Latin music permeates the air of New York City: It’s in the streets, the clubs, the subways, the classroom, the concert stage, in our homes and schools. Like all the arts, it’s at once a stimulus, a playground, and a reflection of humanity. It can fire up our souls and send us soaring. Why does it have such wide appeal?

In order to explore this appeal, I helped produce these four short “interstitials” as locally-aired companion pieces to PBS’s Latin Music USA series, which premiered nationally in October 2009.


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The assignment was daunting and exciting: Coming at it as a television production neophyte — and with very little knowledge of Latin music beyond Mozart’s Requiem — I was, at least, armed with an improvisational musician’s background. I was also fortunate to work with three very talented shooter/editors and a great interviewer. Latin music was everywhere in my life for the eight weeks I worked on this project. And I loved every minute: listening, researching, shooting, writing, and launching it!

Watching the sketches of the 4-part series, Latin Music USA, really got my inquisitive juices flowing: dispelling my own parochial notion that Latin music consists of beating a cowbell with a drumstick and little else. I’m still not crazy about the cowbell but I’m adding plena to my own vocal studies. I set out to investigate the local Latin music scene from two angles: What are the local resources? How/why does it regenerate?

Where in NYC can you learn Latin music in a formal setting – at any age? One of the places I found that really impressed me was the Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts in East Harlem. Located in the same building as the newly renovated El Museo del Barrio New York, the Harbor Conservatory also contains the Raices Latin Music Museum Collection, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. This is where I learned about James Reese Europe’s 369th Infantry (World War I) “Hellfighters” Band. Harbor is about all the performing arts, not just music, and not just Latin music – though Latin music is its specialty. We interviewed Ramon Rodriguez, the Conservatory’s director, as well as three of the students/professionals, about what this music does to them, and what the Harbor Conservatory experience means to them. And I found (not surprisingly) that neither the appreciation for it, nor the performance of it is confined to the Latino population.

WNET’s Rafael Pi Roman was able to secure an interview with the fascinating Cuban musician and educator, Paquito D’Rivera, who emphasizes that “arts education is not a luxury, but rather, a necessity of society.” D’Rivera also voices his concern about the gap between classical and jazz music education due to snobbery between those two musical worlds. That evening our film crew was allowed to tape his show at “The Blue Note” in the Village; a performance which clearly underscores his passionate views on that topic.

Explore it all with open ears!* As Paquito advises: “When you think you are a finished musician … you are finished!”

* still to explore…the Jewish connection

Q. What got you interested in going “behind the scenes” into our relationship with everyday objects?

A. You know, sometimes I just look around my apartment and think, “Where did all this stuff come from? Who made it? Why did I buy all of it? Do I really need any of it?” Just basic questions that I think we all have sometimes. I also think it’s interesting how archaeologists learn about ancient civilizations mostly through the objects they leave behind. So 100 or 1,000 years from now, what will the objects designed in our lifetime say about our culture? And I was interested in the idea that we’re having a relationship with the people who design all this stuff, through the objects themselves. Maybe it’s just me, but these are the sort of ideas I obsess over!

French designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec

A. Well, we all buy and consume these objects, from computers to cars to toothbrushes. So I think we can all benefit from learning about the creative processes and thinking of the people who design them. I think it’s amazing that there’s so little public discourse about the design of all these products. In the mass media, all we get are buying guides that tout the latest crop of gadgets or whatever, but no real discussion about whether or not these things should be made, or how they’re made, or how they’ll be disposed of once we’re done using them.

Q. Is there an object that you came across during filming that particularly inspired you?

A. What inspires me the most are probably the objects we take for granted and think of as the least “designed”. Have you even noticed those toothpicks with the serrated edges on one end? Do you know why they’re there, and what the story is behind them? Like Henry Ford once said, “Every object tells a story, if you know how to read it.” So I enjoy digging into these little stories behind the hundreds of objects we touch every day, that usually go unnoticed.

Clock designed by Naoto Fukasawa

A. I think Ive embodies some of the qualities of craftsmen from hundreds of years ago, with his complete immersion in the materials and obsessive attention to detail. He’s also very focused on the manufacturing process, and the strengths and weaknesses of producing in huge volume. His team spends as much time designing the manufacturing systems that enable them to make the objects as they spend on designing the objects themselves. That’s not very glamorous, but probably a big part of Apple’s success.

Q. Objectified is the second film of a trilogy – can you tell us a bit about your first film (Helvetica) and your plans for the next film in the series?

A. I guess I just make films about things that I want to learn more about personally. Helvetica looked at the world of fonts and graphic design, which is a subject I’m fascinated by, and one that I couldn’t believe no one had done a proper documentary on. So I’m drawn to subjects that influence our lives, but that most of us don’t really think about. The third film will follow that idea as well, but I think it’s probably more ambitious than the first two films in terms of its scope. So I’m looking forward to showing it to THIRTEEN viewers a few years from now.

Watch a interview with Christo and Jeanne-Claude about their 26-year effort to bring about “The Gates” on New York Voices.

Niall Ferguson, a financial historian and Harvard professor, will put the economic crisis of the past year in its historical context. His perspective of these economic cycles provides all of us with a better understanding of the world we are living in today.

The live Q&A begins on Tuesday, November 24 at 6pm EST. Ask your questions now.

This exclusive event was made possible by T. Rowe Price.

Francis and Denis at the end of their journey, with the original copy of Marco Polo's journal

Francis: Well the main reason is that no one had ever retraced Marco Polo’s entire route, several Expeditions tried and failed for a lot of different reasons. Plus we love art, history, travel & adventure. What better way than to follow the path of the world’s greatest traveler? How often are you confronted with an opportunity like that?

Denis: Also there has always been controversy regarding Polo’s account. Even in his own lifetime he gained the nickname Il millione, which means the man of a million unbelievable stories! So we took his book and used it as our guide. What we would do is go to the city, place or town that Polo wrote about and try to find the things he mentioned seven hundred years ago, and see for ourselves whether his account rings true!


Q. You traveled in the same way Marco Polo traveled, only by land and sea — how long did the trip take? How did you not get sick of being with the same person for so long?

Francis: Yes, we did travel many of the same ways that the Polos did, but we also took jeeps, buses, trains, motorcycles, and even a giant containership! Our self-imposed prerequisite was “No Flying.” We felt anyone can fly into a place and gather information willy-nilly, but it’s another animal entirely to travel in chronological order – over land and sea. We flew to Venice and two years later we flew home from Venice.

Denis: I guess I’ll answer the other half of the question! Sure you get sick of each other. What we were doing just wasn’t natural! 24 -7, 365. We knew each other’s stories inside and out, so often we wouldn’t have to talk , ‘cause we could just about read eachother’s minds. There were times when we fought, literally fist fights, bloody noses and black-eyes — wow, I’m just thinking back those poor Turks or Mongols or Chinese who had to witness that! It’s just that we had a lot of pressure on us and no one else to take it out on! More than a few times we called it quits! But in the end the project was bigger than us. Plus we couldn’t let down all the people who believed in us!

Q. The two of you must have gotten into some sketchy situations while you were traveling — what was the scariest moment of the journey for you?

Francis: The scariest moment for me was when it became real! What I mean is — it’s great to have an idea and say ‘I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do that’ — but when other people start believing in you and giving you help of some kind or another, like sponsors, etc. … it’s like, ‘Wow! I really to put up or shut up!’ I remember waking up at 3am and going into our “War Room” and looking at the map we had plotted, with all of its geographic and geopolitical dangers , like mountains, deserts, jungles, Iran, Afghanistan … it was like ‘Oh my God !!!’

Soldiers in Afghanistan
Photo by Denis Belliveau

Q. You’ve done something that most people only dream about — what advice would you give to someone who wants to take on a mission that seems impossible?

Francis: If I told you about all of the naysayers and haters who tried to knock us down & told us we couldn’t do it you would be amazed! We took all that negative energy and turned it around — I know it will sounds like a cliché, but don’t give up — if you want something bad enough, you can make it happen! And be prepared to do everything yourself - you will have to for your vision. Even after our successful expedition it still took us a long time to bring the book and film to fruition — so never give in!

Denis: That’s all true but you have to be prepared as well. Fran and I had traveled together for years in the “third world” – mostly on a shoestring budget, close to the ground, with the people. So we knew we could endure the many hardships along the way! Also we studied for over a year and a half everything we could get our hands on about Marco Polo and Asia.

A mosque in Iran.
Photo by Denis Belliveau

Francis: Of course we are, but first we are honoring this achievement by visiting schools, museums, clubs, societies and sharing our experience “in the footsteps of Marco Polo” in a more intimate setting, giving presentations and interviews. So if anyone would like us to visit their organization, we’d love to. please contact us through our web site and click on ‘Contact’ at the top of the page.

Denis: Nothing as ambitious again, but yes , in fact it seems we have developed a bit of a brand. Where ever we go people say “Hey it’s In the Footsteps guys!” So we are developing a series of “In the Footsteps” where we bring history to life, following the life path of some great person - but it doesn’t have to be your typical explorer, it can be an artist or a scientist. And the question being asked is — “What is the innate nature within in us all to explore? What is it that’s taken us out of the caves and to the stars?”

So what do you think?
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Essentially every American who has listened to the radio or gone to summer camp knows Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.” The music of the nation’s signature folk singer/songwriter has been recorded by everyone from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to the Irish rock band U2. Originally blowing out of the Dust Bowl in 1930s Depression-era America, he blended vernacular, rural music and populism to give voice to millions of downtrodden citizens. Guthrie’s prolific music, poetry and prose were politically leftist, uniquely patriotic and always inspirational. He joined music with traditional oral history and was central to the folk music revival. His is a complex story filled with frenetic creative energy and a treasure trove of cultural history - as well as personal imperfections and profound family tragedy.

Read a timeline of Woody Guthrie’s career and more at the American Masters website.

Watch a preview of “Woody Guthrie: Ain’t Got No Home” now:

“A Death in Tehran” premieres Tuesday, November 17 at 9pm on THIRTEEN

At the height of the protests following Iran’s controversial presidential election this summer, a young woman named Neda Agha Soltan was shot and killed on the streets of Tehran. Her death — filmed on a cameraphone, then uploaded to the web — quickly became an international outrage, and Agha Soltan became the face of a powerful movement that threatened the hard-line government’s hold on power. With the help of a unique network of correspondents in and out of the country, FRONTLINE investigates the life and death of the woman whose image remains a potent symbol for those who want to keep the reform movement alive. The film also explores a number of unanswered questions in the aftermath of the greatest upheaval in Iran since the 1979 revolution: How many were arrested and killed as the security forces attempted to contain the growing protest movement? To what extent was the presidential vote manipulated? What is the future of the movement that seems to have been silenced?

Watch a preview of “A Death in Tehran” now:

No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos premieres on Independent Lens on Tuesday, November 17th at 9 p.m. Inside THIRTEEN spoke with the film’s director, James Chressanthis.

Q. Was it intimidating for you to film two men who practically defined a genre of American cinema?

A. Though I am an experienced cinematographer (2 Emmy® Nominations, Additional Photography on the Oscar-winning Chicago) it was a daunting task. I felt a great responsibility to get their story right while doing justice to their amazing canon of work.

Q. So why profile Laszlo and Vilmos? Why now?

Vilmos Zsigmond and Laszlo Kovacs on the set

Q. Laszlo and Vilmos worked on classics like Easy Rider, Deliverance, Paper Moon, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, to name a few … which of their films inspire you the most, and why?

A. McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Paper Moon, Close Encounters of The Third Kind, Frances, The Deer Hunter are some of my favorites. All share the trait of portraying unique individual stories without romanticizing their characters and without sentimentality. At their best, the films of both cinematographers achieve what Vilmos Zsigmond calls Poetic Realism.

Q. What challenges did you face making the film?

A. Dealing with the staggering number of masterpieces or notable films they each shot; structuring the film which has several layers/storylines: The Hungarian Revolution; the struggle of two outsider immigrants trying to achieve the American dream; the change in American cinema and how Laszlo & Vilmos were critical to the “American New Wave”; and most importantly the evolution of a deep friendship that spanned more than fifty years.

Q. How did you get access not only to Laszlo and Vilmos, but all the other big names featured in the film – Dennis Hopper, Peter Bogdanovich, Peter Fonda, Jon Voight, and others?

Laszlo Kovacs on the set of Five Easy Pieces

I wish to thank not only the those mentioned but also give a shout out to Sandra Bullock, John Williams, Richard Donner, Graeme Clifford, Allen Daviau, Owen Roizman, Haskell Wexler, Sharon Stone and the late “Grindhouse King” Ray Dennis Steckler. For me the unanticipated pleasure was having so many wonderful conversations with filmmakers I have been influenced by and admire.

Please join us for a special press screening

THIRTEEN, in partnership with the New York chapter of the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA), presents a special press screening of MUMBAI MASSACRE on Tuesday, Nov. 17th from 6 to 8:30 p.m., at the Columbia Journalism School
(third floor lecture hall) on 116th St. and Broadway (#1 train to 116th St.).

The event will begin with a one-hour screening of the film, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A from members of the media.

Panelists are:

Victoria Pitt, Writer/Director of the film
Jared Lipworth, Executive Producer, Secrets of the Dead
Todd Baer, Freelance Journalist - Al Jazeera English; covered Mumbai Massacre from Mumbai, Kashmir & Gujarat
Mira Kamdar, Author “Planet India” and Foreign Policy Analyst

Panel moderated by SAJA Co-founder Sree Sreenivasan,
Dean of Student Affairs, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism,
Contributing Editor DNAinfo.com

Light refreshments will be served before the screening

Kindly reply by November 16th to:
Jitin Hingorani at 212.560.6609 or HingoraniJ@wnet.org

Synopsis of MUMBAI MASSACRE

On November 26, 2008, 10 young Pakistani men sailed into Mumbai, India’s thriving financial heart and home of the Bollywood film industry. The men were armed with AK47s, grenades and plastic explosives, as well as satellite phones and global positioning systems connecting them to their controllers. They spread out across the city. Quick-fire strikes on the Victoria Station Railway Station, the busiest train terminus in India, the legendary Leopold Café and Cama Hospital saw more than a hundred dead in only an hour. But this was just the beginning. The gunmen had come for a longer engagement, in targets chosen to grab and hold the world’s attention: the historic Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, the ultra-modern, five-star Trident-Oberoi Hotel and Nariman House, a Jewish Community center nearby. Sixty hours later, the Indian security forces brought the attacks to a close.

MUMBAI MASSACRE brings together candid and very personal accounts from the ordinary and extraordinary people who were caught up in the siege. Actual text of intercepted telephone calls between the gunmen and their commanders and CCTV footage from the hotels give a chilling, real-life edge to their stories. The film also explores the dramatic role that modern communications played: mobile phones, the internet and 24-hour television news gave vital information not just to those in hiding – but to the killers’ commanders in Pakistan.

The film airs on THIRTEEN’s Secrets of the Dead series on PBS stations nationwide on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 8 p.m. EST (check local listings), the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

THIRTEEN’s Secrets of the Dead: Mumbai Massacre was produced by Electric Pictures and Furnace for THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG, Screen Australia, ScreenWest Inc., Channel 4 (UK), The History Channel UK and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Victoria Pitt is writer/director, Andrew Ogilvie is executive producer for Electric Pictures and Phil Craig is executive producer for Furnace. At THIRTEEN, Jared Lipworth is executive producer. William R. Grant is executive-in-charge.

Forty years ago, Sesame Street premiered on New York television. In celebration of November 10, 1969, check out this clip from that very first episode, featuring the appearances by Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Gordon, Susan, Bob, and Mr. Hooper.

After several decades of advancement in Muppet and video technologies, the Sesame Street cast and crew still inspire and educate millions of children all around the world.

Got a favorite Sesame Street character? We’re sharing the 13 characters we love the most — now tell us your faves!

For more on how the H1N1 “swine flu” virus is affecting New York, please visit our comprehensive website that features the latest news from across the PBS spectrum as well as original reports from the field.

Q. During the course of your shoot, did you come across a location with Laura where you thought, “Damn. I’d love to film something else here someday…”

A. We visited a roof terrace at Rockefeller Center (which you see in the piece). It’s actually a really strange spot, about 10 stories above the street, dominated by sleek skyscrapers, pre-war office buildings, and the steeples of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Q. As a filmmaker yourself, do you have the same eye as Laura when it comes to scouting locations? Or does she have a different way that she looks at places?

A. Laura’s scouting is a bit different than what I encounter when shooting. Usually, I shoot where I have to — a subject’s workplace, home, hangout, etc. I don’t really get to choose. When I do sit-down interviews with a subject, I get to frame him or her with the background I want, but it still has to come from a location that’s part of the subject’s life. Laura works in fiction, so she has the good fortune (or curse) to be more choosy. She can also imagine a location’s potential after set and production design
inevitably alter it from its natural state.

Q. Has Laura’s job changed a lot since she started in the business 15 years ago?

A. Now that we’re in a severe recession, Laura says, buildings and homeowners are less likely to offer bargain deals for permission to shoot their locations. While more places are opening their doors to film productions as an added source of revenue, the ability of studios to negotiate low shooting fees has decreased.

What do you think of Mayor Bloomberg’s victory? Are three terms too much? Please post your comments below.

Got a question for the governor? Submit your question to Gov. Paterson in our comments section below — it may be asked in Thursday’s town-hall meeting.

Submission deadline: Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 3 p.m.

Neal Shapiro, President and CEO of WNET.ORG, and Paula Kerger, President and CEO of PBS

“It does feel like coming back home,” Kerger said, recalling the many “meetings and important discussion that had been held this room.”

While the surroundings seemed familiar, however, Kerger quickly acknowledged how much has changed in the media in the few years since she left New York. Today, if viewers don’t catch a PBS program during its television broadcast, she remarked, “they might catch it on one of our multicast channels, or on demand. Or they might go on their laptop to watch it. Or they might watch it on their iPhone. Or on YouTube.”

Kerger noted that the online space is creating new opportunities for expanding public television audiences. “The exciting thing about the online experience is that it’s a very different audience. Forty-eight percent of the viewers watching PBS content online are under 35. And that’s not including kids.”

It comes as little surprise that kids are also connecting with public television via the Web. One real point of pride for Kerger is the traffic that the websites PBS Kids and PBS Kids Go have been attracting. So many kids are visiting – and sticking around for so long – that PBS sometimes worries their servers will crash. “It’s a good problem to have,” she said. “We’re just watching the numbers go through the roof.”

Neal Shapiro addresses the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Friends of THIRTEEN.

As she spoke about the success of the recent Ken Burns series, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea – which garnered stellar audiences nationwide – Kerger also took a moment to dialogue with Dan Allen of the Friends of THIRTEEN and special guest Daniel Cowen, a student at Hunter College. Allen and Cowen are the team responsible for developing the WNET local companion program National Parks: New Yorkers’ Memories. Allen writes about the experience in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

In looking toward the future, Kerger acknowledged that many difficult funding challenges face America’s public television providers today. But her enthusiasm for the promise of public media – especially in this area of technological change – never failed to come through. “How can we use this online space to reach younger, more diverse audiences? How can we use the online space to begin to experiment with programming that may not find a home on public broadcasting’s national schedule just yet? How can we look at the online space as a way to bring new voices in? I think it’s just really an exciting time.”

John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s famous song was written and performed during their “Bed-In” in a hotel room in Montreal in June of ‘69. But it didn’t become a true anti-war anthem until Pete Seeger led nearly a quarter of a million people to sing the song during the largest anti-Vietnam war protest in America in November of that year in Washington, D.C.

This is just one example of the power that music, and the artists that create it, can have to change the world. And it’s the message of How The Beatles Rocked the Kremlin, a documentary coming to THIRTEEN on November 9th. The film tells the surprising story about how The Beatles and their music instilled rebelliousness in Eastern Bloc youth, ultimately bringing down the Soviet Union.

To celebrate music as a force for social change, THIRTEEN is asking viewers to go online – www.thirteen.org/beatles — to nominate bands or musicians that have changed the world. We’ve received almost 1,000 nominations so far. Here’s just a few of the more insightful and fascinating nominations we’ve received, from the obvious to the obscure:

Pete Seeger: His beautiful, straight-forward songs have inspired several generations of socially aware listeners. His music has awakened many sleepers. - Lotte Lachmann

Plastic People of the Universe: The arrest of this Czechoslovakian avant-garde rock band and fans in ‘79 lead Vaclav Havel and others to write a charter accusing the Communist government of violating human rights. The Plastic People’s simple stance of freedom – they were not political, they just wanted to play music and be left alone – united the people, bringing down the whole totalitarian house of cards. By the time The Rolling Stones played Prague in 1990, it was a whole new world. — Elizabeth Dwyer

Bob Dylan: I can’t think of any artist who has inspired more change in
civil rights, politics, & the anti-war movement. Because he brought so many young people into the arenas, he influenced the future: as his young audience became active & remained active as they matured into influential people themselves. His songs of protest were calls to right the wrongs in society, not to break society down. — Joan Adams

Bob Marley: Marley was a musical shaman. In the context of 3rd-world political corruption and economic and social oppression, Marley stood tall serving as the voice of the global masses, the downtrodden, and the hopeful. No other artist has been more influential and inspiring than Marley throughout the globe. No other artist has woven music, politics, religion, spirituality, economics, indigenous and pop culture together as Marley had. — Joshua Lachs

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: He’s lasted longer than any of these dudes. — Robin Dobson

So if you haven’t already, go to www.thirteen.org/beatles to make your nomination. Tell us – what band or musician do you think has rocked the world?

Ben Smith
Director, Online Fundraising & Promotion
WNET.ORG

Watch a preview now:

Allan Miller answers some questions about the film:

Q. What is the genesis of the film?

A. Most of us think of a conductor as a flamboyant personality or tyrant. I wanted to show the public the rare skills and talents as well as the commanding personality required of a conductor.

Q. Of all the conductors to choose from, what made you choose Valery Gergiev?

A. He impressed me for many years as one who possessed all those qualities to an extraordinary degree, while combining them with a fierce dedication to his art and to the culture of his country.

Q. Why did you focus on three rehearsals Gergiev conducted with the London Symphony Orchestra for Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”?

A. Showing those rehearsals and the concert allowed us to follow the process beginning with Gergiev’s first time he faced the orchestra, through the gradually more intense preparation, culminating in the public performance.

Q. As a conductor yourself, and having filmed many musicians over the decades, did you learn anything surprising about Gergiev?

A. I suppose I could understand what Gergiev was trying to do, based on my experience, but my conducting skills were at such a moderate level that I was continually amazed at Gergiev’s unsurpassed ability and intensity.

Q. What challenges did you face filming in Russia?

A. Very few – we had great local production people on the ground and some of the crews we brought knew Russian. Then, remember that if Gergiev wanted something done, or granted us permission to do what we needed to do, no one would tell us no. One of the great privileges of making this film was Gergiev’s trust in us, especially in producer Margaret Smilow and in his manager, Doug Sheldon.

Q. What is the state of classical music today?

A. Classical music is flourishing everywhere, except where it should the most – with young people. It is no longer a given part of growing up – in Europe as well as in America. The few concerts for young people or school visits by musicians are not regularly offered. And most sadly, they do not begin with or lead to regular study of an instrument, or singing in a chorus. The little concert music that young people become acquainted with is not reinforced and cannot compete with the other musical claims on every young persons digitized mind.

Q. What would you like the audience to take away from this film?

A. The knowledge that the audience appreciates what a great conductor has to offer and something of the reasons for his great achievement, but most especially an awakened, if not reinforced love for his music.