Lou Adler - the career retrospective interview with Alex Ben Block ... Getting to the Heart of Heart, pioneer rockers ... Norman Corwin and the End of World War 2 ... Photog Vince Gonzales is in LOVE with old movie equipment ... meet German Pinchevsky, who did special effects for Tarkovsky ...
Lou Adler Part 1: Tapestry, Cooke, Wonderful World, Jan & Dean, and Talent
In the first part of Alex Ben Block's interview with Lou Adler, the entertainment legend talks about how he recognized Carole King's talent (easy) and won a Grammy for producing "Tapestry." Plus, Jan & Dean, Sam Cooke, and his association with Herb Alpert.
(Alex is a Hollywood historian, frequent Off-Ramp guest, and senior editor at The Hollywood Reporter.)
Photographer Vince Gonzales gives new life to vintage film equipment
(UPDATE: Vince has just opened a show at the Pickford Center that focuses on film projectors, and includes not just photos, but the vintage equipment itself. Check the link for details.) You can debate the merits of film versus digital (feel free, in the comments section below), but nothing beats the look of the old movie cameras, tripods, editing stations ... as photographer Vince Gonzales has discovered. Off-Ramp host John Rabe talked with Gonzales at a photo shoot at USC's film school.
COME INSIDE to see the photo Vince took of a beautiful old Arriflex especially for Off-Ramp ... and look one item down to see who John met during the shoot -- a man who worked on one of the best films of the century.
(Image: Vince Gonzales)
USC's "Film Doctor," German Pinchevsky, worked on legendary Soviet films.
KPCC's John Rabe interviewed Vince Gonzales (ABOVE ITEM) about his vintage equipment photography project at a workshop at USC's film school ... the workshop of German Pinchevsky, who fixes old movie cameras. But, as John discovered during the interview, decades ago, the Soviet emigree was in the special effects department of Mosfilm, and worked on "Andrei Rublev," "Solaris," and other legendary films.
CJ Ford, Private Investigator for the Rest of Us
CJ Ford is a private investigator, but not in the Magnum PI sense. His firm, run by many volunteers, does detective work for people can't normally afford it: death row inmates, defendants representing themselves, the wrongly convicted. They've been open for two years now and have over 130 clients. Off-Ramp's Kevin Ferguson stopped by CJ Ford's office in Fullerton.
14 August Revisited - Norman Corwin on the end of World War 2
Saturday, August 14, is the 65th anniversary of the surrender of Japan and the end of World War Two. To honor the event, we're proud to present "14 August Revisited," Gerald Zelinger's 1985 documentary about the day, featuring radio genius Norman Corwin. Here's how Zelinger introduces the program:
'It’s Tuesday August 14th 1945. We are in a radio studio at CBS Columbia Square on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. A dress rehearsal is taking place for a light hearted comedy by Norman Corwin called “L’affaire Gumpert” starring Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester. Some technical problems are taking place and during the course of fixing the problem members of the cast comment on sound of the horns honking on Sunset Boulevard coming through the concrete acoustical walls of the studio. The rehearsal is ended and Mr. Corwin and crew reassemble to produce a program marking the end of the Second World War. The program takes you from the studio to the roof top to around the world with news reports by CBS correspondents and a conversation with Norman Corwin. And finally we hear “14 August” by Norman Corwin narrated by Orson Welles.'
(Photo: Norman Corwin, in studio with Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester.)
In the Wake of the Grim Sleeper
Tuesday, 25 years after the Grim Sleeper serial killer took his first victim, Bethel AME Church in Los Angeles set up a memorial along Western Avenue. It included photographs of ten victims and space for the public to write messages to the deceased.
Among the mourners was Chris McNair, a 52-year-old contractor from Los Angeles. He knew Lonnie David Franklin, Jr., the accused killer … and one of his alleged victims. McNair talked with KPCC’s Brian Watt.
Heart on Child Rearing, Growing Up With the Beatles and Sisterhood
This past May, the groundbreaking female hard rock group Heart stopped by the Grammy Museum for an intimate performance and a Q+A. Off-Ramp has an exclusive peak on what went on inside.
Charles Solomon on Dinosaur Drawing
Charles Solomon reviews "Tyrannosaurus Rex!" It's a DVD that that promises to fulfill the dreams of children everywhere: how to draw the perfect dinosaur.
CyberFrequencies and Wikileaks
CyberFrequencies - Queena Kim and Tanya Miller - talks with the hacker who tracked down the person who leaked the Afghani Pentagon Papers to Wikileaks.