EVENT CONTACT:
Kasey Lovelace, Consultant
2nd Annual KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute
818-331-6217 cell
For Immediate Release
February 9, 2012
North Hollywood - KPFK 90.7 announces its honorees for the 2nd Annual Hero Awards and Tribute. The Hero Awards is a benefit series for the Los Angeles-based Pacifica Radio station. The event honors icons of our time who 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, musician and educator, Fernando Pullum; and a Lifetime Achievement Award to Pete Seeger, American folk singer and activist. The 2nd Annual KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute will take place Sunday, May 6th, 2012 at the The Club Nokia part of LA Live, 800 West Olympic Blvd in Downtown LA. The event starts with a VIP reception at 5 pm and the show starts at 7 pm.
The KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute launched in 2010 honoring Jazz legend Billy Higgins. The idea for the series was the result of a heartfelt on-air conversation between KPFK Music Director Maggie LePique and musician Charles Lloyd about Billy Higgins, during which LePique thought it would be relevant for KPFK 90.7 to mark the upcoming 10th anniversary of Higgins’ death by celebrating his life and body of work. She enlisted Kasey Lovelace, Music Consultant and friend of the Higgins family to develop the idea into a full-scale event. Catalina Popescu, owner of Catalina Bar and Grill, honored her long friendship with LePique and Higgins by donating her world-renowned venue for the tribute by Higgins’ esteemed contemporaries Stanley Clarke, Charles Lloyd, George Duke, Kenny Burrell, with Music Director John Beasley, among others who performed to a “standing room only” audience. The demand from both the music and public affairs community has prompted the station to continue this event as an annual award series.
KPFK 90.7 FM is a member station of the Pacifica Radio network and the Pacifica Foundation, which consists of five radio stations, over 100 affiliate stations, and the Pacifica Radio Archives, responsible for preserving the voices of artists, activists and progressive journalists since 1949, when the foundation was established by peace activist Lewis Hill. 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 and Tribute is a means to both raise funds and advance the Pacifica Mission.
For updates on the 2nd Annual Hero Awards and Tribute log onto www.kpfk.org
or
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Annual-KPFK-Hero-Awards-and-Tribute/19859399021923
Follow us on Twitter: @KPFKHero
For general information contact
KPFK 90.7 Radio at (818) 985-2711 ext. 361
Email: heroawards@KPFK.org
