Guests

Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins is a musician, writer, actor, comedian, and activist. He got his start on KCRW with Deirdre O'Donoghue in 1984 and widely credits her for his subsequent on-air career.

Johnette Napolitano

Johnette Napolitano is a singer, songwriter, author, and bassist. She was lead vocalist, songwriter, and bassist for LA alt rock outfit Concrete Blonde, and was a guest and performer on "SNAP!"

David Newton was the guitarist and co-songwriter for the U.K.'s Mighty Lemon Drops from 1985 to 1993. He subsequently played with the Blue Aeroplanes before relocating to Los Angeles with his wife Bekki in 1995. He then opened a recording studio in Burbank and turned to a career in production, including work for Cerulean, The Little Ones, and The Forty Nineteens. He currently fronts David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels, who released a new album, "A Gateway to a Lifetime of Disappointment," in 2020.

Tanja M. Laden

Tanja M. Laden was an ardent teenage fan of Deirdre O'Donoghue. She is currently is a writer, editor, and producer with bylines including Atlas Obscura, the LA Times, and Vice.

Tom Schnabel

Cesaria Evora, Buena Vista Social Club, Ravi Shankar, Caetano Veloso, Bebel Gilberto…regular fixtures on the KCRW playlists, but world music didn’t used to have a home on radio in the U.S. That is, until Tom Schnabel started Morning Becomes Eclectic as KCRW's first music director in the 80’s, and made it his mission to expand LA’s horizons.

Julian Cope

Julian Cope is an English musician, author, antiquarian, musicologist, poet, and cultural commentator who helped pioneer underground post-punk in the 1980s. He lives in the depths of Middle England and released his most recent album of new material, “Self Civil War,” in 2020.

Kathy McCarty

Kathy McCarty was the guitarist, singer, and co-songwriter of Austin, Texas’ Glass Eye, one of the most beloved bands of their scene. Known for their propulsive, obsessive, and discomfiting songs, they released four albums and two EPs before disbanding in 1993. McCarty is perhaps best known for 1995's “Dead Dog’s Eyeball,” an album of Daniel Johnston interpretations (as K. McCarty) that brought Johnston’s music to a wider audience. She released a second solo album, “Another Day in the Sun,” in 2005.

Bekki Newton

Bekki Newton grew up in LA as a teenage acolyte of the indie/underground scene. She moved to London at age 18, where she met Dave Newton from the Mighty Lemon Drops several years later. They married in 1989 and relocated to LA in 1995. Bekki currently works as a music executive.

Felicia Daniel

Felicia Daniel was an ardent teenage fan of Deirdre O'Donoghue. She went on to become the Music Director of UCLA’s student radio station and a volunteer in KCRW’s Music Department. She currently works for a live entertainment company.

Harry Shearer

Los Angeles Magazine perhaps best described Harry Shearer as "...a one-man renaissance assault force on the conventions of our culture and a much-needed antidote to the current gloom and doom."

Michael Stipe

Michael Stipe is the former lead singer of R.E.M. and a longtime friend of Deirdre O'Donoghue. He has produced albums by Vic Chestnutt, Hugo Largo, and more, a and has collaborated with artists including Syd Straw, The Blue Aeroplanes, The Golden Palominos, Patti Smith, and more. He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

Brian Beattie

Brian Beattie was the bassist, singer, and co-songwriter of Austin, Texas’ Glass Eye, one of the most beloved bands of their scene. Known for their propulsive, obsessive, and discomfiting songs, they released four albums and two EPs before disbanding in 1993. Beattie has also enjoyed a career as a producer/engineer for other bands, including the Dead Milkmen, Ed Hall, Daniel Johnston, Okkervil River, and many more. He currently operates The Wonder Chamber, a recording studio in Austin.

Michael Meister

Michael Meister co-founded the record store Texas Records in Santa Monica, which later became the small but influential record label Texas Hotel Records. The label issued records by singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt, Henry Rollins, and Poi Dog Pondering from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. Texas Hotel was voted Hot Record Label of the year by Rolling Stone in 1989. As a close friend of Deirdre O"Donoghue, Meister co-hosted or guest-hosted "SNAP!" on a number of occasions.

Lawrence Bogle

Lawrence Bogle is an artist who lives in London and the Spanish Basque Country. He was a cover artist for the record label Kitchenware Records, which was home to artists like Prefab Sprout, Hurrah!, Martin Stephenson and the Daintees, and more. He’s learning to leave the world of work behind in order to draw and paint more. Find him on Instagram at @bog_bogle and @bog_drawings.

David Lowery

David C. Lowery is a singer-songwriter and co-founder of the bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven. In 1986, he started the indie label, Pitch-a-Tent Records, for CVB and its affiliated projects. He also founded Sound of Music Studios in Richmond, Virginia. He is currently a lecturer at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business, where he launched the annual Artists' Rights Symposium in 2018.

Syd Straw

Syd Straw is a singer/songwriter and guitarist. became known for bringing her distinct voice to the Anton Fier-led cult band the Golden Palominos in the 1980s. In 1990, she released her solo album "Surprise," featuring collaborations by Michael Stipe (R.E.M), John Doe (X), Ry Cooder, Daniel Lanois, Don Was, Richard Thompson, and Marshall Crenshaw. In 1996, she released the album "War and Peace ," cementing her as a blues- and folk-rock staple. While promoting it and touring, she lent her musical sensibilities to records by Vic Chesnutt, Wilco, Rickie Lee Jones, David Sanborn, and Evan Dando.

Robert Lloyd

Robert Lloyd is a journalist and occasional musician. He is currently a TV critic for the Los Angeles Times. In the 1980s, he wrote a pop column, "The Critical List," for the LA Weekly, and a weird daily column, "Today," for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner (may it rest in peace). His first appearance as a performer on "SNAP!" was with Steve Wynn in 1987.

Steve Wynn

Steve Wynn was a founding member of The Dream Syndicate, whose 1982 debut album "The Days of Wine and Roses" is one of the building blocks of the indie rock scene that began in the following years. Since then, he has released 32 studio albums as a solo artist and as a member of Gutterball, The Baseball Project, and the revived Dream Syndicate who reformed in 2012. He has written over 500 songs, some of which have been covered by the likes of R.E.M., the Bangles, Yo La Tengo, Concrete Blonde, and Luna.