To remind you why Off-Ramp is unparalleled in bringing you the people, places, and ideas that make Southern California a great place to live, here's a sample of our best pieces from the last year. With your contribution, we can do another year of great radio. Without it, we can't. Please give now!

“No blue skies and no green grass” is animator Genndy Tartakovsky’s rule for "Samurai Jack." He tells us about bringing back the wandering samurai (right) for Adult Swim. ... Meet jazz singer Donna Fuller, a sultry contralto who made two albums that are now eBay gold. ... It would be enough if we went to the shop where they make custom limousines and hearses, but they also make custom hunting trucks Middle East potentates use when they hunt with their falcons.

Karaoke meet your maker: We visit the Classic Rock Singalong, where everyone gets to belt out songs while a live band backs them up.

He's a New KPCC Member; Dinner Party Download: Where Anatomy meets Astronomy; Date Shake Quest: Part 1; Gary Owens Tells All; Date Shake Quest: Part 2; Caspian Rain; Date Shake Quest: Part 3; She Drew the Line; Racy Dates?; A Music Odyssey; Gary Owens' Secret Power

Why Contribute to KPCC?; He's Alive; The Ashes of Oakridge; Hard Times Hit Home; Skunk Be Gone; Food Banks in Need; Food for All; They Produce

The Eyes of the City; Tomato Tips; Thanks for the Monsters; Festival of Whales; Forrest's Friends; Mr. Indie, Michel Gondry; Mahavishnu John McLaughlin; Bamboodles; Hard Times Hit the Port; Hop on the Soul Food Express

Tomato Time; QUAKE CITY: A Sensitive Subject; Trailer Tales; The Miracle Cleaner; QUAKE CITY: Prediction Impossible; Porn Again?; Take a Pilgrimage in L.A.; QUAKE CITY: Native Mythology; Pierogi Paradise; Special Agent Man; Storycorps: Friends, Lovers, Parents; Jerry Stahl on Love Without; The Ashes of Oakridge

Dinner is Served!; The Ashes of Oakridge; Sushi Zen; Sushi 101; I Eat Ramen, Here Me Roar!; Would You Eat Granny?; Urban Survivalist; El Pollo Chino; Seven Spicy Seas; No Frills B.B.Q.; Umami=Yummy; The Best Milkshake in Riverside; Too Fresh Fish; Sushi Delicacies; Your Own Sushi Chef

Ashes of Oakridge; We've Been Recognized

StoryCorps: In Sickness and Health; Cherryholmes: Live in-Studio; Next Week: The Ashes of Oakridge; The Man Behind StoryCorps; Sparks Will Fly; Sparks Will Fly; Happy Birthday, Lincoln Imposter!; Snowdays in SoCal; Harold and Belle's Authentic Creole; For Every Lover, a Schlepometer; Bluesman John Bigham; Animation Nation