KUCI: Get the Funk Out!

Belindalee Hope, producer, Be Hope Films and Royd Tolkien, director, producer and great-grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien join Janeane to talk about THERE’S A HOLE IN MY BUCKET - J.R.R. Tolkien’s great-grandson takes on the secret bucket list his late brother left him. Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch. 
World Premiere, Doc Edge Festival 2026, Academy Award qualifying
International Premiere, Newport Beach Film Festival 2026
 
photo courtesy of K.O. PR
 
World Premiere, Doc Edge Festival 2026, Academy Award qualifying
International Premiere, Newport Beach Film Festival 2026.
 
Mike is the one who jumps out of planes. His older brother Royd is the one who keeps both feet on the ground.
 
When ALS, known outside the United States as Motor Neurone Disease, takes Mike in 2015, he leaves behind one last act of love and mischief: a sealed list of fifty challenges for Royd to complete on his behalf, built to drag his comfort-zone-hugging brother into the land of the living.
 
Task number one is for Royd to trip on his way to deliver Mike’s eulogy.
 
What follows is Royd’s unexpected journey across New Zealand that pushes a grieving brother further than he ever imagined possible as he fulfills the fifty tasks.
 
Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, with Peter Jackson, Billy Boyd, John Rhys-Davies, Sir Richard Taylor, and others from Middle-earth along for the ride.
 
D I R E C T E D B Y
Royd Tolkien, Drew Cullingham, Robert Cavanah
 
P R O D U C E D B Y
Belindalee Hope, Royd Tolkien, James Fisher
 
photo courtesy of K.O. PR
THERE’S A HOLE IN MY BUCKETJ.R.R. Tolkien’s great-grandson takes on the secret bucket list his late brother left him. Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch.
 
ABOUTWhen Royd Tolkien, great-grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien, loses his brother Mike to Motor Neurone Disease (ALS), Mike leaves behind one final act of love and mischief: a secret bucket list of 50 challenges designed to drag his reluctant, comfort-zone-hugging brother into the land of the living. 
 
What follows is an unexpected journey across New Zealand that pushes a grieving man further than he ever imagined possible. Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, with Peter Jackson, Billy Boyd, John Rhys-Davies and Weta Workshop along for the ride, the film is a raucous, tender argument that the best eulogy isn’t a speech, it’s a bucket list.
 
 

Ethan Groves is a recent UC Irvine graduate and the creator of DazzAfterDark, a social media page dedicated to preserving and sharing his late grandfather's photography. His grandfather, Eugene Knupke, was a travel agent and avid photographer who documented his journeys around the world beginning in the 1960s.
After inheriting thousands of his grandfather's 35mm color slides, Ethan began rediscovering these places and moments decades later, sharing them with a new generation through social media. What started as a personal project to preserve family memories has grown into an online community of people connecting through photography, history, travel, and nostalgia.
Through the Knupke Archive, Ethan hopes to keep his grandfather's love of travel and photography alive while encouraging others to appreciate the stories and memories captured in old photographs.
 
Instagram: @dazzafterdarkWebsite: Knupkearchive.com📩 dazzafterdark@gmail.com

Photo courtesy of Julie Engelmann
 
Julie Engelmann is a muralist and fine artist based in Half Moon Bay bringing meaningful stories to life through highly detailed, realistic and surrealistic imagery.
 
Working in media ranging from acrylics on canvas to spray paint on walls, she collaborates with cities and communities throughout California to create public art that honors history, sparks imagination, and transforms spaces.
Photo courtesy of Julie EngelmannPhoto courtesy of Julie Engelmann
Julie shares details about the San Clemente mural featuring Erin Brooks, Sierra Kerr, Molly Picklum, Caity Simmers, Sky Brown, and Caroline Marks: 
 
This mural celebrates the incredible talent and achievements of this generation of women in surfing. They are pushing the sport forward and making history.
It was a pleasure working with Jodie Nelson and the producer of NOW DAYS, a film highlighting this remarkable group of women and their impact on the sport. It was especially exciting to see Erin Brooks win her third consecutive CT event at Trestles, adding another milestone to an already historic moment for women’s surfing.
It was also incredibly meaningful to have some of the athletes featured in the mural sign their portraits. Capturing and celebrating these athletes at such an important point in their careers was an honor.
The mural was also featured in an article here if you want more information: 
https://www.ocregister.com/2026/09/17/massive-mural-puts-spotlight-on-women-surfers-pushing-bounderies/

Emily Escobar
Public Affairs Advocacy Manager, Planned Parenthood
Emily serves as the Public Affairs Advocacy Manager at Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties (PPOSBC), where she manages the day-to-day operations of the Community Action Fund’s advocacy initiatives. As a Guatemalan immigrant woman, Emily brings a strong commitment to advancing access to reproductive health care for communities with the greatest need. She began her career as a campus organizer with the Feminist Majority Foundation, mobilizing college students across multiple states in support of abortion rights. Her experience includes leading successful get-out-the-vote and pro-reproductive-rights campaigns, providing on-the-ground support to abortion clinics, and strengthening feminist organizing efforts on college campuses. Most recently, Emily supported advocacy and education initiatives with the United State of Women, where she led the development of digital issue-based campaigns.
Emily holds a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from California State University, Long Beach, and a master’s degree in Applied Gender Studies from Claremont Graduate
Learn more:Planned Parenthood
 
 

I’m excited to welcome Madeline Halperin Robinson of the Center for Reproductive Rights back to Get the Funk Out. Madeline joined me during the Daisy Chain Festival, but our conversation was brief, so I’m thrilled to have her back for a deeper conversation.We’ll talk about what it was like for Madeline and her team to be part of Daisy Chain, the response they received from people who came out to meet them, the conversations that stayed with her, and the impact of bringing people together around community, advocacy, and change.We’ll also learn more about the Center for Reproductive Rights, an organization that uses law and advocacy to advance reproductive rights around the world. The Center has been involved in major reproductive rights cases in courts around the world, including every major U.S. Supreme Court abortion case.Tune in as we continue our conversation about connection, community, advocacy, and the people doing meaningful work to create change.Madeline Halperin Robinson joins me on Get the Funk Out — don’t miss it!Madeline Halperin Robinson of the Center for Reproductive Rights, an organization that uses law and advocacy to advance reproductive rights around the world.The Center has been involved in major reproductive-rights cases in courts around the world, including every major U.S. Supreme Court abortion case.Learn more:Center for Reproductive Rights

What if a death sentence gave you a second chance at life? The story of Joaquín José Martínez, the first Spaniard exonerated from U.S. death row, challenges our beliefs about justice, faith, and forgiveness.Synopsis:“I would have been dead today if I hadn’t gone to death row.” Joaquín José Martínez, the first Spaniard ever exonerated from U.S. death row, was once a supporter of capital punishment until, at 24, he was convicted of a double murder in Florida. He spent more than five years behind bars, three on death row. Two decades after he was exonerated, Joaquín transforms his trauma into advocacy. The Window on Death Row explores urgent questions: What happens when we almost execute an innocent man? Is closure possible for the victims’ families? And how do we reconcile the contradiction that facing a death sentence, even an unjust one, can paradoxically lead to a second chance at life? Director: Linda Catherine Freund Executive Producer: Mike Farrell (Actor & Activist)
Watch the Trailer
 
Joining us at 9:15am is award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist Linda Freund, director of The Window on Death Row, a powerful, documentary that explores wrongful conviction, faith, forgiveness, and the extraordinary capacity of the human spirit to find meaning after unimaginable trauma.
The film tells the story of Joaquín José Martínez, the first Spaniard ever exonerated from U.S. death row. Convicted of a double murder in Florida at the age of 24, Martínez spent more than five years behind bars, including three years on death row, before being acquitted in 2001. More than two decades later, he reflects on his experience and transforms his personal trauma into public advocacy.
Rather than following a traditional true-crime narrative, Freund takes a deeply human approach, examining the psychological and spiritual aftermath of incarceration and raising profound questions about justice, redemption, forgiveness, and the possibility of beginning again.
Freund's impressive career spans documentary filmmaking and international journalism. She most recently served as a senior video journalist at The Wall Street Journal and was a journalism fellow at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture and Brandeis University's Chaplaincy Innovation Lab. Earlier in her career, she reported from conflict zones across South Asia and East Africa.
Her previous documentary, The Migrant Priest (2022), was filmed in Italy and explores the experiences of a priest working with migrants.
For The Window on Death Row (2025), Freund served as director, writer, producer, and editor. The film also features actor and activist Mike Farrell (MASH*) as executive producer.
The documentary has received recognition at several international festivals, including the Grand Prize Audience Choice Award for Best Short Documentary at the 2025 Rhode Island International Film Festival, the Immaculate Heart Community Filmmaker Award at LA Shorts International Film Festival, and Best Documentary at the 2025 LA Femme International Film Festival.
Join us for a conversation with Linda about the power of storytelling, the complexities of the human experience, and how we find hope, purpose, and humanity even in the darkest of circumstances.
Details on the event in LA: 
https://stcamilluscenter.org/events/the-window-on-death-row-film-screening-and-dialogue
 
More information on the San Quentin Film Festival via Instagram: 
https://www.instagram.com/p/DdjI0ZbFZMU/?stkn=MWd1dWcyY2o2M2Npcw==
 

The former Cleveland Browns defensive lineman and Juilliard-trained opera tenor joins Janeane to discuss his extraordinary journey, the award-winning short film The Platform, and the courage to begin again when life takes an unexpected turn.
From the NFL to the Opera Stage: Ta’u Pupu’a and Mark Harris on Reinvention, Resilience, and Finding Your Voice
What happens when the future you’ve worked your entire life to achieve suddenly disappears? For Ta’u Pupu’a, a devastating injury ended his professional football career before it truly began. Drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 1995, the former NFL defensive lineman faced an unexpected crossroads that would ultimately lead him from the gridiron to the world’s opera stages.
In this episode of Get the Funk Out, I sit down with Ta’u and filmmaker Mark Harris to explore the extraordinary story behind The Platform, an award-winning 10-minute narrative short inspired by Ta’u’s life and directed by Mark.
Born in Tonga and raised in a working-class family in Utah, Ta’u eventually moved to New York, where he pursued a long-buried passion for singing. With determination, discipline, and encouragement from legendary soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, he earned a full scholarship to The Juilliard School and went on to build an international career as an opera tenor.
Now, Ta’u revisits that pivotal chapter of his life in his first-ever acting role, portraying his younger self in a film that explores identity, faith, loss, and the courage to begin again.
Mark shares the inspiration behind bringing Ta’u’s story to the screen, the creative journey of making The Platform, and how the film reflects his own return to narrative filmmaking. Together, we discuss the parallels between their experiences, the unexpected turns that shape our lives, and the power of redefining success when the path ahead looks nothing like the one we imagined.
We also talk about the film’s growing festival recognition, including its Best Drama win at the LA Shorts International Film Festival and its selection for the Newport Beach Film Festival’s Pacific Rim program.
Because sometimes the end of one dream is simply the beginning of another.

 
 
World College Radio Day is October 2!
College radio is more than music. It’s a place where voices are heard, new artists are discovered, unexpected conversations happen, and communities come together.
At KUCI 88.9 FM, we believe in the power of radio to connect us — to music, ideas, artists, storytellers, and most importantly, to each other.
For me, hope is always in the air. I feel it every time a new host comes into the station, a listener calls or sends a message, an artist or guest shares their story, or a song creates a connection between people who may never meet.
On World College Radio Day, we’re celebrating the magic of college radio and the people who make it possible — our DJs, producers, guests, artists, volunteers, and listeners.
Tune in. Turn it up. Find something new.And remember: connection is always on the air.
KUCI 88.9 FM | Irvine, CA#WorldCollegeRadioDay #CollegeRadio #KUCI #KUCI889 #SupportCollegeRadio #CollegeRadioDay #RadioConnectsUs #HopeIsInTheAir

 
ABOUT KALIFORNIA KARL DETKEN
 
Did you miss Kalifornia Karl Detken on today's show? Listen HERE!
 
    "Kalifornia Karl" went from Star Search winner to playing a singer in the movie Duets with Gwyneth Paltrow to marketing executive at Pioneer Electronics who's DJ division went on to become a half billion dollar a year division. Now, he sings to the elderly for a fraction of what corporate exec life used to pay but he is 1000% more fulfilled professionally and personally from the joy that it brings the people that need it most. There is research about the effects of music on patients. The Wall Street journal just ran a story on these important findings.It’s no secret that music can help you feel better seniors and hospital patients. "From a massive library of 30,000+ songs from every decade and style; from Bing Crosby to Bruno Mars, we bring live performance & interactivity to those that need it most" says Kalifornia Karl Detken. "Engaging & entertaining activities which I call 'Engagetainment'".
 
Since 1975, Kalifornia Karl has performed over 10,400 shows and is one of the most sought after music providers for health care facilities.
JoyfulNoiseTherapy@gmail.com
 
www.Facebook.com/KaliforniaKarl
 
www.Instagram.com/KaliforniaKarlMusic

Kris Evans is an award-winning makeup artist and designer whose distinguished career began in New York City. She quickly rose to prominence, traveling the world alongside Barbara Walters working with presidents, world leaders, A-list celebrities, and top-tier entertainers. 
Her artistry has graced the runways and editorial pages through collaborations with some of fashion’s most iconic designers, including Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Sonia Rykiel, Norma Kamali, Thierry Mugler, Azzedine Alaïa, and Halston. Her work has been featured in publications such as Vogue, French Vogue, Vanity Fair, L’Officiel, and Elle. 
 
Kris has an extensive background in film and television. Her film credits include Megalopolis (with Francis Ford Coppola), The Hunger Games, Pirates of the Caribbean I, II & III, Free State of Jones, The Rum Diary, The Postman, National Treasure, Coyote Ugly, Con Air, Dr. Dolittle 2, and X-Men: The Last Stand, for which she received a Hollywood Film Festival Award for Best Makeup of the Year. 
 
Her television work includes Saturday Night Live, Big Sky, Generations, Once Upon a Time, The Bridge, Dirty Sexy Money and Sneaky Pete. She was the personal stylist for Bob Costas during Olympic coverage from the 2002 Salt Lake City Games through Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Kris has also contributed to music videos for artists Elton John and Brandi Carlile, Keith Richards, Rage Against the Machine, Smash Mouth, and Creed, along with high-profile commercials, including Uber Eats featuring Cher.
 
 Kris was also the makeup consultant for the American production of Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon on Broadway. Kris has been featured in and quoted by numerous publications, including Vogue, InStyle, The New York Times (as a StyleMaker), Secrets of Six-Figure Women by Barbara Stanny, and The Art of Beauty by Linda Mason. 
 
Having earned a master’s degree in design from Syracuse University, she taught fashion design at the University of Cincinnati’s School of Design, Art & Architecture, as well as Parsons School of Design in New York. 
 
A longtime member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars) —where she has served on the executive board of her branch—Kris is also affiliated with the Television Academy (Emmys) and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
 
more: getthefunkoutshow.kuci.org