Officer Cleared In Olango Shooting, Del Mar’s Sea Level Rise, Parker Meridien Performs At KPBS

Speaker 1: 00:00 It took a jury less than two hours to find El Cahone police officer Richard Gonzalvez not negligent. And the 2016 shooting death of Alfreda Longo Alango was shot in a strip mall after his sister called nine one one a number of times to report he was experiencing a mental health crisis can solve as arrived at the scene and shot a Longo who had been darting in and out of traffic and was holding a vaping device. Seconds later. Bianca Bruno with courthouse new service has been covering the story and joins us in studio. Bianca, thanks for being here. Thank you. Remind us of the details of the case, what happened and why. So Alfreda Longo was shot on September 26 2016 by officer Richard Gonzalvez, um, after he had been responding to a call for, um, a Longo was darting in and out of traffic. His sister was concerned about his wellbeing. Basically the two were in a parking lot. Speaker 1: 01:00 And um, Mr Gonzalvez, the officer had his gun drawn at one point along ago, had a vape pen that he, uh, basically pointed at the officer's head. He thought that it was a gun and shot, uh, a long go four times. So he was going for a mental health call and immediately got out of the car with this gun out, gun drawn. His gun was drawn, it was down by his side. Um, it wasn't raised until the point at which Mr, uh, Longo drew a vaping device and who bought the case against Gonzalvez and the city and, and what were they asking for? So, in the trial this week was a consolidated case. Um, one was brought by his sister, Lucille Longo, who is the person who called, uh, nine one, one, multiple times. Um, she witnessed the shooting and, uh, claims to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and depression as a result. Speaker 1: 01:57 And then the case was also brought by, uh, his wife to Nia Rosier and his daughter charade rosier along ago. And you were in the courtroom. Tell us about the reactions to the verdict. Officer Gonzalvez was seated at the defense table the entire time and he broke down in tears when, uh, the verdict was read. And you talked with the attorneys for the Alango family. What did attorney Brian Dunn say actually during the, uh, during Mr Dunn's closing arguments yesterday? He said that, uh, that along ago was kind of the weakest person in the situation, meaning he was the one who, uh, was experiencing a mental health crisis. Officers were aware of that because his sister Lucy had told dispatchers and she talked to, uh, consalvo as his partner, um, officer McDaniel and also informed him of that. But that didn't really get relayed to Gonzalvez apparently. Speaker 1: 02:58 Um, before he encountered a Longo. Basically he said that officers didn't follow, um, uh, California sort of guidance guidelines for police officers when, uh, encountering people with disabilities and mental illness, which basically, um, advises that they need to engage in deescalation practices. And how did the city respond to them? What did the city's attorney Michael Dean say about a long goes mental health crisis? They acknowledged that, um, it was a tragic situation that no one disputed that that along ghost sisters Lucy had experienced, uh, post traumatic stress disorder and other, um, mental health problems as a result of witnessing her brother's death. But at the same time they said that a long ago, um, had cocaine in his system that day. They know that it contributed to his erratic behavior and that basically the officer, um, d ran out of options and choices in terms of deescalating the situation because, uh, Longo had his hand in his pocket and then drew what he believed was a gun. Speaker 1: 04:09 What did he say about the jury's reaction to evidence like the vaping device? Apparently most of them were very shocked at how large it was. Um, and the fact that this sort of silver attachment, which I believe might be the mouthpiece looked like a gun barrel, um, especially in the way in which it was pointed at can solve is do you get a sense that this tragic event, uh, has led to any evaluation of, or changes in police procedures? I know, uh, kind of in the aftermath of the shooting, there were a lot of calls for more mental health, uh, professionals to be hired and to, uh, be responding to these calls and not to have, uh, police officers as the first line of defense when dealing with mental health issues. Um, I'm not sure kind of the status on if more of those folks have been hired to deal with this type of scenario, but certainly something I think the community would like to see happen. I've been speaking with Bianca Bruno with court house news service. Bianca. Thank you. Thanks. Speaker 2: 05:13 Uh. Speaker 1: 00:00 A state law man to divert people with mental health issues away from criminal prosecution and into treatment is still relatively new and it's apparently not being eagerly embraced by San Diego County prosecutors. The San Diego Union Tribune has found that out of 80 requests for mental health diversions, only 20 people have been granted access to the program in the last year. The county says it's trying to assemble the right kind of team to oversee treatment while keeping the public safe from offenders. And joining me is San Diego Union Tribune reporter Greg Moran. Greg, welcome to the program. Speaker 2: 00:37 Thanks Corey. Speaker 1: 00:38 Why does state legislators enact this law? Is it another effort to decrease the state's prison and jail populations? Speaker 2: 00:46 I think it was, I think there was certainly a, a motivating factor here. They wanted to limit the, uh, uh, reduce the number of people who were being housed in state hospitals to regain their mental competencies so they could go through the criminal proceedings stuff. This is a way to kind of, um, filter people out of that and get them the help that they really need. So, yeah, it was part of this years long effort by the state to reduce the prison population and also to kind of change the criminal justice systems approach to certain kinds of offenders. Speaker 1: 01:19 How is this mental health diversion program supposed to work? Speaker 2: 01:22 The idea behind it is that if you're charged with a crime and if you have an existing mental illness that you can show was a contributing factor or a significant factor in why you, uh, committed that crime, you make your case to the judge, uh, that would also include a treatment plan for you. Uh, uh, a goal for that treatment. If the judge agrees it's a good idea, your criminal case stop and you, um, are diverted into this treatment, uh, that it can either be a private provider, there are some public programs you can get into that diversion can last up to two years. Uh, during that time you're checking in regularly with the court, they're monitoring you if you fail or are fall off, uh, you can be pulled out of diversion and your criminal case start again. Speaker 1: 02:16 What kinds of offenders are eligible for treatment? Speaker 2: 02:20 Know, in the initial iteration of the law, which was passed in in June of last year of 2018 anybody could get it. So anybody from a vandal to a murderer, a when prosecutors found out about it around the state back then, there was a very significant pushback also from judges that this was too wide a, uh, an aperture for, uh, all kinds of people to try to take advantage of. So there was an amendment of a law that passed earlier this year that exclude anyone charged with murder, uh, child abuse, uh, sexual assault or rape or things like that. Those people aren't eligible for diversion. Speaker 1: 02:57 Now, you reported that in San County courts diversion doesn't happen very often. Why not? Speaker 2: 03:03 You know, it's, it's a complicated question. Um, are then ultimately the decision is left to the judge. The judges here have enormous discretion to say yes or no. And it seems like in many of these cases, there've been 80 cases, uh, in three out of four of them nursing. No, that could be for a variety of reasons. It could be, um, if the judge doesn't think that the, uh, the, the, the treatment plan of a program, the person is going into is, uh, robust enough or will work or is, uh, [inaudible] or just as the person who is capable of qualified of doing it. Ultimately it's the judge's decision. But the other factor that's going on here is that in 95% of these cases, the district attorney's office, which had a lot of sway and courtroom has been opposed to these petitions. Speaker 1: 03:53 In fact, there's some opposition in the San Diego District Attorney's office to the law and aspects of the law itself. What are they? Speaker 2: 04:02 Well, a couple, they, uh, they initially they were against this law when it was passed last year and for several months after it was fortunately, they were finally constitutional challenges doing things that the law violated a victim's rights and other elements of the constitution. We abandoned that earlier this year. And now we're sort of taking these on a case by case thing. But they've also said that, you know, um, there aren't enough, uh, programs, public programs available to people. So it could be a thing where, um, defendants who are well off or wealthy or, or have more resources to get a private mental health treatment will be eligible for it. And, uh, co-defendants, uh, who don't have those resources, uh, who may still be in need of help, wouldn't be able to get it. And I think there's some unfairness there. And however, also some kind of technical objections. One is, as I mentioned in the story, is that there's no prohibition against someone who is in a diversion program for mental health treatment to obtaining a firearm or something. Speaker 1: 05:06 Is The DA's office trying to put together some sort of program so they can comply more often with this new law? Speaker 2: 05:12 Well, that's to be seen, you know, a couple of months ago in May, uh, the district attorney Summer Stephan unveiled this very ambitious and kind of sweeping plans they've been working on for a year called the blueprint for creating mental health, uh, homelessness in the criminal justice system. One of the goals of that plan is to create a diversion program. You know, the other thing I should mention is that oftentimes when the, in talking to them, the prosecutors think that it's better for the public safety and for the individual not to get into a diversion program before their cases resolved, but to plead guilty or be convicted, be placed on probation, and then get treatment through a probation system. Speaker 1: 05:55 I've been speaking with San Diego Union Tribune reporter Greg Moran and Greg. Thank you. Speaker 2: 06:00 You're welcome. Speaker 3: 06:06 [inaudible]. Speaker 1: 00:00 San Diego's coastal cities struggling to come to grips with sea level rise are discovering that their residents are not yet ready to confront the consequences. The California coastal commission has encouraged cities to include retreating from the coast as an option in the face of rising seas, but KPBS reporter Alison Saint John says, the commission may now be retreating from that position. Speaker 2: 00:24 North del Mar is a prime example. Pull up a city where a whole neighborhood is threatened by sea level rise. Delmar's mayor Dave Drucker explains how the houses along the beach are actually higher than the houses in the narrow lanes behind them. Speaker 3: 00:37 The houses at the front row in some way are protecting all the houses east of there and that becomes problematic. If they retreat, then that basically allows ocean to take over the whole floodplain. That would wipe out about 600 houses in del Mar. Speaker 2: 00:56 Buco says his city has a new local coastal plan to prepare for sea level rise. It starts with importing more send to build up the beach. The strategy called managed retreat is not in the plan. Managed retreat could involve acquiring buildings in the path of the ocean and moving them inland. Speaker 3: 01:13 First of all, the numbers of properties and the expensive purchasing those properties would be extremely expensive. The question also is, is where would those people move? Could they move anywhere else in Del Mar? They're just as into space Speaker 2: 01:28 houses in North Delmark and listed more than $20 million. Who would be liable for that loss if the city required property owners to retreat from the beach? Speaker 3: 01:37 The state really needs, we believe to to weigh in on this and come up with these are the rules of the road. Speaker 2: 01:44 Imperial Beach Councilman Ed sprigs had the same message for California coastal commissioners at a recent workshop for cities updating their local coastal plans or lcps. Sprague says even the words managed retreat evoke fear that people will lose their homes and that stops any rational discussion of preparing for sea level rise. Once that has happened, it becomes very difficult in any coastal city where this becomes politicized. Are you going to be taking private property? Is this eminent domain? Once those discussions get started, you don't get people looking at objectively at what we ought to be doing to address sea level rise. Sprague's advised coastal commissioners not to require cities to include managed retreat as an option in their local coastal planning documents. Berlin cavaliery coastal planning manager for the California Coastal Commission says planners are now accepting that it will take time for people to come to grips with the data coming in about sea level rise and what it will mean. Yeah. Speaker 4: 02:41 We have made tremendous progress on understanding the vulnerabilities that are along our coastline and our opportunities for responding to those and adapting to those. We will be able to move forward better when more people have an understanding of what the expected Speaker 2: 03:00 impacts are and what we can do about them, but coastal commissioners, Sarah, I'm in Zotto says time is of the essence and she's disappointed by any move away from prioritizing managed retreat as a strategy to prepare for sea level rise. As we know, as time moves forward, we have less and less options. I believe it's a matter of public health and safety and so I'm really looking to all of you to make it politically viable. I understand that it's, it's putting you on a difficult positions where your constituents don't want to hear the phrase and had a lot of very valid property rights concerns, but I think it's incumbent on all of us together to change the narrative. This is a matter of survival for these communities. Studies have shown that postponing plans to adapt to sea level rise only makes it more expensive. Mayor Druker says del Mar residents are not denying that sea level rise will happen. Speaker 3: 03:51 Okay, tell Martians we'll deal with it when they, they see the actual impacts of global warming on a more weekly, yearly basis and until that happens, it's still theoretical. In October, the California coastal commission, Speaker 2: 04:10 we'll consider del Moz local coastal plan to adapt a future sea level rise. It's not clear if the commissioners will certify the plan if it does not include managed retreat as an option. Late last year, the commission changed its recommendations on the possible sea level rise that all state agencies should prepare for by the turn of the century from six feet to 10 feet. Speaker 1: 04:32 Joining me is KPBS reporter Alison St John and Allison, welcome. Great to be with you. Maureen, do you have a sense of what managed retreat would look like if and when coastal cities start adopting those plans? Would Ocean front property begin to be demolished? Speaker 2: 04:51 Well, um, it's pretty theoretical at this point because I think the only ones that have been demolished so far are the ones that have actually been demolished by the rising oceans. None of them have been demolished on purpose in preparation for rising oceans. There are some, uh, public agencies that have started to take action apparently in Morro Bay for example, they were about to build a new waste water treatment plant and the coastal commission said, hold on a minute, you know, that's not gonna last very long before it gets inundated and they changed their plans and designed it further in. So that's an example of how people are looking at the situation saying, well, we might as well plan for it rather than being caught unawares. Speaker 1: 05:33 So, okay. So if you have a big beautiful expensive house near the shoreline in del Mar, what's your incentive to sign on to a managed retreat plan? Speaker 2: 05:44 I would say you probably do not have any incentive. I'm Maureen, because it would immediately reduce the value of your property. So probably a the better thing to do would be to consider your personal situation very carefully and decide is it more important to me to live here, to continue to live here knowing that my assets down the line may be compromised a or should I perhaps decide to move somewhere else and sell to somebody else to take that risk. Speaker 1: 06:14 And in theory at least there are several years before the effects of sea level rise would threaten these homes. Speaker 2: 06:23 Exactly. And I think this is one of the things that helps people make the decision to stay is because there are so many different predictions as to how long it would be, whether it would be a matter of years or decades or, or even possibly a century before their homes were actually unlivable. Speaker 1: 06:40 Well, on the other side of the managed retreat coin, if the properties that will be threatened by rising sea level are privately owned, why does the city care what happens to them? Speaker 2: 06:50 Well, the city has its residents, uh, interests at heart and I think the city is come to the conclusion that the best thing to do is to provide the data to do the studies and say, here is what your vulnerability is. It's up to you to decide what you're going to do about that and present them with all the options. Because if the city were to decide they were to make an order that people moved, it's unclear as to whether, you know, that might make the city liable for any property loss. So I think the city is, are, we're basically waiting to see how the liability plays out in the courts in the future. But hedging their bets by saying, don't say we didn't warn you. Here is the evidence that this is going to happen. It's just a matter of when. Speaker 1: 07:42 Why are individual cities trying to come up with their own guidelines for managed retreat? Why isn't the state giving coastal communities guidance on this? Speaker 2: 07:52 Well, I think as this whole scenario unfolds, Maureen, there's a very strong feeling that local control is the way to go. And watching the testimony at this workshop at the coastal commission earlier this month was very interesting. Um, the, all the local cities obviously do not want to lose the local controllers. They want to come up with their own plans. The only thing is then the coastal commission has to certify that plan. So the coastal commission is trying to, uh, hold up the warning flag, uh, not the big stack. And you know, people in the coastal commission have said to me, we live in California too. We are not the enemy. We totally sympathize with the situation that you may be in, but here's the information and we recommend that you start planning now rather than waiting until it's going to become more expensive because one thing they have established with studies, however long it takes is that if you don't act ahead of time, it just becomes more and more expensive to deal with. Uh, rising seas. Speaker 1: 08:57 Well, you spoke with the coastal planning manager for the coastal commission who seems to be saying people aren't ready yet to talk seriously about retreating from the coast, from your reporting. Alison, what do you think is going to take to change this from a theoretical threat to an actual problem? Speaker 2: 09:14 Well, I think it is more than just a theoretical threat already. I mean, we've had, um, imperial beach has had lot of flooding. We've had, and some nitas and Carlsbad have seen roads that have been damaged by high tides and storms and they've had to spend a lot of public money on fixing it. The next thing that's going to be costing the public general funds is probably wastewater treatment. You know, pumping stations, things like that, that have been placed close to the coast and will gradually become compromised. So cities I think are beginning to mobilize a little faster than the private sector. It's hard to know how many people have sold their homes because they're aware of this and they don't want to take the loss. But certainly some cities are already planning to not build their infrastructure so close to the coast. And I mean, I think this is one of the big distinctions is between the public and the private preparation and between the existing development and new development, you know, you, it's easier to decide not to build something new than it is to demolish something old. So we have already started to take the steps to not build new stuff quite so close to the coast in some cases. Speaker 1: 10:26 I've been speaking with KPBS reporter, Alison, Saint John and Allison. Thank you. Thank you, Maureen. Speaker 5: 10:36 Uh. Speaker 1: 00:00 Denver as a k was still a teen in 1940 when she and her new husband Edmunds a k open to health retreat and to cocktail Mexico called Rancho Laporta. Then in 1958 Zay Kay started the golden door spa and the final installment of our California Dream Collaboration Series on health seekers and southern California. Zay Kay spoke to KPBS reporter Amica Sharma recently about how she got into the spa business. Speaker 2: 00:30 We have to, would go way back to Brooklyn, New York. My mother was vice president of the New York Vegetarian Society and we were vegetarians because of the depression and the only thing available was bananas and a full time Diet and bananas was somewhat monotonous and came the depression and my father lost his money in the stock market like everybody else and he was very, very depressed and we were not kind of rich Jews, but moderately well off. Today I had a nanny, my brother had a nanny, but when you lose everything, it's not quite all. And one day my mom came home and said, we are leaving Fatih Hedy in 16 days. And my father said, where's that? And she said, I don't really know. But he were the tickets and then we stayed in TD for five years. We had a wonderful, the kind of fairytale existence. Speaker 2: 01:29 Then Dad went home, made a lot of money and we went to the bear thereafter. Well, when we went to Hedy, my mother met the man who was to be my husband, Edmund Seki, went to Guadalajara and mom and he correspondent and he said, come by and visit. We started health camp there and Mexico. And we got there and his secretary was packing because his father died and he was called back to England. So mom said we can't leave him with nobody here. And I had just graduated from high school at 16 and let Stan help until he could find the secretary, couldn't find one. And I was his secretary and the end of the year on the train going home, I'd become the indispensable secretary. And I got married at 17 and we started rental apart. Speaker 1: 02:27 Why did you choose that area to open Rancho? The protest, Speaker 2: 02:31 my husband was an enemy alien. He was Hungarian. There was a war and we had been told by the US government if he was found in United States, June 1st, 1940 he would be returned to his country of origin. And so it wasn't very attractive for Jews to be returned to her country of origin. And so we went to Mexico and to God, he had the best climate. So we got there, there was nothing, and I mean nothing. We're talking about no electricity, no running water without houses. It was camping. And so we set up a summer camp and the first few years it was just a summer, but each time few people wanted to stay. We had coming to the ranch and Nim and movie stars, the two main ones with Kim Novak, who stayed a lot. And Burt Lancaster, Lancaster practically lived at the ranch. Anyhow, in those days, nobody had personal trainers, nobody had massage, you know, and when they had a movie, they would come and stay at the ranch. Speaker 2: 03:37 When people rent to Rancho or protest, what did they do all day? Climb the mountain lived according to what my husband called the natural and cosmic laws. To return to what was our sort of the original life. Why did you decide to open the golden doors spa? Well, because some movie star ladies said, I wish you had a place just for us, and also close to Hollywood, and a number of us came together with their coach and they would be learning their lines and exercising and eating properly and not drinking or anything. And it caught on. Yeah. I read a quote by you where you said, I've come to believe that the ranch has a special quality one that's ran, does describe that quality. I think it's the happy guest. Everyone leaves something. I always tell my death that when you first get out of bed, you don't turn on the radio or TV or pick up the newspaper or this or that. But the first 1520 minutes of silence just you and yourself, is it kind of special piece in some ways, a love affair with oneself. Zay K is a k PBS donor. Speaker 1: 00:00 Since 2009, the ocean side international film festival has been bringing unique screening experiences to North county this year. The festival has added a special preview event on Sunday in order to hold the world premier of the local music documentary. Mrs. Henry presents the last waltz KPBS arts reporter Beth Armando speaks with festival managing director Lou Niles and musician filmmaker Daniel Cervantes. Speaker 2: 00:26 Lou, you are returning as managing director for the Oceanside film festival and normally this takes place over kind of an extended weekend, but this year you've added an extra day, kind of a preview event. What is this all about? Speaker 3: 00:39 Yes, as we do when we're going through the films, uh, and deciding which films are going to be selected. Uh, we came across this wonderful documentary and it just happened to be an event that I had actually attended. Uh, we're super excited to tell Dan that, uh, they were going to be in the festival only to find out that he wasn't going to be able to be there and be on tour. And this is just impossible that he can't be at the rural premiere. Being so involved with the film, uh, that we were lucky enough to work out this added day, August 4th on Sunday. Kind of the kickoff kickoff to the, uh, to the event. Speaker 2: 01:16 So this documentary is Mrs. Henry presents the last waltz. What was it about it that made you feel it was so important to include in the festival this year? Speaker 3: 01:24 Well, it was done really well, and I'm a little biased because I'm a longtime supporter over 30 years of the, of the San Diego music scene. And I was at the event a, but to me it would, it embodied just a part of the amazement of being there and, and what amazing performance, all the songs were at the belly up, uh, was the feat of gathering all those people together. It represents the community coming together and doing something incredible. Kind of an historic event, uh, in San Diego. Speaker 2: 01:55 And Daniel, you are in this film was one of the band members and you also co-directed it. So first of all, explain to people, what was this concert? Mrs. Henry presents the last waltz? What was that about? Speaker 4: 02:08 Okay, well this concert was a, a, not necessarily attribute, if you will, but a, I guess you could call it a channeling or reenactment of the 1976, uh, concert, the last waltz by the band, the band, the band, and our band, Mrs. Henry was asked to put this concert on and the original concert, um, the band featured all their friends, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, they, they had some pretty heavy friends, you know, and so we, we had, we were lucky to be asked this. And you know, we, we've grown a lot of friends in this community as we've, uh, grown up as a band and we were able to invite our friends Pat Beers from the skits, phonics. Our friend Brendan Deller from Sacrum, Mani, Nina Anderson was there, who, who does a, you know, the June Carter in a cashed out. And so the event in itself, the original concert was, was a celebration of this music and this community. Speaker 4: 03:06 And that's what it was for us too. You know, we got to bring all of our friends under one roof for a night and got to put together 30 plus guests on the stage. I think a, they said at the belly of, it was most people on the stage at one time and a dog. I brought my, my dog, Elvis was on the stage at one point and um, let's see. Yeah this, this night it was a celebration of just music in the San Diego community. And so it was just a beautiful night celebration that we felt we had to capture and document. Like we've done many nights and this one just came out really well. We call it like a white whale. We just caught a good one night where everyone came and played their hearts out. So, Speaker 2: 03:46 and what made you decide that you wanted to create this and also create a documentary? Cause you had to go into the concert knowing you wanted to make a film. You can't go backwards. I know which we filmed it. Speaker 4: 03:57 Well, it's funny cause we went in, I mean we try and always every show we've been playing, we try to capture it in some way, whether it's not, whether it's somebody, one of our friends coming down to just shoot on their iPhone or our friend Andrew Hughes who has been shooting the bands since we started. He, you know, we really saw this as, okay, this is going to be a a good night in our, in our wildest dreams. We thought cool. Maybe like, you know, we'll get like a hundred people there. And it ended up just being a completely packed house. And so, uh, we knew we should film it in some way and capture it. And we did. And we got lucky. Everything kind of worked. I mean we had all the trappings and pitfalls of the original last waltz work. Cameras were dying. Camera man didn't start shooting until halfway. Some people didn't show up. We got down to like one camera actually working in the back of the room. You know, we knew it was something we needed to capture. And in doing it after it we'd realize, wow, well a lot of people couldn't be there. A lot of people who were there wanted to, wanted to see it, wanted to kind of relive the night and we felt like we owed it to everyone to do it. Speaker 2: 05:07 And Lou belly-up is an iconic venue here in San Diego. What do you think the documentary captures about that? Speaker 3: 05:13 Well, a lot of the bands play there on a regular basis. There's a lot of bands, a lot of band members that joined in are from north county bands. The, I just think that earthiness, the good sound, the space was important. He didn't know that at first that it was going to sell 600 700 tickets, but a it packed out. It's just, it's just such a wonderful, you can kind of wrap around the stage, all the people and they've supported local music for a long time and then, you know, had the rolling stones play there as well. Uh, so it's kind of a cool stage to be on, and it's wonderful that everybody supported it all to come, come together. The club included along with all the bands. Speaker 2: 05:53 All right. Well, I want to thank you both very much. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Speaker 1: 05:58 And that was Beth Armando speaking with Daniel Cervantes and Lou Niles. Mrs. Henry presents the last waltz screens this Sunday at the Oceanside international film festival, and it kicks off Wednesday also at the Sunshine Brooks Theater. Speaker 1: 00:00 Summertime brings out the music in San Diego from the Bay side, summer nights to Humphreys by the bay to dozens of concerts and parks and festivals across the county midday edition. You know, we didn't want to let the music passes by. So we are starting our own San Diego summer music series and we begin with San Diego's award winning hip hop rap artists. The Parker Meridian. Here's Maureen Jazz and hip hop might have more in common than you think. Both arose from the black experience. Both are rooted in improvisation and both changed the way the world listens to music. Nathan Hubbard and Parker Edison met at the intersection of jazz and hip hop, but they didn't simply blend the two sounds. They used what they had and made something wildly original. Nathan and Parker and John Reader on base are the band, the Parker Meridian winners of this year. San Diego Music Awards for best hip hop rap artists and best hip hop rap album. And here they are with their song 40 foot tall, Speaker 2: 01:00 40 foot tall, 40 foot tall, 40 foot tall, 40 foot tall. Speaker 3: 01:11 No [inaudible] you make new died wrong. If you had to live, that means that you drink new die because you heartless [inaudible] beat street and mean need needs up. My blow started. I couldn't afford up on murmur. I cam up here and end up with tracking the numbers. A younger up, up with spread. If I open up shop pain and locking in stock with a box full, the waste backing down from the sentencing Django swift spring. [inaudible] what's wrong with that later, right man, I'm only get it pickled by a goalie and I got an after plan. I am, I take Speaker 4: 02:11 [inaudible] make money cause clothes don't make meals. I call it boxing cause that's how this day feels like I'm fine but with my having the gate, let me get my grandma [inaudible] no other way to do it. I was up in the note game archive, rich and fluid. He's got his back. I'm going to loosen the can. I think the truth of it is [inaudible] I'm from a place, whatever. We'll let yellow acorn five oh it's fucking like a deep voice. Paid a call about my numbers. Like I helped you to Nate and said, I'm all about my numbers like [inaudible]. Speaker 3: 02:42 Oh Man, I'm going to get it, man. I got it. I might, hold on. Let's go and take over the world, man. I got a master plan. Let's pull up to the bank. Yo, we hopped off the car. Everyone just runs it. We got the snake Speaker 4: 03:00 and it's like 2040 50 80 potty, honey. I want to hunt it and I'm trying to get to all the money. That was one. [inaudible] funding. I want a hundred [inaudible] 2040 800 I'm trying to [inaudible]. Speaker 1: 03:23 Wow, thank you. That was the Parker meridian off their latest album, 25th street sessions and it's called 40 foot tall. The Parker Meridian is Parker Edison on vocals. Parker, welcome. Good morning. Nathan Hubbard on drums and samples. Nathan. Hello. Hello. Thanks for having us and John Reader on base. Welcome to midday edition. Thank you. Nathan, you were playing drums in that last song, but I noticed you were also doing some samples. Do you sample your own music in a performance? Speaker 3: 03:53 Oh yeah, definitely. There's definitely our voice. Everything that we use a is a sample of ourselves, like 40 foot tall started with that hook. I was driving around really late at night. I had got off work or something and I have one of those apps on my phone that you can record into and I just, you know, 40 foot tall. I was kind of like hilarious and creepy and really interesting in a lot of ways. So that 40 foot tall is just me and it's pitch shifted down a little. So it sounds more manly Speaker 1: 04:22 Parker. Lots of the lyrics. I mean they sound, I know they're not, but they always sound improvised. Like you're telling somebody a story. Speaker 3: 04:29 [inaudible] cause you are right. You're having a conversation with the listener. Right. And is that hard to pull off all the time? I mean it's the same story, right? Suits because it sits differently in different environments. So you get in a referee environment and they relate to it. You get to an alien environment and they take it in as spectacle. You get into someone who's feeling experimental in their, you know, their, they're digging the sonic value of it. So it always has kind of a different layer for different listenings. Speaker 1: 05:00 Now, Nathan, you and Parker have both been working in the San Diego music scene. Nate in jazz, Parker in hip hop. How did you meet? Speaker 3: 05:09 We actually, I think the first time we ever shook hands was on stage. He came up and literally just out of the audience and sat in with a group. I had at seven grand in North Park and we did a couple of songs. So you, she just met and you were on the mic. Life is good sometimes. What were your musical influences? Did you start out in jazz? No, not at all actually. I, you know, I, I'm a huge fan of avant garde jazz and free jazz and a lot of 1960s jazz there. Nathan and I connect on that level, but I'm not necessarily educated in jazz and certainly not educated in hip hop. This has been an education now. What are you working on for your next album? It's kind of cool. I think right now we're like, we're in the thinking of the brainstorm phase. We have a set of songs put together. I think it's coming together kind of organically. We're going to get kind of a sneak peek. Artway yeah, one Speaker 1: 05:58 new tune and and it's called a thin line. Okay, thank you. Speaker 5: 06:04 Good. Speaker 6: 06:10 [inaudible] Speaker 3: 06:12 it's some new music. When you draw the line, keep your ears open. There might be a new album. Do Cross the line. Take the Mito. You got no spine. It's gonna be a new album. It's up there. Hey. Hey. When you draw the line, when you brought up the line, you crossed the line. When you cross the line that those spine, nope. Nope, nope, nope. Where do you draw the line when you cross the line? Roth Cross? Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Nope. Out there. When you draw the line, when you draw, when you cross that little spot. Nope. Nope, nope. You seen them both in the joint. These you libor folk get a couple buckets. Photo duck is like they seem apple has going to be, if they own it and they tell you that man, you looking crazy, you too big. You see it written protocol book. David keeps it out. My Po. One day you gone. Oh wake up like a thousand cups up coffee. I'll be in you and help me. Daddy has an outstanding woman. Bodie questions on that? I'll add Mitch out of the see me. See you off double proxio level broad IQ was at the elbow reading, reading reader, Rian catcher rookie out trying to make a story out of me there that they outfit. It's up in line and you draw the line when you brought up new cross the line crossing those spine? Nope. Nope, nope, nope. [inaudible] Speaker 7: 08:09 [inaudible] Speaker 3: 08:09 back in the middle. Like a calendar. Always bear. No. Jack goes towards his daughter's clothes. We take up this cat to me, that is the sound of this up cat. He just got US [inaudible] by five. I've got the note at that though. [inaudible] Speaker 7: 08:39 [inaudible] [inaudible]. Speaker 3: 08:47 Hey. Hey. [inaudible] us here right now. A radio you can't see because I just came in. Oh, this is that 22 brain instance. Six monkeys dues, right? Campbell's and just, Oh, this is why it's never been this. When you crossed the line, got no spine. Nope. Speaker 5: 09:36 Nope. Nope, nope, nope, no that there's no way that thing go. Speaker 1: 09:51 New music from the Parker Meridian. I really want to thank Parker and Nathan and John, the Parker Meridian for being here and being part of our San Diego summer music series. Thanks a lot. The Parker Meridian performed this Saturday at four at the Carlsbad music festival to see video of their in studio performance. Go to kpbs.org/summer music series and next week on our summer music series, we prevent present. That is a studio performance by Rebecca jade and the cold fact.