- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Here when you need us most, now and always.

New Jersey Institute of Technology.

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Making a difference.

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And by Englewood Health.

Promotional support provided by Insider NJ.

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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change presidents in this country is by voting.

- I'’m hopeful that this is the beginning to accountability.

- Life without dance is boring.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I did do the finale, and guess where my trailer was?

A block away from my apartment, it couldn'’t have been better!

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

-_ It'’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it'’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi everyone, I'm Steve Adubato.

It is our honor to be joined once again by Darlene Love, the Darlene Love, and she's joined by Chris Ruggiero.

They are recording artists.

Chris, I'll talk about you in a second but can I talk about Dar, can I talk about Darlene?

- Okay, please do.

- Darlene Love is a musical icon.

She is an entertainment icon and the extraordinary movie, 20 Feet from Stardom.

She was the star.

It was in the Montclair Film Festival.

I remember it kicked it off that year.

I had the honor of interviewing her and she has brought down the house everywhere she goes.

Darlene, thank you for joining us on public broadcasting.

- This is fantastic.

I'm really happy to be here.

- Darlene, do me a favor who's this guy we got on?

(Darlene laughing) - Tell us about Chris, cause I know you, you're doing duets together, you're mentoring him.

You have a Christmas series coming on, Tell us about Chris and your connection to him.

- You know what, it's been years and years and years since I've been around young people.

I mean, actually to mentor them because now they're doing something else that I'm not doing.

(Darlene laughs) But Chris was one of those I call and a lot of us in the business calls an old soul.

He's been here before.

(laughing) And he just has one of those magical voices like me.

I, I'm not a person that riffs.

I can riff, but if the song doesn't need it to be riffs and has a beautiful melody, just sing it.

And that is Chris.

And it's very hard and he's very unique to be able to find a young man like that.

- Chris, what's that like to hear from Darlene Love?

- Oh, well, it, it just, I'll tell you what, it it never gets old and it never will because I grew up listening to Darlene.

In the car with my parents, wherever we went, Darlene was playing, or a playlist was playing with music of the fifties and sixties.

And Darlene's voice was absolutely on that playlist all the time around the house.

And when it became Christmas time, all we heard was Darlene's voice.

So, I mean, I grew up listening to Darlene and she has one of those voices that just hits you in the chest and warms your heart.

And to hear one of my favorite icons talk about me that way is, it's, it's definitely special and it's touching.

- Darlene, you and Christmas, I mean the link talk for folks who may not understand why Darlene Love and Christmas go hand in hand.

Talk about that.

- Well, you know, I actually started in church.

My father was a pastor.

- Where'd you grow up?

- California, born and raised.

And when you have three brothers and a sister you grow up in a church where your father is the pastor, you sing in the choir.

Whether you can sing or not.

Thank God we could all sing.

(all laughing) And mostly the, during the holidays is when we, the choir and our churches.

I grew up Pentecostal and it's about Christmas, it's about Jesus, it's about the baby Jesus, it's about when he came, He saved.

They did all of those wonderful things.

So we had a wonderful background with Christmas music.

And then when I met Phil Spector and we started doing this Christmas album at first we thought he was crazy.

Like, you're gonna do a rock and roll Christmas album.

It's never been done before.

So we was trying to figure him out and I'm sure he was trying to figure us out.

Well, by the time we got halfway through the album, it was fantastic.

We were all just blown away.

And then when he said he was writing a Christmas song that was an original, I said, hold on a minute now.

What do you put in Christmas, new Christmas songs after Silent Night and Oh Little Bethlehem, Oh little Bethlehem.

Help me out here Chris... Oh Little Town.

Okay, there it is.

- Oh Little Town of Bethlehem.

- Yeah, it's a tongue twister.

- Yeah, and all of those wonderful songs, how do you put in a Christmas song called Christmas Baby, Please Come Home?

But after you have Leon Russell on piano you have quote unquote Sonny and Cher singing in the background.

And all of our friends got through doing that song.

It was like, we are just all just stood in space and just all like googled, you know, like really, really?

And then we had a setback.

Robert Kennedy got assassinated.

- 1968.

- Yes, and so Phil Spector didn't put the album out so we had to wait a whole nother year in anticipation for this album to come out that nobody has ever done before.

But they knew... - That's right.

- And so from that to this, the other part of this that made Christmas so special for me, when I moved to New York, we did a play at a club called The Bottom Line.

And... - The Bottom Line.

- Paul Shafer played Phil Spector in the play.

So he invited David Letterman down to see the show.

That night on David Letterman's show he said, we have to have that girl come and sing this song.

It's the greatest Christmas song I've ever heard.

And I thought it was gonna be only one year.

It was 28 years.

And therefore my... - That's great.

- That's when I started doing Christmas tours.

- That's right.

- I would be at the bottom line singing a few songs but then it got bigger and bigger and bigger.

Here we are almost 35 years later and I'm still on Christmas shows.

- So, Chris, let me ask you, you you and Darlene doing the Christmas duet how does that come together?

A and B, what is it particularly after Darlene laid that Christmas history out, which is, by the way check out Darlene on all those Letterman appearances, she's exceptional.

Go ahead, Chris.

- Well, I was, I was asked in an interview who I would love to do my a duet with who would be a dream duet partner.

And on, on that short list, Darlene was at the very top and someone actually sent the video of me saying this to Darlene.

And she saw that I said that she was one of the people I would love to do a duet with.

And so she started doing some research about me and she actually posted a video of me on her Facebook page.

And she probably didn't realize or know but all the fans started commenting that they already knew me.

Which was great because then I think it it solidified the fact a little more that okay, maybe we could do something together that people already know me.

And, and we just hit it off.

Darlene's people got in touch with my people, we had lunch at The Palm in New York City, and I, I met Darlene for the first time there and I felt like I've known her my whole life, you know, since, and, and, and I was telling her that there was this song that I was working on and I was working on a whole Christmas album and there was this one song that I just didn't really know what to do with.

And so she took the song home Grown-Up Christmas List and she said, I would love to duet with you on it.

And when I heard that, I almost hit the floor.

- Yeah, yeah, well, I, I, you know, and and let's make sure we put up information so people can find out more about Darlene and, and Chris, and, and I was remiss, this is part of a series that was created called The Arts Connection our executive producer One on One, Georgette Timoney who knows the arts more than most.

She said, "why don't we talk about the Arts Connection" and we're gonna be doing things on theater and different plays and, and music, etcetera.

But, but Darlene the arts today in 2023, going 2022 going to 2023, the arts are more important than ever before.

The Arts Connection more important because?

- Because we have to learn from the past what's going on today and keep dipping back into the past of this music because it is never gonna go away.

I was talking with my husband this morning, we was talking about Nat King Cole, and, you know, Bing Crosby, I mean, even though you don't hear them as much today, people still play all those songs at Christmas time because they, Christmas saying, it brings family together.

- It sure does.

- More than any other time of the year, even New Year's families have scattered.

But at Christmas time, it's a special time and it's only Christmas music playing in the house.

And it goes from gander to gander.

It doesn't go that far.

You know, it stays here with us in 2020.

But back in the fifties, in the sixties that's when all that music meant, being with the families.

So we have to, I think always connect with that music to bring it up today.

- And Chris, let me ask you as part of our art, the Arts Connection series, you're 23 years of age, if I'm not mistaken.

Darlene broke in even younger than that.

Question.

Breaking into the arts, breaking into the music field with social media being what it, what it is all the different platforms, ways to access music.

If you had your druthers, I know Darlene called you an old soul, you've been here before.

Would you rather break in now or let's say a few years back in the day?

(Chris laughing) - You know, that's a really tough question.

There are certain aspects of back in the day that would've been better and certain things about now.

I mean, technology is a great thing and, and for me especially Facebook and what I love about Facebook is that I get to connect with so many fans from all over the country and in fact all over the world.

And so back in the day, before Facebook or internet or computers, I wouldn't have been able to do that as easily.

But also now with this technology, there's so many platforms in which people can entertain themselves.

You have television, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram.

- Lot of competition.

- So it's a, it's a little bit harder to to corner, I guess, your market, so to speak.

So I, I don't know, maybe I would rather be back in the day for those reasons.

- Well, Chris breaking in now, Darlene, who broke in and and has never stopped, gets better and stronger every year.

Darlene Love and Chris Ruggiero recording artists Check out the information we put out there.

To Darlene and Chris, we cannot thank you enough.

This is the Arts Connection.

Thank you my friends.

- Thanks so much for having us, Steve.

- Thank you.

- You got it.

Stay with us we'll be right back.

- Bye bye.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- We're now joined by Dennis Stabile, Deputy Director of the Tunnels, Bridges, and Terminals Department at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Dennis, good to see you.

- Good afternoon, good to see you too.

- We're here to talk about the bridge, the GWB, the George Washington Bridge, 1931 opened up, right?

- That's correct.

- So what the heck has going on for the next 10 years that we need to know about to restore, improve the George Washington Bridge?

- So we have a lot of great work going on.

The bridge was built in 19, opened to 1931, so it's 91 years old.

It's in great shape, but it has some wear and tear and we need to keep it going for another 100 years.

So we have a huge project going on at the bridge.

We're calling it the Restoring the George Program.

It's a $1.9 billion program.

It comprises 11 projects, mostly structural and civil engineering related work on the roadway and the bridge itself.

But the key project that I'd like to really talk about is the replacement of the suspender ropes.

So we have 592 original suspender ropes, right, the hangers that hold up the bridge.

They were put in in 1931, and they've lasted all these years and we're replacing them right now.

We just completed replacing all the ropes on the north side of the bridge.

Now we're gonna flip over and start on the south side of the bridge.

So it's- - Why does that need to be done, Dennis?

Sorry for interrupting.

Why does that need to be done?

- Because we want to maintain the reliability of the bridge for the future.

You know, they're made of steel, they're exposed to the elements, it's over a river.

You have the seasonal weather that affects it as well.

We maintain them, we paint them regularly, we clean them.

But at 91 years old, the best bet is to replace them to ensure a reliable bridge for the next 100 years.

- What about the sidewalks?

- So we're also replacing the sidewalks, so that's part of the project as well.

So you have existing sidewalks on either side of the bridge.

They're both being completely replaced, but we're doing a lot of upgrades to the sidewalk as well.

So to start with, when you come around the towers on either side of the bridge, that you have the New Jersey Tower and the New York Tower, you're at like a 90 degree angle.

So these sidewalks will expand that area for cyclists, for pedestrians, so there's more room.

We are also making significant improvements in terms of there were existing stairs on the New Jersey side.

So for cyclists coming over the bridge, you had to carry your bike downstairs.

Now you can go from grade to grade on either side and we're also putting in these beautiful viewing platforms at several locations because you have the beautiful Hudson River, the Palisades Rock, the cliffs, it's beautiful.

So now pedestrians, cyclists will really get to enjoy the bridge.

- You know, let's put this in perspective.

Our producers did a great job trying to help us understand, help me understand and our audience understand.

Back in 1931, five million annual vehicles going across the bridge.

It can't be right.

- No, that's correct.

- From five million to 100 million vehicles every year?

- That's correct.

So in the first, so the bridge opened in the end of 1931 in October.

But in the first full year of operation in 1932, there were five and a half million vehicles both directions total, which was significant at the time.

However, our current numbers are well over 100 million both directions annually.

That equates to around 300,000 vehicles per day in both directions, which makes the George Washington Bridge the busiest bridge in the world.

In addition to that, you have all the pedestrians that use the bridge, cyclists that use the bridge, so it's heavily utilized.

- Talk about the economic part of this, because obviously, transportation infrastructure, that's the primary way one would describe, "Oh, you're restoring the George, it must be, it's transportation, it's infrastructure", a word not a lot of people want to use, but it's real particularly when it needs to be upgraded.

But the economic impact of the GW Bridge.

- Oh, it was huge.

So if you go back to 1931, for centuries, you had an impassable barrier, which was the Hudson River, just about a mile long separating New York and New Jersey.

The two communities were separated.

You really, it was like a world away.

You had ferries, but you know, that takes hours and hours, it's not really an efficient way to move goods and people.

So once the bridge was built, as you can see, as we mentioned, you had five and a half million users in the first year.

But what it did is it really created a boom to the economy on both sides.

You had Bergen County in northern New Jersey, which was mostly rural at the time, that really had an explosion in the residential development.

It really affected the trucking industry because now you had the I-95 corridor where you were able to carry trucks and cargo up and down whenever you needed it, so that really improved the economy in that way.

And it opened up the neighborhoods on either side for housing, for shopping, for education, for recreational activities.

So it really provided a huge stimulus to the economy at that time and continues to do so today.

- Now Dennis, by background, you're an engineer.

- That's correct.

- What the heck is it like for you as an engineer training when you did and went to school and did all the things you needed to do to be in the position you're in right now to be a key player in a project like this at such an iconic and important historic bridge, facility in this country?

- It's really a dream come true.

I always wanted to be an engineer from a young child, I grew up in the New York area.

So it was something that I always looked at these bridges and to be able to work on these, as you said, iconic structures, they're beautiful, they were engineering marvels when they were first created.

When they were first built, the George Washington Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world.

It's just, it's an amazing experience, it's very fulfilling.

It's great to see all the use and the benefit that the region gets from these bridges.

So it's a very rewarding experience for an engineer to be able to work on these iconic structures and really a privilege.

- Before I let you go, 10 year project, correct?

- That's correct, we're in the midst of it, yes.

- Okay, impact on traffic, dare I ask?

I have to.

- Yes, and we try to minimize that as best as possible.

We do the work off hours at night and on weekends when we can.

So we really do a thorough traffic analysis when we plan these projects.

Unfortunately, there's always some impact, but we try to minimize that impact as best we can by doing careful analysis and we react real time working with our operations at the bridge such that we'll delay start of construction if something else is going on, which there always is on the George Washington Bridge, between Yankee games, accidents, all the other things going on.

- We're taping this during the playoffs, let's just leave that alone, okay?

For those of us in Jersey, you gotta get across the bridge.

If you're in New York, you go another way.

But without the GW Bridge, we're not getting over to Jerome Avenue, leave it at that.

So Dennis Stabile is Deputy Director of the Tunnels, Bridges and Terminals Department at Port Authority.

I want to thank you so much.

Wish you and the team all the best working on the GWB over the next several years.

All the best, thanks.

- You're very welcome, thank you.

- Stay with us, folks.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- We're now joined by Dr. Jasmin Collazo, the Director of Coaching at MindRight Health.

Doctor, good to have you with us.

- Thank you.

- Tell everyone what MindRight Health is.

- Yeah, so MindRight provides trauma-informed, culturally responsive mental health coaching all via text message.

And what that means is that a member gets matched to their personal team of mental health coaches who are there and trained to provide emotional support seven days a week, 365 days a year.

- Hmm, why texting?

- So we want to make our service as accessible as possible.

So there's no app to download, it's purely over SMS text message.

And we know that young people live on their phones so we wanted to make it as accessible as possible.

- You know, help us understand something.

'Cause in my other life, I do a fair amount of executive coaching on the subjects of leadership and communication and I always remind my clients that for me, they'll start talking about issues in their personal lives and I'll try to draw a line at a certain point and say, "My doctorate's not in psychology, it's in communication."

What's the difference in your perspective, from your perspective, between therapy and coaching?

'Cause I know for me it's pretty clear, but sometimes it can get fuzzy.

- Yes, I completely agree with you.

So for us, the line is distinguished with therapy being more of that like looking into deeper issues, also following like a clinical intervention as opposed to us just following peer support guidelines to really provide that emotional support.

And we also make it very clear to our members that we are a non-clinical service and very much we have a care team that can connect them to clinical resources.

So for us, it's making sure that we're not following a clinical treatment or intervention, but rather just it's more fluid and able to just be there for you for whatever challenges you may have.

- Dr. Collazo, let me ask you, some of the most pressing issues that younger people in particular are facing include what?

- So what we've been seeing with our members is really worrying a lot about the economy.

So we're seeing that our members are thinking about adding a job to their plate in order to help their families, they're thinking whether college is even affordable or accessible to them anymore.

They're wondering how basic needs are gonna be met for themselves and their family.

So there is a lot of anxiety that we're seeing as well as you know, managing daily stressors, maybe even going through some physical and emotional losses as well.

- But the advice, the coaching, how much is it personalized versus here are some generic best practices if someone's dealing with stress, anxiety, fear of the economy, whatever it is?

How much of it is truly personal?

And I'll tell you why I'm saying that or I'm asking that.

I'm wondering if a person can move from coach to coach from one session to the next versus that's my coach.

- Yeah, that's a great question.

So I want to say a couple of things are into play.

So first, we have a framework that all of our coaches are trained on to be able to support a variety of needs as well as the coaches together, because they both like share the week, especially if a member wants mental health coaching all seven days a week.

So they will really seamlessly work together to support the young person.

And again, you know, as we mentioned before, we know where the line is drawn so that we can be able to also provide them with supports or referrals or resources that can continue that support or provide continuity.

- Who are the coaches?

- So coaches, again, are not counselors, they're not therapists.

So our coaches mostly consist of social workers in training.

So we have MSW graduate students who coach with MindRight in order to complete their field placement hours and we also employ community members who share lived experiences with our members, and who also have work experience working with our populations.

And all of our coaches, they go through extensive training that's a little bit over 20 hours.

- Last question.

You know, therapy is an interesting process.

Some people have said, "I've been to therapy and I'm not cured."

How do you know it's working, the coaching?

- Yeah, so we really, our members tell us all the time.

So our members come to us and share with us that to really have, they really have had that consistent support that have allowed them to really not only express themselves better, but really express a diverse range of emotions that maybe they aren't able to express to anyone else.

A lot of our members have gone through anxiety for a lot of the reasons that I described before, and they have talked about how with MindRight having that additional support, really having someone holding them accountable to develop those coping skills and really work through and push through their challenge has really helped them.

And I know I just shared a few examples, but our members share stories like this with us all the time.

- I want to thank Dr. Jasmin Collazo, who is Director of Coaching at MindRight Health.

Dr. Collazo, thank you so much, all the best.

- Thank you.

- I'm Steve Adubato and that's Dr. Collazo.

Thanks for watching, we'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

New Jersey Institute of Technology.

NJM Insurance Group.

The Russell Berrie Foundation.

Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.

New Jersey'’s Clean Energy program.

The New Jersey Education Association.

The North Ward Center.

And by Englewood Health.

Promotional support provided by Insider NJ.

And by AM970 The Answer.

(Music playing) NJM Insurance Company has been serving New Jersey policy holders for more than 100 years.

But just who are NJM'’s policy holders?

They'’re the men and women who teach our children.

The public sector employees who maintain our infrastructure.

The workers who craft our manufactured goods.

And New Jersey'’s next generation of leaders.

The people who make our state a great place to call home.

NJM, we'’ve got New Jersey covered.