Kansas City's (Not So) Hot 100

While trying to devise an appropriate headline for the online component of my new audio feature about the Greeting Committee for KCUR, I toyed with the premise that the indie-pop quartet is Kansas City’s most popular band.  Is that true?  I dove into Spotify’s statistics to gauge how Kansas City acts past and present stack up.  The following ranking is based on the service’s monthly listeners metric.

1. Tech N9ne 2,789,000
2. Janelle Monaé 2,748,000
3. Puddle of Mudd 2,481,000
4. Count Basie 2,342,000
5. Kevin Morby 1,230,000
6. Pat Metheny 804,000
7. Melissa Etheridge 735,000
8. Bob Brookmeyer 538,000
9. Ben Webster 538,000
10. Charlie Parker 495,000

11. Oleta Adams 416,000
12. Coleman Hawkins 375,000
13. Dreamgirl 311,000
14. Lester Young 297,000
15. Krizz Kaliko 281,000
16. Burt Bacharach 254,000
17. The Greeting Committee 188,000
18. David Cook 181,000
19. Stevie Stone 179,000
20. Norman Brown 173,000

21. The Get Up Kids 167,000
22. Mac Lethal 159,000
23. Karrin Allyson 141,000
24. Ces Cru 137,000
25. Big Scoob 130,000
26. Big Joe Turner 127,000
27. Radkey 120,000
28. The Floozies 119,000
29. Gene Clark 114,000
30. Jay McShann 113,000

31. Bloodstone 95,000
32. Kutt Calhoun 93,000
33. Samantha Fish 87,000
34. Nicolette Larson 83,000
35. Making Movies 71,000
36. Iris DeMent 70,000
37. JL 69,000
38. Kevin Mahogany 67,000
39. Hembree 59,000
40. Me Like Bees 54,000

41. Danielle Nicole 53,000
42. Brewer & Shipley 52,000
43. Joyce DiDonato 51,000
44. Reggie and the Full Effect 47,000
45. 77 Jefferson 45,000
46. Julian Vaughn 45,000
47. Krystle Warren 42,000
48. Mackenzie Nicole 38,000
49. Miles Bonny 35,000
50. Madison Ward and the Mama Bear 31,000

51. Listener 30,000
52. Nathan Davis 28,000
53. Eldar Djangirov 27,000
54. Chris Hazelton’s Boogaloo 7 27,000
55. Marva Whitney 26,000
56. The Anniversary 24,000
57. Joey Cool 21,000
58. Rich the Factor 21,000
59. Shy Boys 21,000
60. Chris Connor 16,000

61. Black Oxygen 15,000
62. Ubi 15,000
63. Various Blonde 15,000
64. Beautiful Bodies 14,000
65. Kelley Hunt 14,000
66. The Republic Tigers 12,000
67. Ha Ha Tonka 11,000
68. Coalesce 10,000
69. Jo Jones 10,000
70. Missouri 10,000

71. Shooting Star 10,000
72. Buck Clayton 9,000
73. Evalyn Awake 9,000
74. Bobby Watson 9,000
75. The Kansas City Symphony 8,000
76. Blair Bryant 6,000
77. Godemis 6,000
78. Kyla Jade 6,000
79. Julia Lee 6,000
80. Pageant Boys 6,000

81. The Rainmakers 6,000
82. 57th Street Rogue Dog Villians 5,000
83. The Kansas City Chorale 5,000
84. Bennie Moten 5,000
85. Trampled Under Foot 5,000
86. The Casket Lottery 4,000
87. The Marcus Lewis Big Band 4,000
88. Fat Tone 3,000
89. The Life and Times 3,000
90. Behzod Abduraimov 2,000

91. Calvin Arsenia 2,000
92. Mess 2,000
93. Radar State 2,000
94. Shiner 2,000
95. The Architects 1,000
96. Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys 1,000
97. Info Gates 1,000
98. Walter Page’s Blue Devils 1,000
99. Logan Richardson 1,000
100. Virgil Thomson 1,000


Notes and caveats:

*My listing- the product of three hours of racking my brain for every consequential artist from the Kansas City area- almost certainly contains several glaring omissions.  Yet before you call me an idiot for overlooking an artist, be advised that many ostensible hometown heroes are streamed by only a few hundred users each month.

*The number for Charlie Parker includes his separate listings for the Charlie Parker Quartet, the Charlie Parker Quintet, etc.  I also combined multiple entries for Count Basie, Pat Metheny, Bennie Moten and Ubi.

*Spotify updates its statistics daily.  The numbers for artists with popular new releases such as the Get Up Kids are sure to change dramatically in the following weeks.

*I recognize that the listening habits of Spotify users don’t necessarily reflect overall music consumption.  Even so, it’s among the most accurate gauges of what’s actually getting played.

*Although Eminem was born in St. Joseph, he’s not considered a local. Besides, his 28,811,000 monthly listeners make everything on my list look like a pitiful scrap.  (Khalid is currently the #1 artist in the world with 49,685,000 monthly listeners.)

*Sevendust has 1,055,000 monthly listeners, but only vocalist Lajon Witherspoon lives in the Kansas City area.

*So, is the Greeting Committee (#16) currently Kansas City’s most popular band?  Kinda sorta.

*EDIT: I’m arbitrarily boycotting Topeka artists. Here are the numbers on four notable Top City acts: Kansas- 5,362,000, Origin- 24,000, Youngblood Supercult- 21,000, Stik Figa- 7,000.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

He Was a Friend of Mine

You don’t want to be my friend.

Four of my closest high school pals are dead.  I haven't spoken to a few others in years.  Maybe that’s why I reacted so poorly when a former classmate I’ve loved since the day we met in 1979 dropped a disheartening bomb on me during a break at last week’s appearance by Adam Lambert at the Silverstein Eye Centers Arena.

While I discussed the merits of Pentatonix with his child, my friend casually mentioned that it was the first live music event he’d attended since he accompanied me to a 2001 show by Prince at Municipal Auditorium.

I responded by inviting the girl to move into my home to escape her unsound living conditions.  What’s worse- my failure to insist that my friend join me at any given show during the past 14 years or his inability to maintain a balanced life?

Then again, maybe the joke’s on me.  While I’ve spent much of my adult life listening to loud music in dark rooms, my friend has become a successful attorney and a prominent community leader.

What have I done?


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I reviewed a concert by Adam Lambert and Pentatonix.

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I played songs by Samantha Fish, Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle, Chris Hazelton’s Boogaloo 7, Kendrick Lamar, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Lila Downs during my appearance on KCUR’s Up To Date last week.  Here’s the podcast.

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I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I contribute weekly Local Listen segments to KCUR.

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I took notes at a performance by the Brian Scarborough Quintet at the Westport CoffeeHouse.

(Original image of Lemony Snicket at the Plaza Library by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Sturgill Simpson- Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

I'm skeptical when people who wouldn't know Ray Price from Luke Bryan rave about a country artist.  Having been raised on albums by Waylon, Willie and Kris, I take it personally when jokers subvert those sounds to amuse people who look down on the form.  That's why I avoided Sturgill Simpson's fashionable Metamodern Sounds in Country Music for months.  I'm finally willing to admit that it's really good.  With lyrics that could have been written by Jimmie Dale Gilmore and production modeled on Honky Tonk Heroes, the album sends me back to my smoke-filled childhood home.


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I reviewed the Zombie Pub Crawl.

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I participated in a discussion about Kansas City's jazz scene on KCUR's Central Standard last week.

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D/Will and Stik Figa made a video for "Work".

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Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar are at their best on "Never Catch Me".

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Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood is my favorite jam band.  Juice is RIYL: Garage a Trois, outdoor festivals, Umphrey's McGee.

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It really goes without saying, but Prince's messy new Art Official Age contains about 20 minutes of brilliance.  RIYL: Controversy, freaks, Sign o' the Times.

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Yelawolf's "Till It's Gone" is one of my favorite songs of 2014.  RIYL: Lindsey Buckingham, classic rock, Tech N9ne.

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Roni Size is back.  His new album Take Kontrol is RIYL: 1997, video game soundtracks, Orbital.

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Jazz can be a chore.  It took four sessions for me to work my way through Joris Roelof's Aliens Deliberating.  RIYL: Eric Dolphy, nails on chalkboards, Ned Rothenberg.

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Everclear's spoof of U2's partnership with Apple is perfect.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: New Ear- Strangely Familiar at All Souls Unitarian Church and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

"We're in a spaceship here," composer Paul Rudy said as he pointed to the futuristic protuberance on the ceiling of the foyer of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.  "It's just masquerading as a museum." 

An audience of about 125 heard the world premiere of Rudy's "Martian Chronicles" on Friday, March 1.  Mark Southerland's saxophones and horn sculptures took the lead during the spacey piece as the members of New Ear provided accompaniment.  After I realized that the rudderless composition didn't have a determined destination I was able to enjoy the ride.  Only the repeated use of an irritating and incongruous vibraslap-style percussion effect interfered with the celestial journey.  (KCUR produced an excellent piece about "Martian Chronicles.")

The first half of New Ear's "Strangely Familiar" program across the street at All Souls Unitarian Church was even better.  Lawrence Figg's cello playing over the spectral prerecorded sounds on "fits + starts" clearly blew the minds of the stoned college-age kids seated near me.  Robert Pherigo's work on treated piano during " Still Sorrowing" blew my mind in turn.  Jan Faidley and Thomas Aber evoked the work of the World Saxophone Quartet on the Tim Berne-inspired "We Speak Etruscan."  Only a composition by Chong Kee Yong failed to delight me.  It sounded a riot in a yoga studio. 

The Kansas City Star published a proper review of Friday's concert.


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I reviewed a concert by 3 Doors Down, Daughtry and Aranda.

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I introduced selections by six locally-based artists on Friday's edition of KCUR's Up to Date. 

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"We had that Bannister Mall crackin'!"  Here's the video for Kutt Cahoun's "I Been Dope" from his new Black Gold album.

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Here's a four-minute promo video for Kanrocksas. 

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Van Cliburn has died.

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The openng segment of a new documentary about the Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin is amazing.

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Gionvanni Guidi's City of Broken Dreams seems promising.

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I listened to the new ambient album Selected Studies, Vol. 1 by Lloyd Cole (yes, that Lloyd Cole) and Hans-Joachim Roedelius as I read last night.  Thumbs up.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)