LeVar Burton has been blessed with enough intelligence, curiosity, and talent to be a pop-culture triple threat. When most actors would be happy to have one iconic role, he's been Kunta Kinte in "Roots," Geordi in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and the host of "Reading Rainbow." When we talked in 2012, we covered all that and a lot more ... like his favorite saint, and what it was like having Richard Burton as a father. (Kidding!)

And, since we're dropping this episode just before Juneteenth, we're including LeVar's readings of the Preamble to the US Constitution, plus the 13th and 15th Amendments.

(Note: Burton cites Bill Cosby's work in children's educational TV ... this interview was conducted two years before the allegations that would eventually lead to Cosby's prison sentence.)

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.)

Nowadays, Steven Cuevas is a classy public radio veteran. But back when Metallica was just starting to find fame, he was one of the sweaty kids who formed the band's first real fanbase. And when he wanted to tell the story on Off-Ramp in 2009, when Metallica was being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he got ahold of never-before-heard tape to take us back to those early days in San Francisco.

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.)

Take a listen to some of these fine pieces that took you all over Southern California and then, please, help ensure the future of Off-Ramp with a contribution at kpcc.org. Thanks!

Lewis MacAdams - turning 70 this month - takes us up the LA River; James Ellroy takes us back to Dec. 1941 and the start of the Japanese internment; Marc Haefele takes us to the San Francisco of the 50s & 60s.

John spends a day in studio with Petros Papadakis; Kevin Ferguson tells us the story of the Glassell family; and "Tom Explores Los Angeles" takes us deep inside Bronson Canyon and Cave.

The miniature art of Sunland's Alan Wolfson; the High Desert horse rescue hurt by Erin Corwin's murder; It's so hot ... we collected It's So Hot jokes; Charles Burns shows us the Sugar Skull inside the Hive.

Special report: intersection of science fiction and science fact; Brains On and the monarch Mexico migration; Hungry, the competitive eating doc; Kenturah Davis weaves words and art

The sounds of Santa Monica's Pacific Ocean Park; the most powerful man in LA you never heard of; sci-fi tv and movies becomes real life; the Huntington's new American galleries

Russ Parsons gives BBQ tips, we remember the car evangelist William Matalyan, Mattress Tracker update, goodbye Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, fireworks how-to

Henry Rollins on Black Flag's early days, what makes Van Halen magic, and America's favorite all-female Iron Maiden tribute.