A special message to KUCR staff, listeners and fans:

It is with sincere regret and sadness that I inform you of the passing of popular former KUCR DJ and radio personality Curtis “Teddy Bear” Wofford. Teddy passed away last week on March 18th at Riverside Community Hospital, following an illness. He was a member of our broadcast family that made KUCR’s “Soul on Sunday” so popular in the Riverside area during his longtime involvement in the station, from the early ’80s to the mid-’90s. Teddy was a respected community volunteer at KUCR. He made a real contribution as a broadcaster over the airwaves on KUCR, as program host, producer, music coordinator, MC and Program Director. He knew the music well and brought it to the community with an unforgettable personality and style. He was a good and gifted man who was a joy to know and to work with. His passing is a real loss, deeply felt. We remember him now for the gift of his great talent and warm personality, with deep appreciation and gratitude. All condolences to his surviving family members.

With respect and deep sadness,

Louis Vandenberg

KUCR Director and General Manager

3/26/08

Memorial services are set for this Saturday, March 29, 10am, at Tillman’s Mortuary in Riverside, located at 2874 Tenth Street , Riverside, CA 92507. Phone at (951) 682-6433 or (951) 682-6437. For further information, directions, map, etc., see: www.tillmansriversidemortuary.com . The family would greatly appreciate donations be made to help defray costs of funeral services. Please make checks payable to Tillman Riverside Mortuary, with “Curtis Wofford” in the notation. Checks may be mailed to the address above or presented at the memorial service on Saturday.

For those of you who got locked out* of the party in The Barn on 20th February: things was bananas in there. Watch:

This, of course, was from the smash success Zion I / Mistah FAB concert put on by ASPB. Dude may have shown up over an hour late, and I don’t know about those yellow bus sneakers, but the young man did put on a show. Of course, there’s some Zion I footage up in here somewhere that I have to dig up as well. Feel free to post this all over your corner of the internets.

And as the video intimates, big things coming in 2008. Watch this space.

*seriously, kids, The Barn is only so big. When we say get there early, we mean it.

KUCR and ASPB are proud to announce, fresh off tour with 311 and the debut of their new record, “Reggae Hit L.A.”: The Aggrolites, performing live at the UCR Barn with special guests Starpool – this Wednesday, 5th March at 7PM, for free. This is the last blowout show for ASPB’s now-infamous Winter Concert series, so do not miss this one!

Blame it on No Doubt or blame it on Sublime, but by the middle of the 1990s, very little of the pop music that was described as ska had anything to do with Jamaican dance music of the early ’60s. Too many bands whose sole connection to the musical style had been a few singles by the Specials or The English Beat got it all exactly backward, with the punk influences drowning out what little Jamaican influence remained: the result was basically Green Day with horns, and it wasn’t any good for anyone. If The Aggrolites (formed in 2002) have a stated mission, it’s to remind modern audiences what proper ska sounded like, whether in Kingston in 1963 or in London in 1979 [amg].

And, hell, to have some fun.

The Aggrolites – Free Time

This concert is the final blowout of the Winter season, and it will fill up, without question. If you consider yourself a punk, reggae, or ska fan – do yourself a favor, and get there early. We can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to fit everyone (remember what happened at the Mistah Fab / Zion I show?) – so don’t say we didn’t warn you. Doors open at 6.

Did we mention that this is free?

Cover of The Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down”, filmed in Gameboy-vision, for some reason

Okay, if you really need more convincing, here’s The Aggrolites on Yo Gabba Gabba. Undeniably awesome.

The Aggrolites on Nick Jr’s Yo Gabba Gabba – Banana

The Show:
Location – at the UC Riverside Barn
Date – Wednesday, 5th March
Time – 7PM, but doors open at 6:00. Get there early, or get locked out. Really.
Price – Free, but you’re on your own for parking.

I’m going to stand up front and demand that they play the banana song. Who’s with me?

I mean, you were there, right?

Daedelus @ UCR – Fairweather Friends at 0’49

Daedelus came in and absolutely tore the house down. I think everyone at KUCR is a pretty big Daedelus fan (which is why we decided to bring him through, courtesy of ASPB funding), but I don’t think any of us saw what was coming:

Daedelus @ UCR – snippets of “My Boo”

As glad as we are to have any video of this event (hats off to dj geo), the one thing you unfortunately miss is that the crowd by this point was going absolutely bananas.

And really, Daedelus even said himself that he was a little surprised that a university would bring out crazy people like himself and opener Nosaj Thing (UCR at the cutting edge – who’da thunk?). The packed crowd at the Barn took full advantage, though – I never thought I’d be dancing to Daedelus, but there I was. And as iffy as the acoustics may seem at the Barn, there’s something to be said for having a free show on a stage so low and close that the audience can (and often does) reach out to shake the performers’ hands.

Seriously, kids – anything we recommend on this blog, it’s for good reason. Trust us. We know things.

Moral of the story? When we throw a show – come.

As an aside, if you were wondering what that weird glowy thing was that Daedelus was toying about with, it’s called a monome. I’ll let you do your own research on that if you’re interested. Or you can be all 2008 and just watch this video for ten seconds until something else distracts your attention:

David Phipps of STS9 on the Monome

Oh, bonus – there are a few more videos in the Daedelus at UCR series – check them out here. And if for some reason you missed this show – if you ever get a chance to see Daedelus, do so.

And now that I think of it, I think we recorded this show. Make sure to stay tuned in to KUCR 88.3 FM (tune in now on your computer!)- you never know when you’ll hear our archive of the concert!