(upbeat music) - Here's what's coming up next on, You Oughta Know.

The Geator with the Heater will be missed, but his legacy lives on.

We go inside a Philly music program that's preparing students for music and more.

Plus, the curtain is getting ready to open for Wilmington Concert Opera.

(upbeat music) Thanks so much for tuning in.

I'm Shirley Min.

We begin our show with music from DJs and orchestras to operas and, you know, tickets to the opera cost about what you'd pay to see a concert, they're both expensive.

Well, Wilmington Concert Opera works really hard to remove as many barriers to opera as it can so the masses can enjoy the magic of the unamplified voice.

(opera music) These women are rehearsing Girondines, an opera with an all female cast.

- It's an intentionally feminist opera, which is not something that you see regularly.

(opera music) - Kirsten C. Kunkle wrote Girodnines, which is the most recent production from Wilmington Concert Opera, the nonprofit she and friend Marissa Robinson co-founded.

- We were founded very loosely as a passion project in 2016.

Kirsten, the Artistic Director, and I both found ourselves sort of underemployed and thought, oh, it would be really fun if we did an opera.

And we came up with (indistinct) Angelica, which we performed at the Cathedral of St. Peter down on West Street.

There were so many women that we knew that were not getting cast by professional companies, even though they were phenomenal singers.

- And everyone said, that was amazing.

What are you doing next?

And we went, ah.

And the singers all came around us and they said, that was amazing, what are we doing next?

And we went, oh, if both the audience and the performers really want there to be a next, then maybe there's a market for this thing that we're doing.

- [Shirley] Marissa and Kirsten were definitely onto something.

First, gender disparity is real in opera.

There are way more roles for men, even though female opera singers have significantly outnumbered males for years.

Second, opera singers are on the road a lot, leaving little room for anything else.

- There are many wonderful companies in this area, but we were offering concert version, which meant that it didn't take as much rehearsal time and that it was also a group of people that were collegial and fun and treated people the way they wanted to be treated, and were flexible.

And that's not something that always happens, often it does, but it's not always available to people.

So they were able to balance that with their lives a little bit more.

And I think that that appealed to many professional singers across the board.

- [Shirley] The nonprofit has become a place for those who have the talent, but don't wanna sacrifice everything to pursue the opera lifestyle.

- We thought, you know, we know so many world-class talents who aren't getting world-class work.

Let's make some world-class work for people in the region, for both the performers and the audiences.

- [Shirley] Wilmington Concert Opera also goes out of its way to make it as easy as possible to experience opera by performing for free in places like churches.

- When you have a room of opera singers, it becomes almost a magical experience, especially if you've never heard it before.

I believe that there is a gateway opera for everyone that will make them love opera.

(opera music) - Now, Wilmington Concert Opera puts on two main stage productions each year, an opera in its original language and a themed spring gala concert.

The 2023 season is titled Back to Before and Spring Concerts are scheduled in May.

Check out the group's Facebook page for details.

(upbeat music) Staying with Music, Play on Philly is equipping the next generation of musicians with free high quality music education.

- Be best, go, freeze.

- [Instructor 1] Ready, 210.

- [Instructor 2] Hold your shoulder.

- [All] 212, 213.

- This has been the biggest joy of my life.

As much as I have enjoyed playing trumpet, playing all over the world, studying at a place like Curtis, nothing is better than watching these kids have an even better opportunity than I ever had.

My name is Stanford Thompson, I'm the founder and executive director of Play on Philly.

(trumpet music) The mission of Play on Philly is that music education is a very powerful tool to create transformative change within young people.

- What we do at Play on Philly, we've been able to ask ourselves some questions about what music does to help students build life skills, social emotional skills, and then this big pot of skills that we call executive functioning.

- [All] 243, 244, 245, 246.

- The air traffic controller of our brain.

And so how does playing music every day, day after day, week after week, year after year, affect our ability as a human being to persist on a task or to hold two things in our brains at once?

All these skills that we need to thrive and be successful in whatever it is that we do, you need this set of skills in order to do your day-to-day work and be successful.

- [All] 255, 256, 257.

- Different music centers, by the end of the year, we will have served 400 students.

We partner with a school to bring afterschool program to the schools and the students that the school specifically serves, three of them K-8 schools, one of them is a high school program that's actually open and porous and we can welcome in students from all over the city.

And just two years ago, we started a pre-K program and these students are learning their instrument eight hours a week during the school year.

- [Instructor 1] Last hundred.

- [All] 301, 302, 303,304.

- Those students in the pre-K to first grade range have never picked up an instrument before.

And so what we do is we foster rhythm, steady beat, oral skills.

And so the whole idea is that once a student has gone through that part of our program, they have that really good internal pulse and that sense of rhythm and sense of pitch.

- [All] 380, 381, 382.

- Students start string instruments when they're in about first or second grade.

If you enter our program in third, fourth, fifth grade, you're playing a wind brass percussion instrument.

Something that's sort of unique about Play on Philly is that almost immediately they start playing in a ensemble.

We know that in order to get into music school conservatory, you have to start studying privately and you have to be practicing independently.

And for those students, we have something called the Marian Anderson Young Artist Program, which is our private lessons program.

(band music) - The unique part of playing Philly is having a program that removes all barriers to access.

Our kids can leave their last class of the day, go down to the auditorium, and within five or 10 minutes, you know, have an instrument in their hand and begin playing.

- [All] 399, 400.

(all cheer) - [Instructor] All of you put your hands in the same place.

- Philly icon, Jerry Blavat left an indelible mark behind and he will always have a special place in our hearts here at WHYY.

(soft music) - It was one of the really most shocking and saddest things that I've experienced in quite a long time when I heard about the passing of Jerry Blavat, if there was any man I can think of I have ever met or ever known about, Jerry Blavat was the very personification of the life force itself.

Wherever he went, all eyes turned to him.

Anyone he met was absolutely his best friend right from the start.

And to think that Jerry passed is something that was very difficult for me to accept.

I know how much I'm going to miss him, and in fact, I miss him already.

In addition to all of the worlds that Jerry Blavat conquered, he also embraced public television, WHYY here in the Delaware Valley.

The way it all worked out was about, oh, this is back in the early 90s, we had decided to do a show that we called Things That Aren't There Anymore.

And it was a show about some of the institutions and places in the Delaware Valley that all of us remembered fondly, but had gone the way of all flesh, so to speak, like Willow Grove Park and the old trolley cars and lits and Gimbals and Connie Mac Stadium.

One of the things we wanted to include in that show is the old record hops that used to be a staple of say the 40s, 50s and 60s.

but really had pretty much faded the way by that time.

One of the few people who was still doing them back in the early 90s was the man himself, the Geator with the heater, the boss of the hot sauce, Jerry Blavat.

So we decided to get in touch with him here at WHYY and ask him if he would like to be included in this show.

And, of course, Jerry being who he is, agreed right away to it, let us attend one of his hops that he had at a club along the Delaware River.

We got some of the beyond teens dancing with him, had him interview them, and had some old footage from the old disco phonic scene that he let us use as well.

And in fact, we ended our show, Things That Aren't There Anymore with that segment on Jerry Blavat.

I must tell you, is one of the great events of my professional life that that show is such an enormous success and Jerry was a big part of it.

A couple of years later we produced another program called South Philly Italian Style.

And it's just what it's about, how the Italian people came here and contributed so much to our city and our area and we thought it would be fun to have Jerry Blavat come in and join us when we had the membership drive around it.

And he of course agreed, I must say that night that we had him on to ask for support was one of the most rollicking evenings I can ever remember at WHYY, he took things over, I just kind of stood back and let Jerry do his thing, it was an enormous, huge success.

I can still remember to this moment.

- Gotta tell you something, Ron Donna Ucci call.

He pledged for the Donna Ucci family $100, he bought two of those fabulous South Philadelphia Italian style.

And I gotta tell you, while you are sitting pretty,, where are you?

Are you with Bob Brady?

Get on the phone right now, pal, this is your South Philadelphia, what are you waiting for?

- It was an unforgettable evening.

And I think those two events really solidified a little bond between Jerry Blavat and public television, one that we were very privileged and happy to unfold really on a number of occasions through the rest of his life.

- So, Audrey, you recently posted a very honest shout out to all women struggling with the dreaded menopause and the equally dreaded perimenopause, admitting that it can be debilitating and soul crushing.

- Yeah.

- You mentioned grief, anger, confusion, and shame.

- Yeah.

- Why did you decide to share that with everyone?

- I was having a rough day.

I was having a rough day with all of the symptoms and I was realizing that we don't talk enough about it.

And instead women just kind of become erased.

- As you just heard.

Women like Tony Award winner Audrey McDonald are speaking out about the dreaded effects of menopause.

And joining me now is Dr. Deborah Roebuck, also known as the Menopause Whisperer, to talk about going through the change.

- Yes.

- Dr. Roebuck, thank you so much for being here.

- Thank you for asking me to be here.

- You are a retired nurse.

- Yes.

- And now you are the Menopause Whisperer.

How did you get into this career?

- Well, I'll be honest with you, I got into a career because I've always worked at helping women, but I really noticed that women who are menopausal are ignored.

Nobody's listening to them, you don't have specific programs for them.

I even went to one of my doctors and shared my concerns and the doctor said I had the same thing, but I don't know what to do.

- Interesting.

- Yes.

- So there are just a lack of resources overall?

- Yes, absolutely.

- Well, you are definitely filling a void.

So what are you telling those who are seeking out your help?

- Well, first of all, I tell them, yes, menopause is a challenge.

We need to validate that you're having these signs and symptoms, but you can be the boss and manage the signs and symptoms, so there is hope and there's opportunity.

- The symptoms vary from person to person, correct?

- Absolutely.

- What kind of symptoms are we talking about?

Like what's included?

We know hot flashes.

- We know hot flashes, sleep disturbances, mood changes.

Sometimes women complained of problems with their hair, palpitations.

So there's so many different symptoms, signs and symptoms that really need to be identified in each and every woman so that she'll know what's going on with her body.

- The bodies are going through so many changes, right?

- Yes.

- So when the symptoms pass and the periods have stopped, does the body then go back to what it was?

Do you know what I mean?

- Well, I know what you're saying.

Really many of the signs and symptoms might have lessened or some of them might have gone away, but I hear from various women to say, you know, I'm 70 and I'm still having night sweats, I'm still having various issues.

So the issue right now is how do you manage those signs and symptoms that you're experiencing?

- And I think they can kind of come and go even after menopause, right?

- Absolutely.

- So hormone therapy is one option.

- Yes.

- And it kind of got a bad rep because there were maybe some premature links to elevated risks for women.

- Right.

- The medical field and community is sort of revisiting this, right?

- Yes, they are.

And that's very important because believe it or not, and I was reading that the population of menopausal women has expanded so much that there many women who need this research to be done and also they need solutions.

- Are women experiencing menopause earlier?

- I don't think so much earlier, the fact is now people are talking about it.

Women can experience menopause between 45 to 55 and be very much in a normal range of menopause.

- Are there any unfamiliar symptoms maybe that people might be feeling on that earlier end of like perimenopause?

- Well, a lot of times I hear people say, oh, I have foggy brain, I noticed my joints are starting to hurt.

I never felt that before, I had GI disturbances and a lot of times they link it back to when they had PMS when they had, you know, syndromes.

So I'm excited about the fact that now people are identifying the signs and symptoms so that they can take care of it now.

- Dr. Roebuck, how can people get in touch with you so that you can help them?

- Well, I have a website called Going Thru The Change thru T-H-R-U the change.

And on there I just say, schedule an appointment.

I'll have, you know, opportunities to talk to you and maybe give some clarity.

- And you also have support groups?

- Absolutely.

I have a mastermind where I get women together to develop supports for each other, identify their issues.

I run bootcamps.

- Oh my gosh.

- For women.

- I love it.

I'm so excited you were able to come onto the show.

Thank you so much for being here.

- Okay.

And thank you so much.

- This is our very old Maiken Scott undergoing a new skincare treatment called stem cell microneedling all in the name of research.

Maiken is the host of The Pulse, a weekly show on WHYY FM that tells stories at the heart of health, science and innovation.

Maiken, I'm so excited to have you on set.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- I wanna talk about this exploration into stem cell microneedling.

Now I am terrified of needles.

So this whole procedure is like, not for me, but did it hurt?

- No, it does not hurt.

So before the needles come anywhere near you, your whole face is numbed with a gel that is spread all over.

So it kind of feels like you're at the dentist, but on your cheeks and everywhere.

So I kept going like la la la la, you know, I was doing that.

Okay.

And then they use a device called a skin pen.

But it really only like touches the surface of your skin and it does not hurt.

- Okay.

But they're all little needles that are actually puncturing your skin?

- Tiny, tiny little needle needles.

Yes.

- Okay.

Well what are the stem cells supposed to do?

Because they're being injected then into the holes that the skin pen made.

- Yes.

So the stem cell based treatment, the thinking is that stem cells have regenerative powers and that they are also anti-inflammatory in nature.

So using that treatment, the thinking is it will stimulate collagen production, it will get skin cells to renew more often and give you that overall glow that we're all looking for, right?

- Well, the glow that you're speaking of, you know there was a picture that you took of yourself two days post-procedure and you did have this dewiness, you did have the glow.

So do you think this works?

- I think it can work, I understand the concept is basically, you know, you do these little injuries which get the skin to try to heal itself, stimulating collagen.

The main thing that makes us look older is really the loss of collagen underneath the skin.

So it sort of like starts all hanging down a little bit.

So if you can stimulate that and if you can get the skin cells to constantly renew and exfoliate, that makes a big difference.

So, yes, I think this could work.

You would probably have to do it every so often, maybe quarterly.

And there is quite a bit of expense obviously involved too.

- Like roughly ballpark, what are we talking about costs?

- I think a couple of hundred dollars depending on where you go between 300 and $600.

Yeah.

- Okay.

Well, is there any scientific data that shows, okay, I'm putting the stem cell based solution into your skin?

Oh, so patient A before produce this much collagen, patient A after the procedure is now producing more collagen?

- I would say in general the science and skin care is often, eh, it's not quite there.

But all that said, the whole field is getting far more competitive, right?

So there's lots more option for people who are interested in doing something for their skin, there is more research devoted to this topic.

So one of the researchers I spoke to who helped develop this treatment, he was actually doing research on scar and scar tissue before and then came into the cosmetics/aesthetics industry.

So they are recruiting top-notch scientists because I do think the whole game has opt.

- Oh, for sure.

- And people are more interested in seeing real results.

There's a lot of of competition out there.

- Oh, yeah.

I mean this search for the eternal youth is a race that is not ending anytime soon.

Okay.

So that episode was fascinating.

You can find that online, but where else and when can we hear the new episodes of The Pulse?

- The Pulse is on every week.

You can find us as a podcast obviously anywhere you go, anywhere you are.

And on WHYY the show is heard Sundays and Mondays at noon.

- Wonderful.

Maiken, thank you so much.

We appreciate it.

Again, that is The Pulse, Sundays and Mondays at noon on WHYY FM, 90.9.

Maiken, thank you.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) - I love you guys so very much.

- On three, 1, 2, 3.

- [All] I love you (indistinct) - [Patrick] It's one of the most popular streaming series of all time, Ted Lasso.

One of the creators was Brett Goldstein and the character he created, well, he loved so he's ended up playing it.

When I talked with him, I noted that he also likes things surprisingly enough for somebody so British, American.

- I love anyone from PBS because you have Sesame Street.

- We do, and we do.

We also have Masterpiece Theater and, of course, an awful lot of British.

But we can also claim a little bit of your background because you did go to the American Academy of Traumatic Art.

- I did.

I did for a summer.

- Now, I know that you've been looked on and treated with love by so many people.

To what extent do you feel like you just have to get it right now?

- With making Season three was different from one and two because one and two we made before it had come out.

So we didn't know how people felt about it.

So now we know.

So it did make season three certainly more pressure.

But the truth is, as Jason has said and he's right, the pressure comes from within.

It's like we want to keep the bar high.

We worked very hard to get it as hopefully as good as it is and we want to maintain that or be better, you know, so the pressure comes from ourselves.

- Well, you started out of course on this as a writer, but then you created this character.

How did you get it?

- While we were writing it, I was thinking I really get this guy.

It was very strange, like a calling.

Like I really felt it, but I knew no one was thinking of me for it.

I made a self tape of five scenes.

I think I'm Roy, emailed it.

I flew back to London and when I landed I got an email saying, this is brilliant.

- Is there anything you didn't want Roy's character to become?

- It's an interesting question.

It's an interesting thing when characters, Roy is so flawed.

He has so many flaws.

He doesn't believe in himself.

He doesn't think he's worthy of love, he's self destructive and what I would say for Roy is whether he knows it or not, his moral barometer is pretty good.

He instinctively knows right or wrong and I think I wouldn't want that to change.

He can be self-destructive to himself, but I don't think if he suddenly started going around harming all sorts of people and being horrible, I dunno.

You know what I mean?

Being malicious.

- I do know what you mean.

And come on over and work with us at PBS at some point we would love to have you.

- I'd love to.

Thanks.

- Thank you so much, Brett.

Appreciate it.

- Thank you man.

Nice to see you again.

Take it easy.

Thanks.

- Adrenaline seekers and gamers can put the pedal to the medal at the Speed Raceway in Cinnaminson in New Jersey.

(upbeat music) - [Wes] The need for speed is innate instinct that we have.

(upbeat music) - You're going around so fast, you're using all these muscles in your arms.

It's intense, it's extreme, it's fun, it's exciting.

(upbeat music) These are top of the line electric go-karts that are Italian made.

So you really get the power and force whenever you're driving around this track.

You feel the G-force.

You're so low to the grounds.

It feels amazing.

(upbeat music) - I had a blast, I felt like a kid again.

You know, I was trying to race the family I lost, but it was a lot of fun.

- It was awesome.

You know, growing up I had a go-kart that I would ride all around my parents' yard and now being able to come somewhere where I can experience that kind of fun again as an adult is awesome.

(upbeat music) - We are leaving no ecological footprint, all of the carts that we run are electric, clean, green, and no gasoline.

(upbeat music) Safety is our top priority.

We check the carts every single morning, we deeply inspect the carts every single week.

We do safety checks of our tracks every single hour.

Everyone can race, we have two quarter mile tracks, so we have a little bit over a half a mile of track.

When you buy a race, it is 14 laps for adults and 12 laps for juniors.

Once you get that race result sheet at the very end, it'll see all of the times and the person with the best lap time wins.

(upbeat music) We really strive to be a family entertainment place.

We have a full arcade, we have two amazingly new virtual reality experiences.

We also have ax throwing for ages 16 and up.

- It was really fun to go out and race some go-karts, play some ski ball out.

- We have a sense of community here.

Every single little thing is catered to our guests that walk in the door.

Every single guest that walks through that door is going to have the best experience of their life.

(upbeat music) - That seems like lots of fun for the family.

Well, that is it for our show tonight.

I hope to see you right here next week.

Have a good night everyone.

(upbeat music)