Explore every episode of the podcast Profiles With Maggie LePique

Maggie speaks with legendary guitarist, songwriter and founded member of The Doors about The Doors 60th Anniversary this year (2025) and all the exciting events and releases that are happening and will be happening. 

Robby Krieger is the guitarist for the legendary rock band The Doors and the songwriter behind some of the band’s biggest hits, including “Love Me Two Times,” “Touch Me,” “Love Her Madly,” and their #1 smash, “Light My Fire.” The Doors have sold over a hundred million albums worldwide, inspired a major feature film, been awarded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy®, and been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Robby, meanwhile, has also become a Grammy®-nominated solo artist, and was listed among the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” by Rolling Stone. He is also an accomplished painter and the co-founder of the annual Medlock-Krieger Rock & Roll Golf Classic & All-Star Concert.

Source: https://robbykrieger.com/#x-content-band-3
Source: https://whiskyagogo.com/calendar/
Source: https://thedoors.com/
Source: https://www.artforacause.net/
Source: https://www.genesis-publications.com/book/9781905662883/night-divides-the-day

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Michelle Coltrane and Maggie LePique discuss her Mother, Alice Coltrane and the year-long celebration currently underway that’s being called “The Year of Alice.”
This celebration spans 2024-2025 and features previously unreleased music and reissues, brand new community programming, a multimedia museum exhibit, specially curated concerts, newly choreographed ballet works and much more.
Jazz musician, composer, bandleader and spiritual and devotional leader, Alice Coltrane was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1937 to Solon and Annie McLeod, the fifth of six children. By the age of nine, she played organ during services at Mount Olive Baptist church.
In the early 60’s she began playing jazz as a professional in Detroit with her own trio and as a duo with vibist Terry Pollard.
Alice Coltrane would go on to collaborate and performed with Kenny Clarke, Kenny Burrell, Ornette Coleman, Pharaoh Sanders, Charlie Haden, Roy Haynes, Jack DeJonette, Carlos Santana and more.
Mrs Coltrane’s interest in gospel, classical, and jazz music led to the creation of her own innovative style. Her proficiency on keyboard, organ, and harp was remarkable and her artistry matured into amazing arrangements and compositions.
Her twenty recordings cover a time span from Monastic Trio (1968) to Translinear Light (2004).

Michelle discusses at length one of the events here in Southern California that is part of the Year of Alice.
Here in L.A. the exhibition Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal at the Hammer Museum in Westwood is inspired by the life and legacy of jazz musician, composer and bandleader as well a spiritual and devotional leader, Alice Coltrane.

This exhibition is part of a larger initiative called “The Year of Alice," and in partnership with the John & Alice Coltrane Home, Impulse Records, The New York Historical Society, the Detroit Jazz Festival and more.

The exhibition presents works by contemporary American artists paired with items Coltrane’s personal archive and features a range of mediums including video, performance, and sculpture together with Coltrane’s archival hand-written correspondence, unreleased audio recordings, and rarely seen video footage.

The Year of Alice events include:
Reissues of Alice Coltrane's albums and previously unreleased music
Specially curated concerts in cities including New York, Brooklyn, Detroit, and California
A multimedia museum exhibit
Newly choreographed dance works
Community programming and an Oral History Project
Discussions about Coltrane's life and work
Partners in the celebration are:
Impulse! Records
Detroit Jazz Festival
Hammer Museum
Alonzo King LINES Ballet
The New York Historical Society
Shapeshifter Lab
Lyon & Healey Harps

Source: https://thecoltranehome.org/2024/03/16/let-the-year-of-alice-begin/
Source: https://www.alicecoltrane.com/
Source: https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2025/alice-coltrane-monument-eternal

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie LePique interviews director John Scheinfeld and drummer & founding member of Blood Sweat & Tears, Bobby Colomby about the forthcoming documentary ‘What The Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?’ Abramorama, a New York-based film distribution and marketing company, has acquired worldwide rights to “What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?” Described as a stranger-than-fiction political thriller, the documentary takes a deep dive into the disappearance of one of the great counterculture bands of the late 60s and early 70s. Opens Friday March 31st at the Laemmle Santa Monica (Los Angeles Opening) Through documentary footage shot during the Iron Curtain tour (and thought to be lost) and present-day interviews with band members and historians, as well as the unsealing of government records, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS?  unravels the details of this extraordinary year in the life of the band.

Source: https://www.abramorama.com/film/what-the-hell-happened-to-blood-sweat-and-tears
Source: https://www.bstdoc.com
Source: https://crewneckproductions.com
Source: https://drummerworld.com/drummers/Bobby_Colomby.html


Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie discusses in depth, the release of Charlie Parker's "Bird in Kansas City" with Chuck Haddix, curator, Director of the Marr Sound Archives in Kansas City and Charlie Parker Biographer.
Charlie Parker had a complicated relationship with his hometown of Kansas City, MO owing both to its history of racial segregation and to his strong ties to his family and friends there. This new set of rare recordings dating from between 1941-1951—most of them never having been heard before and some never even having been known to exist—chronicle Bird’s evolution from a blossoming soloist with the Jay McShann Band into a brilliant improviser who dominated the jazz landscape for decades to come. In addition to two unreleased 78s with the McShann band, this set offers two sets of private recordings (at the home of Bird’s friend Phil Baxter and at Vic Damon’s studio) made with local musicians and a very relaxed-sounding Parker who has the room to really stretch out and show us the shape of jazz that was to come in his wake. This recording provides a fascinating look into Parker's development.

Sources: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/charlie-parker-bird-in-kansas-city/

Sources: https://www.kansascitypbs.org/local-shows/bird-not-out-of-nowhere/chuck-haddix/

Sources: https://library.umkc.edu/bird/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie speaks with Habitat for Humanity LA CEO & President Erin Rank about the recovery & rebuilding process after the devastating CA Wildfires. These fires that struck Southern CA on the morning of January 7, 2025. KPFK Radio in Los Angeles has partnered with Habitat for Humanity LA  to help those who lost so much and Erin tells us all about the process HFH LA takes to help in cases of such major natural disasters. (which some disagree with and state these are man-made catastrophes) 

Habitat LA envisions a world where every person has a decent place to live. Our mission was born from a tradition of radical inclusivity, where people of all races, faiths, and backgrounds come together for a common cause. 

We commit to dismantling discriminatory housing practices. 

We create a culture of inclusion that does not eliminate personal differences but celebrates them, allowing for a shared place of love that encourages progress toward a more just society. 

We empower communities to build equitable and inclusive neighborhoods through housing opportunities and community development. 

We promote mutual respect, collaboration, authenticity, and a foundation of understanding among our staff, volunteers, and donors. 

Source: https://www.habitatla.org/about-us/board-and-staff/

Source: https://www.habitatla.org/

Source: https://www.the-independent.com/voices/los-angeles-wildfires-california-climate-crisis-b2676747.html

Source: https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents

Source: https://www.cafirefoundation.org/what-we-do/for-communities/disaster-relief

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie speaks with Zev Feldman, an internationally recognized, independent record producer and the Co-President of Resonance Records. He is also a consulting producer of archival and historical recordings for Blue Note Records. Over the last 25 years he has worked for PolyGram, Universal Music Group, Rhino/Warner Music Group, Concord Music Group, among others. He won DownBeat Magazine's International Critics Poll for "Rising Star Producer" in 2016 for his work on a staggering 26 historical jazz recordings that year and was called "The Indiana Jones of Jazz" by Stereophile Magazine. In addition to his lauded work at Resonance, where he works closely with the estates of jazz icons such as Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery and so much more.

Maggie and Zev discuss B.B. King In France: Live at the Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival (1977) is a previously unissued live recording from the legendary bluesman B.B. King captured by the ORTF in France on October 7, 1977 and released on producer Zev Feldman's Deep Digs label in partnership with Elemental Music and INA France.
The limited-edition 180g 2 x LP set was mastered and cut by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab, and include rare photos by Thierry Trombert, Val Wilmer, Jan Persson and more; plus liner notes by the acclaimed french author Jean Buzeline; and testimonials from fellow blues icons who knew or were inspired by B.B. King.

Also joining Zev & Maggie is Cary Baker, a writer based in Southern California but, born on Chicago’s South Side, he not only had the chance to grow up with the blues but began his writing career at age 16 for the Chicago Reader. Mr. Baker is the author of “Down On The Corner: Adventures in Busking and Street Music.” His return to writing follows a 42-year hiatus during which he directed publicity for six record labels and two of his own companies. Prior to his PR years,  Baker wrote for, among others, Creem, Trouser Press, Bomp!, Goldmine, Billboard, Mix, and Record magazine. He has also written liner notes for historical reissues from labels including Universal and Capitol-EMI. Cary Baker has also been a voting member of the Recording Academy since 1979.

Source: https://www.elemental-music.com/inicio/4860-bb-king-in-france-live-at-the-1977-nancy-jazz-pulsations-festival-8435395504581.html
Source: https://recordstoreday.com/PromotionalItem/18422Source: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-archival-producer-zev-feldman

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie speaks with Willie Nelson's youngest son Micah Nelson also known as "Particle Kid" about his latest collaboration with his Father. Willie's 76th studio album and 153rd album overall as he celebrates his 91st year. 
Willie Nelson is now in his 7th decade as a songwriter, performer and recording artist, but one of his most underrated talents is song interpretation. Over his career he has tackled songs from across the world of music, making each his own. Willie turns his gaze to a collection of songs by rock legends, idiosyncratic singer songwriters, alt-rock heroes, and indie folk artists. The result is a gorgeously cohesive rumination on loss, love, and world-weary hope, perfectly complemented by spare and spooky musical production. Lovingly curated and produced by his son Micah Nelson, Last Leaf On The Tree finds Willie covering songs from moody indie rock (Beck), psych alt-pop (The Flaming Lips) and punk-informed folk (Sunny War, Micah’s Particle Kid) to thought-provoking soul jazz (Nina Simone) and lesser-known gems from legends like Tom Waits, Neil Young, Keith Richards, and Warren Zevon. In addition, the album features new takes on one of Willie’s oldest songs (“The Ghost” from 1962) plus a new one penned with Micah (“The Color Of Sound”) that joins Willie’s collection of Zen-soaked classics. In addition to producing, Micah Nelson plays many of the instruments and even designed the album cover. He is joined by a host of celebrated musicians plus guest spots from legendary producer and musician Daniel Lanois, John Densmore of The Doors and harmonica master Mickey Raphael, who has played alongside Willie for over 50 years.

Source: https://legacyrecordings.medium.com/willie-nelson-the-last-leaf-on-the-tree-d94188f65739
Source: https://www.sonymusic.com/legacy/legacy-recordings-releases-willie-nelson-last-leaf-on-the-tree-track/
Source: https://willienelson.com/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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John McDermott is a writer, producer and, for nearly three decades, the Catalog Director for the Jimi Hendrix family company Experience Hendrix, L.L.C.. Together with Jimi Hendrix’s sister, Janie Hendrix and legendary engineer Eddie Kramer, McDermott has co-produced every Jimi Hendrix CD and DVD release, including 1999’s Grammy Award-winning Band Of Gypsys, 2014’s Emmy Award-winning Hear My Train A Comin’ and the recent Grammy nominated Music, Money, Madness: Jimi Hendrix In Maui. John & Maggie discuss his latest project is Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision the new feature-length documentary film chronicling the creation of Electric Lady Studios (directed by John) Rising from the rubble of a bankrupt, Greenwich Village nightclub to the state of the art recording facility inspired by Jimi Hendrix’s vision and becoming the first ever, artist owned commercial recording studio. Contained on the five vinyl LPs or three CDs in the Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision box set are 39 tracks recorded by Jimi and his band—consisting of bassist Billy Cox and drummer Mitch Mitchell—at the studio within the last four months of the guitarist’s life. Hendrix was hard at work creating First Rays Of The New Rising Sun, the ambitious double album that would follow his 1968 masterwork Electric Ladyland. Inspired by the possibilities of the new studio, the Experience built classic fare such as “Night Bird Flying,” “Freedom,” and “Dolly Dagger” from the ground up. The set offers a comprehensive look at the work Hendrix undertook during that fruitful summer of 1970


Source: https://ajimihendrixvision.com/
Source: https://www.sonymusic.com/legacy/documentary-box-set-electric-lady-studios-a-jimi-hendrix-vision/
Source: https://www.jimihendrix.com/music/electric-lady-studios-a-jimi-hendrix-vision/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie and Joan discuss Joan's latest book "When You See My Mother, Ask her to Dance" And we discuss her beautiful artistic legacy and political activism. Including the documentary Joan Baez: I Am a Noise Neither a conventional biopic nor a traditional concert film, Joan Baez I Am A Noise is a raw and intimate portrait of the legendary folk singer and activist that shifts back and forth through time as it follows Joan on her final tour and delves into her extraordinary archive, including newly discovered home movies, diaries, artwork, therapy tapes, and audio recordings.
An intimate, autobiographical poetry collection from legendary artist and activist, Joan Baez.
Joan Baez shares poems for or about her contemporaries (such as Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, and Jimi Hendrix), reflections from her childhood, personal thoughts, and cherished memories of her family, including pieces about her younger sister, singer-songwriter Mimi Fariña. Speaking to the people, places, and moments that have had the greatest impact on her art, this collection is an inspiring personal diary in the form of poetry.

While Baez has been writing poetry for decades, she’s never shared it publicly. Poems about her life, her family, about her passions for nature and art, have piled up in notebooks and on scraps of paper. Now, for the first time ever, her life is shared revealing pivotal life experiences that shaped an icon, offering a never-before-seen look into the reminiscences and musings of a great artist.

Like a late-night chat with someone you love, this collection connects fans to the real heart of who Joan Baez is as a person, as a daughter and sister, and as an artist who has inspired millions.

Source: https://godine.com/products/when-you-see-my-mother-ask-her-to-dance
Source: https://www.magpictures.com/joanbaez/home

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie spoke with Quincy Jones in early December 2008 about his book, The Complete Quincy Jones My Journey & Passions. We discussed some of his favorite musical collaborations including Frank Sinatra and Miles Davis and discuss the idea of mentorship and why it's so important to "pass it on" Quincy Delight Jones Jr. March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024 was an American record producer, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer.. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received many accolades including 28 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for seven Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards.
About the book: Everything you love about American popular culture is Quincy Jones. As an artist and impresario Quincy Jones has been the creative catalyst for over 60 years of American cultural phenomena orchestrating the sounds of Frank Sinatra, setting the ambiance for Steven Spielberg, cultivating the talent of Michael Jackson, and introducing to the world Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith - to name a few. The Complete Quincy Jones examines the diverse virtuosity of Quincy Jones, celebrating his prolific contribution to American art and culture. Comprised of personal interviews and recollections with Jones, this collection peers behind the veil of celebrity, with extraordinary access to his creative inspirations and labors. Through private notebooks, correspondence, and photographs Jones offers unprecedented introspection into the depths of his creativity and the histories of his ventures. From the volumes of his memorabilia, Jones emerges as a contemplative and dynamic maestro, thriving on intuition and ceaselessly pursuing the soul of his art.
Quincy Jones is an American record producer, conductor, arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. God Bless Quincy Jones, there will never be another you! 



Source: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Complete-Quincy-Jones/Quincy-Jones/9781933784670
Source: https://www.qwest.tv/
Source: https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/quincy-jones
Source: https://rockhall.com/inductees/quincy-jones/


Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Grandma’s Hands is a timeless, universal song originally featured on Bill Withers’ 1971 album, Just As I Am.
With soulful lyrics, the song captures the significant impact that Withers’ grandmother had on his life as a child.
Multiple award-winning artist R. Gregory Christie has brought the iconic song to life through vibrant illustrations, painting a tender portrait of Bill’s grandmother. Through the illustrations, readers are transported back in time to experience the comfort, security, and unconditional love that he found in his grandmother’s hands.
A heartwarming tribute to the enduring bond between grandmothers and their grandchildren.
Marcia Withers is the wife of the late music icon, singer/songwriter Bill Withers. She oversaw Bill’s career management and as head of Withers Entertainment and the Mattie Music Group in Los Angeles, she controls the family’s publishing companies, and its worldwide sub-publisher representatives. She has been instrumental in the placement of Bill’s songs in countless films, television programs and other media, and played a creative role in many of Bill’s recording compilations. She is the co-producer of The Essential Bill Withers and a tribute show at Carnegie Hall in 2015. Maggie & Marcia discuss the the illustrated book "Grandma's Hands" and her work managing Bill's Publishing Companies and so much more.
Bill Withers was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is known for such hit songs as "Ain't No Sunshine," "Lean on Me," "Just the Two of Us," "Lovely Day," and more. He has received numerous awards in his lifetime and won three GRAMMY Awards. In 2005, Withers was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 2015, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Source: https://grandmashandsbook.com/
Source: https://billwithers.com/
Source: https://mattiemusicgroup.com/
Source: https://say.org/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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The sonically innovative harpist, Brandee Younger, is revolutionizing harp for the digital era. Over the past fifteen years, she has worked relentlessly to stretch boundaries and limitations for harpists.  In 2022, she made history by becoming the first Black woman to be nominated for a Grammy® Award for Best Instrumental Composition. That same year, she was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award and later, the winner of the 2024 NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Jazz Album for her latest album Brand New Life.  Ever-expanding as an artist, she has worked with cultural icons including Common, Lauryn Hill, John Legend, Pharoah Sanders and Christian McBride.   Her original composition “Hortense” was featured in the Netflix Concert-Documentary, Beyoncé: Homecoming and in 2019, Brandee was selected to perform her original music as a featured performer for Quincy Jones and Steve McQueens’ “Soundtrack of America”.  Brandee is often noted for standing on the shoulders of the very women who ushered in the harp as a clear and distinct voice in jazz & popular styles - particularly Detroit natives Dorothy Ashby & Alice Coltrane.  Her new album, Brand New Life, builds on her already rich oeuvre, and cements the harp’s place in pop culture.  As the title of the album suggests, Brand New Life is about forging new paths–artistic, personal, political, and spiritual.  Younger's music is imbued with a sense of purpose and respect of legacy, creating a larger platform for the harp to reach newer and wider audiences than ever before.  In addition to teaching at Steinhardt, Younger holds leadership positions as a board member of The Coltrane Home and New Music USA.
Maggie speaks with Brandee at the 67 Monterey Jazz Festival about her band and her association with Alice Coltrane and  The Year of Alice.
“No harpist thus far has been more capable of combining all of the modern harp traditions — from Salzedo, through Dorothy Ashby, through Alice Coltrane — with such strength, grace and commitment.” -  The New York Times
Follow: @harpista

Source: https://brandeeyounger.com/
Source:https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/people/brandee-younger
Source: https://thecoltranehome.org/2024/03/16/let-the-year-of-alice-begin/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Lila Downs is one of the most influential artists in Latin America. She has one of the most unique voices in the world and is known for her charismatic performances. His own compositions combine genres and rhythms as diverse as Mexican rancheras and corridos, boleros, jazz standards, hip-hop, cumbia and popular American music. Frequently her lyrics focus on justice, immigration and women’s problems.

She grew up in both Minnesota and Oaxaca, Mexico, her mother is from the Mixtec indigenous group and her father was Scottish-American. Lila sings in Spanish, English and several native American languages ​​such as Zapotec, Mixtec, Nahuatl, Mayan and Purepecha.

She has recorded duets with artists as diverse as Mercedes Sosa, Caetano Veloso, Juanes, Nora Jones, Juan Gabriel, Carla Morison, Natalia LaFourcade, Santana , The boss, Nina Pastori, Soledad, Diego La Cigala, Aida Cuevas, Toto La Momposina, and Bunbury. Chavela Vargas “named” Lila as her “successor.”

She has been invited to sing with symphonies such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony and the UNAM Symphony in Mexico, as well as with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. He has given concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Hollywood Bowl and the National Auditorium in Mexico City. She was invited by Barack Obama to sing in the White House, and acted in the Oscars for her participation in the film Frida. Lila has recorded nine studio albums.

She has been nominated for nine Grammy awards and has won six.
Maggie & Lila discuss her first appearance at the infamous Monterey Jazz Festival and her amazing performance + members of her current band. 

Source: https://www.liladowns.com/language/en/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Four-time Grammy Award winner Stanley Clarke is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated acoustic and electric bass players in the world. What’s more, he is equally gifted as a recording artist, performer, composer, conductor, arranger, producer and film score composer. A true pioneer in jazz and jazz-fusion, Clarke is particularly known for his ferocious bass dexterity and consummate musicality. Unquestionably, he has attained “living legend” status during his over 40-year career as a bass virtuoso. Part One of 67th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival Shorts
And inside look into the artist and the legendary Festival.
Stanley's new recording will be dropping soon, stay tuned!


Source: https://stanleyclarke.com/
Source: https://montereyjazzfestival.org

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Don Was is one of music’s most significant artists and executives, exceling in multiple roles and serving as one of the industry’s beacons for integrity and forward-thinking. During this period of disruption and rapid evolution in the worldwide music business, Was remains committed to music as an art form and its importance to contemporary culture. As the President of Blue Note Records since 2011, Was is both the company’s leader and an ambassador for its music, charged with bringing the label’s 21st Century jazz artists and its expanding pallet of contemporary musicians to larger audiences. Was is also caretaker for Blue Note’s singular and historic catalogue of music, and is burnishing the label’s 80-year legacy by overseeing ongoing and extensive reissue campaigns that serve audiences in both the analogue and digital realms.
His latest musical group is Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble
Made up of stellar jazz musicians from his Detroit hometown, The Pan-Detroit Ensemble will perform a mix of new originals, interpretations of songs written by artists like Yusef Lateef, Olu Dara, and Henry Threadgill, and of course updated cuts from albums that Don recorded with Orquestra Was and Was (Not Was).
His Pan-Detroit Ensemble is made up of many of the city’s great jazz musicians including saxophonist Dave McMurray, keyboardist Luis Resto, and vocalist Steffanie Christi’an, with a sound marked by a funky, urban rawness and bone-deep grooves. Don & Maggie speak about the Monterey Jazz Festival and his new group and what's next in the Blue Note Catalog!



Source:https://donwas.com/
Source: https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/w/wa-wn/don-was/
Source: https://www.sfjazz.org/tickets/productions/24-25/don-was-pan-detroit-ensemble/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Ashley Kahn is a Grammy-winning author, educator, music journalist, and concert producer. His books include A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album and Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece. He teaches at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music.
One of 67th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival Shorts
And inside look into the legendary Festival and what talks Ashley hosted this year including, Conversation: Songs for My Father — Soundtracks and Jazz with Kyle Eastwood & Ashley Kahn,  Conversation: Crescendo in Blue — Vinyl Past, Vinyl Future with Don Was, Julia Keefe, Brandee Younger, Steven Duncan & Ashley Kahn and Conversation: His Mother Called Him Edward, The World Called Him Duke with Jason Moran & Ashley Kahn

Source: https://tisch.nyu.edu/about/directory/clive-davis-institute/1417614318
Source: https://montereyjazzfestival.org/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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The John & Alice Coltrane Home and the Coltrane Family, in partnership with Impulse! Records, Detroit Jazz Festival, Hammer Museum, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, The New York Historical Society, and many more, have declared 2024-2025 to be THE YEAR OF ALICE, celebrating the extensive life work of spiritual leader, composer, and musician Alice Coltrane.

In addition to being an iconic and remarkably prolific musician, Mrs. Coltrane was a beloved and wise spiritual leader, a pragmatic person with a keen eye for business, and a deeply giving human, who emphasized the importance of charitable giving, education, and spiritual guidance.

My guest today, Michelle Coltrane, is a jazz vocalist and composer. She was born in Paris, France and was raised primarily in Long Island, New York by her mother, musician Alice Coltrane, and her step-father, saxophonist John Coltrane.

Michelle has performed and collaborated with artists such as Scott Hiltzik, Shea Welsh, Kenny Kirkland, Jeff Watts, Ronnie Laws, Billy Childs, Jack DeJohnette, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Reggie Workman, The Gap Band, McCoy Tyner and her brother Ravi Coltrane.

Michelle has performed internationally with the Sai Anantam Ashram Singers presenting the music of Alice Coltrane.

Her second album, Awakening, was released in 2017 and featured sung versions of her father, John Coltrane's, songs.

Michelle of course co-hosted the “Straight No Chaser” radio program with me here on KPFK in Los Angeles and she is chief creative officer of the John Coltrane Home, a non-profit organization.
September Events

"A Force For Good Day" - A John & Alice Coltrane Home Service Event at the Half Hollow Hills Community Library in Dix Hills, NY. Mark your calendar for this free event, featuring a young persons concert of Long Island student musicians. Saturday, September 14 | 1pm - 4pm.

LINES Ballet premiere  - as part of "The Year of Alice," the LINES Ballet will premiere a new work set to Alice Coltrane's transformative music. Thursday, September 26 | 7:30pm.
Tickets
Also in September, please check back for more Year Of Alice events at Shapeshifter Plus in Brooklyn. 

Source: https://www.alicecoltrane.com/
Source: https://thecoltranehome.org/
Source: https://store.ververecords.com/pages/artist/alice-coltrane


Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Don Was & The Pan Detroit Ensemble
Maggie LePique speaks with Don Was about his new musical group Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble. Don & the Ensemble are embarking on a West Coast run of concert dates in September 2024. Made up of stellar jazz musicians from his Detroit hometown, The Pan-Detroit Ensemble will perform a mix of new originals, interpretations of songs written by artists like Yusef Lateef, Olu Dara, and Henry Threadgill, and of course updated cuts from albums that Don recorded with Orquestra Was and Was (Not Was). Don’s Detroit roots still run deep and, we explore those roots and highlight his most recent musical love letter to that great city, The Pan-Detroit Ensemble, and so much more.
More on Don Was:
Don Was is one of music’s most significant artists and executives, exceling in multiple roles and serving as one of the industry’s beacons for integrity and forward-thinking. During this period of disruption and rapid evolution in the worldwide music business, Was remains committed to music as an art form and its importance to contemporary culture. As the President of Blue Note Records since 2011, Was is both the company’s leader and an ambassador for its music, charged with bringing the label’s 21st Century jazz artists and its expanding pallet of contemporary musicians to larger audiences. Was is also caretaker for Blue Note’s singular and historic catalogue of music, and is burnishing the label’s 80-year legacy by overseeing ongoing and extensive reissue campaigns that serve audiences in both the analogue and digital realms.
One of Was’s most noteworthy musical associations of the past two decades is with The Rolling Stones, for whom he’s produced their last four studio albums and a host of other studio and live recordings. Beginning with Voodoo Lounge in 1994 and continuing through Bridges To Babylon in 1997, A Bigger Bang in 2005 and Blue And Lonesome in 2016, Was’s work with the Stones has resulted in Platinum and Gold certifications in dozens of countries. He also oversees the band’s historic reissues, including Exile on Main Street in 2010, Some Girls in 2011 and Sticky Fingers in 2015, searching the band’s vaults and master tapes for lost jewels and bringing the projects to completion. He produced the band’s 2020 surprise single, “Living In A Ghost Town,” which was released amidst the global pandemic in April of that year.

Source: https://donwas.com/
Source: https://www.bluenote.com/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie speaks with four-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist, performer, composer, conductor, arranger, producer, a composer for recordings and film, as well as one of the most celebrated acoustic and electric bass players in the world, Stanley Clarke. Stanley and Maggie discuss his forthcoming new album, as well as some of the upcoming highlights of his 2024 tour, stopping at the 67th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival Saturday September 29, 2024.
MJF 67 September 27-29 2024
Stanley Clarke has attained “living legend” status during his over 50-year career as a bass virtuoso. He is the first bassist in history who doubles on acoustic and electric bass with equal ferocity and the first jazz-fusion bassist ever to headline tours, selling out shows worldwide. A veteran of over 40 albums, he won the 2011 Best Contemporary Jazz Album Grammy Award for The Stanley Clarke Band. Clarke co-founded the seminal fusion group Return to Forever with Chick Corea and Lenny White. In 2012 Return to Forever won a Grammy Award and Latin Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Forever. Four-time Grammy Award winner Stanley Clarke is thrilled to be back on the road with his exciting new band 4EVER. Already in 2022/2023 the tour has played international and domestic venues with immense success. The Stanley Clarke N•4EVER tour’s emphasizes Clarke’s jazz fusion legacy. As expected, for this tour Clarke will be performing exciting new and sophisticated arrangements. True to the evolution of jazz fusion, expect a powerful combination of jazz harmony and improvisation with rock, funk, R&B, hip-hop and electronic music influences. Joining Clarke, 4EVER’s young band members bring a dynamic, youthful energy and freshness to the music. All extraordinarily consummate musicians and performers, the 4EVER band includes Jeremiah Collier on drums, Beka Gochiashvili on piano and keyboards, Colin Cook on guitar, Emilio Modeste on saxophone and, of course, Stanley Clarke on acoustic and electric bass. This band is a true concert band with a big jazz band sound. They excel in creating an electrifying performance, always pushing the boundaries of their instruments.

https://stanleyclarke.com/stanley/
https://broadstage.org/tickets-shows/calendar/future-sounds-of-jazz/
https://montereyjazzfestival.org/?utm_source=kpfk&utm_medium=referral
https://mackavenue.com/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Serj talks with Maggie about his new book Down With The System: A Memoir (of Sorts)  In DOWN WITH THE SYSTEM, Serj presents readers with a memoir that is far more than just a rock 'n' roll fable. It's an immigrant's tale, it’s an activist's awakening, and it's a spiritual journey from darkness toward light. And all of this comes down to the fact that Serj himself has had the chance to live an extraordinary life—thanks to a combination of luck, circumstance, struggle, talent, and spiritual awakening.

Braiding together Serj’s thought-provoking insight with heartfelt and poetic prose, DOWN WITH THE SYSTEM retraces Serj’s remarkable and unlikely journey, and explores what it’s taught him—about music, about art, about activism and about himself. It’s an unforgettable ride that will leave you breathless—and an absolute delight for new fans and old ones alike.

An exhilarating, thoughtful, and beautifully written debut memoir by musician, songwriter, and lead singer-lyricist of Grammy award-winning metal band, System Of A Down, Serj Tankian.

Check out Maggie's first interview with Serj Tankian from October of 2020.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1798623/episodes/9231906


Source: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/serj-tankian/down-with-the-system/9780306831928/?lens=hachette-books
Source: https://serjtankian.com/
Source: https://kavatcoffee.com/



Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Don Randi is a keyboard player, bandleader, longtime nightclub owner (no easy feat in L.A.) and a veteran of one of the most prolific and successful group of Los Angeles studio session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew.
He began his career as a professional pianist and keyboard player in 1956, gradually establishing a reputation as a leading session musician. In the early 1960s, he was a major contributor, as musician and arranger, to producer Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound". He also played piano on "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'," by Nancy Sinatra, and The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations". He's  played on over three hundred hit records, working with musicians such as The Ronettes, Darlene Love, Linda Ronstadt, Quincy Jones, Cannonball Adderley, Herb Alpert, Neil Diamond, The Jackson 5, James Brown, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Zappa and many, many more!

He appeared on, and wrote for, many motion picture and television soundtracks, commercials and pop albums during the 1960s and 1970s. He also recorded albums of piano jazz music under his own name and as the leader of a trio with Leroy Vinnegar and Mel Lewis. These included Feelin' Like Blues (1960), Where Do We Go From Here (1962), Last Night (1963), and Love Theme From "Romeo And Juliet" (1968).

In 1970, he opened the Baked Potato Jazz Club, and formed his own group, Don Randi and Quest, as the house band. The band have subsequently recorded over 15 albums and were nominated for a Grammy in 1980 for the album New Baby.

In 2008, as a member of the "Wrecking Crew", Randi was inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk.

Source: https://www.last.fm/music/Don+Randi/+wiki
Source: https://www.wreckingcrewfilm.com/
Source: https://www.thebakedpotato.com/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie speaks with Zev Feldman, an internationally recognized, independent record producer and the Co-President of Resonance Records in Los Angeles. He is also a consulting producer of archival and historical recordings for Blue Note Records. Zev & Maggie discuss Live In France: The 1966 Concert In Limoges is a previously unissued live solo recording of the "Godmother of Rock n’ Roll," Sister Rosetta Tharpe, captured at the auditorium of the Grand Theatre in Limoges, France on November 11, 1966. This is an official release on producer Zev Feldman's new Deep Digs record label. It is released in partnership with Elemental Music, and in cooperation with the Sister Rosetta Tharpe Estate and INA France.
Transferred from the original tape reels, this recording was restored and mastered by multi-GRAMMY award-winning engineer Michael Graves at Osiris Studio, with lacquers cut by the legendary Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering Studios. The limited-edition 180-gram 2-LP edition (and deluxe CD) includes an extensive insert with rare photographs by Jan Persson, Hans Harzheim, Don Schlitten and Burt Goldblatt; two sets of liner notes by American and French Tharpe biographers — Gayle Wald (Shout, Sister, Shout!: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe) and Jean Buzelin (Sister Rosetta Tharpe: La femme qui inventa le Rock 'n' Roll); as well as statements by Susan Tedeschi, Henry Rollins, Bonnie Raitt, Shemekia Copeland, Billy Gibbons, Brian Ray and Rhea Hamilton. Special Record Store Day Edition - Available April 20th

Source: https://www.elemental-music.com/classic-blues/4810-sister-rosetta-tharpe-live-in-france-the-1966-concert-in-limoges-8435395503706.html
Source: https://www.elemental-music.com/content/4-about-us
Source: https://resonancerecords.org/about/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie speaks intimately with Robby Krieger about his debut recording with his latest group, The Soul Savages. Joining Robby on this all-instrumental odyssey of psych-rock soul are top-shelf composers, instrumentalists, and bandmates. Bassist-songwriter Kevin “Brandino” Brandon co-wrote and recorded with Robby on the Singularity album, and he has won over half a dozen Grammy awards as well as three Emmy awards. His extensive resume includes credits with James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, and Beyonce. Keyboardist-songwriter Ed Roth is a Grammy-nominee known for his work in jazz, rock, and pop, and a robust resume that includes working with Ringo Starr, Brothers Johnson, Coolio, Shuggie Otis, and Annie Lennox.

And drummer-songwriter Franklin Vanderbilt brings savage to the band’s soul with his fatback groove and jazzy nimbleness. Among others, his credits include drumming for legendary Chaka Khan, recording with fusion jazz pioneer Stanley Clarke, and touring worldwide with Lenny Kravitz.

Robby Krieger knows that when you assemble the right bunch of musicians, and trust in the creative process, magic happens. As a founding member of The Doors, the guitarist intuitively understands the beauty of free-flowing collaboration and telepathic group interplay. This is evident on Robby’s self-titled debut release from his new band, Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages, out January 19, 2024 on The Players Club / Mascot Label Group.

Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages was recorded old school style with a bunch of friends jamming and recording in a relaxed studio setting. Tracked at Robby’s own Love Street Studios in Glendale, California, it finds Robby stretching out over cinematic groove music inspired by classic soul, 1960s jazz, blues, rock, psychedelic rock, and beyond.

Source: https://www.mascotlabelgroup.com/collections/robby-krieger
Source: https://www.allmusic.com/album/robby-krieger-the-soul-savages-mw0004139373
Source: https://www.amazon.com/Robby-Krieger-Soul-Savages/dp/B0CMJ8MZD6


Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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RON KOVIC served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War. He was paralyzed from his chest down in combat in 1968 and has been in a wheelchair ever since. Along with Oliver Stone, Kovic was the coscreenwriter of the 1989 Academy Award–winning film based on Kovic’s best-selling memoir Born on the Fourth of July (starring Tom Cruise as Kovic). Hurricane Street (2016) detailed Kovic’s efforts to organize the American Veterans Movement in 1974, fighting for better treatment of injured and disabled veterans. His latest work is A Dangerous Country.
Ron Kovic, author of Born on the Fourth of July and one of the country’s most powerful and passionate antiwar voices, completes his Vietnam Trilogy with this poignant, inspiring, and deeply personal.
Maggie has an extended conversation with Ron Kovic about his new book which completes his Vietnam Trilogy and his deep and personal story of his time in Vietnam, returning home and how his political views shifted tremendously. 

Source: https://www.akashicbooks.com/author/ron-kovic/
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Kovic

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie LePique and Charlie Pignone discuss Platinum which celebrates the 70th Anniversary of Frank Sinatra signing to Capitol Records, a moment that transformed his career and solidified his standing as one of the greatest interpretive singers of all time. From 1953 – 1962, Sinatra recorded more than three hundred songs for Capitol, the majority of them included on the landmark ‘concept’ albums Sinatra pioneered. It is arguably the finest body of recorded work in popular music.
The 44-track set features a cross-section of his most beloved songs and sought-after rarities. From the swinging “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and ebullient “Come Fly With Me” to the breathtaking “Moonlight in Vermont” and torch song “Only The Lonely,” the set also includes previously unreleased tracks culled from the Capitol vaults along with alternate takes, a test track, radio spots and session takes that reveal Sinatra’s in-studio artistry.

Platinum was curated by Charles Pignone, President of Frank Sinatra Enterprises.

Throughout his seven-decade career, Frank Sinatra performed on over 1,400 recordings and was awarded 31 gold, nine platinum, three double platinum, and one triple platinum album by the Recording Industry Association of America. The three-time Oscar® winner also appeared in over 60 films and produced eight motion pictures. Sinatra was awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Recording Academy, The Screen Actors Guild, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as the Kennedy Center Honors, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal. Frank Sinatra demonstrated a remarkable ability to appeal to every generation that continues; his artistry still influences many of today’s music superstars. He remains a legend and an inspiration worldwide for his cultural and artistic contributions. For more information about Frank Sinatra, visit sinatra.com.
Source: https://www.sinatra.com/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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 Experience Hendrix & Legacy Recordings released Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hollywood Bowl August 18, 1967.  This live concert performance was captured just five days before the US release of Are You Experienced, their album debut.  Amazingly, not a single second of this two-track live recording has ever been released before in any capacity, either via official channels or otherwise.

During their set, The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell, Noel Redding) blazed through originals such as “Purple Haze,” “The Wind Cries Mary,” and yet-to-be-released classics “Foxey Lady” and “Fire,” as well as their own re-imagining of favorites Bob Dylan (“Like a Rolling Stone”), The Troggs (“Wild Thing”) and Muddy Waters (“Catfish Blues”). Having already conquered the band’s UK base as well as Continental Europe over the previous ten months, the vast majority of the 17,000 plus Los Angeles concert goers were there to see headliners The Mamas & The Papas and were caught off guard by Jimi Hendrix’s electrifying musicality and showmanship.

John McDermott is the director, writer and producer who has long been associated with the legacy of Jimi Hendrix.  He has served as the Catalog Director for the Jimi Hendrix family company Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. for nearly three decades.  Together with Janie Hendrix and Eddie Kramer, McDermott has co-produced every Jimi Hendrix CD and DVD release, including 1999’s Grammy Award-winning Band Of Gypsys, 2014’s Emmy Award-winning Hear My Train A Comin’ and the recent Grammy nominated Music, Money, Madness: Jimi Hendrix In Maui.   His most recent project is Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hollywood Bowl August 18, 1967.

Source: https://www.jimihendrix.com/music/hollywood-bowl-august-18-1967/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Don Was is one of music’s most significant artists and executives, exceling in multiple roles and serving as one of the industry’s beacons for integrity and forward-thinking. During this period of disruption and rapid evolution in the worldwide music business, Was remains committed to music as an art form and its importance to contemporary culture.  As the President of Blue Note Records since 2011, Was is both the company’s leader and an ambassador for its music, charged with bringing the label’s 21st Century jazz artists and its expanding pallet of contemporary musicians to larger audiences.  Was is also caretaker for Blue Note’s singular and historic catalogue of music, and is burnishing the label’s 80-year legacy by overseeing ongoing and extensive reissue campaigns that serve audiences in both the analogue and digital realms.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Don Was grew up listening to Detroit blues, jazz music, and the Rolling Stones. He went on to form the group Was (Not Was) with school friend David Weiss (David Was), noted for their success in the 1980s. Now widely recognized as a record producer, Don Was has worked with artists including Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Iggy Pop, Ziggy Marley, the B-52s, Elton John, Garth Brooks, Lucinda Williams, Old Crow Medicine Show, John Mayer, Ringo Starr, Willie Nelson, Brian Wilson, Kris Kristofferson, and Aaron Neville. He has earned multiple Grammy Awards including Producer of the Year in 1995. Don Was has served as musical director or consultant on several motion pictures including Thelma and Louise, The Rainmaker, Hope Floats, Phenomenon, Tin Cup, Honeymoon in Vegas, 8 Seconds, Switch, The Freshman, Days of Thunder, Boys on the Side, and Toy Story. He earned a British Academy Award (BAFTA) for Best Original Score in recognition of his compositions for the film Backbeat.
He regularly tours throughout the United States as bassist in the acclaimed trio, Bob Weir and Wolf Bros, and has served as musical director and bassist for a host of major tribute concerts, including those for:  Johnny Cash, Jerry Garcia, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Dr. John, Gregg Allman, Gregg Allman and Mavis Staples. Was recently curated and hosted a weekend-long series of shows at Boston’s Wang Theatre and Schubert Theatre under the WasFest banner.  The shows, which featured Meshell Ndegeocello, Robert Glasper, Dark Star Orchestra, Lettuce with special guest Judith Hill and Steel Pulse, received rapturous reception from audiences and critics alike.

Don Was is featured in the Dorsay Alavi's Zero Gravity, the recently released documentary film streaming on Amazon Prime on the life of Wayne Shorter—released on the 90th anniversary of his birth—takes an in-depth look at the life of one of our most outstanding players, composers and visionaries in the jazz canon. From his childhood in Newark to his work with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, as an integral part of The Miles Davis Quintet of the mid ‘60s, his contributions to the groundbreaking group Weather Report, his own groups, and writing for large ensembles, the message is clear: the openness he embraced throughout his life allowed for the genius to flourish. 

Source: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/birthday-greetings-don/
Source: https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/w/wa-wn/don-was/
Source: https://wayneshorterofficial.com/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City

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In The Doors Unhinged, New York Times bestselling author and legendary Doors drummer John Densmore offers a powerful exploration of the “greed gene”—that part of the human psyche that propels us toward the accumulation of more and more wealth, even at the expense of our principles, friendships, and the well-being of society. This is the gripping account of the legal battle to control The Doors’s artistic destiny. In it, Densmore looks at his conflict with his bandmates over the right to use The Doors’s name, revealing the ways in which this struggle mirrors and reflects a much larger societal issue: that no amount of money seems to be enough for even the wealthiest people.

The Doors continue to attract new generations of fans, with more than one hundred million albums sold worldwide and counting, and nearly twenty million followers to the band’s social media accounts. As such, Densmore occupies a rarefied space in popular culture. He’s beloved by artists across the decades for his fierce, uncompromising dedication to art. His writing consistently earns accolades and has appeared in a range of publications, such as the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone. As his friend and American novelist Tom Robbins recently said to him, “If you keep writing like this, I’ll have to get a drum set.”

This is an incredibly timely and important volume in a contemporary world that is increasingly consumed by an insatiable profit motive. John Densmore has given us a blueprint for an approach to life and culture that is not driven by greed.

Source: https://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/doors-unhinged/
Source: https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Vromans-presents-John-Densmore-with-Fred-Armisen-discussing-The-Doors-Unhinged

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Robby Krieger On Live At The Matrix 1967: The Original Masters

The Doors were a few months away from stardom in March 1967 when they played five sparsely attended shows at a small club in San Francisco called The Matrix. These uninhibited performances would have been fleeting if not for Peter Abram, who co-owned  the pizza parlor-turned-nightclub with Jefferson Airplane founder Marty Balin. An avid recordist, Abram taped concerts at The Matrix regularly and his recordings of The Doors, made between March 7-11, 1967, spawned one of the band’s most storied bootlegs.  At long last, all known Matrix recordings, sourced entirely from Abram’s original master recordings, will be released on September 8.

Bootlegs of The Matrix shows have circulated among fans for years and were popular despite the poor audio quality of most copies. The sound began improving in 1997 when the first two songs from The Matrix shows were officially released on The Doors: Box Set. Even more performances followed in 2008 on Live at the Matrix 1967; regrettably, it was discovered soon after that all the recordings were sourced from third-generation tapes, not the originals. 

Today, Abram’s original recordings have been remastered by Bruce Botnick, The Doors’ longtime engineer/mixer, for official release. The vinyl version of LIVE AT THE MATRIX 1967: THE ORIGINAL MASTERS includes all 37 songs from the shows sourced from the master tapes. Except for 15 songs released in 2017 and 2018 as Record Store Day exclusives, most of the newly upgraded live recordings are making their debut in the collection, including eight that have never been featured on any of the previous Matrix releases.

It’s easy to understand the enduring appeal of these vintage performances by Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore. Recorded only a few months before “Light My Fire” propelled the band to worldwide success, the tapes capture The Doors playing a wide range of songs, including several from their self-titled debut, like “Break On Through,” “Soul Kitchen,” and “The End.” They also performed half the songs destined for the group’s soon-to-be-recorded second album, Strange Days, including early performances of “Moonlight Drive” and “People Are Strange.” 15 Sets of music over five nights at The Matrix gave the band time to indulge its love of the blues with extended covers of “I’m A King Bee” and “Crawling King Snake.” The Doors even delivered an instrumental version of “Summertime.”

These special moments all contribute to making Live at The Matrix, 1967all the more fascinating and important, as it showcases The Doors as the nascent struggling young band they were. Let’s get deeper inside this box set’s music, shall we?

Source: https://store.rhino.com/en/rhino-store/arti

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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My guest this  hour is writer extraordinaire Alan Light. Alan is an Emmy Award-winning music journalist, a best-selling author and a frequent contributor to the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Esquire. He’s the former Editor-in-Chief of Vibe and Spin magazines, a former Senior Writer at Rolling Stone.
His books include biographies of Johnny Cash, the Beastie Boys,  and (as co-author) memoirs by Gregg Allman and Peter Frampton. 
He’s also  written THE HOLY OR THE BROKEN: LEONARD COHEN, JEFF BUCKLEY, AND THE UNLIKELY ASCENT OF "HALLELUJAH" (which was adapted into the acclaimed 2022 documentary "Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song") and LET'S GO CRAZY: PRINCE AND THE MAKING OF 'PURPLE RAIN'.

In this hour celebrate the enormous legacy of Nina Simone and celebrate her 90th birthday, she was born February 21 1933 and we'll be discussing Alan Light's book, “WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE?” a biography, inspired by the award winning Netflix documentary.

Source: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/17646/alan-light/

Source: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/530033/what-happened-miss-simone-by-alan-light/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie speaks with Grammy-winning music historian, journalist, producer, and educator Ashley Kahn about Evenings At The Village Gate: John Coltrane With Eric Dolphy, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones.
In 1961, the John Coltrane Quintet played an engagement at the legendary Village Gate in Greenwich Village, New York.  Coltrane’s Classic Quartet was not as fully established as it would soon become and there was a meteoric fifth member of Coltrane’s group those nights— visionary multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. Ninety minutes of never-before-heard music from this group were recently discovered at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, offering a glimpse into a powerful musical partnership that ended much too soon. In addition to some well-known Coltrane material (“My Favorite Things”, “Impressions”, “Greensleeves”), there is a breathtaking feature for Dolphy’s bass clarinet on “When Lights Are Low” and the only known non-studio recording of Coltrane’s composition “Africa”, from the Africa/Brass album. This recording represents a very special moment in John Coltrane's journey—the summer of 1961—when his signature, ecstatic live sound, commonly associated his Classic Quartet of '62 to '65, was first maturing and when he was drawing inspiration from deep, African sources— and experimenting with the two-bass idea both in the studio (Olé) and on stage. This truly rare recording of "Africa" captures his expansive vision at the time.

Ashley Kahn is a Grammy-winning American music historian, journalist, producer, and professor. He teaches at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music, and has written books on two legendary recordings—Kind of Blue by Miles Davis and A Love Supreme by John Coltrane—as well as one book on a legendary record label: The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. He also co-authored the Carlos Santana autobiography The Universal Tone, and edited Rolling Stone: The Seventies, a 70-essay overview of that pivotal decade. His latest book is entitled George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters.

Source: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/evenings-at-the-village-gate-john-coltrane-impulse-records__14009

Source: https://www.impulserecords.com/#/

Source: https://tisch.nyu.edu/about/directory/clive-davis-institute/1417614318


Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie speaks with Aaron J. Leonard, author and historian whose intriguing and insightful works include "Heavy Radicals: The FBI’s Secret War on America’s Maoists," "A Threat of the First Magnitude—FBI Counterintelligence & Infiltration" and "The Folk Singers & the Bureau." His latest book is "Whole World In An Uproar: Music, Rebellion and Repression 1955-1972" which we discuss is detail in this interview.

Leonard has established himself as a leading expert when it comes to accessing and researching FBI files. He deftly sorts through these documents to demonstrate the breadth of state surveillance against musicians who offended those in power.
— Scott Costen, Morning Star (UK)

Whole World in an Uproar is a great trip back for those who were there and, more importantly, an excellent and very readable history for those who weren’t.—Ron Jacobs, CounterPunch.

A fascinating counter-history of the 1960s music revolution through the eyes of the persecutors, paranoiacs, and culture warriors who tried to stop it
—Dorian Lynskey, 33 Revolutionary Per Minute.

What happened when HUAC, the FBI, Jim Crow, corporate media outlets, drug warriors, the religious right, and even the Old Left tried to stop a freight train? Drawing on a broad range of sources, including FBI files, Whole World in an Uproar recounts that momentous story
—Peter Richardson, No Simple Highway: A Cultural History of the Grateful Dead

Aaron Leonard integrates an amazing amount of research into a story that ranges from FBI surveillance of the Old Left to the rock scene to the social dissension around the anti-Vietnam War and Black liberation movements...a well-thought-through, fascinating documentary about movements and people who were affected by oppressive societal actions
—Terri Thal, early manager of Bob Dylan, then-husband Dave Van Ronk, the Holy Modal Rounders, and others.

******

Artists such as Jim Morrison, Miriam Makeba, Bob Dylan, and Nina Simone transformed pop music in the 1960s, but they did not do so without a fight. They were confronted by deeply entrenched forces within the status quo who pushed back against them. This book charts the rise of these artists, the opposition they encountered, and how they responded—all amid the unprecedented upheaval of the Black freedom movement, opposition to the war in Vietnam, and the arising of the counterculture. Through the use of previously unreleased FBI files and other government documents, interviews, extensive research of the media of the day, and other works, the book brings to light a hidden and unexplored aspect of a period in history that continues to impact our world. Whole World in an Uproar is a great trip back for those who were there and, more importantly, an excellent and very readable history for those who weren’t.

Source: http://aaronleonard.net/index.html

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie speaks with percussionist Joey DeLeon and bassist Eddie Resto about  “The Global Salsa Explosion and Its Origins” and play the incredible, iconic music that caused such a sensation when it stormed out of New York in the 1970s.
Joey De Leon is a percussionist, educator and producer who's performed or recorded with artists of almost every genre from jazz to Latin, pop to contemporary classical and film scores. The long list of artists he's worked with include Queen Latifah, Al Jarreau, Jennifer Lopez, Bette Midler, Cyndi Lauper, Poncho Sanchez, Arturo Sandoval and Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band.

Joey DeLeon was born in the Hell's Kitchen section of New York City, holds a bachelor’s degree from the prestigious Manhattan school of music and is currently a faculty member at Cal Arts here in Sothern California.

Eddie Resto is a bassist whose credits are just as astoundingly diverse as Joey DeLeon's. Eddie's resume includes his work with Tony Bennett, Rita Moreno, Sonny Stitt, Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, Paul Simon, Kenny Burrell, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Carlos Santana, Jaco Pastorius, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, Eddie Palmieri and Joni Mitchell.

Eddie holds a master’s degree in Afro-Latin music from California State University of Los Angeles and serves his communities through his work with the Mancini Institute, The Urban League, The Boys and Girls Club of America and other youth organizations.

Source: https://www.labella.com/artists/eddie-resto/#:~:text=Born%20and%20raised%20in%20Manhattan,major%20performers%20and%20music%20groups.

Source: https://www.joeydeleonmusic.com/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie and Dale Bell discuss his book: Woodstock: An Inside Look at the Movie that Shook Up the World and Defined a Generation and the film, Woodstock 3 Days of Peace & Music: The Director's Cut screening at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Summer of Music: Concert Films 1959–2020 Jun 10 – Aug 26, 2023

Dale Bell, has spent his professional life in the arts, television and film. His awards include the Academy Award (Woodstock), the Peabody Award (Kennedy Center Tonight), two Emmys, four BAFTAs, and two Christophers. His work―performance, dramatic, documentary, commercials and industrials―has been seen globally, primarily on public television and NBC, ABC, A&E, Discovery, History, The Learning Channel, TBS, and others. In 1999, he joined Harry Wiland to create the Media & Policy Center, where together, they have earned the Ashoka and the Purpose Prize Fellowships while producing social justice multi-media initiatives for PBS on such topics as health care, eldercare, sustainable pioneers, healthy schools and communities, and now, Opioids, the VW scandal, and Our Kids with Professor Robert Putnam. They have also been professors of a two-year graduate course at Woodbury University in Burbank that focuses on leveraging media for greater social justice.

Henry Diltz is an extraordinary rock n roll photographer unlike any other. A founding member of the Modern Folk Quartet, Diltz is as much at home as a musician on tour, as he is a visual historian of the last four decades of popular music. The rapport he’s developed with his musician friends, along with his down-to-earth-grin and frequent laugh, enables him to capture the candid shots that convey a rare feeling of trust and intimacy with his subjects.

Featuring a foreword from legendary director Martin Scorcese, Woodstock: Interviews and Recollections combines stories, anecdotes, and perspectives from dozens of musicians and filmmakers about the making of the Academy Award-winning documentary Woodstock. Assembled by associate producer Dale Bell, the oral history takes readers behind the scenes―and behind the camera―at the decade-defining event.



Source: https://mediapolicycenter.org/meet-the-team/dale_bell/
Source: https://paw.princeton.edu/article/dale-bell-60-living-woodstock
Source: https://www.academymuseum.org/en/programs/series/summer-of-music-concert-films-1959-2020
Source: https://rarebirdlit.com/woodstock-interviews-and-recollections-by-dale-bell/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Profiles host Maggie LePique sits down with President and Executive Director of Fly Compton Foundation Demetrius G. Harris.

Fly Compton Aeronautical Education Foundation, Inc. is a 501c3 organization founded in 2020 by a group of African American professional pilots and aircraft mechanics that all had a common goal... to give back to and invest in the youth of our community. Concurrently,  we are contributing to the diversification of an industry that has been long been exclusive to individuals of a higher economic status.

​​

As of 2018, people of color only make up 2.3% of all aircraft pilots and flight engineers. There are 3 main things that contribute to this troubling statistic:

​1.    Lack of exposure

2.    Access to Resources    

3.    High Cost of Flight training
 

Our mission is to introduce minority youth to the aviation industry and all of the many opportunities that it affords them. We will accomplish this by providing them with programs and resources designed to serve as a catalyst for their venture into an industry that is not traditionally accessible to individuals of a lower socio-economic status.

Source: https://www.flycompton.com
Source: https://www.flycomptonfoundation.org/copy-of-home

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie speaks with Miles Davis's nephew, musician and bandleader Vince Wilburn Jr about That You Not Dare To Forget by M.E.B. (formerly Miles Electric Band) led by Vince Wilburn, Jr. collects a progressive all-star ensemble featuring Miles Davis alumni and the players Miles inspired. This brand new, never-released studio recording captures a multi-generational who’s who of acclaimed artists performing new Miles-inspired compositions. Two tracks of the five on the album include unreleased trumpet performances by Miles and the album, produced by Mi les’ alumni Lenny White and Wilburn, features music legends including Ron Carter, Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke, Donald Harrison, Darryl Jones, Vernon Reid and John Scofield. This album is dedicated to the memory of Wallace Roney and Bernard Wright and contains some of their final recordings. The cover is an original painting from artist and Miles’ associate Mikel Elam.

Source: https://www.milesdavis.com/albums/that-you-not-dare-to-forget/
Source: https://www.legacyrecordings.com/2023/04/18/m-e-b-on-making-that-you-not-dare-to-forget-jazziz/
Source: https://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/15742

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie speaks extensively with Film historian, educator and author Donald Bogle is one of the foremost authorities on African Americans in the movies.  With a series of provocative, culturally significant books, Bogle almost single-handedly pioneered the study, appreciation, and value of the work and achievements--as well as the heroic struggles--of Black artists working in films.   

 With his very first book, Donald Bogle won the Theatre Library Association Award for Film. That book, now in its 5th expanded, updated edition, it is considered a classic study of Black movie images in America and is used in courses at colleges and universities around the country.  

 Mr. Bogle has also appeared as a commentator on television, including Henry Louis Gates’s Peabody award-winning PBS series The African-Americans: Many Rivers to Cross.

He also has a long association with Turner Classic Movies and, in his recent book "Hollywood Black: The Stars, The Films, The Filmmakers" (which is a Turner Classic Movies film book) he has continued his pioneering examination of African American film history.

Turner Classic Movies pays tribute to our late host, Robert Osborne, with the Robert Osborne Award, presented annually at the TCM Classic Film Festival to an individual whose work has helped preserve the cultural heritage of classic film for future generations. In 2023, TCM honors film historian, author, and professor Donald Bogle for his pioneering studies of African American cinema and his tireless efforts to elevate the achievements of Black performers and filmmakers. 

Source: https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/donald-bogle
Source: https://cinemastudies.sas.upenn.edu/people/donald-bogle
Source: https://filmfestival.tcm.com/programs/the-robert-osborne-award/



Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Legendary Guitarist and founding member of the iconic Rock Band The Doors,  ROBBY KRIEGER Talks about  his latest group  "Krieger And The Soul Savages" and the legendary Jazz Club The Baked Potato and The Whisky A Go Go. Guests include Robby's pianist with The Soul Savages Ed Roth and legendary Trumpeter Sal Marquez who was part of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, Woody Herman Orchestra, Buddy Rich Big Band and The Tonight Show Band with Leader Branford Marsalis.
This interview includes some outtakes not heard on the Radio broadcast.

The musical group Krieger & The Soul Savages play a unique blend of melodic, psychedelic rock and soul; with plenty of soul.  The band is comprised of guitarist Robby Krieger of the Doors; bassist Kevin Brandon (Aretha Franklin,Michael Jackson, Beyonce); Keyboardist Ed Roth (Brothers Johnson, Joe Walsh, Annie Lennox); and drummer Franklin Vanderbilt (Lenny Kravitz, Chaka Khan, and Stevie Wonder). A lot of the music will come from an upcoming album to be released this summer, as well as some surprise twists of songs you know, and a few Doors songs that you might recognize.


Source: https://robbykrieger.com
Source: https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/sal-marquez/credits/


Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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In this episode of Profiles with Maggie LePique, we discuss a new Art Exhibit  that is happening now through July 2023 : Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure
Opening in Downtown LA Friday March 31st at the Grand LA. 
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s contributions to the history of art and his explorations of multifaceted cultural phenomena––including music, the Black experience, pop culture, Black American sports figures, literature, and other sources––will be showcased through immersive environments providing unique insight into the late artist’s creative life and his singular voice that propelled a social and cultural narrative that continues to this day. 

Organized and curated by the family of Jean-Michel Basquiat, this exhibition of over 200 never-before-seen and rarely shown paintings, drawings, multimedia presentations, ephemera, and artifacts tell the story of Jean-Michel from an intimate perspective, intertwining his artistic endeavors with his personal life, influences, and the times in which he lived. 

My guest is Ileen Sheppard Gallagher has been helping organizations tell their stories for thirty years. She began as a young curator at the De Young Museum in San Francisco before going on to assume top curatorial posts at the Queens Museum of Art in New York, the Library of Congress in Washington DC, and the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota. For five years before establishing her own company, she served as Director of Exhibitions for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. There she guided all aspects of the inaugural galleries leading up to and following the public opening. Ileen taught exhibition planning and design for over 20 years at New York University in the graduate Museum Studies Program. Today, she heads ISG Productions.

Source: http://sheppardgallagher.com
Source: https://kingpleasure.basquiat.com
Source: https://www.thegrandla.com


Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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In this episode we celebrate the incredible musical legacy of saxophonist, composer and bandleader Wayne Shorter, born August 25, 1933 in Newark New Jersey and passed away March 2, 2023. My special guest is Alex Acuña, a prolific drummer, percussionist, composer, and bandleader who has amassed more 900 recording credits. (its probably more now) After touring with Perez Prado during the 1960s and playing with Elvis Presley in Las Vegas in the early '70s - 

 In 1974, Acuña and his family moved to Las Vegas. He continued working with Prado's show band, and played for Elvis Presley's Las Vegas residencies in addition to serving in backing bands and orchestras for Olivia Newton John and the Temptations. Drummer/percussionist Don Alias heard him with the latter and suggested he try playing jazz. Alias arranged an audition with Weather Report and Acuña joined that band for their 1975 tour. 

He moved to Los Angeles and played on the band's two most successful studio outings, Black Market and Heavy Weather, and he toured with the group until 1978. During his tenure, Weather Report backed Joni Mitchell on Don Juan's Reckless Daughter. He has been a recording and touring sideman to a dazzling array of artists ranging from Paul McCartney and Joni Mitchell to Andre Crouch and Blondie.The stellar & diverse list of artists Alex has worked with seems never ending, the word prolific is an understatement. 

Wayne Shorter was a saxophonist, bandleader and composer. His compositions became jazz standards and he received worldwide recognition and critical praise.  Wayne Shorter won 12 Grammy Awards. His mastery of the soprano saxophone earned him (beginning in 1970) Down Beat's annual poll-winner on that instrument… winning the critics' poll for 10 consecutive years and the readers' poll for 18 years. 

 The New York Times music critic Ben Ratliff described Shorter in 2008 as "probably jazz's greatest living small-group composer and a contender for greatest living improviser". 
Via Wayne Shorter, We Love You! 

Source: https://drummerworld.com/drummers/Alex_Acuna.html
Source: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/alex-acuna/

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie speaks with CEO of Terrapin Station Entertainment, Jonathan Shank  about his latest project, Bob Marley One Love Experience which began its run of engagement in Los Angeles January 27th and runs until April 23, 2023 
(12- week engagement)
This multi-sensory experience will showcase never-before-seen Marley photographs and memorabilia, while immersing you in a journey through his life, passions, influences, and enduring legacy. 
Venture through the One Love Forest, visit the Soul Shakedown Studio and delve into the multi-sensory experience celebrating one of the world’s most beloved and unifying musical figures. 6801 Hollywood Blvd. (2nd floor next to Dolby Theater), Los Angeles, United States. CA 90028.

Located in the heart of Hollywood, along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it is among the most visited tourist destinations and shopping complexes in Los Angeles.
Children 5 and under are admitted FREE

An experience presented by Terrapin Station Entertainment

Source: https://shorefire.com/roster/jonathan-shank/bio
Source: https://bobmarleyexp.com/los-angeles/

This episode is from an archive from the KPFK program Profiles adapted for podcast.

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie LePique's longtime producer and music journalist Jerry Ough celebrates Jimi Hendrix's 80th Birthday with Jimi's sister, Janie Hendrix and longtime producer and Archivist John McDermott. Jerry, Janie and John discussThe Jimi Hendrix Experience – Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969, legendary 1969 performance includes “Purple Haze” and an incendiary 17-minute medley of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” and Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love.” The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969, released on 2LP vinyl, CD and all digital platforms, was recorded in the spring of 1969 before a raucous, sold-out audience. This captivating performance of the original lineup (singer/guitarist Jimi Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell, bassist Noel Redding) has never before been released in its entirety.

Jerry, Janie and John also discuss the new book, JIMI, the ultimate tribute to the greatest guitar player in rock and roll history, celebrating what would have been Jimi Hendrix's 80th birthday on November 8, 2022. This comprehensive visual celebration is an official collaboration with Jimi's sister, Janie Hendrix, and John McDermott of Experience Hendrix L.L.C. JIMI significantly expands on the authors' previously published titles, including An Illustrated Experience, and features a new introduction by Janie, extensive biographical texts, and a trove of lesser known and never-before-published photographs, personal memorabilia, lyrics, and more. Additionally, JIMI includes quotations by legendary musicians, such as Paul McCartney, Ron Wood, Jeff Beck, Lenny Kravitz, Eric Clapton, Drake, Dave Grohl, and others who have spoken about Hendrix's lasting influence.

Janie L. Hendrix is the president and CEO of Seattle-based Experience Hendrix L.L.C. and Authentic Hendrix L.L.C., the family companies of Jimi Hendrix, which were founded by James "Al" Hendrix in 1995, as a means of keeping Hendrix's legacy alive. Janie ushered the companies into the 21st century with the dream of her father and brother in mind.

John McDermott is the director, writer, and producer who has long been associated with the legacy of Jimi Hendrix. He has served as the catalog director for Experience Hendrix L.L.C. for nearly three decades. Together with Janie Hendrix and Eddie Kramer, McDermott has coproduced every Jimi Hendrix CD and DVD release, including 1999's Grammy Award–winning Band of Gypsys, 2014's Emmy Award–winning Hear My Train A Comin', and the recent Grammy-nominated Music, Money, Madness: Jimi Hendrix In Maui.

Source: https://www.jimihendrix.com/music/los-angeles-forum-april-26-1969/
Source: https://www.authentichendrix.com/product/Y3AMJI122
Source: https://www.chroniclebooks.com/products/jimi


This episode is from an archive from the KPFK program Profiles adapted for podcast.

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie LePique speaks with Jann Wenner, whose memoir "Like a Rolling Stone" chronicles his life as the co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine.
Rolling Stone founder, co-editor, and publisher Jann Wenner offers a "touchingly honest" and "wonderfully deep" memoir from the beating heart of classic rock and roll (Bruce Springsteen).

Jann Wenner has been called by his peers “the greatest editor of his generation.”

His deeply personal memoir vividly describes and brings you inside the music, the politics, and the lifestyle of a generation, an epoch of cultural change that swept America and beyond. The age of rock and roll in an era of consequence, what will be considered one of the great watersheds in modern history. Wenner writes with the clarity of a journalist and an essayist. He takes us into the life and work of Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Bono, and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. He was instrumental in the careers of Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe, and Annie Leibovitz. His journey took him to the Oval Office with his legendary interviews with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, leaders to whom Rolling Stone gave its historic, full-throated backing. From Jerry Garcia to the Dalai Lama, Aretha Franklin to Greta Thunberg, the people Wenner chose to be seen and heard in the pages of Rolling Stone tried to change American culture, values, and morality.

Like a Rolling Stone is a beautifully written portrait of one man’s life, and the life of his generation.Rolling Stone founder, co-editor, and publisher Jann Wenner offers a "touchingly honest" and "wonderfully deep" memoir from the beating heart of classic rock and roll (Bruce Springsteen).

Jann Wenner has been called by his peers “the greatest editor of his generation.”

Source:
https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/jann-s-wenner/like-a-rolling-stone/9780316415392/

This episode is from an archive from the KPFK program Profiles adapted for podcast.

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie LePique's Producer Jerry Ough speaks  with master double bassist Chuck Berghofer about his incredible music legacy. As a member of the Wrecking Crew, Chuck Berghofer helped change the sound of popular music. His big, warm bass sound has laid the foundation for artists from A to Z with recordings by Frank Sinatra, Glen Campbell, Christina Aguilera, Frank Zappa, The Beach Boys, Diana Krall, Robbie Williams, and more. It has also set the mood on over 400 movies like Rocky, True Crime, Bird, and The Majestic and TV shows like The Carol Burnett Show, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Star Trek. There’s no doubt that you’ve heard his bass playing.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Berghofer


This episode is from an archive from the KPFK program Profiles adapted for podcast.

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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TAKE ME TO THE RIVER NEW ORLEANS
New Orleans Music: One of the World’s Most Unique and Important Cultural Jewels

Take Me to the River New Orleans,” the second film, celebrates the rich musical history, the heritage, legacy, and influence of New Orleans and Louisiana. A true collaboration and melting pot of influences from around the World, that came together and formed one of the world’s most unique cultural jewels. Our adventure shows the resiliency of surviving disaster to a formidable rebirth. Pairing legacy musicians with stars of today.

There is nothing like the music of New Orleans. It is a wholly unique, worldwide collaboration that has resulted in an exceptional musical genre never before heard. This film will give the viewer an insightful historical perspective of how global influences shaped, and continue to shape, a musical quilt that formed the music of this extraordinary city. Influences came from many places: Cuba, South America, Africa, Europe, Canada, America. All contributed to the blending and shaping of a musical genre that is rich in culture and heritage. We, as Americans, are the conservators of this unique cultural phenomenon.

The film will highlight 20 to 25 new songs, combining multiple generations of New Orleans musicians. Legacy musicians will collaborate with stars of today and students from the Tipitina’s foundation, under the guidance and tutelage of Donald Harrison.

This film shows that New Orleans music has always been a collaboration of intergenerational, interracial, intercontinental and genderless effort.

New Orleans music includes the creation and influences of American jazz and jazz musicians and the introduction of unique instruments, story songs and life’s hardships from around the world.

Award winning filmmaker/director/producer/musician Martin Shore started his career as a musician. Mr. Shore has toured with Bo Diddley, Albert Collins, Bluesman Willie, and many others. He has produced soundtracks and has acted as music supervisor for a number of feature films, including Saw, Saw II, Rize, and Rock School, among others. He has been a music producer for a variety of artists, including Snoop Dogg, G-Eazy, Yo Gotti, Mavis Staples, Booker T. Jones, North Mississippi Allstars, and many others.

Source: https://takemetotheriver.org
Source: https://www.amazon.com/Take-Me-River-Orleans-Various/dp/B09QXMGVQJ

This episode is from an archive from the KPFK program Profiles adapted for podcast.

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie LePique speaks with the marvelous and brilliant jazz pianist Mike Garson and they discuss the Live at Glastonbury 2000 recording. The Legendary Full Performance Released For The First Time (In 2018) Including Many Of Bowie's Greatest Hits And Never Before Seen Footage. This release documents Bowie's legendary Sunday night headline performance on June 25 2000 at the most famous festival on earth. -The box set  includes the full 21 song greatest hits set and for the first time, a DVD of the entire show (only 30 minutes of which has ever been broadcast on TV) including the Glastonbury performance of "'Heroes'," a highlight of the record breaking "David Bowie Is..." exhibition and the only track that has been previously released. Maggie & Mike also discuss the newly released book: The Life And Tome Of Ziggy Stardust
In 2002, David Bowie and Mick Rock created Moonage Daydream, the defining document of the life and times of Ziggy Stardust. Twenty years later, it remains the closest readers will get to understanding Bowie through his own words.

First published as a signed limited edition, Moonage Daydream sold out in a matter of months and became lore among David Bowie fans. Now, on the 50th anniversary of Bowie's acclaimed album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, the book is available once more as an Anniversary Edition for bookstores worldwide. Exclusively for Genesis subscribers, for a limited time a short run of books are being presented as Publisher's Copies.

Source: https://www.rhino.com/product/glastonbury-2000
Source: https://store.davidbowie.com/product/X3CDDB051/david-bowie-glastonbury-2000-2-cd-dvd-set
Source: https://www.genesis-publications.com/book/9781905662722/moonage-daydream.

This episode is from an archive from the KPFK program Profiles adapted for podcast.

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie LePique sits down with Dan Guerrero, an award-winning producer/director of diverse programming for network and cable television and of live arts and culture concert events at prestigious venues including the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for the LA Opera and multiple events at the Kennedy Center in DC. The eclectic artist also tours with his autobiographical solo play ¡Gaytino! Made in America that was recently filmed and is screening at U.S. Film Festivals. Guerrero is also an influential activist for both the Latinx and LGBTQ communities and is a popular figure on the speaking circuit. But he is most proud of his work as an educator teaching the course ¡Gaytino! Performance and the Power of One at UCLA. That led to his appointment as a UC Regents lecturer jointly in the UCLA Cesar E. Chavez Chicano/a Studies and LGBTQ Departments. Dan and I discuss Linda Ronstadt's new Memoir Feels Like Home: A Song For The Sonoran Borderlands as well as the companion CD from Putumayo Records: Feels Like Home: Songs from the Sonoran Borderlands—Linda Ronstadt’s Musical Odyssey. 

In Feels Like Home, Grammy award-winning singer Linda Ronstadt effortlessly evokes the magical panorama of the Sonoran borderlands, a landscape etched by sunlight and carved by wind, offering a personal tour of the place where she came of age, built around meals and memories. Following her best-selling musical memoir, Simple Dreams, this book seamlessly braids together Ronstadt’s recollections of people and their passions in a region little understood in the rest of the United States.

The granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, Ronstadt celebrates the marvelous flavors and indomitable people on both sides of the border in this road trip through the high desert. Written in collaboration with Lawrence Downes and illustrated throughout with stunning photographs by Bill Steen, Feels Like Home features 20 recipes for traditional Sonoran dishes and a bevy of revelations for Ronstadt’s admirers, including never-before-seen family photos. If this book were a radio signal, you might first pick it up on an Arizona highway, well south of Phoenix, coming into the glow of Ronstadt’s hometown of Tucson. It would be playing the old canciones, from a time when the border was a place not of peril but of possibility.

Putumayo has released Feels Like Home: Songs from the Sonoran Borderlands—Linda Ronstadt’s Musical Odyssey, a musical accompaniment to the acclaimed singer’s new book, Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands, published by Heyday Books. The musical collection was co-curated by Ronstadt and Putumayo founder Dan Storper and includes influential songs from her childhood and career, as well as several of her own interpretations of classic Mexican songs. Participating artists include legends and musical explorers Lalo Guerrero, Ry Cooder, Jackson Browne, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Neil Young, Taj Mahal and David Hidalgo. 

Source: https://lindaronstadt.com/book/feels-like-home/
Source: https://www.putumayo.com/feels-like-home
Source: https://www.heydaybooks.com/catalog/feels-like-home/?utm_source=carousel&utm_id=flik
Source: http://www.danguerrero.com

This episode is from an archive from the KPFK program Profiles ad

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Maggie and Robby sit down and revisit his 2021 Memoir, Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar With The Doors Now Available In Paperback and play a few clips from the audiobook.
In his tell-all, legendary Doors guitarist, Robby Krieger, one of Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time," opens up about his band's meteoric career, his own darkest moments, and the most famous black eye in rock 'n' roll.

​Few bands are as shrouded in the murky haze of rock mythology as The Doors, and parsing fact from fiction has been a virtually impossible task. But now, after fifty years, The Doors' notoriously quiet guitarist is finally breaking his silence to set the record straight. 

Through a series of vignettes, Robby Krieger takes readers back to where it all happened: the pawn shop where he bought his first guitar; the jail cell he was tossed into after a teenage drug bust; his parents' living room where his first songwriting sessions with Jim Morrison took place; the empty bars and backyard parties where The Doors played their first awkward gigs; the studios where their iconic songs were recorded; and the many concert venues that erupted into historic riots. Set the Night on Fire is packed with never-before-told stories from The Doors' most vital years, and offers a fresh perspective on the most infamous moments of the band's career. 

Krieger also goes into heartbreaking detail about his life's most difficult struggles, ranging from drug addiction to cancer, but he balances out the sorrow with humorous anecdotes about run-ins with unstable fans, famous musicians, and one really angry monk.  Set the Night on Fire is at once an insightful time capsule of the '60s counterculture, a moving reflection on what it means to find oneself as a musician, and a touching tale of a life lived non-traditionally. It's not only a must-read for Doors fans, but an essential volume of American pop culture history.

Source: https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/robby-krieger/set-the-night-on-fire/9780316243445/

Source: https://store.thedoors.com/products/robby-krieger-set-the-night-on-fire-living-dying-and-playing-guitar-with-the-doors-soft-cover-book

This episode is from an archive from the KPFK program Profiles adapted for podcast.

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Came the Lightening: Twenty Poems for George By Olivia Harrison
Maggie goes in-depth about Olivia's reason for celebrating her husband, George Harrison, 20 years after his passing with a book of poems for him. Olivia also reads from her timeless and beautiful tribute to George. 

'Here on the shore, twenty years later, my message in a bottle has reached dry land. Words about our life, his death but mostly love and our journey to the end.' – Olivia Harrison

Olivia Harrison presents Came the Lightening, a book of twenty poems dedicated to George, marking the twentieth year since his passing.
The poetry is accompanied by a selection of photographs and mementos curated by Olivia.

Martin Scorsese, a long-time friend, and director of the 2011 documentary, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, writes:

“Olivia evokes the most fleeting gestures and instants, plucked from the flow of time and memory and felt through her choice of words and the overall rhythm.

“She might have done an oral history or a memoir. Instead, she composed a work of poetic autobiography.”

Source: https://www.genesis-publications.com/book/9781905662814/came-the-lightening

Source: https://www.oliviaharrison.com

This episode is from an archive from the KPFK program Profiles adapted for podcast.

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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Maggie Speaks With Drummer, Producer Gregg Field About Ella At The Hollywood Bowl: The Irving Berlin Songbook - Eight-time Grammy and 2018 Emmy winner (including Latin Grammy “Producer of the Year”) Gregg Field is one of the most musically diverse and highly sought-after producers, musicians and educators in music.

World class musicians and singers — a veritable who’s who of music, including Michael Buble, Placido Domingo, Pharrell Williams, Josh Groban, Garth Brooks, Alejandro Sanz, Stevie Wonder, Barbara Streisand, Frank Sinatra and Quincy Jones — are among his many musical collaborators.

Starting at age 19, Field toured with, among others, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, and he can be heard on Sinatra’s historic, multi-platinum Duets and Duets II recordings.

Ella Fitzgerald's "Songbook" records - with her peerless renditions of the best songs from iconic composers from Irving Berlin to Rogers & Hart to Cole Porter to George & Ira Gershwin - are the cornerstone of the Verve catalog and the standard for jazz vocal recordings. Ella never released a live version of these Songbooks. This record, discovered in the private collection of Norman Granz, will make the first time a live Songbook has been released from the First Lady of Song.

Source: https://music.usc.edu/gregg-field/
https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/ella-fitzgerald-hollywood-bowl-album-out-now/

This episode is from an archive from the KPFK program Profiles adapted for podcast.

Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994.

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