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Raised in musical family, Giulio Xavier Cetto's musical influences range from his Venezuelan-Italian heritage to Bay Area rap. Giulio can play multiple styles and genres with ease, but at the intersection of jazz and hip hop is where his artistry truly shines. He brings an electric energy to his performances, encouraging audiences to not only vibe, but to get up and dance.
Playing tribute to these genres, Giulio hosts and performs at a reoccurring "Sunday Slaps" night at San Francisco's beloved jazz venue, Black Cat. He also curates a weekly jazz set at Golden Gate Park's Stowe Lake Boathouse.
Between gigging and recording with notable musicians including Kev Choice, Spelling, Kassa Overall, and Fantastic Negrito, he leads and composes original music for his own jazz band, Big Trippin. On their debut album, which drops this year, you can hear Giulio's passion for jazz and hip hop.
On Rightnowish, Giulio talks about his favorite San Francisco venues to perform in, how the synthesis between jazz and hip-hop shape his sound and why the bass (upright and electric) is the heart of music.

Dr. Angela Wellman’s musical journey traces back to her upbringing in Kansas City, MO. As a young person involved in a music training initiative that was backed by the CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) program, she found the trombone– or rather, it found her.
In 2005, after music carried her around the map, Angela founded the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music as a way to assist Black and brown kids in accessing musical education. Now, after receiving numerous accolades for her work, including the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Study Fellowship and being inducted into the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame, Dr. Wellman recently completed her doctorate degree in education. The focus of her dissertation: the importance of access to music for Black and brown children.

Dimming one's light in the face of haters is not something Lidia Rodriguez knows how to do. Whenever she gets comments from guys about her size or gender, the baritone player is quick to clap back with a joke and prove them wrong. "When I'm playing my bari sax, I feel huge. I feel powerful. I feel seven feet tall. I feel like no one could tell me s**t. Like I feel so good about myself. "
Lidia Rodriguez is a musical force performing and recording across genre. She gets down playing cumbia with La Misa Negra, rocks stages with electronic group Madame Gandhi, and even goes dumb while performing with the Golden State Warriors brass band, the Bay Blue Notes.
Growing up in Mudville a.k.a Stockton, and later attending San Jose State, Lidia says she is a product of public music education. Now, as an educator herself, teaching bilingual music lessons, Lidia is not only training the next generation of musicians but also nurturing students to be self compassionate and authentically themselves.
On this week's Rightnowish, Lidia Rodriguez talks about the power of showing up as her full self (a queer and Latina saxophonist) in music spaces and her mission to spread the power of "peace, love and sax."

Welcome to the first episode of Liner Notes, the Rightnowish podcast series all about jazz in the Bay Area. We're starting this off with a conversation with someone who has a wealth of knowledge, especially when it comes to jazz, Greg Bridges.
As a journalist and longtime radio host at Bay Area radio stations KCSM and KPFA, Greg is steeped in Bay Area jazz history. As a reoccurring host of events like the San Jose Jazz Festival, he also has his finger on the current pulse of the culture.

This episode originally aired on April 22, 2022 .
Terisa Siagatonu's poetry navigates climate change and its impact on marginalized communities from the lens of someone who was proudly raised in San Francisco, by a family with deep Samoan roots.
In our conversation, Terisa looks back at January 2022's underwater eruption that caused massive tsunamis in Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and other nations in Oceania. Initially, the disaster made headlines and relief efforts filled social media feeds, but Terisa questions what sustained care looks like for those impacted by a changing global climate.
This week on Rightnowish, Terisa Siagatonu discusses climate justice and how she "languages" her experience.
 

This piece was originally a part of Rightnowish's 2021 series, Roll With Us, all about the Bay Area's community and culture on wheels.
Every Sunday San Francisco's Richard Humphrey teaches weekly roller dance classes in San Leandro; his students have the honor of learning from someone who has been on quad skates for five decades.
From 1979 to 1988, Richard was a part of the Golden Rollers, a trio of skaters who regularly performed in Golden Gate Park.
By now, Richard has taught thousands of people his signature skating style of "roller dance" (even Dr. Oz) through in-person classes and video tutorials.
After noticing the rise of skating's popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, Richard wanted to make sure folks knew that skating has a deep-seated culture with a history that pre-dates the internet, and moves that sparkled on the rink long before most viral stars were born.
This week on Rightnowish, we roll into Memorial Day weekend-- the unofficial start of summer-- with the legendary Richard Humphrey.