Concert Review: Courtney Barnett at the Truman

A friend proclaimed that Courtney Barnett is “the present and future of rock and roll” in his social media post from the Truman on Wednesday.  I’m not so sure.  After paying $33 to join him amid a full house of more than 1,000 fans at the Australian’s 90-minute performance, I believe that the 30-year-old is a gifted holdover from rock's past.  The gray-haired dudes wearing Tom Petty t-shirts were definitely in the right place.  Barnett’s old-school rock and the rinky-dink stage production made her appearance a spot-on throwback to 1978. While I enjoyed the defiantly archaic show and would be thrilled if Barnett had a commercial breakthrough, I sensed that I was witnessing the pinnacle of the career of an artist who is destined to be a marginal cult musician in the vein of Barnett’s countryman Paul Kelly.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Action Bronson- Mr. Wonderful

You have to love a guy who can laugh at himself.  That’s precisely what Action Bronson does throughout the hilarious Mr. Wonderful.

The people who accuse Bronson of swagger jacking Ghostface Killah’s flow are missing the point.  Bronson’s raps are in the spirit to hip-hop humorists Kool Keith, the Beastie Boys and Mac Lethal.

Bronson is the new Biz Markie.

Amusing tracks like ”Baby Blue”, ”Actin’ Crazy” and ”Easy Rider” make Mr. Wonderful my party album of 2015.


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I reviewed a concert by Chris Tomlin, Tenth Avenue North and Rend Collective.

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My notes on a performance by the Lee Konitz and Dave Douglas Quintet have attracted quite a bit of attention.

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I contributed a Local Listen segment about Danielle Nicole (Schnebelen) to KCUR.

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Al Bunetta has died.  To say we didn’t care for each other would be an understatement.

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John Renbourn has died.

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Tech N9ne made a video for “Aw Yeah? (Intervention).”

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Stik Figa has released Stik Figa Is Not Quite Himself.

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Brandon Draper’s Night-Night Songs is RIYL: lullabies, Iron & Wine, nice guys.

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Rhodes Ahead Volume 2, the latest release from Marc Cary, makes me extremely happy.  RIYL: George Duke, instrumental funk, J Dilla.  Here’s ”Astral Flight 17”.

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Liturgy’s The Ark Work is either the best or the worst album of 2015.  RIYL: Thurston Moore, “serious” metal, Swans.

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Much of Duets: Re-Working the Catalogue is just as poorly conceived as the album’s title.  Even so, it’s nice to hear Van Morrison and Gregory Porter revive “The Eternal Kansas City.” 

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The self-titled EP by Mali’s Trio Da Kali is gorgeous, but it offers me little to sink my teeth into.

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There Stands the Glass reader Gary alerted me to a reissue of Owen Maerck’s Teenage Sex Therapist.  RIYL: Pere Ubu, rock eccentrics, Henry Kaiser.

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Although it features a couple musicians I really admire, much of Alex Sipiagin’s Balance 38-58 bored me.  RIYL: Tom Harrell, conservatories, Terell Stafford.

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It almost goes without saying that the Next Stop Soweto: Zulu Rock, Afro-Disco and Mbaqanga 1975-1985 compilation is ridiculously good.  (Via Big Steve.)

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Maybe you had to be there.  Steve Wilson’s Vanguard Sessions failed to move me.  RIYL: Charlie Parker, the Village Vanguard, Thelonious Monk.

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I’m enjoying the ECM Records radio channel at iTunes (I don’t know how to link to it). The stream includes a lot of amazing stuff- Lumen Drones and The Amazing Adventures of Simon Simon, anyone?- that I hadn’t heard.

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Minnesota Public Radio published an interesting piece about music critic Jon Bream and his record collection.

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I’m not a Deadhead, but I keep select tracks from early albums including American Beauty in regular rotation.  At its best, Freedom & Dreams, the collaboration between the North Mississippi Allstars and Anders Osborne, approximates that sound.

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Courtney Barnett's Sometimes I Sit & Think & Sometimes I Just Sit is almost as good as people say it is.  RIYL: Jim Carroll, talking-not-singing, Tonio K.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Lou Reed, 1942-2013

My introduction to Lou Reed was sloppy.  I bought cutouts of albums including The Bells, Take No Prisoners and Metal Machine Music at a record store at the Metro North shopping mall when I was a kid.  My initial response was understandable- "This guy's a jerk!" 

Only when I absorbed the Velvet Underground's albums a few years later was I able to understand Reed's significance beyond those problematic albums.  

The release of Magic and Loss in 1992 completely altered my perception of Reed.  The meditation on death was released when the Grim Reaper was wreaking havoc all around me.  Reed's new song cycle helped me come to grips with my grief and with my own mortality.

I've never waited for my man or kissed a he, but Reed's despairing songs on Magic and Loss speak directly to me.  In spite of Magic and Loss, I never stopped thinking that Reed was a jerk.  And I loved him just the same.


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I reviewed Ricky Skaggs's collaboration with Bruce Hornsby at Yardley Hall on Friday.

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The Kansas City-area debut of Vusi Mahlasela at Yardley Hall on Sunday thrilled me.  The South African known as "The Voice" performed a solo set of freedom songs. 

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My real-life friend Pete Lubin hilariously reviews Humble Pie's Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore.  Loving Humble Pie as I do makes his knowing digs even funnier.

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My internet friend Pamela Espeland wrote a fascinating review of a Ginger Baker concert in Minneapolis.

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The three songs available for streaming from Tightrope, the new album by the 3 Cohens- Anat, Avishai and Yuval- are delightful.  RIYL: odd instrumentation, klezmer, West Coast cool.

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Courtney Barnett's music is pretty interesting.  RIYL: Michael Hurley, Roy Harper, Beck.

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Charles Bradley says the Eagles "saved my life" in his  "What's In My Bag? segment. 

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Samba Touré's Albala is exquisite. RIYL: Ali Farka Touré, earth, Jimi Hendrix.

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Black Friday vinyl of interest to There Stands the Glass: Blind Boys Of Alabama/Jason Isbell & John Paul White, Bob Dylan, the Flaming Lips, Nick Lowe, Nas and the Robert Glasper Experiment.

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Here's something you don't see everyday- a video of a "cover photo shoot" for a jazz album that features partial nudity.  The inspirational twist makes it worth your while.  The footage is related to Ted Nash's new big band album Chakra, which is RIYL: The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Charles Mingus, Steve Lacy.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)