Richie Furay and his band play in Sacramento on Aug. 21, which sets the stage for this two-part interview with this legendary musician about his music, life and bands. Part 1 covers the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group Buffalo Springfield, its short reunion in 2011, his vague memory of playing in Davis more than 40 years ago, his job as a pastor in Colorado, his current band, and the song Crazy Eyes which—for me, at least—crowned his time with Poco. In Part 2, which will debut Aug. 24, he discusses his latest CD Hand in Hand, Keb’ Mo’s guest spot on the record, Furay’s signature song Kind Woman, and how he and Gram Parsons of the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers talked about creating a band in 1969 but realized they essentially had too many musicians they wanted to work with to form just one group.
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Lawson Snipes has produced the Spare Changer in Davis for 10 years, offering an often firsthand take on living homeless in Davis. In the latest issue he writes about how to address the problem, the deaths of homeless people you might recognize, and the role of alcohol, among many other aspects of homelessness. The problem can be complex, and today's show tries to shine some light on it.
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Janis Heaphy Durham, perhaps best known in this region as the publisher of the Sacramento Bee from 1998 to 2008, has written a book about life after death, based on events she experienced after her husband Max Besler died in 2004--unexplained sounds, stopped clocks, flickering lights, the powdery shape of a hand in her home. In “The Hand on the Mirror,” and on today’s show, she describes what she has seen, what she has come to believe, and says we need a lot more research. “Why not fund the study of consciousness?” she writes. “Serious awards for serious scientists investigating consciousness, to prove or disprove that it exists separately from brain function, would be incredibly worthwhile.”
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You or I might see 80 old computers and think of them as electronic debris. Larry Dieterich, a tech support worker who lives in Davis, saw them as the essence of a creation he calls Undo the Fall, a u-shaped enclosure that depicts spirits in the machine and represents a digital prayer. On today’s Davisville, he tells us what he created, and why. If you’re listening June 29, you can see him power up his creation tonight in Davis.
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Starting this month, because of the drought, all of us in Davis are supposed to use 28 percent less water than we did two years ago. On today’s show we work out what that means in terms of average daily use per person, how people with houses can tell how much water they use outside, things you should and shouldn’t do, how brown the parks will become, and why we’re told to save even though Davis uses groundwater. The guests are Davis city employees Christine Helweg, community services superintendent, and Jennifer Gilbert, conservation coordinator, who says the city is already getting lots of calls reporting wasted water.
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The Pakistani Student Association at UC Davis invited Mohammad Jibran Nasir to give a talk on social activism and resisting social intolerance May 14. Before speaking on campus, he recorded this interview at KDRT to discuss how he and others in Pakistan are confronting extremism, why he included Davis on his speaking tour of the United States, and what the U.S. should do—and not do—to counter fanatics like the Taliban.
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Yiyun Li grew up in China and earned a degree in biomedical science in Beijing. Then she moved to the United States and became a fiction writer, applying enough skill and insight in her work to earn her several significant awards. The latest is the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award, which praised her story “A Sheltered Woman” for its “exquisite crafting, brilliant observations and modest but powerful voice.” On today’s program, Prof. Li—who teaches writing at UC Davis—talks about the story, writing, subjects that interest her, and more.
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Bill Habicht is the associate pastor of Davis Community Church. He has also worked on a series of projects that cross lines between social activism and business innovation, such as Mosaic Tea & Coffee and Pollinate Davis, and more could be coming--such as a pop-up store where someone could test a business idea for two months. "If they show success," he says, "they move into their own space." Today's subjects include helping the homeless get shelter, the challenges of "working as a Christian in a fairly secular town," and breaking out of silos.
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Davis City Council members Rochelle Swanson and Robb Davis are hosting a “listening tour” this spring to collect comments and questions from the Davis public about the proposals to build one or more innovation centers in town. Few people have turned out for the sessions, even though whatever gets decided could significantly change Davis in the areas of jobs, growth, public services and tax revenue. Here's some context, plus a sample of what they've heard so far.
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The Palms, now in Winters, acquired its reputation as one of the best small concert venues on the West Coast back when it operated in a former barn in south Davis. (This photo shows a pair of Davis-era tickets not far from where the Palms was located; the survivor of the two trees that gave The Palms its name is in the background.) On today’s Davisville, Alvin Remmers talks about the documentary he is making about The Palms in Davis. He shot some footage shortly before the Davis location closed in 2002, is looking for additional material, and hopes to finish the movie in time to show it in Davis and the region this year.
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