Our black widow spiders v. their brown widow spiders. Sex on the radio with Mimi Pond, author of Over Easy, graphic novel. An old friend shows another side of Ruben Salazar.

Celebrate the 50th birthday of the sexy, muscular Mustang; remember the mix-tape you made for your high school sweetheart; come to a rare Getty doubleheader; and look for Easter eggs in animated movies.

Donovan, Fitz and the Tantrums, John Cale, Joel Grey, Brian May, Lou Adler, and more as Off-Ramp rings in the new year with our best music interviews.

Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" -- the Lionel Barrymore version, plus new takes on the classic.

Your favorite celebrities read "The Night Before Christmas" for Off-Ramp ... "Andy Rooney" doesn't like Christmas ... Marc Haefele pays tribute to author James Salter ... EatLA and Craft Beer ... Judy Chicago treats Frida Kahlo like an artist in her new book ... Life isn't easy as Isaac Haille Selassie ... Black Facts and Wax museum ...

Lamont Dozier on writing "How Sweet It Is," "Stop in the Name of Love," and "Sugarpie, Honeybunch" ... Dinner Party Download ... Downtown Women's Center's New Home ... Van Dyke Parks, American composer ... B'way Deli closes ...

John visits This Old House's set - a home renovation in Silverlake - and talks with the show's founder, who also produced The French Chef and Victory Garden ... another OCMA Biennial artist ... Frank Romero is painting offramps and selling his Frogtown studio ... Mark Peel lamb bastes chicken breast ... Seth Menachem's mysinglepeeps.com -- like dating sites, but without the lies ...

"Walking Out of History," John Rabe's NPR documentary about Sir Ernest Shackleton's 2-year odyssey on the Antarctic ice.

Actress Gwendoline Yeo on her new one-woman show ... Off-Ramp's new series Hard Times meets Laurel Holliday, mother of three, living in a foreclosed house ... Marc Haefele: Not much new in Twain autobio, but a "magnificent browse" ... Luke Butler, OCMA Biennial artist and Trekkie ... Aztlan Underground ... Browsing 7th Street in Downtown LA ... Dinner Party Download meets actor Sally Hawkins

An intimate and bawdy conversation: Gwendoline Yeo and Off-Ramp host John Rabe on Yeo's new show, "Laughing With My Mouth Wide Open"