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American Morning

Holiday Shopping Season Officially Starts; Saving the Music

Aired November 25, 2005 - 8:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, there's the scene at Macy's in New York at Herald Square. Already -- look, that guy actually literally -- I thought he had a list and he was crossing things out, making some progress. But I think he's got one of those little -- those little games that we just saw a little while ago.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, that's a great thing to bring to the mall.

O'BRIEN: A correspondent -- no, no, won $10 live on TV.

COSTELLO: Oh.

O'BRIEN: This was not exactly the scene that people wanted to see. This is a Wal-Mart in Florida, where a fracas over laptops broke out into a little bit of a scuffle.

Early morning crowds are making their way.

And look at this. It wasn't suppose today happen like this. A Macy's balloon mishap sends a lamppost crashing down on to a crowded street in Times Square. We'll update you on the condition of the two sisters who were injured.

Then, he was forced out under pressure in the days after Hurricane Katrina. Now former FEMA director Mike Brown going back into the disaster planning business. We'll tell you why ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Miles O'Brien is on vacation. Carol Costello is helping us out this morning.

Nice to see you. Have you done any of your Christmas shopping yesterday?

COSTELLO: No.

O'BRIEN: You know, some places were open from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

COSTELLO: Actually, it's funny you should say that, because I was telling this to someone the other day and they couldn't believe it. 7-Eleven was open on -- always is. But this year, they decided to put DVDs for sale. Because they figured if people really wanted to, you know, scratch the shopping itch, they could go to 7-Eleven before Thanksgiving.

O'BRIEN: I wonder how they did. That's fascinating.

COSTELLO: Yes.

And also, some malls around the country were offering free gift bag for customers to attract them to the mall today.

O'BRIEN: See, that would be me. Free gift bag, I'm in. I'm in, absolutely.

Well, you know what they say, let the madness begin. Hundreds of shoppers were out rushing through the doors at Macy's here in New York. They're trying to get those big deals.

We've got reporters standing by at two busy stores today. Allan Chernoff is at that Macy's in New York at Herald Square. We were showing you pictures from there just a moment ago. David Mattingly is at a Wal-Mart in Roswell, Georgia.

David, let's begin with you this morning. How is it, busy, or is the rush kind of dying down now?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the rush is sort of dying down right now. The rush happened just the way we expected it to this morning.

People rushed in, took advantage of those deals, and then they rushed off to some other location. But while they were here, they were taking advantage of low prices on mostly electronics. That's where the big crowds were this morning. People lining up for flat screen TVs and laptop computers at very low prices.

Now, these people, some of them started lining up as early as 3:30 this morning for those deals that went into effect at 5:00 am. They lost a lot of sleep. They had to stand in line. But everyone we talked to had the same answer. They all believed it was very much worth it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I looked for TVs, I looked for DVD players, laptops, things for my niece and my goddaughters. So, whatever they had, I needed to get a bargain.

MATTINGLY: Was it worth it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes. I saved a bunch of money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And this is a shopper's season this season, because retailers are fighting for dollars every possible way they can.

Wal-Mart here, in fact, put a new wrinkle into the old gift cards. These have become very popular over the past few years. Wal- Mart now offering to put the picture of the guest of the gift recipient right there.

Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. There's one for Carol. Two good little girls this year. And in the spirit of the season, what are you getting me?

O'BRIEN: Well, it depends. How much money is on our gift card, David?

MATTINGLY: Oh, you can't put a price on friendship. You know how that goes.

O'BRIEN: Well, let's see. Carol and I will discuss it. It's very special.

COSTELLO: It's a secret.

O'BRIEN: Right. Until next month. Sorry. Sorry, man. It will be something really good.

COSTELLO: That was very cool.

O'BRIEN: We're knitting something for you. That is really cool.

MATTINGLY: Oh, well, thanks. Thanks. It's supposed to be cool. I'll take it. I'll take it.

O'BRIEN: Oh, yes. We can't knit.

All right, David. Thanks.

Let's get right to CNN's Allan Chernoff. He's in Macy's here in New York City.

Allan, good morning to you. How is it looking where you are?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Very crowded here at Macy's. People packed in beginning at 6:00 in the morning. And now the store -- I mean, it looks as crowded as I've seen it, middle day, any time.

Right over here, you see people just trying to get those shirts we were talking about. Shirts are really the big item on sale here. Some men's shirts 75 percent off. But there are all sorts of fantastic sales throughout the store. A lot of door busters here.

And as I mentioned earlier, it is the men who have really been battling it out for those discounted shirts. In fact, as a matter of fact, we had somebody lined up to talk to. He had seven shirts in his arm. He said, "I'll be right back. I just have to check one thing."

And you know what? I think he saw some fantastic sale. He didn't come back to us in time.

Shopping a bigger priority than talking with us on CNN? Apparently so. But this is the sort of situation you get the day after Thanksgiving. People here, no question, very hard-core about finding their bargains.

O'BRIEN: So what are you getting us, Allan? Carol and I want to know.

CHERNOFF: You know what? You know what? We have to get off the air so I can get shopping and get over to the women's department. This is men's area here. So...

O'BRIEN: Oh. Oh, we understand. Carol and I are knitting gifts for all the correspondents this year.

CHERNOFF: That's very kind of you.

O'BRIEN: Allan Chernoff for us with an update.

Thanks, Allan. Appreciate it.

A lot of chaos, and some of it is sort of friendly chaos as people pick over those shirts that Allan was highlighting for us at Macy's a little while ago. And then some less friendly chaos to tell you about at one Wal-Mart in Atlanta where they were dealing with much more than just the early bird specials.

The doors there opened before dawn. Hundreds of people were attracted by this deal on laptop computers. And it started off, as you can see, a pretty orderly fashion, but quickly degenerated into pushing and shoving, and that guy being basically tackled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are fighting, you know, pulling, you know, boxes from other people's hands and start fighting over there. It's crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of a sudden, everybody started pushing and shoving and carrying on. And, I mean, yelling and screaming. We were -- we were getting out of there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they were throwing these laptops in the air, 20 feet in the air, and people were collapsing on each other to grab them. It was ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: It sounds completely ridiculous and, of course, damaged a bunch of laptops in he meanwhile.

COSTELLO: Yes. If you're throwing them in the air and then you want to get...

O'BRIEN: That's not the one you want to buy.

COSTELLO: No, I don't think so. O'BRIEN: Definitely.

COSTELLO: Just unbelievable. It was calm at other Wal-Mart stores throughout the land, though, we're happy to say.

Let's check on the weather, because it's nasty in some parts of the country.

Jacqui Jeras is here. Good morning.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: You know, we were also overjoyed that the winds weren't so strong yesterday, because that meant the balloons could fly in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. But apparently, even though the winds didn't blow harder than 23 miles per hour, that caused a problem. I'm sure you've seen this by now.

A parade watcher actually caught this incident on videotape. You see the M&Ms balloon. It got tangled in a street lamp, and it just snapped the lamp -- you see the lamp there falling to the ground.

It actually fell on two sisters, and one of them needed stitches. An 11-year-old girl needed nine stitches in her head. Her sister, 26 yeas old, was in a wheelchair. And of course she couldn't move to get out of the way fast enough.

But, like, it was just miraculous. Both of them are OK this morning, and they say they're not going to sue. At least that's what their dad told CNN.

Remember that incident back in 1997?

O'BRIEN: Yes. Mayor Bloomberg says that...

COSTELLO: The Cat in the Hat balloon.

O'BRIEN: Right.

COSTELLO: And it really hurt someone when it knocked over that lamppost.

O'BRIEN: She was severely, severely injured, and she did, in fact, sue. And part of the deal was that they would make the security and the safety of the balloons much stronger, much more safe.

COSTELLO: That's why they instituted those rules, that, you know, if the winds blew stronger than 23 miles per hour, the balloons wouldn't go up. Or if they gusted to 34.

They weren't that strong yesterday. So they're going to do a whole other review and maybe it will change next year.

O'BRIEN: Right. Yes, gosh, a lucky thing for those two girls. COSTELLO: I know.

O'BRIEN: A girl and young -- young woman, who appear to be OK at this point.

Other stories making the news this morning, Tony Harris has those. He's at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Happy Thanksgiving to you.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And to you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

HARRIS: And good morning, everyone.

Paying a visit to American troops in Iraq. The governors of Kansas and Michigan, Mississippi and Georgia are in Baghdad. These are new pictures just into CNN this morning. They're getting a first- hand look at things there and thanking the men and women in uniform for their efforts.

Activist Cindy Sheehan rejoining war protesters outside President Bush's Texas ranch. The first family is spending a long holiday weekend there. Sheehan returned Thursday from California, where she was dealing with a family emergency.

Meantime, members of each of the military got personal holiday greetings from the president. Mr. Bush called some service members, thanking them for their sacrifice on Americans' behalf.

Former FEMA director Michael Brown says he is ready to take another shot at emergency planning. You'll recall Brown stepped down soon after Hurricane Katrina amid a storm of criticism about his lack of emergency management experience. Now Brown says he is starting a consulting firm of his own that he says will help people focus on preparedness. Brown says companies have already expressed interest in his new venture.

And police in Oakland, California, are looking into two incidents of vandalism at liquor stores. Watch this surveillance video as several men dressed in suits enter a store, then proceed to trash the place. It's still a mystery as to what was behind the attacks. But clerks say the suspects told them to "stop poisoning our neighborhood."

And we've been talking about holiday shoppers getting an early start all morning. These are new pictures of things turning a bit chaotic at a Wal-Mart in Washington State. Take a look.

Police had to be called in. This is in Renton, Washington.

Eleven minutes now after the hour. Back to Soledad and Carol in New York.

O'BRIEN: Any indication there was actual violence at that Wal- Mart, or is it just that, you know, big crowds get a little scary?

HARRIS: I think we need to queue that picture up a little closer to the real activity there. We'll do that for our next update with you.

COSTELLO: Yes, but that's the second incident...

HARRIS: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... at a Wal-Mart store. One in Orlando, and now one in Washington State. Police had to be called into the one in Washington State and there were arrests.

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, people are really energized and going after the deals. And they've waited a long time in line, and it's probably cold, and they're a little frustrated. And they open the doors and everybody rushes through. It's not exactly to me a surprise that -- I mean, not necessary for Wal-Mart, but any shopping experience, I could see it degenerating.

COSTELLO: Right. And there's a limited number of the item that you want, and you would be frustrated.

I don't know.

O'BRIEN: Remember they used to have fights over -- what was it? Was it the Cabbage Patch doll years ago?

COSTELLO: I think so.

O'BRIEN: Literally, fistfights broke out among women who were trying to get the doll for their kids.

COSTELLO: And that sounds so much worse than fights over Cabbage Patch dolls, which are popular again this year, by the way.

O'BRIEN: Really?

COSTELLO: Yes.

We have a programming note to tell you about. Some of you probably know that I anchor usually from 5:00 am to 7:00 am Eastern. And I do a show called "DAYBREAK." Well, we're combining our morning programming here on CNN, and AMERICAN MORNING will now start at 6:00 am Eastern. And of course I'm going to be working even more closely with you and Miles.

O'BRIEN: It looks like a sandwich, as you can see in that graphic. We are just all scrunched up against Miles there.

He's on vacation. And we carry on.

COSTELLO: What a lucky man.

O'BRIEN: We're going to be talking, of course, on Monday morning about Saddam Hussein's trial. That gets under way. And there is a good chance we're going to be hearing from witnesses as well.

And also, an exclusive interview with the guy who is really the go-to guy in New Orleans, Lieutenant General Russel Honore.

Those are stories that are coming up for you on Monday as we join you a little bit earlier on AMERICAN MORNING starting at 6:00 am Eastern Time.

Coming up this morning, a rock 'n' roll superstar does his part to get New Orleans on the road to recovery. We're going to show you how U2 guitarist The Edge is helping out in the Crescent City.

COSTELLO: And next, we'll take you live to the Toys r Us in Times Square and find out what this year's hottest toys are.

First, though, this question.

In 1939, President Roosevelt proclaimed Thanksgiving to be the third Thursday in November at the request of what group? Was it, A, religious leaders; B, school teachers; C, business leaders; or, D, turkey farmers? We'll have the answer for you after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Before the break we had this question for you. In 1939, President Roosevelt proclaimed Thanksgiving to be on the third Thursday in November at the request of what group?

Was it -- well, I'm not going to go through all of them. I'll just give you the answer, because it's easier that way. Business leaders. He moved it up a week to create a longer shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Public opposition prompted Congress to pass a law two years later officially setting Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of the month.

Now you know.

Many shoppers today are looking for gifts for kids who are becoming increasingly tech savvy.

John Barbour is the president of the U.S. division of Toys "R" Us. He's with us now from the chain's Times Square store with sales predictions for the holiday, including the most wanted toys.

Hello, John.

JOHN BARBOUR, TOYS "R" US: Hi. Good morning. How are you?

COSTELLO: I'm -- ooh, you're spunky this morning. We like that. That must mean you have great expectations for this year's Christmas shopping season.

BARBOUR: Yes, we're having a great morning. We actually opened over a hundred stores early this morning to let people in because we have so many people lining up there to get the deals we have this morning. COSTELLO: Ooh, good for you. Hopefully that will continue throughout the Christmas shopping season.

I want to know what really interests kids this year, because they are so tech savvy. It seems all of them want, you know, iPods or laptop computers. But you run down the most popular toys this year.

BARBOUR: Yes. We've got a whole host of the most popular toys here. I think what's really important to start off and recognize, though, is many of these toys will sell for $20 or less. It will bring hours and hours of fun and help shape our children all for the price of, what, three or four hamburgers? So there's some great values here.

Two that I want to talk about here are two of the hottest characters right now, Thomas the Tank and Dora the Explorer. This is the Thomas the Tank train set from Aqua Doodle. It has the magic of a track roller here that creates the track, and then the train by itself, by magic, follows a little track. And it plays the theme tune from "Thomas the Tank and Friends."

COSTELLO: That is cool.

BARBOUR: It's really awesome. When you see kids watching this little train, follow the track that they did, and they can change, there's some real magic to the play here.

Another great toy is the Dora's Talking Kitchen. Dora has done a wonderful job of introducing thousands, millions of American kids to bilingual different languages. This kitchen here comes with 25 different accessories and has great electronic features, like the blender here.

Again, bilingual. Lots of really good, creative fun play.

For the older kids there's this, another great creative toy, because what this does is allows a kid to make their own music by moving the ears. Can you hear him talking?

COSTELLO: I can hear him.

BARBOUR: Hear him?

COSTELLO: Wow!

BARBOUR: But the great thing as well, what happens here is, when you attach him to an iPod, which is also a hot gift this holiday season, you can play him as a speaker and he'll also interact with the music from the iPod as well.

COSTELLO: That is something else.

BARBOUR: OK?

COSTELLO: OK. Go ahead. BARBOUR: Tumble Time Tigger. This Tigger here is sound- activated and will regularly spin full somersaults in front of the kids all by itself.

COSTELLO: That's awesome. One more.

BARBOUR: And my favorite, of course, is LEGO. When you look at LEGO, there's the fun, there's the educational aspect of building something. But in the end, you get a great toy.

And this is the King Fort (ph), here, only available at Toys "R" Us. Hours and hours of creative, learning fun.

COSTELLO: You're a good salesman, John. You know, it's nice to see some of the more traditional toys coming back, like LEGOs. And, of course, before we go, just to prove me right, the Cabbage Patch doll is supposed to be a seller this year, right?

BARBOUR: Yes. Cabbage Patch -- you've got to realize, in the toy business, there are new kids every single year. So a lot of the really favorite toys, whether it's Cabbage Patch, whether it's Hot Wheels, whether it's LEGO, they're perennial.

COSTELLO: I don't know. Cabbage Patch dolls were so darned ugly, but people loved them.

John Barbour, president of the U.S. division of Toys "R" Us.

Thank you for joining us this morning.

BARBOUR: Thank you. Happy shopping.

COSTELLO: You too.

O'BRIEN: Ugly in a lovable way.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: I used to have a zillion of those things.

Coming up this morning, a rock 'n' roll superstar brings music back to New Orleans. We're going to show you how he has made it his mission to save the city's cultural heritage.

First, though, a message from our holiday troops overseas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PFC. JOHN THOMAS, U.S. ARMY: I would like to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of my family back in Arizona, my family in Colorado.

I love you, Ashland (ph). Mom and dad, mom and dad in Arizona, and my brother and sister, Happy Thanksgiving.

PFC. MARCO MORALES, U.S. ARMY: I would like to say Happy Thanksgiving to my wife, Amy, my mom, my dad, my sisters, and all my family in California. Love you guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: U2 front man Bono is known for his activism as much as his music. Well, now his band mate, The Edge, is launching his own effort to help others. His mission, to help bring back musical culture that Katrina shattered.

CNN's Sibila Vargas has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THE EDGE, U2 GUITARIST: Lovely.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): U2's guitarist The Edge may be from Ireland, but just like other musicians, he has an appreciation for New Orleans.

THE EDGE: It's like "The Crucible" for music. I mean, without New Orleans, there would be no jazz. Without New Orleans, there would be no R&B. Without New Orleans, there would be no rock 'n' roll.

The first thing I thought about after the shock of seeing the flood and everything was, oh, my god. What's going to happen to music?

VARGAS: As the waters gave way to mud and mold, thousands of musical instruments were lost.

THE EDGE: I have to say, you know, I'm one of the lucky people who have a number of guitars. But for somebody who has one or two, to lose them would be unimaginable. It's not just the tools of your trade, not just what puts food on the table. It is your voice. You become so attached to that particular instrument.

VARGAS: And the guitarist is now the front man for a group trying to bring music back to The Big Easy.

BOB EZRIN, MUSIC RISING: Music Rising is a partnership between Gibson Guitars, the Guitar Center Foundation, Music Cares Foundation, and a variety of other iconic players in the entertainment industry, and us to raise money to replace the instruments that were lost to musicians in the Gulf during the devastation.

VARGAS: Gibson has already pledged a million dollars to the cause. In New Orleans, he gave out the first five instruments with more, many more to come.

EZRIN: As far as we're concerned, this is just the beginning. First, we deal with the professional musicians. But next is church musicians and the street musicians of New Orleans, and also all of the schools that lost all of their instruments. So we've got -- we've got a long haul here.

VARGAS: But in time, they expect the music to be back.

THE EDGE: I can't wait to go back in a couple of years time and just see, you know, what I believe will be there, which is the culture coming back and regenerating.

VARGAS: Sibila Vargas, CNN, Entertainment News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: A terrific project, really.

For more information on the Music Rising campaign, visit www.musicrising.org.

COSTELLO: And coming up, our special series, "Week of Giving." Today we'll take you to a small town that literally adopted one New Orleans family after Katrina wiped out their home.

Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Here we go. The opening bell about to ring on Wall Street.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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