Dawn Burns has several irons in the fire — teacher, caregiver, writer, musical performer, arts supporter and radio host.
She loves it all.
Dawn is the host of “The Sauce” at noon on the second Saturday of the month on National Public Radio affiliate WVPE-FM (88.1).
Meeting in a coffee shop was a perfect place for an appointment with the radio host. Good vibes and lattes. Lots of eclectic sorts gathered around sofas and chatting. Good conversation about the importance of the arts and supporting creative people.
Dawn, along with producer Karl Smith, created a program in 2021 to celebrate local arts, music and culture. Some local artists. Some from all over.
“Karl came to me with an idea of a radio show with interviews with local performers,” Dawn said. “He said I had a good voice for the radio. That was 2020.”
Karl is the host of “J:Cubed, Jazz to the Third Power: Cool, Smooth and Hot.” That show airs at 7 p.m. Saturdays. Another good radio voice.
A year of fine tuning, meetings and pre-production before the first show aired in 2021.
“Karl had a lot of faith in me that I could do it,” Dawn said. “And I grew up listening to WVPE. I was 15 and waking up with ‘Morning Edition.’ This is a dream come true.”
An offshoot of “The Sauce” is “The Sauce Live,” which takes Dawn to the road for live performances and interviews.
The sauce name comes from the flavors of music and culture that are part of life.
“You add a little spice to the sauce,” Dawn said. “That improves the flavor. You make a pot of stew, you want it to be rich, to have a punch.”
She said she has done 64 Sauces, 54 live performance shows and 81 podcasts. That makes it just around the corner from 200 productions. All in all, that’s a lot of talking to rappers, musicians, singers, photographers and dancers. All these individuals have stories about their lives, struggles and the arts.
A dream interview? Dawn is holding out for Queen Latifah. “I have some pinch-myself moments when I’ve met some people. For example, Stevie Wonder.” It was only a few minutes, but it was memorable.
The podcast world has added a little more flavor to “The Sauce.”
“The podcasts are longer conversations with artists, full conversations,” Dawn said. “I love a back story on how they discovered the music and what leads to creating.”
She added that South Bend’s location in the Midwest is perfect for travel for live shows to Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit and Grand Rapids.
“Indy has a high level of jazz. It deserves more attention,” she said.
She was raised in South Bend and moved to the West Coast for college and life. She worked for Warner Chappell Music publishing company, a division of Warner Music. She met some interesting people through the years. “I was there in the early days of hip-hop.”
She then decided to move back east to South Bend so she and her daughter, Hali, would be near family.
Once she was home again in Indiana, she took education classes at Indiana University South Bend and began teaching. This fall, Dawn will be at Harrison Elementary.
“I love teaching,” she said. “I was an educator since childhood when I would play being a teacher. Teaching is performing, getting their attention, and getting kids to learn.”
It is all about the stage presence.
Dawn also has a Grateful Dead cover band with her brother, Scott Burns. The band, Fillmore’s Ladder, has been performing for 20 years at festivals and clubs. Most recently, the band was at the Niles Bluegrass Festival.
The WVPE platform is a great way to introduce musicians.
“There is so much local brilliance,” Dawn said. “You hear their story and their music. The story goes everywhere through the app and the podcasts. We have created a community of people who support the arts.”
Opening a small door is great for performers. Get the information out there and add to their fan base, she said.
“I think we have created a community. For myself, I will perform until the end of my days,” she said. “I have a great space right now (on WVPE’s Saturday schedule) just before ‘The Blues Revue with Ole Harv.’ That’s living the dream.”
Contact Kathy at [email protected].
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.southbendtribune.com ’
