There are liable to be a lot of frustrated people (like this man) on the roads this weekend during Carmageddon. So Off-Ramp host John Rabe asked Classical KUSC (91.5 FM) morning drive DJ Dennis Bartel what music the station should play this weekend to "soothe the savage commuter."

His shows told the stories of thousands of Californians and helped millions more learn about California's history. He's reportedly retiring, but he's left his mark on the state.

When the Space Shuttle program ends this month, a lot of careers will end as well. One of them is a man whose career spans 50 years of the U.S. space program, Boeing engineer Stan Barauskas, who worked on the Shuttle during the entire 38 years of the program, and on Apollo before that. After he retires, he’ll be active with the Aerospace Legacy Foundation in Downey. He talked with John Rabe, host of Off-Ramp.

"D is for Dog," a dark combo of stage acting, video, and puppetry that will leave you shaken and thinking about the nature and the future of man ... and his best friend.

Indie cinema isn't usually a home for crowd-pleasing Hollywood spectacle. But filmmaker and Off-Ramp correspondent R.H. Greene stumbled onto a gritty fantasia at this year's LA Film Festival. "Leave it on the Floor" was shot on the streets of LA by USC Cinema instructor Sheldon Larry using a mostly student crew. Greene says it's as indie as "Paris Is Burning" and as Hollywood as "Over the Rainbow" and "A Star is Born." (It screens during Outfest on Saturday, July 16, at 9:30pm at DGA Theatre 1.)

For the Thanksgiving weekend, Off-Ramp presents a night at The Comedy Store, taped this summer before a live audience at LA's oldest comedy club and springboard for Jim Carrey, David Letterman, and many others. The show features 5 of the brightest stand-up comedians around -- Fahim Anwar, Sarah Tiana, Michael Kosta, Freddy Lockhart, and Ian Edwards -- and takes you inside the world of the comedy club, including a freewheeling roundtable discussion about the art of stand-up. Your host for the evening is the affable and British Brandon Christy, who here talks with Off-Ramp host John Rabe about the evening. (Note: there is a two-drink minimum for this edition of Off-Ramp.)

This weekend, the LA County Fire Museum will host a public open house at the historic Robert A. Cinader Memorial Fire Station 127 to unveil the newly restored Ward LaFrance "Engine 51" from the 1970s television series "Emergency!"

Your hosts Brendan and Rico take you back to 1928 for the invention of (literally) the best thing ever: sliced bread. Also this week: Shepard Fairey on why he still gets arrested and KPCC's Patt Morrison on the decline of cursive.

Mark Stambler, profiled on Off-Ramp by food writer Miles Clements, makes award-winning bread in his wood-fired oven in his backyard in Silverlake. It wasn't a problem until he started selling it at a couple local stores. When the County found out, they made him stop. Fair enough, he didn't have any permits and knew it might happen. But Mark says many states make exceptions for people like him under so-called "cottage food" laws, and he's also discovered that the county has conflicting rules that make it very hard for an amateur like him to go legit. He talked with Off-Ramp host John Rabe about it.