4 min listen
Episode 8: Yoko Arimichi
FromThe Echo Chamber
ratings:
Length:
13 minutes
Released:
Oct 6, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
This is an expanded version of a story that originally aired on KALW in 2018 when Yoko Arimichi and her Powell Street Blues Band were celebrating their 40th anniversary at The Saloon in North Beach. The band formed when Yoko was busking around Powell and Market Streets in the late 70s.
Yoko Arimichi and her Powell Street Blues are currently one of the longest running acts at The Saloon, one of San Francisco's oldest bars. Yoko can wail on an electric guitar with a flair that combines B.B. King, Chuck Berry, and Neil Young.
"We arrived [in the US] the same date, different year, but same date, that The Beatles first came to the United States. Every year February 7th I see The Beatles anniversary and I always think, mine too!"
She was born in Japan and raised playing classical music, but her life changed when The Beatles came to the Tokyo Budokan in 1966. She swapped her classical flute for a guitar, finagled passage on an American cargo ship toting Mazdas from Hiroshima, and never looked back.
Special thanks to Yoko Arimichi and her Powell Street Blues Band, Myron Mu and all of the staff at The Saloon. This story was produced in collaboration with Mary Franklin Harvin.
Yoko Arimichi and her Powell Street Blues are currently one of the longest running acts at The Saloon, one of San Francisco's oldest bars. Yoko can wail on an electric guitar with a flair that combines B.B. King, Chuck Berry, and Neil Young.
"We arrived [in the US] the same date, different year, but same date, that The Beatles first came to the United States. Every year February 7th I see The Beatles anniversary and I always think, mine too!"
She was born in Japan and raised playing classical music, but her life changed when The Beatles came to the Tokyo Budokan in 1966. She swapped her classical flute for a guitar, finagled passage on an American cargo ship toting Mazdas from Hiroshima, and never looked back.
Special thanks to Yoko Arimichi and her Powell Street Blues Band, Myron Mu and all of the staff at The Saloon. This story was produced in collaboration with Mary Franklin Harvin.
Released:
Oct 6, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (10)
Welcome to The Echo Chamber: Welcome to The Echo Chamber, a new podcast that takes a closer at music and its effect on history and culture. The first season will feature stories from the Monterey Pop Festival, the Jazz Ambassador program of the Cold War, St. by The Echo Chamber