Conversation Live: Altadena Rising with James Farr

Is SoCal Edison’s “Fast Pay” Program Truly Fast and Fair? In Part Two of this conversation, Tavis Smiley, Chief Visionary Officer and flagship host of KBLA Talk 1580, and KBLA host James Farr lead an Altadena Town Hall on Thursday, November 6, 2025, where fire survivors are still left without answers to critical questions about SCE’s settlement fund. Tavis and James are joined by fire victims, com...

s SoCal Edison’s “Fast Pay” Program Truly Fast and Fair? In part one in this town hall conversation, KBLA Talk 1580’s Chief Visionary Officer and flagship host, Tavis Smiley, along with KBLA host James Farr, lead an important discussion in Altadena on Thursday, November 6, 2025, where fire survivors are still left without answers to critical questions about SCE’s settlement fund. Tavis and James a...

In this episode of 'Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr — “Somebody Didn’t Do Their Damn Job.” Nine months since the Eaton Canyon Fire… and now this so-called “After Action Report” lands. Polished up, typed out — but it doesn’t tell us a thing we didn’t already know. Folks in Altadena lived this. We smelled the smoke. We heard the sirens. We watched the hills burn while the power l...

On this podcast episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr — Freddy Sayegh. Fire survivor. Lost seven properties. Now leading Alta Design Works to help neighbors rebuild. Homes. Hope. Community. Victoria Williams joins next. Founder of the Black Education Expo, connecting students, parents, and educators with tools and support for fire survivors. Books. Career panels. Mental h...

On this podcast, "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr, Andre Barnwell joins the conversation. A writer, producer, director, and fire survivor still displaced from his home, Barnwell is shaping a TV drama rooted in Altadena. Youth voices at the center. Local crews behind the camera. Production dollars are flowing back into the foothills. But Hollywood already moved. Kenya Barris, Mi...

On this podcast episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr. Congresswoman Judy Chu will face the burning question: Will survivors ever see real relief, or will the system tax, delay, and deny them? She sits on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, shaping aid, safety nets, and recovery dollars. Eight months after the Eaton Fire, Altadena still waits for answers. And the...

On this podcast episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr—Dr. Cornel West. A Black prophetic voice. Scholar. Truth-teller. Together, we mark Altadena as sacred Black ground. Memory stands a weapon against erasure. Fire scarred it. Displacement tested it. Still, the people rise. We confront disaster capitalism. Carry Sankofa lessons forward. Ask tomorrow’s questions today. If...

Coming up on this podcast episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr, seven months. Eleven days. After the Eaton Canyon Fire, Jarvis Emerson broke ground for his Black Altadena family’s home. A home lost to flames. Shovels in hand. Soil that once burned. He begins to rebuild. We were there. Witnessed the prayers.—the joy. The hope taking shape. In this conversation, we take yo...

On the podcast episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr, Dr. Brent Musson joins us to ask the question Black Altadena is still living with thirty-two weeks after the fire: Generational Wealth Re? Imagined. Musson, an Altadena native, housing policy expert, award-winning researcher, former Town Council member, and TEDx Altadena organizer, brings insight shaped by expertise an...

On this episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr, seven months after the Eaton Canyon fire, who’s helping Altadena — and who’s just putting on a show? Pasadena NAACP President Brandon Lamar joins us to break it down. Neighbors are feeding and housing families with dignity, building systems that work. Even in success, there are lessons. From Hollywood and political candidates...

On this episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr, rebuilding isn’t just brick and mortar. It’s power, politics, and who gets left behind. Mayor Karen Bass breaks down L.A.’s push after the Palisades fire — fast-tracking permits, cutting red tape, and President Trump's response. In Altadena, builder Joel Bryant has put a shovel in the dirt, helping a Black family start again...

On this episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising" with James Farr, the fire is out, and the smoke is gone. But for students in Altadena, rebuilding and finding new normals are just beginning. Dr. Lawton Gray, principal of John Muir High School and a son of Pasadena and Altadena, joins the conversation to discuss how schools are responding to the lasting impact of the Eaton Canyon fire. From...

On the next episode of The “Conversation Live: Altadena Rising” with James Farr, a powerful and personal conversation with Dennis Robinson, great-nephew of Olympian Mack Robinson and Major League Baseball legend Jackie Robinson. We talk legacy, loss, and how his Pasadena-rooted brand, PASADENA CLSC, reclaims pride and reshapes narrative through art and culture. From Mack’s silver medal sprint in f...

On this episode of “Conversation Live: Altadena Rising,” James Farr — Martin Gordon, Chair of the Pasadena Community Coalition, returns to share where things stand six months after the fire that scorched his home and rattled a community. His story mirrors what many feel: the flames are gone, but so is the help. While Southern California Edison avoids accountability, residents rely on patience and...

On this podcast of “Conversation Live: Altadena Rising,” James Farr sits down with Laurence Todd, founder of the Pasadena Sports Hall of Fame, to explore the rich athletic legacy of Northwest Dena — where Altadena and Pasadena blur as one community. Known names like Jackie and Mack Robinson are just the beginning. This region has produced Olympians, Super Bowl champs, MLB stars, and NBA legends —...

How does a community move forward after disaster—and who gets to decide what recovery looks like? In this episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising," host James Farr sits down with Dir. Jeffrey Marino from California’s Office of Data and Innovation. They’ll talk about Engaged California, a platform designed to bring fire survivors and residents directly into the state’s decision-making proces...

Altadena burned—and the people still want answers. On "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising," host James Farr sits down with L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger this week. Why were evacuation alerts late? Who failed to protect Altadena—and especially its Black community? Across Los Angeles, ICE raids are intensifying. U.S. Marines have been deployed. Masked federal agents are saturating neighborho...

Five months after flames tore through Altadena—leveling homes, rattling lives, and eroding public trust—the burning question remains: could more have been done? In this episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising," host James Farr sits down with retired Fire Captain Addington Stewart, former president of the International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters. Drawing on decades of fr...

On this episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising," James Farr sits down with Rodney Benford and John 'Jon Jon' Harreld of the legendary R&B quintet TROOP—short for 'Total Respect of Other People.' They were just 'Dena' kids with big dreams before the platinum records, sold-out tours, Arsenio Hall Show appearances, and their iconic cameo in New Jack City. Their chart-topping hits—“Spread...

What happens when a community is forced to start over—again? In this episode of “Conversation Live: Altadena Rising,” James Farr sits down with Tina Jackson Williams, Vice Chair of the Pasadena 710 Restorative Justice Committee, for an urgent conversation on how Black families lost their homes, not once, but twice. First, through eminent domain and freeway expansion that bulldozed vibrant Black ne...

On this episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising," host James Farr turns the spotlight on the nearly 1,800 small and home-based businesses impacted by the January wildfires across L.A. County—none harder hit than Altadena. These businesses—cafés, barbershops, childcare centers, and solo entrepreneurs—are the backbone of the local economy. “What happens to a community,” Farr asks, “when the b...

On this episode of Conversation Live: Altadena Rising, host James Farr welcomes Darrin “DL” Lyons—celebrity barber, community icon, and entrepreneur with deep roots in Altadena. DL shares the unforgettable night he and his mother braved the Eaton Canyon fire, fighting to save his barbershop from destruction. With embers the size of softballs falling from the sky, he acted on instinct and faith, us...

On this episode of “Conversation Live: Altadena Rising” with James Farr, we explore what it truly means to rebuild in Altadena after the Eaton Canyon fire. Erica Alexis of Bridgeline Construction reveals the unseen struggles—grief, stalled insurance claims, and the pressure to make life-altering decisions while still healing. She urges survivors to resist the rush and rebuild with care, purpose, a...

In the aftermath of the Altadena Eaton Canyon Fire, two beloved voices — Perry Bennett, owner of Perry’s Joint, and Senior Pastor Jonathan DeCuir of Victory Bible Church — share powerful stories of resilience and renewal. In this episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising," host James Farr guides listeners to an unfiltered look at the devastation left behind, the joyful moments that emerged, a...

Altadena burned once—will it be burned again by those in power? In this urgent episode of "Conversation Live: Altadena Rising," host James Farr sits down with L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman and Assessor Jeffrey Prang to get real answers. As the community recovers from the Eaton Canyon fire, Farr presses Hochman on whether Southern California Edison will face criminal charges. The con...