Thursday, April 24, 2008

Doc Cheatham and Theo Croker

















Theo Croker- John Coltrane (MP3)

Butch Thompson and Doc Cheatham- If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight (MP3)

In one of those serendipitous discoveries made possible by MySpace's artist search directory, I discovered that a grandson of trumpet legend Doc Cheatham resides in Shanghai. And he's amazing. Just check out the Dean Benedetti-style boot posted above for confirmation. More material can be downloaded at Croker's MySpace page. Croker's grandfather had a much different sound. "If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight" is from Cheatham's utterly charming 1994 Butch & Doc session with Butch Thompson. If the 88-year-old's performance on the suggestive ballad doesn't make you happy, well, I'm afraid you're a lost cause.

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Tom "Papa" Ray of St. Louis is one of my favorite people. The Riverfront Times conducted a painfully awkward video interview with the retail legend on Record Store Day.

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I spewed a mouthful of coffee across my breakfast table this morning as I read that Von Lee Smith was working with Akon. A more unlikely pairing is hard to imagine. A good-looking Kansas City kid with a big voice, Smith seemed destined for success by following in the footsteps of Clay Aiken and Josh Groban. Shows what I know. Here's Steve Penn's shocking column in the Kansas City Star.

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Al "Show and Tell" Wilson died Monday.

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Kansas City Click: Star-in-waiting Erin Bode buckles knees at the Blue Room tonight.

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