>> hi everyone, this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. strategy shift. as russia stepping steps up itsn syria. america bails out of the half billion dollar program to train rebels. justified. officers actions after confronting an armed man who begged them to kill him.

off course, the centuries old shipping law that some people say is crippling puerto rico's economy. plus, david jo johansen. performance. performing. we beginning with the civil war in syria as russia addition in, the united states steps russia digs in, united states steps back. cost $500 million, an expensive endeavor. the pentagon says it was also a total failure. mike viqueria has more from washington. >> conceding failure. secretary of defense ash carter says the u.s. is pulling the plug on the program to train and

quip syrian rebels. >> we're looking at ways to achieve basically the same type of strategic objective which is the right one. >> reporter: the idea was for the u.s. to train syrian fighters in a third country, either jordan, turkey or saudi arabia and send them into syria to fight i.s.i.l. initial price tag, $500 million. president obama unveiled the plan in august of last year. >> with this new effort we'll provide training and equipment to help them grow stronger and take on i.s.i.l. terrorists inside syria. >> but taking on i.s.i.l. is not the goal for most rebel fighters in syria and recruitment was the problem from the beginning. the fighters want to fight bashar al-assad. the top u.s. commander gave congress the current tally. >> it's a small number and the ones that are in the fight is -- we're talking four, or five. >> critics including senate

democrat tim kane of virginia said the plan was doomed from the start. >> in syria the strategy's a joke. we do this one off actions like try to train 30 people and put them back into a royaling civil war involving millions. no surprise they get swallowed up in the civil war, killed or captured or defect immediately. >> the new plan is on the policy used to assist the syrian kurds. the u.s. will now send equipment and an to forces on the ground. >> put mr. obama on the defensive. in an interview to air on the cbs program 60 minutes, mr. obama is saying vladimir putin is getting the best of him. >> he's challenge your

leadership. >> steve, i got to tell you if you think that running your economy into the ground and having to send troops in, in order to prop up your only ally, is leadership, then we've got a different definition of leadership. >> reporter: but the russian aerial assault dmonts continuesn syria. many experts say the u.s. must do something else to stop the barrage. >> underlined by their intelligence agreement with iraq really bodes ill for future of american relationships if it's not collect right now. >> for president obama, a policy change in syria, with many calling for more. mike viqueria, al jazeera, washington. >> and now to the growing violence in israel. for weeks tension has been rising focused on al-aqsa mosque and on the site in jerusalem that's sacred to muslims and jews. now the violence has spread to

beyond the city. hoda abdel hamid reports. >> occupied east jerusalem before being shot dead. his funeral was a show of solidarity and defiance. defiance that later turned into violence. palestinians took their anger to the streets. here in betel on the northern edge of ramallah. tension remains over the al-aqsa mosque compound. many feel israel is seeking to change the rules governing the holy site, which allows jeu jewo enter but not pray. netanyahu says the status quo has remained, but among the protesters, trust in the words of the prime minister. after several hours there is no sign of the situation easing up. actually the palestinian youths were able to spread out in those fields past the position he of

the israeli army. now, similar clashes were happening elsewhere in the west bank and also in gaza. the violence was at its deadliest in gaza. earlier in the day protesters there had come out in support of the occupied west bank. they hurled rocks through the metal fence that separates both sides. the response was gun fire, rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas. >> we moved towards them throwing stones. then a sniper shot at some youths. >> reporter: then came this media released on social media which al jazeera cannot independently verify. a teenager is holding a knife. israeli police orders her to drop it. while off camera bystanders,

shout at the police to kim her. she is shot several times, she is in critical condition. she poses a threat, many wonder why the lone woman is not overpowered. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and palestinian president mahmoud abbas have scheduled meetings. hoda abdel hamid, al jazeera. >> dhtion reports. >> david schuster reports. >> in capitol hill, friday, leaders blasted john boehner for delaying a vote for his successor. other republicans told reporters

that some breathing time is necessary. >> we've got to have some vibrant internal discussions and i think we'll get it right. we'll figure this out. we have some time. >> the fight however over the date of their next conference vote is another reminder of the republican civil war and that's made republicans unable to govern. the most crippling force is anger, at president obama and republican leaders for even daring to talk with him. >> everybody wants unity in this country. unity around what, what principle? >> a few weeks ago the conservative hard liners forced boehner to resign. this week they took out their anger at mccarthy. >> i guess i shocked some of you hmm? >> the republican conference is in chaos. >> i think it's terrible. no group has a right to hijack the house. that's what's going on here and it should have been crushed a long time ago.

>> reporter: a similar dynamic is going out in the gop presidential race. thought they would highlight their former and current governors and senators but experience has become a line of attack. >> we have losers. we have losers. we have people that don't have it. >> billionaire developer donald trump continues to lead nearly every republican nomination poll. ben carson a neurosurgeon is running second and carly fiorina is third. republican establishment candidates have tried to hit back, especially at trump. >> he is shallow, there is no substance, he knows nothing about policies policy, has nothing what he's talking about, making it up on the fly. >> back on capitol hill the one republican who law makeers believe could bridge the gop divide is house budget chairman paul ryan.

>> if he decides to do it he would be an amazing speaker but he has to decide it on his own. >> the 45-year-old ryan says he doesn't want the job or the time it would take away from his family. but republicans are now drafting an idea of drafting someone from outside the congress. former vice presidential candidate newt gingrich said he might consider it. >> no one would turn down that type of challenge. >> he would face the same problem as mccarthy. the inability to get the republican caucus to agree on anything. >> house speaker john boehner says he will stay in office until the issue is resolved. keeping the government running the very pledge that prompted

dozens of conservatives to demand boehner's scalp. david schuster, al jazeera. >> there are lots of factors contributing to puerto rico's ailing economy. one of them is a shipping law that's nearly a century old. it makes getting products from the u.s. mainland expensive even though it's so close. jonathan betz explains from san juan. >> shoppers like maria lopez know there's a price for living on an an island. >> it is expensive. >> very expensive, very, very. >> in puerto rico, many worry it is higher than it should be because of an old u.s. shipping law. >> it's been hurting the puerto rico economy for decades but now becoming worse. >> the jones act passed in 1920 after world war i to protect the u.s. shipping industry, requiring all trade be done on u.s. merchant ships, built in the u.s. and manned by american

sailors, that includes puerto rico a u.s. territory. most of the stuff comes from where? >> from the u.s. >> but grocer nelson vasquez says it drives up the cost of nearly everything on his shelves. water, vasquez imports it from iceland. eventually arriving in puerto rico. even after that exhausting voyage he saves nearly $4,000 per container, if he ships it in from the u.s. >> it's the jones act. if i had different alternatives i would definitely have more competition. >> nearly everything on this island must be shipped in much of it from the mainland. studies show the jones act costs puerto rico's economy $537 million a year, by restricting competition to u.s. shipping companies. instead of allowing international ones. >> we have very few options in order to bring food to the

island. and very few competition, very little competition. >> there's only four shipping companies that import food from the united states to puerto rico. >> yes, and two of them have over 85% of the market. >> critics have long called for overhauling the law. shipping a 20 foot container from the american east coast to puerto rico costs $3,000. nearly twice as much to santo domingo, which is not subject to the jones act. >> it's not fair. it's not fair. the jones act affects the people's right to have access to food, to medicine. >> shipping companies strongly disagree. it says the law protects a key industry and jobs and insists shipping rates are lower here than to other caribbean islands although they won't reveal numbers. >> it helps the economy of puerto rico, not hurt the

economy of puerto rico. >> nearly half comes through crowley's port of san juan. >> we provide a reliable, highly efficient sft because o servicee jones act. it helps our national security as well. >> reporter: experts admit repealing the jones act would likely hurt shipping companies but helps his customers. he tries to bring in exhorts from other countries. >> we have more options. >> but shoppers worry, they have been left without options hit twice they fear by location and the law. jonathan betz, al jazeera, san juan, puerto rico. >> coming up next on the broadcast, two new campus shootings as president obama consoles relatives of victims of last week's shootings in oregon. >> plus. >> it's not fair, they've been here forever.

this gladesmen have always used it and taken care of it, they've kind of been custodians of it. >> the move to ban air boats in the everglades and how it could change the culture of that area, forever.

>> there were two new deadly campus shootings today, the first one happened early this morning. one student killed, three wounded in northern arizona university in flagstaff. police charged an 18-year-old with murder and assault.

he shot three members of a fraternity after a fight broke out in a parking lot. and in houston, police are questioning two people after shooting at texas southern university. one was killed and two others wounded. classes cancelled for the day. police are searching for athird person. president obama today visited with families and victims of last week's school shooting in oregon but many people there aren't happy with the prospect that he'll use the shooting to push for gun control. allen schauffler is in roseburg, oregon, allen. >> good evening john. it was a short visit by the president with no public appearance. he spent about an hour with the victims and family members at roseburg high school before heading north to seattle for a fundraising event for washington senator patty murray. short visit here but short as it was controversial and outside the entrance to the roseburg

airport the welcome mat was hardly out. marine 1 lands in roseburg oregon as president obama comes to visit families of nine people killed at umpqua community college last week. >> have to talk to them, in moments like these, words aren't -- not going to bring their loved ones back. but the one thing that they share is how much they appreciate the entire ucc community, coming together. >> his visit is not too popular here. it's a conservative area, where the second amendment is sacred to many. protesters gather outside the airport. many of them openly and proudly armed. diane coh koenig is packing a .8 that she said she's had since a little girl. >> i'd like to see mental illness be addressed more and our rights left alone. >> we'd like to protect our

communities and our properties. >> sign boards are all over this town. a local tattoo shop is has event raced more than $5,000 for a victims fund selling roseburg strong designs. what's important is families and survivors people not politics is what we hear all the time. dan marsh knew one of the students who was killed. >> i worked with her dad at the plywood mill just great people and my heart just is broke for them. >> reporter: at umpqua community college the classroom building where nine people were murdered is still sealed off. near the entrance to the school flags and flowers on a cyclone fence honor the victims. small signs spell out hope and unity on the sidewalk. angry and local reaction to president obama on the day of the shooting.

>> somebody somewhere will comment and say obama politicized this issue. well, this is something we should publi politicize! >> this is a hunting and fishing region and many residents like david johnson tell us flatly, this is a gun town. >> everybody loves our guns, we support our second amendment rights. he did it to himself. if he would have handled that prrchtioprrchtionprfntiopress cc utility matter. >> gun rights are on public display in rose burden of proving about funeral events have been held for six of the

nine. umpqua community college is scheduled to reopen on monday. john. >> so based on your pictures looks like there was a pretty strong turnout at the protest? >> it did look like that way, about 500 at the peak, it looked that way, i didn't get to the full physical range of that rally. i think organizers would have been expecting a little bit more. facebook indications were up into the thousands but certainly didn't see that much at that spot. i'd say 500 possibly more. >> allen schauffler, thank you. gun rights supporters say shootings like the ones in oregon would be less likely if students are allowed to carry guns. texas is about to test that theory. next year college students there will be allowed to carry concealed guns on campus. tristan autung reports. >> reporter: starting next year if you want to carry a

concealed handgun to school in texas you can. there aren't people leap about it. >> there are some people for campus carry that's totally fine. every campus is different but t austin i don't think guns should be allowed. >> now the university of texas is figuring out how to comply with the law. >> the chancellor felt it shouldn't be allowed to concealed carry. i certainly agree with him. but we have to comply with the law to make our campus as safe as we possibly can. >> coming up with reasonable regulations, no guns in medical centers or guns in labs with dangerous chemicals. nothing has been settled yet. a ut group are making those

recommendations. >> last thursday's shootings in oregon certainly heightened and intensified people's fears and with good reason. >> steve good is in charge of creating those gun-free zones at ut. he says it might not be as big an issue as some think. to get a concealed carry license you have to be 21. >> only half of our students will even fall within that age demographic. so we anticipate that fewer than 1% of the students on campus will have concealed carry licenses. much less will carry their handguns if they have the license onto campus. >> but that could still mean about 500 students in a population of 52,000. >> i don't think ut is suddenly going to become the wild west. >> allison perigory is a concealed carry advocate, she said the new law was a smart

decision by ut. >> people empowered to make a decision in the best interest of their safety and being able to responsibly practice self defense. >> jordan paul of students against gun violence on campus disagrees. >> this is not going to make us more safe. despite the rhetoric adding more guns to a university campus could keep people safe whether it's young women walking home from class by themselves or in the case of an active shooter or even just walking through campus from work to home to class, adding more firearms to a situation does not do anything to protect our safety. >> for nearly 20 years students have been able to carry concealed weapons on campus but not in buildings. the new law also doesn't allow for open carry. still, that hasn't left much of the student body happy. >> it's a funny situation because it almost seems like it was a decision made for us when we were so clearly against it.

whit was phrased as, this is to protect you. even though chancellor mcraven was vocally against it. president powers was vocally against it. it was a decision made with sort of not our voices in mind. >> tristan atone, al jazeera, texas. defending his statement that guns in hands of civilians could have prevented the holocaust. >> i think likelihood of hitler being able to accomplish his goals would have been greatly diminished if there had not been arms. these people take the dictatorial statement first. >> linking u.s. gun control to the holocaust is historically inaccurate and offensive. we're learning more about a new altercation involving an american who helped prevent an attack on a train in france.

spencer stone was stabbed multiple times outside a bar in sacramento. witnesses say he was attacked when he stopped beating a man attacking a woman. next, on al jazeera america, body cameras showing the danger and the challenges police face.

>> hi everyone, this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. deadly force. a new body cam video and the questions after a fatal encounter between officers and a suicidal man. >> to the teu tunisian dialect. >> the small group that brought historic change to one country. plus the chameleon. the singer with a double life.♪ ♪ ♪ >> the u.s. is abandoning its program to train syrian rebels to fight i.s.i.l. the half a billion dollar plan was supposed to train 5400

fighters, only 60 men were able to complete the course. the pentagon said it will now shift to providing arms to troops already on the battle battlefield. jim whrarch is i walsh is in bo. what does this say about our military jim? >> well, i think they were put in a difficult situation, the fundamentals were thought good. it's important to remember john that the cia is training syrian rebels in the free syrian army, but they have none of the restrictions that the pentagon had. the pentagon had to vet all these people. we don't want to be giving training and arms to folks who are then going to join al qaeda or join i.s.i.s. or give their equipment to i.s.i.s. which has happened before. we -- so we were looking for syrian moderates. we were also trying to do this in the middle of a civil war and telling these rebels yes, you

can fight i.s.i.s. but you can't fight assad which is really the person they want to be fighting most. and in a situation where the lines are fluid. one day you're a free syrian rebel you're fighting with al qaeda, arm and arm, next you're fighting against al qaeda or against i.s.i.s. and it was just too much for them -- they couldn't get enough people in, when they trained them the numbers were too small, quickly overrun, captured, it was just doomed to fail. >> why didn't american officials know that from the start? >> you know, i think there's been a lot of pressure particularly in congress on the administration to do more in syria. let's be honest: powm ha prest obama has been reluctant to get near this thing. he pushed it off two years. he said finally okay we'll do air strikes we'll train rebels. and the air strikes they've continued to carry them out but you and i have talked about this

before. air strikes by themselves are not very useful unless you have a ground force contingent to work with you together. we don't have that in syria. we have that in iraq but not in syria. i think this was in response to political pressure and once they instituted the program it got nothing but criticism, it was failing and they said forget it, we're not getting anywhere with this, let's pull the plug. >> now that program has failed. now russian he are in the game. what can the russians do that the u.s. can't? >> i think russia and the u.s. face the same dilemma. do you want to be the foreign power that enters the civil war, in russia's case it's more problematic although it's tough. almost everyone is a bad guy here. so the russians are going to be a foreign power that supports a dictator, that committed war crimes, used chemical weapons against the civilian population,

and murdered political activists, and doesn't have the support of the population. putin is getting the headlines for today but is this going to look good a year from now whether the body bags come to moscow? that's a region that turns on foreign fighters very, very quickly. the russians are going to hang in there to defend their ally, assad. it's their own ally in the region, their only port in the region. they're going to stick with him come hell or high water, but it's very hard to see how this ends well for us if we get directly involved. >> jim, thanks for your insight, we appreciate it. thanks john. >> in cleveland, police officers were honored for heroism and restraint in the face of danger. they fatally shot a suspect, but there is no question about what happened because the officers

were wearing body cameras. march 11th, police are called to the apartment of thee doar dotheodorejohnson, this is videa body camera that officer moonys has taken from his body camera. next the video shows the officer who is shot desperately trying to talk the suspect into surrender. johnson raises it at other officers, they shoot, killing him. moonys does not fire. >> your heart starts racing a little bit because the next day you don't remember half the stuff, with the adrenalin running through your body.

>> they were acquitted of doing anything. cayahoga county said they went above and beyond the call of duty to seek a peaceful conclusion. police body cameras are becoming more common. police shootings against victims like michael brown and freddy gray, are causing this. increased scrutiny on police officers, whether by body cams, dash cams or bystanders with cell phone cams. police fearful they could be held criminally accountable for simply doing their joins may be holding back. critics started calling it the youtube effect on policing. according to the washington post, chicago mayor rahm emanuel said this at a recent gathering in washington, d.c. we've allowed our police

department to get fetal. they've pulled back from the ability to interdict. they don't want to be a news story themselves. they don't want their career ended early and it's having an impact. vincent hill is a former national police officer. he is in atlanta tonight. vincent, is there a youtube effect and are police holding back? >> well, john, that's the million dollar question. what we definitely don't want is for police to do that. and i think as we look at society, when we look at what's going on, i'm reminded of the detective that was beaten a few weeks ago. that basically didn't fight back because of fear what the video would show. so we definitely don't want to get into an instance where police are waiting to make those split-second decisions that could either get them hurt or killed. we definitely don't want that. >> you've got to balance here because you bring up that case. on the other hand, in charleston, south carolina, the

town settled $6 million after a police officer shot an unarmed black man in the back. so how do police departments balance this? >> well, absolutely. when you're talking about body cams, the advantage of that is to be able to show everything from the officer's point of view. a lot of times when we see these tapes on youtube, or social media, what have you, it's usually at the point of escalation so it doesn't always tell the full story. but the good thing is for those bad officers that are doing bad, it will tell the full story, and they will be held accountable for their actions. >> what about that video we showed in the piece just before i introduced you? is this showing that because police have a body cam they're reluctant to shoot william. >> no, i don't think it shows it john. i watched that and i questioned it myself but i put myself in

that officer's shoes. i've been in that situation before. and there was a point where the gentleman did have the gun to his side. so at that point there wasn't really a threat there so it was up to the officer's discretion whether they wanted to use deadly force immediately or at least wait until he showed some type of threat. so i think they showed great restraint and they also showed how brave police are to go back in the house after he was shot. >> i guess i was going to say we're going to wait for research, to see whether this affects a police officer in the most difficult circumstances. i'm trying to think what would be going on in the head of a police officer who's wearing a body cam who's confronted with a situation like that. are those officers really thinking about that body cam? >> you know honestly i don't think they will be. of course body cams, it's a very new thing that's going across the country. you know policing has been around hundreds of years. the use of force continuum has been around hundreds of years.

so i think an officer's going to rely more on training and rely more on protecting his life, protecting the life of the public, versus you know, waiting to see how something may come out on a camera. again if you wait that split second it could be life or death. >> and you know that vincent hill, good to see you, thank you very much. >> thank you john always a pleasure. >> the los angeles city council has passed sweeping new earthquake safety rules and they require some 15,000 buildings to be retrofitted. it's part of a plan to strengthen buildings, water and communication systems that could be destroyed in a major quake. federal authorities are planning to outline crack failure standards, the federal railroad administration called for more detailed inspections across the industry. and stronger training for inspection vehicle operators. it also said it would explore the need for new rail standards

and slower train speeds under certain conditions. the federal government's about to outlaw almost all private air boats i boat in flos iconic everglades national park. it pay mean the way of end of f life. robert ray reports. >> there are alligators in every direction. birds on the hunt. and lots of tours. snapping photos of the vast marsh. it's known as a community of locals known simply as the gladesmen. a community in danger of extinction because of new federal regulations that will virtual ban the air boats they use for transportation and to make a living. >> we used to be able to fish hunt frog stuff of that nature. all of that culture is going to

disappear in this area, it's going to be gone. >> the federal government is concerned with pollution and preservation in the everglades. >> the quality of the experience, the noise, the pollution, the impacts of these very loud vessels really affect the animals' behavior and function in a natural setting. ♪ >> the gladesman culture is so distinct there was even a tv show about them in the 1960s. jessie cannon worked on that show, he's 70 years old now, a man born and raised in the marshes. his family have been guiding tours through the everglades since the 1940s. >> it is not fair because it's important to the everglades, it's been here forever. and gladesmen have always used it and taken care of it as much as possible.

they've been kind of custodians of it. >> for more than 20 years, one area of the everglades known as the earn extension last been the one place gladesmen have been allowed to make tours. 1934 it was designated as a park. 1989, the government ordered the park service to come up with a comprehensive park plan, that means the end of private air boating except for handful of captains who proved they used the area in 1989, they will be given nontransferable permits. everglades national park is 1.5 million acres. private air boat owners were able to go on about 109,000 acres of that area.

now they will be limited to 29,000 of them. we talked about the systems they are going to be putting into place. are you concerned about those systems that it's going to affect your business and livelihood? >> it's going to have an effect of my business. now i'm not going to be a private owner of a business, i'll be working actually for the federal government, i'll be working for them instead of me working for myself. >> the new managements plan goes into effect -- management plan goes into effect in a few weeks. >> i have to abide by the crooums you'll only be ablrulesf people a day. >> what's allowed and not allowed how those would be enforced, i think those are relatively small details in the grand scheme of things, as we start talking further there will be a good outcome on the business side of things. >> more than 100 public meetings

were held over the years about how to use the park. the government wants a quieter gentler everglades national park. the gladesmen want the way it always was. >> you know how much culture there is, your family has been in this a long time. you've got to be concerned about the fact that that culture many the gladesmen is going to go away . >> it's going to disappear. eventually in this time frame there's going to be no gladesmen in this area at all. no private individuals that live off the glades, survive off the glades, basically live off of the glades, this area is going to totally toda totally disappe. >> robert ray, al jazeera. reports say program is fitted on some diesel engines

already outfitted with the now infamous software that fools emissions testing devices. meanwhile the state of california has given vw a deadline of november 20th to fix affected engines. since the start of the scandal the embattled auto maker has lost a third of its share price. now to an al jazeera exclusive. the italian government is prepared to exchange cash for prisoners. antonio mora last the story. >> documents obtained by al jazeera appear to reveal at least three cases where millions of dollars were changed to excho secure the release of italian citizens to somali pirates to release a certain couple. >> there were things we weren't even to speak about. >> in the next hour, the other

groups labeled terrorists who have profited from italy's willingness to pay ransom and a question about where that money is coming from. >> thank you antonio. the nobel peace prize was awarded to a group born out of the arab spring, that helped prevent a civil war there. courtney kealy tells us more about them. >> the norwegian nobel committee have decided that the nobel peace prize for 2015 is to be awarded to the tunisian national dialogue quartet. >> the committee surprised the world by giving the prize to a little known group, a coalition of businessmen lawyers and human rights activist that ths that te committee credits with staving off a civil war. >> i dedicate this to those who

have sacrificed much for the government of tunisia but honestly it's thanks to the political parties and also the tunisian people who had faith in us and in civil society organizations. >> reporter: the quartet came together in the summer of 2013. at a critical time of unrest after tunisia's jasmine revolution. a civil excluded islamist party won elections and tried to force through a new constitution that would have made islam the state religion with strict statements of rights. >> i especially congratulate the tunisian women because i'm not only the president of the employers union i'm also a woman and i'm proud to represent tunisian women in receiving this prize.

>> reporter: the award comes five years after tunisia's jasmine revolution put an end to decades long inspiring the arab spring. any other country caught up in the arab spring but its fledging democracy is still not entirely secure. >> translator: whether it's the leftists the right or the moderates everyone should understand that we are facing a war against terrorism and we cannot win unless we stand together. >> and tunisia is also believed to be exporting more foreign fighters to syria and iraq to fight with i.s.i.l. than any other country. >> it is so important and so timely, right now, to put the limelight on what has been achieved in tunisia. >> courtney kealy, al jazeera. >> coming up next: the new york

dolls, buster poi poindexter and beyond. >> you want to take them speculation and make them feel great. >> our conversation with david johansen, that's next.

poi

>> now to our arts and culture segment. tonight david johansen, a trail blazer who follows his own path. first the new york dolls then in character, buster poindexter. now as himself. he's not done yet. i asked him about his famous alter ego. >> i was in a band after the dolls. i was in a band, i think we were called the david johansen group, we had a couple of hits. and we used to essentially travel around in like a van.

and play almost every night. i mean i was in this van probably 250 days a year. there was a saloon that was two blocks from my house that was on 15th street and irving place called tramples. antramps. it was run b by these irish guys but they had great taste in music. i can take this music i'm grooving on, and i'll take four mondays, by the fourth monday it was like a happening scene so i started doing weekends, and you know i'm not getting back in that band, you know. so i just like kept doing busted for a while. >> during those days when you were hot, in many ways, hot hot hot -- ♪ people rockin' hot hot hot ♪

>> what was the biggest thrill? >> you know i had been playing rock 'n' roll for a long time. and a lot of it was kind of like, you know, i mean i'm not saying this lamentably, but a lot of this is like preaching to the choir in a lot of ways. and when i started to do buster, i started playing for other kinds of people for a change, you know. ♪ it breaks my heart when you're not there ♪ >> and had a chance to kind of be kind of subliminally subversive in certain ways, you know. so it was interesting. >> what's different about performing now compared to when you had success 30 years ago? >> you know i've matured in certain ways. my voice has really matured. a lot of people say that my

voice is better than it ever w was. ♪ you may think that my humanity ♪ >> i take the singing craft, although the way i sing is kind of unique, but still i take the craft of singing a little more seriously, you know. i used to kind of like maybe take it a little more for granted, thing song now bam bam bam. now you know i can sing like we're doing two weeks every night at the carlyle so i can sing, you know, every night for two weeks, which is pretty good. you know most people would have to -- >> it's hard. >> yeah it's hard on the throat. >> hard on your voice right? >> also i quit smoking a couple years ago. which really helps. >> what do people say whether they come to the show? do you get a chance to talk to

folks when they come? >> they say it was great. i thought i was going to kill myself now you have given me the wherewithal to face another day. >> very few artists get the chance to have such success and continue for so many years. >> yeah, yeah. >> what do you attribute that to? >> it's a certain kind of person that really can't really consider doing anything else. you know like -- i think a lot of people get into show business and say oh i'm going to do this, be a comedian or singer or whatever, and then they might have a little success but then whether that kind of wanes they think well i'm going to do a dentist or whatever i was fated to be, you know. but then there are certain people that that's all they can do. i could maybe about a millener. i don't know what else. >> hope you keep doing it for a long time. great to meet you. >> great to be here.

>> that's our broadcast. thank you for watching. i'm john siegenthaler. the news continues flex with antonio mora. i'll see you on monday.

>> frittered funds. >> training, forces in syria, that will take the fight to i.s.i.l. on syrian territory. that is an important ingredient of our overall counter-i.s.i.l. strategy. >> the obama administration acknowledges a $500 million program to train moderate syrian rebels is a failure and must change. unheeded calls for calm.