KPFK 90.7 announces its honorees for the 2nd Annual KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute.

The Hero Awards is a benefit series for the Los Angeles-based Pacifica Radio station. The event honors icons of our time that have left an impact on music and community.

Click picture of Gil above for Promo

This year’s honoree is Gil Scott-Heron (musician/political poet),

A Tribute to Charlie Haden by LeRoy Downs

with special awards to Charlie Haden (musician/activist), Fernando Pullum (musician/educator) and a Lifetime Achievement Award to Pete Seeger (musician/activist) for his contributions as an artist and activist in the U.S.

The 2nd Annual KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute is set to take place on

Sunday, May 6th, 2012

7PM

 VIP Reception from 5-7pm with Silent Auction

•Jackson Browne •John Densmore (The Doors) Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith •Violinist Lili Haydn •Nailah Porter • Roger Guenveur Smith • Rock DJ Jim Ladd, The Haden Triplets, Jack Black, Josh Haden and Spain, John Trudell, Students from the Fernando Pullum Performing Arts High School Jazz Ensemble,  and with a special youth performance from the 32nd Street Jazz Band. Brian Jackson, Music Director (long-time collaborator with Gil Scott-Heron), LeRoy Downs

and Host: Richard Montoya,

The KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute launched in 2010 honoring Jazz legend Billy Higgins. The idea for the series was the result of a heartfelt on-air conversation between KPFK Music Director Maggie LePique and musician Charles Lloyd about Billy Higgins, during which LePique thought it would be relevant for KPFK 90.7 to mark the upcoming 10th anniversary of Higgins’ death by celebrating his life and body of work.

She enlisted Kasey Lovelace, Music Consultant and friend of the Higgins family to develop the idea into a full-scale event. Catalina Popescu, owner of Catalina Bar and Grill, honored her long friendship with LePique and Higgins by donating her world-renowned venue for the tribute by Higgins’ esteemed contemporaries such as Stanley Clarke, Charles Lloyd, George Duke, Kenny Burrell, with Music Director John Beasley, among others who performed to a “standing room only” audience. The demand from both the music and public affairs community has prompted the station to continue as an annual award series.

KPFK 90.7 FM is a member station of the Pacifica Foundation, which consists of five radio stations, over 100 affiliate stations, and the Pacifica Radio Archives, responsible for preserving the voices of artists, activists and progressive journalists since 1949, when the foundation was established by peace activist Lew Hill. To further peace through broadcasting activities, Hill determined that radio sponsored by individual listeners would be the best way to ensure editorial freedom. The KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute is a means to both raise funds and advance the Pacifica Mission.

For updates on the 2nd Annual KPFK Hero Awards and Tribute log onto www.kpfk.org

Email: heroawards@KPFK.org

For general information contact the KPFK Hero Awards Hotline at

(818) 985-2711 ext. 361