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.)

Saturday at noon, a special live, 2-hour broadcast, as we march with Endeavour -- and hundreds of thousands of Angelinos -- from LAX to the California Science Center.

EatLA tastes olive oil, tells obsessive foodies to chill, and discovers why canned beer is better than bottled beer; Dylan Brody remembers the charms of Schuylerville NY; San Antonio Winery turns 95; look out for Frank Stoltze at your local restaurant - he wants to talk politics with you.

A TNG extravaganza for the ground-up restoration, now on Blu-Ray ... My Imported Bride, Part Two ... The man who invented "Gaytino." Brian has Mice.

Hunter Davis and his preternatural Ian McKellen impression; Masami Teraoka on almost 50 years of boundary-stretching art; Happy Birthday Rocky, Natasha, and Witch Hazel (June Foray); Pat Metheny on tenor sax; and probably one or two other things you wouldn't expect on a public radio show.

Smokey Robinson for Poet Laurate! Larry Davis, working on his second album at 74. Carlos Almaraz, influential Chicano artist, remembered at Vincent Price Art Gallery.

Wayne White gets a documentary; Jerry Gorin reports on the history of Pasadena's Doo Dah Parade and meets Roxette; the late Hal David sings his own hits, including "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head;" "The People's Guide to Los Angeles;" Bienvenu! the Super Scooper arrives in LA (from Quebec) in time for wildfire season;

This week on Off-Ramp, we revisit some of our favorite moments from this year: A homeless advocate finds a way to give back to the very community he took from. What do you do after you've been robbed? (Become a superhero.) And John Rabe calls Betty White a grandma.

This week on Off-Ramp, named best public affairs program by the LA Press Club: Will lowering the speed limit on the 110 between downtown and Pasadena automatically make it safer? What happens when 71 artists fill a sketchbook? (They help build 4 libraries.) And one of the greatest music festivals you've never heard of, Wattstax, which happened 40 years ago.