Review: Middle of the Map

It's a hit! The inaugural Middle of the Map festival succeeded on every level. I caught eight of the festival's fifty-plus performances. In order of personal preference:

1. Daniel Johnston with Capybara- The pairing of cult hero Daniel Johnston with Capybara was inspired. Johnston's effort was nothing short of heroic.
2. Cowboy Indian Bear- Even though its feathery melodies and happy bounce aren't really my thing (they'd be the perfect house band for Yo Gabba Gabba!), Cowboy Indian Bear is on to something extraordinary.
3. Deadringers- Blues-based garage rock along the lines of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
4. Paper Route- The OneRepublic of indie-rock. (That's a good thing.)
5. Spirit is the Spirit- A hippie version of Dr. Dog.
6. Saharan Gazelle Boy- It doesn't happen often outside of hip hop, but this is a rare instance of an act's recordings being superior to its live show.
7. Margot & the Nuclear So & So's- Bland.
8. Sam Billen- There's a time and place for Billen's laptop folk music. Saturday afternoon at the Record Bar wasn't one of them. (One of the bored people in this photo is your humble correspondent.)

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Hammerlord has a new video for "Tombstone Piledriver".

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I loved Kool Keith's rare Kansas City appearance. Here's my review.

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Kansas City Click: Hermon Mehari returns to the Blue Room on Monday.

Movits! play at Crosstown Station on Tuesday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Israel Nash Gripka- Barn Doors and Concrete Floors

Video stream of Israel Nash Gripka's "Goodbye Ghost"

Where my hippies at?

Israel Nash Gripka creates music that's a throwback to the Nixon era. Yet today's listeners don't need to remember John Denver or wear bell-bottoms to appreciate Barn Doors and Concrete Floors.

The new album contains the songcraft of Robbie Robertson and the bleary gypsy-folk style associated with Bob Dylan's Desire. And then there's the Stones references. "Sunset, Regret" and "Louisiana" make it clear that Gripka and his band have spent some quality time with Sticky Fingers. The presence of producer Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth insures that the album never sounds stale. Barn Doors and Concrete Floors demands to be played on vinyl with windows thrown open so that crickets can chirp along.

"Oh, Missouri won't you bless my soul," Gripka moans on "Bellwether Ballad."

Shake it on down.


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I'm not entirely sold on the music, but Spoek Mathambo's "Control" is my second-favorite video of 2011. (Via BigSteveNO.)

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My final Middle of the Map band of the week is Maps & Atlases: The Chicago-based band is slotted between Work Drugs and Two Door Cinema Club at the Beaumont Club on Friday.

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Here's a high-quality performance video of Kristie Stremel & the 159ers.

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I might have accomplished a lot more in recent weeks if only I'd been able to stop thinking about Chris Brown's "Look At Me Now". It's not a proper song, yet it's one of the year's biggest hits. How does that happen? Brown is going out of his way to make everyone in the world hate him. Why isn't it working? Are his fans really that dim? Busta! Is Weezy's explicit homophobia merely a sly response to Brown's opening rap about male genitalia? And is the video an intentional homage to the sexual ambiguity of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"?

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Kansas City Click: The inaugural Middle of the Map festival takes place in four venues Friday and Saturday.

The annual fundraiser for Kansas City Youth Jazz is Sunday at the Madrid Theater.

Hermon Mehari hosts Monday's jam at the Blue Room.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Big K.R.I.T.- Return of 4Eva

After quickly glancing at a list of my favorite releases from the first quarter of 2011, I was pleasantly surprised to spot several free self-released mixtapes in my nascent top ten. They range from Nicholas Payton's label-rejected Bitches to Kansas City hip hop artist Steddy P.'s What Happened Tomorrow. Big K.R.I.T.'s Return of 4Eva is also in the mix. Unlike many such projects, it boasts top-quality production and solid features by the likes of David Banner, Chamillionaire and Raheem DeVaughn. I'd gladly pay money for songs like "Lions and Lambs" and "King's Blues." And that's the conundrum- how can I justify spending money on today's new releases from the Raveonettes, Gretchen Parlato, Avant and Etta James when I already possess hour after hour of excellent free new music? Aw... I'm not fooling anybody. Money I'd otherwise spend at the Oak Tree will continue to go to prerecorded music.


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The hype surrounding Vijay Iyer quickly becomes tiresome, but I have to admit that this trio session recorded for NPR is astounding.

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Here's my review of Joe Lovano and Us Five's concert at the Folly Theater. I also covered a fine outing by the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and Snuff Jazz.

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Although I always loathed his biggest hit, I'm saddened by the death of Mel McDaniel.

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I must have missed the release of the new video for "Caked Up" by Ron Ron and Stik Figa while I was on my blogging sabbatical.

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Free Lil' Boosie! Not really. But the new video for Kansas City's Mon EG and Boosie's "Dime Piece" is solid. (Via Tony's Kansas City.)

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Kansas City Click: Big K.R.I.T. appears at the Granada Theater in Lawrence on Tuesday.

Jack Walrath performs at White Recital Hall on Wednesday.

The Waybacks pick and grin at Crosstown Station on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Nicholas Payton's Bitches

I'll take credit for being the first to make the connection- Nicholas Payton's Bitches is the jazz equivalent of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

Both albums were rejected by the artist's record labels. And both projects represented major stylistic departures. Just as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was not the expected roots-rock album, Bitches is not a mainstream jazz recording. As "By My Side" and "Shades of Hue" indicate, Bitches contains the sort of contemporary psychedelic R&B associated with Erykah Badu, Bilal and Maxwell. The top ten lists in the column to the right show that I already adore that sound.

It's been noted elsewhere that the project was initially inspired by Miles Davis' Bitches Brew. I was unaware of these sessions when I attended Payton's odd appearance at the Rhythm & Ribs festival last October. In my notes about the event at Plastic Sax, I drew comparisons to Davis' On the Corner and Stevie Wonder's Fulfillingness' First Finale. Bitches affirms that impression.

At 74 minutes, it's a sprawling mess. As with the genre's greatest album, however, even Bitches' flaws sound right. Bitches is brilliant.

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I'm also currently obsessing over George Cables' 1979 album Cables Vision.

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I reviewed last night's performances by the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and Snuff Jazz.

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Wayward Blog brought the locally-based Overland Shark label to my attention today.

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Why yes, I am excited about Amazon's sound cloud. Thanks for asking.

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Here's the schedule for next week's Middle of the Map festival. My festival band of the week is the mysterious Candy Claws. It's typical of Middle of the Map's emphasis on electronic dream-pop.

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Kansas City Click: Foster the People will play "Pumped Up Kicks" Thursday at the Beaumont.

Benny Golson will be honored at the Blue Room on Friday.

Joe Lovano leads a band Saturday at the Folly Theater.

The Dramatics top Sunday's bill at the Beaumont.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Ingrid Fliter and the KC Symphony

"Such soothing music!" a misguided patron exclaimed as he strolled out of the Lyric Theater on Saturday. The performance by the Kansas City Symphony could be characterized as inspiring or stimulating, but calling it soothing was an unintended insult to the musicians and composers. Elgar's Enigma Variations didn't do anything for me but Ravel's G Major Piano Concerto provided a wild ride. Ingrid Fliter, the featured pianist, was charming. Although I'm still in search of the mythical $10 Symphony ticket, at $16, Saturday's rush tickets still represented a steal.

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I love whatever's happening on track #10 of The Lost and Found, Gretchen Parlato's new album.

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In spite of its patronizing tone, a recently uncovered 1956 documentary about the music of a Southern sharecropper is worth the attention of roots music fans and students of American history. (Via Marc Meyer's Jazz Wax.)

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Syd Kitchen has died.

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My friend Corky alerted me to this exciting development.

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Red Line Chemistry made a video for "You Don't Get It".

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Local readers might be interested in a ticket contest at Plastic Sax.

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Kansas City Click: Tom Russell returns to Knuckleheads on Tuesday.

The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey graduates to Crosstown Station on Wednesday.

Electric Six perform at the Riot Room on Thursday. Request "Gay Bar".

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

The Gruesome Return of the Death Blog

I visited the grave of Serge Gainsbourg in Paris last week. I'm attending a funeral in western Kansas tomorrow. Rather than allowing the long list of music-related deaths to paralyze me, I'll simply list them.

*Kansas City pianist Ronald Brown.
*Michael Charles, a fixture on Kansas City's black gospel scene.
*Reggae's Smiley Culture.
*Disco star Loleatta Holloway.
*Country legend Ferlin Husky.
*Blues man Big Jack Johnson.
*Jazz drummer Joe Morello.
*Death Row Records luminary Nate Dogg.
*Steel guitarist Ralph Mooney (Tip via BGO.)
*Blues pianist Pinetop Perkins.
*Oddball Zoogz Rift.
*Jazz-funk guitarist Melvin Sparks.
*Mike Starr of Alice in Chains.

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Have I mentioned that I love Alison Krauss? I'm looking forward to her new album.

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I recommend Pusha-T's Fear of God free mixtape to fans of the Clipse, N.E.R.D and Odd Future.

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Could "Into the Spin" be the video that makes Doomtree's Dessa a star?

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The pictured Melvin Sparks import contains two entertaining albums from the '70s.

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Hidden Pictures is critiqued by a drunk guy.

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Kansas City Click: Brass Bed brings its Big Star-style pop to the Record Bar on Thursday.

Dianne Reeves performs Friday at the Gem Theater.

Trio Mediaeval return to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Saturday.

The Trashcan Sinatras perform at Knuckleheads on Sunday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Concertgebouw

That's the Concertgebouw. I admired it during my recent trip to Europe but I didn't attend a performance at the venerable hall. A few excellent buskers aside, I haven't heard any live music in two weeks. Instead, I've been subjected to almost nothing but trifling pop music at grocery stores, cafes, shops and on public transport in Belgium, the Netherlands and France. I never need to hear Alison Moyet again.

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The Mumlers headline the late show at the Record Bar on Tuesday. I'll probably be there.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Down the Road a Piece

There Stands the Glass' usual shenanigans will resume later this month. Until then, I'll be "Down the Road a Piece".

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Steddy P. & DJ Mahf- What Happened Tomorrow

What Happened Tomorrow promo video

What Happened Tomorrow, the compelling new mixtape by Steddy P. and DJ Mahf, is more of the same. As with the duo's previous projects, it's smart, funny and highly entertaining.

Available as a free download March 15, What Happened Tomorrow showcases the young Missouri-based musician's stubborn old-school mentality. Steddy P.'s delivery and mindset continue to invite comparisons to Chuck D. It's also telling that he references KRS-One on "Heartbeat." The primary subject of What Happens Tomorrow is the artist's career in music. Sure, it's annoying, but when it comes to free mixtapes, self-obsession isn't just a prerogative, it's practically an obligation.

Steddy P.'s not-so-secret weapon is DJ Mahf. Even when his partner's rhymes falter, Mahf's musical choices maintain interest. The album opens with a muted Manu Dibango-style track. In order to keep copyright attorneys off the duo's backs, I won't mention what clever rock sample is heard on "The Art of..."

On "By Myself," Steddy P. describes his struggle to establish himself "in a town where everybody wants to be the Killer Clown," Even if Steddy P. has yet to achieve a fraction of Tech N9ne's financial success, his ongoing efforts continue to reward listeners.


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Yeah, I know what day it is. I'm just not in the mood.

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I caught Hot Tuna last weekend. Here's my review.

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New Orleans drummer Herman Ernest has died. (Tip via BGO.)

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Johnny Preston- "Running Bear" and "Cradle of Love"- has died. (I hadn't realized that the Big Bopper wrote "Running Bear.")

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Get a taste of the ethereal new album by Trio Mediaeval here.

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James Farm!

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I continue to stir the pot at Plastic Sax.

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Have we no shame?

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Kansas City Click: Grand Marquis play Jazz in midtown on Fat Tuesday.

Am I actually recommending a Vertical Horizon show? Yeah, but the band's gig Wednesday at the Power & Light stage is free.

Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard sing songs you know by heart Thursday at the Music Hall.

(Original image of artist at a 2010 Steddy P. and DJ Mahf performance by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: The Water Tower Bucket Boys- Sole Kitchen

Video stream of the Water Tower Bucket Boys version of "Greasy Coat"

Never once have I fantasized about being a famous musician. The lovably ramshackle acoustic music of The Water Tower Bucket Boys, however, makes me want to grab a mandolin and jump on a train. Sole Kitchen (available now from CD Baby and at other outlets on April 26) is that ingratiating. The Portland-based band probably isn't any better than the Bad Livers, the Hackensaw Boys or Split Lip Rayfield, but I adore Sole Kitchen's songs about bread ("tastes just like my honey's bun!"), the quality of smoke in Berkeley and drinking so much whiskey that you "pass out on the hot, dusty ground." And anyone familiar with my loathing of rodents can imagine my delight with "Blackbird Pickin' at a Squirrel." Where's my knapsack?

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Mercy, the new album by Max Justus, streams here.

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I enthusiastically reviewed Kasey Anderson's Heart of a Dog in January. He recently recorded a Daytrotter session. It's really good.

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My Middle of the Map festival band of the week is Paper Route.

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Mac Lethal and Charlie Sheen: Separated at birth?

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The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey recently worked with a few all-star horn players. This excites me.

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Art Brut never fail to make me laugh. Among the songs on its forthcoming album Brilliant! Tragic! are "Clever Clever Jazz" and "Is Dog Eared."

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Kansas City Click: Arturo Sandoval plays the Folly Theater on Friday.

Illphonics visit the Czar Bar on Saturday.

The People's Liberation Big Band return to the Record Bar on Sunday.

Glen David Andrews celebrates the advent of the holiday season Monday at the Blue Room.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Eddie Kirkland, 1923-2011

Although Eddie Kirkland was 87 when he passed away a couple days ago, he didn't die of old age. A horrific car accident killed him. The life of the former musical partner of John Lee Hooker was full of such unlikely surprises. For starters, he was born in Jamaica. Kirkland toured with Otis Redding in 1964. Backed by Foghat, he performed on Don Kirshner's nationally televised "Rock Concert" with Foghat in 1977. (Drop everything and watch the amazing footage now.) He recorded several solid albums during the blues revival of the '80s and '90s, including this minor gem for the JSP label.

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I analyzed Operation Long Leash, the new album by the Dead Kenny Gs, at Plastic Sax.

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I was privileged to hear Héctor Del Curto and Gustavo Casenave perform with the Bach Aria Soloists last weekend. Here's my review.

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Rick Ross's recent concert was a fiasco. Here's my review.

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I regularly mock "tasteful" albums that seem as if they're made specifically with NPR in mind. But darned if I don't love Lagrimas Mexicanas, the new collaboration between Vinicius Cantuaria and Bill Frisell.

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Jane Russell has died.

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Kansas City Click: Rodney Crowell returns to Knuckleheads on Tuesday.

The Beaumont Club hosts The Dropkick Murphys on Wednesday.

The Sons of Brasil play Jardine's on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

This Changes Everything

I'd only recently become aware of the Odd Future collective when I clicked "play" on the video for Tyler the Creator's "Yonkers" a couple days ago. I immediately sensed that I was watching something significant, a game-changing work of art that will eventually have an enormous impact on pop music and on popular culture as a whole.

The electrifying moment brought similarly revelatory past experiences to mind. I'm not the world's greatest prognosticator, and I've slept on the initial stirrings of countless groundbreaking movements- I failed to grasp grunge, for instance- but I've created a list of twenty things that I recognized as crucial when they were brand new. In other words, things that subsequently altered our perception of everything else.

Interestingly, my list doesn't include a lot of the stuff I treasure. The influence of my favorite indie rock and alt-country projects seems incremental rather than immediately revolutionary. And jazz, classical and so-called world music didn't make the cut only because the impact of each endeavor (save #19) is so limited.

1. The Ramones (1976, album)
The Ramones' debut caused me to trade in my Emerson Lake & Palmer and Kansas albums. I remember chanting "Beat On the Brat" as I bullied kids on my way home from school.

2. The Sex Pistols- "Anarchy In the U.K." (1976, 12")
I've never listened to the Sex Pistols for pleasure. Didn't like 'em then. Don't like 'em now. But shortly after I bought this pre-Never Mind the Bullocks imported 12" out of curiosity, I knew that I might never listen to my collection of Paul McCartney albums again.

3. Talking Heads- Fear of Music (1979, album)
The Talking Heads combined two of my favorite things- the Ohio Players and "new wave"- to make something new. Until 1979, that simple premise seemed to have been against the rules.

4. Laurie Anderson- "O Superman" (1981, song)
"You'd better get ready." How was this a hit? I'm still not sure, but this fluke and Gary Numan's "Cars" launched a new subset of popular music that I still don't particularly care for.

5. Prince- 1999 (1982, album)
"I Wanna Be Your Lover" was a staple of dances at my school. It wasn't until 1999, however, that Prince changed everything. In addition to breaking down racial barriers, he brought synth-rock into the mainstream.

6. Run-DMC- "It's Like That" (1983, song)
"It's Like That" was probably the first hip hop song that immediately resonated with me. The Grandmaster Flash and Kurtis Blow stuff had sounded kind of corny. This didn't. LL Cool J's stunning Def Jam singles were still two years away.

7. Michael Jackson- "Billie Jean" (1983, video)
You know how countless experts rhapsodize about the impact of this song at MTV? It's all true. I grew up watching the Jackson 5's cartoon show on Saturday mornings, but this was something else entirely. And everybody knew it.

8. The Police- Synchronicity (1983, album)
It's almost impossible to comprehend today, but when Synchronicity was released in 1983, the Police were still considered a weird and vaguely threatening "new wave" band. Within a year, many of its songs were staples on radio and MTV. I hate to admit it, but Synchronicity collapsed the barrier between "classic" and "alternative" rock.

9. N.W.A.- Straight Outta Compton (1988, album)
Although I've since made my peace with it, I hated this album for years. I preferred the (self-)righteous Public Enemy. Everything about N.W.A.'s message disturbed me. Everything, that is, save Dr. Dre's production. While guys like Schooly D had been performing gangsta rap prior to 1988, it was Dre's contribution that brought it to the masses.

10. Beck- "Loser" (1993, song)
While attempting to ape hip hop. Beck came up with something entirely new. This odd hit made the endless recycling of music socially acceptable.

11. Britney Spears- "...Baby One More Time" (1998, video)
When I saw the teenage trollop's video on MTV, I instantly knew that we'd entered a new era of lasciviousness. God help us all.

12. Mystikal- "Bouncin' Back" (2001, song)
The Neptunes go to the Dirty South. Even after T.I. took over, the song remains mind blowing. (Pharrell, obviously, is not an Earthling.)

13. Missy Elliott- "Get Ur Freak On" (2001, song)
Wait... what just happened? High concept, museum-quality hip hop hits the mainstream.

14. Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002, album)
How I hated this album the first three times I listened to it! Most of what's touted by NPR's All Things Considered and Paste magazine is at least tangentially related to this project.

15. Kanye West- The College Dropout (2004, album)
I still remember almost driving off the road immediately after purchasing this future icon's debut album.

16. Run the Road (2005, album)
The grime compilation introduced me to Dizzee Rascal, Lady Sovereign and the Streets. The influence of the icy approach to hip hop was soon heard in the music of the Gorillaz, Thom Yorke, Air and Bjork.

17. Lil Wayne- "A Milli" (2008, song)
He'd been around for years, but in 2008 Lil Wayne proved that swag and a beat were all that's necessary to create a monster hit.

18. M.I.A.- "Paper Planes" (2008, song)
You already know what it is. "Paper Planes" ushered in the long-awaited era of truly international pop music.

19. Esperanza Spalding (2009, performance)
And the heavens parted. That's how I felt when I witnessed Spalding's concert at the Folly Theater. I know my wishful thinking can and will be mocked, but Spalding is "The One." Mark my words...

20. Tyler the Creator- "Yonkers" (2011, video)
Smart, funny, anarchic and irredeemably nihilistic. The end is nigh.



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My Middle of the Map festival band-of-the week is Tamaryn.

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I'm falling way behind on new releases. The new Brad Mehldau is near the top of my list.

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Kansas City Click: Ben Rector performs Thursday at the Record Bar.

Jamey Johnson opens for Kid Rock at Sprint Center on Friday.

Malevolent Creation is at the Riot Room on Saturday.

Ron Ron is among Rick Ross' support acts Sunday at the Sprint Center.

Review: Rhys Chatham- Outdoor Spell

Video snippet of a recent Rhys Chatham performance.


There's a lot of electrified barbed wire here in Kansas. Its siren song is irresistible. Even though you know it's going to hurt, the wire simply must be touched.

I feel much the same way about Outdoor Spell, the forthcoming album by Rhys Chatham. It's often excruciating, yet I've been listening to bits of it every day for over two weeks.

As with many of my generation, Sonic Youth's early work served as my introduction to artistic noise. Pouring over pre-internet interviews with the rock band led me to Chatham. Years of willful appreciation of the sonic assaults, however, didn't prepare for Outdoor Spell.

After a relatively tranquil opening track, "Crossing the Sword Bridge" quickly becomes unbearable. It sounds like air squeakily escaping from a balloon, the insistent whine of a vacuum and the irate honking of a dozen taxi drivers. Chatham seems to be challenging listeners to to endure all eighteen minutes of the piece. (I can't make it without taking a couple breaks.) "Corn Maiden's Rite" is made only slightly more tolerable by arrhythmic drumming. Its chorus of trumpets sounds like a flock of dying geese. Long swathes of "The Magician" resemble a flatulence-induced car crash.

It's genius.

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My friend S. tipped me off to Odd Future. I love these kids! And this is the single funniest thing I've seen in 2011. There's a riot going on.

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The new video for Hidden Pictures' "Anne Apparently" is cute.

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Mac Lethal is featured in another high profile battle. The action starts at 3:30.

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I reviewed Todd Clouser's Sunday outing for Plastic Sax.

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Kansas City Click: Smith Westerns is at the Record Bar on Tuesday.

Cage the Elephant return to the Beaumont on Wednesday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

George Shearing, 1919-2011

George Shearing- "My Funny Valentine" (video stream)

People who suggest that they were born in the wrong era baffle me. I'm just glad to be here. I freely acknowledge, however, that I experience music through a contemporary filter. Django Reinhardt's scratchy recordings from the 1930s strike me as up to date as Jay Electronica. Other artists, George Shearing among them, evoke a period that seems somewhat foreign to me. His romantic and formal sensibility, while immediately accessible, is rooted in an entirely different time and place. I can appreciate it- I can even love it- but I'm several steps removed from its origin. George Shearing died on Valentine's Day. He was 91.

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My latest ECM infatuation: Mistico Mediterraneo by Paolo Fresu, Daniele di Bonaventura and A Filetta.

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Max, the man behind Nuthatch-47, has a new song and video. (Via Wayward Blog.)

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Who Is Arcade Fire? has made me laugh out loud every day this week.

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The Life and Times is responsible for my tenth favorite album of 2009. The band is performing at the Middle of the Map festival in April.

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While there's still no mention of the news at the Kansas City Symphony's site, a recording featuring the ensemble won Grammy Awards for "Surround Sound Album" and "Producer of the Year, Classical."

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Hey, Kansas City music lovers- this is what a real record store looks like. Grimey's in Nashville is just killing it.

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Kansas City Click: Motorhead will make everything louder than everything else Thursday at the Midland Theater.

Phonologotron performs at City Center Square on Friday.

Thomas Pridgen's band The Memorials will be at the Riot Room on Saturday.

I previewed Todd Clouser's Sunday appearance at the Record Bar for Plastic Sax.

Julian Lage plays the Blue Room on Monday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Blues at the Crossroads at the Uptown

"Bittersweet!" a woman in the row behind me repeatedly shrieked Saturday at the Uptown Theater.

It wasn't going to happen. The oblivious woman may have paid $55 to hear Big Head Todd and the Monsters play its signature song, but Todd Park Mohr, the leader of the Colorado-based band, made it clear from the outset that the evening would be dedicated to the blues. (Here's my review of 100 Years of Robert Johnson.)

A decidedly mixed bag, the quality of the concert can be reduced to a simple axiom. Less is more. Mohr's solo acoustic work was shockingly good. A critic in Ann Arbor savaged his effort on the previous night, but the bandleader was far more convincing than I'd expected. Lightnin' Malcom's duet segment with James Cotton was the evening's clear highlight. Malcolm offered the same sort of tasteful support for Hubert Sumlin.

Things weren't nearly as nice when all of Mohr's Monsters were on stage. The large ensemble's version of "Come On in My Kitchen," for instance, might easily have been mistaken for "Bittersweet" by that frustrated fan. She was probably also pleased to hear hits by Bryan Adams and Bonnie Raitt played over the PA at intermission. I suspect that she didn't notice the unexplained absence of David "Honeyboy" Edwards, either. I'd really been looking forward to seeing Edwards one last time. For entirely different reasons, she and I both came down with a bad case of the blues on Saturday.

Here's Joel Francis' proper review of the concert.

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After I wrote this essay about the significance of Esperanza Spalding in 2009, I've taken to referring to her as "The One." As of today, she unofficially supplants Wynton Marsalis as the face of jazz.

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Quit your hating. I loved the Grammy broadcast. My favorite performances, in order: B.o.B, Bruno Mars and Janelle Monae; Cee Lo Green; Arcade Fire; Eminem; and Mick Jagger's tribute to Solomon Burke.

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Kansas City rapper Dinero Fazil has a nice video for "Mi Vida Escrita En Papeles". (Via Credential Hip Hop.)

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Kansas City Click: I suspect Mark Lowrey will play "My Funny Valentine" more than once at Sullivan's on Monday.

Carrie Rodriguez, Erin McKeown and Mary Gauthier team up Tuesday at Knuckleheads.

The Record Bar hosts Sebadoh on Wednesday.

(Original image of Sumlin, Malcom and Mohr by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: 100 Years of Robert Johnson

Recent fan footage of a David "Honeyboy" Edwards performance.

If you scroll down the column to the right you'll see Kenny Wayne Shepherd's 10 Days Out: Blues From the Backroads on my top albums of 2007 list. I don't particularly care for the blues-rock guitarist. For that specific project, however, Shepherd featured veteran blues artists including Etta James and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. I loved it.

100 Years of Robert Johnson, officially released on March 1, is a very similar project. Under the moniker of "Big Head Blues Club," the project is essentially Big Head Todd and the Monsters backing a number of blues greats on material associated with Robert Johnson.

A discerning blindfolded listener might sense that a rock band is behind the project, but BHTM's jam band instincts are tastefully sublimated throughout the wonderful album. Almost all of it sounds fresh. Only Ruthie Foster's contribution to "Kind Hearted Woman" fails to thrill me. Charlie Musselwhite has rarely sounded better than on the eerie version of "Last Fair Deal Gone Down." B.B. King seems vital on a funky rendition of "Crossroads Blues." David "Honeyboy" Edwards and Hubert Sumlin also shine.

I've never been a huge Big Head Todd and the Monsters fan, but I intend to buy a ticket to see them perform these songs with Edwards and Sumlin in my town tomorrow. And don't be surprised if you spot this album listed over in the column to the right eleven months from now.


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In anticipation of the recently announced Middle of the Map festival, I'll highlight one of the festival's performers each week. The April event provides my first opportunity to see Daniel Johnston outside of Texas. Here's a touching rendition of "Devil Town."

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I'm not oblivious to the inherent cheesiness of the broadcast or its ludicrously inept history, but I'll watch Sunday's Grammy Awards with the same rabid attention football fans accord to the Super Bowl.

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Kansas City Click: Death Angel headline Friday's bill at the Riot Room.

Kid Congo's Saturday gig at Crosstown Station will probably begin after the Big Head Blues Club show at the Uptown Theater concludes.

Joyce DiDonato sings Sunday at the Folly Theater.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Marvin Sease, 1946-2011

If you had asked me to speculate about which of the veteran performers on the bill at the Midland Theater last February 20 would be the first to pass away, I wouldn't have named Marvin Sease. Bobby "Blue" Bland, God bless him, was distressingly frail. Then again, I thought Bland looked shaky when I first time saw him thirty years ago. He's tough. Shirley Brown and Floyd Taylor weren't exactly doing back flips twelve months ago either. As the evening's top-billed artist, Sease delivered his signature song with gusto. Depending on the context and my mood, lewd soul-blues material like "I Ate You For My Breakfast" can either delight or offend me. Sease died earlier this week.

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Kansas City Click: The Lynch Mob will be rockin' like Dokken at Crosstown Station on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Gary Moore, 1952-2011

Video stream of Gary Moore's "Nothing's the Same"

I never cared for this version of Gary Moore. His stints with Thin Lizzy didn't do much for me either. His decidedly European guitar work on languid late-career blues-based material, however, never failed to move me. Moore died Sunday.

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I can imagine a parallel universe in which The Decemberists are my favorite band. In a world without the likes of Chuck Berry, James Brown, John Coltrane, Dr. Dre, Iggy Pop or Richard Wagner, I might dedicate myself to polite chamber rock. The addition of Sara Watkins tremendously enhanced The Decemberist's performance last night at the Uptown Theater. Here's Tim Finn's review.

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Finn composed an excellent portrait of Making Movies. The band's video for "Tormenta" was my top Kansas City video of 2010. The song is available as a free download at Bandcamp.

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Kansas City Click: Matt Otto brings his new "folk jazz" band to Jardine's on Tuesday.

The New Vintage Big Band plays Wednesday at Knuckleheads.

Lynch Mob appears at Crosstown Station on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: The Go! Team- Rolling Blackouts

Video trailer for Rolling Blackouts

How is it that I fully embrace The Go! Team's shenanigans on its new album Rolling Blackouts but cringe every time I hear the phrase "up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy"?

Both The Go! Team and Ke$ha emphasize fun. The former's "Voice Yr Choice" references drinking Grey Goose while clubbing. Ke$ha claims that she brushes her teeth with whiskey on "TiK ToK." My hypocrisy has nothing to do with any sort of cool quotient. I quit playing that card years ago. The answer, obviously, is in the music.

The drill team audacity of "T.O.R.N.A.D.O." is in keeping with the rolling thunder go-go vibe often co-opted by a few of my favorite Midwestern hip hop acts. "Buy Nothing Day", featuring a cameo by Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, is pop perfection. The DayGlo blissfulness of "Secretary Song" is right behind it. "Yosemite Theme," one of several instrumental interludes on Rolling Blackouts, is positively Mantovanian. "Lazy Poltergestist" sounds like Jon Brion and Brad Mehldau on the worst day of their lives.

Hey, The Go! Team: I don't know what I ever saw in Ke$ha, anyway. I'm "Ready To Go Steady".


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I love the video trailers for Doomtree's albums. Here's the the pitch for the forthcoming Sims project. It comes with a box cutter!

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I reviewed A Vibe Called Fresh at Plastic Sax. Here's video footage from the event.

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I've been negligent in not linking to my unpopular review of a recent rock show headlined by Buckcherry.

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Kansas City Click: Bobby Watson's Horizon performs Friday at the Gem Theater.

Junior Mance returns to the Blue Room on Saturday.

The People's Liberation Big Band plays at the Record Bar on Sunday.

Mountain Man open for the Decemberists at the Uptown on Monday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Jake Mann + the Upper Hand- Parallel South

Jake Mann + the Upper Hand's "Days Are Long" video stream.

It's not a cool thing to confess, but I prefer Pavement's Terror Twilight to the band's earlier "classic" albums. That predilection allowed me instant affinity with Parallel South, the new album by Jake Mann + the Upper Hand. It's far more polite than the music I generally prefer, but the refined jangle and semi-ironic blue-eyed soul of Parallel South is highly recommended to music fans who like to debate the relative merits of Bon Iver and Iron & Wine.

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Milton Babbitt has died.

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I just discovered the trailer for a documentary about The Fleshtones. Love that stuff.

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Bill Frisell and Vinicius Cantuaria together? Bliss!

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John Barry has died.

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Kansas City Click: Anthony B is at Crosstown Station on Tuesday.

The Sacred Have Fallen are one of several metal bands performing Wednesday at the Riot Room.

Ana Popovic returns to Knuckleheads on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Ozzy at the Sprint Center

I was kicking myself for failing to secure a ticket to Joshua Bell's concert Saturday when I caught wind of a special day-of-show deal at the Sprint Center. Twenty dollars for an Ozzy Osbourne ticket? Done! So much for my backup plan of spending just five dollars to catch Kid Sister and Hearts of Darkness at the VooDoo.

As the photo indicates, sometimes you get what you pay for. I initially felt as if I was watching people watch a concert. The laughably awful sound for Slash's opening set had me considering abandoning the arena. I'm glad I didn't bail. How I love Ozzy! As the proper reviews by Joel Francis and Peter Rugg indicate, it would have been impossible not to have a good time as Ozzy stumbled around the stage.

Even from the cheap seats.

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Here's my review of the opening night of the Jazz Winterlude festival.

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I held a pity party for myself Friday night. Oh Mercy provided the soundtrack. I'd intended to compound my misery by playing a third-tier Bob Dylan outing at full volume. It didn't go as planned. Those songs are stunning. The conventional wisdom is that Dylan's career renaissance began with 1997's Time Out of Mind. That's simply wrong.

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I enjoyed reading this profile of opera singer Joyce Castle. Here's a preview of her performance Wednesday at the Lied Center.

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I'm going through some stuff right now, so I'm especially susceptible to disposable pop music. That's a fancy way of admitting that I love The Script's "For the First Time".

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I wish Nelly had spent thirty seconds longer on the words to the chorus of his most recent hit.

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Nashville recording engineer Jim Williamson has died.

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Kansas City Click: Miranda Cosgrove appears at the Uptown Theater on Monday.

The Garrett Nordstrom Situation perform Tuesday at Jazz in midtown.

Diverse, Les Izmore and Reach will "Check the Rhime" Wednesday at the Blue Room.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Don't Waste Your Time Waiting

Got a head-on collision smashin' in my guts, man.

One of my best friends is dying. I first visited his deathbed last night. Light classical music was being pumped into his room as painkilling drugs coursed through his veins. An ex-wife and I agreed that the combination wasn't the least bit appropriate. I returned today with a few albums by the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen, his two favorite artists. Even as the eyes of my son's friend lit up, the man's mother immediately disparaged Bruce. Damn it. I'm counting on you, friends. Please do right by me when the time comes.

I believe in the love that you gave me.

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Tim Finn's implication that I'm "well-adjusted and loved" in his essay on Ozzy Osbourne came at precisely the right time.

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I reviewed There Are Rules, the new Get Up Kids album.

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"I've forgotten more about punk rock than you'll ever know." That's right- I'm the token crusty old guy at Warped Tour every year. Of the bands announced for the 2011 tour, I possess a measure of enthusiasm for the Aggrolites, Foxy Shazam, MC Lars and Grieves with Budo.

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Don Kirshner introduced me to the Ramones. Kirshner died January 17.

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Kansas City Click: The Jazz Winterlude festival began Thursday and concludes with a Sunday brunch.

Kid Sister and Hearts of Darkness appear Saturday at the VooDoo.

Sonic Spectrum presents a tribute to David Bowie at the Record Bar on Sunday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Social Distortion- Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes

Stream of "Machine Gun Blues" at YouTube.

If you babble long enough you'll eventually say something smart or funny. Accordingly, I've coined a few memorable phrases. One of my favorites came to me during a mid-'80s performance by zydeco musician Beau Jocque.

"He only knows one song," I yelled to a friend. "But it's a good one."

That's how I feel about Social Distortion. I love the new album Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes. I loved the aging punk band's previous recording and I'll almost certainly love the next one. I suppose you could characterize Social D's formulaic approach as a predictable rut. I prefer to think of it as a comfortable groove.

Let other artists innovate. I love Social Distortion's song just the way it is.

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I reviewed Saturday's performance by Tech N9ne.

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Here's a new song from Mac Lethal.

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Here's low-budget video for the Lonely Hearts Club's "Sweet."

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I have mixed feelings about the first single from The Streets' "fifth and final album." Here's the video.

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Dude!

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Kansas City Click: Hey everybody, B.B. KIng is in town! He appears Tuesday at the Independence Events Center.

Ruthie Foster plays Knuckleheads on Wednesday.

Clint Ashlock's New Jazz Order featuring Megan Birdsall opens the Jazz Winterlude festival on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Abraham Inc.- Tweet Tweet

You can't force the funk.

I could happily listen to Fred Wesley play trombone all day. Unfortunately, the work of Wesley and the rest of the horn section are the only elements of Tweet Tweet I can fully endorse. On paper the 2010 album by Abraham Inc., an ambitious collective that includes Wesley and clarinetist David Krakauer, should result in "an all-out klezmer-funk dance party."

Instead, the result is the sort of musical novelty regularly featured at NPR. Here's the inevitable All Things Considered interview.

While I fully endorse the concept and intent behind Abraham Inc., it sounds like the self-conscious musicians are trying way too hard to merge klezmer, funk and hip hop. And the rapping is often embarrassing. Perhaps not coincidentally, the klezmer-based "Baleboste" is the album's best song. Abraham Inc. has dates booked in locations ranging from Iowa to France during the next twelve weeks. I suspect that many of my objections would evaporate in a live setting.

Good intentions don't always make for great music. Abraham Inc. is attempting to free my mind, but my ass won't follow.

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I reviewed the debut album of the People's Liberation Big Band of Kansas City for Ink.

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Kiss Kiss Kiss, the free new Kid Sister mixtape, is a lot of fun.

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I monitored Tuesday's NEA Jazz Master induction ceremony on Ustream. The view count never surpassed 575. A friend informed me that Wednesday's Joe Lovano Ustream broadcast was watched by less than 200. Ouch. As I type these words, 516 people are tuned into a hummingbird nest cam on Ustream.

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A new ECM label collaboration between Dino Saluzzi, Gidon Kremer and Andrei Pushkarev is right up my alley. Listen to excerpts here.

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The New York Times' obituary of Jack Towers provides a lot of back story on Ellington's (in)famous Fargo recording.

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Margaret Whiting has died.

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I realize I dissed Grace Potter's most recent album in this space, but I never tire of watching videos of her live performances. She's captured here having fun with her band on New Year's Eve. I dig her wig.

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Kansas City Click: Andre Watts performs with the Kansas City Symphony Friday and Saturday at the Lyric Theater.

Earl Klugh plays guitar at the Folly Theater on Saturday.

Shay Estes collaborates with Mark Lowrey Sunday at Jardine's.

Review: Kasey Anderson- Heart of a Dog

Video stream of Kasey Anderson performing at SXSW in 2010.

Another album that serves as a de facto tribute to Exile On Main Street? No thanks.

That was my initial reaction to Heart of a Dog, the new release by Kasey Anderson. Songs like "Mercy" and "My Baby's a Wrecking Ball" are little more than homages to Keith Richards. Thing is- they're really good homages. And Heart of a Dog feels entirely honest. Contemporary references, such as a mention of Sharon Jones, show that Anderson isn't living in the past. And the album closes with a rough-and-tumble version of the English Beat's "Save It For Later."

Heart of a Dog obviously isn't a ground-breaking album. But the next time I'm in the mood to hear authentic, no-frills rock'n'roll, I just might turn to Heart of a Dog instead of Gaslight Anthem, Green On Red, Lucero or out-takes from Darkness On the Edge of Town.

(A free download of "Mercy" is available at Twangville.)

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My first impression of "H.A.M."? The mashup of Teflon Don and Kanye's MBDTF is disappointing mixtape fodder.

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I'd considered featuring the late Mick Karn in an elaborate post, but I just couldn't put it together. I'd seen him perform just once, and my memory of that event is sketchy. Karn died January 4.

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Pyramidwest provides a profile of Ron Ron.

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Joe "Crunchy" Espinosa of Ozomatli has died.

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I'll be surprised if Joe Lovano's Bird Songs isn't in my year-end Top Ten list.

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Kansas City Click: New Jazz Order returns to Harling's on Tuesday.

You'd have to pay me to attend Wednesday's Koo Koo Kangaroo at the Record Bar.

Rhonda Vincent is featured at the recently reactivated Northtown Opry on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Charles Fambrough, 1950-2011

After naming Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green's thorny Apex my third favorite album of 2010, I'm hardly in a position to wax nostalgic for the era in which serious jazz could also double as pleasant background music. Yet I pine for the time in which giants like Herbie Hancock made high art that was also accessible and melodic. Bobby Watson is one of the few remaining jazz men in that tradition, and with the January 1 death of Charles Fambrough, that select group became even smaller. (Fambrough and Watson, perhaps not coincidentally, were band mates in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.) The Philadelphia bassist's 1995 album Keeper of the Flame is smooth but never trite. He'll be missed.

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Beatle Bob is interviewed about his quasi-Grammy nomination. (Via the Riverfront Times.)

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Brian Rust has died. (Tip via BGO.)

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The Wakarusa lineup for 2011 was announced today. My favorite acts at this year's festival are My Morning Jacket, Sharon Jones, Toots & the Maytals, Lucero, Ryan Bingham, Budos Band, Grupo Fantasma and Carrie Rodriguez. (Tip via CH.)

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Kansas City Click: Red Line Chemistry perform an acoustic show at Crosstown Station on Friday.

Easton Corbin plays the Beaumont on Saturday.

The Dixieland sound of the New Red Onion Jazz Babies will fill Jardine's on Sunday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Gerry Rafferty, 1947-2011

Stream of The Humblebums' "Rick Rack" at YouTube

Gerry Rafferty died yesterday. This remarkable compilation covers several phases of his eclectic career. On Humblebums songs like "Rick Rack" he sounds like a British version of Harry Nilsson. His early solo work resembles James Taylor. Steeler's Wheel's big hit continues to be regularly mistaken for Bob Dylan. Rafferty's later solo material possesses the post-Beatles air of George Harrison and Jeff Lynne. It's all highly enjoyable. I admire Rafferty's resourceful malleability. And "Baker Street," of course, is one of those inescapable era-defining hits.

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I've always liked The Damnwells. Here's a no-budget video for its new song.

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A new song from True Womanhood features the sound of a tack piano.

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Here's the first video from the forthcoming album from Doomtree's Sims.

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R. Kelly is in Jackie Wilson mode for much of his new album. Here's the video for the lead single.

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Kansas City Click: The Grand Marquis perform at 75th Street Brewery on Wednesday.

Guitarist Will Matthews plays at Chaz on Thursday.

Review: Matthew Dunehoo at the Record Bar

That yelp!

Matt Dunehoo's vocal affectation Saturday at the Record Bar immediately brought another Kansas City-area rocker to mind. Bob Walkenhorst of The Rainmakers often employs exactly the same mannerism. The commonality made me realize that Dunehoo- best known for his work with Doris Henson and Baby Teardrops- is to 2011 what Bob Walkenhorst was to 1986.

Both men are handsome, charismatic Midwesterners, but where Dunehoo might have learned to yelp while listening to David Byrne, Walkenhorst's version is probably inspired by Little Richard.

No one I spoke to Saturday at the Record Bar appreciated my observation. My youthful friends probably think of Walkenhorst as that gray-haired dude who performs weekly folk matinees for people in their 40s and 50s. They might not realize that The Rainmakers were genuine international pop stars for a year or two. Here they are on Top of the Pops. That clip may look and sound dated, but Walkenhorst's band represented a refreshing alternative to the era's "corporate rock" acts like Journey, REO Speedwagon and Styx.

Dunehoo was excellent on Saturday. I hope he achieves at least a Rainmakers-level of success. That might help ensure that he'll end up playing popular weekly matinees for old people in a quarter century. I can hardly wait.

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I made an animated short about jazz promotion in Kansas City.

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Credentials Hip Hop lists its Top 20 Kansas City Hip Hop Albums of 2010. I'll confess to being completely oblivious to of a few of the picks.

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M.I.A.'s new "Vicki Leekx" mixtape is extremely entertaining. Just Google it.

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Scary Monsters was the first David Bowie album I bought as a new release. Here's a set of alternative takes from those sessions. (Via Largehearted Boy.)

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Demencha conducts an awkward but informative interview with Ron Ron.

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Lina Romay has died.

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Kansas City Click: Stan Kessler leads Monday's jam session at the Blue Room.

Chad Bryan of The Ants plays Tuesday at the Record Bar.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)