It's a three-fer this week!

First, in the summer of 1970, you couldn't pass through the un-airconditioned parts of Los Angeles without hearing radios blaring "Viva Tirado," the groundbreaking hit from El Chicano ... an East LA band who were the first Latino group to play The Apollo. We get the story from band member Bobby Espinoza. 

Then, as KPCC's Adolfo Guzman Lopez works on his new podcast, The Forgotten Revolutionary - the new season of Imperfect Paradise from LAist Studios - we listen back to an early instance of Adolfo talking about his background on KPCC ... the occasion being the time he was name-checked on "The Simpsons." 

And finally, we listen to the trailer for The Forgotten Revolutionary, which is about Oscar Gomez, a tragic star of the Chicano rights movement, whose radio show used "Viva Tirado" as its theme song. It's also about Adolfo's history as an activist, which he is revealing for the first time as he explores what happened to Gomez.

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.)

With Governor Newsom contemplating mandatory water restrictions - because we are actually using MORE water this year, despite his warnings - it seems like a good time to bring back the time Sanden Totten, now the host of Brains On, took a timed Navy shower back in 2015 ... on the radio.

The Navy shower is a strategy for getting clean when you're on a boat with limited freshwater, and lots of sweaty seafarers in line behind you. (People in the Navy apparently call landlubber showers "Hollywood showers.")

In this episode, Sanden also chats with an astronaut about how they use and reuse water in space. And drink what used to be pee. You have been warned.

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.)

Mike Gatto's Parking Bill of Rights ... Piano Bar 101 teaches a lost art ... Ballpark groundskeepers of the world, unite! ... Brains On, the science podcast for kids ...

5 Every Week says check out Art Los Angeles Contemporary at Santa Monica's Barker Hangar, a "knock-down, drag-out battle of art commerce" ... the Oscar noms ARE diverse, in the animation categories ... remembering Glenn Frey and Hotel California.

Remembering one of David Bowie's weirdest performances ... CalTech's snowflake expert ... Piano Bar 101 ... 2 bad and 2 good reasons to become a marine biologist ... 5 Every Week gets your butt off the couch

A look back at Jim Jones' history in Los Angeles, the sad, smelly fate of Rose Parade floats, 5 Every week and more!

Patt Morrison's 75th birthday wishes for the Arroyo Parkway ... 5 Every Week preps you for movie awards season ... Brains On, the science podcast for kids, interviews NBC-4's Fritz Coleman about weather forecasting ... the failed African-American film response to Birth of a Nation ...

Off-Ramp is on Christmas vacation and won't be airing December 26 and 27. See you in the New Year!

Meet a non-denominational exorcist who works out of a guest house in Van Nuys ... 5 Every Week gets you off the couch and on the streets ... climate change and creatures in the Mojave ... Brains On tells us how the salamander grows back limbs, and home come we can't?

One of Philip K. Dick's editors - Marc Haefele - reviews Amazon's "The Man in the High Castle;" the Triforium in downtown LA gets new life; how to be a good gentile at a Hanukkah celebration; listeners try out the LAPD's shooting simulator; 5 Every Week helps you be social and smart.