First of all, my songs are basically co-dependent anthems. I write Ouch Mommy Pick Me Up and Love Me songs. -- Composer Paul Williams

Yeah, but Paul, they're great songs we can all sing (except maybe "Evergreen," written for Barbra) like "We've Only Just Begun," "An Old Fashioned Love Song," "Rainy Days and Mondays," and "The Rainbow Connection." They make us happy. Heck, "The Love Boat" theme may have been the best part about the show.

Paul Williams, a longtime Long Beacher, emceed the Grammy Museum's 2010 Songwriters Hall of Fame concert, so in the past few episodes, we've heard him talking with other musicians about music. Now, he gets to tell his stories and sing his songs. 

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

Next up in our Summer of Song and excerpts from the stage of the Grammy Museum in 2010 is Ashford and Simpson. Valerie Simpson and her late husband Nick Ashford wrote "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "You're All I Need to Get By," "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)," and "I'm Every Woman," among many others.

They were awesome to see onstage, with Valerie at the piano vamping grandly as she and Nick told the stories behind their songs. 

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

Leonard Nimoy’s son Adam tells us about his new film, "For the Love of Spock," which candidly digs into their difficult father-son relationship ... Kraftwerk, the German electronic music band at the Bowl next weekend, has a couple of surprising fans in pioneering LA Hip Hop DJs Arabian Prince and Egyptian Lover ... We'll talk with the last surviving member of the wheelchair basketball team that rose to national fame in 1947 from a VA rehab hospital in Norco ... And we go in-depth with Felipe Esparza. He's a common sight at comedy clubs and on TV, but years ago he was almost swallowed up by the gangs of East LA.

When Adolfo Guzman Lopez hears the late Juan Gabriel’s music, he remembers the 1970s, listening to Gabriel’s songs on the radio as he and his mom rode in taxis and buses in Tijuana ... Why do waves happen, and why are they shaped like waves? Brains On brings in an expert to explain ... One of the founding fathers of LA punk, John Doe, joins us to talk about his memoir and sing new songs from his latest album ... Film score composer John Williams is at the Hollywood Bowl all weekend, leading the LA Phil in some of his best-known works. We talk with music writer Alex Ross about how Williams pretty much saved the classical music film score.

You shouldn't modify the word “unique,” but if you could, you could say that singer Baby Dee is one of the most unique performers you’ll ever encounter ... The Day-Lee Foods World Gyoza Eating Championship ... Rabe wades into the LA County Arboretum's Baldwin Lake, which is in big trouble ... Film historian R-H Greene takes a new look at a long neglected late film by Orson Wellles, “Chimes at Midnight,” now in the Criterion DVD collection.

We go to Wilson High School in El Sereno to talk with students in the brand new firefighter magnet school ... The destruction of the Summit Inn hits one community especially hard: the hot-rodders who traditionally stopped at the diner on the way to and from the Bonneville Salt Flats ... Advice for the new LA Rams from linebacker Roman Pfifer, who moved with the Rams from Anaheim to St Louis in 1995 ... Brains On, the science podcast for kids, takes some kids into a glass factory to see how the odd substance is made ... And why you should go to the Huntington right after you see “London Calling” at the Getty.

Meet the East Side Moto Babes, a motorcycle club by women, for women; and the LAPD's class of 1966, men sworn-in the year after the Watts riots. With the Rams returning to town, and their first game this weekend at the Coliseum, we go to Tom Bergen’s, the venerable Irish pub on Fairfax and home of the original LA Rams.

A vacant lot is one of downtown LA's most historic spots ... A local morning radio personality tells how her father chose to commit suicide rather than die of bladder cancer ... We’ll go to the neighborhood that inspired Dexter Story latest jazz album ... Brains On explains how you get an allergic reaction to pollen ... The director of “A Million Dollar Duck,” a new doc about the Federal Duck Stamp contest ... And Tim Cogshell puts together a DIY film festival of continuity errors.

We’ll take you to the devastating Sand Fire to meet a woman who lost her house, a man who almost did, and people who rescued horses ... Genndy Tartakovsky brings back 'Samurai Jack' after a long hiatus. Will he ever get home? ... The Getty scores two firsts with its new exhibit, “London Calling.” ... We’ll have the next piece in Priska Neely’s series on teenage artists. This time, we’ll meet a skinny gay Jewish teenage rapper who tells us why hip hop helps him feel more like himself.

An 81-year old woman riding the 67-mile trail over the Santa Monica Mountains ... The California African American Museum just announced a major grant and collaboration with the Smithsonian ... We remember Carolyn See, who once said, “When I started to write, I was relatively old, and lived in California. So I was the wrong sex, wrong age, wrong coast. Luckily, I was too ignorant to know it.” ... We'll check in with KPCC’s Mike Roe at Comic-Con to see if anybody’s actually getting work done, or if they’re all playing Pokemon Go ...