Venerable Philadelphia newsman Larry Kane has worked in the business for close to 40 years. Though no longer an anchorman, he finally has the freedom to analyze and critique issues thanks to his CN8 show, The Voice of Reason, and a growing web presence thanks to his “Larry Kane Report” on LarryKane.com. Kane graciously spoke with the Daily Examiner about why local television news is dying, whether it even has a place in today’s society, and how aspiring anchorpeople should, ahem, behave once they climb behind the desk five nights a week.

(more…)

As Nathan Lane, Edie Falco and other New York theater celebs hit town for tonight’s $2,500-per-person grand opening gala of Philadelphia Theatre Company’s Suzanne Roberts Theatre, I rang its 86-year-old namesake at home to discuss all the important things in life: strippers, ugly buildings, why her husband (Comcast founder Ralph Roberts) can’t hook her up with cable and, oh yeah, a little theater, too. — Victor Fiorillo

How did you get interested in theater?
When I was a young woman, I was encouraged by my teachers to pursue it. I studied first with N. Richard, who wrote The Rainmaker, and I studied for several years in New York. This was during the war. When I finished, I got married to Ralph in Philadelphia, and he was stationed at the Navy Yard. He was an ensign. And he said, “You know, I’ll hardly see you anyway, why don’t you go back to New York and try to get work.”

And did you get good roles in New York?
Well, I saw this ad that said they were looking for a tall blond woman for a play in Philadelphia. Well, I couldn’t think of anything better than working in Philadelphia. So I went for an audition. It was in a crummy-looking building in Manhattan. And I went up four crummy flights. And I get into this crummy-looking office and this man comes out and he says, “You’re just what I’m looking for.” And I thought, “Oh my God, the first place I go, I’m offered a job.” Then he says, “And you only have to strip from the waist up.” The audition was for a job at the Troc, and in those days, the Troc was a strip joint. I left New York right away and moved back to Philadelphia.

Was there much theater work here in those days?
I got in with a group that was doing little plays all around the city for the Treasury Department and the International Red Cross. We were doing plays to get people to buy war bonds and to give blood. After the war, I did plays on alcoholism. I played an alcoholic, but I don’t drink. So I went to bars at 10 in the morning, I went to AA meetings. And I did plays in the theaters as well.

Did you have to drag out Mr. Roberts to see the shows?
Oh no. He always came to see the plays. It was a vicarious pleasure for him. I think he would have liked to have become a producer, but life takes different paths.

When was the last time you were on stage?
I gave it up, wisely, when I was about 78. I was acting at the theater in Delaware, and I was struggling for lines. A couple of years later, Ralph bought out Plays and Players Theater and I did Love Letters by Gurney, but in that show, letters are read back and forth between a man and a woman, so the entire thing is read. I don’t think there were too many people that didn’t think that I was awfully good.

What do you think about your signature being a permanent, glowing fixture over Broad Street?
I was shocked at how bright it is. There’s a man in California tying his shoe by that light. I did ask the architect about putting a dimmer on it. But it seems so self-serving to have my name that big. People think I chose to have it done that way, but I had nothing to do with it.

Will you be doing any acting this evening at the gala?
I may be doing a little scene from Deuce. I wanted to do something from Master Class, but somebody else got to choose first. In Deuce, there’s this one monologue. It’s fair. It’s not wonderful. But it’s from Angela Lansbury’s role in that show. I’m going to the theater at 3 to do a reading, and if they say don’t do it, I won’t.

What are your thoughts on the new Comcast tower?
Originally, I thought it was the ugliest thing I’d ever seen. I said, “Why don’t you do something like the Cira Centre?” That’s a smashing building. But now I see the glass, the different shapes. It’s a bit more appealing now. But I wouldn’t want an office on the 53rd floor. Cars look like fingernails.

Do you watch much cable?
No, but I have a reason. If you saw the damn set in our bedroom … To get a station that’s clear, you have to do a lot of things to it. I’d love to watch more.

Maybe you should try the DISH network.
I’ll pass that onto my husband. Maybe DISH would be a lot easier.

You may not know the name Steve Vai. But unless you think that heavy metal is just the stuff you don’t want in your drinking water, you’ve undoubtedly heard his screamingly fast guitar work, since he’s played with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, David Lee Roth, Frank Zappa, and Whitesnake. Since leaving that world of overindulgence in the ’80s, Vai has maintained a successful solo career with more than a dozen albums; he appears tonight at the Keswick and on Saturday at the Borgata. I caught up with this six-string soldier before sound check. — Victor Fiorillo

Every teenage boy wants to pick up the guitar and play it. Why?
It’s not just teenage boys. It’s all boys, adults too. It’s a very expressive instrument, more so than others. You can play it loud and extremely aggressive — it can be more aggressive than any other instrument, but it can also be more tender. It’s very sexy.

Do you have some ridiculous number of guitars?
No, I don’t collect. I used to collect hot sauce, which is a really cool hobby. They come in very colorful bottles, and I can get it anywhere in the world. But I think that I’ve satiated my bottle desire.

There’s a certain image that goes along with rock and roll, an image that you clearly projected when you were onstage with Whitesnake, but I hear you’re actually a pretty humble, down-to-earth guy.
Back in the ’80s, being a rock star was very chic. The clothes you wore and the way you acted and the stage performance and persona was what we did back then. I embraced that. It was fun, really great. I like experimenting with fashion. All my clothes are custom-made, and I change like three times in the show. It’s part of the performance. I don’t pine for the days of yore when rock stars were rock stars. And I don’t consider myself a rock star. I am a thoroughly trained musical person that creates compositions with the instrument.

You have a very impressive worldwide following, but some of the musicians you used to work with play bigger houses, have bigger names. Does it make you jealous?
When I left those rock bands and decided to make the music I wanted to make, I thought I would have no audience at all. And the fact that I can travel the world and find an audience in virtually any place I go, including communist China, that’s an extraordinary privilege. I’m a guy with virtually zero radio airplay, never in Rolling Stone, don’t have MTV, VH1 or any television, and yet I can play all over after 27 years. I look at that and say “Man, you better be grateful, Vai.”

I heard that you’re a beekeeper, and we’ve been hearing a lot about this shortage of honeybees. What’s with that?
About a year ago I had to move my hives to an orange grove in Valencia because I was doing a remodel of the house. After we finish our garage, I’ll get a bunch of colonies back. But it’s all very concerning. Honeybees are responsible for so much of the food we eat. It’s very mysterious the way they just vanished. They didn’t die. They vanished. I have my theories.

Have you been stung a lot?
No, honeybees are pretty mild. Now, yellowjackets grew up in a rough neighborhood — you’ve got to watch them. Each hive is different. The temperament of each hive is based on the queen. I’ve had some very aggressive hives that kicked the shit out of me, but I get Italian queens now, and they’re bred for mild nature and productivity. I can go to my Italian hive and it will be gigantic — they make tons of honey.

I’ve never been stung, so I’m deathly afraid.
If you can avoid it, you’re probably better off.

Are you going to see your former bandmate David Lee Roth perform with Van Halen?
I’d like to if I can get tickets. It’s a hard ticket to get.

I think you know the right people who can help you out.
No, I don’t want to ask anybody for tickets. But I’ll probably go. I’m a fan of Edward’s [Eddie Van Halen]. He’s an historical legendary guitar player who changed the face of rock guitar playing, and I can count on one crippled hand the amount of people who have done that. And I am not one of them.

For those of you pathologically addicted to all things slimy, the latest O.J. Simpson dust-up is the perfect fix. This time around it’s not a legal dream team but a Philly-born attorney in charge of convincing the world that The Juice is not guilty. Currently based in Fort Lauderdale, Yale Galanter graduated from Cherry Hill West High School and, since 2000, has been the personal attorney to one of the most infamous cultural icons in history. The Examiner got Yale to talk about the latest case, his thoughts on the media’s coverage of it, and whether he thought O.J. was guilty of killing his wife and a waiter.

So … how’s your life changed in the past month?

Not as much as you would think. I’ve been representing him since 2000, and every day representing him is a new experience. You know, obviously the last month, because of the charges in Las Vegas, things have been a little more hectic and busy. What most media people don’t know is that, if this guy gets a parking ticket or road rage … it’s the same.

Were you friends with him before you started representing him? I read this one article detailing that you guys embraced.

We’re not friends. I shouldn’t say that … I will tell you the only time I think we’ve ever embraced is when the road rage jury returned the not guilty verdict.

So, are you comfortable being in the limelight like this again?

In terms of the limelight, my day job is to be a criminal defense lawyer. My night job is [being] a frequent television analyst, a talking-head guy. [So] being on television is nothing new.

How does it feel to be representing a person who, in many people’s eyes, is one of the most reprehensible human beings on the planet?

In terms of representing the most infamous human on the planet — I’ll change your word from reprehensible. When O.J. met me in my office, in 2001, I had known for about two weeks that he was interested in me representing him on the road rage case down here. He interviewed me, but I sat on it for two weeks, because I wanted to discuss it with my wife, and more importantly I wanted to discuss it with my mom and dad. Because I knew by me being associated with him, their lives would change. And my father said to me, “Yale, you’re a criminal defense lawyer. This is what you do for a living. This is what guys like you do. They represent infamous people.” O.J. is obviously one of the more infamous people in the world, so I was going to pass. But I took it based on my dad’s advice.

Why were you going to pass?

Oh, I was fine. I don’t mean to gloat, but I had a real successful defense practice. Everything was smooth — [I]’m not a guy that likes a lot of change. [I] knew my life would change forever by representing him. I tell people at cocktail parties, when I die, the obit, it’s going to say “Yale Galanter: O.J. Simpson lawyer.”

So, has your family met him?

No, my family hasn’t met him. I don’t let my family see any of my clients.

But did it cross your mind when he interviewed you as an attorney that this is one of the most “infamous” people on the planet?

Did I realize who I was in the room with? Yes. I was a typical Philly kid. I grew up watching the Eagles lose. My dad and I had season tickets and used to go down to Franklin Field every weekend. So football was very big in my family. [I] was definitely aware of who he was, but I was definitely more enamored with his football career than anything else. I didn’t think, you know, this is a guy who everybody thinks got away with murder. I didn’t think about it. But the football stuff was major.

The murder trial never crossed your mind …

No … [R]ight, wrong or indifferent, I believe in the system. Because I’m a product of the system, I believe in it. And he was found not guilty. To me … nothing else matters. And I was a prosecutor and a criminal defense lawyer. I really believe that. The media, you know, sifts through evidence and decides what gets on the public airwaves … [A]s a product of the criminal justice system, I know that the best people on the planet to judge whether he was guilty or innocent were those 12 jurors, that’s what their sole focus was … and they found him not guilty.

Huh … okay?

I get that reaction a lot, but if you had 25 years in the criminal justice system, you’d react the same way.

I’m sure, but I’m assuming as a person who has watched TV in the last 20 years, you’d have a different reaction as well …

Yeah, but let me tell you something about that. I am one of the few people on the planet who reports the news and is the news. I’m in the position where I do both. When I was doing the Duke lacrosse coverage for NBC and MSNBC, I was actually reporting the news. Now, of course, I am the news. So I know the difference. I’m not being judgmental about the media, [but] somewhere along the way, not necessarily in terms of O.J., … [t]he need to be first became more important than the need to be accurate.

In terms of what?

In terms of how the public digests the news. … [G]ive you an example: When anybody wants to talk to me, they want to talk to me about the O.J. case — the glove, the blood, the Bronco chase. I mean, do you have any idea what percentage of the American public believes he was driving the Bronco?

I’m sure it’s high?

Yeah, most people you talk to have no clue that he was lying in the back seat and A.C. Cowlings was driving the Bronco. But because of the media exposure, people have opinions that are not accurate. All I’m saying is, the jurors had the most accurate information … [T]he nightly news is giving 24 minutes of information on a daily basis, and has three or four minutes devoted to the O.J. case. Well, the O.J. case was eight hours a day. All I’m saying is, somebody had to decide what got into that three or four minutes.

Okay, that’s probably true for a multitude of other topics, but this was a trial that was televised at least eight hours a day. People knew more facts about this case than they did about their own lives.

Am I aware that most of America thinks of my client as a double-murderer? The answer to that question is yes.

But …

Let’s put it this way: Say you’re out at a bar tonight, somebody gives you a dirty look, you defend yourself, get in a fight, and get thrown in jail. You got a job, a family — what are you going to do? You’re going to call a guy like me to get you off.

I understand what your job is. At the same time — this is a very loose comparison — but if you had taken on Charles Manson or somebody with, ahem, an equal level of infamy, it’s got to be different than taking on me when I get in a fight on a Wednesday night.

Not when you do what I do …

Sigh.

The questions you’re asking, what you’re saying is, O.J. Simpson, because of public perception, is not entitled to a good criminal defense attorney.

No, not really. I just don’t believe the minute this guy stepped into your office, your thought was “Wow, this is a guy I idolized playing football …”

I swear to you that’s what my first thought was…

Really.

Yeah.

Really?

Yeah!

Did you have an opinion about the murder trial before the verdict was given?

Did I have opinion … um … I think at the time … I think at the time … yeah. [Four-second pregnant pause.] Trying to think … at the time … [Eight-second delay to count how many years ago it was.] ’95 … yeah, at the time, I, like the rest of America, thought he did it.

So, when he was acquitted, all was forgotten?

No, I mean, I still had my doubts. I would say all was truly forgotten after I got to know him. And of course I was in the unique position to ask him certain questions that nobody else was. As his lawyer, I’ve actually read the entire trial transcript. You know, there was a lot of stuff that never came out.

Oh?

And when I say “never came out,” there was a lot of stuff that was never highlighted. I truly believe in him and I believe in what the jury did.

Of course you do. So, right now, do you hate Harvey Levin and TMZ.com for putting the Las Vegas case out there so much? Have they made his life miserable?

Actually, if you want to know the truth, if it was appropriate, I would send Harvey a bottle of champagne and flowers. And chocolates. He has single-handedly discredited my client’s two main accusers.

The fact that Levin released a portion of the tape that has [one of the accusers] saying “Hey, let me get the number of Lydia at Inside Edition … we’re going to make a fortune off of this …”

So, O.J. was set up again?

All I’m saying is, the next time I see Harvey, I’m definitely taking him to dinner.

PHOTO: Time Magazine