Grammy-Award Winning Pianist Billy Childs and Charlie Haden Family to Perform
KPFK 90.7 announces its honorees for the 2nd Annual Hero Awards and Tribute show. The Hero Awards is a benefit series for the Los Angeles-based Pacifica Radio station. The event honors icons of our time that have left an impact on music and community. This year’s honoree is musician and political poet Gil Scott-Heron, with special awards to jazz bassist and activist Charlie Haden, music educator Fernando Pullum; and a Lifetime Achievement Award to Pete Seeger, American folk singer and activist. The 2nd Annual KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute show will take place Sunday, May 6th, 2012 at Club Nokia, 800 West Olympic Blvd, 3rd floor, in L.A. Live entertainment complex.
The event starts with a VIP reception and silent auction from 5 to 7 pm. The show starts at 8 pm with a line-up that will feature a host of prolific and poetic artists. The confirmed list of performers and guest speakers include Jackson Browne, John Densmore (The Doors), Billy Childs, Eric Idle (Monty Python), Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith, Nailah Porter, John Trudell, Lili Haydn, Rock DJ Jim Ladd, Josh Haden with Spain, The Haden Triplets and Jack Black, with a special youth performance by the 32nd Street Jazz Band. Richard Montoya of Culture Clash, LeRoy Downs and Roger Guenveur Smith are our hosts for the evening. Brian Jackson, long-time collaborator with Gil Scott-Heron, will be on deck as Music Director. Other invited guests include Ozomatli, Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), Ravi Coltrane and Flying Lotus.
The KPFK Hero Awards & Tribute was conceived by KPFK Music Director Maggie LePique and Music Consultant Kasey Lovelace to recognize both musicianship and service to the community by artists who best represent the Pacifica Mission. KPFK 90.7 FM is listener-sponsored Pacifica Radio for Southern California, part of the Pacifica Foundation founded in 1949 by pacifist Lewis Hill, and consisting of five radio stations, over 100 affiliate stations, and the Pacifica Radio Archives. Our mission is to promote peace, education and artistic expression through radio broadcasting. We are a public media operation of artists, activists and journalists, providing a commercial-free broadcast service for progressive political ideas, grassroots movements and the art and culture impacting our local communities and shaping our world. To further peace through broadcasting activities, Hill determined that radio sponsored by individual listeners would be the best way to ensure editorial freedom. The KPFK Hero Awards & Tribute series is a means to both raise funds and advance the Pacifica Mission.
