The Beat Goes On with Travis Parkin

In 1970, Travis was hired by TransWorld Airlines as an International Flight Purser where he worked onboard Boeing 707 and 747 aircraft between New York and various European destinations. Two years after joining the company, he successfully challenged TWA's hiring practices which prohibited the employment of male stewards and became, effectively, the U.S.'s first modern-day, male flight attendant. In 1973, Parkin moved to New York's East Village and to fill his time when he was not en route to and from Europe, he took a side job as a cab driver. Travis hotwired an eight-track cassette player under the dash of his taxi and arguably became the first NY cabbie to offer "music on demand" to his passengers. While living in NYC, Travis caught the tail end of the folk music explosion and could frequently be found in folk and jazz clubs in the West Village and Harlem. During his six-year tenure with the airlines, Parkin used his destination layovers in Europe to expand both his musical awareness and his personal vinyl collection.

In 1980, Travis relocated to San Francisco where he quickly found a home in the emerging punk rock community which was centered in the city's Mission District. In 1981, he opened Dead End Fashions, the West Coast's first punk rock clothing store (one of his early employees, Bill Gould, went on to co-found and play bass for the experimental alternative rock group, Faith No More). During that time frame, Parkin also published a weekly Bay Area guide to Punk music performances at both underground and established venues. In 1984, Travis opened his first nightclub, The 16th Note, in a vacant San Francisco firehouse on 16th Street in the Mission District. It became the city's first hip-hop and world music night spot. (Travis is credited in Charlie Gillett's The Secret History of World Music with coining—along with legendary World Music DJ, Jonathan E.—the genre term, World Beat.) The Mission was also the home to a large Central- and Latin-American population which provided Travis with considerable exposure to many types of Latin music and associated dance forms.

Parkin moved to Taos, New Mexico, in 1986 where he and his former wife operated an 11-room, bohemian lodging establishment, The Laughing Horse Inn. Described in the New York Times Travel Section (1988) as "the coolest little hotel in the universe," the inn's regular loyal guests included experimental composer and musician, Laurie Anderson as well as folk singer, Kate Wolf. During his time in Taos, Travis was reintroduced to Country & Western music and from 1991 to 1992 he hosted a weekly Alternative Country program, The Radio Ranch, on KAFR-FM in Angel Fire, New Mexico. During the same time period, he was one of the founders of Ramona's Dance Hall, a popular, albeit short-lived Taos nightclub that hosted a number of national acts including Etta James, Asleep At The Wheel, Townes Van Zandt, Sheryl Crow, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, J.J. Cale and others. In 1991, Parkin teamed up with fellow Taos resident and songwriter, Mentor Williams (Drift Away), to write, The Last Time, a contemporary country ballad purchased by Warner Bros. for a Vince Gill and Patti Lovelace duet album that was later scrapped.

Travis relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1993 where he started Guerrilla Graphix, a small, independent graphics firm specializing in logo and print media design for not-for-profit organizations and small businesses. In 2004, he joined the volunteer staff at KUNM-FM, New Mexico's largest public radio station. Although he initially served as the local host for NPR's nightly news program, All Things Considered, within nine months he landed one of the station's highly coveted DJ positions as a regular host of Afternoon Freeform, a two and one-half hour eclectic music program. He has also served as a substitute host for KUNM's All That Jazz, The Blues Show, The Children's Hour, Folk Routes and Overnight Freeform. In March 2008, Travis Parkin launched the The Beat Goes On (www.beatgoeson.org), a syndicated, weekly theme-driven music program that is made available to public radio stations across the US and Canada through the Public Radio Exchange (PRX.org).


			Born in Johnstown, New York, the son of Italian-immigrant, glove factory workers, Travis Parkin grew up listening to his father playing harmonica with a local 50's C&W band. The small town of 10,000 people boasted a single radio station, WENT-AM, that played Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb and other country artists of the day. Parkin: "As a school boy growing up in the sticks, listening to that station at the breakfast table each morning was pretty much my introduction to music." In the early 60's, Parkin's family moved 50 miles south to Albany, New York, where he attended inner-city junior and senior high schools, both with large African-American student populations. It was during this time that he discovered R&B, soul music, jazz and the Motown sound. Pee Wee Harris, the father of Travis's close friend, Eddie Harris, was the owner of Albany's only Jazz and Soul record shop, Ten Eyck Records. Parkin's first DJ experience came at the age of 16 when he cajoled Pee Wee into sponsoring a weekly Friday-night Soul music program on Albany's WABY-AM. Travis and Eddie co-hosted the show for nearly two yearsA standout student and athlete, Parkin was awarded a State Regents Scholarship and went on to study Journalism at the State University of New York at Albany.
		In 1970, Travis was hired by TransWorld Airlines as an International Flight Purser where he worked onboard Boeing 707 and 747 aircraft between New York and various European destinations. Two years after joining the company, he successfully challenged TWA's hiring practices which prohibited the employment of male stewards and became, effectively, the U.S.'s first modern-day, male flight attendant. In 1973, Parkin moved to New York's East Village and to fill his time when he was not en route to and from Europe, he took a side job as a cab driver. Travis hotwired an eight-track cassette player under the dash of his taxi and arguably became the first NY cabbie to offer "music on demand" to his passengers. While living in NYC, Travis caught the tail end of the folk music explosion and could frequently be found in folk and jazz clubs in the West Village and Harlem. During his six-year tenure with the airlines, Parkin used his destination layovers in Europe to expand both his musical awareness and his personal vinyl collection. In 1980, Travis relocated to San Francisco where he quickly found a home in the emerging punk rock community which was centered in the city's Mission District. In 1981, he opened Dead End Fashions, the West Coast's first punk rock clothing store (one of his early employees, Bill Gould, went on to co-found and play bass for the experimental alternative rock group, Faith No More). During that time frame, Parkin also published a weekly Bay Area guide to Punk music performances at both underground and established venues. In 1984, Travis opened his first nightclub, The 16th Note, in a vacant San Francisco firehouse on 16th Street in the Mission District. It became the city's first hip-hop and world music night spot. (Travis is credited in Charlie Gillett's The Secret History of World Music with coining—along with legendary World Music DJ, Jonathan E.—the genre term, World Beat.) The Mission was also the home to a large Central- and Latin-American population which provided Travis with considerable exposure to many types of Latin music and associated dance forms. Parkin moved to Taos, New Mexico, in 1986 where he and his former wife operated an 11-room, bohemian lodging establishment, The Laughing Horse Inn. Described in the New York Times Travel Section (1988) as "the coolest little hotel in the universe," the inn's regular loyal guests included experimental composer and musician, Laurie Anderson as well as folk singer, Kate Wolf. During his time in Taos, Travis was reintroduced to Country & Western music and from 1991 to 1992 he hosted a weekly Alternative Country program, The Radio Ranch, on KAFR-FM in Angel Fire, New Mexico. During the same time period, he was one of the founders of Ramona's Dance Hall, a popular, albeit short-lived Taos nightclub that hosted a number of national acts including Etta James, Asleep At The Wheel, Townes Van Zandt, Sheryl Crow, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, J.J. Cale and others. In 1991, Parkin teamed up with fellow Taos resident and songwriter, Mentor Williams (Drift Away), to write, The Last Time, a contemporary country ballad purchased by Warner Bros. for a Vince Gill and Patti Lovelace duet album that was later scrapped. Travis relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1993 where he started Guerrilla Graphix, a small, independent graphics firm specializing in logo and print media design for not-for-profit organizations and small businesses. In 2004, he joined the volunteer staff at KUNM-FM, New Mexico's largest public radio station. Although he initially served as the local host for NPR's nightly news program, All Things Considered, within nine months he landed one of the station's highly coveted DJ positions as a regular host of Afternoon Freeform, a two and one-half hour eclectic music program. He has also served as a substitute host for KUNM's All That Jazz, The Blues Show, The Children's Hour, Folk Routes and Overnight Freeform. In March 2008, Travis Parkin launched the The Beat Goes On (www.beatgoeson.org), a syndicated, weekly theme-driven music program that is made available to public radio stations across the US and Canada through the Public Radio Exchange (PRX.org).