Speaker 1: It's nice eyes with Dan Ray. I'm going Razy Boston's
Speaker 1: News Radio.
Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Madison. My name is Dan Ray, the
Speaker 2: aforementioned Dan Ray, the host of Knights I with Dan Ray,
Speaker 2: and I am delighted to be here as I am
Speaker 2: always here most every night from eight to midnight, Monday
Speaker 2: through Friday. Rob Brooks is back in the control room
Speaker 2: ready to begin to take your phone calls during the
Speaker 2: nine o'clock hour. But during this hour, as always, we
Speaker 2: interview four really interesting guests on four interesting topics, and
Speaker 2: we will begin that process forthwith like to welcome a
Speaker 2: name that is very familiar, I think to most everyone
Speaker 2: in our audience. Christopher Knight, a former member of the
Speaker 2: Brady Bunch, but more importantly for tonight's purpose, host of
Speaker 2: this year's Casino Night, fifteenth annual Casino Knight of the
Speaker 2: great program called Journey Forward. Christopher Knight, Welcome. How are you, sir,
Speaker 2: Good evening, Dan.
Speaker 3: I am well, thank you.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you I know that you've done a
Speaker 2: lot of great work. But everybody associates you with the
Speaker 2: Brady Bunch. Does a day ever go by when someone
Speaker 2: doesn't look at you and give you one of those
Speaker 2: aren't you or didn't you used to be?
Speaker 4: Probably not.
Speaker 3: I think sometimes I haven't noticed it, so I'm guessing
Speaker 3: that it's happened out of review. Yeah, you know, my
Speaker 3: blessing is my curse exactly.
Speaker 1: It struck.
Speaker 3: It struck early, but it glows warmly forever, and it
Speaker 3: places me in a privileged position with the audience out
Speaker 3: there and that were it's kind of transcended entertainment and
Speaker 3: it's a representative now of family, of American family and
Speaker 3: our ideal idea of what that is when it functions.
Speaker 2: Well, well, you have you kept your head on your shoulders.
Speaker 2: It's funny I get to talk every once in a
Speaker 2: while with well known actors or athletes or celebrities. I'm
Speaker 2: simply a guy who worked in television here in Boston
Speaker 2: and now who is in the mediocre for twilight career.
Speaker 2: The twilight of a mediocre career, I should say. But
Speaker 2: I've gotten interview from people, and the thing that's really amazing,
Speaker 2: and I think you fit that category. Just listening to
Speaker 2: you for a minute is how down to worth people
Speaker 2: who you don't think would be down to earth are
Speaker 2: because of what they might have been gifted with early
Speaker 2: on I recently had Pat Boone on who's now he's
Speaker 2: like ninety two years old, Sharpest Attack and he's involved
Speaker 2: in doing charity work in Africa. You just it's amazing
Speaker 2: how people can take their blessings and carry forward. But
Speaker 2: tonight we're not going to talk about Carrie Ford. We're
Speaker 2: going to talk about Journey Forward. I'm very familiar with
Speaker 2: the Cummings family. I've done some stories with them, both
Speaker 2: on television and radio, and you are the headliner. This
Speaker 2: is not your first year doing this, as I understand
Speaker 2: the correct.
Speaker 3: You know, no, it's not. It's fifteen years now, but
Speaker 3: over seventeen because we missed two years during COVID, so
Speaker 3: that brings us back to two thousand and eight.
Speaker 5: When was our first benefit. I believe we called the
Speaker 5: Casino Knight. It wasn't at Kings in Denham. I don't
Speaker 5: know exactly when we began to have our casino Nights
Speaker 5: in Denham, but it's been prohops ten years or longer now.
Speaker 2: I'll bet you it might have been at what was
Speaker 2: Moseley's on the Charles.
Speaker 3: That sounds familiar. But now you're taxing my No.
Speaker 2: No, I understand, I said. The reason is that is
Speaker 2: that when I was in television back in Well, I
Speaker 2: was in television from the seventies through the two thousands.
Speaker 2: I used to go to the events with them. They're
Speaker 2: wonderful family. Obviously struck by a horrific diving accident. By
Speaker 2: that one of the members of the Cummings family was struck.
Speaker 2: But they have turned this into a positive and so
Speaker 2: Dan is a remarkable story.
Speaker 3: It's Dan coming, the youngest of the plant who unfortunately
Speaker 3: at nineteen I believe it was summer, Yeah, what years
Speaker 3: was I don't know. We dived into a pond and
Speaker 3: it wasn't very deep. Unfortunately, it was night, it was dark,
Speaker 3: and he nearly drowned, and he was immediately diagnosed as
Speaker 3: a THESIX quadriplegic, a dependent quadruple. Yeah, and that's tragic.
Speaker 3: But Dan has turned that tragedy into a triumph with
Speaker 3: a sort of a special kind of courage.
Speaker 2: That fair we're really we're really familiar with it. Also,
Speaker 2: you know Matt Brown, who is a high school hockey
Speaker 2: player who you may have met along the way, who
Speaker 2: had done some things with Matt at the age of fifteen,
Speaker 2: he's done now in his early thirties, and has lived
Speaker 2: longer in a wheelchair than he did, you know as
Speaker 2: a boy. Yeah, you know, it's just incredible stories. And
Speaker 2: no matter how bad a day I might have, you
Speaker 2: always think about how lucky you are. And we don't
Speaker 2: think about that as much, however, Is.
Speaker 3: That's the true?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I do.
Speaker 3: How quickly it can be taken away in.
Speaker 2: A moment, And I remember hearing the story. I was
Speaker 2: introduced to the Cummings family through a mutual friend named
Speaker 2: a fella named Don Johnson, Not the actor Don Johnson,
Speaker 2: another Don Johnson, businessman here, so you will be there.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the specifics. This is going to be
Speaker 2: a week from excuse me, this is this Thursday. Tonight's
Speaker 2: the twentieth. This is two nights from now, two nights,
Speaker 2: two nights from now, Thursday, May twenty second, from six
Speaker 2: to eleven. It's going to be a key six hundred
Speaker 2: Legacy Place. Everybody in New England knows where Legacy Place
Speaker 2: is in Debdam, Massachusetts. Uh, and it's it's it's gonna
Speaker 2: be just a great event.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: There's all sorts of sponsorship activity options. There's all sorts
Speaker 2: of tickets that that can be bought. Uh. You guys
Speaker 2: are going to raise a lot of money for a
Speaker 2: great cause. The The website is simply journey hyphenfward dot org.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: That's going to get you to this. You'll be there.
Speaker 2: I assume you're You're going to be accessible and people
Speaker 2: are gonna get a chance to come up and and
Speaker 2: take a picture with you.
Speaker 3: I hope absolutely. At this point, I am a life
Speaker 3: size collectible. So yes, I lerics to photographics whomever wants
Speaker 3: a photo, uh and uh, just to rotate through the
Speaker 3: crowd and try to conduct although I do very little
Speaker 3: conducting the evening because it's it's just a bunch of fun.
Speaker 1: We play.
Speaker 3: Know there's there's gambling with funny money and raffles and.
Speaker 5: Memorabilia uh that'll be auctioned off raft the tickets supporting that.
Speaker 5: It's important to note that tickets are available on the website.
Speaker 5: They are also available at.
Speaker 3: The door on Thursday night at six o'clock. I believe
Speaker 3: the door is open at.
Speaker 5: Six and we would love to see as many people
Speaker 5: they're supporting a Journey Forward because this is a a
Speaker 5: local Canton outfit started by Dan Cummings for the benefit
Speaker 5: of those enduring paralysis or spinal cord uh trauma or issues.
Speaker 2: Journey forward bettering lives of those with paralysis. Let me
Speaker 2: let me ask you real quickly, Christopher. I know that
Speaker 2: you obviously are involved in charitable activities, but what else
Speaker 2: are you doing these days? My understanding is that you're
Speaker 2: living a very busy life, and I just want to
Speaker 2: give you a chance for people to catch up with
Speaker 2: what what do you How are you besides doing this
Speaker 2: charitable work? What else are you doing?
Speaker 3: You know, like a rolling stone, I've gathered no month
Speaker 3: because I have my hands in too many fires. Perhaps
Speaker 3: I you know, segued out of entertainment boy. That would
Speaker 3: have been late eighties, and I found myself in the
Speaker 3: high tech space. I did retire from that in the
Speaker 3: early two thousands. I found myself living in Silicon Valley,
Speaker 3: but decided i'd re up and re entered the entertainment
Speaker 3: industry again, moving back down to LA or moving back
Speaker 3: home to LA because I had really just rented everything
Speaker 3: out and with the idea that I needed to figure
Speaker 3: out how to be in the entertainment industry while pursuing
Speaker 3: other interests. Business interest. To me, it's sort of like
Speaker 3: I need I need both and Luckily, a number of
Speaker 3: years later, was offered an opportunity by a past business partner,
Speaker 3: good friend to become a brand in the furniture space,
Speaker 3: and Christopher Knight Home was the result. And now what
Speaker 3: do we have? Fourteen years in to Christopher Night Home
Speaker 3: and we're one of the largest brands online. It is
Speaker 3: a online only brand. We're hoping sometime in the near
Speaker 3: term to also become a retail brand.
Speaker 5: But it's a.
Speaker 3: Tremendous success story that I'm very lucky to have said
Speaker 3: yes to. I guess my advice to anyone out there
Speaker 3: is opportunities come along, and by saying no, there is
Speaker 3: no opportunity, by saying you'd never know where even when
Speaker 3: you doubt that there could be anything that comes from it.
Speaker 3: I am you know, I'm amazed by how my life
Speaker 3: has turned out. It's not by plan, it's but somehow
Speaker 3: I'm being rewarded, perhaps for a path life I don't know.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you what you'll be rewarded for. You've
Speaker 2: been rewarded for all the good things that you've done
Speaker 2: along the way. And I think that I think, I
Speaker 2: think that's absolutely true, Okay, and I have it. I
Speaker 2: think there's a big being up there that kind of
Speaker 2: runs the show. But whether it's faith, kismick, karma, or
Speaker 2: whatever you want, you surround yourself with good things and
Speaker 2: good things will happen. So Christopher Knight home, okay people.
Speaker 3: Oh, I've been dealing with that and recently I started
Speaker 3: a production company, former Prodigy, Inc. And we're working on
Speaker 3: our next project. First product was a documentary on It
Speaker 3: was called True Love the Film.
Speaker 5: And it documents this wonderful personality, this young lady with
Speaker 5: william syndrome, and it brought awareness to Williams. An award
Speaker 5: winning documentary our first production. We're moving off now into
Speaker 5: scripted endeavors and hope to be placing in front of
Speaker 5: our audience out there for more producty project in the future.
Speaker 2: Well, boy, I tell you, get a busy lifestyle and
Speaker 2: that's that's the way to stay sharp. Christopher Knight, thank
Speaker 2: you so much. Really enjoyed chatting with you. If I
Speaker 2: wasn't on air Thursday night, I'd be standing over there
Speaker 2: trying to get a selfie with you. But thanks for
Speaker 2: I'd be there in spirit, that's for sure. And please
Speaker 2: say hi to the Cummings family and particularly Dan kits,
Speaker 2: so I share it. Thank you, we share the first name.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Christopher, and thanks for the good work
Speaker 2: you do. Christopher Knight, Ladies and gentlemen, Casino Knight on
Speaker 2: to benefit, Journey Forward bettering lives of those with paralysis,
Speaker 2: and the website Real Simple Journey hyphen Forward dot org.
Speaker 2: That will be a great night. Hope you can join
Speaker 2: them when we get back. We're going to talk about
Speaker 2: another project which I think will be interesting. I'm going
Speaker 2: to find out and you will as well, the derivation
Speaker 2: of a Michelin Star or a Michelin Star restaurant. We
Speaker 2: got an We have an interesting set of guests in
Speaker 2: this hour, so stay with us. My name's Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: This is Nightside and we will journey forward right after
Speaker 2: this quick break on Nightside.
Speaker 1: It's Nightside with Dan Ray on w B Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Delighted to be joined by Will Gilson. He is the
Speaker 2: chef and owner of Cambridge Street Hospitality Group. He grew
Speaker 2: up in a New England farm and from there years
Speaker 2: of culinary expertise. He serves award winning food to guests.
Speaker 2: I want to welcome Will Gilson to the to Nightside.
Speaker 2: How are you tonight.
Speaker 5: Will I'm doing all right.
Speaker 1: How are you, Dan, I'm doing just great.
Speaker 2: I've heard the term, and I'm sure most of ours
Speaker 2: have heard the term a Michelin restaurant and Michelin stars,
Speaker 2: And I don't know. I know a lot about food.
Speaker 2: I mean, I like food, but I always associate the
Speaker 2: word Michelin with those four things on the bottom of
Speaker 2: my car tires. How did we get from Michelin tires
Speaker 2: to Michelin stars at top notch restaurants, restaurants that you've
Speaker 2: been associated.
Speaker 5: With, you know amazingly enough, the fact that you know
Speaker 5: Michelin is a European thing. Uh, it actually is a
Speaker 5: very American kind of thing if you think about it.
Speaker 5: Of the goal was to try to create a guide
Speaker 5: of different places that you could drive to so you'd
Speaker 5: actually use your tires more. And then that was the
Speaker 5: entire that's the entire reason why there was a Michelin
Speaker 5: Guide to start down there.
Speaker 2: You're not making you're not making that up. That is
Speaker 2: that's oh okay, all the sense in the world. And
Speaker 2: so Michelin Guide is coming to Boston. I'm assuming that
Speaker 2: a lot of restaurants are either going to be really
Speaker 2: excited or really nervous tell us about it.
Speaker 5: Well, you know, I think the thing that's crazy about
Speaker 5: Michelin coming to Boston is that so many of us
Speaker 5: for so long thought that that was not something that
Speaker 5: was going to be coming here. I mean, many of
Speaker 5: us who have restaurants here believe that Boston is a
Speaker 5: world class city, understand that it's one of the first
Speaker 5: cities in America. But it's also you know, the type
Speaker 5: of place where, you know, we don't always associate with
Speaker 5: sort of glitz and glamour and sort of this higher end,
Speaker 5: you know, echelon of what Michelin has been known, and
Speaker 5: now that it's here, I think it's actually something really
Speaker 5: great to give Boston something to shoot towards.
Speaker 2: So, so, is this the sort of thing where people
Speaker 2: come into it to the restaurants You've got great restaurants,
Speaker 2: as I understand that all the restaurants that I see
Speaker 2: associated with your name are great restaurants. Do they come
Speaker 2: in undercover or do you know they're there? How does
Speaker 2: how does this game work? And I don't know if
Speaker 2: I should use the word game, but obviously there's a
Speaker 2: little competition going on here. I think. Yeah.
Speaker 5: So, I mean, as we have been told. Michelin inspectors
Speaker 5: are already sort of been dispatched to the city to
Speaker 5: start going around and seeing where the best places are
Speaker 5: in the city and how to you know, figure out
Speaker 5: whether or not they meet the criteria of the guide,
Speaker 5: and the criteria that they've told us so far is
Speaker 5: it really is all about the food. It's about the
Speaker 5: quality of the food. It's about how impressive the food is,
Speaker 5: but also the chef's interpretation of their vision and their
Speaker 5: food on the plate. And that is really kind of
Speaker 5: the only criteria that we've had. You know, I spend
Speaker 5: some time in Europe and working in Michelin places, and
Speaker 5: there it was about everything. To get to a three
Speaker 5: Michelin star, it had to be spotless, the service.
Speaker 1: Had to be impeccable.
Speaker 5: There couldn't be a speck of dirt on a single
Speaker 5: bit of silverware. But as they've come to you know,
Speaker 5: the States, I think that they're starting to help, you know,
Speaker 5: us understand what the benefits of the guide can be,
Speaker 5: and that is to really help people find the best
Speaker 5: restaurants in the city that they are travel one too.
Speaker 2: You know, I got to tell you, and I probably
Speaker 2: shouldn't say this, but I will, and I think, I
Speaker 2: hope you understand. When I go to new restaurants, one
Speaker 2: of the things that I judge a new restaurant on
Speaker 2: is how clean is the restroom? And now you probably
Speaker 2: think I'm crazy when I say that to you. Maybe
Speaker 2: I am, But I feel if the restaurant make sure
Speaker 2: the restroom is clean and presentable and people can be
Speaker 2: comfortable there, that the dining experience is sure to follow.
Speaker 2: Am I nuts when I suggest.
Speaker 3: That, No, of course not.
Speaker 5: I mean I think that a restroom is perfectly representative
Speaker 5: of whether or not a restaurant cares about the cleanliness
Speaker 5: of everything top to bottom. And I bet that that's
Speaker 5: the same type of criteria that despite the fact that
Speaker 5: we are hearing that it's you know, what's on the
Speaker 5: plate in front of the inspector, That is the type
Speaker 5: of stuff that someone will go, you know, have an
Speaker 5: amazing meal, everything's be perfect, and then they go into
Speaker 5: the bathroom and they're just wadded up toilet paper all
Speaker 5: over the floor and it looks like it has been
Speaker 5: cleaned in a month. Of course they're going to, you know,
Speaker 5: give you a couple of knocks on that. But I think,
Speaker 5: you know, will I'm delighted.
Speaker 2: That you that you that you backed me up with that,
Speaker 2: because I've had friends of mine I've said that to
Speaker 2: that they look at me like you're nuts. You know,
Speaker 2: I could care us. That's good, that's good to know.
Speaker 2: So when will this more importantly, when will this guide appear?
Speaker 2: And even more importantly, when will the restaurants that you're
Speaker 2: involved with and other great you know, chefs and owners
Speaker 2: are involved with, when will they know what the Guide's
Speaker 2: going to say.
Speaker 5: So, what I've been told, and I don't know if
Speaker 5: I'm speaking out of turn here, is that this fall
Speaker 5: we are going to see h the guide come out,
Speaker 5: which is very very quick. I think it's a quick turnaround.
Speaker 5: And I think that this is, you know, going to
Speaker 5: be one of those things where it's going to divide
Speaker 5: a lot of us in this community. I think it's
Speaker 5: going to be the folks in the restaurant community, some
Speaker 5: of which won't be included, will feel hurt, you know,
Speaker 5: and I think some folks who are included will feel emboldened.
Speaker 5: And I think that there's going to be a group
Speaker 5: of us in the middle who maybe we didn't make
Speaker 5: this round, but we're going to look at this as
Speaker 5: like maybe we should start changing the way that we
Speaker 5: do things a little bit to be able to give
Speaker 5: ourselves some greater aspirations, find some sort of way that
Speaker 5: we can really make sure that we are representing this
Speaker 5: city the best way that we can to the people
Speaker 5: that are visiting. You know, listen, everything is changing quickly.
Speaker 5: It's been five years since the COVID pandemic and we're
Speaker 5: still feeling the effects of that. But on top of that,
Speaker 5: with everything that's happening right now, we're seeing people who
Speaker 5: don't want to travel to the United States. It's really
Speaker 5: saying that they don't want to travel to the United States.
Speaker 5: And these are people who we rely on their tourism dollars.
Speaker 5: These are people that we rely on their patronage dollars.
Speaker 5: And we can't keep relying on the folks that just
Speaker 5: live within, you know, however, many miles of where our
Speaker 5: businesses are. We need to make sure that whatever we
Speaker 5: are doing is a reason that when people are coming
Speaker 5: into town, they pick us. And if this helps us
Speaker 5: do that, then I think it's great for everyone.
Speaker 2: Well, that's that's so well said. Just to give a
Speaker 2: plug to some of the restaurants that are involved in
Speaker 2: the Cambridge Street Hospitality Group makes if I hope I
Speaker 2: get these right, Puritan and Company, Puritan, Oyster Bar, Gippetto
Speaker 2: and the Lexington, amongst others. And if there's a couple
Speaker 2: more you'd like to mention, feel free because you've been
Speaker 2: a great guest.
Speaker 5: Well, hey, I'm just happy. Hopefully everybody can come by
Speaker 5: and check out what we do. Go to our website
Speaker 5: www dot Ecambridge dot com and you'll find a list
Speaker 5: of all the restaurants that we operate. But thanks so
Speaker 5: much for having me, and it's been a pleasure to
Speaker 5: speak about Michelin.
Speaker 2: Well right back at your pleasure to I don't get
Speaker 2: a chance to talk to a lot of chefs. I
Speaker 2: talk to politicians, and I kind of like chefs better
Speaker 2: than politicians.
Speaker 5: I want you to know that, Thanks Will, we might
Speaker 5: just be a little bit more honest.
Speaker 2: I like that. I like that. Hey, we'll appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Love to have you back. Thanks again, and best of
Speaker 2: luck with the Michelin Star Guide. I think that you
Speaker 2: guys are going to rack up some great ratings. I
Speaker 2: know it, I just know it. Thanks so much, Thank
Speaker 2: you Bett, You're welcome. All right, here's the News at
Speaker 2: the bottom of the hour. My name is Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: And by the way, if you haven't gotten the iHeart app,
Speaker 2: go to your app store, Okay, on your phone or
Speaker 2: wherever you find it. Pull down the iHeart app, the
Speaker 2: new and improved iHeart App. As I keep telling friends
Speaker 2: of mine, pull that app down. And all of you
Speaker 2: are friends of mine, because when you pull that app down,
Speaker 2: you were going to be in touch with WBZ and
Speaker 2: with all the iHeart entertainment, but all of all of
Speaker 2: every one of the station's iHeart stations and all sorts
Speaker 2: of information. But you make WBZ your first preset, and
Speaker 2: you were only a fingertip away, a fingertip away, no
Speaker 2: matter where you are in the world. Okay, we get
Speaker 2: back on to get a little serious, a little bit
Speaker 2: more serious, and talk about Patriot Week for mass Fallen
Speaker 2: Heroes with Dan Magoon, the executive director of the Mass
Speaker 2: Fallen Heroes. Back on Nightside right after the News at
Speaker 2: the bottom of the.
Speaker 1: Hour, Side with Dan Ray ILLINGBZ, Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2: More little lineup change going on here sometime we do
Speaker 2: on night Side, and our next guest is doctor Tricia
Speaker 2: pas Richaw. She's a columnist for the Washington Post and
Speaker 2: an instructor in medicine at the Harvard Medical School and
Speaker 2: directs the Institute for Gut Brain Research at Beth Israel
Speaker 2: Deaconess Medical Center, Doctor push Richer, that is a very
Speaker 2: impressive resume. I read a lot of resumes, but that's
Speaker 2: that's a good one. How are you tonight?
Speaker 6: I'm doing very good. Thanks for having me, Dan.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you very much for being with us. And
Speaker 2: it's always great. I know that you're a Washington Post columnist,
Speaker 2: ask a doctor, but also I'm here at Boston based here.
Speaker 2: So what we're talking about is this is tough stuff. Colo.
Speaker 2: Rectal cancer is rising amongst young people. We're talking about
Speaker 2: people in their twenties and thirties and not quite sure why.
Speaker 2: What's what? Give us the big picture from thirty thousand feet,
Speaker 2: What's what's going on that this should not be happening.
Speaker 6: Right, Yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, this is a
Speaker 6: trend that has been troubling scientists for decades. So we
Speaker 6: have known that correctal cancer rates they've been declining amongst
Speaker 6: US adults over the age of fifties since the nineteen eighties.
Speaker 6: But for people who are younger, younger adults in their twenties, thirties, forties,
Speaker 6: that trend has been going in the wrong direction. And
Speaker 6: I want to be clear that the overall numbers of
Speaker 6: people who are getting colorectal cancer under the age of
Speaker 6: fifty are still relatively low, but the trend is very worrisome,
Speaker 6: and so there's a lot of research that's been going
Speaker 6: on to try to understand why that can be. And
Speaker 6: as you know, we can all imagine a lot has
Speaker 6: changed in the last several decades in terms of our
Speaker 6: lifestyle to start there, in terms of how sedentary we've become,
Speaker 6: in terms of our diet, so a lot of scientists
Speaker 6: have been looking into what could be something to do
Speaker 6: with our diet that you're eating world or process foods,
Speaker 6: the less fiber. But an interesting news that it just
Speaker 6: came out in Nature, and that's what I wrote about
Speaker 6: for the Washington Post. That offered us a new clue.
Speaker 2: And I think that new clue dealings were dealing it
Speaker 2: deals with how children come into the world.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and so you know, I think what's worries theme
Speaker 6: to a lot of the scientists, myself included towards seeing
Speaker 6: colorful concerning where people is that you know, whatever is
Speaker 6: potentially causing this rise in cases, it probably for many
Speaker 6: people starts early in childhood. And so if we're talking
Speaker 6: about early childhood exposures, we start to think a lot
Speaker 6: more about the microbiome. All of our microbiomes can change
Speaker 6: over time, but they're really impressionable those first few years
Speaker 6: of life. And so what these scientists were looking at,
Speaker 6: and the study that came out in Nature just this year,
Speaker 6: was looking at a toxin called colabactin that's produced by
Speaker 6: certain strains of bacteria that live in our microbiome. And
Speaker 6: you know, I know we all have heard of that
Speaker 6: word microbiome, but the pic obiom in these trillions of
Speaker 6: bacteria that live in our colon and in some of
Speaker 6: the part we all get along with these bacteria. We
Speaker 6: need them actually to help us with digestion. But this
Speaker 6: toxin has been found to be far more common, about
Speaker 6: three point three times more common, or I should say,
Speaker 6: the mutations caused by this toxin in cases of corectal
Speaker 6: cancer that occur in younger people far more common compared
Speaker 6: to those who occur in adults. And so what it
Speaker 6: tells us is that there could be something that's changing
Speaker 6: in the microbiome of these people who are getting colorectal
Speaker 6: cancer at a younger age. And one of the sort
Speaker 6: of studies that even preceded this one found that col
Speaker 6: of actine ability to cause cancer can be blocked just
Speaker 6: by eating a high fiber diet. And so I think
Speaker 6: it sort of ties in a lot of different theories
Speaker 6: that scientists have been considering for years, which is to
Speaker 6: finish something in our diet, something in our childhood, and
Speaker 6: these studies sort of link all of these things together
Speaker 6: that maybe, at least for some cases, our childhood diet,
Speaker 6: particularly a low fiber diet, that's driving some of these numbers.
Speaker 2: I also thought in the piece that I read, there
Speaker 2: was some reference to children who were born cesarean section particularly,
Speaker 2: I think it was girls who were born cesarean section.
Speaker 6: Yeah, So you know, if I think diet is not
Speaker 6: the only thing, although it's an important thing that can
Speaker 6: really influence our microbiome, but probably, I mean the first
Speaker 6: thing that really plays a big role in the bacteria
Speaker 6: that colonizes us is how we're born. So there was
Speaker 6: a study that came out in twenty twenty three that
Speaker 6: looked at people who were born via cesareus section. For
Speaker 6: the girls, they had a greater odds of developing collective
Speaker 6: cancer at a younger age, so before the age of fifty,
Speaker 6: and for reasons that are not totally clear, that that
Speaker 6: same pattern didn't quite play out with boys. But scientists,
Speaker 6: do you have been doing some other studies that sort
Speaker 6: of appear to be maybe implicating sex hormones and how
Speaker 6: those influence of microbiomes which might confer a higher risk
Speaker 6: for girls. So we know, and so obviously you know
Speaker 6: when you're born, the moment you're born, that has nothing
Speaker 6: to do with your childhood diet, right, and so there
Speaker 6: are other factors that influence your microbiome. That's one of them.
Speaker 6: But then later on, you know, I think there are
Speaker 6: certain and obviously, you know, we have no control over
Speaker 6: how we're born. And obviously a lot of times that
Speaker 6: we get see sections, they're for entirely good, valid medical
Speaker 6: reasons and it has to happen. But we probably have a
Speaker 6: lot more control over our childhood diet and the diets
Speaker 6: that we eat currently now and what we're feeding our kids.
Speaker 6: And I think that's the part we have to really
Speaker 6: think hard about as a society, about how we can
Speaker 6: try to change Okay.
Speaker 2: So let me ask you this. I'm a boomer. I'm
Speaker 2: a baby boomer. We ate chunk chunk in the sense
Speaker 2: that it was pepsi, whatever, Coca cola, candy, if there
Speaker 2: were fruit and vegetables, yeah, but not the emphasis so
Speaker 2: we've had this emphasis of the food pyramid has has changed.
Speaker 2: Should we go back to what we were eating? I
Speaker 2: realized it was probably a pretty small sample size. You know,
Speaker 2: some guy comes up for the Red Sox and it's
Speaker 2: two for five in September and he's a four hundred hitter. Well,
Speaker 2: you know, eventually it all kind of evens out. So
Speaker 2: this is a small sample size I guess that you're
Speaker 2: looking at. But it's serious. And is it possible that
Speaker 2: the diet that US boomers enjoyed at the fifties and
Speaker 2: sixties as kids was better?
Speaker 6: Well, you know, it's what you're what you're asking something,
Speaker 6: and I'm not, in.
Speaker 2: My opinion, is not to be a wise guy. We did, doctor.
Speaker 2: I really respect, but I just as you were thinking,
Speaker 2: I was thinking to myself, what was the stuff I ate? Oh? Man,
Speaker 2: go ahead, I'm sorry.
Speaker 6: I think you're making a really good point, which is
Speaker 6: that I think a lot of people are like you,
Speaker 6: and they say, you know, I I don't remember eating
Speaker 6: such profile like I wasn't eating kale salad every day.
Speaker 6: And then I don't think that that's even you know,
Speaker 6: what anyone can expect. But I will say, you know,
Speaker 6: if you look at the trend overall of the population,
Speaker 6: like you know, things have changed over the last few
Speaker 6: decades that I think everyone can sort of agree upon.
Speaker 6: The obesity epidemic has really taken off. That's changed. I
Speaker 6: think the amount of sedentary activity that younger people are
Speaker 6: engaging in with their smartphones, Netflix, sitting in front of
Speaker 6: the couch, that's changed. And I think people used to
Speaker 6: play outdoors a little more. I'm making big generalizations here
Speaker 6: because I think that's sort of the limit of our
Speaker 6: of what we can do. There's more to the story
Speaker 6: than just diet. So, for example, scientists do think that
Speaker 6: there are things in our environment, chemicals, microplastics, all of
Speaker 6: these things are implicated but haven't been proven yet as
Speaker 6: possibly being factors in it. The problem with all of
Speaker 6: these studies is that it's incredibly hard for scientists to ask, well,
Speaker 6: what happened in your childhood? Were the exposures that you had?
Speaker 6: Because for example, if I would ask you right now, well,
Speaker 6: like how many hours of sun did you get when
Speaker 6: you were four years old?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 6: Who could answer that question accurately?
Speaker 2: Right? Because they put you, they put you out of
Speaker 2: the house to go out and play.
Speaker 6: Well, you could probably yeah, I mean you could probably
Speaker 6: remember one. That's good thing. It's good to get out
Speaker 6: and play. But you know, it's hard to remember all
Speaker 6: of these specifics of our early childhood factor unless you
Speaker 6: designed to study then, like back in the night, you know,
Speaker 6: nineteen fifty, ninety, sixty ninety seven, and you really tracked
Speaker 6: kids as they grew up every year, took these service
Speaker 6: and there's very few surveys to studies that do that.
Speaker 6: And if you didn't ask the right questions, if you
Speaker 6: don't you know, to look for microplastics, for example, in
Speaker 6: the nineteen sixties, you're not going to have that data today.
Speaker 4: So it's nothing about that.
Speaker 2: You know, we played all of these politically incorrect games.
Speaker 2: We played Cowboys and Indians. We played more games the
Speaker 2: US against whatever country we wanted to pick a get
Speaker 2: we we've and we were out from from morning till
Speaker 2: till dusk. And well anyway, uh, I'm fascinated by this,
Speaker 2: and and it's you're you're doing great work here and
Speaker 2: and thanks for talking about this tonight. But Kale Salad
Speaker 2: nah never had that.
Speaker 6: Small changes, you know, make one small change at a time.
Speaker 6: But you have to be kale salad every day. Think
Speaker 6: about just swapping out one.
Speaker 2: I'm meaning more healthy today than I ever did in
Speaker 2: my life. To be really honest with you, Okay, I
Speaker 2: really am.
Speaker 6: I'm glad to hear that I.
Speaker 2: Lost thirty five pounds ten years ago. This very well,
Speaker 2: this very summertime in July. Haven't put upon wow ten
Speaker 2: I was weighing two of five. I'm now one seventy
Speaker 2: found awaken one to eighty weight loss. And it's one
Speaker 2: of my advertisers. But I so believe in what they
Speaker 2: taught me. Uh, it's it's incredible, Doctor Pastwucia. You are
Speaker 2: a great sport, you really are, and thanks for having
Speaker 2: me on.
Speaker 6: It's an important topic to talk about, so I appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Well. I'll bet you people remember the conversation because they'll
Speaker 2: say that wise guy talk show host was I have
Speaker 2: more respect than you can imagine for the medical community.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Thank you very much.
Speaker 6: Always my pleasure, take care.
Speaker 2: I'll have you too, all right. When we come back,
Speaker 2: we will be talking with Dan macgoon, the executive director
Speaker 2: of mass Fallen Heroes. Coming right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
Speaker 1: news radio.
Speaker 2: Well with us finally is Dan mcgoon. He's the executive
Speaker 2: director of the Massachusetts Fallen Heroes. This is a great organization,
Speaker 2: and let's first off, Dan, the history obviously starts with
Speaker 2: nine to eleven. Tell us about the group, and then
Speaker 2: we'll talk about what's coming up in the next few days. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Thanks Dan, that's great to be on night Side. It's funny.
Speaker 4: Before I get on the call, I was just thinking
Speaker 4: it's been ten years for the organization since we dedicated
Speaker 4: the mass and Harrows Memorial in the Seaport. I was
Speaker 4: just thinking back to where it all started. Like you said,
Speaker 4: this is the memorial that honors the Massachusetts men and
Speaker 4: women who gave their lives and service to the country
Speaker 4: since nine to eleven. So obviously, as we go through
Speaker 4: the week, that is something that's important to us, not
Speaker 4: only for the fallen but we as veterans too. It's
Speaker 4: a lot to think back on. And the thing that
Speaker 4: struck me is, I can't believe how much time has
Speaker 4: gone by just this last ten years of you know,
Speaker 4: what we've done to build the organization but also put
Speaker 4: that memorial on the ground, and obviously we get ready
Speaker 4: to rededicate it every year on Memorial Day.
Speaker 2: Well, I remember as a TV reporter being Humphry down
Speaker 2: at Logan Airport in the days following nine to eleven.
Speaker 2: And that's over twenty years ago. It's almost twenty five
Speaker 2: years ago, and it seems like yesterday in many respects,
Speaker 2: it does. How many people a memorial at the at
Speaker 2: at mess fallen Heroes.
Speaker 4: There's there's over three hundred. Yeah, there's over three hundred
Speaker 4: and seventeen. And and that number continues to grow because
Speaker 4: you know, we still do have service members who who
Speaker 4: are obviously not in combat, but are still in service
Speaker 4: to the nation.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: And the memorial represents not only service members killed in action,
Speaker 4: but it also represents service members that that have died
Speaker 4: in service or in training and that that's been you know,
Speaker 4: something that obviously we've we've grappled with, you know, post
Speaker 4: withdrawal from Afghanistan, which which again you know, we're we're
Speaker 4: looking at as an organization of you know, what's next.
Speaker 4: You know, we don't know what's going to come down
Speaker 4: the pipeline, but uh, you know, it's it's it's at
Speaker 4: least we have the foundation and and and the programming
Speaker 4: in place to not only work with the gold Star
Speaker 4: families and the families that were left behind, but but
Speaker 4: also with the you know, with the veterans that that
Speaker 4: that are part of the organization as well.
Speaker 2: Now, my understanding is that there would be a one
Speaker 2: veteran of a veteran of Abby Gate, yes badly injured,
Speaker 2: who's going to be specifically honored tell us about that.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So, Tyler Vargus Andrews was one of the Marines
Speaker 4: who actually spotted the bomber that ultimately you know, blew
Speaker 4: him up and killed thirteen Americans during that horrible withdrawal
Speaker 4: that we went through in Afghanistan. And Tyler has been
Speaker 4: very outspoken, you know, he was he was the I
Speaker 4: would say, more of a whistleblower on on you know,
Speaker 4: bringing the true facts to light to our country. I mean,
Speaker 4: an incredible marine, an incredible sniper, but an unbelievable resilient
Speaker 4: warrior after you know, witnessing what he went through and
Speaker 4: getting to know him. You know, we've we've been fortunate
Speaker 4: enough to spend time with Tyler. We had him on
Speaker 4: a bison hunt in the fall, and obviously we got
Speaker 4: to get a little bit more connected, and we wanted
Speaker 4: to you know, continue to talk about Afghanistan without focusing
Speaker 4: on the negatives, but but honoring the sacrifice, says the
Speaker 4: men and women that have all served there. And it
Speaker 4: made sense to have Tyler come then and tell his story,
Speaker 4: but also the work that Tyler does in his recovery,
Speaker 4: with his resiliency and the work that he does to
Speaker 4: even support called Star families across the country. An unbelievable
Speaker 4: gentleman and warrior, and you know, we're glad to host him.
Speaker 4: He's been in Boston all week. He's over at the
Speaker 4: Red Sox game tonight, and he'll be at the gala
Speaker 4: as our honoree receiving the Dan Pedtatory Award. Dan PETTATORI
Speaker 4: was the first Massachusetts service member who was killed in
Speaker 4: Afghanistan after nine to eleven. So we'll honor Tyler. He'll
Speaker 4: give an unbelievable speech, and then he'll be speaking at
Speaker 4: the memorial rededication on Saturday, the twenty fourth, which is
Speaker 4: open to the public at ten am.
Speaker 2: No is Tyler a Massachusetts native.
Speaker 4: He is not.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 4: Tyler is born in northern California. He lives on the
Speaker 4: outskirts of DC now in Virginia, him and his fiance.
Speaker 4: But he's he's up here for like I said, he's
Speaker 4: been here for the week. He's participated in the Boston
Speaker 4: woned that run on sonback.
Speaker 2: And was he a sniper who had my understanding that
Speaker 2: that the the bomber they couldn't give the order to
Speaker 2: shoot that was Tyler.
Speaker 4: Tyler had him, and Tyler had him. Yeah, they didn't
Speaker 4: get he didn't get the order. He could have taken
Speaker 4: him out. And uh, you know, we've all followed what
Speaker 4: what should have happened or or what didn't happen with
Speaker 4: that withdrawal, But we.
Speaker 2: Lost we lost a service member in that group that
Speaker 2: day of the.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Johanni Zario from from not Sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh my god. Yeah, I just just horrific when
Speaker 2: you think about it. So, Okay, so there are sponsorship opportunities.
Speaker 2: Let's let's get the website out first so people can
Speaker 2: go and look and get all of this information. Uh yeah,
Speaker 2: I appreciate that this week is really underway. I mean
Speaker 2: we're in the middle of the week right now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we started, you know, Patriot Week. Like I said,
Speaker 4: it's it's been ten years, ten years since we launched
Speaker 4: Patriot Week, and the goal was to you know, run
Speaker 4: from Armed Forces Day through Memorial Day with programming that
Speaker 4: we can you know, continue to tell the stories and
Speaker 4: say the names, and you know, that's really what it's
Speaker 4: all about, and you know, bringing the veteran and goal
Speaker 4: start community together and obviously raising awareness and you know,
Speaker 4: making sure the public doesn't forget sacrifices and the wars
Speaker 4: that we fought in. I mean it's already you know,
Speaker 4: it's already old news. Some of these kids don't even
Speaker 4: know what we've been doing over the last twenty four
Speaker 4: years to your point earlier of you know, where we've
Speaker 4: gone since nine to eleven. So it's a big week
Speaker 4: for us in Patriot Week. You know, all the information
Speaker 4: can be found at both mass Fallen Heroes dot org
Speaker 4: and invet's dot org.
Speaker 2: As well spill intervets for me, so we get that
Speaker 2: mass Falling Heroes, I got dot org.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, invets is I N N O V E
Speaker 4: T S.
Speaker 2: Okay, So innovation like the Force four letters of innovation.
Speaker 2: I know the E T S. Dot Org. I'll tell
Speaker 2: you it's it's a great project we we have. You know,
Speaker 2: over the over the years, there were a lot of
Speaker 2: men and women who went to war for this country,
Speaker 2: and we as a as a nation did not appreciate
Speaker 2: their sacrifice. I'm thinking of not only the Vietnam veterans,
Speaker 2: but I think of the Korean veterans, uh and uh.
Speaker 2: At least out of this, I think most people understand
Speaker 2: that you have to always separate the warriors from the cause.
Speaker 2: And people may not have felt the cause was done
Speaker 2: properly or it was too political or not enough political
Speaker 2: or whatever, but the courage of the individuals who wore
Speaker 2: the uniform and assumed the the risk that their heroism
Speaker 2: can never be forgotten. And you just do such a
Speaker 2: great job on it. So, Dan, thanks so much for
Speaker 2: joining us tonight. And I know it's a busy we
Speaker 2: for you. We should have been publicizing this like two
Speaker 2: weeks ago. I wish next year, let's uh, let's get
Speaker 2: you on here earlier.
Speaker 4: Okay, Yeah, I would love to thank you.
Speaker 2: Let's let's let's be proactive ahead of time. Okay, I'll
Speaker 2: talk to my premis about that. Yeah, thank you, Dan,
Speaker 2: appreciate it so much. We will talk again. Dan mcgoon,
Speaker 2: the executive director, the executive director of the Massachusetts Fallen
Speaker 2: Heroes massfallenheres dot org. Thank you, Dan Magoon, Thank you
Speaker 2: so much. Talk to you all right, we get back.
Speaker 2: We're going to talk with one of the Republicans running
Speaker 2: for governor. Brian Shortsleeve. Should be no stranger to most
Speaker 2: of us. He was a businessman, graduate of Harvard and
Speaker 2: Harvard Business School, and also he ran the MBTA for
Speaker 2: a while and did a really good job at it,
Speaker 2: believe it or not. Uh. And we're going to talk
Speaker 2: about what he would like to do if he could
Speaker 2: run the governor's office here in Massachusetts. So we'll be
Speaker 2: back if you want to talk to a to a
Speaker 2: genuine candidate for governor and someone who will take whatever
Speaker 2: questions you have. You know, the numbers were coming back
Speaker 2: on nightside right after the nine o'clock news. The numbers
Speaker 2: will remain as always six one, seven, two, five, four
Speaker 2: ten thirty and six one seven, nine three, one ten thirty.
Speaker 2: Back with Brian schwartsleeve right after the break