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[Carter]: My name is Terry E. Cotter, and I direct elder services here at our beloved West Medford Community Center. Welcome to another live monthly presentation of First Friday's Words and Music, and getting us back into the groove for 2023. It's October, and that means that local elections are right around the corner. We've already seen forums, debates, and visits from across the political spectrum. So we're going to take a slightly different tack on the season. I should let you know that this program is supported in part by a grant from the Medford Arts Council, a local commission that is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council in the city of Medford. As always, we are serving and highlighting community once again here at 111 Arlington Street. We ask you to please be courteous to your neighbors as we move through the evening. Masking is not mandatory, but it is certainly welcomed. The coronavirus is still a very real thing. So we appreciate the broadcast work being done by the folks at Medford Community Media, led by Kevin Harrington, who's back there, for guiding us as we... Yes, absolutely. As we broadcast to you via Medford Community Media, channel nine for Comcast and 47 for Verizon and the MCM YouTube feed. If you're out there watching on your electronic devices or your television, welcome to the show. So it is indeed election season. And two stalwarts of city hall are locked in a pitched battle for the mayor's office. They appeared in a public debate the other day, and perhaps made you a bit wiser about their political platforms and aspirations. Tonight, however, we're going to look at things through a slightly different lens, as we have a sit-down conversation with one half of the equation in Medford's impending mayoral race. Now in the run up to this evening's program, pointed political questions were advanced to me to ask our guest. I won't be asking those questions. I am intentionally putting politics aside so that you can get a sense of the person beyond agendas, controversies, and conflict. That said, it is my distinct pleasure to welcome Medford City Councilor and mayoral candidate Rick Caraviello to the table of First Fridays at the WMCC. Absolutely. Rick is a husband, a father, grandfather, business owner, and a 12-year member of the Medford City Council, including three terms as council president. Rick brings a wealth of knowledge and dedication to the community. He is a lifelong resident of Medford, having raised his children in the community with his wife of 47 years? Carol Caraviello is sitting here up front. He has been an active member of the community, supporting organizations such as the Medford Kiwanis, the Medford Chamber of Commerce, and Medford Youth Hockey, WMCC, where he is no stranger. He drops by pretty regularly, and he has demonstrated a sincere appreciation for this neighborhood. Throughout his career, Caraviello has demonstrated a deep commitment to supporting working people and their families. Rick, welcome to West Medford Community Center, back, and to First Friday's Words of Music.
[Caraviello]: First of all, thank you, and it's my honor and privilege to be here this evening. Excellent, excellent.
[Carter]: So to begin your first Friday's visit to our neighborhood home, I want to get us in to a historical frame of mind. I write a lot of poetry that speaks to the legacy, mission, and vision of this community. I want to share a piece of verse. This is the one that has gotten me almost famous. It's called Hired by the Mystic, and if you're ever on Mystic Ave, and you go by the Mystic mural, which is on the abutment wall across from the Somerville projects, 25 plus years in the making, two panels painted every year by a muralist by the name of David Fichter, and it's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. And the last two panels, which were painted last year and put in place this year, I had the honor of being on one of the panels. And then the other panel is a panel of children involved in environmental work. So if you ever have a chance to see it, you know, go check it out because I think it's an amazing, and not just because I'm on it. But anyways, a piece of this poem is on that mural as well, and it's called Hired by the Mystic. They gave my people the lowlands, and not much of it, just a few streets hard by the river. Banks turned a blind eye behind the red lines, and it wasn't about the money. Class was an irresistible force, an immovable object. It wasn't the written rule, but white folks knew the legal. In our place, in this Mystic Valley space, where slaves and rum and ships had built some mansions, made some millionaires, and hid some old money. So it was hard by the Mystic. We went muddy and a bit turned down, the only place where one could be brown in this ancient Middlesex County town. But we named it. We claimed it. We made it our own. Even in the heat of summer, when the shores were parched and the soil was rank with the decay of aquatic alchemy, we were one with the river. We followed its flow to the lakes and the sandy beachfront. On our own Jordan shore, we baptized and blessed our brothers and sisters in Christ. We caught the little fishes to go with our loaves of bread and became the teeming multitude who our Lord Jesus fed hard by the mystic. We became community. We commanded unity. We raised up our children in the way they should go. As the river ebbs and flows, the tides will turn and our fortune grows. A few more streets become our homes. Houses on Sharon join Kin on Jerome. From Duggar Park to the railroad tracks, the white folk make more room for blacks. The color line recedes a bit, church and school and the center sit. The ville becomes the heart of it, hard by the mystic shores. Now the worm has surely turned, and folks who left have surely learned things couldn't stay the same. That muddy mystic most days is clean. The banks are freshly cut and green. Faces once distinctly brown are not the only ones in town. These streets that once were our confines must now embrace what gentry defines. condominium culture, bedroom convenience, university sprawl, access, egress, invest, and dispossess. Now those lowlands have become the highlights of a trending city and sometimes that success isn't pretty when it's at the expense of your black and brown and tan friends. And yet, the river still turns and bends from where it begins to where it ends. The only place where one could be brown in this ancient Middlesex County town where we named it and claimed it and made it our own. Thank you. Thank you. So that's a little reflection on how this neighborhood came to be. Let's have a friendly chat with Rick Caraviello. So Rick, can we talk a bit about what you believe you know about this particular West Medford neighborhood?
[Caraviello]: Well, I live right down the street, as many of you know. And I went to school with everybody in the whole city. If you look on the wall here, you see many pictures of people who made the center what it is, and I remember many of them growing up, but there's one in particular. Okay. 13 years ago, when I decided to run for office, as you said, I had always been involved in the community, doing different things, but I was out campaigning, out walking the streets, and I came upon Wally Counts' house. I didn't know that it was his house, I rang the bell, it was a hot summer night. Oh Rick, how you doing? It's hot, come in and have some water. So we sat down in his living room with his wife and we had a talk and he said, you know Rick, I've known you a long time, you've always done good for the community. And he says, I've supported a lot of candidates that I thought were going to be good candidates and do good for the community down here. He says they didn't live up to their promise. After an hour of talking and I made a commitment to him that I would always make sure that I'd be down here and take care of this community as long as I was able to. And I hope Mr. Counts is proud of what he supported 13 years ago.
[Carter]: 13 years ago, okay, very good, very good. Family, I know, you know, because you and I, we talk a lot, is a very important element of your life. How do you feel that family life has shaped the person that you are today?
[Caraviello]: Well, you have my wife there. We've been married 47 years. And we were both, we got married young. And I was, you know, young, and my wife, kind of brought me up, and so I hope that she's proud of the prison that she's developed. My parents gave her a 22 when she was a little boy, and this is what I've grown up to be, and I owe it all to her.
[Carter]: Oh my gosh, fantastic, fantastic. Well, you know, you kind of are answering one of the questions that I want to ask you, and maybe you've already answered it in a certain way, but can you talk about who your early role models and heroes were?
[Caraviello]: I didn't really have any early role models or heroes. I'm an only child. My mother passed away a few weeks after I was born. I don't have like brothers or sisters like other people did. So being in the NHL is a little different. So I didn't really have anyone to look up to. Just my parents, and that was about it.
[Carter]: OK, so we always ask this question when we're with our friends from different places. Who did you run with? Who were your pals? Who were your partners?
[Caraviello]: Believe it or not, we still hang with our core group of junior high school friends that moved on to high school, and we go out probably every couple of weeks with our core 10 or 12 people. And Peter Petrella. I know Petrella. Peter Petrella.
[Carter]: Pete was in my class, class of 75.
[Caraviello]: That was the other Peter. There was two Peters. It was two Peters, that's Peter the Accountant. This is his cousin. Tony Daddario, George Garofalo, Jack Santoro. We started out the Lincoln Junior High and we remained friends forever.
[Carter]: All right, all right, cool. That sounds like it would sound if it was coming from me.
[Caraviello]: And then over the years we took in some of the West Bedford kids, The Clocks, Kenny Mayarco.
[Carter]: Okay, okay, I knew Kenny Mayarco.
[Caraviello]: And I say, and to this day, we're friends.
[Carter]: And close friends. So you've been doing the work that you've been doing at City Hall for close to a decade and a half. What has it taught you about yourself?
[Caraviello]: I can tell you now, I'm certainly not the same person I was 12 years ago. I've grown, I've learned, and I've changed my attitude on a lot of things. It's helped me to grow and grow into a different person. Though I always had a value system, the value system has changed over the years. And again, I always managed to stay involved in the community as I am now. I still belong to the Kiwanis. I still work at the food bank. I do work at the library. So as you know, I've been dedicated to this community my whole life. And I don't come from, my parents never did this. Where it came from is when I was like about 45, and I met a friend of mine. He says, why don't you join a meeting at the corners for us? I gave his number. And it was kind of them who shaped me, because we met every week, and it was a bunch of community members. And I would listen to them, and they would tell the stories of the good things they did. There was a few political people in there, but they were the ones that actually taught me community service. And I kind of commend them for doing it.
[Carter]: Yeah, so when we talk about role models and heroes, perhaps some of your role models and heroes came out of that group.
[Caraviello]: Back then, there was a lot of political people, and there were business and community leaders. I learned from them, and I aspired to be them. I was the young kid back then, and they were all older. But you listen to the stories they would tell, even the politician stories. They talked about the good things they did. As I tell even my new Councilors, there isn't a better feeling than doing something good for somebody who really needs it. And I'm not talking about, you know, like Joe Jones calling, hey, can you fix the pothole? But somebody who really needs help that doesn't relate to your job as a city. And it's a real good feeling when you do something good for somebody.
[Carter]: I've been to a couple of those Kiwanis meetings. We're a different group. Listen, the one thing that you're guaranteed, okay, is the stories. Absolutely. The other thing is the food, man. Y'all like to eat, man. You don't remember when
[Caraviello]: Remember the Happy Haddock? We used to meet there.
[Caraviello]: And when the Happy Haddock closed, we didn't have a place to go. And the club almost broke up because over the food. Yeah. We were going to eat and finally we ended up going to Bocelli's. Bocelli's, absolutely. Yeah, we were going to different places and the food was was the most important thing and also got the club almost disbanded because we had nowhere to go.
[Carter]: That's too funny.
[Caraviello]: With food.
[Carter]: Yeah, well.
[Caraviello]: And I say, you know, I think everybody in the room, you know, it's a family thing. We all grew up with food. Food was, you sat around on a Sunday and you had dinner with your family. I know now that's a forgotten thing, but I think most of the people in this room, remember you went to your grandparents' house on a Sunday for dinner, or they came to yours, and even as a family, you sat down every night and you had dinner together. And again, people, everyone does take out, even my own kids I see. you know, home-cooked meals. My wife still cooks a meal every night for us and our hosts, and she keeps the tradition going. Trying to get our kids there is a whole nother thing, though.
[Carter]: I understand, I understand. But I think it's a tradition, in particular in this community, that's really respected. And like you say, it doesn't happen nearly as often or as much as it used to, but that's the way we grew up. It absolutely is. Okay, so you've been serving the city of Medford for the better part of 12 years, maybe a little bit longer than that. What has that service taught you about the people that live here in Medford?
[Caraviello]: It's taught me to respect everybody in this community and to be available to everybody. I think everybody knows part of the thing is Rick always answers the phone when people call. I'm always available for everybody. If you need something, I'll come to your house. I don't need you to come to me. And also, I don't like emailing people. I don't like texting. If you want something, I'd rather talk to you in person. Everybody knows if you need something, I'll be at your house. Anything you ever needed, I'm here. And that's me. I'm more of a hands-on type person.
[Carter]: Okay, okay. So, you know, and again, I mean, these questions kind of bleed into each other in some ways, but, you know, what made you decide, first decide to get involved with city government and run for city council?
[Caraviello]: Well, as we said earlier, you know, I was always involved with the community and do other things. I did want to do it at an earlier time. I remember, I don't know if you remember, remember when they were doing all the gas work over here? They were tearing up all the streets, putting the gas line in.
[Carter]: There may be some folks who remember it better than I do.
[Caraviello]: I was kind of, I kind of got involved with that and I was kind of angry because the gas company just wasn't taking care of the people. And I was, I had thought about running back then, but You shouldn't run when you're angry or have a cause. You should run because you want to run to do the right thing and not have a cause. And my kids had all been grown, so I had the time to dedicate to it. And I felt it was a good move up for me. And again, my friends at the Kiwanis, they inspired me to do it because I saw them, I saw many of them there. Like I said, we were local leaders at the time. And I think that was just an inspiration for me.
[Carter]: So I know that this is kind of subject to change and the landscape is constantly shifting, but share whatever you want to share. What's your current vision for the future of the city of Medford?
[Caraviello]: One of the things I don't like right now is we've become a community of old Medford and new Medford. And we have a divide in the community, and I don't like the divide. I didn't grow up in a community that was divided. I grew up in one community. And that's one of my goals is to bring everybody back to the middle so we're all together as a community. Even if you just moved here in the last couple of years, people like us who lived here our whole lives, I think we need to be one community. That's one of my biggest things that I'd like to do if I was elected mayor was get the unity back. I want the community that we grew up in where everybody was friendly with everybody. No more us versus them.
[Carter]: So maybe that in some ways at least partially answers the question about how you came to the decision that you wanted to run for mayor.
[Caraviello]: So it really wasn't in my thoughts up until last year. And after the last election, My vote total was quite high, higher than it had ever been. And some new people came onto the council, and I had to take the back seat. I'd always been a leader in the council, and now I was on the minority end. Welcome to my life, okay? I was on the minority end. I didn't like sitting there doing nothing every week. I mean, I voted correctly and everything, but there were some issues that I would have liked to have done, but as they say, if you don't have the votes, you don't have the votes. So that kind of spurned my decision, and we had a little family meeting at the house, and it didn't go over too well. with some members of the family, but I moved on and here I am today. It's been a tough time. I think my wife will tell you how hard it's been on her. It's been tough on me, I'm out every day, and it's really been pressing. It's a lot harder than I ever thought it was gonna be.
[Carter]: Okay, all right, all right. So you may have, again, you know, because you keep anticipating what I'm gonna ask you, you may already have answered this part of the question, but how does your wife feel about it? How does Carol feel about it?
[Caraviello]: I think she's I think she's on board now okay um and I get it it's hard for her mm-hmm I you know I can't keep dragging her everywhere you know she's got her things to do and she's a grandmother you know and yes and it's Taking her away for some things that she likes to do with the kids and I said listen It's only another month away says we can I said you can't I says you gotta stop being a grandma for like the next five weeks Yeah, which is hard for her because you know, she wants to be the grandma absolutely So it's been a little long a little tough. Okay on all of us. I
[Carter]: All right, all right. I've never done this before in an interview. In a lot of instances, it's because I don't always have the husband and the wife or the partners in a relationship. So I can't do it, but I can do it tonight because Carol's here too. So what three words would you use to describe Mrs. Caraviello?
[Caraviello]: She's my rock. She's my inspiration. Okay. And again, she inspires me to do better.
[Carter]: Okay, okay, all right. All right, so shout it out, Carol. What three words would you use to describe Rick?
[Caraviello]: She can't say that on TV. Mm-hmm.
[SPEAKER_08]: I love it.
[Carter]: Okay, all right, there it is, there it is. So 47 years of marriage is a wonderful thing to make note of. Okay, what do you know now that you wish you had known day one?
[Caraviello]: About my wife? About being with her, you know. Believe it or not. I know her better than she knows her. I know everything about her. I know, I can tell as soon as I walk in the house with the face on the wall. I said, you know, I write in, I sense the attitude. I can read her to a T. Me, I'm a little more complex. I tell her, I tell her, I says, you know, I says, we've been married 47 years and you still haven't figured me out yet. I'm a little more complex than she is. I know I can tell, as soon as I walk in the house, I know if this is a situation, if I've done something wrong.
[Carter]: Yeah, I only have 37 years in, right? So you got an extra 10 years on me. I think I know. But they can fool you.
[Caraviello]: No, she can't fool me. I know her to a T. I know.
[Carter]: If I had her sitting in this chair, she'd be saying something different, but that's another story. That's another story for another time. That's fantastic. That's fantastic. So, you know, you've been at this for a long time and you certainly have got legacy moments, you've got some wonderful things that you've been able to do or be a part of in city government. Talk about two or three of the things that you're most proud of.
[Caraviello]: Probably the most proud of is the Medford Public Library. Okay. I worked four years to bring that to Medford, going to the conference every year. And there'd be a library table there. It was a convention for municipal governments.
[Scarpelli]: Okay.
[Caraviello]: I would go there and the library would be open. I said, you know, that all these communities were getting libraries. And he says, oh, he says, is Smith on the list? No. Oh, jeez. So after three or four, after the fourth year, I finally got us on the list. And the library foundation came to MedFed, and they agreed that we needed a library. And this is something, so I brought it to Mayor Burke, and Mayor Burke could have told me, Rick, you know, we're not doing it. But she took it, and between the two of us, we got the $12 million in upfront financing to get the library. I also sit on the Medford Public Library Foundation, I'm the co-chair, and we raised another $6 million to help defray the cost. So in a sense, essentially, City of Medford has a brand new state-of-the-art library for about 45 cents on the dollar, which in today's thing is a steal. And that's probably one of the things I'm most proud of, that I could deliver something that to a community. As a city councilor, not even as a mayor. And I thank Mayor Burke for her help in doing that too.
[Carter]: I can tell you, with regard to the library, kind of one of the proudest moments that I had as a poet was being asked to write a piece to commemorate the library. And then when the family came to do the dedication, being asked to read some of it. I think that that library is like, it's a plum.
[Caraviello]: Probably getting about 10,000 people a month that go through there. We have a dedicated children's library now. You actually have a room where you can have someone like yourself speak, we bring authors in there. Be surprised at the amount of people in this community that don't have access to the internet and don't have access to computers. They go there, they do job interviews there. You go there between 9 and 11, you can't get in the second floor because it's packed with children. There's maker space, there's private study rooms. It's a great building to be in. That's probably my proudest achievement, that I can bring my own kids back there and say, this is what your father did.
[Carter]: Yeah, yeah. Well, I've had probably three or four different events in the Bonsignori room. It's a great, it's one of the great spaces in Medford now for meetings and gatherings.
[Caraviello]: So if I could give you a little story about the Bonsignori room. Go for it. We sold everything in the building. Chairs, anything, anybody want anything? We sold everything. Name it, name it. We named everything. I knew Bob Bonsignori a little bit, and he reached out to me and said, geez, Ricky, I'd like to help out in the library, do something. I said, great. I says, I'll have the woman, the fundraiser, she'll give you a call, and whatever you want to do, you do. So I gave him the number, and he calls me back and says, is this guy real? I says, why? He says, he's donating $400,000. for the room, I said, whoa, Jesus. I was like, taken back. Because Bob doesn't live, he lives in California now. But yeah, I was taken back when he came back with, he says, if I give you that much money, will you name it after, and he named it after his mother and father. And he brought her there, before the library opened as a surprise to show her that this is what I did for you as a son. It was a touching moment. He was one of my guys in high school, Bobby Bonsignore. I was kind of shocked when he came up with that kind of number. I thought maybe a couple thousand dollars, but when she said that number, I was like, whoa.
[Carter]: Next time I ask him for some loot, man, I'm going to start it. He's got plenty. I'm gonna start at a bigger number. I'm thinking small here. Very good, very good. Okay, so as you think about collaborations and community building in the city of Medford, what gives you the most hope?
[Caraviello]: I have hope for our city. And I want to bring it back to a time when we're all united together. And again, I think I said this before, I just don't like when I go, even when we have these meetings and people write on social media, you know, People tell me, one of the knocks on me is, I'm Old Medford. And I don't understand New Medford. I am Old Medford, I was born and raised here. A lot of my friends have since all moved away. I chose to stay here. I chose to raise my family here, and send my kids to school here. I'm really proud of that fact. And when people tell me that I'm Old Medford and I don't get it, they're wrong, I do get it. I do get it, and I want, The new people in Medford that moved here, I want them to get it too. I want them to know the community that I grew up in and that you grew up in. Many of these people in this room grew up in. I want that community back again. I want the closeness. I want people to walk around the streets and be friendly. I don't like when people walk by my house and neighbors and they don't even say hello anymore. You don't know your neighbor anymore. That's not... That's not what I like. You know me, I'm a friendly guy. But I want that unity back in our community. I want the community that I grew up in. And I want everybody to be together.
[Carter]: Okay, all right. So that's the hope that you have. Again, it may answer some of the next question. What gives you Ajita?
[Caraviello]: Um, I don't know. On a personal basis, or on a government basis?
[Carter]: Well, let's try to avoid the politics, because you end up calling somebody a name, and we don't want that. Yeah, kind of on a personal, but kind of an expansive personal basis. What keeps you up late at night? What makes you take that second antacid?
[Caraviello]: I'm kind of a sensitive person, and I don't like when people talk bad about our community. That doesn't sit well with me. Like I said, I take pride in my community. I love and I care, and I have concern for our community. That's really what keeps me up at night. And again, people know when you call, I want to be there. I want to help people. I've made my last probably 35 years of my life helping people. And I want to continue doing that.
[Carter]: Very good. Very good. How do you think what you've learned during your tenure as a city councilor will inform how you move forward as a potential mayor of Medford?
[Caraviello]: I've learned a lot, like I said, over the years. I'm certainly not the same person I was 12 years ago. I've grown on the job, I've learned. I understand more now how government runs. When you're the new guy, my first year, you had all these ideas. I was going to change the world. And you learn quickly, it's not happening. It's not happening. The ideas that you have don't come to fruition because I didn't understand how government worked. And people try to equate the private world and the government world. And I come from private business. It doesn't work. It's not the same mentality. As a business owner, you make a decision today and it happens tomorrow. You make a decision in government, well, we have to form a committee and do a study or bring in a consultant. So that great idea you had now takes a year and a half to get done. So that's kind of a frustration that happens. I understand how government works and I understand what it takes to make government better also.
[Carter]: That kind of takes me into my next question. You are, you are, you're right ahead of me. So in terms of running your own business, and that's been a benefit to a lot of folks in the community. We've actually, I wanted to get the ladies an appointment at the salon up in Medford. at the high school. I think this was either the first or the second time we went, and I called you to see about transportation, and you sent limos down. You sent two limos down. Yeah, I sent limos down. And Joe jumped in the car.
[Hill]: He was the first guy in the car there.
[Carter]: and went, you know, we went to, they call it, I think they called it Mystic Waves at the time, and everybody got, including Joe, everybody got a nice manicure, and it was good, but I think that kind of responsiveness in running your own business and wanting to treat people nice, treat people right, you know, how does that knowledge and that practice translate into running a city?
[Caraviello]: My dad had a small business and I worked with him. It was mostly a woman-oriented business. He taught me to make sure you don't treat people, treat everybody good. Treat everybody the way you'd want to be treated. My dad was a tough guy to work for. I'm not gonna tell you he wasn't. in his generation was work, then family. Because if you didn't work, then, you know, so... You don't work, you don't eat. The job came first and family came second. That's how he grew up. And I took some of that, but, you know, as I... grew older, family came first, and job came second. Dad couldn't understand that. Because if I wanted to be home with the kids, he couldn't grasp that thought. And that's, I think, where we kind of, after a while, I sort of went off into my own and doing something different. Because Dad just, he was an old school working guy. Works six days a week. I remember my mother, all my other friends, their parents maybe came home at five. My dad didn't come home till seven. God bless my mother and my second mother. she wouldn't eat until he came home. And she had his dish there, and she had his glass with ice, and as the ice melted, she put more ice in, and as soon as he came in, he would drink Tab, remember Tab? Yeah, I remember Tab. So he'd drink Tab, and she wouldn't eat until he came home.
[Carter]: Tab and Fresca.
[Caraviello]: Yeah, yeah, that's what he drank. Yeah, that was my dad, that's what they drank, Tab and Fresca.
[Carter]: A lot of us had dads like that.
[Caraviello]: I know my father was like that.
[Carter]: Loved his family, don't get me wrong. All of his family, he was a real family guy, but work, he was first. I would shudder to say he was a workaholic, but he was close, he was on the spectrum. But that's what allowed him to provide for his family. And that was the most important thing in the world to him, was being able to provide for his family.
[Caraviello]: But what I did learn from him, even though all the people he had working there, but they all knew if they had a problem, they could go to him. Whether it be a family problem or something, but he would always help out the family if they needed help. And I think that's something I learned from him.
[Carter]: It's beautiful, yeah, absolutely. Okay, so I'm a game player, you probably have figured that out by now. Will you play a little word association with me? Okay, I'm gonna give you the word, you don't have to answer it with a single word, you can be as expansive as you wanna be, but family.
[Caraviello]: Family's very important to me. It always has been. Again, I was the only child. I didn't have brothers and sisters, so my kids are very important to me. My grandchildren are important to me.
[Carter]: How many grandchildren?
[Caraviello]: We have eight. Seriously? Yeah.
[Carter]: So how many kids? Three. And do they all have?
[Caraviello]: They all have kids.
[Carter]: Okay.
[Caraviello]: Yeah.
[Carter]: All right. So at Christmas time, it's like a full house.
[Caraviello]: So Christmas time, don't come to my house at Christmas time because every kid has to get like a lot of stuff. They get too many things. Okay, okay. And I tell my wife, you don't have to buy him that much stuff. I said, they're getting old enough. she won't like this, but my son's 45 and she'll call him up and ask him for his Christmas list. Yeah, he says, stop. What do you want for Christmas? Give me a list for him. And you know, if you grow up in an Italian family, the son is always at the top of the food chain. Yeah, yeah. But she'll call up at Christmas time, you know, I didn't get your list, what do you want for Christmas? I said, stop, he's 45.
[Carter]: I'm 60 plus but I could still send you my Christmas list. All right, very good, very good. Okay, laughter.
[Caraviello]: I'm a pretty, you know me, I laugh all the time. We like to have fun.
[Hill]: Okay, okay, good.
[Carter]: It's good. It's good for the soul.
[Caraviello]: It's good, no, it's good.
[Carter]: Best medicine, absolutely.
[Caraviello]: Some people tell me I don't take things seriously enough. I do, but we can always have a little levity in anything we do.
[Carter]: Absolutely, I agree with that. Leadership.
[Caraviello]: I think I'm a leader. I think I'm a very good leader. I've led half a dozen organizations in the city. And I've left every one of them in a better place than when I started.
[Carter]: All right. Can't ask for a whole lot more than that. Courage.
[Caraviello]: I think I have courage. I think I have a lot of courage. I took a lot of courage to do what I'm doing now. To stand up and do that. When no one else in the city was standing up to do it, I stood up and said, I want to do this. Okay, okay. Integrity. I value my integrity. I value my reputation. I've worked very hard to become a well-respected member of this community, and I intend to keep it. And I say, as you know, I can go into any circle of this community, whether it be this community, the business community, the art community, I'm well-respected no matter where I go. I'm very proud of my integrity in the community.
[Carter]: Okay. Okay. Very good. So, you know, I think it's only fair, and I try to do this whenever I have a one-on-one interview, is, you know, flip the script. We do a lot of things down here at the community center. Do you have any questions that you want to ask me tonight?
[Caraviello]: As you know, I'm here a lot. I stop in just on the whim. You know, I know a lot of people in the room. I know a lot of people that are on that wall. I really, you know, as you know, I don't really have any questions because I'm here all the time. And if you've got questions, I ask you and I say, so, you know, you know me, I just, if I drive by, I stop in and say, hello, uh, you know, the, uh, people are having lunch, you know, we come in and we talk and, uh, I'm, you know, I'm glad to, you know, uh, be able to, uh, buy the people here lunches, uh, uh, you know, a few times a year. I'm happy to do it because they're all, everyone here is a good, good people and I respect everybody in the room here.
[Carter]: Very good, very good. OK, so I'm going to give you the last word. What are your parting thoughts?
[Caraviello]: I don't know. I don't really have any. I just want to. I want to be a valued asset to our community. I want to continue to do good things for the community. It makes me feel good when I do good things. Like I said, there isn't a better feeling than when you actually help someone in real need. And I'm not saying like political need, but someone who has a real problem that you could step in to help. Like an example, there was a woman, family getting kicked out of their house. And they were on a voucher and the rent went up. And the young girl called me and says, they're kicking me out because I no longer meet the standard so I can stay in the house. But I have the money to pay the extra thing, the extra rent. And housing authority saying, well, you can't do that. Even though you have the money, you have to go. And the young girl didn't have a husband, but she had two kids. And I went to the housing authority and says, how can you kick this person out? And there was a gentleman there who was fairly new. He said, well, it's, you know, she has to, you know. Okay. All right, don't die on me now, come on, not under my interview. I don't want to be blamed for this. We've had a lot of You all right? Take a moment, relax.
[Carter]: Oh my goodness. We've had a lot of things happen to us on this program. This is the first.
[Caraviello]: Take your time. You want to delete that part and start again?
[Carter]: I will never live this down. I will never live this down. I have people walking up to me on the street saying, man, remember that coughing attack you had? What was up with that, man? What was going on with you? I said, I had a little cough, I had a little tickle in my throat, and you know.
[Caraviello]: But as I said, the gentleman that was helping her at the housing authority was a new guy, he didn't understand. I said, she's saying I can pay the extra $100. He said, I don't care if she can pay, she's gotta get out. And I said, what do you mean she's gotta get out? She's got nowhere to go. I said, yo, was supposed to be helping people, not hurting people. Well, there's nothing I can do, and we went kind of long, and I reached out over his head, and we found there was a way to keep the woman in her house. And she ended up staying, and she came up to me and hugged me and says, you know, you changed my life, and she thanked me for that. And those are things that, It wasn't something, it wasn't a council job. It was something that you do and say, and those are the things that you want to do. You want to help people. Like I said, I'm not talking about fixing a pothole or something straight. Helping someone that doesn't have anything to do with government, that doesn't have access maybe to, call me, can you help? Senator Maki's office. And you reach out to them because they don't know how to get in touch with Senator Maki or Representative Clark. And you use influence or whatever. And that's how you really help people. And get them to things that doesn't really have anything to do with your city job. And I take pride in doing that thing. And people know they can call me to get that stuff done.
[Carter]: Very good. Well, obviously, the community center has been and really has to remain kind of an impartial entity, not take a particular political stance. We want everybody to be our friend. And I think everybody is your friend. Yeah, well, because having friends is what allows us to keep this organization open. So if you have any friends that want to be our friend, especially friends like Bobby Barnes and Uri, or Mayor Bloomberg, feel free to share them with us. We promise we'll be nice to them. But Rick, really, thank you so much for bringing your spirit of personal engagement to this community.
[Caraviello]: Thank you for having me. I always enjoy coming down here. Absolutely. I come here all the time just to say hello. I love the people in this room, a lot of them are my friends and I see them all the time and I thank them for allowing me to be their friend also.
[Carter]: Throwing your hat in the Medford-Morell race has certainly made for a very interesting political season.
[Caraviello]: Yes, it has. And I think it's been a fairly clean campaign. I have the utmost respect for the mayor, and I'm sure she has the same for me. And I think you've seen Banter going back and forth. It hasn't been on each other's character. We could agree to disagree on the issues, and that's what it's all about. But not be disagreeable. Some issues we agree on, some we don't. But we're not attacking each other's character, which is something that's... not happened in the past. You got that right. And like I say, I have the utmost respect for her and the job she's doing.
[Carter]: I'm sure she would say the same about you.
[Caraviello]: I'm sure. Yeah. Okay. And again, thank you. Thank you everybody for having me here tonight. It's been an honor and a privilege to be here. And again, win or lose, I'll always be here anyway. Absolutely. Absolutely.
[Carter]: Okay, folks, so get ready for something very special on the musical side of the coin. We're going to take a break. We're going to reset the stage, and I'll come back and share some West Medford Community Center announcements. But thank you for your engagement. Thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoyed our conversation with Councilor Caraviello. Thank you. I've had a lot of things happen to me.
[SPEAKER_04]: I've never had that happen to me before. That's pretty hilarious actually.
[Carter]: like that before. Okay, so I've got that one.
[Scarpelli]: Check, check, okay, good.
[Carter]: Yeah, those are always fun, aren't they? Comes out of nowhere. Out of nowhere, Kevin, my goodness. All right, cool.
[SPEAKER_04]: Microphone check, one, two, check, one, two.
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[Carter]: Okay, so, where do you want to be? Okay, chair, anything? That's fine. All right. All right. So I just want to go through a few announcements, a couple things I want to share with you, and then we will get back to it. Seniors. Wherever you come from, all over the Medford Road map, come join us Tuesday through Thursday for a nutritious lunch and a vibrant fellowship. Lunch is served at 12 noon. You can call 781-483-3042 to make a reservation. And every once in a while, you know, Councilor Caraviello will serve us up a nice buffet. And he's even cooked himself for us. Okay, October 20th, we are sponsoring an apple-inspired potluck from 6 to 9 p.m. Come out and bring your favorite covered dish to share while we peel some apples, okay? And then on the 21st, we'll take those apples that we peeled and we will make apple butter. Okay? Music and more fun activities during the day. There's a flyer on our bulletin board, so check it out. Okay, and then on November 4th, join the Community Center and Mothers Out Front for the annual Medford Pumpkin Smash. Okay? Pumpkins get weighed. They get smashed, and then they get recycled through composting. It's gushy fun for the whole family, okay? Weekly, the new and improved WMCC Fiber Arts Club is open to all. What began as a group of senior ladies knitting has evolved into a club for anyone that enjoys any type of fiber arts, from crocheting to quilting and beyond. The group is also engaged in charitable activities, donating time and effort toward bringing their work to nursing homes, chemo and prenatal wards, a fun social activity, and a great community service. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, this club would love to have you join. And that happens on Thursdays at 1 o'clock, right here at the West Medford Community Center. We're in the, you know, about the last week of our brick by brick fundraising campaign. We're going to put another 70-ish commemorative bricks with the existing bricks that we have out there in our front portico. If you want to participate, four by eight bricks with four lines of text are $100. 8x8 bricks with six lines of text are $225. We're shutting it down probably toward the end of next week, so get on board. There are still prime spaces left. and then how you can help us financially. Your tax-deductible donations help support the mission of WMCC. Partner with us in carrying this mission forward. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to this vital community organization. You can make your donation by phone, online, or by check. Please contact Lisa Crossman at 781-483-3042 for more information or to become a member. All right. So, like I said, while I still have a voice, let's get to the lyrical miracle of the evening. Farai Malik is a jazz and contemporary vocalist, composer, and music educator. She received her bachelor's degree in contemporary improvisation from New England Conservatory of Music in 2017, where she studied with vocalist and composer Dominique Ede. Upon completion, she continued on to receive a master's degree in contemporary performance at Berklee Global Jazz Institute in 2018, under the tutelage of world-renowned pianist and composer Danilo Perez. Since 2018, Farai has been a member of Danilo Perez's Global Messengers. They are Grammy award winning. They're international. They're all over the world. And she's singing with them. So she got that going for her. In addition to her performance ventures, Farai is a passionate music educator. In January of 2020, she founded Allegro Virtual Preparatory Instruction, LLC. An online learning platform that strives to provide students with access to the highest possible level of preparation for the study of music in higher education. I met Farai through our mutual friend Stacey Clayton, who has managed to snag several wonderful singers for her annual concerts over at the Somerville Community Baptist Church. This is her second time singing for First Fridays, but it's her first time live and in person. Ferrari will be accompanied by the wonderful and equally renowned guitarist and composer, Caio Affioni. Caio has spent the last 10 years making a lasting impression on the East Coast jazz scene. Caio has performed extensively as a sideman, accompanying jazz giants such as Jerry Boganzi and Christian Sands, Brazilian legends Jacques and Paula Morellenbaum, and leading his own project, the Caio Afiuna Quintet, as well as collaborating with the international collective Imagine 5. Originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, Afiuna's compositions uniquely blend together with the essence of Brazil and his deep knowledge of the North American jazz tradition. I am over the moon to get them here. I'm so excited to hear them both perform. I know you will be too, so I'm gonna get out the way and let y'all cook.
[SPEAKER_04]: The autumn leaves drift by my window
[SPEAKER_05]: The autumn leaves of red and gold. I see your lips. Oh, the summer kisses. the sunburned hands I used to hold. Since you went away the days grow long and soon I'll hear ♪ Old winter songs ♪ ♪ But I miss you most of all, my darling ♪ ♪ When autumn leaves start to fall ♪ The autumn leaves drift by my window The autumn leaves of red and gold I see your lips, the summer kisses The sunburned hands I used to hold. And since you went away, the days grow long. And soon I'll hear old winter's song. But I miss you most of all. when autumn leaves start to fall. do do do do The autumn leaves drift by my window The autumn leaves of red and gold The sunburned hands I used to hold. Oh, but since you went away, the days grow long. And soon I'll hear old winter songs. But then I'll miss you most of all, my darling. When autumn leaves start to fall When autumn leaves start to fall When autumn leaves start Thank you so much. Thank you, Terry, for having us. It's it's such a pleasure and a joy to be here and to be here with one of my dear friends, Kyo. So we're so happy to be performing this set of music for you. We've got some jazz standards, a couple original compositions for you. We hope you enjoy. That was Autumn Leaves, as requested by Terry. And then we're going to do another one of your requests. This is God Bless the Child. them that's not shall get, them that's not shall lose. So the Bible says, and it still is news, yes. Because mama may have and papa may have, but God bless the child. It's got his own.
[SPEAKER_04]: It's got his own.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yes, the strong gets more while the weak ones fade. The empty pockets don't. Dare ever make the greatest Mama may have and Papa may have But God bless the child that's got his own That's got his own and they're crowding around the door now when you're gone and spinning ends they don't come no more Rich relations give crusts of bread and such. You can help yourself, but don't take too much. No, no, no, no, no. Because mama may have and papa may have, but God bless the child that's got his own. That's got a soul Money, you've got lots of friends And they're crowded round the door Now when you're gone and spending ends They don't come no more Rich relations give, crust of bread and such. You can help yourself, but don't take too much, no. Because mama may have, papa may have, but God bless the child that's got his own. God bless the child that's got his own. God bless the child that's got his own. That's got his own. Thank you so much. This is one of my very favorite ballads. This one's Skylark. Skylark, have you anything to say to me? Won't you tell me where my love can be? Is there a meadow in the midst where someone's waiting to be kissed? Oh, Skylark, have you seen a valley green with spring? where my heart can go a journey over the shadows and the rain to a blossom cover lane and in your lonely flag Haven't you heard the music in the night? Wonderful music, faint as a will-o'-the-wisp, crazy as a loon, sad as a gypsy serenading the moon. I don't know if you can find these things, but my heart is riding on your wings. So if you see them anywhere, won't you leave? Buh-bye And in your lonely flight, haven't you heard the music in the night? Wonderful music, faint as a will-o'-the-wisp, crazy as a loon, sad as a gypsy serenading the Skylark I don't know if you can find these things But my heart is riding on your wings So if you see them anywhere Thank you. Kayo, happy uni. So we're going to do a little Stevie Wonder tune now, one of my favorites. This is Overjoyed. Over time, I've been building my castle of love just for two, though you never knew you were my reason. I've gone much too far. now to say that I've got to throw my castle away. I have picked out a perfect come true. Though you never knew it was of you I've been dreaming. The sad man has come from too far away for you to say come back some other day. And though you don't believe that they do, they do come true. For did my dreams come true when I looked at you? And baby, to whether you would believe You too might be overjoyed, over love, over me. Over hearts, I have painfully turned every stone. just to find that I found what I've searched to discover. I've come much too far for me now to find the love that I sought can never be mine. And though you don't believe that they do, they do come true for did my dreams come true when I looked at you and maybe to whoever you would believe you too might be oh for joy oh for love over me and though the What do they know, foreign romance All true love needs is a chance And maybe with a chance you will find You too like I overjoyed, overloved East of the sun. East of the sun. I'm going to pick it up. I'll do another one of my favorite standards. This one's East of the sun. E flat. Want to take a course on that?
[SPEAKER_08]: One, two, one, two, three.
[SPEAKER_05]: East of the sun and west of the moon. We'll build a dream house of love, dear. Close to the sun in the day, near to the moon at night. We'll live in a lovely way, dear. Sharing our love in the pale moonlight. Just you and I, forever and a day. Our love will not die, because we'll keep it that way. Up among the stars, we'll find a harmony of life to a lovely tune. East of the sun and west of the moon, dear. East of the sun and west of the moon. East of the sun and west of the moon dear, we'll build a dream house of love dear. just you and I forever and a day our love will not die cause we'll keep it that way east of the sun and west of the moon East of the sun West of the moon We'll build a dream house of love dear Close to the sun in a day And near to the moon at night We'll live in a lovely way dear Sharing our love in the pale moonlight love will not die cause we'll keep it that way. Up among the stars we'll shine in harmony of life to a lovely tune. East of the sun and west of the moon, dear. East of the sun and west of the moon, dear. East of the sun and west Thank you. We're going to change it up a little and do an original of mine. This is entitled Tonight. And if you like it, you can find it on YouTube. It's under my name and the Salt Lick Sessions. I'm going to be recording it later this year in December for my debut album, which will be coming out next year. So thank you. Tonight, I sang the melodies I wrote for you. Nothing left unsaid. Still, I'm going home alone tonight again. I look out and see unfamiliar silhouettes of people in the crowd. The ghost of you dancing in the shadows on the street. The cold nights get lonely and I know you'd be here with me if you could. And when my moon is rising, your sun is shining, and the joys of summer days are still with you. And so my heart grows weary, but I can imagine your voice whispering sweeter things in my ear. Tonight I heard a melody reminding me of you. And here I sit longing to be alone with you. The sound of your voice lingers in my mind. It's music to my ears. How long will I be lonesome for a season, for a year? The cold nights get lonely and I know you'd be here with me if you could And when my moon is rising, your sun is shining, and the joys of summer days are still with you. So my heart grows weary, but I can imagine your voice whispering sweeter things in my ears. And that you. here. Oh, you'd be here with me if you could. And when my moon is rising, your sun is shining, and the joys of summer days are still with you. And so my heart grows weary, but I imagine your voice whispering sweet nothings in my ears. just for you here inside my head sitting here at home alone tonight again. Thank you. This is one of my favorite standards that didn't make the list somehow, but I felt like doing it. So we're going to do it for you.
[SPEAKER_04]: I'll start right on that one. One, two.
[SPEAKER_05]: Grab your coat and get your hat. Leave your worries on the doorstep. Just direct your feet to the sunny side of the street. Can't you hear that pitter pat and that happy tune? Life can be so sweet on the sunny side of the street. I used to walk in the shade with those blues on parade. Oh, but I'm not afraid. This rover crossed over. If I never had a sense. Rich as Rockefeller, gold dust at my feet, on the sunny side of the street. ♪ Ba-ba-ba-boom, ba-ba-ba-boom, ba-ba-ba-boom, ba-ba-ba-boom, ba-ba-ba-boom. ♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba Grab your coat and get your hat. Leave your worries on the doorstep. Just outrank your feet to the sunny side of the street. Can't you hear? That bitter pat and that happy tune is your stamp. Life can be so sweet on the sunny side of the street. I used to walk in the shade with those blues on parade. Oh, but I'm not afraid. This rivalry's crossover. If I never, never had a cent, I'd be rich as Rockefeller. Gold dust at my feet on the sunny side of the street, on the sunny side of the street. Thank you. Thank you so much. Just one more? Yes, absolutely. We got another one for you. This is one of my favorite old gospel tunes. this life is over, I'll fly away. Come on, sing with me. To a home on God's celestial shore, I'll fly away. I'll fly away, oh glory, I'll fly away. When I die, hallelujah, by and by, I'll fly away. weary days and then I'll fly away to a home where joy shall never end. I'll fly away. fly away. When I die, hallelujah by and by. Sing with me. Oh, I'll fly away, oh, glory. I'll fly away. When I die, hallelujah, bye, bye. Thank you, Terry, for having us. Thank you for listening.
[Carter]: Okay, so... One of the things that I, you know, kind of have prided myself on since we began this venture probably close to 65 shows ago, we've done five plus years of shows, is not putting anything in front of you that I would be ashamed, you know, for you to see. So, and obviously this night is no different. I mean, this is high level high-level, high-level stuff. So I just, I want to say thank you to Farai and to Kayo, you and that marvelous guitar of yours, for a really, really wonderful night of music. I appreciate you both, and I hope if I ask again, you'll come again. All right, very good, very good. Ladies and gentlemen, Farai Malek and Kayo Afeyouni. Kayo Afeyouni. Okay, so that's a wrap for this live edition of WMCC's Monthly Words of Music program. We're so happy to be back in the game. I'm serious. Visiting with you in your living rooms and your other household spaces, as well as being here at our second home, the West Medford Community Center. I want to thank my man Kevin Harrington back there and Medford Community Media. for helping us to be live on local cable. And to thank you all for coming out and spending another night with us, enjoying what the WMCC has to offer. And if heck doesn't freeze over and I can stop myself from coughing, we'll be back in November with another edition of First Friday's Words and Music, featuring the sitting mayor, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn. Okay, before we fade to black, here's one more reminder about what's happening next at the WMCC. First and foremost, this program is supported in part by a grant from the Medford Arts Council, a local commission that is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the city of Medford. October 20th, the Apple Potluck from 6 to 9. Come out and bring your favorite covered dish to share with your neighbors while we peel apples. And then on the 21st, we'll turn those apples into apple butter with other fun activities and the music, of course. November 4th, join WMCC and Mothers Out Front for the annual Medford Pumpkin Smash. Pumpkins get weighed and smashed and then recycled through composting. It's gushy fun for the whole family. And then finally, the WMCC Fiber Arts Club is open to all. What began as a group of senior ladies knitting has evolved into a club for anyone that enjoys any type of fiber arts. From crocheting to quilting and beyond, the group is also engaged in charitable activities, donating time and effort to bring their work to nursing homes and other places that might need it. A fun social activity and a great community service, whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, the club would love to have you. And we are in the last few days of our brick-by-brick fundraising campaign. Another 70-ish commemorative bricks are being added to our front portico. If you want to participate, four-by-eight bricks with four lines of text are $100. Eight-by-eight bricks with six lines of text are $225. We're shutting it down toward the end of next week, so get on board. That's all, folks. Join the set of November for our conversation with Mayor Kern, Lingo Kern, on a new edition of First Fridays, Words and Music. Send us your email addresses if you want to be included in our regular constant contact connection. You can also call us at 781-483-3042. For Lisa and myself and Kevin, good night, be safe, and stay healthy. We hope to see you again soon.
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