We are saddened by the loss of our colleague and friend, Bobbee Zeno, Founding Producer and Host of Experience Talks. His legacy will live on in the community he loved and served.
EngAGE Founder and Executive Director Tim Carpenter created the photo tribute below in honor of Bobbee. Please click on the photos to enlarge them. They’re really quite wonderful!
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- Bobbee Zeno and me walking to KPFK for the first show I co-hosted with him on Experience Talks, me nervous, Bobbee the consummate mentor/friend…
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- Bobbee Zeno onstage with the Experience Talks band at a live recording of the show at the Burbank Senior Artists Colony, where Bobbee was EngAGE’s first Program Director. Bobbee created a sense of community there that will last long beyond his passing.
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- Bobbee Zeno and me experiencing guitar legend PETE ANDERSON and MOOT DAVIS performing live in studio with us at KPFK on Experience Talks.
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- Bobbee Zeno and me with dancer/choreographer RUDY PEREZ and master marionette man BOB BAKER at KPFK after interviewing them on Experience Talks.
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- Bobbee Zeno, me, our house band, and our hero, Education-whisperer PAUL CUMMINS after recording Experience Talks at KPFK Studios.
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- Bobbee Zeno and me in studio at KPFK interviewing DICK VAN PATTEN on Experience Talks.
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- Bobbee Zeno, Rebecca Novick and BARBARA MORRISON singing live with our house band on Experience Talks in studio at KPFK.
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- Bobbee Zeno, Rebecca Novick and tap dancer extraordinaire ARDIE BRYANT at KPFK after recording Experience Talks.
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- SHERRY JACKSON PRUITT killing it on Experience Talks live on the air at KPFK with our in-studio band, and our fallen comrade Bobbee Zeno and me sitting to Sherry’s left, thinking we have a pretty cool gig…
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- An Experience Talks great moment at KPFK – Bobbee Zeno, me, our crew, Mark Maxwell, our studio band… and KENNY BURRELL, a close friend of Bobbee’s, just another amazing person who Bobbee opened our world to. RIP Bobbee, miss you.
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- ZAC HARMON and LESTER CHAMBERS (THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS) tearing it up live on Experience Talks at KPFK, with me and our fallen partner/friend Bobbee Zeno sitting to their right, with our jaws on the floor.
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- Bobbee Zeno with BILLY CHILDS after their interview on Experience Talks on KPFK, RIP Bobbee our dear friend.
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- Bobbee Zeno, me and ED ASNER at KPFK after our on-air chat on Experience Talks. RIP, Bobbee.
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- Bobbee Zeno and Tim Carpenter with THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS.
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- My brother and partner and friend Bobbee Zeno and me acting the fools in front of hundreds of seniors at the EngAGE Senior Olympics. Can’t believe he’s gone, sad day. Bobbee opened my world to so many amazing people, artists, Angelenos, he was the great connector, he made me smile and his laugh could lift you up. Working with him on Experience Talks and listening to his radio shows, Blues Power and Culture-Vortex made life bigger, grander, like him. Love, brotha, much love.
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- Bobbee Zeno in my home office posing for a promo shot for Experience Talks taken by ET’s own Cynthia Friedlob. We were trying to make it look like a radio station shot and Bobbee was cracking up.The smile, man, I gotta tell you.
I loved Z very much, he was very cultured and kind person, I loved talking the blues music with him, it was never ending subject that took on many shadows. The brother is reborn elsewhere but he still lives the heart- Much Love Sunil
I was suprised to hear about the death of Mr. Zeno. He was key in bringing the Tuskegee Airmen to our campus for Black History month, only a few weeks before he died. He seemed to be a loving and generous man who thought of community first. I am sorry I will not have the chance to fellowship with him more, which is what I was looking for to this year.
Thank you for your kind comments. EngAGE is dedicating our annual “EngAGE in Creativity” event to Bobbee this year. It’s open to the public and you are welcome to join us. It’s happening on Saturday, May 31st, from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. at the Burbank Senior Artists Colony, 240 E Verdugo Ave, Burbank, CA 91502. Check our website at http://www.engagedaging.org for more information. Hope to see you there!
I am so sorry to learn of Bobbee’s passing. I am so late and sad. I got to know Bobbee during our time working together at the California African American Museum. I called him Bobbee Zed, and whenever I did a big ol’ smile would crease his face. He has left this plane, gone but never forgotten. I can see from the many messages and photographs that he touched many lives. I am glad that he touched mine.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Rick. I think we’re all still trying to assimilate the fact that Bobbee’s gone. I’m glad you have fond memories of him, as we do.