David Fleming

On this edition of KVC-Arts, David Fleming speaks with Albert Lopez, founder of the band Wayword in 2018. The band was formed through Albert reaching out to friends to help him play his music live and in studio. Wayword has released 1 ep, 1 album and is actively working on a 2nd record. Wayword is a multi-genre band with influences in indie rock, alt rock, power pop and shoegaze. On Instagram @waywordca

Henry Franklin, Skipper, got his start with Roy Ayers in a Latin jazz group while still in high school. He was recruited by Hugh Masekela for an album which produced "Grazing in the Grass," and took him to Woodstock as well as the Monterey Pop Festival. He's worked as a sideman with many, and has 28 (or so) albums under his own name.Onthe next KVC-Arts David Fleming speaks with Skipper about one of the most recent - one which earned him a NAACP Image Award in the category of Outstanding Jazz record - instrumental. SUCH a great disc! We'll also hear about one that was a bit of an avant-garde piece, yet still QUITE cool to listen to. We'll touch briefly as well on his time with Stevie Wonder... but it's mostly jazz.And - jazz in this area! Skipper still lines up the musicians for Pierce Street Jazz, a free concert series at La Sierra University. A variety of types of jazz presented, with known players who are in the region (they're all OVER the place).AND more!

David Fleming speaks with Henry Franklin about his long history in the world of jazz, as well as major crossover success with Hugh Masekela (Grazing in the Grass et al), which took him to Woodstock as well as The Monterey Pop Festival. We'll hear about his first release, his latest, and a lot in between.

Jonathan Karrant has been on KVC-Arts several times now, and with several upcoming performances in our region, David Fleming has re-packaged his first interview with Jonathan, serving as a wonderful introduction to a man with impeccable discs, and a phenomenal onstage delivery of story through song.

David Fleming speaks with Emilio Castillo, one of the founding and current members of Tower of Power. We'll get a bit of history - including a drastic change in not only their material, but their look as well, some song specific material and more.

Indy rock... Garage rock... surf rock flirting with some of the ska bands in the area...Astronaut Samurais is Alberto Alvarenga II and Tyler Stevens. Alberto handles all the lead vocals and the songwriting, and he and Tyler trade off on lead guitar. They came up in the Moreno Valley, CA area, then really found themselves and started gaining a following with like-minded people and music in the Pomona/Upland area.The band ended up taking a bit of a hiatus - mainly driven by the pandemic, and as recently as late last year going into early this year are back. At one point it was a full band, but these days it's Alberto and Tyler only - adding a bass player and drummer for gigs. They were VERY well received in September at the Unquiet Fest, and will be at the Los Muertos Fest in Downtown San Bernardino on Friday November 3rd (along with September, God Is Evil, The M16, and Desperate Measures). More on Instagram at astrosamurais4ever.

Having just passed KVC-Arts #500, this edition of the program has the tables turned - with KVCR's Lillian Vasquez in conversation with David Fleming. We'll hear a bit about David, his background in and passion for the arts, also a bit on what goes into an interview... and an episode of KVC-Arts

KVC-Arts #500!From David Fleming: I’ve spoken with Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Al Pitrelli quite a few times by now, and it’s always 90% or more TSO, and then just a glimpse at some of his past, with some REALLY cool music and experiences there. I finally asked him if we could do a NON-Trans-Siberian Orchestra interview sometime, to which he agreed… and then he agreed again to make that a rather lengthy interview to be used for show number 500. He agreed before I could even finish asking.We started with his work with Randy Coven. Maybe around age 22 or so, Pitrelli played 2nd guitar on one of the tracks for Coven's "Funk Me Tender." By the 2nd Coven release, "Sammy Says Ouch," it was solidly a three-piece band (with guests), with Coven, Pitrelli, and John O'Reilly at the core. They recognized that by the third release, and instead of calling it The Randy Coven Band, then naming the cd, it was simply called CPR. The CPR release is mostly instrumental, though one of the two songs include Stevie Wonder's "I Wish," with the mighty Zakk Wylde on vocals. You can find a video of this easily enough on YouTube by the way. It clearly comes from an old VHS tape which was starting to stretch out, but it's SO much fun, and beyond vocals, Wylde really burns it up on the final guitar solo (of course). A reference point: For Wylde, this would be the year after Ozzy’s “No More Tears,” and a couple years before his bands Pride & Glory and Black Label Society.This is the next KVC-Arts - Sunday October 15th at 6 pm PST, and Tuesday the 17th at 2 and 6:30 pm PST. Streaming live at kvcrnews.org, and locally at 91.9 FM.We spoke at such length exploring the non-Trans-Siberian Orchestra side of Al, that there’ll be a special one hour KVC-Arts Saturday October 21st at 7 pm PST. More funk and fusion, some Alice Cooper, Dee Snider, Morning Wood (a wonderful acoustic project), Asia, and touching quite lightly on Savatage and TSO. I could've easily included more Savatage and TSO, as well as Megadeth, but after the 50-minute mark I started leaning more toward sounds or bands of which people are not (or less) aware.

David Fleming speaks with Anoushka Shankar. The initial conversation was when she was in the area to perform, with orchestra, one of the concertos for sitar and orchestra written by her father, the late Ravi Shankar. Beyond the concerto works, we spoke about some of her other releases, as she'll be in the area quite soon in quintet form. A rather atypical grouping, though SO nice! We'll hear about this, a couple of her releases, "Rise" and "Breathing Underwater." We'll also hear about her work with Herbie Hancock, Sting, and more, as well as a VERY moving piece called "In Her Name," combining music, dance, and spoken word. Originally called "In Jyoti's Name," the piece is "in loving memory of Jyoti Singh Pandey, who was beaten and gang-raped on a bus in Delhi," leading to her death two days later. VERY powerful! Also touching lightly on Anoushka scoring one of India's first three movies ever made!

David Fleming speaks with Chris Oberg, CEO of Path of Life Ministries along with Peter Curtis, professor at Riverside City College, and one of the organizers of a concert to benefit Path of Life Ministries Homeless Shelter. Then it's more from Al Pitrelli, with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. TSO is coming to Ontario December 2nd. David and Al speak about Jeff Scott Soto (pictured with Al) along with a few other specific singers and specific songs... a bit of theory as well.