Concert Review: Brother Ali at the Granada

I went to a hip-hop concert and an Occupy Wall Street rally broke out.  Lacking a backpack filled with spray paint and Howard Zinn tracts, I felt a bit more out of place than usual at the Granada on Sunday.

Backed only by DJ Last Word, Brother Ali, Bambu and Mally performed over two hours of old-school hip-hop for the 100 or so people who had ponied up $15 to gain entry.

Ali explained that he embarked on a tour without a new album or promotional support in an effort to reconnect with his real fans.  He added that he selected his tour mates partly because they were good fathers to their children.  The Minneapolis rapper is so painfully sincere that I had to take him at his word.  Coming from most anyone else, the assertions would have seemed like weak rationalizations for the pitiful turnout.

Long one of my favorite MCs, Ali performed most of his best known material, from the scathing political attack "Uncle Sam Goddamn" ("Obama is killing people with drones") to the self-esteem anthem "Forest Whitiker" ("you ain't gotta love me").  A rap about raising children in the aftermath of the Mike Brown incident was the clear highlight of the evening.

The contradictory messages espoused by Los Angeles' Bambu irritated me so much that I considered giving him a piece of my mind after the show.  Minneapolis' Mally was likable enough.  The trio issued an informal performance of "Home Away" earlier this week.


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I reviewed a concert by the Flaming Lips and Electric Würms.

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The video for Kansas City Bear Fighters '"You're In Kansas" is clever.  (Via Tony's Kansas City.)

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Here's the video for Farout's "Bittersweet".

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Marc Myers' remembrance of Joe Sample is invaluable.

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Howard Reich reports on Steve Coleman's genius grant.

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Polar Bear is better on paper than on headphones.  In Each and Every One is RIYL: Radiohead, jazz for people who don't like jazz, the Pat Metheny Group.  Here's "Life and Life".

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Cold Specks' Neuroplasticity is another album I'm supposed to like.  I loathe it.  RIYL: Patti Smith, "Art", Neneh Cherry.  Here's "Absisto".

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Steve Arrington continues to funk everything up.

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From the Why Didn't Any of You Jerks Tell Me About This Department- GoGo Penguin's excellent v2.0 is RIYL: Esbjörn Svensson Trio, European jazz, the Bad Plus.  "Hopopono" is a representative track.

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The Mark Turner Quartet's Lathe of Heaven looks promising.

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Donnie McClurkin's Duets is RIYL: Sunday mornings, the Winans, clapping.

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Bahamas' Bahamas is Afie is RIYL: Jimmie Spheeris, lite rock, Dan Fogelberg.

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Death Metal Angola.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: New Ear- Strangely Familiar at All Souls Unitarian Church and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

"We're in a spaceship here," composer Paul Rudy said as he pointed to the futuristic protuberance on the ceiling of the foyer of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.  "It's just masquerading as a museum." 

An audience of about 125 heard the world premiere of Rudy's "Martian Chronicles" on Friday, March 1.  Mark Southerland's saxophones and horn sculptures took the lead during the spacey piece as the members of New Ear provided accompaniment.  After I realized that the rudderless composition didn't have a determined destination I was able to enjoy the ride.  Only the repeated use of an irritating and incongruous vibraslap-style percussion effect interfered with the celestial journey.  (KCUR produced an excellent piece about "Martian Chronicles.")

The first half of New Ear's "Strangely Familiar" program across the street at All Souls Unitarian Church was even better.  Lawrence Figg's cello playing over the spectral prerecorded sounds on "fits + starts" clearly blew the minds of the stoned college-age kids seated near me.  Robert Pherigo's work on treated piano during " Still Sorrowing" blew my mind in turn.  Jan Faidley and Thomas Aber evoked the work of the World Saxophone Quartet on the Tim Berne-inspired "We Speak Etruscan."  Only a composition by Chong Kee Yong failed to delight me.  It sounded a riot in a yoga studio. 

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


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I reviewed a concert by 3 Doors Down, Daughtry and Aranda.

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I introduced selections by six locally-based artists on Friday's edition of KCUR's Up to Date. 

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"We had that Bannister Mall crackin'!"  Here's the video for Kutt Cahoun's "I Been Dope" from his new Black Gold album.

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Here's a four-minute promo video for Kanrocksas. 

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Van Cliburn has died.

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The openng segment of a new documentary about the Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin is amazing.

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Gionvanni Guidi's City of Broken Dreams seems promising.

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I listened to the new ambient album Selected Studies, Vol. 1 by Lloyd Cole (yes, that Lloyd Cole) and Hans-Joachim Roedelius as I read last night.  Thumbs up.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)