Wednesday MidDay Medley Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
WMM’s 20th Anniversary Show w/ Calvin Arsenia, Julia Othmer, IVORY BLUE, Kasey Rausch, & Stephonne. Plus, Marion Merritt, Maria Vasquez Boyd, Nico Gray, & Necia Gamby.
WMM Celebrates our 20th Anniversary with Live Performances from: Calvin Arsenia, Julia Othmer, IVORY BLUE, Kasey Rausch, and Stephonne. Plus we welcome special guests from our WMM “Radio Family”: Marion Merritt, Maria Vasquez Boyd, Nico Gray, and Necia Gamby. WMM launched our very first show on Wednesday May 12, 2004. In these 1046 weeks, 2092 hours of shows, 30,000 hours of preparation, over 2900 Interviews, 2500 guests, 20,000 songs, from thousands of musical artists, we have made it our mission to jump over musical genres, play with themes, diversity, equality, free speech, and connect artists and venues and listeners and communities. Wednesday MidDay Medley has proudly endeavored to help tell the story of our growing Kansas City area music community, “The Midcoast Sound.”
Calvin Arsenia released his newest 14 track album Paradise to fans on June 23, 2023. His most biographical album yet, with songs about Black Lives Matter, racism, being on probation, gay love and collaborations with Cheery, Kadesh Flow & Jametatone. Calvin Arsenia is one of our most frequent guests, who first appeared on WMM on July 25, 2012. KC Magazine has hailed Calvin as “equal parts opera, symphony, musical theatre, rock show, all built around its creator, a charismatic 6-foot-7-inch harpist with a 3 and ½ octave range, natural stage command and knack for gilding gold and painting lilies.” Born in Orlando, Florida, Calvin’s creative journey began when he moved to Olathe, Kansas, teaching himself the guitar, piano, banjo. He learned his signature instrument, the harp, at the age of 20. His passion for stretching the boundaries of musical expression saw him transform a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland’s Fringe Festival early in his career into a life-changing music mission, with an Edinburgh church offering him a role as musical liaison between the church and the city that would change his life. Calvin released the albums: Cantaloupe in 2018, with a sold out gigantic spectacle at The Gem Theatre on Saturday, September 15, 2018. He then released, L.A. Sessions in 2019, and the EP HONEY DEW, and the EP Goddess with Quixotic, the Holiday album, ALL IS CALM. In 2020 Calvin collaborated on the Soundtrack to “Summer in Hindsight,” a feature-length film created by The West 18th Street Fashion Show where Calvin also starred as an actor. Calvin is also the published author of EVERY GOOD BOY DOES FINE, a collection of Poetry & Prose published on October 5, 2021, by Andrews McMeel Universal. More info at: http://www.calvinarsenia.com
Marion Merritt is our most frequent contributor to WMM, she grew up in Los Angeles, and St. Louis. She went to college in Columbia, Missouri. She studied art and musical engineering, and is a avid lover of classic films and punk rock music. For 20 years now she has been sharing her musical discoveries and information from her musically-encyclopedic brain on Wednesday MidDay Medley. With her partner Ann Stewart, Marion is the proprietor of Records With Merritt, a minority owned business at 1614 Westport Rd. in Kansas City. Marion is also a contributor The Pitch where she writes about new releases. More information at: http://www.recordwithmerritt.com
Julia Othmer grew up in Kansas City and is a graduate of Park Hill High School and studied at Columbia University in New York City. The child of European refugees, she draws from a broad and richly cultured palette of experience to create her intensely human yet otherworldly songs. Julia Othmer released her 2nd album “Sound,” on April 12, 2019, produced with James Lundie. She had been introduced to his music production and fell so deeply in love with his sonic architecture, she transported to the UK, and refused to leave until he listened to her songs. James married Julia in January of 2016, during the completion of the record. Julia Othmer & James Lunde released Seeds (Vol. 1) on November 13, 2020, and SEEDS VOLUME 2 on March 20, 2022 containing live songs selected from her 30-day Songs of September Project, where Julia performed a different live cover and broadcast the performance throughout the month on streaming platforms to inspire people to vote. In 2021 Julia and James relocated to Kansas City and recently unveiled their newest creation, THE FORCEFIELDS featuring, reimagined vintage synthesizers, video projections, one of a kind instruments. Their debut EP, BRIDGE, will be released in 2024.
Maria Vasquez Boyd, is a mother, grandmother, friend, writer, artist, published poet, teacher, trailblazer, daredevil, traveler, lover, angel, radio show host & producer. Maria is a founding member of the Latino Writers Collective. She is a graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute, where she has also taught in the Design/Illustration Department and for for the Nelson Atkins Museum. Maria has served as the gallery coordinator for the Guadalupe Center and The Writers Place. She is a contributing Artist at Mattie Rhodes. Maria is host and producer of ARTSPEAK Radio, celebrating 11 Years on the air every Wednesday at 9:00am, on KKFI. Maria Vasquez Boyd is the author of THE WEIGHT OF RECOGNITION her newest book of poetry published by Spartan Press in September 2022. Maria’s art work is currently showing at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in an exhibit titled: A LAYERED PRESENCE featuring incredible new works from many Kansas City based Latinx artists.
IVORY BLUE released her second full length album, STARLIT LOVE CHILD, on November 17, 2023, It was in the top 5 of Wednesday MidDay Medley’s 120 Best Recordings of 2023. A free-spirited musician, IVORY BLUE has become an expressive multi-genre artist whose music is passionate rock, with a dash of pop hooks & a healthy dose of swagger. At the age of four, IVORY’s birth mother put her up for adoption. IVORY lived with eight different “foster parent” families, before running away at 15. Ivory turned to music to express her pain and personal story. In 2010 Klaartje Van Lue saw IVORY performing in a YouTube video. The Van Lue family adopted IVORY into their family. As a multi-instrumentalist, IVORY began refining their performance style, using digital looping pedals to stack harmonies and guitar parts live on stage, giving their solo shows the feel of a full band. More info at: https://linktr.ee/ivorybluemusic
Nico Gray is host and producer of Radio Nicopisa on Wednesdays, 12:00 Noon to 2:00pm on 90.1 FM KKFI. Nico contributed to Wednesday MidDay Medley for over 10 years, helping with shows about Glam Rock, David Bowie, and Fund Drive, and serving as Guest Producer for 12 different shows. In 2022 Nico own radio show, “Radio Nicopisa” was launched in the over night hours. Nico Gray is also a writer, performance artist, and has worked as an actor with Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Gorilla Theatre, 8th St. Cafe Theatre, Actor’s Craft, and Big Bang Buffet. He appeared in HBO film “Truman” and in the Robert Altman film, “Kansas City.” Nico was also in an early short film of John McGraths that had a small role played by Emmy Award Winner Jason Sudeikis. Nico is currently a marketing & advertising consultant with Union Station
Kasey Rausch is a 5th generation songwriter & musician who began performing at age 15. Two days after graduating from high school, she moved from Texas back to her hometown of Kansas City to live alongside her extended family while pursuing music. With pedal steel & guitar master Marco Pascolini, Kasey performs as The Country Duo. Kasey plays locally with classic country honky tonk band The Naughty Pines. She has shared the stage with Joe Ely, Dale Watson, Peter Rowan, Roland White, Kris Delmhorst, Jack Williams and many more. As Kasey Rausch turns 50 this year, she’s reflecting on her career and her upcoming album as half of The Country Duo with Marco Pascolini. The Little Lagoon Sessions album was recorded with former Sun Studio head engineer Curry Weber in Gulf Shores, Alabama. This is the fifth time the duo has worked with Weber on various projects, including their 2017 album Live at Sun Studio. More information at: http://www.kaseyrausch.com
Stephonne describes himself as the lovechild of Prince & Billie Holiday. He grew up in KCK and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Benedictine College, and Masters in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University. Singer, songwriter, actor, model, artist – Stephonne Singleton keeps very busy, organizing Tribute Shows, working as a Resident Artist at Charlottee Street studios, playing Music Festivals, Lemonade Park, Lawrence Pride, Manor Records, Midwest Music Foundation, The AIDS Service Foundation of KC, InterUrban ArtHouse, The Black Box, The Folly Theatre, collaborating with The Black Creatures, Calvin Arsenia, Miki P, Jass, Eboni Fondren, putting out EPs, and singles. Stephonne released his EP SIS: Side B on June 24, 2022 it was in the TOP TEN of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2022. Stephonne was a featured performer at the 23rd Annual West 18th Street Fashion Show on Friday, June 2, 2023.
Necia Gamby has been called “the Oracle of 39th Street” by Kansas City musician Calvin Arsenia. Necia currently serves on the Board of Directors of KC Folk Fest. She has served on the board of directors of the Volker Neighborhood Association and was vice president of the board of the MidCoast Radio Project. Necia is a massage practitioner in private practice and owner of Heartland Massage and Bodywork Center. She has been in practice 40 years. She uses Swedish (classical) massage technique. Over the years she has studied and practiced Hatha Yoga and is currently studying TaiChi. She founded and directed the Heartland School of Massage from 1988-1996. She has studied and incorporated Shiatsu, trigger point technique, lomi-lomi and a host of other philosophies and techniques into her massage style. Necia was an instructor for Johnson County Community College’s Certified Massage Program for 6 years. She taught Basic Swedish technique and Business Practices. Necia is the daughter of Sandra Brown a Kansas City Jazz pianist, and the mother Jamal Gamby a graphic artist and MC Joe Good for the acclaimed KC based hiphop duo SoundsGood with Miles Bonny. More info at: http://www.heartlandmassges.com
Wednesday MidDay Medley Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Mikal Shapiro & Stephonne Singleton of KC Folk Fest + Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske of “I’m So Glad”
1. “It’s Showtime Folks” from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / Dec. 20, 1979 [WMM theme]
Calvin Arsenia – “Help! The Flying Monkees Are Coming!” from: The Angel and the Little Scroll – Single [“Revelation 10”]/ Calvin Arsenia /April 6, 2024 [This track is also part of Calvin Arsenia’s newest 14 track album Paradise released to fans on June 23, 2023. It is only available through http://www.calvinarsenia.com // A new turning point as a songwriter. His most biographical album yet, with songs about Black Lives Matter, Racism, The Police, being on probation, gay love. The album contains collaborations with Cheery, Kadesh Flow and Jametatone. Calvin Arsenia one of our most frequent guests, who first appeared on WMM on July 25, 2012. KC Magazine has hailed Calvin as ‘equal parts opera, symphony, musical theatre, rock show, all built around its creator: a charismatic 6-foot-7-inch harpist with a 3 and ½ octave range, natural stage command and knack for gilding gold and painting lilies.’ Born in Orlando, Florida, Calvin’s creative journey began when he moved to Olathe, Kansas, teaching himself the guitar, piano, banjo. He learned his signature instrument, the harp, at the age of 20. His passion for stretching the boundaries of musical expression saw him transform a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland’s Fringe Festival early in his career into a life-changing music mission, with an Edinburgh church offering him a role as musical liaison between the church and the city that would change his life. Two years and 300 shows later, Calvin returned to KC reborn as a humanistic songwriter / performer where at 24 he released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. On February 14, 2017 Calvin released his critically acclaimed full length debut, Catastrophe, with a live show at recordBar in November 2016 that involved a company of 50 people, dancers, stilt walkers. After signing to Center Cut Records, Calvin released the albums: Cantaloupe in 2018, with a sold out gigantic spectical at The Gem Theatre on Saturday, September 15, 2018. He then released, L.A. Sessions in 2019, and the EP HONEY DEW, and the EP Goddess with Quixotic, the Holiday album, ALL IS CALM. In 2020 Calvin collaborated with Mike Dillon on the Soundtrack to “Summer in Hindsight,” a feature-length film created by The West 18th Street Fashion Show that starred Calvin as an actor. Calvin is also the co-creator of the podcast “We Were Christian Kids” created with childhood friend Justin Randall who is a stand up comedian working in New York City and now Los Angeles. Calvin is also the published author of EVERY GOOD BOY DOES FINE, a collection of Poetry & Prose published on October 5, 2021, by Andrews McMeel Universal. Calvin was voted KC’s Best Musician in The Pitch 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. He has been featured in Billboard, NPR.org. Charlotte Street Foundation announced that the recipients of the 2022 Generative Performing Artist Awards are The Black Creatures and Calvin Arsenia Scott.] [Calvin Arsenia played a PARADISE Album Release Party, Friday, June 23, and Saturday, June 24, at 7:00 PM at The Emerald, 1715 West 9th Street, KCMO, WEST BOTTOMS. More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com][Calvin Arsenia was our guest on WMM on Jan. 18, 2023, June 21, 2023, and our 1000th Show on June 28, 2923.]
[Calvin Arsenia plays The Percheron Concert Series, TONIGHT, Wednesday, May 8, at 7:00pm on the rooftop of the Crossroads Hotel, at 2101 Central Street, KCMO]
[Calvin Arsenia plays Wednesday MidDay Medley’s 20th Anniversary Show, next Wednesday, May 15 at 10:00 AM on KKFI 90.1 FM with Julia Othmer, Kasey Rausch, IVORY BLUE, Stephonne, Marion Merritt, Maria Vasquez Boyd, Nico Gray & Necia Gamby.]
[Calvin Arsenia plays plays Manor Fest 6, on Friday, May 31, at 9:00pm at Greenwood Social Club, 1759 Belleview Ave, 2nd Floor, KCMO with Fritz Hutchison, and Julia Haile.]
PERCHERON SUMMER CONCERT SERIES
Calvin Arsenia on Percheron – Wednesday, May 8, 2024 – 7:00 PM – $25 per ticket
Sheppa + Friends on Percheron – Sunday, May 26, 2024 – 7:00 PM – $20 per ticket
Krystle Warren on Percheron – Thursday, Jun 13, 2024 – 7:00 PM – $30 per ticket
Hembree + Friends on Percheron – Aug 14 & Aug 15, 2024 – 7:00 PM – $25 per ticket
Madisen Ward on Percheron – Wednesday, Sep 4, 2024 – 7:00 PM – $20 per ticket
OLIVIA FOX on Percheron – Wednesday, Sep 11, 2024 – 7:00 PM – $20 per ticket
Making Movies on Percheron – Wednesday, Oct 2, 2024 – 7:00 PM – $25 per ticket
Calvin Arsenia Discography
Calvin Arsenia – Moments [EP] / Independent / April 9, 2014 Calvin Arsenia was 24 when he released this EP after returning home to Kansas City after living and performing in Edinburgh, Scotland. Calvin works as a songwriter, composer, lyricist, producer, and engineer. Calvin Arsenia played live on Wednesday MidDay Medley on October 22. 2014.
Calvin Arsenia – Prose [EP] / Independent / February 3, 2015 Recorded over the course of three live sessions at Edinburgh’s Napier University. Produced by Graham Coe. Engineered by David O’Leary. Music and Lyrics: Calvin Arsenia, with Fiona Reid & Liselot Van Oosterom on Vocals, Graham Coe on Cello, Mark Smith on Percussion, Lyle Watt on Guitar Calvin Arsenia on Vocals & Guitar & Piano. Calvin Arsenia joined us on WMM on March 18, August 5, and October 28.
Calvin Arsenia – Caviar [EP] / Calvin Arsenia / December 5, 2017 Produced for attendees at Calvin’s “Secret Show,” Tuesday, December 5, at Wickstock West, 1324 West 12th Street, in The West Bottoms, and for supporters of his Outlyre Tour. Words and Music by Calvin Arsenia. Produced by Jametatone, Simon Huntley and Calvin Arsenia. Recorded at The Infoaming Vertex.
Calvin Arsenia – Catastrophe {EP] / Calvin Arsenia / February 17, 2016 Limited edition EP, produced for Folk Alliance International, contains demo recordings of original gems that are the blueprints for Calvin’s soon to be released full length debut, coming in 2017. Since Calvin Arsenia came home to KC after living in Edinburgh, Scotland, he has released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. He has played all over town, including showcases at Folk Alliance International, Kansas City Fringe Fest, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, and collaborations with bands like My Brothers and Sisters. Standing at 6 foot 5 inches, Arsenia’s powerful vocals span a 3.5 octave range, while playing piano, bango, guitar and harp. Calvin Arsenia is getting ready to release a new album in the fall. Calvin teaches music to elementary students.
Calvin Arsenia – Catastrophe [Album] / Calvin Arsenia / February 14, 2017 Calvin Arsenia premiered these songs in a live show at recordBar in November 2016 in a stage show that involved a cpmpany of 50 people, dancers, stilt walkers, special lighting, back up singers, guest artists. Since Calvin Arsenia came home to KC after living in Edinburgh, Scotland, he has released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. Standing at 6 foot 6 inches, Arsenia’s powerful vocals span a 3.5 octave range, while playing piano, banjo, guitar and harp Calvin teaches music to elementary students. Calvin is also a graduate of Artist INC. Since 2014 we have been celebrating the music of Calvin Arsenia. He has played Folk Alliance International, Kansas City Fringe Fest, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, The Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts, The Middle of the Map Fest., The Folly Theatre. Calvin recently returned home from a three month US/European Outlyre Tour where he has played San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, NYC, Boston, Edinburgh, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Switzerlnd, Lyon and Paris. in over 40 shows, with musician and friend Simon Huntley who plays with Quixotic. Calvin is working to release new music from Calvin’s June 11th, Live Recording at Kansas City’s newly restored Greenwood Social Hall, at 1750 Bellevue Ave. in KC. ] [Calvin Arsenia played Big Bang Buffet’s “Black Sheep Rising,” Tuesday, April 11, at 8:00 at The Buffalo Room. A benefit for 90.1 FM KKFI featuring Ron Megee, Lisa Cordes, Jon “Piggy” Cupit, The Sleazebeats, Kristie Stremel, Jen Harris, Maria Vasquez Boyd, Jen Appell, Bill Belzer, Charlie Colborne, Mark Manning, Susan Cedarquis-Brewington, BJ McBride, Michael McQuary, Janet Henry, Ryan Wilks, and Nico Gray.] [Calvin Arsenia was on WMM on Feb. 15, April 12, Sept. 20, and Oct. 25 , 2017.
Calvin Arsenia – Live at Greenwood Social Hall / Unreleased / June 11, 2017 Solo live performance at Greenwood Social Hall, 1760 Bellevue, KCMO.
Calvin Arsenia – Caviar [EP] / Calvin Arsenia / December 5, 2017 Produced for attendees at Calvin’s “Secret Show,” Tuesday, December 5, at Wickstock West, 1324 West 12th Street, in The West Bottoms, and for supporters of his Outlyre Tour. Words and Music by Calvin Arsenia. Produced by Jametatone, Simon Huntley and Calvin Arsenia. Recorded at The Infoaming Vertex. Since Calvin Arsenia came home to KC after living in Edinburgh, Scotland, he has released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. n the late Summer and Fall Calvin went on a three month US/European Outlyre Tour where he has played San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, NYC, Boston, Edinburgh, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Switzerlnd, Lyon and Paris. in over 40 shows, with musician and friend Simon Huntley who plays with Quixotic. Since 2014 we have been celebrating the music of Calvin Arsenia. He has played Folk Alliance International, Kansas City Fringe Fest, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, The Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts, The Middle of the Map Fest., The Folly Theatre. Standing at 6 foot 6 inches, Arsenia’s powerful vocals span a 3.5 octave range, while playing piano, banjo, guitar and harp. Calvin teaches music. Calvin is a graduate of Artist INC.
Calvin Arsenia – Cantaloupe / Center Cut Records / September 15, 2018. Calvin’s 2018 national debut, Cantaloupe (Center Cut Records), has been acclaimed for melding diverse textures into an alluring signature sound for the adventurous artist.
Calvin Arsenia – L.A. Sessions / Center Cut Records / September 20, 2019 Calvin performed live at L.A.’s The Mint, showcasing songs on LA Sessions with musicians who collaborated on the album. Says Calvin: “It’s such a special experience to play with them. To be able to perform these songs in front of an audience and do this for a living – to have made a career out of something I love is so amazing – it is an honor that I never take for granted.”
Calvin Arsenia – Honeydew / Center Cut Records / June 28, 2019 [On September 15, 2018 Calvin released Cantaloupe on Center Cut Records. This new EP is a remix of three of the songs from Cantaloupe, plus a Talking Heads cover that was performed live in this style at a New Year’s Eve show at The Truman opening for Making Movies who performed the entire Talking Heads album, Remain in Light. The last three songs on Honeydew were from performed in this style at The Nelson Atkins 2019 event “Party Arty.” Honeydew was produced by Jametatone, Simon Huntley, Calvin Arsenia.
Quixotic & Calvin Arsenia – “Goddess – EP / Quixotic / May 17, 2019 [An innovative performance art collective that fuses imagination with technology, dance, projection, mapping & live music to create fully-immersive, multi-sensory experiences. Quixotic harnesses light, rhythm and expressive emotion. Quixotic was given Silicon Valley’s unofficial stamp of genius when they were invited to perform at the global TED Conference in 2012. A unique blend of performance art, technology & emotion. Quixotic fuses all these elements in to what the New York Times branded an “innovative circus performance”.]
Calvin Arsenia – all is calm / Calvin Arsenia. / December 13, 2019 [Arsenia’s dreamlike whimsy shimmering through your favorite Christmas Classics. All proceeds for this album go towards the purchase of Calvin’s first harp. Featuring: Ben Muñoz on Cello, Shane Borth on Violin & Voila, & Luke “Skippy” Harbur on Beatbox. Mastered by Jametatone at the Infoaming Vertex and special thanks to Simon Huntley. Calvin wrote: “I recorded the majority of this album in my bedroom in between flights to and from KC and SF. I had my nephews and friend’s kids in mind and wanted an album of Christmas lullabys. I think it became just a little more sassy than anticipated, but I think you’ll enjoy it regardless.
Calvin Arsenia – Summer in Hindsight / Calvin Arsenia & Mike Dillon / Oct. 16, 2020 Soundtrack by Calvin Arsenia and Mike Dillon for The West 18th Street Fashion Show’s 20th year as a feature-length film. COVID-19 changed everything in 2020. “We are moving it from the street to the screen,” says Peregrine Honig to inkansascitymagazine. “Mike Dillon and Calvin Arsenia will be scoring and performing in the film.” The film premiered October 16, 2020 at The Boulevard Drive-In. Honig wrote,. “We did this during a pandemic and a cultural revolution. I am not sure where else or how else this could happen at this moment in history.” Calvin Arsenia had recently been emotionally and greatly moved by the area and national Black Lives Matter Movement. His own research into his own family revealed that Calvin’s great, great, great grandmother Alice Gilliam Scott, was a former slave who lived to observe her 100th birthday as noted by a regional newspaper Calvin had written. In the summer of 2020 Calvin wrote “Revelation” an unreleased track inspired by Black Lives Matter. Calvin premiered the song on WMM on August 12, 2020. He later shared his other new songs, “Scars and Stripes” and “The Flying Monkees are Coming!” on our October 14, 2020 edition of WMM. Both of those songs ended up on Summer in Hindsight.
Calvin Arsenia – Paradise / Calvin Arsenia / June 23, 2023 [Calvin Arsenia plays a PARADISE Album Release Party, Friday, June 23, and Saturday, June 24, at 7:00 PM at The Emerald, 1715 West 9th Street, KCMO, WEST BOTTOMS. More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com]
Calvin’s Book EVERY GOOD BOY DOES FINE / Andrews McMeel Universal / Oct. 5, 2021 a collection of Poetry & Prose More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com
Thanks for tuning into WMM on 90.1 FM KKFI. I’m Mark Manning. Today we spin more New & MidCoastal Releases from: Isaac Cates & Ordained, Jass, Calvin Arsenia, Love Mae C, Madisen Ward and The Mama Bear, Weda Skirts, Monta At Odds, Angie Fights Crime, THIMASTR, The Postal Service, and Ani DiFranco.
We’ll also play: Isaac Cates with Affirmations, Isaac Cates & Ordained, Chrystal Rucker, Marti Newland w/ Artis Wodehouse, Jackson Jubilee Singers, Sister Anna Grinstead w/ Sister Forestine Gibson, Zenobia Smith w/ Clarence Williams, Kansas City Gospel Singers, Genetter Bradley and the Melody-Aires, and Alma Whitney and the Whitney Singers.
At 10:30am Mikal Shapiro & Stephonne Singleton share details about 2024 KC Folk Festival, Saturday, May 18, at 12:00pm, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO. This free, all-day city festival celebrates the music & arts of our neighborhoods, with song, poetry, dance, storytelling, art, demos, workshops, food trucks, and craft market. KC Folk Fest features: ARQuesta del SolSoul, Madisen Ward, Love, Mae C., Jass, Weda Skirts, Sally and the Hurts, Rural Grit Happy Hour, No Divide KC Artist Showcase, Mariachi Estrella KC, HSN Youth Songwriter Contest Winners, poets Mary Silwance, C. Woods, Sheri “Purpose” Hall, a demo by Break Free KC Hip Hop School, and dance by Shashwat Chaurasia. KC Folk Fest is a community-led nonprofit organization that is free thanks to the support of Folk Alliance International, Missouri Arts Council, Neighborhood Tourism & Development Fund, & donors. Info at: http://www.kansascityfolkfestival.org
At 11:00am we will talk with musicians & filmmakers Paul Wenske, former national correspondent & investigative reporter for The KC Star, and Nancy Meis, former content marketing, creative industries & arts manager, and Chris Wenske, a videographer & editor currently living in Los Angeles California, about “I’m So Glad” their documentary film exploring the untold story of Black Gospel Music in Kansas City and the roots of Black Gospel Music narrated by Isaac S. Cates. We will share music associated with the film.
10:06
Ani DiFranco – “You Forgot To Speak (radio edit)” from: “You Forgot To Speak (radio edit)” – Single / Righteous Babe Records / April 23, 2024 [Ani DiFranco is set to release her 23rd album, Unprecedented Sh!t, on May 17 via Righteous Babe Records. Produced by BJ Burton (Bon Iver), the title Unprecedented Sh!t not only reflects the significant departure in sound presented by Ani’s latest 11-track album, but also serves as a poignant political and social commentary on the contemporary global landscape. // The latest single from Unprecedented Sh!t is the psych-folk number “You Forgot to Speak.” The focal point of the song speaks of the crushing weight of patriarchal systems on the female psyche and the complicity of women in their own oppression. In “You Forgot to Speak,” DiFranco sings with a dreamy lilt “Between first sleep and second sleep / I stare into the dark / and I can feel there are two of me / so I put um both on the ark.” // Widely considered a feminist icon, Grammy winner DiFranco is the mother of the DIY movement, being one of the first artists to create her own record label in 1990. While she has been known as the “Little Folksinger,” her music has embraced punk, funk, hip hop, jazz, soul, electronica, and even more distant sounds. In 2023, DiFranco released the 25th Anniversary Edition of her seminal album Little Plastic Castle on Righteous Babe Records. Her memoir No Walls and the Recurring Dream was a New York Times Top 10 best seller, and her debut children’s book The Knowing is out now. DiFranco is currently starring as ‘Persephone’ in the Tony and Grammy Award-winning Best Musical, Hadestown. The world premiere of a documentary about DiFranco entitled 1-800-ON-HER-OWN will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in June, and her next children’s book Show Up and Vote is due in August. Find Ani DiFranco Online: http://www.anidifranco.com]
THIMASTR – “Tread on Treadmill” from: Between The Knees And Squeeze / High Dive Records / January 10, 2020 [THIMASTR is a Lawrence, Kansas based band formed by Maxfield Yoder (formerly of the bands: Dean Monkey & the Dropouts, Plains) on guitar & vocals, Max Lock on vocals, Max Smith on tambourine & vocals, Esteban Gomez –on bass, Jennifer Graham on drums, and Jake Little on guitar.Thighmaster recently signed with KC based label High Dive Records. The band is resurrecting the song-writing demons that have long haunted Mayfield Yoder. Thighmaster truly is garage pop for cool grandparents. Now you too can have shapely thighs in minutes a day. Tracked, Mixed and Mastered by Ross Williams and written by Thighmaster.]
[THIMASTR play FAREWELL, 6523 Stadium Drive, KCMO on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 8:00pm with Supermoto and Tidal.wav.]
[THIMASTR play Manor Fest 6 in Kansas City on Friday, May 24, at 10:00 PM at The Easy Inn, 322 6th Street, KCK, Strawberry Hill with Eggs On Mars and Pale Tongue.]
Angie Fights Crime – “From The Bottom” from: FULL MINGO / Angie Fights Crime / March 1, 2024 [Vocals by Ash Reynolds, ax on “from the bottom” and “remember” mastering Dave Storms. Angie Fights Crime is the brainchild of Brent Kinder, a musician, poet, songwriter of unlimitless passion and a desire to create music and share it with the world. Angie Fights Crime often features collaborations with musicians from Kansas City and also around the world. Since 2015 Angie Fights Crime have released multiple albums and eps. Brent Kinder also plays in the Kansas City based band sMallWaves.]
[Angie Fights Crime play miniBar 3810 Broadway KCMO Saturday, May 11, at 7:00pm with The State of Everything, and We Are Branches.]
The Postal Service – “Such Great Heights” from: Give Up (Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition / Sub Pop Records / February 18, 2003 [The Postal Service is an American indie pop group from Seattle, Washington, consisting of singer Ben Gibbard, producer Jimmy Tamborello, and Jenny Lewis on background vocals. // The band released their only studio album, Give Up, in 2003 on Sub Pop Records, to mostly positive reviews. The album reached number 114 on the US Billboard 200 album chart and received platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. The group decided to disband two years later, viewing attempts at a follow-up as unnecessary. // The band has regrouped twice for the anniversaries of Give Up, in both 2013 and 2023; each time they were accompanied by a rotating cast of support musicians, including Laura Burhenn, Jen Wood, and Dave Depper. // The group formed after Ben Gibbard contributed vocals for a song by Jimmy Tamborello called “(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan”, from the Dntel album Life Is Full of Possibilities. Ben Gibbard became familiar with Tamborello’s work after a serendipitous meeting at a Flobots concert in Spokane, WA. The song sparked an EP of remixes of other artists, such as Lali Puna, The Flaming Lips, Safety Scissors, Barbara Morgenstern and Superpitcher, and was so well-received that the two artists decided to further collaborate. The third member of the band, Jenny Lewis, recorded vocals for several tracks before eventually becoming a full-fledged member of the band, sharing vocals and instrumentation in their live shows. // The band’s name was chosen due to how it produced its songs. Due to conflicting schedules, Tamborello wrote and performed instrumental tracks and then sent the DATs through the mail to Gibbard, who then edited the song as he saw fit (adding his vocals along the way) and sent them back to Tamborello. Ironically, despite the final name they chose for the project, they did not use the United States Postal Service as a courier; the CDs were sent through either FedEx or UPS. // The band’s debut album, Give Up, was released on February 18, 2003, on Sub Pop Records. Several songs on the album feature guest vocals from Lewis, as well as vocals from indie rock musician Jen Wood. Additionally, Gibbard’s Death Cab for Cutie bandmate Chris Walla played the guitar and piano on several tracks. Although both Gibbard and Tamborello’s main projects were still active at the time, The Postal Service supported the album with a successful concert tour and stated its intention to tour again in the future. // Give Up received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America in March 2005, and later receiving platinum certification in October 2012. The album was Sub Pop’s most successful release after Nirvana’s debut album, Bleach. // The album produced three singles, the most well-known single being “Such Great Heights”, which was released as Give Up’s lead single. The song featured in advertisements for UPS, Kaiser Permanente, and M&M’s, as well as being the first theme song for ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy in 2005. A cover of the song by Iron & Wine was featured on the soundtrack for the 2004 film Garden State. It was also later covered by Amanda Palmer, Ben Folds, The Scene Aesthetic, Brack Cantrell, Streetlight Manifesto, Confide, Gareth Pearson, Joy Kills Sorrow and Postmodern Jukebox. Confide would later release a music video for their cover of “Such Great Heights”. The second single, “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight”, was featured in the soundtrack of the 2004 film D.E.B.S. and later covered by British singer-songwriter Frank Turner. The third and final single, “We Will Become Silhouettes”, was covered by The Shins, and the original version was featured in the trailer for the movie Funny People.]
[The Postal Service play T-Mobile Center 1407 Grand Blvd., KCMO on TOMORROW, Thursday, May 9, at 7:30pm with Death Cab For Cutie.]
Monta At Odds – “Forget About You” from: “Forget About You” – Single / The Record Machine / April 12, 2024 [Monta released their EP Crystal Momentum on March 24, 2023. The band released the single “Looking Back” on February 27, 2023, and “Everybody’s Baby” on January 27, 2023. Monta’s latest, the Crystal Momentum EP, hones the Kansas City band’s mastery of electrified dreamworld post-punk, presenting four spacious songs to accompany out-of-body explorations. Monta’s core players — Mikal Shapiro on vocals, Krysztof Nemeth and Lucas Behrens on guitars, Dedric Moore on electronics, Matthew Heinrich on drums, and Teri Quinn with additional vocals — accompany their visions with a groovy flow that rings with subtle tensions, introspective instrumentation, and chorus-fed uplifts. // Found within are “Everybody’s Baby,” an otherworldly adoration of unnamed strangers set to transfixing melodies and a snake-like groove; the buoyant “Looking Back,” which shines a danceable, sonic brightness through a haze of ecstatic reminiscence; the inspired “Perimeter Dancer,” an ode to those who fight for the cause, accompanied by a punky disco beat and a chorus that launches the song upward to a mirror-ball-lit sky. And then there’s “Luna Lost In Your Gaze,” a righteous desert sleepwalk of a tune that recalls the spaghetti western tones of Monta’s past while remaining on the current trajectory. // With the Crystal Momentum EP, Monta grabs the moment, further defining the distinctive mix of synth-pop and dark psychedelia that’s become the band’s trademark. Take a leap and fall into their world. // Monta means “to climb higher.” Through lineup changes and scenes ebbing and flowing, this band continues that climb. Founded by brothers Dedric and Delaney Moore, Monta (originally Monta At Odds) has grown into its own community with a rotating cast of musicians and characters. More Information at: kosmiccity.com / therecordmachine.co] [Monta played 20 Years of The Record Machine featuring The Noice FM, Black Light Animals Soultru and Pala Zolo, on Saturday, November 11, 2023, at 6:00 PM to 1:00 AM at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd] [Dedric Moore joined us on WMM on October 4, 2023]
[Monta plays Lemonade Social Night One at Lemonade Park, 1628 Wyoming Street, KCMO WEST BOTTOMS, on Friday, May 10, with Ebony Tusks, Problems, and Flesh Produce. // Lemonade Social Night Two on Saturday, May 11 with Black Light Animals, FACEFACE, Hotel Leo, and Belle and The Vertigo Waves]
10:28 – Underwriting
Jass – “Hope.Wav” from: “Hope.Wav” – Single / JASS / February 29, 2024 [Jass is Jasmine “Jass” Couch. Jass and The Boys released the single “Daydream Girl” August 25, 2023. Jass and The Boys released the single “Gvn2u” on July 14, 2023. Jass released the single, “Time & Space” on July 14, 2023. Jass and The Boys released the single “Love U Like I Love U” on December 2, 2022. Jass released the EP, OFF KEY: TOO HIGH on September 23, 2022. Jass released the single “Higher Ground” on August 16, 2022. It was #1 on WMM’s 50 Favorite Singles of 2022. Jass released her single, “Him” on February 23, 2022. Jass released At the Close of a Decade on November 26, 2022. It was part of WMM’s 121 Best Recordings of 2021. She wrote, “After years of writing and recording in voice memos .. I decided to grab my iPad and began recording something that I am very proud of. I named it, At the Close of A Decade, and released it in November 2019. With my iPhone/iPad, some apple headphones, I created this project. The amazing people around me told me it was worth it, even when I didn’t believe it myself. I convinced myself I would be the only one that liked my songs. If you decide to listen you’ll hear sound clips of shows and movies that made a difference in the way I saw the world, the way I saw myself, and the way I overcame my experiences. I remember asking my grandma and my son if I should release what I’ve been writing and they both said very simply to do it, so I’ve done it. I want to thank all of my wonderful friends who have been my soundboards during this process, all of the people that have asked me when it’s coming, the people that have kept me accountable, and believed that this time it was for real. My story is so very triumphant and beautiful because I have overcome experiences and shunned the fear I had to do what I love. It’s crazy how you can talk your way out of some amazing things and also how you can talk yourself into making some amazing things happen. If you partake, I hope you enjoy.” // Jass has opened for Thundercat sat GRINDERS, headlined a show at The Bottleneck in Lawrence with my boys! (Colby Bales and Brande Moser), and she opened up for The New Respects at The Uptown, and sang the Negro National Anthem at BLAQUE to School Night at the KC Monarchs game.More info at: http://www.jassrcouch.com]
[Jass plays Kansas City Folk Fest, Saturday, May 18, at 12:00pm, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO with ARQuesta del SolSoul, Madisen Ward, Love, Mae C., Weda Skirts, Sally and the Hurts, Rural Grit Happy Hour, No Divide KC Artist Showcase, Mariachi Estrella KC, and more.]
[Jass plays Manor Fest 6, Saturday, June 1, 2024, at 5:45 PM at Arizona Trading CO. 1722 Oak Street KCMO with The Highwater, and Honeybee.]
Weda Skirts – “Black Snake” from: (The Skirts) Mother / The Skirts / July 1, 2018 [Weda Skirts hail from the Flint Hills of Kansas, where bluegrass, folk, roots, and pop music blend to bring forth a group of original songstress darlings ready to entertain any room. These women continue to grow and evolve as a group, keeping originals as the core of their repertoire, but throwing in their homemade renditions of popular rock and folk songs. Formerly “The Skirts”, “Weda” is the universal mother, sister, and daughter, a name that reflects their view of the world and a new chapter in their lives and work. // “The Skirts” were born when former Elexa & The Hitchhikers members Elexa Dawson and Melissa Tastove joined with their friend Sarah Bays, who had recently taken up the upright bass in the summer of ’09. Emily Wilson was quick to join them on mandolin. Rachel Allai was added the night before she recorded “Many Moons”, The Skirts’ first full-length studio album with her fiddle. The group recorded their second album, Mother in 2017. At the beginning of 2019, they reintroduced themselves as Weda Skirts. In 2024, fiddler Rachel Allai is out on maternity leave. We wish the Allai family, and all our families well!]
[Weda Skirts play Kansas City Folk Fest, Saturday, May 18, at 12:00pm, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO with ARQuesta del SolSoul, Madisen Ward, Love, Mae C., Jass, Sally and the Hurts, Rural Grit Happy Hour, No Divide KC Artist Showcase, Mariachi Estrella KC, and more.]
10:36 – Interview with Mikal Shapiro & Stephonne Singleton
Mikal Shapiro is the coordinator of Kansas City Folk Fest founder of State City Films creating documentary and experimental filmmaking practices. Mikal studied Film History, Film, & Writing at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. She received her MFA in Film/Video/New Media/Animation from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012. Artist, filmmaker, puppeteer, ring-leader, Mikal Shapiro is a KC songwriter whose musical influences span popular songs, psych rock, lounge, classic country and old time spirituals. She has toured extensively across the United States and has recorded 5 critically acclaimed albums Mikal records and performs with her band The Musical. She also performs with Shapiro Brothers, and Monta At Odds. Mikal was the co-founder of River Trade Radio on 90.1 FM KKFI. Mikal is also the creator and co-host and producer of Siren Song, Saturdays at 11:00 AM on 90.1 FM KKFI KC Community Radio.
Mikal Shapiro thanks for being with us on WMM.
Stephonne describes himself as the lovechild of Prince & Billie Holiday. He grew up in KCK and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Benedictine College, and Masters in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University. Singer, songwriter, actor, model, artist – Stephonne Singleton keeps very busy, organizing Tribute Shows, working as a Resident Artist at Charlottee Street studios, playing Music Festivals, Lemonade Park, Lawrence Pride, Manor Records, Midwest Music Foundation, The AIDS Service Foundation of KC, InterUrban ArtHouse, The Black Box, The Folly Theatre, collaborating with The Black Creatures, Calvin Arsenia, Miki P, Jass, Eboni Fondren, putting out EPs, and singles. Stephonne released his EP SIS: Side B on June 24, 2022 it was in the TOP TEN of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2022. Stephonne was a featured performer at the 23rd Annual West 18th Street Fashion Show on Friday, June 2, 2023.
Stephonne Singleton thanks for being with us on WMM.
Mikal Shapiro and Stephonne joins us to share details about Kansas City Folk Festival, Saturday, May 18, at 12:00pm, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO.
This free, all-day city festival celebrates the music & arts of our neighborhoods, with song, poetry, dance, storytelling, art, demos, workshops, food trucks, and craft market.
KC Folk Fest is a community-led nonprofit organization that is free thanks to the support of Folk Alliance International, Missouri Arts Council, Neighborhood Tourism & Development Fund, & donors. Info at: http://www.kansascityfolkfestival.org
Kansas City Folk Festival, Saturday, May 18, at 12:00pm, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO.
This free, all-day city festival celebrates the music & arts of our neighborhoods, with song, poetry, dance, storytelling, art, demos, workshops, food trucks, and craft market.
KC Folk Fest features: ARQuesta del SolSoul, Madisen Ward, Love, Mae C., Jass, Weda Skirts, Sally and the Hurts, Rural Grit Happy Hour, No Divide KC Artist Showcase, Mariachi Estrella KC, HSN Youth Songwriter Contest Winners,
Poets: Mary Silwance, C. Woods, Sheri “Purpose” Hall,
Demo by Break Free KC Hip Hop School
Dance by Shashwat Chaurasia
No Divide KC Folk Fest Stage – From 1-2pm! Featuring: Liney Blu (singer/songwriter), Waleska Barroeta (poet), Jocelyn Nixon (singer/songwriter)
10:45
Love, Mae C – “Black Girl Lullaby (feat. De’oni)” from: Warning Signs of True Love / LOVEMAEC Productions LLC / May 1, 2016 [Mae C is a singer/songwriter who’s one of Kansas City’s go-to voices and performer’s. Mae C is a Kansas City based singer songwriter who we’ve played several times on the show. Her single “Anxious” was preceeded by her EP, Warning Sign of True Love. Influenced by Hip Hop, Rock, Jazz, Soul & R&B, Mae C is making her mark as an independent artist in the Kansas City music scene. A self-acclaimed black girl nerd, she originally planned on becoming an engineer and studied computer design at Lincoln University of Missouri. After leaving Lincoln to pursue her true passion of singing and songwriting, she finds that her techy side impacts how she writes music. “As a kid, I was always picking things apart and figuring out how to put them back together,” she said. “As an artist, I do the same thing – I pick apart my favorite singers to discover what made them great so I can walk in their footsteps.” With Kansas City becoming a place of movement for arts and entertainment, Mae C says now is the time to reinvent the wheel, break barriers, build bridges, but most of all support each other. “Supporting each other is the secret to rising to the top and putting the town on the map”, says Mae C. She aspires to inspire other artists to capitalize in their craft by not putting themselves in a box. “I’m an African American woman, but I refuse to allow anyone to use that against me. I’m an artist & proud black girl and I deserve a chance at every opportunity just as anyone else,” she said.]
[Love, Mae C plays Kansas City Folk Fest, Saturday, May 18, at 12:00pm, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO with ARQuesta del SolSoul, Madisen Ward, Weda Skirts, Jass, Sally and the Hurts, Rural Grit Happy Hour, No Divide KC Artist Showcase, Mariachi Estrella KC, and more.]
10:48 – Interview with Mikal Shapiro & Stephonne Singleton
Mikal Shapiro is founder of State City Films creating documentary and experimental filmmaking practices. Mikal studied Film History, Film, & Writing at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. She received her MFA in Film/Video/New Media/Animation from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012. Artist, filmmaker, puppeteer, ring-leader, Mikal Shapiro is a KC songwriter whose musical influences span popular songs, psych rock, lounge, classic country and old time spirituals. She has toured extensively across the United States and has recorded 5 critically acclaimed albums.
Mikal records and performs with her band The Musical. She also performs with Shapiro Brothers, and Monta At Odds. Mikal was the co-founder of River Trade Radio on 90.1 FM KKFI. Mikal is also the creator and co-host and producer of Siren Song, Saturdays at 11:00 AM on 90.1 FM KKFI KC Community Radio.
Mikal Shapiro is also the coordinator of Kansas City Folk Fest and joins us to share details about Kansas City Folk Festival, Saturday, May 18, at 12:00pm, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO.
Mikal Shapiro Thank you for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Also with us is Stephonne Singleton who describes himself as the lovechild of Prince & Billie Holiday. He grew up in KCK and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Benedictine College, and Masters in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University. Singer, songwriter, actor, model, artist – Stephonne Singleton keeps very busy, organizing Tribute Shows, working as a Resident Artist at Charlottee Street studios, playing Music Festivals, Lemonade Park, Lawrence Pride, Manor Records, Midwest Music Foundation, The AIDS Service Foundation of KC, InterUrban ArtHouse, The Black Box, The Folly Theatre, collaborating with The Black Creatures, Calvin Arsenia, Miki P, Jass, Eboni Fondren, putting out EPs, and singles. Stephonne released his EP SIS: Side B on June 24, 2022 it was in the TOP TEN of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2022. Stephonne was a featured performer at the 23rd Annual West 18th Street Fashion Show on Friday, June 2, 2023.
Stephonne Singleton thanks for being with us on WMM.
This free, all-day city festival celebrates the music & arts of our neighborhoods, with song, poetry, dance, storytelling, art, demos, workshops, food trucks, and craft market.
KC Folk Fest features: ARQuesta del SolSoul, Madisen Ward, Love, Mae C., Jass, Weda Skirts, Sally and the Hurts, Rural Grit Happy Hour, No Divide KC Artist Showcase, Mariachi Estrella KC, HSN Youth Songwriter Contest Winners,
poets Mary Silwance, C. Woods, Sheri “Purpose” Hall,
a demo by Break Free KC Hip Hop School,
and dance by Shashwat Chaurasia.
No Divide KC Folk Fest Stage – From 1-2pm! Featuring: Liney Blu (singer/songwriter), Waleska Barroeta (poet), Jocelyn Nixon (singer/songwriter)
KC Folk Fest is a community-led nonprofit organization that is free thanks to the support of Folk Alliance International, Missouri Arts Council, Neighborhood Tourism & Development Fund, & donors. Info at: http://www.kansascityfolkfestival.org
KC Folk Fest values diversity, equity, inclusion, & sustainability as a legacy for future generations.
Mikal Shapiro and Stephonne Singleton, Thank you for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Kansas City Folk Festival, Saturday, May 18, 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO. KC Folk Fest features: ARQuesta del SolSoul, Madisen Ward, Love, Mae C., Jass, Weda Skirts, Sally and the Hurts, Rural Grit Happy Hour, No Divide KC Artist Showcase, Mariachi Estrella KC, HSN Youth Songwriter Contest Winners, poets Mary Silwance, C. Woods, Sheri “Purpose” Hall, a demo by Break Free KC Hip Hop School, and dance by Shashwat Chaurasia. More info at: http://www.kansascityfolkfestival.org
10:55
Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear – “Walk inThe Park” from: Started With a Family / Starts With Music, LLC / September 6. 2019 [Produced with Grammy-winner Nathan Chapman at iconic Blackbird Studios in Nashville. Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear have garnered international acclaim, and new fans from all over the world. They signed with Glassnote Records and recorded their debut full length album in Nashville with acclaimed producer Jim Abiss. They performed their debut single “Silent Movies” on The Late Show with David Letterman, they’ve toured across the United States, and Europe, more than once. They were featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NBC’s The Today Show, and “Later With Jools Holland and played Bonnaroo, Pilgrammage, and the Newport Folk Festival, and the Ryman Theatre, in Nashville. Ruth Ward has continually performed throughout her life, mostly in coffee shops and open mics, for over 30 years, even recording a solo record. In the midst of this she got married and became a mom, and was busy raising a family. Madisen Ward was born in Oklahoma, and grew up in the outskirts of Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated from William Chrisman High School in 2007. Madisen’s journey to become a musician, was “melodically passed down” through the songs of his mother, where Madisen grew up watching his mom perform at local coffee shops. Eventually he began to learn to play the guitar, and poured his talent for writing into the music to create original songs. They began playing Madisen’s original songs along with the ocassional cover of a classic track, reinterpreted in their own incredibly beautiful performance of two voices and two guitars in harmony and orchestration. Their debut album, The Skeleton Crew, was released May 9, 2015 and was our most played record that year and was #1 on WMM’s The 115 Best Recordings of 2015. Their follow up EP Radio Winners was released July 27, 2018 and received critical acclaim.] [Madisen Ward and The Mama Bear played Crossroads Music Fest, Sat., Sept 7, Crossroads KC, with Shy Boys, Split Lip Rayfield, The Freedom Affair.]
[Madisen Ward plays Kansas City Folk Fest, Saturday, May 18, at 12:00pm, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO with ARQuesta del SolSoul, Weda Skirts, Love, Mae C., Jass, Sally and the Hurts, Rural Grit Happy Hour, No Divide KC Artist Showcase, Mariachi Estrella KC, and more.]
10:59 – Station ID
Isaac Cates & Ordained – “Hold On” from: “Hold On” – Single / Isaac Cates Music / January 20, 2017\ [Isaac Cates is an award-winning musician, singer-songwriter, composer, conductor, producer and Recording Academy member. He is conductor of the popular Kansas City gospel choir, Ordained. He frequently travels overseas to present gospel music concerts and direct gospel music workshops. He is Director of Music Outreach and Worship Leader at United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood.]
11:03 – Interview with Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske
Paul Wenske, is a former national correspondent & investigative reporter for The KC Star.
Nancy Meis, is a former content marketing, creative industries and arts manager.
Chris Wenske, a University of Kansas graduate, who works as a videographer and editor, who is also a singer, songwriter, guitarist currently living in Los Angeles California.
Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske, thanks for being with us on WMM.
For more than 10 years, this three-person family collaborative, known as Electric Prairie Productions, with Paul as writer and director, Nancy as producer, and Chris as videographer and lead editor, have gone to historically Black churches to film amazing gospel music for their new documentary film, “I’m So Glad.” The film that explores the untold story of Black Gospel Music in Kansas City and the roots of Black Gospel Music narrated by internationally recognized gospel music conductor Isaac S. Cates.
More than 200 performers (whether in choirs, quartets or solos) at 16 churches have been recorded for their new documentary film, “I’m So Glad.”
“I’m So Glad” that explores the untold story of Black Gospel Music in Kansas City and the roots of Black Gospel Music
Many advisors and experts have assisted with this film and more than 100 interviews have been filmed with Black studies professors, archivists, historians, pastors, choral directors, performers, musicologists, and authors.
Film Synopsis: Kansas City is known for its jazz and blues. But the same forces that shaped those American art forms also led to the development of Black Gospel music.
Our region’s gospel blues have a rich but largely overlooked history. In fact, historians say gospel music may be the best window through which to view the development of the Black community in and around Kansas City, MO, and its roots in pre-Civil War Kansas.
11:07
Chrystal Rucker – “Walk With Me” from: “Walk With Me” – Single / from: The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration [Walk With Me Spiritual sung by Chrystal Rucker of KCK,. Dr. Chrystal Rucker has been granted the opportunity to be the first Gospel artist featured as a singing hologram in “The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration” located in the historical city of Montgomery, AL. Her melodious voice can be heard singing “Walk With Me Lord” and “This May Be My Last Time”. // The anointing that the Lord has placed on the life and ministry of this native Kansas City psalmist elevates both contemporary and traditional gospel audiences to another dimension. Whenever she takes the stage, she testifies to being saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost. Being the youngest of six children, daughter of the late Bishop C.N. Rucker and Evangelist Yvonne Rucker and mother of Camille, Dr. Chrystal Rucker attributes her success to the unmerited favor of God as she is one of the most sought after music ministers in the country. Her solid church background and love for music contributes to sustaining her spiritually, physically, and emotionally, as she maintains an extremely busy ministry schedule. Although the enemy attempted to totally afflict her body in May and June of 2007, she confidently and gratefully says, “Lord, You deserve my worship”. // Chrystal sang her first solo at the age of two at the church her father founded and pastored, Greater Holy Temple Church of God in Christ in Kansas City, Missouri. Dr. Chrystal Rucker is a “Gospel Music Industry” favorite! She has been blessed to grace the stage with many gospel music legends, such as the late Min. Edwin Hawkins, Bishop Hezekiah Walker, Donald Lawrence, Tamela Mann, Kurt Carr and the Kurt Carr Singers, Jonathan Nelson, The Clark Sisters, John P. Kee, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Kathy Taylor, Erica Campbell, Jonathan McReynolds, Dr. Judith McAlister, Pastor Donnie McClurkin, Dr. Myron Williams, Pastor Kim Burrell, and many more. // The angelic voice of Dr. Chrystal Rucker has impacted radio on Bishop Paul Morton’s “Be Blessed”, Jonathan Nelson’s “I Am Healed”, Greater Grace Temple’s “Covered” and her soul stirring worship ballad “You Deserve”. // The demand, respect, and admiration of music lovers and colleagues have afforded her the opportunity to make singing Gospel music a career. Chrystal was invited and appeared on the late Edwin Hawkins Music & Arts Seminar Mass Choir Recording, “Church Time”; Jonathan Nelson & Purpose recording “Everything You Are”; GMWA Mass Choir Recording “Live in Kansas City 2004”, Ricky Dillard and New G recording “Keep Living”, Bishop “Mr. Clean” White’s recording “I’m Glad”, Larry Callahan and Selected of God’s Recording “The Evolution II”, Anthony Brown and Group Therapy’s award-winning sophomore project “Everyday Jesus” and Pastor John P. Kee’s project “I Made It Out”. In 2017, Dr. Chrystal Rucker was awarded the recipient of the Steeple Awards Female Artist of the Year. Dr. Chrystal Rucker has been granted the opportunity to be the first Gospel artist featured as a singing hologram in “The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration” located in the historical city of Montgomery, AL. Her melodious voice can be heard singing “Walk With Me Lord” and “This May Be My Last Time”. Her gift and her kind spirit paved the way for her to be a featured soloist in the 2021 National Geographic miniseries “Aretha:Genius”. // In August 2019, Chrystal Rucker officially became Dr. Chrystal Rucker by receiving her Doctorate of Sacred Music Degree from St. Thomas Christian University in Jacksonville, FL. Chrystal Rucker is an artist with a heart for God’s people. Each November, Chrystal Rucker Ministries is blessed and favored of God to present their annual benefit concert entitled “Sharing the Harvest”. There are three to five charities that are adopted by the ministry during the holiday season, and each charity receives a financial donation. Since its inception, over $15,000 has been donated to charities both locally and nationally. // After many years of laboring with some of the Gospel Music industries’ finest, Chrystal was blessed in 2012 to be signed to Gospel Recording Artist Earnest Pugh’s record label EPM Music Group as their premier artist. Her national project on this label entitled “You Deserve” was released in the summer of 2012. It debuted at number 10 on the billboard charts. Chrystal Rucker’s junior collective will be released Summer 2022 with I.R. Music Group.]
11:11 – Interview with Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske
Paul Wenske, is a former national correspondent & investigative reporter for The KC Star.
Nancy Meis, is a former content marketing, creative industries and arts manager.,
Chris Wenske, a University of Kansas graduate, who works as a videographer and editor, who is also a singer, songwriter, guitarist currently living in Los Angeles California.
Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske, thanks for being with us on WMM.
For more than 10 years, this three-person family collaborative, known as Electric Prairie Productions, with Paul as writer and director, Nancy as producer, and Chris as videographer and lead editor, have gone to historically Black churches to film amazing gospel music for their new documentary film, “I’m So Glad. The film that explores the untold story of Black Gospel Music in Kansas City and the roots of Black Gospel Music narrated by internationally recognized gospel music conductor Isaac S. Cates.
11:13
Marti Newland – “Bles’ My Soul an’Gon (acc. by Artis Wodehouse)” from: “Bles’ My Soul an’Gon (feat. Artis Wodehouse)” – Single / March 25, 2012. [March 25, 2012. Sound recording by Whitney Slaten. Video by Zoe White, editing by Ryan Hunter. [Soprano Marti Newland sings live in concert the traditional Afro-American Spiritual, Bles’ My Soul An’ Gone from the 1927 collection entitled “My Spirituals” edited and arranged by Eva Jessye at Church of the Epiphany, 74th and York Ave. on the Melodeon concert, 3/25/12. She is accompanied by pianist Artis Wodehouse. Sound recording is by Whitney Slaten. Video by Zoe White, editing by Ryan Hunter. // Written by Eva Jessye of Western University, from Eva Jessye’s 1927 book My Spirituals, about her family and friends who fled the south to Coffeyville, KS. // Eva Jessye was the first African-American to become a well known international choir conductor. She was a teacher whose influence reverberated for decades and was important in the Harlem Renaissance. Jessye worked with George Gershwin on opera Porgy and Bess, one of the most important pieces of music in American history. // Dr. Marti Newland is a soprano who has performed in recitals and oratorios in the United States and Europe. Her credits includes a role as a choirister in the New New York City Opera’s production of Anna Nicole, a guest soloist with the Fisk Jubilee Singers and a performance as Glenda in “The Wiz” – is wide and varied. Dr. Newland also is a Core Lecturer in Music Humanities at Columbia and earned a Ph.D. last year from the Columbia Ethnomusicology program. Her specialty is voice studies and African American music. Dr. Newland’s dissertation was “Sounding Black: An Ethnography of Racialized Vocal Practices at Fisk University.”
11:15 – Interview with Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske
Paul Wenske, is a former national correspondent & investigative reporter for The KC Star.
Nancy Meis, is a former content marketing, creative industries and arts manager.,
Chris Wenske, a University of Kansas graduate, who works as a videographer and editor, who is also a singer, songwriter, guitarist currently living in Los Angeles California.
For more than 10 years, this three-person family collaborative, known as Electric Prairie Productions, with Paul as writer and director, Nancy as producer, and Chris as videographer and lead editor, have gone to historically Black churches to film amazing gospel music for their new documentary film, “I’m So Glad.” The film that explores the untold story of Black Gospel Music in Kansas City and the roots of Black Gospel Music narrated by internationally recognized gospel music conductor Isaac S. Cates.
Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske, thanks for being with us on WMM.
11:17
Jackson Jubilee Singers – “TrainAComin” from: Deep River Plantation Singers / 1931 [Jackson Jubilee Singers of Western University, about the Great Migration north in the early 1900s.]
11:20 – Interview with Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske
Paul Wenske, is a former national correspondent & investigative reporter for The KC Star.
Nancy Meis, is a former content marketing, creative industries and arts manager.,
Chris Wenske, a University of Kansas graduate, who works as a videographer and editor, who is also a singer, songwriter, guitarist currently living in Los Angeles California.
For more than 10 years, this three-person family collaborative, known as Electric Prairie Productions, with Paul as writer and director, Nancy as producer, and Chris as videographer and lead editor, have gone to historically Black churches to film amazing gospel music for their new documentary film, “I’m So Glad.” The film that explores the untold story of Black Gospel Music in Kansas City and the roots of Black Gospel Music narrated by internationally recognized gospel music conductor Isaac S. Cates.
Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske, thanks for being with us on WMM.
11:22
Sister Anna Grinstead and Forestine Gibson – “Calvary” from: “Calvary” – Single / Winston Holmes Music Co. / 1926 [1926 gospel recording by Winston Holmes Music Co. (on 18th and Vine) of Sister Anna Grinstead and Forestine Gibson, reflecting the bluesey, barrel house style of early Kansas City gospel recordings.]
11:23 – Interview with Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenskes
Paul Wenske, is a former national correspondent & investigative reporter for The KC Star.
Nancy Meis, is a former content marketing, creative industries and arts manager.,
Chris Wenske, a University of Kansas graduate, who works as a videographer and editor, who is also a singer, songwriter, guitarist currently living in Los Angeles California.
For more than 10 years, this three-person family collaborative, known as Electric Prairie Productions, with Paul as writer and director, Nancy as producer, and Chris as videographer and lead editor, have gone to historically Black churches to film amazing gospel music for their new documentary film, “I’m So Glad.” The film that explores the untold story of Black Gospel Music in Kansas City and the roots of Black Gospel Music narrated by internationally recognized gospel music conductor Isaac S. Cates.
Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske, thanks for being with us on WMM.
11:25
Zenobia Smith – “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands” [He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands: First arranged with sheet music by Edward Boatner in 1927; performed by KC Jazz great Clarence Williams on piano and sung by gospel icon Zenobia Smith. // Zenobia Smith is an actress, musician, singer-songwriter of contemporary/traditional Gospel music. // Singing for Jesus is a statement that exemplifies the life of KC Songbird, Zenobia L. Smith, Minister of music of the Love Fellowship Church where her Pastor is Gus T. Franklin Sr. // Zenobia is a songwriter and workshop facilitator, musician and recording artist. A native of Ogden, Utah. Zee lives in Kansas City, Missouri and is currently completing her cd. // Zee is a voice instructor and does plus sized modeling. She is a worshiper and preaches God’s word. She ministers in prisons and in nursing homes. Her travels have taken her to Germany where she taught a 200 voice choir that gave a concert to help orphaned children in Sri Lanka. She has traveled over the U.S, ministering in song and sharing her gifts with choirs and congregations, conferences and church services. // She sang and taught with Minister Daryl Coley, and recorded with Edwin Hawkins Gospel Music Seminar as one of his lead vocalist on the Washington, D.C. recording. She has been featured on programs along with Vanessa Bell Armstrong, The Williams Brothers, and Evangelist Shirlely Ceasar, and many others. She sang with Roger Akers and the group, Chosen People who recorded an album in the late 70s. // Zee recently performed in the play: Sistas Shoptalking While Real Men are Available, written by Carolyn Moore. The play premiered in Colorado Springs and is scheduled to tour in the future.// Comments of a play writer, and dear friend of Zenobia, Minerva Warner: Zenobia Smith is an anointed woman of God and has been singing all of her life. When you are in her presence, you immediately feel the spirit of love and become aware that there is a knowing, a gift of discernment that leads her to minister to your needs. The sound of her voice fills the sanctuary and brings to the audience a command performance while her delivery on song is truly evidence of the Holy Spirit. // Zenobia’s God gifted voice is indeed one of the great voices of our times; a voice that leaves her audiences spellbound, rested and set free. It is the anointing that breaks yokes and sets the captives free; and audiences all over the world who are blessed to sit under the voice of Zenobia Smith become aware that it is by no other power that she sings. She has been called Kansas City’s Songbird where she is known by all Kansas Citians as the gifted and anointed voice we are blessed to call our own. Written by M. A. Warner, Kansas City, Missouri More info at: http://kcsongbird.com/index.html%5D
11:28 – Underwriting
11:30 – Interview with Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske
Paul Wenske, is a former national correspondent & investigative reporter for The KC Star.
Nancy Meis, is a former content marketing, creative industries and arts manager.,
Chris Wenske, a University of Kansas graduate, who works as a videographer and editor, who is also a singer, songwriter, guitarist currently living in Los Angeles California.
Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske, thanks for being with us on WMM.
11:33
Kansas City Gospel Singers – “Trouble All About My Soul” from: “Trouble All About My Soul” / Swingtime Gospel / 1950 [KC a cappella gospel group Kansas City Gospel Singers, who recorded it in the early 1950s. ]
11:35 – Interview with Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske
Paul Wenske, is a former national correspondent & investigative reporter for The KC Star.
Nancy Meis, is a former content marketing, creative industries and arts manager.,
Chris Wenske, a University of Kansas graduate, who works as a videographer and editor, who is also a singer, songwriter, guitarist currently living in Los Angeles California.
Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske, thanks for being with us on WMM.
11:38
Genetter Bradley & Melody-Aires – “I’m So Glad” from: Softly The Night is Falling / TSON Recording / unknown release date [Genetter Bradley, lead singer for the Kansas City Melody-Aires, one of the best all-female gospel quartets of the early 1960s, which reflects the Civil Rights era. Members: Mildred Clark, Beulah Gunnels, Genetter Conway (Bradley), Howard Franklin & Lillie Franklin. // Sister Genetter Bradley’s life activities include but are not limited to: She toured with such groups as the Staple Singers, The Caravans and many more. Sang and helped “The Kansas City Melody-Aires land their first recording contract with Simco Records and then Peacock Records. She performed at the Famed Apollo Theatre in NYC in 1966. In 1974 she was introduced to Recom Records by Shirley Caesar and recorded her first Album titled “Moving in the Right Direction” with her own group “Genetter Bradley and the Bradley Singers”. Lead singer with the “Wings of Grace” in 1982.]
11:41 – Interview with Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske
Paul Wenske, is a former national correspondent & investigative reporter for The KC Star.
Nancy Meis, is a former content marketing, creative industries and arts manager.,
Chris Wenske, a University of Kansas graduate, who works as a videographer and editor, who is also a singer, songwriter, guitarist currently living in Los Angeles California.
Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske, thanks for being with us on WMM.
11:44
Alma Whitney and the Whitney Singers – “He’s Real” from: He’s My Everything / TSON Recording / unknown release date [Alma Whitney on Electric Keyboard & Vocals, Marva Whitney Irvin on vocals, Bobbie Davis on Lead Vocals & Piano, Sarah Fisher on Vocals & Lead Vocals, Alvena Henderson & Pat Howard on Soprano Vocals, Robert (Thunder Thumbs) Hawkins on Bass, Melvin (Lightning Licks) Moore on Drums, Billy (Fire-Frets) Farrell on Drums. Produced by The Whitney Singers. Executive Producer, Cover, Design – Martin Culpeppe. Songs Written & Arranged By Alma Whitney. Management by Alma Whitney.] He’s Real: Sung by Bobbie Davis of Alma Whitney and the Whitney Singers, one of the best gospel quartets of the Midwest in the 1970s & 1980s.]
11:49 – Interview with Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske
For more than 10 years, this three-person family collaborative, known as Electric Prairie Productions, with Paul as writer and director, Nancy as producer, and Chris as videographer and lead editor, have gone to historically Black churches to film amazing gospel music for their new documentary film, “I’m So Glad. The film that explores the untold story of Black Gospel Music in Kansas City and the roots of Black Gospel Music narrated by internationally recognized gospel music conductor Isaac S. Cates.
10 years in the making.
Paul Wenske, Nancy Meiss, Chris Wenske you are a musical family. Having experience as a performing musican must have helped on this particular project.
The film explores this rich legacy: featuring the music and the stories of the region’s pioneering greats.
Interviews with historians and scholars reveal a musical and cultural history never presented before. The film shows how the region’s gospel legends played key roles in developing gospel music nationally and helped introduce African American musical traditions into the nation’s mainstream culture.
Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske Thanks for being on WMM.
Isaac Cates – “Amazing God (Feat. Affirmations)” from: “Amazing God (Feat. Affirmations)” – Single / Isaac Cates Music / March 6, 2024 [Isaac Cates is an award-winning musician, singer-songwriter, composer, conductor, producer and Recording Academy member. He is conductor of the popular Kansas City gospel choir, Ordained. He frequently travels overseas to present gospel music concerts and direct gospel music workshops. He is Director of Music Outreach and Worship Leader at United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood.]
Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now” from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]
Next week on May 15 we celebrate Wednesday MidDay Medley’s 20th Anniversary Show, next Wednesday, May 15 at 10:00 AM on KKFI 90.1 FM with Julia Othmer, Calvin Arsenia, Kasey Rausch, IVORY BLUE, Stephonne, Marion Merritt, Maria Vasquez Boyd, Nico Gray, and Necia Gamby.
THANK YOU to our incredible KKFI Staff; Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers.
This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. Instead it is about a collective spirit of hundreds of hardworking people, unselfishly setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the gigantic goal of keeping our airwaves free, non-commercial, and open to all! Congratulations and thank you to all programmers & volunteers who went the extra effort to keep our station alive.
Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information. Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org
Wednesday MidDay Medley Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Mikal Shapiro & KC Folk Fest + Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske, Isaac Cates of “I’m So Glad”
Mark spins more New & MidCoastal Releases from: Isaac Cates & Ordained, Jass, Calvin Arsenia, Love Mae C, Madisen Ward and The Mama Bear, Weda Skirts, Monta At Odds, Angie Fights Crime, THIMASTR, The Postal Service, and Ani DiFranco. We’ll also play: Isaac Cates with Affirmations, Chrystal Rucker, Marti Newland with Artis Wodehouse, Jackson Jubilee Singers, Sister Anna Grinstead with Sister Forestine Gibson, Zenobia Smith with Clarence Williams, Kansas City Gospel Singers, Genetter Bradley and the Melody-Aires, and Alma Whitney and the Whitney Singers.
At 10:30am Mikal Shapiro shares details about KC Folk Festival, Saturday, May 18, at 12:00pm, at Washington Square Park, 100 E Pershing Rd, KCMO. This free, all-day city festival celebrates the music & arts of our neighborhoods, with song, poetry, dance, storytelling, art, demos, workshops, food trucks, and craft market. KC Folk Fest features: ARQuesta del SolSoul, Madisen Ward, Love, Mae C., Jass, Weda Skirts, Sally and the Hurts, Rural Grit Happy Hour, No Divide KC Artist Showcase, Mariachi Estrella KC, HSN Youth Songwriter Contest Winners, poets Mary Silwance, C. Woods, Sheri “Purpose” Hall, a demo by Break Free KC Hip Hop School, and dance by Shashwat Chaurasia. KC Folk Fest is a community-led nonprofit organization that is free thanks to the support of Folk Alliance International, Missouri Arts Council, Neighborhood Tourism & Development Fund, & donors. Info at: http://www.kansascityfolkfestival.org
At 11:00am Mark talks with musicians & filmmakers Paul Wenske, former national correspondent & investigative reporter for The KC Star, and Nancy Meis, former content marketing, creative industries & arts manager, and Chris Wenske, a videographer & editor currently living in Los Angeles California, and Isaac Cates an award-winning musician, singer-songwriter, composer, conductor, producer & Recording Academy member who is conductor of the popular Kansas City gospel choir Ordained, and is Director of Music Outreach and Worship Leader at United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. These special guests return to WMM to share details about “I’m So Glad” their documentary film exploring the untold story of Black Gospel Music in Kansas City and the roots of Black Gospel Music narrated by Isaac S. Cates. We will share music associated with the film.
On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org
Wednesday MidDay Medley Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Little Miss Dynamite + The Creepy Jingles + The Grisly Hand + Haymaker Records
“Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks” from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979 [WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]
WHITE RABBIT!!!!!!
Julia Othmer – “White Rabbit” from: White Rabbit – Single / Fricken’ Awesome Records / August 29, 2021 (Unreleased) [Recorded Live at Kulak’s in North Hollywood with Andy Sanesi (Missing Persons, Eminem, Arturo Sandoval) on drums, Jamie Kime (Dr. John, Zappa Plays Zappa) on guitar, and Chris Roy (Nancy Sinatra, Don Randi) on bass. // On February 27, 2024 Julia Othmer and James T Lundie released the single “Slip Away” from THE FORCEFIELDS tbeir new musical project, a new “cosmosonic” collaboration between Julia Othmer and James T Lundie AKA Aayama & Max Forcefield. The Forcefields debut EP, BRIDGE, will be released later in 2024. It is a sonic bridge between their previous work together and this new trajectory. Reinterpreting and distilling the essence of two of Julia’s previous songs, BRIDGE is a rhythmic, multi-layered and richly textured exploration of letting go and positive self realization. // Julia released SEEDS VOLUME 2, her 4th album with live recordings from her 30-day “Songs of September Project”, where Julia covered songs of protest & hope, to inspire people to vote. From those songs Julia’s fans democratically selected their favorite tracks to be released together on “Seeds.” In 2020 Julia released SEEDS VOLUME 1. Julia Othmer released “Sound,” on April 12, 2019, her second album, that took 3 years to complete, and was produced with James Lundie, who also married Julia in January of 2016, during the completion of the record. Julia Othmer, is a graduate of Park Hill High School. Julia moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to record her 1st album, OASIS MOTEL. More info at: http://www.juliaothmer.com.]
10:03
Thanks for tuning into WMM on 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio. I’m Mark Manning. Today, we’ll spin more New & MidCoastal Releases from: Little Miss Dynamite, The Matchsellers, The Grisly Hand, The Creepy Jingles, Jorge Arana Trio, Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Be/Non, English Teacher, Nilüfer Yanya, Infinity Song, and Shabaka. We started with Julia Othmer
In a few minutes we’ll talk with Beth Watts Nelson about her band, Little Miss Dynamite and their new 6-track recording, GROW UP being released this week. Little Miss Dynamite play an Album Release Party on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 4:00pm at Tall Trellis Brew Co. at 25600 West Valley Parkway, Olathe, Kansas.
At 10:30 Jocelyn Olivia Nixon shares details about the new single releases from her band The Creepy Jingles with Wills Van Doorn on guitar, Andrew Woody on bass, and Nick Robertson on drums. The Creepy Jingles play Manor Fest 6 on Thursday, May 23 at 9:00pm at The RINO, 314 Armour Rd, NKC with MC Rue + Mikey, and Brian Bulger.
At 11:00 we welcome Lauren Krum & Mike Stover of The Grisly Hand who talk ablut The Grisly Hand Jubilee: Celebrating 15 years of Music & Friendship, on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 7:00pm at the Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO in WEST BOTTOMS.
And at 11:30 Brenton Cook talks about Haymaker Records 10 Year Anniversary Show at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., KCMO on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 7:00pm with Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Be/Non, and Jorge Arana Trio. Since forming in January 2014 the label has released a total of 24 recordings from 10 different artists including Be/Non, Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Schwervon!, Monta At Odds, HMPH!, and Sie Lieben Maschinen. 14 releases have made their way onto vinyl, including two compilations.
10:05
English Teacher – “Nearly Daffodils” from: This Could Be Texas / Universal-Island Records / April 12, 2024 [English Teacher is Lily Fontaine on vocals, guitars and synthesizers, Lewis Whiting on lead guitar & synthesizers, Douglas Frost on drums, piano & vocals, and Nicholas Eden on bass. The band began writing together after meeting while students at Leeds Conservatoire. Early support from local organizations Music Leeds, Come Play With Me and BBC Radio Introducing, who regularly played their earliest offerings and helped garner support for the band, led to a pivotal signing with indie label Nice Swan Records. During lockdown, English Teacher’s fanbase grew online and 2021 single ‘R&B’ had the music industry buzzing. A much-lauded debut EP, ‘Polyawkward’ followed, providing further insight into the diverse sonic and uniquely self-made aesthetic world of the band, and appearances at Glastonbury and Leeds Festival soon made English Teacher one of the most talked about bands in British music. // Nearly Daffodils’ illustrates the intricate, math-rock leanings of the band’s songwriting. “This was one of the later ones that come together before the studio, but we’d had the individual parts for it for some time,” Whiting says, remembering their time recording predominantly in London’s Pony Studios. Eden adds: “It started as a Logic project, quite synth-heavy but it ended up as the bass line and predominant melodic driver of the track.” Fontaine says she was “obsessed with the bassline” and “loved it so much”. “It formed the backbone of the song,” she says. While having wrote the lyrics prior to the bassline being added, she noted that “they just seemed to fit.” She continues: “We added in some drum loops that Douglas made and then it just all clicked into place.” // ‘Nearly Daffodils’ is about heartbreak and acceptance of unfulfilled potential, Fontaine says. “It’s about how, no matter how much you may want something, no matter how much effort you may put into something’s growth or development, no matter how beautiful you can envision its fruition, life is a bitch and about as unstoppable as a freight train.”]
Little Miss Dynamite – “Coffee and Tunes” from: Grow Up / Rural Grit Records / May 3, 2024 [Little Miss Dynamite is a four piece string band with Beth Watts Nelson on lead vocals & banjo, Betse Ellis (of The Wilders, Betse & Clarke) on fiddle, Brandon Day (of The Matchsellers) on bass, and Caleb Gardner (of Konza Swamp) on mandolin, guitar & vocals. Engineered and Mixed by Clarke Wyatt, Gnomes and Goats Studio. More info at: http://www.bethwattsnelson.com]
[Little Miss Dynamite play an Album Release Party on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 4:00pm at Tall Trellis Brew Co. at 25600 West Valley Parkway, Olathe, Kansas.]
10:12 – Interview with Beth Watts Nelson
Beth Watts Nelson is an award-winning Kansas City based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and lifelong student of music. Building upon a twenty year career in music education she is now the founder and director of Notorious Chorus – a community-based, group singing workshop for adults. In addition to solo and duo performances, she can be heard in several projects throughout the KC metro including Konza Swamp Band, CATGUT, and her latest endeavor, Little Miss Dynamite. Little Miss Dynamite is a four piece string band with Beth Watts Nelson on lead vocals & banjo, Betse Ellis (of The Wilders, Betse & Clarke) on fiddle, Brandon Day (of The Matchsellers) on bass, and Caleb Gardner (of Konza Swamp) on mandolin, guitar & vocals.
Little Miss Dynamite play an Album Release Party Sat, May 4, 2024, at 4:00pm at Tall Trellis Brew Co. 25600 West Valley Parkway, Olathe, KS. Info at: http://www.bethwattsnelson.com
Beth Watts Nelson, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Beth Watts Nelson has a twenty year career in music education.
She is now the founder and director of Notorious Chorus – a community-based, group singing workshop for adults.
In addition to solo & duo performances, she can be heard in projects throughout KC metro including Konza Swamp Band, CATGUT, and her latest endeavor, Little Miss Dynamite.
Little Miss Dynamite is a newly-formed band releasing a debut six-song EP of original music featuring stringed instruments and vocal harmony titled “Grow Up”. The band’s spark was ignited when KC singer, songwriter and music educator, Beth Watts Nelson and co-founder, Caleb Gardner (both of Konza Swamp Band) joined up to sing harmonies together in the garage. The addition of long-time friend and fiddler extraordinaire, Betse Ellis (The Wilders) and the inspired playing of Brandon Day (The Matchsellers) on bass.
Production: Rural Grit Records, 2024 Beth Watts Nelson (ASCAP). Musicians and Instrumentation: Beth Watts Nelson – guitar, banjo, lead vocals; Caleb Gardner – guitar, mandolin, lead vocals; Betse Ellis – fiddle, harmony vocals; Brandon Day – bass, harmony vocals. Engineered and Mixed by Clarke Wyatt, Gnomes and Goats Studio. Album Art by Grady Keller,Mound Creative, All songs written by Beth Watts Nelson except “Circle the Drain” by Caleb Gardner.
Beth Watts Nelson, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Little Miss Dynamite play an Album Release Party Sat, May 4, 2024, at 4:00pm at Tall Trellis Brew Co. 25600 West Valley Parkway, Olathe, KS. Info at: http://www.bethwattsnelson.com
10:24
Little Miss Dynamite– “Ordinary Blue” from: Grow Up / Rural Grit Records / May 3, 2024 [Little Miss Dynamite is a four piece string band with Beth Watts Nelson on lead vocals & banjo, Betse Ellis (of The Wilders, Betse & Clarke) on fiddle, Brandon Day (of The Matchsellers) on bass, and Caleb Gardner (of Konza Swamp) on mandolin, guitar & vocals. Engineered and Mixed by Clarke Wyatt, Gnomes and Goats Studio.More info at: http://www.bethwattsnelson.com]
[Little Miss Dynamite play an Album Release Party on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 4:00pm at Tall Trellis Brew Co. at 25600 West Valley Parkway, Olathe, Kansas.]
The Matchsellers – “Marcus Aurelius Too Late!” from: Live at The Warehouse / The Matchsellers / May 3, 2024 [Julie Bates is a classically trained violinist from Kansas City. Andrew Morris is a Chicago blues guitarist from Warsaw, Indiana. They met in Leipzig, Germany. During their year of living in the former East Germany, the pair began reanalyzing the songs of their homeland, and developed a tight yet gritty bluegrass style. In the summer of 2013 they left their jobs to hit the road and haven’t looked back. // In the band’s most recent iteration, mandolinist Brian McCarty brings an invaluable lifetime of experience in the Bluegrass tradition, while Brandon Day thrills audiences with his intricate bass solos. // On October 28, 2022 The Matchsellers released The Wishfuk Thinker’s Hall of Game // On February 12, 2016 they released their album, SONGS WE MADE UP, one of Wednesday MidDay Medley’s 116 Best Recordings of 2016.. In late 2014 they released their debut full length recording, “Kosciusko County,” one of Wednesday MidDay Medley’s 115 Best Recordings of 2015. The Matchsellers have toured 3 European countries and 25 US States, performing 180 shows a year, including last year for the KC Fringe Festival, Bluegrass Bazaar in Flint, Michigan, Norman Music Festival in Norman, OK, and a 1st place win at the Eddie Owen Presents songwriting competition in Atlanta, GA. The Matchsellers played an official Showcase at the 2024 Folk Alliance International Conference on Thursday, February 22, at The Westin Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center 1 East Pershing Road, KCMO.]
[The Matchsellers play a LIVE Album Release Show at Flagship Books, 510 North 6th Street, KCK, Strawberry Hill on Friday, May 3, at 7:30pm , with opening poetry from C. Woods.]
10:30 – Underwriting
The Creepy Jingles – “Repeat After Me” from: “Repeat After Me” – Single / High Dive Records / April 19, 2024 [This is the second of several new singles being released by The Creepy Jingles this year. The band released “When Things Go Wrong” on February 23, 2024. The Creepy Jingles are a Kansas City based, rock and roll band that both honors and defies convention. Led by singer / song-writer Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, a transgender wordsmith who charms with razor wit and dazzles with her lyrical acrobatics. // Song (lyrics/melody/chords) written by Jocelyn Olivia Nixon. Guitar solo by Wills van Doorn. Recorded and Mixed by Paul Malinowski. Mastered by Zack Hames. Vocals & Piano: Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, Guitars: Wills Van Doorn, Bass: Andrew Woody, and Drums: Nick Robertson. // The Creepy Jingles released their album, TAKE ME AT MY WORDPLAY on March 25, 2022 through High Dive Records. Paired up with lyrics centering on themes of identity, strained relationships, social media madness, meme magic, pandemic paranoia, paid off political pundits, backyard bullies and barking up the wrong tree. Everything and the kitchen sink or swim. No stoner left unturned. The Creepy Jingles released their Debut EP on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019. The release was in the top ten of WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019. ] The Creepy Jingles released their Debut EP on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019.] [
[The Creepy Jingles play Manor Fest 6 Thursday, May 23 at 9:00pm at The RINO, 314 Armour Rd, NKC with MC Rue + Mikey, and Brian Bulger.]
10:33 – Interview with Jocelyn Olivia Nixon
Jocelyn Olivia Nixon joins us to share details about the new single releases from The Creepy Jingles. The band released “Repeat After Me” on April 19, 2024 and “When Things Go Wrong” on February 23, 2024, with more to come. The new tracks were recorded and mixed by Paul Malinowski. “The Creepy Jingles are a Kansas City based, rock and roll band that both honors and defies convention. Led by singer and song-writer Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, a transgender wordsmith who charms with razor wit and dazzles with her lyrical acrobatics.” Also in the band, Wills Van Doorn soars on guitar, Andrew Woody keeps the band on the highway on bass, and Nick Robertson as a founding member holds it all down on drums.
The Creepy Jingles play Manor Fest 6 on Thursday, May 23 at 9:00pm at The RINO, 314 Armour Rd, NKC with MC Rue + Mikey, and Brian Bulger.
Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
The Creepy Jingles Discography
The Creepy Jingles 6-track self-titled EP released May 3, 2019 on High Dive Records
“Throwing In The Femme Fatale” – Single on Nov. 18, 2021 on High Dive Records
Take Me At My Wordplay, 11-track album released March 25, 2022 on High Dive Records
“Decepticon Artist” Single featuring The Swallowtails, September 9, 2022
“When Things Go Wrong” – Single on February 23, 2024
“Repeat After Me” – Single on April 19, 2024
The Creepy Jingles are led by Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, a transgender wordsmith who charms with razor wit and dazzles with her lyrical acrobatics “centering on themes of identity, strained relationships, social media madness, meme magic, pandemic paranoia, paid off political pundits, backyard bullies and barking up the wrong tree.”
From http://www.highdivekc.com: “The brainchild of singer/ songwriter, Jocelyn Olivia Nixon acts to guide the listener thru a self-actualized Mono-myth of forging identity thru Bizarre arcane cosmic poetry coupled with the wordplay of a wry smile and eccentric wit.”
The Creepy Jingles line up originally included “Drummer Nick Robertson charges the group forward with a fiery fueled obsidian backbeat. Andrew Woody on bass guitar; Rounding out the band is Guitarist Travis McKenzie who generously spins a holographic spectrum of color that lift the catchy Brit pop melodies that effortlessly dance about the rapidly changing landscapes of New York Garage Rock and 60s/70s folk music. “
The new line up includes:
Jocelyn Olivia Nixon on vocals, piano, and guitar Wills Van Doorn on guitar Andrew Woody on bass Nick Robertson on drums
The new tracks were recorded and mixed by Paul Malinowski. Mastered by Zack Hames
“Jocelyn Olivia Nixon was part of the band Abracadabras, that was active around Kansas City from 2006 to 2009 or so. Nixon fronted the band, which also included brothers Collin and Kyle Rausch, who now play in the pop act Shy Boys.
Jocelyn Olivia Nixon told Nick Spacek in an article published in The Pitch KC on June 19, 2019, “That was, like, the first band,” Nixon says. “I’d been writing songs since I was probably about 22, and that was our first band together. So it was like we all grew up together … Once I went to Austin, I felt like it was time for me to stand on my own.”
“I’d left [Kansas City] to work on my marriage,” Nixon continues. “My wife at the time was offered a job and I figured, Yeah, Austin, great music city. I should see what happens. A music city like Austin was the silver lining in moving away from my band.”
The marriage hit the skids a few years in, but Nixon continued writing music. She released a solo project called English Major, a divorce record of sorts. Five years in, though, everything finally seemed to come to a head.
“The traffic, the cost of living — our rent went up $750,” Nixon says. “It was almost impossible to stay. I was like, Why am I killing myself to do this? I was also starting to come to terms with my own personal identity, and it blew into this existential crisis, where I was like, I can’t keep this bottled up anymore.”
Being “bottled up” was Nixon acknowledging her recent transition into life as a woman, a process she’d started early during her time in Austin.
“Tweezing my eyebrows, laser hair removal, therapy, going out more in femme,” she says — but largely abandoned after her marriage fell apart and she stepped into a new relationship. But the desire to transition hadn’t gone away; Nixon was just burying it.
“I was depressed to the point where I kind of — there’s that line in ‘Yer Blues,’ where John Lennon’s like, Feel so suicidal/ Even hate my rock & roll.’ I was like, ‘Oh, I get that line,’”
Nixon says. “I didn’t ever feel like I was going to commit suicide, but I had this fantasy of faking my death and becoming a new person, which was all sort of leading me to transition, but I was just miserable and I just didn’t want to be around it.”
She decided to leave Austin and return to KC, though moving back home as she transitioned wasn’t something Nixon was initially eager to do. “I thought it was scarier to move back,” she says. But then she realized that, as she says, “I needed to do this in front of the people I grew up with, and have those tough conversations, and tell them who I really am and how I really feel. It felt like the most honest way to do things, and it felt like the most authentic way to bridge my past to my present.”
Nixon started hormones and came out as a woman after she moved back home to KC. She says everyone’s been cool about it — tons of support.
“When I came out, I felt stupid, because I was like, ‘I should’ve done this sooner,’” she says. “An immediate weight lifted off of me, just from carrying the weight of that consuming all my mental faculties at all times. It just shot my nervous system.”
Nixon had quit playing music toward the end of her time in Austin, and she gave herself a few years during her transition to “get my head right and heal from a breakup, and also, approaching this new phase in my life,” as she puts it. But she kept writing songs.
She started jamming with Nick Robertson, a drummer. Then they brought in Travis McKenzie, a former Abracadabras guitarist, and the Creepy Jingles were born. They played around for a few years and then, last year, began recording what would become their debut self-titled EP.
“We took it slow, doing it like, once a week, and then once fall rolled around, we were like, ‘Let’s record some things,’” Nixon says. They took the music to Ross Brown, another Shy Boy, who recorded & mixed the EP in his basement. Collin Rausch ended up playing bass.
“It was kind of like a little family reunion,” Nixon says of reuniting with old bandmates.
Nick Spacek wrote: The EP was released on High Dive Records at the beginning of May. It’s confident and exuberant, a Kinksy mishmash of Britpop garage rock”.
She says. I felt like I had to adopt a mask or a character to protect myself a little bit onstage. Now it feels very me, and I’m very comfortable.”
The Creepy Jingles self titled debut EP was released on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019 Ross Brown of (Shy Boys and Full Bloods) recorded & mixed the EP at escape Pod Audio. Mike Nolte Mastered the recordings at Eureka Mastering. EP credits give special thanks to: Collin Rausch and Kyle Rausch of Shy Boys
The Creepy Jingles released the stand alone single, “Throwing In The Femme Fatale” on Nov. 18, 2021. As lead singer Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, who is a transgender woman, told 90.9 The Bridge, “This is one of those songs we wanted to make space for and share because it was a favorite little oddball of ours, it’s a bit outside the box of what we normally do.” Nixon continued, “I wrote it to appear vague enough where it could be about a song, idea or a person that gets stuck inside your crawl space,” the song was about her own mindset before transitioning. “…This overwhelming thought about showing the world who I really was, because I couldn’t ignore it anymore.”
From FALLY AFANI, I Heart Local Music (June 22, 2019)
“The Creepy Jingles are really throwing us for a loop. Like, we know garage rock is supposed to sound raw and a little loose. But The Creepy Jingles are so on point with their craft, we’re not entirely comfort-able with picturing them as some laid back group of rockers. Every. Single. Note. Is. Perfect. When The Creepy Jingles play, it sounds like they practice every single day. They don’t miss a single thing! Every note in every song is spot on, we haven’t heard a group of rockers this tight with their performance in ages. When they hit the Replay for their album release show Thursday night, it was hard to look away. Jocelyn Olivia Nixon runs a tight ship with this group. They began the set with her pounding away at the keys, leaving a throbbing urge for more of their exciting rock noise. Then, when they fully dove into their impeccable guitar work, the audience was also treated to her gnarly-as-hell vocals. The growls, the screams, the RAWNESS of it all brings out our most primal emotions.”
Jocelyn Olivia Nixon is Singer/ Songwriter/ Guitar/ Keys at The Creepy Jingles Jocelyn Olivia Nixon previously was Singer-songwriter at English Major Jocelyn Nixon Studied Filming/Directing/Acting/writing at The Art Institute of Austin Jocelyn Nixon Studied Studied Broadcasting & Film at University of Central Missouri Jocelyn Nixon Studied Studied Creative Writing in English at Missouri State University Jocelyn Nixon went to Blue Springs South High School.
Jocelyn Olivia Nixon thanks for being with us on Wednesday Midday Medley
The Creepy Jingles play Manor Fest 6 on Thursday, May 23 at 9:00pm at The RINO, 314 Armour Rd, NKC with MC Rue + Mikey, and Brian Bulger.
10:48
The Creepy Jingles – “When Things Go Wrong” from: When Things Go Wrong” – Single / High Dive Records / February 23, 2024 [This is the First of several new singles being released by The Creepy Jingles this year. The band released “Repeat After Me” on April 19, 2024. The Creepy Jingles are a Kansas City based, rock and roll band that both honors and defies convention. Led by singer / song-writer Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, a transgender wordsmith who charms with razor wit and dazzles with her lyrical acrobatics. // Song (lyrics/melody/chords) written by Jocelyn Olivia Nixon. Recorded and Mixed by Paul Malinowski. Mastered by Zack Hames. Vocals & Piano: Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, Guitars: Wills Van Doorn, Bass: Andrew Woody, and Drums: Nick Robertson. // The Creepy Jingles released their album, TAKE ME AT MY WORDPLAY on March 25, 2022 through High Dive Records. Paired up with lyrics centering on themes of identity, strained relationships, social media madness, meme magic, pandemic paranoia, paid off political pundits, backyard bullies and barking up the wrong tree. Everything and the kitchen sink or swim. No stoner left unturned. The Creepy Jingles released their Debut EP on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019. The release was in the top ten of WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019. ] The Creepy Jingles released their Debut EP on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019.] [
[The Creepy Jingles play Manor Fest 6 Thursday, May 23 at 9:00pm at The RINO, 314 Armour Rd, NKC with MC Rue + Mikey, and Brian Bulger.]
Nilüfer Yanya – “Like I Say (I Runaway)” from: “Like I Say (I Runaway)” Single / Ninja Tune / April 24, 2024 [Nilüfer Yanya returns with her new single and music video “Like I Say (I runaway).” This offering is her first new music since the release of her celebrated 2022 album PAINLESS and announces her signing to Ninja Tune. The new single is a glowing example of Yanya’s authenticity and innate creativity that effortlessly flows from pen to paper and is a first taste of more music to come. // “Like I Say (I runaway)” comes alongside a music video directed by Yanya’s sister Molly Daniel that features Nilüfer as a runaway bride. The song highlights chunky, distorted guitar crunches under a chorus loosely reminiscent of 90’s alternative radio. The single focuses on the moment when you realise how precious time is. Speaking more about the single’s thesis Nilüfer shares, “It’s about how you choose to spend your time. Time is like a currency, every moment. You’re never going to get it back. It’s quite an overwhelming thing to realise.” // The new single was written in collaboration with Yanya’s creative partner, Wilma Archer (Sudan Archives, MF DOOM, Celeste), with whom she’s previously collaborated on PAINLESS and her debut album Miss Universe. Throughout their creative process, a clear emphasis was placed on forming a safe musical space where creative impulses were encouraged and all perceived musical boundaries were eroded. This same process is reflected in the song’s lyrics, which emphasise unrestricted artistry and standing firm in one’s truest self as Yanya attempts to make sense of the world around her.]
Infinity Song – “Slow Burn” from: Metamorphosis / Roc Nation Records / October 20, 2023 [Infinity Song is a Soft Rock band based in New York City comprised of 4 siblings, Abraham, Angel, Israel, and Momo Boyd. With a blend of tight vocal harmonies, dreamy lyricism and sublime guitar riffs, the band creates a transcendent experience for the audience on every stage and in their recorded music. // Homeschooled academically and musically, along with their 5 other brothers and sisters, by parents who founded the Boys & Girls Choirs of Detroit, the siblings have performed in front of audiences since Pre-K. They were raised on classical, gospel and jazz, like Pat Methany, Marvin Gaye, The Winans Family and many others. // Infinity Song’s journey was a labored yet adventurous climb. In 2006, the Boyd patriarch, John Boyd, relocated the entire family from Detroit to New York and they began performing publicly all around the city. Singing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the morning, on 5th Avenue in the afternoon and Times Square at night, eventually Central Park’s Bethesda Fountain became a permanent stage for the next 12 years of their lives. After several years of developing a following and turning casual park visitors into loyal fans, the group was introduced to Jay-Z. // In 2016, the band was signed to Roc Nation by Jay-Z, who advised them to not conform to the label’s artistic culture, but rather allow Roc Nation’s artistic culture to catch up to them. 4 years later in 2020, the siblings made a giant splash with their debut album.]
Shabaka – “End Of Innocence” from: Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace / Impulse Records / April 12, 2024 [Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace is the solo debut studio album of London jazz musician Shabaka Hutchings, working under the name Shabaka. The album was preceded by two singles, “End of Innocence” and “I’ll Do Whatever You Want”. // The album follows Hutchings’s hiatus from the saxophone and the end of his bands Sons of Kemet and the Comet Is Coming, and sees him focusing on different types of flutes, including the shakuhachi and the svirel, as well as the clarinet. // The album was recorded in Van Gelder Studio in 2022. Hutchings shared producing duties with Dilip Harris, and brought in a long list of collaborators including his own father Anum Iyapo, André 3000, Laraaji, and Floating Points. Musically, it focuses on jazz and new age music. Critical reception for the album was positive, highlighting the boldness of Hutchings’s shift in style. // On January 1, 2023, Hutchings announced his intention to take an indefinite hiatus from playing the saxophone, explaining later in the year that his enthusiasm for the instrument had waned after years of intense touring. This also coincided with the end of his two bands, Sons of Kemet and the Comet Is Coming. Hutchings’s last live saxophone performance was on 7 December 2023, where he played John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. // Hutchings’s new musical interests lied primarily with the flute and similar instruments, having started with them in 2019 after acquiring his first shakuhachi. Subsequent instruments Hutchings picked up include Mayan Teotihuacan drone flutes, Brazilian pifanos, Native American flutes, Slavic svirels, and South American quenas. The move coincided with an increase in attention on jazz flute following the release of André 3000’s 2023 album New Blue Sun, on which Hutchings contributed shakuhachi to one track. // Hutchings announced the album on 28 February 2024, set for a release on April 12, by Impulse! Records. On the same day, he released its lead single, “End of Innocence”, along with a music video directed by Phoebe Boswell. “End of Innocence” sees Hutchings playing the clarinet, with a band consisting of pianist Jason Moran, drummer Nasheet Waits, and percussionist Carlos Niño. // The second single, “I’ll Do Whatever You Want”, was released on March 21. Hutchings cowrote the song with Laraaji and Floating Points. It features Hutchings on shakuhachi, André 3000 on drone flute, Laraaji’s wordless vocals, Floating Points on Rhodes Chroma synthesizer and vibraphone, Esperanza Spalding and Tom Herbert on bass, Dave Okumu on guitar, Marcus Gilmore on drums, and Niño on percussion. Hutchings said the song is “about surrender and the intimate space we go to within the grasp of possession.” Other musicians on the record include Moses Sumney, Brandee Younger, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Saul Williams, Lianne La Havas, and Elucid. // Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace is Hutchings’s solo debut studio album, following his 2022 solo EP Afrikan Culture, which also centered Hutchings’s woodwind play. The titles of both releases are connected; in Hutchings’s words, they’re mean to be read as “Afrikan Culture, comma, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace”, with his next album being “the next sentence in a long form poem that encapsulates, hopefully, all the solo records of my career.” The song names on the album were extracted from a poem written for the album.]
11:00 – Station ID
The Grisly Hand – “Paris of The Plains” from: Safe House [EP] / Independent / November 2, 2010 [The Grisly Hand are: Jimmy Fitzner, Johnny Nichols, Chas Snyder, Lauren Krum, Ben Summers, Mike Tuley & Kian Byrne. They played their first shows in January of 2009 and have since performed throughout the Kansas City/Lawrence area winning a 2010 Pitch Music Award. The entire band climbed into our studios and performed live on our Nov. 10, 2010 show. Safe House was released on vinyl.]
[The Grisly Hand Jubilee: Celebrating 15 years of Music & Friendship, on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 7:00pm at the Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO in WEST BOTTOMS. After 15 years of live shows, 6 albums, The Grisly Hand are doing a setlist filled with songs from every release, with all of their past band members (Lifetime Grislies), and some very special guests! This show is a love letter to the fans, family and friends who have made the past 15 years so memorable. EVERYTHING MUST GO – Grab some memorabilia at the discounted merch table – proceeds of which will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. More info at http://thegrislyhand.com%5D
11:03 – Interview with Lauren Krum and Mike Stover
We welcome to the show, Lauren Krum & Mike Stover of The Grisly Hand who will share all of the details of The Grisly Hand Jubilee: Celebrating 15 years of Music & Friendship, on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 7:00pm at the Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO in WEST BOTTOMS. After 15 years of live shows, 6 albums, The Grisly Hand are doing a setlist filled with songs from every release, with all of their past band members (Lifetime Grislies), and some very special guests! This show is a love letter to the fans, family and friends who have made the past 15 years so memorable. EVERYTHING MUST GO – Grab some memorabilia at the discounted merch table – proceeds of which will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. More info at http://thegrislyhand.com
Lauren Krum & Mike Stover thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley.
The band first started playing live in 2009. When The Grisly Hand released their debut album Safe House, yhe entire band (at that time: Lauren Krum, Jimmy Fitzner, Johnny Nichols, Chas Snyder, Mike Tuley) climbed into our studios and performed live on our Nov. 10, 2010 show.
Jimmy Fitzner, Johnny Nichols, Chas Snyder were in a band called Left Behind. Lauren played with them at The Brick, before leaving Kansas City to go to Columbia College in Chicago. In Chicago Lauren created the group The Strumpettes a soul-inspired group featuring four female singers and a four-piece band. When the Strumpettes dismantled in 2008 and her life in Chicago started to fall apart, Krum decided to move back to Kansas City. She immediately began singing with From Before.
Within a few months, Krum, Fitzner, Nichols and Snyder were performing as a new group. They had brought on Andy Davis to play mandolin. Krum had found the name “the Grisly Hand” after coming across it in the poem “Webster Ford” from Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology.
Currently The Grisly Hand is Jimmy Fitzner, Lauren Krum, Ben Summers, Mike Stover, Johnny Nichols and Kian Byrne.
A super group of sorts, several members have also been involved in other projects. Lauren has played and recorded with Ruddy Swain (with David Regnier), and Lorna Kay, (with Mike Stover) and Lorna Kay’s Country Club her DJ work. Mike Stover and Matt Richey have been part of the band Dead Voices.
The Grisly Hand Discography
Safe House (7-track) – EP / Independent / November 2, 2010
Western Ave. (4-track) – EP / Independent / February 1, 2012
“The Shape I’m In” – Single / Independent / December 22, 2012 (Recorded at Davey’s Uptown)
“Chucky (live) – Single / Independent / March 29, 2013 (Recorded at Davey’s Uptown)
Cuntry Singles (12 track) – Album / Independent / April 26, 2013
Flesh & Gold (9-track ) – Album / Independent / August 18, 2015
Hearts & Stars (10-track) – Album / Independent / November 18, 2016
“Now That You Know” – Single / Independent / May 7, 2021
“Why Make Me Cry” – Single / Independent / August 20, 2021
“On The Same Side” – Single / Independent / December 3, 2021
Traitors – (11 track) – Album / Independent / July 8, 2022
55 songs – an amazing body of music created over these 15 years.
The Grisly Hand members (through the years): Lauren Krum Jimmy Fitzner, Johnny Nichols, Chas Snyder, Mike Tuley Andy Davis Ben Summers, Kian Byrne Matt Richey, Mike Stover Dan Loftus
Crossroads Music Fest founder Bill Sundahl describes the band: “A mixture of down home and metropolitan Country, Blues, Rock, Bluegrass, and just the right infusion of Soul is what sets them apart from their peers, yet invites you in to the party. Brilliant!”
The Grisly Hand Jubilee: Celebrating 15 years of Music & Friendship, on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 7:00pm at the Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO in WEST BOTTOMS. After 15 years of live shows, 6 albums, The Grisly Hand are doing a setlist filled with songs from every release, with all of their past band members (Lifetime Grislies), and some very special guests! This show is a love letter to the fans, family and friends who have made the past 15 years so memorable. EVERYTHING MUST GO – Grab some memorabilia at the discounted merch table – proceeds of which will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. More info at http://thegrislyhand.com
11:12
The Grisly Hand – “Regrets on Parting” from: Flesh & Gold / Independent / October 2, 2015 [The songs on Flesh & Gold are part of a double LP to be released in 2016. The band spent a year with Joel Nanos at Element Recording, and decided to split the songs between two CD/digital releases. The second half will be released in 2016, along with the LP. The album is the first with the newest member, Dan Loftus on bass, keyboards & vocals, joining Jimmy Fitzner on guitar & vocals, Lauren Krum on vocals & percussion, Matt Richey on drums, Mike Stover on steel guitar, bass & vocals, Ben Summers on guitar, vocals & mandolin. “Regrets On Parting” features: Rich Wheeler on tenor saxophone, Nick Howell on trumpet, and Mike Walker on trombone.]
[The Grisly Hand Jubilee: Celebrating 15 years of Music & Friendship, on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 7:00pm at the Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO in WEST BOTTOMS. After 15 years of live shows, 6 albums, The Grisly Hand are doing a setlist filled with songs from every release, with all of their past band members (Lifetime Grislies), and some very special guests! This show is a love letter to the fans, family and friends who have made the past 15 years so memorable. EVERYTHING MUST GO – Grab some memorabilia at the discounted merch table – proceeds of which will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. More info at http://thegrislyhand.com%5D
11:16 – More Interview with Lauren Krum and Mike Stover
We are talking with, Lauren Krum & Mike Stover of The Grisly Hand who will share all of the details of The Grisly Hand Jubilee: Celebrating 15 years of Music & Friendship, on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 7:00pm at the Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO in WEST BOTTOMS. After 15 years of live shows, 6 albums, The Grisly Hand are doing a setlist filled with songs from every release, with all of their past band members (Lifetime Grislies), and some very special guests! This show is a love letter to the fans, family and friends who have made the past 15 years so memorable.
Lauren Krum & Mike Stover thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley.
Joel Nanos of Element Recording has been like another member of the band.
A Grisly Jubilee! Featuring a setlist filled with songs from every release, all of their past band members (Lifetime Grislies)
CHERISHED FRIENDS – After 15 years of exhilarating live shows, 6 excellent albums, and more than their fair share of goofs, false starts, and broken strings, The Grisly Hand wants to celebrate their long career with you!
Come and behold a whimsical and verdant garden of delights – A Grisly Jubilee! Featuring a setlist filled with songs from every release, all of their past band members (Lifetime Grislies) and some very special guests!
A love letter to the fans, family and friends who have made the past years so memorable.
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
EVERYTHING MUST GO – Grab some memorabilia at the discounted merch table – proceeds of which will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance
After The Grisly Hand the dance floor Royalettes Vinyl Club
Lauren Krum & Mike Stover thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley.
The Grisly Hand Jubilee: Celebrating 15 years of Music & Friendship, on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 7:00pm at the Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO in WEST BOTTOMS. After 15 years of live shows, 6 albums, The Grisly Hand are doing a setlist filled with songs from every release, with all of their past band members (Lifetime Grislies), and some very special guests! This show is a love letter to the fans, family and friends who have made the past 15 years so memorable. EVERYTHING MUST GO – Grab some memorabilia at the discounted merch table – proceeds of which will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. More info at http://thegrislyhand.com
11:25
The Grisly Hand – “Now That You Know” from: Traitors / The Grisly Hand / July 8, 2022 [On May 14, 2021, The Grisly Hand released the single “Now That You Know.” On August 20, 2021 they released the single, “Why Make Me Cry”. On December 3, 2021 they released the single, “On The Same Side.” // Now That You Know’ features Melinda Krum on vocals. ‘On The Same Side’ features Mike Tuley on banjo ‘Don’t Wait Til Summer’ features Nick Howell on trumpet. Artwork & layout by Lisa Yamanaka and Andrew PerryFor the double albums the recordings also featured: Rich Wheeler on tenor saxophone, Nick Howell on trumpet, and Mike Walker on trombone. // It had been four and a half years since The Grisly Hand has released new music. The band released HEARTS & STARS on November 18, 2016, and FLESH & GOLD on October 2, 2015. For those recordings the band had spent a year with Joel Nanos at Element Recording and decided to split the songs between two CD/digital releases: and also release them both together as a double vinyl album release, called THE GRISLY HAND released November 18, 2016 with a new reshuffling of songs for the vinyl LP format. Jimmy Fitzner on guitar & vocals, Lauren Krum on vocals & percussion, Kian Byrne on drums, Mike Stover on steel guitar, bass & vocals, Ben Summers on guitar, vocals & mandolin, Dan Loftus on bass, keyboards & vocals. ‘More info at: http://www.thegrislyhand.com]
[The Grisly Hand Jubilee: Celebrating 15 years of Music & Friendship, on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 7:00pm at the Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO in WEST BOTTOMS. After 15 years of live shows, 6 albums, The Grisly Hand are doing a setlist filled with songs from every release, with all of their past band members (Lifetime Grislies), and some very special guests! This show is a love letter to the fans, family and friends who have made the past 15 years so memorable. EVERYTHING MUST GO – Grab some memorabilia at the discounted merch table – proceeds of which will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. More info at http://thegrislyhand.com%5D
Lauren Krum, Mike Stover, Kristopher Bruders and Brenton Cook on the Wednesday, May 1, 2024 edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley on 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
11:28 – Underwriting
Be/Non – “Relinquish” from: new recordings from an upcoming Be/Non release / Be/Non / (Unreleased) 2024 [Brodie Rush is a songwriter, musician, singer, organizer, artist, film maker, music video creator. Over 20 years ago KC native, Brodie Rush formed the experimental, psychedelic, prog-pop band. He is the Director of Animation & Motion Graphics at Crush Media. In 1996, Be/Non recorded two sets of songs in a small home studio in Lawrence, Kansas, that would become their first two EPs released on cassette. Be/Non, The band has had more members than Spinal Tap, but Brodie has remained the only consistent member, songwriter and producer. // Brodie Rush suffered an Aortic Dissection in October 2019. After being in a coma, and after months of therapy, recovery, and healing through two dangerous years of Covid-19. Brodie started working on a new song before this life-threatening event and it’s taken over two years to get it together. Be/Non personnel: 2007, Brodie Rush – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Bass, Percussion, Drums; Ben Ruth – Bass, Upright Bass, Vocals; Adam Stotts – Guitar, Vocals; John Huff – Keyboards, Synths, Vocals; Adam Phillips – Drums (although Ryan Shank – played Drums on this track.) All songs written by: Brodie Rush, except Freedom Palace with music: John Huff & lyrics: Brodie Rush. Produced by Brodie Rush. Recorded at Westend Recording (Kansas City, Kansas) 2007 (Basic tracks, some overdubs); The Gold Room (Kansas City, Missouri) 2007 (Overdubs); Studio G (Brooklyn New York) 2007 (Mixing, Overdubs); The Map Room (Lawrence, Kansas) 2003 (Overdubs). Engineeres: Paul Malinowski Recorded at Westend Recording (Kansas City, Kansas) 2007 ; Brodie Rush The Gold Room (Kansas City, Missouri) 2007; Joel Hamilton Studio G (Brooklyn New York) 2007 ; Peter Buxton The Map Room (Lawrence, Kansas) 2003, (Saxophone overdubs imported from “Do The Heat” off the record, “Esperanto At The Pantheon, Incognito”). Mixed by Joel Hamilton at Studio G (Brooklyn New York) 2007. Mastered by Brodie Rush. Thanks John Hulston, Anodyne Records, Brenton Cook, Haymaker Records, Paul Malinowski, Tony Maimone, Justin Warring, Adam Phillips, Brandon Phillips, Steve Neuenburg, Mike Miller, Shawna Sowersby-Booth, David Hanson, Billy Brimblecom, Steve Tulipana, Jason Cantu, David Gaume, Robert Moczydlowsky, Laurel Birdsong Sears, Kid Millions, Cypher Sound, The Record Bar. Dedicated to: Failed marriages throughout time and space. The troubled “Freedom Palace” LP was recorded over 10 years ago in the summer of 2007 by Paul Malinowski and Brodie Rush in Kansas City, Missouri. Anodyne Records had commissioned Be/Non to re-record songs from, “RAN” and “Esperanto At The Pantheon, Incognito” along with other unreleased material. The music from the title track “Freedom Palace” was written by John Huff and had the album been released, would have been the first Be/Non composition not penned by Brodie Rush. Be/Non was a 5 piece before recording negotiations began in 2007. Directly before preproduction, the band had lost its drummer of 3 years and Be/Non was actively searching for a replacement. Between Brodie filling in on drums for two songs and Billy Brimblecom playing drums on another track, Be/Non asked Adam Phillips of The Architects to drum on the album’s remaining songs. The album was mostly recorded at Westend Studios in Kansas City and at Brodie’s home studio The Gold Room. After tracking 97% of the album, the project was taken to Studio G in Brooklyn New York for mixing by Joel Hamilton. 10 days later, the album was mixed and ready for duplication. No formal album covers had been decided on. John Huff had an idea of a Unipegadong by a nebula in space, while Brodie was thinking a castle floating in mid air. The first cover idea was mostly just pointing arrows going in all directions. Emotionally that was probably the closest to the mindset of that recording. The album “Freedom Palace” was never pressed or released. Because a contractual arrangement could not be agreed upon between Anodyne Records and Be/Non, the band would not see an album released until 2009, “A Mountain Of Yeses”, 11 years after it’s last release in 1998. “Freedom Palace” is dismissed by the band as a complete failure. Ultimately not having rights to the recordings, the inability to reach a contractual agreement with Anodyne Records and unhappiness with the final mix led to the disbanding of the “Freedom Palace” line up in early 2008. Reclusive, secluded and freshly divorced, a depressed Brodie Rush stopped all live performances for the next two years. Spending time to construct the concept record “A Mountain Of Yeses” as a solo endeavor under the Be/Non band moniker. Then, six years later in 2014, John Hulston of Anodyne Records graciously gave Brodie Rush full rights to the “Freedom Palace” recordings and masters. Be/Non has since tried numerous times to re-record the material for a proper release, but never could fully accomplish this task. Finally, for the entire world, for better or for worse, Be/Non and Haymaker Records would like to present the final mix of “Freedom Palace” the way it was originally intended. Be/Non adamantly renounces the production, mix and performances on these recordings, with few exceptions. The album was mixed and recorded during a dizzying haze of drug and alcohol abuse. The lyrics, the tone and the feel of the record is very unfocused, angry and misguided. This record does not reflect the proper sonic soundscape or performances Brodie Rush and Be/Non had intended whatsoever. “Freedom Palace” was full of rehashed versions of songs better left to their previous incarnations. “Moi Ou Toi” from the 7″ is a remake from “Freedom Palace” but the “FP” version is a remake of the original “Ran” version. Complicated. In fact ALL of the recordings on “FP” are remakes from “Ran” and “Esperanto.” “Do the Heat” and “Lucy” are again remakes of the “Ran” and “Esperanto” versions. The version of “Ice Fight” on “FP” I think… is different than the B-Side to “Moi Ou Toi”. A different remix with other instruments. We had two different versions from 2015. The Kraftwerk reference was unintentional. John Huff started playing that back in 2006 but hadn’t heard the Kraftwerk song until I played it for him in 2015. He just did that and thought he was cool. I hadn’t heard that tune until 2010 or so. It was an accident. There is an unreleased, unfinished song called “No God Of Mine” I recorded in 2002 on my 8 track that when I tried to remake it in 2007 with Mike Cochran on drums, John heard it and played me a song from the band YWKMBT Trail Of Dead from 2005 that was almost identical even the timing on the changes. The vocal melody was different tho. I got so disturbed by it that I stop working on the song altogether. “Garlic”, “In The Nighttime” “More Than Enough” and “Current And The Rind” were all part of an unreleased collection called “Enhance The Smoky” from 2000. Same year “Tenderfoot” was written.]
[Be/Non plays Haymaker Records 10 Year Anniversary Show at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., KCMO on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 7:00pm with Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Be/Non, and Jorge Arana Trio.]
11:34 – Interview with Brenton Cook & Kristopher Bruders
Brenton Cook studied Computer Science at Missouri University of Science and Technology, in Rolla, Missouri, At his college radio station in Rolla KMNR, Brenton served as a disc jockey, business manager, and assistant music director, where he forged his love for independent music. After four years of volunteering for Midwest Music Foundation and coordinating three volumes of music compilations of regional artists, Brenton learned the hands-on know-how to produce, release, and promote independent music. He formed the Kansas City independent music label, Haymaker Records in January 2014. Haymaker Records chose to focus on boundary-pushing artists and provide promotion and a home for music that might be overlooked by traditional radio. Jorge Arana Trio became the first band signed in July 2014. Since that first release, the label has released a total of 24 recordings from 10 different artists including Be/Non, Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Schwervon!, Monta At Odds, HMPH!, and Sie Lieben Maschinen. 14 releases have made their way onto vinyl, including two compilations of artists from KC, as well as acts from Arkansas to Norway. More information at: http://www.haymakerrecords.net
Brenton Cook, Thanks for being with us today on WMM
Kristopher Bruders is a singer, songwriter, band leader, husband, father and event organizer. Many Kansas City music fans know Kristopher Bruders for his work with band, Cadillac Flambé with vocalist and keyboardist, Havilah Bruders. Kristopher Bruders has also released music as a solo artist and with his newer bands Copper Threading and Gascan. Kristopher Bruders is also one half of Freight Train Rabbit Killer with Mark Smeltzer. Freight Train Rabbit Killer released their album, HAMMER OF JUDGEMENT on April 30, 2022 on vinyl from Haymaker Records.
Kristopher Bruders, Thanks for being with us today on WMM
Brenton and Kristopher join us to share details about Haymaker Records 10 Year Anniversary Show at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., KCMO on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 7:00pm with Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Be/Non, and Jorge Arana Trio.
Haymaker Records has released multiple full length albums, for Monta At Odds, HMPH!, Be/Non, Jorge Arana Trio, Riala, Mysterious Clouds, Sie Lieben Maschinen, Schwervon!, Freight Train Rabbit Killer, and others on vinyl, cassette, CD, and 7 “. He has also produced two Haymaker compilation releases, called Fairgrounds. For the last 11 years, Brenton has been a co-curator of the Outer Reaches Fest shows.
Haymaker Records released Sie Lieben Maschinen’s June Gloom on January 1, 2015 [Steve Tulipana on vocals; Josh Newton on guitar, bass, synth; Chris Bolig on drums. Recorded and mixed by Scott Evans at Sharkbite Studios and Antisleep Audio. Vocals for “The Man Laughs”, “Postcards” and “Public Image” recorded by John Bersuch at Innerhorse. All other vocals recorded by Duane Trower at Weights & Measures Sound Lab in Kansas City, MO. Mastered by Carl Saff.]
Members of Jorge Arana Trio join us to on WMM on August 31, 2015 share music from their new album Mammoth. Just before they were to play their first album release concert at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd, KCMO, on Friday, September 2, 2016 with Haymaker Records label-mates Riala.
At that time Jorge Arana Trio was:
Jorge Arana (Guitar, Keyboard) played in Pixel Panda, Cliff of Fame.
Josh Enyart (drums, Percussion) also played with Various Blonde, Be Non and assortment of groups… Latin, Maps for Travelers, Pixel Panda, Capture The Flag, Wad, Savitar.
Jason Nash (bass) plays in Fat Bobba, Various Blonde,
Mammoth was Recorded in early 2016 by Justin Wilson at Sound 81 Productions.
Jorge Arana Trio seem to have a mutual understanding and mutual respect with their record label Haymaker Records. Both are young original, Kansas City creations, pushing the boundaries of music. Can you talk about your relationship with Haymaker Records and Brenton Cook? What does the label give the band? How to you benefit each other?
Mammoth was the 6th vinyl release for Haymaker Records following Oso and Mapache.
11:41
Jorge Arana Trio – “Overworld Map” from: Mammoth / Haymaker Records / September 23, 2016 [Recorded in early 2016 by Justin Wilson at Sound 81 Productions. Jorge Arana Trio is: Jorge Arana, Josh Enyart, & Jason Nash. Formed in 2011. Mammoth is the 3rd album and 2nd full length release. Jorge Arana Trio played their first album release concert at recordBar, September 2 with 34 and Riala. The Jorge Arana Trio joined us live on WMM on August 31.]
[Jorge Arana Trio plays Haymaker Records 10 Year Anniversary Show at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., KCMO on Sat, May 4, 2024, at 7:00pm w/ Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Be/Non, and Jorge Arana Trio.]
11:43 – More Interview with Brenton Cook and Kristopher Bruders
Brenton and Kristopher join us to share details about Haymaker Records 10 Year Anniversary Show at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., KCMO on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 7:00pm with Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Be/Non, and Jorge Arana Trio.
Brenton Cook and Kristopher Bruders, Thanks for being with us today on WMM
Haymaker Records has released multiple full length albums, for Monta At Odds, HMPH!, Be/Non, Jorge Arana Trio, Riala, Mysterious Clouds, Sie Lieben Maschinen, Schwervon!, Freight Train Rabbit Killer, and others on vinyl, cassette, CD, and 7 “. He has also produced two Haymaker compilation releases, called Fairgrounds. For the last 11 years, Brenton has been a co-curator of the Outer Reaches Fest shows.
The KC based band, Freight Train Rabbit Killer released their album, HAMMER OF JUDGEMENT April 30, 2022, on vinyl from Haymaker Records. 3 years in the making, there were hurdles along the way, from pressing plant delays to global pandemics.”The album was recorded during the Hammer of Judgment Recording Sessions back in April 2019, utilizing an interactive crowd of dedicated fans joining the band in the studio, experiencing the recording process first-hand with all of the bells and whistles of GFM Modern Recording in Blue Springs, Missouri for the engineering work and studio access and a previous collaborator, Andrew Crowley of Organica Recording for engineering, mixing, and mastering.” HAMMER OF JUDGEMENT is the band’s 2nd full-length album.
Many Kansas City music fans know Kristopher Bruders for his great work with band, Cadillac Flambé with your wife vocalist and keyboardist, Havilah Bruders.
Mark Smeltzer is a principle musician of Rural Grit and the Ruarl Grit Happy Hour Mondays at The Brick, one of Kansas City longest running weekly live musical shows. Mark has also been part of bands: Columbo, Trouble In Mind, E.I.O., and Dually Jukes.
Freight Train Rabbit Killer officially formed and performed for the first time around Halloween 2013. October 2023 marks the ten year anniversary of the band. The band celebrated their anniversary with the release of a two singles “Mule to Plow” and “Common Thorns” that will appear on the forthcoming LP “The Ten Year” due out on Haymaker Records in 2024.
Brenton Cook and Kristopher Bruders, Thanks for being with us today on WMM
Haymaker Records 10 Year Anniversary Show at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., KCMO on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 7:00pm with Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Be/Non, and Jorge Arana Trio. More information at: http://www.haymakerrecords.net
11:52
Freight Train Rabbit Killer – “Mule To Plow” from: Mule To Plow / Haymaker Records / October 20, 2023 [Freight Train Rabbit Killer officially formed and performed for the first time around Halloween 2013. October 2023 marks the ten year anniversary of the band. The band celebrated their anniversary with the release of a couple singles “Mule to Plow” and “Common Thorns” that will appear on the forthcoming LP “The Ten Year” due out on Haymaker Records in 2024. // Written By – Mark Smeltzer. With Mark Smeltzer on guitar & vocals, Kris Bruders on guitar & back up vocals, Jason Beers on bass, Friotz Hurtchison on drums, and Andrew Crowley on organ, // Engineered by Jeremy Wurst at B-24 Studios Kansas City, MO. Mixed and Mastered by Andrew Crowley at Organica Recording, St. Paul, MN. // Freight Train Rabbit Killer, a musical duet made up of Kristopher Bruders (Freight Train) and Mark Smeltzer (Rabbit Killer). Described as “Apocalyptic Roots” or “Doom Blues” their intense and riveting live shows are accompanied by suits and masks. // On April 30, 2022 Freight Train Rabbit Killer released their album Hammer of Judgement through Haymaker Records. For this album, the duo is accompanied by accomplished multi-instrumentalists and solo recording artists Jason Beers and Fritz Hutchison. The Hammer of Judgment recording session was a one-of-a-kind pseudo-live studio album, utilizing an interactive crowd of dedicated fans experiencing the recording process first-hand with all the bells and whistles of a professional recording studio (isolated tracking, overdubs, post-production, etc.). Tickets were sold in advance and the session was captured at GFM Modern Recording in Blue Springs, Missouri in April 2019. Post-production work, a global pandemic, and national independent record pressing delays pushed the release back three years from the recording date, but the end results made it worth the wait. Freight Train Rabbit Killer played a special Vinyl Release Party at The Fifth Floor, Saturday, April 30 at 8:00 PM, at 1106 Santa Fe St., KCMO, in the West Bottoms, with Drop A Grand, and Teri Quinn.]
[Be/Non plays Haymaker Records 10 Year Anniversary Show at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., KCMO on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 7:00pm with Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Be/Non, and Jorge Arana Trio.]
Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now” from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]
Next week on May 8 we welcome Mikal Shapiro who joins us to share details about Kansas City Folk Fest on Saturday, May 18, 29024 at 12:00 Noon in Washington Square Park with Music by: ARQuesta del SolSoul, Madisen Ward, Love, Mae C., Jass, Weda Skirts, Sally and the Hurts, Rural Grit Happy Hour, No Divide KC Artist Showcase, Mariachi Estrella KC, HSN Youth Songwriter Contest Winners. Poetry by:, Mary Silwance, C. Woods, Sheri “Purpose” Hall. AND Demo by: Break Free KC Hip Hop School. AND Dance by: Shashwat Chaurasia. // Also next week, film makers: Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske, & Isaac S. Cates return to talk and share music from their new documentary film, “I’m So Glad” that explores the untold story of Black Gospel Music in Kansas City and the roots of Black Gospel Music narrated by internationally recognized gospel music conductor Isaac S. Cates.
THANK YOU to our incredible KKFI Staff; Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers.
This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. Instead it is about a collective spirit of hundreds of hardworking people, unselfishly setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the gigantic goal of keeping our airwaves free, non-commercial, and open to all! Congratulations and thank you to all programmers & volunteers who went the extra effort to keep our station alive.
Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information. Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org
Wednesday MidDay Medley Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Little Miss Dynamite + The Creepy Jingles + The Grisly Hand + Haymaker Records
Mark spins more New & MidCoastal Releases from: Little Miss Dynamite, The Matchsellers, The Grisly Hand, The Creepy Jingles, Julia Othmer, Jorge Arana Trio, Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Be/Non, English Teacher, Nilüfer Yanya, Infinity Song, and Shabaka.
At 10:11 we talk with Beth Watts Nelson about her band, Little Miss Dynamite and their new 6-track recording, GROW UP being released this week. Little Miss Dynamite is a four piece string band with Beth Watts Nelson on lead vocals & banjo, Betse Ellis (of The Wilders, Betse & Clarke) on fiddle, Brandon Day (of The Matchsellers) on bass, and Caleb Gardner (of Konza Swamp) on mandolin, guitar & vocals. Little Miss Dynamite play an Album Release Party on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 4:00pm at Tall Trellis Brew Co. at 25600 West Valley Parkway, Olathe, Kansas. More info at: http://www.bethwattsnelson.com
At 10:30 Mark welcomes Jocelyn Olivia Nixon who shares details about the new single releases from The Creepy Jingles. The band released “Repeat After Me” on April 19, 2024 and “When Things Go Wrong” on February 23, 2024, with more to come. The new tracks were recorded and mixed by Paul Malinowski. “The Creepy Jingles are a Kansas City based, rock and roll band that both honors and defies convention. Led by singer and song-writer Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, a transgender wordsmith who charms with razor wit and dazzles with her lyrical acrobatics.” Also in the band, Wills Van Doorn soars on guitar, Andrew Woody keeps the band on the highway on bass, and Nick Robertson as a founding member holds it all down on drums. The Creepy Jingles play Manor Fest 6 on Thursday, May 23 at 9:00pm at The RINO, 314 Armour Rd, NKC with MC Rue + Mikey, and Brian Bulger.
At 11:00 we welcome Lauren Krum & Jimmy Fitzner of The Grisly Hand who will share all of the details of The Grisly Hand Jubilee: Celebrating 15 years of Music & Friendship, on Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 7:00pm at the Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO in WEST BOTTOMS. After 15 years of live shows, 6 albums, The Grisly Hand are doing a setlist filled with songs from every release, with all of their past band members (Lifetime Grislies), and some very special guests! This show is a love letter to the fans, family and friends who have made the past 15 years so memorable. EVERYTHING MUST GO – Grab some memorabilia at the discounted merch table – proceeds of which will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. More info at http://thegrislyhand.com
At 11:30 Brenton Cook talks about Haymaker Records 10 Year Anniversary Show at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., KCMO on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at 7:00pm with Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Be/Non, and Jorge Arana Trio. Brenton formed Haymaker Records in January 2014. At his college radio station KMNR in Rolla, Missouri Brenton served as a disc jockey, business manager, and assistant music director, where he forged his love for independent music. After four years of volunteering for Midwest Music Foundation and coordinating three volumes of music compilations of regional artists, Brenton learned the hands-on know-how to produce, release, and promote independent music. Haymaker Records chose to focus on boundary-pushing artists and provide promotion and a home for music that might be overlooked by traditional radio. Jorge Arana Trio became the first band signed in July 2014. Since that first release, the label has released a total of 24 recordings from 10 different artists including Be/Non, Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Schwervon!, Monta At Odds, HMPH!, and Sie Lieben Maschinen. 14 releases have made their way onto vinyl, including two compilations of artists from KC, as well as acts from Arkansas to Norway. More information at: http://www.haymakerrecords.net
On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org
Wednesday MidDay Medley Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Arson Class & Too Much Rock Single Series + Scott Hrabko + RxGhost
“Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks” from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979 [WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]
ASPN – “In This Dream” from: In This Dream / ASPN / April 2, 2024 [Producer: Logan Murphy. ASPN is a 4-piece indie-pop band from Kansas City, blending modern production with indie songwriting. Abigail Wallnerㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ on lead vocals, Mario Perales on guitars, Jacob Schneider on drums, Nick Nolte on bass. // ASPN’s journey began in 2020 when they formed as a cover band in Kansas City, Missouri. However, their desire for originality and a deeper connection with their audience drove them to fully embrace writing their own music in 2021. It was during this year that they released their debut song, “Airport.”Hastily recorded in a day (and in a basement), the single showed off the band’s talent for the dramatic – combining an emotional vocal performance with dynamic instrumentation. Not forgetting their commitment to connect with an audience, they also hosted their own live-stream to promote the single. They crafted the lighting, set design, and venue to ensure the best experience for their audience. On top of that, they made it a costume party. // Initially content with their release, ASPN recognized their need for a more polished and contemporary sound. They aimed to blend the indie elements of their previous single with the dramatic punch of modern production. Over the course of a year, they worked on defining their signature sound. In August 2022, they found that sound with “Again.” This signature sound was brimming with an expansive sense of scale and vibrancy. Coupled with an emotionally invigorating vocal performance, Again demonstrated ASPN’s ability to produce catchy indie-pop tunes. // “Again” marked the true beginning of ASPN, in more ways than one. Beyond its melodic statement, the release also coincided with a cross-country relocation for Mario for the foreseeable future. Despite being a breaking point for many bands, ASPN defied the odds, continued on, and embraced their status as being a band that literally spanned across the country. Despite the distance, they continued practicing online while still delivering the same energetic live shows with just three members (though Mario does come back on ocassion to help put on a good show). Instead of slowing down, they sped up. // In 2023, ASPN managed to write enough songs to fill up an entire album by year’s end. They previewed this debut album with the release of Raindrops (Hit Rewind). The year also marked their return to the live stage, allowing them to once again to connect intimately with their audience. // Abigail Wallner is the literal heart and soul of ASPN, Abby’s infectious energy on stage comes from her background in musical theatre. Her flair for the dramatics shines through in both her emotional lyrics and irresistible melodies. Mario Perales remains a driving force behind the band’s musical evolution, despite residing in a distant part of the country. Through his unique chord progressions and melodic solos, his impact is palpable both on and off the stage. Jacob Schneider the man of legends, our tech guru, and the Craigslist discovery – Jacob. With his electrifying drumming, he infuses the band with the blistering energy it needs, while also orchestrating our unforgettable live shows. Nick Nolte is the quintessential bassist – effortlessly cool and versatile. When not sharing spider facts, Nick’s killer bass lines and infectious grooves steal the show. Ever embracing the band’s musical growth, Nick stands as ASPN’s unwavering anchor. More info at: http://www.aspn.band]
[ASPN play The RINO, 314 Armour Rd. NKC on Thursday, April 25, at 7:00pm with Joey Crofoot.]
10:05
Thanks for tuning into WMM on 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio. I’m Mark Manning. Today, we spins more New & MidCoastal Releases from: Arson Class, RxGhost, IVORY BLUE, The Creepy Jingles, Scott Hrabko, Jo MacKenzie, Eddie Moore, Kim Gordon, Paramore, Brittany Howard, Benny Bleu, and Gloria Jones. We started with ASPN.
At 10:30 At 10:30 Chris Kinsley of Arson Class and Sid Sowder of Too Much Rock join us to share the radio broadcast premiere of the 11th installment of the vinyl singles series, featuring the band’s “Junior” and the B-Side a cover of John Cougar’s 1976 “American Dream”. Arson Class plays a Single Release show at Sister Anne’s Records and Coffee on Friday, May 3, 2024. For more info http://www.toomuchrock.com.
At 11:00 At 11:00 members of RxGhost:Josh Thomas, James Capps, and Jeremiah James Gonzales share music from their new 13-track album, Scaffolding. RxGhost play The Brick, 1727 McGee, KCMO, on Friday, April 26, at 9:00am, with Enemy Airships, and Still Ill. More info at: rxghost.bandcamp.com
At 11:30 At 11:30 Scott Hrabko shares music from his new musical project, “Other Cats, Other Bags. Volume II,” released on April 19, 2024. It’s a multi-volume project culled from recording sessions Scott did at home with a few longtime Rabbits (his backing band mates) and some new friends from the KC music community. More info at: http://www.scotthrabko.bandcamp.com and http://www.scotthrabko.com
10:09
Benny Bleu – “Say Darling Say” from: Banjo Jubilations / Benjamin Haravitch/ June 7, 2024 [Benny writes: “I am one of the lucky ones. My mom sang this lullaby to me when I was little. Recast in my voice as a newlywed, I chose to adapt the lyrics to sound less commercialistic. gCGCD in the study.” // Recorded live in Ithaca NY on February 5 and 6, 2024. Benny Bleu on banjos and vocal, and Mike Brown on guitar. All songs are traditional or public domain except “Salt Spring” is by John Reischman, copyright Badger Blue Music. Recorded by Benny Bleu Haravitch. Album cover, banjo mandala by Evan Schapp at 1808 Tattoo in Naples NY. Ben Bleu is a folk musician from the Finger Lakes of New York offering sounds to help navigate the demands of modern life. More info at: http://www.bennybleu.com]
[Benny Bleu plays the Kansas City Waldo Folk Music Showcase, TONIGHT Wednesday, April 24, at 7:00pm at Waldo Pizza Tap Room, 7433 Broadway Street, KCMO in Waldo.]
Kim Gordon– “Trophies (Album Version)” from: The Collective / Kim Gordon – Matador Records / March 8, 2024 [Kim Gordon is an artist, musician, producer, fashion designer, writer, and actress. She is a founding member of the experimental post-punk band Sonic Youth. Following the breakup of Sonic Youth, Gordon formed the group Body/Head. A collection of her early critical art writing entitled Is It My Body? was released by Sternberg Press in January 2014. // From kimgordon.bandcamp.com: Legendary musician and multi-disciplinary artist Kim Gordon returns with her second solo album, The Collective, which will be released March 8th on Matador. Recorded in her native Los Angeles, The Collective follows Gordon’s 2019 full-length debut No Home Record and continues her collaboration with producer Justin Raisen (Lil Yachty, John Cale, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Charli XCX, Yves Tumor), with additional production from Anthony Paul Lopez. The album advances their joint world building, with Raisin’s damaged, blown out dub and trap constructions playing the foil to Gordon’s intuitive word collages and hooky mantras, which conjure communication, commercial sublimation and sensory overload. // “On this record, I wanted to express the absolute craziness I feel around me right now,” says Gordon. “This is a moment when nobody really knows what truth is, when facts don’t necessarily sway people, when everyone has their own side, creating a general sense of paranoia. To soothe, to dream, escape with drugs, TV shows, shopping, the internet, everything is easy, smooth, convenient, branded. It made me want to disrupt, to follow something unknown, maybe even to fail.” // More info at: http://www.bodyheadmusic.com]
Eddie Moore – “Out of The Woods” from: Aperture (Live Piano Works) / Eddie Moore Music / March 5, 2024 [All songs written by Eddie Moore. Recorded by Eddie Moore and Jaylen Ward. Mixed by Eddie Moore. Mastered by Crayge Lindesay. Album art by Jeremy Ian Thomas. This project presents snapshots into the life of Eddie Moore. The fun times riding bikes, getting lost in the woods, and spending time with loved ones. As a special solo sharing, it only felt right to capture the velvet soothing energy live on stage at Corvino’s, where experimentation and vulnerability are encouraged. // Special thanks to the Corvinos and the staff for letting me sneak in during the “off hours” and post up for a few hours in a blizzard. // When you speak to Eddie Moore you find an ocean of calm, and when you listen to Eddie Moore you find the depth of that ocean. Moore reaches from the soul with every note, in a deep way, with a tension just below the surface. His yearning for exploration and curiosity in music contribute to an ebb and flow freedom of expression. // On April 20, 2023 Eddie Moore released the single “Tuunami” Recorded & produced at Moore’s Tribe Studios, this song features Jaylen Ward on drums. Mixed & mastered by veteran KC savant Crayge Lindesay. // Eddie Moore released his critically acclaimed album INTUITION on October 28, 2022. Written & Produced by Eddie Moore. Recorded at Tribe Studios. Featuring Tim Ogutu on guitar. Mix & Mastered by Rick Carson at Make Believe Studios. Album Art by Brandon Wilson. // Eddie Moore released the single, “Love Song” (with Joel Castillo and Bree Cummings) on October 22, 2021. // Eddie Moore released “We Chillin’” on April 9, 2021. // Eddie Moore’s band We The People released their album MISUNDERSTOOD on September 25, 2020. // Eddie Moore is the recipient of the 2016 Charlotte Street Generative Performance Award for his genre bending collaborations. Raised in Houston Texas, he began his musical journey at Texas Southern University where he later earned a Bachelors in Arts and immersed himself in the Houston music scene. Eddie relocated to Kansas City to study under Bobby Watson at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where he received a M.A in Jazz Studies. 2017’s Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art “Artist in Residence” in collaboration with Rashid Johnson. In 2018 his work with The Outer Circle was nominated for an Indie Music Award for “007”. His music has been featured commercially for Sprint, Netflix’s “Queer Eye”, and Morgan Cooper’s short film “Room Tone”. Moore’ has shared the stage and recordings with Bobby Watson, Logan Richardson, Maurice Brown, Boys II Men, Brian Blade and the Fellowship, John Baptiste, Erykah Badu, Mosdef, Bilal, Ledisi, Chantae Cann, Krystal Warren, Matt Otto, Brandon Draper, Andre Hayward, Tivon Pennicott, Various Blonde, Dominique Sanders, 77 Jefferson, and the Marcus Lewis Big Band. We The People released the single, “Single Double” on June 10, 2021. Written & Produced By Eddie Moore with Moore on keyboards, key bass, & programming; Zach Morrow on drums; and Jason Emmond on bass. Recorded at Tribe Studios. Mixed by Rick Carson at Make Believe Studios. Eddie Moore joined WMM on Sept. 23, 2020 and Nov. 23, 2022. More info at http://www.eddiemooremusic.com
Ivory Blue – “Batter Up” from: “Batter Up” – Single / IVORY BLUE / April 22, 2024 [ IVORY BLUE released the single “Flashback” on March 15, 2023 // IVORY BLUE released the single “Howl” on February 16, 2024. // IVORY BLUE released their second full length album, STARLIT LOVE CHILD, on November 17, 2023. The 10-track album was in the top five of Wednesday MidDay Medley’s 120 Best Recordings of 2023, and in the “Best of” lists at 90.9 The Bridge and other radio stations around the world. For STARLIT LOVE CHILD, IVORY BLUE served as songwriter, producer, and vocalist. // On October 27, 2023 IVORY BLUE released the sIngle “Ghost of Life.” This single followed IVORY’s previous releases,”In A World Like This” from September 22, 2023, ”The Best of Life” from August 4, 2023 and “Control” from May 26, 2023. IVORY released the single “All Outta Love” on February 24, 2023. IVORY BLUE released their full length debut album COMPOUND LOVE on February 25, 2022. COMPOUND LOVE was in the Top Ten of WMM’s 120 Best recordings of 2022. For COMPOUND LOVE, IVORY BLUE served as songwriter, producer, vocalist and played all instruments with the exception of: Lester Estelle on drums, Klaartje Van Lue on piano, Craig Kew on bass, Lennon Bone on drums, and Marco Pascolini on pedal steel guitar. Nick Poortman served in mixing, with Kurt Festge who also served in mixing & Mastering. IVORY BLUE’s debut EP, Ready Get Set was released in June 2015. While the EP helped spread the word and give IVORY BLUE attention from regional radio and TV stations, a big break would come in 2017. In 2017 Ivory was among 1800 artists/bands that competed in neXt2Rock. Ivory won local & regional challenges and advanced to nationals in Los Angeles to win the top prize. // IVORY BLUE has played Crossroads Music Festival, The Middle of the Map Festival, The Westport Roots Festival, the KCPT Screening of “Real Boy” at The Kansas City Public Library, and Kauffman Stadium. // Ivory Blue was born in 1986 in Peoria Illinois, as Devin James Miclettet. Ivory’s birth mother put them up for adoption at the age of four. Ivory speaks about how it was difficult to find trust in people offering their home to someone denied it for so long, Ivory lived with eight different families, before running away at 15. // Ivory has talked with us about how in their life they have turned to music to express pain. Ivory spent most of their childhood looking for a family. In 2010 Klaartje Van Lue saw Ivory performing in a YouTube video and contacted them, flying Ivory to Kansas City, and adopting Ivory into the Van Lue family. During the past 10 years Ivory came out as “Non-Binary Transgender”. // As a multi-instrumentalist, Ivory began refining their performance style, using digital looping pedals to stack harmonies and guitar parts live on stage, giving their solo shows the feel of a full band. In 2011, Ivory settled in Kansas City, MO and quickly began attracting an intense regional following for their strong vocals and incisive, deeply personal lyrics. // By 2013, IVORY BLUE was playing regularly in and around Kansas City and the first EP ‘Ready Get Set’ was released. in 2015. IVORY BLUE released the video of “Family Table” directed by Mikal Shapiro, on August 21, 2021 and the audio track was released on September 7, 2021. IVORY BLUE released the single “Good Changes” on Oct 26, 2021. Ivory Blue released the singles: “Heavy,” “Bad Weather,” “It Must Have Been Me,” “Compound Love,” and “The Start” on December 14, 2021. IVORY BLUE released their debut album COMPOUND LOVE on February 25, 2022. IVORY BLUE released the single “Red Light” on July 29, 2022. IVORY BLUE released the single “Starlit Love Child” on October 28, 2022. IVORY BLUE released the single “All Outta Love” on February 24, 2023. More info at: https://ivorybluemusic.com%5D [Ivory Blue was our guest on WMM on: March 8, 2023, June 7, 2023, our 1000th show on June 28, 2023, and September 27, 2023.]
Jo MacKenzie – “Newly Fallen Snow” from: “Newly Fallen Snow” – Single / Middle of The Map Music / April 12, 2024 [Just a 20 year old girl who wants to make music forever. Jo Mackenzie released the single “So Much More” on February 14, 2024. // Jo Mackenzie released the 5-track EP RADIANCE, GIRL on July 15, 2022. // Jo Mackenzie released the single “The Cab Ride” on June 17, 2022. // Jo Mackenzie released the single “Radiator” on May 27, 2022. // Before that on March 11, 2022, Jo Mackenzie (producer and songwriter) released the EP, TOURIST. Jo Mackenzie and Dia Jane (singer/songwriter) released the EP, BRAINBABY on September 5, 2021. The two met at an open mic in Kansas City, Missouri, when Jo was in 8th grade and Dia was in 10th grade. Three years later, the two reconnected to started a musical project together that eventually turned into Baby and the Brain, a self-produced indie-pop band. In 2020 Kansas City based singer songwriter, Jo MacKenzie released this year now collected together in a 5 -song EP, written, performed and produced by Jo MacKenzie. Mixed by Harper James. Jo MacKenzie released her Debut EP Proud on November 17, 2018. Along with Proud, Jo Mackenzie released the single “Just Like Rain” on August 18, 2018; “I Should Come with a Warning Sign” on September 28, 2019; and “Alaska” on November 23, 2019 and the single “Suicide Season” on February 1, 2020, and the single “Lose My Face” on April 24, 2020. Info at http://www.jomackenzie.com]
Brittany Howard – “Prove It to You (Radio Edit)” from: What Now / Island Records / February 9, 2024 [Brittany Howard, the 5-time Grammy Award®-winning powerhouse released the single and video of “What Now?” on October 13, 2023 off her forthcoming solo album, WHAT NOW. WHAT NOW is a thriller of a title track offering a taste of what to expect on the full-length. Written & produced by Brittany with co-production from Shawn Everett (Kacey Musgraves, SZA), with whom she has a longstanding creative relationship since Alabama Shakes. Recorded at the legendary Sound Emporium and historic RCA Studio B in Nashville, Brittany’s hometown. The accompanying cinematic & action-packed video was directed by Danilo Parra (known for his work with A$AP Rocky) & produced by Adam Braun (070 Shake, P!NK). //“What Now” takes on a potent urgency fueled by its syncopated grooves, blistering guitar riffs, & fiercely honest lyrics (“I’ve been making plans that don’t include you anymore/My heart wants to stay but I don’t know what for”). “‘What Now’ is maybe the truest & bluest of all the songs,” says Howard. “It’s never my design to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I needed to say what was on my mind without editing myself. I like how it’s a song that makes you want to dance, but at the same time the lyrics are brutal.”// Brittany Howard released the album Jaime on ATO Records on September 20, 2019.]
[Brittany Howard plays The Truman, 601 East Truman Road, KCMO East Crossroads, TONIGHT, April 24, at 8:00pm with June McDoom.]
The Creepy Jingles – “Repeat After Me” from: “Repeat After Me” – Single / High Dive Records / April 19, 2024 [This is the second of several new singles being released by The Creepy Jingles this year. The band released “When Things Go Wrong” on February 23, 2024. The Creepy Jingles are a Kansas City based, rock and roll band that both honors and defies convention. Led by singer / song-writer Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, a transgender wordsmith who charms with razor wit and dazzles with her lyrical acrobatics. The Creepy Jingles released their album, TAKE ME AT MY WORDPLAY on March 25, 2022 through High Dive Records. Paired up with lyrics centering on themes of identity, strained relationships, social media madness, meme magic, pandemic paranoia, paid off political pundits, backyard bullies and barking up the wrong tree. Everything and the kitchen sink or swim. No stoner left unturned. The Creepy Jingles released their Debut EP on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019. The release was in the top ten of WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019. ] The Creepy Jingles released their Debut EP on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019.] [ Jocelyn Olivia Nixon will be our guest on May 1, 2024]
[The Creepy Jingles play Manor Fest 6 Thursday, May 23 at 9:00pm at The RINO, 314 Armour Rd, NKC with MC Rue + Mikey, and Brian Bulger.]
10:29 – Underwriting
10:31 – Interview with Sid Sowder & Chris Kinsley
After a four-year break Too Much Rock is back with the eleventh installment of their acclaimed vinyl singles series. For this edition Too Much Rock features the Kansas City blue collar punk trio, Arson Class. This is the first vinyl release for the band.
Sid Sowder is the founder of the Too Much Rock, a music blog site he created in 1997 to share his photos, videos & comments of live music shows he attends. The Too Much Rock Singles Series is a collection of 45 rpm singles that marry great songs with great bands all for the love of vinyl. Each old-school two-song single features one unique song paired with one cover chosen by Too Much Rock who press 500 limited edition copies and then simply give them to the band. Schwervon!, Rev Gusto, Josh Berwanger Band, The Uncouth, Hipshot Killer, Witch Jail, Red Kate, Heidi Lynne Gluck, Brandon Phillips and The Condition, and in 2020 No Germ Candy have all recorded for the Too Much Rock Single Series. More info at: http://www.toomuchrock.com
Sid Sowder, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Arson Class was formed in 2016 with brothers Chris Kinsley and Phil Kinsley and Marc Bollinger on bass.The 3-piece rock band released their self titled EP, Arson Class on May 6, 2017. They released the 5-track EP American Machine on May 6, 2018, recorded at Weights & Measures studio in Kansas City. Arson Class released the single “Rock & Roll” on November 21, 2020. The Band released their single “My Girl” on March 5, 2024.
For the Too Much Rock Single Series The A-Side features the band’s own song, “Junior.” The B-Side features a revved-up cover of John Cougar‘s 1976 deep cut “American Dream” chosen by Too Much Rock. The limited-edition 7″ single will be out May 3, 2024 at area record stores, and directly from the band in both black and ultra-limited colored vinyl.
Arson Class plays a Single Release show at Sister Anne’s Records and Coffee on Friday, May 3, 2024.
Arson Class play and, the “Lawrence Rampage” Centennial Park, 600 Rockledge Rd., Lawrence, KS. on Saturday, May 18, 29024 with Iron Guts Kelly, and D-Fibs
Arson Class play miniBar, Broadway, KCMO on Saturday, June 1, 2024 with Red Kate,and The Itch (Joplin)
Chris Kinsley thanks for being with us on Wednesday Midday Medley
The A-Side features the band’s “Junior.” It’s a highly combustible rock & roll number featuring a breakneck rhythm, a driving guitar, and an anthemic gang chorus. The B-Side features a revved-up cover of John Cougar’s 1976 deep cut “American Dream” chosen by Too Much Rock. The song looks back on a gloriously misspent youth, pushes aside the stability of a 9-to-5 future, and aims for that big break.
The limited-edition 7″ single will be available 5/3/24 at area record stores, online retailers, and directly from the band in both black and ultra-limited colored vinyl.
10:40
Arson Class – “Junior” (Vinyl 7″) from: “Junior” Single Side A / Too Much Rock / May 3, 2024 [Arson Class was formed in 2016 with brothers Chris Kinsley and Phil Kinsley and Marc Bollinger on bass.]
11:43 – More Interview with Sid Sowder and Chris Kinsley
We are talking with Sid Sowder is the founder of the Too Much Rock, a music blog site he created in 1997. The Too Much Rock Singles Series is a collection of 45 rpm singles that marry great songs with great bands all for the love of vinyl. Each old-school two-song single features one unique song paired with one cover chosen by Too Much Rock who press 500 limited edition copies and then simply give them to the band. More info at: http://www.toomuchrock.com
Sid Sowder, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Also with us is the newest band to record a Too Much Rock Single…Arson Class was formed in 2016 with brothers Chris Kinsley and Phil Kinsley and Marc Bollinger on bass. The Band released their single “My Girl” on March 5, 2024.
Chris Kinsley and Phil Kinsley thanks for being with us on Wednesday Midday Medley
We just heard the Too Much Rock Single Series The A-Side features the band’s own song, “Junior.”
Arson Class plays a Single Release show at Sister Anne’s Records and Coffee on Friday, May 3, 2024.
Arson Class play and, the “Lawrence Rampage” Centennial Park, 600 Rockledge Rd., Lawrence, KS. on Saturday, May 18, 29024 with Iron Guts Kelly, and D-Fibs
Arson Class play miniBar, Broadway, KCMO on Saturday, June 1, 2024 with Red Kate,and The Itch (Joplin)
The B-Side features a revved-up cover of John Cougar‘s 1976 deep cut “American Dream” chosen by Too Much Rock. The limited-edition 7″ single will be out May 3, 2024 at area record stores, and directly from the band in both black and ultra-limited colored vinyl.
The band plans to celebrate the single’s release with a streaming premiere on The Pitch on 4/19, an interview on Wednesday Midday Medley (KKFI 90.1) on 4/24, and a key play on 90.9 The Bridge’s “Eight One Sixty” on 4/30.
Sid Sowder, Chris Kinsley and Phil Kinsley thank you for being our guest on WMM
For more information on the single visit http://toomuchrock.com. Too Much Rock can also be found on Instagram, Facebook, X, & Bluesky. Arson Class can be found on Facebook, Instagram, and Bandcamp.
10:51
11. Arson Class – “American Dream” from: “American Dream” Single Side B (John Cougar Cover) / Too Much Rock / May 3, 2024 [Arson Class was formed in 2016 with brothers Chris Kinsley and Phil Kinsley and Marc Bollinger on bass.]
[Arson Class plays a Single Release show at Sister Anne’s Records and Coffee on Friday, May 3, 2024.]
[Arson Class play and, the “Lawrence Rampage” Centennial Park, 600 Rockledge Rd., Lawrence, KS. on Saturday, May 18, 29024 with Iron Guts Kelly, and D-Fibs.]
[Arson Class play miniBar, Broadway, KCMO on Sat, June 1, 2024 w/ Red Kate, and The Itch (Joplin).]
11:54
Gloria Jones – “Tainted Love” from: Tainted Love – Single / Universal – UMG / January 1, 1982 [“Tainted Love” is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of American group the Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964. Renowned session musician and virtuoso guitarist Glen Campbell played lead guitar. A version by Impedance reached #14 on the Canadian Dance charts, April 14, 1990. // American artist Gloria Jones made the first recording of “Tainted Love” in 1964, with renowned session guitarist Glen Campbell on lead guitar. The song was written and produced by Ed Cobb and arranged by Lincoln Mayorga. It was the B-side of her 1965 single “My Bad Boy’s Comin’ Home”, which was a commercial flop, failing to chart in either the US or the UK. According to Nick Talevski, before Jones recorded the song, Cobb had offered it to the Standells, whom he managed and produced, but they rejected it. The Standells say that the song was never offered to them, and that they were not signed to Cobb’s company Greengrass Productions until 1966, some two years after Jones’s recording. // In 1973, British club DJ Richard Searling purchased a copy of the almost decade-old single while on a trip to the United States. The track’s Motown-influenced sound (featuring a fast tempo, horns, electric rhythm guitar and female backing vocals) fit in perfectly with the music favoured by those involved in the UK’s Northern soul club scene of the early 1970s, and Searling popularised the song at the Northern soul club Va Va’s in Bolton, and later, at Wigan Casino. // Owing to the new-found underground popularity of the song, Jones re-recorded “Tainted Love” in 1976 and released it as a single, but it also failed to chart. This version was released on her album Vixen and was produced by her boyfriend Marc Bolan. // It attained worldwide fame after being covered and reworked by British synth-pop duo Soft Cell in 1981 and has since been covered by numerous groups and artists. // In 2014, NME ranked it number 305 in their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.// Gloria Richetta Jones (born October 19, 1945) is an American singer and songwriter who first found success in the United Kingdom, being recognized there as “The Queen of Northern Soul”.She recorded the 1965 hit song “Tainted Love” and has worked in multiple genres as a Motown songwriter and recording artist, backing vocalist, and as a performer in musicals such as Hair. In the 1970s, she was a keyboardist and vocalist in Marc Bolan’s glam rock band T. Rex. She and Bolan were also in a committed romantic relationship and had a son together. // Jones first met Marc Bolan of T. Rex in 1969 while performing in Hair (Los Angeles cast). While touring in Europe, Bolan and Jones met for the second time at the Speakeasy in London. In 1972, she was recommended by Warner Brothers’ Bob Regehr to sing backing vocals behind T. Rex at Winterland in San Francisco. // Soon after joining T. Rex, Jones and Bolan became romantically involved. They had a son, Rolan Bolan (b. September 26, 1975). She sang backing vocals and played clavinet with T. Rex from 1973 to 1977. Her rendition of “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” appears as a bonus track on T. Rex’s album Bolan’s Zip Gun. Jones released an album in 1976, called Vixen, which featured several songs written by Bolan, and he also was the producer for the album. // In 1977, Jones worked with the group Gonzalez, producing several of their singles, and also penning the disco hit, “Haven’t Stopped Dancing Yet” for the group. She toured the UK with Gonzalez, first on the Bob Marley tour, and then with Osibisa. // She was the driver of the car, a Mini 1275 GT, that struck a tree near Barnes Common, killing Bolan at 4:00am on September 16, 1977, on the way back to Bolan’s Richmond property. They had been returning from an evening at a restaurant in Mayfair where they had both been drinking wine. Jones was found by her brother Richard with her foot trapped beneath the clutch by the engine. Bolan was found unconscious in the passenger seat, which had been dislodged and landed in the rear of the vehicle. Jones was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. Bolan was not wearing a seat belt. Jones was conscious after the crash. Bolan, who was a passenger in the car that slammed into the tree, was pronounced dead at the scene on the arrival of paramedics. Jones survived the crash but was critically injured. She sustained a broken jaw in the crash. When she recovered sufficiently to leave hospital, she was informed that Bolan’s fans had looted most of their possessions from their house. She was later scheduled to appear in court in London on charges of being unfit to drive and of driving a car in a dangerous condition. However, she left the UK with her son and returned to the US before the court date so the Coroner’s Court recorded a verdict of accidental death. // Having lost her possessions, Jones moved with her son back to Los Angeles, where they stayed with Jones’s family. // In 1978, she released the album Windstorm, which she dedicated to the memory of Bolan: the back cover reads, “Special dedication in memory of my son’s father, Marc Bolan, whom we miss very much.” Her single “Bring on the Love” was a success on the American R&B chart. // Jones stayed in the music industry for several years after, releasing an album produced by Ed Cobb, titled Reunited in 1981. She also collaborated again with Billy Preston and other Cogic Singers for a 1984 reunion album The Cogic’s. She has since worked as a musical supervisor for films. // On her 1982 album Reunited, she was proclaimed “Northern Queen of Soul”. // In 2010, together with her son Rolan, she established the Marc Bolan School of Music & Film in Makeni, Sierra Leone. / She is featured in the film 20 Feet from Stadium.]
Paramore – “Burning Down The House” from: David Byrne & Paramore – Hard Times/Burning Down The House / Fine Print / 4/20/2024 [This 12″ features a cover of Paramore’s “Hard Times” performed by David Byrne on side A, and a cover of Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House” performed by Paramore on side B. This is an extremely limited run of 5000 copies was exclusive for Record Store Day in 2024. // Paramore is an American rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. Since 2017, the band consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of the group, while York, a high school friend of the original lineup, joined in 2007. Williams is the only member to appear on all six of Paramore’s studio albums. // The band was signed to Fueled by Ramen, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. (Both are owned by Warner Music Group.) Williams was signed to Atlantic separately, as she was scouted when she was a teenager. They were the only label to let her stay in the band instead of going solo, but Atlantic said the rest of the band had to sign to Fueled by Ramen. The group’s debut album, All We Know Is Falling (2005), reached number 30 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Chart in 2006 and number four on the UK Rock Chart in 2009. // The band’s second album, Riot! (2007) became a mainstream success thanks to the success of the singles “Misery Business”, “Crushcrushcrush”, and “That’s What You Get”. The album was certified Platinum in the US and the band received a Best New Artist nomination at the 2008 Grammy Awards. Their 2009 follow-up, Brand New Eyes, reached number two on the Billboard 200 and became the band’s second-highest-charting album to date. It produced the top-forty single “The Only Exception” and went platinum in Ireland and the UK. // Following the departure of Zac and Josh Farro in 2010, the band released their self-titled fourth album in 2013. Paramore gave the band their first number one song on the US Billboard 200 and was also the number one album in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. It included the singles “Still Into You” and “Ain’t It Fun”, with the latter winning the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song for Williams and York as songwriters, making it Paramore’s first Grammy win. The band’s lineup changed once again after this album, with bassist Jeremy Davis leaving the band near the end of 2015 and former drummer Zac Farro rejoining the band in 2017. Their fifth and sixth studio albums, After Laughter and This Is Why, were released in May 2017 and February 2023, respectively, to critical acclaim.]
11:00 – Station ID
RxGhost – “Candles” from: Scaffolding / Celery Wolf / April 11, 2024 [RxGhost is: Josh Thomas on vocals & guitar, Justin Brooks on drums, James Capps on guitar, Chris Smead on bass, and Jeremiah James Gonzales. Scaffolding was produced by RxGhost, recorded and mixed by Paul Malinowski at Massive Sound Studios and mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering. Music by RxGhost and Lyrics by Josh Thomas. More info at: rxghost.bandcamp.com]
[RxGhost play The Brick, 1727 McGee, KCMO, Friday, April 26, 9:00am, w/ Enemy Airships, Still Ill.]
11:03 – Interview with RxGhost
We welcome to the show, members of RxGhost: Josh Thomas who contributes vocals & guitar, James Capps on guitar and Jeremiah James Gonzales on guitar. (Also in the band are: Justin Brooks on drums, and Chris Smead on bass). Josh, James, and Jeremiah share music from their new 13-track album, Scaffolding, produced by RxGhost, recorded and mixed by Paul Malinowski at Massive Sound Studios and mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering.
RxGhost play The Brick, 1727 McGee, KCMO, on Friday, April 26, at 9:00am, with Enemy Airships, and Still Ill.
Josh Thomas, James Capps, and Jeremiah James Gonzales thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley.
Congratulations on the new album.
Josh Thomas on vocals & guitar, Justin Brooks on drums, James Capps on guitar, Chris Smead on bass, Jeremiah James Gonzales
Their new 13-track album, Scaffolding, was produced by RxGhost.
Scaffolding was recorded and mixed by Paul Malinowski at Massive Sound Studios and mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering.
Josh Thomas, James Capps, and Jeremiah James Gonzales thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley.
RxGhost play The Brick, 1727 McGee, KCMO, on Friday, April 26, at 9:00am, with Enemy Airships, and Still Ill.
More info at: rxghost.bandcamp.com
Over and Over the Same Things (Lyrics by Josh Thomas)
I’d rather sell all my guitars Being dramatic is an art Can you give me more for free? I’m too busy, making time to explain
Over and over the same things That you never want to learn Over and over the same things But what else am I to do I’ll help you
I’m all out of space for skills Only have time for minor thrills Can you give me more for free? I’m too busy, making time to explain
Over and over the same things That you never want to learn Over and over the same things But what else am I to do I’ll help you
11:12
RxGhost – “Over and Over The Same Things” from: Scaffolding / Celery Wolf / April 11, 2024 [RxGhost is: Josh Thomas on vocals & guitar, Justin Brooks on drums, James Capps on guitar, Chris Smead on bass, and Jeremiah James Gonzales. Scaffolding was produced by RxGhost, recorded and mixed by Paul Malinowski at Massive Sound Studios and mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering. Music by RxGhost and Lyrics by Josh Thomas. More info at: rxghost.bandcamp.com]
[RxGhost play The Brick, 1727 McGee, KCMO, Friday, April 26, 9:00am, w/ Enemy Airships, Still Ill.]
11:15 – More Interview with RxGhost
We are talking with members of RxGhost: Josh Thomas who contributes vocals & guitar, James Capps on guitar and Jeremiah James Gonzales on guitar. (Also in the band are: Justin Brooks on drums, and Chris Smead on bass). Josh, James, and Jeremiah share music from their new 13-track album, Scaffolding, produced by RxGhost, recorded and mixed by Paul Malinowski at Massive Sound Studios and mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering.
Josh Thomas, James Capps, and Jeremiah James Gonzales thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley.
RxGhost play The Brick, 1727 McGee, KCMO, on Friday, April 26, at 9:00am, with Enemy Airships, and Still Ill.
The bio on your Bandcamp page reads: RxGhost is an online pharmacy based in Kansas City, MO. Free vaccinations available upon request. Ask about coupons, discount programs and payment plans.
Josh Thomas, James Capps, and Jeremiah James Gonzales thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley.
RxGhost play The Brick, 1727 McGee, KCMO, on Friday, April 26, at 9:00am, with Enemy Airships, and Still Ill.
More info at: rxghost.bandcamp.com
11:23
RxGhost – “People Are Animals” from: Scaffolding / Celery Wolf / April 11, 2024 [RxGhost is: Josh Thomas on vocals & guitar, Justin Brooks on drums, James Capps on guitar, Chris Smead on bass, and Jeremiah James Gonzales. Scaffolding was produced by RxGhost, recorded and mixed by Paul Malinowski at Massive Sound Studios and mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering. Music by RxGhost and Lyrics by Josh Thomas. More info at: rxghost.bandcamp.com]
[RxGhost play The Brick, 1727 McGee, KCMO, Friday, April 26, 9:00am, w/ Enemy Airships, Still Ill.]
TYLA – “ART” from: TYLA / FAX Records / March 2, 2024 [Tyla Laura Seethal (born 30 January 2002), known mononymously as Tyla, is a South African singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Johannesburg, she signed with Epic Records in 2021 after the domestic success of her 2019 debut single, “Getting Late” featuring Kooldrink. // Tyla rose to international fame with the release of her 2023 single “Water”, which entered the top ten in sixteen countries including the United Kingdom and United States. “Water” was the first song by a South African soloist to enter the US Billboard Hot 100 in 55 years and was awarded the inaugural Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance in 2024. The single preceded her self-titled debut album (2024), which was released to critical acclaim and moderate commercial success, entering the top 25 in six countries including the United States. // Tyla is the youngest African artist to win a Grammy Award, and has also earned nominations for a BRIT Award, a Soul Train Music Award, a MOBO Award, and two South African Music Awards. She has been deemed the “queen of popiano”, a fusion of the pop and amapiano genres.// Tyla is the debut studio album by South African singer Tyla. It was released on 22 March 2024 through Fax and Epic Records. Capitalizing on her international breakthrough with its lead single “Water”, the album features guest appearances from Kelvin Momo, Tems, Gunna, Skillibeng, Becky G, and Travis Scott. Sonically, it blends elements of amapiano, pop, afrobeats, and contemporary R&B and includes lyrical themes of empowerment and relationships. // Recording sessions for Tyla took place in seven countries over two and a half years as Epic Records focused on fostering the singer’s formal studio experience. Production and songwriting on the album was spearheaded by the singer and her frequent collaborators Ari PenSmith, Mocha Bands, Believe and Sammy SoSo, whom she deems the “Fantastic Four”. “Water”, “Truth or Dare” and “Art” were released as singles from the album, and the Tyla Tour was announced; however multiple dates were cancelled due to injury. // Upon its release, Tyla was met with critical acclaim, with many critics praising the versatility of music genres featured. The album experienced moderate commercial success internationally, debuting at number 24 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and debuting within the top 20 in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, and Switzerland. // While at school, she had begun posting original songs and covers to her Instagram account, as well as sending them out to a number of figures in the music industry. She was subsequently discovered by her first manager, Garth von Glehn, who then organized her first recording sessions. Tyla states that she would go into the recording studio every weekend during her final year of high school.]
Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits – “Wayfaring Muse” from: Other Cats, Other Bags, Vol II / Scott Hrabko / April 19, 2024 [On March 19, 2024 Scott Hrabko released Other Cats, Other Bags – Volume 1 a 4 – track EP which is the first of Multi-Volume Project containing recordings that grew from sessions he did at home with a few longtime Rabbits and some new friends from the Kansas City Music Community. // On July 1, 2022 Scott Hrabko and The Rabitts released The Wonderful World Of Scott Hrabko & the Rabbits. This recording was #12 on WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2022. These two sprawling discs contain song-craft reminiscent of everything from classic ‘60s adult pop to nostalgia-free Americana to cut ’n’ paste hip hop-inspired grooves — and some wild detours between. “But it’s all me.” – Hrabko. The Rabbits, this time around: Jason Beers on Bass, Organ, Piano, Banjo, Harmonica, Slide Guitar; Clarke Wyatt on Drums; Matt Hopper on Lead Guitar; Chris DeVictor on Upright Bass; Chris Hudson on Nylon String Guitar, Mandolin, Lead Guitar; Mike Lindsey on Bass; Tim Higgins on Drums, Percussion; Gary Paredes on Slide Guitar, Wah Wah Guitar; Chad Brothers on Lead Acoustic, and Havilah Bruders on Vocals, with Scott Hrabko on Voices, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Drums, Percussion, Banjo, Static Outbursts, Ghosts Knob Twiddling and Digital Chicanery. This 2-CD, 22-song release, THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SCOTT HRABKO & THE RABBITS on July 1, 2022. The double album was recorded at Hrabko’s home studio in a time of a global pandemic and social unrest. Mike Warren writes in No Depression Magazine, “Hrabko’s rootsy songs are filled with trap doors, hidden nooks, and secret passageways. They’re like those dreams within comfortably familiar houses that suddenly have brand new rooms.” Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits have released six singles and released the albums and EPs: LAST DANCE (EP) in 2020, SMASH HITS FROM A PARALLEL UNIVERSE (EP) in 2019, SUMMER in 2017, and BISCUITS AND GRAVITY in 2015. Scott Hrabko’s 2013 critically acclaimed solo release, GONE PLACES was said to be 30 years in the making. Scott Hrabko has played with The Original Sinners, as well as the 1980s bands: The Splinters, and The Andersons. In the early 1990s Scott performed as a solo artist in coffee houses with Iris Dement and Howard Eisberg. More info at: http://www.scotthrabko.com]
11:34 – Interview with Scott Hrabko
On July 1, 2022 Scott Hrabko and The Rabitts released The Wonderful World Of Scott Hrabko & the Rabbits. This recording was #12 on WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2022. Then, earlier this year, [On March 19, 2024 Scott Hrabko released Other Cats, Other Bags – Volume 1 a 4 – track EP which is the first of Multi-Volume Project containing recordings that grew from sessions he did at home with a few longtime Rabbits and some new friends from the Kansas City Music Community.
Now Scott is back to share more music from his new musical project, “Other Cats, Other Bags. Volume II,” released on April 19, 2024l and 4 more songs culled from recording sessions Scott did at home with a few longtime Rabbits (his backing band mates) and some new friends from the KC music community, that Scott has been wanting to record with for some time. Each volume features cover art from artists Scott knows and loves who are still going strong. Scott Hrabko is an independent singer-songwriter who has followed his own mercurial muse since the town’s late 1980s indie rock scene. More info at: http://www.scotthrabko.bandcamp.com and http://www.scotthrabko.com
Scott Hrabko, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Mike Warren for No Depression. Magazine writes: “Hrabko’s rootsy songs are filled with trap doors, hidden nooks, and secret passageways. They’re like those dreams within comfortably familiar houses that suddenly have brand new rooms.”
Other Cats, Other Bags – Vol II by Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits
Wayfaring Muse 04:15
In The Sky 06:03
Everything 05:15
About Time 04:16
Other Cats, Other Bags Vol II – Second in a Multi-Volume project
These recordings grew from sessions Scott did at home with a few longtime Rabbits and some new friends from the KC music community Scott has been wanting to record with for some time.
Volume II collaborators: Jason Beers, Hank Tilbury, David Randall, Chris Hudson
The covers of each EP in this series, as well as most of the individual tracks are by artists Scott knows and loves.
released April 19, 2024
Jason Beers: Bass Guitar (1-3), Keyboards (3) Dave Randall: Piano (1-2) Hank Tilbury: Bongos, Talkative Shakers, Spatulas, Water Bowl, Tomato Can (1-2) Chris Hudson: Nylon String Guitar (1-2) Spectral Guitar (3) SH: Vocals, Guitars, Percussion, Drums (3-4), Piano (4)
Other Cats, Other Bags – Volume I by Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits
Junk Drawer 02:57
Dark Highway 03:58
Only A Dream 05:41
Brand New Day 03:30
Other Cats, Other Bags Vol I First in a Multi-Volume project
These recordings grew from sessions Scott did at home with a few longtime Rabbits and some new friends from the KC music community Scott has been wanting to record with for some time.
Volume I features steadfast stalwarts Jason Beers and Tim Higgins, as well as Kansas City folks, Betse Ellis, Brett Hodges, Brandon Day, Beth Watts Nelson and Kristin Hamilton.
The covers of each EP in this series, as well as most of the individual tracks are by artists Scott knows and loves.
Wobbling sea legs In every other port of call In the bus stop tail light twilight A nameless baby squalls
She left the door wide open You let the cold air in Five senses of tumbling darkness The drunken heavens spin
On the unmade love I lay me down Until the room resumes spinning around So many pallets, so many floors To crash and burn and dream Eleventh hour lover calling out for more (More fool me)
Lady luck couldn’t give a f___ Not even out of pity Snake eyes roll in the head cracking cold You’re pissing in the windy city
Oh, freak dreams heave – ho Twenty stories high Well, here’s to soft landings On full moonlit thighs
And you’re free to freeze your ass off Waiting for a train That takes you far from trouble Should the lady be delayed
In the sky, Lord, in the sky Disappearing daddy How you made your mama cry
You made your mama cry
Made a career of avoiding mirrors Just walk on by
Walk on by
Scott Hrabko, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits – “In The Sky” from: Other Cats, Other Bags, Vol II / Scott Hrabko / April 19, 2024 [On March 19, 2024 Scott Hrabko released Other Cats, Other Bags – Volume 1 a 4 – track EP which is the first of Multi-Volume Project containing recordings that grew from sessions he did at home with a few longtime Rabbits and some new friends from the Kansas City Music Community. // On July 1, 2022 Scott Hrabko and The Rabitts released The Wonderful World Of Scott Hrabko & the Rabbits. This recording was #12 on WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2022. These two sprawling discs contain song-craft reminiscent of everything from classic ‘60s adult pop to nostalgia-free Americana to cut ’n’ paste hip hop-inspired grooves — and some wild detours between. “But it’s all me.” – Hrabko. The Rabbits, this time around: Jason Beers on Bass, Organ, Piano, Banjo, Harmonica, Slide Guitar; Clarke Wyatt on Drums; Matt Hopper on Lead Guitar; Chris DeVictor on Upright Bass; Chris Hudson on Nylon String Guitar, Mandolin, Lead Guitar; Mike Lindsey on Bass; Tim Higgins on Drums, Percussion; Gary Paredes on Slide Guitar, Wah Wah Guitar; Chad Brothers on Lead Acoustic, and Havilah Bruders on Vocals, with Scott Hrabko on Voices, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Drums, Percussion, Banjo, Static Outbursts, Ghosts Knob Twiddling and Digital Chicanery. This 2-CD, 22-song release, THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SCOTT HRABKO & THE RABBITS on July 1, 2022. The double album was recorded at Hrabko’s home studio in a time of a global pandemic and social unrest. Mike Warren writes in No Depression Magazine, “Hrabko’s rootsy songs are filled with trap doors, hidden nooks, and secret passageways. They’re like those dreams within comfortably familiar houses that suddenly have brand new rooms.” Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits have released six singles and released the albums and EPs: LAST DANCE (EP) in 2020, SMASH HITS FROM A PARALLEL UNIVERSE (EP) in 2019, SUMMER in 2017, and BISCUITS AND GRAVITY in 2015. Scott Hrabko’s 2013 critically acclaimed solo release, GONE PLACES was said to be 30 years in the making. Scott Hrabko has played with The Original Sinners, as well as the 1980s bands: The Splinters, and The Andersons. In the early 1990s Scott performed as a solo artist in coffee houses with Iris Dement and Howard Eisberg. More info at: http://www.scotthrabko.com]
Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now” from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]
Next week, on Wednesday, May 1 we welcome Jocelyn Olivia Nixon of The Creepy Jingles. // At 11:00 am we welcome Lauren Krum and member of The Grisly Hand who will share all of the details of The Grisly Hand Jubilee: Celebrating 15 years of Music & Friendship, Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 7:00 pm at the Ship, 1221Union Avenue, KCMO WEST BOTTOMS. After 15 years of live shows, 6 albums, The Grisly Hand are doing their last show. Proceeds of which will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. // at 11:30 Brenton Cook joins us to share details about Haymaker Records 10 Year Anniversary Show at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., KCMO on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 7:00pm with Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Be/Non, and Jorge Arana Trio.
THANK YOU to our incredible KKFI Staff; Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers.
This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. Instead it is about a collective spirit of hundreds of hardworking people, unselfishly setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the gigantic goal of keeping our airwaves free, non-commercial, and open to all! Congratulations and thank you to all programmers & volunteers who went the extra effort to keep our station alive.
Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information. Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org
Wednesday MidDay Medley Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Arson Class & Too Much Rock Single Series + Scott Hrabko + RxGhost
Mark spins more New & MidCoastal Releases from: ASPN, Arson Class, RxGhost, IVORY BLUE, The Creepy Jingles, Scott Hrabko, Jo MacKenzie, Eddie Moore, Kim Gordon, Paramore, Brittany Howard, Benny Bleu, and Gloria Jones.
At 10:30 Chris & Phil Kinsley of Arson Class and Sid Sowder of Too Much Rock join us to share the radio broadcast premiere of the newest installment in the Too Much Rock Singles Series. After a four-year break, Too Much Rock is back with the 11th installment of the vinyl singles series, featuring Arson Class with their first vinyl release. Arson Class was formed by Pinoy brothers Chris & Phil Kinsley with Marc Bollinger on bass. The A-Side features the band’s “Junior.” The B-Side features a revved-up cover of John Cougar’s 1976 deep cut “American Dream” chosen by Too Much Rock. The limited-edition 7″ single will be out May 3, 2024 at area record stores, and directly from the band in both black and ultra-limited colored vinyl. Arson Class play a Single Release Party on Monday, May 6 at Farewell, 6515 Stadium Drive, KCMO and Saturday, May 18, at “Lawrence Rampage” Centennial Park, 600 Rockledge Rd., Lawrence, KS. For more info http://www.toomuchrock.com.
At 11:00 Jeremiah James Gonzales and band mates from RxGhost share music from their new 13-track album, Scaffolding, released April 11, 2024. RxGhost is: Josh Thomas on vocals & guitar, Justin Brooks on drums, James Capps on guitar, Chris Smead on bass, and Jeremiah James Gonzales. Scaffolding was produced by RxGhost, recorded and mixed by Paul Malinowski at Massive Sound Studios and mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering. Music by RxGhost and Lyrics by Josh Thomas. RxGhost play The Brick, 1727 McGee, KCMO, on Friday, April 26, at 9:00am, with Enemy Airships, and Still Ill. More info at: rxghost.bandcamp.com
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
At 11:30 Scott Hrabko shares music from his new musical project, “Other Cats, Other Bags. Volume II,” released on April 19, 2024. It’s a multi-volume project culled from recording sessions Scott did at home with a few longtime Rabbits (his backing band mates) and some new friends from the KC music community, that Scott has been wanting to record with for some time. Each volume features cover art from artists Scott knows and loves who are still going strong. Scott Hrabko is an independent singer-songwriter who has followed his own mercurial muse since the town’s late 1980s indie rock scene. “Hrabko’s rootsy songs are filled with trap doors, hidden nooks, and secret passageways. They’re like those dreams within comfortably familiar houses that suddenly have brand new rooms.” Mike Warren – No Depression. More info at: http://www.scotthrabko.bandcamp.com and http://www.scotthrabko.com
On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org
Wednesday MidDay Medley Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Shaun Crowley & The Music of Manor Fest 6
“Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks” from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979 [WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]
Pale Tongue – “Fever Dreams (feat. Grim Repeater)” from: Pale Tongue EP / Manor Records / October 5, 2018 [For this recording Carlos Calderon on guitar, keyboards and vocals, with drummer Nick Fredrickson of The Appleseed Cast and bassist James Thomblinson of Arc Flash, and Psychic Heat, formed the Lawrence based 3-piece band Pale Tongue. The trio has molded their ripping ‘dungeon rock’ sound into a fierce torrent of fuzz and fury, bending and merging gritty acidic psych-punk with hypnogogic dreamscapes, crafting a realm of experience dripping in cosmic horror and heady awe. Engineered by Mitch Hewlett. Mix and Mastered by Joel Coon. In 2023 the 3-piece became a 5-piece band with Tanner Spreer and Evan Herd of Psychic Heat joining the band.]
[Pale Tongue plays Manor Fest 6, Friday, May 24 at The Easy Inn, 322 6th Street, KCK with Eggs on Mars and THIMASTR.]
10:05
Thanks for tuning into WMM on 90.1 FM KKFI. I’m Mark Manning. Today we spin music from 25 artists and bands playing Manor Fest 6 including: Blackstarkids, Squirrel Flower, Shy Boys, Ebony Tusks, Calvin Arsenia, Paris Williams, Daniel Gum, Frogpond, Honeybee, True Lions, The Creepy Jingles, Liney Blu, Nick Shoulders, Grady Philip Drugg, Kadesh Flow, Pale Tongue, Julia Haile, Wills Van Doorn, Kat King, Pure XTC, Khrystal., Malek Azrael, Jass, The Swallowtails, and ALBER.
Shaun Crowley of Manor Records joins us to talk about Manor Fest 6, featuring 60 bands, across 20 venues, in 6 nights, in 6 different neighborhoods of Kanas City. The official dates are May 23, 24, & 25 and May 30, 31, & June 1. Manor Fest is a local music fundraiser festival curated and ran by Manor Records. All profits from this fundraiser go to the “Manor Records Fund” to help with their non-profit’s mission of releasing music from local artists on physical platforms through Manor Records. More information at; http://www.manorrecords.com
Shaun Crowley is a classically trained guitarist, and has studied at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory. Shaun is the co-founder of Manor Records, a music label that grew out of Manor Fest, the first festival sized “house show” Shaun and friends produced in their basement featuring 12 bands. We first met Shaun as part of the band Rev Gusto, originally formed in high school with friends at Saint James Academy.
Shaun Crowley thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
As reported by Julie Denesha for KCUR.com published April 5, 2024:
Crowley started the nonprofit in 2017, with concerts first in a rented house in Shawnee, then moving to a cafe in Strawberry Hill and later a basement space in the West Bottoms. On Troost, he’s doubled the retail space where he will sell used records. This time, Crowley thinks he has the right business model.
Crowley plans to man the record store Wednesday through Saturday, and on Monday and Tuesday when the store is closed, he’ll teach guitar and bass to students of all ages and skill levels. He already has another musician lined up to teach piano and ukulele.
The storefront will also serve as a concert venue for the artists Manor Records supports. The store will bring back free events from its last space — Songbird Sessions every Thursday, a songwriter open mic and a masterclass educational series.
Crowley started playing in the KC when he was 17 in band Rev Gusto and Momma’s Boy. He said he’s eager to share the lessons he’s learned with young musicians just starting out.
The new space will also serve as home base for preparations for the foundation’s biggest fundraiser of the year. Manor Fest is a multi-day music festival held in Kansas City that goes back to the group’s early days in a Shawnee basement. The foundation’s mission is to provide resources and support to local musicians, and Manor Fest is now a cornerstone of their fundraising efforts.
This year, the event will showcase more than 60 local bands across 20 venues in 6 neighborhoods over two weekends at the end of May. All proceeds will benefit the nonprofit organization, Manor Records Fund. rms through our “Manor Records Fund”. More information at; http://www.manorrecrds.com
Manor Record Board Shaun Crowley – President Skylar Rochelle – Vice President Kayla Jarrett – Secretary Connor Randell – Board Member
Manor Fest is a local music fundraiser festival curated and ran by Manor Records.All profits from this fundraiser event to help us with our non-profit mission of releasing local artists’ music on physical platforms through our “Manor Records Fund”.
Manor Records all started in a basement of “The Shawnee Manor,” a DIY venue located in Shawnee, KS. From Glass Animals to Shy Boys, the underground venue hosted numerous local acts, and some national touring acts. Founder Shaun Crowley created the first Manor Fest with 10 bands in one night, then grew to a two night event featuring 20 local bands. After years passed and a community was built, it was time for the boys to move out of the deteriorating house.
In October of 2017, Shaun and company officially launched Manor Records. A DIY record label based on the foundation of their infamous Shawnee Manor. Manor Records is a label that takes no profits from their artists, is hands-on, and self-run, with intentions of good music from good people. They began by hosting showcases featuring local and regional bands in addition to putting out cassette releases.
Alongside the festival, Manor Records has been actively providing booking, tour management, cassette releases, blog premieres/reviews, marketing and promotion services for indie acts all over the Mid-west area.
Manor Fest is a local music fundraiser festival curated and ran by Manor Records.All profits from this fundraiser event to help us with our non-profit mission of releasing local artists’ music on physical platforms through our “Manor Records Fund”.
Manor Fest 6 features 60 bands, across 20 venues, in 6 nights in different areas of Kanas City. The official dates are May 23rd, 24th, & 25th and May 30th, 31st, & June 1st.
Manor Fest 6 includes: BLACKSTARKIDS, Squirrel Flower, Shy Boys, Ebony Tusks, Calvin Arsenia, Dylan Earl, Paris Williams, Daniel Gum, Kat King, Scabb, Flooding, Frogpond, Fritz Hutchison, Honey Bee, True Lions, Supermoto, The Creepy Jingles, Tidal.wav, Kirstie Lynn & Galen Clark, Nick Shoulders, Fullbloods, MC Rue + Mikey, Grady Drugg, Kadesh Flow, Pale Tongue, Liney Blu, Khrystal., Jass, Eggs On Mars, CS Luxem, Brian Bulger, Blanky, The Highwater, Charlotte Bumgarner, THIMASTR, Julia Haile, Teri Quinn, The CAVVES, Wills Van Dorn, Midwestern, Pure XYC, Stephonne, Big Fat Cow, Mason Blaize, Burning Bush, Luke Krutzke, 2W33DY, Collidescope, Shay Lyric, Malek Azrael, Field Daze, They’re Theirs, The Swallowtails, Jolson & The Fear of Snakes, Natalie Prauser, Dalia Kapten, ALBER, and more
Manor Fest 6 WEEKEND ONE – May 23, 24, & 25 Night One – Thursday, May 23 – NORTH KANSAS CITY
Venue One: Velo Garage and Tap House, 1403 Swift St NKC CS LUXEM 5:00 – 5:30 TIDAL.WAV 5:45 – 6:15 LINEY BLU 6:30 – 7:00
Venue Two: The RINO, 314 Armour Rd, NKC MC RUE + MIKEY 7:00 – 7:45 BRIAN BULGER 8:00 – 8:45 THE CREEPY JINGLES 9:00 – 9:45
10:10
Liney Blu – “Stick Around” from: Pennsylvania St. – EP / Blumusicrecords / May 19, 2023 [Kansas City singer songwriter Liney Blu writes from a unique place of personal experience and identity. They vividly show us how vulnerability is strength and require us to see love, frustration, disappointment and humor through lenses we may not have considered. Every song finds Liney passionately and sometimes bravely exploring a broader, more inclusive understanding of the human experience while letting us into some sacred personal spaces to do so. And while many listeners are just finding Liney Blu, she set out on her path as a songwriter and artist as a teenager. // At age 17 as Caroline Blubaugh she released a first EP titled “Green” which featured the single “San Francisco” that quickly saw 185K Spotify streams. In 2023 as Liney Blu, came a 2nd EP, “Pennsylvania St.” with bandmates bassist Renee Huey and drummer Jones Goldman. “Pennsylvania St.” is an introspective, sometimes raw, indie pop rock/folk synthesis built on innovative arrangements relentlessly pushed along by Liney’s deep, resonant vocal, subtly insistent delivery and very personal passion. // New music building on the release of “Pennsylvania St.” is in the works. Liney Blu can be heard in venues around the Kansas City/Lawrence area with an expanded show schedule planned for 2024. More infoo at: http://www.lineyblu.com]
[Liney Blu plays Manor Fest 6, Thursday, May 23 at 6:30 pm at Velo Garage and Tap House, 1403 Swift St., NKC, with CS Luxem, and Tidal.wav]
The Creepy Jingles – “When Things Go Wrong” from: “When Things Go Wrong” – Single / High Dive Records / February 23, 2024 [This is the first of several new singles to be released by The Creepy Jongles this year. The Creepy Jingles are a Kansas City based, rock and roll band that both honors and defies convention. Led by singer / song-writer Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, a transgender wordsmith who charms with razor wit and dazzles with her lyrical acrobatics. The Creepy Jingles released their album, TAKE ME AT MY WORDPLAY on March 25, 2022 through High Dive Records. Paired up with lyrics centering on themes of identity, strained relationships, social media madness, meme magic, pandemic paranoia, paid off political pundits, backyard bullies and barking up the wrong tree. Everything and the kitchen sink or swim. No stoner left unturned. The Creepy Jingles released their Debut EP on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019. The release was in the top ten of WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019. ] The Creepy Jingles released their Debut EP on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019.] [ Jocelyn Olivia Nixon will be our guest on May 1, 2024]
[The Creepy Jingles play Manor Fest 6 Thursday, May 23 at 9:00pm at The RINO, 314 Armour Rd, NKC with MC Rue + Mikey, and Brian Bulger.]
10:16 – Interview with Shaun Crowley
Today we spin music from 25 artists and bands playing Manor Fest 6 including: Blackstarkids, Squirrel Flower, Shy Boys, Ebony Tusks, Calvin Arsenia, Paris Williams, Daniel Gum, Frogpond, Honeybee, True Lions, The Creepy Jingles, Liney Blu, Nick Shoulders, Grady Philip Drugg, Kadesh Flow, Pale Tongue, Julia Haile, Wills Van Doorn, Kat King, Pure XTC, Khrystal., Malek Azrael, Jass, The Swallowtails, and ALBER.
Shaun Crowley of Manor Records talks with us about Manor Fest 6, featuring 60 bands, across 20 venues, in 6 nights, in 6 different neighborhoods of Kanas City.
North Kansas City, Strawberry Hill, West Bottoms, East KC, Westside, Crossroads
The official dates are May 23, 24, & 25 and May 30, 31, & June 1. Manor Fest is a local music fundraiser festival curated and ran by Manor Records. All profits from this fundraiser go to the “Manor Records Fund” to help with their non-profit’s mission of releasing music from local artists on physical platforms through Manor Records. More information at; http://www.manorrecords.com
Manor Fest 6 Night Two – Friday, May 24 – Strawberry Hill
Venue One: Flagship Books, 600 Ohio Ave., KCK, Strawberry Hill DALIMA KAPTEN 5:00 – 5:30 GRADY DRUGG 5:45 – 6:15 THE SWALLOWTAILS 6:30 – 7:00
Venue Two: Hillsiders, 403 N. 5th St. KCK KIRSTIE LYNN + GALEN CLARK 7:00 – 7:45 TRUE LIONS 8:00 – 8:45 DYLAN EARL 9:00 – 9:45
Venue Three: The Easy Inn, 322 6th Street, KCK ТHI MASTR 10:00 – 10:30 EGGS ON MARS 10:45 – 11:15 PALE TONGUE 11:30 – 12:00
10:19
Grady Philip Drugg – “Cry Like a Baby” from: Real Life / Grady Philip Drugg / September 1, 2020 [Grady Philip Drugg wrote all of the songs, and is on vocals, and most instruments; Henry Hank on backing vocals & banjo on Cry Like a Baby.“Casual” Calvin Todd on backing vocals and guitar on Cry Like a Baby, pedal steel on Sahara Lounge; Owen Misterovich on backing vocals on What’s Missin; Ian Dobyns on drums on Mercy Be; Joseph Misterovich on mixing, mastering, backing vocals on What’s Missin’. // Grady Philip Drugg is a singer/songwriter from Canyon Lake, Texas. In February 2014, he relocated to Springfield, Missouri and toured the country in several DIY bands. In April 2016, he made his way back to Texas after recording his debut self-titled full length album.]
[Grady Philip Drugg plays Manor Fest 6 on Friday, May 24, at 5:45 PM at Flagship Books, 600 Ohio Ave., KCK in Strawberry Hill with The Swallowtails and Dalima Kapten]
The Swallowtails – “Good Days” from: LUCKY PENNY EP / The Swallowtails / February 20, 2024 [The independent acoustic band, experimenting in the rock/pop genres while performing on what are traditionally folk/classical instruments, enter a new era having produced the entirety of this project themselves, with the songwriting matter touching on life’s big changes, challenges, and the realizations that time will heal. // “Since becoming a duo, it was time for us to reinvent our sound again. The songwriting on this EP is split between Rachel and myself, and this is Rachel’s debut release as a writer and singer. We spent all of January 2024 finishing the arrangements, recording and mixing the mini-record. It was a much needed release of energy for both of us, and we are definitely looking forward to adding these songs into our live sets and performing new material.”– Miki P, songwriter, singer and musician in The Swallowtails. // Est. in 2018, The Swallowtails are a Kansas City based musical duo comprised of musicians Miki P on guitar/vocals and Rachel Lovelace on bassoon/vocals. Their vision is to write honest, heartfelt songs that feel like you’re coming home to an old friend. As recording and performance artists, they have been showcased throughout Kansas City, performing at the Folly Theatre, Boulevardia Music Festival, The Kansas City Public Library as part of the 2023 Art in the Loop: Celebrate project, and most recently at Green Guitar Folk House opening for The Wildwoods. Their songwriting was awarded Best Song by a KC Band in 2023 by the Pitch Magazine for their tune “Take it Slow.” // Live video’s will be released on The Swallowtails YouTube page in support of the EP, the live session was filmed at West Bottoms Whiskey Co. // Swallowtails will be featuring the new EP at the Folk Alliance International Conference February 21st-25th. Both Miki & Rachel have earned scholarships to attend the conference. // Swallowtails embark on their 4th year entering NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest featuring a song off the EP, called “I’m on Fire” posted to NPR’s official contest site. // The Swallowtails have recently been approved as part of KCAIC Touring Artists Roster, through the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission. // On May 22, 2023 The Swallowtails released their 7-track EP THE WORLD STILL SPINS from Rachel Lovelace on bassoon, Adee Dancy on cello & vocals, and Miki P on guitar & lead vocals. Miki P is a self-taught musician/multi-instrumentalist & songwriter driving the Swallowtails into a creative collaboration like any other. Miki P was born in Kansas City, KS. Miki P started playing guitar in middle school. She taught herself to play the drums, while listening to Mitch Mitchell, Keith Moon and Ringo Starr. Miki P performed “She Loves You” at her 7th grade talent show. In 9th grade she joined a teen-band called American Slim as drummer & vocalist, and she wrote songs for their full-length album Irreplaceable released in 2017, followed by a single “Queen of Hearts” released April 11, 2018. Miki P has played Middle of the Map Fest, Crossroads Music Fest, Kauffman Stadium, Arrowhead Stadium, and The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art before officially ending in 2018. As a teen she played drums for various groups including American Slim. At 21, Miki P began work on her debut solo-record, DOME OF SWALLOWS, that was released August 2, 2018. She then formed Miki P and the Swallowtails who released their first EP, Swallowtail in 2019, In 2021 Miki P released the 6-song EP, DON’T LOSE HOPE, created in covid isolation, in Miki P’s home space. Sitting & working from Miki’s computer, she composed and recorded 80% of the EP, working through the music like a journal entry, creating each song from her internal hurricane of emotions. All songs written, recorded, played, & mixed by Miki P. Recorded & Mixed with Emma Klien & Jake Hilger. Mastered by Joel Nanos. Miki P released her single “Your Love” on June 24, 2022. Miki P’s released the single “Peter Parker!” on March 18, 2022. // More info at: http://www.mikipmusic.com]
[The Swallowtails play Manor Fest 6 on Friday, May 24, at 6:30 PM at Flagship Books, 600 Ohio Ave., KCK in Strawberry Hill with Grady Philip Drugg, and Dalima Kapten.]
True Lions – “GONER” from: Cold Gravy Bowl / Manor Records / March 1, 2024 [Alison “Al” Hawkins is a queer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music teacher, and leader of True Lions, a band consisting of Al and whoever is playing music with them, which often includes Fritz Hutchison—a drummer, singer, guitarist, songwriter, producer, bandmate, bandleader, friend, sibling, Gemini, and Kansas Citian who just wants to do a good job and keep it fun for everybody. Last year, True Lions and Fritz Hutchison released a homemade split cassette tape via Manor Records. When their drummer Eli Kosko moved to the desert, Al, Fritz and bassist Carly Atwood started performing acoustically. When Carly was sometimes unavailable, Al and Fritz explored amplified fiddle, synth, and drums, through old-time tunes. Their noise art creation COLD GRAVY BOWL is scheduled for cassette release Friday, March 1 via Manor Records. // COLD GRAVY BOWL is the demon music baby of Kansas City duo Al Hawkins and Fritz Hutchison, blending amplified fiddle distortion, heavy drums, and bass synth through Ozark old-time. The album artwork was drawn by local queer artist Spade Nine. // True Lions released the True Lions- Fritz Hutchison Split Cassette through Manor Records on April 26, 2023. True Lions released their debut full length album, “The Fempire Strikes Back,” on Manor Records on April 9, 2021 with Alisön Hawkins on keytar & vocals; Adee Rocket Dancy on cello & vocals; Claire Adams on guitar, Elizabeth Kosko on drums & percussion; Iona DeWalt on synthesizers; Miki P on guitar & vocals, and Teri Quinn on bass & vocals. Recorded at Deep Space Co-op. Tracking & engineering by Ross Brown at Escape Pod Audio. Mixing and mastering by Joel Nanos at Element Recording. In 2019 True Lions released their EP debut, “Cute at Best,” on February 5, 2019. They followed up with a second EP called. You’re Not Invited, released on November 9, 2019. For these recordings True Lions was: Alison Hawkins on guitar, synth, and vocals; Elizabeth Kosko on percussion, vocals; Mikala Petillo on bass, vocals; Claire Adams on guitar, vocals; Leslie Butsch on saxophone, Ezgi Karakus on cello; and Teri Quinn on vocals. All songs written by True Lions and produced by Claire Adams and Alison Hawkins. Tracking & Engineering by Claire Adams. Mixing and Mastering by Ian Dobyns and Chase Horseman. More info at: http://www.manorrecords.com.]
[True Lions play Manor Fest 6 on Friday, May 24, at 8:00 PM at Hillsiders, 403 N. 5th St. KCK with Kirstie Lynn & Galen Glark, and Dylan Earl]
10:28 – Underwriting
10:29 – More Interview with Shaun Crowley
Shaun Crowley of Manor Records joins us to talk about Manor Fest 6, featuring 60 bands, across 20 venues, in 6 nights, in 6 different neighborhoods of Kanas City.
North Kansas City, Strawberry Hill, West Bottoms, East KC, Westside, Crossroads
The official dates are May 23, 24, & 25 and May 30, 31, & June 1. Manor Fest is a local music fundraiser festival curated and ran by Manor Records. All profits from this fundraiser go to the “Manor Records Fund” to help with their non-profit’s mission of releasing music from local artists on physical platforms through Manor Records. More information at; http://www.manorrecords.com
Manor Fest 6 Night Three – Saturday, May 25 – West Bottoms
Venue One: Blip Roasters, 1301 Woodswether Rd., KCMO, West Bottoms NATALIE PRAUSER 1:00 – 1:30 JOLSON & THE FEAR OF SNAKES 1:45 – 2:15 TBA 2:30 – 3:00
ALBER – “Caldo” from: Lento / Locale Records / April 12, 2024 [Alberto Racanati is a genre-bending musician originally from Bari, Italy, now established in Kansas City. His musical journey started at age 11 when he learned to play his first notes on the trumpet. At age 14 Alberto enrolled in the Bari Conservatory to pursue his performance degree in the academy, while living a parallel musical existence in the rich musical underground in Southern Italy, playing drums and trumpet in a plethora of bands across all genres. His musical studies then took him to the National Music Academy in Gdansk, Poland, where he lived from 2011 to 2014, discovering the multicultural nature of the arts. In 2014 Alberto moved to the United States to work as a Graduate Assistant at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois. In 2016 Alberto continued on to Kansas City to pursue a Doctoral Degree at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he became enamored with the local music scene. 2018 saw the start of Alberto’s journey with electronic music, writing material for trumpet and electronics. This is where the project Alber starts, especially using social media as an interactive, open sketchbook for his sonic excursions. Alberto’s first self-titled album was released in 2020, followed by significant live performing presence in 2021 in Kansas and Missouri. His second album Journey, was then released in 2021. At the same time, Alberto ramped up his touring of the Midwest region and collaboration with a variety of other artists. Most recently in 2023 Alberto was awarded the ArtsKC Inspiration Grant for his multimedia installation “Born at Sea”, a project centered on the idyllic sea scenery of his hometown, debuting in 2024. Additionally he became one of the Charlotte Street Foundation Studio Residents, a program that features some of the most brilliant up and coming artists in the Kansas City region. Still in 2023, Alberto toured the East Coast of the US and his native Italy, in a much welcome reconnection with his musical roots. Currently, Alberto is about to release his third full length album Lento and finalizing his upcoming 2024 tours to the East Coast and Southern Italy.]
[ALBER presents his multimedia installation “Born at Sea”, centered on the idyllic sea scenery of his hometown, Bari Italy, on May 23, 2024 at Charlotte Street Foundation, 3333 Wyoming, KCMO.]
[ALBER plays Manor Fest 6 on Fri, May 24, 3:00 PM at Fetch 1101 Mulberry St, KCMO w/ Teri Quinn, and Wills Van Doorn.]
Wills Van Doorn & Kat King – “Blue” from: “Flying Bird” / “Blue” – Single / Rust Records / August 18, 2023 [Wills Van Doorn is getting set to release his debut full-length solo record, ROSEDALE SPEEDWAY on October 20, 2023. “Flying Bird” is the second single from the lbum and it was released with “Blue’ an extra track not on the album that features Kat King on vocals. Wills Van Doorn released the single “The Lawn-mower Collector” on July 28, 2023, also from ROSEDALE SPEEDWAY. Wills Van Doorn released the single, “Shake The Frost” on March 10, 2023, and the single, “Lately” on Oct. 22, 2022, and the EP RUN WITH YOU on December 11, 2020. Wills Van Doorn released the singles: “1000 Times” on March 26, 2020, “On My Mind” on July 12, 2019, and “Out of Season” on April 5, 2019. Will Van Doorn has played guitar with Supermoto, Brent Windler’s live band, and The Creepy Jingles. http://www.willsvandoorn.bandcamp.com ]
[ALBER plays Manor Fest 6 on Friday, May 24, at 3:00 PM at Fetch 1101 Mulberry Street, KCMO with Teri Quinn, and Wills Van Doorn.]
[Kat King plays Manor Fest 6, Sat., May 31, at 8:00 at recordBar w/ Blackstarkids and Paris Williams]
10:41 – More Interview with Shaun Crowley
Shaun Crowley of Manor Records talks about Manor Fest 6, featuring 60 bands, across 20 venues, in 6 nights, in 6 different neighborhoods of Kanas City.
North Kansas City, Strawberry Hill, West Bottoms, East KC, Westside, Crossroads
The official dates are May 23, 24, & 25 and May 30, 31, & June 1. Manor Fest is a local music fundraiser festival curated and ran by Manor Records. All profits from this fundraiser go to the “Manor Records Fund” to help with their non-profit’s mission of releasing music from local artists on physical platforms through Manor Records. More information at; http://www.manorrecords.com
Manor Fest 6 Night Three – Saturday, May 25 – West Bottoms
Venue Three: Hickory Union Moto, 10 S. James St, KCK FIELD DAZE 5:00 – 5:30 THE CAVVES 5:45 – 6:15 DANIEL GUM 6:30 – 7:00
Venue Four: The Emerald, 1715 West 9th Street, KCMO KHRYSTAL. 7:00 – 7:45 BLANKY 8:00 – 8:45 SHY BOYS 9:00 – 9:45
Daniel Gum – “Don’t I Know” from: Sophia – Don’t I Know – Single / Manor Records / January 24, 2024 [Daniel Gum is a singer-songwriter based out of Kansas City, KS who has been active since 2017. Daniel Gum released the single “Julia” on December 9, 2022. Daniel Gum released the single “Wolverine (ft. Rachel Cion)” on September 19, 2921. Daniel Gu, released the electronic pop EP, I’M NOT DEAD in 2017 and an acoustic EP, MOON in 2018. In addition to working on his own solo project, Daniel has been working with other local groups—playing bass and engineering for his band Pillow (a post-punk/shoegaze group) and playing drums behind singer-songwriter Chloe Jacobson, also doing some recording for her. Channeling the likes of Elliott Smith & Andy Shauf, he co-produced his new record THIRTEEN with Mike Crawford, playing almost everything you hear on the album and mixing it himself. Signing to Manor Records in the spring of 2020, he officially released THIRTEEN on cassette & CD on October 30, 2020. All songs written, performed, and.mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering. Daniel Gum is a 24 year old singer-songwriter . Since the age of 12, he has spent the majority of his time writing and recording songs by himself in his room. The Moon EP was released December 7, 2019. It was engineered by Mike Crawford and Daniel Gum and mixed by Daniel Gum with piano and accordion by Cole Crawford. Daniel Gun released his EPI’M NOT DEAD on October 25, 2017, and his 10-song album Reorient on July 31, 2015, with all songs written, recorded and mixed by Daniel Gum who also performed all vocals guitars, drums, piano, bass. harmonica, and programming. The first single from Daniel Gum’s album, Thirteen “Ruin Your Life” was released on September 4, The second single, “In The Worst Ways” was released September 28, 2020. ] [On our July 22, 2020, WMM show we played Daniel Gum’s track, “Tired Saint” from French Exit Records – Black Lives Matter Compilation, released July 6, 2020. French Exit Records was launched two years ago as an independent music label in KCMO, founded by Brad Girard. French Exit Records has released albums for No Magic and Raymond,. BLM Compilation is 22 acts from the area, with all proceeds donated to One Struggle KC’s Liberation Fund, a Black-led coalition of KC activists seeking to connect the struggles of oppressed communities, locally & globally. Daniel Gum joined us on WMM on November 11, 2020.]
[Daniel Gum plays Manor Fest 6 Saturday, May 25, at 6:30pm at Hickory Union Moto, 10 S. James St, KCK with Field Daze, and The Cavves.]
Khrystal. – “Magic” from: “Magic” – Single / Manor Records / August 8, 2020 [Khrystal. released the surprise 8-track album Life Be Life’ing on September 22, 2021. release. On December 31, 2020 Khrystal. Released the single “Never” which followed Khrystal.’s. single “Magic” released on August 8, 2020 on limited edition cassette singles with her most recent single “You Again” as a B-Side by Manor Records. On September 1, 2017 Khrystal. released The Glow Up EP, Produced & Written by Khrystal Coppage and Duncan Burnett. This was follow up to Khrystal’s Debut EP, Quarter Century Living. Executive Produced By Duncan Burnett. Written By Khrystal Coppage & Duncan Burnett. Kansas City based Khrystal Coppage served as Editor-in-Chief of Khorage Magazine. She served as Production Manager at UMKC University News from 2015 to 2016. She graduated from UMKC in 2016 where she studied Family Studies. She graduated from Kansas City Kansas Community College in 2013. She is a graduate of Sumner Academy of Arts & Science, in KCK. ]
[Khrystal. plays Manor Fest 6 Saturday, May 25, at 7:00pm at The Emerald, 1715 West 9th Street, KCMO in Kansas City on Thursday, May 25, at 7:00 PM at Big Mood, 2020 Baltimore, KCMO – East Crossroads with Blanky and Shy Boys.]
Shy Boys – “Something Sweet” from: Bell House / Polyvinyl Record Co. / Expected August 3, 2018 [Shy Boys line-up consists of brothers Collin Rausch and Kyle Rausch, Konnor Ervin, Kyle Little and Ross Brown. The group formed shortly after the trio became roommates in 2012. Kyle Rausch and Konnor Ervin were already band mates in the indie-pop band The ACBs and Collin had been playing for years in the Kansas City area in various bands. The three shared a love for 1960s era pop rock and soon started writing their own music. In 2014 they released the self-titled Shy Boys on High Dive Records. The album received generally positive reviews and the single “Bully Fight” was featured on Spin.com. In June 2014 the band recorded and released two more singles and one of them, “Life Is Peachy,” was featured on Stereogum. On April 4th, 2018, it was announced that the band had signed to Polyvinyl Record Co.]
[Shy Boys play Manor Fest 6 Saturday, May 25, at 9:00pm at The Emerald, 1715 West 9th Street, KCMO in Kansas City on Thursday, May 25, at 7:00 PM at Big Mood, 2020 Baltimore, KCMO – East Crossroads with Blanky and Khrystal.]
Shy Boys / The ACBs / Ghosty / The I’ms / Fullbloods / Koney – Discography
The ACB’s / The ACB’s / July 10, 2007 [Debut from KC based 4-piece with Konnor Ervin on lead vocals, Bryan McGuire on bass, Matt Saladino on guitar, Corey Egan on drums & vocals. Written by, and arranged by Konnor Ervin. Produced by Tim Suttle. Recorded & mixed at Underdog Studio in Desoto, KS. Mastered at Euphonic Masters in Memphis, TN.]
The Abracadabras – Be Still, Be Cool / The Abracadabras / January 1, 2008 [5-piece KC band formed in the spring of 2007, with Jocelyn Olivia (John) Nixon on keyboards & vocals, Travis Mckenzie on lead guitar, Bobby (Wayne Hutcherson) Topaz on guitar & vocals, Collin Rausch on bass & vocals, and Kyle Rausch on drums & vocals.]
The ACBs – Stona Rosa / The ACBs / January 1, 2011 [After half of the band left to move to LA, Konnor Ervin and Bryan McGuire got help from: Andrew Connor of Ghosty, and Beau Bruns of Cowboy Indian Bear. All songs written by, and arranged, lead vocals & guitar by Konnor Ervin. Mike Nolte on bass, Bryan McGuire on bass & vocals, Andrew Connor on guitar & vocals, Beau Brus on drums. Kyle Rausch on vocals. Produced by Mike Nolte. Mastered by Roger Seibel Recorded at More Famouser Studios. Mixed at More Famouser Studios. Mastered at SAE Mastering.]
The I’ms – Second MIXES / Independent / 2011 [Collin Rausch and Kyle Rausch. Kyle Rausch also plays with The ACB’s. In 2011 on WMM we started playing songs from The I’ms, a duo made of up Collin and Kyle, who posted 6 of their self recorded songs on their facebook page. We included this informal release in our Top Ten of The 111 Best Recordings of 2011. 3 of the songs from The I’ms ended up being rerecorded for Shy Boys.]
Ghosty – GHOSTY / More Famouser Records – High Dive Records / April 17, 2012 [3rd full length release from Lawrence and KC area band. Ghosty is Andrew Connor, Mike Nolte an Bill Belzer who recorded their new album themselves over the last couple of years with help from David Wetzel, Josh Adams, Jake Blanton, Konnor Ervin, Ryan Connor, Kirsten Paludan, and Dan Talmadge. The new release was pressed on vinyl and available on LP and digital download. More info at ghostysounds.com.]
The ACBs – Little Leaves / High Dive Records / March 5, 2013. [Konnor Ervin on lead vocals, & guitar; Bryan McGuire on bass, Andrew Connor on guitar; Kyle Rausch on drums. Their songs have been featured on MTV’s The In betweeners, and Daytrotter. The title “Little Leaves” is a nod to Konnor Ervin’s landscaping day job. The lead single, “Ocean” was released as a free download in late 2012, prompting Pop matters to declare the ACBs as one of its “Best Hopes to Break Out in 2013.”]
Shy Boys – Shy Boys / High Dive Records / January 17, 2014 [Debut release. Brothers Collin Rausch, Kyle Rausch, and friend and roommate Konnor Ervin, are members of this KC based trio. Collin and Kyle’s father was a High School band director and music teacher. Konnor Ervin is the lead singer and songwriter of The ACBs, where Kyle also plays drums. The 10 song release had two singles premiered by Stereogum. “Keeps Me On My Toes” was a song Collin wrote in 15 minutes while his girlfriend was in the shower. The album was recorded at West End Studio, over two-weekends.]
Shy Boys – “Life is Peachy” – Single Release / High Dive Records / July 15, 2014 [Stereogum has premiered the band’s new song, “Life Is Peachy”, the A-side to their new 45 rpm, 7″ single coming from High Dive Records. Brothers Collin Rausch, Kyle Rausch, and roommate Konnor Ervin, are members of the Kansas City based band, Shy Boys. ]
Fullbloods – Mild West / High Dive Records / February 26, 2016 [Second full length release from Fullbloods: Ross Brown; Jared Tomasino; David Seume; and Bill Pollock. Recorded at Westend Studios in Kansas City, Kansas by Mike Nolte. Mixed by Fullbloods. Mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering. (Starfucker, Of Montreal).]
Shy Boys – Bell House / Polyvinyl Record Co. / August 3, 2018 Shy Boys line-up consists of brothers Collin Rausch and Kyle Rausch, Konnor Ervin, Kyle Little and Ross Brown. The group formed shortly after the trio became roommates in 2012. Kyle Rausch and Konnor Ervin were already band mates in the indie-pop band The ACBs and Collin had been playing for years in the Kansas City area in various bands. The three shared a love for 1960s era pop rock and soon started writing their own music. In 2014 they released the self-titled Shy Boys on High Dive Records. The album received generally positive reviews and the single “Bully Fight” was featured on Spin.com
Shy Boys – Dim The Light / Brick By Brick – Singles / Polyvinyl Record Co. / Feb. 15, 2019 [Single release follow up to band’s 2nd album and Polyvinyl debut, Bell House. Shy Boys line-up consists of brothers Collin Rausch and Kyle Rausch, Konnor Ervin, Kyle Little and Ross Brown. Kyle Rausch and Konnor Ervin were already band mates in the indie-pop band The ACBs and Collin had been playing for years in the Kansas City area in various bands. The three shared a love for 1960s era pop rock and soon started writing their own music. In 2014 they released the self-titled Shy Boys on High Dive Records. The album received generally positive reviews and the single “Bully Fight” was featured on Spin.com. In June 2014 the band recorded and released two more singles and one of them, “Life Is Peachy,” was featured on Stereogum. On April 4th, 2018, it was announced that the band had signed to Polyvinyl Record Co.]
Fullbloods – Soft and Virtual Touch / High Dive Records / April 3, 2020 [3rd full-length. All songs written, performed, recorded, mixed by Ross Brown in KCMO. Mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering. Artwork by Nika Winn. Kyle Rausch played drums on 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, & 9, sang on 9. Bill Pollock Played drums on 3 & 5. David Seume played bass on 5. Jerad Tomasino played synth on 9 & 10, sang on 9. Jenni Kornfeld played cello on 4. Leslie Butsch played sax on 10. More info at: http://www.fullbloods.com.]
Shy Boys – Talk Loud / Polyvinyl Record Co. / September 25, 2020 [3rd album from the KC band Shy Boys. New music follow up to the Dim The Light / Brick By Brick, singles released February 15, 2019. Shy Boys released their 2nd album and Polyvinyl debut, Bell House on August 3, 2018. Shy Boys line-up consists of brothers Collin Rausch and Kyle Rausch, Konnor Ervin, Kyle Little and Ross Brown. Kyle Rausch and Konnor Ervin were already band mates in the indie-pop band The ACBs and Collin had been playing for years in the Kansas City area in various bands including The Abracadabras, and The I’ms with brother Kyle. The three shared a love for 1960s era pop rock and soon started writing their own music. In 2014 they released the self-titled Shy Boys on High Dive Records.]
Koney – Koney / High Dive Records / October 9, 2020
[from Lucas Wetzel’s Pitch Feature: “To bring the songs to life, Konnor enlisted brothers Collin and Kyle Rausch, his roommates in their ramshackle West Plaza house/practice space and his bandmates in chamber pop group Shy Boys. Ross Brown (of Fullbloods) played synthesizer and helped run sound, and multi-instrumentalist Kyle Little contributed on guitar. Fritz Hutchison and Andrew Connor also contributed on several tracks. Recording engineer Mike Nolte flew in from Portland to run the controls at Westend Recordings, and the group set up camp in the studio over a long snowy weekend in 2015.”]
Kadesh Flow – “Overcome (Nanami)” from: “Overcome (Nanami)” – Single / Ryan Jamaal Davis / January 1, 2024 [Instrumental/Verses/Hook/Trombone/Mixed/Mastered by Kadesh Flow≥ On Friday, January 19, 2024 Kadesh Flow releases another new single “Stand on Business”. On November 17, 2023 Kadesh Flow released “Stakes” produced by Dominique Sanders (who received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year for his work on Janelle Monae’s “AGE OF PLEASURE album.) // On January 6, 2023 Kadesh Flow released “Switch Up” with Instrumental Production by Dominique Sanders, Written & Performed by: Kadesh Flow, Mixed by: Kadesh Flow, Mastered by: Kadesh Flow. // In 2022 Kadesh Flow released 6 singles starting with “Move Different (feat. Gr3s0n)” on January 21, 2022, with lyrics by Kadesh Flow & Gr3ys0n. Music by Kadesh Flow. Mixing: Kadesh Flow. Mastering: Kadesh Flow and was released on January 21, 2022. :Move Different” was part of WMM’s 50 Favorite Singles of 2022. On October 21, 2022 Kadesh Flow released the single ”Chill (feat. Mir Blackwell).” On October 10, 2022 Kadesh Flow released “Dream For Me.” On September 30, 2022 Marcus Lewis Big Band released the single, “You’re Very Special (feat. Kemet Coleman, Kadesh Flow & Kevin Church Johnson).” On July 1, 2022 Kadesh Flow released the single “Away From You.”About that single Kadesh told us “I’ve been a little quiet from a release standpoint because I’ve been scoring a feature length film.” “This song is… inspired by Eren Yeager and his tragic, brutal journey in Attack on Titan but is also deeply personal to me. There’s a lot of current world problem glazing that I’m doing on it as well.” “Also, June 30, 2022, marks five years since I left my financial tech career to pursue my performing and recording artist career full time. I’m releasing this on July 1, partially in celebration of that milestone.” This was one of over nearly 30 new singles Kadesh Flow released in 24 months: In 2021 Kadesh Flow & The Enclave released, “Soft Side,” on Jan. 21, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released, “Assumptions feat. Shubzilla,” on Jan. 29, 2021. Kadesh Flow released, “Frosty,” on February 12, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow & The Enclave released, “Cry For Me 2,” February 12, 2021. Kadesh Flow released, “Not on My Watch,” on February 19, 2021, Inspired by Lord Beerus (Dragonball Super). Kadesh Flow released, “Held Me Longer,” on Marc written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released, “Your Dream Isn’t Always Yours,” on March 12, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow & The Enclave released, “Forgot About Me,” on March 14, 2021. Kadesh Flow released, “Take Backs (feat. Ryan Heinlein),” on March 26, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow & The Enclave released, “But Hope” on March 26, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released the single, “I Don’t Care” on April 9, 2021, written, performed, mixed and mastered by Kadesh Flow. Produced by D. Professor. Kadesh Flow released the single, “That Way” on April 16, 2021, written, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow, and produced by Dominique “Bassman” Saunders. Kadesh Flow released the new single, “So Far” on April 23, 2021, written, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow and produced by Dominique “Bassman” Sanders. Kadesh Flow released the single, “On Target” on April 30, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed and mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released the single ”Lighten Up”on May 7, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released the single “Elegant” on May 21, 2021. Written, Produced, Performed, Mixed & Mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released the 13-track album ROOM SERVICE 2, on July 19, 2021. Kadesh Flow released the single “Coming For Your Neck” on August 20, 2021. Written, Produced, Performed, Mixed & Mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released the single “Easy” on August 27, 2021. Written, Produced, Performed, Mixed & Mastered by Kadesh Flow. This is his 18th single the year. Kadesh Flow released the single “Fiend” on Sept. 4, 2021. Written, Performed, Mixed & Mastered by Kadesh Flow. Produced by Dominique Sanders. This is his 19th single the year. le, “Gardens Out The Gutter” on Dec. 3, 2021. Written, Performed, Mixed & Mastered: Kadesh Flow. Instrumental: Dominique Sanders. Kadesh Flow released the single, “CHOICE (The Cost)” on December 17, 2021. Written, Performed, Mixed & Mastered: Kadesh Flow. Instrumental: Dominique Sanders. Kadesh Flow is Ryan Davis is a rapper with an MBA. He is an emcee, producer, & trombonist. At age 11, he began rapping and playing trombone within two weeks of one another. His music has been featured on network television in multiple countries and territories across Southeast Asia. Kadesh performs as a solo hip hop artist. He also plays with The Phantastics, Marcus Lewis Big Band, and Deshica Rage (with Jessica Paige). More info at: http://www.kadeshflow.com]
[Kadesh Flow plays Manor Fest 6 Saturday, May 25, at 10:00pm at The Ship, 1221 Union Ave. KCMO with SCABB, and Supermoto.]
11:02 – Station ID
11:02 – More Interview with Shaun Crowley
Shaun Crowley of Manor Records talks about Manor Fest 6, featuring 60 bands, across 20 venues, in 6 nights, in 6 different neighborhoods of Kanas City.
North Kansas City, Strawberry Hill, West Bottoms, East KC, Westside, Crossroads
The official dates are May 23, 24, & 25 and May 30, 31, & June 1. Manor Fest is a local music fundraiser festival curated and ran by Manor Records. All profits from this fundraiser go to the “Manor Records Fund” to help with their non-profit’s mission of releasing music from local artists on physical platforms through Manor Records. More information at; http://www.manorrecords.com
Manor Fest 6 WEEKEND TWO – May 30, 31, & June 1 Night One – Thursday, May 30 – East KC
Ebony Tusks – “HDF” from: “HDF” – Single / High Dive Records / February 7, 2020 [This single came out nine months before Ebony Tusks released their full-length album, Heal Thyself on November 6, 2020 on High Dive Records. “HDF” is not included on the 12-track album. As with the single and on the album, all songs written and performed by Ebony Tusks unless otherwise noted. // All Songs engineered and mixed by George Henry Valyer IV at Rundown Studios in Topeka, Kansas and MalaMUTE Studios in East Lawrence, Kansas. Assistance provided by Nico Williams and Claire Kuner. // Conny Franko’s vocals on “You Runner” engineered by Keith Rodger and Rick Carson at Make Believe Studios in Omaha, Nebraska. // IK’s vocals on “Gang Signs” engineered by Derek Montgomery. // Stik Figa’s vocals on “Hell Above Or Here Below” engineered by Sean Patrick at Twelves Studios in Forth Worth, Texas. // Cello on “Heir Apparent” written and performed by Brail Watson. Rhodes and Moog on “Heir Apparent” written and performed by Daniel Bowersox. // All Songs mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering in Portland, Oregon. // Album cover art by Justin Bergin. Album cover photography by Rachel Lock. Album layout by Martinez Hillard. // Album insert photography by Ailecia Ruscin and LeRoy Pristach. // Ebony Tusks is Daniel Smith on DJ & Production, Geese Giesecke on vocals & Production, and Marty Hillard on vocals & Production. Martinez Hillard told Vivid Seats: “ I began EBONY TUSKS in 2009 after a difficult period that summer. I was living in the student ghetto near the University of Kansas in Lawrence. It was an eerily calm Friday night and I didn’t have any plans after work so I crashed. I woke up shortly after 9:00 pm because my door was being kicked in. I was beaten and robbed at gunpoint. Thankfully, two of my neighbors were close friends and called the police immediately. I had nightmares for years afterward that included many symbols I’ve come to associate with various religious practices. I also began writing raps for the first time in over a decade. I was working with a couple producers and we had our first show at a house venue called Pizza Power in October 2010. Both Daniel and Geese came into the fold within a couple years of that show.” Daniel Smith lives in Lawrence, Kansas. He was born in Berkeley California. He moved to Lawrence when he was a child. Hs father is a Professor at The University of Kansas. Daniel works the United Way of Douglass County. He helps to provide after school job-training programs for under-served youth. Nathan “Geese” Giesecke grew up in Olathe but now lives and works in Kansas City, MO. He was friends with Calvin Arsenia in High School. Geese works as a producer as GEESACE. He makes beats and you can find his music at http://soundcloud.com/geesace Nathan is also a lighting designer who jumped on stage to do back up vocals for Marty and ended up being in the band. Martinez Hillard is the main vocalist and lyricist for EBONY TUSKS. He raps under the moniker Bodye, (pronounced “body”). He also produces beats. Martinez lives in the Old Town neighborhood in downtown Topeka with wife and 5 year old daughter. Martinez was part of the super group Cowboy Indian Bear. Martinez was recently elected to serve as a board member for Friends of the Library for Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. As Marty told Johnson County Library, in a piece published April 27, 2018: “ It was a project I started with other producers back in 2010. I asked Daniel to DJ for me sometime in 2011-2012 and Geese joined not too far behind him. Daniel and I had become fast friends when I lived in Lawrence and he was the nicest, most easygoing DJ of the handful I knew. He made our shows a lot less stressful. Geese was and is a lighting technician for a number of our friends’ projects and that was how I made acquaintance with him, seeing him work for a band and asking if he’d do lights for an EBONY TUSKS concert. He eventually asked if he could be hypeman for us and he brought an new intensity.” EBONY TUSKS have been a band for over 11 years making hip hop in the Lawrence scene that includes Approach, Stik Figa, Heartfelt Anarchy, and Archetype are just a small fraction. With that said, the three of us are always having conversations about how other genres influence us personally. Post-rock, post-hardcore, industrial, indie rock, and electronic all factor in. Our tastes evolve naturally and we follow accordingly. Since the three members of EBONY TUSKS live in three separate cities: Kansas City, Lawrence and Topeka early on, they created a Dropbox folder to share demos with one another. And as they told Vivid Seat: “It also gave us a bit of language to use in building sounds independent of one another.” More info at: http://www.highdiverecords.com Members of Ebony Tusks joined us LIVE on WMM on February 19, and October 7, 2020.]
[Ebony Tusks play Manor Fest 6, Thursday, May 30, at 8:00pm, at FAREWELL, 6523 Stadium Drive, KCMO with Charlotte Bumgarner, and Squirrel Flower.]
Squirrel Flower – “Full Time Job” from: Tomorrow’s Fire / Polyvinyl Record Co. / October 13, 2023 [Squirrel Flower is the stage name of American musician Ella O’Connor Williams. // Williams grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts. When Williams was a child, she gave herself the nickname Squirrel Flower. In 2014, she moved to Iowa to attend Grinnell College. // After getting involved in the DIY scene in Boston as a teenager, Williams moved to Iowa. There, she wrote her first EP as Squirrel Flower and began setting up small tours for herself. This first EP, titled Early Winter Songs From Middle America, was self-released in 2015. // In 2016, Williams released her second EP titled Contact Sports on a St. Louis-based DIY tape label called It Takes Time. // Williams’ debut album, I Was Born Swimming, was released in 2020 via Polyvinyl Records. The album was produced by Gabe Wax. This anticipated label debut earned overwhelming praise from the likes of Gorilla vs. Bear, NPR Music, and Paste, and she was named Rolling Stone Artist You Need To Know, Stereogum’s Artist to Watch, The FADER’s Gen F, and The Guardian’s One to Watch. In May 2020, Squirrel Flower released the single “Take It Or Leave It”, backed with her cover of Caroline Polachek’s “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings.”]
[Squirrel Flower plays Manor Fest 6, Thursday, May 30, at 9:00pm, at FAREWELL, 6523 Stadium Drive, KCMO with Charlotte Bumgarner, and Ebony Tusks.]
11:11 – More Interview with Shaun Crowley
Shaun Crowley of Manor Records joins us to talk about Manor Fest 6, featuring 60 bands, across 20 venues, in 6 nights, in 6 different neighborhoods of Kanas City.
North Kansas City, Strawberry Hill, West Bottoms, East KC, Westside, Crossroads
The official dates are May 23, 24, & 25 and May 30, 31, & June 1. Manor Fest is a local music fundraiser festival curated and ran by Manor Records. All profits from this fundraiser go to the “Manor Records Fund” to help with their non-profit’s mission of releasing music from local artists on physical platforms through Manor Records. More information at; http://www.manorrecords.com
Manor Fest 6 WEEKEND TWO – May 30, 31, & June 1 Night Two – Friday, May 31 – WESTSIDE
Venue One: Fox & Pearl, 815 W 17th St, KCMO LUKE KRUTZKE 5:00 – 5:30 PURE XTC 5:45 – 6:15 MINT FATIGUES 6:30 – 7:00
Venue Two: Greenwood Social Club, 1759 Belleview Ave, 2nd Floor, KCMO JULIA HAILE 7:00 – 7:45 FRITZ HUTCHISON 8:00 – 8:45 CALVIN ARSENIA 9:00 – 9:45
Venue Three: Turnsol Books, 1664 Broadway KCMO (Formerly known as Deep Space) STEPHONNE 10:00 – 10:30 THEY’RE THEIRS 10:45 – 11:15 FULLBLOODS 11:30 – 12:00
11:16
Pure xtc – “Fall Apart” from: “Fall Apart” – Single / Taylor Hughes / March 1, 2024 [Pure XTC released the Shed My Skin EP on November 18, 2022. Pure XTC released the single “Get Lost“ on September 9, 2022, and “Shadow” released June 1, 2022. Pure xtc released the EP Nobody’s Home on November 12, 2021. Pure xtc is the musical project of Kansas City based Taylor Hughes. Taylor is also the drummer for the band EXNATIONS. The idea of pure xtc was formed during an extremely isolating time for multi-instrumentalist, Hughes. Living truly on her own for the first time, she moved to the NYC metro in 2019. Time was spent crying on subways, climbing new rooftops, meeting new people, avoiding new people, feeling extremely fulfilled to feeling like a hollow empty shell. [Pure XTC aka Taylor Hughes was our guest on WMM July 14, 2021, and November 10, 2021, and November 16, 2022]
[Pure XTC plays Manor Fest 6 on Friday, May 31, at 5:45pm at Fox & Pearl, 815 W 17th St. KCMO with Luke Krutzke, and Mint Fatigues.]
Julia Haile – “Set Out” from: “Set Out” – Single / Julia Haile / September 20, 2022 [One of 4 new singles released by Julia Haile in the last year and a half. Julia released “Ave 4” and “Up Late” on June 16, 2023. Julia released “Heavy Rotation” & “Set Out” on Sept. 30, 2022. Julia Haile is a singer & songwriter based in KCMO. Her natural talent & musical education fueled a career of exciting performances and beautiful music. From leading Neo-Soul band Hi-Lux and international collaborations to solo works, Julia’s goal is create meaningful musical experiences for all. Julia’s work with Hi-Lux included Tim Braun on guitar, Nick Howell on keys, Dan Loftus on bass, (and prior to that Pete Leibert on bass) and Kian Bryne on drums. Hi-Lux was a Modern-Soul band that blends and bends the boundaries between soul, rock n roll, reggae, and funk. This group created music that pays tribute to their myriad of influences (Amy Winehouse, The Meters, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings). Hi-Lux released the singles, “Revolution” and “Get What You Give” on February 28, 2020, through The Record Machine. Hi-Lux released the single. “Don’t Blame Lee” (featuring Lee Scratch Perry) on April 20, 2018. Hi-Lux released the 7” vinyl single, “”Dance With My Baby” b/w “Don’t Blame Me” on January 5, 2018 through Sunflower Soul Records. Hi-Lux released their 6-track, self-titled EP, Hi-Lux on January 2, 2018. All 6 songs had previously been released as singles. More info at: http://www.juliaHaile.com]
[Julia Haile plays Manor Fest 6, on Friday, May 31, at 7:00pm at Greenwood Social Club, 1759 Belleview Ave, 2nd Floor, KCMO with Fritz Hutchison, and Calvin Arsenia.]
Calvin Arsenia – “Probation” from: Paradise / Calvin Arsenia / June 23, 2023 [Paradise is Calvin Arsenia’s new 14 track album. It is only available through http://www.calvinarsenia.com // A new turning point as a songwriter. His most biographical album yet, with songs about Black Lives Matter, Racism, The Police, being on probation, gay love. The album contains collaborations with Cheery, Kadesh Flow and Jametatone. Calvin Arsenia one of our most frequent guests, who first appeared on WMM on July 25, 2012. KC Magazine has hailed Calvin as ‘equal parts opera, symphony, musical theatre, rock show, all built around its creator: a charismatic 6-foot-7-inch harpist with a 3 and ½ octave range, natural stage command and knack for gilding gold and painting lilies.’ Born in Orlando, Florida, Calvin’s creative journey began when he moved to Olathe, Kansas, teaching himself the guitar, piano, banjo. He learned his signature instrument, the harp, at the age of 20. His passion for stretching the boundaries of musical expression saw him transform a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland’s Fringe Festival early in his career into a life-changing music mission, with an Edinburgh church offering him a role as musical liaison between the church and the city that would change his life. Two years and 300 shows later, Calvin returned to KC reborn as a humanistic songwriter / performer where at 24 he released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. On February 14, 2017 Calvin released his critically acclaimed full length debut, Catastrophe, with a live show at recordBar in November 2016 that involved a company of 50 people, dancers, stilt walkers. After signing to Center Cut Records, Calvin released the albums: Cantaloupe in 2018, with a sold out gigantic spectical at The Gem Theatre on Saturday, September 15, 2018. He then released, L.A. Sessions in 2019, and the EP HONEY DEW, and the EP Goddess with Quixotic, the Holiday album, ALL IS CALM. In 2020 Calvin collaborated with Mike Dillon on the Soundtrack to “Summer in Hindsight,” a feature-length film created by The West 18th Street Fashion Show that starred Calvin as an actor. Calvin is also the co-creator of the podcast “We Were Christian Kids” created with childhood friend Justin Randall who is a stand up comedian working in New York City and now Los Angeles. Calvin is also the published author of EVERY GOOD BOY DOES FINE, a collection of Poetry & Prose published on October 5, 2021, by Andrews McMeel Universal. Calvin was voted KC’s Best Musician in The Pitch 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. He has been featured in Billboard, NPR.org. Charlotte Street Foundation announced that the recipients of the 2022 Generative Performing Artist Awards are The Black Creatures and Calvin Arsenia Scott.] [Calvin Arsenia played a PARADISE Album Release Party, Friday, June 23, and Saturday, June 24, at 7:00 PM at The Emerald, 1715 West 9th Street, KCMO, WEST BOTTOMS. More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com][Calvin Arsenia was our guest on WMM on Jan. 18, 2023, June 21, 2023, and our 1000th Show on June 28, 2923.]
[Calvin Arsenia plays plays Manor Fest 6, on Friday, May 31, at 9:00pm at Greenwood Social Club, 1759 Belleview Ave, 2nd Floor, KCMO with Fritz Hutchison, and Julia Haile.]
Calvin Arsenia Discography
Calvin Arsenia – Moments [EP] / Independent / April 9, 2014 Calvin Arsenia was 24 when he released this EP after returning home to Kansas City after living and performing in Edinburgh, Scotland. Calvin works as a songwriter, composer, lyricist, producer, and engineer.
Calvin Arsenia – Prose [EP] / Independent / February 3, 2015 Recorded over the course of three live sessions at Edinburgh’s Napier University. Produced by Graham Coe. Engineered by David O’Leary. Music and Lyrics: Calvin Arsenia, with Fiona Reid & Liselot Van Oosterom on Vocals, Graham Coe on Cello, Mark Smith on Percussion, Lyle Watt on Guitar Calvin Arsenia on Vocals & Guitar & Piano.
Calvin Arsenia – Caviar [EP] / Calvin Arsenia / December 5, 2017 Produced for attendees at Calvin’s “Secret Show,” Tuesday, December 5, at Wickstock West, 1324 West 12th Street, in The West Bottoms, and for supporters of his Outlyre Tour. Words and Music by Calvin Arsenia. Produced by Jametatone, Simon Huntley and Calvin Arsenia. Recorded at The Infoaming Vertex.
Calvin Arsenia – Catastrophe {EP] / Calvin Arsenia / February 17, 2016 Limited edition EP, produced for Folk Alliance International, contains demo recordings of original gems that are the blueprints for Calvin’s soon to be released full length debut, coming in 2017. Since Calvin Arsenia came home to KC after living in Edinburgh, Scotland, he has released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. He has played all over town, including showcases at Folk Alliance International, Kansas City Fringe Fest, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, and collaborations with bands like My Brothers and Sisters.
Calvin Arsenia – Catastrophe [Album] / Calvin Arsenia / February 14, 2017 Calvin Arsenia premiered these songs in a live show at recordBar in November 2016 in a stage show that involved a company of 50 people, dancers, stilt walkers, special lighting, back up singers, guest artists. Since Calvin Arsenia came home to KC after living in Edinburgh, Scotland, he has released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. Standing at 6 foot 6 inches, Arsenia’s powerful vocals span a 3.5 octave range, while playing piano, banjo, guitar and harp Calvin teaches music to elementary students. Calvin is also a graduate of Artist INC. Since 2014 we have been celebrating the music of Calvin Arsenia. He has played Folk Alliance International, Kansas City Fringe Fest, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, The Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts, The Middle of the Map Fest., The Folly Theatre. Calvin recently returned home from a three month US/European Outlyre Tour where he has played San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, NYC, Boston, Edinburgh, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, Lyon and Paris in over 40 shows, with musician and friend Simon Huntley who plays with Quixotic.]
Calvin Arsenia – Live at Greenwood Social Hall / Unreleased / June 11, 2017 Solo live performance at Greenwood Social Hall, 1760 Bellevue, KCMO.
Calvin Arsenia – Caviar [EP] / Calvin Arsenia / December 5, 2017 Produced for attendees at Calvin’s “Secret Show,” Tuesday, December 5, at Wickstock West, 1324 West 12th Street, in the West Bottoms, and for supporters of his Outlyre Tour. Words and Music by Calvin Arsenia. Produced by Jametatone, Simon Huntley and Calvin Arsenia. Recorded at The Infoaming Vertex.
Calvin Arsenia – Cantaloupe / Center Cut Records / September 15, 2018. Calvin’s 2018 national debut, Cantaloupe (Center Cut Records), has been acclaimed for melding diverse textures into an alluring signature sound for the adventurous artist.
Calvin Arsenia – L.A. Sessions / Center Cut Records / September 20, 2019 Calvin performed live at L.A.’s The Mint, showcasing songs on LA Sessions with musicians who collaborated on the album. Says Calvin: “It’s such a special experience to play with them. To be able to perform these songs in front of an audience and do this for a living – to have made a career out of something I love is so amazing – it is an honor that I never take for granted.”
Calvin Arsenia – Honeydew / Center Cut Records / June 28, 2019 On September 15, 2018 Calvin released Cantaloupe on Center Cut Records. This new EP is a remix of three of the songs from Cantaloupe, plus a Talking Heads cover that was performed live in this style at a New Year’s Eve show at The Truman opening for Making Movies who performed the entire Talking Heads album, Remain in Light. The last three songs on Honeydew were from performed in this style at The Nelson Atkins 2019 event “Party Arty.” Honeydew was produced by Jametatone, Simon Huntley, Calvin Arsenia.
Quixotic & Calvin Arsenia – “Goddess – EP / Quixotic / May 17, 2019 [An innovative performance art collective that fuses imagination with technology, dance, projection, mapping & live music to create fully-immersive, multi-sensory experiences. Quixotic harnesses light, rhythm and expressive emotion. Quixotic was given Silicon Valley’s unofficial stamp of genius when they were invited to perform at the global TED Conference in 2012. A unique blend of performance art, technology & emotion. Quixotic fuses all these elements in to what the New York Times branded an “innovative circus performance”.]
Calvin Arsenia – all is calm / Calvin Arsenia. / December 13, 2019 [Arsenia’s dreamlike whimsy shimmering through your favorite Christmas Classics. All proceeds for this album go towards the purchase of Calvin’s first harp. Featuring: Ben Muñoz on Cello, Shane Borth on Violin & Voila, & Luke “Skippy” Harbur on Beatbox. Mastered by Jametatone at the Infoaming Vertex and special thanks to Simon Huntley. Calvin wrote: “I recorded the majority of this album in my bedroom in between flights to and from KC and SF. I had my nephews and friend’s kids in mind and wanted an album of Christmas lullabys. I think it became just a little more sassy than anticipated, but I think you’ll enjoy it regardless.
Calvin Arsenia – Summer in Hindsight / Calvin Arsenia & Mike Dillon / Oct. 16, 2020 Soundtrack by Calvin Arsenia and Mike Dillon for The West 18th Street Fashion Show’s 20th year as a feature-length film. COVID-19 changed everything in 2020. “We are moving it from the street to the screen,” says Peregrine Honig to inkansascitymagazine. “Mike Dillon and Calvin Arsenia will be scoring and performing in the film.” The film premiered October 16, 2020 at The Boulevard Drive-In. Honig wrote,. “We did this during a pandemic and a cultural revolution. I am not sure where else or how else this could happen at this moment in history.” Calvin Arsenia had recently been emotionally and greatly moved by the area and national Black Lives Matter Movement. His own research into his own family revealed that Calvin’s great, great, great grandmother Alice Gilliam Scott, was a former slave who lived to observe her 100th birthday as noted by a regional newspaper Calvin had written. In the summer of 2020 Calvin wrote “Revelation” an unreleased track inspired by Black Lives Matter. Calvin premiered the song on WMM on August 12, 2020. He later shared his other new songs, “Scars and Stripes” and “The Flying Monkees are Coming!” on our October 14, 2020 edition of WMM. Both of those songs ended up on Summer in Hindsight.
Calvin Arsenia – Paradise / Calvin Arsenia / June 23, 2023 Calvin Arsenia played a PARADISE Album Release Party, Friday, June 23, and Saturday, June 24, at 7:00 PM at The Emerald, 1715 West 9th Street, KCMO, WEST BOTTOMS. More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com
Calvin’s Book EVERY GOOD BOY DOES FINE / Andrews McMeel Universal / Oct. 5, 2021 a collection of Poetry & Prose More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com
11:26 – Underwriting
11:27 – More Interview with Shaun Crowley
Shaun Crowley of Manor Records talks about Manor Fest 6, featuring 60 bands, across 20 venues, in 6 nights, in 6 different neighborhoods of Kanas City.
North Kansas City, Strawberry Hill, West Bottoms, East KC, Westside, Crossroads
The official dates are May 23, 24, & 25 and May 30, 31, & June 1. Manor Fest is a local music fundraiser festival curated and ran by Manor Records. All profits from this fundraiser go to the “Manor Records Fund” to help with their non-profit’s mission of releasing music from local artists on physical platforms through Manor Records. More information at; http://www.manorrecords.com
Shaun Crowley thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Manor Fest 6 WEEKEND TWO – May 30, 31, & June 1 Night Three – Saturday, June 1 – CROSSROADS
Venue One: Third Place Lounge, 1744 Broadway Blvd KCMO MALEK AZRAEL 1:00 – 1:30 MASON BLAIZE 1:45 – 2:15 NICK SHOULDERS 2:30 – 3:00
Malek Azrael – “in ur mind” from: “ion ur mind” – Single / Malek Azrael / March 1, 2024 [On October 15, 2021 Makek Azrael released his 10-track album debut. Male Azrael lives in KCMO. He has worked for Boys Grow, and is currently working with touring. Malek Azrael has been involved with Making Movies non-profit organization Art As Mentorship. He sometimes plays with Making Movies and played the Ameri-Kana Fest. Malek Azrael played KKFI’s 18th Annual Crossroads Music Fest, on Aug. 27, at The Black Box, in West Bottoms.
[Malek Azrael plays Manor Feet 6, Saturday, June 1, at 1:00pm at Third Place Lounge, 1744 Broadway Blvd KCMO with Mason Blaize and Nick Shoulders]
[Malek & The Vibez play Boulevardia Festival at Crown Center, on Friday, June 16.]
Nick Shoulders – “Won’t Fence Us In” from: All Bad / Gar Hole Records. / July 28 2023 [All Bad, the latest album from Nick Shoulders, ultimately encapsulates everything that makes Shoulders’ inimitable form of country music so vital: a heady balance of dazzling musicianship and punk defiance, coupled with gritty eccentricity and a generational connection to the roots of the genre. With a singing style inherited from his family’s vocal lineage, Nick’s songs achieve the rare feat of imparting difficult truths while inciting a certain joyful abandon, balancing a sound forged by years of hard travel with a heartfelt reverence for the origins of country music. In the spirit of Hazel Dickens and Jimmy Driftwood, the incisive yet wildly jubilant All Bad vocally objects to the reckless destruction of the natural landscape and development run rampant, while still offering plenty of joy and dance-ready rhythms. Spanning a variety of early country styles, the album’s infectious harmonies shine alongside everything from jangling cajun waltzes to surf-rock infused bluesy ballads–all tied together by a voice seemingly out of place in this century, yet ever ready to speak up about its problems. // Released via Gar Hole Records (a label founded and co-owned by Shoulders), All Bad marks the first LP made with his longtime band, the Okay Crawdad, since 2019’s premier full-length Okay, Crawdad and their subsequent pandemic-imposed hiatus. After writing most of the album from the front seat of a tour van, the Fayetteville, AR-based musician and bandmates Grant D’Aubin (harmonies/bass), Cheech Moosekian (drums) and Jack Studer (lead guitar) recorded the album in a home studio on the banks of the Mississippi River with New Orleans collaborators Ross Farbe and Sam Doores.]
[Nick Shoulders plays Manor Feet 6, Saturday, June 1, at 2:30pm at Third Place Lounge, 1744 Broadway Blvd KCMO with Mason Blaize and Malek Azrael]
Frogpond – “It’s Not Over” from: TimeThief / Black-Site Records / November 19, 2021 [Newly reformed KC indie rock band, Frogpond, will release TimeThief, its first album in over twenty years on November 19, 2021, on the KC record label cooperative Black Site. Frogpond is: singer/guitarist and founder Heidi Phillips, long-time bassist, Justine Volpe, with Kristin Conkright on rhythm guitar, and Michelle Bacon on drums. More info at: http://black-site.org/frogpond // Frogpond digitally reissued their Au 1996 vinyl and cassette release Count To Ten on March 12, 2021, 25 years after its original release on August 9, 1996 on Columbia Records. Frogpond was formed in Warrensburg, Missouri. The band existed from 1994-2000, primarily performing in Kansas City and Lawrence, Kansas. COUNT TO TEN was the band’s 12-track national debut full length released on Tristar Music – Columbia on CD and vinyl in 1996 with songs written by Heidi Phillips, with Heidi Phillips on vocals & guitar, Justine Volpe on bass, Megan Hamilton on drums, Kristie Stemel on guitar and backing vocals. Art Alexakis (of the band Everclear) served as producer and contributed backing vocals. // In 1999 Frogpond released the 13-track second album, SAFE RIDE HOME on C2 Records – Columbia, on CD and vinyl with songs written by Heidi Phillips, and with Heidi Phillips on vocals & guitar, Justine Volpe on bass & backing vocals, and Billy Johnson on drums. The album was recorded by Doug McBride at Gravity Studios in Chicago who also served as producer and contributed electric piano and piano. // In 1994 Frogpond self released their 8-song cassette release 2%. 2% was produced, engineered, and mixed at Red House Recording, Lawrence, Kansas, October 1994. Heidi Phillips joined us LIVE onWMM on November 10, 2021.]
[Frogpond plays Manor Feet 6, Saturday, June 1, at 4:30pm at MADE MOBB, 221 Southwest Blvd, KCMO with Shay Lyric, and Big Fat Cow.]
11:41- Interview with Shaun Crowley
Shaun Crowley of Manor Records joins us to talk about Manor Fest 6, featuring 60 bands, across 20 venues, in 6 nights, in 6 different neighborhoods of Kanas City.
North Kansas City, Strawberry Hill, West Bottoms, East KC, Westside, Crossroads
The official dates are May 23, 24, & 25 and May 30, 31, & June 1. Manor Fest is a local music fundraiser festival curated and ran by Manor Records. All profits go to the “Manor Records Fund” to help release music from local artists on physical platforms through Manor Records. More information at; http://www.manorrecrds.com
Shaun Crowley thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Manor Fest 6 WEEKEND TWO – May 30, 31, & June 1 Night Three – Saturday, June 1 – CROSSROADS
Venue Three: Arizona Trading CO. 1722 Oak Street KCMO THE HIGHWATER 5:00 – 5:30 JASS 5:45 – 6:15 HONEYBEE 6:30 – 7:00
Venue Four: recordBar, 1520 Grand, Blvd, KCMO PARIS WILLIAMS 7:00 – 7:45 KAT KING 8:00 – 8:45 BLACKSTARKIDS 9:00 – 9:45
Jass – “grow” from: At the Close of a Decade / JASS / November 26, 2022 [Jass is Jasmine “Jass” Couch. Jass and The Boys released the single “Love U Like I Love U” on December 2, 2022. Jass released the EP, OFF KEY: TOO HIGH on September 23, 2022. Jass released the single “Higher Ground” on August 16, 2022. It was #1 on WMM’s 50 Favorite Singles of 2022. Jass released her single, “Him” on February 23, 2022. Jass released At the Close of a Decade on November 26, 2022. It was part of WMM’s 121 Best Recordings of 2021. She wrote, “After years of writing and recording in voice memos .. I decided to grab my iPad and began recording something that I am very proud of. I named it, At the Close of A Decade, and released it in November 2019. With my iPhone/iPad, some apple headphones, I created this project. The amazing people around me told me it was worth it, even when I didn’t believe it myself. I convinced myself I would be the only one that liked my songs. If you decide to listen you’ll hear sound clips of shows and movies that made a difference in the way I saw the world, the way I saw myself, and the way I overcame my experiences. I remember asking my grandma and my son if I should release what I’ve been writing and they both said very simply to do it, so I’ve done it. I want to thank all of my wonderful friends who have been my soundboards during this process, all of the people that have asked me when it’s coming, the people that have kept me accountable, and believed that this time it was for real. My story is so very triumphant and beautiful because I have overcome experiences and shunned the fear I had to do what I love. It’s crazy how you can talk your way out of some amazing things and also how you can talk yourself into making some amazing things happen. If you partake, I hope you enjoy.” // Jass has opened for Thundercat sat GRINDERS, headlined a show at The Bottleneck in Lawrence with my boys! (Colby Bales and Brande Moser), and she opened up for The New Respects at The Uptown, and sang the Negro National Anthem at BLAQUE to School Night at the KC Monarchs game.More info at: http://www.jassrcouch.com]
[Jass plays Manor Fest 6, at 7:00 PM at Arizona Trading CO. 1722 Oak Street KCMO with The Highwater, and Honeybee.]
Honeybee – “House Party” from: Saturn Return – EP / Honeybee / March 29, 2024 [Honeybee started as the solo project of Singer/Songwriter Makayla Scott and now include 3 or 4 of her friends umping in… Honeybee released the songle “I Know What Love is” on January 27, 2023. Makayla Scott also played with the band Blue False Indigo Makayla Scott studied music at Drury University graduating in 2017.]
[Honeybee plays Manor Fest 6 at 6:30 PM at Arizona Trading CO. 1722 Oak Street KCMO with The Highwater, and Jass.]
Paris Williams – “LONDON, TOKYO (feat. Sam Wells)” (radio edit) from: REBEL HEART / Bitter Sweet Sound / January 31, 2023 [Paris Williams is a 24-year old artist from Muskegon, Michigan in the midst of redefining the bedroom pop label. Employing his own sound that he’s dubbed, “bittersweet,” Williams never shuts away from his DIY aesthetic – producing his own work to maintain full creative flexibility. Premiering in December of 2019 with his debut album, DROP DEAD GORGEOUS, Paris is a believer in hitting the ground running and then just never letting off the gas. This mentality was shaped by the inspiration he’s pulled from other famously out-of-the-box artists: such as Kanye West, Pharrell, and Toro y Moi. // Fueled by the multi-faceted artists, Williams believes heavily in pulling from all creative mediums as a way to add layers and texture to his music. This approach has led to Williams seeing support from larger than life musical pillars, like Iggy Pop himself – who showed love to Williams’ song of the same name by spinning it on his BBC radio show in 2018. Williams reshapes the musical landscape around him as his burgeoning career continues to solidify its own form more and more each day by bringing in a breath of fresh air with him everywhere since he wrote his first bars in elementary school. Paris Williams previously released the single, “Hopscotch” on June 21, 2022. He released,“Chunky”on April 20, 2022. He released the single, “Sunsets & Solariums (feat. Bloom Allen)” on October 21, 2021 through Bittersweet Sounds. More info at: allmylinks.com/popstarparis]
[Paris Williams plays Manor Fest 6 in Kansas City on Saturday, June 1, at 7:00 PM at recordBar, 1520 Grand, Blvd., KCMO, with Kat King, and Blackstarkids.]
11:53- Interview with Shaun Crowley
Shaun Crowley of Manor Records joins us to talk about Manor Fest 6, featuring 60 bands, across 20 venues, in 6 nights, in 6 different neighborhoods of Kanas City.
The official dates are May 23, 24, & 25 and May 30, 31, & June 1. Manor Fest is a local music fundraiser festival curated and ran by Manor Records. All profits go to the “Manor Records Fund” to help release music from local artists on physical platforms through Manor Records. More information at; http://www.manorrecrds.com
Shaun Crowley thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Manor Fest 6 WEEKEND TWO – May 30th, 31st, & June 1st Night Three – Saturday, June 1 – CROSSROADS
Venue Three: Arizona Trading CO. 1722 Oak Street KCMO THE HIGHWATER 5:00 – 5:30 JASS 5:45 – 6:15 HONEYBEE 6:30 – 7:00
Venue Four: recordBar, 1520 Grand, Blvd, KCMO PARIS WILLIAMS 7:00 – 7:45 KAT KING 8:00 – 8:45 BLACKSTARKIDS 9:00 – 9:45
BLACKSTARKIDS – “Sounds Like Fun!” from: SURF / Bedroom Records / February 28, 2020 [Blackstarkids are phenomenon who came out of Kansas City in 2020 became the soundtrack for the summer. Blackstarkids are a pop/R&B/hip-hop trio based in Kansas City, Missouri. Members include: TheBabeGabe, Deiondre, and TyFaizon (of the Drop Dead XX collective). The members have known each other since high school in Raytown, Missouri. Members met at Raytown South High School and formed the band in 2019. The group released its first album, Let’s Play Sports, on August 1, 2019. Blackstarkids then released their second album SURF through their own label Bedroom Records on February 28, 2020. Blackstarkids caught the attention of The 1975’s frontman Matty Healy and were then signed to The 1975’s management company and UK-based label Dirty Hit Records. They were featured in Clash Magazine. Blackstarkids then released, Surf Basement Demos on Dirty Hit Records on March 5, 2020. On October 29, 2020, Blackstarkids released Whatever, Man on Dirty Hit Records, their third album release of 2020. Gabe, of Blackstarkids recently described the KC Music community to an interviewer, “The music scene here is really nice. There are a lot of bands who are super talented and do all types of genres. The jazz music here is really great as well. Kansas City is honestly a hidden gem when it comes to music. I feel like you can meet an artist anywhere and anyplace in this city.” Deiondre added, “The music scene here is getting cool now, there’s a lot of jazz musicians that go to school for music here too but you can find people from different scenes all over if around the city.” Ty wrote, “The Kansas City scene is great, the community here is so supportive and genuine. This is a really prideful city here and I think they’re finally getting the musicians they deserve.”]
[Blackstarkids plays Manor Fest 6 in Kansas City on Saturday, June 1, at 7:00 PM at recordBar, 1520 Grand, Blvd., KCMO, with Kat King, and Paris Williams.]
Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now” from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]
Next week, on Wednesday, April 24 At 10:30 Chris and Phil Kinsley of Arson Class and Sid Sowder of Too Much Rock join us to share the radio broadcast premiere of the newest installment in the Too Much Rock Singles Series.
At 11:00 Jeremiah James Gonzales and band mates from RxGhost share music from their new EP Scaffolding, released April 11, 2024. Vocals/Guitar RxGhost is: Josh Thomas on vocals & guitar, Justin Brooks on drums, James Capps on guitar, Chris Smead on bass. Scaffolding was produced by RxGhost, recorded and mixed by Paul Malinowski at Massive Sound Studios and mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering
At 11:30 Scott Hrabko share music form his my new project, “Other Cats, Other Bags. Volume II,” released on April 19, 2024. It’s multi-volume project culled from recording sessions Scott did at home with a few longtime Rabbits and some new friends from the KC music community. More info at: https://scotthrabko.com
THANK YOU to our incredible KKFI Staff; Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers.
This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. Instead it is about a collective spirit of hundreds of hardworking people, unselfishly setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the gigantic goal of keeping our airwaves free, non-commercial, and open to all! Congratulations and thank you to all programmers & volunteers who went the extra effort to keep our station alive.
Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information. Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org
Wednesday MidDay Medley Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Shaun Crowley & The Music of Manor Fest 6
Mark spins music from 25 artists and bands playing Manor Fest 6 including: Blackstarkids, Squirrel Flower, Shy Boys, Ebony Tusks, Calvin Arsenia, Paris Williams, Daniel Gum, Frogpond, Honeybee, True Lions, The Creepy Jingles, Liney Blu, Nick Shoulders, Grady Philip Drugg, Kadesh Flow, Pale Tongue, Julia Haile, Wills Van Doorn, Kat King, Pure XTC, Khrystal., Malek Azrael, Jass, The Swallowtails, and ALBER.
At 10:00 AM Shaun Crowley of Manor Records joins us to talk about Manor Fest 6, featuring 60 bands, across 20 venues, in 6 nights, in 6 different neighborhoods of Kanas City. The official dates are May 23, 24, & 25 and May 30, 31, & June 1. Manor Fest is a local music fundraiser festival curated and ran by Manor Records. All profits from this fundraiser go to the “Manor Records Fund” to help with their non-profit’s mission of releasing music from local artists on physical platforms through Manor Records. Manor Fest 6 includes: BLACKSTARKIDS, Squirrel Flower, Shy Boys, Ebony Tusks, Calvin Arsenia, Dylan Earl, Paris Williams, Daniel Gum, Kat King, Scabb, Flooding, Frogpond, Fritz Hutchison, Honeybee, True Lions, Supermoto, The Creepy Jingles, Tidal.wav, Kirstie Lynn & Galen Clark, Nick Shoulders, Fullbloods, MC Rue + Mikey, Jass, Grady Drugg, Kadesh Flow, Pale Tongue, Liney Blu, Khrystal., Eggs On Mars, CS Luxem, Brian Bulger, Blanky, The Highwater, Charlotte Bumgarner, THIMASTR, Julia Haile, Teri Quinn, The CAVVES, Wills Van Doorn, Midwestern, Pure XYC, Stephonne, Big Fat Cow, Mason Blaize, Burning Bush, Luke Krutzke, 2W33DY, Collidescope, Shay Lyric, Malek Azrael, Field Daze, They’re Theirs, The Swallowtails, Jolson & The Fear of Snakes, Natalie Prauser, Dalia Kapten, and ALBER. For more information you can visit: http://www.manorrecords.com
On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org
Wednesday MidDay Medley Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Mara Williams & J.M. Banks of VOICES OF Kansas City + Owen/Cox Dance Group + D. Rashaan Gilmore + Anson The Ornery
“Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks” from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979 [WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]
Swamp Dogg – “Count The Days (feat. Jenny Lewis)” from: Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St. / Oh Boy Records / May 31, 2024 [Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St, his first record with Oh Boy Records that will be released on May 31. The effervescent new single which was first released in 1967 by Inez and Charlie Foxx and re-envisioned here, arrives with an official music video featuring Swamp and Lewis recording the track at Nashville’s Sound Emporium. // Last month, the feature-length documentary Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted premiered at SXSW and received raves from The Austin Chronicle and The Hollywood Reporter who called it, “a documentary that draws its voice and aesthetic from the spirit of its subject, resulting in a tight 97 minutes that feel organic and satisfying and, as befits that subject, appealingly odd.” Rolling Stone also included Swamp Dogg’s official showcase in their Best of SXSW roundup proclaiming, “Swamp Dogg sounded bold and robust, his vigor encouraging his band to ratchet up the energy… every musician on stage was locked into an undeniable groove.” // Produced by Ryan Olson (Poliça, Gayngs) and recorded with an all-star band including Noam Pikelny, Sierra Hull, Jerry Douglas, Chris Scruggs, Billy Contreras, and Kenny Vaughan, the 12-song collection is a riotous blend of past and present, mixing the sacred and the profane in typical Swamp Dogg fashion as it blurs the lines between folk, roots, country, blues, and soul. Special guests like Margo Price, Vernon Reid, Jenny Lewis, Justin Vernon, and The Cactus Blossoms all add to the excitement, but it’s ultimately the 81-year-old Swamp Dogg’s delivery—sly and playful and full of genuine joy and ache—that steals the show. // “Believe it or not, I didn’t do anything but sing these songs the way I would have sung them if it was an R&B album. That’s just the way the music comes out of me, and it would have been unholy for me to try and imitate anybody else,” explains Swamp Dogg about the making of the album. “Black music has had so many different labels put on it over the years that sometimes I’m onstage and I don’t know what the hell it is that I’m singing,” Swamp Dogg says with a laugh. “The only thing I know how to do is be myself.” // “Swamp Dogg is one of my favorite humans on the planet… How to classify him I just don’t know. He’s a soul artist, a psychedelic artist, a protest singer, he’s a man for all seasons.” – Ann Powers // Jerry Williams Jr. was born July 12, 1942. He is generally credited under the pseudonym Swamp Dogg after 1970, is an American soul and R&B singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. Williams has been described as “one of the great cult figures of 20th century American music.” // After recording as Little Jerry and Little Jerry Williams in the 1950s and 1960s, he reinvented himself as Swamp Dogg, releasing a series of satirical, offbeat, and eccentric recordings, as well as continuing to write and produce for other musicians. He debuted his new sound on the Total Destruction To Your Mind album in 1970. In the 1980s, he helped to develop Alonzo Williams’ World Class Wreckin’ CRU, which produced Dr. Dre among others. He continues to make music, releasing Love, Loss & Autotune on Joyful Noise Recordings in 2018,[3][4] and Sorry You Couldn’t Make It in 202. // Williams was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. He made his first recording, “HTD Blues (Hardsick Troublesome Downout Blues)”, for the Mechanic record label in 1954, when he was aged 12, with his parents and uncle and backing musicians, and was regularly hired to play private parties. From 1960, he released occasional singles for a variety of labels, including the self-written “I’m The Lover Man” in 1964, which was first issued on the Southern Sound label and was then picked up by the larger Loma label, almost breaking into the national Billboard Hot 100. He also wrote successfully for other musicians, including “Big Party” for Barbara and the Browns. // As Little Jerry Williams, he had his first national chart success in 1966, when “Baby You’re My Everything”, which he co-wrote and produced, was released on the Calla label and rose to #32 on the R&B chart, again just missing the Hot 100. He released several more singles on Calla through to 1967, by now credited simply as Jerry Williams, but with little commercial success, although some of his records such as “If You Ask Me (Because I Love You)” later became staples of the Northern Soul movement in the UK. // By late 1967 he started working in A&R and other duties for the Musicor label in New York. In 1968 he co-wrote, with Charlie Foxx, Gene Pitney’s up-tempo hit, “She’s a Heartbreaker”, which Williams also claimed to have produced, saying: “I produced the motherfuck out of it… [and] Charlie Foxx put me down on the label as “vocal arranger.” What the fuck is that? When they took out full-page ads in Billboard and Cashbox, there was a picture of Charlie on one side and a picture of Gene Pitney on the other and no mention of me.” // Later in 1968 Williams began working as a producer at Atlantic Records with Jerry Wexler and Phil Walden, on artists including Patti LaBelle & the Blue Belles, though he found the administration frustrating.[5] He established a songwriting partnership with Gary Anderson, who performed as Gary U.S. Bonds, and the pair wrote the R&B chart hits “To the Other Woman (I’m the Other Woman)” by Doris Duke, and “She Didn’t Know (She Kept on Talking)” by Dee Dee Warwick. He also recorded a single, “I Got What It Takes”, in a duo with Brooks O’Dell, and released two singles under his own name on the Cotillion label, a subsidiary of Atlantic. // Swamp Dogg Williams later wrote:I became Swamp Dogg in 1970 in order to have an alter-ego and someone to occupy the body while the search party was out looking for Jerry Williams, who was mentally missing in action due to certain pressures, mal-treatments and failure to get paid royalties on over fifty single records…. Most all of the tracks included were recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and Macon, Georgia, which brings me to how the name Swamp Dogg came about. Jerry Wexler, Atlantic Records v.p. and producer/innovator second to none, was recording in the newly discovered mecca of funk Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He coined the term “Swamp Music” for this awesome funk predominately played by all white musicians accompanying the R’n’B institutions e.g., Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, King Curtis… I was also using the same “swamp” players. I was tired of being a jukebox, singing all of the hits by Chuck Jackson, Ben E. King, etc., and being an R’n’B second banana. I couldn’t dance as good as Joe Tex, wasn’t pretty like Tommy Hunt, couldn’t compare vocally to Jackie Wilson and I didn’t have the sex appeal of Daffy Duck. I wanted to sing about everything and anything and not be pigeonholed by the industry. So I came up with the name Dogg because a dog can do anything, and anything a dog does never comes as a real surprise; if he sleeps on the sofa, shits on the rug, pisses on the drapes, chews up your slippers, humps your mother-in-law’s leg, jumps on your new clothes and licks your face, he’s never gotten out of character. You understand what he did, you curse while making allowances for him but your love for him never diminishes. Commencing in 1970, I sung about sex, niggers, love, rednecks, war, peace, dead flies, home wreckers, Sly Stone, my daughters, politics, revolution and blood transfusions (just to name a few), and never got out of character. Recording in Alabama and sincerely singing/writing about items that interested me, gave birth to the name Swamp Dogg. // Having adopted his moniker before Snoop Dogg was born he has claimed to be “the original D-O double G.” // In 1970 he emerged in his new Swamp Dogg persona, with two singles on Wally Roker’s Canyon label, “Mama’s Baby, Daddy’s Maybe”, again co-written with Bonds, and “Synthetic World”. He also produced the first Swamp Dogg album, Total Destruction to Your Mind. The album sleeve showed Williams sitting in his underwear on a pile of garbage. Williams’ new direction apparently followed an LSD trip, and was inspired by the radical politics of the time and by Frank Zappa’s use of satire, while showing his own expertise in, and commitment to, deep soul and R&B music. According to Allmusic: “In sheer musical terms, Swamp Dogg is pure Southern soul, anchored on tight grooves and accentuated by horns, but the Dogg is as much about message as music…” Although not a commercial success at the time, Swamp Dogg started to develop a cult following and eventually the album sold enough to achieve gold record status. Record critic Robert Christgau wrote that “Soul-seekers like myself are moderately mad for the obscure” album and has called it “legendary”. It was reissued in 2013 by Alive Naturalsound Records. // Around the same time, one of the songs Williams had co-written with Gary Bonds, “She’s All I Got”, became a top-ten R&B hit for Freddie North, and was recorded with even greater success by country star Johnny Paycheck, whose version reached #2 on the country music chart in late 1971.[7] In a later interview on NPR’s Studio 360, Williams stated he was raised on country music: “Black music didn’t start ’til 10 at night until 4 in the morning and I was in bed by then… If you strip my tracks, take away all the horns and guitar licks, what you have is a country song.” However, he also continued to write and produce deep soul songs for other musicians, including Z. Z. Hill and Irma Thomas. In 1971 in collaboration with co-producer and writer the legendary George Semper he released “Monster Walk Pt. 1 and 2” by the Rhythm ‘N’ Blues Classical Funk Band on Mankind Records label. Produced for Jerry Williams Productions, Inc.and in spite of modest sales the record once again demonstrated his entrepreneurial skill as an artist. // As Swamp Dogg, he was signed by Elektra Records for his second album, Rat On! in 1971. The sleeve showed him on the back of a giant white rat, and has frequently been ranked as one of the worst album covers of all time. Sales were relatively poor, and he joined Jane Fonda’s anti-Vietnam War Free the Army tour. His next albums Cuffed, Collared and Tagged (1972) and Gag a Maggott (recorded at the TK Studio in 1973) were released on smaller labels, though his 1974 album, Have You Heard This Story??, was issued by Island Records. In 1977 he had another minor R&B hit with “My Heart Just Can’t Stop Dancing”, credited to Swamp Dogg & the Riders of the New Funk. He continued to release albums through the 1970s and into the mid-1980s as Swamp Dogg, on various small independent labels and in a variety of styles including disco and country and maintained a healthy cult following. He also set up his own publishing and recording company, Swamp Dogg Entertainment Group (SDEG). // In 1999, “Slow Slow Disco” was sampled by Kid Rock on the track “I Got One for Ya”, sparking a revival of interest in Swamp Dogg, who began performing live gigs for the first time. Several other of his recordings were sampled, and in 2009 he released two new albums, Give Em as Little as You Can…As Often as You Have To…Or…A Tribute to Rock N Roll, and An Awful Christmas and a Lousy New Year. He also released some further singles, and a compilation album of the best of his work as both Little Jerry Williams and Swamp Dogg, It’s All Good, was released in 2009. Most of his early Swamp Dogg albums have also been reissued on CD. // Swamp Dogg released a full-length album of new songs in 2014, The White Man Made Me Do It, which Williams described as being a sort of sequel to Total Destruction To Your Mind. Shortly thereafter, Swamp Dogg teamed up with Ryan Olson from Poliça to produce the tracks for his 2018 album Love, Loss & Autotune, Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) fine-tuning the vocal tracks. The song also features instrumentation by Guitar Shorty. The music video for “I’ll Pretend” premiered at NPR and was later featured at Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Spin and elsewhere. Swamp Dogg described the song as a character study about “a guy sitting in a restaurant by himself losing his fucking mind because he’s hoping his woman is gonna walk by, but she’s at a Ramada Inn somewhere fucking somebody else to death.” // In 2020, he released the album Sorry You Couldn’t Make It, a country-styled record recorded in Nashville with producer Ryan Olson and musicians including Justin Vernon, John Prine, and Jenny Lewis. More info at: http://www.theswampdogg.com]
Beyoncé – “Blackbird (feat. Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy & Reyna Roberts)” from: Cowboy Carter / Parkwood Entertaiment / March 29, 2024 [Cowboy Carter (also referred to as Act II: Cowboy Carter) is the eighth studio album by American singer and songwriter Beyoncé, released on March 29, 2024, via Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records. The album is the second installment of Beyoncé’s trilogy project, following Renaissance (2022). Beyoncé conceived Cowboy Carter as a journey through a reinvention of Americana, spotlighting the overlooked contributions of Black pioneers to American musical and cultural history. // Mostly labeled a country album, Cowboy Carter blends together diverse musical genres such as pop, hip hop, trap, psychedelic funk, blues, soul, rock, rock ‘n’ roll, opera, “Irish” jig and folk music, among others. Conceptually, the album is presented as a radio broadcast by a fictitious station called “KNTRY Radio Texas”, with country singers Dolly Parton, Linda Martell and Willie Nelson acting as disc jockeys. The album’s songs feature lesser-known country artists such as Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, Shaboozey and Willie Jones. The music is driven by a range of acoustic instruments played by musicians including Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Nile Rodgers, Jon Batiste, Gary Clark Jr. and Rhiannon Giddens. // The album broke several streaming records and debuted at number one in several countries globally. Two co-lead singles — “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” — supported the album, with the former becoming the first country song by a black woman to top the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts. // Cowboy Carter was met with universal acclaim upon release; critics felt that the album’s genre experimentation, expansive scope and eclectic references aided an ambitious reimagining of Americana and country through the lens of its Black roots. The album also ignited discussions on Black musicians’ place within country music, boosted the listenership of Black country artists and country radio in general, and increased the popularity of Western wear and culture. // I grew up going to the Houston rodeo every year. It was this amazing diverse and multicultural experience where there was something for every member of the family, including great performances, Houston-style fried Snickers, and fried turkey legs. One of my inspirations came from the overlooked history of the American Black cowboy. Many of them were originally called cowhands, who experienced great discrimination and were often forced to work with the worst, most temperamental horses. They took their talents and formed the Soul Circuit. Through time, these Black rodeos showcased incredible performers and helped us reclaim our place in western history and culture.— Beyoncé to Harper’s Bazaar in 2021 // Beyoncé was born and raised in Houston, amid the city’s cowboy heritage and country and zydeco music. She listened to country music from an early age, particularly because of her paternal grandfather; her family attended the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo every year in western clothing. She performed at the Rodeo four times between 2001 and 2007, and has continued to celebrate her country and Southern roots throughout her career. // Beyoncé’s first notable association with country music came in 2007, when she performed a bluegrass-inspired version of her hit “Irreplaceable” with country duo Sugarland at the American Music Awards. She first released an original country song in 2016: the track “Daddy Lessons” on her sixth studio album Lemonade. Beyoncé, together with the Chicks (who had previously covered the song), performed the track at the 50th Annual Country Music Association Awards on November 2, 2016. The performance was largely praised by critics and gave the Country Music Association Awards their highest viewership in history; however, it was also met with backlash, with some country music fans criticizing Beyoncé’s attendance and claiming she did not belong in the genre. The Country Music Association deleted all promotional posts about Beyoncé’s performance, which was seen as succumbing to the pressure in an attempt to prevent backlash against the organization. // This experience led to the creation of Cowboy Carter. Beyoncé said how it was made clear to her that she was not welcome in the country music space, but instead of letting the criticism force her out of the genre, it made her push past the limitations put on her. She delved into the history of country music and Western culture and researched its African-American roots. She studied “our rich musical archive” and learned from educators who had long advocated for a re-education on the black roots of country music. She also read that historically half of cowboys were black. “After understanding where the word ‘cowboy’ came from, I realized how much of the Black, brown and Native cowboy stories are missing in American history”, she said. This was the inspiration for her 2021 “Ivy Park Rodeo” clothing collection. Following this research, Beyoncé decided that she wanted to reclaim Americana and country music from a Black perspective, according to stage designer Es Devlin. Collaborator Rhiannon Giddens said Beyoncé did not intend to create a typical crossover country album, but instead wanted to explore her family’s roots through music. Beyoncé conceived the album as a redefinition of “what is Country and Americana, and who gets to be included”, with the aim of dismantling accepted false norms about American culture and paying homage to Black musical pioneers. // Cowboy Carter was over five years in the making. Beyoncé began to write the album in 2019, then recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, which she described as her most creative period. The album forms the second installment (“Act II”) of a trilogy project that Beyoncé recorded during this period. The first act, Renaissance (2022), is primarily a house and disco record highlighting and celebrating the Black progenitors of dance music, leading some to believe that each album of the trilogy would aim to explore the Black roots of a different musical genre. Cowboy Carter was originally intended to be released before Renaissance but Beyoncé changed the order as a response to the pandemic. // Between 2020 and 2024, Dolly Parton said on multiple occasions that she would like Beyoncé to cover her song “Jolene”. She first said that “nobody’s ever had a really big hit record on [‘Jolene’]” in a December 5, 2020, interview with The Big Issue. She said that even though “the song has been recorded worldwide over 400 times in lots of different languages, by lots of different bands, [she’d] always hoped somebody might do [it] someday, someone like Beyoncé.” On March 10, 2022, when asked by Trevor Noah on The Daily Show about her 2020 statement, she said “I would just love to hear ‘Jolene’ done in just a big way, kind of like how Whitney did my ‘I Will Always Love You’, just someone that can take my little songs and make them like powerhouses. That would be a marvelous day in my life if she ever does do ‘Jolene’.” After publicly showing her support for Beyoncé’s 2024 venture into country in February, on March 8, 2024, in an interview with Knox News for the 2024 season opening of Dollywood, Parton said “I think she’s recorded ‘Jolene’ and I think it’s probably gonna be on her country album, which I’m very excited about…” // In addition to up-and-coming country artists, various established musicians contributed to Cowboy Carter, including Linda Martell, Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder and Nile Rodgers // The joy of creating music is that there are no rules. The more I see the world evolving the more I felt a deeper connection to purity. With artificial intelligence and digital filters and programming, I wanted to go back to real instruments, and I used very old ones. I didn’t want some layers of instruments like strings, especially guitars, and organs perfectly in tune. I kept some songs raw and leaned into folk. All the sounds were so organic and human, everyday things like the wind, snaps and even the sound of birds and chickens, the sounds of nature.— Beyoncé on Cowboy Carter // Beyoncé recorded around 100 songs for the album. Each song is its own reimagined version of a Western film. These include Five Fingers For Marseilles (2017), Urban Cowboy (1980), The Hateful Eight (2015), Space Cowboys (2000), The Harder They Fall (2021), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Thelma & Louise (1991), and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). // Cowboy Carter is generally described as a country and Western album, and blends together various genres including blues, soul, rock, rhythm and blues, zydeco, folk, bluegrass, opera, go-go, flamenco, funk carioca, fado, classic rock, rap, pop, house and Jersey club. The album is presented as a broadcast by a fictional Texas radio station, with country singers Dolly Parton, Linda Martell and Willie Nelson acting as radio DJs. The album features rising country artists Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, Shaboozey and Willie Jones, and also features contributions by musicians such as Stevie Wonder, Nile Rodgers, Raye, and Jon Batiste. The album is cyclical, with the final note looping seamlessly into the beginning of the first track (which begins “Nothing really ends”) in the same manner as James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake (1939), according to the The Washington Post’s Shane O’Neill. The album features a range of acoustic instruments played by musicians including Stevie Wonder on harmonica, Paul McCartney and Nile Rodgers on guitar, and Rhiannon Giddens on banjo. // Chitlin’ Circuit-inspired Cowboy Carter tracklist poster released two days prior to the album. Beyoncé originally intended to release Cowboy Carter as the first installment of her trilogy project, but explained that “with the pandemic, there was too much heaviness in the world”, and so released Renaissance first, because “[people] deserved to dance.” The then-untitled album was first announced on February 11, 2024, during Super Bowl LVIII, when Verizon Communications aired a Super Bowl commercial, titled “Can’t B Broken”, in which Beyoncé tried to “break the Internet” through increasingly outlandish means, such as releasing a jazz saxophone record, performing on top of the Las Vegas Sphere, building an artificial intelligence (AI) version of herself, launching a “BarBey” (portmanteau of Barbie and Beyoncé) collection, announcing her candidacy for a fictional political position, and flying into space for a performance. After all of the ideas proved unsuccessful, Beyoncé concluded the commercial by remarking: “Okay, they ready. Drop the new music”. // Following the broadcast, Beyoncé released a teaser video for Act II on Instagram. Directed by British artist and filmmaker Nadia Lee Cohen, the video pays homage to Paris, Texas (1984), references border blasters and features Chuck Berry’s 1955 track “Maybellene”. The same day, the singer’s official website was updated to announce her eighth studio album, with the placeholder name Act II, scheduled for release on March 29. Subsequently, the album’s two lead singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages”, were simultaneously made available for digital download and streaming. On March 12, Beyoncé announced the album would be titled Cowboy Carter via a teaser poster of a western saddle with a sash. With this she listed album merchandise of limited-edition CDs with a bonus track, T-shirts, and vinyl variants in red, white, blue and standard black. // On March 19, 2024, Beyoncé revealed the album cover via Instagram, and said there would be “surprises” and collaborations on the album. On March 20, she revealed a limited edition exclusive cover, wearing a sash that reads “act ii BEYINCÉ”, referencing her mother Tina’s generational family surname. Taglines and film stills for the album were projected onto various museums in New York City. One of these was an unauthorized projection onto the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, who genially responded by posting Franz Marc’s 1910 painting Three Horses Drinking with the Texas Hold ‘Em-inspired caption “This ain’t Texas”. Beyoncé also posted co-ordinates to the museum on her Instagram story. // This album has been over five years in the making. […] It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history. The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me. act ii is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work. […] I hope that you can hear my heart and soul, and all the love and passion that I poured into every detail and every sound. I focused on this album as a continuation of RENAISSANCE…I hope this music is an experience, creating another journey where you can close your eyes, start from the beginning and never stop. This ain’t a Country album. This is a “Beyoncé” album. — Beyoncé via Instagram in March 2024 // On March 27, Beyoncé posted a graphic to Instagram of the album’s tracklist inspired by vintage posters from the Chitlin’ Circuit era. It revealed collaborations with Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson, as well as a cover of the former’s “Jolene”, and “The Linda Martell Show”. The latter song references Linda Martell, the first Black woman to achieve commercial success in the country genre. // The CD release comes in four variants, each with a different rear cover depicting Beyoncé. It was released in Japan on March 29 and will be released on April 12 in Europe. After the album’s release, fans reported that their pre-ordered physical vinyl and CD copies were missing numerous tracks, with some asking for refunds.]
Marvin Gaye – “Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)” from: “Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)” – Single / Tamla- Motown / Sept. 16, 1971 [“Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)”, often shortened to “Inner City Blues”, is a song by Marvin Gaye, released as the third and final single, and the climactic song from his 1971 landmark album, What’s Going On. Written by Gaye and James Nyx Jr., the song depicts the ghettos and bleak economic situations of inner-city America, and the emotional effects these have on inhabitants. // In 1998, co-writer James Nyx Jr. recalled, “Marvin had a good tune, sort of blues-like, but didn’t have any words for it. We started putting some stuff in there about how rough things were around town. We laughed about putting lyrics in about high taxes, ’cause both of us owed a lot. And we talked about how the government would send guys to the moon, but not help folks in the ghetto. But we still didn’t have a name, or really a good idea of the song. Then, I was home reading the paper one morning, and saw a headline that said something about the ‘inner city’ of Detroit. And I said, ‘Damn, that’s it. ‘Inner City Blues’.” // The song was recorded in a mellow funk style with Gaye playing piano. Several of the Funk Brothers also contributed, including Eddie “Bongo” Brown, and bassist Bob Babbitt. // In its unedited version as it appears on the album, the final minute of the song (and of the LP) is a reprise to the theme of “What’s Going On”, the album’s first song, then segues into a dark ending. This final minute was cut off of the single version, as well as other sections of the song so the single edit runs under three minutes—this edit appears on most reissues of the LP. // Lead and background vocals by Marvin Gaye Piano by Marvin Gaye; Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra including: Bobbye Hall on bongos. // Motown released “Inner City Blues” as a single on their Tamla label on October 14, 1971. Record World predicted that it would be Gaye’s “third [single from What’s Going On] to smash.” // The song helped Gaye make history by being one of the few artists to have three or more Top 10 songs off Billboard’s Pop Singles chart peaking at #9 and one of the first to have three consecutive #1 hits on Billboard’s R&B Singles chart where it stayed for two weeks. Although not certified by the RIAA at that time, all three releases from the What’s Going On album gained Gold status by selling over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S.]
10:12 – Interview with Mara Rose Williams and J.M. Banks
Mará Rose Williams is The Kansas City Star’s assistant managing editor for race and equity issues. She has served as a member of the Star’s Editorial Board and she is an award-winning columnist. She has written on all things education for The Star since 1998, including issues of inequity in education, teen suicide, universal pre-K, college costs & racism on university campuses. She was a writer on The Star’s 2020 “Truth in Black amd White” project, and the recipient of the 2021 Eleanor McClatchy Award for exemplary leadership skills and transformative journalism.
Mara Rose Williams thanks for being our guest on WMM
J.M. Banks is Co-Host of Voices of Kansas City on KKFI 90.1 FM. He grew up in Kansas City. and went to Paseo Academy Of Performing Arts and then Studied at University of Missouri – Kansas City. J.M. Banks is The Kansas City Star’s culture and identity reporter. He has worked in various community-based media outlets such as The Pitch KC and Urban Alchemy Podcast. He is former Advisory Board Member at KSHB 41. J.M. is the Creator and Host of J.M. Banks: The KC Renaissance now in its 6th year.
J.M. Banks thanks for being our guest on WMM
Mará Rose Williams and J.M. Banks, join us to talk about The Kansas City Star’s new 4-week radio series, VOICES OF KANSAS CITY, that The Star is producing with 90.1 FM KKFI. The series begins on Wednesday, April 17, at 6:00 pm.
Mara Rose Williams and J.M. Banks are the cohosts of this new series.
This is the second season of VOICES OF KANSAS CITY that The Kansas City Star has created in collaborations with 90.1 FM KKFI.
The first season VOICES OF KANSAS CITY told the stories of 8 Black owned small business in Kansas City and aired September 22, through October 13, 2023 at 12:00 Noon, and was part of KKFI’s “new schedule roll-out.”
In Season two, Mará Rose Williams and J.M. Banks of The Kansas City Star have created feature stories on eight young Black Activist in our community.
This series is part of The Star’s continued effort to improve coverage of Black Kansas Citians, following the paper’s 2020 publication, of the award winning, six story, “Truth in Black and White,” an apology for the news organization’s poor, inadequate, and often absence of coverage of Black Kansas City which perpetuated systemic racism in our city.
Mara Rose Williams started the conversation with KKFI by referring to The Kansas City Star’s December 22, 2020. The Kansas City Star published an apology:
“Today we are telling the story of a powerful local business that has done wrong.
For 140 years, it has been one of the most influential forces in shaping Kansas City and the region. And yet for much of its early history — through sins of both commission and omission — it disenfranchised, ignored and scorned generations of Black Kansas Citians. It reinforced Jim Crow laws and redlining. Decade after early decade it robbed an entire community of opportunity, dignity, justice and recognition.
That business is The Kansas City Star.
Before I say more, I feel it to be my moral obligation to express what is in the hearts and minds of the leadership and staff of an organization that is nearly as old as the city it loves and covers:
From this apology The KC Star has made a commitment to change. They hosted “Community Listening Projects” to find out what readers want, what are their issues, what are their loves.
The Star learned that the community wants more stories about success and triumphs.
The KC Star wanted to partner with KKFI to have us be the broadcast platform to air these programs, as a limited series.
KKFI is a non-commercial radio station under the direction of a non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization. We operate under FCC and IRS regulations. The series would not be about selling any specific products, it would be more of a journalistic approach to the who, what, where, when, how, of the people behind the business, to tell stories of success.
The KC Star is presenting 8 stories on young Black activists in Kansas City. These will be approximately 30-minute interview/features, to become four 60-minute shows, created, produced, hosted, and edited by KC Star Staff: Mara Williams & J.M. Banks.
The KC Star Initiative mirrors KKFI’s “New Program Roll Out” Initiative of working to make both of our organizations even more diverse, inclusive, equitable, and representative population we serve.
90.1 FM KKFI’s Programming Committee, voted to approve KKFI’s airing of The KC Star’s 4-week series. The MidCoast Radio Project Board of Directors voted unanimously, to approve the motion.
Mara Rose Williams and J.M. Banks thank you for being our guest on WMM
The second season The Kansas City Star’s new 4-week radio series, VOICES OF KANSAS CITY, produced on collaboration with d 90.1 FM KKFI will begin on 90.1 FM KKFI on Wednesday, April 17 , at 6:00pm.
10:30 – Underwriting
Brad Cox – “Canon from 4 FRAGMENTS” from: Music from 4 FRAGMENTS / Owen/Cox Dance Group / April 12, 2024 [4 Fragments is a series of short works with music for string quartet, percussion and electronics, composed by Brad Cox. The musicians are: Matthew Bennett on violin, Christine Grossman on viola, Sascha Groschang on cello, Jeff Harshbarger on bass, Patrick Alonzo Conway on percussion, and Brad Cox on piano. Also, John Kizilarmut on percussion, although not playing for the live show, John was instrumental in putting the music together. 4 Fragments celebrates those we love, those we have lost, and the joy of human connection.]
[4 FRAGMENTS is premiering at City Stage Theatre, Union Station 30 W. Pershing Rd. KCMO, Friday & Saturday, April 12 & 13 at 8:00 PM, and Sunday, April 14, at 2:00 PM. More info at: http://www.owencoxdance.org]
10:32 – Interview with Jennifer Owen & Brad Cox
Jennifer Owen is Artistic Director of Owen/Cox Dance Group, an ensemble she co-founded with composer Brad Cox in 2007. She has choreographed over fifty new works for Owen / Cox Dance Group. Prior to founding Owen/Cox Dance Group, Owen enjoyed a 13-year international ballet career. After training w/ Pacific Northwest Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, School of American Ballet, and Bolshoi Ballet Academy, she went on to dance with the Russian State Ballet, Moscow Renaissance Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, BalletMet, and was a guest artist w/ National Ballet of Turkmenistan.
Brad Cox is a composer in the uniquely American Ellington model, Brad is dedicated to forming long lasting relationships with musicians and writing music for those musicians. Brad served as founder & contributing composer to The People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City, and conceived & organized the ensemble’s versions of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King and The Battleship Potemkin. In addition to his work with Owen/Cox Dance Group, he has created compositions & arrangements for Sony Classical recording artist Nathan Granner, Grammy award-winning producer & engineer Russ Elevado, Paris-based songwriter Krystle Warren and internationally-recognized puppeteer Paul Mesner. Brad is a 2009 recipient of the Tanne Foundation Award, and 2010 recipient of the Charlotte Street Foundation Generative Performing Artist Award.
Jennifer Owen and Brad Cox join us to talk about 4 FRAGMENTS, a series of short works with music for string quartet, percussion & electronics, composed by Brad Cox, celebrating those we love, those we have lost, and the joy of human connection. 4 FRAGMENTS is premiering at City Stage Theatre, Union Station 30 W. Pershing Rd. KCMO, Friday & Saturday, April 12 & 13 at 8:00 PM, and Sunday, April 14, at 2:00 PM. More info at: http://www.owencoxdance.org
Jennifer Owen & Brad Cox thank you for being our guest on WMM
Jennifer Owen has choreographed over fifty new works for Owen/Cox Dance Group, including two commissions by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and works commissioned by Island Moving Co. of Newport, RI, Kansas City Dance Festival, Kansas City Baroque Consortium, and Kansas City Chamber Orchestra. She has also created nine new works for Kansas City Ballet’s In the Wings choreographic workshop, and a winning entry for the 2006 Columbus Choreography Project. Owen is the recipient of a 2000 Princess Grace Honorarium. Prior to founding Owen/Cox Dance Group, Owen enjoyed a 13-year international ballet career. After training with Pacific Northwest Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, School of American Ballet, and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy, she went on to dance with the Russian State Ballet, Moscow Renaissance Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, BalletMet, and was a guest artist with the National Ballet of Turkmenistan. She has performed principal roles in Giselle, Don Quixote, George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and Donizetti Variations, and the central pas de deux in Todd Bolender’s Arena.
The musicians in 4 FRAGMENTS are: Matthew Bennett on violin, Christine Grossman on viola, Sascha Groschang on cello, Jeff Harshbarger on bass, Patrick Alonzo Conway on percussion, and Brad Cox on piano. Also, John Kizilarmut on percussion, although not playing for the live show, John was instrumental in putting the music together.
Jen Owen’s husband and partner is Brad Cox, is also the founder of The People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City--a musicians’ collective dedicated to the creation and performance of new large ensemble jazz. AND, Brad Cox Octet–an eight-piece ensemble made up of 2 saxophonists, 2 bass players, 2 drummers, and 2 keyboardists.
Jennifer Owen and Brad Cox of Owen/Cox Dance Group talk with us about 4 FRAGMENTS, a series of short works with music for string quartet, percussion and electronics, composed by Brad Cox, celebrating those we love, those we have lost, and the joy of human connection. 4 FRAGMENTS is premiering at City Stage Theatre, Union Station 30 W. Pershing Rd. KCMO, Friday & Saturday, April 12 & 13 at 8:00 PM, and Sunday, April 14, at 2:00 PM. More info at: http://www.owencoxdance.org
Jennifer Owen & Brad Cox thank you for being our guest on WMM
10:40
Brad Cox – “Canon from 4 FRAGMENTS” from: Music from 4 FRAGMENTS / Owen/Cox Dance Group / April 12, 2024 [4 Fragments is a series of short works with music for string quartet, percussion and electronics, composed by Brad Cox. The musicians are: Matthew Bennett on violin, Christine Grossman on viola, Sascha Groschang on cello, Jeff Harshbarger on bass, Patrick Alonzo Conway on percussion, and Brad Cox on piano. Also, John Kizilarmut on percussion, although not playing for the live show, John was instrumental in putting the music together. 4 Fragments celebrates those we love, those we have lost, and the joy of human connection.]
10:43 – More Interview with Jennifer Owen & Brad Cox
Jennifer Owen and Brad Cox of Owen/Cox Dance Group talk with us about 4 FRAGMENTS, a series of short works with music for string quartet, percussion and electronics, composed by Brad Cox, celebrating those we love, those we have lost, and the joy of human connection. 4 FRAGMENTS is premiering at City Stage Theatre, Union Station 30 W. Pershing Rd. KCMO, Friday & Saturday, April 12 & 13 at 8:00 PM, and Sunday, April 14, at 2:00 PM. More info at: http://www.owencoxdance.org
Jennifer Owen & Brad Cox thank you for being our guest on WMM
Owen/Cox Dance Group is a 501 (c) 3 not for profit corporation with a mission is to create new music and dance collaborations, to present high-quality contemporary dance performances with live music, and to engage as wide an audience as possible through affordable live performance, education and outreach programs
Over the last few years Owen/Cox Dance Group’s was working on a U.S. State Diplomacy Tour in Ukraine. COVID-19 local & international protocol, postponing this trip until later. Jen Owen how do you explain how your donace company has been involved in international history and now with the Russian invasion into the Ukrain things have dramatically changed.
Monday, April 8, 2024 was Cecilia Cox’s 10th Birthday and she saw the solar eclipse in Fredericktown, Missouri.
Past Shows:
Owen Cox Dance Group’s aRound & aRound, March 31 thru April 2, 2023, at The City Stage Theatre, Union Station This production featured original music composed by Brad Cox and Jeff Freling (of Victor & Penny and Slim Hanson and the Poor Choices). This work also featured visual projections created by artist and NEA Fellow, Nate Fors.
Owen Cox collaboration with The Black Creatures “What Came With Spring,” Oct. 7 thru October 9, 2022.
Jennifer Owen & Brad Cox thank you for being our guest on WMM
4 FRAGMENTS is premiering at City Stage Theatre, Union Station 30 W. Pershing Rd. KCMO, Friday & Saturday, April 12 & 13 at 8:00 PM, and Sunday, April 14, at 2:00 PM. More info at: http://www.owencoxdance.org
10:54
Rick Mareske – “River” from: A Stroll in The Park / Rick Mareske / March 30, 2024 [For this song: Rick Mareske on guitar, with Erin Keller on lead vocals, Beth Watts Nelson l backing vocals, Betse Ellis on violin, Christine Broxterman on cello, Brian Steever on drums, Jeffery Ruckman on piano, & Johnny Hamil on bass.These compositions have been written over the past 50 years but have been edited, updated, arranged, scored over the last four years and finally recorded. // Compositions by Rick Mareske. Produced by Clarke Wyatt. Recorded by Chad Meise at Massive Sound and Clarke Wyatt at Gnomes and Goats Studio. Mastered by Collin Jordan at Boiler Room Mastering. Illustrations by Regina Compernolle. Album Design by Quinn Kavanaugh. Musicians: Thomas Aber – Clarinet and Bass Clarinet; Christine Broxterman – Cello; Patrick Alonzo Conway – Percussion; Betse Ellis – Violin, Viola and Fiddle; Adam Galblum – Mandolin; Johnny Hamil – Electric Bass and String Bass; Byron Jones – Trumpet, Flugelhorn and Vocals; Erin Keller – Vocals; Rick Mareske – Guitars and Vocals; John Miles – String Bass; Fast Johnny Ricker – Slide Guitar; Jeffery Ruckman – Piano and Organ; Steven Smith – Alto and Tenor Sax; Guy Montes – Flute; Brian Steevers – Drums; Beth Watts Nelson – Vocals; Randy Weinstein – Harmonica; Bill Woodhouse – Mandolin; Clarke Wyatt – Banjo and Organ; Zinnia, Macee, and Clementine – Choir. Artwork by Regina Compernolle. Wallet Style Case Design by Quinn Mahler]
[Rick Mareske plays A Stroll In The Park – CD Release Party, Friday, April 12, at 8:00pm at The Brick, 1727 McGee, KCMO, with Erin Keller on vocals; Beth Watts Nelson on vocals; Rick Mareske on guitar & vocals; Byron Jones on trumpet, flugelhorn, & vocals; John Miles on string bass; Johnny Hamil on string bass & electric bass, Gliddon Coleman on keys; RJ Schultze on drums. With special Guests: Betse Ellis on fiddle; Clarke Wyatt on banjo & keyboards; Bill Woodhouse on mandolin; and maybe others.]
Krystle Warren – “Move” from: Three The Hard Way / Parlour Door Music / August 18, 2017 [Inspired by early Black gospel and gospel/jazz music of the 20th Century leading up to the Civil Rights era Produced by Krystle Warren and Ben Kane (D’Angelo, Emily King, PJ Morton). Recorded, engineered, and mixed by Ben Kane. Written & performed by Krystle Warren. Mixed at The Garden, Brooklyn. Mastered & cut by Alex DeTurk at Masterdisk. In 2016, for Middle of The Map Festival Krystle Warren premiered songs from this album in a packed room at Californos in Westport and later at The Polsky Theatre for the Performing Arts Series of Johnson County Community College. For this record Krystle decided to play every instrument and vocals & back up vocals, “playing bass, drums, lap steel, piano, guitar, and vocals directly to analog tape. She and Ben Kane recorded in Villetaneuse, France, a small town on the outskirts of Paris in a vintage 70s era studio that offered just the right, rich sound to suggest the musical foundation for the record, and to do justice to the duo’s carefully balanced arrangements.” In the Summer of 207 prior to this album’s release, on WMM Krystle shared inspirations for this record, early gospel recordings, that crossed over into Jazz from Pharoah Sanders, Edwin Hawkins, and The Swan Silvertones. Originally from KC, Krystle learned to play the guitar by listening to Rubber Soul & Revolver from The Beatles. Krystle graduated from Paseo Arts Academy in 2001 and began her musical career in collaborating with area jazz and pop musicians. After living in San Francisco and NYC, Krystle was signed to a French label, Because Music, and moved to Paris to release “Circles” in 2009. Krystle played French and British television programs, including Later with Jools Holland, garnering critical acclaim and traveling all over the world with Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave, Norah Jones, and Joan As Police Woman. Krystle created, Parlour Door Music, to release “Love Songs: A Time You May Embrace” a recording from a 13-day session in Brooklyn, where she recorded 24 songs live with 28 musicians including her band, The Faculty, alongside choirs, horn and string sections.]
[Krystle Warren plays Boulevardia, Saturday, June 15 at Crown Center]
11:05 – Interview with D Rashaan Gilmore
D. Rashaan Gilmore is the Emmy winning host and moderator of the Kansas City PBS program Flatland KC. He is also a Newsweek contributing writer. After nearly four years as part of the team on 90.1’s The Tenth Voice, D. Rashaan made the leap to producing and hosting his own weekly radio show “Unbossed and Unbothered” that aired from 2021-2022 on 90.1 FM KKFI. A life-long resident of Kansas City. He is community connector, organizer, collaborator, and AIDS activist, who serves as Founder and President/CEO at BlaqOut KC, which seeks to organize and mobilize the black, gay community in Kansas City and develop a leadership core. Gilmore has previously managed multiple significant HIV/ AIDS awareness and prevention grants for the Kansas City CARE Clinic. D Rashaan has also served as the Senior Field Organizer for PROMO, Missouri’s statewide LGBT equality and advocacy organization.
D Rashaan Gilmore thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley.
D. Rashaan Gilmore congratulations on winning an Two Emmy Awards.
After nearly four years as part of the team on 90.1’s The Tenth Voice, D. Rashaan made the leap to producing and hosting his own weekly radio show, “Unbossed and Unbothered” that aired from 2021-2022 on 90.1 FM KKFI. And then KC PBS hired D. Rashaan to serve as host and moderator of Flatland KC whee is has won two Emmy Awards.
While he had his radio show on KKFI D Rashaan covered insurrections, impeachments, and inaugurations, COVID-19, The Vaccine, The Presidential election. In his new role as host and moderator of Flatland KC D. Rashaan covers all kinds of area issues including recently the April 2, Jackson County Sales Tax vote.
Will Flatland KC give D. Rashaan a segment called “Reclaiming My Time” inspired by the legendary U.S. Representative for California’s 43rd Congressional District, Maxine Waters.
D. Rashaan’d program on KKFI was called “Unbossed and Unbothered” a title inspired by the late congress woman Shirley Chisholm who ran for President in 1972 with the motto: “Unbought and Unbossed.”
Shirley Anita Chisholm (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician who, in 1968, became the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. Chisholm represented New York’s 12th congressional district, a district centered in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn[a] for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1972, she became the first black candidate for a major-party nomination for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Throughout her career, she was known for taking “a resolute stand against economic, social, and political injustices,” as well as being a strong supporter of black civil rights and women’s rights.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, she spent ages five through nine in Barbados, and she always considered herself a Barbadian American. She excelled at school and earned her college degree in the United States. She started working in early childhood education, and she became involved in local Democratic Party politics in the 1950s. In 1964, overcoming some resistance because she was a woman, she was elected to the New York State Assembly. Four years later, she was elected to Congress, where she led the expansion of food and nutrition programs for the poor and rose to party leadership. She retired from Congress in 1983 and taught at Mount Holyoke College while continuing her political organizing. Although nominated for the ambassadorship to Jamaica in 1993, health issues caused her to withdraw. In 2015, Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Actress Uzo Aduba portrays Chisholm in the FX on Hulu miniseries Mrs. America, released in April 2020, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series.
In November 2020, Danai Gurira was cast as Shirley Chisholm in The Fighting Shirley Chisholm, directed by Cherien Dabis, about her 1972 run for president. However, as of 2024, the film had not appeared, and it was still considered to be in development.
Shirley was released on Netflix in March 2024 with Regina King as Chisholm and John Ridley directing. Also announced in the cast were Lance Reddick, Lucas Hedges, Amirah Vahn, André Holland, Christina Jackson, Michael Cherrie, Dorian Missick, W. Earl Brown and Terrence Howard.
Chisholm was also heavily featured in Mel Brooks’s 2023 satirical television series History of the World, Part II, played by Wanda Sykes. Segments throughout the series loosely detailed Chisholm’s presidential bid stylized as episodes of Shirley!, a fictional 1970s sitcom. The episodes “starred” other members of Chisholm’s family and friends, including Conrad Chisholm (Colton Dunn), Florynce Kennedy (Kym Whitley) and Ruby Seale (Marla Gibbs).
Current Issues for “Reclaiming My Time”:
The Right wing attack against Black History
The movie “Shirley” and the Academy Award Nominated film, “Rustin” starring Coleman Domingo as Bayard Rustin both offer history so many folks do not know about.
Biden vs. Trump the rematch Women’s Healthcare vs. The Supreme Court House Speaker Mike Johnson presides over the most ineffective Congress ever? Trump in Court Drag Queen Story time After Trump Trump supporters don’t care about issues, they only want revenge and suffering. Why do well meaning white folks ask their Black friends to explain racism? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
A life-long resident of Kansas City. He is community connector, organizer, collaborator, and AIDS activist, who serves as Founder and President/CEO at BlaqOut KC, which seeks to organize and mobilize the black, gay community in Kansas City and develop a leadership core.
Gilmore has previously managed multiple significant HIV/ AIDS awareness and prevention grants for the Kansas City CARE Clinic.
D Rashaan has also served as the Senior Field Organizer for PROMO, Missouri’s statewide LGBT equality and advocacy organization.
D Rashaan thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley.
D. Rashaan Gilmore is the Emmy winning host and moderator of the Kansas City PBS program Flatland KC. D. Rashaan Gilmore also serves as Founder and President/CEO at BlaqOut KC More info at: http://www.blaqOut.org
11:28 – Underwriting
11:28 – Underwriting
The Distant Now – “Some Thin Dime” from: The Dime Variations / The Distant Now / March 27, 2024 [Kansas City, Kansas based musical duo, The Distant Now who released “The Dime Variations,” on April 2, 2024. Anson the Ornery and Brandan Hoffman created two new songs that are two sides of the same coin. “Some Thin Dime” antes up a classic soul tune, recorded to sound live in a smokey nightclub. “Borrowed Dime” then doubles down by flipping “Some Thin Dime” to create new meaning and context. “The Dime Variations” is streaming on all platforms. Last year The Distant Now released the EP Want Not is Deth on July 29, 2023. The Distant Now is now a duo, but last year it was a trio with Jacob E.chord, Anson The Ornery, & Brandan Hoffman. More info at: http://www.thedistantnow.bandcamp.com]
11:35 – Interview with Anson The Ornery
Anson the Ornery is a multimedia artist with a background in music, visual arts, writing and acting. Anson combines his artistic disciplines in interactive installations and performances to use the viewer as a creative part of his process. Anson graduated with a BFA in Expanded Media along with minors in Music and Writing from the University of Kansas in 2010 then moved to Kansas City to be apart of the art scene. Anson is currently managing his own art handling business as he continues to create more ambitious installations.
Anson the Ornery is one half of of the Kansas City, Kansas based musical duo, The Distant Now who released “The Dime Variations,” on April 2, 2024. Anson the Ornery and Brandan Hoffman created two new songs that are two sides of the same coin. “Some Thin Dime” antes up a classic soul tune, recorded to sound live in a smokey nightclub. “Borrowed Dime” then doubles down by flipping “Some Thin Dime” to create new meaning and context. “The Dime Variations” is streaming on all platforms.
Anson The Ornery, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Last year The Distant Now released the EP Want Not is Deth on July 29, 2023 with Jacob E.chord, Anson The Ornery, & Brandan Hoffman. // Too Much Rock reviewed The Distant Now’s Sept. 9, 2022 concert at The Rino in NKC, MO. : “The evening began punctually at 8pm. The three-piece of The Distant Now was up first. Three dudes. Patchy beards. Long dark hair. Lanky. Glasses. They could be brothers, but they’re not. They’re guitarist Jacob E.chord (Eckhardt to the taxman), keyboardist Anson DeOrnery, and drummer Brandan Hoffman. You’ve seen some before in other bands. You’ve seen all of them at other shows. The band hasn’t been around long. In fact, The Distant Now only has two songs that they’ve written as a band. They played both (as the opener and the closer I believe) and then padded the half-hour set with five other songs from the players’ other projects. As such it’s hard to get a feel for what the band is or where it is going. There are short psych songs augmented by E.chord’s pedal board. There are long multi-movement prog suites colored by DeOrnery’s synthesized organ tones. There’s elements of jazz and indie throughout. Originality is hard to pull off, but the Distant Now is giving it a go. E.chord carried most of the vocals. Sometimes they’re a bit campy in that Peter Murphy or even Ziggy-era Bowie way. That’s fun. DeOrnery provided backing vocals throughout the night and took lead on a few. One was a bit iffy. He sounded better on the next. That must have been the closer. It had a solid piano ballad foundation elevated with phased guitar weaving in and out. Between songs E.chord chatted with the audience. DeOrnery chimed in. The set was relaxed and unpretentious. The audience, engaged and supportive. Time will tell where the band goes, but everyone should pay attention to find out.” (from http://www.toomuchrock.com)
The last time Anson The Ornery was on the show was May 20, 2020. We were on the phone during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Anson The Ornery had just released DJ Daniel The Cat on May 6, 2020 – Daniel used small electronic toy synthesizers to accommodate the size of his paws to create his self titled album synthpop DJ Daniel the Cat containing six upbeat dance songs with lyrics chronicling Daniel’s crippling social anxiety. After Daniel’s disappearance the DJ Daniel the Cat album was believed to be lost over. Over the last decade the notoriety of DJ Daniel the Cat has grown due to the popularity of the internet and the demand for the lost album was never greater when it was recently rediscovered. DJ Daniel the Cat is just one part of a larger work of art. Anson will be premiering DJ Daniel the Cat live on YouTube on Friday, May 22 at 7:00 PM with a special surprise at the end for longtime fans.
For over a decade it was believed that the ground-breaking 2009 self-titled album DJ Daniel the Cat had been lost after the disappearance of Daniel the Cat in 2010. Recently Anson the Ornery, the producer and singer of DJ Daniel the Cat, rediscovered the album’s masters. The interest in DJ Daniel the Cat has only grown over the years despite the fact that few have ever heard the legendary album outside Daniel’s inner group of friends. That is soon to change, for Anson has announced that on May 22nd 2020 he will be live streaming DJ Daniel the Cat via Facebook and Youtube Live at 7 pm CST in its entirety along with his own personal commentary about the making of the album.
The breakout success of Piano Cat inspired Daniel to become a DJ himself but, due to bigotry in the music industry towards cats, Daniel was worried that his music would not be taken seriously. Anson then became the voice of DJ Daniel the Cat in order for the public to accept Daniel’s music. The two labored on the album for months only using small electronic toy synthesizers to accommodate the size of Daniel’s paws. The result was a masterful collection of six electronic dance music tracks with lyrics chronicling Daniel’s crippling social anxiety. After the news of Daniel’s disappearance Anson was disheartened and DJ Daniel the Cat was lost in the confusion. Over the last decade the notoriety of DJ Daniel the Cat has grown due to the popularity of the internet and the demand for the lost album has never been greater.
Anson The Ornery, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
The Distant Now – “Borrowed Dime” from: The Dime Variations / The Distant Now / March 27, 2024 [Kansas City, Kansas based musical duo, The Distant Now who released “The Dime Variations,” on April 2, 2024. Anson the Ornery and Brandan Hoffman created two new songs that are two sides of the same coin. “Some Thin Dime” antes up a classic soul tune, recorded to sound live in a smokey nightclub. “Borrowed Dime” then doubles down by flipping “Some Thin Dime” to create new meaning and context. “The Dime Variations” is streaming on all platforms. Last year The Distant Now released the EP Want Not is Deth on July 29, 2023. The Distant Now is now a duo, but last year it was a trio with Jacob E.chord, Anson The Ornery, & Brandan Hoffman. More info at: http://www.thedistantnow.bandcamp.com]
Waxahatchee – “Bored” from: Tiger’s Blood / Merge Records / March 22, 2024 [Kansas City based Katie Crutchfield’s southern roots are undeniable. The name of her solo musical project Waxahatchee comes from a creek not far from her childhood home in Alabama and seems to represent both where she came from and where she’s going. // Tiger’s Blood was produced by Brad Cook. Engineered & mixed by Gerardo “Jerry” Ordonez. Assistant engineering by Natalia Chernitsky. Mastered by Emily Lazar. Recorded and Mixed at Sonic Ranch Recording Studios. // On March 27, 2020 Waxahatchee released SAINT CLOUD which was in the TOP 20 of WMM’s 120 Best recordings of 2020. On Saint Cloud all songs were written by Katie Crutchfield. Recorded & mixed at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, TX & Long Pond in Stuyvesant, NY. Produced by Brad Cook. Engineered by Jerry Ordonez. Additional engineering by Jon Low. Mixed by Jon Low. Mastered by Brent Lambert at The Kitchen. KATIE CRUTCHFIELD on vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, keys; BRAD COOK on bass, acoustic guitar, piano, keys, synth; BOBBY COLOMBO on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keys; BILL LENNOX on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keys, percussion; NICK KINSEY on drums, percussion; JOSH KAUFMAN on electric guitars, piano, organ, percussion. More info at: http://www.waxahatchee.com.]
[Waxahatchee plays the Uptown Theatre on April 18, 2024]
Next week on Wednesday, April 17 We will cover Manor Fest 6 with Special Guest Shaun Crowley.
THANK YOU to our incredible KKFI Staff; Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers.
This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. Instead it is about a collective spirit of hundreds of hardworking people, unselfishly setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the gigantic goal of keeping our airwaves free, non-commercial, and open to all! Congratulations and thank you to all programmers & volunteers who went the extra effort to keep our station alive.
Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information. Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org
Wednesday MidDay Medley 