I’m Caught One More Time

Bill Shapiro introduced me to Astral Weeks.  I was unfamiliar with Van Morrison’s sublime album prior to hearing an episode of Shapiro’s weekly Cyprus Avenue program on KCUR in the late 1970s.  Shapiro played a significant role in my education in boomer rock by the likes of Morrison, Bob Dylan, the Band and Joni Mitchell on other episodes of Cyprus Avenue. 

I was saddened to learn of Shapiro’s death last week.  Even before perusing the outpouring of grief on social media, I knew I wasn’t the only person profoundly affected by Cyprus Avenue.   I discovered the program was a reliable sales driver when I worked in music retail in Kansas City during the 1980s and witnessed appreciative audiences at the concert series he curated at the Folly Theater in recent years.

While I’m grateful for Shapiro’s influence on my impressionable ears as a young listener, I eventually lost interest in his show.  Shapiro’s imperious tone was grating and his relatively conventional taste contained few surprises.  His 1991 consumer guide Rock and Roll Review: A Guide to Good Rock on CD is an instructive document of his inclinations.  I may have parted ways with Shapiro, but he and I will always have “Cyprus Avenue”.  To quote Shapiro, “‘nuff said.”


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Here are my latest concert recommendations for The Kansas City Star.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)