Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's doc on 1930's all-black basketball champions ... See Richard Run - but for/from what? ... CyberFrequencies on The Social Network ... Death warmed over is good ... butterflies in your backyard and flowers at Customs ... Meet Mr. Lincoln ...
Kareem pays tribute to the giants of basketball past: The Harlem Rens
Everybody knows baseball was segregated. But did know know basketball was? Nevertheless, in 1939, the Harlem Rens proved themselves the best basketball team in the world by beating all the black and white teams. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar talked with Off-Ramp host John Rabe about his new documentary about the Rens, "On the Shoulders of Giants," which is available on Video on Demand through March.
(THIS IS THE LONG VERSION OF THEIR Q+A.)
Butterflies, Butterflies, Butterflies!
Spring's coming and before you know it, Southern Californians everywhere will be pining for butterflies. In preparation for the upcoming season Ilsa Setziol sat down to talk with Brent Karner, resident bug expert at LA's Natural History Museum about butterflies and what we all can do to make our backyards more habitable for America's most beloved insect.
(Image by Robert Puster via Wikimedia Commons)
This Old House wraps up in LA
Since last year, we've been following the first Los Angeles project of This Old House, the venerable public TV home renovation show. We chatted with carpenter Norm Abram and host Kevin O'Connor when they were soliciting proposals here. We announced their pick of a Spanish Revival home in Silverlake. We visited the job site and climbed up on the roof for a lesson in tiling. And now, even though they've just started running the LA episodes on KOCE, the construction phase is done. Off-Ramp went to the wrap party Thursday night to talk with the owners.
Free $$$: A self-help seminar/play wants to change how you think about money
You've seen them before: self help seminars, books, classes... They all promise you the same thing: money, security, happiness.
This month Sacred Fools theater in Hollywood is putting on a self-help seminar of their own, only it's not what what it seems. It's a play called "Free $$$: How to Manifest your Dreams for Zero Dollars a Day." Off-Ramp's Kevin Ferguson stopped in for a rehearsal with Jonas Oppenheim, the play's creator, and actress Jocelyn Towne.
Detroit Punk Band Death's First LA Show
In this case, Death warmed over is a good thing. The Detroit-based group called Death played punk music before there was punk music. Their 1974 demos were excavated by an indie label and released last year, and next weekend they’re playing their first concert in LA. Off-Ramp's Lainna Fader talked with Death’s singer and bassist Bobby Hackney from his home in Vermont.
In the early 1970s, the music of Detroit was split into two scenes: the black soul, funk and R&B of Motown and the white rock 'n' roll of MC5, The Stooges, Alice Cooper, and Bob Seger Somewhere in the middle was Death, brothers David, Bobby, and Dannis Hackney, who put out punk music years before anyone else was playing punk on the east side of Detroit.
Richard Alarcon Wants To Leave Office Early ... Again
Off-Ramp commentator Jon Regardie wonders why LA City Councilman Richard Alarcon is running for the Assembly ... when he still has years to go on his council term. Could it be the fraud charges facing the serial campaigner?
Basketball's greatest descends on LA
Los Angeles this weekend becomes what the NBA considers the basketball capital of the world ... It's All-Star weekend.
Thousands of journalists, NBA workers, fans, and players are crowding LA Live ... A friend just ran into James Worthy at the airport. It culminates Sunday when Kobe Bryant he leads the Western Conference against an East team that features seven players from Boston and Miami. Just as things started to heat up, KPCC's Brian Watt talked with the NBA's PIO, Tim Frank.
CyberFrequencies takes on The Social Network
If the Social Network takes home a best picture, will that once and for all establish Facebook as the de-facto social networking site? Will the company ever collapse? And what of our privacy? All this and more on this week's CyberFrequencies!
WHEN did Alex North find out Kubrick didn't use his score for '2001?'
American Cinematheque programmer Grant Moninger says, "If you haven't seen '2001' in 70mm, you have not seen the film." His colleague Gwen Deglise says they get so many requests to screen Kubrick's 1968 sci-fi masterpiece, they have to run it at least once a year.
Put the two together, and you have the Cinematheque's 5-year exclusive deal with Warner Bros. to show a brand new 70mm print of "2001: A Space Odyssey." They're planning two extended showings every year, the first of which runs Dec. 9 - 27 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
Now, when you go, you probably won't be surprised by the music in the movie. "Also Spake Zarathustra," the "Blue Danube," the etherial Ligeti choral pieces. But one person who was surprised was composer Alex North, whom Kubrick commissioned to score the movie! He didn't find our Kubrick dumped his music until he went to a preview.
Listen to the audio to hear Craig Curtis tell you the whole story.
Presidents Day: Lincoln impersonator says some kids love him, some yell, "Fraud!"
President's Day is Monday, which means work for actor Barry Cutler, who travels the country to bring Abraham Lincoln to life for K-12 students. Some days, he plays Honest Abe for 2,000 kids.