People 16 And Older Can Now Get COVID-19 Vaccines In San Diego County

Speaker 1: 00:00 The COVID vaccine is now available to more people. Speaker 2: 00:03 Today is a huge day because now 16 and over you can get vaccinated. Speaker 1: 00:09 I'm Jade Heintzman with Maureen Kavanaugh. This is KPBS midday. Biden's announcement to withdraw troops from Afghanistan triggers, memories of war. Speaker 3: 00:30 I started to, to recall and go back to the things I've really got the thought about in years. And some of it you don't want to think about, Speaker 1: 00:38 And San Diego will have a new ambulance provider, plus a look at how our furry friends have fared during pandemic pet adoptions. That's ahead on midday edition. All San Diego wins over the age of 16 are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccines starting today. So far locally, more than 750,000 San Diego ones are fully vaccinated. That's 28% of the county's population as vaccines continue, and more people become eligible. Those numbers should continue to increase while infections decrease. Joining me to discuss this milestone in the pandemic is Dr. Gail Knight, the chief medical officer at Rady children's hospital and co-chair of San Diego counties. COVID-19 vaccine clinical advisory group Dr. Night. Welcome. Speaker 2: 01:37 Thank you for having me here. So what Speaker 1: 01:39 Do you see as the significance of this milestone in the fight against COVID-19 in San Diego? Speaker 2: 01:45 Got it. It's huge. You know, I get daily reports to hospitalizations information about what's going on in our County and the impact that the vaccines have made is unbelievable. Prior to the middle of December, we were still steadily going up in San Diego with hospitalizations and deaths. And within several weeks of vaccines, starting to roll out, which were health care works. At first, we started to see it turn right around and it looks just like a mountain. And so right now we're almost at the base of the mountain. We are still not out of the woods yet, but the dramatic rise that we saw in the fall and early winter, and we're seeing this is a dramatic fall. Um, and the number of people getting sick since starting the vaccination. So no question, no question, all of that, it's working. So to be where we are in San Diego has taken a lot of effort, a lot of different people, even grassroots, trying to get the word out, to get vaccinated. And today is a huge day because now 16 and over everyone, no matter what you can get vaccinated. And, Speaker 1: 03:03 Uh, now that all of those 16 and older are eligible for a vaccine, do you expect it to be harder to get, Speaker 2: 03:10 You know, we have over certainly over the last few weeks, we there've been times where we've had vaccine shortage, as everybody knows, but the state, the government is really focusing on getting us more and more vaccine. So I actually don't know if it's going to be any harder, but it had, has taken effort for a lot of people to be able to get appointments. And I think that that's certainly going to continue, but there are appointments that are out there and yes, it takes a lot of work. So we have to focus. We as healthcare system, certainly carrot radio and our vaccine committee. What I focus on trying to get to those people that don't have as easy access to computers or smart phones or our ways to navigate the system, trying to reach out to them to say, Hey, this is where you can go to get vaccinated. This is who you can reach out to. Speaker 1: 04:03 Right? And just this week, the state had a vaccine shortfall forcing the closure of the Del Mar vaccine Superstation has vaccine supply increased enough to support the number of people in the County that are now eligible? Speaker 2: 04:16 Well, I would say that if everyone showed up today, the answer would be no, but over this course of time, it won't happen over the next week or next couple of weeks. But I fully expect that we're going to have enough vaccine to get everyone vaccinated, that once they have a vaccine and that may take over the next month or two, several months, but we're going to get there. And if you think about it, we S we started in middle of December and we've had this dramatic drop in the number of illnesses that coincided with the dramatic increase in people getting vaccinated. So we just need to stay on this trajectory of getting vaccine and arms. So the minute doses hit our County, we are all over it, all the different sites. Speaker 1: 05:03 More specifically, how has the pause and the use of the J and J vaccine impacted supply here in San Diego County? Speaker 2: 05:10 Interestingly enough, we did not have a significant, uh, large thousands and thousands of doses, um, compared to Pfizer and Madrona, we really have had quite a lot more of Pfizer Madrona. So it did have an impact, but not as much as some other areas, I would say a Speaker 1: 05:32 Conducted by 10 news. And the San Diego union Tribune found that fewer people say, they'll get the vaccine following reports of blood clots in six women who had recently received the J and J vaccine. Are you concerned about the impact? This news will have on the goal of achieving herd immunity. Speaker 2: 05:50 We still have Pfizer and Medina, which we've been as, you know, vaccinating since the middle of December. And I think that's where we have the focus and we have to let people know, look how many people we have been vaccinating with Pfizer, magenta. We have a pause on this third vaccine, but we still have the other tube that had been very impactful. And, and that's what we need to be putting in people's arms until more information comes out about the J and J, but you are absolutely right about people that are already hesitant. They want to step back and like, Oh, I'm not going to get vaccinated because of what's happening with J and J I've had those questions come to me. And I said, yes, but remember what we started with, we still have those two vaccines out here Speaker 1: 06:36 On Friday. Pfizer requested to expand its emergency use authorization to kids between 12 and 15. And this news comes as many schools in the County are reopening in person for the first time in a year. What role do you see vaccinating this age group have having on keeping schools open safely? Speaker 2: 06:55 Well, um, provide, we'll leave it up to the experts to decide about the, um, emergency use for that Pfizer, as you know, we've, um, Pfizer goes down to 16 at this point, and we certainly have to focus on that. I think in terms of schools, we've already determined that if we are washing hands wearing masks and doing all the thing, um, distant that those measures are working enough for us, for kids to get back in school. So I really, and certainly is a pediatric person. Just want us separate the two and focused on what can we do to minimize the risk of illness with COVID with the measures we currently have, and then let the experts decide whether or not 12 and nine can be safely administered the Pfizer vaccine. Speaker 1: 07:45 Now that more people are eligible for the vaccine and appointments, those appointments may be harder to get what recommendations do you have for our listeners on scheduling an appointment? Speaker 2: 07:56 The most important first step is to sign up on my term.ca.gov. That's the website and the sign up to be notified about vaccine where it's available and you can check on there and you can check every day for sites that have vaccine available. Um, and it really will take that effort, especially as we all talked about the expansion to more people, but appointments are out there and also want to remind everybody to just get a vaccine in your arm. If it's available at that fight is safe and it will be administered. So it doesn't matter whether it's Pfizer or Medina at this point, just get vaccinated. Speaker 1: 08:42 All right, I've been speaking with Dr. Gail Knight, chief medical officer of Rady children's hospital and chair of San Diego county's COVID-19 vaccine clinical advisory group Dr. Night. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so Speaker 4: 08:56 Much for having me Speaker 5: 09:08 September 11th of this year is now the target date for all us troops to be out of Afghanistan. The withdrawal announced yesterday by president Biden will end America's longest war us troops were first deployed in the months after nine 11, 20 years ago, to root out the safe Haven for Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Since that time more than 2300 American military personnel have died in that fight, Marines from camp Pendleton were in the thick of battle during the darkest days of the war. The third battalion fifth regiment known as the dark horse battalion suffered the worst casualty rate of any Marine unit in the Afghan war. Joining me is KPBS military reporter, Steve Walsh, and Steve. Speaker 4: 09:52 Welcome. Hi, Maureen, Speaker 5: 09:54 Let's start with president Biden's announcement yesterday. The Afghan government is still unstable. The Taliban have not agreed to peace conditions. So why does he want America to leave now? Speaker 4: 10:07 Well, essentially he has an agreement on the table that says that we should actually be pulling out by May 1st. So he's got that. So his decision to go ahead and pull out on September 11th is really a compromise between, um, the Afghan government and, uh, his own generals who want to see a more gradual pull-out Speaker 5: 10:31 And how many U S troops are in Afghanistan. Now Speaker 4: 10:34 We only have about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan right now. There were 5,000 troops last year. So that is one of the reasons why at this point, you know, they really have to make a decision on whether to go ahead and just end the Afghan war considering if the Taliban decides that they don't want to serve a ceasefire, it'd be very difficult for the Americans to really counter the Taliban with only 2,500 troops in the country. Speaker 5: 11:05 And what's been the reaction to Biden's decision to withdraw the troops in September. Speaker 4: 11:10 So, you know, you have the people who have said all along that this could lead to a resurgence of either Al-Qaeda or ISIS, uh, combined with, um, you know, with what essentially are the majority of voices in this country that say that we've been there for 20 years. At this point, we haven't really moved the needle. We haven't changed, you know, fundamentally Afghanistan in, in the way the country works. That it's, that it's time to just simply pull out. And that staying another couple of years really won't make much of a difference. Speaker 5: 11:44 Now, at one point there were about 100,000 us troops in Afghanistan and camp Pendleton Marines played a crucial role there for several years. Remind us about that time, if you could. Speaker 4: 11:57 Well, they have been there, Pendleton Marines have been there since the beginning. You know, this is the home of the first Marine division, but they, um, they have the distinction of the dark horse battalion, which has had the most losses of any unit in Afghanistan in the 20 year history of that war we had, um, this was back in October, 2010 through April of 2011. Um, they lost 25 Marines during, uh, operation during freedom. They were patrolling hell Mont province. There was 184 wounded, uh, 34, uh, Marines, at least lost one limb. The Marines had come into Hellman province. This was, um, a strong hold of, of the telephone. The British had been there before that, but the Marines decided to take a much more aggressive approach and they paid the price for it. Now, of course, they'll also say that they, um, you know, they, they had some success there and that life did return to normal. At least for a while. Markets started to reopen, uh, things started to look a little more normal in Helmand province before those Marines pulled out. But, um, it came at a, an incredibly heavy price. Speaker 5: 13:15 I spoke with Justin Campbell, a us Navy medical services Corps officer who served two tours in Afghanistan, reflecting on the announcement. Speaker 4: 13:25 You know, I started to recall and go back to things I really got a lot of years. And some of it you don't want to think about, and I am sure there are veterans all over the country and other countries that are right now kind of reliving and kind of going back and processing not only what they experience, but then trying to make meaning out of it. Like, what does it all mean? Was it worth it? And there's obviously going to be a range of answers to that as well. Speaker 5: 13:58 And are there still fresh memories at Pendleton about those losses and about the repeated deployments Marines went through at that time? Speaker 4: 14:08 Sure. And I actually put in some calls up to Pendleton to see if we have any of those Marines or any Marines from camp Pendleton. They're now among the 2,500. It wouldn't surprise me if we did. Now, we always have to keep in mind that the Marines are a very young force. So the youngest force of any of the services. So they rotate out very quickly. There aren't really very many people still left from the dark horse battalion. These in those that are, there would be officers who were really on sort of the back nine of their career. So we we've seen even in the last couple of years that, uh, the Marines themselves have turned away from preparing for desert warfare, Iraq in Afghanistan, moving more towards going back to their traditional role of working with the Navy and Fabius warfare as they prepare for what they say, great power conflicts, the potential of, of fighting either the Russians or the Chinese, Speaker 1: 15:08 The Pew research center surveyed veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan a couple of years ago and found that majorities of those veterans did not think the Wars were worth fighting. Do you believe that some of that same frustration about the war exists within the ranks today? Speaker 4: 15:26 We were doing some of those surveys 10 years ago, and you were seeing the identicals sort of frustration. You know, it's a very hard war to describe in many ways. It's much more, you know, it's much more, uh, it's easier to describe than the Iraq war Osama bin Ladin was actually in Afghanistan when we, uh, we attacked back in 2001. Um, but yet it is drug on for so long and we still have a hard time figuring out who is the enemy here? Is it Al Qaeda? Is it ISIS? Is it the Taliban itself? It's hard to see the telephone is being the enemy considering we're in negotiations with them right now. And they're likely to play a role in, in running the country after we leave. So it's not an easy war to summarize. Okay, Speaker 1: 16:19 Indeed. I've been speaking with KPBS, military reporter, Steve Walsh. Steve, thank you very Speaker 4: 16:25 Much. Thanks Maureen. Speaker 3: 16:34 [inaudible], Speaker 1: 16:38 You're listening to KPBS midday edition. I'm Jade Hindman with Maureen Kavanaugh. A new ambulance provider will be serving the city of San Diego after a unanimous decision by the city council. This week, newly pit Falk will take the place of AMR after a competitive bidding process, but the decision did not come without skepticism. KPBS reporter. Matt Hoffman has been covering this story and joins us with details. Matt, welcome. Hey Jade. So why did the San Diego city council decide to change ambulance service providers? Speaker 4: 17:10 Well, you know, uh, each ambulance provider, they signed a contract to operate in the city. Uh, once those contracts ends, there's a competitive bidding process. Um, and the, the competitive bidding process was opened up. There were in this most recent round, uh, three companies that applied for that American medical response. The current, uh, service provider for the city of San Diego was one of the people who submitted a response to that. And so it was false, but the city chose Falk to win that RFP. Um, and the recommendation, the city council voted unanimously, uh, to choose fault as the new EMS provider in the city of San Diego. Speaker 1: 17:40 Now, you said you spoke to San Diego fire rescue, chief Colin Stonewell, who said this decision has been a long time coming. Why is that? Well, Jade, we know that there's been two Speaker 6: 17:50 Requests for proposals here for a new ambulance provider. And we know that during the first one, there were some questions raised about false. Now they did get the city's recommendation. They did win that first RFP proposal, but then the city opened up, opened it up again and fall applied again. So did American medical response. And again, the city chose fault. You know, it's gone through this long process, well over, over two years, but focused as the one that the city ended up going with, Speaker 1: 18:13 And council member Vivian Moreno referred to the new service providers, higher level of service, as opposed to other providers, what exactly does that higher level of services Speaker 6: 18:24 Tail, or like sort of what chief Stoll was saying? Basically, you know, that when he was looking at the proposals that the Falk one stood out, because they offer a higher level of service. And basically what that means is having more paramedics on the streets at one time. Uh, he says that equates to about an additional thousand hours of staffing a day, and that correlates to about 14 additional ambulances. And I think in this contract basically about 66 ambulances a day will be on the road. So if you think about 14 additional ambulances, that's 14 more that that would not have been there. So, um, you know, the chiefs in the city kind of saying, we're getting more bang for our buck, uh, going for fault because they're adding more paramedics and adding more ambulances to the roads. Speaker 1: 18:59 And some council members were skeptical of how this new provider would be able to pay for the increased EMS service. What can you tell us about that? Speaker 6: 19:08 Yeah, there was some questions about their financials, you know, Falco sort of dominates the European market when it comes to emergency medical services. Um, and they're starting to come into the U S market here. So there were some questions about, about capital, um, about some of their projections in terms of how they're going to pay for this increased level of service. But fall basically says, look, we have money in the bank and we're here. We're committed to San Diego. And they say that they want to get their foot in the door and the U S market and this big contract is a way for them to do it. Speaker 1: 19:33 And does this change in provider indicate that there will be an increase in the hiring of paramedics in San Diego? Speaker 6: 19:40 Yeah, definitely. Um, I talked to the fire chief about this. He said that Fox is going to have a tough task ahead of them to beef up the workforce because keep in mind American medical response, they have the contract for six more months. And then in that six months, the city says that they're already working with FOC to ramp up. So we talked about the ramp up process. AMR is still here for another six months running nine one, one calls. Falk is going to start their ramp up process over that next six months. So that's bringing on new ambulances, the fire chief talks about a new radio system, new gurneys, uh, other new lifesaving measures. So Fox is going to have to ramp up, but it's going to be a delicate balance because they have to make sure while they're ramping up, that they're not losing any level of service Speaker 1: 20:17 And another city council member Marnie Von Wilpert said that she's concerned that there aren't the proper legal tools in place to really enforce a lot of the promise changes that Fox says they're going to make. Why is that? Speaker 6: 20:30 Yes, he was kind of, sort of hinting at, I think that there is a penalty structure. There is like some sort of fine structure in place. Uh, but it seems like that if they were not following the contract, they could be paying those penalties, uh, while still avoiding keeping the staffing levels there. She was kind of hinting that this contract was put together by the former mayor of San Diego, Kevin Faulkner administration. She would just like to see more legal binding there, but the city attorney's office told her that we'd have to reopen up the whole RFP process again, but it's worth noting though, that chief Collins stole, uh, says that the penalties will increase if violations happen. And he thinks that the contract does give them to ability to enforce and mandate staffing levels on those ambulances. Speaker 1: 21:05 A lot of people who spoke out about this decision at Tuesday city council meeting, what were their concerns Speaker 6: 21:12 Similar to the council members in terms of, you know, this upgraded level of service, how are they going to pay for it? How are they going to maintain it? Um, there was a lot of public comment, I think nearly 200 callers. Um, you know, a lot of people saying, Hey, AMR has been here for a long time. They've been getting the job done. Why do we need to switch? Uh, can we just stick with them also worth noting to Jade? The fire chief says under this contract, all of the current AMR employees will be offered jobs with Falk. Um, he basically, uh, a conduct to, as a uniform change Speaker 1: 21:38 Weeks, an organization called a neighborhoods for equitable ambulance response has sponsored a social media campaign, criticizing Falk. They say fall can slower response times and communities of color, they question their business ethics and even working conditions. What does folk say about that? Speaker 6: 21:55 Yes. Yes. So folk had representatives at Tuesday evening city council meeting, um, and in pointing to this contract and how they're going to, um, maintain their level of service. You know, they did make some verbal agreements, um, in terms of, uh, some of the unions and not pressuring some of those unions. Um, they also did say, um, basically their, their CEO, Matt Gallagher said, you know, that the contract requires us to maintain staffing levels. Um, and he says that they will stand by the CBAs, the collective bargaining agreements to treat employees in certain ways. Um, and he basically says that they're standing by their reputation in the European market. Speaker 1: 22:25 I've been speaking with KPBS reporter, Matt Hoffman, Matt, thank you for joining us. Thanks Jay. In the interest of disclosure fault is a KPBS underwriter. Speaker 5: 22:40 COVID-19 was tough on people, but great for dogs and cats. There were high adoption rates and owners spend a lot more time at home, but not all pets fared as well and local animal advocates hoped to keep them close to the spotlight KPBS environment. Reporter Eric Anderson has details. Speaker 7: 23:00 A backpack sized Sakata tortoise chomps on lettuce leaf sat it's Escondido home. The turtle named Ninja is surprisingly quick. When the fluid supply moves, Speaker 5: 23:13 They are the terrible twos, but as a creature Speaker 7: 23:17 Eco vivariums Shelly Oneida speaks lovingly of an animal that was about the size of a saucer. When it first came here, Speaker 5: 23:25 They have all the wide-eyed wonder of a little kid and all of the destructive power of a tank Speaker 7: 23:33 Ninja lives at the eco vivarium because the tortoise has owners were locked in a domestic dispute. Animal control came to Susan new Wiki, the founder and director of the eco vivarium. She says, reptiles didn't get the same pandemic boost as dogs. Speaker 8: 23:50 The opposite happened in the reptile world. Suddenly people were looking, you know, meeting difficult circumstances where they were not able to care for the animal anymore because of job loss and the cost of the food and care and everything for the animal and no programs out there to supplement like there are for dogs and cats. So they were left with having to find homes, Speaker 7: 24:17 Facilities, population swelled from 200 to 300 during the pandemic. The Wiki says, in one case, a local pet shop owner just walked away from his business, leaving dozens of reptiles, homeless. Speaker 8: 24:29 What do you do with hundreds of animals that need to be cared for for the next 30 to 50 to a hundred years, Speaker 7: 24:36 The animals have homes here, but new Wiki pays a steep price, thousands in extra vet and food bills each month. At the same time that COVID cut them off from people Speaker 8: 24:47 Visitation and our outreach programming and birthday parties. And all of those kinds of things were how we paid for the animal care. And all of that went away. Speaker 7: 24:58 Having kids interact with the animals is only possible. Now in small groups like the prearranged tour for the Alvarez family, Shelly Oneida is showing Levi the snake room. Speaker 8: 25:12 This piggy Speaker 7: 25:19 That in-person interaction is what Nikki says makes the eco vivarium unique school groups used to be drawn to the up-close experience. It also helped cultivate donors and people who might adopt some of the animals living here. Speaker 8: 25:36 We do hands-on full cross curriculum education programs that COVID completely shut down. Speaker 7: 25:43 A local animal friendly nonprofit hopes to help the animal bond Academy produces YouTube videos that highlight some of the regions, lesser known animal rescue and advocacy groups, Speaker 8: 25:54 Places like Penelope purpose focused on pig rescue. Speaker 7: 25:58 Andy Peterson runs the animal bond Academy. Speaker 8: 26:01 We recently visited Libby loos in a Boulevard and they focus on Cal rescue. So these are all animals that may not be on the forefront of people's minds, but we wanted to make sure that the animal bond Academy videos kept all of these organizations relevant. Speaker 7: 26:19 Peterson says once she started explaining how different animal advocacy and rescue groups work, the list of future projects got longer. Quickly. People began reaching out to her Speaker 8: 26:31 And I am still learning about new organizations, small organizations that I didn't know were in existence. Speaker 7: 26:38 No Ricky says having the animal bond Academy video available is crucial to helping re-establish the eco vivariums contact with schools in the public. They were able to see the people interacting with the animals and everything and see the kids eyes lighting up. And that is so impactful. And the Wiki says anything that helps her organization's connection with the public will help her rebuild once the pandemic subsides. The very, very cool thing is black lights help you find scorpions. Hurricane Anderson, KPBS news. Speaker 5: 27:14 And joining me is Annie Peterson, founder of animal bond Academy. Annie, welcome to the show. Thank you so much. Now you create YouTube videos for small animal rescue nonprofits. What do you like to highlight in those videos? What do you want people to see? Speaker 9: 27:34 Well, I really like to highlight, of course, the animals that are in the care of all of these organizations, but also, and one of the reasons that we started to animal bond Academy is to highlight the, their need for donations still, even with COVID and are not being able to do one-on-one outreach. Um, in person visits, it's important that people are still able to see that animals still need to be fed and lives are still being saved. And so that, that is the highlight of the, the videos that are posted. Speaker 5: 28:14 Did you start animal bond academies specifically because of the COVID shutdowns? Speaker 9: 28:20 Yes. That was not a plan of mine to do YouTube videos. Um, however, because I've worked in the animal welfare community for a couple of decades now, when COVID hit, I was very curious to find out what was going on within all of these organizations, my friends, the people I knew that already had many animals that they needed to care for, and really did rely on those in-person visits and donations in order to support their organizations. And so really quickly, we put together a plan with a couple of people who had these organizations and started doing animal bond Academy videos. And it was, we were just going to do a couple of videos just to help people remain relevant during the pandemic and all of the shutdowns. However, we're a year later and we're still posting videos and I'm finding more and more people that still need that, that extra boost to be able to reach out to the community. Speaker 5: 29:35 Now, in the report, we just heard, you mentioned a pig rescue group and a gal rescue organizations. What other types of small animal rescue groups have you helped? Speaker 9: 29:47 Well, along with them, uh, we of course have, uh, highlighted that reptile groups like eco vivarium. Um, we've also highlighted, uh, bird rescues, such as parent education and adoption center. We have an upcoming one with a free flight bird sanctuary, uh, really you name it. There is an organization that helps to support those animals. And that's what makes animal bond Academy so unique in supporting the human animal bond, because it's not just the bond you have or the love you have for the cute and fuzzy animals like dogs and cats. You can have a bond with insects. It just really depends on who you are and how you feel your life is enriched by nature. And so that's what we really try to do with these videos. Speaker 5: 30:44 And how have your videos help these organizations? Speaker 9: 30:48 So happily, we have a couple of organizations that did see an uptick in, um, uh, outreach. Uh, they were able to put together zoom outreach programs. I have found that I've been assisting a couple of organizations with their, um, their it issues and just some of the technical challenges they have in terms of posting videos, posting photos, how to communicate with the public about what they do, because these people are very busy working with animals and they're very busy while they were hoping to be very busy working with the public, but now they find that they need to do that pandemic pivot and learn how to reach out to the community virtually. So I'm helping, um, a couple of organizations with that as well. Speaker 5: 31:46 Well, now the kids are back in school, just society sort of opening up again. Do you see a bright future for these animal rescue groups? Speaker 9: 31:58 I do. Um, I, I think that I, I'm actually far more aware of so many different organizations in there in our community organizations that I had no idea existed. And I feel very fortunate that I'm in a position to be able to continue doing these videos leaching out to organizations that are within San Diego County, but are pretty far out. And so by posting these videos and giving people an opportunity to, um, access that information in a much easier way that will encourage to actually, um, hopefully wet their appetite and want to go out and have those one on one experiences with the animals. Instead of just through video, do you find it easy to make these videos with all different sorts of animals? What are the challenges? It is a lot of work, um, but I love it. I love it. I love the animal community. I love the people in that community. It's, it's such a great opportunity for me to be able to give back to the community. Well, I've been speaking with Annie Peterson, founder of animal bond Academy. Annie, thank you so much. Thank you so much, Marine. I appreciate it. Speaker 3: 33:34 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 33:41 You're listening to KPBS midday edition. I'm Jade Hindman with Maureen Kavanaugh, jazz pianist, Joshua White thrives on improvising with other musicians during performances. He had to shift his gears a little during the pandemic and look internally for inspiration and even embrace virtual platforms. But as performers are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, white is looking forward to the thrill and essence of live jazz for our influential music series. We asked him to make us a playlist and he picked five iconic local musicians whose work has impacted him and the jazz scene in San Diego and beyond here's Joshua White in his own words, Speaker 10: 34:32 Since the pandemic began, there's been a drastic change in my practice in terms of performance, because a lot of what I did as a musician was live performance based. So not only working on my music and writing and arranging, but actually performing in front of live audiences and testing out new material and new arrangements with my fellow musicians. And thankfully things are starting to open back up. So we're getting a chance as musicians to try out all these ideas that have been as this sort of gestation for, you know, this past year Outside of a musical collaboration. I'm always interested in working with people who have a interesting perspective and a way of communicating that perspective and who are interested in collaboration, but also, you know, have an interesting way of putting their ideas together in the moment and how the capacity to respond to any given piece of information, any given stimuli at any given time, you know, exploring the ideas in the moment. Speaker 3: 35:52 [inaudible] Speaker 10: 35:52 I think I met Charles MacPherson back in 2003 at the inaugural year of the UCS de jazz camp. And just so happens at that program. I got to meet some of the greatest internationally touring artists who also live here in San Diego. And one of those individuals was the great Charles MacPherson, and it was truly an honor to meet him and to hear him live in person at that formative time and my development. So in meeting Charles MacPherson and learning more about him, his history and his music, I immediately went to the record store. And I would say this particular recording suddenly was the first recording that I purchased by Charles McPherson. Speaker 3: 36:46 [inaudible] Speaker 10: 36:47 It blew me away. I mean, just hearing him in person is amazing as well as getting the records. And thankfully over the years, I've had a chance to collaborate with him on many different occasions and, you know, it's always been a great and wonderful learning experience to be next to a real master of this musical tradition that you know, is most commonly referred to as jazz Speaker 3: 37:17 [inaudible]. Speaker 10: 37:17 I first met Holly Hoffman at that same music program at UCLA in 2003. And I would say that our connection was through the flute because at that time I was playing the flute as well. I've also admired all of her recorded work. And I, thankfully I have the honor of working with her on April 17th, we're playing a live stream concert of her music, and she allowed me the opportunity to pick my favorite recorded material. And we will be playing that music at the live stream concert, which includes one of my favorites further adventures. Speaker 3: 38:04 [inaudible] Speaker 10: 38:14 What I like about further adventures is that it has an interesting musical form and it has a lot of fun sections to play over. And that's really what in jazz or improvised music. It's not only do we enjoy the melodies and the chords and things like that, but they present an interesting area from which we can improvise and create from that framework. Speaker 3: 38:38 [inaudible] Speaker 10: 38:45 I always equate working with Mark dresser and his music and his bands is sort of my college level experience in music theory and composition, because in my personal experience, he's been one of my favorite composers and he writes these such interesting melodies and harmonies and everything he's been one of the musicians I would say, has opened up a new world to me in terms of what I thought was possible in music and improvisation and composition, and this particular song, peril waltz. We've played this many, many times together. Speaker 3: 39:43 [inaudible], Speaker 10: 39:45 I've always told them that this particular composition of his is my favorite melody by far that he's written. I love the chords and I love the harmony and how everything just works together and like a harmonious fashion. And I'm always grateful to have the opportunity to collaborate and work with Mark on any project. Like if he has a recording project and he asked me if I'm available or a live performance, I'm there. And if I have a project, I know he's going to bring something remarkable and truly special to the occasion Speaker 3: 40:22 Around my neck. Anyway, Speaker 10: 40:28 I first met Janae Kendrick. So it's an interesting story. I was playing with Gilbert Castiano at a jam session. I believe it might've been on Thursdays or Wednesday nights, many years ago. It was at seven grand in North park. So I had been playing there for a few years already. And at a jam session is customary that musicians or whomever would like to sit in, you know, once invited, they're able to sit in and join the house band. So I had never met Shanay and she came up to the band stand and said, I'm a vocalist I would like to sit in. So she told me just to start wherever I would like to start. And I just started in my natural abstract space and I wanted to see where she would go with that. And she just jumped right in and just floored me. And I knew from then if I had a vocalist, Speaker 3: 41:33 [inaudible] Speaker 10: 41:41 She just floors me every time that we work together because not only is she a brilliant musician, but she's just a wonderful person. And she adds such a great energy and a great spirit to every ensemble that we're able to work together. Speaker 3: 41:54 Okay. Speaker 10: 42:01 So I met Mike Wofford that first year at the UCLA jazz camp in 2003. And really you can pick any recording from Mike Wofford and you're going to get, you know, a world of knowledge from his plan. But I think that his arrangement of the old standard, my old flame just is characteristic of his grace and nuance at the panel Speaker 3: 42:32 [inaudible] Speaker 10: 42:33 That I can see into the future in terms of where live performance is going post pandemic with the introduction of more virtual performances. Because quite honestly, I prefer just performing live as to performing virtually because I'm open to the opportunity of both experiences, the virtual as well as the live, but I will always be in favor of the live performances and letting it just live in that moment. And then once it's gone, Speaker 3: 43:14 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 43:15 That was local jazz pianist, Joshua White. He performed Saturday night in the anthology series live stream alongside Holly Hoffman and Gilbert Cascianos. You can find more details as well as a playlist of all these tracks on our website@kpbs.org. Speaker 3: 43:39 [inaudible].