For this installment of Stark Reality we roll the tattered red carpet to Northern Spain and have a chat with selector and 45 digger Nancy Yahiro. She a native of Southern California and first started DJing punk and soul at her college’s radio station (KUCI) in 1985. Nancy became increasingly obsessed with soul 45s and started selling duplicates and becoming a record dealer. In 1997 Nancy started the Golden State Soul Society with Cid Hernandez and continued running it with Gabby Beeby until she moved to Italy. In Italy, Nancy started the Rimini Rare Soul Weekender and lived there for 11 years, DJed all over the country. She has also played records in the US, Argentina, UK, Germany, Spain, Sweden, etc etc.

I met Nancy as a wee lad in the late 80s in the Southern California Mod/Ska scene, and the last time I saw her in person was in the early 90s digging for records in San Francisco. In recent years I reconnected with her online, and she has been very vocal about the genocide in Gaza, which I give her a lot of credit for. We talk about the deafening silence from our fellow music collectors and DJs on this genocide, media propaganda and whitewashing, the apathy of the world, the heroism of Yemen, the narcissism and ignorance of liberals, etc etc. With the genocide only getting worse after 19 months we are mostly talking about this instead of music. but don’t fret, Nancy gives us a slamming playlist of Northern Soul, RnB, Funk, a little Hip Hop too. She has very deep crates as to be expected after digging and DJing for so many years.  Recorded April 25, 2025.

To hear Nancy’s exclusive Stark Reality playlist, featuring tracks by Grady Tate, Edwin Starr, Irma Thomas, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Clarence Carter, Gangstarr and much more, go to Episode 76 of Stark Reality here, or wherever you get your music podcasts.