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.)

Piper Laurie on Paul Newman and Ronald Reagan; Pepe Aguilar's musical legacy; What is God?

Too much rich food and drink for the holidays? We help you recover with more work from outsider photog Vivian Maier, good news about Rubel Castle, and some Coals for your empty stocking.

We work out our Feliz Navidad earworm issues, hear an all-star cast read "Night Before Christmas," listen to the Hollywood Park bugler, and talk about kids who see numbers as colors.

Merry Lepper broke the rules and, in Culver City, became the first US woman to run a marathon. Shifting ground broke the Baldwin Hills dam; we talk with a woman who has never told her story before.

David Dean Bottrell's Crafty Christmas, counting pools in LA, a man who hates Christmas songs, and Jonathan Gold on the impact of King Taco.

"Walking Out of History," John Rabe's documentary about Ernest Shackleton's remarkable Endurance expedition.

Aja Brown's vision for Compton, CalTrans' houses, Matthew Bourne's "Sleeping Beauty," Dylan Brody's Thanksgiving, and Marv Gross' Thanksgivingkuh. Yes, we're possessive.

New documentary "Dear Mr. Watterson" ... Roz Wyman remembers plotting a JFK fundraiser that had Sinatra singing on the diving board ... Mark Twain is getting much better at writing his memoirs