CyberFrequencies launches new 9-11 project ... Marvin Hamlisch on writing music for Barbra ... Eat:LA on making goat cheese at home, and eating burgers with Obama ... ArtWalk reacts to the baby tragedy ...
Eat:LA - communal tables, make your own goat cheese, and Garcetti attends Obama's 50th
Colleen Bates, editor and publisher of Eat:LA visits the home of a local chef who keeps goats, drinks their milk, and makes chevre; City Council President Eric Garcetti describes the menu at his friend Obama's 50th birthday party, and Elina Shatkin takes a stand against sitting at communal tables.
Curious to experience a communal dining ordeal for yourself? Check out these restaurants (with links to their respective Eat:LA reviews):
Son of a Gun
The Gorbals
Canelé
Gjelina
Umami Burger
Waterloo & City
Market on Holly
Le Pain Quotidien
Tanya Jo Miller and Queena Kim of CyberFrequencies launch Decade 9/11
Decade 9/11 is an interactive documentary told by you. Decade 9/11 is a video dialogue where people from a variety of backgrounds, opinions, ethnicities and ages share their thoughts on the decade of global change since 9/11.
In an era that’s been marked by divisiveness, partisanship and discord, the creators hope that Decade 9/11 will create conversation and a dialectic.
Marvin Hamlisch on writing for Barbra Streisand
One of the highlights of Larry Mantle's Airtalk interview with Pasadena Pops maestro Marvin Hamlisch was his description of writing the melody for "The Way We Were."
The Bobbie Gentry Tapes: fan finds unreleased recordings, possibly by vanished pop star
HERE'S ONE OF OFF-RAMP'S FAVORITE PIECES FROM 2010:
Bobbie Gentry is perhaps best known for the song "Ode to Billy Joe," which earned Gentry two Grammys in 1968. She landed her own act in Las Vegas, and a TV show on CBS. But in 1978, after appearing on The Tonight Show, Bobbie Gentry disappeared. KPCC's Alex Cohen reports that a Gentry fan discovered tantalizing traces of Gentry's early life, including tapes Gentry seems to have made before she hit it big. Listen to Alex's piece to hear those tapes, and come inside for Super-8 Gentry home movies and more!
By the way, if Bobbie Gentry is reading this right now: Off-Ramp would love to talk with you and would pledge to preserve your privacy. Just shoot an email to offramp@kpcc.org.
We've posted three pieces of audio for you. The first is Alex's piece. The second is (probably) Bobbie Gentry singing on one of the old reel-to-reel recordings from Bryan Holley's collection. The third is another one of the recordings from Bryan Holley: a group of boys holding a fart competition.
Bobbie Gentry home movies, courtesy of Bryan Holley
Bryan Holley has this to say about the Christmas video:
"Ruby (Bobbie's mother) and Bobbie LOVED Christmas, over the top both of them, and here they are. One of the unusual Bobbiebilia items I have is the libretto and test-press record from Capitol Records of her original "musical fantasy" Christmas Picturebook. This music has also probably only been heard by a very few, and is amazing because it is songs with Elf voices, singing Bobbie's original songs." The libretto is nicely leather bound, with a "To Mom" inscription signed by Bobbie.
Taco Trucks - $80,000 kitchens on wheels
Taco trucks used to be where you went to get … tacos. Now they serve everything from French crepes to Vietnamese sandwiches. But in everything that’s been said about taco trucks, Off-Ramp’s Bridget Read still hadn’t heard one of the most basic things about them: who makes them?
To find out, she talked with Juan Gomez, co-owner of West Coast Catering Trucks in Commerce, and spent some time inside a taco truck (instead of eating from one). Follow the link to West Coast's website for photos of some of their finished trucks.
In the aftermath of July's accident, where is Downtown's Art Walk headed?
On the second Thursday of each month, the Art Walk attracts thousands of people to Downtown L.A. Last month during the event, a driver struck a parking meter that then fell over onto a stroller on the sidewalk, killing a two-month old baby inside. That incident sparked a review of Art Walk. Among the many people covering the story was KPCC.org's Eric Richardson, who also runs the popular Blogdowntown website. Off-Ramp producer Kevin Ferguson talked with Eric Friday about how the incident might impact the massive monthly gathering.
“We covered the incident that night. I started seeing some tweets, grabbed a camera and ran out. Right away you saw people trying to figure out, ‘Wait. What is this? Why am I seeing all of these lights and hearing the sirens?’” Richardson said.
“The [L.A. City Council] put a motion forward bringing the city departments together to form a task force and take a look at Art Walk. What they came back for August was they needed to take the core of Art Walk and find ways to reduce the number of places where people congregate,” he said. “You know you have 30,000 people coming down to Art Walk. Food trucks and vendors got targeted in this initial set of rules because they’re the things that cause people to stop and stay in one place on the sidewalk. You end up with people clustered around a vendor, and that forces someone else to walk on the street to get around this group of people that are blocking the sidewalk.”
Acquiring a permit from the city to close off the streets isn’t feasible.
“For an event the size of Art Walk, you’re looking at a permit that really is going to run you close to $100,000 a month, and that’s not something that the Downtown Art Walk has any financial means to be able to support," said Richardson. “But also LAPD was really the one that raised the issue of: ‘We don’t really want to see the streets closed off because that’s just going to encourage more people to come down, more people to congregate in this same little area.’ They were worried crowds could escalate to a point where they just wouldn’t have the resources to patrol it. There was a worry that the event could turn into Mardi Gras. As it’s become a later and later event, and more and more bars have opened along the streets, you create a situation where you have thousands of people spilling out of bars onto the street in the middle of the night. Who knows what could happen.”
The August event saw the largest deployment of LAPD that they’ve had.
Dinner Party Download's Rico Gagliano answers: what is speculoos??
"Shaky Alibi" is a coffee and waffle shop on Beverly Boulevard. They’re known for their homemade Liege waffles, and for a tasty Belgian spread you can get as a topping. The spread is called "speculoos" and it's getting really popular in Europe. But in L.A., Shaky Alibi’s one of the only places that serves it, maybe because of its name. Rico Gagliano spoke to owner R.J. Milano, and the name is the first thing he asked about.