November 6, 2025 • 38 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
N.H. investigators asking witnesses to 1989 disappearance to come forward
Guest: Emily Sweeney – Boston Globe Cold Case Files reporter
From the cockpit of an F/A-18 Hornet, Cdr. Frank Weisser, USN, conveys the lessons he learned flying as the Lead Solo for the Blue Angels, on multiple combat deployments, and as stunt pilot for the blockbuster film Top Gun: Maverick. His new book: “LEAD SOLO: Learning Life’s Vectors from an F/A-18 Blue Angel Aviator” - all the net proceeds of the book going to charity.
Guest: Frank Weisser - U.S. Navy Commander the Blue Angels and Combat Pilot Who Flew All the Aerial Stunts in Top Gun: Maverick & Author
Stress Awareness Week - How can we stress less and live more? Addressing work stress & chronic burnout & how to tackle that.
Guest: Amy Leneker - former C-suite executive and leadership advisor to Fortune 100 companies & Author, motivational speaker
Remembering & Honoring Marine Lt. Alfred (Al) Lussier who gave his life saving another Marine in Alaska & died a hero.
Guest: John Casey – former classmate of Al’s at BLS
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's nice eyes with Dan Ray. I'm going easy Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good evening everybody, and welcome on in. Thank you very much, Madison.
Always nice to hear your voice. As we begin a
Thursday night edition of Nightside. Before we get to tonight,
I want to remind everyone that on Monday night we
do a special program beginning at eight o'clock. There will
be no there will be no regular guests, but we
(00:30):
will have two very special guests, the deans of Admission.
Their titles are somewhat different, but basically Bill Fitzsimmons, the
dean of Admission, longtime dean of mission at Harvard University
in Grank Goslin. Again, the titles are a little different,
but he's the head of admissions at Boston College. So
(00:52):
I'm just reminding everyone that Monday night at eight o'clock,
if you're a parent, if you're a grandparent, and you
have children or grandchildren or nieces or nephews who are
thinking about applying to college, you cannot get two better guests.
And everyone is invited to call and ask questions about
this admissions process. We try to basically take some of
(01:15):
the mystery out of the admissions process and help people,
particularly those who in the family perhaps are applying to
college the first time. So that's Monday night, the tenth.
Next month is upcoming Monday ninth from what's it, four
nights from now? I have four nights from now November
tenth at eight o'clock. Now we're dealing with November sixth,
(01:38):
which is Thursday night, and we have four really interesting guests.
We're going to talk with Emily Sweeney, Boston Globe Cold
Case Files reporter. Going to talk with Frank Wiser, who's
a US Navy commander of the Blue Angels and a
combat pilot who flew all the aerial stunts and top
gun Maverick. He's also an author. We're going to talk
(02:01):
about stress when this week, and we're going to remember
in advance of Veteran's Day, a very special hero. We
will explain the connections that Lieutenant al Lucier has to
so many here in the Boston area who were classmates
of his in the class of nineteen seventy one at
(02:22):
Boston Latin School. Now, first up, and we have some
good topics coming up later. We're gonna have bike lane Wars.
We've gotta have a great conversation with Paul Baskin, who
believes in Boston bike lanes and he has some other
thoughts as well. We will talk with Bill Brett about
two books and the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of
(02:43):
the US Marine Corps. And we'll also talk with Nick d. Filippo.
He's the general manager of the Centerfolds Club in Boston.
That's the one that we talked about the other night
with Boston City council Ed Flynn. So we have a
full plate in front of us. Let us begin with
one of my favorite guests. She is here pretty much
every other Thursday. Emily Sweeney, Boston Globe Cold Case Files reporter,
(03:06):
going to talk about an investigation that goes back to
a nineteen eighty nine disappearance unsolved case up in New Hampshire. Emily,
welcome back to Night's side. Tell us about the disappearance
of David Brayley.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Yeah, Dan, thank you so much for having me. This
is a really important case because the police think that
there were witnesses that saw what happened to David, and
witnesses that haven't come forward. So anyway, Yeah, David Brayley,
he was a twenty one years old and he was
living up in New Hampshire's in Massachusetts Natives. He was
(03:41):
born in Attleborough, lived in Norton, eventually moved with his
family to New Hampshire and he was working in Conquered
New Hampshire and went out with his coworkers to a
place called the Take five Music Hall. It was kind
of like a nightclub that had live music. And he
went out that night and this was around November tenth,
(04:03):
nineteen eighty nine, and somehow he got separated from his
coworkers and he had never been to this club before.
But he disappeared after that and his family didn't know
what happened to him for months, and eventually his body
was found in the Merrimack River and he was like
(04:24):
beaten up, badly beaten, and you know, so it seems
that somebody.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
You know, so this is this is not someone who
fell into the river after having had too many drinks.
This is someone who somehow, some way was assaulted and
is truly a homicide victim.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah, yeah, they're still carring it a suspicious death. But
you know, police suspect that there were witnesses, you know
that you know, saw what happened and maybe they were
reluctant to come forward. You know, you think nineteen eighty nine.
You know, kids who are like twenty one years old
like David are now like in their late fifties.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
A thirty six years has passed. Yeah, And did the
police know much about who he was with that night?
Did he talk to the friends who he somehow was
separated from, did they have any knowledge of that? Did
any of them come forward and say, gee, we were
out having a few drinks with a friend of ours
(05:30):
and we can't find him.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, I mean pretty much. So I talked to David's
mother today, you know, and she was just kind of recalling,
you know, what happened that night, and it's unknown. Somehow
you got separated from his coworkers, and you know, maybe
he fell into a long crowd, you know, maybe he
got into a fight, maybe somebody started with him. They're
(05:53):
not sure, you know. All they know is somehow he
ended up in the river, badly, beaten up far How far?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
How far was his body in the river? And I
don't know if they felt the the river had carried
the body away, But what was the was the river
very close to the club that that he had gone to.
With his friends or yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah, so so the Take five Music Hall, that that nightclub,
it's no longer there, but it was kind of on
the main drag of Route three and Conquered and the
Merrimack River like kind of runs right behind it. And
his body turned up in Manchester in the Merrimack. So yeah, yeah,
(06:36):
so that's good.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
That's a good twenty miles. If I remember driving from
Conquered to Manchester, that's quite a distance.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah yeah, I mean it's it's a really weird case,
and I feel so bad, you know, talking to his
mother a lane, you know, you know, she said that,
you know, it's been thirty six years, but it still
feels unreal. And she told me, they get something that
you'd never think would happen. You know, you're going out
(07:04):
with somebodies from work, Yeah, and you never come home.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So are you dealing up there on this one with
state police or with the City of Conquered police department.
I mean, if this is a homicide, I assume the
state police are going to get involved.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yeah. So you know, Mawantia has a you know, statewide
cold case unit that handles these cases, but also Conquered
police are involved as well, so you know, anybody that
has information. Maybe you know you had a friend that
went was out that night saw something. You know, it
(07:39):
was nineteen eighty nine, and you know there are people
who are still around who were there at night.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Would you work these cases emily? And again, if I'm
asking you a question that gets to your procedures that
should be kept to yourself. Did the police allow you
generally to take a look at the file and take notes,
because obviously it's a cold case. It's not going to
get solved unless someone publicly steps forward, and what you're
(08:06):
doing is a tremendous public service. Do they allow you,
you know, not that you're going to take the files,
but you could look at the files and sometimes your
eyes might spot something that was missed thirty six years ago.
Or did they just simply tell you what they want
to tell you?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Well, you know, the police departments these days are very
tight lipped about investigations, and I understand why. You know,
a lot of times you know they have to be.
But I do get information, like it really varies on
the case and the agency. You know, sometimes sure departments
will give me more information. Also, family members who have
(08:43):
been involved with the case for years. They've dealt with
different investigators over the years, and they usually have a
wealth of knowledge and you know, talking to the friends
and family, I usually get a lot of information as
well as documents.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Well, you do great jobs at all of these and
if there's anyone that has any recollection of this, they
need to get in touch with I guess the the
Unsolved Crimes Unit in New Hampshire. The easiest, the easiest
way would be for them to get in touch with you.
How could if someone does here or our interview, you know,
(09:19):
just rings a bell in the back of someone's head.
How can they get in touch with you. What's the
best way for them to.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Reach out to you.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Well, my email address you can get me at the Globe.
It's Emily dot Sweeney at Globe dot com.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Well, that's pretty simple. That is strict to call forward
and tell us again about your your your newsletter it's
called what Cold Case Files and People. That's that's available
to people if they want to sign up for it
for gratis for free.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, yeah, please please subscribe, Please spread the word. You know,
we're trying to get a lot of you know, attention
on these cases. And the newsletter is one way we
do it. You can sign up to the the newsletter
if you go to Globe dot com slash cold case files.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Globe dot com slash cold case Files. Well, Emily, we'll
talk to you in a couple of weeks. It'll be
getting pretty close to Thanksgiving, so I'll hold I'll wait
off until I'll wait till then to wish you happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Okay, all right, jan Hey, thank you so much. I
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Pleasure Kante. We so appreciate what you're doing. Thanks Emily.
All right, when we get back, we're going to talk
to an incredible individual, Frank Wiser. I hope I'm pronouncing
the name correctly. He is the lead Solo for the
Blue Angels and he's written a book. All the proceeds
(10:42):
from the book, by the way, go to charity. So
this is going to be really interesting. Stick with us
back on Nightside as we start a celebration on Veteran's Day.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Night Side with Dan Ray, I'm WBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Well, as we approach Veteran's Day next week, I'm honored
to introduce to my audience Frank Wiser. He has written
a book called Lead Solo learning Life's vectors from an
FA eighteen Blue Angel aviator honor to talk with you.
(11:19):
How are you this evening, sir.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
I'm doing great and I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So this book talks about leadership in life's lessons that
you have have developed and obviously honed as a lead
solo for the Blue Angels. I gotta tell you, I,
(11:45):
like everyone knows the Blue Angels, we stand in awe
of what you folks do in the air. My first
question is how do you become a Blue Angel? I mean,
you know, I got to go through I'm sure an
immense amount of training, and I'd love you to put
it in brief perspective for us. So people get a
(12:06):
sense that they just don't say, hey, you're a Blue
Angel'll go get that plane and see what you can do.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
You're right, No, they don't take a whole lot of
chances on untrusted or untested individuals. But the first thing
is you have to be a Navy foder pilot. You
have to fly a taxiing aircraft for the US Navy
or the Marine Corps. And if you have enough experience,
you can request to be considered and the experienced part
is a big factor in this because you're doing the
maneuvers we fly are not any more challenging or unknown
(12:35):
or hard than what we do off an aircraft carrier
in foreign lands. However, we're doing them at crazy low altitudes.
Normally an F eighteen is best between twenty thousand and
forty thousand feet, but we're doing it at fifty to
two hundred feet most of the time, so there's not
a lot of time to not know what you're doing
when things go wrong, and so that's a really critical aspect.
And then the final piece is that the individuals that
(12:56):
we look at to be selected have to be someone
that can probably represent the Navy and the Marine Corps.
Because the US Navy and Rink Corps we don't do
a lot of advertisements. We think our people are the
best ad so we send these airplanes and our sailors
and marines all over the world to hopefully showcase the
prime and professionalism of our Navy and Rink Corps.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Well, you do it well. You also, I guess flew
all of the aerial stunts in the movie Top Gun Maverick.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
I flew the extreme low altitude and the inverted scenes
for the movie, and that was primarily because of my
Blu Angel experience and doing that for so many years.
They were looking to mitigate some of their risks, and
so that was my contribution to the movie.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
So they mitigated your risk by having you do the stunts. Okay,
that had to have been a lot of fun, you know,
for you. And I'm sure you interacted with the folks
who were the stars of the movie, including Tom Cruise.
I'll bet you those guys were more in awe of
you than you were of the movie stars.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
You know. I had a wonderful time with him, I
will say that. And I was surprised, pleasantly surprised that
they were all incredible across the board. I don't know
what I had maybe expected, but they were hard working,
they were motivated, they were respectful of all the military
folks that were there, not just people they are flying with,
and it was a really positive experience overall. And I
(14:22):
think they did an incredible job showcasing what we do
and then it becomes a two hour advertisement for the
Navy and they did an awesome job with it.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Absolutely. Now are you still flying with the Blue Angels.
I know you achieved the rank of US Navy commander.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
I retired in the summer of twenty one. I actually
still worked with them about ten hours a week as
a as a contractor because my final job haul we
were filming Top Don Maverick. I was also in the
process of transitioning us from the legacy FA team to
the super Hornet. That was a new aircraft, and that
was a four year process for me, and so in
doing so, I sort of became the subject matter expert
(15:00):
on our software, on the flight controls, on how we
fly this air show with this new aircraft, and so
I do still I am still connected and plugged in
with them and able to see them on a somewhat
regular basis. You know, the Blue Angels, we have such
high turnover every two years, we have an entire new
aersop team, So it's critical to keep some kind of
corporate knowledge on board with our ex Blue Angels who
show up and say, you know, I don't know that
(15:20):
I would do that. We tried that back in the
eighties and that didn't go very well. So let's rethink
maybe what your new plan is.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Institutional knowledge is extraordinarily important. So the book leads solo
learning lives vectors from an fat and blue angel aviator.
I think it should be obvious to most of us
the lessons, But give us just a little bit of
a flavor of the book, because I'm sure a lot
of people going to want to buy it, particularly as
we approach the holiday season giving gifts to no greater
(15:51):
gift in a book that someone is going to be
interested in. Give us a little taste of what lessons
people will learn.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
Well, the book was off a speech I'd given and
I was trying to share some of the characteristics of
my military service that I thought we might find touch points.
And that speech, after top ten, Maverick came out the
amount of requests for me to go to everything from
you know, c suet level folks at fort five her companies,
to five year old kindergarten classes and churches and county fairs,
(16:21):
and it just went. It was a little hard for
me to keep wrap my arms around, but I essentially
refined this speech, and that was the Naval Institute was
a press at the Naval Cabet. I'd spoken to the
students there and they said, can you turn that into
a book? And so the lessons that I tried to
first showcase. In this speech, with pictures and videos, I
was enabled to illustrate with stories of the people I
served with, and so I talked about how we achieve
(16:43):
a level of focus landing an aircraft on a carrier
at night, a ship at this in the sea where
it's so dark you can't see your hand in front
your face, and it takes a great deal of focus,
very similar to our Blue Angel maneuvers, where you're a
mere feet off the ground at three herd knots and
you know a tenth of an inch movement in the
stick and you've crashed within a second. And so that
focus is really relevant. But then another one's trust. How
(17:03):
do we trust each other? And these things are not
just relevant and tackle aircraft that are relevant in my
job now as a real estate developer and a contractor.
And so I've found these lessons to be really beneficial.
And another one is communication. We communicate in the air
show to make the airshow work. But one of the
things we do that kind of the secret sauce of
lo Angels is after the show and how we debrief
the flight and how we try to pull every single
(17:24):
detail from every mistake, everything that wasn't exactly where you
want it. And so the ability to admit your own
mistakes and to provide constructive criticism is really one of
the key aspects that makes it a high function team.
So those are the story of ship stories I share
and lessons I try to pull out in the book.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Tell us really briefly, if you can commander about your
your path. Did you were you in college? Did you
go to one of the did you go to the
to Annapolis or did you you did I did? I?
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Actually I went to the Naval Academy in Annapolis. I
went there specifically to be a Navy seal and so,
and I didn't do that, not for one minute. And
so there's a chapter of my book called Failure, and
it starts off with ME putting my entire young life
towards one particular goal and failing at it. And then
I failed into aviation. And I continued to fail in
aviation for quite some time before I was able to
figure out exactly what I was doing. And so I
(18:15):
share some of those stories. But yeah, I went to
the Naval Academy for that reason. The Navy doesn't seem
to really care much about what you want to do.
They care more about what you can do that best
serves them, and so my strengths and weaknesses were probably
aligned better with flying an airplane. And unlesson I learned
at twenty two that stays with me now is that
it mattered less how I served, the manner in which
(18:36):
I served, and it mattered more simply that I served.
The fact that I was served my country in any
capacity meant more than me getting my way and doing
it the way I wanted to do. And so that
was a really pivotal moment for me for that to
dawn on me, and it made the service mean more
to me, and it made twenty five years ultimately including
a Naval Academy, the happiest and most formative of my life.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Of course, yeah, I have one of my dear friends
graduated from the Naval Academy eighteen seventy nine. I don't
want to ask you what you graduated from because that's
going to give away age, so we'll leave it at that.
But Sam Sitsko was I think number two in his
class in seventy nine, and he spent three years at
Harvard Law School, where he met his beautiful and lovely wife.
(19:16):
So it's just funny how how life takes you to
different turns and opportunities present themselves, and obviously your life
has had plenty of turns up in the ear on
the ground. The book leads alo learning life's vectors. I
love the word vectors. By the way, that's a very
important word in my language of Mysaurus, because it is vectors.
(19:41):
There are vectors. Is such an important word from an
F eighteen Blue Angel aviator. And if you have anyone
who served any time in the military, or a spyue
to serve in the military, this book should be a
must present, and I'm sure they can get it at Amazon.
Do you also have a website? I asked this of
every author, because some authors have their own websites, uh,
(20:03):
and they're willing to inscribe the books that they that
they send out. Great, I do have.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
I have a I have a website that people can
contact me on. I've signed and personalized many, many many
so I'm certainly happy to do that for any of
your listeners.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Give us that website, Commander.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
It's it's easy. It's Frank Wiser.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Dot net perfect and wisder. I'm going to spell it.
It's w E I S S E R dot net.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Yes, sir, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Well again, I'm honored to have had you on the
program and hats off to you and a happy veterans stay,
my friend.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
I appreciate you taking the time. Wonderful chatting with you.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Great talk. Soon we are going to take a break here.
That was an incredible, incredible guest. We are going to
take a break and we have the news of the buddle.
The are we come back when to talk about Stress
Awareness Week? I guess probably all of us have stress.
I know I have stress. The question is how can
we stress less and live more? And we're gonna talk
(21:03):
with Amy Leneker about that. Coming back with night Side
right after the break.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on w BZY,
Boston's news radio. You know what really grinds Mike is
this Lindsay low hand Man, Lindsay Lowhand with all those
little outfits jumping around there on stage three two one
one two three? What the heck it's bothering me? Yo?
Speaker 5 (21:37):
What do you what do you want? You know?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Are we gonna go out?
Speaker 5 (21:39):
Is that what you're trying to?
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Why you what do you want?
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Lindsay?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Tell me what you want?
Speaker 5 (21:44):
Well, I tell you what you want? You want nothing?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
You want nothing? Soredity now, soredity now?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
What is that not to get me a relaxation? Cassette
and my bless gets too high man to.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Say now and that, people, is what grinds my gears?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
To Amy, we do a segment here on Nightside sometimes
on a Friday night from the old Steinfeldt Show, in
which we ask people what grinds their gears, And as
I was thinking about bringing you on, I thought that's
a perfect segue, Amy Leedeker. This is Stress Awareness Week?
(22:22):
How can we live stress less? Live more? You're laughing.
Thank you, You're a good sport. You have written a
book that is entitled Cheers to Monday, The surprisingly Simple
Method to lead and live with less stress and more joy.
I have a good friend of mine who calls Monday
(22:43):
moan day, m A and d A Y, and I
think a lot of us think of Monday as Oh,
here we go again. I can't wait to read your book.
Tell me how it's going to make my life less stressful?
Speaker 6 (23:00):
Thank you, and thank you for making my life less stressful.
With the introduction a sign folk clip is always a
good thing.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Soul out like two minutes ago. I should have thought
about it an hour ago. I put my producer on
the spot. He's very good at finding finding audio clips.
Go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (23:18):
It was perfect. So the experience that your friend described
of how they call it moan day, that's not uncommon.
So many people feel that way about Mondays. But the
problem is we're going to work two thousand, one hundred
and nine Mondays in our lifetime. That's a lot. So
if we don't figure out a new way, then we're
(23:39):
basically resigning ourselves to not enjoy twenty one hundred days
of our life. So this book has a different way.
It's a really simple method of how we can look
at our stress in a new way, sort it into categories,
and then actually solve it and do something about it.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
So, what did you say two thousand and ninety Mondays?
Speaker 6 (24:00):
It's two and nine and that comes from in our lifetime,
most of us are going to work an average of
about ninety thousand hours and that equates to a whole
lot of Mondays or a lot of Say I am.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
So friends, Amy, I know you won't believe this. I'm
working on twenty five hundred Mondays. Okay, I've been I've
been doing. I was in television for thirty one years
as a CBS reporter here in Boston, and now I'm
in year nineteen as a talk show host. So I've
done my time. You gotta let me go. So so look,
(24:36):
I must tell you I think stress is a positive.
So now I want you to tell me why I'm
deadly wrong. Okay, because I know when I played sports,
you always have the butterflies before every game. If you're not,
if you don't every night, I do this show at
seven duty or so I'm thinking, what have I missed? What? What? What?
(24:57):
What have I what? What? Am I? What? What? Am
I not? Aware of? All of that? So I look
at that stress as positive. Tell me why I'm wrong.
Speaker 6 (25:07):
You're not wrong at all. So the thing is there
are different kinds of stress. So the stress that you're
describing is you stress that's positive stress, and it's exactly
what you described. It's the butterflies before a presentation. It's
what gives us the energy to complete a RaSE. The
stress we're talking about this week, especially during National Stress Week,
(25:28):
is chronic stress. That's the long term stress that sticks around.
It wears you down, and it has the really serious
toll on your body and your mind and your health.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
So I assume that the cause of stress could be
manifold that a lot of people could have. They could
have economic stress, they could have family stress, they could
have you know, work stress, they could have relationship stress.
I assume that stress covers a wide range of causes,
(26:00):
symptomatic causes. Correct.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
Absolutely, And even when we look at what stress is,
it's just our body's reaction when there's a change or
a challenge and everything that you just mentioned, finances and family,
those can all have changes and challenges. So the key
is that we don't try to solve all of those
stressors the same way, because we can't. The way you
(26:23):
solve a financial stress is going to be very different
than the way you solve a family stress. So it's
taking the time to really uncover where is your stress
coming from so that then you can identify the right solution.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
How tough is it to figure out where you feel
stress or anxiety? I think those words are similar, if
not identical, stress anxiety or whatever different words you can
mean similar things. How tough is it to discover we
have most of your stress is coming from, and then
(26:57):
how do you apply Obviously, cheers to Monday. This book
is going to help It's going to help me because
I'm going to get it, and I hope most people
in my audience get it. And that is going to
take some stress away from you, by the way, which
is a good thing. But in all honesty, so someone says, okay,
it's financial stress. But there are some stresses you can't
(27:19):
do much about. I mean, you know, other than trying
to play the lottery and become a millionaire. But that's unrealistic.
Is it always going to a counselor? Or should you
talk about it with friends? Or should not talk about
it with friends? Give me a quick overview as to
once you figured out your stress, how do you what
will the book tell me about dealing with it?
Speaker 6 (27:42):
Yeah, so what you described was step once we've got
to see it. What are we really feeling is where
is the stress coming from? Then the second step is
we've got to sort it. So the book talks about
at work. There are five distinct kinds of work stress.
And so instead of just talking about stress in general terms, getting.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Could I could I name them by by by by name?
Could I'll give you the nick No, I can't do that. No,
go ahead. So you know you're talking about you're not
talking about individuals or people. No, I know, so one
of the five areas that and I'm getting a little
tight on time here, go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (28:19):
Oh sure, just really quickly. So the first one is
when we have schedule stress, there's just not enough time
in the day. The second is when there is sudden stress,
something comes out of the blue and it requires you
to take an action. Then there's social stress, the stress
of people. There's system stress when the systems that you're
(28:40):
operating in are making it really difficult. And then there's
suspense something's happened but it hasn't happened yet and you're
feeling that anticipation, that anxiety.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
I got all of those those, right. I need your book, Amy,
I need that book. Okay, how do we get the book?
That's the most important question. I assume it's Amazon in
places like that. How long has the book been out?
Speaker 6 (29:05):
By the way, the book launches on March twenty fourth,
and right now the pre sale is available wherever books
are sold.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Wait a second, it hasn't even published yet and we're
talking about it.
Speaker 6 (29:15):
That's good, exactly, I know this is stress week. We
got to be talking about it. You are leading the way.
Thank you for doing that.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
So the book debuts in March of twenty twenty six,
but it's available now on Amazon. Do you have a
website where a lot of the authors have websites and
people can get the book directly from the author. Sometimes
the author will autograph the book to them, or maybe
you present them book to your best friend and you
get Amy will inscribe it to your best friend, right.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Yes, Amy Leonarker dot com.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Leonaker is elie n e k e r Amy Cheers
to Monday. The surprisingly shable Method to Lead and Live
with Less stress and more joy sounds to me like
something we all should read. Thanks Amy, Thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (30:01):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Maybe I'll bring you back some night if possible. We'll
do an hour and we'll take phone calls from listeners.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Yes, count me in, sign me up. All right, I'm
all there.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Right, you volunteered. We're gonna get you. Don't worry. Thanks
so much saying we'll talk. We do that a lot
more with folks who are on.
Speaker 5 (30:18):
The on the eighth grade.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (30:20):
I would love it.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Thanks all right, Amy Lenoncer Cheers to Monday when we
get back, we're going to talk about a Veteran's Day
tribute to a local hero. I think you're gonna love
this this next segment coming back on Night Shun.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
I'm going to get right to this next topic because
it's an extraordinary story with me is John Casey. John
Casey is class of nineteen seventy one at Boston Latin School.
He was a little bit ahead of me. He was
a quarterback on the football team the wolf Pack that
put together a championship season back in nineteen seventy one
under then coach Paul Costello. One of the players, one
(31:06):
of the key players on the team that protected quarterback
John Casey, who joins US tonight from North Carolina, was
a tackle named Al Lucier. Al Lucier Junior. John is
also ironically a listener of Nightside in North Carolina, and
it is pure coincidence. I was sitting across the table
(31:29):
at a party for some friends of our Jack and
Nancy Ferris a couple of years ago, and John and
I were talking and he kind of looked at me
and he said, are you the talk show guy that
I listened to, and I said, yeah, and we struck
up a friendship. It turns out that this story was
pointed out to me by another classmate, former Boston School
(31:50):
committee man Kevin McCluskey and John I did not know
this story. This is a remarkable story. Al Lucier, your
team mate in your classmate was a brilliant student. He
was a linguist, graduated of Boston Land School, had I guess,
an appointment at one of the academies, one of the
(32:10):
service academies.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
That's correct. First of all, thanks thanks a lot for
having us Stanley. I really appreciate this opportunity. Yeah. Now
was an offensive tackle on our football team, and he
was simply he was at the brilliant guy. And you know,
the Boston Lane School to be very competitive academically, and
he rose to be one of the leading people in
(32:37):
our class in terms of academic performance. And he actually
received an appointment to the to West Point. So we
always had an interest in the military. He decided instead
of going to West Point, he was going to go
to Columbia. We went to Columbia University, played four years
of football down there, and again had a great academic record. Uh,
(33:02):
when he was at Latin school. Just to go back
a little bit, he actually received what's called the Classical
Prize at our school for outstanding performance in the classics
Greek and Latin. So he was clearly just a real,
real smart, gifted guy.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
He graduates from Columbia. I just I just want to
make sure that I'm following the timeline here. He graduates
from Columbia, Uh, doesn't go into the business world, decides
to join the Marines. As an enlisted man. In the Marines,
they learned of his linguistic skills and he guess, I
guess is relocated to Monterey, California, where he learns Mandarin.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
Uh, that's correct, mandin Chinese study. And at the time he,
as you mentioned, he was in a listed marine. They
noticed his uh you know, uh scholarship and how smart
he was and said you should become an officer, and
they he then enrolled into the officer candidate school. Uh
after seven a few years as as a lost marine.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
So he becomes a lieutenant and he's assigned to Alaska.
And I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he's listening
to radios up in Alaska but he goes out on
a rescue mission. There's a civilian who is stranded on
the side of a mountain on a ledge, and with
some fellow Marines they attempt to save and they did save, uh,
(34:25):
the civilian, but in the process of the the the
effort to save the civilian, they had to lower a
marine down to UH to get hold of the civilian.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
UH.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
And they had tied off, you know, making it up
as they go along, tied off to a big boulder,
a rock, and Al was standing next to the boulder.
When the boulders started to slip, Al pushed a fellow
marine out of the way, probably saved that marine's life.
They were able to get the the hiker and the
(34:59):
other marine to safety, and then the boulder, which Al
was trying to hold back the earth game way. And
Al was killed, not in combat, but obviously in the
sacrifice to save colleagues. And for that he was presented
the Navy and Marine Corps Medal posthumously to Lieutenant Alfred
(35:23):
First Lieutenant Alfred O. Lucier Junior. An incredible story and
I know that your class of seventy one was very close.
They've dedicated a plaque at Latin School, as I understand
it is that.
Speaker 4 (35:37):
Correct, that's correct. It's right in the what's called the
Roads Gym, a brand new gym down at the Latin School.
And he's also was inducted to the Athletic Hall of
Fame recently. But because of this heroic activities, there was
also a special plaque made in his honor, and it's
(35:57):
right at the entrance to the World Jim, so people
can see. You know, what a heroic life. He led
a short life, thirty years old when he passed, but
he was really our hero for a lot of people
to look up to.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
But he gave his life to save the life of
another marine and also on an effort to save a
civilian who was in a very difficult set of circumstances.
You know, I know John, I know a few of
you from the class of seventy one, including our mutual
friend Jack Ferris and Kevin McCluskey. I suspect that the
(36:37):
story of al Lucier will live with all of you
for many years to come, I hope, and he will
remain memorialized at Boston Land School. And I could not
think of a better story to tell to Minnside audience
in advance of veteran state than this one final thought and.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
Also Dan, well, we do have a scholarship is so
if anybody would be inclined to participate in helping to
build a scholarship that's going to be awarded each year
to a graduating senior at Latin School, they can make
a contribution at www dot b l S for Boston
(37:17):
Latin School b l S dot org backslash Lucier which
was spelled capital l U S s i e r excellent. So, uh,
we are in the process of building funds for that
and any contributions would be most welcome. And again it's
for very special cars than just truly a person who
(37:40):
put his life, uh you know above above just sit
to save others, and it was.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
It's sacrifice his own life to save others. B LS
dot org. We don't need the w w W just
b l S for Boston Latinschool dot org slash Lucier
capital l U S s i e R. John Casey,
please keep listening to Nightside and thank you for keeping
the memory of Lieutenant Al Lucier, a proud and distinguished
(38:09):
graduate of Boston Land School class of nineteen seventy one
and say ahea to my friend Jack Ferris and also
to Kevin McCluskey. You guys a thank you keeping alive.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
I'm sorry, really appreciate it. And yes, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
John. Good to know you down there. Stay well, my friends,
stay stayhead to all our friends in North Carolina. Okay,
that takes care of I think a kind of a
spectacular eight o'clock hour, we're going to talk with Paul
Baskin about Boston bike lanes. They're not going anywhere. I'm
still not a big bike lane guy, but Paul and
I have had a couple of well had one conversation.
(38:45):
We're going to incorporate you into the conversation during the
next hour, right after the nine o'clock news
It's nice eyes with Dan Ray. I'm going easy Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good evening everybody, and welcome on in. Thank you very much, Madison.
Always nice to hear your voice. As we begin a
Thursday night edition of Nightside. Before we get to tonight,
I want to remind everyone that on Monday night we
do a special program beginning at eight o'clock. There will
be no there will be no regular guests, but we
(00:30):
will have two very special guests, the deans of Admission.
Their titles are somewhat different, but basically Bill Fitzsimmons, the
dean of Admission, longtime dean of mission at Harvard University
in Grank Goslin. Again, the titles are a little different,
but he's the head of admissions at Boston College. So
(00:52):
I'm just reminding everyone that Monday night at eight o'clock,
if you're a parent, if you're a grandparent, and you
have children or grandchildren or nieces or nephews who are
thinking about applying to college, you cannot get two better guests.
And everyone is invited to call and ask questions about
this admissions process. We try to basically take some of
(01:15):
the mystery out of the admissions process and help people,
particularly those who in the family perhaps are applying to
college the first time. So that's Monday night, the tenth.
Next month is upcoming Monday ninth from what's it, four
nights from now? I have four nights from now November
tenth at eight o'clock. Now we're dealing with November sixth,
(01:38):
which is Thursday night, and we have four really interesting guests.
We're going to talk with Emily Sweeney, Boston Globe Cold
Case Files reporter. Going to talk with Frank Wiser, who's
a US Navy commander of the Blue Angels and a
combat pilot who flew all the aerial stunts and top
gun Maverick. He's also an author. We're going to talk
(02:01):
about stress when this week, and we're going to remember
in advance of Veteran's Day, a very special hero. We
will explain the connections that Lieutenant al Lucier has to
so many here in the Boston area who were classmates
of his in the class of nineteen seventy one at
(02:22):
Boston Latin School. Now, first up, and we have some
good topics coming up later. We're gonna have bike lane Wars.
We've gotta have a great conversation with Paul Baskin, who
believes in Boston bike lanes and he has some other
thoughts as well. We will talk with Bill Brett about
two books and the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of
(02:43):
the US Marine Corps. And we'll also talk with Nick d. Filippo.
He's the general manager of the Centerfolds Club in Boston.
That's the one that we talked about the other night
with Boston City council Ed Flynn. So we have a
full plate in front of us. Let us begin with
one of my favorite guests. She is here pretty much
every other Thursday. Emily Sweeney, Boston Globe Cold Case Files reporter,
(03:06):
going to talk about an investigation that goes back to
a nineteen eighty nine disappearance unsolved case up in New Hampshire. Emily,
welcome back to Night's side. Tell us about the disappearance
of David Brayley.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Yeah, Dan, thank you so much for having me. This
is a really important case because the police think that
there were witnesses that saw what happened to David, and
witnesses that haven't come forward. So anyway, Yeah, David Brayley,
he was a twenty one years old and he was
living up in New Hampshire's in Massachusetts Natives. He was
(03:41):
born in Attleborough, lived in Norton, eventually moved with his
family to New Hampshire and he was working in Conquered
New Hampshire and went out with his coworkers to a
place called the Take five Music Hall. It was kind
of like a nightclub that had live music. And he
went out that night and this was around November tenth,
(04:03):
nineteen eighty nine, and somehow he got separated from his
coworkers and he had never been to this club before.
But he disappeared after that and his family didn't know
what happened to him for months, and eventually his body
was found in the Merrimack River and he was like
(04:24):
beaten up, badly beaten, and you know, so it seems
that somebody.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
You know, so this is this is not someone who
fell into the river after having had too many drinks.
This is someone who somehow, some way was assaulted and
is truly a homicide victim.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah, yeah, they're still carring it a suspicious death. But
you know, police suspect that there were witnesses, you know
that you know, saw what happened and maybe they were
reluctant to come forward. You know, you think nineteen eighty nine.
You know, kids who are like twenty one years old
like David are now like in their late fifties.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
A thirty six years has passed. Yeah, And did the
police know much about who he was with that night?
Did he talk to the friends who he somehow was
separated from, did they have any knowledge of that? Did
any of them come forward and say, gee, we were
out having a few drinks with a friend of ours
(05:30):
and we can't find him.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Yeah, I mean pretty much. So I talked to David's
mother today, you know, and she was just kind of recalling,
you know, what happened that night, and it's unknown. Somehow
you got separated from his coworkers, and you know, maybe
he fell into a long crowd, you know, maybe he
got into a fight, maybe somebody started with him. They're
(05:53):
not sure, you know. All they know is somehow he
ended up in the river, badly, beaten up far How far?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
How far was his body in the river? And I
don't know if they felt the the river had carried
the body away, But what was the was the river
very close to the club that that he had gone to.
With his friends or yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah, so so the Take five Music Hall, that that nightclub,
it's no longer there, but it was kind of on
the main drag of Route three and Conquered and the
Merrimack River like kind of runs right behind it. And
his body turned up in Manchester in the Merrimack. So yeah, yeah,
(06:36):
so that's good.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
That's a good twenty miles. If I remember driving from
Conquered to Manchester, that's quite a distance.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah yeah, I mean it's it's a really weird case,
and I feel so bad, you know, talking to his
mother a lane, you know, you know, she said that,
you know, it's been thirty six years, but it still
feels unreal. And she told me, they get something that
you'd never think would happen. You know, you're going out
(07:04):
with somebodies from work, Yeah, and you never come home.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
So are you dealing up there on this one with
state police or with the City of Conquered police department.
I mean, if this is a homicide, I assume the
state police are going to get involved.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yeah. So you know, Mawantia has a you know, statewide
cold case unit that handles these cases, but also Conquered
police are involved as well, so you know, anybody that
has information. Maybe you know you had a friend that
went was out that night saw something. You know, it
(07:39):
was nineteen eighty nine, and you know there are people
who are still around who were there at night.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Would you work these cases emily? And again, if I'm
asking you a question that gets to your procedures that
should be kept to yourself. Did the police allow you
generally to take a look at the file and take notes,
because obviously it's a cold case. It's not going to
get solved unless someone publicly steps forward, and what you're
(08:06):
doing is a tremendous public service. Do they allow you,
you know, not that you're going to take the files,
but you could look at the files and sometimes your
eyes might spot something that was missed thirty six years ago.
Or did they just simply tell you what they want
to tell you?
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Well, you know, the police departments these days are very
tight lipped about investigations, and I understand why. You know,
a lot of times you know they have to be.
But I do get information, like it really varies on
the case and the agency. You know, sometimes sure departments
will give me more information. Also, family members who have
(08:43):
been involved with the case for years. They've dealt with
different investigators over the years, and they usually have a
wealth of knowledge and you know, talking to the friends
and family, I usually get a lot of information as
well as documents.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Well, you do great jobs at all of these and
if there's anyone that has any recollection of this, they
need to get in touch with I guess the the
Unsolved Crimes Unit in New Hampshire. The easiest, the easiest
way would be for them to get in touch with you.
How could if someone does here or our interview, you know,
(09:19):
just rings a bell in the back of someone's head.
How can they get in touch with you. What's the
best way for them to.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Reach out to you.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Well, my email address you can get me at the Globe.
It's Emily dot Sweeney at Globe dot com.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Well, that's pretty simple. That is strict to call forward
and tell us again about your your your newsletter it's
called what Cold Case Files and People. That's that's available
to people if they want to sign up for it
for gratis for free.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Yeah, yeah, please please subscribe, Please spread the word. You know,
we're trying to get a lot of you know, attention
on these cases. And the newsletter is one way we
do it. You can sign up to the the newsletter
if you go to Globe dot com slash cold case files.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Globe dot com slash cold case Files. Well, Emily, we'll
talk to you in a couple of weeks. It'll be
getting pretty close to Thanksgiving, so I'll hold I'll wait
off until I'll wait till then to wish you happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Okay, all right, jan Hey, thank you so much. I
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Pleasure Kante. We so appreciate what you're doing. Thanks Emily.
All right, when we get back, we're going to talk
to an incredible individual, Frank Wiser. I hope I'm pronouncing
the name correctly. He is the lead Solo for the
Blue Angels and he's written a book. All the proceeds
(10:42):
from the book, by the way, go to charity. So
this is going to be really interesting. Stick with us
back on Nightside as we start a celebration on Veteran's Day.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Night Side with Dan Ray, I'm WBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Well, as we approach Veteran's Day next week, I'm honored
to introduce to my audience Frank Wiser. He has written
a book called Lead Solo learning Life's vectors from an
FA eighteen Blue Angel aviator honor to talk with you.
(11:19):
How are you this evening, sir.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
I'm doing great and I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So this book talks about leadership in life's lessons that
you have have developed and obviously honed as a lead
solo for the Blue Angels. I gotta tell you, I,
(11:45):
like everyone knows the Blue Angels, we stand in awe
of what you folks do in the air. My first
question is how do you become a Blue Angel? I mean,
you know, I got to go through I'm sure an
immense amount of training, and I'd love you to put
it in brief perspective for us. So people get a
(12:06):
sense that they just don't say, hey, you're a Blue
Angel'll go get that plane and see what you can do.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
You're right, No, they don't take a whole lot of
chances on untrusted or untested individuals. But the first thing
is you have to be a Navy foder pilot. You
have to fly a taxiing aircraft for the US Navy
or the Marine Corps. And if you have enough experience,
you can request to be considered and the experienced part
is a big factor in this because you're doing the
maneuvers we fly are not any more challenging or unknown
(12:35):
or hard than what we do off an aircraft carrier
in foreign lands. However, we're doing them at crazy low altitudes.
Normally an F eighteen is best between twenty thousand and
forty thousand feet, but we're doing it at fifty to
two hundred feet most of the time, so there's not
a lot of time to not know what you're doing
when things go wrong, and so that's a really critical aspect.
And then the final piece is that the individuals that
(12:56):
we look at to be selected have to be someone
that can probably represent the Navy and the Marine Corps.
Because the US Navy and Rink Corps we don't do
a lot of advertisements. We think our people are the
best ad so we send these airplanes and our sailors
and marines all over the world to hopefully showcase the
prime and professionalism of our Navy and Rink Corps.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Well, you do it well. You also, I guess flew
all of the aerial stunts in the movie Top Gun Maverick.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
I flew the extreme low altitude and the inverted scenes
for the movie, and that was primarily because of my
Blu Angel experience and doing that for so many years.
They were looking to mitigate some of their risks, and
so that was my contribution to the movie.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
So they mitigated your risk by having you do the stunts. Okay,
that had to have been a lot of fun, you know,
for you. And I'm sure you interacted with the folks
who were the stars of the movie, including Tom Cruise.
I'll bet you those guys were more in awe of
you than you were of the movie stars.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
You know. I had a wonderful time with him, I
will say that. And I was surprised, pleasantly surprised that
they were all incredible across the board. I don't know
what I had maybe expected, but they were hard working,
they were motivated, they were respectful of all the military
folks that were there, not just people they are flying with,
and it was a really positive experience overall. And I
(14:22):
think they did an incredible job showcasing what we do
and then it becomes a two hour advertisement for the
Navy and they did an awesome job with it.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Absolutely. Now are you still flying with the Blue Angels.
I know you achieved the rank of US Navy commander.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
I retired in the summer of twenty one. I actually
still worked with them about ten hours a week as
a as a contractor because my final job haul we
were filming Top Don Maverick. I was also in the
process of transitioning us from the legacy FA team to
the super Hornet. That was a new aircraft, and that
was a four year process for me, and so in
doing so, I sort of became the subject matter expert
(15:00):
on our software, on the flight controls, on how we
fly this air show with this new aircraft, and so
I do still I am still connected and plugged in
with them and able to see them on a somewhat
regular basis. You know, the Blue Angels, we have such
high turnover every two years, we have an entire new
aersop team, So it's critical to keep some kind of
corporate knowledge on board with our ex Blue Angels who
show up and say, you know, I don't know that
(15:20):
I would do that. We tried that back in the
eighties and that didn't go very well. So let's rethink
maybe what your new plan is.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Institutional knowledge is extraordinarily important. So the book leads solo
learning lives vectors from an fat and blue angel aviator.
I think it should be obvious to most of us
the lessons, But give us just a little bit of
a flavor of the book, because I'm sure a lot
of people going to want to buy it, particularly as
we approach the holiday season giving gifts to no greater
(15:51):
gift in a book that someone is going to be
interested in. Give us a little taste of what lessons
people will learn.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
Well, the book was off a speech I'd given and
I was trying to share some of the characteristics of
my military service that I thought we might find touch points.
And that speech, after top ten, Maverick came out the
amount of requests for me to go to everything from
you know, c suet level folks at fort five her companies,
to five year old kindergarten classes and churches and county fairs,
(16:21):
and it just went. It was a little hard for
me to keep wrap my arms around, but I essentially
refined this speech, and that was the Naval Institute was
a press at the Naval Cabet. I'd spoken to the
students there and they said, can you turn that into
a book? And so the lessons that I tried to
first showcase. In this speech, with pictures and videos, I
was enabled to illustrate with stories of the people I
served with, and so I talked about how we achieve
(16:43):
a level of focus landing an aircraft on a carrier
at night, a ship at this in the sea where
it's so dark you can't see your hand in front
your face, and it takes a great deal of focus,
very similar to our Blue Angel maneuvers, where you're a
mere feet off the ground at three herd knots and
you know a tenth of an inch movement in the
stick and you've crashed within a second. And so that
focus is really relevant. But then another one's trust. How
(17:03):
do we trust each other? And these things are not
just relevant and tackle aircraft that are relevant in my
job now as a real estate developer and a contractor.
And so I've found these lessons to be really beneficial.
And another one is communication. We communicate in the air
show to make the airshow work. But one of the
things we do that kind of the secret sauce of
lo Angels is after the show and how we debrief
the flight and how we try to pull every single
(17:24):
detail from every mistake, everything that wasn't exactly where you
want it. And so the ability to admit your own
mistakes and to provide constructive criticism is really one of
the key aspects that makes it a high function team.
So those are the story of ship stories I share
and lessons I try to pull out in the book.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Tell us really briefly, if you can commander about your
your path. Did you were you in college? Did you
go to one of the did you go to the
to Annapolis or did you you did I did? I?
Speaker 5 (17:54):
Actually I went to the Naval Academy in Annapolis. I
went there specifically to be a Navy seal and so,
and I didn't do that, not for one minute. And
so there's a chapter of my book called Failure, and
it starts off with ME putting my entire young life
towards one particular goal and failing at it. And then
I failed into aviation. And I continued to fail in
aviation for quite some time before I was able to
figure out exactly what I was doing. And so I
(18:15):
share some of those stories. But yeah, I went to
the Naval Academy for that reason. The Navy doesn't seem
to really care much about what you want to do.
They care more about what you can do that best
serves them, and so my strengths and weaknesses were probably
aligned better with flying an airplane. And unlesson I learned
at twenty two that stays with me now is that
it mattered less how I served, the manner in which
(18:36):
I served, and it mattered more simply that I served.
The fact that I was served my country in any
capacity meant more than me getting my way and doing
it the way I wanted to do. And so that
was a really pivotal moment for me for that to
dawn on me, and it made the service mean more
to me, and it made twenty five years ultimately including
a Naval Academy, the happiest and most formative of my life.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Of course, yeah, I have one of my dear friends
graduated from the Naval Academy eighteen seventy nine. I don't
want to ask you what you graduated from because that's
going to give away age, so we'll leave it at that.
But Sam Sitsko was I think number two in his
class in seventy nine, and he spent three years at
Harvard Law School, where he met his beautiful and lovely wife.
(19:16):
So it's just funny how how life takes you to
different turns and opportunities present themselves, and obviously your life
has had plenty of turns up in the ear on
the ground. The book leads alo learning life's vectors. I
love the word vectors. By the way, that's a very
important word in my language of Mysaurus, because it is vectors.
(19:41):
There are vectors. Is such an important word from an
F eighteen Blue Angel aviator. And if you have anyone
who served any time in the military, or a spyue
to serve in the military, this book should be a
must present, and I'm sure they can get it at Amazon.
Do you also have a website? I asked this of
every author, because some authors have their own websites, uh,
(20:03):
and they're willing to inscribe the books that they that
they send out. Great, I do have.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
I have a I have a website that people can
contact me on. I've signed and personalized many, many many
so I'm certainly happy to do that for any of
your listeners.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Give us that website, Commander.
Speaker 5 (20:18):
It's it's easy. It's Frank Wiser.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Dot net perfect and wisder. I'm going to spell it.
It's w E I S S E R dot net.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Yes, sir, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Well again, I'm honored to have had you on the
program and hats off to you and a happy veterans stay,
my friend.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
I appreciate you taking the time. Wonderful chatting with you.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Great talk. Soon we are going to take a break here.
That was an incredible, incredible guest. We are going to
take a break and we have the news of the buddle.
The are we come back when to talk about Stress
Awareness Week? I guess probably all of us have stress.
I know I have stress. The question is how can
we stress less and live more? And we're gonna talk
(21:03):
with Amy Leneker about that. Coming back with night Side
right after the break.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on w BZY,
Boston's news radio. You know what really grinds Mike is
this Lindsay low hand Man, Lindsay Lowhand with all those
little outfits jumping around there on stage three two one
one two three? What the heck it's bothering me? Yo?
Speaker 5 (21:37):
What do you what do you want? You know?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
Are we gonna go out?
Speaker 5 (21:39):
Is that what you're trying to?
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Why you what do you want?
Speaker 5 (21:41):
Lindsay?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Tell me what you want?
Speaker 5 (21:44):
Well, I tell you what you want? You want nothing?
Speaker 1 (21:46):
You want nothing? Soredity now, soredity now?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
What is that not to get me a relaxation? Cassette
and my bless gets too high man to.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Say now and that, people, is what grinds my gears?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
To Amy, we do a segment here on Nightside sometimes
on a Friday night from the old Steinfeldt Show, in
which we ask people what grinds their gears, And as
I was thinking about bringing you on, I thought that's
a perfect segue, Amy Leedeker. This is Stress Awareness Week?
(22:22):
How can we live stress less? Live more? You're laughing.
Thank you, You're a good sport. You have written a
book that is entitled Cheers to Monday, The surprisingly Simple
Method to lead and live with less stress and more joy.
I have a good friend of mine who calls Monday
(22:43):
moan day, m A and d A Y, and I
think a lot of us think of Monday as Oh,
here we go again. I can't wait to read your book.
Tell me how it's going to make my life less stressful?
Speaker 6 (23:00):
Thank you, and thank you for making my life less stressful.
With the introduction a sign folk clip is always a
good thing.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Soul out like two minutes ago. I should have thought
about it an hour ago. I put my producer on
the spot. He's very good at finding finding audio clips.
Go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (23:18):
It was perfect. So the experience that your friend described
of how they call it moan day, that's not uncommon.
So many people feel that way about Mondays. But the
problem is we're going to work two thousand, one hundred
and nine Mondays in our lifetime. That's a lot. So
if we don't figure out a new way, then we're
(23:39):
basically resigning ourselves to not enjoy twenty one hundred days
of our life. So this book has a different way.
It's a really simple method of how we can look
at our stress in a new way, sort it into categories,
and then actually solve it and do something about it.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
So, what did you say two thousand and ninety Mondays?
Speaker 6 (24:00):
It's two and nine and that comes from in our lifetime,
most of us are going to work an average of
about ninety thousand hours and that equates to a whole
lot of Mondays or a lot of Say I am.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
So friends, Amy, I know you won't believe this. I'm
working on twenty five hundred Mondays. Okay, I've been I've
been doing. I was in television for thirty one years
as a CBS reporter here in Boston, and now I'm
in year nineteen as a talk show host. So I've
done my time. You gotta let me go. So so look,
(24:36):
I must tell you I think stress is a positive.
So now I want you to tell me why I'm
deadly wrong. Okay, because I know when I played sports,
you always have the butterflies before every game. If you're not,
if you don't every night, I do this show at
seven duty or so I'm thinking, what have I missed? What? What? What?
(24:57):
What have I what? What? Am I? What? What? Am
I not? Aware of? All of that? So I look
at that stress as positive. Tell me why I'm wrong.
Speaker 6 (25:07):
You're not wrong at all. So the thing is there
are different kinds of stress. So the stress that you're
describing is you stress that's positive stress, and it's exactly
what you described. It's the butterflies before a presentation. It's
what gives us the energy to complete a RaSE. The
stress we're talking about this week, especially during National Stress Week,
(25:28):
is chronic stress. That's the long term stress that sticks around.
It wears you down, and it has the really serious
toll on your body and your mind and your health.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
So I assume that the cause of stress could be
manifold that a lot of people could have. They could
have economic stress, they could have family stress, they could
have you know, work stress, they could have relationship stress.
I assume that stress covers a wide range of causes,
(26:00):
symptomatic causes. Correct.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
Absolutely, And even when we look at what stress is,
it's just our body's reaction when there's a change or
a challenge and everything that you just mentioned, finances and family,
those can all have changes and challenges. So the key
is that we don't try to solve all of those
stressors the same way, because we can't. The way you
(26:23):
solve a financial stress is going to be very different
than the way you solve a family stress. So it's
taking the time to really uncover where is your stress
coming from so that then you can identify the right solution.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
How tough is it to figure out where you feel
stress or anxiety? I think those words are similar, if
not identical, stress anxiety or whatever different words you can
mean similar things. How tough is it to discover we
have most of your stress is coming from, and then
(26:57):
how do you apply Obviously, cheers to Monday. This book
is going to help It's going to help me because
I'm going to get it, and I hope most people
in my audience get it. And that is going to
take some stress away from you, by the way, which
is a good thing. But in all honesty, so someone says, okay,
it's financial stress. But there are some stresses you can't
(27:19):
do much about. I mean, you know, other than trying
to play the lottery and become a millionaire. But that's unrealistic.
Is it always going to a counselor? Or should you
talk about it with friends? Or should not talk about
it with friends? Give me a quick overview as to
once you figured out your stress, how do you what
will the book tell me about dealing with it?
Speaker 6 (27:42):
Yeah, so what you described was step once we've got
to see it. What are we really feeling is where
is the stress coming from? Then the second step is
we've got to sort it. So the book talks about
at work. There are five distinct kinds of work stress.
And so instead of just talking about stress in general terms, getting.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Could I could I name them by by by by name?
Could I'll give you the nick No, I can't do that. No,
go ahead. So you know you're talking about you're not
talking about individuals or people. No, I know, so one
of the five areas that and I'm getting a little
tight on time here, go right ahead.
Speaker 6 (28:19):
Oh sure, just really quickly. So the first one is
when we have schedule stress, there's just not enough time
in the day. The second is when there is sudden stress,
something comes out of the blue and it requires you
to take an action. Then there's social stress, the stress
of people. There's system stress when the systems that you're
(28:40):
operating in are making it really difficult. And then there's
suspense something's happened but it hasn't happened yet and you're
feeling that anticipation, that anxiety.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
I got all of those those, right. I need your book, Amy,
I need that book. Okay, how do we get the book?
That's the most important question. I assume it's Amazon in
places like that. How long has the book been out?
Speaker 6 (29:05):
By the way, the book launches on March twenty fourth,
and right now the pre sale is available wherever books
are sold.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Wait a second, it hasn't even published yet and we're
talking about it.
Speaker 6 (29:15):
That's good, exactly, I know this is stress week. We
got to be talking about it. You are leading the way.
Thank you for doing that.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
So the book debuts in March of twenty twenty six,
but it's available now on Amazon. Do you have a
website where a lot of the authors have websites and
people can get the book directly from the author. Sometimes
the author will autograph the book to them, or maybe
you present them book to your best friend and you
get Amy will inscribe it to your best friend, right.
Speaker 6 (29:43):
Yes, Amy Leonarker dot com.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Leonaker is elie n e k e r Amy Cheers
to Monday. The surprisingly shable Method to Lead and Live
with Less stress and more joy sounds to me like
something we all should read. Thanks Amy, Thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (30:01):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Maybe I'll bring you back some night if possible. We'll
do an hour and we'll take phone calls from listeners.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Yes, count me in, sign me up. All right, I'm
all there.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Right, you volunteered. We're gonna get you. Don't worry. Thanks
so much saying we'll talk. We do that a lot
more with folks who are on.
Speaker 5 (30:18):
The on the eighth grade.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (30:20):
I would love it.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Thanks all right, Amy Lenoncer Cheers to Monday when we
get back, we're going to talk about a Veteran's Day
tribute to a local hero. I think you're gonna love
this this next segment coming back on Night Shun.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
I'm going to get right to this next topic because
it's an extraordinary story with me is John Casey. John
Casey is class of nineteen seventy one at Boston Latin School.
He was a little bit ahead of me. He was
a quarterback on the football team the wolf Pack that
put together a championship season back in nineteen seventy one
under then coach Paul Costello. One of the players, one
(31:06):
of the key players on the team that protected quarterback
John Casey, who joins US tonight from North Carolina, was
a tackle named Al Lucier. Al Lucier Junior. John is
also ironically a listener of Nightside in North Carolina, and
it is pure coincidence. I was sitting across the table
(31:29):
at a party for some friends of our Jack and
Nancy Ferris a couple of years ago, and John and
I were talking and he kind of looked at me
and he said, are you the talk show guy that
I listened to, and I said, yeah, and we struck
up a friendship. It turns out that this story was
pointed out to me by another classmate, former Boston School
(31:50):
committee man Kevin McCluskey and John I did not know
this story. This is a remarkable story. Al Lucier, your
team mate in your classmate was a brilliant student. He
was a linguist, graduated of Boston Land School, had I guess,
an appointment at one of the academies, one of the
(32:10):
service academies.
Speaker 4 (32:12):
That's correct. First of all, thanks thanks a lot for
having us Stanley. I really appreciate this opportunity. Yeah. Now
was an offensive tackle on our football team, and he
was simply he was at the brilliant guy. And you know,
the Boston Lane School to be very competitive academically, and
he rose to be one of the leading people in
(32:37):
our class in terms of academic performance. And he actually
received an appointment to the to West Point. So we
always had an interest in the military. He decided instead
of going to West Point, he was going to go
to Columbia. We went to Columbia University, played four years
of football down there, and again had a great academic record. Uh,
(33:02):
when he was at Latin school. Just to go back
a little bit, he actually received what's called the Classical
Prize at our school for outstanding performance in the classics
Greek and Latin. So he was clearly just a real,
real smart, gifted guy.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
He graduates from Columbia. I just I just want to
make sure that I'm following the timeline here. He graduates
from Columbia, Uh, doesn't go into the business world, decides
to join the Marines. As an enlisted man. In the Marines,
they learned of his linguistic skills and he guess, I
guess is relocated to Monterey, California, where he learns Mandarin.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
Uh, that's correct, mandin Chinese study. And at the time he,
as you mentioned, he was in a listed marine. They
noticed his uh you know, uh scholarship and how smart
he was and said you should become an officer, and
they he then enrolled into the officer candidate school. Uh
after seven a few years as as a lost marine.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
So he becomes a lieutenant and he's assigned to Alaska.
And I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he's listening
to radios up in Alaska but he goes out on
a rescue mission. There's a civilian who is stranded on
the side of a mountain on a ledge, and with
some fellow Marines they attempt to save and they did save, uh,
(34:25):
the civilian, but in the process of the the the
effort to save the civilian, they had to lower a
marine down to UH to get hold of the civilian.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
UH.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
And they had tied off, you know, making it up
as they go along, tied off to a big boulder,
a rock, and Al was standing next to the boulder.
When the boulders started to slip, Al pushed a fellow
marine out of the way, probably saved that marine's life.
They were able to get the the hiker and the
(34:59):
other marine to safety, and then the boulder, which Al
was trying to hold back the earth game way. And
Al was killed, not in combat, but obviously in the
sacrifice to save colleagues. And for that he was presented
the Navy and Marine Corps Medal posthumously to Lieutenant Alfred
(35:23):
First Lieutenant Alfred O. Lucier Junior. An incredible story and
I know that your class of seventy one was very close.
They've dedicated a plaque at Latin School, as I understand
it is that.
Speaker 4 (35:37):
Correct, that's correct. It's right in the what's called the
Roads Gym, a brand new gym down at the Latin School.
And he's also was inducted to the Athletic Hall of
Fame recently. But because of this heroic activities, there was
also a special plaque made in his honor, and it's
(35:57):
right at the entrance to the World Jim, so people
can see. You know, what a heroic life. He led
a short life, thirty years old when he passed, but
he was really our hero for a lot of people
to look up to.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
But he gave his life to save the life of
another marine and also on an effort to save a
civilian who was in a very difficult set of circumstances.
You know, I know John, I know a few of
you from the class of seventy one, including our mutual
friend Jack Ferris and Kevin McCluskey. I suspect that the
(36:37):
story of al Lucier will live with all of you
for many years to come, I hope, and he will
remain memorialized at Boston Land School. And I could not
think of a better story to tell to Minnside audience
in advance of veteran state than this one final thought and.
Speaker 4 (36:56):
Also Dan, well, we do have a scholarship is so
if anybody would be inclined to participate in helping to
build a scholarship that's going to be awarded each year
to a graduating senior at Latin School, they can make
a contribution at www dot b l S for Boston
(37:17):
Latin School b l S dot org backslash Lucier which
was spelled capital l U S s i e r excellent. So, uh,
we are in the process of building funds for that
and any contributions would be most welcome. And again it's
for very special cars than just truly a person who
(37:40):
put his life, uh you know above above just sit
to save others, and it was.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
It's sacrifice his own life to save others. B LS
dot org. We don't need the w w W just
b l S for Boston Latinschool dot org slash Lucier
capital l U S s i e R. John Casey,
please keep listening to Nightside and thank you for keeping
the memory of Lieutenant Al Lucier, a proud and distinguished
(38:09):
graduate of Boston Land School class of nineteen seventy one
and say ahea to my friend Jack Ferris and also
to Kevin McCluskey. You guys a thank you keeping alive.
Speaker 4 (38:19):
I'm sorry, really appreciate it. And yes, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
John. Good to know you down there. Stay well, my friends,
stay stayhead to all our friends in North Carolina. Okay,
that takes care of I think a kind of a
spectacular eight o'clock hour, we're going to talk with Paul
Baskin about Boston bike lanes. They're not going anywhere. I'm
still not a big bike lane guy, but Paul and
I have had a couple of well had one conversation.
(38:45):
We're going to incorporate you into the conversation during the
next hour, right after the nine o'clock news
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