Jock Jams

I dedicated much of a recent vacation in Portland to watching men’s college basketball games at the Moda Center.  Teams representing Duke, Michigan State, North Carolina and Gonzaga were among the elite squads competing in the PK80 tournament.  Attending 12 games in three days became a tedious chore, but the soundtrack in the arena was far from tiresome.  Customary jock jams by the likes of Gary Glitter, Bon Jovi and C+C Music Factory weren’t aired.  Instead, crowds were treated to a vibrant playlist of hip-hop and rap hits that included Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble,” Kanye West’s “Power,” Post Malone’s “Rockstar” and Diddy’s “Watcha Gon’ Do.”  Seeing thousands of seated sports fans and a handful of players warming up on the court chanting “percocet, molly, percocet” in unison to Future’s “Mask Off” was one of the most surreal moments I’ve experienced in 2017.


---
I wrote a profile of Edison Lights’ Chris Doolittle for KCUR.

---
I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star.

---
I named Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear the KCUR Band of the Week.

---
I reviewed the Matt Cook Collective’s Along Those Lines at Plastic Sax.

---
Jon Hendricks has died.

---
Tommy Keene has died.

---
Wayne Cochran has died.

---
Jim Nabors has died.

---
I felt as if I was trapped in an episode of Portlandia when I caught a set by The Minders at Turn! Turn! Turn! in Rip City last week. 

---
CyHi the Prynce’s No Dope On Sundays is a minor masterpiece.  RIYL: Pusha T, the dirty South, Big K.R.I.T.  Here’s “God Bless Your Heart”.

---
Björn Meyer’s Provenance is RIYL Steve Tibbets, meditation, Terje Rypdal.

---
I love Lizz Wright.  I loathe her new album.  Grace is RIYL Ruthie Foster, naps, Shawn Colvin.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Silent Movies Make More Money

I bought a $15 ticket to be a part of the in-crowd at Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear’s joyous concert at the Midland theater last week.  The audience of 1,500 was the biggest I’ve seen for any single locally based artist in the past three years aside from Tech N9ne, the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra, Joyce DiDonato or the Kansas City Symphony.  Here’s Tim Finn’s review.


---
I reviewed last night’s Incubus, Deftones, Death From Above 1979 and the Bots concert.

---
I reviewed Radkey’s Dark Black Makeup for KCUR.

---
I contributed a Local Listen segment about Samantha Fish to KCUR.

---
I play the role of Debbie Downer at the Charlie Parker Celebration.

---
Even with the lousy sound on some of the later stuff, Miles Davis At Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 serves as a spectacular survey of jazz history.

---
Nicholas Payton plays a lot of keyboards on the engaging Letters.  RIYL: Kamasi Washington, grooving, Stanley Cowell.

---
I can’t decide if Tunde Olaniran’s Transgressor sounds more like an indie-rock version of Beyoncé or a pop version of TV On the Radio.  I also can’t decide if I like it.

---
Omar Souleyman’s Bahdeni Nami is my kind of party.

---
The Foreign Exchange’s Tales From the Land of Milk and Honey is RIYL: Soul II Soul, grown-and-sexy music, Bobbi Humphrey.  Here’s the video for the somewhat unrepresentative “Asking For a Friend.” 

---
Oleta Adams, Chaka Khan and Nancy Wilson are among the guest vocalists on Terri Lyne Carrington’s The Mosaic Project: Love and Soul.   Here’s the EPK.

---
I listened to Luke Bryan’s new album.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Rock Bottom

I heard a woman loudly complain that “these people are the dregs of society” at Rockfest on Saturday.  I stopped in my tracks as I waited for someone to deck her.  Had staying upright in the muck not been my top priority, I might have confronted her myself.

I’ve had it with incessant attacks on the annual music festival.  An alarming percentage of my acquaintances feel entirely comfortable mocking the music and patrons of Rockfest.

At best, their criticism is harmless bullying.  Most of the time, however, it’s unadulterated cultural elitism.

There’s a lot about Rockfest that I don’t like either.  It’s no secret that I loathe drug culture.  And I’m not amused by the festival’s unofficial mantra of “show me your titties." 

But I like hearing tens of thousands of proud people chant “USA” during the event’s displays of patriotism.  As for the music, I listen to several of the bands featured at this year’s festival for pleasure. 

Even though four people in the embedded photo are clearly displeased with me, I feel no less at home at Rockfest than at any other public gathering.

Here’s my Rockfest review.


---
I consider the concept of jazz standards in an album review at Plastic Sax.

---
Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear were featured in a Tiny Desk Concert.

--
I’m embarrassed to admit that the visuals of a Kamasi Washington performance helped me finally appreciate The Epic.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: Westport Roots Festival

An acquaintance was appalled to learn that I paid the $25 admission charge to Westport Roots Festival on Saturday.  I suppose I could have weaseled my way in, but that’s not my style. 

I feel like I got my money’s worth even though I was impressed by only two of the nine acts I heard during the four hours I spent at the one-day event. 

Luke Bell played in the rain on the patio of the Riot Room.  The young honkytonk traditionalist from Wyoming appears to be the genuine article.

Kansas City’s Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys performed on the same stage before the rain hit.  I hadn’t seen the country band in years.  I hope to catch the sturdy ensemble again in the next couple weeks.


---
I reviewed a production of “Million Dollar Quartet.”

---
I reviewed Big Sean’s concert at the Midland theater.

---
I contributed a Local Listen segment about Cadillac Flambé to KCUR.

---
Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear’s Skeleton Crew sounds like a 1965 album on Vanguard Records.  RIYL: Richard and Mimi Farina, the Greenwich Village folk scare, Ian & Sylvia.

---
Bruce Lundvall has died.

---
Marcus Belgrave has died.

---
Bob Belden has died.

---
Murs throws his backpack under the bus on Have a Nice Life.  The new approach doesn’t always work for me.  The pop-tinged ”No More Control” is one of the album’s best songs.

---
Big Steve, one of There Stands the Glass’ most dedicated readers, asked for my opinion of Shamir’s Ratchet.  He came to the right guy.  I’m more excited about an upcoming show by The First Ladies of Disco than any other oldies concert this summer.  Rather than representing anything new, Ratchet is a loving tribute to the ‘80s sounds of Mantronix, the Weather Girls and Newcleus.  So Steve, you’ll appreciate Ratchet if you share the fetish for creaky electronic funk and campy disco that Shamir and I harbor.

---
Graham Parker and the Rumour’s Mystery Glue isn’t all that great but at this late date I can’t resist its pub rock charms.

---
The Robert Glasper Trio's cover of Jhene Aiko's "The Worst" (my #20 song of 2014) combines two of my favorite things.

---
Los Cardencheros de Sapioriz is billed as “the last performing group of an a capella Mexican slave song tradition.”  A few modern flourishes at the end of the recording break the magical spell of the group’s Un Amor Pendiente.

(Original image of pedal steel guitarist Nate Hofer’s boots by There Stands the Glass.)

I'm One

The PA system at the United Center in Chicago blared “Baba O’Riley” at a crucial juncture of the fourth quarter of the Bulls-Cavaliers game yesterday.

The moment was reason #3,129 I can no longer listen to the Who for pleasure.  That’s why I was relieved when The Who's appearance at the Sprint Center was canceled last week a day before the concert.

I knew I wouldn’t be working the show, but I felt obligated to show up and buy a ticket.  As a self-centered 17-year-old twit, I completed internalized Quadrophenia.

A lot’s happened since then.


---
I reviewed Primus’ return to the Uptown Theater.

---
I reviewed Mary Chapin Carpenter’s collaboration with the Kansas City Symphony.

---
I contributed a Local Listen segment about Julian Vaughn to KCUR.

---
Johnny Gimble has died.  I saw the fiddler accompany country stars a few times and I took in a few sets he led in Winfield, Kansas.

---
Guy Carawan has died.

---
Jerome Cooper, the drummer of the Revolutionary Ensemble, has died.

---
Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate has died.

---
Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear were featured on CBS Sunday Morning.

---
Only when forced at proverbial gunpoint did I reluctantly listen to the Alabama Shakes’ Sound & Color.  Holy smokes!  RIYL: Some Girls, career artists, My Morning Jacket.  Here’s the title track. 

---
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.  Much of Kamasi Washington’s The Epic struck me as merely “good” during my first pass at the three-hour album.  From the choirs to the running time, it’s just too much.  RIYL: Pharoah Sanders, hype, Joshua Redman.

---
Never Were the Way She Was is the first Colin Stetson album that completely resonates with me.  RIYL: chamber music, Hauschka, not a trace of jazz.

---
Reason #3,130 I can’t listen to the Who for pleasure- Quadrophenia has become an actual opera.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)