Bury Me Deep: Andre Williams’ Morbid Checklist

Old friends are dropping like flies.  And even my hair ached when I crawled out of bed yesterday.  Maybe it’s time to begin making funeral arrangements.  Andre Williams’s “Bury Me Deep” indicates that the process needn’t be joyless.  Here’s the beginning of his outlandish checklist: “when I die, I want six female pallbearers, and I want a Jewish hearse driver, and I want a black preacher preaching for me, and I want a pink hearse- gotta be pink…”  The outlandish song is from Williams’ forthcoming Don’t Ever Give Up album.


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I reviewed concerts by Bonnie Raitt, Toni Braxton, Il Divo and Bob James for The Kansas City Star.

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I reviewed the Conquerors’ Wyld Time album for KCUR.

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My most recent weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine are published here and here.

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I recently discussed Various Blonde and Kansas on KCUR.

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Tonight’s Schoolboy Q concert is my Big Show of the week for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I recently reviewed jazz concerts by Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle and the Hermon Mehari Quartet at Plastic Sax.

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Helado Negro found ways to transcend the quandry faced by laptop pop artists at RecordBar last night.  Rather than merely singing into a microphone after pushing the play button on his MacBook, he and his computer were flanked by two costumed dancers and were supplemented by a nifty light system.  The experimental artist is also a convincing guitarist.

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Phil Chess has died.

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I’m all about Joyce DiDonato’s latest video.

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Time/Life: Song for the Whales and Other Beings by Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra is a nice surprise.  The late bassist is heard on two of the five tracks.

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Jamie Lidell’s Building a Beginning is RIYL Hall & Oates, old-fashioned love songs, Bobby Caldwell.  Here’s ”I Live To Make You Smile”.

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The intentionally absurd album cover of D.R.A.M.’s Big Baby D.R.A.M. reflects its contents.  ”WiFi” features Erykah Badu.

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Metal na Madeira, a collaboration between vocalist Paula Santoro and guitarist Ian Faquini, is RIYL Gal Costa, cool water on a hot day, João Gilberto.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Descendents- Hypercaffium Spazzinate

I passed on Warped Tour last week.  The reduced number of stages and a disappointing lack of variety meant that the chances making a new discovery weren’t very good.  And the idea of paying $45 to stand on black asphalt in extreme heat to hear Good Charlotte just didn’t appeal to me. 

I wouldn’t have hesitated to pony up had the Descendents been on the bill.  The group has been talkin’ ‘bout my generation for decades. 

The new album Hypercaffium Spazzinate contains 21 brief songs that address the concerns of guys my age.  “No Fat Burgers” is my new theme song and the discontent of “Business A. U.” is all too relatable.  Here’s ”Victim of Me”.


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I reviewed a concert by Miike Snow and Jack Garratt.

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I reviewed a concert by the Indigo Girls.

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I discussed Rachel Mallin & the Wild Type on KCUR last week.

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I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I wrote an extended preview for Umphrey’s McGhee’s upcoming concert.

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I graded every concert in the forthcoming seasons of the American Jazz Museum’s Jazz at the Gem and the Folly Theater’s jazz series at Plastic Sax.  Spoiler alert: Jack DeJohnette!

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Until Friday, the most expensive concert tickets I’d purchased were for a Kraftwerk show in Toronto.  I splurged on a pair of 11th row tickets for Dolly Parton’s concert at the Sprint Center last week.  The entirely delightful show was worth the breathtaking expense.

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The Conquerors created an entertaining video for “Wyld Time.”

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Elliot Galvin makes jazz seem boring.  The wild experimentation he and his band display on Punch indicates that most mainstream jazz is hopelessly prosaic.

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Date night fail #541: Unaware of the intent of the new solo album by the Lady Antebellum vocalist, I cued up Hillary Scott & the Scott Family’s Love Remains for the drive to Dolly Parton’s concert on Friday.  I expected to hear slick love ballads.  Instead, my date and I got an earful of songs about Jesus.

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Amina Claudine Myers’ harrowing new solo album Sama Rou is staggeringly heavy.  RIYL: Nina Simone, avant-garde Jesus, Bessie Smith.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Into It Over It- Standards

A few years after our graduation, a former classmate spotted copies of our high school yearbooks on a bookshelf in my apartment.  He spent the next hour pouring over the volumes as he reminisced about the good old days.  I threw the books in the trash the next day.  Even though I’ve always been more interested in tomorrow than yesterday, Into It Over It’s new album Standards makes me feel like a giddily confused 17-year-old.  And I like it.  RIYL: The Get Up Kids, teenage kicks, Ben Gibbard.


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I reviewed the touring production of A Night With Janis Joplin.

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I admired Tinashe’s career in advance of her show at the Granada.

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I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I discussed the Conquerors with Steve Kraske on KCUR last week.

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I take note of Gerald Spaits' Sax & Violins at Plastic Sax.

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Herb Palmer, a longtime fixture on Kansas City’s music scene, has died.  Here’s a related article written by CJ Janovy in 2004.

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Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest has died.

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The gospel star Daryl Coley died earlier this month.  Here’s ”He’s Preparing Me”.

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What I’m Feelin’, the first Anthony Hamilton studio album (aside from a Christmas project) in five years, makes me feel disappointed, depressed and angry.  Even the album’s best songs are tedious.  Hamilton has ceded the title of the best traditional male R&B vocalist of the new millennium.  Here’s ”Amen”.

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Henry Threagill’s new works inspire me.  Old Locks and Irregular Verbs will be released on April 1.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)