Dinner Party Download; Rat 'Em Out; "If It's Yellow..." (c'mon you know the rest); Charles Perry: A Man For All Hallucinogens; These Germs Were Catchy; Broncos for Barack; Punch and Judy, Uncensored; Darby Crash, circa 1980; Queen of Disco in LA; Germs Culture; "Hi, Traffic Man!" Debuts
Dinner Party Download
Join hosts Rico Gagliano and Brendan Newnam for a fast and funny 12-minute "cheat sheet" of news and culture... designed to give you enough conversational firepower to dazzle friends and family at this weekend's dinner party.
This week: New York Times columnist David Carr threatens to kick our butt... Lolita turns fifty but she's still too young... Tips on how to pretend you know about wine... Our song of the week features a guy from the seventies who sounds like another guy from the seventies.
Rat 'Em Out
A story to make you itch: Elderly identical twin sisters bred rats in their Pacific Palisades home. They might be responsible for half a million rats on the Westside, LA Weekly reporter Max Taves tells Queena Kim.
Video of Rats
"If It's Yellow..." (c'mon you know the rest)
Mayor Villaraigosa learns the slogan that helped all of the Southland conserve water in the 1980s. Do you remember it?
Charles Perry: A Man For All Hallucinogens
Charles Perry continues his personal history. This time we meet Owsley, the inspiration for the Steely Dan song "Kid Charlemagne." Owsley manufactured huge amounts of LSD and tried them out on Perry.
These Germs Were Catchy
Go back in time to the birth of punk in L.A. with the director of the new movie, "What We Do Is Secret." Rodger Grossman tells the story of Darby Crash, whose band The Germs made the city's first punk record.
Broncos for Barack
When Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination, he'll do it in front of 76,000 at Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos. KPCC's Kitty Felde turns back the clock nearly a half-century when another young, dynamic Democratic candidate addressed a football-stadium crowd...at the L.A. Coliseum.
Punch and Judy, Uncensored
The Rogue Artist's Ensemble is putting on Mister Punch: a multimedia re-imagining of a "Punch and Judy" puppet show. Director Sean Cawelti explains to correspondent Jackson Musker that you'll see the original Punch--a wisecracking unrepentant murderer.
If you're already a subscriber to KPCC's Arts Newsletter, you can get a discount to this show. If not, sign-up below and receive future discounts to local arts offerings...
Darby Crash, circa 1980
The real Darby Crash, from the archives.
Queen of Disco in LA
Donna Summer is at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday and is performing songs from her first album in 18 years. Music critic Kate Sullivan gives us the skinny on the Queen of Disco
Germs Culture
They were there.
"Hi, Traffic Man!" Debuts
A new Off-Ramp feature -- "Hi, Traffic Man!," with Steve Julian -- solves your weekend driving problems.