Charles Phoenix
[Listen 
]
Amateur historian and expert of Americana Charles Phoenix shows Ben his Southern Californian Retro Slide Show. You will never see a more fascinating presentation of other people's slides.
Walk! Los Angeles With Me
[Listen ]
Video artist Lisa Salem left her house in Echo Park in June and won't return until she's walked LA. She's pushing around a baby stroller that's rigged with a video camera and documenting her trek.
Find out more about Walk LA With Me and keep up with Lisa's trek on her blog
Hobo's Son
[Listen ]
from Kelly Joe Phelps' CD Shine Eyed Mister Zen
Polka Leonard
[Listen ]
Polka Leonard shares memories of places like the Polka Palace, which was in the Inland Empire and in the 1960s drew thousands to see the country's hottest polka bands. Ayala Ben-Yehuda talks to Polka Leonard and shares a dance.
Brian Eno and the Long Now
[Listen ]
Ten thousand years ago, humans first started settling down into societies. Ten thousand years from today, where will we be?
British musician and artist Brian Eno
and computer scientist and inventor Danny Hillis,
are founding members of The Long Now Foundation -
a group of thinkers, scientists, artists and creative people of all types who say we are too caught up in the short now. Think about the Long Now.
In April, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Brian Eno and Danny Hillis spoke about the Long Now and the 10,000 Year Clock
Sam Maloof and Danny Hillis
[Listen ]
In 1948, a Southern Californian named Sam Maloof decided he wanted to be a wood worker. This was a big decision for him. He was newly married. He didn't know any other woodworkers. Even in the 40s, before all this technology, a woodworker struggled to make a living. But Sam Maloof was a natural. He designs by instinct, everything is made of wood, which he carves, sands, stains and polishes entirely by hand. You can see Maloof's work in the Smithsonian and at LACMA. The Long Now Foundation's co-chair Danny Hillis met Queena Kim and Ben Adair at Sam Maloof's workshop and home.
Find out about the Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation
There are tours of his house every Thursday and Saturday afternoon.
Maloof House
5131 Carnelian Street
Alta Loma, CA
map
Shochiku Grand Kabuki Chikamatsu-Za
[Listen ]
Kabuki is a 400-year tradition in Japan that is taken very seriously. Kabuki actors are all men, who play both male and female parts. In June, the Shochiku Grand Kabuki Theater performed "The Love Suicides at Sonezaki" at the The Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.
The performance was special for two reasons. First, Nakamura Ganjiro III performed. He is the preeminent Kabuki actor of modern times. Second, 24-year-old, West LA native Ken Kanesaka, was in the lineup. Kanesaka was the first non-Japanese Kabuki actor ever allowed to perform in a Kabuki group. Queena Kim spoke to Ken.
Atlanta
[Listen ]
If you weren't a parent or child in the 1970s, you probably missed out on "Free to Be You and Me,"
an album of songs and stories about how boys and girls can be, well, anything.
In June,
Creative PlayGround staged a musical based on one story - that of Princess Atlanta
- at the Powerhouse Theater in Santa Monica.
