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.)

LeVar Burton on Reading Rainbow, Roots, and Next Gen ... Matt Groening on Huell Howser's retirement ... Gordon and the spider ...

Huell retired after 20 years of California's Gold ... Countercultural Paul Krassner remembers getting stoned with Groucho, John, and Yoko; celebrating the dean of radio DJs, Art LaBoe, 87; another Instagram winner!

1914: 28 men set off to cross Antarctica and wind up with an even greater accomplishment by failing in their original mission.

Time machines: "Classic Dining: Discovering America’s Finest Mid-Century Restaurants;" the 25th anniversary of "Star Trek: The Next Generation;" and the frozen wing of the Alexandria Hotel, locked in space and time since 1938.

Richard Simmons is still sweating to the oldies. Carole Bayer Sager on her second act. Suicide by train. Facing death with dignity.

How LAX killed Surfridge ... Painter Phil Stein, Siqueiros assistant & friend ... Laurie Rubin dreams & sings in color ... commentators Brody & Rosenfeld ... Tattoo U?

Martians invade the US, terrorize, murder, and destroy! The complete 1938 "War of the Worlds" from Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre on the Air.

Amateur unearths US President Franklin Marshall ... the Green Book guided black motorists ... Yanow and Beer ... Instagram contest ... the love of K-Pop.