Davisville, June 26, 2023: Don Roth, who helped bring major artists to Davis, calls it a career

If you’ve enjoyed a performance at the Mondavi — maybe the Beethoven “Sonatathon,” Bo Diddley concert or the Maria Callas hologram with the Sacramento Philharmonic — today’s guest had something to do with that. This August, after 17 years, Don Roth is retiring as executive director of the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis. Today on Davisville we talk about choosing performers, the influence of tech, how the Mondavi spent the pandemic, and why pianist Stewart Goodyear’s “Sonatathon” was among Roth's favorite moments.

Imagining Yolo Davis, June 23, 2023: Cathi Schmidt of Make It Happen for Yolo County talks about this essential organization

You're on your own for the first time when you turn 18 and transition from foster homes to the adult world. This nonprofit stands to help. Executive Director Cathi Schmidt explains how:

Make It Happen for Yolo County provides underserved youth in Yolo County who are transitioning into independent living situations with furniture, household goods and resources to furnish their first apartment or home. We also offer them support and advocacy.

This broadcast is also available as a podcast on Spotify under Imagining Yolo Davis or on Apple Podcasts.

Silver Nine Volt Heart, June 22, 2023 -- 500 hours and counting

Welcome to the 250th live edition of Silver Nine Volt Heart. In this broadcast you will hear the sounds of Rosanne Cash ("Tennessee Flat Top Box"), Louis Armstrong ("All That Meat & No Potatoes"), The Rolling Stones ("Tops"), and much more.

On Roots, Shoots and Leaves, you get a fast dive straight into the music

Some music shows just dive right into the music, like Tree Kilpatrick's Roots, Shoots and Leaves. After a few words at the start this week, he serves songs straight up to the bottom of the hour.

Turn it on and try it out, from 6 to 8 p.m. every Tuesday. He offers music old and new, known and unknown, plus ... well, this comes from his KDRT bio:

"I have been enjoying music since I can remember, as my mom used to sing me and my brother to sleep each night. I really got into recorded music around 9 or 10 and have been listening to all kinds of it every since those early radio days with Quiet Riot and Kenny Loggins. I think songs can do all kinds of things. Make you think, make you dance, make you cry, and make you happy. I'm just hoping that with music people can connect to something bigger than themselves, as I do on every show."

The return of Folk Brother Bill

The Folk Brothers this week presents its first new episode with Bill Wagman since the death of his co-host, Peter Schiffman, on May 26. Peter’s influence is in the studio.

“I was out of the country when I got the news of Peter’s passing,” Bill says near the start of the hour, “but before I had left, Peter had an idea for some programming during the fundraiser week [this week], and one of Peter’s ideas was to play some music from local Davis musicians.”

So Bill begins this show with a set of local songs, starting with Dave Nachmanoff’s “Descartes in Amsterdam.” “Peter not only played the music, but he was involved with many of the [musicians], and promoted them, and became very good friends with many of them. Dave Nachmanoff was one of them.”

At the end of the show, Bill expresses the loss that many of us continue to feel.

Davisville, June 12, 2023: As Genentech pulls back from the region, we get an updated look at biotech

Biotech has a major presence in our lives, especially here in the Bay-to-Valley region, even if it isn't as visible as other big influences like housing, traffic, or lately artificial intelligence. Last week, giant biotech company Roche said it plans to pull out of its huge Genentech plant in Vacaville, west of Davis, and today’s Davisville uses the news of that change to update our conversation with Jim DeKloe about biotech: its inventions, careers, potentially enormous impact, potential, and risks.

That plant was a big story when it opened 25 years ago.

Dr. DeKloe, a biotech instructor with a long string of achievements and accolades, started the Industrial Biotech Program at Solano Community College. Stick around for the end, when he draws a lesson from 1970s films Soylent Green and King Kong — he was an extra in both to help pay for his studies at UCLA — on how to address the problems that technology presents.

Program note: You’ll hear barks from a friendly dog during this interview, a sound familiar to anyone conversing (or recording) online while working from home these past few years. The dog is happier, and quiet, starting halfway through.