Go back! Go back to the KPCC home page. And check out the blog section. John's is called "John Rabe." Or come inside this segment for an easy link to one of the John's latest blogs...

Ilsa Setziol takes us to a music school for toddlers and little kids that uses the teachings of Carl Orff, the composer of "Carmina Burana."

Henry T. Hopkins, former director at SFMoma and the Hammer -- as well as the gallery owner for LA's infamous War Babies exhibit -- died September 27, 2009. KPCC's Adolfo Guzman Lopez sat down with Hopkins in 2003 for a long interview about race and ethnicity in art, and we present it here in its entirety. The second piece of audio is the short version, which includes Ed Ruscha's comments about the War Babies poster. From his LA Times obit: 'Stephanie Barron, senior curator of modern art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, said Hopkins' death is "the loss of one of the great advocates in the world for Southern California art."'

Pop star Lily Allen got into an online spat with her fans in the UK. Allen came out in favor of a government proposal to clamp down on illegal downloading: if you get caught downloading copyrighted material three times, you lose your Internet access. Fans revolted and Dan Bull was inspired to write "Dear Lily," which has been going viral. A manifesto of the Cyber Generation? Rafer Guzman, entertainment writer Newsday, says, um... manifesto? Wait a minute. For links and a download of Bull's song, go to CyberFrequencies.

We’ve got a dirty little secret. There's a new FREE compost giveaway site in LA, and its mix contains the creme de la creme of composting: "Zoo Doo" from the LA Zoo. Off-Ramp correspondent Jackson Musker gets the scoop (okay, several scoops) from LA Bureau of Sanitation’s Rosalia Rojo and Jim Kurz. (Read on for directions and operating hours of the new giveaway site...)

As LA prepares for Bienvenido Gustavo at the Hollywood Bowl, Off-Ramp host John Rabe talks with LA Times music critic Mark Swed about Gustavo Dudamel's upcoming career as maestro of the LA Philharmonic. Mark says, "Give Gustavo some room to breathe!"

Off-Ramp music correspondent Kevin Ferguson reports on this weekend's Eagle Rock Music Festival. It's free and it starts at 4pm this Saturday, all along Colorado Blvd in Eagle Rock.

John checks out an exhibit of glorious Kodachrome photos of LA billboards from the 1950s and 1960s, assembled by LA's preeminent photojournalist Gary Leonard. The photos (and billboards) are like time capsules of another era.

Keyboard legend Clarence McDonald begins a series of commentaries on music by introducing us to Alma Hightower, a music teacher who was the backbone of black music in LA.