Tag Archives: KPFA
David Gans keeps on truckin’ with the Grateful Dead
On Saturday, Feb 23, David Gans will walk into the studio at the Berkeley-based KPFA and put on a song by the Grateful Dead, thereby launching a 16-hour Dead marathon popular around the world. It will be the 27th time Gans has hosted the marathon, a fundraiser that nets thousands of dollars each year for the radio station.
Gans is now a Grateful Dead expert with a weekly syndicated radio show highlighting the band’s music. He is also the author of Playing in the Band: An Oral and Visual Portrait of the Grateful Dead, among other books, and a guitarist and accomplished songwriter. As Gans prepared for the Grateful Deal marathon, which will run from Sat. at 9 am to Sunday at 1 a.m. at 94.1 FM, Berkeleyside asked him how he started to love the band and why the music is so enduring.
When and where was the first time you heard the Grateful Dead? At what point did you fall in love with their music? And after having listened to it for decades, how have you not grown tired of the music?
My roommate and songwriting partner dragged me to a show on March 5, 1972. I found it attractive enough that I started listening to the records, and when the Dead came back to the Bay Area in August of that year I went to four shows in a week. … Continue reading »
Latin flavors lie at the heart of Casa de Chocolates
Two Latinas originally from L.A, with a shared passion for chocolate, Mexico, and social justice, are combining forces to open Casa de Chocolates in The Elmwood today.
Amelia Gonzalez, 50, who worked for KPFA Radio for 20 years, most recently as general manager, was approached by chocolatier Arcelia Gallardo, 35, about coming on board as an angel investor for her artisan sweet treats store that pay homage to cacao’s Latin American heritage.
Gonzalez was interested, but also wanted to play an active role in the development of the budding business, which suited Gallardo, who preferred to focus on perfecting her products, handcrafted in small batches.
So Gonzalez, who has lived in Lima, Peru, and Oaxaca, Mexico, has handled everything from managing construction permits with the city to sourcing ancillary merchandise such as ceramics, tin boxes, and molinillo (wooden whisks for making Mexican hot chocolate), while her partner focuses on flavor pairings. … Continue reading »
Capacity crowd turns up to hear “tiger mom” Amy Chua
Chua’s views on parenting have triggered an explosion of heated debate internationally after the Wall Street Journal ran a provocative excerpt of her book on January 8 titled “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior” (a headline she does not approve of). A number of people who had booked tickets online to see Chua in Berkeley were turned away after Brown Paper Tickets oversold the event.
More than 200 people, roughly half of whom were Asian, made it into the Hillside Club, several choosing to stand to hear Chua being interviewed for over an hour and a half by KPFA’s Aimee Allison. Chua, who has local roots in that her father, Leon O. Chua, teaches at UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering and she attended El Cerrito High School, spoke breathlessly about her memoir which, she said, had been misrepresented as a parenting guide. … Continue reading »
Al Jazeera radio station comes to Berkeley airwaves
Berkeley residents will be among the first in the country to get access to an hour-long radio news show produced by the Al Jazeera network.
The Pacifica Foundation announced on Monday that it would run the radio broadcasts on three of its stations – KPFA in Berkeley, WBAI in New York and KPFT in Houston.
The show was broadcast today in Berkeley, will start on Tuesday in the other cities and will be expanded to the … Continue reading »
Hosts of KPFA’s Morning Show axed
The executive director of the Pacifica Foundation laid off the staff of KPFA’s popular The Morning Show on Monday as part of a cost cutting measure.
Arlene Englehardt laid off co-hosts Aimee Allison and Brian Edwards-Tiekert on Monday and informed them by letter that they would be paid through Dec. 8.
“We come to you this morning with a heavy heart,” co-host Aimee Allison told KPFA listeners at 7 am this morning at what may be the last broadcast of … Continue reading »
Protesters picket KPFA over staff cuts
More than 100 people marched outside KPFA headquarters on Martin Luther King Street at noon on Thursday to protest looming staff cuts.
The protesters, made up of paid and volunteer staff at the radio station and representatives from the Communication Workers of America, contend that a forthcoming proposal to cut workers is unnecessary. While the economic downturn has reduced donations by $500,000 and put a strain on KPFA’s $3.6 million budget, the real problem is not the local station, but … Continue reading »
The Monthly turns 40
The Monthly, (formerly known as The Telegraph Monthly, the Berkeley Monthly, and the East Bay Monthly) turns 40 in October and has put out an anniversary edition pondering the question “What Makes the East Bay Unique?
The magazine’s writers have asked 40 “local luminaries” for some of their favorite memories of the region. As you can imagine, those interviewed waxed about the things that make Berkeley and the East Bay a special place: the weather, the food, the zany … Continue reading »
