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CNN This Morning
Denver Airport to Conduct Airline Reviews Amid Cancellations. Warwick Reflects on Confronting Racism and Raising Awareness for AIDS Education. New Year's Resolution: How Americans View "Dry January". Rolling Stone Releases New "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" Book. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired December 30, 2022 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:30:00]
PHILLIP A. WASHINGTON, CEO, DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: I'll do the best job I can there as well.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN THIS MORNING HOST: OK. Just so you do still expect to eventually have that job leading the FAA?
WASHINGTON: Well we'll see what happens. Tomorrow's not promised anybody, so we'll see what happens. And I can say this. Whatever job I have I'll do the best that I possibly can.
COLLINS: OK. Phillip Washington, I know you are very busy this morning. You've got a lot of unclaimed baggage there. Thank you for taking time to talk about the real impacts that this chaos had on your airport. We appreciate it.
WASHINGTON: Thank you.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN THIS MORNING HOST: Coming up, she's an icon, a legend, one of the greatest singers of all time. Dionne Warwick spoke to Don ahead of a new CNN film about her life, and you'll see that conversation next.
(MUSIC)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:35:29]
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DON LEMON, CNN THIS MORNING HOST: Oh man, she is one of the greatest singers of all time. Dionne Warwick's distinctive voice that some have said it's like finding water in a desert. It has thrilled her legions of fans, and over the decades the legendary vocal artist has brought us countless hits like "Alfie", "Do You Know the Way to San Jose", while also breaking through racial barriers and shining a spotlight on important social issues. The new CNN film, "Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over" -- that's another one of her hits, right -- it tells the intimate stories behind the singer's rise from the gospel choir to global superstardom. Here's just a preview of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIONNE WARWICK, SINGER: The shows were completely sold out every night. There was one side, which was white, where they were seated, and the other side was a ballroom-type setting where everybody was standing. Blacks were on the side, whites were on this side. The stage was straight ahead, and I remember Sam saying, "Dionne, do not turn your back on the white folk." And I said, "Well why not?" He said, "Do not turn your back on the white folk." I said, "OK". The first thing I did when I went out there, I walked straight to the band and turned my back and played to the ones that looked like me. Everybody could hear me. Everybody could see me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Joining us now the legend herself, Dionne Warwick. So outspoken, Dionne. Thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it.
WARWICK: My pleasure, my darling. You know I love you.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: I love you as well. This is a beautiful film about your incredible life and career. Why'd you decide to let audiences in now to get such an intimate look at you and your life?
WARWICK: You know, people have their own opinions and they suppose things. Now they know the real deal.
LEMON: You were the first black person to win the pop vocal Grammy for "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" (sic). Did you ever imagine reaching these heights when you were signing in the gospel choir in jersey?
WARWICK: No. As a matter of fact, I never really wanted to record.
(LAUGHTER)
I finally was talked into it because I was promised one particular song to be my first recording, and those songs make it easy on yourself. And Bacharach and David gave that song to Jerry Butler, and I was not very happy about that.
(LAUGHTER)
As a matter of fact, my first recording, "Don't Make Me Over", was because of something I said to them that they could not do, and that was make me over.
LEMON: Oh really? You said don't try to make me --
WARWICK: Yes.
LEMON: -- into something that I'm not? Is that where that came from? WARWICK: Exactly. Exactly. And, of course, Hal David put pen to paper and "Don't Make Me Over".
LEMON: This looks a the way that you had to deal with racism throughout your career, so tell us more about your approach when you faced that kind of injustice. Was that part of your "Do Not Make Me Over" approach?
WARWICK: No. You know, I didn't know anything about that coming from eastern New Jersey AEA (ph), and that kind of confrontation I never even dreamed of. I mean, I lived on a street, Sterling Street in East Orange, but I really likened it to the United Nations where we really scored to create (ph) a religion on that street, and we all lived very comfortably together. We walked to school together. We had lunches together. People came to my home. I went to their homes. So being subjected to the madness because of the color of my skin travelling throughout the southern regions of our country, I kind of -- I understood the side (ph).
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LEMON: But this film also highlights, Ms. Warwick, your work on the AIDS crisis, and you helped so many people, and particularly your Grammy-winning hit, "That's What Friends Are For", which has raised millions and millions of dollars for the cause over these years. Why did you decide to speak out then because it wasn't so popular to do what you did?
WARWICK: No. It really wasn't. In fact, it was frightening the way people were shying away from it.
[08:40:00]
We were losing so many people within my industry. I mean, we were losing hairdressers and dancers and cameramen and lighting people and wardrobe people. And I, you know, being the nosy person that I am, I wanted to know what this thing was. Nobody knew anything about it until Rock Hudson put a face on it.
I was appointed by President Reagan as the Ambassador of Health for the United States. I decided then let's see what's going on other places because we were hearing that there were medications being applied, people getting wonderful results from it, and I come and went on a jump (ph). I ran around the world and I was bringing back medicines from different countries to see if they were going to work on our people here.
I just felt that I was going to practice what my grandfather taught me. He said many, many years ago when I was a child that we were all here on this Earth to be a service to each other, and I didn't find that too hard to do. So there I was.
LEMON: That's why we love you. I've got to ask you.
(LAUGHTER) And you know I also love you because, you know, I follow you on Twitter. I want to know how you feel about the changes under Elon Musk because you have people like Whoopi Goldberg saying I'm out until they fix this platform. Are you going to stay on the platform?
WARWICK: No, I've not met Mr. Musk yet, and I intend to do that.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: You said you want to meet with him?
WARWICK: Yes, I do. I want to see what he's really up to. I learn you never judge a book by its cover. You got to open it up and started reading it, and that's the way I feel about him as well, so I'm going to see what he wants and how he's really going to approach his new venture.
LEMON: Yes. I got to tell people one of the biggest thrills of my life was an award that I got.
WARWICK: Yes.
LEMON: And a surprise, they said someone is here to sing for you and introduce you, and it was you! I almost fell out of my chair. I could barely accept the award for crying. I know, you know, from knowing you that this is -- you know, there's still a lot more runway ahead for Dionne Warwick. So what is the next chapter? Do you know?
WARWICK: No. I haven't -- I don't know what God has in store for me. You know, I'm just following in the path he's leading me down.
LEMON: Dionne Warwick, thank you. I love you so much. Thank you.
WARWICK: That's the way I feel about you, too. You know that.
LEMON: Thank you. That's a song, too.
(LAUGHTER)
Be sure to tune in the all-new CNN film, "Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over", premieres New Year's Day at 9 p.m. only here on CNN.
COLLINS: Cannot wait to watch that.
HARLOW: She's amazing.
COLLINS: She's so great.
HARLOW: OK. This morning's number is 60. We'll tell you why next.
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[08:46:30]
COLLINS: Oh boy.
HARLOW: We -- you don't even want to know what we were just talking about.
(LAUGHTER)
We are getting closer to New Year's Day, a time of year when we reflect on things that we want to change in the year ahead. Kaitlan has some ideas for me that --
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: It's for myself to be fair.
HARLOW: The subject of this morning's number with CNN's Senior Data Reporter, Harry Enten.
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: Are you crying from laughing? Harry, OK.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I'll save both of you. How about that? OK. So this morning's number, what is it? This morning's number is -- it's 60 percent. That is Google searches for dry January in the week leading up to Christmas. It's up 60 percent from where we were in 2021. It's up 300 percent from where we were in 2017. Of course, the idea of dry January is that you don't take in alcohol during the month of January, and it's clear from these numbers that a lot more people are interested at least in the idea of dry January.
Now, why would they be interested in the idea of dry January? Because there are a lot of benefits to it, right? A majority of those who follow the program reported saving money, sleeping better, weight loss, it's easier to focus, perhaps something we can work on here, fewer days drunk, even months later.
So the fact of the matter is is that dry January is something that does help out those who are involved in it, and they see the effects of it even months later.
COLLINS: But there -- it seems to have become a phenomenon and it seems like everyone's doing it. I have so many friends who do dry January. I personally do not because I think January's a tough month. It's like brutal weather. It's like, you know, people like to have a glass of wine. Are a lot of people doing it, or what does it look like what it comes to people who are still drinking?
ENTEN: Yes. Yes, yes. So, you know, Gallup has been tracking for years the percentage of Americans who drink alcohol, and we're not becoming dry because look at this trend line of the percentage of Americans or at least of adults who drink alcohol. It stayed very, very consistent. So 67 percent this year, and Gallup said that they did as compared to 66 percent 20 years ago, 65, 40, 63 nearly 50, and we're back to where we were in 1945 at 67 percent.
So we're basically a country that is drinking the same percentage of alcohol that we have drank throughout the years, but I will point out one thing that really has changed is the perception of alcohol, how dangerous is alcohol? Which is more dangerous to use, alcohol or marijuana? Look at the -- look at this right year. 54 percent say alcohol compared to just 7 percent who say marijuana in 2022. If you compare that to where we were in 1974, it was a basic split.
So what's happened is even if the same percentage of Americans are drinking alcohol as used to, the perception of how dangerous it is has clearly changed. A lot more people now think alcohol is dangerous, at least compared to marijuana.
COLLINS: That's really interest. I need to know what this last tab is, New Year's Eve Plan. Is that your New Year's Eve plan, Harry?
ENTEN: It does sort of get to what my New Year's Eve plan is.
HARLOW: Are you going to Times Square with Kaitlan?
ENTEN: I am not going to Times Square. So are you going to be awake at midnight to ring in the New Year? 75 percent say it is likely. 25 percent say it is unlikely. I am definitely in the unlikely camp. If I do my New Year's Eve correctly, I am, in fact, going to be nice, cooked (ph) in bed by let's say 10, 10:30. I'll get a nice dinner before. The partying is not for me. I'll leave the partying to Kaitlan in Times Square. That's my goal (ph).
HARLOW: Resolution?
ENTEN: Resolution --
COLLINS: I want to be clear I'm not going to Times Square, but continue.
(LAUGHTER)
ENTEN: Oh, I thought that maybe you were and we're going to join Anderson there (ph).
[08:50:00]
My resolution is to sleep more, so this is right in line with it, sleeping more.
HARLOW: Good luck with this show.
ENTEN: Good luck with this show. That's why we're doing this at, you know, 8:55 or so.
HARLOW: You got some pull with the producers here.
COLLINS: You must know a guy.
HARLOW: Yes, you must know a guy.
ENTEN: I got some pull. You know, it's because I bake these slides together (ph). They're very, very nice.
COLLINS: Well we can't wait for more numbers in 2023.
ENTEN: Sounds great. I look forward to seeing it.
HARLOW: (inaudible).
COLLINS: All right. Rolling Stone Magazine has released a new book of their top 500 albums of all time. What topped to the list, and our personal favorites. We'll tell you that next.
Sleeping where --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Sleep more? Sleep more?
COLLINS: It tracks my sleep (ph).
HARLOW: But does it make --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:54:47]
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: The control room, he's just there. But that is our awesome team inside the control room doing --
[08:55:00]
HARLOW: We've been wanting that shot since we launched this show.
COLLINS: Yes. I mean, they -- I mean, this is -- that is -- you see us on screen. That's what really happens behind the scenes. One big thing we're talking about --
HARLOW: And our -- and our producers earlier. You know, you can't forget them.
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: And our producers you saw in the last one. They're clapping in the corner. OK, do you recognize this song?
(MUSIC)
Of course, as you know that is Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On". It is the top single from the number one album of this amazing book that Rolling Stone has put together. A new list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone just published this new book along with a full list with a new poll with the results from some of the industry's most-celebrated artists, producers, and journalists.
Joining us now to talk about this book and who made this list is Rolling Stone's Senior Writer, Brittany Spanos.
BRITTANY SPANOS, ROLLING STONE SENIOR WRITER: Thank you so much for having me. COLLINS: So glad to have you back.
SPANOS: Yes.
COLLINS: This book is just -- we're just -- we've all been like looking through it all morning.
SPANOS: Yes.
COLLINS: It's just incredible. How do you decide, though, because I know that like some people may not agree that Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" should be number seven, it should be number one.
SPANOS: Yes.
COLLINS: Like how do you -- how do you decide?
SPANOS: So we had 300 voters weigh in on this list, and it's a combination of journalists in the industry, Rolling Stone staffers, but also a lot of musicians, a lot of industry experts. We had people like Beyonce and Stevie Nicks vote what their favorite albums, and they all submitted ballots. And we really lucked out because we had sent out the ballots and the information on it in late 2019, but then like everyone was home in 2020 and they had time. Like Beyonce would usually not have time to think about like her favorite albums, but she sat down and she submitted it. And so, I think there's a really great diverse number of voices who weighed in on what the greatest albums of all time were.
HARLOW: You guys did this in 2003, 2012 --
SPANOS: Yes.
HARLOW: -- and now. So now looking through this, you've got Beyonce you mentioned, Taylor Swift, Stevie Nicks, Lin Manuel Miranda. It's just fascinating to see them all come together, and the control room, the team you just saw asked us to pick our favorites.
(LAUGHTER)
Can we pull Kaitlan's up here, guys?
COLLINS: Why do I have to go first?
HARLOW: Because you have to -- you're like better at this than I am.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: Well mine -- "Rumours" is one of mine.
HARLOW: Yes.
COLLINS: Also I lived Talking Heads, came in at number 39. Beyonce's "Lemonade" was 32. Of course, that's an incredible album.
SPANOS: Yes. COLLINS: Poppy has hers as well.
HARLOW: I have mine. I'm an old school. Elton John, Otis Redding, and I grew up in a house listening to records of Bonnie Raitt.
SPANOS: Great choices, yes.
(LAUGHTER)
Love those choices.
HARLOW: But is shows how diverse this list is.
SPANOS: Yes. I mean, it's really incredible to see the way taste changed. I mean, everyone's sort of -- the controversy with both lists is the idea like do we need a list like this? And I think it's a really great compendium to look at the way that taste and kind of artist influence and impact changes over the years and also for really young music fans who kind of use this as a resources to learn about music history. And it's really fun to see like what was included, what bumped up, what bumped down, seeing newer albums, seeing more Latin albums, seeing younger artists, seeing more rap, seeing like everything kind of shift and become like a bigger melting pot of what music is today.
HARLOW: Something that surprised you as you were looking at the votes coming in?
SPANOS: You know, I'm a -- I'm a pop girl and I love pop music, and pop music is typically not super respected as classic and iconic. And so, it was really fun to see like Britney Spears' "Blackout" on this list. It's like one of my favorite albums. It ranked very highly on my personal ballot, and you know, I think seeing an album by an artist who was disrespected as not authentic being seen as one of the greatest albums of all time, to see an artist make that, it just felt really special to kind of see people put respect on pop music and on especially like female artists, young women who make music in this list.
COLLINS: That is really special, and the selection process as people like Beyonce are casting their ballots, how does that work when you go through them and then you guys basically look at the numbers to see what that looks like as the rankings go?
SPANOS: Yes. So everyone was asked to make their ballot in order. I believe it was 25 albums that everyone had to submit, and there was like a point system that we have. I wasn't the one who tabulated this, so I have no idea how it worked. I'm terrible with numbers, but there's a point system. Like if you had this number one, I think, you know, it's a certain number, like hundreds of points or something that helped actually kind of streamline it instead of just being like well this person put it at number one, so like let's put it in the top 10. Like very mathematical sort of way of doing this.
COLLINS: It's cool. There's like a real science behind it.
SPANOS: Yes.
HARLOW: Also a gorgeous book, so I can't wait to --
(CROSSTALK)
SPANOS: Yes.
COLLINS: I know. I mean, we have seriously been flipping through it all morning because it's just -- and it also reminds me of things. I'm like, oh, I need to go listen to that. (inaudible)
SPANOS: Yes.
HARLOW: Exactly.
SPANOS: And I was home for Christmas and I found like the one that I had from the 2003 list.
COLLINS: Oh really?
SPANOS: I just think it's just like so nice to --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: You look like you must have been like 10 --
SPANOS: I was.
(LAUGHTER)
HARLOW: -- in 2003. I was. Own it girl.
COLLINS: Well now we got a good playlist.
