Hey pals,

KCRW DJ Nassir Nassirzadeh here! When I’m not spinning at the station and crafting VHS-inspired mixes, you can find me booking talent for School Night LA, the Monday night music showcase at Bardot in Hollywood. I’ve adored the series since its first gigs 13 years ago. How could you not, with opportunities to see legends like Stevie Nicks and Chrissie Hynde up close in a 250-cap room, alongside emerging talent that have become household names? It’s been a must-play on nearly everyone's tour schedule on their way up to Grammy noms and fest poster placement. That’s all thanks to the careful curation of co-founder Chris Douridas, infusing the same eclectic ethos you’ve come to know through his KCRW programming. Cite School Night for booking Dua Lipa’s very first LA shows and Michael Kiwanuka’s US debut — plus early gigs from *deep breath* Billie Eilish, Alt-J, Doja Cat, Gary Clark Jr., Haim, Hozier, Lizzo, Natalia Lafourcade, Odesza, Sofi Tukker, and many others.

And as of this past Monday, I'm feeling the same renewed excitement I had at those early Bardot shows, because School Night has officially partnered with KCRW this fall for a match made in live music heaven. It was a proper thrill sharing the energy in the room with industry peers, genuine fans, and now, the extension of the KCRW community that made this year’s Summer Nights one for the books (IYKYK).

So what’s ahead? Most of this hasn’t been announced, but oh well, don't shoot the messenger (consider it a Music Insider perk): This Monday we welcome KCRW favorite Mehro in the building for a very special underplay performance; then we’ve got a special DJ set and album listening party for LA’s own NEIL FRANCES, and then live performances from St. Panther, Joshy Soul, Junior Mesa, Alan Sparhawk (of Low), My Brightest Diamond, and many, many more. Hey, I can't give everything away. 

RSVP and tune in for more updates at kcrw.com/events. It's all-ages and we won't tell your bosses the next day. But we will promise you a great time, 🤌 hospitality, and likely your new favorite band.

One more thing: I hate working alone, so reply to this email with your favorite local emerging talent that we can spotlight through KCRW and School Night. Open to any and all ideas. 

Thanks, and hope to see you on a School Night rocking that fresh KCRW merch this fall!

Killer Mike: KCRW Live from Apogee Studio

Comparing secular musical performances to church is always a bit of a high-wire act, but in the case of Killer Mike during his KCRW: Live From session at Apogee Studio, we mean it literally. 

The Grammy-winning emcee and activist commands the stage, filling the simultaneous roles of pastor, gregarious choir director, and just-irreverent-enough youth minister. The mixing of the sacred with the profane has never been more thrilling.

From the pulpit (yeah, he brought one) Killer Mike serves up songs from his reflective new album MICHAEL, including “SHED TEARS,” “EXIT 9,” and “HIGH & HOLY.” And guest Eryn Allen Kane’s gut-punch delivery of the poignant “MOTHERLESS” is sure to leave many marks in a set recorded and mixed by the legendary Bob Clearmountain. 

Click in for instant revival.

Novena’s grandpa just DJ’d Morning Becomes Eclectic for his 100th birthday

Did Morning just become a film by Nora Ephron? If that’s what you’re thinking when you tune into this veritable life coaching session with Joe Wallach — retired Army officer, co-founder of Telemundo, bonafide centenarian(!), and grandfather to our own Novena Carmel — you’re on the right track. Dude just turned 100, so naturally Joe swung by to mix it up with Morning Becomes Eclectic… and make us feel like we’re living out an iconic scene from a movie that never quite existed in the process.

Curl up by your radio with a warm beverage of choice to take in the wisdom of a timeless creative elder — one who’s happy to share the story of meeting a young Pablo Picasso as many times as you please. The stories themselves would be more than enough, but Joe punctuates them with the sounds of Jimmy Durante’s take on “Young at Heart,” Tony Bennet’s “It Had to be You,” and plenty more cozy cuts.

Filmmaker Dorsay Alavi on the curiosity of jazz great Wayne Shorter

Filmmaker Dorsay Alavi knew the late jazz great Wayne Shorter for decades before she began making a film about his life. That film is Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity, available to stream now on Amazon Prime Video. It follows the evolution of Shorter’s musical career and his spiritual journey. Alavi tells The Treatment that the artist’s interest in mysticism found its way through all aspects of his life, including his collaborations and friendships with other legends like Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. Plus, revel in the story of kindred spirits intertwining as Alavi recounts introducing Shorter to her mentor — esteemed surrealist filmmaker (and iconoclast) David Lynch.

And for an extra Treat, please enjoy Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy thoroughly geeking out over The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life.”

Music and memoir come together in Kristin Hersh’s new album

For iconic indie rock grrrl Kristin Hersh, her songs are like her books: “They're all memoirs. … Many people think I'm a poet. I'm not, I don't make anything up. It all really happened. And I wrote it down. I’m just ripping pages out of my journals, making paper airplanes and flying them toward y’all.”

Hersh has been mining her life for material since her early days with the bands Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave. You can even find her swapping stories and songs with KCRW’s own poet-not-poet Dierdre O’Donoghue in a 1991 episode of SNAP. Revisit that session as part of the Bent By Nature archives.

With the opening strains of the 2023 album Clear Pond Road, you’re immersed in a sonic world of field recordings, strings, and Hersh’s unmistakable raspy voice. She joins KCRW to chat about stripping down her sound, discovering her synesthesia via her hippie dad, and getting a pep talk from Prince about their shared major label woes.