these trails.

Heads correct, Yes, and that is on the website.

It's very specific.

Yeah, bet trails and where they start.

Usually they're loops. Yep.

Yeah, sure, because when you're done, that's for sure. And people can bring can they bring some refreshments with them if they want to, you know, bring some water or or ginger ale or something. I assume that's.

Allowed, absolutely, and it is recommended to bring bring water, especially to keep yourselfs hydrated.

Okay, so let's do this. And by the way, all ages, as long as people look at the website and make sure whether they're you know, six or ninety six, I.

Assume yes, that's correct.

Give us that website one more time so that people can get to there as easily.

Yep. Blackstone Heritage Corridor dot com. So the first one, yep, yep. All onward and the first one.

Give us the date in the first one, I'm getting up. I'm coming up on our newscast at the bottom of the hour, which I got to cut away. So when is the when's the first one start? How soon?

Saturday March eighth, that's a week from.

It's like a couple of weeks from now. That's great. Yeah, yeah, Rainer Shine at this rainer, shine or snowstorm. I assume.

Yes.

Yeah. Well like football games, the football game goes on whatever the weather, so I just want to make sure that everybody dresses appropriately. Well. Donna, thank you very much for all of the information. I know I pushed you a little bit here to try to get as much information in as possible, but I want to make sure many of our listeners take advantage of this. It sounds like a great opportunity, and it's it's not very expensive at all. It's just going to make sure perfect all right,

Much, Thank you so much. Bite You're welcome.

Coming back right after the news at the bottom of the ar I'm right on time. It's eight thirty. We're going to talk with a concept called peaceful parenting. Stay with us on Night Side.

You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.

Well, many of us during our lifetime we'll experiencing parenting as parents all of us experiencing experienced parenting while we're children, and with us is Kiva Schulch. She's an author and founder of an institute for parenting. I want to pronounce this correctly, Kiva. Is it the High Institute or Jay Jay Jai Jai Institute for Parenting? And you talk about peaceful parenting? I think I know what you mean by that, but I'd like to hear your explanation of what is peaceful parenting.

It's funny. I started the Gaian Institute for Parenting in two thousand and nine, and we've moved away from that word a little bit because it can be misleading. Parenting is not always peaceful. Children are certainly not always peaceful.

But I understand it's a tricky word.

Yeah it is, and I know it's been around for a while. It's called The Peaceful Parenting. Your book, I believe, is called The Peaceful parenting revolution. We are in parentheses or the peaceful parenting evolution, changing the world by changing how we parent. A look at parenting styles and how they've changed. I think all of us understand that kids today are brought up differently than when kids my age in the fifties and sixties were brought up. Is it

You know, I like to move away from ideas of better or worse.

It's different.

We live in a completely different world.

You know.

We grew up in a time where we didn't have social media. There wasn't so many external influences, you know, parenting our children, our parenting children in our absence. It's a different world. You know, when we were kids being raised to be compliant and follow the rules with kind of.

The path to success.

But kids today really need to be more collaborative, to be risk takers, to be innovators. It's just a different time and so that requires different skill sets in our leadership as parents.

So what are the skill sets that parents today, uh need? I I am now a grandparent, and my son and his wife have a son, and they're hopefully keeping our fingers crossed on expecting a second and our daughter and her husband have at this point not become parents yet. But what what? What? What? Again? How does? How is it changed? I mean when when I was growing up and I had a you know, a parent and oftentimes your dad was like the drill sergeant and and your

I think that every family is unique, and every child is unique, and it's important for us to consider what the values are that matter within our family ecosystem and how we are going to intentionally teach and model those values to our children. I think generations of kids and parents, you know, we always hear like the kids these days, and we're certainly hearing it now.

Right.

Kids are entitled. Kids aren't launching. There's a lot of very real concerns around the mental health of children.

Kids aren't launching.

What does that mean, you know, aren't going out into the world and getting jobs. They're moving back in after college, you know, don't seem to be moving into adulthood with a sense of independence.

What's a tough economy too. Kids today are being caught in this economy, you know different. So I want to make sure we're not blaming the kids on that one. If it's this exactly economy that we have created for them, and whether or not there's opportunities. Each generation, I guess has the concerns and the problems. But in terms of the relationship between parent and child, how do you strike that balance between being loving and supportive while not being indulgent.

I think that balance is exactly the right word. So it is wholly possible to hold our children to high standards, to have expectations, to set limits, to have boundaries, and

Yeah, I've listened to psychiatrists who have said that the best thing a parent can do is allow their child to fail. Do you buy into that?

Absolutely? Listen, life is hard. You know, we're all going to have failures. You know, fail more tends to be my way of thinking about, certainly how I've grown businesses over the years. And if you, you know, become an eighteen year old child who's never failed or never been disappointed. And obviously that's a little bit hyperbolic. It can be very destabilizing when and you know, my kids are in

Yeah, yep, I remember. I remember my grandparents particularly well, my paternal grandfather and both of my grandmothers. I didn't know my my I didn't know my paternal grandfather very well, but I knew my maternal grandfather and my maternal grandmother. She had a basically saying whenever we walked in the house, children should be seen and not heard. She was kind of old school, just a lot of us that, yeah, children should be seen and not heard. It was like, oh,

Yeah.

I mean there's not a magical switch. And I think that's really changed. You know, I think that by and large, children are not treated that way, and especially here in Boston, right like, children are very valued and we want to engage them in conversation and include them in life and have them have an achievement orientation, right, want them to you know, debate at the dinner table and things like that.

Obviously, my maternal grandmother has passed on. So I go back and I think I should be seen and not heard. I was a reporter on television here in Boston for thirty one years, so I was seen. But now I've been heard as a talk show host for eighteen years. So she got the first part right, but not the second part. I'm glad.

I'm curious with things like that, like what age am I allowed to be seen and heard?

Because they're like a switch at some point.

Yeah, right, right, Well, it's an admonition that obviously I didn't comply with. Although when we were at the home of my maternal grandparents, we were very well behaved. I can remember they We enjoyed going there, don't get me wrong, And the highlight for me, one of the things that I really enjoyed was and again this is not this is grandparenting. I'm focusing on grandparenting. I guess a little bit more than I should because we're now a grandparent.

So much better than if you'd bt you win.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, So how can folks get the book? I'm sure that we have only scraped the surface, and I have enjoyed the conversation and thank you for indulging me to try to figure out my own upbringing. The book is the piece I love.

Hearing your stories.

Dan.

Yeah, you can find the book on Amazon. The Peaceful Parenting Revolution and the GAI Institute for Parenting is the world's leading parent coach training organization and we're online at GI Institute for Parenting dot com.

Now can people go to the GI Institute for Parenting and actually learn from you as to some of your theories. Obviously they can buy the book, and we want them to buy the book, but also attend either classes or seminars or what however you would describe them.

Absolutely, we certify parenting coaches because the work that we do is parent centric and you know, teaching old dogs new tricks does take support and a judgment free container. So that's what coaches do. But we have so many resources there around yelling, emotional intelligence, empowered communication. So yeah, there's lots of good stuff, whether it's becoming a certified parenting coach with us or getting some of those free resources there on the site.

Oh that's great. Kiva Schuler, the author and founder of the Jai Institute for Parenting. The book that is The Peaceful Parenting Revolution, available everywhere, particularly probably most easily on Amazon. Kiva. I've really enjoyed this conversation.

Thank you very much, Diane.

Such an honor to be here with you. Thank you.

All right, we'll talk again. I hope maybe we'll do this one more time sometime later on this year. Thanks again. Coming up right after the break, we're going to be talking with a Red Bull snowboarder. This is a courageous young woman named Grace Warner. There's no way I would even attempt to what she to do, what she's able to do. We'll be back on Night's side. She's with the Red Bull Heavy Metal twenty twenty five tour. I'll explain.

Now. Back to Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.

All right, we're wrapping up our eight o'clock hour here, and our fourth and final guest tonight is Grace Warner. She's a Red Bull snowboarder. I know what a Red Bull snowboarder is, Grace Warner, But why don't you explain it to my audience what you do which is something I would never even attempt. How were you tonight? Hi?

Thanks for having me.

So.

Yeah, I just snowboard on handrails around the street.

Well, okay, so I assume that during the winter time you can snowboard on snow, right right, Okay, that's how you learned to snowboard soon, Yes, but.

What you're going to see on Saturday is definitely a twist on the snowboarding that you're used to seeing.

Yes, yeah, you know. I want to make sure that everybody understands we've seen snowboardings now at Olympic sport.

Correct, correct?

Okay, WI your Olympic sport obviously, So you have taken those skills, and your colleagues have taken those skills, and you have applied them year round in whatever weather, and you use handrails, and you're going to be I believe, at Boston City Hall Plaza in the next few days. Tell us about that.

Yes, So on Saturday, me and about fifty of my very talented snowboard friends will be at the City Hall and we're going to be showing off our skills on the stair sets and surrounding zones of that area. And it's going to be definitely a show that you're not gonna want to miss.

Yeah, I would say you'd be displaying your skills because they are incredible. What do you do and what do your colleagues do? Amazes me. I would never try it at my age, and I certainly wouldn't have tried it at your age. How did you become a snowboard and we'll talk about the event that I'm just a little This is coming up on February twenty second, which is two days from now, so people need to need to rearrange their calendar for this weekend. How did you be

I'm twenty four, okay, Well, I started snowboarding at four years old.

I started snowboarding four years Did you grow up in in New England or a a winter type part of the country.

I actually grew up in Detroit. We had like little, teeny little hills with toe ropes on them, and that's where I learned how to first carve on my snowboard, which led to me getting into the park.

My was my producer was talking in my ear at one point. Where did you grow up? I'm just wondering if you If you if you tell me you grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and you learned how to snowboard without the benefits of snow, that's interesting. If you tell me you grew up in Manitoba Winnipeg, I would understand that better. Where where did you How'd you learn this skill that early?

I grew up near Detroit. Okay, Yeah, we have snow there, but not not mountains, that's for sure.

I mean Detroit. Detroit is north of some parts of Canada. Actually geographically, I'm sure you know that living in Detroit. A lot of people perhaps don't realize that. So, so, how have you turned this set of skills or the set of skills that you have. How did you figure out, Hey, I'm really good at this and I can go on tour. You're a professional snowboarder, is what you are. I mean that I assume that this is your livelihood right.

Right, It is my entire life. I think just growing up on a really small hill made snowboarding straight down the mountain and carving get really boring really fast. So I transitioned into park riding, and since we didn't have a lot of terrain for big jumps and things like that, it just led me to hitting rails and other features in the park, and then that led me to wanting to film in the street, similar to street skateboarding. If you've ever seen.

That before, Oh yeah, sure.

So how much of the year everybody knows the football season. Everybody knows when the baseball season is. How what what is your season? When do you start I've talked to rodeo people, I've talked to different you know, people who have you know, seasonal jobs. How long does your does your schedule, your annual schedule run? When do you guys start out on the road doing this and when do you wrap it up?

So it kind of depends on what kind of snowboarder.

You are.

Most of us just chase the snow wherever, Like you can snowboard year round around the globe anywhere, because you can chase winter throughout the whole year. But usually I'll start like early November to end of March.

Wow.

But there's places to snowboard over the summer for sure, so kind of year round. I'm always always on board.

Yeah. No, I remember learning in school that in the Southern Hemisphere winter was our summer and vice. So I get that. What's the what is the professional life expectancy of snowboarders? This fascinates me. I can tell you that baseball players generally peaking about twenty eight or twenty nine unlist of knuckleball pitchers, and they get pitch into their forties. But you know, this is a young person's sport. I'm guessing.

Yes, I'm not gonna lie to you. This question is.

Scary to me.

Okay, we'll let that one go.

I guess. So, I guess. Really, it's just however long your body lasts for you know, I mean, and being a professional in any sport is difficult once you start getting older, but there's ways to make it last forever. I mean, can you can snowboard up until I don't know, however long, however long your body lasts.

Yeah, there's not much snowboarding going on, I think in senior citizen centers, but we'll leave that alone. So it's the Red Bull Heavy Metal Tour. It's at Boston City Hall Plaza. It's this Saturday, February two, Washington's birthday, and you guys are going to be putting on a huge exhibition from two in the afternoon until five thirty. It should yeah. Great. Have you been to Boston before, Grace, I have.

I went to the Celtics game last year. It was awesome.

Okay, have you ridden the rails at City Hall Plaza before? So is this some terran that you're familiar with previously or do you see it for the first time on Saturday and say, okay, let's let's give it a shot.

Yep.

Actually, they're building features for this event, so none of us have ever ridden on them, so it'll be new to all of us and really exciting.

Well, it's going to be exciting for you guys. It's certainly going to be exciting. How big is the troop you said it's about fifty of you that are going to be there participating, Is that.

The number around fifty? I think yes.

All right, well, welcome to Boston ahead of time, and I hope you get a chance to see a little bit of the city. It's it's a great city, there's no doubt about that. And uh, I think you'll find a good crowd there cheering. You're on on Saturday, and folks can get information. They can just I guess go to red Bull dot com, slash us hyphen Events, red Bull heavy Metal Boston sounds great. Grace, Thank you so much. Appreciate detail all the time. Okay, thanks so talk again.