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.)

Review: The Owen/Cox Dance Company's "A Body of Work"

As the rest of an audience of about 100 watched five athletic dancers at La Esquina on Sunday, October 5, I studied Brad Cox as he manipulated sound at the back of the room.  I have nothing against ballet, but Cox's stunning score for The Owen/Cox Dance Group's production "A Body of Work" demanded my full attention.  Using a combination of prerecorded backing tracks, ambient beats derived from the dancers' movements, a drum machine and the live vocals of Victoria Botero, Cox crafted a compelling soundscape.  Additional percussion emanating from four hanging columns and a quadrophonic mix made the experience even more dizzying.  Cox's exceptional performance was a civilized version of the futuristic work of groundbreaking acts like Marijuana Deathsquads.


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I reviewed Tuesday's concert by Gaslight Anthem, Against Me! and Cory Branan.

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The Kronos Quartet's performance at Helzberg Hall floored me on Saturday. 

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Ikey Owens of Mars Volta has died.  Owens recently produced Various Blonde's Summer High album.

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John Holt of the Paragons has died.

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Here's a video tour of the Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven.

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Local Customs: Cavern Sound, a compilation of forgotten bands from Independence, will be released this week.  The only name that rings a bell is Morningstar, a band I hadn't thought about in at least 25 years.

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Iceage's Plowing Into the Field of Love is shockingly raw.  RIYL: The Fall, drunken stupors, the Birthday Party.  Here's "How Many".

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The video for Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's "Quail and Dumplings" is almost as good as the song.

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It's not fair to Vince Staples, but almost all I could think about as I listened to Hell Can Wait was how much I still love Earl Sweatshirt's Doris.  RIYL: OFWGKTA, Los Angeles, the Cool Kids.

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On Worker, the latest studio album by Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, the Oklahoma band veers into electronic territory.  RIYL: Soulive, acting on impulses, Galactic.

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SZA's fine new album Z is RIYL: Sade, slow motion, Frank Ocean.  "Babylon" is the best track.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: Joyce DiDonato with the Kansas City Symphony at Helzberg Hall

I didn't realize that my fandom of Joyce DiDonato had become unhealthy until I spent the first couple minutes of her appearance Saturday at Helzberg Hall hating on her new hairstyle.  Then she started singing.

I hung on every note of Ravel's sublime "Shéhérazade."  DiDinato's rendition of Strauss' century-old art-pop song "Morgen" was sweet.  Even a horrendously cloying arrangement of her encore of "Danny Boy" didn't spoil the fun.

Much to my surprise, almost no one in the audience of about 1,500 left after intermission.  I'm not much on Tchaikovsky, so I just closed my eyes during the second half of the concert and passively let the sound of his Symphony No. 5 wash over me.  The fact that the pretty stranger sitting next to me smelled amazing enhanced the dreamlike experience.

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


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I featured Various Blonde on KCUR's Local Listen segment last week.

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Joe Sample has died.  Here are my notes on his 2013 concert in Kansas City.

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Cosimo Matassa has died.  (Via BGO.)

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Peter Gutteridge of the Chills has died.  (Via Robert Moore.)

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Thanks in large part to Joe Boyd's production, Robyn Hitchcock's new album The Man Upstairs is my official September soundtrack.  Hitchcock's original material is fine and the covers of the Psychedelic Furs' "The Ghost In You" and the Doors' "The Crystal Ship" altered my perception of the songs.  RIYL: Nick Drake, wistfulness, Roy Harper.

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I know a few people who may lose their minds over Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro.  The impressive project overseen by Billy Childs isn't for me.  For the record, the track with Rickie Lee Jones and Chris Potter wins. 

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Jhené Aiko's Souled Out is a state of the art R&B album.  RIYL: Sade, the sound of 2014, Aaliyah.  Here's "The Pressure".

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Sergio Mendes is still cheesy after all these years.  Yet his new album Magic is significant because of the amazing lineup of guest vocalists ranging from Janelle Monáe to Milton Nascimento.

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J. Mascis' Tied to a Star sounds like a tribute to Bert Jansch.

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Roberta Invernizzi's Ferrandini: Al Santo Sepolcro is RIYL: Italian cathedrals, Joyce DiDonato, the 18th century.

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Justin Townes Earle acquits himself nicely on Single Mothers.  RIYL: Slaid Cleaves, depression, Mark Olson.

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Dark Comedy by Open Mike Eagle is my favorite nerdcore album of 2014.  RIYL: Das Racist, crossword puzzles, MC Lars.

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Much of the metal community is appalled by the ascent of King 810.  I like 'em.  Memoirs of a Murderer is RIYL: Slipknot, violence, Five Finger Death Punch.  Here's "War Outside".

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The performance by pianists Alice Sara Ott and Francesco Tristano on Scandale is exciting.  The bile elicited by a promotional video is also very entertaining.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Various Blonde- Summer High

The disbanding of the Mars Volta and the Deftones' inability to sustain the momentum generated by the wondrous 2010 album Diamond Eyes have left me jonesing for a new dealer of art-metal.  I've searched the world for a adequate replacement but the solution has been right under my nose all along.  Even though a couple of the dudes in the Kansas City band are my Facebook friends and I regularly reference the group in my work as a freelance writer, I had no idea Various Blonde was capable of creating a work as powerful as Summer High.  With the assistance of producer Ikey Owens of the Mars Volta, Various Blonde has devised a potent dose of foreboding psychedelia.


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I reviewed Cake's performance at Crossroads KC.

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The Project H was the subject of my most recent feature on the Local Listen segment of KCUR's Up to Date program.

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Gerald Wilson has died.  (Via BGO.)

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My acquaintance Teddy Dibble discusses rare vinyl by the likes of the Bill Dixon Orchestra and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

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I'm infatuated with Joyce DiDonato's Stella di Napoli.  RIYL: Italy, Renée Fleming, beauty.

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Dom Flemons' Prospect Hill opens with a bang before petering out.  RIYL: Leon Redbone, sepia, the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

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Sims' Field Notes contains two or three strong tracks.  RIYL: Atmosphere, the Twin Cities, P.O.S.

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Il Sogno del Marinaio's Canto Secondo isn't as interesting as the project's first album.  RIYL: Mike Watt, SST Records' jazz/punk releases, the Minutemen.

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Belphegor's Conjuring the Dead is RIYL: exorcisms, Morbid Angel, haunted houses.  I assume the video for the title track is intentionally hilarious.

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Just a reminder- I continue to write about Kansas City's jazz scene at Plastic Sax.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

"You Won't Find Onassis in Mullinville, Kansas"

I don't get starstruck by musicians.  The power held by politicians, however, puts me in awe of elected officials.

That's why I was intent on exploring much of the world they inhabit during a recent trip to Washington D.C.  I spent hours in the galleries of the House and Senate and roamed the halls of Congressional office buildings like a teenage groupie in search of her favorite teen idols. 

My first trek to the Kennedy Center was an integral part of that experience.  I witnessed guest artists Nicola Benedetti (a violinist I reviewed at the Folly Theater in February) and cellist Leonard Elschenbroich perform Brahms and Tchaikovsky with the National Symphony Orchestra. 

The performance was more than fine, but I was just as interested in gazing at the Watergate building from the riverside patio and wondering how often the honorary trustees Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Hilary Rodham Clinton, Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan and Rosalynn Carter visit the Kennedy Center as I was in analyzing the music.

For the record, the sprawling complex may be much larger than Kansas City's Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, but it's not nearly as nice.  And while I sat directly behind a famous actress, I was disappointed that I didn't spot a single politician. 


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I featured 77 Jefferson in last week's segment of KCUR's Local Listen.

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Mills Record Company made a nice video of a performance by the Ray-Tones at the record store.

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Various Blonde made a video for "Downtown Frown".

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The KC Cypher Series ends its second season on a low note.

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Here a trailer for The Pleasures of Being Out of Step, a documentary about Nat Hentoff.

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The Neil Cowley Trio's Touch and Flee is RIYL: the Brad Mehldau Trio, European jazz, the Esbjorn Svensson Trio.  Here's an album trailer.

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Bixiga 70's Ocupai is RIYL: Fela, Brazilians playing African music, Antibalas.

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The lo-fi production and plaintive keening of Tim Cohen's voice on the Fresh & Only's House of Spirits put me in mind of Mekons.  RIYL: 1985, Fear and Whiskey, American Music Club.

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Lee Fields repeats a successful formula on Emma Jean.  Solomon Burke, don't fix it if it ain't broke, Wilson Pickett.

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File under uneasy listening. Say Anything's Hebrews is RIYL: the Get Up Kids, diaries, Brand New.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)