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Off-Ramp
Hosted by John Rabe

Exploring Southern California with John Rabe

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Episodes
  • You sit on the piano bench next to Maestro Jeffrey Kahane ... and talk Bach, clapping (No!), and The Clippers
    Is an NBA team like an orchestra? Does a classical maestro play showtunes? Is it okay to clap between movements? Are major keys happy and minor keys sad? Can Rabe play three notes on the piano?

    For answers, we go back to 2014 to my interview - from the piano bench! - with Maestro Jeffrey Kahane, the affable polymath and world class pianist and conductor. This interview includes an exclusive performance of the Aria from Bach's "Goldberg Variations." Take that, Joe Rogan!

    Support for this podcast comes from 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.

  • Rabe talks with Petros Papadakis, radio's loudest and second smartest host. (Matt "Money" Smith is first.)
    From 2014, Off-Ramp host John Rabe talks with Petros Papadakis, former singing waiter, captain of the USC football team, English major, color commentator, and co-host of "The Petros & Money Show" on AM 570 KLAC.

    At the time, Rabe wrote, "After spending four hours in the KLAC studio in Burbank a couple weeks ago with Petros Papadakis and Matt "Money" Smith, I'm surprised I didn't wake up talking to myself at the Smokehouse, with three or four martinis drained on the table in front of me. It was that weird.  Loud, fast, stream-of-consciousness, sound effects, people talking in the studio when the mike is on. If KPCC is a Prius, the Petros and Money Show is a Camaro clown car."

    Support for this podcast comes from 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.

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  • What Mark Stambler was reduced to until Governor Brown signed the Homemade Food Act.
    Breadmaker Gets Rise from County - Off-Ramp 7-16-11
    Mark Stambler, breadmaker v. LA County ... Comedy Store history with Brandon Christy ... ball-chasing at Dodger Stadium ... Austin Beautner, the man who would be LA's mayor ... Dinner Party Download ...
  • In this little seen photo, Theodore Filson, an engineer at the LA County Heatwave Generator cranks up the temperature in the LA Basin. Don't blame him, though. He gets his orders from the nation's air conditioner manufacturers, which operate state-of-the-art centers like these throughout the country.
    California's Golden Explorer, Huell Howser - Off-Ramp 7-9-2011
    A Day with Huell Howser ... a fifty-year space tech vet on the ending of the shuttle program ... "D is for Dog" ... Dinner Party Download ... "Leave it on the Floor" black drag movie ...
  • James Sallis, harmonicat and author.
    "Drive" novelist James Sallis - Off-Ramp 7-2-11
    In-depth with James Sallis ... LAUSD cuts homework requirement ... new backstory for old Washington bust at Huntington ... singing Mountain Goats ... CyberFrequencies ...
  • James Sallis, harmonicat and author.
    James Sallis, "Drive" author - Off-Ramp 6-28-11
    In-depth interview with literary Renaissance man James Sallis, author of book "Drive," which the new Ryan Gosling movie is based on.
  • Off-Ramp host John Rabe.
    Off-Ramp on the Larry Crowne set - 6-25-11
    Tom Hanks welcomes Off-Ramp to the set of Larry Crowne ... Eat:LA on new Vietnamese food and make-your-own limoncello ... Dinner Party Download ... LA Film Festival ... Hard Times meets Peggy Martin ...
  • Old time paddleboarding!
    All Aboard! Off-Ramp for 6-18-2011
    Paddleboard Racing, Father's Day, the real Gidget, John Frame, and Rabe finds his roots.
  • New York's Papaya King -- now in Hollywood!
    The New Pinks? - Off-Ramp 6-11-2011
    Papaya King's hot dog empire comes West ... Harry Partch's Partch-work ... more Hard Times ... America's most famous naked actor ... California's most multiculti butcher shop ... Dandelion Wine ... top secret Lotusland garden,
  • Undated photo of a Shriners parade walking past 5th and Olive Streets in Downtown LA. On the right corner is the Philharmonic Auditorium Building, which shared space with Temple Baptist Church.
    Betty White and Yuri Lowenthal - Off-Ramp 6-4-2011
    Betty White on acting, being blue, and tapirs ... Marc Haefele on new Cuba exhibit at Getty ... Yuri Lowenthal, anime star, reveals secrets of voiceover acting ... Mimi Pond hails "Bridesmaids" for allowing women to be gross ... Remembering the SLA Shootout ...
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