©2025 Southern California Public Radio
Member-supported news for Southern California
Donate
Support for LAist comes from:
Become an LAist Sponsor
On February 29, this site will be merged with LAist.com. Read more
Off-Ramp
Hosted by John Rabe

Exploring Southern California with John Rabe

Ways to Subscribe
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.

Load More
Support Off-Ramp today
LAist Studios relies on listener support to power the podcasts you love.
  • Two fighters take part in a Dog Brothers event.
    Wham! Ouch! Stickfighting on Off-Ramp - 4-9-2011
    Chicano Batman ... CyberFrequencies ... ghosts of the past as Peruvians vote in LA ... downtown LA's power list ... downtown LA treasure: San Antonio Winery ... a stickfighting dojo ... Pato's response to the Friday haters ...
  • "High Wall," a 1947 film noir with Robert Taylor as an amnesiac World War Two vet. One of the selections in the 13th Annual Festival of Film Noir starting Friday at the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre.
    A gun, a dame, and an innocent man. It's Off-Ramp - 4-2-11
    Noir film festival returns to The Egyptian ... The Angles on the Angels and the Dish on the Dodgers ... Peru Elections ... EatLA ... Dinner Party Download ... Play with Fire and Submit a Story for Burn This! ... Sam Slovick's gay teenage life, and new Slake short story: "Tommy Crow"
  • John Albert in Claremont, on the last non-suburban stretch of Baseline Boulevard. This is where he first heard Van Halen's "Eruption," and it would change his life. He writes about it in the new edition of Slake, LA's literary quarterly.
    Van Halen Memories - Off-Ramp 3-26-11
    Slake's John Albert remembers when Van Halen was groundbreaking and good ... Riding the Blue Line ... Poison or Pleasant - what is the plant in Kevin's backyard ... Bike Advocate ... Seth MacFarlane ticket winners singing with spoons ... Simon Cowell previews The X Factor ...
  • Southern California earthquake damage, 1971.
    Are YOU ready for the Big One? Off-Ramp 3-19-2011
    Disaster preparedness in SoCal ... Dinner Party Download ... Apollo, the Getty Villa's handsome but dangerous god ... Poppies return ... Running the LA Marathon ... Owsley Stanley remembered ... Seth MacFarlane SINGS ... Lomita's "Black Widow"
  • Maila Nurmi in the RH Greene documentary Schlock!
    "Vampira and Me" -- A special documentary from RH Greene - Off-Ramp 3-12-11
    Filmmaker and author R.H. Greene presents "Vampira and Me," a special documentary for Off-Ramp that tells the story of Maila Nurmi, creator of the cultural icon Vampira.
  • Hard Times and Columbo: Off-Ramp, Fundraising Edition - 3-5-2011
    This week: Columbo co-creator William Link, hard times for Marshelle Mills, underemployed mother of three and more!
  • Julian Bermudez and husband John Rabe -- in safety glasses -- drinking beer at the "This Old House" wrap party in Silverlake. This week on Off-Ramp, the show's experts give you their top renovation tips, and tell you what they learned working in LA.
    Why the Blue Line Kills - Off-Ramp 2-26-2011
    LA's Blue Line the most dangerous rail line in the US ... EatLA on the best sausage in LA ... the lonely wolverine ... home renovation advice from Kevin, Norm, and Richard of This Old House ... Dinner Party Download ...
  • The Harlem "Rens," world champions of 1939.
    Kareem's new movie -- Off-Ramp 2-19-2011
    Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's doc on 1930's all-black basketball champions ... See Richard Run - but for/from what? ... CyberFrequencies on The Social Network ... Death warmed over is good ... butterflies in your backyard and flowers at Customs ... Meet Mr. Lincoln ...
Load More