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, November 29, 2022

2023 – The Year in Music
with: Bill Brownlee, Marion Merritt, Chris Haghirian, & Fally Afani

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Motion Picture Soundtrack to All That Jazz / Universal / Dec. 20, 1979 [WMM’s theme]

10:05 – Interview with Bill Brownlee

Bill Brownlee is a music industry veteran based in the Kansas City area. He worked in the warehouse of a music distributor based in Olathe, Kansas, and was a clerk at Penny Lane Records in the 1980s.

He was the Midwestern sales representative for hundreds of independent record labels in the 1990s. He pitched releases from labels such as Death Row Records and Rounder Records to chains including Walmart and to mom-and-pop shops.

When the streaming revolution transformed the industry, Bill became a freelance writer for The Kansas City Star. The newspaper published hundreds of his concert reviews and thousands of his concert previews.

His concert recommendations and regular audio features are now published and aired by KCUR. Kansas City’s NPR member station will debut his new piece about the jazz icon Charlie Parker on Friday, December 1.

The pandemic years aside, Brownlee attended more than 100 concerts in each of the past 20 years. He documents many of these outings at Plastic Sax, his 17-year-old Kansas City jazz blog, and at There Stands the Glass, a site he founded in 2005.

Bill Brownlee, thanks for being with us on again on WMM.

Bill Brownlee’s Favorite Musical Releases of 2023

1. Mike Dillon & Punkadelic – Inflorescence / Royal Potato Family / January 27, 2023

2. Mike Dillon & Punkadelic – “Pandas”
from: Inflorescence / Royal Potato Family / January 27, 2023
[Punkadelick: Mike Dillon – Vibraphone, Marimba, Prophet 6, Congas, Bongo; Brain Haas – Fender Rhodes, Piano, Bass Moog, Melodica; Nikki Glaspie – Drums, Cymbals, Vocals. Mixed and Recorded by Chad Meise. Mastered by Collin Jordan / Boiler Room Mastering. Cover Art: Peregrine Honig. // From Bandcamp notes: Mike Dillon & Punkadelick makes its recorded debut with Inflorescence, an album of heady, instrumental rock highlighting a band deep in the throes of creative freedom, road tested and wild. Consisting of 10 tracks in 42-minutes, it’s an expansive, focused and fearless collection, representing a world where Duke Ellington and Augustus Pablo rub shoulders with crate-digger exotica, the freak-funk of Parliament and the ‘anything fits’ outsider ethos of acid-fried punks like The Meat Puppets. // A trio featuring Mike Dillon (Ricki Lee Jones, Ani DiFranco, Les Claypool) on vibraphone, marimba, Prophet 6, congas, and bongos, Brian Haas (Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey) on Fender Rhodes, piano, bass Moog and melodica and Nikki Glaspie (Beyonce) on drums, cymbals and vocals, Punkadelick is the unified vision of six hands creating a world that often sounds like the work of an ensemble three times the size. // During 2020 and 2021, while many music venues were still shuttered, the group began touring, sweating their way through cuts Dillon and Haas had composed during quarantine writing sessions. Locking in on stage, it quickly became clear the band was functioning at a level that made the hair on their arms stand at attention—even for three live music veterans accustomed to life on the road. // “It became obvious to let this become a collaboration,” Dillon says. “This is really something all three of us are doing because we have so much love for one another and a love for the music that we started creating.” // “There’s only three of us, but we move together like a big, nasty school of fish,” Haas adds, laughing. // During the tail end of a 2021 tour, the band booked time to record with engineer—and functioning fourth band member—Chad Meise, and Inflorescence sprouted. Opener “Desert Monsoon,” sets the stage with a spiritual-jazz intro of organ, vibraphone, percussion and wordless vocal coos before crackling to life as a swaggering funk strut. The title track, and “Pandas,” dig into thick dub textures built around Glaspie’s drumming and Haas’s subwoofer-straining bass synths. // “Apocalypse Daydream,” which appeared as an exotic head-nodder on 2020’s Shoot the Moon (titled “Apocalyptic Daydreams”) is reborn as a meatier jazz-rock slab where Dillon and Haas circle each other like Television performing as a lounge act on a cruise ship sailing seas of psilocybin. // Bending ears and surprising audiences has long been part of Dillon’s MO and Glaspie and Haas act as perfect foils for forays into the weird. While Dillon bristles at the “punk jazz” tag, punk rock and jazz remain core influences to the band, in sound and spirit. // “We’re students of the titans of music. We grew up listening to punk and rock ’n’ roll but we also love instrumental music—particularly the forefathers of Black American Music. In our minds, Led Zeppelin and Milt Jackson, Parliament-Funkadelic and The Minutemen, The Bad Brains and Frank Zappa are interconnected influences,” explains Dillon. “All that comes together in how we approach instrumental creative music. Both punk rock and jazz are not prefab things, they’re about the freedom. We have no genre restriction in this band, and people who get it really respect that.” // Maybe the greatest example of the band’s punk-steeped sonic free-for-all is “Slowly But Surely,” a track Dillon told Haas to compose as if he were “writing for Queens of the Stone Age.” The song plays like QOTSA translated to piano runs, vibes and deeply swinging drums—big-riff stoner rock upended and played with huge smiles by America’s premier proponents of the unclassifiable. // “We try to challenge our listeners. We’re touching a nerve with people who maybe don’t want to see the same songs done in the same variations all night long,” continues Dillon. “Part of my mission is taking these instruments that are primarily designed for the orchestral or jazz world and taking them to the rock world, the club world, running them through pedals and effects. We’re not afraid to be soft, or to surprise. That’s what we all do in this band — get beyond our own conceptions of what music is supposed to be.” // “We are so blessed and lucky to do what we do for a living — it’s apparent in the music,” Glaspie chimes in. “It doesn’t matter how the day is going, but we get to the club, set up and crush the gig, all the other stuff doesn’t matter. We’re likeminded individuals who love life, love people and want to spread happiness.”

2. Flooding – Silhouette Machine / Ghost is Clear Records & Manor Records / 9/29/23

3. Flooding – “Monolith Girl”
   from: Silhouette Machine / Ghost is Clear Records & Manor Records / Sept. 29, 2023
   [Flooding also released a 3-Way Split with Nightosphere and Abandoncy on February 24, 2023. Flooding’s self-titled album Flooding was released on physical cassette on February 19, 2022, on Manor Records. Flooding is a three-piece band based in Lawrence, Kansas. Fronted by guitarist and vocalist Rose Brown, who began releasing music in 2019 under the name Window Seat. Joining Rose Brown are Cole Billings on bass, and Zach Cunningham on drums. For their debut album Brown wrote the music for the album in the spring of 2020. In early 2021 the group started playing the music to record in Cunningham’s converted shed studio in Gardner, Kansas. Rose Brown of Flooding was our guest on WMM on February 16, 2022. More information at: http://www.manorrecords.com]

3. Adam Larson Trio – With Love, from New York / Adam Larson / April 7, 2023

4. Adam Larson Trio – “Cellular Snacks (feat. Obed Calvaire)”
   from: With Love, from New York / Adam Larson / April 7, 2023
   [Adam Larson (b. 1990) is an American saxophonist, composer, educator and author currently residing in the Kansas City-area. // Larson holds BM and MM degrees in jazz performance from The Manhattan School of Music and was a part of the vibrant NYC jazz scene for eleven years before relocating in 2019. While a resident of the KC-Metro, Larson has held positions at UMKC Conservatory, University of Kansas and The Kansas City Art Institute. Larson currently teaches Entrepreneurship at KCAI. // Larson continues to perform in NYC with some of the greatest musicians in the genre. // As a guest artist, Larson has been invited to present masterclasses on music business, improvisation and composition at more than one hundred universities across the globe. // Adam has recorded eight albums as a leader and maintains an active touring and clinician schedule, playing and presenting his original music and educational materials. http://www.adamlarsonjazz.com]

4. Levelle – Promise To Love / SRC Records / June 9, 2023

5. Levelle – “Only If”
   from: Promise To Love / SRC Records / June 9, 2023
   [LeVelle, also referred to as “LB,” is an R&B/ Neo-Soul artist and songwriter from Kansas City. LeVelle’s drive and dedication for his music career is personified through his ecstatic personality. This coupled with his soulful voice gives way to the talented artist that is LeVelle. // The inspiration for his musical career stems from his early exposure to different forms of music. Drawing influence from artists like Sam Cooke, Al Green, and Gerald LeVert, he has an assorted range of musical role models. These influences alongside his life experiences have allowed for the development of his unique musical style. // LeVelle was blessed with the opportunity to be Charlie Wilson’s background singer, and has graced the stage with other award-winning and talented artists such as Anthony Hamilton, Tank, and Robin Thicke, to name a few. //Promise To Love, is not just the name of his new project, but its his way of life concerning his music career. .]

5. The Floozies – Porty Hord / Funk Streek Records / November 10, 2023

6. The Floozies – “Wiggle in the Middle (feat. Big Freedia)”
   from: Porty Hord / Funk Streek Records / November 10, 2023
   [The Floozies are an electro-funk dua from Lawrence Kansas, comprised of brothers Matt and Mark Hill.]

10:29 – Underwriting

10:31 – Interview with Marion Merritt

For more than 19 years Marion Merritt has been sharing her musical discoveries and information from her musically encyclopedic brain with the listeners of WMM.

With her partner Ann Stewart, Marion is the proprietor of Records With Merritt a small, independent, minority owned business, at 1614 Westport Rd. in Kansas City, Missouri.

Marion Merritt, Thanks for being with us on WMM

Marion Merritt’s Favorite Musical Releases of 2023

1 – Blonde Redhead – Sit Down for Dinner / Section 1 Records / September 29, 2023

7. Blonde Redhead – “Melody Experiment” 
   from: Sit Down for Dinner / Section 1 Records / September 29, 2023
   [Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino (vocals, keys/rhythm guitar) and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace (drums/keys and lead guitar/bass/keys/vocals, respectively) that formed in New York City in 1993. The band’s earliest albums were noted for their noise rock influences, though their sound evolved by the early 2000s with the releases of Misery is a Butterfly (2004) and 23 (2007), which both incorporated elements of dream pop, shoegaze and other genres. They have released nine regular studio albums and have toured internationally. //Amedeo and Simone Pace were born in Milan, Italy, and grew up in Montreal (Saint-Léonard), but later moved to Boston to study jazz. After earning Bachelor’s degrees, they entered the New York City underground music scene. Blonde Redhead formed in New York in 1993 after Amedeo and Simone met Kazu Makino, an art student at the time, by chance at a local Italian restaurant.[6] The band named themselves after a song on the 1981 EP A Taste of DNA by the no wave group DNA. // Blonde Redhead’s self-titled debut album was released in 1995. Shortly afterwards, fourth member Maki Takahashi left the band and was replaced by her friend Toko Yasuda as bassist. Yasuda played on the band’s second album La Mia Vita Violenta also released in 1995. Both records appeared on the New York label Smells Like. The band continued as a trio. // Their third album, Fake Can Be Just as Good, was released through Touch & Go in 1997. The band enlisted the help of Vern Rumsey of Unwound, who filled the role of guest bassist. Subsequent albums featured Skúli Sverrisson, who the twins knew from their time in Boston. // On their fourth album, In an Expression of the Inexpressible, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi was hired as producer. Picciotto also contributed in the construction to the song “Futurism vs. Passéism Part 2” as well as lending it his vocals to the 1998 release. In 2000 Picciotto also co-produced Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons with Ryan Hadlock, an album about the relationship between Makino and Amedeo Pace. // The four-year delay between Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons and Misery Is a Butterfly is attributed to Makino’s recovery time after being trampled by a horse. Much of the visual and lyrical imagery of Misery Is a Butterfly is reflective of the accident, especially in the music video for “Equus.” It was the last time Picciotto produced the band. // In 2006 Makino recorded vocals for the film Sisters. Alan Moulder mixed the trio’s album 23 which was released on 4AD, in April 2007. // In mid-2008, they wrote and recorded the score of the documentary feature film The Dungeon Masters. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released on February 12, 2010; a soundtrack album was released in July 2010. In 2009, Blonde Redhead contributed to the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night produced by the Red Hot Organization. // In March 2010 the band included a demo version of the song “Not Getting There” on a 4AD sampler entitled Fragments From Work In Progress. Their eighth album, Penny Sparkle, was released in September 2010 through 4AD. The album was again mixed by Alan Moulder, and reached 79 in the Billboard 200 chart. For the subsequent tour the band added a key-board player. The band released a six-track remix EP in July 2011. // A year later, the band started the project for their next album but without the support of 4AD. Self-financed, the band embarked on a haphazard recording schedule with producer Drew Brown. Simone Pace noted about Brown’s involvement that “he has so much experience and definitely dictated the direction of the record; the choices of instruments, concept and that it was minimal.” He forced the band to use analogue instruments. // In April 2014 their song “For the Damaged Coda” was used in an episode of the first season of the cartoon Rick and Morty. The use of this song was again repeated in April 2017 in the third season. The use of the song became an important plot device regarding the character “Evil Morty” for the series. Around 2018 this song became an Internet meme expressing the sadness one feels at the worst moments of one’s life. The band released their ninth album, Barragán, on September 2, 2014, through Kobalt. It was preceded by the single “No More Honey” that appeared in June. It was followed by the second single, “Dripping,” which included a video. The band also provided the soundtrack to the Danish film The Commentator. // In June 2016 it was announced that the band would release the box set Masculin Féminin on September 30 through The Numero Group. It contains 37 tracks, which cover the first two albums, associated singles, radio sessions and unreleased demos from the period. In 2017, the band released the EP 3 O’Clock, which comprises four songs and featured contributions from Eyvind Kang, Michael Leonhart, Sam Owens and Mauro Refosco, among others. // In September 2019, Kazu Makino released her first solo album, Adult Baby, which featured Ryuichi Sakamoto (on piano, field recordings, and “organic instruments”), Ian Chang and Greg Saunier (drums), and Mauro Refosco (percussion). // The band toured the US in 2022 on select dates supporting Tool // Current members: Kazu Makino on rhythm guitar, keyboards, vocals (1993–present); Amedeo Pace on lead guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals (1993–present); and Simone Pace on drums, keyboards (1993–present).]

2. Kendrick Scott – Corridors / Blue Note Records / March 3, 2023

8. Kendrick Scott – “What Day Is It? (feat. Reuben Rogers & Walter Smith III)”
   from: Corridors / Blue Note Records / March 3, 2023
   [Kendrick Scott was born July 8, 1980 in Houston, Texas, United States. He is an American jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer. He is the founder of the record label World Culture Music. // Kendrick A.D. Scott was born and raised in Houston. The first encounters Kendrick had with the drums were in church, where his parents, Kenneth and Stepheny, and older brother were involved in the music ministry. Scott was later accepted to Houston’s famed High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) where his high school career culminated in many awards – the most notable being The Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship, given by the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) and The National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts. Upon graduation from high school in 1998, Kendrick was awarded a scholarship to attend the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, majoring in Music Education. Since graduating from Berklee in 2002, Scott has performed with a variety of name artists including the Jazz Crusaders, guitarist Pat Metheny, saxophonists Joe Lovano and Kenny Garrett, vocalists Dianne Reeves, Lizz Wright, Gretchen Parlato and trumpeter Terence Blanchard, to name a few. He also was a member of the Berklee-Monterey Quartet, performing at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival in 1999-2000, 2002 and 2007. // Scott’s debut recording with his group Oracle recorded The Source in 2006, including pianists Aaron Parks and Robert Glasper, guitarist Lionel Loueke, vocalist Gretchen Parlato, and others. Scott also performed with the Terence Blanchard Quintet on the album A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) (2007), which was nominated for two Grammy Awards for 2008. Kendrick was a member of the band that accompanied Terence Blanchard to the Monterey Jazz Festival’s 50th anniversary in 2007, and Scott embarked on the 22-state tour, starting in January, 2008 with the 50th Anniversary MJF All-Star Band. It featured the leaders of the past, present and future with Terence Blanchard on trumpet, James Moody on saxophone, Benny Green on piano, Derrick Hodge on bass, and jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon. // Scott also currently plays with the Charles Lloyd Quartet, featuring alongside Reuben Rogers on bass, and Gerald Clayton on piano.]

3. Abraham Alexander – SEA/SONS / Dualtone Music Group / April 14, 2023

9. Abraham Alexander – “Stay (feat. Gary Clark Jr.)”
   from: SEA/SONS / Dualtone Music Group / April 14, 2023
   [Abraham Alexander’s debut album SEA/SONS. Born in Greece to parents of Nigerian descent, Alexander moved to Texas with his family at age 11 to escape the racial tensions they faced in his birthplace. Shortly after moving to the states, his birth mother was killed in a car accident with a drunk driver, leading Alexander to be adopted later in his teens. He found solace in sports as a soccer prodigy and later, following a torn ACL that ended his playing career, in music once a friend handed Alexander a guitar and he unexpectedly found songs pouring out of him. // The 11 tracks on SEA/SONS touch on themes of loss, redemption, longing, anguish and joy. And while his lyrics speak to pain, trauma and life-changing loss, he instills his music with a joyful passion and irrepressible spirit, ultimately giving way to songs that radiate undeniable hope.]

4. Bodikhuu – Tokyo / Farsi Records – Mississippi Records / March 24, 20232

10. Bodikhuu – “J-Funk”
    from: Tokyo / Farsi Records – Mississippi Records / March 24, 2023
    [Mongolian producer BODIKHUU returns with a sonic journey through Japan in the form of 13 instrumental hip- hop vignettes. // “I wanted to portray the 80s Japanese atmosphere through my style,” Bodikhuu writes from his home in Ulaanbaatar, the coldest capital city on earth. “Even though I have never been there, this is my way of saying that I have seen the place.” // Unable to travel to Japan, Bodikhuu instead conjures an imagined city through sound. “Tokyo” evokes the neon, sweat, traffic, exhaust, gloaming towers and “monotonous lonely lives” of the sprawling megalopolis through its music. The album is a rich collage of cast-off sounds and razor sharp interpolations of city pop, obscure Japanese jazz, and 80s J-pop, all expertly chopped up on one of the few MPC-1000s in Ulaanbaatar. Faded voices over thundering drums give tracks like “Office Melancholia” and“Subway” a sense of place and emotional weight uncommon in beat tapes. // “Tokyo” builds on the international success of 2019’s “Rio/Bodianova” (the first Mongolian hip-hop record on vinyl), which found Bodi traveling through Rio on a lush bed of 1970s bossa nova and tropicalia. On this album, we’re jet-propelled into the 80s – all smooth surfaces, shimmering synths, and twinkling lights. // Collaged cut-up artwork by Digital Sting (Feel- Free Hi-Fi), warm analog master from Dave Vettraino (International Anthem) and loud-cut 160gm vinyl from Smashed Plastic in Chicago complement Bodikhuu’s considered beats. // A note from Bodikhuu: “The album’s idea came from my friend Jargalan aka Jack. I wanted to portray the 80s Japanese atmosphere through my style. Basically it represents the tremendously busy lifestyle of Tokyo – subway stations, roads, towers, factories monotonous and lonely lives of people in it. Even though I have never been there, this is my way of saying that I have seen the place. All of the samples come from city pop, j-pop, Japanese jazz & funk music and the production was done on an MPC-1000. ]

5. Samara Joy – Linger Awhile / Verve / September 16, 2022

11. Samara Joy – “Guess Who I Saw Today”
    from: Linger Awhile / Verve / September 16, 2022
    [Samara Joy McLendon, is known professionally as Samara Joy. She is an American jazz singer. She won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition in 2019 and was named Best New Artist by Jazz Times for 2021. // A native of the Castle Hill section of the Bronx, Joy was born in 1999 into a musical family. Her paternal grandparents, Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, were founders of Philadelphia gospel group The Savettes. Her father, a bass player who has toured with gospel singer/songwriter/producer Andraé Crouch, introduced her to gospel greats like The Clark Sisters, and soul and Motown were also a big presence in her home. // At Fordham High School for the Arts she performed with the jazz band, and won Best Vocalist at Fordham University’s “Essentially Ellington” competition at Lincoln Center. But she first encountered jazz in a meaningful way when she enrolled in the jazz program at SUNY’s Purchase College as a voice major, and was named an Ella Fitzgerald Scholar. Friends there introduced her to the great jazz vocalists like Sarah Vaughan and Fitzgerald and instrumentalists like Kenny Washington, Jon Faddis (with whom she studied)[16] and Ingrid Jensen. While she was still in college, before the release of her first album, film director Regina King called her “a young woman who seems like Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald are both living in her body.” // In 2019, as Samara McLendon, she won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. // Working with producer and eventual manager Matt Pierson, she recorded her self-titled debut album while still in college, graduating magna cum laude in 2021. Samara Joy was released on 9 July 2021 with Whirlwind Records. // On February 15, 2022 she performed on Today with guitarist Pasquale Grasso and performed again on Today in September 2022.// She released a number of viral video performances, including one that had been viewed over 1.5 million times as of October 2020. These videos had as of November 2022 gaineduding a series of sold-out conc and other festivals, as well as in Europe. // In February 2021 she was featured in Women of Color on Broadway, Inc.’s music video of “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess and on jazz pianist Julius Rodriguez’s album Let Sound Tell All. // Jazz Times named her Best New Artist for 2021. // On June 15, 2022 she was featured at Carnegie Hall’s 16th Annual Notable Occasion. and appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival. On September 16, 2022 she released her second album, Linger Awhile, on Verve Records. The album features drummer Kenny Washington, guitarist Pasquale Grasso, pianist Ben Paterson, and bassist David Wong. // She earned two Grammy Award nominations in 2022, for Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album for Linger Awhile. Her bookings for winter 2022 include singing with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on its winter 2022 Big Band Holidays tour.]

11:00 – Station ID

11:00 – Interview with Chris Haghirian

Chris Haghirian shares his passion for the KC music community as host of Eight One Sixty, heard Tuesday nights at 6:00 pm, on 90.9 The Bridge, just a few clicks up the dial. Chris worked for The KC Star for over 20 years. Chris organizes music for, Boulevardia, The Plaza Art Fair. With Nathan Reusch of The Record Machine, Chris created The Middle of The Map Fest.

Chris Haghirian thanks for being with us on WMM.

Chris Haghirian’s Favorite Musical Releases of 2023

1. Mary & The Matrix – “I’ve Got Guns”- Single / Mary & The Matrix / 9/22/23

12. Mary & The Matrix – “I’ve Got Guns”
    Mary & The Matrix – “I’ve Got Guns”- Single / September 22, 2023
    [Debut single from North Texas band was inspired by Patti Smith and Celia Cruz.]

2. Zee Underscore – “In The Way (feat. Amadi Luv)”- Single / Underscore Form / 6/12/23

13. Zee Underscore – “In The Way (feat. Amadi Luv)”
    from: “In The Way (feat. Amadi Luv)” – Single / Underscore Form / July 12, 2023
    [Zee Underscore is a Kansas City based singer, songwriter, electrical engineer, and co-founder @zntl_ent More information at: https://linktr.ee/Zeebee.notes%5D%5BZee Underscore & Noye played the 19th Annual Crossroads Music Fest, Saturday, August 26, at 10:30 PM on the Kissick Construction Stage at The Ship, 1221 Union Ave, KCMO (Indoor Stage) one of 6 STAGES in the Historic West Bottoms with over 25 Bands. More info at http://www.cmfkc.com]

3. Dragon Inn 3 – Trade Secrets / American Laundromat Records / April 18, 2023

14. Dragon Inn 3 – “Out of Control”
    from: Trade Secrets / American Laundromat Records / April 18, 2023
    [The long-anticipated sophomore release from Dragon Inn 3. Features 10 brand new songs plus a fantastic cover of Yazoo’s “Only You.” // Dragon Inn 3 is: Grace Bentley on vocals; Philip Dickey on synths, drums, guitar, bass & vocals; Sharon Hamm on synths & vocals; David Hill on vocals & synths. Recorded from 2018 to 2022 at Davey’s house and Sharon’s house. Recorded, mixed, and produced by Philip Dickey. Additional recording and mixing help from Ross Brown, David Hill, and Chase Horseman. Mastered by Sean Glonek at SRG studios. Additional musicians: Bill Belzer percussion “I Can’t Stop”, John Cardwell guitar “Finally Going Down”, Ben Collins guitar “I Can’t Stop”, Tim Gillespie saxophone “I Can’t Stop” “Out Of Control” “Trade Secrets Theme”, Anita Kitungano vocals “See It Your Way”, John O’Hallaron guitar “Teleport”, Bora Wilondja vocals “See It Your Way” “Trade Secrets Theme”, Mauwa Wilondja vocals “Trade Secrets Theme”, Pelo Wilondja percussion “I Could Never”. Additional writers: Emma Bentley Ruzicka “Not Enough”, Bora Wilondja “See It Your Way”, JR Top “See It Your Way”, and Vincent Clark “Only You”. Cover photo: Dominik Podlipniak. Design: Dustin Williams. // Kansas City based band formed in 2012 with Grace Bentley, Sharon Bowie, Philip K. Dickey, E.P. Marcus. Dragon Inn 3’s debut LP DOUBLE LINE on August 17, 2018 through American Laundromat records. DOUBLE LINE was part of WMM’s 118 Best Recordings of 2018. The band spent six years whittling away on the songs. Combining sugary pop hooks, hypnotic beats, and huge MOOG synths, Dragon Inn 3’s playful take on 80s pop could double as the soundtrack to a John Hughes movie (if John Hughes directed Blade Runner). The cinematic origins of Dragon Inn 3 can be traced back to 2012, when Philip Dickey (leader of the indie-pop group, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin) wrote a theme song for the award-winning short film Ghoul School. “If you watch the trailer you can tell it’s the same premise and look as Stranger Things–we just accidentally made it three years before them,” Dickey says. “I had so much fun making the soundtrack with the director (E.P. Marcus) that we decided to start a band.” Dickey recruited his sister, Sharon Bowie, an occupational therapist, and his wife, children’s librarian Grace Bentley, to help with songwriting and vocal duties. The group self-released the Ghoul School Soundtrack EP in late 2012, receiving high praise from Consequence of Sound, Philadelphia’s WXPN, and The Riverfront Times, before climbing to #1 on Bandcamp’s cassette charts. Then it was back to the studio (i.e. the bedrooms, kitchens, garages, and hotel rooms that doubled as makeshift recording studios). In between full-time jobs, parenthood, graduate school classes, and cross country moves, the members of Dragon Inn 3 put Double Line to tape. “I’m a stay-at-home dad now, so I would work on song arrangements and rough mixes when our toddler was taking his naps,” explains Dickey. “Grace would come home from work and record all her parts after his bedtime. We recorded all the breathy vocals in the living room and all the yelly parts in the garage so we wouldn’t wake him up.” The result is a highly addictive album that creates “a soundtrack for the more introspective moments on and off the dance floor,” according to critic David Greenwald. With members spread out over the country (KC, LA, and Springfield, MO), the group signed to American Laundromat Records in early 2018. A demo of “Bad Boy” (co-written with Free Energy’s Paul Sprangers) landed in a commercial for Ryan Adams’ Beats 1 Radio show before the song was even completed. More Info at: http://www.dragoninn3.com]

4. Ivory Blue – Starlit Love Child / IVORY BLUE / November 17, 2023

15. Ivory Blue – “The Best of Life”
    from: Starlit Love Child / IVORY BLUE / November 17, 2023
    [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://linktr.ee/ivorybluemusic%5D

5. Collidescope – FunHouse / Collidescope / October 13, 2022

16. Collidescope – “Dodo Bird”
    from: FunHouse / Collidescope / October 13, 2022
    [ “The Blackness” is from the upcoming album “Clown Town” that Collidescope hopes to release in early 2023. Collidescope is essentially a duo that includes: Hadiza. on vocals, beats, & synthesizers; and Madison Monroe on guitar, bass, beats, synthesizers, mixing & vocals. On December 31, 2020 Collidescope released their 7-track album DEEP TAPE. DEEP TAPE includes Victoria Falls Stillwater on addition sound production and vocals, and was mixed and mastered by J.Ashley Miller. DEEP TAPE is a follow up the band’s debut EP SYSTEMIC released December 16, 2017. Hadiza also released her solo album SHADOW WEIGHT on Nov. 22, 2019. More info at: http://www.hadizaisnothere.bandcamp.com or http://www.acollidescope.bandcamp.com ]

11:29 – Underwriting

10:31 – Interview with Fally Afani

Fally Afani is an award-winning journalist with a career spanning nearly 39 years in media. She has worked extensively in radio, television, newspapers, and magazines. She has received several Kansas Association of Broadcasters awards as well as an Edward R. Murrow award for her online work in journalism. Fally lives in Lawrence, Kansas, where she reports on local & touring musicians and is the editor & founder of, I Heart Local Music a comprehensive website providing info and place for music lovers in Lawrence to gather. It was started out of a deep love & appreciation for the local music scene. Info at: http://www.iheartlocalmusic.com

Fally Afani, Thank you for being with us in Wednesday MidDay Medley.

Fally Afani’s Favorite Musical Releases of 2023

5. Approach – Jump (Maxi Single) / Datura Records / May 25, 2023

21. Approach – “Again”
    from: Jump (Maxi Single) / Datura Records / May 25, 2023
    [Lawrence based hip-hop artist. Written, Produced, Recorded, Mixed & Mastered By: Approach/Aikido Bray @Prosidio Garden in Lawrence, KS. Design & Layout: DesignedByMilk. Cover Photo Taken By: Approach]

4. Kaw Tikis – Kaw Tikis / Kaw Tikis / October 6, 2023

18. Kaw Tikis – “Surf Betty”
    from: Kaw Tikis / Kaw Tikis / October 6, 2023
    [Kaw Tikis are: Gerhardt Von Gretsch on drums, Donald Mac Ronald on guitars, Jerry Jeff Boyardi on bass, Abu Garcia on guitars. // Recorded and mixed by s. gribble at Balance Recording Services. // In 2018 Kaw Tikis emerged from a Kansas river sandbar with a mission to deliver high-quality guitar instrumentals with vintage flair. With their curious names, purple velour suits, “continental” ties, and a frontman who only seemed to speak in French, they arrived on the scene as Men of Mystery. // When founding member Johnny Monoprix moved on to more mature pursuits, Donald “Mac” Ronald was there to move the group forward with his handmade guitars and snappy instrumentals. They released these tunes in 2023 on their first recording, with a promise of more to come.]

3. The Roseline – “Aloneness” – Single / RPH Records / November 10, 2023

19. The Roseline – “Aloneness”
    from: “Aloneness” – Single / RPH Records / November 10, 2023
    [Written by Colin Halliburton. Acoustic guitar: Colin Halliburton on vocals & electric guitar, Bradley McKellip on bass, Colin Jones on drums, Jim Piller on keyboards, Heidi Gluck on back ground vocals. // Engineered, produced, and mixed by Joel Nanos at Element Recording Studios in Kansas City, KS Mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering in Chicago, IL. // Their 8th LP, Keystone of the Heart, arrives February 2nd, 2024 and is arguably their most distilled, elegant, and emotionally resonant album of their career. Halliburton describes it as “a protest record which protests the dissolution of a marriage, the slog of existence in late stage capitalism, and grotesque hatred and violence.” While this certainly sounds clunky and heavy-handed, Halliburton knows when to inject some levity and humor. Songs which appear dour and grim in the early verses always seem to find some hope and light by their end. Keystone of the Heart offers pure aural aloe for troubled times. // The Roseline’s 7th album CONSTANCY. Released November 5, 2021, was #1 on WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2021. // The Roseline are a Lawrence, KS, based alt-country, Americana, rock band, formed by Colin Halliburton with friends in 2005. The Roseline released their 7th album GOOD / GRIEF on April 3, 2020. The Roseline released BLOOD on September 29, 2017; and TOWNIE on June 19, 2015. The band has toured the US and Halliburton has completed two European solo tours thus far, taking him through Poland, Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands. // Eight albums into their career, the Lawrence band has crafted a songbook that is at once familiar and singular. The Roseline founder and principal songwriter, Colin Halliburton, began the project as an acoustic folk trio. It has since evolved into the five-piece heartland rock band of its current form. // Kind foreign press and high charting on the Euro Americana Chart (“Lust for Luster,” “Blood,” “GOOD/GRIEF” and “Constancy” all charted in the top 10) led to a deal in the Benelux with Dutch label King Forward Records. The band also released “Vast as Sky” in 2012 with the Bay Area label Ninth Street Opus (home to Sarah Lee Guthrie and Carrie Rodriguez). Aside from those, the project has largely been a truly DIY, independent venture. // The Roseline has had the good fortune of landing placements in indie movies and major network television shows such as ABC’s “Nashville” and “Resurrection,” as well as USA’s “Queen of the South,” Netflix’s “Virgin River” and MTV’s “Teen Mom.” The band’s work has been featured on NPR, “Pop Matters,” “American Songwriter,” “The Bluegrass Situation” and “No Depression,” among others. The band closed out 2022 by releasing two new singles, “Hot Dice” and “Saber Rattlers.”Colin Halliburton joined us on WMM on March 25, 2020. More info at: https://roselinemusic.com/%5D

[The Roseline play a Kansas City ALBUM RELEASE show for their new album, KEYSTONE OF THE HEART” on Saturday, February 3, 2024, at 8:00 PM at Hillsiders, 401, N. 5th Street, Kansas City, Kansas in Strawberry Hill, with Teri Quinn and Lauren Lovelle]

2. Red Kate – Exit Strategy / Black Site / November 10. 2023

20. Red Kate – “Shut It Down”
    from: Exit Strategy / Black Site / November 10. 2023
    [First single form new album. Single was released April 27, 2023. The Kansas City based, class-conscious punk rock and rollers, Red Kate, are proud to announce their first new music in five years. “Shut It Down”, the debut single from the band’s upcoming third album, EXIT STRATEGY, is a blistering, no-holds-barred call to action for the oppressed, marginalized and working class. Written by the band’s former guitar player, Desmond Poirier, after attending a Stand Up KC march, “Shut It Down” reminds us that when push comes to shove, the one power the powerless still have when they come together in solidarity is to SHUT! IT! DOWN! The song begins streaming on all platforms Thursday, April 27, 2023. // In late 2021, singer/bassist, L. Ron Drunkard, drummer Andrew Whelan, rhythm guitarist Shawn Hamontree, and newly added lead guitarist Chris Kinsley returned to the band’s mainstay studio, Duane Trower’s Weights and Measures Soundlab, to finish what, at this point, had become a multi-year project. The group laid down four new tracks written during lockdown and then began the long process of turning twelve songs recorded over several sessions in two different studio locations with four different guitarists into the best sounding, and best collection of, songs the band has ever recorded. // Exit Strategy is set for release in the Fall of 2023 on Kansas City record label cooperative Black Site. // BLACK SITE is a record label cooperative created by Kansas City musicians interested in supporting regional punk and rock bands release their recordings on a physical medium. With the world around us becoming a deluge of digital l’s and 0’s, transient as a trust fund crust punk on a cross country excursion, tangible art is critical to maintaining connections to our past, our sense of place, and who we are as a people. Only WE can create the world we want to live in. Reciprocity and solidarity are the cornerstones of building long lasting, self-sustaining community power that pushes back against the commodification of culture. Music is not a business; Punk is not a brand, and DIY is not a lifestyle to be consumed. This is a way of life, and if we don’t hang together, we’ll surely hang alone. Info at: http://www.black-site.org

[Red Kate plays Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS on Friday, December 1, 2023, with special guests Jackoffs and Sarkatha.]

1. Heidi Lynne Gluck – Migrate Or Die / Heidi Lynne Gluck / July 7, 2023

21. Heidi Lynne Gluck – “Severance”
    from: Migrate Or Die / Heidi Lynne Gluck / July 7, 2023
    [Heidi Lynne Gluck released the singles: “All I See Is Magic” on May 25, 2023, “I’m Not Free” on June 2, 2023 and “Skyscraper” on June 7, 2023 Lawrence, Kansas based Heidi Lynne Gluck is a songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist originally from the middle of Canada. After transplant-ing herself from the plains of Manitoba to the midwestern United States, Heidi quickly became an in-demand player, performing on stage and in the studio both as a solo artist and with renowned musicians including Juliana Hatfield & Some Girls, Margot & The Nuclear So and Sos, Lily & Madeleine, The Pieces, The Only Children, and others. Heidi Lynne Gluck joined us live on WMM on June 8, and Aug. 24, 2016. Heidi Lynne Gluck released her critically acclaimed album, PONY SHOW through Lawrence based Lotuspool Records on Aug. 26, 2016. This was the follow-up to her critically acclaimed release THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ROOM, released April 28, 2015. Heidi Lynne Gluck released the 8th edition of the Too Much Rock, limited edition, 7” vinyl Single Series on Aug. 3, 2018, featuring her original song, “Party Line.” and the B-side, “Good Guys and Bad Guys” a new version of Camper Van Beethoven song. Heidi Lynne Gluck also plays with the band the Roseline and was a featured vocalist on “Beauty in the Distance” with Asterales. Heidi recently released two new singles with Tom Brosseau, “Sunflower” on Dec. 15, 2022, and “Under African Skies” on Feb. 17, 2023.]

24. Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
    from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]

NEXT WEEK, on December 6, we begin the WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2023. Tune into Wednesday MidDay Medley throughout December for our 4-week series on December 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th. This is our celebration of the year in music based on the playlists of this little ole radio show. In 2023 we’ve played hundreds of New & MidCoastal Releases. We conducted over 145 interviews with 150 special guests.

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 in on the web:
http://www.kkfi.org,
http://www.WednesdayMidDayMedley.org,
http://www.facebook.com/WednesdayMidDayMedleyon90.1FM

Show #1022