Boston

The book Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968 is an in-depth look at some famous and-not-so-famous figures that all seemed to converge in and around Boston in that one year. 

The catalyst for author Ryan Walsh’s book was the author’s love for Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks album- what many consider the singer-songwriter’s masterpiece- and the little-known fact that Morrison wrote much of the songs for it in Boston.

Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley spoke with Ryan Walsh by Skype to learn more.

While a slew of controversial election laws in recent years have prompted concerns over voter disenfranchisement...  Little attention has been paid to what may be the country's most disenfranchised population: felons. Today, an election law scholar discusses the estimated five point eight million men and women who are banned from the polls.

Plus, the head of an online food magazine takes aim at food writers that he says are skirting journalistic responsibilities, in favor of lighter fare. 

Think Civil Rights era, and you think the south...home to Jim Crow, the Ku Klux Klan, and peaceful marchers set upon by police dogs. Selma, Birmingham, Little Rock. Well, how about Boston and Brooklyn?  Today we celebrate Martin Luther King Day with a history of progress and regression in a region that considered itself blind to race. 

Also today, the songs of Nina Simone, Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger provided a soundtrack for an era of optimism and anger. If we have indeed entered a new Civil Rights era, what do today's protests songs sound like?

Plus, the untold story of one of Martin Luther King Jr's confidantes, businessman Stanley Levison.

With every internet search come the annoying ads…popping up to obscure your view, streaming sound, or moving around distractingly in the corner. But can the internet survive without them? Today, what a new wave of ad blockers will mean for the future of the internet. Then, for a long time, being a Red Sox fan was to be an outsider, hardcore. That hard living, punk attitude motivated a group of teenagers to produce the most popular, and aggressive, T-shirt in Boston history. We’ll hear the Hollywood-worthy story behind the “Yankees Suck” t-shirt.

There’s been celebration but also consternation among Bostonians, since their city was chosen as the U.S. candidate to host the twenty-twenty-fours summer games. Boosters foresee economic growth, while opponents warn of logistical and financial nightmares.  Meanwhile, Granite Staters are wondering what’s in it for them.

GUESTS:

Crowds are gathering in Boston today to mark the one year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings. Today on Word of Mouth, we remember the victims, the injured, the first responders, and all of those who offered help.

James “Whitey” Bulger’s lawless run came to an end on Aug. 12 when a federal jury found him guilty on 31 of 32 counts including racketeering, extortion, money-laundering and participating in 11 of the 19 murders with which he was charged. Few people know his story better than Shelley Murphy. The Boston Globe reporter has covered Whitey Bulger and his criminal empire for 17 years. She and Globe columnist Kevin Cullen are authors of “Whitey Bulger: America's Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice”. We spoke to Shelley when the book came out about Whitey’s path from the housing projects of South Boston to career criminal…to FBI informant…to 16 years as a fugitive on the Lam. Shelley spoke with us about the mobster’s recent trial and convictions, and life after Whitey.

At the time of his capture in 2011, James “Whitey” Bulger  was wanted for 19 murders, extortion and loan sharking committed during his reign over Boston’s Irish mob between the 1970s and 1995. During 16 years on the lam, Whitey became the subject of myth; characterized alternately as a “good bad guy”, and, in Martin Scorsese’s 2006 film, The Departed, a venal sociopath.

Shelley Murphy and Kevin Cullen, a pair of Boston Globe journalists have drawn on 25 years of reporting to create a more complete and nuanced portrait of the restless boy from the Boston projects who became the most wanted fugitive of his generation. Tonight, Murphy and Cullen will be at the Red River Theatre for a screening of The Departed and at a pre-screening reception and talk.

In the wake of the bombings in Boston, NH Senator Kelly Ayotte and other lawmakers are arguing for treating the remaining suspect as an enemy combatant, which would break new legal ground; the national gun bill fails to pass, with Senator Ayotte being the lone New England Senator to oppose the bill; the casino bill backed by Governor Hassan and the NH Senate is now being examined by the NH House Finance and Ways & Means committees; both branches of the NH Legislature continue to work on their budgets.