CA renames César Chávez day, Rob Reiner tribute, Josh Groban's new album— Afternoon Edition

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Today on the LA Report, California lawmakers move to rename Caesar Chavez Day following the sexual abuse allegations.

A week-long tribute to the late filmmaker Rob Reiner is kicking off tomorrow.

And singer Josh Groben is out with a new album, we'll talk about his LA connection.

It's Thursday, March 26th.

I'm Niree Damorino and you're listening to the LA Reports after noon edition from LAAS News.

The California State Senate voted today to rename Caesar Chavez Day as Farm Worker's Day

in response to the sexual abuse claims against the late labor icon.

The California Assembly already passed the measure on Monday with bipartisan support,

and Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to quickly sign the bill before the state holiday on March 31st.

Rob Reiner's beloved film Stand By Me is coming back to theaters for one week beginning Friday.

The film's 40th anniversary has reunited stars Jerry O'Connell, Corey Feldman, and Will Wheaton.

They're eager to remember and honor Reiner, who was killed alongside his wife Michelle back in December.

And they say the timing of the anniversary has given them a shared place to grieve and remember.

For showtimes and tickets, just check with your local theater.

Coming up, why singer Josh Groben is having a moment.

Stick around.

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Welcome back to the LA Report.

I'm Neri Damorino.

Singer-songwriter Josh Groben's new album titled Cinematic

features covers of songs from movies,

like The Godfather, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and The Lion King.

And can you feel the love tonight?

That's Groben's version of Can You Feel the Love Tonight,

also featuring the gay men's chorus of Los Angeles.

Groben spoke with LAest host Julia Paskin about that song and others on the album,

and about the art education he got as a high schooler here in LA,

and Julia joins us now.

So tell us more about your conversation with Josh Groben

about this new album.

It's pretty exciting.

Yeah, so he spoke about the inspiration for it.

It was sparked by a few things,

including being asked to sing a song from The Godfather

for a tribute to director Francis Ford Coppola last year,

which he was nervous about, but it went really well.

Also a cover he did of a Dell song skyfall for the James Bond movie.

He performed that at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas

as an homage to her doing her residency there.

So he realized how much he really loved these songs

and also Groben's experience working with film composers over the years.

And he said he ended up being able to think a lot about the songs for movies

that he could put like a personal touch on.

He really does make them his own.

And if you're someone who likes to sing along with your music,

like me, you can really go ham on this one.

And he talked about him growing up here in LA

and his high school arts education too, right?

Yeah, so he went to the LA County High School for the Arts,

also called Loxa.

It's a public school that offers training in visual and performing arts.

He actually studied theater there.

And he said his teachers really helped him to come out of his shell,

connect with singing, because he was shy and struggling with academics.

And that really resonated with me too,

just how important access to the performing arts as a kid was for me.

And that actually led to Groben starting a nonprofit here in LA

called the Find Your Light Foundation

that helps to fund arts programs in K through 12 schools around the country.

And these kinds of programs are often vulnerable to budget cuts

and Groben talked about how he thinks they're more important than ever.

At a time when our humanity is being tested more than ever,

we need to be reminded of our humanity through these programs

and especially our young people learning about the beauty inside themselves

and the beauty inside others through the arts.

I can't think of a more vital time than now.

And I'll say Groben's new album cinematic is out May 8th.

That's LA's toast Julia Paskin.

You can check out her interview with Josh Groben at LAS.com

or on the LAS official YouTube page.

Julia, thanks so much.

Thanks for listening to the LA Report.

I'm Nédei de Moreno.

This podcast is produced with help from Jillian Moran-Perez.

Our engineer is Donald Bass.

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Please donate at LAS.com slash join.

And the LA Report is supported by Gordon and Donna Crawford

who believe quality journalism makes Southern California a better place to live.

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