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- [00:00]
Progressive Insurance Announcer
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- [00:28]
Alison Stewart
This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC Studios in soho. Thank you for sharing part of your day with us. I'm really grateful that you are here and thanks to everyone who came to the Green Space yesterday for our Broadway on the Radio event with the cast and creative team from Cats, the Jellicle Ball. A good time was had by all. If you didn't catch it live, you can go back and listen wherever you get your podcasts or go to WNYC's YouTube page to watch the video of the live performances. Here's what we have coming up on the show today. We'll map out some of New York State road trips with the head of the state's tourism board. We'll talk about why Froyo is having a moment and we'll hear from actor Chase Infinity who stars in the Hulu series the Testaments. That's the plan. So let's get this started with the new film I Love Boosters. Boots Riley was in a group and back in the day they recorded a song called I Love Boosters. The lyrics read I I love them Boosters, they love them Boosters, you should love them too. Even if they don't know ya, they'll get it for you like a whole outfit or a shoe. A booster is a person who jacks from the retail and sells it in the hood for dupe. Dirt cheap resale. Almost got it. That describes Riley's new action comedy message film of the same name. The film I Love Boosters is set in Oakland, California. It follows a trio of friends and professional shoplifters known as the Velvet Gang. They are fashion forward Robin Hook types who are offering an integral service to members of their community. Their latest target is a cutthroat fashion mogul named Kristi Smith who is making money off of the creativity of the street and wraps it up in girl bossification as the Velvet Gang and Christy face off. The film explores themes such as capitalism, workers rights and what it means to be an artist. The film is titled I Love Boosters. It enters theaters today. Joining me now to discuss it is Boots Riley. It is nice to meet you.
- [02:32]
Boots Riley
Great to meet you too.
- [02:34]
Alison Stewart
So you were in the group that recorded I love boosters. It was like 20 years.
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Caller
Yeah.
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Alison Stewart
Why did you want to.
- [02:39]
Boots Riley
That was when I was three, when
- [02:42]
Alison Stewart
you were just a little bitty little bit. Why did you want to return to the idea this year?
- [02:47]
Boots Riley
I mean, you know, it's actually something that's in the news a lot now. The Intercept Investigative Journal did an expose that all these police unions got together in the wake of the George Floyd protests and hired publicists to seed stories in local news around the country about the supposed rise in crime and focusing on stuff like shoplifting, when actually it was going down. So that's maybe part of what's in the air, but really it was because I've spent, you know, I spent a long time being a broke rapper that needed to stay fly and definitely worked with a lot of boosters who provided stuff for me. But at the same time, I saw how much they were helping the community, how much even though it was illegal, it was not more immoral than the folks that they were getting it from. And so I thought that in a time when there's a lot of villainization going on, and especially this is a group of black women, that it would be good to live with them for
- [04:07]
Alison Stewart
a little bit sometimes. Critics have referred to this film as an anti capitalist comedy. First of all, did you sit down, like, think I'm gonna write an anti capitalist comedy?
- [04:16]
Boots Riley
No. I mean, I think about. Well, one. Let me be clear. I'm a communist and I believe that the people. We should have a world where the people democratically control the wealth that we create with our labor. So I believe that. So if I make some art that has to do with what I believe, it's going to be along the lines of those politics. I don't have to be like, I'm gonna try to make this. I just make art that talks about the world in the way that I see it. And I start with characters. I start with characters that we wanna be with, that we want to experience their trials and tribulations, and it expands from there. And a lot of times what I'm doing, though, that I get from music is I want people to feel it. So I'm upping the ante on the contradictions. I'm heightening the contradictions to the point of absurdity in some ways. And then that ends up being funny. It ends up being. Because comedy and tragedy both have irony in common. And that irony is very connected to contradiction. And so it's, it's, you know, so I don't know. I don't know how to not write a comedy because life is so funny. Like, I think people have to do a lot of work to extract the comedy out of. Out of life. I've been to jail a few times, but the longest was for three days. And people laugh in jail. Right? Right. Like, we often look at certain ideas and problems, and when we're. I think when the comedy is taken out, we're taking out some actual important analysis.
- [06:11]
Alison Stewart
You know, the film is really colorful. It's sometimes it's really wacky in the best sense of the word. There's a lot of sight humor that's involved. But then you also talk about workers rights and stealing people's creativity. How do you think about balancing the idea of the visual stimulation that we're getting versus the deeper messages?
- [06:31]
Boots Riley
Mm, it's not a balance. It's all one thing.
- [06:35]
Alison Stewart
Oh, interesting.
- [06:36]
Boots Riley
So the visual stimulation that we're getting is also, I would say, also music and sound effects are part of that stimulation. And I'm trying to take people through visceral experiences that are analogous to the emotional experiences folks are going through. And like I was saying, we're juxtaposing things. We're exposing contradictions. And I want. If I have the camera pushing a character back with things whizzing by us, that's because that's part of the idea. That's where we're going together, and it leads to these other ideas. And again, like, when I'm writing it, I'm just being honest with myself about how I feel. These. These personal things connect with these larger things. So we are, you know, we're talking about here, we're talking about the large contradiction of, you know, boosters are not outside of capitalism. They are part of the distribution system. And these things are made of not just other things. They're made of people's time. And so the idea is to, you know, one of the ideas in the movie is we see both sides of that production line, and it's personal to us now that putting those together is ridiculous in and of itself. It's. The stuff is made by people that can't afford it. And the inspirations for fashion are from often from black communities and communities of color and other working class communities who inspire the fashion and can't afford it. So those contradictions are ridiculous. And when you really put it, when you put all of those things together, that comedy, that visual, that visual conflict as well, the colors, like, this is a very colorful movie, partly because I need to build a rhythm of big swaths of color that Change from this to that. I also am trying to have everything in camera so that you feel textures. There's a lot of collage in this. You know, one of my biggest cinematic influences is Parliament Funkadelic. And, you know, that, you know, they might have a lead guitar, electric guitar over an accordion with a gospel choir playing underneath it and someone doing spoken word. And it all fits together. And so I'm trying to visually do that same thing cinematically. Not just visually, but in editing and all of that.
- [09:46]
Alison Stewart
I love that their lipsticks changed. That was my favorite part of it, is watching their lipsticks change. We're talking to Boots Riley about his new film, I Love Boosters, the Velvet Gang. It's Corvette, Sade and Mariah, played by amazing actors Kiki Palmer, Naomi Acke and Taylor Paige. You said that you don't write roles specifically with actors in mind when they come to the set. How do they fit into the roles? Do you sort of tailor the roles to them? Do you?
- [10:19]
Boots Riley
Yeah, well, we. You know, there's anywhere from weeks to months of a lot of talking. We just talk about life, talk about each other's lives, things like that. And they bring. And I'm casting people who are. Who I know are bringing things to the table. Sure, right. So a big part of my job is casting people in this. We're having people. I am having people do something. I think every actor that's in this is doing something you've never seen them do. However, it's something that I have found that's in them and decided that I want that on my screen. So that's a big part. Big part of it is talking. And. And so therefore, I do change the character. I'm not one of those, like, people. I want actors to come from a place where they are having the emotion that the character is having. Not showing us that they're having that emotion, just having it. And I'll put the camera as close up to their face as we need to, to understand that, to feel it, but it's not. It's more grounded. And so, yeah, they have a big part of shaping the character. It's not necessarily in dialogue as it is in, you know, pacing and, you know, personification.
- [11:49]
Alison Stewart
Let's listen to a little bit of I Love Boosters. This is Corvette, Sade and Mariah talking about their plans to rob Kristie Smith's stores. Let's listen. We gonna grab the videotapes. All right? We be wearing wigs and the camera
- [12:02]
Ross Levi
angle interrupted to prove
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Boots Riley
they don't know my name.
- [12:06]
Alison Stewart
Is Cassandra. We use fake IDs. They don't know where we live.
- [12:08]
Boots Riley
None of this. Even if they can't prove it, they'll still know it was us, though.
- [12:12]
Ross Levi
Let me be specific.
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Boots Riley
I don't care if they know it was us.
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Caller
I care that Kristy Smith hates that
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Alison Stewart
they know it was us.
- [12:17]
Ross Levi
We couldn't place out in 40 minutes.
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Boots Riley
A lesson be a lick. Picking up for us to sit back for a minute.
- [12:26]
Alison Stewart
I like the sound design, too.
- [12:28]
Boots Riley
That's Toon Yards. That does the score.
- [12:30]
Alison Stewart
Oh, thank you for saying that. What did you think about the first time you saw those three actors, Kiki, Naomi and Taylor, on screen together?
- [12:38]
Boots Riley
Well, our rehearsal was just them sitting in a room and talking. Like, we thought we were gonna sit down and do a rehearsal. And they started talking and really vibing. And so I just sat. I was like, I'm not gonna ask them to do lines. This is the rehearsal. This is them getting to know each other. And, yeah, they were. It was electric. They really hit it off and became friends. And honestly, with the way that we shot this, this was a very complicated shoot. We had specific lighting requirements, things like that. Our dp, Natasha Breyer, is a genius, and she's. We had lenses invented for us by Panavision, and she had her own invention that she put in front of the lens to have color kind of wash and change on there. She doesn't like me to talk too much about it, but. Because she needs to get the patent. But the point is, is they had a lot of time to vibe together in between stuff, so. Yeah, you really feel that. Like you are hanging with them and you want to keep hanging with them.
- [13:59]
Alison Stewart
This was interesting at south by Southwest. Actor. I hope I pronounced her last name right.
- [14:03]
Progressive Insurance Announcer
Poppy Liu.
- [14:04]
Boots Riley
Yep.
- [14:05]
Alison Stewart
She said that this is so interesting that you tailored her character
- [14:13]
Progressive Insurance Announcer
to where. Where she grew up.
- [14:15]
Boots Riley
Yeah.
- [14:16]
Alison Stewart
In China.
- [14:17]
Boots Riley
Yeah.
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Alison Stewart
Right. And you went down sort of a rabbit hole about industrialized cities and industrial organizations in that part of China. And she speaks Mandarin, or she comes from people who speak Mandarin. That was very. That was very detailed of you.
- [14:32]
Boots Riley
I don't know. I don't know how it's normally done, but that. That's. I've only been. This is only my third project, so I just thought that's what you're supposed to do.
- [14:41]
Alison Stewart
Well, why are the details important to you?
- [14:44]
Boots Riley
I mean, yeah, the details are. First of all, in life. I think that's how I got to this point, is I had a period of time where I thought the details didn't matter. All that mattered is my work. And so the details of my life didn't matter. And then I flipped because that gets you very depressed. And then you get really into the details. What are you things made of? What do things look like? And that was luckily before I started making film. And to me, the details are what it's all about. Like the specificity. The more specific you can be, the more universal you are, because the specificity allows for the humanity to be in there, even if you don't know. And that's how I am about Oakland. These, these films are about. And TV shows are about Oakland. And you may never have been there before, but because there's this internal logic, then it relates to people all over the world.
- [15:51]
Alison Stewart
We're talking to Boots Riley about his new film. I love boosters. All right. In the film, we're rooting for the Velvet Gang. I'm rooting for him Anyway, against Kristi Smith. How would you describe Christy Smith? She's played by Demi Moore.
- [16:03]
Boots Riley
We should say yeah to me. And she does again, a performance that's unlike anything she's done before. And Kristi Smith is an artist who is, I mean, a fashion designer in this case. And she believes that her work is enough. She believes there's nothing you can do to change the world and. And that all you can do is use your art. In her case, fashion to change how people feel about the world. So, you know, if you know me, that's probably something I disagree with. However, what I have all the characters saying are things that I actually do say and believe. So, you know, I put myself into those things and she. And so she comes into conflict with these boosters who are her. Who idolize her, and they run head up because she doesn't feel like her art should be treated that way.
- [17:18]
Alison Stewart
Let's listen to a clip from I Love Boosters. Corvette sees Christy on the news answering a question about what she thinks of the Velvet Gang. Oh, Christy. Christy, what are your thoughts on the Velvet Gang? Christy Smith knows we exist low class urban bitches. With all due respect to urban bitches,
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Boots Riley
Did she just call us urban bitches or so it's so early 2000s.
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Alison Stewart
Why did you have Christy call them urban bitches?
- [17:55]
Boots Riley
Just because that was like the code, like that word that used to be used, like when people didn't want to say black and you knew they were talking about black people and they said urban. So I just gave her that.
- [18:15]
Alison Stewart
DeMille Moore has been in this business for, for years. What was something interesting that she brought to the character.
- [18:22]
Boots Riley
Oh, man. You know, she would say, well, I. I have a friend that's a. That. That's a fashion designer. And they do this. You know, she had all this experience of that, right? And, you know, and. And. And she also. One of her notes was really good. That actually caused me to put something in a couple things in there that caused laughs because the character was a child prodigy who was an MIT genius who started doing fashion. I won't get into the whole thing, but started doing fashion at a young age. And so she was like, well, if she's a genius, I need more things that just tell us she's a genius. So I was like. So I looked up a lot of antiquated insults, you know, and coming from. So, you know, and. And they end up. They end up. So there's like. She calls them mumble crest whores, and she calls them fustillarian. And these are words like mumble crest is something that a. You know, someone from an aristocrat might call. Might try to insult someone for having. For starving, even though they're the ones that are causing them to starve. Or fustelarian, meaning you have to fight for your life. Right. But. So if after this movie, you hear people using the words mumble crust or fustelarian, I need a footnote credit on that.
- [20:02]
Alison Stewart
You're both the writer and director of this film. When does the screenwriter role end for you, and when does the director begin? Or is it the same?
- [20:12]
Boots Riley
They both are the same thing. When I'm writing the script, I need people to see the movie while they're. While they're reading it. And because I also. I'm usually giving it to people that either I need to get in, be in the movie, or fund the movie. So I want the. And also, I never know whether it's gonna get made. So I want that script to be a document that Maybe people read 20 years later and be like, this was. This would have been an amazing movie. So I'm describing. Describing production design. I'm describing the way camera moves, things like that. Obviously, they change later. But then when we're on the set, I'm often. I can be honest because it's my writing. I can be like, that's bad writing. Let's not do that. Let's do this other thing. And it's all happening at the same time.
- [21:07]
Alison Stewart
We got a text here that says, sorry to bother your. Was one of the best movies ever from one of our listeners texted in. So that's for you.
- [21:15]
Boots Riley
Yeah, thank you.
- [21:16]
Alison Stewart
What did you learn from Sorry to Bother your that you were able to use on this film?
- [21:21]
Boots Riley
Okay, well, on Sorry to Bother your, for instance, we have this part where the papers are flying behind Lakeith Stanfield's character, Cassius, and he feels defeated, and he sits back in his chair. The papers fly. That took us, like, 20 to 30 minutes to get those papers flying. And everybody was like, this is an indie film. We had a budget of less than $4 million. They're like, why are we spending a huge part of the day trying to do this? And. And I pushed for it, and we got it. But once we started getting it, I was like. I felt bad, like, we wasted so much time. So I was like, I got to make this be worthwhile. So I thought about what the next scene was, and we added a transition in there. I had Lakeith turn to the side and say, you're gonna stuff all that in your mouth. And it transitioned to the next scene, and it worked so well that when I was writing this, I was like, oh, I'm doing that to the thousandth time. And so we have a lot of transitions built into. Into the scenes that we filmed with where the camera leads you to something or the characters lead you to this next thing. And, you know, it's a thing that I'm very proud of in the movie.
- [22:42]
Alison Stewart
I'm not gonna get into it, but Don Cheadle and Carrie Young are both in this.
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Boots Riley
Oh, yeah.
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Alison Stewart
Have you seen Proof?
- [22:48]
Boots Riley
Oh, yeah, yeah. Matter of fact, Proof. They decided to do Proof while they were shooting that scene, while they're together in this movie. I introduced Kara Young to Don Cheadle on this movie. And. And. And. And because Kara, there was someone else that was going to play the character, and Kara is a good friend of mine. She was visiting the set. That person totally faked. I was on the phone. I looked over at Kara. I said, you want to play a role? And she was like, let me change my flight. And people on the set, they weren't familiar, but she started going. And they were like, who is this? Who is this? And I introduced Don to her, and she convinced Don that he should start doing Broadway again.
- [23:45]
Alison Stewart
All right. Kara was here last week. She's the best. She is the best.
- [23:49]
Boots Riley
She is hilarious in this. Like, every. Every line she comes up saying on I love boosters gets people rolling. And she's amazing and is. God is too. I just went and saw that last week.
- [24:06]
Alison Stewart
Yeah, yeah, she and Mallory were here last week.
- [24:08]
Boots Riley
I'm really hyped and if people don't know, she was also in my TV show, I'm a Virgo. So. And then Don Cheadle, you know, he's we almost did it to where we didn't put his name in the credits. That was like the initial idea. He was like, yeah, I'm down to do it. I don't want people to recognize me. And then people will find out years later that that was me. And then I was like, don, we really need to get butts in seats here.
- [24:37]
Alison Stewart
We need your name on the poster.
- [24:39]
Boots Riley
Yeah.
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Alison Stewart
First of all, can I also ask you where you get your hats? Because I have hats all over the. I almost wore.
- [24:45]
Boots Riley
Yeah, I was told, I was told coming in here that you do. So it's called Uptown Yardy. They are in Brixton in London. However, they are on Instagram and can get you hats wherever you want.
- [24:59]
Alison Stewart
I like a Uptown Yardy in Bed Stuy. Ashaka Givens. She's an amazing designer as well. So check her out.
- [25:06]
Boots Riley
Check her out. Yeah.
- [25:07]
Alison Stewart
I've been talking to Boots Riley. His film I Love Boosters enters theaters this weekend. Thanks for being here.
- [25:13]
Boots Riley
It's there. Yes, thank you.
- [34:05]
Alison Stewart
This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. After that brutal winter, we finally made it to Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer. You might be in the process of planning your summer vacation vacations and sure you can jet off somewhere luxurious, but have you ever considered a New York road trip? Look at a map and you miss just may remember how many regions and destinations there are around the Empire State. From close to home in New York City to the shores of Long island or the Hudson Valley, but also the capital Reason region and west, the Finger Lakes, not to mention Niagara Falls. So to give you some ideas about a summer road trip, we are going to talk to Ross Levi, executive director of the New York State Division of Tourism. Hi Ross.
- [34:50]
Ross Levi
Hey, Allison. Good to see you.
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Alison Stewart
Lots of attention is paid to New York in the fall, the beautiful leaves and in the spring, what makes summer unique in New York?
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Ross Levi
Summer is a great time to experience the state because we have so much outdoors and so the weather is, is just waiting for you.
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Caller
Right.
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Ross Levi
And when you your state, like New York, which has such a diversity of world class attractions and activities all nearby, it's a perfect time to go. We know summer can be an expensive travel season and while gas is expensive, the idea of getting in your car and driving around the state is still probably one of the most affordable ways that you can see such an incredible Diverse array of world class attractions and activities all in one place.
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Alison Stewart
Listeners, we want to hear from you. If you were to go on a New York road trip this summer, where would you go on your route and tell us why? Our number is 2124-3396-9221-2433-WNYC. Are you going to stop somewhere in the Catskills? Are you going to go to the Adirondacks or Niagara Falls? Maybe somewhere near The Finger Lakes? Plus, pitch us your ideal New York State road trip. 212-433-969-2212 4332 w, n, y, C okay, so if you go on a road trip, you could take the highways, but I want to throw a couple routes at you and you can tell me a little bit about them so you can experience a little bit about what New York can offer. Tell me a little bit about Route 30.
- [36:22]
Ross Levi
Well, Route 30, in which particular region are you talking about in New York State?
- [36:27]
Alison Stewart
I don't know
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Ross Levi
because I mean there are, there are so many beautiful scenic byways and national scenic trails across New York State. You know, there's so many to see. We have a number of itineraries on ilovenewyork.com roadtrips where you could lay these out. For example, I love the Albany to Niagara Falls trip. It actually starts on U.S. route 20, which is a designated road of 108 miles that starts in Albany where you could see great attractions like the New York State Capitol and the Albany Institute of History and Art and then go through the rolling hills and countrysides of central New York before getting to Syracuse where you could do things like go to the Erie Canal museum, then just 90 minutes away on Interstate 90. So we think of as 90. On 90 you could be in Rochester going to the Strong Museum of Play, which has the National Toy hall of Fame or the Eastman Museum. It's named for George Eastman, who founded Kodak. You could tour his home and, and go to one of the great photographic and film libraries in the world or go to the Genesee Country Village, which is a living history museum celebrating its 50th year. And then of course you finish that great trip, taking the Great Lakes Seaway Trail along Lake Ontario to end up at Niagara Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world, and going on Made of the Mist or the Cave of the Winds. So that's just one particular road trip that you might think about taking.
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Alison Stewart
I was going to ask about going to Niagara Falls because if you're leaving from our area what's the right amount of time to plan your trips?
- [38:11]
Ross Levi
Yeah, one of the tips I love to remind folks is that you don't necessarily have to drive from the city. If you have your own car, that's certainly something you'd want to do. But if you didn't have your own car, I often recommend taking the train out of the city, whether that's Metro north or LIR or Amtrak. Take that to a station north of New York City that you know avoids the traffic that you might get getting out of the city. And then you get your rent a car at that train station and go out across the state. But if you're leaving from New York City, obviously it depends on traffic. But it can be six or seven hours to traverse the whole state from New York City to Niagara Falls. But that's why we recommend making those great stops along the way. Halfway between New York City and Niagara Falls, for example, is Corning, New York, which is the home of the Corning Museum of Glass, which gives you the history, the art, the science of glass making where you could actually see, they're called gaffers, making masterworks of glass throughout the day. And you even can pay a little extra and do your own glasswork to bring home with you.
- [39:14]
Alison Stewart
We are discussing the best places to travel when on a road trip around New York State this summer. My guest is Ross Levi, Executive Director of the New York State Division of Tourism. We're also hearing from you. If you were to go on a New York road trip in the summertime, where would you stop on your route and why? Pitch us your ideal New York State road trip destinations that you were planning for a summer vacation. Our Phone number is 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. Let's talk to John. Hi John, thanks for taking the time to call all of it.
- [39:48]
Caller
Thanks for connecting. I'm on my way to Lake Ontario right now.
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Alison Stewart
Nice. Who you going to see?
- [39:56]
Caller
One of my. Sorry. The backyard of our lake house is the Salmon River. The front yard is Lake Ontario. It's got an amazing western facing sunset. Lake Ontario is a hidden gem. It's really an inland sea and the water and the waves of the lake keep the sea bottom nice and sandy and great underneath your feet. Take a look. A map of upstate New York. Compare it to Pennsylvania and I challenge you to count the lakes. You can do it on one hand in Pennsylvania, but you'll need a big spreadsheet for upstate New York. Spectacular place for any vacation.
- [40:27]
Alison Stewart
John, have a great time. Let's talk to Bob, who's calling in from Flushing. Hi, Bob, thanks for calling all of it.
- [40:36]
Caller
Hi. Hi there. We have to mention the Baseball hall of Fame. Cooperstown is a beautiful town, historic buildings and the hall of Fame itself is great. And hopefully you catch a Little League game and it's an awful lot of fun even if you're not a baseball fan.
- [40:51]
Alison Stewart
Thanks so much for calling in. Yeah, that was one of your stops you had on your list, Ross, Cooperstown. Why is this a must visit for baseball fans?
- [40:59]
Ross Levi
Absolutely. I mean, it's a mecca. It's on people's bucket list. And the town, as your caller was alluding to, is great. Even if you're not the world's biggest baseball fan. There is a great, there's actually the oldest farmers museum in America in Cooperstown where you could see blacksmiths and live animals. And there's also a really great museum there as well which has, for example, busts of our founding fathers so you can see what they actually looked like. They're made from their life masks. So it's a great all American town to visit.
- [41:33]
Alison Stewart
Let's talk to Leah in Manhattan. Hi, Leah, thank you so much for calling all of it. You're on the air.
- [41:40]
Caller
Great. Thank you. Yeah. So I am a dog mom. I have a large 70 pound dog. So road trips are what we do. Do we go to Scribner's every year up in Hunter in the Catskills. Amazing location, extremely dog friendly, incredible restaurant. And what's really fun is you can go across the street and take the ski lift up to get a scenic view of the mountains, even in the summertime, just across the way at the Hunter Mountain. So that's my recommendation.
- [42:10]
Alison Stewart
Thank you so much for calling in. Let's talk to Matt in Levantown, Levittown, Long Island. Hey Matt, thanks for taking the time to call, all of it.
- [42:19]
Caller
Hi, how are you? I have been a fan of the adirondacks for about 40 years. I start I took a ride in 1980 up Route 30. I mentioned 30 before and just took a ride on up and ended up in, well, Lake Placid, which is a beautiful town if a lot of people. I don't think I've been there from down here. And I love the Adirondack Mountains. It's a, that is a state park. The Adirondacks State park is a huge state park. I think if I'm not mistaken, the biggest state park in America and just so pristine. So many lakes, so many mountains and no Billboards and nothing like that. Just lakes and streams and rivers and I don't know what else to say about it. It's just gorgeous.
- [43:10]
Alison Stewart
Thank you so much for calling in. Yeah, Ross, what did you want to add about the Adirondacks?
- [43:14]
Ross Levi
Yeah, you know, the Adirondacks are the largest protected lands in the lower 48 states. You could take Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, they'd all fit within the Adirondacks. And so it is an outdoor lover's paradise for hiking, paddling, exploring. And then within the park are also really great towns like Lake Placid, which is of course where the Winter Olympics were held twice. And you could go to actual Winter Olympic sites. You can go to the Olympic Museum. And Lake George is a beautiful lake up there in the Adirondacks as well. Right on the southern part, probably the part of the Adirondacks closest to New York City where you could go on the Minnehaha, which is the oldest steam paddled boat in the United States. And you could take a beautiful scenic cruise of Lake George.
- [44:05]
Alison Stewart
It's gorgeous up there for camping too.
- [44:07]
Ross Levi
Sure is. And, and the state park system of New York offers some really, if you go to the, to their website and reserve camping, it's a really affordable way to, to add to your road trip because you can stay at, you know, state park prices which are very cheap. You can do camping within state parks. And then of course, the, the number of wonderful private campgrounds which have all kinds of great amenities from, you know, activities for kids to pools and splash parks and all kinds of other things.
- [44:35]
Alison Stewart
Let's talk to Jennifer in Fort Washington. Hi, Jennifer, you're on the air.
- [44:40]
Caller
Hi.
- [44:42]
Alison Stewart
Hi.
- [44:45]
Caller
So I pitched two ideas and I don't know which one you want to hear birding or historic Hudson.
- [44:51]
Alison Stewart
I think we want to hear birding on this show. Yeah, go for it.
- [44:54]
Caller
Okay, so birding, I do an annual trip every year where you head up north and go to starting around Albany, Bishers Ferry, which is just north of Albany, Saratoga Battlefield. You get history and wonderful birding there up into the Adirondacks where we hire this terrific guide who can get you onto Whiteface Mountain where the very rare and endangered Bickmills Thrush is the only place you can see it here. Boreal chickadees and lots of black back woodpecker grouse. It's one of the, the Adirondacks is the only place you're going to see any of those birds. Then head west out to making a quick stop at Fort Drum for the upland sandpiper and then the Watertown area. Lots of Perch river, lots of black terns. Caspian terns nest there, Bitterns down to Montezuma Wildlife Preserve.
- [45:56]
Alison Stewart
You got a lot planned for us. I appreciate you making the call. Did you want to add anything for to that, Ross?
- [46:02]
Ross Levi
Yeah, I would just mention that New York State, through our Department of Environmental Conservation, has actually an I Love New York Birding trail. So if you love birding, there are some itineraries already planned out for you there as well, including in addition to the great ones your callers mentioned.
- [46:19]
Alison Stewart
If you were going to go to on a New York road trip in the summertime, where would you stop on your route and why? Pitch us your ideal New York State road trip. Our phone number is 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. After the break, we'll talk about hikes and the capital region. You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. My guest is Ross Levi, executive director of the New York State Division of Tourism. We are talking about New York road trips. This text says ever since I was a toddler, my parents would bring me to Carmel Hammet for camping. I'm 46 now and I've been taking my wife and stepson there every summer for the past 15 years. They love it as much as I do. That is from Steve. This is a question for you. This says, does Rochester have any historic sites honoring Frederick Douglass?
- [47:22]
Ross Levi
Well, certainly his grave site is there. And to go to his resting place, certainly one destination. There's also a number of statues. Unfortunately, there aren't any homes like a historic home or that kind of thing. But in addition to Frederick Douglass, not too far from Rochester, the Harriet Tubman home is part of the Harriet Tubman National Historic Site, also part of the Finger Lakes in the town of Auburn. And that's a really great destination for anyone who cares about black history or civil rights history or overall.
- [47:57]
Alison Stewart
Let's talk to Nancy calling from Nourishel. Hey, Nancy, thank you so much for calling all of it. You're on the air. Oh, she dropped. She wanted to talk about. Oh, this is a good one. Hyde park and the FDR Museum. Those are both fabulous. How about Harry? Let's see if we've got Harry online for. Hey, Harry, do you hear me?
- [48:16]
Caller
Hello, I'm here. How you doing?
- [48:17]
Ross Levi
I'm doing great.
- [48:18]
Caller
Thanks for taking my call.
- [48:19]
Alison Stewart
Sure.
- [48:21]
Caller
So I just wanted to throw a quick plug for the Bayard Cutting Arboretum, which is in Great River. It's a formerly private home, and actually it's got this sprawling garden and this beautiful lawn going down to the water. But actually, I just read this online. The gardens were designed by Friedrich Law Olmsted, obviously the famous architect of Central park, but it is a stunning oasis, place of reprieve. Highly recommend anyone get there if you love anything. Garden walks, beautiful homes, yada yada.
- [48:50]
Alison Stewart
Thanks, Harry. Let's talk. Yeah, go ahead.
- [48:53]
Ross Levi
I'm sorry, I just would love to add the idea of, you know, Long island in general is, of course, where the Great Gatsby took place. And anyone that's watching the Gilded Age is seeing a lot of those locations referenced. It's a great place for a road trip, like a themed road trip, whether that's about the Gilded Age or the Great Gatsby. So to see some of those beautiful Gold coast mansions that are restored there, some of which you could stay in overnight. For example, Oheka Castle is actually a. A beautiful hotel you could stay in overnight.
- [49:21]
Alison Stewart
Let's talk to Patrick, who's calling in from Brooklyn. Hey, Patrick, thanks for taking the time to call, all of it.
- [49:27]
Caller
Hi, yes, I wanted to recommend the Thousand Islands and Clayton, New York, up on the St. Lawrence Seaway. It was a famous summer spot in the early 19th century. Castles built on islands, great fishing and a wonderful boat museum. One of the best museums of any size type I've ever seen. In Clayton, the Duke Boat Museum. Terrific place. The Thousand Islands is wonderful.
- [49:55]
Alison Stewart
Thank you so much for calling in. And Ross, you want to tell us a little bit more?
- [49:59]
Ross Levi
Yeah, Well, I always have to remind people of the Thousand Islands isn't just a dressing, it's a place, really. There's literally 1900 islands in the beautiful St. Lawrence Seaway. It's actually had some of the best scuba diving in the world because of the fresh water and how clear it is. But yet taking one of those scenic boat trips out to one of those island castles and up and down Millionaires Row, one of those two castles, Singer Castle, you could actually stay in overnight as well.
- [50:27]
Alison Stewart
Your office is in Albany.
- [50:29]
Ross Levi
Give me the pitch for Albany, our state capitol. Right. So, you know, it obviously is our seat of our government, so the opportunity to tour our capitol building to go to the New York State Museum, both of which are free. But it's been a important center of colonial history for. For long, long even before there was a United States. As a matter of fact, if fans of Hamilton, when they sing about the Schuyler Sisters, That's Albany. And they talk about getting away to the country. And you can tour Schuyler Mansion itself. There are many historical homes here in the capital region.
- [51:04]
Caller
And.
- [51:04]
Ross Levi
And just north of Albany itself is Saratoga, which is a destination where people have been vacationing for years. It's the home of the oldest sporting venue in America. That's the Saratoga Racecourse, where you could see the racing of the Thoroughbreds and the Travers. And this year, the last time that the Belmont Stakes will be run at Saratoga before it returns to its refurbished home there on Long island next year.
- [51:27]
Alison Stewart
We're talking to Ross Levi, executive director of the New York State Division of Tourism. We are talking about road trips around the state. If you were to go on a New York road trip in the summertime, where would you stop on your route and why? Pitch us your ideal New York State road trip. Our Phone number is 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. Let's talk to Pietro, who's calling in from Jersey City. Hi, Pietro, you're on the air.
- [51:57]
Caller
Hi. Buongiorno. Thank you very much for the opportunity you are giving me. I love your show, of course, I love your program. You are an institution, like they say. But my recommendation is called Magazino Italian Art, which is Route 9, number 2700 and is in Cold Spring, New York. So it's a collection of art, contemporary art, including like Arte Povera, which Italians, they were very well known about. Representing Arte Povera, you have Piero Manzoni and then you have a Japanese Veni Murano in Venice. He made those incredible glass vases. But the place, also the background is somebody from Sardinia because I was born and raised in Sardinia in Italy, the beautiful island. And so you will find there also a donkey from Sardinia. They are like all the other interesting things to discover. Then I'm not going to tell you. You're going to find out if you do a deeper search on it.
- [53:04]
Alison Stewart
Grazie, Pietro. Thank you so much for calling in. Let's talk to Jen calling from Putnam Valley. Hey, Jen, thanks for calling, all of it. What should we go see?
- [53:15]
Caller
Hi there. Well, your guest mentioned Corning, New York, and I wanted to give a shout out to a great place we visited many times called Ziegenwein Homestead. It's like a German word, Z, I, E, G, E, N, Ziegenwein. And they're a goat farm near Corning that they do goat yoga on top of the hills on their property. And we found the place on Hip Camp which is a fun site if you're campers that are kind of off grid places so you can pitch tents there or they have like little shacks as well, like little cabins sort of. And additionally, down below the Goat Yoga Hill, there's a bison farm, which is sort of interesting. It's not attached to Ziegenwein, but it's just kind of wild to see these, this big bison herd in New York State. But yeah, it's a lot of fun to visit if you're heading to Corning.
- [54:13]
Alison Stewart
Thank you so much for calling in, Ross. I did want to ask about mountains and hikes. If you want to, there's plenty of places you could go. Could you give me three recommendations?
- [54:24]
Ross Levi
Sure. You know, and the thing about hiking is, you know, hiking can be anything from a casual nature trail to scaling a peak. Right. So the Adirondacks is the home to New York's great high peaks and our highest mountain, Mount Marcy. So that's obviously a really natural place for people who are experienced and want to do, you know, a very serious hike. Similarly, closer to New York City, the Catskills and the Catskill Mountains, some great destinations there. There's actually a program called the Catskill Fire Tower Challenge where you can scale. Experienced hikers can go to several of the region's remaining fire towers, including at Hunter Mountain or Overlook, and then they get a special patch if they've gone to enough of them. But for the more beginners and for families too, I think it's always good to think about those easier hikes and those entry hikes. We actually have a whole blog@iloveny.com on a beginner's guide to hiking. But one of my favorites is Watkins Glen State park in the Finger Lakes because it is a stone path that you follow, takes only about 45 minutes each direction. So an hour and a half round trip. And you actually have a big reward for that hike because you're going through a gorge path among 19 different waterfalls, some of which you go right behind. And so it changes with every season and is a really great hike no matter what your skill level.
- [55:48]
Alison Stewart
I wanted to ask you now that we're sort of post Covid, how has the post pandemic tourism levels? What are the tourism levels like compared to pre pandemic?
- [56:01]
Ross Levi
Yeah. Well, the good news is because New York State has so, so many outdoor assets, we actually rebounded fairly quickly from the COVID devastation that everyone experienced in tourism, you know, and so now in the point we're at now, we're at record levels, New York welcomed more than 315 million visitors, for example, in 2024. You know, that's an all time record. They generated 24, I'm sorry, $94 billion direct spending. Tourism is so important for New York State. Besides, great vacation destination, it's really vital to our economy. It's responsible for one in nine jobs. It saves every household in New York state close to $1,500 of taxes they otherwise would pay if not for tourism. So the good news is even with some headwinds that we're currently seeing, particularly with international travel, tourism remains very sturdy in New York State.
- [56:59]
Alison Stewart
Let's talk to Larry is calling in from Chelsea. Hey Larry, what's your suggestion?
- [57:05]
Caller
Hi. I want to suggest the OMI Sculpture park in Ghent, New York. It's really wonderful place, sprawling campus, various, you know, outdoor sculptures and then a nice building with always a good exhibit inside in a cafe. It's a really wonderful treat and it's all free.
- [57:27]
Alison Stewart
Thanks so much for calling.
- [57:30]
Ross Levi
If I could just add, yeah, OMI is amazing and just went through a lot of recent renovations. It's one of a number of sculpture parks across New York State. There's the Storm King Art center fairly close to New York City. And then in the far western part of the state in the Chautauqua Allegheny region is a 400 acre sculpture park called Griffith Sculpture park with these giant steel sculptures all made by the same artist.
- [57:52]
Alison Stewart
And before we go, I wanted to ask about America's 250th celebration. What kind of programs have you seen planned around the state?
- [58:01]
Ross Levi
Yeah, it's going to be a great summer and a great year, in fact, because the celebration and commemoration continues for a number of years. You know, New York City is seeing some great activities itself. Sail fourth, the largest international flotilla of tall ship ever assembled out in Long island at Jones beach from July 5 through 6 is the Four Leaf Air Show. That's going to include the Blue Angels and then at some of the Revolutionary War sites across New York State. For Ticonderoga, for example, up in the Adirondacks, we'll be doing reenactments of key Revolutionary War moments on the grounds where they actually happened. Revcon 2026 in the Hudson Valley, you were talking about Franklin Roosevelt earlier at Hyde Park. And then Niagara Falls is having five days of fireworks over the falls with multiple viewing sites across the park. So lots of amazing places to see
- [58:58]
Alison Stewart
and things to do all of our listeners. Our transcripts for this segment should be up later this weekend. So you don't have to write everything down because there was so much great information. Thanks again to Ross Levi, Executive Director of the New York State Division of Tourism. Thanks for being with us.
- [59:14]
Ross Levi
Yes, thanks for having me. Happy Summer.
- [59:49]
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Alison Stewart
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Alison Stewart
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