Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

WMM presents Til Willis, Heather Pontonio, José Faus, Elizabeth Bettendorf Bowman, Chico Sierra, and Kevin King

Mark spins more New & MidCoastal Releases from: REVISER, Eddie Moore, IVORY BLUE, Jamogi, My Oh My!, Krystle Warren and The Faculty, Helen Gillet, Easterday, Til Willis & Erratic Cowboy, and Anais Mitchell.

At 10:30 Til Willis shares details about his band Til Willis & Erratic Cowboy and their new album Glass Cactus. Til Willis & Erratic Cowboy is Til Willis on vocals & guitar; Bradley McKellip on guitar & backup vocals; Eric Binkley on bass; and Austin Sinkler on drums. With Steve Faceman on backup vocals for the record. Recorded in The Barn in Tecumseh, Kansas. Mixed in The Cabin in Ouray, Colorado, and at 1509 Recording Service in Lawrence, Kansas. Til Willis was born in the heat of 1980, has been making music for a long time. The style of music is lyric driven rock, that draws influence from many sources. Some have described it as Tin-Roof-Rain-Water-Bop. In his years of touring the country, Til has had the pleasure to perform with such notable talents as Pete Seeger. Til Willis & Erratic Cowboy play an Album Release Show, Saturday, April 12, at 7:00PM at Lucia, 1016 Massachusetts, Lawrence, KS with Sunflower Ordnance Works.

At 11:00 Mark talks with Heather Pontonio Senior Program Director at the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation. Heather shares details about the ARTISTS THRIVE 2025 Summit in Kansas City, on May 6-8. The 2025 summit venue has been provided with generous support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, with lead local partner Mid-America Arts Alliance. Artists, arts leaders, educators, and funders can expand their creative circle. This unique event offers a powerful networking hub, connecting art communities with passionate colleagues from across the country. For more information on the 2025 Artists Thrive Summit you can visit: http://www.artiststhrive.org

Joining us in the conversation is José Faus – writer, performer, visual artist, and independent teacher/mentor with an interest in the role of artists as creative catalysts for community building. He is a co-founder of the Latino Writers Collective. His writings have appeared in many anthologies and journals. His chapbook, This Town Like That was released by Spartan Press. The Life and Times of Jose Calderon was published by West 39 Press. His children’s book, Possum Trot was published by La Resistencia Press. More info at: ]www.artistinc.art/facilitator/jose-faus/

Also joining us is Elizabeth Bettendorf Bowman who teaches theatre management, introductory theatre, and public speaking at Benedictine College. Elizabeth is a KC based theatre artist focused on arts accessibility. She earned her BA in Theatre & Psychology from Northwest Missouri State University and her MA in Theatre with a focus in Directing & Theatre History at the University of Missouri-KC Conservatory. She is the Executive Artistic Director of Kansas City Public Theatre which was recently honored by the State of Missouri “Arts Organization of the Year.” Elizabeth’s work with KCPublic has received honors, including “Best of KC” in Pitch KC, Broadway World, and as the resident theatre for Charlotte Street Foundation. Elizabeth has worked on the artistic team for Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre, Coterie Theatre, and UMKC Conservatory. More info at http://www.kcpublictheatre.org

Also joining us is visual artist Chico Sierra, originally from El Paso Texax. Having relocated from his familial homeland, Chico attempts to connect the dots of his cultural history and create new stories based around humanism, class structures and social justice. Influenced by his interests in spiritual iconography he is attempting to create new narratives using symbolism that has been previously clouded by colonialism and more recently appropriated by euro-centric new age spiritualism. Chico’s work has been shown at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, the Nelson Atkins Museum Day of the Dead exhibit, Mattie Rhodes, Union Station, and InterUrban ArtHouse. More info at: http://www.chicosierra.com

At 11:30 we will talk with Kevin King about Whim Production’s annual flagship event, Alphabet Soup: Theater from Queer Voices an evening of six short plays written by Kansas City-area LGBTQ writers. The selected playwrights participate in private workshops facilitated by Kevin King, Whim’s Producing Artistic Director. This allows the plays to develop and builds a community among the writers. The workshops have given production opportunities to people who had never had a production before. In fact, some of the selected playwrights had never written a play prior to being involved in Soup. Alphabet Soup: Theater from Queer Voices runs April 4-13, 2025, at Whim Space, 415 Prospect Ave, KCMO, in historic Pendleton Heights. For info visit: http://www.whimproductions.org.

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Show #1090