K C Porter

Karl Cameron "K.C." Porter crouches before the blinking 80-track SL 9000 recording console, body pulsating with the sounds: a strummed cuatro guitar, the muted strains of a piano montuno, clicking castanets, a fat, implied clave bumping from low drum hits. Porter eyes the engineer sitting nearby and grins. "Oye, pero tiene swing, Papa!" Porter exclaims. (Translation: Hey, this has swing, man.

Karl Cameron "K.C." Porter crouches before the blinking 80-track SL 9000 recording console, body pulsating with the sounds: a strummed cuatro guitar, the muted strains of a piano montuno, clicking castanets, a fat, implied clave bumping from low drum hits. Porter eyes the engineer sitting nearby and grins. "Oye, pero tiene swing, Papa!" Porter exclaims. (Translation: Hey, this has swing, man.

The Bahai communities of Ventura County and western Los Angeles County will hold their third annual Race Unity Day on June 24 in Oxnard's Plaza Park. The event will feature arts and crafts, food, dance and diverse music. Grammy-winner K. C. Porter and Colombian singer Lenor Daly will perform, and race-relations specialist Sharon Firooz will share ideas on raising prejudice-free children. The event will run from noon to 4 p.m. at the park, at 5th and C streets.

After a three-decade career packed with critical acclaim and commercial landmarks, Carlos Santana might not have anything to prove. But you wouldn't know it from his first studio album in almost a decade. Santana's guitar soars throughout the vigorous "Supernatural" (due in stores Tuesday), stimulated by a host of young guest artists, from Wyclef Jean and Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas to Dave Matthews and producer K.C. Porter. All of them enhance the album in multiple and unexpected ways.

Whenever New York shopkeeper Shedeh Tanner and her family hear of someone traveling to Iran, they conspire to smuggle two highly illegal substances to her sister, who sells them secretly from her own store--things so disdained by the Iranian government that anyone caught with them can be fined, jailed or publicly whipped. The contraband? Cassette and videotapes by a pop star named Andy.

It's easy to get an opinion from Khaled, the Algerian singer-songwriter known as the "King of Rai." Ask a question and the words pour out, a tumble of ideas interspersed with his hearty laughter. All of which makes sense, since rai -- in addition to being the name of a hugely popular style of North African music -- is an Arabic word for "opinion." And Khaled, as one of the genre's pioneer practitioners, is a master at expressing his opinion.

It's not the first place mainstream American record scouts might look for the next English-language female folk-pop star. After all, the other big names in the genre lately have all come from chilly, English-speaking lands--Paula Cole from Massachusetts, Fiona Apple from New York, Sarah McLachlan from Canada, Jewel from Alaska. But sunny Guadalajara is where singer-songwriter Elan Sara DeFan, 16, was born and raised. And more than a couple of important people in the mainstream U.S.

He's only 23, but Ricky Martin titled his latest album "A medio vivir," which translates as "Halfway Through Life." Looking at his life up to now it's hard to blame him. A Latin American superstar at the age of 12 as a member of the teen-sensation bubblegum group Menudo, he's packed enough experiences into his young existence--good and bad--for someone twice his age. In the years since he left Menudo at 17, he's struggled to gain artistic credibility...

Mass Schedule at St. Anthony's * St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Oxnard will celebrate Mass at 5:15 p.m. today. The sacrament of penance will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Mass will be said at 7:30, 9 and 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Spanish-language Mass will be said at 12 and 1:30 p.m. The church is at 2511 South C St. For more information, call 486-7301.

There were plenty of surprises at the Grammy Awards this year: Jenny's "dress." Sting's win over Ricky. Whitney's middle finger. But the seven Latin categories seemed uniquely plagued with shockers. To paraphrase several Latin music writers nationwide, this year's winners in the field were questionable at best. Particularly curious were Ruben Blades' win in Latin pop with a neoclassical work, and Tito Puente's victory over popular favorite Ibrahim Ferrer in traditional tropical.

* Calvary Community Church of Westlake Village will dedicate and open its new children's playground at 4 p.m. today. Kelsey's Playground is a 27,000-square-foot play area that will be available to all programs and ministries of the church. The playground was named for a child of a Calvary community family. Kelsey Farwell died several years ago, and members of the community, friends of the family and church members have donated money, time and materials to develop the play area.