Listen up for the rebroadcast of our 2016 interview with Bob Wertzberger (pictured), Friday, July 11, at 4 p.m. Pacific during Listening Lyrics on KDRT. Bob was also known as Bob Noxious of the band ChickeeBob, known for their beloved song “7-11.” In honor of that song and the wishes of Bob's family, July 11 — or "7-11" — is now Bob Noxious Day around here. RIP, Bob.
The 13th annual Davis Music Fest kicks off June 20—and trust us, it's not just lucky number 13 for the organizers! This week on Listening Lyrics, we'll serve up a musical sampler platter featuring songs from the many artists rolling into town for the weekend. Think of it as a sneak preview with less walking and no cover charge.
With dozens of artists, venues, and genres on the menu, your ears are in for a feast.
Joining us is Kyle Monhollen—the man in the middle of this musical mayhem—who’ll dish on what it takes to pull off an event of this scale (spoiler: coffee and spreadsheets).
Tune in Friday at 4 p.m. and get a feel for the festival vibe. You might even walk away with a game plan for which venues to hit—and maybe a few new favorite bands to name-drop.
Nat Lefkoff is 29 and has a cat named Sweetie who is just the best. Nat likes going on long walks and listening to books about history. He also likes bugs, birds, and especially roller blading. The Central Valley that dominates the interior of California is his home. Big open skies and fields with swampy spots and woods scattered throughout. Family and friends are super important, but so is the music he makes.
In his own words, "I'm so grateful to be able to call this my life. Best job I ever had. I'm a happy person but I get real down sometimes and these songs are the product of that. The pearls of my pain, the rainbows of my rain, the Ernie to my Bert, the worm in my dirt."
Nat will appear for his latest album release event at the Davis Odd Fellows on Sept. 14, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. Check out ticket availability here.
Listening Lyrics is excited to announce that Rumi Shimada will be our guest this Friday, May 17, at 4.
He's a singer-songwriter from northern California, and released his self-produced album Audiofolds in August 2022. He recorded it in his bedroom studio. Shimada (who is by no means that great at any instrument) played all of the instruments on each of the album's 12 tracks, giving it a quirky, underdeveloped and juvenile sound that (fortunately) enhances and communicates the searching, mysterious, and uncertain feeling of the songs.
Rumi is also putting together what promises to be a great day of music, The Pink Bandit Music Fest on Saturday, June 29, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. at the Cooper Amphitheater in Auburn, CA.
Musicians (artists) are caught between streaming services and the corporatization of music venues. Joel has the details and some answers. Tune in this Friday, Feb. 16, 2024 at 4 p.m., as Listening Lyrics returns to the airwaves.
On Jan. 14, 2023, the Music Center in Los Angeles had a celebration concert to honor Jerry Moss. Many artists participated, and today's Listening Lyrics plays some of their music.
In 1960, Moss moved from New York to Los Angeles, where he teamed up with Herb Alpert, forming Carnival Records in 1962 and running the company from an office in Alpert's garage. Discovering that the name was already taken, they dubbed their new company A&M Records.
In 1987, Moss and Alpert sold A&M to PolyGram Records for a reported $500 million. Both continued to manage the label until 1993, when they left because of frustrations with PolyGram's constant pressure to force the label to fit into its corporate culture. In 1998, Alpert and Moss sued PolyGram for breach of the integrity clause, eventually settling for an additional $200 million.
Bapu Vaitla, running to represent district 1 on the Davis City Council, will talk about music and share tracks that inspire and galvanize all our efforts towards building a better world this Friday on Listening Lyrics.
From his campaign website: “Bapu Vaitla was born in rural India and spent his childhood in Chicago and Los Angeles. He came to UC Davis for his undergraduate studies, where he forged strong bonds with the social and environmental justice community in town, learning about the power of science to change the world.
"His professional career has been in the global fight against hunger. He earned his PhD at Tufts University, focusing on the politics and economics of hunger, and later did a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University on climate change and food security. As former chair of the Social Services Commission, he led Davis's groundbreaking public safety reform process, and continues the fight to make affordable housing a policy priority.
Timothy Walker is a folk musician and singer-songwriter originally from the Atlanta area, but currently residing in Davis as he works on his PhD in English literature. He performs and writes music under the stage name Threadbare, Brother. His first full-length record, When the War is Through, was released in 2011. The album explores the themes of spiritual transformation in the midst of personal grief and uncertainty.
After a long hiatus from performing, he is working on a new set of songs that seek to portray the complexities of queer love, loss, and longing in the aftermath of religious trauma. Visit Timothy at https://threadbarebrother.bandcamp.com
Listen to this program over the air, via streaming on www.kdrt.org, via the show archives, or on most podcast apps under Listening Lyrics.
Paul Smaldino is the lead singer of The Small Dinosaurs, a strange band dedicated to singing songs about the little things that matter. Their first album, Household Songs, is entirely about household chores, and is available everywhere on the internet. Their second album, Dad Songs, is due out in 2023. Paul will most likely perform a song or two live in the studio. Listen in, get to know Paul, and lern a bit about little things that matter.
Listen to this program over the air, via streaming on www.kdrt.org, via the show archives, or on most podcast apps under Listening Lyrics.
This will be fun. I have asked 6 people I respect to name a favorite song. Any genre, any reason. Their picks are a stunning example of why music moves us.
Listen in as I read their stories and play their selection. You will be moved by the songs.
