Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on doubling Busy Boston's
Speaker 1: new radio.
Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Nicole. It is a Friday night, the
Speaker 2: last Friday, the thirtieth of August. Only have one more
Speaker 2: day in August. It's amazing to think that this weekend
Speaker 2: will bring us September, but that's what the calendar tells me,
Speaker 2: and the calendar does in line. My name is Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: Rob Brooks, the producer of the program, is back in
Speaker 2: the control room at Broadcast Central. He'll set you up
Speaker 2: with telephone calls right after nine o'clock. At nine, we'll
Speaker 2: talk about that horrific double tragedy down in New Jersey
Speaker 2: late yesterday which two young brothers, one in NHL Superstar
Speaker 2: and the other guy who was still honing his talents
Speaker 2: and played for the Worcester rail Riders for a while,
Speaker 2: the Gudreaux brothers hitting killed a Leslie by drunk driver.
Speaker 2: We'll talk about that at nine. It's going to be
Speaker 2: a tough hour, but I think some of you may
Speaker 2: have some stories that will in the mood. Just a
Speaker 2: horrible story later on tonight. No big problems at Somerville
Speaker 2: Central Library, where the teenagers have been acting up we
Speaker 2: will talk with the Somerville City councilor about what can
Speaker 2: be done. I've got a few ideas as to what
Speaker 2: could be done. And then in the twentieth hour, we
Speaker 2: will have, as we do every eleventh hour, on the
Speaker 2: last Friday of the month, which is the last Friday
Speaker 2: of the month, obviously being August thirtieth, there's only two
Speaker 2: more days, one more day left in the month, we
Speaker 2: will do a real snap presidential poll and the I
Speaker 2: think the presidential contenders serious presidential contenders are down to
Speaker 2: two at this point. I think I know who we're
Speaker 2: talking about. But before we get to all of that,
Speaker 2: we're going to start off our first guest tonight. I'm
Speaker 2: not sure if Jim McBride has joined us before, but
Speaker 2: I enjoy his writing in the Boston Globe. As I've
Speaker 2: told others, Jim, when I get my Globe in the morning,
Speaker 2: first thing I go to is the sports page, and
Speaker 2: you get to write for the Boston of sports page
Speaker 2: and the best sport page, best sports page in the country.
Speaker 2: In my opinion, how are you tonight?
Speaker 3: I'm doing great And I couldn't agree more on that assessment.
Speaker 2: Yes, I'll bet you would. I bet you would agree
Speaker 2: with me. So, so you're following an Olympic bronze medalist.
Speaker 2: You did a piece which I read online yesterday. I
Speaker 2: assume it's in the print version today about an Olympic medalist,
Speaker 2: bronze medalist from China, and I did not realize she
Speaker 2: now has Boston as an adoptive home. She's playing this
Speaker 2: week at the LPGA event. Tell us about how she
Speaker 2: did in the Olympics, which obviously was really good, how
Speaker 2: she's doing this weekend, and how is it that a
Speaker 2: gold medal, bronze medals from China, how is it that
Speaker 2: she has come and has picked Boston as her adoptive home. Well,
Speaker 2: we're thrilled to have her here. But I just it's
Speaker 2: a great story, Go right ahead.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So, her fiance is a Bostonian, Barney Wang is
Speaker 3: his name, and uh where they met I'm not quite sure,
Speaker 3: but uh, you know, once they developed that relationship, she
Speaker 3: kind of adopted Boston as her as her American base
Speaker 3: because he lives here. And uh so she was really
Speaker 3: excited to get the chance to play in an LPGA
Speaker 3: tournament near her adopted home.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: She's coming off, you know, a very busy month she
Speaker 3: she she represented China and the Olympics and and was
Speaker 3: kind of a surprise bronze winner. You know, she hasn't
Speaker 3: she doesn't want a ton on on on either tour,
Speaker 3: on the China on China's LPGA tour or the American tour,
Speaker 3: but she kind of came out of nowhere and and
Speaker 3: won that bronze medal, and it's probably the biggest uh
Speaker 3: you know, feather hunder captive to this point.
Speaker 2: Now, how tough is it for a woman who's a
Speaker 2: professional professional golfer to get access out of China to
Speaker 2: be able to you know, fulfill her career ambitions, not
Speaker 2: only in the Olympics, but on the LBGA Tour LPGA
Speaker 2: tour here in America.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not sure the politics behind it and and
Speaker 3: how that that happened, whether she went to college in
Speaker 3: America or not, I'm not really sure. We didn't have
Speaker 3: a we didn't get to spend a ton of time
Speaker 3: with her on Tuesday, but she did have some some
Speaker 3: interesting stories about you know, being uh, you know in
Speaker 3: this country and and now playing on this tour. And
Speaker 3: you know, she's uh, you know, obviously bilingual, and she
Speaker 3: speaks really well and I think that she's, you know,
Speaker 3: she's kind of an up and coming star on on
Speaker 3: this tour. She even has an English name. She goes
Speaker 3: by Janet now, which is you know, unusual.
Speaker 2: Yeah, give me the correct pronunciation. I didn't dare try.
Speaker 2: The last name is Lynn, so that's similar to the
Speaker 2: to the kid that played for the New York Next
Speaker 2: no relation.
Speaker 3: I assume, yeah that was that was Jeremy. Her pronunciation
Speaker 3: is you Julie you jun uh?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 3: She uh she she goes by. She even has jan
Speaker 3: on her bag now. She has you Janet Lynn on
Speaker 3: her on a golf bag, so easily recognizable. She also
Speaker 3: has a Celtics putter cover because she loves the Celtics.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Uh, your your piece talked about. I guess she
Speaker 2: was at Red Sox game last night and she's really
Speaker 2: beginning to become accustomed to the city. And if, if,
Speaker 2: if Boston is her hometown, then she will be our
Speaker 2: adoptive favorite on the l B G G A. That's
Speaker 2: that is for sure. How is the tour the l
Speaker 2: p G A tour going. All of us are familiar
Speaker 2: with the w n B A uh and of course
Speaker 2: the w n B A is a fraction of the
Speaker 2: money that is involved in the.
Speaker 5: N b A.
Speaker 2: N b A is the l p g A making
Speaker 2: some inroads you know on the on the women's women's tour.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So this is the inaugural f M Championship at
Speaker 3: EPC Boston, which for years hosted the men in the
Speaker 3: on the PGA tour. In the FedEx Cup was the
Speaker 3: deutsch Bank. It was the Dell Technologies and it was
Speaker 3: a Northern trust. Always had Tiger Woods as one of
Speaker 3: their main draws and he was a you know, a
Speaker 3: chairman of the deutsch Bank. So uh, that ended a
Speaker 3: couple of years ago when the FedEx Cup went from
Speaker 3: four tournaments to three. They they ended up chopping off
Speaker 3: the Boston leg of the tour, unfortunately. But this has
Speaker 3: been an opportunity for you know, a great course, TPC
Speaker 3: Boston in Norton to host another world class event. And
Speaker 3: you know, the crowds were a little sparse, I have
Speaker 3: to be honest on Thursday and Friday, but I think
Speaker 3: that you know, Saturday and Sunday's crowds will be will
Speaker 3: be much bigger. And there are some local draws other
Speaker 3: than than Janet, there's Megan Kaye who's from Rockland. Uh,
Speaker 3: she's she's an up and comer on the LPGA tour.
Speaker 3: You know. Alex Pano is another girl from Stoughton. Uh,
Speaker 3: she's on the tour now. So I think the crosse
Speaker 3: this weekend will be will be much bigger.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's interesting. It's always great to see
Speaker 2: there have been there have been a few New Englanders,
Speaker 2: you know. Uh o Keegan Bradley comes to mind on
Speaker 2: on the PGA tour. But it New England is not
Speaker 2: a fertile ground for golfers because obviously the golf season
Speaker 2: except on Cape Cod is pretty limited, uh, you know
Speaker 2: to what they can do in other other parts of
Speaker 2: the country.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: And so it's great to see either some uh some
Speaker 2: some native born Bostonians or some adoptive Bostonians begin to
Speaker 2: make some inroads in golf. Because of all the sports. Uh,
Speaker 2: I wish that I had learned a golf really well
Speaker 2: when I was young, or tennis. The carryover sports. Everybody
Speaker 2: in my generation to play baseball, hockey, football, if you're
Speaker 2: big enough, basketball, but there's not a lot of carryover
Speaker 2: benefit both in terms of social interaction but also business interaction.
Speaker 2: So the song may you know, Mama, don't let your
Speaker 2: sons to grow up to be cowboys, but Mama, let
Speaker 2: your sons and daughters grow up to be pro golfers
Speaker 2: or pro tennis players.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, it's a sport you can play your whole life, right, you.
Speaker 2: Bet you, You bet you that. And cornhole, which is
Speaker 2: now that's what anyone could play, hey, Jim McBrien, Yeah, oh,
Speaker 2: I know that's the thing. Yeah, they're actually broadcasting cornhole
Speaker 2: tournaments and it's like it's a fun game. Don't get
Speaker 2: me wrong, But in terms of the amount of preps
Speaker 2: you need to get good at that compared to professional
Speaker 2: golf for professional tennis, significant difference. Jim, thanks so much,
Speaker 2: love to have you back. I always love stories in
Speaker 2: sports that that take us into the sport through the minds,
Speaker 2: through the eyes, and the experience of particularly someone in
Speaker 2: the in the field that we can start to root for.
Speaker 2: So great, great piece today, Thanks so much.
Speaker 3: Well, Thanks Dan, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Enjoy your weekend. By the way. That's that's a good
Speaker 2: gig you got going there, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not fair. I never take that for granted,
Speaker 3: and I'm watching sports for a living.
Speaker 2: Thanks Jim, Thank you so much. Oh, so we'll go
Speaker 2: from sports with a Globe Rider. We're going to talk
Speaker 2: next with Larry Edelman, Boston Globe Financial columnis and he's
Speaker 2: talking about the fact that the Massachusetts unemployment rate has
Speaker 2: gone up to its highest level in four years, but
Speaker 2: it's because people are getting off the sidelines and they're
Speaker 2: looking for jobs. We'll talk to Larry Edelman right after
Speaker 2: this break. On Nightside. You're listening to WBZ ten thirty
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Speaker 2: and dining pleasure and also your informational in news stories.
Speaker 2: We'll be back on Night's Side right after this. Now
Speaker 2: back to Dan ray Line from the Window World Studios
Speaker 2: on w b Z Teams Radio. We all are affected
Speaker 2: by the economy, obviously, and the economy is always affected
Speaker 2: by the employment and the unemployment rate, and the unemployment
Speaker 2: rate here in Massachusetts has just jumped up a little
Speaker 2: bit with us. Is Larry Edelman, Boston Globe columnist. He
Speaker 2: is I think, along with John Cesto, just two of
Speaker 2: the best writers that they can explain what's going on
Speaker 2: in the marketplace. Larry Edelman, welcome, Welcome back to Night's Side.
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, we got a little bit of
Speaker 2: a bump here in our unemployment number, highest level in
Speaker 2: four years. But I guess there's a reason for this.
Speaker 5: There is, Dan. You got to keep in mind that
Speaker 5: the unemployment rate is based on what they call the
Speaker 5: labor force, and so it's the percentage of the labor
Speaker 5: force that doesn't have a job. So it's not only
Speaker 5: layoffs that create unemployed people. It's when people come off
Speaker 5: the sidelines when they haven't been working, when they didn't
Speaker 5: even want a job. But when they come back to
Speaker 5: the job market, they are counted as unemployed too. So
Speaker 5: what we've been seeing.
Speaker 2: What's happened then in the last couple of months. I mean,
Speaker 2: I would assume if someone was unemployed a year ago,
Speaker 2: or lost their job a year and a half ago,
Speaker 2: that they would have immediately tried to figure out what's
Speaker 2: next in their career. So people stayed on the sidelines,
Speaker 2: didn't even look for work. Did they have great severance
Speaker 2: packages or were there some government programs which would kind
Speaker 2: of you know, tied to them, over tied to them
Speaker 2: over What caused that phenomenon.
Speaker 5: Well, there were people who had, you know, the government
Speaker 5: stimulus checks that came out following the pandemic. And the
Speaker 5: economists that I talked to out at mass Benchmarks at
Speaker 5: UMass Stami Hue Institute, they believe that part of the
Speaker 5: increase in the labor force is people who are coming
Speaker 5: back and starting to look for work because they've run
Speaker 5: out of those savings that they had from the pandemic,
Speaker 5: so they need to go to they need to go
Speaker 5: back to work. They also think that there are some
Speaker 5: people who are coming back to Massachusetts after having left
Speaker 5: during the pandemic to work from home, you know, maybe
Speaker 5: their parents' house, or just to work in a cheaper place.
Speaker 5: So there are a couple of things going on there
Speaker 5: that are driving up the number of people looking for
Speaker 5: work and therefore the number of people counted as unemployed.
Speaker 2: Okay, so what you're saying is some folks who left
Speaker 2: the Commonwealth and who were not looking for a job
Speaker 2: in the Commonwealth that that pushed that quotion to whatever
Speaker 2: that number down. And now because they're coming back and
Speaker 2: actively looking that is contributed to the number four point
Speaker 2: six percent. At what point does that number start to
Speaker 2: really get worriesome? Because reading your piece today, it sounded
Speaker 2: as if, okay, this is kind of part of the
Speaker 2: the ebb and flow of the workforce. Four point six
Speaker 2: is in bad We always learned that, you know, four
Speaker 2: percent back in the day was considered you know, a
Speaker 2: theoretical full employment, but maybe not.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I would say that we would not want to
Speaker 5: see the unemployment rate in Massachusetts go much higher, you know,
Speaker 5: certainly no more than five percent, and I think even
Speaker 5: that would be a lot and not a good sign.
Speaker 5: You know. The Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said last
Speaker 5: week that, you know, he thought that the job market
Speaker 5: had cooled and that it was now healthy but not overheated.
Speaker 5: And at the same time, he said he wouldn't like
Speaker 5: to see any more substantial cooling. So what you've got
Speaker 5: to hope for is that all these workers that are
Speaker 5: coming in to the job market are you know, gradually
Speaker 5: absorbed by employers, and that keeps the unemployment rate from
Speaker 5: rising much further. That's the positive scenario.
Speaker 2: I looked at the interesting chart that you had associated
Speaker 2: with your story today that back when the pandemic began,
Speaker 2: we had about three point seven three point eight million
Speaker 2: people working in Massachusetts March of twenty twenty wis just
Speaker 2: when it really hit. Yeah, and the lowest point was
Speaker 2: about three point five in April of twenty twenty, about
Speaker 2: a year later. So about three hundred thousand people washed
Speaker 2: out of the economy during that period of time, not
Speaker 2: quite ten percent, but getting pretty close. And now it's
Speaker 2: come back. The jobs have come back, and the back
Speaker 2: fairly quickly. I mean, you hit bottom in April, and
Speaker 2: you weren't back all the way for a long time,
Speaker 2: but you were back. We were back like eighty percent
Speaker 2: of the way in June of twenty twenty, and now
Speaker 2: it is only really since February this year started to
Speaker 2: spike up. It's an interesting graph when you look at
Speaker 2: it and you think about, Okay, you know we were
Speaker 2: in the pits here in terms of employment only for
Speaker 2: about two months, which is which.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was spiz me. Yeah, it was, you know,
Speaker 5: an unprecedented type of recession and loss of jobs very quick.
Speaker 5: When the business is closed when the health land dates
Speaker 5: went out. But then the rebound was like nothing we'd
Speaker 5: ever seen before either. The thing that had happened is
Speaker 5: that once as you identified, Massachusetts got back up to
Speaker 5: eighty ninety percent, it took a long time for the
Speaker 5: rest of that gap get filled up, for those years,
Speaker 5: for the labor force. Yeah, for the labor force to
Speaker 5: come back fully, you know what I mean. So that
Speaker 5: was why, Yeah, that is why. Always when you talk
Speaker 5: to employers, their number one issue was finding enough workers,
Speaker 5: you know, and that was up and down the economy,
Speaker 5: from restaurants you know, and hotels to you know it,
Speaker 5: you know, all kinds of white collar jobs. So there
Speaker 5: was a real labor shortage. And the good news about
Speaker 5: this increase in the unemployment rate is that because it's
Speaker 5: being driven by an increasing labor force, there are more
Speaker 5: people out there looking for work, and hopefully employers will
Speaker 5: be able to get some relief in terms of hiring.
Speaker 2: Your article identified that the increases. It shows increases among
Speaker 2: both men and women coming back into the workforce prime
Speaker 2: major workers twenty five to fifty four, as well as
Speaker 2: old the work is fifty five and above. We've all
Speaker 2: read the stories about people unretiring because of you know,
Speaker 2: the pressures of you know, eight nine percent inflation over
Speaker 2: the over the last years. Where do you think we're
Speaker 2: headed in the next the next six months, I mean,
Speaker 2: once once the new year turns, we turned the corner
Speaker 2: and we're into twenty twenty five. What's your best guess?
Speaker 5: Well, my best guess is just what I hear from
Speaker 5: the economists that I talk to. And at this point,
Speaker 5: nobody dan is forecasting a recession next year. That's the
Speaker 5: good news. The economy is clearly slowing down. But even
Speaker 5: in the most recent quarter of that, you know, the
Speaker 5: second quarter, we just got a revised GDP number of
Speaker 5: three percent, which is awful good. So even if things
Speaker 5: slow down, it shouldn't be too bad. So what we're
Speaker 5: hoping for, and I what I think the best case
Speaker 5: scenario is this kind of gradual landing, you know, where
Speaker 5: we settle into the two two and a half percent
Speaker 5: growth rate for the economy. That at least is what
Speaker 5: the consensus is among economists and forecasters.
Speaker 2: Okay, so this is a question that's out of I'm
Speaker 2: not sure if it's left field or right field. How
Speaker 2: do you reconcile all of these numbers and all of
Speaker 2: these percentages with that report that came out a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks ago that somehow someway the US Labor Department
Speaker 2: had overestimated by eight more than eight hundred thousand the
Speaker 2: jobs that have come back. That has to ripple somewhere.
Speaker 2: What do you make of that?
Speaker 5: Well, well, they do that every year. Those revisions happen.
Speaker 5: Sometimes they're big, like.
Speaker 2: They do it, they do it every month, they do it.
Speaker 5: They do it every month. But then they have the
Speaker 5: big one you know that they do, and they do
Speaker 5: the initial revision this time of year, and then they
Speaker 5: make it official I believe in January or so. And look, yes,
Speaker 5: the economy did not grow as quickly, or employment did
Speaker 5: not go as quickly grow as quickly as we've thought,
Speaker 5: but in the grand scheme of things, it was just
Speaker 5: a minor detour, not anything big to worry about.
Speaker 2: So that's that's still eight hundred and eighteen thousand jobs
Speaker 2: that theoretically, you know, aren't there. I guess you're putting
Speaker 2: that up against the theoretical number of fifteen million jobs.
Speaker 2: Is the idea that this is maybe a twelve percent.
Speaker 5: Differential, No, it's or because you're talking about one hundred
Speaker 5: and almost one hundred and sixty million jobs in this country.
Speaker 2: No, but I'm saying no, no, I get that. But
Speaker 2: they we're talking about fifty million. The Biden administration is
Speaker 2: saying we created fifteen million jobs. So you're saying we
Speaker 2: should use we should use one hundred and sixty million
Speaker 2: job figure as So it's one out, it's.
Speaker 5: One yeah, and and yes. And we're at record employment
Speaker 5: right now. I mean, there's never been as many people
Speaker 5: employed in this country, is there?
Speaker 2: You know, as many people in this country right right?
Speaker 5: Like you know in Massachusetts, it's happening without a lot
Speaker 5: of population growth down, which is an interesting twist. You know,
Speaker 5: you would have thought my first my first thought when this, uh,
Speaker 5: when I saw the labor force numbers was well, this
Speaker 5: must reflect immigration. But it doesn't because when you break
Speaker 5: down the numbers, it is almost all in white workers.
Speaker 5: And you know, there hasn't been a big increase for
Speaker 5: Latino workers. So if you're thinking about people coming over this,
Speaker 5: you know, the Mexico border and getting work in the
Speaker 5: United States, at least so far, that hasn't affected our
Speaker 5: labor force numbers here so far.
Speaker 2: Now, what about black, black employment. Is that bouncing back
Speaker 2: as well, or.
Speaker 5: Or is that you know, the black unemployment rate got
Speaker 5: to about it, Lois, It's been in a long long time,
Speaker 5: but in the beginning of this year it started to
Speaker 5: change direction and go up again. And I'm not quite
Speaker 5: sure what's going on there, you know, but at one
Speaker 5: point everybody was crowing about the record employment rate among
Speaker 5: Black Americans, and that has weakened a bit over the
Speaker 5: past six eight months.
Speaker 2: All right, Larry, you follow this stuff like I follow
Speaker 2: baseball box scores. I love the perspective and the insight
Speaker 2: that you I'm serious, I really mean that, and I
Speaker 2: followed baseball box scores pretty closely. Larry Edelman, Boston Globe columnist.
Speaker 2: Larry has always really enjoyed you whenever you come on,
Speaker 2: Come on back soon.
Speaker 5: Okay, thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Down, thanks much. When we get back on to talk
Speaker 2: with an author who wrote a book about her journey
Speaker 2: to America. It's called Taxi to America, a Greek Orphans
Speaker 2: adoption Journey. We'll be back right after the news the
Speaker 2: bottom of the Era. My name is Dan Ray. A
Speaker 2: Friday night on Nightside, coming right back.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 6: Hi, this is Steve Andres. Make your some pump happy
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Speaker 6: two two five some pump Geeks dot com.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Thanks to call. My next guest has a very interesting
Speaker 2: life experience. Her name is Stella Nahadis. She lives up
Speaker 2: on Boston's North North Shore. She's a proud Greek American.
Speaker 2: Her story began in Greece. Uh. She is a Greek
Speaker 2: orphan uh. And her story starts with a taxi cab
Speaker 2: bran uh. And that's the name of her book, Taxi
Speaker 2: to America, a Greek Orphans Adoption Journey. Stella Nahadis welcome
Speaker 2: to Nightside. Uh.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Dan, Thank thank you.
Speaker 2: Very much for being with us. Tell us how your
Speaker 2: life started. You were often in Greece.
Speaker 4: I was in Greece. The journey started when I was
Speaker 4: ten years old. My sister and I were orphaned and
Speaker 4: we were separated. Did you in Greece.
Speaker 2: I haven't read the book, but did you lose your
Speaker 2: parents or how or were you given up for adoption.
Speaker 4: I'll just say, well, our parents were killed, but I
Speaker 4: won't go into the details. It would be a spoiler.
Speaker 2: Okay, Okay, so we were, but I'm assuming that's I'm
Speaker 2: assuming that's in the book.
Speaker 4: It's in the book.
Speaker 2: Okay. So, so at ten years of age, you and
Speaker 2: your sister you left Greece.
Speaker 4: She did not correct. She was adopted by a couple
Speaker 4: in Greece. I was adopted by a Greek couple who
Speaker 4: lived in Boston and was brought to Boston. I grew
Speaker 4: up in the Brighton section.
Speaker 2: How was it that a little girl, a ten year
Speaker 2: old girl from Greece would be adopted by an American family.
Speaker 4: Well, it happened. Uh they were They were Greek. I
Speaker 4: will say they were Greek Americans. They went to Greece,
Speaker 4: uh To. They were childless, and they went to Greece
Speaker 4: to adopt a child. They wanted a daughter, and I
Speaker 4: happened to be available, Yes, and they brought me here.
Speaker 2: And you start off the story about leaving in a taxi.
Speaker 2: How long was your trip? Interesting to know how long
Speaker 2: your trip was from from Greece until you finally got
Speaker 2: here to Barlto.
Speaker 4: Well, the taxi ride actually took me to from Thessaloniki
Speaker 4: uh At, the second largest city in Greece up north
Speaker 4: the taxi ride took me from there to a village
Speaker 4: about forty eighty kilometers away from.
Speaker 2: Forty eight miles Okay, I did the man forty eight miles.
Speaker 4: From there. Biological mother's brother was in charge to take
Speaker 4: care to do something with us.
Speaker 1: Sure, I'll say.
Speaker 4: So, he found a couple to adopt my sister right away,
Speaker 4: and he did find a couple for me also locally nearby. However,
Speaker 4: because of my I have to say, at a very
Speaker 4: young age, at ten years old, something very strong and
Speaker 4: an inner guidance took over me, and I was not
Speaker 4: adopted at first the first choice that my uncle had.
Speaker 4: And again the details.
Speaker 2: Of that read the book. That's not a problem.
Speaker 4: That's with the details of that.
Speaker 2: Well, no, no, no need to go there. So how
Speaker 2: did you get to America?
Speaker 4: So the couple from America came and adopted me by
Speaker 4: that time, By that time, I was eleven years old,
Speaker 4: and they brought me to Boston.
Speaker 2: How much of a culture shock was that? Approximately, because
Speaker 2: you never asked a woman her age, or you never
Speaker 2: asked them a trick question that might give up their age.
Speaker 2: How much of a culture shock? What was going on
Speaker 2: in the Boston area that that that you can recall,
Speaker 2: you know, when you came here? What what? What surprised you?
Speaker 4: Dan? The first of all the language I was. I
Speaker 4: didn't speak any English. I flew all myself over here
Speaker 4: and I did not speak any English. The shock was
Speaker 4: going to going to sixth grade and not understanding anything
Speaker 4: that was going on. So what hit me was that
Speaker 4: I was strange. I wanted to go back to Greece.
Speaker 4: I didn't know the people that adopted me. They were Greeks,
Speaker 4: so that was comfortable that I could communicate with them
Speaker 4: in their immediate environment their friends. However, I felt isolated.
Speaker 4: I just cried every day and wanted to go back.
Speaker 2: How long was it before you began to feel comfortable
Speaker 2: here as someone coming here as an eleven year old
Speaker 2: girl from Greece.
Speaker 4: Once they took me out of the sixth grade and
Speaker 4: sent me to an SL class at the Christopher Columbus
Speaker 4: High School in Boston, and I began to learn English,
Speaker 4: So I would say three months, I was conversational and
Speaker 4: I began to not cry every day. Sure I remember that.
Speaker 2: That's the classic example. That's the classic example of the
Speaker 2: first steps to assimilation, to learn the language. Yes, absolutely,
Speaker 2: I'm a big believer. I suspect you are as well.
Speaker 4: An immersion. I learned it three months, I could converse
Speaker 4: and I felt more comfortable. Six months, I was fluent,
Speaker 4: and that fall I went to seventh grade and I
Speaker 4: did well, and that's when I began to feel comfortable.
Speaker 4: By eighth grade, I was I had friends. I was
Speaker 4: really assimulating, and I had already decided during my Christopher
Speaker 4: Columbus gig that I would assimilate and become an American girl.
Speaker 2: Okay, so who was your favorite rock star in those days?
Speaker 2: Tell me a little bit about what it was like this.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to picture the culture shop going from Greece.
Speaker 4: To culture Shop. I had to. It didn't happen because
Speaker 4: something else happened between during my eighth grade where I
Speaker 4: was again pulled out of the States and sent back
Speaker 4: to Greece again. I will not go into the DA.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well don't because we only had about two minutes
Speaker 2: left here.
Speaker 4: So but I came back and went back to eighth
Speaker 4: grade in high school, bright in high school, and then
Speaker 4: you know the Beatles were happening.
Speaker 2: Yes, so.
Speaker 4: I assimulated in participating in clubs. I had a wonderful teacher,
Speaker 4: and a shout out to the teachers who are mentors
Speaker 4: and make a difference in children's lives who encouraged me
Speaker 4: to join clubs when I get to high school too,
Speaker 4: and that also helped me to really become part of
Speaker 4: the American culture. And at the same when I was
Speaker 4: pulled both ways.
Speaker 2: So when when was the break? At what point did
Speaker 2: you reach the fork in the row where you said, okay,
Speaker 2: going back, staying back, returning degreees was maybe go back
Speaker 2: for visits, but to go back and live was not
Speaker 2: the option. I'm now a Greek American, I'm now an American,
Speaker 2: and I'm on that path of America. When was that moment?
Speaker 4: That moment was in sophomore year in high school, I
Speaker 4: would have to say. And also at that time, my
Speaker 4: adoptive mother died. I was sixteen, and at nineteen I
Speaker 4: was definitely the American girl who was staying in the States.
Speaker 4: My father died also, so I was on my own
Speaker 4: at nineteen, so I was not going back to Greece
Speaker 4: to live, and I was left to carve my own
Speaker 4: American dream, which I feel I did.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 2: I'm sure that you, I believe that you eventually married.
Speaker 2: Did you have children here?
Speaker 4: I have done that. Yes, I had a first marriage,
Speaker 4: I had a child, and I did that. And I
Speaker 4: have to say that by nineteen I had acquired the
Speaker 4: traits that I needed to find that inner power I
Speaker 4: had all along well, and that's what the book is about. Resilience, strength, perseverance, persistence,
Speaker 4: and the belief in myself. That's what carried me through
Speaker 4: because for all those years between ten and nineteen, I
Speaker 4: was in repair mode, always a challenge that I needed
Speaker 4: to get through, and I would stay focused, Okay, I
Speaker 4: got to do this, and I would do it, and
Speaker 4: then things would be really smooth and something else would happen.
Speaker 4: I said, oh, I got to do it, and that
Speaker 4: helped me through life. And those are the trades I
Speaker 4: still rely on.
Speaker 2: Well, I think that I'm hoping that folks who purchased
Speaker 2: the book Taxi to America a Greek orphans adoption journey.
Speaker 2: You don't have to be Greek to identify with that
Speaker 2: type of journey, whether it's a journey coming here as
Speaker 2: someone who's an immigrant or coming here in the pursuit
Speaker 2: of the American dream. You certainly have lived that life
Speaker 2: and I would hope that not only would Greek Americans
Speaker 2: be interested in the book Taxi to America, a Greek
Speaker 2: Orphans adoption Journey. I assume it's available at Amazon and
Speaker 2: all those regular bookstore.
Speaker 4: Loki Es, Bars and Noble, and my local stores here
Speaker 4: at the bookshop in Beverly Farms, the bookstore in Gloucester,
Speaker 4: and if anyone would like a signed copy in the
Speaker 4: contiguous USA, I will be happy. They can contact me
Speaker 4: through my website and I will be happy to ship one.
Speaker 2: Okay, what's your website? Give us the website? We only
Speaker 2: got about twenty seconds left, Stellar, what's the web?
Speaker 4: Stellnahattas dot com? Perfect elenahattas dot com.
Speaker 2: Stell is easy, s D E L l A nahtas
Speaker 2: is a little tougher na h A t I S.
Speaker 2: You got it? You got okay, Stella, thanks very much.
Speaker 2: I'm sure a lot of people we dined the book
Speaker 2: for you.
Speaker 4: Okay, Hey, hello to our mutual and Rob.
Speaker 2: Say hello to our mutual friend, the great Paul Price.
Speaker 4: Okay, well, thank you.
Speaker 2: Very much, and the entire Price family.
Speaker 4: Okay, okay, got it, thank you.
Speaker 2: All right, we get back. We're going to talk about
Speaker 2: a really inspirational story. You know, a lot of people
Speaker 2: uh the world changed and didn't change for the better
Speaker 2: during COVID. A lot of families lost members of their family.
Speaker 2: But we have a story with you of a local
Speaker 2: pianist with thirty five years of experience turned his life
Speaker 2: around during COVID and he now does live piano streams
Speaker 2: and plays gigs full time. And these piano streams that
Speaker 2: Mark Davis plays are available for anyone to enjoy on
Speaker 2: Saturday nights. So if you tomorrow night are interested in
Speaker 2: getting together with Mark Davis remotely kind of a zoom deal,
Speaker 2: I believe we'll explain it all on the other side
Speaker 2: of the break. But he's an interesting guy. He's made
Speaker 2: the most of COVID, and he's there literally for your
Speaker 2: dining and dancing pleasure every Saturday night. As I understand
Speaker 2: that at seven thirty we'll get this all ironed out
Speaker 2: on the other side of the break. We want to
Speaker 2: give you something to do from the comfort of your
Speaker 2: home this Labor Day weekend back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: I want to introduce you to a very interesting gentleman
Speaker 2: by the name of Mark Davis. He's a professional pianist.
Speaker 2: Mark Davis, Welcome to Nightside. Thanks for joining us tonight.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me on. Dan. How are you.
Speaker 2: We're doing great. We're doing great, so good. How long
Speaker 2: have you been a professional pianist? How long have you
Speaker 2: played the piano professionally? Oh?
Speaker 1: Since probably or high school. I mean high school. You know,
Speaker 1: I've been playing in bands since then. I'm playing wedding
Speaker 1: bands and doing all kinds of function work and playing
Speaker 1: on my own.
Speaker 2: But now you also during this time, I assume you
Speaker 2: had a nine to five job too, right, as I
Speaker 2: understand what I did, What did you do for what
Speaker 2: we call the day job?
Speaker 1: I worked like accounting and accounts payable at Harvard Business
Speaker 1: School publishing for about twenty one and a half years. Interesting, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it was. I was just thrilled about the weekends
Speaker 1: because I was working every weekend.
Speaker 2: I was good. Yeah. What I was going to ask
Speaker 2: you what did you love more working in accounting or
Speaker 2: playing the piano?
Speaker 5: And I guess I know the playing the piano obviously.
Speaker 2: That's okay. We won't tell anyone at Harvard Business School.
Speaker 5: No, that's okay. So yeah, yeah, so left there.
Speaker 1: I'm retired from there, so you know that's fine.
Speaker 2: So COVID comes along, and up until this time you
Speaker 2: would play, you know, weekend gigs, right, give me an
Speaker 2: idea about the sort of weekend gigs that that you
Speaker 2: would have picked up pre COVID.
Speaker 1: I do weddings like a cocktail hour beneath eas in Dorchester,
Speaker 1: and I was playing like at the hitching Post in
Speaker 1: the Hansom, which was like right up the street from
Speaker 1: my house. I was doing that on Friday nights for
Speaker 1: the dinner crowd.
Speaker 2: So they playing basically what I'm using the wrong term here,
Speaker 2: Mark correct me. You're playing background music in the piano,
Speaker 2: right exactly, Yeah, which is good, you know, but you're
Speaker 2: not at this point, Elton John. But you making a
Speaker 2: few bucks on the side with the side hustle. So
Speaker 2: COVID hits and all of that probably starts to go away, right.
Speaker 1: It all went away? Yeah, yeah, and it was pretty horrible.
Speaker 1: It's like I had nothing to do, and you know,
Speaker 1: I was not working anymore. So that was one good thing,
Speaker 1: you know, So I didn't have to go into Boston anymore.
Speaker 1: But I had to find some things.
Speaker 2: So there was, So there was kind of a ying
Speaker 2: and a yang and up and down. You say, there's
Speaker 2: some gas money going into work, although you probably had
Speaker 2: to work from home, but on the weekends times hanging
Speaker 2: heavy on your hands.
Speaker 1: Right, it was yeah, yeah, And I felt bad because
Speaker 1: of a lot of people that used to come and
Speaker 1: hear me on the weekends, especially in the restaurant. They
Speaker 1: couldn't hear me anymore. So I was thinking, and I
Speaker 1: was talking to my son about it. He's like thirty
Speaker 1: one now, and I said, I really would like to
Speaker 1: get on Facebook, but I don't know the first thing
Speaker 1: about doing it. So he helped me get Facebook going,
Speaker 1: and I started doing a live stream on Facebook on
Speaker 1: Saturdays and people started listening to me. I had had
Speaker 1: a huge following during the pandemic because nobody else was
Speaker 1: doing anything at the time.
Speaker 2: Okay, so essentially, let's let's let's paint a picture here
Speaker 2: so we know we're talking about So you're on Facebook
Speaker 2: and on Saturday nights at seven thirty, I think you
Speaker 2: told me yest of the time, that's right, You'd open
Speaker 2: up your zoom channel and your zoom feed, and.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, Facebook, Facebook Feed.
Speaker 2: Facebook excuse me. Facebook. You're on Facebook, not Zoom. Okay,
Speaker 2: all right, okay on Facebook? Yeah, okay, so you're on Facebook.
Speaker 2: All they got to do is find you on the
Speaker 2: Facebook page kind of like what we do. We do
Speaker 2: Facebook Nightside pregame at four thirty and nightside postgame after
Speaker 2: the show most.
Speaker 1: Nights, Yeah, which I watch all the time.
Speaker 2: I know that that's one of the threas here because
Speaker 2: we get to know each other on this Okay, right, perfect,
Speaker 2: So good all that.
Speaker 1: Watches you all the time too, all the time, my son, Oh.
Speaker 2: Scott, good demographics there. Let me tell you. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: so you have a Facebook page and you have the
Speaker 2: cameras on you, and you put on a show for
Speaker 2: an hour. You tell me every Saturday night.
Speaker 1: I do, and ever since the pandemic people still watching me.
Speaker 1: And so I just continued to do that. And I
Speaker 1: have people from England and Ireland all over the United
Speaker 1: States watching me every Saturday night.
Speaker 2: And we have to say I can identify you because
Speaker 2: we do nightside Facebook a pregame at four point thirty
Speaker 2: and then postgame at midnight to critique the show. We
Speaker 2: have folks from Mexico, GA. I was down in Mexico,
Speaker 2: when we have many people up in Canada and we've
Speaker 2: had people at different countries all over the world, it's pretty.
Speaker 5: Right, so great.
Speaker 2: So this is my thank you to you because I
Speaker 2: want to plug your performances.
Speaker 5: So every I appreciate that.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, my pleasure. So every Saturday night you
Speaker 2: play and people have an opportunity should they so desire
Speaker 2: to sit and maybe have coffee and dessert or whatever,
Speaker 2: sitting in front of their computer. And if they're longtime
Speaker 2: fians who used to be at restaurants where you play,
Speaker 2: they can kind of recreate that experience without ever leaving home.
Speaker 2: And if they're Morpians and they'd like to experience it,
Speaker 2: how do they find you? So here we go. This
Speaker 2: is this is the PI.
Speaker 1: They're going to find me. Yeah, they're going to find
Speaker 1: me on you do it. Go to Google and Google search.
Speaker 1: It's Mark Davis Piano Music and that's where you'll find me.
Speaker 1: And you'll find all my links right there.
Speaker 2: So you go to piano music.
Speaker 1: Piano music on Google. Yeah, just no, just go to
Speaker 1: Google search, Google Google Search, and it will tell you
Speaker 1: about the Facebook, it'll tell you about YouTube, all of
Speaker 1: my links and my website is Mark Davispiano music dot
Speaker 1: com and that has all the information on it too.
Speaker 2: Okay, so now do you take requests? What do you
Speaker 2: how interact? I do?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I you know, I say, I'm doing a show
Speaker 1: Saturday night. If you have any requests, let me know.
Speaker 1: And I wanted to know if there's anything you'd like
Speaker 1: to hear, if you like, if you are going to
Speaker 1: sit in with me on a Saturday night is your
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite song?
Speaker 2: Well, for me, it's always Danny Boy.
Speaker 1: That's a great song. Yeah, I do that on a
Speaker 1: number of occasions.
Speaker 2: I'm sure. Yeah. Now I will let you know when
Speaker 2: I'm sitting out there. I'm not going to force you
Speaker 2: to play Danny Boy unless I'm going to be there
Speaker 2: and I can enjoy it. Okay, I think it's it's
Speaker 2: gonna be great fun. I mean, you know, maybe folks.
Speaker 1: Have a great time.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I'll say maybe folks aren't going to bring
Speaker 2: their computer into the kitchen or the dining room, but
Speaker 2: they certainly if they have a computer and and they're
Speaker 2: able to find you, they can sit. They can sit
Speaker 2: in front of their computer. You literally open up the
Speaker 2: feed at seven.
Speaker 1: Thirty, right, and I like myself no longer.
Speaker 2: NI like myself and Marita, who sometimes are a couple
Speaker 2: of minutes late. Yeah, it's really seven thirty and during
Speaker 2: the hour on an average Saturday night. How many songs
Speaker 2: do you play?
Speaker 1: Oh, well, that's fun to say. Yeah, thirty forty songs,
Speaker 1: you know. Anyway, how long do you want?
Speaker 2: How how long do you want for?
Speaker 1: I'm on for an hour, on for an hour. But
Speaker 1: I you know, I try and play everything everybody wants
Speaker 1: to hear, so I've done other times. I've played for Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: I like sometimes pre record a showy Thanksgiving so people
Speaker 1: can listen to it while they're eating Thanksgiving dinner. And
Speaker 1: they've really enjoyed that too, and oh it's wonderful. I
Speaker 1: love doing it. And I also play nurse and homes
Speaker 1: and it's just living places, and that's where I really
Speaker 1: love to do. I love playing for those people because they,
Speaker 1: you know, they brighten right up when I go into
Speaker 1: the room. They're all looking for me, and you know,
Speaker 1: I play all the songs you'd like to hear. I
Speaker 1: play like Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett, the Beatles, a
Speaker 1: little bit of everything, and they'll come up to me afterwards.
Speaker 1: I loved everything you were doing, so it really makes
Speaker 1: me feel good. I always end every show, always end
Speaker 1: the show with a song by Carol Burnette. You know
Speaker 1: what the song that was?
Speaker 2: No, I don't.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad we had this time together.
Speaker 2: Oh great, Okay, Yeah, I mean, I love music, but
Speaker 2: I'm not someone who remembers songs and remembers music. If
Speaker 2: you want to ask me about middle infielders with the
Speaker 2: Cincinnati Reds in the nineteen I'll tell him Johnny Temple
Speaker 2: and Roy McMillan, and people will understand that, right, at
Speaker 2: least people from that era. But yeah, you know, but
Speaker 2: but yeah, so look, this is great. Give us the
Speaker 2: Facebook page again.
Speaker 1: Sure, it's if you go it's if you go to Google,
Speaker 1: it's Mark Davis Piano Music. If you look it up
Speaker 1: on the Google Google and it'll show all the links.
Speaker 1: It will show you how to get to Facebook. The
Speaker 1: Facebook one is Mark Davis Piano Music twenty three.
Speaker 2: If someone wants to email you, okay, or it's the
Speaker 2: easiest way for someone. If someone says, hey, I want
Speaker 2: to bring Mark here. We're going to generate some business
Speaker 2: with you, what's the easiest way for them? To get
Speaker 2: get in touch with you directly. It would be anything
Speaker 2: you want.
Speaker 1: Sure, it'd be Mark Davis Piano Music at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2: Perfect perfect, Mark David Panel Music at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: Mark Davis, I think I think that's up with the
Speaker 1: links to with the Google on the Google.
Speaker 2: I want to know someday next week. Did you get
Speaker 2: a bump in your in your listening audience this Saturday night?
Speaker 1: Already? I have already, thank you very much. I've been,
Speaker 1: you know, saying I was going to be on here
Speaker 1: today and a lot of people were interested, So thank
Speaker 1: you so much for having me on.
Speaker 2: Really well, maybe I've got some some new listeners in
Speaker 2: the in the process, Mark appreciated.
Speaker 1: I'd love to talk to you again sometime soon.
Speaker 2: We can make that happen, my friend, We can make
Speaker 2: that happen. You can talk to me tonight, by the way,
Speaker 2: at midnight, right after the show nights on Facebook night
Speaker 2: Side with Dan Ray.
Speaker 1: You know that that sounds good? Yeah?
Speaker 5: All right?
Speaker 1: And if you have won me, did you happen to
Speaker 1: see any of the videos?
Speaker 2: I have not as yet? And I and I got
Speaker 2: to run because my producer yelling in my ear and
Speaker 2: we got a we got another hour, another three hours
Speaker 2: to do. We'll get in touch tonight. Okay, thanks Mark.
Speaker 1: We're talking great Labor day, thank you too.
Speaker 2: Great weekend and I'm off week thanks Palm. Here comes
Speaker 2: to nine o'clock news. After the nine o'clock news is
Speaker 2: going to talk about a real tough story, and that
Speaker 2: is the death of two young hockey players, including one guy.
Speaker 2: Both of them played at Boston College, Boston's b season
Speaker 2: morning tonight. We'll be back right after this