"Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie": Laura Ellen Hopper, Rest in Peace

I was stunned and shocked and disbelieving when I logged onto the front page of the Santa Cruz Sentinel. These words could not be true: KPIG's founder and program director, Laura Ellen Hopper, dies at 57.

It's been some years since I've seen Laura Ellen, but every day of my life, I think of her, and her husband, Frank Caprista, because of the Benevolent Pig who gazes down in our living room, pictured here above. She's been hanging there since 1998, when Laura Ellen and Frank came to our house for a rare occasion: I was throwing myself a birthday party. They brought the pig for me, and we cleared away the spot of honor for this beautiful ceramic deity.

You may have heard of KPIG, but I don't know how far away you are, or how much you can appreciate a small independent radio station has stayed on the air, true to the vision of its founder, stalwart and stubborn and not taking nothin' off no one.

KPIG is, bar none, the best radio station I've ever known. When trying to describe what "Americana roots" music, I've told people: "You'll hear Lyle Lovett and Tom Petty, but you won't hear Trisha Yearwood or Toby Keith. You'll hear blues, bluegrass, newgrass, Hawaiian slack key guitar, Kebmo, Mr. Dylan, and a slew of other people." It's folk music with bacon grease on its fingers. It's gospel with electric guitars. And it all came from a very small group of people so committed to doing things their own way, and insisting that this was an art form, and a way of life, and it was just a huge family of great people. At the center was Laura Ellen. No B.S., not ever. Not a schmoozer, but as real as anyone could be, all day long. I'd have to say that KPIG went a long way in showing me what it means to be real, and to eschew enterprises that require new wardrobes or new make-up.

I can't describe the presence of KPIG in my life—or in the lives of anyone who comes to Santa Cruz because of the music festivals (aka "Fat Fry"), because of the clubs. It's too rich to sample, too wide to traverse in words, and too big to catch a hold of. And it came in large part from the large heart and keen taste of Laura Ellen. Memorials today mention her "stubbornness" (our birthdays were a day apart: stubborn Taurus women, yes indeed).

I used to have a column in the Santa Cruz Sentinel (thank you, Wallace Baine, who wrote the front page news about her death). I wrote back in 1998 about the Muse of Santa Cruz: about Laura Ellen Hopper and Marin Alsop, music director and conductor of the Cabrillo Music Festival. I wrote:

And then there is my friend, Laura Ellen. We've all just breathed a huge sigh of relief that KPIG avoided being butchered by clueless out-of-towners who reconsidered their greed only when faced with an exodus of listeners that would make the Pied Piper of Hamlin look like the Maytag repairman.

Can you imagine being so dense that you come to a town like Santa Cruz and start giving orders about how much cooler and better you're going to make the coolest radio station in the world BEFORE you've even made a Hog Call? Can you imagine not understanding that all the jokes about pigs, swine, mud, troughs, getting dirty, or porking are just code words for the elite (kind of like a secret club for cool people) that only the humorless don't get?

I don't know what else to add, but I join thousands and thousands and thousands of people in sharing grief that such a towering presence in our community has gone home so young. All the good, good folks at KPIG who had the honor and privilege to work with such a hero: you are all surely blessed beyond the power of words and songs to tell.

That's all for now.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY, from Lyle Lovett:

And there are more I remember
And more I could mention
Than words I could write in a song
But I feel them watching
And I see them laughing
And I hear them singing along

We're all gonna be here forever
So Mama don't you make such a stir
Just put down that camera
And come on and join up
The last of the family reserve

Thanks for visiting. God bless you forever and ever, Laura Ellen. Long may your good works live.

Comments

[Cindy Martino]

The two things I miss most every day here in my new Portland life, the ocean and listening to KPIG. I'd be driving along West Cliff with the windows rolled down and the cool breeze blowin' through my hair and Laura Ellen would play something that made me want to get out of the car and dance. I'd sometimes call her on my cell phone to thank her and then feel slightly silly afterward. I did it the first time I ever heard Jack Johnson on the airwaves.
I think I'll go put some Greg Brown on and have a good long cry.
Makes me want to come home.
Rest In Peace, Laura Ellen, you've made us smile.

[Martha Yost]

Miss Cindy Martino - you don't have to starve - KPIG streams online now - super-free... at www.kpig.com - play it on your computer or any digital device that has MSMediaplayer...

[Cathy]

This is too damned bad. Tana, what a beautiful tribute! I'm sorry you've lost such a friend.

And that is some pig.