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From NPR and WBEZ

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Chicago, this is Wait, Wait,

0:26

Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm

0:29

letting you know it's time for our radio

0:31

show. I'm your courtesy

0:34

call, Bill Curtis. And

0:36

here's your host at the Studebaker Theater

0:38

at the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago,

0:41

Illinois. It's Peter Sagal.

0:43

Thank

0:44

you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. So

0:47

we are still

0:48

off on our summer break, and we are spending

0:50

it standing outside the White House, waiting

0:53

to be invited inside for the

0:55

inevitable presidential celebration

0:58

of our 25 years on the air. Ain't

1:01

no party like a Biden party,

1:04

because a Biden

1:06

party don't stop. So

1:10

while we wait for the president to wave us

1:12

all in, we will share with you more of the reasons

1:14

he should do it, with highlights from our

1:16

first 25 years on the air, including stuff

1:18

that

1:18

remains relevant today.

1:21

For example, this summer marks the 50th

1:23

anniversary of the debut of the first album

1:26

by Queen. So enjoy

1:28

this conversation with founding guitarist

1:31

Brian May, who joined us in 2017

1:34

to talk to us about his

1:36

other enthusiasms, like 3D

1:39

photography. Thank

1:41

you very much. I spent a good

1:43

part of yesterday evening with your

1:45

book of these amazing stereoscopic photos

1:47

and the great little viewer

1:48

that comes with them, enjoying these 3D

1:51

pictures of your band and its history,

1:53

and Freddie Mercury and your other friends and musicians.

1:56

And I have one thing to ask you. How

1:58

is it that in all the years... that you've

2:00

been in the public eye, your hair has never

2:03

changed. Did any, but nobody ever

2:05

came to you and said, and said, Brian, you know, now it's

2:07

1990s, we need to cut your hair. Is

2:09

anything? Yeah, they do it all the time. I have a

2:11

good answer for that, but it's probably not repeatable

2:13

on your own. So,

2:16

there are so many things that are interesting about you. You were,

2:19

as I said,

2:20

you were pursuing your doctorate in science when

2:22

the band started, right? I was, yeah, in

2:24

astronomy, in what they now call

2:27

astrophysics, yeah, and I gave it up, and I thought

2:29

I was actually doing astrophysics a favor by

2:31

choosing the other option. Really?

2:34

Yeah, and I also thought, you know, there's a window

2:36

opening here, and if I don't kind of walk through, or a door

2:38

opening, I should say, and I thought if I don't walk through right now,

2:40

that that door will never open again. So,

2:43

I went off and, again, saw the odds became

2:45

a rock star for some reason. Yeah, and

2:47

that seemed to have worked out pretty well for you.

2:49

It's okay, it's been okay so far. It really

2:51

has, but.

2:52

So, wait, so you're suggesting

2:54

that you were not a good astrophysicist?

2:57

You know, I didn't think I was. What would

2:59

make a bad astrophysicist? Like,

3:02

you weren't looking in the right.

3:03

Well, what would make a bad

3:05

astrophysicist would be like not being able to complete

3:07

your PhD, which is what happened. You know, I couldn't

3:10

please my supervisor, so 30 years later,

3:13

I found myself with another supervisor, and

3:15

he liked what I did, so I kind

3:17

of updated my vision of

3:19

myself. I discovered it's a common thing. People

3:21

tend to have, like, no confidence in themselves when

3:23

they're trying to do a PhD, so listen, anybody

3:26

out there, if you do any PhD, you've got to believe, okay,

3:28

because don't wait 30 years like I

3:30

did, but I got it after 30 years. Oh,

3:32

wow!

3:33

Wait a minute. Thank

3:35

you. What I love

3:38

is that

3:39

you going in to get your PhD, not

3:41

as young Brian May, but as

3:44

Brian May, the guitarist of Queen.

3:46

I mean, did you like your oral exams?

3:48

Did you come in and say, I could answer your questions, or

3:50

I could just do the riff from We Will Rock

3:53

You? Well,

3:55

you know, they were tough on me. I think they had

3:57

to be, because they couldn't be seen to kind of make it

3:59

even.

3:59

for me. So they gave me hell

4:02

in the viva and I got

4:05

a whole sheaf of stuff that I had to do in

4:07

order to finish it off. But yeah,

4:10

I mean, that's

4:12

the way it was and I was just happy to have the opportunity.

4:16

It was like full circle in my life. I wanted to complete

4:18

that circle. And it gives me a chance to hang

4:20

out with cool astrophysicists and astronauts.

4:23

I have a great time. I bet you. I tried to work in any

4:25

queen stuff during the defense

4:28

of your dissertation. Like, you may think you're

4:30

the champion, Mr. May, but

4:32

this panel thinks otherwise. Do they do anything corny

4:34

like that? No, not really. But there

4:36

are links, strange enough, because I kind

4:39

of, my thesis was on dust, real dust

4:41

in the solar system. And I

4:44

had a few quotes in there like the Joni Mitchell quote,

4:46

you know, we are stardust, we are gold, which is

4:48

true. We are the products of supernovas.

4:52

Otherwise, you wouldn't have any heavy elements.

4:54

And there's been a recent discovery on that. I don't know if

4:56

you saw that gold being created

4:59

in these,

4:59

this collision of neutron stars. Where's

5:02

Joni Mitchell at on her PhD? The

5:05

great thing is that most of the astrophysicists that

5:07

I know are big rock fans, you know, and they have

5:10

way more tattoos than I have. Really?

5:12

Yeah, but they have like tattoos of Einstein

5:15

and. Now, this

5:17

is the amazing thing about this book, because in addition

5:20

to your interest in astrophysics

5:22

and obviously shredding on the guitar,

5:24

you are a huge photography nerd

5:27

and you totally you were always

5:29

into 3D photography. Yeah. I'm

5:32

just trying to imagine, though,

5:33

that you must have been like the mid 70s and

5:35

the absolute apogee of like the rock

5:38

and roll lifestyle. And there's the cocaine and

5:40

there's the groupies and there's the liquor.

5:42

And you're like trying to get everybody to hold still

5:45

so you can take a 3D photograph. Guys, guys, come on. I'm

5:48

not going to contradict you there. Can

5:53

we just move

5:54

on? All right, I will. Every

5:56

high school student has the same story I

5:58

imagine on the way to. sports

6:01

events like when I played lacrosse

6:03

in high school and this is when you

6:05

didn't have to sit down on the bus. I

6:08

don't know why but we came from a time

6:11

where no one cared really if we fell out.

6:13

What were you doing on the

6:15

bus? We were on our way to like a sports

6:17

match you know like to an away game

6:19

with another lacrosse team and we

6:22

would bang our sticks on the roof

6:24

of the bus how this driver tolerate I'll

6:26

never know and we would and we

6:28

would scream at the top of our lungs

6:31

the the lyrics to you know we are

6:33

the champions and it was so

6:35

much fun.

6:36

Oh yeah. Did you guys ever win a match? No.

6:39

What would you sing on the drive

6:44

back another one bites the dust?

6:50

Can I just ask what like

6:52

in the creation of an amazing iconic

6:54

song like Bohemian Rhapsody. Did

6:57

Freddie Mercury write those lyrics? Absolutely.

7:00

And like what was it like when he says okay

7:02

these are gonna be the words to this song.

7:07

We had a kind of unwritten law you know

7:09

generally the song was kind of the the province

7:11

of the writer and the writer would have to finally say it so

7:14

yeah we didn't really discuss it we didn't say

7:16

you know why you saying that Freddie. So no

7:18

one looked at him when he started singing Scaramouche. Right.

7:21

Can you do

7:22

the fan game? I mean this stuff is really

7:24

fun to do in the studio nobody's ever done it before

7:27

you know. Well absolutely I'd never heard anything like

7:29

that in my life when that song came out.

7:31

And you won't again. I know.

7:33

Yeah so you guys just you know Scaramouche,

7:35

Scaramouche, and not even looking

7:38

at one another. I

7:40

can imagine. Last question as

7:42

an astrophysicist because this is interesting how you

7:44

both do both can you scientifically explain

7:47

how it is that fat-bottom girls make

7:49

the world go round.

7:52

Yeah I think that's true I was just

7:54

lucky to find out early.

7:59

Well, Brian May, we could talk to you all

8:02

day, but we have business to do. We've

8:04

asked you here to play a game we're calling.

8:07

Have a peanut buster parfait.

8:09

You, of course, as we have been discussing, are one of the founders

8:12

of Queen, one of the iconic rock bands of all time.

8:14

So we thought we'd ask you

8:15

three questions about Dairy Queen.

8:18

I don't know what. Dairy

8:20

Queen. You might have come across it in your travels across

8:22

America. It's a popular ice cream

8:25

and fast food franchise here. I've

8:27

been looking forward to so much. Go

8:29

on. Answer two questions about,

8:32

by the way, I should say that absolute ignorance is always

8:34

an advantage in this particular game. Well, you've got

8:36

it in this case. All right. I'm just picturing

8:38

the Queen tour bus pulled up

8:41

to a Dairy Queen. It'd

8:43

be the greatest day of those people's lives. Freddie

8:45

just marching in. Blizzard's full of

8:47

a lot of us. All

8:51

right, so we have. We

8:53

should look at home now. This is already going very well. So

8:56

the question, though, for Bill is who is a legendary

8:58

guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May playing

9:01

for? Ellen Jones of Baltimore, Maryland.

9:03

All right. There we go. Just two right, and we win it

9:05

all. None right. Who cares? Here we

9:07

go. Dairy Queen has given

9:10

us so much, by way of frozen treats,

9:12

the Blizzard, the Dilly Bar,

9:14

the Oreo Brownie earthquake. But

9:17

it's also responsible for what other wonderful

9:19

thing? A, the defibrillator device. B,

9:22

the band No Doubt.

9:24

Or C, avocado toast.

9:26

I would say none

9:28

of the above, but I

9:31

have no idea. The defibrillator. I'm going for

9:33

the defibrillator. You could use a defibrillator

9:35

in any Dairy Queen, but the answer is the band No

9:37

Doubt.

9:38

Because it turns out that Gwen Stefani

9:40

and two of her bandmates met and formed

9:42

their band at a Dairy Queen in Anaheim,

9:45

California, where they both all worked there.

9:47

I'm on the edge of my seat. But we

9:49

have other things. There's this Dairy

9:51

Queen, one of them, in Moorhead,

9:53

Minnesota. And it's legendary because it

9:56

still uses all the old recipes. And it

9:58

was the place where their famous.

9:59

Dilly bar treat was invented now

10:02

the owner there invented a number of other things

10:04

that corporate never liked so they didn't catch on

10:06

nationally including which of these were to

10:08

do these failed

10:10

Dairy Queen treats a the flaming

10:12

Sunday be the meat shake

10:15

or See the

10:17

heck of a job brownie I'm

10:25

I'm gonna go for number one the flaming Sunday.

10:27

You're right

10:30

Sunday Sunday

10:33

Sugar cube doused with liquor set on fire

10:36

very attractive It's your last

10:38

question if you get this right you win which I'm sure

10:40

will go well with your CBE Last

10:44

question Dairy Queen has a deep

10:46

dark secret something They would rather

10:49

that you none of us would know

10:51

what is it a their original name was

10:54

dairy fairy Be

10:56

their ice cream isn't actually ice cream

10:58

or see the chain is wholly owned by the government

11:01

of Iran He's

11:05

operating at a slight disadvantage having never been

11:07

to a dairy that's true. Yeah,

11:10

I think be yes

11:15

Their product

11:17

their frozen soft serve cannot be

11:19

legally called ice cream because it doesn't have enough real

11:21

cream in it Bill how did Brian

11:24

May doing our quiz he is a champion

11:32

Brian May is an astrophysicist Guitar

11:35

legend and one of the founders of the great rock bands

11:38

of all time that would be Queen his new

11:40

book Which is completely worth

11:42

the hours you will spend staring at it.

11:45

It's of stereoscopic photos. He took

11:47

it's called Queen in 3d It is out

11:49

now Brian May

11:50

what a joy to talk to you. Thank you

12:00

When we come back, the woman who took

12:04

out Justin Bieber and the two brothers

12:06

who made Chicago

12:15

funny. That's when we return with more Wait,

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NPR Music, we're celebrating a monumental

13:00

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13:03

honor of that anniversary, we're talking about all

13:05

the ways hip-hop has restlessly

13:08

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13:13

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13:21

From

13:21

NPR and WBEZ Chicago,

13:23

this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the

13:26

NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill Curtis, and

13:28

here is your host at the Studebaker Theater

13:31

and the Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago,

13:33

Illinois, Peter Sagal. Thank

13:35

you, Bill. Thank you, everybody. You're too

13:38

kind. So, we

13:41

are more than halfway

13:43

through our 25th anniversary

13:45

year. So we're thinking our invite

13:47

to the big Kennedy Center celebration of us

13:50

must have gotten lost in the mail. So while we

13:52

stare forlornly into the window of the post

13:55

office, here's some more reasons why

13:57

they should give us a medal.

13:59

There was a huge upset at the Grammys

14:02

the award for best do artists did not

14:05

go to the favorite Justin Bieber but

14:07

to a young jazz bassist from Portland

14:10

named Esperanza Spalding

14:13

who joined us to talk about that in 2016

14:19

So

14:19

there are more origin stories for

14:22

you out there than there are for like

14:24

Batman Yeah, so could you tell

14:26

us a story what you were growing up in a rough

14:28

section of Portland, Oregon, right? Yeah,

14:31

and I was walking in this dark tunnel

14:34

and the penguin came out and attacked my parents

14:40

Yes, I did grow up in a rough neighborhood in Portland

14:42

I

14:43

when I when I read, you know a rough

14:45

neighborhood of Portland, I'm like what they didn't have kombucha

14:47

bars there I mean, it was rough. It

14:49

was our green juice was like only kale.

14:52

Oh, no Yeah, but

14:54

the various stories about how you came to music I

14:56

read one that you were inspired by yo-yo ma

14:58

on mr. Rogers

15:00

Yeah, yeah, and wildly

15:02

enough later I saw a tape

15:04

of that episode and when he goes to make the leave

15:06

land the two women characters are Playing

15:09

an upright bass and the other one is addressed

15:12

as an upright bass So I think it was

15:14

like some conscious Hypnotism

15:16

that happened when I was five and I ended up playing

15:18

the bass later Well, what drew you to playing

15:20

the bass nothing that I can recall,

15:23

but the sound is tremendous

15:26

You know, it it sits on your hip bone and it

15:28

vibrates your skeleton and it's

15:30

like kind of musically orgasmic

15:33

It's it's incredible. I have to confess.

15:35

It's purely for self-interest

15:37

of pleasure

15:38

What's

15:41

crazy is That's

15:43

the dirtiest thing anyone said on public radio It's

15:46

all totally allowable. Yeah,

15:48

I can start like a like a hotline where we a lot

15:51

a lot of musicians are looking at their cellos And

15:53

violas and going you've never given

15:55

me any pleasure We're

15:59

a As a musician, growing up

16:01

in Portland, were the streets

16:03

of Portland at that time in your neighborhood filled with

16:05

jazz bands?

16:06

No. But

16:09

there was a lot of music here. I mean, you know it's a music

16:11

town. And there's a really

16:13

beautiful philosophy of mentorship

16:15

here. So up and coming musicians

16:18

can easily reach out and find a loving teacher. And

16:20

that's definitely what happened to me.

16:21

Oh wow. And you have

16:23

yourself become a teacher, right? You were the youngest

16:26

person ever to teach at the Berkeley School of Music.

16:28

Yes, probably unfortunately for my students.

16:30

But I had a good time. That's important.

16:32

Hey. The students

16:34

were like, Miss Spalding's class is interesting,

16:36

but she's got a weird relationship with that

16:38

bass. Do

16:41

you have your own bass or are you,

16:43

shall we say... Polyamorous.

16:46

Polyamorous with basses. Because I'm just, it must be a pain

16:48

in the butt, because this is an enormous instrument. It must be a pain

16:50

in the butt to carry the damn thing around.

16:52

That is the

16:54

drawback. But then I look at what drummers go

16:56

through of lugging their gear from

16:58

here to there and setting it up. And I think, no,

17:01

it's okay. It's just big. And fortunately,

17:04

I'm comfortable with the concept of bass

17:06

du jour. So I travel, we

17:08

have a little blind date, get to know

17:10

each other, do the gig, and it's all good.

17:12

Wow. I was like, what

17:14

the hell's up with this allegory? I can't

17:17

think of that. I

17:19

have to talk to you about 2011. You

17:22

won the Grammy for Best

17:24

New Artist. That is like the first time they ever

17:26

gave that award to a jazz musician. Is that right?

17:29

Uh-huh. That's correct. Or at least

17:31

an openly jazz musician.

17:33

You were out and proud. You were not one of those

17:35

closeted jazz guys. Exactly. And

17:38

everybody that year expected it was going to be Justin

17:40

Bieber, because he had just released his first record.

17:42

Yeah, including me. You thought it was going to be Justin Bieber.

17:45

Of course. And when they announced your name,

17:47

what did you think?

17:48

Nothing. Nothing registered. It was

17:51

like this void of silence. I was like, oh

17:53

my God, I have to remember to thank this person, that person,

17:55

this person. Why didn't I plan a speech? This is horrible.

17:57

What am I going to do? Don't fall in your face. Are

18:00

you wearing a bra? Did you put a deodorant? Oh my god. It

18:04

was like an automatic reel of concerns that

18:07

just started automatically playing when I heard my name. And

18:09

it played until I got to the stage. And I actually kept

18:11

playing as I was speaking. So I don't even remember

18:14

that moment to tell you the truth.

18:15

That's amazing. I mean, I'm sure you wish that you

18:17

could have just been back in the arms of your bass. Glad

18:20

you're here. Yeah,

18:22

thank

18:22

you. Esperanza Spalding, we're delighted

18:24

to talk to you. And we have invited you

18:26

here to play a game we're calling... All

18:28

your bass are belong to us. So

18:32

you famously play the bass

18:34

and maybe more. So we thought we'd

18:36

ask you about three other kinds of

18:39

basses. Get two out of three right

18:41

and you'll win our prize. One of our listeners, Carl Castle's

18:43

voice on their voicemail. Bill, who is Esperanza

18:46

Spalding playing for? Ken Powell from Pittsburgh,

18:48

Pennsylvania. All right. Right on. Your

18:51

first bass is bass jumping.

18:54

That is jumping off high buildings or

18:56

mountains with a parachute that hopefully

18:58

opens before you hit the ground.

19:00

Which of these is a real bass

19:02

jumper? Is it A, Whisper, the

19:05

bass jumping dog?

19:06

B, Amber Sky,

19:09

an exotic dancer slash bass jumper

19:11

who wears only a parachute?

19:14

Or C, the Flying McDaniels,

19:16

an entire family of four who

19:18

jumps off cliffs strapped to each other?

19:21

I bet it's Amber

19:23

Sky and I bet she's from Portland, Oregon.

19:25

I

19:27

will say this Esperanza, knowing Portland

19:30

as I do, if Amber Sky existed, she

19:32

would be from Portland. But

19:34

it was really Whisper the bass jumping

19:36

dog.

19:37

Whisper is the pet of noted adventurer

19:40

Dean Potter who straps Whisper to his back

19:42

and jumps off things.

19:43

And Pete is okay with this?

19:44

You know, we'll have to find out. Maybe

19:47

they're just hearing about it now. Okay. All

19:50

right. You still have too many chances. Second

19:52

bass is baseball, the great American pastime. One

19:54

of the worst baseball players ever

19:57

was one Smead Jolly.

19:59

Mr. Jolly was an outfielder

20:02

during the 1930s and he is famous

20:04

in baseball history as being the only

20:06

major league player ever

20:09

to do what? A, to run the

20:11

bases backwards third to second

20:13

to first where he was easily

20:16

put out. B, while playing

20:19

the outfield he committed three errors

20:21

all by himself on one play.

20:23

Where C, once again

20:25

in the outfield he missed an easy pop fly

20:27

because he was busy trying to teach a pigeon

20:30

a trick. I

20:34

think I want to go with the first

20:36

one, he ran the bases backward.

20:38

Following your instincts has brought you everywhere you

20:40

are today so who am I to argue? In

20:42

this case of course you were wrong, he committed

20:45

three errors all by himself,

20:48

this is what happened,

20:50

grounded his outfielder, goes through

20:52

his legs, first error, he turns

20:54

around it bounces off the outfield wall, rolls back

20:56

towards him, goes through his legs again, second

21:00

error, finally he grabs the ball throws into

21:02

the cutoff man sails it way over his

21:04

head, three errors one play

21:07

never been surpassed. Alright

21:09

you have one more question and the

21:12

third base is Ace of Base, the

21:14

great Swedish pop group.

21:17

Early on they almost didn't make

21:19

it, they almost failed before they ever had a chance. The

21:21

producer they sent their demo to just didn't

21:23

like it but that producer changed his mind

21:26

when what happened? A, he visited

21:28

an IKEA for the first time and

21:31

just fell in love with all things Swedish, B,

21:33

the tape got stuck in his tape

21:35

deck in his car and he was forced to listen to it

21:38

over and over for two weeks at which point

21:40

he started liking it, or C, he

21:42

saw the sign and it opened up his eyes,

21:44

he saw the sign. He just

21:46

opened up his eyes and saw the sign.

21:50

I think it has to be the second.

21:51

You're right it was. Okay.

21:53

How did you know? Yeah.

22:03

Yeah, after two weeks you heard something in Ace of Bass's

22:06

music you didn't hear the first time and he said, I think I'm going

22:08

to produce this. Bill, how did Esperanza

22:10

Spalding do in our place? She's got games, she got

22:12

one right, then we love having her

22:14

here. That's where I'm at. Esperanza,

22:17

thank you so much for joining us. I'm Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.

22:19

What a pleasure to talk to you.

22:31

One of the best things that happened to Chicago in

22:33

recent years was entirely made up

22:35

a sitcom called Southside, created

22:38

by and starring two brothers,

22:40

Bashir and Sultan Salahuddin. Who,

22:43

like some people who become icons of

22:46

Chicago, like, say, us,

22:49

actually grew up here. I did

22:51

not ask to be born in New

22:53

Jersey, Bill. But

22:56

you didn't object either. Here

22:59

are the Salahuddin brothers. Yes, we grew

23:01

up on the south side of Chicago in Gresham.

23:06

And one person, thank you. One guy, I

23:09

was like, that's right, Gresham. I came here

23:11

to make sure you guys were going to

23:13

rep. So Bashir, you went 80s for college, you got into comedy

23:15

writing, you wrote for Jimmy Fallon, right? I

23:18

wrote for Jimmy Fallon in New York.

23:20

I lived in New York, me and my writing partner, De'Hala Riddle.

23:24

We actually got there

23:26

before the show even started, and everybody's

23:28

like, oh, we have no idea what's going to happen. And

23:30

we looked up a couple years later, we had some Emmy nominations,

23:33

we were writing for President Obama. Oh, yeah, I heard that.

23:35

That famous appearance of President Obama.

23:38

You guys wrote that. Yeah,

23:40

we did. And in fact, here's something. I

23:43

wrote the first pass. And I've never told

23:45

anybody that, but I'm in a bragging kind of

23:47

mode right now. Let's do it. That's

23:52

right. That's right. And you know, we got

23:54

to meet the president and he couldn't have been more nice. How much

23:56

did he put in his own

23:57

stuff? improvised.

24:01

I mean he you know he's a natural there

24:03

are detractors who would say Obama's a ham. So he's

24:06

out there. So I'm gonna catch up

24:10

with Sultan. So if Bashir

24:15

is out there he's doing comedy writing.

24:17

What are you doing at this time? I was doing stand-up comedy

24:19

in the Midwest for a while. I was cracking jokes and making

24:21

people laugh and busting heads and

24:24

but I you know I went to college had a couple of kids

24:27

did you know did the normal domestic stuff and then I

24:29

decided to start writing

24:31

at the urge of my brother

24:33

and we pinned the show south

24:35

side and send it to my brother and

24:37

he pinned it and we went past it and next thing you know

24:39

we're here. So wait a minute so you're

24:42

the guy this whole time who came up with the idea for the show? Boom.

24:45

Really? Since

24:47

we're bragging. Now

24:49

there's a look for radio audience. That's

24:52

the only one that's cool. There's a look in Bashir's

24:54

face. This reminds me of back when I was inventing

24:57

the iPhone. The

25:01

show is about two guys one

25:03

of whom you play so time yeah who worked for a rent

25:05

to own company yeah spending a lot

25:07

of time and they got like side hustles upon side hustles.

25:10

And Bashir you play a Chicago cop. I do. Who's

25:12

not the best cop. There's a lot of things about the

25:14

show that I want

25:15

to talk to you guys about but one of them is its tone

25:17

and I was watching it because all this stuff happens

25:20

and it just gets crazier and crazier and crazier

25:22

as the show goes on until stuff is happening like

25:25

what and I was like this

25:27

is like Seinfeld. High

25:29

praise. Alright. You

25:32

heard it here first. Little Seinfeld

25:35

sauce for ya. In the classic Seinfeld episodes

25:37

somebody would do something small and they'd get dumb about

25:39

it and it would just increase in dumbness. The old

25:42

snowball effect. And

25:44

I actually heard that you guys actually had that in mind

25:46

when you created the show that you wanted to be like a Seinfeld

25:48

for the South Side is that right.

25:50

You know we definitely wanted something that moved

25:52

the way Seinfeld moved in terms of being funny. I think sometimes

25:55

when you deal with content especially black content

25:57

there's always this impetus and this need

25:59

to put some something deep into it. As if there's like, and

26:01

I don't mean deep as in our show doesn't have

26:04

meaning, but our show doesn't need you to have characters

26:06

prove they're from the South Side because they cry.

26:09

Right. Because they're running from bullets. You

26:11

know, we don't have very special episodes where I grab

26:13

and go, hey brother, what's going on?

26:17

And also I as an actor am not qualified. Do

26:19

that level of work. He cares. He

26:22

really cares. Yeah, exactly. So we said,

26:24

no, we want something, we want people all over the world and especially on the

26:26

South Side to come home and feel lifted

26:28

up and to let that a brilliant spirit

26:30

of the show really pervade every morsel

26:32

and ounce of who they are as a person and then tell

26:35

other people about it. So they watch much

26:36

like we're doing right now. I understand. A

26:39

brilliant, a brilliant. And I

26:42

think that's the way he debt me $5. I

26:44

wouldn't use that. Well

26:47

Bashir and Sultan, it is a real

26:50

joy to meet you in person. Thanks for having us. Thank

26:52

you. We have invited you here today. We

26:56

invited you here to play a game we're calling

26:59

Welcome to the real South Side.

27:02

So if you start, say at the

27:04

corner of 75th and Ashland and you

27:06

head South

27:06

and you keep heading South, you will eventually

27:09

reach the South of sides. That

27:11

is Antarctica. So we're going to ask you

27:14

three questions about Antarctica. Get two right. You

27:16

want to prize whatever. Right. What's in their choice

27:18

in their voicemail? He's ready. Bill,

27:21

who are Bashir and Sultan playing for? Man, let's

27:23

do this. Jen Freitag of Chicago

27:26

with a joy. All right.

27:28

All right. Hey Jen. Hi

27:30

Jen. Here is your

27:32

first question. The first person to reach the South

27:34

Pole was the Norwegian explorer, Roald

27:36

Amundsen in And the

27:39

tent he set up when he got there has been designated

27:41

as an official world historic

27:43

site, even though what?

27:46

A, nobody has any

27:48

idea where it is. B,

27:50

it melted and dissolved into the ocean seven

27:52

years ago. Or C, it is the

27:54

place where Amundsen's group ate their

27:57

weakest member.

27:59

Do you think he ate

28:02

somebody? I think it's A. You're right, that's

28:04

what it was. Nobody has that anywhere it is. Just

28:08

so you know, I read about this before we came.

28:11

Oh, you did your research. They think it's

28:13

like 50 feet beneath the current surface

28:15

of the ice, maybe over there that way. They

28:17

don't really know. All right. There it

28:19

is. Next question, by the time Richard

28:22

Byrd led his 1928 expedition to the South Pole and our... Famous 28

28:24

expedition. That one, you know that, right? Yep, who doesn't?

28:27

You wear that. I got a Richard Byrd shirt

28:29

at home.

28:29

Yeah. When

28:32

he led his expedition there in 1928, Antarctica

28:35

had developed such a reputation for driving men

28:37

insane in the wild cold wastes

28:39

that he brought along what on the trip?

28:42

A, 12 straitjackets, B,

28:45

a couch so he could give his men therapy

28:47

if needed, or C, three

28:49

seasonal affective disorder lamps.

28:52

What do you think? You say

28:54

you're going to go... Should we go ahead? I got to

28:56

go with straitjacks. I'll support you. Yeah.

29:00

I don't know. My mom's

29:01

going to be so proud. We'll see if we can make her proud. Last

29:03

question. Trying. So,

29:06

there

29:08

are of course lots of current expeditions to the

29:11

South Pole, but if you wanted

29:14

to go to the South Pole now in an

29:16

expedition and you are a doctor,

29:18

you have to make some preparations before you

29:20

go, including what? A,

29:22

you have to bring along a lot of sugar pills

29:25

because people get bored and make up reasons to

29:27

see the doctor just to have something to do. B,

29:29

have your own appendix removed,

29:32

or C, stock up on wooden medical

29:35

instruments because your hand sticks to scalpels

29:37

in that cold. What's your gut

29:39

telling you?

29:40

I mean... I tell you, what's your appendix telling you? All

29:42

right, fine. So, what's it going to be? I support

29:44

you, man. I'm going with the wood, bro. All right, all right,

29:46

fine. It's fine. You've already won.

29:49

It's the first appendix. I'm going to go with the first appendix.

29:51

So, time to go. I'm going to go with the first appendix. I'm

29:53

going to go with the first appendix. I'm going to go with the first

29:55

appendix. So, Tan is going with the

29:57

wooden instruments and the winner is Bashir.

29:59

It was in fact, all right, oh wait.

30:02

It was appendix. In 1969, those

30:07

of you at home can't see them dancing? A Russian

30:09

doctor was at the South Pole, his own appendix

30:11

burst, and he had to remove it himself. The

30:14

reason is that you speculate. No one else to do it. So

30:16

ever since then, get it taken care

30:19

of before you go. I'm sure he used wooden instruments.

30:21

I'm just kidding.

30:22

Bill,

30:24

how did they do on our quiz? They've gone where

30:26

few have gone before and got them

30:28

all right. What? You did. All

30:33

right. Two collectively,

30:35

together. Oh man. And

30:38

guys, I got to tell you, if you think these guys are funny here, you

30:40

should see their TV show, Bashir

30:42

and Sultan Soledadine star in South Side. So on HBO Max,

30:44

Season 1 and Season 2 is out now. Watch it, Bashir

30:46

and Sultan. Thanks guys.

30:50

Thank you so much for joining us today. Good

30:53

pleasure. Bravo. Yes,

30:56

two queens,

30:57

Cyndi Lauper and Misty Copeland. We'll

30:59

be back in a minute with more. Wait, wait, don't tell me. From

31:02

NPR.

31:26

This message comes from NPR sponsor Delta Airlines.

31:31

This

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message comes from NPR sponsor Delta Airlines. your

32:00

potential takes off when you do.

32:04

This is my voice. It can

32:06

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32:08

I'm not changing it for anyone.

32:11

In NPR's Black Stories, Black

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From NPR, and

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32:29

This is Wait, Wait. Don't tell me

32:31

the NPR News Quiz. I'm Bill

32:33

Curtis, and here's your host at

32:35

the Studebaker Theatre in downtown Chicago, Peter

32:39

Seagal. Thank you, Bill. Thank

32:41

you. We... Thank you,

32:43

everybody. We are almost done

32:46

with this week's

32:48

show, and we still have not

32:49

received that presidential phone call, so it is time

32:51

to bring out the big guns, by

32:54

which we mean two of the most amazing guests we've

32:56

had over the last two and a half decades.

32:58

First, pop legend and composer Cindy Lauper, who

33:02

joined us in 2018. Peter

33:05

began by asking her if it was true. She

33:08

was almost born in a New York taxi cab. Yeah,

33:12

and I tell you, I ain't been right

33:14

ever since. But... But... And

33:17

how did you get that? And

33:21

how did you get into music initially? What were

33:23

your first jobs when you were getting started? Well,

33:27

I was a hot walker at Belmont. You

33:29

were a what? A hot walker. What

33:32

is a hot walker? You walked the horses. You

33:34

walked the horses when they're hot. You got to get there really early,

33:36

though. That's really tough,

33:39

you know, because, yep, at 4 a.m., you

33:41

know, I used to... No, I had run away to Long

33:43

Island because I lived in the city,

33:46

and I thought I was missing something,

33:49

and suburbia, so I ran

33:51

away to suburbia, and then

33:53

I realized, hey, what the heck am I doing here?

33:56

You know. And then I

33:58

was going to be a painter.

33:59

So I went to Canada to

34:02

the Algonquin Provincial Park and

34:05

I did a tree study. I just drew

34:07

trees. And then unfortunately

34:10

I went with my dog at the height of the

34:12

Black Fly season. So that

34:14

kind of didn't work out very well. We

34:17

were all bitten up.

34:19

No, it was terrible. So

34:22

I guess really it just pop-started and was the last resort

34:24

for you.

34:27

Well, I had a lot

34:29

of jobs. I was even a gal Friday

34:31

the 13th. A what? A

34:34

gal Friday the 13th? What's that? Yeah,

34:36

well, it's a gal Friday who's really horrible

34:39

at her job. I've

34:43

got to ask you,

34:44

back in the 80s, one of the things you were known

34:46

for was like you were really into wrestling. Yeah,

34:49

I was a wrestling manager for a

34:51

while. I was Captain

34:54

Lou Wabane. Yeah,

34:55

I remember this. Is

34:58

there a story with him and your famous

35:00

young girls just want to have fun, I'm told?

35:02

Oh, we had a fight.

35:05

And I was on the Roddy

35:07

Piper show, you know, Piper's Pit.

35:10

And I was talking to Roddy and all

35:12

of a sudden

35:14

Lou came on and he said,

35:16

you know, he started talking about women,

35:19

you know, that we belong barefoot

35:21

and pregnant in the kitchen. And,

35:24

you know, he was the one that did everything.

35:27

But he started to say like real sexist stuff.

35:30

And I said, Lou, you started to make me

35:32

angry, right? And

35:34

then he wouldn't stop. And you know,

35:36

when you hang out with wrestlers, wrestlers

35:38

have episodes, but you hang out with them.

35:41

Sometimes you have an episode yourself.

35:43

This happens

35:45

to me all the time. So, yeah. Did

35:48

you hit him with a folding chair? What did you do?

35:50

No, I turned over the table

35:53

and I pulled on his beard and hit him

35:55

with my purse over the head.

35:56

Sounds

36:01

like he deserved it. Most

36:03

people don't know this, but you, Cindy Lauper, have won

36:06

an Emmy for your

36:06

performances on TV, Mad About You, a Grammy for

36:09

your records, a Tony for Kinky Boots. How

36:13

are you going to win your Oscar?

36:17

Everybody says that. I'm going to have to now. You

36:19

are.

36:20

I got some time left.

36:22

I am still above the grass.

36:24

That's true. Well, we

36:27

think you'll do it, but in the meantime,

36:29

Cindy Lauper, it is a pleasure to

36:31

talk to you, and we've invited you here to play a game

36:34

we're calling... I'm King of the World. You

36:38

wrote the show Kinky Boots. And

36:40

it just so happens, if you take Kinky Boots and

36:43

you change two letters,

36:44

that makes Sinky Boats. Wow. That's

36:49

right. You probably saw this coming. Thank

36:51

you. We're going to ask you about

36:54

the most famous sinky boat of all

36:56

time, the Titanic. Oh, God.

36:59

Yes. Get

37:01

too right, you'll want our prize for one of our listeners, the

37:03

voice of your choice on their voicemail. Bill,

37:05

who is Cindy Lauper playing for? Allison

37:08

Carter of Phoenix, Arizona. All right.

37:10

You ready to do this?

37:11

Allison, I'm going to do my

37:13

best, hon.

37:14

Here we go. Here's your first question. It's

37:16

well known that the musicians aboard the Titanic played on, as the boat

37:18

sank. To

37:21

show their appreciation, the company that hired

37:23

those musicians for the cruise did which of these things?

37:25

A, they created a special

37:28

music from the Titanic tour in which the band finished

37:30

with,

37:31

Nearer My God to Thee, and

37:33

then were splashed with ice water. B,

37:36

they created the first ever contract rider specifying that

37:38

all the musicians, no

37:41

matter where they played on lander at sea, be

37:43

provided with life jackets. Or C, they

37:45

build the musicians' families for the

37:47

cost of the uniforms that the musicians were wearing

37:50

when they sunk.

37:53

Oh, my God. All right. Well,

37:55

A

37:56

sounds funny, but I think

37:58

it's really

37:58

B. Do you think it's really B? B,

38:00

the first ever contract writer?

38:02

Well, what else could they have done? They're not going

38:04

to charge him for the uniform. Come

38:07

on. They charged

38:09

him for the uniform. So I was wrong. It's not

38:11

B. Well, you haven't said anything yet. It's

38:13

C. It's C. Yeah, they actually did that.

38:15

The father of one of the musicians got

38:18

a letter asking him to pay the deposit in the

38:20

uniform. He did not. Your

38:23

next question, the sinking of the Titanic led

38:25

to safety improvements on future ships, as

38:27

in which of these? A, the HMS

38:29

Bannon installed a speaker at its bow that

38:31

constantly played the message, out of the way, iceberg.

38:35

B, the SS Eastland added additional lifeboats,

38:38

which made it top heavy and it eventually capsized

38:40

as a result.

38:41

Or C, the SS Humphrey required all

38:43

passengers to wear scuba gear at all times,

38:46

just in case. B. Yeah,

38:49

it was the Eastland, happened here in Chicago. Bad

38:51

idea. But it's the thought that counts. Your

38:55

last question is about the

38:58

former SNL star Bill Hader. The Titanic

39:00

played a significant role in his career. What

39:02

was it? A, he auditioned for

39:04

Saturday Night Live with his character Blinky,

39:07

the blind Titanic lookout.

39:13

That's pretty good. B. Wow.

39:16

B, a Titanic obsessive. He only went

39:18

into performing to earn enough money to buy

39:20

an actual Titanic lifeboat oar.

39:23

Or C, he was fired from a movie theater

39:25

in 1997 after he punished

39:27

noisy patrons by going up to them and spoiling

39:29

the ending of the movie Titanic. Well,

39:35

first

39:35

of all, he could never spoil

39:37

the ending because everybody knows

39:39

the both sides.

39:46

So can you go over

39:49

that one? Yeah, OK. I'll get over again. So that was the third

39:51

one. The first one was he auditioned for

39:53

Saturday Night Live. You

39:55

presented a character. He presented the character of Blinky,

39:58

the blind Titanic lookout. I see.

39:59

I think that's it. You do?

40:01

Yeah, I do. It was actually the last one. He

40:04

spoiled the ending. He was working as an usher. He

40:06

didn't just go up and say, oh, by the way, the boat sanks.

40:09

He sat down next to him and said, let me tell you what happened. The boat sinks

40:11

and Rosie and Jack go into the water and

40:14

then they find this door. He told them the whole thing. And

40:16

so he was fired by the movie theater.

40:18

Went on to better things. Wow. Bill,

40:20

how did Cindy Lauper do in our quiz? I think she got two

40:22

right, which means that you won, Cindy.

40:25

Congratulations! Oh, yeah! I

40:27

won! Cindy Lauper

40:29

is a Grammy and Tony Award winner. This

40:31

year marks the 10th anniversary of her True Colors

40:34

Fund. And you can catch her on tour with

40:36

Rod Stewart this summer.

40:38

That's right. Sir

40:40

Rod. Sir Rod. Sir Rod. Cindy

40:42

Lauper, thank you so

40:43

much for joining us on Broadway's Outstanding. Oh, thank you. That's

40:45

fun. That's fun. We'll be

40:47

right back.

40:56

This message comes from NPR sponsor Carvana.

40:59

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Value Tracker. Visit Carvana.com.

41:14

Finally, one of the greatest and most famous

41:16

ballerinas of our era, Misty Copeland, the first

41:19

African-American prima ballerina at the

41:21

American Ballet Theater. Peter,

41:24

ask her if she grew up as a typical

41:27

bunhead with toddler-sized

41:29

tutus.

41:30

Absolutely not. I had never heard

41:32

classical music before. I was listening

41:34

to Aretha Franklin and Mariah Carey. Really?

41:38

Yeah. I ended up training

41:40

only for four years before I was

41:42

accepted into American Ballet Theater in New

41:44

York City. That's crazy.

41:47

Yeah.

41:47

She's like the LeBron James of ballet

41:51

a little bit. One of the things about ballet,

41:54

classical ballet especially,

41:55

is it's obviously so incredibly

41:58

strenuous. Except... part

42:00

of the aesthetic is you have to seem

42:02

absolutely effortless. So whenever I see a ballet,

42:04

I always imagine that the people dancing around on their toes

42:07

are constantly thinking to themselves, ow, ow,

42:09

ow, ow, ow.

42:11

Is that true? On

42:14

some days, we

42:16

do talk on stage to each other, and I think some

42:18

people think, why did I choose

42:20

this career? Why am I

42:22

doing this?

42:23

Wait a minute. You said you talk to each other on stage?

42:26

We do. What do you say? The artistic

42:28

director may not want to hear that, but we

42:30

have full on conversations depending on

42:34

how rigorous the part is. Really?

42:36

So like, what are you having tonight for dinner? Wait

42:39

a minute. You going out to the

42:41

club? So you're telling me

42:42

like if I go see the Nutcracker and the Cordub

42:44

LA is back there and they're doing like the Sugar Plum

42:47

Fairies, they're dancing around on point and they're

42:49

saying to each other, so what are you doing tonight? Oh, nothing. What

42:51

about you? Oh. Do you have

42:53

to wait for the person to come back around before you get your answer? Do

42:59

you talk to them when you're like you're spinning around and

43:01

you just get one word out when you're facing them? Hey,

43:03

what are you doing? After

43:06

the show, depending on how fast you spin. And

43:09

do you talk smack sometimes? Let's

43:12

see

43:12

you jump with my foot on your shoe. I

43:16

bet they do that. Oh, I'm going to go to the

43:18

ballet tomorrow. Suddenly

43:20

kids come alive for me. You

43:23

know, Peter,

43:23

I want to. That makes us professional. Yeah, I understand.

43:26

I went to my first ballet and I saw Aladdin

43:28

from the Houston Ballet and I was amazed and I was like,

43:31

man, I think I think these guys probably

43:33

beat me up because I

43:35

mean, are they how strong are ballet

43:38

dancers and ballerinas? I've always.

43:39

They are the strongest people,

43:42

I think, that exist both

43:44

mentally, emotionally, physically,

43:47

and to be able to do all that we do on stage

43:50

and for you to think we're just these little sugarplums

43:52

very cramping around is even

43:55

more incredible.

43:56

Right. I mean,

43:58

I don't mean to get personal. But

44:01

looking around on the internet, your legs are quite the

44:03

thing. I

44:05

mean, it looks like, you know... You know how to

44:08

talk pretty, don't you? I do.

44:09

I do. I

44:11

was on the internet and I was looking

44:14

at you on the internet. No, seriously. I mean, they're like...

44:20

I'm just saying. I'm what

44:22

I was saying. Quite the thing. Both of

44:24

them. I'm

44:27

saying that when your career in the ballet

44:29

ends, which hopefully won't happen for many years, you

44:32

can get a job for like an NYPD kicking down doors

44:34

for them.

44:35

I don't think that's what you're

44:37

supposed to say at home. Yeah.

44:40

You can kick some doors down, babe. Yeah.

44:44

Those legs, man. So,

44:46

one thing I've always wondered about people like yourself, because

44:49

I am a terrible dancer,

44:51

and so whenever I'm at a party or whatever

44:53

where there's dancing, I do not dance. I am on

44:55

the side. You are one of the greatest

44:58

dancers, well,

44:59

in the world. So when

45:01

you're at a party and the dance music starts up, do

45:04

you say to yourself,

45:05

now it's my time? Can

45:09

you twerk? I mean, you could twerk, right? Hilarious.

45:17

Come on. Come

45:18

on. You can twerk. Come on.

45:21

I get down. I listen to a lot of hip-hop

45:24

and R&B and soul. I

45:26

don't know if I've ever twerked.

45:28

I think

45:30

someone would have noticed, Misty. It would have been

45:33

quite the YouTube sensation had you done it. Well,

45:36

Misty Culpland, we're delighted to talk to you. We've asked

45:38

you here to play a game we're calling... Hey,

45:41

Nonny Nonny. You are a classical ballerina,

45:44

but classical ballet is a

45:46

newfangled upstart compared to Morris

45:49

dancing,

45:50

which scholars believe originated

45:52

one night in the Middle Ages when some guys got really,

45:54

really drunk. We're going to

45:56

ask you three questions about Morris dancing. Get too right.

45:58

You won our prize.

45:59

Who is Misty Copeland playing for? Misty

46:02

is playing for Barbara Woods of Anacortes,

46:04

Washington. Now, before we get started, let's

46:06

establish what Morris dancing is. It

46:09

is a very old kind of British folk dance.

46:11

And they put on these costumes with bells, and they

46:13

dance about in

46:15

like county squares. Like Game of Thrones

46:17

stuff? Yeah. All right,

46:19

so now that we've established that, here's your first question. As

46:21

we've said, Morris dancing is ancient.

46:23

People do like to mix it up. Which of these is

46:25

a new trend in Morris dancing? A, hip

46:27

hop Morris, in which dancers dance

46:30

to rap hits in the likes of Jay-Z and Lil Wayne.

46:32

B, goth Morris, in which dances are changed

46:35

into weird, satanic-like rituals. Or

46:37

C, Morris the cat dancing, in

46:40

which dancers incorporate licking themselves and coughing

46:43

up hairballs.

46:43

Oh,

46:47

wow. I

46:49

feel like A seems the most normal.

46:54

Hip hop Morris? Yeah. Actually,

46:58

no, it's B. It's goth Morris, is the latest

47:00

thing. I

47:02

thought goth went out of the 90s. No,

47:04

no, no. They're just getting around to it in

47:07

England, apparently. That's

47:09

OK. You still have two more chances, Misty. So you're going to get this,

47:11

I'm sure. Now, Morris dancing has

47:14

spawned all kinds of spin-off industries, because

47:17

it's popular, as in which of these? A,

47:19

a personal injury lawyer specializing

47:22

in Morris dancing injury claims, like

47:24

being hit in the face with a Morris stick.

47:27

B, no Morris, an

47:30

iPhone app that helps you avoid any Morris

47:33

dancers in your area.

47:36

Or C, Errol Morris dancing,

47:39

a form of the dance and when you merely stare

47:42

at the audience and say

47:44

very little.

47:47

A? A, yes, it's

47:50

A. A! A, O, P.

47:55

Apparently, if you're in

47:57

a Morris danceij engineers and you ending yourself like getting hit

47:59

with. you could be able to sue your

48:02

own Morris dance troupe. All

48:04

right, if you get this last one right,

48:05

you

48:09

will win everything. Having

48:11

been around for a very long time, Morris dancing

48:13

has inspired a number of jokes. Which of these

48:15

is a classic Morris dancing joke

48:19

sure to get a laugh in Morris dancing

48:21

circles? A, three Morris

48:23

dancers walk into a bar and

48:25

immediately get thrown out because everybody

48:27

hates Morris dance. B,

48:31

why did the Morris dancers cross the road? Because they were being

48:34

chased by a mob because everybody hates Morris dance.

48:35

Or

48:38

C, why do Morris dancers wear

48:41

bells so they can

48:43

annoy the blind as well? Wow.

48:53

C sounds perfect. C is in fact the

48:55

right answer. That

48:58

is the classic Morris dance joke. Carl,

49:00

how did Misty Copeland do in our quiz? She had enough

49:03

correct answers to win, Peter, so she is a winner. Well

49:06

done, Misty. Misty

49:08

Copeland

49:08

is a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre. Her

49:11

memoir, Life in Motion and Unlikely Ballerina is

49:14

out now, pick it up, she's amazing. Thank you so much,

49:16

Misty, great to talk to you. Take

49:19

care. Bye-bye.

49:21

That's it for our please, someone important

49:23

finally noticed

49:25

that we've been around for 25 years edition. Wait,

49:28

wait, don't tell him. He's a production of NPR and WBEZ, Chicago

49:31

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49:36

Godica writes our limericks, our public address announcer is Paul Friedman,

49:39

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49:41

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49:43

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49:46

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Newhouse. Our senior producer is Ian Chilock, and

50:02

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50:04

Danforth. Thanks to everyone you heard,

50:06

all of our panelists, our guests, of course Bill Curtis,

50:08

and thanks to all of you for listening. I

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