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You are invited to the Intersections Concert featuring Bach, Blakely and Beyond with the Don Byron Quartet (09.21.23). Join UC San Diego for our Intersections Concert Series at Park & Market in the Guggenheim Theatre hosted by UC San Diego and New York-based violinist Yale Strom, one of the world’s leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Romani music and history. Ft. Don Byron (clarinet, sax), David Gilmore (guitar), Dezron Douglas (bass) & Jeff "Tain" Watts (drums) Don Byron has been a singular voice in an astounding range of musical contexts, exploring widely divergent traditions while continually striving for what he calls "a sound above genre." As clarinetist, saxophonist, composer, arranger, and social critic, he redefines every genre of music he plays, be it classical, salsa, hip-hop, funk, rhythm & blues, klezmer, or any jazz style from swing and bop to cutting-edge downtown improvisation. An inspired eclectic, Byron has performed an array of musical styles with great success. Byron first attained a measure of notoriety for playing Klezmer, specifically the music of the late Mickey Katz. While the novelty of a black man playing Jewish music was enough to grab the attention of critics, it was Byron’s jazz-related work that ultimately made him a major figure. Byron is an exceptional clarinetist from a technical perspective; he also possesses a profound imagination that best manifests itself in his multifarious compositions. At heart, Byron is a conceptualist. Each succeeding album seems based on a different stylistic approach, from the free jazz/classical leanings of his first album, "Tuskegee Experiments" (Nonesuch, 1992), to the hip-hop/funk of "Nu Blaxpoitation" (Blue Note, 1998). Byron’s composition “There Goes the Neighborhood” was commissioned by the Kronos Quartet and premiered in London in 1994. He’s also composed for silent film, served as the director of jazz for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and scored for television. Byron was born and raised in New York City, the son of a mailman who also occasionally played bass in calypso bands, and a mother who dabbled on piano. As a child, Byron developed asthma; his doctor suggested he take up a wind instrument as therapy. Byron chose clarinet. His South Bronx neighborhood had a sizeable Jewish population, which partly explains his fascination with Klezmer. Byron was encouraged by his parents to learn about all different kinds of music, from Leonard Bernstein to Dizzy Gillespie. Byron’s models on clarinet included Tony Scott, Artie Shaw, and especially Jimmy Hamilton. As an improviser, Joe Henderson was a prominent influence. As a teenager, Byron studied clarinet with Joe Allard. Byron attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with George Russell. While at NEC, Byron was recruited to play in Hankus Netsky’s Klezmer Conservatory Band. Byron moved from Boston back to New York in the mid-’80s, where he began playing with several of the city’s more prominent jazz avant-gardists, including David Murray, Craig Harris, and Hamiet Bluiett. A year after recording "Tuskegee Experiments," Byron made "Plays the Music of Mickey Katz" (Nonesuch), which put something of an end to his Klezmer career (at least in terms of recording). Byron’s career built steadily over the course of the ’90s. By the end of the decade he had signed with Blue Note records. While hardly a radical, Byron is an original voice within the bounds of whatever style he happens to embrace. ~ Chris Kelsey More info: The Intersections Concert is a new interdisciplinary event series, presented by UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies, taking place at the multi-tenant, mixed-use business, arts, and educational office building in downtown San Diego’s East Village. Intersections offers new, diverse takes on traditional ideas and forms in a variety of disciplines, from artistic performances to educational lectures will take place at Park & Market’s state-of-the-art Guggenheim Theatre. Hosted by UC San Diego and New York-based violinist Yale Strom, one of the world's leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Romani music and history.

You are invited to the Intersections Concert Series featuring Beyond the Blues with Mamie Minch and Mara Kaye (08.10.23). Join UC San Diego for our Intersections Concert Series at Park & Market in the Guggenheim Theatre hosted by UC San Diego and New York-based violinist Yale Strom, one of the world’s leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Romani music and history. MAMIE MINCH Mamie Minch is a longtime staple of New York City’s blues scene. Listening to her sing and play is like unpacking a time capsule of American music that’s been stored in her 1930s National steel guitar for decades and filtered through a modern femme sensitivity. Mamie’s honest, deep singing voice and old school guitar walloping become a vessel for her toughness and pathos as she delivers timeless performances that can rile, groove, sooth, and understand. If you’ve been lucky enough to see Mamie perform in New York City or somewhere else in the wide world, then you know: there are some things a person is simply meant to do. After graduating from art school in non-traditional printmaking techniques, Mamie came to New York City where she fell in with a crowd of 78 record collectors, some of whom had contributed rare recordings to the same reissue labels she loved. It was a mind-expanding time for her and she connected with a crowd who were interested in early American music. Soon, she was playing around the city in small clubs with her first band, Delta Dreambox. She met Meg Reichardt (Les Chauds Lapins, Low Down Payment), another guitarist and singer who could sound like she’d jumped off of an Edison wax cylinder, and they founded the four-piece, all-woman harmony group the Roulette Sisters, who played together for a decade and recorded two full-length albums. In 2008, Mamie released her first solo album, "Razorburn Blues," in collaboration with bassist/engineer Andy Cotton. Through the community of musicians centered around Barbes, Mamie connected with beloved singer/guitarist Dayna Kurtz. They toured together as a duo—two altos performing show-stopping, full-bodied harmony over layers of guitar—and made a 10” record, “For the Love of Hazel.” MARA KAYE The blues flows through San Diego. It has for a long time. Sometimes it has been obvious, flowing on the surface, and other times it has tunneled underground from far, far away just to bubble up underneath our feet. But, improbable as it may sound, a continuous stream of one of the greatest branches of American music flows through our city. Sam Chatmon, member of the legendary Mississippi Sheiks and possible author of the blues standard “Sittin’ on Top of the World” spent his summers here in the 1970s playing coffeeshops and folk festivals. Players like Robin Henkel and Tomcat Courtney have gigged constantly here for decades and made themselves into blues institutions. And still younger generations of musicians like Nathan James, Ben Powell, Whitney Shay, and Sarah Rogo have taken up the mantle. So, when a new blues voice appears in San Diego, it had better stand out. Over the last year, Mara Kaye’s voice has been doing just that. I’ve been watching it happen in real time as I back her up on mandolin and fiddle. When Mara starts singing in bars and dining rooms across the city, folks with their backs turned to the stage turn around. They smile, they applaud, like nice audiences do, but a lot of them become transfixed—like they’re seeing something they can’t believe, or something they didn’t know existed but hoped it did. When she sings, there is a kind of freedom that you can hear and see. And, at some subconscious level, that’s what every audience member wants to see—someone being free. The blues is a vast tradition, with important and distinctive branches spreading out over more than a century of evolution. Some of us love the old acoustic stuff from the Mississippi Delta; some of us love the later electrified stuff from Chicago. Some of us study it and stay close to the old styles; some of us draw from the old ways to create something new. Mara’s blues are deeply rooted in the old ways but remixed in a way that still feels novel—like some last pocket of the blues that never got explored in the old days, all wrapped up in a ball of 21st-century Brooklyn-bred attitude. (Written by San Diego Troubadour, 2020) More info: The Intersections Concert is a new interdisciplinary event series, presented by UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies, taking place at the multi-tenant, mixed-use business, arts, and educational office building in downtown San Diego’s East Village. Intersections offers new, diverse takes on traditional ideas and forms in a variety of disciplines, from artistic performances to educational lectures will take place at Park & Market’s state-of-the-art Guggenheim Theatre. Hosted by UC San Diego and New York-based violinist Yale Strom, one of the world's leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Romani music and history.

You are invited to the Intersections Concert Series featuring Souls on Fire and Hot Pstromi: Exploration of flamenco and Sephardic dance and music Join UC San Diego for our Intersections Concert Series at Park & Market in the Guggenheim Theatre hosted by UC San Diego and New York-based violinist Yale Strom, one of the world’s leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Romani music and history. Lakshmi Basile began performing at the age of six with her parents’ band “The Electrocarpathians.” She studied dance at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts during elementary and high school. She grew up in the flamenco community of San Diego, where her passionate artistic character began to form. After performing as a flamenco dancer in California and studying classical dance at the University of California Santa Barbara, Lakshmi travelled to Spain at the age of 20 to complete her flamenco studies. She was fortunate to be quickly embraced by artists and find work in tablaos and flamenco private events alongside great artists such as La Toná, La Familia Amaya, Pepe Torres, Joselito Méndez, Antonio Moya, La Tana, Carmen Ledesma, Antonio Rey and Manuel Molina. She was nicknamed La Chimi, which is simply her own name repronounced. In recent years, Lakshmi Basile “La Chimi” became one of the first and only foreign artists in Spain to win a highly regarded national prize in, Concurso de las Minas de La Unión, 2011. She also won an award in another primary contest, Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco de Córdoba. There she surprised flamenco critics and received great praise: “un desgarrador homenaje a los románticos de lo jondo” (a heart wrenching homage to the romantics of pure flamenco), Alberto García Reyes, ABC. In fifteen years, Lakshmi consolidates her career in Seville, the cradle of flamenco. She performs daily as a soloist at the tablao “El Palacio Andaluz” in Seville, Spain. She works alongside significant artists in private events and festivals internationally, such as, Great Britain, Denmark and Uruguay. She has produced her own show in Spain, named, “Zarabanda, Lo Que Duerme en el Cuerpo de los Gitanos”, (Zarabanda, What Sleeps in the Gypsies’ Body). She is also sought after as a teacher by flamenco students in Spain. Lakshmi Basile has found her substantial artistic career as a flamenco dancer, because that is what she is in her soul and heart. “Su baile es de una alegría conquistada” (Her dance is one of conquered joy) – Félix Grande, poet and flamencologist. “La única cosa americana que tiene es su pasaporte”, (The only American thing she has is her passport) – Ángel Ojeda, former Minister of Culture of the Junta de Andalucía. More info: The Intersections Concert is a new interdisciplinary event series, presented by UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies, taking place at the multi-tenant, mixed-use business, arts, and educational office building in downtown San Diego’s East Village. Intersections offers new, diverse takes on traditional ideas and forms in a variety of disciplines, from artistic performances to educational lectures will take place at Park & Market’s state-of-the-art Guggenheim Theatre. Hosted by UC San Diego and New York-based violinist Yale Strom, one of the world's leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Romani music and history.

You are invited to the Intersections Concert Series featuring The Alison Brown Quintet presents Bluegrass: Bending It with Folk and Jazz. Join UC San Diego for our Intersections Concert Series at Park & Market in the Guggenheim Theatre hosted by UC San Diego and New York-based violinist Yale Strom, one of the world’s leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Romani music and history. One of the most multi-faceted minds in roots music, Alison Brown is a GRAMMY-winning musician, GRAMMY-nominated producer, former investment banker (with an AB from Harvard and an MBA from UCLA) and co-founder of The Compass Records Group which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2023.  Alison grew up in La Jolla and began her musical career as a teenager in the San Diego bluegrass scene. Over the course of her career, she has expanded on her love of bluegrass and built a reputation as one of today’s most forward thinking and innovative banjo players. She is known for taking the instrument far beyond its Appalachian roots by blending bluegrass and jazz influences into a sonic tapestry that has earned praise and recognition from a variety of national tastemakers including The Wall Street Journal, CBS Sunday Morning, People, NPR and USA Today. On her new release, aptly titled "On Banjo," Alison continues her musical explorations on a set of original compositions with special guests including Steve Martin, Kronos Quartet, Sierra Hull, Anat Cohen, Sharon Isbin, Stuart Duncan and members of the Alison Brown Quintet. Alison is the recipient of the USA Artists Fellowship in Music and the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association. A pioneer among women in the music industry, Alison was the first female to win an Instrumentalist of the Year award from the International Bluegrass Music Association; in 2019, she became the first female 5-string banjoist to be inducted into the American Banjo Museum’s Hall of Fame. She recently worked with the Spring Valley-based Deering Banjo Company to develop the Julia Belle model low banjo in honor of the late John Hartford. Alison serves on the Board of Governors of the Recording Academy and as co-chair of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize. She lives in Nashville with her husband, bassist and Compass Records co-founder Garry West and their two children Hannah and Brendan. More info: The Intersections Concert is a new interdisciplinary event series, presented by UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies, taking place at the multi-tenant, mixed-use business, arts, and educational office building in downtown San Diego’s East Village. Intersections offers new, diverse takes on traditional ideas and forms in a variety of disciplines, from artistic performances to educational lectures will take place at Park & Market’s state-of-the-art Guggenheim Theatre. Hosted by UC San Diego and New York-based violinist Yale Strom, one of the world's leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Romani music and history.

Conservative groups created a census plan for a Republican president that includes pushing for a citizenship question that's likely to lower the counts for Latinos and Asian Americans.

Historically, trust in Spanish-language television news is what keeps the Latinx communities in the United States tuned into the news.

Stream with KPBS Passport on KPBS+ / Watch Friday, Jan. 2, 2026 at 9 p.m. on KPBS 2. Explore the culture war that erupted over the rise of disco music. Originating in underground Black and gay clubs, disco unseated rock as America’s most popular music by the late 1970s. But many diehard rock fans viewed disco as shallow and superficial. The hostility came to a head on July 12, 1979, when a riot broke out at “Disco Demolition Night” at a baseball game in Chicago.

This weekend in the arts: Contemporary Korean polychrome painting; San Diego Art Prize; a play about an "it girl" sex worker in 19th century England; haunted dance; spooky Shakespeare; Dìa de los Muertos; experimental bassoon; live music picks and more.

San Diego’s housing shortage is a problem that has dogged city leaders for years, and it’s increasingly becoming a flash point for residents.

The immigrant population is growing fast in states far from the southern border. Employers in North Dakota say the economy needs more workers, but there's still deep ambivalence about immigration.