Funky Céilí

I planned on spending all day at the KC Irish Fest when I forked over $18 to gain admission to the popular event on Saturday.  Succumbing to crankiness rooted in heat and sobriety, I left after just a few hours.

A solo set by Larry Kirwan of Black 47 was the highlight of my experience.  His strident political songs were balanced by old favorites like “40 Shades of Blue” and the minor 1991 hit "Funky Céilí (Bridie's Song)".

Only one of the five additional performances I witnessed is worth mentioning.   Kiana Weber, the fiddler of Gaelic Storm, led a session titled Transatlantic Unplugged with Kiana.  The largely acoustic jam included guests from the festival’s top acts such as Socks in the Frying Pan, We Banjos 3, the Elders and Flashpoint. 

The lively collaborations provided a nice survey of everything I wasn’t willing to stick around to hear.


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I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star.

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I previewed Lee “Scratch” Perry’s show at the Riot Room for Ink.

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I reviewed Michael Pagán’s The Ottawa Sesions album at Plastic Sax.

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Rico Rodriguez has died.

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Ruby Amanfu’s Standing Still is the best Chris Isaak album I’ve heard in years.  I’m down with anyone who covers both Bob Dylan and Kanye West.  Her interpretation of the Wilco/Bragg/Guthrie gem “One By One” is magnificent.  Here’s a nice interview/performance video.

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I purchased a batch of Bryan Ferry solo albums as cutouts in the early ‘80s.  The posh atmosphere of those elegant recordings was foreign to me.  I still can’t relate more than 30 years later.  Although Dan Bejar doesn’t have much of a voice, Destroyer’s Poison Season reminds me of those Ferry albums.  RIYL: Belle and Sebastian, ennui, Gerry Rafferty.

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Skullduggery, a 2014 collaboration between Joe McPhee and Universal Indian, is a treat.  RIYL: Albert Ayler, skronk, Archie Shepp.

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Myrkur’s M has a lot of great moments.  RIYL: Trio Mediaeval, angels and demons, Celtic Frost.

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Much of Ghost B.C.’s Meloria sounds more like the Moody Blues than Black Sabbath.  Not my thing.

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Fidlar’s Too is just as engaging as the skeezy punk band’s first album.  RIYL: Blink-182, intoxicants, Dead Milkmen.  Here’s ”West Coast”.

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I have only one thing to say about Motörhead’s Bad Magic album.

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Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey’s The Battle For Earth is RIYL: Augustus Pablo, freaky jamz, Galactic.  Here’s ”Appropriation Song”.

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George Clinton and affiliates like Bootsy Collins sounded cool when they rambled about the cosmic virtues of funk in the 1970s.  When Dâm-Funk and his cohorts do the same on his new album Invite the Light, they comes across as dorks.  Invite the Light is really good when no one’s talking or singing. RIYL: 1975, Junie Morrison, funkateers.

(Original image of the Dublin band Tupelo at the KC Irish Fest by There Stands the Glass.)

Searching for Snoopy with Billy Cobham

I reached adolescence right as the nascent punk movement began to defy the established tenants of everything my friends and their older brothers had spent the last few years teaching me.  As a twelve-year-old, I'd accepted the conventional wisdom of my peer group that the elite musicianship displayed by bands like Kansas and Emerson, Lake & Palmer were among rock's finest achievements.

These suburban pundits explained that jazz fusion giants like Bill Bruford and Billy Cobham were even more evolved.  I bought into it.  The majestic sounds seemed to elevate my mundane existence.  Then I discovered girls and the Ramones.  The boys' club of smoke and Allan Holdsworth jams immediately lost its appeal.

I traded away the majority of my prog-rock and fusion collection.  Cobham's Spectrum stayed.  The amazingly prescient 1974 album anticipated Thriller, synth-pop and hip-hop. (Aerosmith, Earth, Wind & Fire, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and my dad's country albums never left my rotation.)

I suffered a few pangs of nostalgia when I learned that a "lost" Billy Cobham album would be issued this week.  That sensation turned to queasiness as I listened to  Compass Point.  The lengthy 1997 session is solid, but I'm not satisfied by the middle ground between blustery fusion and blissed-out smooth jazz.

That said, "Snoopy's Search/Red Baron" will always be my jam.


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James "T-Model" Ford has died.

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"Fragile", a new song by Tech N9ne featuring Kendrick Lamar, is great.

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Here's a professionally-produced video documenting ZZ Ward's June 29 performance at 7th Heaven on Troost.

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St. Joseph's Dsoedean has issued Continue To Move.  RIYL: Modest Mouse, the Killers, the Shins.

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"Hive" is Earl Sweatshirt's best song to date.

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James Cotton's fine new album Cotton Mouth Man is consistently entertaining.  Even so, the beautifully-recorded project gives me the blues.  Cotton's lost his voice, so his stand-ins include Joe Bonamassa, Gregg Allman, Keb Mo, Darrell Nulisch, Ruthie Foster and Delbert McClinton.  While that's great news for Alligator Records' sales team, it's a drag for people who want the sort of raw and nasty blues Cotton made decades ago.  The cancer-stricken Cotton does the vocal work on the final track "Bonnie Blue."  It's easily the best song on the album.

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Kid the Wiz appears to be the next big thing.  RIYL: 2024 (the year), "Let Me Clear My Throat," "Jam On It."

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The boys in Fidlar put the rock portion of my record collection (circa 1981) in their bags at Amoeba Records.

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Beck's two new singles- "Defriended" and "I Won't Be Long"- are really good.

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Reuben Fowler's new big band album Between Shadows is RIYL: Tom Harrell, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Maria Schneider.

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Andrew W.K. is among the people subjected to a brutal beating in the gruesome video for Run the Jewel's "'36' Chain."

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Here are two new songs by Torche.  RIYL: Husker Du, Thin Lizzy, Sleep.

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Care to confirm every cliche about Portland's music scene?  Here you go.  Speaking of stereotypes, I monitored chatter in the "Indie While You Murder" room at turntable.fm about the comparative merits of skiing in Jackson Hole versus Aspen as DJs played Girls and Surfer Blood.  Ugh.

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In response to Big Steve NO's recent comment, I'm glad I made auditioning the Pet Shop Boys' Electric my musical priority on Tuesday.  Not only is it shockingly good, Electric made me realize that my beloved Magnetic Fields is really just a Pet Shop Boys tribute band.  The track-by-track commentary at Spotify is illuminating.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: La Busta Gialla- Il Sogno del Marinaio

Like thousands of dudes in my generation, I love Mike Watt.  Not everything he's done since he played a role in forever altering my perception of the possibilities of rock music has been to my taste, but I've always been eager to keep tabs on him.

I get the impression that not many people still share my enthusiasm.  A cursory search turns up only two reviews of La Busta Gialla, Watt's new album with Il Sogno Del Marinaio.  The trio of Watt and an Italian guitarist and drummer create the sort of jazz-punk-world hybrid that I'm predisposed to like.

One of the two reviews was published at an influential site.  The criticism in Pitchfork's thoughtful analysis is valid.  The album is a bit "rickety" and it does contain "loosely formed grooves."  The site slapped a 5.7 on the project.  I find Il Sogno Del Marinaio's slapdash approach endearing.  That's why There Stands the Glass hails La Busta Gialla as a scientist rock worthy of a rating of 8.3.


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I reviewed Sweet Honey In the Rock's concert at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

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Guitarist Jef Lee Johnson, who performed in Esperanza Spalding's band at Kansas City's Helzberg Hall last October, has died.

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Blues woman Ann Rabson has died.

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Butch Morris has died.

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Joplin rocks.  Check out "Exteriors" by Missouri metal band Remnants.

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You have to check out the 2:03 mark of this fan footage of the Darkness at the Uptown Theater.

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I don't condone a single sentiment contained on Fidlar's self-titled album. But I have to admit that I concur with the critical consensus.  Fidlar is very good.  RIYL: The Ramones, Johnny Thunders, Intervention.

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There's something about Violeta Vil.  The Venezuelan band's Lápidas y Cocoteros streams here.  RIYL: My Bloody Valentine, Oz Mutantes, life.

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Salina's Chad Kassem always kills me. (Don't miss the inane banter by the talking heads at the conclusion of the segment.)

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Maybe the frigid temperatures have addled my mind, but I think the initial Warped Tour band list for 2013 looks great.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)