Jacoba Atlas
Jacoba Atlas wrote for Melody Maker in the UK and also for Circus, the Los Angeles Free Press and KRLA Beat in the US. She is an Emmy and Peabody Award winning writer and producer, with extensive experience as a broadcast executive, at NBC News, Turner Broadcasting, CNN and PBS.
She is president of Creative Visions Productions, a multi-media company whose mission is to use media to inform, engage and inspire. Among CVP’s projects – the award-winning documentary Dying to Tell the Story (short listed for an Academy Award) about journalists in conflict zones, Soldiers of Peace about efforts by teens to end the conflict in Colombia both of which aired on TNT, CVP is currently in production on a feature film, The Journey is the Destination, about the life of photojournalist Dan Eldon, who was killed at twenty-two while covering the conflict in Somalia for Reuters and is developing a feature documentary based on Dr. Ira Byock’s groundbreaking book, The Best Care Possible, about end of life issues.
Jacoba began her broadcast career at NBC news, including five years as Senior Producer of TODAY, overseeing more than ten hours of live programming each week. She is the author of the novel Palace of Light, which was published by Dutton.
53 articles
List of articles in the library
The Four Seasons: Four Seasons Speaking of Success
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 12 August 1967
LOS ANGELES – The Four Seasons came to the West Coast to perform in the area for the first time and completely conquered all who ...
Hippies: How? Why? What Does It Mean?
Report by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 26 August 1967
SAN FRANCISCO – Five o'clock in the afternoon. The going home traffic already crowding the freeway to a frustrating halt. ...
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 4 November 1967
GROWING UP in the poorer section of Los Angeles is not one of the easiest things that can happen to a child. Breaking the cycle ...
The American Breed: Back To The Hard Rock Sound
Profile and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 13 January 1968
CREATING A sound that is totally hard rock and commercial is something that a good many groups strive for, and only a few manage to ...
Phil Ochs: The Extraordinary Mind Of Phil Ochs
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 13 January 1968
PHIL OCHS has packed concert houses from New York's famed Carnegie Hall to the Santa Monica Civic auditorium, has sung at Civil Rights Marches in ...
Harry Nilsson: Nilsson: An Underground Artist Surfaces
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 27 January 1968
NILSSON IS a new singer-composer who is wholly unique. It is totally superfluous to compare him to anyone else on the pop scene today, for ...
Light Shows: Adventure Into Experimental Living
Report and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 24 February 1968
THERE'S A revolution happening; happening on all levels of society. From the streets to the museums people are talking about new trends, new ways of ...
The Rascals: Shooting The Rascals
Report by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 24 February 1968
SOUNDSTAGES EVEN at major motion picture studios tend to be barns. But when you rent one on Sunset Blvd. down the street from Columbia Pictures ...
Arlo Guthrie Telling His Story
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 9 March 1968
HE'S SLIGHT OF build with long hair that hangs almost to his shoulders in curls. At 20, he is an incredible mixture of youth and ...
Profile and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 9 March 1968
THE REVOLUTION in pop music has produced some extraordinary people. Attracting poets, jazz musicians and classical music enthusiasts, the field has now expanded into a ...
Rod McKuen: 'We're Being Bombarded With Love'
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 23 March 1968
ARE WE rushing headlong into another Romantic Era? The Doors, the Stones, Allen Ginsberg and Andy Warhol all belie that fact, but other trends seem ...
Janis Ian, Judy Collins, Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin: The Folk Poets: Hardin, Buckley, Ian & Collins
Profile by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 23 March 1968
MUSIC HAS become a very personal thing. With the advance of the writer-singer, songs have become an expression of internal feelings mirrored for everyone. These ...
The Doors: An Interview with Jim Morrison and The Doors
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Hullabaloo, October 1968
THE DOORS' OFFICE is in a brightly painted yellow stucco building set back off Santa Monica Boulevard. Located over an antique shop, it boasts a ...
Profile and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Hullabaloo, October 1968
He says that if he doesn't die, he'll be rich and famous. Probably, all things being equal. In most instances, the legend looms larger than ...
The Doors: An Interview with Jim Morrison and The Doors, Pt 2
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Hullabaloo, November 1968
Q: Are you doing anything with films at the moment? ...
The Doors: An Interview with Jim Morrison and The Doors, Pt 3: A Doors Rap
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Hullabaloo, December 1968
Jim, Ray, Robby, and John rap about the similarities and differences between rock and jazz, commercialism, Waiting for the Sun, singles, and the Jim Morrison ...
Arthur Brown: The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
Profile and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Hullabaloo, December 1968
ARTHUR BROWN is after your soul. As he is lowered on stage by a thin wire that tempts fate, his full-length robe whips about him ...
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Hullabaloo, January 1969
JOHN KAY, lead singer and songwriter of the fast-emerging Steppenwolf, wears dark glasses and has been called by one pop reviewer the logical alternative for ...
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Hullabaloo, February 1969
THE JIMI Hendrix Experience just spent six weeks in Los Angeles, ensconced in a rambling home in Benedict Canyon that was once occupied by the ...
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Hullabaloo, February 1969
ATHOUGH HERMANN Hesse could never have imagined him, Steppenwolf's John Kay is fast becoming a culture hero via printed words (his own, naturally). Here, Kay, ...
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, March 1969
PART TWO of my rap with Jimi Hendrix was concluded just before the elections in November. It is interesting to compare Hendrix's concepts of America ...
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, March 1969
Part Three of the interview with Steppenwolf's John Kay. ...
The Band: Civic Auditorium, Pasadena CA
Live Review by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 7 February 1970
LOS ANGELES, Tuesday: The Band, rapidly reaching the pinnacle of respect enjoyed by only a handful of groups in America, performed two sold-out concerts in ...
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, March 1970
IN RECENT weeks, Led Zeppelin's records have sold better than both the Beatles' and the Rolling Stones', according to Billboard Magazine's charts. And the reason ...
Delaney & Bonnie talking to Jacoba Atlas
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 21 March 1970
DELANEY, BONNIE and Friends from the southern half of these here United States are home grown and home sown but they had to travel to ...
Mick Jagger: Performance: A Victory For The Directors
Film/DVD/TV Review by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 11 April 1970
IT'S DANGEROUS and more than slightly unfair to review a film before its final cut; but Performance is too exceptional to wait. I was fortunate enough to ...
James Taylor: The Saga of Sweet Baby James
Profile by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, May 1970
"Goodnight you moonlight ladies Rock-a-bye Sweet Baby James" ...
Profile by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, June 1970
"MAYBE SOME group will come along and be big, you know, but who cares. It's just happened so many times now," said Neil Young in ...
Aretha Franklin: International Hotel, Las Vegas
Live Review by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 20 June 1970
Aretha's great re-birth ...
Joni Mitchell: Let's Make Life More Romantic
Profile and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 20 June 1970
JONI MITCHELL is a poet whose time has come. Because she uses the vehicle of music, her words and thoughts reach out to countless minds. ...
Dr. John: How Do Voodoo, I'm Doctor John
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 27 June 1970
DR. JOHN The Night Tripper is an original. Claiming to be a high priest of voodoo, Mac Rebennack (his given name) is also one of ...
Jethro Tull: A Subtle Acceptance
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, July 1970
A LITTLE OVER a year ago, Jethro Tull made their first appearance in America. The result was slightly less than overwhelming. No fanfares went up, ...
Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons: Gram Parsons, The Burrito Ego Man
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 25 July 1970
LOS ANGELES, Tuesday: Gram Parsons, founder of the Flying Burrito Brothers, was a Byrd, a southerner and a Harvard College Drop-out. With the formation of ...
Report by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 12 September 1970
Jacoba Atlas reports on the street where she lives – Laurel Canyon, Hollywood, home of the rock stars... ...
Kris Kristofferson: The Road From Rhodes
Profile and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, October 1970
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON looks his songs. He looks as if he's been where he sings about and not surprisingly, he has. Now thirty-four, the singer has ...
Elton John, Bernie Taupin: Elton John: New Superstar
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, December 1970
ELTON JOHN played the Troubadour in Los Angeles and overnight became an industry superstar. Public relations people, having no personal or professional claim to the ...
Ry Cooder: The Name To Watch In 71...
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 19 December 1970
Jacoba Atlas talks to the States' hottest new guitarist ...
Charles Lloyd: Why Lloyd Wants To Play With The Stones
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 23 January 1971
CHARLES LLOYD doesn't want to be known as the first jazzman to play the rock halls, Fillmore and Avalon. He says that categorization is demeaning, ...
Dennis Wilson, James Taylor: On Location With James Taylor
Report and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, April 1971
DURANT, OKLAHOMA – James Taylor and Dennis Wilson (drummer of the Beach Boys) were into their sixth week of filming their first movie. The toll ...
Rita Coolidge: Now The Delta Lady Is Out On Her Own
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 1 May 1971
DURING THE Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, Joe Cocker each night would take the microphone and announce "Here she is, our own Delta Lady, Rita ...
Essay by Jacoba Atlas, Billboard, 6 November 1971
WHEN I mentioned to Nicky Barclay of the first successful all-girl rock band Fanny that I was working on an article dealing with women in ...
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 12 February 1972
"I STARTED singing my own songs because no one else was saying what I wanted to say," explains Helen Reddy, the Australian born singer who ...
Leon Russell: The Forum, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, December 1972
WHEN LEON Russell took center stage at the Los Angeles Forum the pre-performance excitement had reached Rolling Stone proportions. As unbelievable as it seemed, Russell ...
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 15 September 1973
Ex-Miracles leader, brilliant songwriter, Motown boss — Smokey Robinson is that rare thing in music: a legend in his own lifetime. He talks to MM's ...
Report by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, December 1973
Gram Parsons: His body disappeared and the story behind it is cloaked in a veil of mystery. Why was it stolen and why was it ...
The Jackson 5: Jacksons: All You Need For A Hit Is The Right Feeling
Report and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 12 January 1974
MOWEST STUDIOS, the private recording facilities for Motown artists, are located in the heart of Hollywood, directly across the street from a high school's baseball ...
Report by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, April 1974
AFTER YEARS of the Dylans, the Tim Hardins, the jazz aficionados, and the Elton Johns, almost nothing could shock either the people or the environment ...
Terry Melcher: Confessions of a Byrd Watcher
Profile and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 20 April 1974
...or a day in the lives of Terry Melcher, by Jacoba Atlas in LA ...
John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, The Smothers Brothers: Lurching Lennon: Beatle Bounced
Report by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, June 1974
WHAT IS happening to John Lennon? Last month it was the infamous Kotex caper. Recently the former Beatle with the mellow voice was at it ...
Maria Muldaur: Sense and Sensuality
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 1 June 1974
MARIA MULDAUR sings of the joy of being a woman — and it's propelled her album into the charts. JACOBA ATLAS reports from Los Angeles. ...
Joe Cocker: Cocker Dies a Death
Report by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 15 June 1974
LOS ANGELES — There ought to be some delicate way of putting this, but there really isn't. Joe Cocker opened and closed at the Roxy ...
Johnny Mathis: Mathis: Wearing Sinatra's crown
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 30 November 1974
BACK IN the fifties, before some of today's most fervent rockers were talking, Johnny Mathis was making million-selling hits. He was, in fact, an institution. ...
Carly Simon: Carly — playing possum
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 19 April 1975
A FEW months ago, with surprisingly little fanfare, Carly Simon, husband James Taylor and daughter Sarah slipped into Los Angeles for what has become an ...
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