KUCI: Get the Funk Out

Laura Steuer and Donne Davis of Friendly Voices - Phone buddies for Seniors

Friendly Voices - Phone Buddies for Seniors
Improve seniors' well-being and reduce loneliness through phone friendship organization. Manage volunteer callers and senior clients based in three U.S. time zones. Organization featured in USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and McKnight's Senior Living.
Phone buddies for seniors to reduce social isolation and improve well-being. Our weekly calls by trained, compassionate volunteers can serve seniors anywhere, whether living in facilities or at home.
Laura Steuer, founder and director. 20 years' experience with nonprofit and education, including a decade of phone outreach programs.
Donne Davis, co-founder. Columnist, blogger, and nonprofit leader on grandparenting and intergenerational communication. Donne Davis, founder of the GaGa Sisterhood, a national social network for enthusiastic grandmas, and author.
https://friendlyvoices.org/

Self-help title turns the trauma of being fired into opportunity An expert’s debut empowers women to be resilient after experiencing job loss

It’s no secret that pandemic job losses are affecting more women than men, with women losing employment at a rate 1.8 times greater than men. And even before the pandemic, job loss was proven to be an issue that often disproportionately affected women. A 2018 study by Fortune found that female CEOs are 45% more likely to get fired than their male counterparts, even when their companies are performing well.
Job loss is a common experience faced by women professionals spanning a wide-range of industries, interests, and experience levels. Which is why Robin Merle set out to destigmatize conversations surrounding being fired in her new book, Involuntary Exit: A Woman’s Guide to Thriving After Being Fired (She Writes Press, Oct. 19, 2021). A fast-paced and digestible self-help book, “Involuntary Exit” is based on Robin’s own expertise and her interviews with accomplished women who were suddenly severed from their organizations and navigated their way back to success.
MORE INFO: getthefunkoutshow.kuci.org

Coming up 10/29/21 at 9am on KUCI -- American singer-songwriter and keyboardist, Rachel Eckroth, currently keyboardist for St. Vincent and singer-song...

About Rachel Eckroth
Polymath (noun): a person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning.
Music needs a term for this. What do you call one person who is a pianist, vocalist, keyboardist, composer, producer, arranger, band leader, sideman and more? Music may not have a term, but it does have a name: Rachel Eckroth.
Eckroth can lead with a bold vision or accompany with the subtle skills necessary to make another musician shine. Her combination of jazz experimentation and pop feeling form the engine behind her own work as a leader or co-leader on 20 albums, most recently The Garden on Rainy Days Records (2021). That same crossover talent is why she's been featured on voice and keyboards in the bands of Rufus Wainwright, St. Vincent, KT Tunstall, and Chris Botti.
Eckroth can hold an audience's attention in an intimate jazz club or on a massive concert stage. She did the latter when she opened for Rufus Wainwright's All These Poses Anniversary Tour, standing on stage alone with just her keyboards and her voice, weaving a sonic landscape that kept audiences enthralled. Eckroth is no stranger to television, either, having been a member of the house band on The Meredith Vieira Show and appearing on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers and Good Morning America with various artists.
READ MORE: http://getthefunkoutshow.kuci.org/

Accomplished, award-winning singer/guitarist/songwriter and instructor, Janet Robin, joins Janeane on KUCI 88.9fm

“From Randy Rhoads to Precious Metal, Lindsey Buckingham to John Carter Cash and all points in between – like a stint working with Meredith Brooks, opening for Midge Ure or appearing with Monte Montgomery – the ongoing tale of singer/guitarist/songwriter Janet Robin is a fascinating journey.” – Pollstar
Janet Robin can be defined in a single word: Musician.
Many people attempt to make music, but few earn that illustrious title. Those in this business reserve that label for the rare individuals who consistently demonstrate a high level of talent, perseverance, taste and sensitivity over a period of time. To these people making music is not simply a pastime; it is a matter of blood and guts. That a serious addiction to making music runs through Robin’s veins is made clear from a quick review of her career.
A Southern California native, Janet Robin’s musical education began the moment she met her guitar teacher, Randy Rhoads (Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne). Under Rhoads’ tutelage, Janet became an ace six-string player and, while still in high school, parlayed this education into a position as the lead guitarist for the all-female rock band Precious Metal. Discovered by Rodney Bingenheimer of the legendary L.A. rock radio station KROQ, Precious Metal was soon signed to Polygram Records. Later moving to Chameleon/Capitol Records, Precious Metal released several albums, wrote with Heart, Poison and Cheap Trick, toured extensively and gained accolades from both fans and critics alike.
Following the demise of Precious Metal, Janet was picked by Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, band in support of his 1992 solo album, Out of the Cradle (Reprise Records). A consummate pro, working with Buckingham profoundly influenced her own guitar playing, singing and songwriting, as well as her general approach to the music business. She has stated, “Lindsey became sort of a mentor and inspired me to do my own solo work.” This new direction led to her 1998 debut solo album, Open the Door.
Released on her own label, Little Sister Records, Buzz Weekly described the CD as “smart, savvy, fuzzy, hooky pop.” She has seen songs from this album featured in film and television; most notably on the then popular T.V. show Felicity. Ever the road warrior, she supported the disc by opening for such acts as Heart, Colin Hay, Loudon Wainwright III and the Smithereens, steadily building a wide fan base. She has since continued to tour heavily and averages as many as 150 dates per year.
READ MORE: http://getthefunkoutshow.kuci.org

Kelechi Ubozoh, a Nigerian-American mental health consultant, advocate, writer, and published author

For nearly a decade, Kelechi has worked in the California mental health system in the areas of research and advocacy, community engagement, stigma reduction, and peer support. She began her career as an investigative reporter in New York City, and was the first student-reporter ever published in The New York Times.
After witnessing the impact of trauma and mental health issues on the people she was writing about, she decided to change her focus to providing direct mental health support. She relocated to California and started working at PEERS, a consumer-run mental health nonprofit. At PEERS, Kelechi supervised mental health programs, led communication operations, and partnered with Dr. Patrick Corrigan, on a project which provided mental health recovery story-telling trainings across 41 California counties. She also managed a Columbia University research project examining mental health stigma in the Chinese community with Dr. Lawrence Yang.
Kelechi transitioned to research and evaluation work at Resource Development Associates where she was a senior project manager, wrote grants, and conducted community-based participatory research spanning the fields of mental health, child welfare, education, and criminal justice.
A popular keynote speaker, Kelechi worked at CalMHSA as the Statewide Peer and Community Engagement Manager for a large technology project to bring digital mental health solutions to California counties. At CalMHSA, she conducted community outreach and engagement and facilitated listening sessions with over 250 stakeholders to develop digital mental health literacy programming. Kelechi also has a large body of work in suicide prevention, and published the book We’ve Been Too Patient in 2019.
Currently, Kelechi is a consultant working with clients dedicated to transforming mental health, substance use services, as well as justice system reform and workforce development.   Her areas of specialty are training, workshop delivery and design, meeting and retreat facilitation, planning and research, curriculum development,  and community engagement.
In summer of 2020, Kelechi Ubozoh dedicated her time to facilitating healing-centered spaces for black employees internationally to respond to the ongoing violence toward the black community. She also helped co-create the Discussions that Matter program with Heliana Ramirez, which placed peers and clinicians as co-facilitators of affinity groups to support important dialogue emerging in 2020 around race, mental health, radical healing, and moving toward liberation. In 2021, Kelechi was named a Mental Health Champion by the Steinberg Institute.
ABOUT KELECHI'S BOOK
We’ve Been Too Patient: Voices from Radical Mental Health, Kelechi’s book with co-editor L.D. Green, was released from North Atlantic Books and distributed by Penguin Random House, July 2019.

Jon Sherman Associate Professor of Film Kenyon College talks about his latest film, his role as Director and Co-Writer and more!

When two single parents meet on a dating site and move in together, they must blend their family of four teenagers while navigating a new relationship. They/Them/Us is contemporary family comedy set against the backdrop of a light-hearted kink world.
They/Them/Us tells the story of Charlie and Lisa, two divorced parents in their 40’s who find themselves at a midlife crossroads. Both are single parents and they have four complicated teenagers between them: one non-binary gender kid, one who orders his weed through the mail, one very outspoken one, and last but not least, the “good” child. Lisa and Charlie meet on a dating site, fall madly in love and move in together way too soon. They/Them/Us is the story of how they manage the challenges of parenting some very demanding teenagers while trying to juggle an adult sexual relationship.
JON SHERMAN | DIRECTOR | CO-WRITER
They/Them/Us is Jon Sherman’s third feature film. His first film, Breathing Room, starred Dan Futterman, Susan Floyd, Edie Falco, and Paul Giamatti. It was released in more than 25 countries worldwide. His next film, I’m With Lucy, was a romantic comedy produced by Gaumont, the largest film studio in France. It starred Monica Potter, Gael Garcia Bernal, Julie Christie, Anthony LaPaglia, John Hannah and Harold Ramis. It was the opening night film at the 2002 Deauville Film Festival and has been released in more than 50 countries worldwide.

Releasing TODAY October 5th, 2021 - ERUPTION: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen Honors One-year Anniversary of Legendary Guitarist’s Death. Two music...

ERUPTION: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen HonorsOne-year Anniversary of Legendary Guitarist's DeathThe first definitive biography of guitar legend Eddie Van Halen, a year after his death, composed of more than 50+ hours of interviews with Eddie, his family, and friends. Releasing today from Hachette Books.
“A respectful and detailed tribute to a guitar legend.” —Kirkus
October 5, 2021, New York, NY – Coinciding with the one-year anniversary of Eddie Van Halen’s death, ERUPTION: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen (10/5/21; Hachette Books; 9780306826658; $28) is a major biography by two music journalists who knew him best. Authors Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill share with fans, new and old alike, a candid, compulsively readable, and definitive oral history of the most influential rock guitarist since Jimi Hendrix. The book releases October 5, 2021, and is available here.
When rock legend Eddie Van Halen died of cancer on October 6, 2020, the entire world seemed to stop and grieve. Since his band Van Halen burst onto the scene with their self-titled debut album in 1978, Eddie had been hailed as an icon not only to fans of rock music and heavy metal, but to performers across all genres and around the world. Van Halen’s debut sounded unlike anything that listeners had heard before and remains a quintessential rock album of the era. And they would end up as one of only five rock bands with two studio albums that have sold more than 10 million copies in the US.
ERUPTION: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen is based on more than 50+ hours of unreleased interviews Tolinski and Gill recorded with Eddie Van Halen over the years, most of them conducted at the legendary 5150 studios at his home in Los Angeles. The heart of ERUPTION is drawn from these intimate and wide-ranging talks, as well as conversations with family, friends, and colleagues, including other major guitarists like Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath), Steve Vai, and Steve Lukather (Toto, Michael Jackson, Ringo Starr, Elton John).

Paul Hawken, environmentalist, entrepreneur, and activist shares details on his latest book, REGENERATION: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation...

"We and all living beings thrive by being actors in the planet’s regeneration, a civilizational goal that should commence and never cease. We practiced degeneration as a species and it brought us to the threshold of an unimaginable crisis. To reverse global warming, we need to reverse global degeneration." - Paul Hawken

Actor, director and producer Mark Salyer talks about NewStages - a collective of teaching artists, directors, writers and performers from Broadway, fi...

Los Angeles, September 2, 2021…Beginning with their New Year’s show in January, NewStages, a Los Angeles based theater company for seniors, has had a busy year, in lieu of Covid, with thousands of seniors tuning in to their online programming. This past April, their Tennessee Williams workshop launched the company’s Zoom Lecture Series. In June, Secret Lives was presented on Zoom and Vimeo over the four weeks of Pride month and was a huge success. Since 2012, New Stages has been a part of the City of West Hollywood's One City One Pride Arts Festival producing a show with the seniors of the LA LGBT Center each June. Currently they are presenting Sondheim: Flecks of Light and Dark. In September (as long as Covid holds out) Broadway's Kay Cole will be presenting her Musical Theater Conservatory to the online community.
NewStages was originally an offshoot of Stagebridge in Oakland, CA, the country's oldest senior theater company and in 2014, they became a part of the award-winning Oasis Theater Company. Through a partnership with the LA LGBT Center’s Senior Services and with support from the City of West Hollywood and the Grace Helen Spearman Family Foundation, NewStages was born. Since then, the company, under the direction of Mark Salyer, has brought classes, workshops and performances to thousands of seniors, including a yearly production for the One City One Pride Arts Festival.
READ MORE: getthefunkoutshow.kuci.org

Pushcart Prizewinning poet Maggie Smith on KUCI 88.9fm with host Janeane Bernstein. Maggie gained star status in 2016 with her viral poem Good Bones. ...

Maggie Smith is the award-winning author of Good Bones, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, Lamp of the Body, and the national bestseller Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change. A 2011 recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Smith has also received several Individual Excellence Awards from the Ohio Arts Council, two Academy of American Poets Prizes, a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from the Sustainable Arts Foundation and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has been widely published, appearing in the New York Times, The New Yorker, the Paris Review, The Best American Poetry, and more.
For more on Smith, please visit https://maggiesmithpoet.com.