VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE 70
AIR DATE 05 17 2019
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Go-Go
((SOT))
((Anwan “Big G” Glover, Singer/Bandleader, The Backyard Band))
It’s like Go-Go…..it’s amazing man. You have to come check it out.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
New Land, New Language
((SOT))
((Deepa McCauley, Volunteer ESL Teacher, Intercambio))
One of the main reasons I wanted to teach English is because my parents were first generation immigrants.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
A Fierce Brow
((SOT))
((Shari Loeffler, Creative Collaborator))
This visual representation of how I look actually was like this pathway that opened up many other aspects of my life for me.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((Banner: Going to the Go-Go: Chuck Brown))
((Reporter/Camera: Gabrielle Weiss))
((Map: Washington, D.C., Prince Georges County, Maryland))
((NATS))
((Anwan “Big G” Glover, Singer/Bandleader, The Backyard Band))
Say hello. My crew. This is my gang, you know. That’s my crew, man. This is where we do our cookouts at. The band’s going to perform up there this summer, BBQ going. It’s going to be really nice and it’s going to end the next day. So, my neighbor’s got to just give me a high-five on this one.
((NATS))
((Anwan “Big G” Glover, Singer/Bandleader, The Backyard Band))
I’m Anwan Ralph Genghis Glover, the lead mic of The Backyard Band out of Washington, DC, conductor, the one who calls all the shots on stage.
((NATS))
((Anwan “Big G” Glover, Singer/Bandleader, The Backyard Band))
I wake up Go-Go in the morning. I started the band, I was about maybe 13, and I just kept knocking at it, kept knocking at it, and we started getting our spark, like, in Lincoln Junior High. And, you know, those were the days, man, like those were the day days. ((NATS)) Well, Go-Go is unique to D.C. because you have a mixture of the congas, the cungas, the bass drum, the snare and the cymbals. That unique sound, which you can create the pocket, the open high hat, and the list goes on. ((NATS)) Nobody has that sound, but, the nation’s capital.
((NATS))
((Anwan “Big G” Glover, Singer/Bandleader, The Backyard Band))
It’s amazing, man. Practice is amazing. We got that good gel, like peanut butter and jelly.
((NATS))
What’s going on?
((NATS))
((Anwan “Big G” Glover, Singer/Bandleader, The Backyard Band))
Keeping the band together. It’s the love of it, because I’m in love with the Go-Go.
((NATS))
What, what do we have new, to practice for tomorrow?
((Eric “EB” Britt, Keyboard, The Backyard Band))
Bruno, Bruno Mars and Cardi B too.
((NATS))
((Anwan “Big G” Glover, Singer/Bandleader, The Backyard Band))
Let’s practice, practice, practice.
((NATS))
((Anwan “Big G” Glover, Singer/Bandleader, The Backyard Band))
There was a guy who used to pick us up and we used to get on the back of that, that truck and perform and just go around, banging on the buckets, and banging on the snare drum and the bass drum, and go around all the neighborhoods and be like, hey, we playing. And people would come and form crowds and just watch us play in the alleyway. But we could never play in a club. Nobody would ever let us play. You know, we’d just be playing in Pigeon Park on 14th Street.
((Photo Courtesy: Backyard Band))
((NATS))
((Paul “Buggy” Edwards, Percussion, The Backyard Band))
It’s based off of drums and congos. The percussion. It’s driven. It’s a percussion driven music and it don’t stop. That’s one of the reasons why it’s called Go-Go because it continues on. The beat continues on. We could play 10 different beats but we’re not going to stop playing.
((NATS))
((Paul “Buggy” Edwards, Percussion, The Backyard Band))
And I don’t care who it is. Your biggest artist in the world can’t perform in their own hometown, six, seven nights a week, and have a consistent crowd of 500 people or more, to come see you at night. No other genre of music does it.
((NATS))
((Keith “Sauce” Robinson, Percussion, The Backyard Band))
When I’m up here, I could have a bad day at home. I don’t have too many of those but once I play right here, I’m feeling good. And seeing the reaction of the people out there, I’m loving it.
((NATS))
((Anwan “Big G” Glover, Singer/Bandleader, The Backyard Band))
The fans, our fans, they make me.
((Leroy “Weensey” Brandon, Frontline, The Backyard Band))
My fans, they keep me motivated. They’re the reason I do it. I mean, I feel as long as they feel can touch you, that’s what they love. They want to be a part of it.
((NATS))
((Paul “Buggy” Edwards, Percussion, The Backyard Band))
It’s the people we touch. Go-Go’s very personal, always have been.
((Keith “Sauce” Robinson, Percussion, The Backyard Band))
Intimate, yup.
((Paul “Buggy” Edwards, Percussion, The Backyard Band))
Always have been. I couldn’t touch Michael Jackson, but I could talk to Chuck Brown, the godfather of Go-Go. I could talk to him and he would talk back to me, and we used to open up for Chuck Brown.
((Photo Credit: AP/Nick Wass))
When I first joined the band, we used to open up for Chuck Brown. We weren’t even old enough to be in the club at that time.
((NATS))
((Anwan “Big G” Glover, Singer/Bandleader, The Backyard Band))
Parties going to see Chuck back then were crazy. I was a little kid,
((Video from YouTube: YouTube Bug))
((Courtesy: David N. Rubin))
like, just getting in the mix of it. You know what I mean? And, DC was really Chocolate City. Gentrification wasn’t in yet. Go-Go, that was it. That was our city, that was the love, the sound. But Chuck Brown actually first gave us our first big gig, and once Chuck gave us that show, that was it. And there was just this wave, “Who is Backyard….” and then it was over. We just started, like, raising the bar.
((Photo Courtesy: Backyard Band))
((NATS))
((Michael “Mike” Dunklin, Keyboard, The Backyard Band))
The band pretty much saved a lot of our lives. You know, just being involved in some positive stuff when a lot of things bad was going on in the neighborhoods that we left to go to shows or to go to rehearsals. We were in the streets.
((NATS))
((Eric “EB” Britt, Keyboard, The Backyard Band))
He was a walking pharmacist.
((Michael “Mike” Dunklin, Keyboard, The Backyard Band))
The band got us away from bad situations, I would say that.
((Carlos “Los” Chavels, Frontline, The Backyard Band))
I remember when we would walk home with equipment, like, three in the morning, had to go to school the next day. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it a lot of those mornings after that. Report cards sometimes weren’t so great, and I’d get punished, and what I would do was, I’d take the pillows and I used to watch Disney movies, afterschool specials. So, I got an idea. I’m throw the pillows under the sheets, like they do, and I’m gonna see if that work, and I was jumping out the window.
((Eric “EB” Britt, Keyboard, The Backyard Band))
Actually, I really didn’t have to jump out the window. My mom, she kicked my butt out the house. She wanted me to get out the house. ‘Boy, get your black butt out this house and go do something.’ Like my mom kicked me out of the house because you know why? I used to get on her nerves on purpose so I couldn’t stay in the house. His mom was different.
((Carlos “Los” Chavels. Frontline, The Backyard Band))
Report cards, we’ll talk about that later, man. If you got a number two pencil, I can teach how to make the grades look good. D’s turn into B minuses easy.
((NATS))
((Anwan “Big G” Glover, Singer/Bandleader, The Backyard Band))
Yeah, we’re heading into the city, getting ready to go to the Chuck Brown Memorial Park. This is one of the sides where you don’t really see too much re-gentrification yet. This is the Northeast Channing neighborhood area, where Power Nightclub used to be, Breeze’s-Deno’s Metro Club. Good, good part of the city, man, you know. We’re here now. Let’s come check it out, baby. Chuck baby don’t give a, that ain’t true.
((NATS))
((Anwan “Big G” Glover, Singer/Bandleader, The Backyard Band))
I’ll never forget, one year, I was arrested for a weapon. So, Chuck gave me a call and he was like, you got to really take care of this music but being a fool is the first thing you can’t do. He said, you want to be successful or you want to be a big dummy? He gave me the business that day. Walking pretty straight since then.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Children in Limbo
((SOT))
((Vahdat Yeganeh, Director, Boston Experimental Theatre))
The whole purpose of doing this production was raising awareness and letting more people know about the tragedy of what these children are going through.
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) INTERCAMBIO
((Banner: Easing the Transition))
((Reporter/Camera: Shelley Schlender))
((Map: Longmont, Colorado))
((Pop-Up Banner: Intercambio is a nonprofit group that helps immigrants with English and cultural integration))
((NATS))
((Deepa McCauley, Volunteer ESL Teacher, Intercambio))
Today, we’re going to talk about health, in English. Running a fever doesn’t mean that you’re running. Running a fever is the temperature. Yes, exactly. The thermometer moves. My name is Deepa. I have students who are from Russia, from Afghanistan.
((NATS))
I am from Vietnam.
I am from Peru.
I am from China.
((Deepa McCauley, Volunteer ESL Teacher, Intercambio))
I don’t have a teaching background, but Intercambio has great training classes.
((Lee Shainis, Founder, Intercambio))
We created our own training materials because we found that a lot of the materials out there were not directly geared towards volunteer teachers, and we’ve had 5,000 volunteer teachers since we started 18 years ago, and volunteers are capable of doing an amazing job, but they also need something ready to go and also really practical and relevant.
((NATS))
((Deepa McCauley))
How is he feeling?
((Class Response))
Depressed.
((Deepa McCauley))
Oh, my child is depressed.
((Woman from Peru))
Probably discrimination.
((Deepa McCauley))
Yep. Depression can come from discrimination. My father, in India, he was an engineer. He came to America. He was collecting carts in the grocery store. He was depressed.
((Woman from Peru))
Change in life.
((Deepa McCauley, Volunteer ESL Teacher, Intercambio))
Big change in life.
((Lee Shainis, Founder, Intercambio))
Deepa is awesome. She was, you know, one of our many teachers who had zero experience as a volunteer teaching English when she first came in and we’ve seen huge advancements in her quality of teaching, in her quality of getting her students engaged.
((NATS))
((Deepa McCauley))
What do you do to make yourself feel better?
((Woman from Peru))
Music.
((Deepa McCauley))
Uh-huh!
((Woman from Peru))
I exercise.
((Deepa McCauley))
Exercise. Do we drink tequila?
((Deepa McCauley))
When you’re depressed, you don’t want to drink tequilla. Right? You want to drink tea.
((Deepa McCauley, Volunteer ESL Teacher, Intercambio))
One of the main reasons I wanted to teach English is because my parents were first generation immigrants who didn’t speak English, and they had a really hard time. And they wouldn’t have had a hard time if they had a place like Intercambio.
((NATS))
((Deepa McCauley))
This is a frown. So, somebody says I see your frown. This is, that, that, right there, that’s a frown. That’s a frown.
((Silvia Gonzales Nava, Student, Intercambio))
My name is Sylvia Gonzales Nava. When I left my country, I didn’t speak at all English. At all.
((NATS))
((Silvia’s grandson))
If my Grandma only knew Spanish, I wouldn’t know what she was saying.
((Silvia Gonzales Nava, Student, Intercambio))
That’s why I speak English, because I want to have a good conversation with you.
((Silvia’s grandson))
Her English is getting better.
((Silvia Gonzales Nava, Student, Intercambio))
A lot better.
((Deepa McCauley))
Sylvia was one of my very first students. She’s been here for how many years now?
((Silvia Gonzales Nava, Student, Intercambio))
Two years.
((Deepa McCauley))
Now she has a job. She’s working. So, she’s doing really well.
((Silvia Gonzales Nava, Student, Intercambio))
Customer Service.
((Deepa McCauley))
Can you believe that? She’s working in customer service. I am so proud of her. I have to give he a hug.
((NATS))
((PKG)) TPS CHILDREN – LAST DREAM
((Banner: An Uncertain Future))
((Reporter/Camera: June Soh))
((Map: Bethesda, Maryland))
((NAT SOUND from The Last Dream Performance))
Jackie, they hate us. They don't want us here anymore. You do not understand that? Next year, none of us are going to be here to celebrate Sofia. None of us. None of us.
((Vahdat Yeganeh, Director, Founder/Artistic Director, Boston Experimental Theatre))
This play called ‘The Last Dream’ performed and created by the children of TPS recipients. These are the children that their parents have temporary protected status. They were born and raised in the United States. Now they are in danger and living with the fear of losing their parents.
((NATS: News Clip from The Last Dream Performance))
They are ending special protection for Salvadoran immigrants. They have until September, 2019 to leave the US or find a new way to obtain legal residency. The move affects nearly 200,000 people. Salvadorans were granted temporary protective status after a series of earthquakes devastated that country in 2001.
((NATS: The Last Dream Performance))
I am Jacqueline. I am 17 and the oldest of four. I want to further my education in a college, but if my family is treated as temporary, I am afraid I will have to give those dreams up. I will have to get a full-time job and become a mother to my three younger sisters.
((Vahdat Yeganeh, Director, Founder/Artistic Director, Boston Experimental Theatre))
When we learned about the situation, and we learned how difficult it is going to be for the family with that visa, we decided that we have to do something for them. We decided to produce the show having the actual children of these families to come to this show, sharing their stories with us.
((NATS))
((Vahdat Yeganeh, Director, Boston Experimental Theatre))
The children are American-born children. So, they can stay here but the parents are not. The whole purpose of doing this production was raising awareness and letting more people know about the tragedy of what these children are going through.
((Vahdat Yeganeh, Director, Boston Experimental Theatre))
Now we did realize that because of the hardship that TPS recipients are having in their countries, such as Honduras, such as El Salvador, and more than seven other countries, they would not bring their loved ones and their children back to that country, the country that these children never visited.
((NATS))
((Milton Hernandez, TPS Recipient's Child))
My name is Milton Hernandez. I am 15 years old. This is my brother, Melvin Hernandez. He is 14 years old. I am not old enough to be here on my own, and if we were to stay here, we'd have to go up to foster care or get, like, adopted by the families. And that's not something you’d want.
((NATS))
((Sofia Landaverde, TPS Recipient's Child))
My name is Sofia Landaverde. I'm 10 years old. I was very sad to know that I might only have to be with my sisters for a very long time, and I wouldn’t have any support from my parents. Every child deserves to be with their parents. I fear that, maybe, we won't be able to see them again for a very long time.
((Beth Brooks-Mwano, Audience Member))
My name is Beth Brooks-Mwano, and I just saw this play. I can actually share their story that they've given to us so generously, and help let people know what's going on, and the real lives of some of these people and these children that are being affected. So, it was very moving.
((Vahdat Yeganeh, Director, Boston Experimental Theatre))
What we know for the fact (is) that we're going to continue performing the show as much as we can, whether in Boston where we are, or in other cities. We are going to ask everyone to join this fight and help these families.
((NATS: Sofia on the stage))
Will somebody here please, please help me?
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Unconventional Beauty
((SOT))
((Shari Loeffler, Creative Collaborator))
I spent my entire life always trying to hide from who I was.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((Banner: Beauty))
((PKG)) HOLLYWOOD HAIR STYLIST
((Banner: Hollywood Hair))
((VOA Uzbek))
((Reporter/Camera: Odil Ruzaliev))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Los Angeles, California))
((NATS))
How do you like it?
((Shirin Gulyamova, Owner, Shirin Nova Studio))
I had always dreamed about working with celebrities. My friends from the beauty school would ask me what I wanted to do after school and I said that I wanted to work with celebrities. They would laugh at me. They thought I wasn’t serious. Every time I watched Jennifer Lopez’s music videos on television when I was in Uzbekistan, I would tell myself that one day I would work with her.
((NATS))
((Shirin Gulyamova, Owner, Shirin Nova Studio))
I specifically looked for a Paul Mitchell beauty school because I knew it was prestigious and if I went there, I would get a good job. I found one in Los Angeles and applied same day.
((NATS))
((Shirin Gulyamova, Owner, Shirin Nova Studio))
During my work as an assistant to (celebrity makeup artists) Scott Barnes and Frank Galasso, they would always tell others about my experience. They thought my life had a motivational power. They would always describe me to actresses as someone who came from Uzbekistan, endured all the hardships, and is very hard working.
((Photos Jennifer Lopez / Courtesy: AP))
((Shirin Gulyamova, Owner, Shirin Nova Studio))
One time, we were working with Jennifer Lopez, and they told her about me. She turned her head towards me and said, “Wow!” and gave me a high five.
((NATS))
((Shirin Gulyamova, Owner, Shirin Nova Studio))
Actresses play different people in different movies and we fall in love with them for their characters.
((Photo Catherine Zeta Jones / Courtesy: AP))
((Shirin Gulyamova, Owner, Shirin Nova Studio))
Most of all, I enjoyed working with Catherine Zeta Jones. She was a real Hollywood actress with the way she dressed, the way she spoke, the way she looked after herself. I was so impressed that I told myself that when I grow older, I will be a woman like her. I used to live near an airport in Uzbekistan.
((Photo Courtesy: Shirin Gulyamova))
((Shirin Gulyamova, Owner, Shirin Nova Studio))
From my balcony, I could see planes take off and land everyday. I was hoping to fly away one day. Everyday when I wake up, I still can’t believe that I live in California, in Hollywood, that I met so many people. It still is hard to believe this.
((NATS))
((PKG)) UNIBROW
((Banner: A Fierce Brow))
((VOA Russian))
((Reporter: Elena Wolf))
((Camera: Irina Khokhlova))
((Map: New York City, New York))
((NATS))
((Shari Loeffler, Creative Collaborator))
I spent my entire life always trying to hide from who I was. I had a unibrow. This is the face that I was born with and for some reason that visual representation that was on my face like a flag, that I could not strip away, was something that really bothered me.
((NATS))
((Shari Loeffler, Creative Collaborator))
I am a creative collaborator and so there's no way to define me. I just create off of anything that I'm interested in. So, whether that's in the art world, in fashion, in modelling, in farming, in surfing, in fitness, as a mother. I can't really put myself in sort of one box.
((NATS))
((Shari Loeffler, Creative Collaborator))
I live in New York with my three beautiful girls, Scarlett, Savannah and Celine, and my husband Nicholas. And I was born and raised in America but my family is from Iran. And, so I always grew up with this duality of my Persian heritage also mixed in with this American culture as I'm first generation.
((NATS))
((Shari Loeffler, Creative Collaborator))
So, I always grew up with this tension of, you know, who do I belong to, where do I belong to. I always, kind of, felt different and lonely. I grew up feeling like the way I looked and the way I felt and my background was the absolute worst. So, it took me until becoming a mother, believe it or not, for me to face these things, and I thought to myself, if I don't deal with this now, and if she doesn't see me embracing myself for who I am and how I look, she never will, because as we know, children absorb every single thing that we do.
So, that experiment started by October for Halloween. I had grown successfully most of it back in. I went as Frida for Halloween that year.
((NATS))
((Shari Loeffler, Creative Collaborator))
What I love about Frida, an entity and an energy force that is just so comfortable with who she is. She can have a unibrow. She can have a mustache. She can have men as her lovers or women as her lovers. She can create. She can dress how she wants.
((NATS))
((Shari Loeffler, Creative Collaborator))
One of my closest friends said to me, you know, you've never been more confident. There's something different about you, the way you act. I think you should just start an Instagram and talk about this. And I said, why would I ever do that? I have no interest in doing that. And she says, I have a name for you. I think you should name it ‘My Fierce Brow’. That's kind of how this evolution started and very shortly thereafter, off like a very tiny Instagram with not much of a following, I started to get international press calling me. And I just couldn't believe that something that I actually did for myself, for my children, would appeal to so many people.
Now, it's really opened up many doors for me creatively because having this face gave a comfort to me to let go all out of my perfectionism tendencies that I had. I became more comfortable with my weight. I became more comfortable with pursuing my dreams. I became more comfortable with sharing and talking about the things that happened to me as a child with my friends and family and, like, I started to do workshops with teens to talk about embracing yourself for your identity. So, like, this visual representation of how I look actually was like this pathway that opened up many other aspects of my life for me.
And, I think, the unibrow is just a symbol for me of an exploration of your own identity. And, I think, everyone, kind of, has, like, their own unibrow story. It's just a matter of finding what that is for you.
((NATS))
NEXT WEEK / GOOD BYE ((VO/NAT))
((Bruce Aiken, Painter))
I just wanted to throw myself into nature's embrace and let the canyon change me, teach me something. That's why I went to the Grand Canyon and my artwork is an outpouring of that. I'm Bruce Aiken and I am an artist, a painter. I've been painting the canyon over 40 years. I wanted to get in a place where nature was completely in control, all the way.
CLOSING ((ANIM))
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