Maggie And Special Guest Robby Krieger Honor Bassist Phil Chen (After The News Of His Death)

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.

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.

 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.