281. Interview with Doris "Lady D" Fields, Beckley, West Virginia (06:16)

Date:
2020-10-22
Main contributors:
Doris "Lady D" Fields
Summary:
Doris "Lady D" Fields (Beckley, West Virginia) Doris Fields, aka “Lady D,” is a singer, bandleader, actress and visual artist based in Beckley, West Virginia. Known as West Virginia’s First Lady of Soul, Lady D has opened for the O’Jays at Charleston’s FestivALL (2007), as well as performed for The HistoryMakers: An Evening With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in Charleston (2010). Along with her band MI$$ION, she performed her original song “Go Higher,” chosen as the best Obama Inaugural Song, at the Obama for Change Inaugural Ball in 2009. Lady D received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the All Black Schools Sports & Academic Hall of Fame (2014) and has won the DC Blues Society Blues Challenge (2017). As an actress, Lady D has toured with her one-woman show The Lady and the Empress, a musical stage play based on the life and music of Bessie Smith. She has also acted with West Virginia productions of Honey in the Rock, Hatfields, McCoys and various other shows. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/22/2020.

282. Interview with Jesús "Chuy" Guzmán (Mariachi Los Camperos), Los Angeles, California (05:50)

Date:
2020-09-09
Main contributors:
Jesús "Chuy" Guzmán
Summary:
Jesús "Chuy" Guzmán (Los Angeles, California) Originally from San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, México, Jesús (Chuy) Guzmán is the musical director of the acclaimed Los Angeles-based Mariachi Los Camperos. Born in 1964 and passionate about playing violin since age six, Jesús, known by the nickname “Chuy,” moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1980s determined to be part of Los Camperos, a mariachi group he had admired since he was a little boy. Former Los Camperos musical director Nati Cano invited Chuy to join the group in 1988 and has been the musical director of the group since 1992. Los Camperos’ abundant accolades, including multiple Grammy awards and nominations and highly praised performances on premier concert stages such as Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Getty Center, can easily obscure the fact that its leaders come from humble roots, deep within a mariachi tradition shaped by family and community. In 2018, they provided the musical accompaniment for the New York debut of the world’s first mariachi opera, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (“To Cross the Face of the Moon”) by the New York City Opera. In 2019, Smithsonian Folkways released De Ayer para Siempre. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/09/2020.

283. Interview with John Moschioni, Houston, Texas (05:58)

Date:
2020-09-18
Main contributors:
John Moschioni
Summary:
John Moschioni (Houston, Texas) Born in the United States Air Force in 1954, John Moschioni spent seventeen years growing up in the military. He lived in various places in the United States and Germany. He is a self-taught musician and comments that culturally, he identified with blues, soul, and R&B music. John Moschioni, “Texas Johnny Boy,” has been playing blues for over forty years. He knows how to command a stage and his specialty is “old-school” R&B and traditional blues. He plays in live settings and is a one-man band. Besides primarily being a lead singer and frontman, he also plays diatonic and chromatic harmonica, flute, and saxophone. He makes half of his living playing music, doing art of all sorts, and buying/selling antique documents on eBay. [Texas Johnny Boy, an authentic Houston bluesician often playing with guitar player Milton Hopkins, passed away on November 27, 2020, after a short battle with cancer. “His relentless passion of da blues filled his life with enough music to bluesify the heavens into eternity,” his baby brother (ninth of ten) says. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/18/2020.

284. Interview with Montanette "Mooody" Miller, Washington, District of Columbia (05:44)

Date:
2020-10-31
Main contributors:
Montanette "Mooody" Miller
Summary:
Montanette “Mooody” Miller (Washington, D.C.) Montanette “Mooody” Miller is a singer based in Washington, D.C. In addition to her solo musical projects, she is a singer in the go-go band Suttle Squad. Forming as Suttle Thoughts in 1994, the band later became known as Suttle, Suttle Squad, or Squad Suttle. Suttle has opened for national recording artists such as The Isley Brothers, Jay Holiday, and Anthony David. The band has held weekly performances every Friday night at the Historical Takoma Station, one of the longest running Friday night happy hours for any go-go band. The Squad has also performed for local events and community rallies such as the Safeway Barbecue Battle, the Howard Theater, A Tribute to the Legendary Father of Go-Go, Chuck Brown, MPD Beat the Streets Annual Event, Six Annual Chuck Brown Day Virtual Party, and Bethesda Blues & Jazz. In addition to performing locally, Suttle Squad has toured as far as Cancun, Puerto Rico, Dallas, and Miami. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/31/2020.

285. Interview with Thanu Yakupitiyage, New York City, New York (05:50)

Date:
2020-09-25
Main contributors:
Thanu Yakupitiyage
Summary:
Thanu Yakupitiyage (New York City, New York) Thanushka (Thanu) Yakupitiyage is a Sri Lankan born, Thailand raised activist, cultural organizer, and DJ under the artist moniker “Ushka.” She deejays from the perspective of a dancer, blending a wide range of club music from soca to dancehall, hip hop to South Asian rhythms, Baltimore/Jersey club to baile funk, vogue cuts to kuduro, azonto to Afrobeat and more. Ushka is also a political and cultural organizer. She has performed at venues such as the Brooklyn Museum, MoMA PS1, American Museum of Natural History, Rubin Museum, and has put out mixes and done live shows with Discwoman, The Fader, and Boiler Room. She was the NYU Asian/Pacific/American Institute 2018-19 artist-in-residence and was selected to be one of fifty-two artists to produce new work for The Shed Open Call in 2019. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 09/25/2020.

286. Interview with Danielle "Sug" Johnson, Wilmington, Delaware (05:56)

Date:
2020-09-15
Main contributors:
Danielle "Sug" Johnson
Summary:
Danielle “Sug” Johnson (Wilmington, Delaware) Danielle “Sug” Johnson is a singer and bandleader based in Wilmington, Delaware. She is the frontwoman of the Wilmington based funk-soul-blues band Hoochi Coochi. With Hoochi Coochi, Johnson has performed locally at venues ranging from the Gild Hall show, The Rusty Rudder in Dewey Beach, and the Delaware Music Festival. Beyond Delaware, the band has toured in venues and festivals across the Mid-Atlantic Region. Hoochi Coochi has also produced music videos which have received critical acclaim, including the song “Walkin,’” which features Wilmington Black-owned businesses, and addresses the Black Lives Matter Movement in relation to legacies of Black liberation struggles. Johnson is also a published writer, photographer, and guitar player. Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 09/15/2020.

287. Interview with John Santos, Oakland, California (06:09)

Date:
2020-09-25
Main contributors:
John Santos
Summary:
John Santos (Oakland, California) Born in San Francisco, CA, John Santos was raised in the Puerto Rican and Cape Verdean traditions of his family, surrounded by music. The fertile musical environment of the San Francisco Bay Area shaped his career in a unique way. His studies of Afro-Latin music have included several trips to New York, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, and Colombia. He is known for his innovative use of traditional forms and instruments in combination with contemporary music and has earned much respect and recognition as a prolific performer, composer, teacher, writer, radio programmer, and record/event producer whose career has spanned four decades. John has performed and/or recorded with acknowledged multi-generational masters such as Cachao, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Bebo Valdés, Eddie Palmieri, and Jerry Gonzalez, to name a few. John is widely respected as one of the top writers, teachers, and historians in the field and was a member of the Latin Jazz Advisory Committee of the Smithsonian Institution. He is currently part of the faculty at the California Jazz Conservatory (Berkeley, CA), San Francisco State University, Jazz Camp West (since 1986), and the College of San Mateo (CA). His fourteenth recording, Art of the Descarga, was just released (June 2020) on the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/25/2020.

288. Interview with John Dell, Austin, Texas (06:24)

Date:
2020-09-09
Main contributors:
John Dell
Summary:
John Dell (Austin, Texas) Guitarist and singer for El Tule, John Dell grew up in Monterrey, Mexico, and moved to Austin, Texas, where he founded the group in 2004. Playing original music, having fun, and making people dance, El Tule has been honing its unique sound, combining influences of cumbia, merengue, salsa, reggae and Latin jam in Austin, TX. Their original music is about history, art, and culture, often focusing on legends and tales of the mystical. The sound that El Tule brings to each performance naturally transcends all cultural and social backgrounds. Their high-energy live show has brought them to festivals and venues across the country, including SXSW, Tropical Heatwave, Viva Big Bend!, First Night Austin, Old Settlers Music Festival, Pachanga Fest, Pecan Street Festival, Austin Reggae Festival, Xemumba World Music Fest, Texas Salsa Fiesta, Festival De Cumbia En La Capital, and Austin City Limits Music Festival 2015 in front of an estimated 70,000 people. El Tule released its latest single Mil Mascaras on Cinco de Mayo, 2020. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/09/2020.

289. Interview with Jon Dee Graham, Austin, Texas (06:11)

Date:
2020-09-25
Main contributors:
Jon Dee Graham
Summary:
Jon Dee Graham (Austin, Texas) Jon Dee Graham was born in 1959 in the Texas Panhandle and grew up on the Texas/Mexico border. For over forty years, he has been a working musician with eleven albums and an artist specializing in bears, having sold over 300 paintings and drawings. He lives with his wife, son, two dogs, and two cats south of the river in Austin, TX. He plays regularly at the Continental with his rock band when he is not touring solo with his guitar—which he does 150 days out of the year—or with his band. His live shows and his Americana/rock music feed off of live audiences’ rapport. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/25/2020.

290. Interview with Kalyn Heffernan, Denver, Colorado (06:24)

Date:
2020-10-14
Main contributors:
Kalyn Heffernan
Summary:
Kalyn Heffernan (Denver, Colorado) Combining humor, playfulness, radical political perspectives, compassion, and undeniable musical chops, Wheelchair Sports Camp is Denver's biggest smallest band. Fronted by the wheelchair-using, rap-heavy, beat-making, freedom-fighting producer, educator, and foul-mouthed rebel rouser Kalyn, the band is a combination of live and electronic instruments with a more noisy, jazzy, and experimental combination for the traditional hip hop group. Raised by the DIY (Do It Yourself) spirit of experimental independence, the band has stretched itself into theatre, performance art, public television, politics, prison tours, permanent installations, and more to come. Kalyn led Denver's first disabled and queer artist campaign for the mayor’s seat in 2019. The tiny, happy mayor has long been advocating for herself and other marginalized communities through music, direct action, education, and art. Commonly known for fighting for access to human rights and calling out those in power who protect capital interests over the future, Kalyn makes herself heard with a very loud, distinct, and high-pitched sense of humor. The band unknowingly started the summer of 1997, when Kalyn moved back from California to her hometown. The band tours the States and beyond from their home in Denver. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/14/2020.