Remember live music? We figure we could all use a little joy right now, so as we continue The California Report’s 25th birthday celebration, we’re sharing some of our favorite music stories from over the years.
California Uber Alles: How a Punk Classic Became an ‘Electric Folk Song’
“California Uber Alles” was released in 1979 by the pioneering Bay Area punk band Dead Kennedys. In 2006, their front man Jello Biafra came to our studios to talk about what inspired the iconic tune. He says he was upset by the watering-down of the revolutionary beliefs of the 1960s, and the song is a blistering attack on then-governor Jerry Brown. Over the years, “California Uber Alles” has evolved into an anthem that has skewered a range of political figures.
How a Central Coast Indigenous Healer Inspired An Opera
In 2008, host Sasha Khokha brought us a story about the premiere of a cantata based on the oral history of an indigenous healer from San Juan Bautista. Ascención Solorzano de Cervantes was born in 1855, and she was known across California and Mexico for her herbal remedies. She was also the last known fluent speaker of Mutsun, the language of the Amah Mutsun people who live near California's Central Coast.
Bay Area Zydeco Master Spreads Love of Creole Music
Mardi Gras is coming up, but like so many celebrations these days, festivities will be scaled down and virtual in most places. Still, people will surely find a way to dance to zydeco music. The Bay Area has its own zydeco scene, dating back to World War II and the Creole migrants who came to work in the shipyards. In this story from 2014, reporter Rachel Dornhelm introduced us to a California man who is one of the few zydeco ambassadors outside Louisiana at the top of his art form.
The Blues, Alive and Well in a South Central L.A. Garage
Back in 2016, reporter Peter Gilstrap brought us a story about a small blues scene with a big heart. He didn’t take us to a nightclub—but instead, to a residential street in South Central LA, and inside the garage of a man named Franklin Bell. Bell’s weekly Blues Workshop is a place where age and experience are venerated, and where anyone is welcome to sit in.
Washing Machine Music With Matmos
What do plastic surgeons and crayfish have in common? Well, they both make sounds that have been turned into music. The experimental duo Matmos got its start in San Francisco, sampling and remixing sounds, and in 2016, they released an entire album using sounds from a familiar electrical appliance. Sam Harnett and Chris Hoff from the podcast the World According to Sound brought us their story.
Music From the 'Other' Coachella: Meet Psychedelic Cumbia Band ‘Ocho Ojos’
Most people know the Eastern Coachella Valley for its music festival with big headliners. In 2019, Marisol Medina-Cadena brought us a story about a beloved hometown band called Ocho Ojos. They take their gritty sound from chicha, a style of cumbia that originated in the Peruvian Amazon in the late ‘60s and ‘70s. And like Peru’s chicha musicians who sing about daily struggle and hometown pride, so do the members of Coachella’s Ocho Ojos.