KUCR’s curated guide to what’s coming up in Riverside/IE – Events, places. Concerts and things to do.
Mucho Gusto Festival
Saturday, September 23, 2023, 3 – 11PM
What: A community-based live music festival of unique performers to be enjoyed in-person in a secure, friendly, “no-borders,” “all comers,” “something for everybody” kind of vibe.
Who: Performers and bands including É Arenas (from Chicano Batman), La Perla, mediopicky, Orchestra Gold, Jeremy Sole, QUITAPENAS, Cumbiatón, Nino Francois, Milpa, El Santo Golpe and La Papaya Club.
Where: Riverside’s Downtown North Park, 3200 Mission Inn Ave, Riverside, CA
Why KUCR recommends this: Seeing live music creates indelible memories. This is a lineup of authentic artists making original music meant to connect with and move the audience. Mucho Gusto is put together by some of the brightest lights in Riverside/IE arts and culture: the organizers from the Riverside Arts Council who stage the city’s amazing annual Dio de los Muertos Festival – one of the largest in the USA with the talent of musician, artist, filmmaker, DJ and founder of the acclaimed band Quitapenas (performing at the festival), with a selection of some of the greatest bands in California together for the first time at Mucho Gusto.
Why do a radio show on KUCR? Does it complement your teaching? I’m an ethnomusicologist, and my show is centrally part of my public-facing work as a scholar and teacher. Doing my show is the high point of my week. When I’m preparing my weekly show, I listen to tracks so deeply that time totally gets away from me. Hours go by and feel like minutes. My show reflects on music and social justice, so it’s all of a piece with my classes.
Some people say that rhythm is the foundation of music. Do you agree? Hmmm, not necessarily the foundation, but an essential element of music. As an ethnomusicologist, I recognize many different kinds of music in the world and assert that music is actually NOT a universal language. It reflects whoever is making it, wherever they are. With that said, I’ve been known to play taiko. That’s rhythm.
As an Asian American, what are your thoughts about AAPI Heritage Month? Every day is AAPI Heritage Month for me! I’m completely cynical and jaded about multiculturalism as an opiate of corporate capitalism, but I actually love AAPI Heritage Month because it creates spaces for incredibly important community-building. All the special AAPI events held in May aren’t just about visibility and audibility but are also opportunities to explore the terms for self-determination and radical newness… especially in a time of sustained anti-Asian hate. That’s why I’ve featured Asian American and Pacific Islander music on my show this month. During May, I’ll air a total of five two-hour shows of AAPI music from top to bottom. You’ll hear the music of Nobuko Miyamoto, Francis Wong, QuinzeQuinze, Manaiakalani Kalua, Vijay Iyer, Priscilla Ahn, St. Lenox, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Jon Jang, Kei Terauchi, Kenji Bunch, Karl Evangelista, members of the H?lau O Kekuhi, Ruby Ibarra, Scott Oshiro, No-No Boy, Red Baraat, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, MC Jin, Japanese Breakfast, Tatsu Aoki, Madame Gandhi, Equipto, beabadoobee, Jhené Aiko, The Slants, Tatiana Band, the Tahitian Choir from Rapa Iti, etc., etc.
Dr. Wong’s radio program, GOLD MOUNTAIN, is heard on KUCR 88.3FM on Tuesdays 3:00-5:00PM Pacific. Streaming on KUCR.org, the KUCR iPhone app, and the TuneIn app.
During Women’s History Month, KUCR joins in commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history. This program block will air from 1:00PM-6:00PM.
National Writers Series: Stephanie Foo (1:00PM) Stephanie Foo is known for her work on public radio programs such as “Snap Judgment” and “This American Life.” She’s also a columnist, and has now written a book, called “What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma.” Stephanie appeared at a virtual National Writers Series to talk about her book, and also about disability activist Alice Wong, and her memoir “Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life.” She spoke with teacher, columnist, and disability advocate Susan Odgers.
I Spy: Real Life Spy Stories (2:00PM) Espionage was once a mostly male pursuit but these days the top three officials at the CIA are women. On this program we hear from Jonna Mendez, the CIA’s former head of disguise, and Amaryllis Fox, a former undercover agent. Each one tells the story of one dramatic operation.
Program Host – Margo Martindale, Emmy award winning actress who played KGB Handler Claudia on The Americans.
Jonna Mendez spent nearly three decades in the CIA and served as the agency’s head of disguise. She has co-written several books about her work in the agency including The Moscow Rules: The Secret CIA Tactics That Helped America Win the Cold War.
Amaryllis Fox worked as a CIA undercover agent for a decade, getting close to international arms traders who deal in weapons of mass destruction and recruiting them as informers. She recounts her experiences in the book Life Under Cover: Coming of Age in the CIA.
Dorothy Day (3:00PM) We profile Dorothy Day — a remarkable 20th century figure: journalist and founder of the “Catholic Worker” movement, which established soup kitchens and “houses of hospitality” in the Great Depression. More than 200 Catholic worker facilities remain in operation today. Hear the provocative story of her social activism and inspiring spiritual beliefs.
Also heard is Kathe McKenna, co-founder of Haley House in Boston, a Catholic Worker hospitality center, inspired by the life and work of Dorothy Day. Today, more than fifty years later, Haley House operates a soup kitchen, food pantry, elder meal site, more than a hundred units of affordable housing, an urban farm, and the Haley House Bakery Café. Most recently, they opened Dudley Dough, an inner city workplace that offers a living wage and for customers, healthy pizza.
Her Music/Her Story (4:00PM) Women at the top of the field in classical music pay tribute to the women who have inspired them. Luminaries like multiple Grammy Award winner JoAnn Falletta, BBC Proms soloist Jamie Barton, The Marvels composer Laura Karpman, and many more introduce music by composers like Florence Price, Clara Schumann, Lucija Garuta, as well as performances from Isatah Kanneh-Mason, Marian Anderson, and even Ella Fitzgerald.
Black History is a rich panorama of the human experience on planet earth. During Black History month, we appreciate, reflect and consider its overwhelming impact and significance. This program block will air from 12PM-5PM.
MILES DAVIS CHANGES JAZZ (AND MUSIC) FOREVER (12:00PM) On two days in the spring of 1959, after a string of critically acclaimed and successful albums, Miles Davis recorded what would become Kind Of Blue. Nothing would ever be the same – for Jazz or for Miles Davis. There’s no real way to tell why a record captures the imagination and attention of the world. Some do, most don’t. Over the years, Kind Of Blue found a larger and larger audience. Soon enough, it became the best selling Jazz album of all time.
BIRDING WHILE BLACK: RACE AND DIFFERENTIAL ACCESS TO THE NATURAL WORLD (1:00PM) Part 1: Black Birders Week. On May 25, 2020, the same day that police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis, Christian Cooper was birdwatching in the Ramble, a 36-acre semi-forested woodland in New York City’s Central Park. He asked a white woman to obey the park rules and leash her dog, but she refused and called the police. The incident demonstrates how the experience of public outdoor spaces isn’t the same for everyone.
Part 2: Swimming Lessons. Swimming is an activity that is, depending on who you are, where you are, when you are alive in history, more or less a part of human experience — and in the United States, it is deeply connected to slavery, segregation, and violence. But organizations aim to change by supporting black swimmers and showcasing black joy.
Part 3: How racist housing policies affect health + unequal exposure to climate-driven heat waves. Severe heat is the deadliest form of extreme weather in the United States. Because of the design of urban spaces, Black Americans and other marginalized communities are affected in disproportionate numbers.
BLACK HEALTH AND POLICE VIOLENCE (2:00PM) The killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis sparked waves of national outrage over police brutality and violence. Protesters have taken to the streets, demanding an end to police violence, and some are even asking for police departments to be defunded or abolished altogether. In this program, we explore what better policing could look like, and what role research and science might play in serious reform. We talk with experts about the effects police violence is having on Black Americans’ health — both mental and physical. It’s not only the actual violence — it’s also the constant fear of violence, and the fear of being stopped and arrested that’s causing stress and anxiety.
THE ILLUSION AND THE REALITY OF EQUALITY (3:00PM) Uprisings and riots by African Americans in 1967 left white people shocked and surprised. A presidential commission was assigned to look into why it happened. It blamed white attitudes and systematic racism. The Kerner Commission report of 1968 also outlines remedies. This documentary looks at the results of the failure to address those issues. In 2017, the National Association of Black Journalists awarded its Salute to Excellence Award in the Radio Documentary.
THE INVENTION OF RACE (4:00PM) This history special traces the development of racial, and racist, ideas, from the ancient world — when “there was no notion of race,” as historian Nell Irvin Painter puts it — up to the founding of the United States as, fundamentally, a nation of and for white people (despite the “all men are created equal” language of the Declaration of Independence).
