There's something Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has loved as long as he's loved basketball: Sherlock Holmes. Like so many of us, he watched the old movies with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce on TV and fell under Holmes' spell; he even thought Holmes was a real detective. In 2015, when Kareem published his well-regarded "Mycroft Holmes," a mystery-adventure about Sherlock's smarter brother, he joined me on Off-Ramp to talk about it.

Kareem is smart; there's little in Doyle's stories about Mycroft, leaving the field open to him and his co-author Anna Waterhouse to tell new stories, and not incidentally let Kareem explore his Trinidadian heritage, and paint a more accurate picture of the multi-cultural London of Victorian England.

Support for this podcast is made possible by 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.)

John Williams is so ubiquitous now, as former leader of the Boston Pops and the man behind the music for so many Lucas and Spielberg films; and old-fashioned lush orchestral scores are now so common, it's hard to believe they were endangered a few decades ago. But they were, and Alex Ross, the New Yorker music writer, says you can thank Williams. In a long Off-Ramp interview from 2016 with tons of musical examples, Alex makes the case for Williams, and debunks the notion that the maestro is any sort of plagiarist. He also gamely demonstrates how to properly hum the Star Wars theme.

Support for this podcast is made possible by 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.)

Kris Kristofferson sings at Janis Joplin's star ... Agnes Varda at her new LACMA show ... the Hammer tries to show the arts can bring back a neighborhood ...

Rob Verdi's rare and unusual saxophones, LA's first film and John Ridley's latest, Tiberius - not so bad, and the lasting influence of The Twilight Zone TV series.

R.H. Greene's new documentary, "War of the Welles," shows how Orson Welles got to "The War of the Worlds," and says it really did panic millions of listeners.

Mexican-American superstar Pepe Aguilar's first public radio interview; Jefferson Starship's Craig Chaquico emits Beamz with a new instrument for the non-musical masses; facing death rationally; and gourmet ghosts.

Celebrating the 1-year anniversary of Shuttle Endeavour's triumphal arrival at the California Science Center ... the Cyrus Cylinder comes to the Getty Villa ... the Mediterranean house gecko and you ...

A rabbi and a priest walk into a fundraiser, and talk about guilt ... Vin Scully on his life, work, and possible retirement ... Father Boyle on Pope Francis, so far ... Patt Morrison and Nate Silver talk sports, stats, and California politics.

Cliff's Books closes in Pasadena ... Gil Garcetti celebrates the iron workers who built Disney Hall ... Happy Birthday Hollywood Sign and Herb Jeffries, the Bronze Buckaroo ...

Gunnar Hansen's "Chain Saw Confidential." A cheap solution for barotrauma makes biologists and rockfish happier. Weighing fracking in Sacramento. Slapstick 101.