It's night Side with Dan ray I'm busy Boston New Radio.
Thank you very much to call a certainly very serious night in the Middle East and Israel is doing what I think Israel has to do. We'll see how that all pans out, and we'll stay on top of that
throughout the night. As matter of fift we will have special reports at the bottom of every hour as this well morning will it's it's the middle of the night, literally middle of the night and in the Middle East, and we will not know what sort of damage it has been done until they do, you know, daylight assessments, and we'll we'll follow it. We'll have we'll have network reports for you at the bottom of every hour as well. Thanks to call hip. I hope that you have a
great weekend. My name is Dan raym the host of Nightside. Last night, the host was Morgan White. I want to thank Morgan for sitting in for me and allowing me to get a night off. And we have a Dan and Rob back in the control room as we do during our a program. We're lucky to have two producers back there, so it'd be nice to whoever answers the phone, either Dan or Rob we'll worry about answering the phones
at nine o'clock. We're going to talk a little bit later on tonight about an interesting case down in Providence, Rhode Island, where a group called ASCAP, they're the group that make sure that music rights are defended. They're suing a bar down in Providence, Rhode Island called Fish Company because they're playing music at karaoke night, which of course you would expect them to do at karaoke night. Later on tonight, we talked with Ken Gloss, the owner of
the Brattle Bookshop in Boston. Are talking about a big a couple of big book events, one particularly a week from this weekend, and then at eleven tonight we will have our last monthly Snap twenty twenty four presidential election poll. We've started doing this on every last Friday night of the month, beginning in March, April, May, June, July, August, September, and now October, so you'll be able to get through
and tell us who would you vote for? But we're not asking who you think is gonna win, but who will you vote for. We'll get to all of that, but first we have a four guests to interview and introduce you to hearing here during the eight o'clock hour of Nightside News Update with us is doctor Jeffrey Greenwald. Doctor Greenwald is the interfaith Walk art organizer from Temple Beth David, which I believe is in Westwood. Doctor Jeffrey Greenwald. Welcome to Nightside. How are you?
I'm well?
Thanks for having me.
Sure the Temple bet David is in Westwood? I believe, is that correct?
That's correct?
Yeah, the the Interfaith Walk for Hunger has been sponsored by that temple. This is actually our fifteenth year.
Yeah, fifteenth year into interfaith. You call it a mini walk for hunger to benefit Project Bread. Everybody's familiar with Project Bread. Is this something that this temple is doing independently? Are there a lot of temples, churches, mosques doing the same thing this weekend? Are you part of an overall effort or is this a standalone walk that people can participate in this weekend?
That's right, this is an independent walk. We are affiliated with Project Bread, but it is a something that the temple has been premiering for about twenty years. We haven't been able to have a walk every year, so this is our fifteenth but we are We're doing this as a solo site, and we collaborate with the Islamic Center of New England and a number of churches and other temples around the Westwood, Needham, Dedham, Norwood, Walpole area and
Sharon area. So we have collaborators who we work with along the way from all of those different communities.
So is it one location are there several walks going on simultaneously the in these various communities.
Yeah, good question. So everything is based at the temple in Westwood on Claboratory Street. We get started around one point thirty with registration at two o'clock. We have our welcoming speeches and get everybody walking by about two twenty two thirty this Sunday, and all are welcome to join, even if you're not a member of a specific faith organization. But all the members from all those other towns join us at the temple in Westwood.
Okay, so you must have a pretty big crowd over the years. What do you let me tell you? What do you expect? Hopefully the weather will be good. I think it's supposed to be another beautiful October weekend. Maybe a little cooler this weekend. The cooler the last few days, but certainly good for walking. What sort of a crowd do you hope or what sort of a crowd have you been able to generate in the past.
Well, in years past, we've had somewhere between seventy five one hundred and twenty five people, I would guess is sort of our average range. And the other thing that we enjoy is many of our walkers bring friendly dogs, which makes it that much more fun for everybody else. And uh, yeah, no, it's always a great event, and we you know, especially this time. I keep I keep
saying this year is particularly important. But with everything going on in the Middle East, as your your predecessor was talking about, I think it is that much more important that we show that actually, when you bring people together from different faith traditions and different faith organizations, that we have so much more in common than we do have differences, especially in our in our in how we feel about the importance of coming together as a community and supporting each other.
Yeah, I mean there's such cohesion and cooperation here. I'm not sure that we're going to find much cohesion and cooperation in the Middle East, despite all of the efforts of good people from every background over there. It just seems to me that there are some people who do not want peace in the Middle East, and I happen
to be someone who's very sensitive and concerned. I'm not Jewish, but I happen to be very sensitive and concerned about what has happened for the last seventy five years to the Middle East only democracy, and that of course is the state of Israel. They have been under constant pressure and bombardment, and of course tonight Israel is taking their offensive. And let us hope, all of us, you know, pray for peace obviously, but also pray for the survival of Israel under any circumstances.
So it is a.
Canine friendly walk, which is important. And the reason I asked you how many people, it's not an overwhelming number of people. You're not talking about five thousand or ten thousand people when we talk about the marathon. So with this essentially means if people can probably find some parking spaces, they can get there pretty easily. And I think that's an advantage of this. You get to meet a lot of different people from the communities that you This seems
to me to be a win in every respect. So where should people you know who are not from the temple and who maybe live right in the immediate area and are going to walk. But if someone wants to come from any distance and they're going to have to drive, how easy is parking availability?
It's very easy. We have parking right at the temple. I wish we had the problem of having five thousand people were parking.
I understand that, but I actually like a smaller group because that way you can really get to know everybody. I think it's a I think it's a wonderful idea with what you're doing. It's a great cost project bread and also it's an opportunity for people to really mix and mingle. And sometimes, like you're trying to mix and mingle at a Patriots game or Red Sox game, you
don't meet anybody you're sitting in your seat. This is a great opportunity for people of different backgrounds, from different communities to get together on a project that they all agree upon. So I commend you, and I commend you for keeping You're going now nearly twenty years, and obviously I'm sure that a couple of years that you took off were COVID related.
So best of that was a big part of it.
Yeah, let's hope that you get great weather and you get a good turnout and everybody enjoys themselves and you raise a little bit of money. Doctor Jeffrey Greenwald, the Interfaith Walk organizer from Temple Death David in Westwood, Massachusetts. And is there a website we can direct people too? How can people get more information if they're not able to take notes from our conversation?
Sure? Yeah.
The easiest way is you can google us directly at Interfaith Walk for Hunger and that will bring you to our page on the Project Bread page. Or you can go to Just for the Walk.
For Hunger.
Main page, which is also through Project Bread, and you can look up our team which is called the Interfaith Walk. And so either way is fine, and you can register to come, and if you want to just come and walk with us, you can register on the day of. We will have people there, so you can register in advance or make donations in advance to that through that web page, or you can come and do it on the day of. And the more of the merrier. We would love to have anyone there who is interested in
getting to meet some members of the community. And as you said, meet somebody you don't already know, maybe from a different faith tradition.
All are welcome Sunday, October twenty seventh, this Sunday, beginning at two o'clock again. The address is seven Clapboard Tree Street in Westwood. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time tonight on a Friday night best of Liney.
Thanks for having me.
You're very welcome, Doctor.
Banwell, I appreciate it.
Well, get back. We're going to go to another community, that's Salem, Massachusetts, where there is a Salem themed Wiji board created by a local board company, board game company. I'm probably the only person who's listening to this radio station now who has never played a Wiji board, has no idea what they are, and we're going to talk with an individual who's going to explain it to me and explain it to you. Coming back on Nightside of this WBZ Boston. My name is Dan Ray, the host
of Nightside again. Thanks to Morgan White and his guests last night for taking care of business, and we'll take care of business from here until midnight. Stick with us. What gets you all the way to Saturday morning.
Now back to Dan Ray live from the window World Nice Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Well, if there's anybody who knows less about weizia boards in the world than me, I don't know who that could be, but someone who probably knows a lot about it is the co founder and vice chairman of Winning Moves Games USA, Phil Orbani's senior Phil. I hope I pronounced that last name correctly. Is it Orbani's or Almos?
It's Urbans Orban's.
Okay, fine, okay, I like that You're an urbane guy, and it's pronounced as I like.
Thank you for very much. It's nice to be with you, Dan.
Nice to be with you, Phil. I have no idea what a weedsa board is. I don't think I certainly know the phrase. And is this something that predicts life's events for people? Or is it this I know is a Salem themed wija board. But just explain to me what a wija board is and then we'll get into more specifics about this one.
Yeah.
Well, the wija board is what you want it to be. I think that's probably the easiest way to describe it. It started off Dan in the late eighteen hundreds as a means to enter the spiritual world and communicate with those who have gone beyond. But as time has gone on, it's become far more appealing to people as a means to ask questions about the future generally and get an answer.
Okay, so I get that. I think now I'm honing in on it. Okay, so you've turned that concept into a Salem themed wegiboard. Yeah, well networks.
Well Weegia has a long and fascinating history, mainly in Baltimore, merylin But in nineteen sixty seven, the family that had made it all that time realized that they couldn't keep up with demand, so they accepted a fairly lucrative offer from Salem based Parker Brothers. And that's a company that I always regarded as being the best game company in the world. And I was delighted in nineteen seventy nine to get a job offer and to come up here. And I've been part of the New England community with
my family ever since. And from the day that I started at Parker Brothers, I watched Luija game being produced in our factory. And it is a very board game like device. It consists of a a wooden board, generally press wood is the type of wood that you use, and on this board are printed all the letters of the alphabet, the numbers one through nine and then zero, as well as the words yes and no. In addition to that, the only other component is a heart shaped
piece of plastic on four little legs. That's called a plan chet, which basically means little plank in French. And if you and I were sitting on opposite sides of auija board and we ask a question, like any question, you can think of, what it rained tomorrow?
And how about this? Am I going to win the wtery?
Right?
That's an even better question?
Uh?
You On Sunday, you and I would lightly touch our fingers on this plant sheet and lo and behold it would start to move and would successively point to letters that might spell out a name if we ask, for example, you know what's Let's say we were teenagers and we asked, what's the name of my next girlfriend going to be? And it might spell out Mary, you know, and that's
pretty exciting. It seems to be very inexplicable how this happens, and many people have theories on it, but it does give you an answer.
Well, so you're saying that did you ask a question like, whatever you know of some teenager who's named my next girlfriend that that, somehow, some way this little device which is plastic. Yeah, we'll point two letters yep, and you've got to figure out what them that was. Let us spell or spell.
Well, it'll it'll point them out in order. And see. The thing is really you have to you have you have a hand from each of your apartment. You have a finger from each of your hands on one end of the plant shed. I have it on the other. And something about the vibrations in our fingers causes the plant shed to move because it's on these little legs that permit it to slide easily or glide easily across
the board. And I've seen some people who are really into the Wija use it for a long period of time each day to get answers.
So what about if you and I were playing this board next May and I asked, who's going to win the Kentucky Derby on Saturday? You're telling you go ahead, the chances are it'll give you an answer.
Yes, okay, you know, just one little aside. But my favorite Reigi's story is that while I was at Parker Brothers, I was working for a delightful man named Bill Dorman, who told me that in ninety in the spring of nineteen forty four, he was seven years old and he and his friends asked the wija board what day will
be d Day? And the answer came back June sixth. Now, the thing that's remarkable about that is that General Eisenhower planned the invasion for June fifth, and bad weather delayed by a day.
Wow.
Wow, that's a little spooky.
Yeah, yes, it certainly is.
Well, I gotta tell you, I've learned a lot about wija boys. So if tell us how can folks get the Salem themed board, I assume they can just go to Winning Moves Games USA.
Well, if you're in Salem, you can go to the PbD Essex Museum and in their gift shop they have a very nice display and story about the Salem wija And I would just say that Salem sort of suggested to us that we do this because the wija board otherwise it's just generic. It's very attractive, but they thought that given all these.
You know, I hate to do this year, but Phil, we have a network news feed which I have to take again. Winning Moves Games USA and Salem, mass Phil. I'm going to have you back. I want to learn more. Okay, thanks, thank you so much.
Night Side with Dan Ray ONBZ, Boston's news radio.
But we changed our starting lineup just a little bit here hitting number three tonight. He was going to hit cleanup. Thankfully. It's Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, the Boston Globe Celtics reporter. Hey, Gary, thanks for coming back to night Side. How are you?
Oh good? How are you good?
We had a guest, a little bit of a mess up on our third guest, so thanks for being available on such short notice. It's like having someone get up in the bullpen and give them two warm up pitchers. So we're talking about the Boston Globes twenty twenty four NBA predictions. It's a tough thing for an NBA team to repeat, no matter how good they are. This is a great team. But the five experts from the Globe are predicting that the Celtics will repeat. Let's talk about
the obstacles that they'll have to overcome. They played a lot more basketball last spring than at last winter than any other team in the league. Isn't that the biggest hurtle a defending championship team, no matter how good they are, have to overcome.
Yeah, I mean what you have to do is you have to overcome injury, complacency, lack of focus, thinking that hey, you know we are you know we've been here before, so we know what we're doing and don't worry what we got this and you have to enter that next season with that type of focus and that type of mentality that every game is important and that the season that you just accomplished that amazing. This season, you've got all the rings, you're told how great you are, Well
that's over. And so I think that, quite honestly, that's what the Celtics have to do, and I think that's what they're trying to do, is to just move forward. Okay, you know, the parade has happened. They were given you know, their rings, you know opening night, they look great. They got all these cool jackets they raised in the garden.
Well that's fantastic. Now let's play basketball, because you've got twenty nine other teams who have no concern and no care about the Celtics and being a playoff hang or championship hangover and feeling good about the Cells are not feeling good about themselves or meeting a couple of more
weeks like no one cares about that. So they have to essentially play like they haven't won anything, and that's the most important thing, just playing with that harsh mentality, that hard mentality, is that focused mentality that every game is important. And of course they're gonna have their ups
and downs. They're going to have their injuries, they're going to have games where they probably should have played better, could have played better, all the issues that come with an NBA season, But they have to essentially face it unphased and keep it moving and prepare for a.
Well, you know, it's funny amongst the experts, the five Globe experts, each of you think, yeah, they can do it. Three of you, including yourself, think that the biggest threat is going to come from the thunder Oklahoma City thunder one Grizzlies, in one Dallas MAVs. Nobody has denver repeating. In the West, the consensus is that the team that they're going to have to eventually deal with is Oklahoma City.
Yeah, in Oklahoma City obviously look great in their opener. They're a team that's rising, they're young. Uh, they feel like they got their kind of playoff hiccups out last season and they lost in the conference semi finals despite having the number one seed. They've got a great young team, a bunch of guys who have never been there before, but they've all grown together. So's it's a lot of
you know, reasons to like Oklahoma City. Shay Gillithalleyxxam there, Jalen Williams, you know, a lot of great players, Chant Holmgren. They made the acquisition offseason for Alex Caruso that are in defender. They got a big man that they needed, Isiah Hartensteide. So this team has made a necessary moves. Obviously not in a popular market eight market, you know,
in terms of like popularity in Oklahoma City. But this is the type of team that has made a bunch of trades and acquisitions and you know, over the years to get a good amount of young players, especially through the draft, and now they feel like they can contend. So there's no reason not to like Oklahoma City.
So just just coming back to the to the task in front of the Boston Celtics. I keep thinking about the extra games and the wear and tear on a team that goes, you know, wins the championship, goes as deep into the playoffs as you can. And in addition, you have at least two of the Celtics, or with it, there were three, was true Holiday on the Olympic team as well, obviously Derek White the Olympic team three.
Yep.
Yeah, So now again it's just it's just more where and tier other players are hitting golf balls or are relaxing around the pool or at the beach. Uh does this are you concerned about? You know, the Celtic's off to a great start. Obviously, they they handled the Knicks, they handled the Wizards, two easy wins. They're in Detroit. I think tomorrow night. Detroit's not a great team, so that I think they'll be three and oh to start, which is gonna be great. Were concerned about are you
concerned about? And obviously you're not. But I'm just should we be concerned about how they're going to look in February and March as they get into the get into the playoffs in April?
Because I think the depth, Yeah, I think that's where the depth lies where even a game like uh, you know, last night against the Washington Wizards Jason Tatum did not play the fourth quarter. Jalen Brown came out with about nine or ten minutes left in the game. The same thing happened against the Knicks. Both guys played about the record.
That's which you want, twenty seven twenty eight minutes. If you can play your main guys twenty seven to twenty eight minutes, thirty one minutes if you're not playing thirty seven thirty eight, and that's good. They can. They can play every game. They can withstand a full regular season and have plenty left in the tank playing and in the low thirties as opposed to thirty seven or thirty eight.
If you see a lot of thirty seven, thirty eight, forty two's here and there, thirty nine, that's gonna, you know, roll up. And that's going to impact a lot of the veteran guys because that will get you tired. So I'm not as concerned about fatigue. I think they have
enough depth. That's why you sign all these guys, and that's why you spend the money and get into that second apron and pay all that money in terms of salary cap, and you bring Sam Housen back and Derek White and it is because Peyton Pritcher is because you need that depth for these situations. And that's what you know they have. They have players that they trust, and that's why they're going deep into their bench as they did against Washington and played, you know, guys who might
not have gotten a certain amount of minutes. But last night, you know, Joe Bazoo will put him in the game, gave him some burn and they were fine with it and they they worked out well. So I think the depth will help. But you know, if you're a Celtics fan, you definitely want to keep abreast of the minutes played fourteen and before Brown every game. And also to one thing that that helps them will help them as the
season progresses is Christautsporzingis. Now, this is a you know, a player who's often been injured and has not played a full season. He was able to make it through uh, you know, uh pretty well last season until he got hurt in the playoffs, and he played sixty five games
a year before. But he's gonna miss the first couple of months of the season, and as much as that they'll be hurt by that, he will come back in January or February fresh and ready to play three to four full months and they won't have to worry about fatigue for him and hopefully for them not worry about
any more injury. So the fact that he's taking let's say two to three months off his legs off his body to wear and tear of the NBA season will give them a fresher Christaphe Porzingis because remember he did not play much during the playoffs, and he missed several games during the playoffs. They did not have him as they could, you know, and if they did, obviously they may have made it a little bit easier for themselves than as much as it was easy at sixteen and
three record. But you give them a full healthy christaph Porzingis in the playoffs. This team couldn't be there than last year.
Yeah, it was interesting. I still going with a box score. I mean, there's a twenty point win last night, but actually the game wasn't that close because they lit by as much as looks like twenty five and all fourteen players who dressed last night got a little bit of time, and that doesn't happen very often, particularly late in the season in the NBA. Gary always great to talk with you, I certainly hope that all of you guys over at the Globe are right on this, because this is a
likable team. They seem to be good citizens and obviously they've been. They're great players, and it's the Bruins looked like they were in a little bit of trouble, the Patriots are kind of having a tough time of it, and who knows what the Red Sox. I think the Celtics pretty soon are going to be the favorite team at least for the next few years here in the city of Boston. And Gary, I really appreciate you taking the time and again stepping up tonight for a little
a little bit early here, that's for sure. Well, we'll check in with you during the season, if that's okay. I really I enjoy yourself in the Globe, and I enjoy chatting with you because it gives me some insight into basketball that I might not have ordinarily appreciated so much. Gary Washburn and the Boston Globe.
Okay, thanks, sounds great, look forward to talking again.
All right, Thanks Garry. All right, we're going to see if we can round up our fourth guest. We'll give it our best shot, and at the meantime, we'll take a very quick break here at Nightside. My name is Dan Ray, and we'll be right back.
Now back to Dan Ray, mine from the Window World, night Side Studios on WBZ the News Radio.
All right, so we're having a little bit of a difficulty, a little bit of difficulty reaching our fourth guest. Sometimes that happens in this world, but it's always unfortunate when it does. So they're talking right now, and gentlemen, you can tell me in my ear what the situation is, okay right now or what? Well, yeah, I'll tell you something. Okay, Yeah, blow her away, blow it up, blow it up. I don't want to do it. I'm I'm gonna preview what
we have coming up. This is we have there's a story that some of you may have read about in the Boston Globe. It's an interesting story. It's a story about a bar down in Providence, Rhode Island. And the bar in Providence, Rhode Island, like a lot of bars, basically is a karaoke bar. And of course, I think everybody in the audience, if you've never been to a karaoke bar, you probably know what a karaoke bar is. It's where people are invited to come up and sing
a few songs. Well, there's a group called the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. It's called ACECAP. ACECAP. They basically enforce the copyright that writers and musicians and composers have on their work, which is perfectly understandable. Which
is perfectly understandable. However, ACECAP in order to get small locations, obviously in order for iHeartMedia or for the major television networks NBCCBS, ABC, Fox, CNN to use any sort of music, they have to pay a use fee to the owners of the copyright. And the way they do this and I'm somewhat familiar with it, but we'll get more get
more information on it. Under the Copyright Act of nineteen seventy six, people who have places of entertainment where they are earning money for people who come in through the doors. And the reason I'm setting this upisode I want to get right to the subject of the nine o'clock news right after the nine o'clock news. As CAP represents one million songwriters, composers, music publishers, and licenses the performances of songs.
And this is in an article that I'm quoting from which is out of the Boston Globe of earlier this week. So apparently this bar in probably every other bar in America who has a karaoke night, It's unclear to me whether or not they had a playlist or whether or not they invited people to come up, and the people would say, well, I know how to sing YMCA or I know how to sing this song or that song, and people get up and generally they've had a couple of drinks to encourage them to get up in front
of the crowd. And it's entertaining, to say the least. So this bar called Fish Company apparently was visited one night in May by an investigator, and that particular night, which which was which was sent there, the investigator obviously was sent there by ASCAP. I'm sure they must have had some indication that musical entertainment's going on and that included songs, and of course the investigated reported back to ASCAP.
So there are about I guess nine lawsuits that are being take that have been initiated around the country against again smaller bars and places of entertainment that probably think they could get away with it.
Now.
According to the Globe article license fees averaged less than two dollars a day, and ensures that its members can earn a living from their art. Okay, we're going to talk with an individual from ASCAP. We invited the owner of the restaurant Fish Company, because frankly, I'm sort of sympathetic to some person who's trying to, you know, get a few extra people in the door. And they do it by coming up with karaoke night, which is which is popular, and now they're being asked to pay a
couple of bucks a night. Now, if that's what it costs, and it's two dollars a night every night they're open over the course of a year, that could probably be about seven hundred dollars when you think they're open three hundred, you know, sixty nights a year. Conversely, conversely, if if they don't do it, they're now going to face a federal lawsuit from ASCAP seeking damages of anywhere from seven hundred and fifty dollars to thirty thousand dollars for each
of the three songs that were utilized that were played. Now, again, I don't go to a lot of karaoke nights, so maybe what they do is they pick the three songs, and I guess the songs in question were the thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks, I Wandered by Keith Sweat and some sort of nineteen ninety seven hit Too Close By the next Those are the three songs that were played. So as a consequence, we're going to take up this
this topic. It seems to me that the big music providers, for example, sports stadiums which are always playing songs, network newscasts which sometimes have songs incorporated into their news coverage, they know they can afford, they can well afford to pay it. Of course, there's a heck of a lot more small lounges and bars and clubs where karaoke has
performed that there are major music venues. And as a consequence of all of that, I think it's an interesting question, and we will talk with an individual who is a representative of ASCAP. I believe We're also going to be joined by someone who writes songs, and I'm going to
ask you to participate. Is your sympathy with as CAAP, because they say they're trying to protect the rights of song writers and singers and musicians and all of that, or do you have a little bit of sympathy in heart for the owner of a small bar that it might make a difference whether they have karaoke night or not. So that's going to be the question coming up here on the other side of the nine o'clock News, and we will continue to catch up with all the news
that's going on, particularly in the Middle East. Are we coming up on a hard out, guys, or are we ready to go right now? Okay, we'll wrap it up here and we'll be back with you right after the nine o'clock news. You've heard the setup for the first story. Later on time, we're going to talk with Ken Gloss about a couple of big book events coming up in Boston. And then tonight at eleven and the twentieth hour, the
final twenty twenty four presidential election poll. You'll have a chance to weigh in coming back on nightside.