In the fall of 2019, we interviewed her about taking a quick break from country music to write a roller skating anthem: a vibey R&B song called "Roll Out." In her latest project, Race Records, she's come back to her roots as a country singer. Given that there's been a whole pandemic, a rise in the popularity of rollerskating and new music released that speaks to Miko's origins as a singer, we figured it'd be good to check in with Miko Marks for this week's show. Learn more about your ad choi...
Dec 03, 2021•16 min
This Thanksgiving-- Friendsgiving, Thankstaking, or whatever you call this holiday-- I'm turning the microphones on the Rightnowish team and asking the hard questions about food, friend and feelings. For this episode I'm joined by Rightnowish producer Marisol Medina-Cadena and editor Jessica Placzek. We dive into our holiday experiences, the music that we turn to as the weather gets cold, and we take some time to appreciate you-- the listeners. This episode was made for your listening pleasure, ...
Nov 19, 2021•19 min
Every Wednesday evening, the 1Up Crew gathers at In The Groove Studios in downtown Oakland for a free open lab session. That's where you'll see folks perfecting their moves and dancing in a variety of styles: turfing, ballroom, pop locking and krumping. It's all in preparation for monthly battles against other crews. Some of the battles are freestyle, others are three-on-three dance-offs where teams choreograph routines in a format that's similar to the movie, "You Got Served." But this is real ...
Nov 12, 2021•18 min
At first it may seem like an odd-pairing: a white guy who is a silver-spoon-fed techie from the East Coast and a Black woman from Oakland who is a hard working natural genius in the field of engineering. But through a series of events that unravel in the new play, "Cofounders", the two learn to co-exist. This week, we talk art and tech, and what can be done to curb the perceived divisions between the two. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 05, 2021•19 min
December 7, 2021 marks 80 years since the bombing of Pearl Harbor, an act that would lead to the United States' formal involvement in WWII. In support of the war effort, the Bay Area soon became home to a number of small factories and larger shipyards where huge vessels were manufactured, like Sausalito's Marinship. As jobs opened up in this industry, hundreds of thousands of African Americans migrated from the South in search of better paying careers and less racism. What they found in Northern...
Oct 29, 2021•17 min
Jane Handcock has written for some of the top names in music, and now it's her turn to step into the limelight. She's an R&B vocalist from Richmond, who has penned songs for the likes of Kelly Rowland, Rick Ross, Teddy Riley and Tyrese. As of late she's worked with the Grand Nationxl collective, dropping multiple songs on their group productions as well as a solo project of her own. Now Jane, who got her start singing in East Bay churches, has relocated to Los Angeles where she's on the verg...
Oct 22, 2021•16 min
In Evelyn LaChapelle's first team meeting at a new job in the cannabis industry, they were discussing sales when she noticed a "righteous anger" brewing inside her. "My paperwork says I went to jail for over a hundred kilos of cannabis," says Evelyn, "and they're talking sales goals in kilos." Since Evelyn was incarcerated for marijuana related charges, she's worked in the hospitality industry, for others in the cannabis industry and has recently become the CEO of a cannabis company called 87 Mo...
Oct 15, 2021•18 min
East Oakland's Capolow is a rapper on the rise. Known for his high-energy anthem songs and his catchy "aye-aye!" ad lib, Capolow's music is ringing bells in the Bay Area and beyond. He made an album called "Oakland Nights" with Kamaiyah, and has made individual tracks with E-40, ALLBLACK, and Nef The Pharaoh. But before he was a rapper – ten years ago – Capolow was one of the students in my class at Oakland Tech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 08, 2021•14 min
"Dynamite" Daisy Bamberger stands inside the ring by herself, shadowboxing. She's surrounded by free weights, kettle balls, punching bags and framed photos from old tournaments. Daisy continues to go through her routine. It's a routine that's obviously working for her. Daisy is a highly decorated 19 year-old boxer from Hayward. After ranking number one in the country and winning 10 national championships, she's setting her sights on competing in the 2024 Olympics. And the dream started right her...
Oct 01, 2021•15 min
Xiomara's "Chardonnay" was my song this summer. The track is an audio version of driving down Highway 1 at sunset. Smooth and melodic, with an earnest message to the listener-- advising them to steer clear of that glass of wine they're considering purchasing. Xiomara says that "Chardonnay" is a metaphor about living within your means and "examining this desire for some far off things, some opulent thing, and getting real and saying nah I need to let that go and stay in the moment." That track is...
Sep 24, 2021•20 min
At San Francisco's Public Glass, locals have the opportunity to get hands on experience in this ancient and evolving craft. The organization's executive director, Nathan Watson, says his mission is to ensure that Public Glass isn't just located in the Bayview neighborhood, but actually involves community members in their work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 17, 2021•20 min
Have you ever wanted nail art that highlights your favorite Disney Movie? Maybe nails that show Mulan below a cherry tree, or Alice at her Wonderland tea party, or maybe you want to see Stitch getting into shenanigans across your hands... Whatever your preference, Vivian Xue Rahey has you covered. These conversation pieces are clear fan favorites online. Vivian's Pamper Nail Gallery has hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and TikTok, and millions more views. It's a unique art form. A...
Sep 10, 2021•9 min
Tajai Massey sees Hiero day as a physical manifestation of the Souls of Mischief's most famous song, "93 Til Infiinty", where he and the other emcees give listeners a taste of life in Oakland. These days, living in Oakland, it's hard to ignore the growing wealth disparities, the massive unsheltered population, and continued gentrification. "A lot of folks I see during Hiero Day, they've had to move away, to Stockton, Sac, L.A... anywhere that's cheaper than here. But we see them on Hiero Day, so...
Sep 03, 2021•16 min
Wolfe-Goldsmith teamed up with a handful of artists to create the 5th Story NFT art gallery, where murals were adapted into augmented reality by Black Terminus Labs. They are also converting the art into three dimensional pieces that will be housed on the blockchain network and sold as NFTs, which will allow the creators to have more control over the value of their work. Wolfe-Goldsmith is a talented muralist behind some of the largest new pieces of public artwork in Oakland, including the two-s...
Aug 27, 2021•14 min
Prentice Powell is an East Bay poet whose been working from home a lot lately. This has caused some confusion for his kids, "They were just like, 'So dad, do you have a job?'" Powell does have a job, and does big things: he's performed his poems on The Arsenio Hall Show, Verses and Flow, and in the upcoming Nick Cannon movie, She Ball. And just this week, Powell concluded a residency at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC with Fiveology, a poetry group of his longtime friends and collaborators. ...
Aug 13, 2021•15 min
As the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the health of individuals and communities around the world, Harvey Lozada focused on the stories coming from the neighborhood just south of San Francisco's Market Street, the SOMA District. Through the film “It Takes The Hood to Save The Hood," Lozada shows how community organizations shifted their focus from being community resources, to being first responders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 06, 2021•15 min
Bookcases and bird feeders take shape amid the whir of chop saws, the bang of hammers and the trill of drills. Behind the power tools are girls and non-binary youth, mostly in high school and middle school, but the youngest builders start at age 9. West Berkeley's Girls Garage was founded by Emily Pilloton-Lam in 2013, the organization's mission is to make sure young women and non-binary teens have the physical and metaphorical tools to get the job – any job – done. This week, we're back to talk...
Jul 30, 2021•17 min
In 2006, when music producer Trackademicks remixed the smash hit by E-40 and Keak Da Sneak, "Tell Me When To Go," he created a cultural jewel that sent waves throughout the Yay. The remix took a seminal song from the Hyphy Movement, added a unique wrinkle, and then proceeded to make your face melt. The track could be heard at pep rallies in the valley, in nightclubs in San Francisco and blasting out of the front grill speakers of Chevy vans as they smashed through Deep East Oakland. Trackademick...
Jul 23, 2021•20 min
Dueñas Car Club is a sisterhood that rolls on 100-spoke rims. Founded in 2019 and based in Sunnyvale, the head of the club is Angel Romero. She's been cruising the strip since she was a kid as a passenger in her mother's lowrider. It was through her mother that Angel inherited her passion for cool cars, cruising through the city, and serving the community. Now, the members of the car club work with local organization to hold toy drives and distribute safety kits. They also pull up to events like...
Jul 16, 2021•16 min
Santa Rosa’s Randy Harlan and Bolinas’ Garnett Silver-Hall are known for using wheelchairs the same way others use skateboards-- grinding on rails and riding off ramps. The duo are both adaptive athletes in the "chair skating" community and founders of Northern California's Wheelchair Motor Cross-- WCMX. After connecting through mutual friends, the two have skated at parks in Northern California and competed in Southern California. Now Randy and Garnett teach other folks how to become involved i...
Jul 02, 2021•14 min
Marsha Howard grew up in the skateboarding mecca of San Francisco. After getting her first board as a gift from a St. Anthony's Christmas donation program when she was 13 or 14, she's skated with friends in front of the Ferry Building and bombed down the windy roads of Twin Peaks. She's also worked at Thrasher Magazine and been a skateboarding fashion model. Nowadays she's a teacher and skates for exercise and mental health while using videos of her falling and getting back on her board to teach...
Jun 25, 2021•18 min
For his daughter's fourth birthday, Pen adopted an adorable gray and white kitten. His thinking? It'll teach his child about the responsibility of loving and caring for a living creature. Instead, Pen got the lesson. In this special Father's Day episode of Rightnowish, Pen brings you into the story of his daughter, Z, their cat, Skye, and his revelation about where responsibility ultimately resides when you're a parent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 18, 2021•12 min
Berkeley’s Omar "Meez" Jones is a biker, photographer, graphic designer and entrepreneur. One of his top talents is his ability to take his lifestyle and make a living off of it. Earlier this year, a series of Apple billboards promoting their "Hometown" campaign sprung up all around the Bay Area, featuring the silhouetted images of two bikers hitting wheelies. Those bikers are Jones and his good friend from North Oakland, Almighty Gio. What I saw as a major tech company leveraging culture to ear...
Jun 11, 2021•15 min
From 1979 to 1988, Richard was a part of the Golden Rollers, a trio of skaters who performed in Golden Gate Park every Sunday. Since first getting his roll on, Richard has been featured in the television pilot, Dancing Wheels, was Damon Wayan's skating stunt double, performed on stage with Vaughn Mason and has been featured in Ebony Magazine. Richard also has custom wheels that bear his name, and worked with Riedell to manufacture a signature skating boot with no laces called, No Strings Attache...
Jun 04, 2021•18 min
In 2018 the Hasta Muerte coffee shop in East Oakland made national headlines when they asked Oakland police officers to leave their cafe. Matt Gereghty, part-owner of the cooperative cafe, was the first person to tell an officer the cafe's policy of asking cops to leave. He read from a collectively written script the staff had composed before opening the shop. Gereghty tells me it wasn't meant to be a major thing, just the cafe's attempts to ensure peace of mind for their customers by creating a...
May 21, 2021•19 min
After winning an MTV reality TV show contest about a dozen years ago, Rocky Rivera landed a gig at Rolling Stone. That was a crowning moment in her career as a journalist. Since then, Rocky Rivera's enjoyed a successful musical career and expanded her world as an educator in Oakland public schools. Most recently she published an autobiographical collection of essays, Snakeskin, which takes a look back at her storied career and personal life. Rocky Rivera, who was raised in San Francisco, uses th...
May 14, 2021•19 min
Kate Dash, aka Been Milky, is one of the coolest mothers you'll ever meet. She likes to bomb down huge San Francisco hills on a skateboard, she notoriously dyes her hair bright colors, she's a cannabis connoisseur and she's on the verge of launching a brand called Milky's World. Been Milky, whose name honors the fact that mothers have the ability to feed all of humankind, sees mothers as the most important beings walking this earth. And since she's a photographer, she can show us exactly what sh...
May 07, 2021•15 min
Artist Paola de la Calle plays with images and symbols that recall her childhood, her family's homeland in Colombia, and explores themes of citizenship and the politics of food. Bananas, tv satellites, door knocker hoops, sugar cane, and social security cards, to name a few, repeat in her work. She experiments with these images and themes across mediums. Paola's linocut prints, embellished flags, collaged posters and ceramics ask viewers to dig deeper into the colorful imagery. Learn more about ...
Apr 30, 2021•22 min
Through blogs and TikTok videos Brena Jean discusses what it means to be one of the millions of people living with lipedema. The rarely diagnosed chronic disorder affects mostly women and causes fat cells within the body to build up and harden instead of burn; it's often confused with obesity or lymphedema. As a result, many people living with lipedema don't know they have it. Or, in Brena Jean's case, she recognized the condition but struggled to prove it to medical professionals. This week, Br...
Apr 23, 2021•19 min
Alan Chazaro uses poetry to explore Bay Area culture, his love for hip-hop, and machismo stereotypes. We first talked in 2019 about his first poetry collection, This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album. Since then, Chazaro moved to Mexico, travelled through Central and South America, and then, ultimately, returned to the Bay Area. Chazaro has also been dabbling in the journalism trade-- with stories that range from the first woman to play professional men's basketball to the tale of a notable Oakla...
Apr 16, 2021•17 min
