Editor breaks up with LA Times ... Dinner Party Download ... the lost tapes of Bobbie Gentry.
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.
7-year Love Affair with LA Times Subscription's Sad End
Jon Regardie, executive editor of the "Los Angeles Downtown News," tells the sad story of a love affair that died. Come inside, for John's personal lament for the newspaper.
I’ve written before about my affinity for newspapers.
The ink is in my blood, even though I’ve never worked at a newspaper. It got there because my dad was friends with all the old guard newspaper men and women in Detroit. Guys like Tony Spina of the Detroit Free Press, who witnessed Japan conceding defeat in WW2 and was Pope John XXIII’s favorite photographer. And George E. Van, the Detroit News’ yachting reporter (think about that for a minute) who sailed on famed the J-Boat “Ranger” as a young man. And Joe Falls, sports columnist for the Detroit Times, the Detroit News and the Free Press, who burst into the room with news of Dave Righetti’s no hitter in 1983, and kindly helped me write an AP story on the high school basketball tournament game I’d just watched, but didn’t understand.
I was weaned at the Detroit Press Club, and one of my most vivid memories is the afternoon my dad and I spent at one of the papers, where the reporters still smoked cigars at their desks. So many cigars I got sick, and Charlie the bartender at the press club gave me some milk and some Coke to settle my stomach. He probably did the same thing for Bill Bonds every night before Bonds’ “newscast.” (That’s a Detroit joke.)
Like the LA Downtown News’ Jon Regardie, I can’t imagine life without the paper on my doorstep. Now comes news that the New York Times is planning to charge us for using its website. (Well, not me because I pay for home delivery.) I love Steve Lopez, but not enough to pay to read his archived columns when the LA Times used to charge for them. And have you ever paid for an article from the archives of the Pasadena-Star News or the Long Beach Gazettes? Has anyone? Ever? I can’t imagine they make more than about ten bucks a week on them.
I don’t know the answer to the problem the papers face, except collusion by all the outlets, and I imagine that’s illegal.
Street Artists El Mac and Retna Celebrate Mom
Off-Ramp producer Queena Kim was at the LA Convention Center last week for the opening night of the LA Art Show, where street artists “El Mac” and “Retna” were painting a mural of a woman.
Views of LA’s flooded history, courtesy LA Public Library photo archive
A Martian could take one look at our infrastructure and know Los Angeles has historically had big flooding problems. “Hmm, they paved over the river. It must flood here. But I wonder why they have so many flat roofs?” Come inside for some of that history, in archival photos.
Here are some shots of flooding in various parts of Southern California through history, culled from the Los Angeles Public Library’s excellent online photo archive, with the captions as they appear online.
For titillation purposes, I saved the beefcake shot for the end.
Downey, 1954: View of the high flood waters which covered the sidewalk and street in this shopping area of Downey. A motorist is seen driving carefully through the flooded street. (LAPL-Herald-Examiner collection)
Downtown LA, 1952: Photo shows cars driving through the floodwaters at the intersection of Fifth and Flower Streets. A traffic officer (arrow) stands in swirling waters to carry out unenviable duties. (LAPL-Herald-Examiner collection)
Glendale, 1934: Photo shows A. Van EEnooghe at 2615 Manhattan Avenue in Montrose, digging out debris caused by flooding. (LAPL)
Bridge, 1930s: Scene of destruction along the Los Angeles River due to flooding in the 1930s. A bridge has fallen into the river. View is to the northeast toward County Hospital, seen in the distance. (LAPL)
Long Beach, 1916: A woman steers a raft containing household goods and furniture across a lake sprouting houses, trees, and utility poles as she flees the Long Beach flooding of 1916 caused by heavy rains. A young boy in a canoe is beside the raft and a man stands shin deep in water next to it. (LAPL)
LaCrescenta, 1930s: Evidence of flood damage in La Crescenta, near Glendale, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. A small building has been moved off of its foundation on the left. The year appears to be either 1933 or 1938, both of which were marked by heavy rainfall and flooding. (LAPL)
Beefcake, 1933: Three men wearing bathing trunks at the time of flooding in Los Angeles on December 31, 1933. (LAPL)
Rain Floods a Street in Long Beach
Long Beach resident Steve Davey tells Queena Kim how he had to jump into a kayak to move his car.
STORM WATCH: Brian Watt at the Santa Monica Beach
KPCC’s Brian Watt was on the beaches of Santa Monica last week, monitoring the storms when he ran into two surfers and a Russian Muslim who was there to perform a religious ritual… one that required him to dive into the ocean.
STORM WATCH: KPCC'S Frank Stoltze Checks Out a Fallen Tree in the Hollywood Hills
The storm knocked down trees and cut power across Southern California. KPCC’s Frank Stoltze spoke with Bernard Friedman in the Hollywood Hills, where a giant Monterey pine blew down and cut off access to his house.
Dinner Party Download: Midlake and loud music in restaurants
Dinner Party Download, with Rico Gagliano and Brendan Newnam.
This week: Rock band Midlake gets medieval on Brendan... America's 1st female senator is silently defiant... and Rico learns why, in restaurants, silence is not an option.