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Feb. 7, 2025: All-rounder

We're bringing you a well rounded course of music and context.

Live Music Friday brings Le Vent du Nord to the studios ahead of their show in South Hadley this evening. The group has spent decades seamlessly blending new and old french folk songs into their repertoire, and they tell us about the appeal of preserving and growing those traditions.

We also spend time with rising bass phenom Endea Owens. From Detroit to Julliard to Jon Batiste's band on The Late Show to humanitarian work with the Community Cookout, she's been making a name for herself everywhere. We hear about her inspirations and many collaborations before you can catch her band onstage at the UMass Fine Arts Center tonight.

The Super Bowl is this weekend, but it's been a struggle to see equity in the field. Professor Ousmane Power-Greene joins us for another Power of History segment to look at the legacy of Black quarterbacks in the NFL, the evolution of the halftime show and where Kendrick Lamar's presence fits in that line.

And, we head back to our origins in the Tina Turner Memorial Wine Thunderdome at State Street Fruit Store where we eschew the call for hearty reds in these cold times for a touch of spring in French rosé instead.

Le Vent Du Nord
Endea Owens
Power of History
Black quarterbacks
Rosé at State Street Fruit Store

Christopher “Monte'' Belmonte is host and executive producer of NEPM's The Fabulous 413. He was born and raised in Massachusetts and has been a radio host in western Massachusetts for the last 20 years — the last 17 of them as host of Mornings with Monte on The River 93.9/WRSI.
Kaliis Smith is a radio host and producer for NEPM's The Fabulous 413. She was most recently host and producer at The River 93.9/WRSI where she appeared on Mornings with Monte for the Nerdwatch segment and hosted weekday evenings.