Look How Wrong You Can Be: Rod Stewart at the Sprint Center

It seems ridiculous at this late date, but I once cared about Rod Stewart so much that I held a grudge against the star.  Even though I was a punk enthusiast in the late ‘70s, I still loved early Stewart albums like Every Picture Tells a Story.  I took his artistic change of direction exemplified by "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" as a personal affront.  I stopped caring about Stewart altogether twenty years ago.

My date and I regretted our impulsive purchase of $32 tickets as we drove to the Sprint Center last Tuesday, but Stewart immediately won us over.  Whether he was belting out classics like “Maggie May” or dodgy material like “Infatuation,” the preposterous antics of the unabashed ham were charming.  I didn’t hesitate to enthusiastically sing along to "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"

An older woman seated in front of us googled “Rod Stewart age” in an oversize font on her undimmed phone.  Her curiosity was understandable.  The lusty vigor displayed by Stewart, 73, is genuinely sexy.  I smiled the entire show.  Had he been able to see into the future, my 18-year-old self would have been mortified.  I never liked that kid much anyway.


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I opted to post my review of Erykah Badu’s memorable concert at the Sprint Center at Plastic Sax.

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I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star.

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Pilfered from my Twitter account: Joe Strummer lives! After raving about the combat rock of 6666 in a blog post on Tuesday, I paid $17 to catch Four Fists at the Riot Room last night.  I felt as if I was listening to the Clash’s Sandinista! for the first time.  The footage I posted to Instagram amuses me.

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I’m looking forward to an imminent beach vacation.  Quebra Cabeça, the fourth album by the Brazilian Afro-funk band Bixiga 70, will likely provide the core of the sunny but slightly sinister soundtrack to my downtime.  Here’s the title track.

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Not every selection on Atmosphere’s Mi Vida Local hits home, but Slug’s musings on subjects like parenting and Ant’s discerning beats reveal a promising path forward for aging hip-hop artists.  RIYL: feeling Minnesota, Jay-Z’s 4:44, middle age.

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Open Mike Eagle’s What Happens When I Try To Relax is scathing standup comedy set to astonishing music.  RIYL: Shabazz Palaces, punchlines, Dave Chappelle.

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Ubiquitous’s new four-song EP has several good moments.  Here’s “What If?”.

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I’ve never understood why jazz artists continue to allow producers and engineers to intentionally make their albums sound as if they were recorded in 1956.  The rich sound field of Aaron Parks' Little Big demonstrates the virtues of embracing the fact that it’s 2018.  RIYL: Pat Metheny Group, volume, Brad Mehldau Trio.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

"You Won't Find Onassis in Mullinville, Kansas"

I don't get starstruck by musicians.  The power held by politicians, however, puts me in awe of elected officials.

That's why I was intent on exploring much of the world they inhabit during a recent trip to Washington D.C.  I spent hours in the galleries of the House and Senate and roamed the halls of Congressional office buildings like a teenage groupie in search of her favorite teen idols. 

My first trek to the Kennedy Center was an integral part of that experience.  I witnessed guest artists Nicola Benedetti (a violinist I reviewed at the Folly Theater in February) and cellist Leonard Elschenbroich perform Brahms and Tchaikovsky with the National Symphony Orchestra. 

The performance was more than fine, but I was just as interested in gazing at the Watergate building from the riverside patio and wondering how often the honorary trustees Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Hilary Rodham Clinton, Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan and Rosalynn Carter visit the Kennedy Center as I was in analyzing the music.

For the record, the sprawling complex may be much larger than Kansas City's Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, but it's not nearly as nice.  And while I sat directly behind a famous actress, I was disappointed that I didn't spot a single politician. 


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I featured 77 Jefferson in last week's segment of KCUR's Local Listen.

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Mills Record Company made a nice video of a performance by the Ray-Tones at the record store.

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Various Blonde made a video for "Downtown Frown".

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The KC Cypher Series ends its second season on a low note.

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Here a trailer for The Pleasures of Being Out of Step, a documentary about Nat Hentoff.

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The Neil Cowley Trio's Touch and Flee is RIYL: the Brad Mehldau Trio, European jazz, the Esbjorn Svensson Trio.  Here's an album trailer.

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Bixiga 70's Ocupai is RIYL: Fela, Brazilians playing African music, Antibalas.

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The lo-fi production and plaintive keening of Tim Cohen's voice on the Fresh & Only's House of Spirits put me in mind of Mekons.  RIYL: 1985, Fear and Whiskey, American Music Club.

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Lee Fields repeats a successful formula on Emma Jean.  Solomon Burke, don't fix it if it ain't broke, Wilson Pickett.

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File under uneasy listening. Say Anything's Hebrews is RIYL: the Get Up Kids, diaries, Brand New.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)