NightSide News Update 2/24/25

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

Thanks very much to call. You are indeed the best. My name is Dan Ray. I'm the host of Nightside with Dan Ray, the appropriately named program, and tonight Rob Brooks has taken the night off and in studio back in the the big control room at Broadcast headquarters is Mike Templeton. So please be good to Mike when you call in after nine o'clock. We're going to be talking

Well, you know, it's funny. I got into this business because of I needed a gym credit in college, I believe it or not. Yeah, yeah, I couldn't believe that when I was in college. You know, you're paying all this money to go to school and then they make you take fizz ed. But you know, as it turns out, they offered scuba diving as a fized credit. And I'm in love with the ocean, and so I guess the fizz ed credit was kind of a good thing.

I hope you went to a southern school and you weren't scuba diving off the coast of Maine in the middle of the winter.

No, I went to Worcester Polytech Electrical Engineering and I did I did my my open water checkout dives in Gloucester in like thirty degree water in March, and I froze my butt off.

Wow.

Wow, no dolphins with you on those dives, that's for sure. So so you, I assume have spent a lot of time underwater and a lot of times a lot of time with dolphins. I'm led to believe. I'm no expert, but I'm told that dolphins are incredibly intelligent, and to some extent, they have a lot of similarities with those of us who are more landa based human beings.

Dolphins are definitely very intelligent, and I have a funny feeling that they're actually they can be. They can be kind of a bunch of like jokesters. Like they love to they love to sneak up on you. They love to slap you with their you know, their fins when you're not looking. They're they're kind of fun animals. And I did my first trip with dolphins in ninety five,

So now the film, the movie, how long is it? By the way, it's on the giant screen at the New England Aquarium Simon's Theater. But how use is the video?

It's forty minutes, which is kind of the standard length for these films. And it's a film about people who love dolphins. I have the snarky answer when people ask me what's the film about? I say dolphins. But really it's not a film about dolphins. It's a film about people who love dolphins. It's a film that features, for example, I thought out on Cape Cod where they rescue as many as four hundred dolphins a year to get stuck in Cape Cod when the tide goes down and they're

That's amazing. I can't wait to see this now. You said it's about forty minutes long, and the film made its world debut, so it's already had his debut at the New England Aquarium. How long is it going to be there for people to enjoy?

What's interesting about you mentioned the world debut. What's interesting about that is this is my fourth Giant screen film and it's the first one that had its world premiere in my hometown. So I was really excited that we had our premiere in Boston and we had a big event and we had all of our friends and it was great fun. And they have signed on. They don't sign on for how long they're going to show it. They sign on for how many showings it's going to have.

How many screen are there during a week. I mean, do they do one a day? I mean, obviously seven hundred I can do the math. We're talking about that, so nearly two years if they just do one a day. But do they have multiple showings during the Yeah?

Well, I mean it can change.

Right now.

Right now it's showing I think four times a day. It alternates with another film, so but that could change him as the film has been in the theater longer, they may bring in another film and then drop the number of screenings. But yeah, it's it's playing several times a day at least for the next year.

So great is this exclusive to the New England Aquarium And no one's going to be able to see this on HBO. We're Cinemax at least for a while.

So this is a giant screen film and they're really they're shot and edited to be seen on really big screens, and you would never get the right experience to see it on like Netflix or something. It's just the screen would be too small. And also it's in three D and three D is really awesome on a giant screen and people always think, oh, three D I'm not gonna like it. Trust me when I tell you the three D on this is really nicely done. People are gonna love it.

Okay, perfect, you've convinced me. I guess people. The easiest thing is they need to just get to the aquarium, which is anyaq dot org. We'll give the aquarium acall, get some tickets, figure out when it works for their families, and get down and see the call of the dolphins. And we're not talking about the Miami Dolphins.

No we're not.

We're definitely talking about actual dolphins that go underwater.

All rights. That's great. I love it. I love it. That's a good line, Jonathan. I appreciate what you do. What's your next project? If I could ask, or can you tell us?

So we're working on a film about what happens in the ocean at night, but it won't be out for a couple of years, so definiteenty of time to go, go go get called a dolphins.

Got We're gonna go see the dolphins, that's for sure. So again it's any for New England AQ for aquarium just lowercase ANYAQ dot org and the number can be found pretty easily at that website and get yourself some tickets and get in and see the call of the Dolphins. I really do appreciate Jonathan taking the time and congratulations on this. Sounds like a magnificent video. Thank you, Thanks so much.

Dan, You're very welcome.

Well we get back. We're gonna go from the Dolphins to Bob Dylan. I will explain. My name is Dan Ray. This is Nightside, heard every Monday through Friday night right here on WBZ, Boston's news radio. You can listen to us over the year about probably half the country, or you can also download the new i Herd app and listened to wb Z twenty four seventh, three hundred and sixty five days a year. We'll be back talking about Bob Dylan with somebody who is an expert on an upcoming Bob Dylan auction.

Now back to Dan Ray line from the Window World night Side Studios on WBZ the News.

Radio, joining us as the executive vice president at our auction, Bobby Livingston. Bobby has been with us before, he gets it. He understands how exciting some of these live auctions can be. Bobby, Welcome back to night Side.

Thanks, Dan, It's good to talk to you again.

Man. A lot of people love, you know, sports auctions, but this is an auction dealing with Bob Dylan. Obviously there's a movie out right now dealing with Bob Dylan. So Bob Dylan is a pretty hot commodity right now. And you have several Bob Dylan items, the Bob Dylan's first demo tape tape, it was the original master recording that's going to be up for auction. And you've also got the collection of an individual by the name of

Well, Bob Newarth was like Bob Dylan's best friend. When you saw the movie the Plame movie, the guy that is in the bar were doing hit, that's Newworth. And so the character of Bob Neworth is in the movie, and he was in Don't Look Back. But Bob Neworth was a great artist that was here in Boston. Not only a folks singer, but he was he was also a pretty prominent artist.

I went on to be will admit to you, Bob, if he had been like a backup shortstop for the Red Sox in the seventies. I would know his name. We all have our wheelhouse. Or if he had been you know, a city councilor in Salem back in the nineteen eighties, I probably would know his or her name. But I again, that's why you're here. You're the expert, and you're gonna give us a lot of the background and the perspective on this. So. So is this how the Bob Newarth collection came to be, because obviously it

I mean he played on stage with Bob Dylan during the Rollings under Review, which which the was the big tour around New England in the in the seventies, like in seventy five and seventy six. So it was a pretty famous tour of Bob Dylan when he painted his face white. You remember those dann You remember those shots? Maybe not, but anyway, I was hanging at.

Red Sox games in the truth.

Well, seventy five team was pretty good. I can understand this.

I know who Bob Dylan was h and he still is.

He's still alive, right, correct, very much.

I don't want to put him in past edge. He's not up there in the big juke box with Elvis at this point. No, I get that, No, but I just I just want to make sure that people in the audience who are Dylan fans just get excited about this. I'm excited talking to you about Bob Dylan. So I but I got to ask you these questions. So tell us about the newestion.

Go ahead, Well we've got his. You know that those nudy CITs that the country Western stars used to wear, that with all the sparkles and the rhinestones and the designs on them. Well we've got Bob Newarth's that Bob Dylan bought for him to wear on this Rolling Thunder tour. And so he actually wore this particular Newy suit at a very famous concert called Knight of the Hurricane uh in in Houston. So these are Dan, stick with me. These are really cool things. Let me tell you, this is phenomenal.

And trust me, it's like you're telling me that you got the bet that Ted Williams at his final home run off of Jack Fish Sure on September twenty eighth here at Fenway Park in nineteen sixty. I get it, I get it, keep going, tell me more.

Well, there's also a guitar that Bob Dylan bought for Newarth in New York City that he played on this whole tour. There's lots of video and photographs of Newarth and Dylan with this particular car So guitar. So that's really cool.

Bob Dylan's first demo tape. I would assume that that would be something that any artist would keep for you, for well, for the family.

The first demo tape is actually from a different consigner, which is Bob Dylan's very first manager, Terry Tall, who who she was married to, Davon Rock, another Folks singer in New York. So Dylan asked her to be his manager and she made this tape. She made this tape to get him gigs at forty seven here in Boston and uh and uh so this is coming right from her collection. It's the it's the first professional demo tape

This is this is an honest question. I certainly know who Bob Dylan was. But but again, I was not.

Hanging on Bob Dylan.

Is I forget I already made that point before. Boys, I'm trying to get to you. What I'm trying to get from you is I. When Jimmy Buffett passed, I was surprised to learn that Buffett had played a lot in his early career here at clubs in Boston, which kind of surprised me. How how much was Bob Dylan a part of the music scene in Boston as he was starting out.

Well, He's famously on his first record he talks about I'm learning the song baby let Me follow you down that Rick von Schmidt taught him, and he said, you know, I learned him the in Harvard Yard, so in Cambridge, so Dylan, So yeah, so Dylan. Dylan uh made a point of coming to Boston and playing several times before he really hit it big. So he was around. There was a vibrant, vibrant folks scene here that Dylan wanted to be a part of before he was famous.

Let me get Let me give you a tip that that might be of some help to you. Dylan did spend time in Cambridge, and he spent a lot of time with Harvey Silverglade, who's a well known lawyer UH in Cambridge. Uh and his wife Elsa, and Elsa took a lot of pictures of Bob Dylan. So I'm a weird that that Dylan in time, you know, in the Boston Cambridge area. But I wasn't sure, you know, if you played at Club Passim or or whatever, you know

Yeah, he played at pass he played it, you know, forty seven, and he and he played folk festivals and you know, as he got bigger, he played the bigger the bigger auditoriums. But yeah, he was definitely here. I don't know all all the names of the old folk clubs, but for sure Club forty seven.

So when is the auction and and what can folks do? Is this a live auction or is this one that people will participate in remotely?

It's it's online. It's at our website at our auction dot com. And there's a whole there's about seventy five lots related to Bob Doyling, and it's it ends on March twelve, and it's you know, it's a simple, easy process. It's it's a timed auction. It's pretty exciting.

So each item has a final bid time. Are they all final bid on March twelve?

Yeah, basically there's a thirty minute time on every lot that starts at seven pm on March twelve. So it's it's kind of it's kind of like an eBay style almost, but it's a little different. But it's timed. People would be familiar with it.

Okay, I get you, but I'm trying to help you out here. So can people go on to your auction site? Now? Are our auction and see what's available?

Oh yeah, oh yeah, it's all. It's online. This bidding is going on right now.

And that's what I need what I need to know. And uh again, what is the what's the website? Are our auction dot com?

Man r R A U c K I one dot com And we're right here in Boston.

I can spell auction. I'm sure what is r R stand for? Refresh my recollection on.

That rare and remarkable man rare and remarkable.

Should I remember that our auction dot Com. All right, Bob. I enjoyed learning a little bit more about Bob Dylan, and I appreciate you taking the time to uh to share, to share with us. Tonight we'll do it again, Okay.

Yeah, I'm always grateful to be on with you, man, Thank you so much.

Back at you, right back at you. Bobby Livings there are he's the executi vice press of our auction. We got the news coming up at the bottom of the hour right now at eight thirty. After that, I've been talking with Scott Kirshner of the Boston Globe talking about some startups that are testing for patches to deliver weight loss drugs as well as other medications. So we'll get to all of that, and then later on in this hour we'll talk with doctor Jennifer Bruns about cold weather

Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WBZ, Boston's news radio.

Well to welcome Scott Kirshner, Globe correspondent to our desk, to our to our show. Hey Scott, welcome to Nightside. How are you.

I'm doing good?

How are you just fine? So you have written a piece that appeared just last week? No more needles. Question Mark startups are testing patches to deliver weight loss drugs and other medications. I mean, these weight loss drugs like Wugovi and ozempic, they're going off the chart.

I mean I was gonna say they can't make them fast enough. And you know, you hear about people going from drug store to drug store to get their prescription. So these are definitely the definition of a blockbuster drug.

Yeah, you know it's interesting. I worry about those. I guess about fifteen million people according to your article read this new generation of weight loss drugs. It sounds like a very effective, but maybe too much, too easy a way to lose weight. Have they done much study on these drugs in terms of if when people take the weight off, they're able to maintain their new weight.

No.

I mean that's the dirty secret of these drugs, is that one you start taking them, it's a you know, it's going to be a lifetime medication.

Assuming you want to keep.

That, you want to keep the weight off, you know you really can't. There aren't a lot a lot of studies showing that you can stop taking the drugs and maintain the same weight level.

The thing I was.

Looking at in this piece is is, you know, these kinds of drugs and lots of other drugs that people take require an injection once a week or once a month. And there are some really interesting startups around the Boston area that are trying to do these injections or deliver these drugs with a patch that you would stick on your skin for a half hour an hour, rather than with a needle that you'd have to poke yourself with or get someone to poke you with.

Yeah, I'm sure that a lot of people are needophobic, if that's if that's a term of art, I get that. What it's interesting when you think of when I think of the patch, I think about nikked tine patches. Yeah, I been pretty successful. If you know this. We don't script questions here, so if I asked you a question that's way off base, tell me do the nicotine patches.

I think those are.

Yeah.

I think the nicketine patches are different where they are delivering a dose of nicotine to help you kick the habit and that you can eventually taper down and stop using the patches. The thing that people are very familiar with the nicotine patches because those have been on the market for a few decades now. There are also patches that exist for different hormones, you know, hormones that women might take, you know, to deal with some of the

How many companies in Massachusetts are working on any of these set of circumstances. How big is this competitive field?

There are three significant homegrown Massachusetts companies that I wrote about in The Globe. The biggest of them, you know, in terms of amount of money raised, is a company called the Access that came out of Toughs University and they've raised one hundred million dollars, which is uh, you know, not chump change. There are other companies. Uh there's a public company called Radius Health that had tried to get a patch for an osteoporosis drug through the FDA and

On the patch.

So it felt like there was enough activity that you know that people should be aware of, and I certainly took notice of, you know, of this competitive set of companies.

So none of these companies, I assume at this point, are all privately held, right, no one, no one raising raising money for for publicly owned corporations. What's the upside if one of these companies from Massachusetts gets lucky and develops the drug that can be delivered for weight loss with a hatch. What's the projected you know prize are we talking about? Yeah, billions of dollars.

Yeah, I don't think it's I don't think it would be wild to say that if one of these companies could get patched to the point you don't even have to get it totally approved by the FDA, but just far enough along clinical trials that a company like Novo Nordesk, the company that makes ozepic and Wagovy, two of the weight loss drugs, A big pharma company like that would say, hey, you got this far enough along, let's give you a

Is that if you if.

You combine the drug with one of these patches, you might get ten or twenty years of additional patent coverage. And so it kind of extends the patent life of a drug, which you know, the companies. The companies like that, their shareholders like that. A lot of times, consumers and insurers don't like that because you prevent there from being you know, generic drug competition.

Yeah, is is willgov and uh and some of these other bet is willgovy publicly traded Wigov, those epics, Oh yeah, you know they're they're they're old. Yeah, they're both a big, big pharma.

Yeah.

I mean this company, Nova Nordisk is based in Denmark and you know it's traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It's the symbols and VO. You know, I'm sure the chart just looks, uh, you know, like a like a hockey stick from the time that they got these drugs approved and they're so big and so successful. It happened to be in Denmark last summer, and you know, people

Wow boy, I'd say, yeah, it's funny you look at these I'm looking at Nova right now. And if you if you go back, even even today, they were they were up almost three percent in a day the market was down. If I could back and just for the fun of it, if I'm able to go back and find the like you know, five years or whatever, yeah, here we get let me let me see what it was five years ago, just for the fun.

Of it, for about thirty bucks five years ago, and at that ninety bucks today.

Twenty five and it was it was up as high as as one it's been down. And so it's making a little bit of a comeback. That's that's a wild ride. That's an absolute wild ride. Yeah, yeah, for sure with the company. Did you go over on a you know, for fun? Are we over there as a No?

I was just there for a vacation and you just kind of noticed that, you know, it's one of the you know, it's really one of the prize companies of Denmark at the moment you know, they don't have a giant pharmaceutical industry over there. It's probably smaller than the you know, San Francisco cluster, the Boston cluster, the cluster in the UK. But you know, this one company has been wildly successful with you know, in this weight loss drug category.

It's like a superstar playing for a last place team. That person still is a tough start. What do I think about I don't know if you're a baseball fan, but it's like Mike Proke playing for the Angels all these years and hardly takes the playoffs. But he's superstar nonetheless. So what's the timeline? Last question is in your opinion

I don't I think it'll be actually shorter than five years.

Patches they're more shelf stable.

The drug is more shelf stable in that form, so you don't need to keep it refrigerated, which you know, which eliminates a lot of the complexity right of shipping these drugs around with dry ice and you know, package so that they stay at a particular temperature.

Absolutely, Scott never had a chance to interview before, but I really enjoyed it. It's called in Economy no More Needles, Startups and testing patches that deliver weight loss drugs and other medications. The article in full appeared in the Boston Globe Digital on February nineteenth, and I'm assuming it was in the hard copy probably a day or two later. I would assume that's the way it generally works, right Scott, I.

Think you're correct.

I was on vacation and getting out of the cold, so I didn't see the print for you.

Okay, Well, thanks Scott. I appreciate your time. Fascinating. It's an area that I don't know a lot about, and I think my audience needs to learn about it as well as I. So thank you so much for joining us, and we hopefully we will talk again soon. Thank you.

I really appreciate it. Thanks Dan.

When we get back on to talk about your pets, and I don't care if you have a pet or if your neighbor has a pet, you got to be concerned about cold weather. We have some cold weather pet tips coming up with a veterinarian, so stay tuned. And then after that we'll get to telephone calls. We're going to talk about the the dilemma of a prosecution or deportation for individuals who have been accused of or convicted of some pretty serious violent crimes. There's a couple of

Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.

Okay, we're going to talk about cold weather safety tips for your pet with us as doctor Jennifer Bruns. I hope it's runs and not burns because I have b r u ns here, Jennifer, Is it Bruns?

I hope it is.

It is brunsps. Everyone calls me doctor Chen, but I will take anything that you want to give me tonight.

Oh. Probably sometimes when you when you look here at names, you're realized that names can be were letters can be can misordered. So anyway, you're a veterinarian at Pet Smart Veterinary Services. And I'm not sure what produ of the country you're in, but here in New England we've had some extraordinarily cold weather in the last six to eight weeks.

Pets, right, yeah, it is, you know, it is something to always consider, and especially in New England, it has not been an easy part of the winter for sure, and cold temperatures can be really dangerous for pets and they can be really dangerous for people. So it's really important that we consider, you know, hypothermia and frost bite. If we're cold, they're going to be cold, and I think we need to bring that into all of our attention.

Well, we always you hear these stories during the summer where someone left their dog in a car with ninety five degrees and in some cases the dogs have perished. I assume that the opposite can happen in the winter time in very frigid temperatures.

You know, it sure can, and I think sometimes we forget. I mean, obviously, if it's hot, we don't want to put a dog in a heart car. We've heard that a lot. But I think sometimes we forget, especially with vehicles, even leaving a dog in a car it's like a refrigerator, right, so there's no insulation. It can be just as cold and even you know when we start getting into the forties.

They can get cold pretty fast.

Yeah, and people just can be Look, I've read stories or we have seen stories where someone has left it in a baby sea. But they get distracted. All of us get distracted occasionally. You hope that you never do something like that. But there's other considerations up here. We use a lot of sand and salt to make sure your pathway, your driveway is not icy. That can be a problem for dogs or for cats.

Right it is, and I think sometimes we forget about that because it just becomes part of our routine of how we deal with snow and ice. But the salt that we put down for the ice does make a potential hazard and it can cause salt poisoning. So you think about we go out for our walks, we have our dogs or their cats, and they don't have any protection on their feet. They come back, they lick their paws.

You mentioned anti freeze, and you threw me there for a second. Is are you suggesting that somebody might have put some sort of anti freeze into the car and it's spilled over on the driveway of the garage and the dog is attracted, the pet is attracted to the to the spill. Is that where you went?

Yeah?

Yeah, so anna freeze can be skin spilled. So if we're putting ana freeze in our cars, it can it can be careful if it spills, and because we're looking at such a small amount, you know, a couple of teaspoons, even a little spill can be dangerous, so we always encourage people to make sure that you clean that up. And sometimes just that there's a leak that can be another issue as well for a car.

Okay, and then you mentioned short he had breaths. But also older pets, just like older people, can can find themselves in trouble in really cold weather if they're not taking care of it. How concerned, I mean, what what do we need to look for in older pets on if you know, if they're out of the yard or and hopefully they're not out of the yard all day

It's a great question because even young pets also the same same issue if they don't have a lot of you know, body body fat, and they're young, so young and old I both usually counsel clients about watching for both of those. With the older dogs, though yes, exactly right, especially if they have a condition to chronic condition that makes them less likely to be able to handle the cold, so be cautious about that. They're also going to slip on the ice, just like we all do, so they're

Yeah, I think that pets probably a lots more sometimes than humans. You know. One of the things that you always are concerned about is the middle of the night, you know, the dog lets you know that he needs he or she needs to go out, and it's snowing or something. How do you know? And I've had dogs, so I think I know the answer to this question. Come out the door and you go to that area that you've kind of shoveled off. They know what they're

Us on that that's frustrating? You know, I feel like I'm yelling at my dog.

Coop naty coo, potty, right, how long to just quickly leave them out?

So I get it if a rule of thumb really depends on the pet. Again, when you're starting to forty degrees, really watch what type of pet that you have. So if it's a little dog, no hair, you want to be careful, right, So ten minutes Sometimes it's just something that we use as a rule of thumb, but I mean with windshield and frost, it might be faster than that. You may need to bring that pen before. And one thing I would caution and keep everyone in mind is

They can be I never ever have a find I.

Never leave a muff leash at night because you never know who's lurking twenty five or thirty feet away, and it could be mister Kayaker looking for dinner. Doctor Bruns, thank you very much, great information. Appreciate it very much. We all love pets, that's for sure. And thanks very much for joining us tonight and giving us some very helpful reminders.

Ex so well.

Happy to be helpful to pet parents and everybody say safe.

And warm, okay, thanks, thanks so much again. Doctor Jennifer runs Pets Want Vetinary Services. Thanks thanks, doctor, appreciate it.

Thank you.

There comes to nine o'clock news, and on the other side of the news we're going to talk about prosecution or deportation. I will explain in full right after the night