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San Francisco Chronicle
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Why the Doobie Brothers still matter in 2025
Since the early 1970s, the Doobie Brothers have provided the soundtrack to countless road trips and backyard parties with songs like ' Listen to the Music,' ' Long Train Runnin' ' and ' What a Fool Believes,' among many others. Yet half a century into their storied classic rock career, the band finds itself stuck with an unlikely label: yacht rock pioneer. After a 2005 web spoof went viral, the Doobie Brothers got lumped into the R&B-influenced soft rock subgenre promulgated by acts like Boz Scaggs, Kenny Loggins and Christopher Cross. Nostalgic heartstrings were tugged, yacht rock cover bands spread the gospel, and a recent HBO documentary exposed new generations to this invented but totally legit phenomenon. 'The whole idea of yacht rock, comically, is not lost on me,' Michael McDonald told the Chronicle, on video call from his Santa Barbara home. 'If I have to be attached to any group of musicians or bands or songs, I couldn't be prouder to be counted among bands like Steely Dan and Hall & Oates.' It's another curious twist of the tail for the Bay Area music legends. During their Carter-era peak, the Doobie Brothers were hitting cruising altitude in their DoobieLiner jet, high off a string of instantly recognizable hits and readily available substances. By 1976, they already had a greatest hits compilation that has sold more than 10 million albums in the U.S. to date. Now 56 years after their humble San Jose beginnings, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are back with their 16th studio album 'Walk This Road,' out Friday, June 6. A week later, members Patrick Simmons, Tom Johnston and McDonald will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 12. Johnston credits the band's success and longevity — they survived addiction, deaths, lineup changes and a five-year hiatus — to the strong connection fans have made with their music. 'They look fondly on the band because our songs are associated with good times,' said Johnston, on joint video call with his bandmates, from his home in Visalia (Tulare County). 'We're extremely fortunate to have that.' Johnston and Simmons are OG San Jose like the Winchester Mystery House. They met at San Jose State University in the '60s, and together they would prowl Bay Area clubs and bars. In the process, they scooped up like-minded souls like drummer John Hartman and bassist Dave Shogren who would eventually form the Doobie nucleus in 1970. 'Living in the Bay Area had a profound influence on me musically because there was so much live music all the time,' said Simmons. 'It really sparked my imagination.' A regular gig as the unofficial house band at Chateau Liberté in the Santa Cruz Mountains sealed their reputation as a favorite among local Hells Angels, who would ride their hogs into the joint without complaint. Moby Grape's Skip Spence was a key contributor to their rootsy hybrid sound. Hits like 'Black Water,' 'Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)' and 'Jesus Is Just Alright' revealed regional inspirations outside the 408, from swampy blues to joyous R&B. 'One of the things I really like about the band was that it never put stylistic limits on the music,' said Doobies guitarist John McFee, who joined the band in 1979, from his Santa Barbara home. 'We try to find things that work and just be as creative as possible.' The addition of McDonald in 1976 opened up the band's sonic palette further into R&B and gospel territory, and set the wheels in motion for a sound reset. 'Takin' it to the Streets' and 'What a Fool Believes,' the latter which won a 1980 Grammy for song of the year, showcased McDonald's bearded brogue that would later define the yacht rock aesthetic. On the band's new album 'Walk This Road,' the Doobie Brothers have matured like fine whiskey. Their voices have mellowed a touch, yet still have a satisfying residual burn. Mortality is a naturally occurring topic for the members whose average age is 74, as the group reflects on strengthening bonds ('Call Me'), achieving peace ('State of Grace') and pondering life's eternal lessons (the title track, a duet with gospel and R&B legend Mavis Staples). 'We have a lot of common feelings about where we've been and where we're going,' Simmons explained, joining the Zoom from his Maui residence. 'And it comes out in the songs.' 'Walk This Road' is a homecoming for McDonald, who hasn't recorded with the Doobie Brothers since 1980. He contributed 'Speed of Pain' and 'Learn to Let Go' to the new album, both imbued with his inimitable voice and keyboard touches. Even during the peak of his solo popularity, McDonald said he's always stayed in touch with his Doobie brothers. He especially enjoys playing different instruments with the group, which he doesn't get to do in his own band. 'It's a great opportunity to become a part of the band again,' McDonald said. 'I've always enjoyed playing the music of the Doobie Brothers every bit as much, and sometimes more than, my own.' Having a string of hits has resulted in a wide swath of Doobie admirers across a spectrum of genres. A 2010 tribute album, 'Southbound,' highlighted their lasting give-and-take connection with country music, featuring artists like Zac Brown Band and Brad Paisley. There are pop, house, funk, even Cuban jazz renditions of the Doobie Brothers songs. They've been sampled by producers and DJs like J Dilla ('367') and Daft Punk ('Face to Face'). And McDonald's 'I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)' forms the foundational bed for Warren G and Nate Dogg's G-funk classic 'Regulate.' Oakland R&B great Raphael Saadiq included 'China Grove' in his 2025 NBA All-Star Game medley, and yacht rock cover bands keep sprouting up as a new generation taps in and climbs aboard. All this interest keeps the Doobie Brothers hype train on track. In July, they'll kick off their 2025 'Walk This Road' tour in the U.K., with U.S. dates following in August. Johnston doesn't take the transformational power of live music for granted. He said the goosebump-raising feeling of an audience reacting to familiar opening chords of hits like ' Rockin' Down the Highway ' never gets old, even after more than five decades. 'If you can get that, man, take that to the bank and hang on to it,' Johnston said, 'because that's one of the reasons people keep coming back.' 'It's like we've been invited into people's lives, and we've become part of them,' added McFee. 'And that's an amazing thing. What a great benefit of playing music — to be lucky enough to make that kind of connection with people.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mass. Sen. Warren has a few questions — OK, 66 of them — for Trump's Ed. Department boss
You could forgive U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren for flashing back to her Harvard Law School days proctoring exams for her students next week as she sits down for a meeting with U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon. That's because, ahead of that June 10 session, the Cambridge Democrat sent the senior Trump administration official a sprawling list of 66 questions about the Republican White House's efforts to dismantle the Carter-era agency that McMahon was tapped to run. And no, they're not multiple choice. But some do have multiple sections, requiring those essay-style answers that you dreaded when you were taking the SATs. So how'd all this happen? Last month, Warren invited McMahon to a public forum on higher education affordability — she took a pass, instead asking Warren for a one-on-one meeting. In a statement, Warren said she 'rebutted' eight false and misleading statements that McMahon included in that May 12 letter asking for a sitdown. Those rebuttals were included in the Wednesday letter Warren sent to McMahon. Upping the ante, in the same letter, the Democratic lawmaker also hit McMahon with her list of 66 questions — roughly eight times the number of statements that Warren said she had to rebut. Those questions range from queries about access to debt relief and student aid to the impact of mass layoffs at the Education Department. 'Instead of continuing to avoid accountability for your policies, I urge you to listen to the voices of students, borrowers, and families around the country and stop giving DOGE and Donald Trump a blank check to destroy American public education,' Warren wrote. If nothing else, McMahon will come in prepared. On Tuesday, she played defense as Democrats and Republicans on a U.S. Senate panel peppered her with questions about her tenure and her role in the administration's crackdown on Harvard University, ostensibly in the name of combating antisemitism. "These were civil rights violations. That is why we filed a case and stopped the funding for Harvard as well as Columbia,' McMahon told U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., at one point, according to Inside Higher Ed. 'And in conversations with [the universities], we talked about different things that they should do coming back to the table.' Markey, advocates call out ban on states' AI oversight in Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' Super PAC coordination allegations heat up Boston's mayoral showdown Late-night comics hope Trump, Musk can make up 'False narratives': Mass. US attorney blasts Boston Mayor Wu over remarks on ICE Math is hard. Midterm math is harder. The lessons Mass. needs to learn for 2026 | John L. Micek Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Expert speaks out on 'perfect solution' to federal hiring issues creating national security concerns
EXCLUSIVE: Fox News Digital sat down with SkillStorm CEO Justin Vianello, who addressed issues the federal government faces hiring workers, sometimes raising national security concerns, and explained what his company is doing to streamline that process. The federal government has struggled for decades with staffing issues in key roles like cybersecurity, tech and other high-skill areas, an issue flagged as far back as 2001, according to the Government Accountability Office. Vianello discussed how SkillStorm is attempting to solve those issues. "If we look at the procurement process and the way it's been structured, there's significant delays," Vianello told Fox News Digital. "So, it can take years to actually get to a point where a solicitation is actually awarded. And then, ironically or paradoxically, post that award, the agency will expect … the particular company to be able to deliver a team in 10 days. So, this process is inefficient and somewhat outdated." Vianello explained that the current hiring process is "lengthy" and "laborious," sometimes taking years rather than months and creating delays that teams need to properly mobilize and deploy. Maga Group Fights To Undo Carter-era Ban On Merit-based Federal Hiring "One of the solutions to that issue is to actually allow for an on-ramp time where people can spend between two to four months to custom build teams that have the right skills, that have (the) right certifications that are based in the right locations to rapidly deploy teams and to accelerate IT transformation and automation. And that's really where the SkillStorm model comes in," Vianello said. Read On The Fox News App Vianello says the company has spent millions of dollars in recent years building a Performance Acceleration Center for Excellence that is essentially a learning management training system with a customized curriculum and content along with a "stable of trainers" in a position to "rapidly upskill and deploy people." "How do we leverage that infrastructure to build out a solution for the federal government?" Vianello said. "Well, what we do is we leverage that infrastructure to accelerate and train teams. And the way the model works is we both bring people into our program. We train them for anywhere between 10 and 16 weeks. We pay them while we're training them. We help them achieve their certification, and then we deploy them. And we recover the investment that we make by billing them hourly." Flashback: Top Five Wildest Moments From Elon Musk's Doge Tenure As It Comes To An End That system, Vianello explained, means SkillStorm takes "all the risk up front" and recovers it by billing hourly to the client. "Now this is the perfect solution to being able to custom-build tech teams, create net new talent for the ecosystem and being able deploy these people over time. But the government is gonna have to change the procurement system to not require people to be deployed within 10 days but allow companies to build these teams over two, three, four months." Another issue, Vianello told Fox News Digital, is the current hiring process can get tied up with security clearances and become a national security risk. "That's absolutely part of it, but I think there's a bigger issue here if you look more generally at our model and some of the issues that are facing the market," Vianello said. "Well, if you look at SkillStorm's model, SkillStorm has an innovative cost-effective solution to custom-build U.S.-based tech teams for rapid deployment. "Now, we have a student debt crisis in this country, and, at the same time, what are we doing? We're offshoring our children's roles to other countries, and we're using visa holders to take up the place of entry-level tech roles. Now, if we don't invest in programs like SkillStorm, if we do invest in these outcome-driven, apprenticeship-type programs, where's the next generation of cybersecurity experts going to come from? "Where's the new generation of AI innovators going to come from? This is a national security issue that is essential in driving innovation. Right now, there are 500,000 open cybersecurity roles as of January 2025. We are the domestic models, like these apprenticeship models, that can support that gap to make sure that we're protecting national security." Former General Services Administration (GSA) head Emily Murphy, who previously spoke to Fox News Digital about the GSA's work to streamline government in the era of DOGE, said she has "seen firsthand how outdated federal systems have become one of the most serious yet least discussed threats to national security. "Agencies charged with safeguarding cybersecurity and digital infrastructure are losing the talent battle to the private sector, and the slow, outdated process for onboarding cleared workers doesn't match the urgency of today's threats." Murphy explained that the federal government needs a "new pipeline" that "delivers clearance-eligible, project-ready professionals trained on mission-specific tools." "SkillStorm is doing exactly that, deploying "Stormers," technologists trained on specific tech platforms, at a significant discount. It's a smarter, faster way to secure the talent our government urgently needs. Vianello told Fox News Digital SkillStorm and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have similar goals in making government more efficient. "I think DOGE is really focused on IT automation and IT transformation and doing it on an efficient and cost-effective basis," Vianello said. "We believe, going forward, there's probably going to be more of a push to less full-time employees and more of a push towards efficient contractors coming in and accelerating project delivery. So, again, this really does come back in our belief. "To the solicitation process, how do we tighten it up? How do we make sure that once an award is made and that technology is implemented, it's not outdated? Because, if that continues to happen, how are you going to continue to attract technologists, young technologists who want to be part of the change?"Original article source: Expert speaks out on 'perfect solution' to federal hiring issues creating national security concerns
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Supreme Court allows Trump admin to move on ending legal protections for some Venezuelan migrants
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to lift a lower court injunction that blocked President Donald Trump's decision to terminate the protected legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants living in the U.S., in a win for the administration as it looks to deliver on its hard-line immigration enforcement policies. The decision clears the way for the Trump administration to move forward with its plans to terminate Biden-era Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for roughly 300,000 Venezuelan migrants living in the U.S. and allows the administration to move forward with plans to immediately remove these migrants, which lawyers for the administration argued they should be able to do. U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer argued as much when he asked the Supreme Court to lift the injunction this month, arguing in an emergency appeal that a lower court judge had overstepped their authority by blocking the administration from ending the program for certain Venezuelans. Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court To Review El Salvador Deportation Flight Case "The district court's reasoning is untenable," Sauer told the high court, adding that the program "implicates particularly discretionary, sensitive, and foreign-policy-laden judgments of the Executive Branch regarding immigration policy." At issue was the TPS program, which allows people from certain countries to live and work in the U.S. legally if they cannot work safely in their home country due to a disaster, armed conflict or other "extraordinary and temporary conditions." Read On The Fox News App Maga Group Fights To Undo Carter-era Ban On Merit-based Federal Hiring The protections were extended during the end of the Biden administration, shortly before Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in February abruptly terminated the program for a specific group of Venezuelan nationals, arguing they were not in the national interest. In March, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California agreed to keep the protections in place, siding with plaintiffs from the National TPS Alliance in ruling that the termination of the TPS program, which is extended in 18-month increments, is "unprecedented" and suggested that the abrupt termination may have been "predicated on negative stereotypes" about Venezuelan migrants. Sauer disputed this in the appeal to the Supreme Court. In it, he also accused the lower court judge of improperly intruding on the executive branch's authority over immigration policy. "Forceful condemnations of gang violence and broad questioning of the integrity of the prior administration's immigration practices, including potential abuses of the TPS program, do not evince discriminatory intent," Sauer said, describing Chen's descriptions as "cherry-picked" and "wrongly portrayed" as "racially tinged." Fox News's Shannon Bream and Bill Mears contributed to this article source: Supreme Court allows Trump admin to move on ending legal protections for some Venezuelan migrants
