The Year of Sheltering Dangerously

By Ben Fong-Torres

Well, hasn’t THIS been a fun 365?

As we approached the anniversary of the shelter-in-place orders for the San Francisco Bay Area, on March 16, I thought of some of the changes we’ve been through. 

In February, our calendar was packed with restaurant dinners and a large, loud gathering at Harbor Villa, saluting our friend, the civil rights attorney Dale Minami.

And there was my 24th time as co-anchor of the Chinese New Year Parade, on KTVU. The Year of the  Rat. Indeed. 

Early in March, we had more restaurant get-togethers, including dinner at the House of Prime Rib (almost as hard to get into as Hamilton) and a family luncheon for Chinese New Year at the stellar dim sum restaurant, Yank Sing. One evening, I went to the dive bar, El Rio, for the monthly jam staged by Los Train Wreck, and did my usual, a parody of a Dylan classic, “Rainy Day Women 12+35,” with lyrics I ripped from the headlines:

They’ll stone you when you come to see the band

And make mistakes, like shaking people’s hands

Los Train Wreck’s easy going, and all they ask: 

Is when you’re talking with them, use a mask

And you will not feel so all alone 

Everybody must get stoned!

On March 13th, I went to the Record Plant, the fabled studio in Sausalito, to be interviewed for a documentary about the Plant.  

Just three days later, on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, this most festive of towns was...

Fears for Tears: Turning a Memoir into an Audiobook

By Ben Fong-Torres

“In the funny parts, laugh. In the sad parts, go ahead and cry.” 

That was advice I got, on the eve of my recording sessions for an audiobook version of my memoirs, The Rice Room, from Susie Bright. 

Susie is a producer and personality at Audible, the leading producer of audiobooks, and she’s done her share of laughing and crying. 

So when Audible contracted me to turn two of my books – Willin’, about the band Little Feat, and The Rice Room– she was on the case.

I’d never recorded a book before. Public speaking? Sure. Radio DJ? That’s moi. Voice work for radio and TV shows? No problemo.

But audiobooks are a whole ‘nother world. First, it’s long-form. A radio DJ show is a bunch of bits; a radio or TV program, or a podcast, involves segments that might add up to an hour.

A book? Think ten hours. And, as I learned, it takes about double that time to record enough, after editing, to get those ten hours. 

The editing is immediate, with a director, Jesse, listening and directing by Zoom from Los Angeles. Also listening is Miik, the engineer, who’s in a control room, across from me. I’m in a small announcer’s booth (which seems only right, since I’m a small announcer). 

While I’m reading, off an iPad on a music stand, the two men catch every error, every stumble, every extraneous noise, whether it’s foot...

Los Angeles

February 8, 2021

by Suzanne Joe Kai

A Must See feature documentary film is coming to virtual theaters February 12, 2021!

RUTH - Justice Ginsburg In Her Own Words -

is directed, written and produced by Academy and Emmy award winning filmmaker Freida Lee Mock.  

To celebrate Women's History Month, Starz is premiering this inspiring film on Monday, March 1 at 9 PM EP/PM, 2021. 

The film tells the improbable story of how Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who couldn’t get a job despite tying first in her graduating law class and making Law Review at Harvard and Columbia Law Schools, became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. It also reveals both the public and private sides of a resilient, resourceful woman who has survived the hostility of the profoundly male universe of government and law to become a revered Justice and icon for gender equality and women’s rights.

How does a person with three strikes against her rise to the highest court in the land, the U.S. Supreme Court? 

How did this happen despite closed doors and legal and social barriers facing Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the 1950's? 

Who made this possible? What personal, social and politial forces intersected to make this happen?

Academy award-winning Freida Lee Mock shows us the inspiring story of Ruth Bader Ginsberg as a wife, mother, and litigator for the ACLU's Women's Rights Project; as a professor; as an appellate judge, as a trailblazer in the 1970's arguing landmark gender...

Ben Fong Torres

San Francisco

February 22, 2020

Last year, just about this time, I lost my Radio Waves column, soon after the San Francisco Chronicle brought in a new arts and entertainment editor. I’d been writing it every other Sunday for 15 years (plus another three-year stretch earlier on, before I took a break to publish a couple of books).

He gave me a reason that made no sense. Radio Waves wasn’t getting enough clicks on the digital side. But the Chronicle never featured the column on its sites. Readers had to search my name, or drill through the TV and movies windows to, with luck, find Radio Waves.

My readers found me the old-fashioned way, but like so many major papers, the Chronicle is going new-fashioned, trying to drive readers online, where the advertisers are.

The new editor was open to my doing pieces on media in general; on music; on my life and times in music and broadcasting. I thought that would make for a decent column. But he asked me to pitch him for every article.

I had no interest in becoming a freelancer, especially given the paltry fees doled out to non-staffers. Fifteen years of being underpaid was quite enough.

I moved on, accepting a consulting gig with the Music City Hit Factory, a hub for musicians and fans, encompassing, in one building, a hostel, a music school, a suite of rehearsal spaces and recording studios, performance spaces and cafes, and, throughout, exhibits celebrating the history of San...

Update February 9, 2020

Hollywood

by Suzanne Kai

"Parasite" made history tonight becoming the first non-English film to win an Oscar for Best Picture. The South Korean film won an Oscar for best picture, best director and best international film. 

For the complete list of Oscar winners click here to www.oscars.org. (Photo credit: oscars.org)

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Oscars 2020 - Will 'Parasite' upset '1917' to win Best Picture?

February 1, 2020

Will "Parasite" by South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho become the first foreign-language film to win best picture this year at the 92nd Academy Awards February 9?

"Parasite" is nominated in six Oscar categories, including best picture, best international feature, and best director. "Parasite" has already won top awards including the Cannes Palme d'Or, BAFTA's Best Foreign Language Film, Screen Actors Guild Award for best cast in a motion picture, and the Asia Pacific Screen Award for best film.

 (Photo courtesy Neon Entertainment)

If it wins the Oscar for best picture, it will be the first foreign-language film to do so, and could be an upset to the competition. A much touted movie for best picture is "1917" which has received accolades from the Producers Guild, the Directors Guild, and director and drama awards from the Golden Gloves.

(Photo credit: CJ Entertainment)

Of the contenders for best picture, "Joker" received eleven Oscar nominations and three movies have received ten Oscar nominations each, "1917", "The...