Abandoned city.
I bought a stack of Van Dyke Parks vinyl cutouts in the '80s. I vividly recall the sense of bewilderment that overcame me when I first played them. I knew of the man primarily through his association with the Byrds and the Beach Boys. But his meticulously produced oddball art songs struck me as unlistenable. Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I bought a handful of Parks cutouts on CD in the '90s. Yep- still weird. Tastes change. I now kind of like the way he subverted calypso on 1975's Clang of the Yankee Reaper.
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I created two Twitter lists- Kansas City Hip Hop and Kansas City Jazz.
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It seems as if I'm constantly expressing disappointment with Mac Lethal. I'm pleased, consequently, that he's back on track. Check out his new songs at MySpace.
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The design for NPR's 50 Great Voices feature is outstanding.
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I reviewed a spectacular performance by Afinidad.
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Kansas City Click: McCoy tops Tuesday's bill at the Record Bar.
I've never been a huge Bouncing Souls fan, but I'm tempted by the opportunity to catch the band at the intimate Riot Room on Wednesday.
4 comments:
I had a lot of fun playing around with that 50 Greatest Voices page. As with any list, there will be glaring omissions and questionable inclusions. But it is pretty disappointing that Heavy Metal is not really represented at all, a genre that has relies on powerful vocals for years.
Of course, it IS NPR we're talking about.
Well, Robert Plant is listed. And I might have been tempted to vote for Chris Cornell. At the risk of permanently exposing myself to ridicule, here's my ballot:
*Asha Bhosle
*Ray Charles
*Amalia Rodrigues
*June Tabor
*Marion Williams
And yours, DLC?
It's very tough because I was unfamiliar with many of the artists, and blown away by some of those clips. I gravitate toward what I know, and know well. That being said the singer whose singing continually amazes me is Marvin Gaye. Also Dusty, Willie Nelson, Donny Hathaway, Freddie Mercury and about 20 others!
Some of those operatic singers from the early 1900s were unfamiliar to me as well, DLC. Fun stuff. I love Marvin and Donny, of course. And you already know how I feel about Willie...
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