Crosscurrents

You probably know Jim Riggs best by the back of his head. He's often seen rising out of the stage in Bay Area movie theaters playing the organ. He is among a handful of people in the world who can tame the Mighty Wurlitzer, a massive instrument with eighteen hundred pipes, 244 keys, and 32 foot pedals. April Dembosky sat down with Riggs at the Paramount Theater in Oakland to talk about the history of the organ, his technique, and what it's like being an anonymous celebrity.

DEMBOSKY: Can you explain the anatomy of the organ? It seems very complicated.

We're going for a little ride around the streets of San Francisco, taking a tour of our answer to Tinseltown. Hear the sounds of Bullitt, Vertigo, Dark Passage, the Conversation and more as we hit historic sites of the city with film historian Steven Kovacs. We'll also take a film noir look at who's trying to kill independent theaters, and we'll meet the man behind the mighty Wurlitzer at great movie palaces. Whet your appetite for the Oscars with Crosscurrents' movie show: today at 5.

by Hajar Abdul-Rahim

My father always said, "You don't understand the price of freedom." But I do know I understand the price of being robbed of my right to grow up around grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I know the price of growing up nation-less. The price of having no national identity. The cost of not knowing who I am or where I am from.

The current state of The Occupy Movement, a listener commentary on Occupy, Bay Area activist heroes, and local musician Emily Jane White.

Bad news for pot lovers: the City of Berkeley has ordered two medical cannabis collectives to close down. According to officials, collectives are acting like rental dispensaries and violating the city's municipal code…