KCRW and THE HAMMER MUSEUM ANNOUNCE
SUMMER OF SOUL at the HAMMER
THURSDAYS IN JULY

KCRW and the Hammer Museum once again partner this July to present four nights of live bands and DJ sets as part of KCRW’s Summer Nights series. Free and open to the public, Summer of Soul shines a light on the timeless power of soul music with live band performances and sets from KCRW DJs in the Hammer’s courtyard.

The series kicks off on Thursday, July 9, with Breakestra who put the “FUN” in “FUNK.” Get ready for dancing to Breakestra’s non-stop throw-down with eight live musicians, led by Funky Sole Party founder/DJ Miles Tackett, getting loose on stage with some serious funk and soul grooves. KCRW’s Jeremy Sole launches the evening with his own DJ set.

On Thursday, July 16, LA-based electro-R&B singer Sam Sparro will bring his distinct, scale-defying vocals and epic live show to the Hammer. The evening also features The Rebirth, a seven-member outfit known for their spontaneous live performances infusing new life into classic soul music. Concertgoers will be treated to two DJ sets from KCRW’s Aaron Byrd and Chris Douridas.

Dam-Funk, known as Los Angeles’ “Ambassador of Boogie Funk,” will perform on Thursday, July 23, with a live band mixing the musical stylings of boogie, modern soul and electro-funk to get everyone groovin’. The talented singer/songwriter Martin Luther, will bring his authentic brand of rebel soul music to ears thirsting for truth, funk, rock and hip hop. The jam-packed evening also features DJ sets from Anthony Valadez and Raul Campos.

The series closes on Thursday, July 30, with Jungle Fire, who are sure to live up to their name by fusing the highly infectious and explosive sounds of Cumbia, Afrobeat, and traditional funk. The evening also features The Suffers, a ten-piece band from Houston, TX, who are redefining the sound of Gulf Coast soul. The electrifying evening starts off with a DJ set by Garth Trinidad.

Happy hour, with a cash bar, starts at 6:30 pm along with KCRW DJ sets. Live music begins at 7:30 pm and the museum’s gallery hours will be extended to 9:00 pm so guests can enjoy the Hammer Museum exhibitions including, Mark Bradford: Scorched Earth which presents all new works by the Los Angeles based artist in his first solo museum show in his hometown; Perfect Likeness: Photography and Composition which features fifty-three works by twenty-four contemporary photographers; and two Hammer Project exhibitions highlighting the work of Los Angeles artists Mary Reid Kelley and Joseph Holtzman.

Details:
SUMMER OF SOUL at Hammer Museum
Happy hour and DJ sets begin at 6:30 pm, live music from 7:30 – 10:30 pm, and galleries open until 9:00 pm

Thursday, July 9
Breakestra + KCRW DJ Jeremy Sole

Thursday, July 16
Sam Sparro + The Rebirth + KCRW DJs Aaron Byrd and Chris Douridas

Thursday, July 23
Dam-Funk (w/ live band) + Martin Luther + KCRW DJs Anthony Valadez and Raul Campos

Thursday, July 30
The Suffers + Jungle Fire + KCRW DJ Garth Trinidad

KCRW’s Summer Nights is now in its 6th year and the Hammer Museum has always been an important cultural partner in bringing great music out into the community.

Summer of Soul is sponsored by The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Additional support is provided by IKEA Burbank and media sponsor L.A. Weekly.

Location:
Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd. (NE corner of Westwood and Wilshire)
Westwood, CA 90024

Parking:
Concertgoers are encouraged to arrive early and take advantage of $3 parking under the museum available after 6pm (maximum 3 hours).

Metro buses and trains stop within easy walking distance of all KCRW Summer Nights venues. Find the bus or rail line that can take you there using the trip planner at metro.net.

About KCRW:
KCRW creates and curates a unique mix of content centered around music discovery, NPR news, cultural exploration and informed public affairs. We are driven by the spirit of LA and deliver in innovative ways — on the radio, digitally and in person — to diverse, curious communities around the corner and around the world. A community service of Santa Monica College, KCRW can be found on the air in LA, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Mojave, Palm Springs, and via five KCRW-developed smart phone apps and online at kcrw.com.

Twitter | twitter.com/kcrw
Facebook | facebook.com/kcrwradio
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Google+ | plus.google.com/+kcrw

About The Hammer Museum:
The Hammer Museum at UCLA offers collections, exhibitions, and programs that span the classic to the contemporary in art, architecture, and design. The Hammer’s international exhibition program focuses on wide-ranging thematic and monographic exhibitions, highlighting contemporary art since the 1960s and the work of emerging artists through Hammer Projects and the Hammer’s biennial, Made in L.A. As a cultural center, the Hammer Museum offers nearly 300 free public programs a year, including lectures, readings, symposia, film screenings, and music performances at the Billy Wilder Theater which also houses the UCLA Film & Television Archive. The Hammer is home of the Armand Hammer Collection of American and European paintings, as well as the Armand Hammer Daumier and Contemporaries Collection and the Hammer Contemporary Collection. The Hammer Contemporary Collection focuses on art of all media since 1960 with an emphasis on works of the last ten years, works on paper, and art made in Los Angeles. The museum also houses the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts—comprising more than 45,000 prints, drawings, photographs, and artists’ books from the Renaissance to the present—and oversees the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden at UCLA. Free admission to the Hammer Museum is made possible through the generosity of benefactors Erika J. Glazer and Brenda R. Potter. Visit www.hammer.ucla.edu for current exhibition and program information and call (310) 443-7041 for tours. The Hammer is located at 10899 Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, Los Angeles, and is open Tuesday–Friday 11am–8pm, Saturday and Sunday 11am–5pm, and closed Mondays.

Twitter | twitter.com/hammer_museum
Facebook | facebook.com/HammerMuseum
Instagram | instagram.com/hammer_museum

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KCRW and the Annenberg Foundation are Proud to Announce
SOUND IN FOCUS

JULY 25
TV ON THE RADIO
Boxed In
DJ set by Jason Bentley

AUGUST 1
 DE LA SOUL
Quantic (live)
DJ set by Garth Trinidad

AUGUST 8
DWIGHT YOAKAM
X
DJ set by Anne Litt

AUGUST 15
COLD WAR KIDS
Other Lives
DJ Set by Jason Bentley

Free concerts inspired by the Annenberg Space for Photography’s latest exhibit, “Emerging”

KCRW and the Annenberg Foundation are pleased to announce the lineup for Sound in Focus, a free, all-ages concert series inspired by the “Emerging” exhibit at the Annenberg Space for Photography.  The concerts will be held at Century Park in Century City.

Admission is free; however RSVP is required for entry. Registered guests must collect wristbands upon arrival at check-in to gain access to the concerts. Advance registration is available at KCRW.com and is required for every show.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Annenberg Foundation for the third time to build an exciting music series this summer. This year my creative direction was to represent a broad spectrum of tastes, reflecting the interests of the LA community at large,” said Music Director Jason Bentley.

“Each concert has a different story and musical identity, yet the series as a whole resonates as a unified and thoughtful program. This is truly what we’ve come to love from a KCRW-Annenberg music festival, spread out over four weekends.”

“We created the Annenberg Space for Photography to showcase the most extraordinary photographic art.  But we’ve also worked to make it an extraordinary public space – a place for the entire LA community to engage with creativity, and with each other,” said Wallis Annenberg, Chairman, President and CEO of the Annenberg Foundation.  “That’s why I’m so pleased to announce our third concert series.”

“It’s been said that great music, like the greatest art, gives soul to the universe and flight to the imagination. That’s what Sound In Focus is about. And I’m grateful to KCRW for their partnership.”

TV on the Radio leads an all-star lineup of artists for the series. Always dynamic and unique, the quartet continues to conquer music on their own terms. They delivered a planetarium of music with every song on their most recent release, Seeds, and their live shows are always emotional and engaging.

Music Director Jason Bentley hosts the evening and will spin a set of tunes before one of his favorite new bands of the moment, Boxed In, opens the show. Producer/songwriter Oli Bayston is the mastermind behind the project and brings his mix of moody, cerebral dance pop to life with the help of drummer Liam Hutton, multi-instrumentalist Jack Benfield and Mark Nicholls on bass.  With sold out shows in his native UK and an impressive turn at SXSW, it’s clear this artist is on the rise.

Groundbreaking Long Island trio De La Soul have been leaders in the hip-hop scene since their founding over 25 years ago. They have a new album on the horizon and the Kickstarter campaign to fund it made headlines in the NY Times due to the overwhelming response from fans. They’ll bring crafty beats, lyrics with a social conscience, and much more to the stage for this special show on August 1, hosted by Garth Trinidad.

Opening the show will be prolific musician and DJ Will Holland, aka Quantic. He explores the world through music and, over the course of 17 albums, has earned a large international fanbase. On this evening, he will give a special performance of classic and brand new Quantic sounds with a 10-piece band, including guest singers from Colombia, Brazil and Los Angeles.

On August 8, KCRW brings cow-punk to Century Park in an evening hosted by Anne Litt. A uniquely Los Angeles movement merging punk, country, and Americana, it can only be celebrated by the two legendary artists who define it: Dwight Yoakam and X.

Grammy award-winning songwriter Dwight Yoakam has sold more than 25 million records. He’s kept his sound fresh by embracing a wider range of sounds on recent recordings, including his latest Second Hand Heart.

The groundbreaking quartet known as X formed during the first wave of American punk music in the late ‘70s. Featuring vocalist Exene Cervenka, vocalist/bassist John Doe, guitarist Billy Zoom, and drummer DJ Bonebrake, the band celebrates the trials and tribulations of living in Los Angeles. The entire original lineup returns for this show.

Cold War Kids, one of the most exciting rock bands to emerge from the LA music scene in the last decade, will close the series on August 15.  The three-chambered heart of the band – Nathan Willett, Matt Maust and Dann Gallucci – makes honest songs about the human experience. It’s a raw, bluesy take on rock ‘n’ roll with an extra level of intensity when they bring it to the stage.

Jason Bentley hosts and openers Other Lives cast a spell with their layered, atmospheric orchestral rock. KCRW has championed the band since their 2011 debut and — after a relocation from their hometown of Stillwater, OK to Portland. OR — they’ve released one of their best albums yet with 2015’s Rituals.

The concerts will take place in the park adjacent to the Annenberg Space for Photography. The Photography Space will stay open late on these evenings (until 11pm) so that the concertgoers may enjoy both the concerts and the exhibit.

There will also be food and refreshments available for purchase from a wide variety of cafes and food trucks that can be enjoyed on the grassy lawn beneath the two shimmering Century Plaza Towers at Century Park. There will also be beer gardens for those 21 and over to enjoy.

KCRW and the Annenberg Foundation first united in 2012 for a string of hugely successful summer music events staged in the outdoor park adjacent to the Photography Space to accompany the Who Shot Rock & Roll exhibit. Last year’s Country in the City series not only spotlighted emerging and established artists in the genre, but was part of the Annenberg Foundation’s 25^th anniversary festivities.

About KCRW
KCRW creates and curates a unique mix of content centered around music discovery, NPR news, cultural exploration and informed public affairs. We are driven by the spirit of LA and deliver in innovative ways — on the radio, digitally and in person — to diverse, curious communities around the corner and around the world.  A community service of Santa Monica College, KCRW can be found on the air in LA, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Mojave, Palm Springs, and via five KCRW-developed smart phone apps and online at kcrw.com.

About the Annenberg Foundation

The Annenberg Foundation is a family foundation that provides funding and support to nonprofit organizations in the United States and globally.  The Foundation and its Board of Directors are also directly involved in the community with innovative projects that further its mission of advancing a better tomorrow through visionary leadership today.  The Foundation encourages the development of effective ways to communicate by sharing ideas and knowledge.

KCRW Summer Nights Kicks Off Saturday, June 6

at One Colorado in Old Pasadena

with De Lux and KCRW DJ Dan Wilcox

KCRW’s free, all-ages, outdoor music series Summer Nights returns for a 6th year, kicking off on Saturday, June 6, with a performance by LA’s De Lux and a DJ set from Dan Wilcox at One Colorado.

Earning comparisons to the Talking Heads, Duran Duran and the Psychadelic Furs, De Lux’s post-disco dance-punk conjures the best of the ‘80s with a decidedly modern flair.  The evening begins at 7:30 pm with a DJ set from KCRW’s Dan Wilcox, and continues with De Lux performing tracks from their upcoming album “Generation,” to be released June 23 via Innovative Leisure.  Be sure to come early because Make Music Pasadena is happening as well.

KCRW returns to One Colorado on Saturday, June 20 with a performance by the quintessentially Californian outfit Cayucas, whose versatile tunes effortlessly migrate from sun-kissed and carefree pop, to melancholic, emotional intensity.  The group will be previewing tracks from their upcoming album “Dancing at the Blue Lagoon,” set for release on June 23 on Secretly Canadian.  KCRW DJ Marion Hodges opens the show with a DJ set at 7:30 pm.

Both concerts take place in One Colorado’s charming courtyard amidst the historic buildings of Old Pasadena. One Colorado spans an entire city block, between Colorado Boulevard, Union, Delacey and Fair Oaks.

With dozens of free, outdoor, all-ages concerts that are open to the public, KCRW’s signature series, Summer Nights has reached hundreds of thousands of music fans over the years. The series also gives KCRW DJs a chance to bring their eclectic musical tastes out of our basement studios and into the community.

An entire list of KCRW’s Summer Nights concerts can be found here:
kcrw.com/summernights

About KCRW:

KCRW creates and curates a unique mix of content centered around music discovery, NPR news, cultural exploration and informed public affairs. We are driven by the spirit of LA and deliver in innovative ways — on the radio, digitally and in person — to diverse, curious communities around the corner and around the world.  A community service of Santa Monica College, KCRW can be found on the air in LA, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Mojave, Palm Springs, and via five KCRW-developed smart phone apps and online at kcrw.com.

Twitter | twitter.com/kcrw
Facebook | facebook.com/kcrwradio
Instagram | instagram.com/kcrw
Google+ | plus.google.com/+kcrw