Concert Review: Homegrown Buzz Showcase

Knowing my basketball team was bound to lose on Saturday afternoon, I hedged my bets by attending the Homegrown Buzz Showcase in the Power & Light District.

I kept one eye on television monitors- there’s no shortage of screens in the entertainment district- and both ears on music.

I caught complete sets by five acts and small samples of a few other bands. Three artists stood out.

Various Blonde isn’t perfect- there are a couple elements that could stand a little improvement- but its outing in a crowded restaurant verified my assertion that Various Blonde’s is one of Kansas City’s best rock bands. 

Brandon Phillips covered Iron Maiden, Elvis Costello, Jawbreaker, Leonard Cohen and a song by his band the Architects in his solo set.  It’s not the first time I’ve fallen under his spell.

I’ve seen a lot of mainstream pop, rock, R&B, hip-hop and country acts on the KC Live! stage.  It was a nice change of pace, consequently, to see the post-hardcore band Maps For Travelers make a mighty noise on the big stage.

About that game- my team lost on a last-second shot.


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I reviewed Bill Frisell’s appearance at White Theatre.

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I reviewed Helmet’s show at the RecordBar.

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I reviewed Live at the Living Room, the new album by Victor & Penny Loose Change Orchestra and Their Loose Change Orchestra.

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I contributed a segment on Millie Edwards to KCUR.

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Lew Soloff has died.

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Brandon Phillips of the Architects throws down the gauntlet in an essay for Alternative Press.

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The Kansas City Chorale’s Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil was released this week.

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I’m tempted to think that Cannibal Ox made Blade of the Ronin with me in mind.  It’s right in my wheelhouse.  RIYL: Wu-Tang Clan, hip-hop in 1993, Ultramagnetic MCs.

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I guess Estelle isn’t the artist I thought she was.  The new album True Romance isn’t very good.  RIYL: Solange, disappointments, Jazmine Sullivan.  Here’s ”Conqueror”.

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The production on Big Sean’s Dark Sky Paradise is excellent.  Too bad about the rapper.  Here’s a video for the opening track.

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Rhiannon Giddens has doubled down on the retro thing.  Her debut album is RIYL: Judy Collins, calculated realness, Mimi Farina.

(Original image of Various Blonde’s Josh Allen by There Stands the Glass.)

The Right Profile

As a typical teenager, I viewed the world in black and white. 

I took the nascent punk revolution at face value and renounced my affinity for everything that didn’t conform to the new sound.  I spent the better part of a year attempting to be a purist, an absurd challenge for a kid who grew up loving Waylon Jennings, Michael Jackson, Elton John and Stevie Wonder. 

It’s almost impossible to overstate the impact of London Calling.  When my favorite band embraced jazz, reggae, rockabilly and blues in 1979, I was freed from the false stylistic constraints of punk.

I wasn’t alone.  Thousands of Midwestern kids like me would soon welcome a new wave of Los Angeles bands like the Blasters and Los Lobos. 

J.D. McPherson’s excellent Let the Good Times Roll reminds me of that era.  The smart, funny and soulful album is as solid as anything that came out of the roots revival of the early 1980s.


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I reviewed Aaron Lewis’ concert at the VooDoo.

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I created a Local Listen segment about Maps For Travelers for KCUR.

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The lineup of the 2015 edition of Rockfest represents a step up from recent years.

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Orrin Keepnews has died.

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EarthEE, the new album by THEESatisfaction, is very good.  RIYL: Shabazz Palaces, funkateers, Erykah Badu.

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Ibeyi’s self-titled album is just a tad too precious for my taste.  RIYL: Dirty Projectors, public radio, Cibelle.  Here’s Ghosts.

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Jacky Terrasson is the exactly the type of brash ambassador that jazz desperately needs.  That said, his new album Take This makes me want to listen to Slayer.  Here’s the album trailer.

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If Spoon wasn’t really good, the band might sound like Diamond Rugs. Cosmetics also resembles an  inferior version of the Latin Playboys or Morphine.

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Gang of Four's What Happens Next is depressingly uninteresting.

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Bob! How could you? (I love that man.)

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I don’t even know who I am anymore.  A couple tracks on Diana Krall’s easy listening album Wallflower brought me to the brink of tears.  RIYL: Julie London, elevators, Andy Williams.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)