EPISODE 112 – COUNCIL MEMBER SOTO-MARTINEZ NOTES UPCOMING TOWN HALLS IN ECHO PARK

Hugo Soto-Martinez joins the podcast for the third time and for the first as the official Council Member for CD-13. We discuss the new council member’s plan for the district, his office’s strategy on combating homelessness, his office’s coordination with Mayor Bass’ Safer Inside initiative and L.A. County to bring unhoused people indoors, and the possible implementation of conserving mentally unstable residents without housing through California’s new CARE Act.

We also discuss the council member’s outreach to small businesses in CD-13 as they recover from losses suffered over the pandemic, including businesses in the Frogtown neighborhood; and we touch on plans for partnerships between the council member’s office and current service-providers in the district, as well as the mechanics of L.A. City Hall, including where much of L.A.’s policy is actually developed: L.A.’s committee meetings. Last but not least, we ask the council member regarding when new field representatives for CD-13 will be announced, as well as on updates for none other than the fence still surrounding Echo Park lake.

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J.T.’s VOICEMAIL: (213) 458-5042

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J.T.

EPISODE 111 – RHYS LANGSTON IS A SILVER LAKE ORIGINAL RAPPER AND MORE

Rhys Langston (@rhyslangston) makes ‘alternative’ rap “that is at the front of experimental trends while remaining accessible and engaging. Think hearing raps breaking language while breaking your neck head nodding to the beats. Like medicine with spoonfuls of sugar, radical Black theory gone colloquial over raw compositions, songs for the cool nerds who neither need to prove their coolness or their nerd credentials.”

Langston and yours truly discuss his latest album, Grapefruit Radio, his background coming up in Silver Lake and Leimert Park, nerd culture, the legacy of Kerry James Marshall, the writing process as a craft, calling out rappers, click-bait culture in its current form, Saul Williams, and more. We also shout out Langston’s new video from the album, In the Suburbs of Babylon.

For more of these cuentos and then some, please follow J.T. the L.A. Storyteller on Apple or Spotify, then rate and review us!

And if you’d like to tune into the show from elsewhere, please see our RSS feed here: https://jimbotimes.com/category/podcast/feed/

J.T.