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, February 2, 2022

Mark Spins 20 New & MidCoastal Releases + a few classics

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979
   [WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]

2. Jo Blaq – “New Day (feat. Irv Da Phenom & & Kim Keys)”
   from: Blaq Joy / DISTRICK / January 1, 2021
   [Jo Blaq is also known as: Joseph Macklin, a native of Kansas City, Kansas. Jo is the youngest of three “preacher’s kids.” Although his musical interest and talents existed then, as a kid, Jo excelled on the basketball court, as well. Jo was ranked as one of the top basketball players in the state of Kansas, hailing from the dominant Washington High School. He went on to play Division 1 College Basketball at the University of Texas-San Antonio, and would later continue his collegiate career at Colorado State. He played professional basketball in Australia before returning home. Blaq invests time, money, and energy into local initiatives in the Kansas City area, including the first-ever Christmas tree lighting and Christmas of Diversity concert in the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District and the rehabilitation of the Quindaro Museum, which houses houses historical artifacts from the African-American community. Jo has served as the event music producer for the American Jazz Museum and has taught music theory and coding classes through the Full Employment Council and University of Central Missouri for free. The classes offer metro-area teens paid internships and access to Jo as a mentor, songwriter, vocalist,instrumentalist, and producer. Jo has worked with many of the mainstream artists. In 2015, he was nominated for a “Best Pop Vocal Album” Grammy for his vocal production work on Ariana Grande’s MY EVERYTHING. Jo was again nominated for two Grammy’s in 2016 for the vocal production on Tim Bowman’s LISTEN album and Jill Scott’s WOMAN album. Over his genre-spanning career, Jo has worked with artists such as: Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Anita Baker, Justin Bieber, Cruz Beckum, Mario, Big Sean, B5, Chris Brown, 98 Degrees, Jasmine V, Next, Kendrick Lamar, B. Smyth, Evan Ross, Jordin Sparks, Shaunice, Kim Keyz, Evan Ross, Effie, & others. BLAQ GOLD was Produced By JETpack – Joseph “Jo Blaq” Macklin, Stephanie “Effie” Altoro, and Tim Ogutu. Jo Blaq also released the 7-track EP, WHAT THEY DO, in January 1, 2022 also produced By JETpack – Joseph “Jo Blaq” Macklin, Stephanie “Effie” Altoro, and Tim Ogutu. More info at: https://www.instagram.com/joblaqofficial/%5D

3. Dia Jane – “Father’s Daughter”
   from: “Father’s Daughter” – Single / Dia Jane / December 21, 2021
   [Written by dia jane. Produced by Jo MacKenzie and Brandon Yangmi. Mixed by Jo MacKenzie. Performed by Dia Jane featuring Addie Sartino of The Greeting Committee. 19 year old Dia Jane (singer/songwriter), was also part of Baby and the Brain with 18 year old Jo Mackenzie (producer and songwriter). They released their EP BrainBaby on September 3, 2021 that was 366 on WMM 120 Best Recordings of 2021. Dia Jane and Jo MacKenzie 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.]

4. Anaïs Mitchell – “Bright Star”
   from: AnaÏs Mitchell / Anaïs Mitchell – BMG / January 28, 2022
   [Anaïs Mitchell is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, released on January 28, 2022, through BMG Rights Management, her first release on the label. It is her first studio album of new material since Young Man in America (2012), as well as her first studio album following her Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown. The album features musical contributions from Michael Lewis, JT Bates, Thomas Bartlett, Aaron Dessner and Nico Muhly. // “Bright Star” was released as the album’s first single on October 28, 2021. It is an indie folk song “about looking back on years of restless pursuit and making peace with the source of that longing: the Muse, the Great Unknown, the One That Got Away – those things that motivate us that we never can touch.” It impacted adult alternative radio on January 10, 2022. // Album opener “Brooklyn Bridge” was released as the second single from the album on December 2, 2021. Of the song, Mitchell said “Having left New York, I was able to write a love letter to it in a way I never could when I was living there. It was like, fuck it. This is how I feel. There is nothing more beautiful than riding over one of the New York bridges at night next to someone who inspires you.” // “On Your Way (Felix Song)” was released as the third single on January 12, 2022. Dedicated to the late Felix McTeigue, Mitchell said of him “We briefly had the same manager in our early ‘hustling days’ of trying to get a songwriter career going. I can picture us playing at the old Living Room on the lower east side, and me being one of five people in Felix’s audience, and vice versa. Felix was really fearless and present, he always had a guitar on his back, he was always writing something, he loved the act of just rushing headlong into writing, recording, not overthinking it. It’s a lesson I’ll return to for the rest of my life.” // Mitchell will tour the album across the United States and Europe in 2022, with her band Bonny Light Horseman joining her for some American dates. // Anaïs Mitchell was born March 26, 1981. She is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and playwright. Mitchell has released eight studio albums, including Hadestown (2010), Young Man in America (2012), Child Ballads (2013), and Anaïs Mitchell (2022). // She developed her album Hadestown into a stage musical (together with director Rachel Chavkin), which received its US debut at New York Theatre Workshop in summer 2016, and its Canadian debut at the Citadel Theatre, Edmonton the following year. The show opened at London’s National Theatre in November 2018 and then on Broadway on April 17, 2019, at the Walter Kerr Theatre. The Broadway production of Hadestown won eight Tony Awards in 2019 including the Tony Award for Best Musical. Mitchell received the Tony Award for Best Original Score; she was also nominated for Best Book of a Musical. The Broadway cast album of the show took home the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 2020. Mitchell’s first book, Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown, was published by Plume Books on October 6, 2020. Mitchell was included in Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. // Mitchell is a member of the band Bonny Light Horseman, whose self-titled debut was released in 2020 . // Mitchell’s father is a novelist and college professor and named her after author Anaïs Nin. She grew up on Treleven farm in Addison County, Vermont. She was raised Quaker. Her mother was Deputy Secretary of Vermont’s Agency of Human Services. After traveling to the Middle East, Europe and Latin America as a child, she attended Middlebury College. Having begun writing her first songs at the age of 17, around 1998, Mitchell won the New Folk award in 2003, when she was 22, at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Her album Hymns for the Exiled was released on Chicago’s Waterbug Records label in 2004. This recording attracted the attention of singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, who signed her to the Righteous Babe Records label. // In 2006 Mitchell debuted a draft of her “folk opera” Hadestown, which she wrote in collaboration with arranger Michael Chorney and director Ben T. Matchstick. A revised version of Hadestown was staged in 2007. Her third album, The Brightness, was released that same year on Righteous Babe Records. // Her album Hadestown, produced by Todd Sickafoose, was released in spring 2010 to favorable reviews. Described as “the story of Orpheus and Eurydice set in post-apocalyptic Depression-era America, the album includes guest appearances by Ani DiFranco, Greg Brown, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Ben Knox Miller of The Low Anthem, and The Haden Triplets (Petra, Rachel, and Tanya Haden). // Mitchell continued quietly working on a stage version of Hadestown while also writing and recording new material. In early 2012, she released Young Man in America on Wilderland Records. Mitchell opened the North American leg of Bon Iver’s autumn 2012 tour, which included two sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall. The album was largely praised by critics as “genre-defying” and her “second consecutive masterpiece.” // In late 2012, Mitchell completed recording seven songs from the collection of Child Ballads, compiled by Francis James Child, with fellow musician Jefferson Hamer. The album, produced by Gary Paczosa, was released in February 2013, winning a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Traditional Song. This was followed in 2014 by xoa, for which Mitchell re-recorded a number of her older songs using only guitar and vocals. This stripped back album included some songs from Hadestown which were recorded for the first time in Mitchell’s own voice, as well as three brand new songs.// In summer 2016, the newly expanded theatrical version of Hadestown opened at New York Theatre Workshop with Vogue magazine predicting that “Hadestown will be your next musical theatre obsession”. The following year, it received its Canadian premiere at The Citadel Theatre, Edmonton, and in April 2018, London’s National Theatre announced that it would present a three-month run during the winter ahead of the show’s Broadway transfer. Hadestown opened on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre on April 17, 2019. // In 2019, Mitchell was appearing as part of a three-piece “supergroup” called Bonny Light Horseman, consisting of herself, Eric D. Johnson of Fruit Bats and guitarist Josh Kaufman. The group’s self-titled debut album was released on January 24, 2020. // In June 2021, America supergroup Big Red Machine announced their second studio album, How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? which features Mitchell’s guest vocals in three of its tracks: “Latter Days”, “Phoenix”, and “New Auburn”. // Mitchell married Noah Hahn in 2006. They have two daughters, Ramona and Rosetta.]

5. Cole Brood– “Tough Get Going”
   from: “Tough Get Going” – Single / Cole Brood / to be released as a single soon
   [Cole Brood released the single ,”Tough Get Going” to radio stations on Jan 18, 2020. The single will be officially released in a few weeks, and eventually as part of an EP. Cole Brood is the name of Debbie Cole’s solo work after her tenure with “Black Folk”.]

6. Black Pumas – “Touch The Sky”
   from: Black Pumas (Deluxe) / ATO / August 28, 2020
   [From Rolling Stone: Black Pumas have released a new double album deluxe edition of the band’s debut album, out August 28, 2020 via ATO Records. This deluxe edition features live-in-studio version of their song “Confines” where Black Pumas are tapering back the quick soul skip of the original into a groove that still moves at a steady pace, but now boasts additional space for a cadre of background singers and a string quartet. This new arrangement suits Black Pumas, as both Eric Burton’s raw vocals and Adrian Quesada’s spitfire guitar still sound right at home amid the swelling strings. This version of “Confines” is one of three live-in-studio cuts on the deluxe edition, along with renditions of “Colors” and “Oct 33.” The record also features three previously unreleased originals, “I’m Ready,” “Red Rover” and “Black Cat,” plus a live version of “Know You Better,” recorded at the Austin club, C-Boys Heart and Soul. The deluxe edition, Black Pumas also feature four cover songs: their take on Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” plus renditions of the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” Death’s “Politicians in My Eyes” and Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City.” // Black Pumas are a funk and soul duo based in Austin, Texas, consisting of singer Eric Burton and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada. Their work also has strong Latin music influences. The duo received their first Grammy nomination ever for Best New Artist at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. The duo formed in 2017 and released their debut album, Black Pumas, on June 21, 2019 which was part of WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019. Black Pumas performed at South by Southwest in 2019 and won a best new band trophy at the 2019 Austin Music Awards. On November 20, 2019, they were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Quesada was a member of Latin funk band Grupo Fantasma when it won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album for the 2010 album El Existential, and when it was previously nominated for the same award in 2008 for Sonidos Gold.]

7. Belle & The Vertigo Waves – “Stand Down”
   from: “Stand Down” – Single / Drop Out Records / January 21, 2021
   [Belle & The Vertigo Waves is the sonic brainchild of Belle Loux. She resides in Kansas City, MO, and is slowly attempting world domination. Members include Belle Loux on lead vocals, John Loux on guitar. Belle & The Vertigo Waves released their debut album, ALIGNED on Drop Out Records on October 6, 2017. “Aligned” is available on iTunes and all streaming services. About the album, Belle told Michelle Bacon at The Bridge that, “Many of the tunes had been written around five years prior, when I was just 15 or 16.” Belle had only played them as a solo artist with occasional accompaniment from her dad, guitarist John Loux, and keyboardist Charlie Hibberd. In 2017, she hired the two musicians and a couple other friends to track “Aligned,” dubbing the project Belle and the Vertigo Waves, in the hopes that she’d eventually assemble a live band. “Recording was a surreal and emotional experience. Playing the songs with a band was like seeing them come to life,” she said. “I knew there was no way I could be a solo artist anymore, because I fell in love with the full band sound so much.” The music of Belle & The Vertigo Waves have been described as having an “1980s pop-laden sound.” which drew local attention in 2018. Belle has said that in the past 4 years the band has grown to have more of a darker, glam rock sound, grittier and grungier. Their sound is influenced by three generations of musicians in the band, Belle’s growth as a songwriter and singer, and through the band’s work with engineer and producer Paul Malinowski. Belle & The Vertigo Waves are currently recording new music at Massive Sound Studios. Belle & The Vertigo Waves released their single, “Fear or Faith” on June 7, 2019 on Drop Out Records. Belle & The Vertigo Waves released their single, “Pulse” on April 17, 2020 on Drop Out Records. Belle & The Vertigo Waves released their single, “Beat Me To The Punch” on Drop Out Records on October 29, 2021. Belle & The Vertigo Waves joined us on WMM on February 5, 2020 and on June 26, 2019. More info at: http://www.thevertigowaves.com]

10:28 – Underwriting

8. FKA Twigs – “Careless (feat. daniel caesar)”
   from: CAPRISONGS / Young Recordings / January 14, 2021
   [Caprisongs is a mixtape by English singer-songwriter FKA Twigs. The mixtape features guest appearances from Pa Salieu, the Weeknd, Shygirl, Dystopia, Rema, Daniel Caesar, Jorja Smith, and Unknown T.[1][2][3] The production is handled by El Guincho, who co-executive produced the mixtape alongside Twigs, as well as Arca, Cirkut, and Mike Dean, among others.[3] The mixtape was supported by one single, “Tears in the Club”, which features the Weeknd, and one promotional single, “Jealousy”, which features Rema. Follow up to FKA Twigs Novenber 8, 2019 album MAGDALENE, which was #29 on WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019. Tahliah Debrett Barnett was born on January 16, 1988. She is known professionally as FKA Twigs. She is a British singer and songwriter, raised in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. She became a backup dancer after moving to South London when she was 17 years old. She made her musical debut with the extended plays EP1 (2012) and EP2 (2013). Her debut studio album, LP1, was released in August 2014 to critical acclaim, peaking at number 16 on the UK Albums Chart and number 30 on the US Billboard 200. It was later nominated for the 2014 Mercury Prize. She released the M3LL155X EP in 2015 to further critical praise, as well as her second studio album Magdalene four years later. Her work has been described as “genre-bending”, drawing on various genres including electronic music, trip hop, R&B, and avant-garde. Her work has been compared to the work of Tricky as well as Kate Bush, Janet Jackson, The xx, and Massive Attack, while Slate described her work as distinctive in a way that rises above her influences. The Wall Street Journal described her as “an heir to futuristic R&B muses like Aaliyah, Missy Elliott and others under the progressive sway of producer Timbaland.” Describing her artistry, she said: “I am not restricted by any musical genre. I like to experiment with sounds, generating emotions while putting my voice on certain atmospheres […] I found my own way of playing punk. I like industrial sounds and incorporating everyday life’s sounds like a car alarm.” FKA Twigs has been associated with the alternative R&B tag, though she herself has rejected the R&B label as related to her race: “It’s just because I’m mixed race. When I first released music and no one knew what I looked like, I would read comments like: ‘I’ve never heard anything like this before, it’s not in a genre.’ And then my picture came out six months later, now she’s an R&B singer. I share certain sonic threads with classical music; my song ‘Preface’ is like a hymn. So let’s talk about that. If I was white and blonde and said I went to church all the time, you’d be talking about the ‘choral aspect’. But you’re not talking about that because I’m a mixed-race girl from south London.” The first singers who influenced FKA Twigs were Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Marvin Gaye. When she started composing songs, she wanted to reproduce music she liked: “every bit of music that I made sounded like a pastiche of Siouxsie and the Banshees or Adam Ant. But through that I discovered myself”. In an interview after being shortlisted for the 2014 Mercury Prize, Twigs cited Germfree Adolescents by X-Ray Spex as her favourite album of all time.]

9. Static Phantoms – “Bathed in Blue Light”
   from: “Bathed In Blue Light” – Single / The Record Machine / to be released: February 22, 2022
   [Static Phantoms are: Dedric Moore on Synths, Drum Programming, Backing Vocals, & Production; and Krysztof Nemeth on Baritone Guitar, Bass, Synths, Lead Vocals. The Pandemic convinced Dedric Moore and Krysztof Nemeth that a studio project would be a perfect opportunity to pass the time and get creative by exploring the music and themes of a different age of anxiety-driven pop: the New Wave music of the 1980s. If you know the two musicians and their respective projects (Monta at Odds, The Republic Tigers, Emmaline Twist), you know they are well-versed in ‘80s synths and guitars. As Static Phantoms, the duo takes their cues in production from beloved acts from the ’80s like The Glove, Tones on Tail, Tears For Fears, and Soft Cell.]

10. Asterales – “Right Here, This Moment(feat. Royce Diamond & Maria Cuevas)”

from: “Right Here, This Moment (feat. Royce Diamond & Maria Cuevas)” -Single / Asterales / 12/31/2021
[Produced, mixed & mastered by Asterales. Lyrics & vocals by Royce Diamond. Background vocals by Maria Cuevas (of Maria The Mexican). KC based leftfield, experimental, electronica music maker, also known as Nate Holt. Asterales eleased the 5-track EP, WORK HOURS on Sept. 6, 2016 in collaboration with Aikido Bray, Leo Minor, Katlyn Conroy, and Tanner Walle, with synthesizers, production, recording, engineering & mastering by Etan Tioh for Datura Records. This was followed by the 3-track EP, FRAGMENTS, released Feb. 3, 2017. Asterales released the single A.M. on Feb. 4, 2017. Asterales released the 10-track album, OUTSIDE THE BOX on Oct. 31, 2017. Asterales released the singles: “Brkfst 4 Btlvrs” on Oct. 31, 2017; and “Soft Spheres” on April 21, 2018. Asterales released the 10-track album ORBITAL DEBRIS: VOL. 1 on Aug. 14, 2020 on Mr. Furious Records. Asterales released the single “ASTR_40” on Aug. 26, 2020. Asterales released the 4-song EP EXTRA JUNK on Dec. 4, 2020 through Mr. Furious Records. Asterales released the singles: “Solstice Song” on Dec. 21, 2020, and “Desire (Tanner Walle) – Asterales Remix” on Jan. 29, 2021. Asterales released the single “Offline” on Feb. 26, 2021. Asterales released the single, “Beauty In The Distance feat. Heidi Gluck)” on March 31, 2021. Produced & mixed by Asterales, vocals by Heidi Gluck. lyrics by Approach, mastered by Royce Diamond. Asterales released the single, “So Easy (feat. Royce Diamond)” on April 30, 2021. Asterales released the single, “Let Go” on May 31, 2021. Produced, mixed & mastered by Asterales, lyrics by Royce Diamond, vocals by Asterales. Asterales released the single, “Paraglider” on June 30, 2021. Produced, mixed & mastered by Asterales. Asterales released the single, “Kinugemi” on July 31, 2021. Produced, mixed and mastered by Asterales. Asterales released the single, “Variable Stars Pt. 1″ on August 30, 2021. Produced, mixed & mastered by Asterales. Asterales released the remix single, “She Left (Asterales Remix)” on Sept. 2, 2021, produced by Asterales. Remix artwork by Gordon Leadfoot & Asterales. Asterales released the single, “P​@​!​omAr​-​1” on September 28, 2021. Produced, mixed and mastered by Asterales. More info at: http://www.asterales.bandcamp.com Asterales released the remix single, “Cory Phillips & the Band of Light – Give & the Take (Asterales Remix)” on October 1, 2021. “Give & the Take” was written by Cory Phillips coryphillipsmusic.com “Give & the Take – Asterales Remix” Produced by Asterales. Asterales released the single, “Calling Me (feat. Ghostmind)” on October 31, 2021. Produced, mixed & mastered by Asterales. Vocals and guitar performed and recorded by Ghostmind. Lyrics by Ghostmind. Artwork by Asterales. Asterales released the single “Your World or Mine (Feat. Approach)” on November 30, 2021. Produced, mixed and mastered by Asterales. Lyrics and vocals by Approach.One of 14 singles Asterales released in 2021. More information at http://www.asterales.bandcamp.com]

11. Molchat Doma – “Судно (Борис Рижий) (Vessel)”
    from: Этажи (Etazhi) ( Floor) / Sacred Bones / 2020 [Originally Released September 7, 2018]
    [We last played Molchat Doma on October 28, 2020. Molchat Doma (Russian: Молчат Дома IPA: [mɐlˈt͡ɕat dɐˈma]; English: “Houses Are Silent”) is a Belarusian rock band from Minsk, formed in 2017. Their current lineup consists of Egor Shkutko (vocals), Roman Komogortsev (guitar, synthesizer, drum machine), and Pavel Kozlov (bass guitar, synthesizer). Their sound was influenced by 1980s Russian rock music and has been described as post-punk, new wave, synth-pop, and cold wave. // They self-released their first album, С крыш наших домов (S krysh nashikh domov, 2017), and later released their second album, Этажи (Etazhi, 2018), through German independent label Detriti Records. After gaining popularity worldwide, they signed to American independent label Sacred Bones Records in 2020, who reissued their albums, marking their first releases in North America. Their third studio album, Monument, it was released on November 13, 2020.]

{Molchat Doma play recordBar, 1020 Grand Avenue, on Wednesday, May 18 at 8:00 PM.]

12. Cate Le Bon – “Moderation”
    from: Pompeii / Mexican Summer / February 14, 2022
    [Le Bon’s 6th album and her first album since her 2019 release REWARD (released May 23, 2019) which received a Mercury prize nomination and was #12 onWMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019. “Pompeii was written and recorded in a quagmire of unease. Solo. In a time warp. In a house I had a life in 15 years ago. I grappled with existence, resignation and faith. I felt culpable for the mess but it smacked hard of the collective grit imposed by religion and original sin,” said Le Bon in a press release. // Throughout the entire album, Le Bon plays every instrument, aside from drums and saxophone. She also recorded the album herself along with long-term collaborator Samur Khouja. // Le Bon elaborates more on the meaning behind the album by stating, “The subtitle is: You will be forever connected to everything. Which, depending on the time of day, is as comforting as it is terrifying. The sense of finality has always been here. It seems strangely hopeful. Someone is playing with the focus lens. The world is on fire but the bins must go out on a Tuesday night. Political dissonance meets beauty regimes. I put a groove behind it for something to hold on to. The grief is in the saxophone.” // Cate Le Bon who was born Cate Timothy on March 4, 1983. She is a musician and producer. She sings in both English and Welsh. She has released four solo albums, three EPs and a number of singles. Le Bon has toured with artists such as St. Vincent, Perfume Genius and John Grant. In 2018, she joined John Cale on stage at The Barbican with the London Contemporary Orchestra. Le Bon was born in Penboyr, Carmarthenshire, Wales, and first gained public attention when she supported Gruff Rhys (of the Super Furry Animals) on his 2007 solo UK tour. She appeared as a guest vocalist on Neon Neon’s 2008 single “I Lust U” from their album Stainless Style. Under her original name she provided backing vocals on Richard James’s debut solo album The Seven Sleepers Den in 2006. She also appeared on his second solo album, We Went Riding, from 2010. Her first official release was a Welsh language EP, Edrych yn Llygaid Ceffyl Benthyg (“Looking in the Eyes of a Borrowed Horse”, similar to the English expression “to look a gift horse in the mouth”), on Peski Records in 2008. She also self-released the double A-side debut single “No One Can Drag Me Down” / “Disappear” (described by Gruff Rhys as “Bobbie Gentry and Nico fight over a Casio keyboard; melody wins!”) on her website. Le Bon worked alongside Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci’s Megan Childs, who contributed violin, and Super Furry Animals and Thrills collaborator John Thomas, who added pedal steel. Her debut album, Me Oh My was released in 2009, followed by Cyrk and the Cyrk II EP in 2012. In January 2013, Le Bon moved to L A to further her career in the US. Her third album, Mug Museum, was released November 2013. It was produced by Noah Georgeson and Josiah Steinbrick in Los Angeles, and featured Stephen Black (bass) & Huw Evans (guitar). She provided guest vocals on the track “Slow Train” from Kevin Morby’s debut album Harlem River. In 2015, Le Bon collaborated with Tim Presley as DRINKS and released the album Hermits on Holiday in August 2015. DRINKS released their second album Hippo Lite in April 2018. Le Bon released her fourth studio album, Crab Day, on April 15, 2016 on Drag City to generally favourable reviews. The album was produced by Josiah Steinbrick and Noah Georgeson, and again featured Stephen Black (bass) & Huw Evans (guitar), w/ Stella Mozgawa (drums). She noted how the collaboration with Presley had made her realise “that I make music because I love to, not because I have to”. On tour she was supported by Black and Evans and on occasion by Steinbrick and Josh Klinghoffer, a five-piece that also performs instrument improvisations under the name BANANA. In January 2017, Le Bon released the four-track EP Rock Pool via Drag City. It includes her version of the track “I Just Want to Be Good” featuring Perfume Genius, which she wrote for Sweet Baboo’s 2015 album The Boombox Ballads. In the same month Leaving Records released Live by BANANA, recorded live during the band’s 2016 tour and Le Bon remixed Eleanor Friedberger’s ‘Are We Good?’ In 2018, Le Bon signed with Brooklyn based record label Mexican Summer.]

13. Trevor Turla – “And We Continue”
    from: “And We Continue” – Single / Trevor James Turla / January 27, 2022
    [We first played Trevor Turla on WMM on July 29, 2020. His track “Busted” was released on a compilation titled KANSAS CITY SYZYGY that featured over 25 Kansas City-based musicians who came together to create a compilation of music created during the shutdown of the world in the Spring of 2020. // Originally from Wichita, Kansas, Trevor Turla is now lives in Kansas City. Trevor defines himself as a musician. He started playing his first instrument, the bagpipes, at the age of 8 and hasn’t stopped the pursuit of music since. He received his Bachelor’s in Jazz Studies for trombone from the UMKC Conservatory of Music. Trevor now creates music full time by playing, recording, and holding clinics around the United States. Trevor plays and sings in numerous bands, including Jake Wells, Grand Marquis, Miki P, Fritz Hutchison, and LA Jones. He is the founder, lead singer and trombonist for the band Sulu Moon. More info at http://www.trevorturla.com

[Trevor Turla plays Boulevardia Saturday, June 18, 2022, with Kadesh Flow.]

14. Glass Bandit – “Vacancy”
    from: Vacancy EP / Glass Bandit / January 21, 2022
    [Based out of KC, Glass Bandit icalls themselves the “first family of fusion funk.” “We’ve grown into a small traveling circus of writers, arrangers, and musicians capable of putting on a show that defies expectations and is sure to get you dancing. This 8 piece band can turn a bad night into a good night, and a good night into a banger.” – They write. More info at http://www.glassbanditmusic.com.]

[Glass Bandit play The Rino 314 Armour Rd. North Kansas City, MO, on Fri, Feb 4, Doors at 7:00 PM, Show at 8:00 PM with Miki P & The Swallowtails, and Supermoto. More info at: http://www.therinokc.com]

[Glass Bandit plays Boulevardia Saturday, June 18, 2022.]

10:59 – Station ID

15. Various Artists – “Wkrp In Cincinnati”
    from: All-Time Top 100 TV Themes / TVT Records / August 23, 2005

Our condolences go out to the family and fans of Actor Howard Hesseman, best known as the hard-rocking disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever on the sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati.” Hesseman died Saturday afternoon. Hesseman was 81.

16. Joel Kraft – “Even In The Darkness”
    from: The Lighting Project / Joel Kraft / December 25, 2021
    [Joel Kraft on guitars, percussion, slide whistles, vocals, keyboards and Nick Baker on drums. Recorded, engineered & produced by Joel Kraft. Mixed & mastered by Adam Selzer. Cover art and design by Shane Ogren. Prior to this Joel Kraft released the album BIG IDEAS on Blinking Light Records on April 11, 2006. Joel Kraft released his debut album, GOLD IN THE BARGAIN BIN, on July 24, 2003 More info at: http://www.joelkraft.bandcamp.com ]

17. Ivory Blue – “It Must’ve Been Me”
    from: “It Must’ve Been Me” – Single / Sound Ballistics Music & Publishing / December 14, 2021
    [KC based singer songwriter and rock & roller, Ivory Blue is currently in the studio putting together a new full length 10-song album called “Compound Love” for release in 2022. Ivory Blue’s debut EP, Ready Get Set was released in June 2015 and had wide radio airplay on this show and multiple radio and television stations in Kansas City and across the country. In 2017 Ivory was among 1800 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 them Ivory KC, 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. While the EP helped spread the word and got much attention from regional radio and TV stations, a big break would come in 2017. // Ivory entered NeXt2Rock, a nationwide talent search with over 1800 artists/bands who applied to find fresh and promising rock artists. The top 5 national bands battled it off for the win in Los Angeles CA at the legendary Viper Room, with judges Scott Borchetta (BMLG), John Varvatos (fashion designer), Steve Jones (Sex Pistols Guitarist and Host of “Jonesy’s Jukebox”), Desmond Child (Musician, producer), Chris Lord-Alge (producer), Ivory Blue won over the judges and became the grand prize winner! Ivory Ivory won the contest and a one-year record deal with BMLG who re-released the song Ready Get Set from the 2015 EP. Ivory’s 2018 re-release of ‘Ready Get Set’ undauntedly received National and International airplay within weeks. For their upcoming album, IVORY BLUE is producing all the tracks with the exception of Drums and Bass. Ivory is currently working with Lester Estelle (Drummer for Kelly Clarkson), Craig Kew (Bass) KC, Kurt Festge (Mastering | Citizen Kane & Vilent Femmes) NC. and Nick Poortman (LA based Los Angeles based Producer, Engineer, Mixer, and Songwriter) Nick has worked alongside producers including Justin Gray, Gil Norton, Big Tank, and Greg Haver on sessions throughout the USA, UK, Europe, and New Zealand. // On August 18th 2021 Ivory Blue signed a publishing deal with Sound Ballistics Music & Publishing out of Atlanta GA. // Ivory released the singles: “Elite Dreamland,” on Feb. 17, 2021, “Half a Life” on Sept. 20, 2021. 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 joined us on WMM on November 10, September 15, and July 28, in 2021. More info at: https://linktr.ee/ivorybluemusic%5D

[Ivory Blue plays Boulevardia Saturday, June 18, 2022.]

18. Lonnie Fisher – “Famous Girl”
    from: Famous Girl / Lonnie Fisher / January 19, 2022
    [Lonnie Fisher’s 8-song, solo album was engineered by Ed Rose and Duane Trower with contributions from: Chris Nunez. Tim Jenkins, Tim Manning, and Julia Reynolds. More information at: http://www.lonniefisher.bandcamp.com. On October 22, 2021 with his band Lonnie Fisher And The Funeral released HAUNTED with Lonnie Fisher on lead vocals, 5 String Guitar & Keyboards; Tim Jenkins on guitars; Chris Nunez on drums, Tim Manning on bass, & Julia Reynolds on vocals & keyboards Lonnie Fisher and The Funeral Album Release and Abby’s Fund Benefit, October 22, 2021, at Lemonade Park, 1628 Wyoming, WEST BOTTOMS, KCMO with Fritz Hutchison and Big Dopes. Lonnie Fisher writes: “Midwest Music Foundation helped me through some really tough days after my strokes and it’s a miracle I’m singing and playing again. This show is for helping others.”]

Special Note: Our playlist was actually created before the recent controversy over Spotify paying Joe Rogan, (former host of NBC television’s, stunt/dare game show, “Fear Factor”) $100,000,000.00 for exclusive rights to be a platform for his podcast.

from wikipedia:
In January 2022, 270 scientists, physicians, professors, doctors, and healthcare workers wrote an open letter to Spotify expressing concern over “false and societally harmful assertions” on the The Joe Rogan Experience and asked Spotify to “establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform.” The 270 signatories took issue with Rogan “broadcasting misinformation, particularly regarding the COVID-19 pandemic” and more specifically “a highly controversial episode featuring guest Dr. Robert Malone (#1757). The episode has been criticized for promoting baseless conspiracy theories, including “an unfounded theory that societal leaders have ‘hypnotized’ the public.” The signatories further assert that “Dr. Malone is one of two recent JRE guests who has compared pandemic policies to the Holocaust. These actions are not only objectionable and offensive, but also medically and culturally dangerous.” The signatories also note that Malone was suspended from Twitter “for spreading misinformation about COVID-19”.

On January 24, 2022, musician Neil Young posted an open letter threatening to remove his music from Spotify if they did not remove the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience from their service. The podcast, one of Spotify’s most popular, has been criticized for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. Young wrote that “Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform”. On January 26, Spotify removed Young’s music; a spokesperson said Spotify wanted “all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users” and that it had a “great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators”. According to Newsweek, Young had 6,057,481 monthly listeners on Spotify, while The Joe Rogan Experience has an estimated 11 million listeners per episode. On January 29, Joni Mitchell removed her catalogue from Spotify in support of long-time friend and fellow polio survivor “Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue”. In response to the controversy, Rogan said that he would try harder to maintain a neutral point of view in his podcasts, and said that he agreed with Spotify adding a disclaimer to the beginning of his videos.

MM: “We originally just wanted to share from two of our favorite Canadian musicians and from their own new archive releases, but we do so now, additionally, in support of the moral compass inside Joni and Neil, and their protest of Spotify, and in ‘calling out’ the spread disinformation about COVID-19.”

19. Joni Mitchell – “Intro To Urge For Going (Live at Carnegie Hall, NYC, 2/1/1969)”
    from: Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) / Rhino / Oct. 29, 2021
    [Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968–1971) is a five-disc box set by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released on November 12, 2021, by Rhino Records. The box set is the seventh overall release and second offering of unreleased material from the Joni Mitchell Archives, a planned series of releases containing remastered material from the singer’s archives. Formatted in chronological order, the second volume of the series includes archived material that was recorded in the years between the release of Mitchell’s debut studio album, Song to a Seagull (1968) and her fourth studio album, Blue (1971). // Upon release, Joni Mitchell Archives – Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968–1971) received critical acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 92 based on 7 reviews, indicating “universal acclaim”. // Roberta Joan “Joni” Mitchell CC (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and painter. Drawing from folk, pop, rock, classical, and jazz, Mitchell’s songs often reflect on social and philosophical ideals as well as her feelings about romance, womanhood, disillusionment and joy. She has received many accolades, including nine Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Rolling Stone called her “one of the greatest songwriters ever and AllMusic has stated, “When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century”. // Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and throughout western Canada, before moving on to the nightclubs of Toronto, Ontario. She moved to the United States and began touring in 1965. Some of her original songs (“Urge for Going”, “Chelsea Morning”, “Both Sides, Now”, “The Circle Game”) were covered by other folk singers, allowing her to sign with Reprise Records and record her debut album, Song to a Seagull, in 1968. Settling in Southern California, Mitchell helped define an era and a generation with popular songs like “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Woodstock”. Her 1971 album Blue is often cited as one of the best albums of all time; it was rated the 30th best album ever made in Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, rising to number 3 in the 2020 edition. In 2000, The New York Times chose Blue as one of the 25 albums that represented “turning points and pinnacles in 20th-century popular music”. In 2017, NPR ranked Blue number 1 on a list of Greatest Albums Made By Women. Mitchell’s fifth album, For the Roses, was released in 1972. She then switched labels and began exploring more jazz-influenced melodic ideas, by way of lush pop textures, on 1974’s Court and Spark, which featured the radio hits “Help Me” and “Free Man in Paris” and became her best-selling album. // Mitchell’s vocal range began to shift from mezzo-soprano to more full sounding. Her distinctive piano and open-tuned guitar compositions also grew more harmonically and rhythmically complex as she melded jazz with rock and roll, R&B, classical music and non-Western beats. In the late 1970s, she began working with noted jazz musicians including Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Pat Metheny as well as Charles Mingus, who asked her to collaborate on his final recordings. She later turned to pop and electronic music and engaged in political protest. She was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards in 20021 and became a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2021. // Mitchell is the sole producer credited on most of her albums, including all her work in the 1970s. A critic of the music industry, she quit touring and released her 17th, and reportedly last, album of original songs in 2007. Mitchell has designed most of her own album covers, describing herself as a “painter derailed by circumstance”]

20. Joni Mitchell – “Urge For Going (Live at Carnegie Hall, NYC, 2/1/1969)”
    from: Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) / Rhino / Oct. 29, 2021

21. Neil Young – “Expecting To Fly (Live)”
    from: Carnegie Hall 1970 (Live) / Shakey Pictures Records – Reprise / October 1, 2021
    On December 4th 1970, Neil Young played two legendary solo acoustic shows at New York’s Carnegie Hall. The 23 songs in this set (2 LP & 2 CD) have been mixed from the original ¼ inch tapes by Young and Niko Bolas. This is the early show which has never been bootlegged or circulated, and is the first release in Neil’s new “Official Bootleg Series”. // “Expecting to Fly” is a song written by Neil Young and performed by Buffalo Springfield. The song reached #98 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968. The song appeared on their 1967 album, Buffalo Springfield Again. Producer Jack Nitzsche provided the orchestral arrangement featuring a string section plus an oboe. Live versions from Young’s early solo performances appear on the albums Live at the Riverboat 1969, Sugar Mountain – Live at Canterbury House 1968, and Live at the Cellar Door. // In the 2018 music documentary film, Echo in the Canyon, it is suggested “Expecting to Fly” marks and exemplifies a shift in a late sixties’ movement from group-oriented folk rock compositions toward more individualized performances and single-artist recordings. (From All Music.com): “Neil Young had just released his third solo album After the Gold Rush a few months before he played Carnegie Hall in December of 1970, where he offered up a new set of introspective songs that were relatively toned down when compared to the stomping full-band jamming of 1969’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. This would just be the beginning of a run of classic albums that continued throughout the ’70s, and both sides of Young’s musical personality — the hushed and patient songwriter side, and the side that tended toward rugged rock — were integral to how that peerless run played out. Young appeared alone on-stage at Carnegie Hall, playing stripped-down versions of his songs on acoustic guitar and piano to an audience so rapt they remained completely silent even as he took his time tuning the guitar and bantering between songs. He played two nights at Carnegie Hall, and while audience recordings of the second show found their way onto various bootlegs over the years, no bootlegs were ever made of the first night. Carnegie Hall 1970 offers the first public release of multi-track recordings from that first night, finding Young in rare form and delivering a diverse set list that included material from his records up to that point, as well as tunes that hadn’t been released yet. Songs that were raging and blusterous on record, like “Cinnamon Girl,” “Southern Man,” and “Cowgirl in the Sand,” are mysterious and tender in their solo renditions, peeling away the distortion and guitar heroics to expose the lingering melancholy and aching beauty that so often lie at the core of Young’s songwriting. Already, folksy acoustic songs like “Tell Me Why,” and the piano-based “Birds” take on an even more marked intimacy on Carnegie Hall 1970. Young’s legend-arily quaky voice conveys the loneliness, hope, loss, and appreciation of his lyrics with a profound impact when he stands alone with a single instrument. Die-hard fans will want to listen closely to versions of “See the Sky About to Rain,” “Old Man,” and “Bad Fog of Loneliness,” all of which had yet to be recorded and commercially released at the time of these performances. It speaks to the creative streak Young was in the thick of at that time (and would continue in various forms for the majority of his career) that he was already tired of playing his groundbreaking songs that were only a few years old and was eager to get the next ones out. Any Young completist will need Carnegie Hall 1970, but it’s a special performance that can be appreciated by more casual listeners as well. Alone at the microphone, the purity, simplicity, and one-of-a-kind magic of some of Neil Young’s best songs come into view in a way that’s undeniable. // Neil Percival Young OC OM (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer, musician and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and others. Since the beginning of his solo career with his backing band Crazy Horse, Young has released many critically acclaimed and important albums, such as Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, Harvest, On The Beach and Rust Never Sleeps. He was a part-time member of Crosby, Stills & Nash. // Young has received several Grammy & Juno Awards. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted him twice: in 1995 as a solo artist and in 1997 as a member of Buffalo Springfield. In 2000, Rolling Stone named Young No. 34 on their list of the 100 greatest musical artists. According to Acclaimed Music, he is the 7th most celebrated artist in popular music history. His guitar work, deeply personal lyrics and signature high tenor singing voice define his long career. He also plays piano and harmonica on many albums, which frequently combine folk, rock, country and other musical genres. His often distorted electric guitar playing, especially with Crazy Horse, earned him the nickname “Godfather of Grunge” and led to his 1995 album Mirror Ball with Pearl Jam. More recently he has been backed by Promise of the Real. 21 of his albums and singles have been certified Gold and Platinum in U.S by RIAA certification. // Young directed (or co-directed) films using the pseudonym “Bernard Shakey”, including Journey Through the Past (1973), Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Human Highway (1982), Greendale (2003), and CSNY/Déjà Vu (2008). He also contributed to the soundtracks of the films Philadelphia (1993) and Dead Man (1995). // Young has lived in California since the 1960s but retains Canadian citizenship. He was awarded the Order of Manitoba in 2006 and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2009. He became a US citizen, taking dual citizenship, in 2020.]

22. Heidi Lynne Gluck – “Walk On”
    from: Cinnamon Girl – Women Artists Cover Neil Young for Charity / American Laundromat Records / February 12, 2008 [Reissued for the 1st time on limited edition vinyl Dec. 17, 2021]
    [Double LP on colored vinyl. Gatefold jacket. Limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. Cover art by Casey Burns Mastered by Sean Glonek Lacquers cut by Levi Seitz. Pressed in the USA at Furnace Record Pressing. All proceeds from this benefit record are lovingly donated to Casting For Recovery, whose mission is to enhance the quality of life of women with breast cancer through a unique retreat program that combines breast cancer education and peer support with the therapeutic sport of fly fishing. Lawrence, Kansas based Heidi Lynne Gluck is a songwriter, singer & multi-instrumentalist originally from the middle of Canada. After transplanting herself from the plains of Manitoba to the midwestern USA, 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 played 90.1 FM’s Crossroads Music Fest, Sept. 10. Heidi Lynne Gluck released, THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ROOM on April 28, 2015, and PONY SHOW on Aug. 26, 2016 both on Lotuspool Records. PONY SHOW was #5 inWMM’s 116 Best Recordings of 2016. Too Much Rock released the Heidi Lynne Gluck Single “Party Line” on Aug. 3, 2018. Heidi is also a huge part of the Lawrence band The Roseline and recently has contributed vocals to released from Approach and Astrales. Heidi Lynne Gluck joined us live on WMM on June 8, and Aug. 24, 2016, and July 25, 2018.]

11:28 – Underwriting

23. Cale Parks – “Boards”
    from: Boards / Whirling Wolf Records / January 14, 2020
    [Cale Parks is best known for decades of drumming in the bands: Aloha, and Yeasayer, and in high profile side hustles such as: Passion Pit, Chet Faker, and Joan of Arc. Cale released the albums, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT on Sept. 26, 2009, and SPARKFACE on November 3, 2008, and the EP TO SWIFT MARS on Augusgust 3, 2004. But On May 18, 2015, Cale released his 4-track solo EP, LAGOON FOOL giving his fans the first sign of becoming a more of a “mood-altering” electronic producer with his multi-faceted record featuring interlocking melodies and everything from acid techno asides to piano-laced synth progressions. Cale followed LAGOON FOOL with his most recent solo EP, BOARDS, released on January 24, 2020 on Whirling Wolf Records. Boards ventures even further into the ether, piling on the sort of polychromatic chords, artful hooks, and mood-altering melodies one might find on an old Air or Durutti Column album. A lot of this has to do with how it was made: in Parks’ home studio rather than a cramped apartment room, which gave him space to think and toy with a wide range of instruments. Listeners can thank a long overdue lifestyle change: a move from Brooklyn to Kansas City that made Parks look at music differently. “I didn’t own a car in New York,” he explains, “so all of my listening was done as I walked around the city. There’s something about the energy of New York that requires that electricity. Moving to Kansas changed the style of music I wanted to hear; I wanted room to let records breathe.”]

24. Love, Mae C – “Go”
    from: “Go” – Single / Love, Mae C / January 19, 2022
    [Written By: Love, Mae C. Produced By: Anthony Harvey. Mae C is a KC 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 artist in the KC music scene. Love, Mae C has recorded severl tracks and songs witn NUBLKCITY. More info at; http://www.lovemaec.com]

[NUBLVCKCITY plays Boulevardia Friday, June 17, 2022.]

25. Deegan Poores – “Vanishing”
    from: “Vanishing” – Single / Deegan Poores / December 19, 2018
    [Writen & produced by Deegan Poores, vocal production by Guanghao Yu. Deegan Poores will release his album “Vanishing” on February 11, 2022. Deegan Pooresis a singer, songwriter, and producer from Kansas City, Kansas. “Vanishing” was co-produced by Remy Styrk. To see the “Vanishing” video, directed and produced by Remy Styrk visit: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCie5UaItSkEugr7MJ6ubzvg%5D

26. The Talking Trees – “Talking Trees”
    from: “Talking Trees” – Single / East of Troost Music, BMI / January 7, 2022
    [The Talking Trees released their new single, “Talking Trees” to streaming services on January 7, 2022. The track was recorded and produced by Joel Nanos at Element Recording Studios, it is the first single from their upcoming EP. The Kansas City based trio made up of: Dirk Liebert on bass, guitar, & vocals; Tommy Capps on keyboards, guitar, & vocals; and Graham Stone on drums & percussion. More info at: http://www.thetalkingtrees.bandcamp.com ]

In Memory of: Veronica Yvette Greenfield born: August 10, 1943 died: January 12, 2022, known professionally as Ronnie Spector. She was an American singer and referred to as the original “bad girl of rock and roll”, she was the lead singer of the girl group the Ronettes.

27. The Ronettes – “Be My Baby”
    from: Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica / Phil Spector Records / 1964
    [The Ronettes were an American girl group from Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. They had sung together since they were teenagers, then known as “The Darling Sisters”. Signed first by Colpix Records in 1961, they moved to Phil Spector’s Philles Records in March 1963 and changed their name to “The Ronettes” (an acronym for “Ronnie, Nedra and Estelle”). // The Ronettes placed nine songs on the Billboard Hot 100, five of which became Top 40 hits. Among their hit songs are “Be My Baby”, which peaked at No. 2, their only Top 10 hit (until “Sleigh Ride” peaked at number 10, on January 1, 2022), “Baby, I Love You”, “(The Best Part of) Breakin’ Up” and “Walking in the Rain”. In 1964, the group released their only studio album, Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica. That year, the Rolling Stones were their opening act when they toured the UK. The Ronettes opened for the Beatles on their 1966 US tour, becoming the only girl group to tour with them, before splitting up in 1967. In the 1970s, the group was briefly revived as Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes. // Their song “Be My Baby” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. Rolling Stone ranked their album Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica No. 422 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The Ronettes were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004, and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. // Veronica Yvette Greenfield (née Bennett; August 10, 1943 – January 12, 2022), known professionally as Ronnie Spector, was an American singer. Referred to as the original “bad girl of rock and roll”, she was the lead singer of the girl group the Ronettes. // Ronnie formed a singing group, “Ronnie and the Relatives, with her elder sister, Estelle Bennett, and their cousin, Nedra Talley in the late 1950s. Their look was fashioned by Estelle, who had a job at Macy’s on the cosmetics counter. They sang at school events, and had a residency at the Peppermint Lounge, a nightspot in Manhattan, the birthplace of the Twist and go-go dancing. Their early singles flopped, but they became successful after auditioning for Phil Spector as the Ronettes. They were signed to Phil Spector’s Philles label and he produced the majority of their recording output. The Ronettes had a string of hits in the 1960s, including “Be My Baby” (1963), “Baby, I Love You” (1963), “(The Best Part of) Breakin’ Up” (1964) and “Walking in the Rain” (1964). // After Ronnie married Phil in 1968, she was no longer able to perform, as he kept her imprisoned in the house, surrounding it with barbed wire and confiscating her shoes. Following their separation in 1972, she reformed the Ronettes and began performing again. In 1980, she released her debut solo album Siren. Her career revived when she was featured on Eddie Money’s song “Take Me Home Tonight” in 1986. She went on to release the albums Unfinished Business (1987), Something’s Gonna Happen (2003), Last of the Rock Stars (2006) and English Heart (2016). She also recorded one extended play, She Talks to Rainbows (1999). // In 1990, Ronnie Spector published a memoir, Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness, Or, My Life as a Fabulous Ronette. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Ronettes in 2007.]

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

Next week on Wednesday, February 9 we will play songs demonstrating our deep L.O.V.E. and affection for our beautiful listeners of Wednesday MidDay Medley. We’ll be spinning songs about love, in anticipation of Valentine’s Day, playing tracks from: The Wild Women of Kansas City, Frogpond, Marva Whitney, Krystle Warren & The Faculty, Effie, Betse & Clarke, Amythyst Kiah, Nina Simone, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Lou Reed, Aimee Mann, The Magnetic Fields, Roberta Flack, Digital Leather, Pansy Division, Cynthia Erivo, Michael Callen, Holly Near, John Prine, and Ray Charles.

Also next week, Marion Merritt, and Betse Ellis will join us again as our special Co-Hosts for WMM’s Winter Fund Drive Show for 90.1 FM KKFI. Please don’t let our love songs be unrequieted. We need to hear for you all!

Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information.
Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org

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Show #927

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, February 2, 2022

Mark Spins 20 New & MidCoastal Releases + a few classics

Mark plays 20 New & MidCoastal Releases from: Jo Blaq, Dia Jane, Cole Brood, Belle & The Vertigo Waves, Static Phantoms, Asterales feat. Royce Diamond & Maria Cuevas, Trevor Turla, Glass Bandit, Joel Kraft, Ivory Blue, Lonnie Fisher, Heidi Gluck, Cale Parks, Love Mae C, Deegan Poores, The Talking Trees, FKA Twigs, Cate Le Bon, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Anais Mitchell. We’ll also play Black Pumas, Molchat Doma, and The Ronettes.

On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or
STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org

Show #927

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, September 29, 2021

Nico Gray returns as Guest Producer

Mark welcomes back Nico Gray as “Guest Producer”. Nico is a writer, performance artist, and actor who has performed with Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Gorilla Theatre, 8th St. Cafe Theatre, Actor’s Craft, and Big Bang Buffet. He appeared in HBO’s Truman the Robert Altman film Kansas City. Nico has worked for Theatre League, The Midland Theatre, and is currently a marketing & advertising consultant with Union Station, KC Fringe, and KC Creates. Nico grew up in KC but has lived in Chicago, New York, and Marseille. For WMM this is Nico Gray’s 12th appearance as Guest Producer.

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979

2. Reitzell/Beggs — “Intro Versaille”
   from: Marie Antoinette (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) / Verve Forecast / October 2006
   [The Marie Antoinette soundtrack contains New Wave and post-punk bands New Order, Gang of Four, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bow Wow Wow, Adam and the Ants, the Strokes, Dustin O’Halloran and the Radio Dept. Some scenes utilise period music by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Antonio Vivaldi and François Couperin. The soundtrack also includes songs by electronic musicians Squarepusher and Aphex Twin. // Marie Antoinette is a 2006 historical drama film written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It is based on the life of Queen Marie Antoinette, played by Kirsten Dunst, in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. It was released in the United States on October 20, 2006, by Sony Pictures Releasing.]

3. Yaz —“Winter Kills”
   from: Upstairs At Eric’s / Sire / August 23, 1982
   [Yazoo (known as Yaz in North America) were an English synth-pop duo from Basildon, Essex, consisting of former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke (keyboards) and Alison Moyet (vocals). The duo formed in late 1981 after Clarke responded to an advertisement Moyet placed in a British music magazine, although the pair had known each other since their schooldays. // Over the next 18 months the duo released two albums, Upstairs at Eric’s and You and Me Both, which received critical acclaim for their production, particularly the blending of Clarke’s synthesizer melodies with Moyet’s blues- and soul-influenced vocals. // Yazoo enjoyed worldwide success, particularly in their home country, where three of their four singles reached the top three of the UK Singles Chart and both their albums made the top two of the UK Albums Chart. In North America, they are known for the song “Situation”, which, though originally only a B-side in the United Kingdom, was a club and airplay success in the United States and Canada before being released as the band’s debut single in North America. //Despite their success, the duo split acrimoniously in May 1983 as a result of a combination of Clarke’s reluctance to make more records under the Yazoo name, a clash of personalities, and a lack of communication between the pair.[// Clarke went on to form Erasure, another successful and longer-lasting synth-pop duo, while Moyet embarked on a highly successful solo career. Although their musical career was short, Yazoo’s combination of electronic instrumentation and soulful female vocals has been cited as an influence on the house music scene that emerged in the mid-1980s, as well as on bands such as LCD Soundsystem (who name-checked the duo on their debut single “Losing My Edge”), Hercules and Love Affair (whose leader Andy Butler has said that “Situation” was his biggest musical inspiration as a child), La Roux, Shiny Toy Guns and Blaqk Audio.// In 2008, 25 years after splitting, Clarke and Moyet reconciled and reformed Yazoo to play a successful tour of the UK, Europe and North America in support of the reissue of Yazoo’s two studio albums and a box set of their material titled In Your Room. The pair briefly reunited in May 2011 to play three Yazoo songs at a music festival organised by their record label.]

4. Michel Rubini & Denny Jaeger — “Trio In E Flat (Excerpt)”
   from: The Hunger (Soundtrack) / Varèse Sarabande / 1983
   [Howard Blake was musical director on The Hunger. Although a soundtrack album accompanied the film’s release (Varèse Sarabande VSD 47261), this issue omits much of the music used in the film. // Blake’s noted on working with director Tony Scott, “Tony wanted to create a score largely using classical music and I researched this, many days going to his home in Wimbledon with stacks of recordings to play to him. One of these was the duet for two sopranos from Delibes’ Lakmé, which I recorded specially with Elaine Barry and Judith Rees, conducting my orchestra The Sinfonia of London. Howard Shelley joined with Ralph Holmes and Raphael Wallfisch to record the second movement of Schubert’s Piano Trio in E flat. Ralph recorded the Gigue from Bach’s Violin Partita in E and Raphael the Prelude to Bach’s solo cello sonata in G, to which Bowie mimed. I was persuaded to appear in one scene as a pianist, for which I wrote a ‘Dolphin Square Blues’. Tony wanted to add a synthesizer score and I introduced him to Hans Zimmer, then working at The Snake Ranch Studio in Fulham but Tony eventually used a score by Michel Rubini and Denny Jaeger with electronics by David Lawson. It is hard however to exactly separate these elements. // The Hunger is a 1983 supernatural horror film directed by Tony Scott, starring Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and United States, the film is a loose adaptation of the 1981 novel of the same name by Whitley Strieber, with a screenplay by Ivan Davis and Michael Thomas. Its plot concerns a love triangle between a doctor who specializes in sleep and aging research (Sarandon) and a vampire couple (Deneuve and Bowie). The film’s special effects were handled by make-up effects artist Dick Smith. // After premiering at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival, The Hunger was released in the spring of 1983 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Though it received a mixed critical response, the film has accrued a cult following within the goth subculture in the years since its release.]

5. The Cure —“Cold”
   from: Pornography / Fiction / May 4, 1982
   [Pornography is the fourth studio album by English rock band The Cure, released on 4 May 1982 by Fiction Records. Preceded by the non-album single “Charlotte Sometimes”, it was the band’s first album with new producer Phil Thornalley, and was recorded at RAK Studios from January to April 1982. The sessions saw the band on the brink of collapse, with heavy drug use, band in-fighting, and frontman Robert Smith’s depression fueling the album’s musical and lyrical content. Pornography represents the conclusion of the Cure’s early dark, gloomy musical phase, which began with their second album Seventeen Seconds (1980). // Following its release, bassist Simon Gallup left the band, and the Cure switched to a much brighter and more radio-friendly new wave sound. Although it was poorly received by critics at the time of release, Pornography was the Cure’s most popular album to date, reaching number eight on the UK Albums Chart. It has since gone on to gain acclaim from critics, and is now considered an important milestone in the development of the style of music known as gothic rock. // The Cure are an English rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band’s formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith has remained the only constant member. The band’s debut album was Three Imaginary Boys (1979) and this, along with several early singles, placed the band in the post-punk and new wave movements that had sprung up in the United Kingdom. Beginning with their second album, Seventeen Seconds (1980), the band adopted a new, increasingly dark and tormented style, which, together with Smith’s stage look, had a strong influence on the emerging genre of gothic rock as well as the subculture that eventually formed around the genre. //Following the release of their fourth album Pornography in 1982, the band’s future was uncertain. Smith was keen to move past the gloomy reputation his band had acquired, introducing a greater pop sensibility into the band’s music. Songs such as “Let’s Go to Bed” (1982), “The Love Cats” (1983), “Inbetween Days” (1985), “Close To Me” (1985), “Just Like Heaven” (1987), “Lovesong” (1989), and “Friday I’m in Love” (1992) aided the band in receiving commercial popularity. The band have released 13 studio albums, two EPs, over 30 singles, and have sold over 30 million albums worldwide. //The Cure were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. More info at: http://www.facebook.com/thecure%5D

10:16

6. Gabriels – “Innocence”
   from: Bloodline – EP / Gabriels / December 3, 2021
   [Gabriels is an LA based group consisting of lead singer Jacob Lusk and producers Ari Balouzian and Ryan Hope. More info at: http://www.instagram.com/gabriels or http://www.facebook.com/GabrielsWorldwide%5D

7. Ms White The Drunken Piano —“Chopin Was A Hip Hop Lover”
   from: Miss White & The Drunken Piano / Adelie Prod / April 19, 2010
   [Miss White and the Drunken Piano is a French musical group , originally from Grenoble . The group’s musical style is characterized by songs in English with accents of hip-hop, jazz, and even classical music. Their music bridges several genres, such as jazz, rap with the practice of beatbox and rapped singing as well as a touch of rock. The group was formed in September 2008, in Grenoble, by Marieke Husmans Berthoux, David Laurent, and Martin Larat-lini. Prior to the band’s formation, each of the members was in solo bands or projects; Marieke was in a rock band and sang in French. A first eponymous album appeared in 2010. In 2012, Miss Drunk and the Drunken Piano released their second studio album, Same Same. More info at: https://www.facebook.com/miss-white-and-the-drunken-piano-274415689654%5D

8. Degiheugi — “Just A Little More”
   from: Foreglow / Endless Smile Records / April 23, 2021
   [Degiheugi present his 8th album entitled « Foreglow ». This record with multiple influences, ranging from samba to Afrobeat through soul and French chanson, is a real ray of light that makes you want to escape and takes you far from home. Once again, the unstoppable digger and beatmaker surprises us and shows us how well he masters the art of sampling. // Early on, Degiheugi devoured LPs and made turntables roar in a rap crew. But the classical hip-hop sphere quickly proved itself too narrow to echo the massive flow of ideas that irrigated his right hemisphere. // Sound collector, insatiable explorer in search of the ultimate sample, Degiheugi unearths treasures buried deep in the internet abyss or under the dust of time in flea markets. He reinvents the art of merging these sound particles in order to offer them an atomically radiant second life. Imbued with high-end featurings of beats chiseled out from the gold groove is made of, these patchworks are brilliant enough to ignore the codes of abstract hip-hop, and unfold a clear musicality, full of soul reflections and electronic spleen. After releasing five essential albums -all of which were acclaimed online by an enthusiast community of supporters- this beatmaker is stepping out of the shadows and is today taking the step to go on stage. A live experience where video will join in, and which promises to be powerfully immersive. // At the end of 2018, he was a brake on a stage career to devote himself to production, and to various other projects. More info at: https://www.facebook.com/degiheugi%5D

9. Meskerem Mees – “Where I’m From”
   from: Julius / Mayway Records / November 12, 2021
   [Debut album from Meskerem MeesShe has the soul of Nina Simone, the panache of Joni Mitchell and a voice as clear as spring water. Belgium-based singer-songwriter Meskerem Mees, a grand lady of just 21, grabs you by the scruff of the neck and doesn’t let go. // Armed with nothing but her intriguing voice, her acoustic guitar and the cello of her buddy Febe, she transforms her layered and carefully crafted songs into the sweetest ear candy. Her melodies burrow their way into your brain while the choruses take up residence in your head and refuse to leave. // By mid 2020 it’s hard to miss her debut single ‘Joe’ on the radio, and Meskerem finds her way to every listener’s heart. ‘Joe’ goes straight to number one in Studio Brussel’s chart ‘De Afrekening’, and leading foreign music media like Consequence of Sound (USA) and FIP Radio (Fra) immediately fall in love with this young and talented woman from Ghent. // Meskerem sets off on a nice string of summer gigs, and showcases her touch of genius again in autumn, playing brilliant and often unrecognizable cover versions of famous songs in Studio Brussel’s morning show. // October 18, 2020 sees yet another milestone in her budding career, when Meskerem Mees adds her name to the legendary list of ‘Humo’s Rock Rally’ winners, marking her breakthrough to the general public. More info at: http://www.meskeremmees.com. For more info: https://www.facebook.com/meskeremmeesmusic%5D

10. Leslie Winer – “John Says”
    from: Witch / Transglobal / 1993
    [Leslie Winer is an American musician, poet, and writer. Winer began her career as a fashion model in the early 1980s after moving to New York City from Massachusetts to attend the School of Visual Arts where she studied with Hannah Wilke and Joseph Kosuth. She appeared in fashion campaigns for Valentino and Christian Dior and magazine covers for European and Australian editions of Vogue. Designer Jean-Paul Gaultier described Winer as “the first androgynous model.” She lived with American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat during her early career. Before modeling Winer met William S. Burroughs in the late ’70s and credits him with being a major mentor. Burroughs mentions his friendship with Winer in a number of interviews and books with French journalist Alain Pacadis and Burroughs’ own last book Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs. // After her work brought her to London in the mid-1980s, she spent a great deal of time at Leigh Bowery’s nightclub, Taboo. It was while in London she met musicians Jah Wobble, who was a former bassist for Public Image Ltd, and Kevin Mooney, former bass player for Adam and the Ants. In 1987, she would co-write the track “Just Call Me Joe” with Sinéad O’Connor. The song would appear on O’Connor’s debut album The Lion and the Cobra, with Winer performing the backup spoken vocal. With Wobble and Mooney, she would record the album Witch in 1990. BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel played some tracks off this white label and the record went on to become a small cult-classic prompting NME to refer to Winer as “The Grandmother of Triphop”. She had previously recorded a couple of 12″ singles under the name ‘©’ along with co-writer Karl Bonnie from Renegade Soundwave. She has also worked with Grace Jones. Helmut Lang did a small pressing of her album Spider that he released in his NYC shop sometime around 1999 to promote one of his shows. Winer occasionally records music with Swedish composer Carl Michael von Hausswolff and others. // Winer was born to a teenager and handed over to her adoptive grandmother in a hospital parking lot in what was an illegal adoption involving the exchange of money. She is of Scots-Irish, Basque, Mi’kmaq, and Acadian descent. // Winer currently lives in France, where she has raised five daughters and is the co-editor for the estate of the late writer and poet Herbert Huncke. In 2014, she returned to modeling as the face of Vivienne Westwood’s spring/summer 2014 campaign.]

10:33 – Underwriting

11. November Ultra —“Doux & Tendre” (ft. Poppy Fusée)
    from: Honey Please Be Soft & Tender – EP / november ultra / June 25, 2021
    [Former singer and songwriter of Parisian-based indie band Agua Roja who flowed into the indie music scene with their first song “Summer Ends »back in 2013, November Ultra has often been praised for her deep and warm voice. After releasing two EPs, the band splits in 2018. As an hommage to Frank Ocean’s mixtape “Nostalgia, Ultra,” November becomes November Ultra and starts exploring solo. // During those two years, she divides her time between recording studios and her DIY bedroom- studio, working for others as a topliner/songwriter (Jaden Smith, Claire Laffut, Terrenoire, Kungs, Anna Majidson, Jasmïn, Grant, Maja Francis, Barbara Pravi…) while recording, exploring and producing her own songs on Ableton. // As practice, she produces reworks of songs she covers and improvises on — her “Secret Tapes”- that she then publishes on instagram IGTV and Youtube to familiarise her audience with the different sounds and intricacies of her own music. // Her future debut album sounds like a journey through her DNA, 11 songs that showcase the musical roots of an artist who grew up listening to folk music, r&b and with a very obsessive Spanish grand-father who introduced her to his adoration for 60’s musicals and Spanish copla. // Her two first singles, the soothing DIY lullaby “Soft & Tender” and the sweet and sour “Miel” gives us a little taste of what is to come : warm, comforting and cinematographic bedroom pop.https://www.facebook.com/novemberultra%5D

12. Luca Wilding — “Ruby, Don’t Cry”
    from: To — EP / Abbey Records / November 27, 2020
    [With a voice that’s both soulful and haunting, London-based singer-songwriter Luca Wilding has carved out a niche in poetic, storytelling songs with a melancholy edge. He’s been dubbed an artist to keep an eye out for. He tells FRANCE 24’s Florence Villeminot about his debut EP “To”, a beautiful and unique collection of dream-folk songs released back in November. We also look at new releases from French trip-hop producer Wax Tailor as well as LA-based duos Rhye and Midnight Sister. More info at: http://www.facebook.com/iamlucawilding%5D

13. Franco Battiato — “Ruby Tuesday”
    from: Fleurs / Universal Music Italia s.r.l. / January 1, 1999
    [Francesco “Franco” Battiato (Italian: [ˈfraŋko batˈtjaːto, – battiˈaːto]; 23 March 1945 – 18 May 2021) was an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato’s songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes, and have spanned genres such as experimental pop, electronic music, progressive rock, opera, symphonic music, movie soundtrack, oratorio and new wave. // He was for decades one of the most popular singer-songwriters in Italy. His unique sound, song-crafting and especially his lyrics, often containing philosophical, religious, and culturally exotic references, as well as tackling or painting universal themes about the human condition earned him a unique spot on Italy’s music scene, and the nickname of “Il Maestro” His work includes songwriting and joint production efforts with several Italian and international musicians and pop singers, including the long-lasting professional relationship with Italian singer Alice. Together with Alice, Battiato represented Italy at the 1984 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “I treni di Tozeur”. // Fleurs, also graphically rendered as Fleur(s) and FLEURs, is a studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Franco Battiato, issued in 1999. Except for two new songs, the album consists of cover versions of Italian and international classics, mainly from the 1960s. The album was described as “delicate, elegant and enjoyable.” The album was followed by Fleurs 3 (2002) and Fleurs 2 (2008). The Battiato’s version of The Rolling Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday” was later featured in the musical score of Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 film Children of Men. https://www.facebook.com/francobattiato%5D

14. Cocteau Twins — “Carolyn’s Fingers”
    from: Blue Bell Knoll / 4AD / 1988
    [Cocteau Twins were a Scottish band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instrumentalist Simon Raymonde in 1983. The group earned critical praise for their ethereal, effects-laden sound and the soprano vocals of Fraser, whose lyrics often abandon recognisable language. They pioneered the 1980s alternative rock subgenre of dream pop. // The band’s early work drew influence from Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division. After signing with the British record label 4AD in 1982, they released their debut album Garlands later that year. The addition of Raymonde in 1983 solidified their final lineup, which produced their biggest hit in the UK, “Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops”, peaking at No. 29 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1988, Cocteau Twins signed with Capitol Records in the United States, distributing their fifth album, Blue Bell Knoll, through a major label in the country. After the 1990 release of their most critically acclaimed album, Heaven or Las Vegas, the band left 4AD for Fontana Records, where they released their final two albums. // After nearly 20 years together, the band disbanded in 1997 in part due to issues stemming from the disintegration of Fraser and Guthrie’s romantic relationship. In 2005, the band announced that they would reunite to headline Coachella and embark on a world tour but the reunion was cancelled a month later after Fraser refused to perform on stage with Guthrie. In a 2021 interview, Raymonde confirmed that Cocteau Twins “will never reform”. // Blue Bell Knoll is the fifth studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Cocteau Twins, released on September 19, 1988 by 4AD. This was the band’s first album to receive major-label distribution in the United States, as it was originally licensed by Capitol Records from 4AD for North American release. After a period of being out of print while 4AD reclaimed the American distribution rights for their back catalogue, the album (along with much of the band’s 4AD material) was remastered by Robin Guthrie and reissued in 2003. Elizabeth Fraser named the album after a peak in southern Utah called Bluebell Knoll. // In 2014, the album was repressed on 180g vinyl using new high definition masters. https://www.facebook.com/ctwins%5D

10:58 – Station ID

15. Sault —”Fear”
    from: Nine / Forever Living Originals / 2021
    [Nine is the fifth studio album by the British rhythm and blues collective Sault, released on 25 June 2021 on Forever Living Originals. Produced by Inflo, the album was only available on streaming services and as a digital download for a total of ninety-nine days, until 2 October 2021. // The album received widespread critical acclaim, appearing on several end-of-year lists. // SAULT (frequently stylised in all caps) are a pseudonymous British music collective that make a mixture of rhythm and blues, house and disco. The project is helmed by producer Inflo, best known for his work with Little Simz, Michael Kiwanuka, Jungle and Adele. Despite critical acclaim, Sault eschew interaction with the media, and features an array of unnamed collaborators. They frequently foreground black-centric issues. // SAULT’s albums in 2020, Untitled (Black Is), released in June, and Untitled (Rise), released in September, both received universal critical acclaim, including a nomination for the Mercury Prize in 2021 for the latter. // On June 24, 2021, the band released their fifth studio album, Nine, which was available for 99 days from its release until October 2, 2021. In the same year, the band were nominated at the MOBO Awards, alongside vocalist Cleo Sol, for Best R&B/Soul Act. // The line-up of Sault remains mostly a mystery, with confirmed members: Inflo – producer, various instruments; Cleo Sol – lead vocals; Kid Sister // Studio albums: 5 (2019); 7 (2019); Untitled (Black Is) (2020); Untitled (Rise) (2020); and Nine (2021). More info at: http://www.facebook.com/SAULTGLOBAL%5D

16. Sworn Virgins – “Fifty Dollar Bills”
    from: Foundations / DEEWEE / May 7, 2021
    [DEEWEE is a building, a studio, a label, a record collection and a publishing house. // DEEWEE is all of these things. // Every DEEWEE release is written, recorded or mixed in the building by David and Stephen Dewaele. // Every DEEWEE project has its own consecutive catalogue number. // All different. All unique. All DEEWEE. // DEEWEE Foundations, our 50th release and first compilation album. // 27 tracks including 3 brand new exclusive works* are beautifully presented across triple LP and 2CD physical editions, along with digital formats. All are united by a breadth of imagination, a love of hands-on artistry, and of course by the sonic craftsmanship of the Dewaele brothers themselves. // Foundations is more than just a compilation of tracks from the DEEWEE label. It’s a beautiful object in its own right. As with all DEEWEE releases, Parisian art directors, Ill-Studio have created a gorgeous artefact that collectors will love. It’s also a wonderful audio experience, with new music complimenting and elevating the catalogue material, and the sequencing of the 27 tracks done with as much love as any artist album or DJ set. It’s an expression of the values of a musical family with the brothers at its heart and featuring their creative input throughout. Everything on the album has come through the DEEWEE Studios in Ghent, Belgium which was built to bring together their friends from around the world. More info; http://www.deewee.bandcamp.com]

17. Nino Ferrer – “I’m Looking For You”
    from: Nino And Radiah / CBS / 1974
    [Nino Agostino Arturo Maria Ferrari (Italian pronunciation: [nino aɡosˈtino arˈturo maˈria ferˈrari]), known as Nino Ferrer (August 15, 1934 – August 13, 1998), was an Italian-born French singer-songwriter and author. // Nino Ferrer was born on 15 August 1934 in Genoa, Italy, but lived the first years of his life in New Caledonia (an overseas territory of France in the southwest Pacific Ocean), where his father, an engineer, was working. Jesuit religious schooling, first in Genoa and later in Saint-Jean de Passy, Paris, left him with a lifelong aversion to the Church. From 1947, the young Nino studied ethnology and archaeology in the Sorbonne university in Paris, also pursuing his interests in music and painting. // After completing his studies, Ferrer started traveling the world, working on a freighter ship. When he returned to France he immersed himself in music. A passion for jazz and the blues led him to worship the music of James Brown, Otis Redding and Ray Charles. He started to play the double bass in Bill Coleman’s New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. He appeared on a recording for the first time in 1959, playing bass on two 45 singles by the Dixie Cats. The suggestion to take up solo singing came from the rhythm ‘n’ blues singer Nancy Holloway, whom he also accompanied. // In 1963, Nino Ferrer recorded his own first record, the single “Pour oublier qu’on s’est aimé” (“To forget we were in love”). The B-side of that single had a song “C’est irréparable”, which was translated for Italian superstar Mina as “Un anno d’amore” and became a big hit in 1965. Later again, in 1991, Spanish singer Luz Casal had a hit with “Un año de amor”, translated from Italian by director Pedro Almodóvar for his film Tacones Lejanos (High Heels). // His first solo success came in 1965 with the song “Mirza”. Other hits, such as “Cornichons” and “Oh! hé! hein! bon!” followed, establishing Ferrer as something of a comedic singer. The stereotyping and his eventual huge success made him feel “trapped”, and unable to escape from the constant demands of huge audiences to hear the hits he himself despised. He started leading a life of “wine, women and song” while giving endless provocative performances in theatres, on television and on tour. // In Italy, he scored a major hit in 1967 with “La pelle nera” (the French version is “Je voudrais être un noir” [“I’d like to be a black man”]). This soul song, with its quasi-revolutionary lyrics imploring a series of Ferrer’s black music idols to gift him their black skin for the benefit of music-making, achieved long-lasting iconic status in Italy. // “La pelle nera” was followed by a string of other semi-serious Italian songs, which included two appearances at the Sanremo Music Festival (in 1968 and 1970). In 1970, he returned to France and resumed his musical career there. Ferrer rebelled against the “gaudy frivolity” of French show business, filled with what he perceived as its “cynical technocrats and greedy exploiters of talent” (he had considered leaving show business altogether in 1967, when he left France for Italy). In his lesser-known songs, which the public largely ignored, he mocked life’s absurdities. He agreed with Serge Gainsbourg and Claude Nougaro that songs are a “minor art” and “just background noise”. // In 1975 he started breeding horses in Quercy, France. In 1989, Ferrer obtained French citizenship, which he explained as his “celebration of the bicentenary of the French Revolution.” He went on to record the French national anthem, accompanied by a choir. // A couple of months after his mother died, Ferrer, on August 13, 1998, two days before his 64th birthday, took his hunting gun and walked to a field of corn, recently cut, near the neighbouring village of Saint-Cyprien. There, he lay down in a grove nearby and shot himself in the chest. His wife Kinou, with whom he had two sons, had already alerted the gendarmerie after finding a farewell letter in the house. Next day, there were front-page headlines in most French and Italian newspapers, such as “Adieu Nino!”, “Nino Ferrer Hung Up His Telephone”, “Our Nino Has Left for the South.” They called him the Don Quixote and the Corto Maltese of French show business. More info at: https://www.facebook.com/NinoFerrerOfficiel%5D

18. Klaus Nomi— “Valentine’s Day”
    from: Za Bakdaz: The Unfinished Opera / Heliocentric / July 6, 2009
    [Za Bakdaz: The Unfinished Opera is a collection of songs German countertenor Klaus Nomi was working on up until his death in 1983. The album was released posthumously in 2007. The large majority of the tracks have never before been heard on an official studio release; the original sessions took place from 1979 to 1983, with the tracks completed between 1984 and 2006 at the home studio of Page Wood and George Elliott. Some of those involved with the project have said that the album was nowhere near completed at the time of Klaus’ passing. // Klaus Sperber (January 24, 1944 – August 6, 1983), known professionally as Klaus Nomi, was a German countertenor noted for his wide vocal range and an unusual, otherworldly stage persona. // In the 1970s Nomi immersed himself in the East Village art scene. He was known for his bizarrely visionary theatrical live performances, heavy make-up, unusual costumes, and a highly stylized signature hairdo that flaunted a receding hairline. His songs were equally unusual, ranging from synthesizer-laden interpretations of classical opera to covers of 1960s pop standards like Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” and Lou Christie’s “Lightnin’ Strikes”. Nomi was one of David Bowie’s backup singers for a 1979 performance on Saturday Night Live. // Nomi died in 1983 at the age of 39 as a result of complications from AIDS. He was one of the earliest known figures from the arts community to die from the illness. // Klaus Nomi was born Klaus Sperber in Immenstadt, Bavaria, Germany on January 24, 1944. In the 1960s, he worked as an usher at the Deutsche Oper in West Berlin where he sang for the other ushers and maintenance crew on stage in front of the fire curtain after performances. He also sang opera arias at the Berlin gay discothèque Kleist Casino. // Nomi emigrated to New York City in 1972.He did some off-Broadway theater work and moonlighted as a pastry chef. // In 1977, Nomi appeared in a satirical camp production of Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold at Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theater Company as the Rheinmaidens and the Wood Bird. // Nomi came to the attention of the East Village art scene in 1978 with his performance in “New Wave Vaudeville”, a four-night event MC’d by artist David McDermott. Dressed in a skin-tight spacesuit with a clear plastic cape, Nomi sang the aria “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix” (“My heart opens to your voice”) from Camille Saint-Saëns’ opera Samson et Dalila The performance ended with a chaotic crash of strobe lights, smoke bombs, and loud electronic sound effects as Nomi backed away into the smoke. Joey Arias recalled: “I still get goose pimples when I think about it… It was like he was from a different planet and his parents were calling him home. When the smoke cleared, he was gone.” After that performance Nomi was invited to perform at clubs all over New York City. // At the New Wave Vaudeville show Nomi met Kristian Hoffman, songwriter for the Mumps. Hoffman was a performer and MC in the second incarnation of New Wave Vaudeville and a close friend of Susan Hannaford and Tom Scully, who produced the show, and Ann Magnuson, who directed it. Anya Phillips, then manager of James Chance and the Contortions, suggested Nomi and Hoffman form a band. Hoffman became Nomi’s de facto musical director, assembling a band that included Page Wood from another New Wave vaudeville act, Come On, and Joe Katz, who was concurrently in The Student Teachers, the Accidents, and The Mumps. // Hoffman helped Nomi choose his pop covers, including the Lou Christie song “Lightnin’ Strikes”. Hoffman wrote several pop songs with which Nomi is closely identified: “The Nomi Song”, “Total Eclipse”, “After The Fall”, and “Simple Man”, the title song of Nomi’s second RCA French LP. This configuration of the Klaus Nomi band performed at Manhattan clubs, including several performances at Max’s Kansas City, Danceteria, Hurrah and the Mudd Club. He also appeared on Manhattan Cable’s TV Party. // Disagreements with the management Nomi engaged led to a dissolution of this band, and Nomi continued without them. In the late 1970s, while performing at Club 57, The Mudd Club, The Pyramid Club, and other venues, Nomi assembled various up-and-coming models, singers, artists, and musicians to perform live with him, including Joey Arias, Keith Haring, John Sex and Kenny Scharf. He was briefly involved with Jean-Michel Basquiat, then known for his graffiti art as SAMO. // Nomi and Arias were introduced to David Bowie at the Mudd Club, who hired them as performers and backup singers for his appearance on Saturday Night Live on December 15, 1979. They performed “TVC 15”, “The Man Who Sold the World”, and “Boys Keep Swinging”. During the performance of “TVC 15”, Nomi and Arias dragged around a large prop pink poodle with a television screen in its mouth. Nomi was so impressed with the plastic quasi-tuxedo suit that Bowie wore during “The Man Who Sold the World” that he commissioned one for himself. He wore the suit on the cover of his self-titled album, as well as during a number of his music videos. Nomi wore his variant of the outfit, in monochromatic black-and-white with spandex and makeup to match, until the last few months of his life. // Nomi played a supporting role as a Nazi official in Anders Grafstrom’s 1980 underground film The Long Island Four. // The 1981 rock documentary film, Urgh! A Music War features Nomi’s live performance of “Total Eclipse.” His performance of “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix” was used for the closing credits. In the liner notes of Nomi’s 1981 self-titled record, 666 Fifth Avenue was listed as the contact address. // He released his second album, Simple Man, in November 1982. He also collaborated with producer Man Parrish, appearing on Parrish’s 1982 album Man Parrish as a backup vocalist on the track “Six Simple Synthesizers”. // In the last several months of his life, Nomi changed his focus to operatic pieces and adopted a Baroque era operatic outfit complete with full collar as his typical onstage attire. The collar helped cover the outbreaks of Kaposi’s sarcoma on his neck, one of the numerous AIDS-related diseases Nomi developed toward the end of his life. // Nomi died at the Sloan Kettering Hospital Center in New York City on August 6, 1983. He was one of the first celebrities to die of complications from AIDS. Upon his death, Nomi’s close friend Joey Arias became the executor of his estate. His ashes were spread across New York City. More info at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Klaus.Nomi%5D

19. Poppy Fusée — “Pesanteur”
    from: Pesanteur — Single / Un Plan Simple / December 15, 2021
    [For more info: https://www.facebook.com/poppyfusee%5D

20. Ottis Coeur – “Je marche derrière toi”
    from: Juste Derrière Toi – EP / Ottis Coeur / November 26, 2021
    [Debut EP from Paris, France based duo. Ottis Cœur unveils its first EP ” Juste Derrière Toi ” composed and recorded during the first confinement in a DIY approach with two microphones, a guitar, a bass and a drum. They then decided to keep these first recordings, full of spontaneity, urgency and vulnerability, making the strength of this EP. They never asked themselves why they created this project and united their creativity with so much energy, nor if they could do it. They just did it. Ottis Coeur was an obvious choice and the duo finds its power in the union of its two members Camille and Margaux. Through the songs, we find stories of their past experiences, love and professional that have gone wrong. They also question their relationship with the body and express a desire for revenge with saturated and raw guitars and melodic lines that sound like anthems. The EP was mixed at Labomatic studio by Bénédicte Schmitt who knew how to sublimate and preserve the spontaneity of these takes, and mastered by Domnique Blanc-Francart. Not only as an escape from the isolation of the first confinement, the creation and recording of this EP is a form of emancipation for the two girls who doubted until then that their legitimacy to make their art a profession. More info at:www.facebook.com/ottiscoeur]

21. Healer Selecta — “Cuban Project”
    from: Let’s Get It Started / Freestyle Records / March 8, 2010
    [Eclectic Vintage dance party from the 1950’s to mid 70’s: Healer Selecta is one of London’s most acclaimed DJ’s (Madame Jojos) Healer Selecta spinning only vinyl records of original and authentic Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, Soul, Funk, Northern, Rhythm & Blues, Boogaloo, Rare Groove, Mambo, Rocksteady, etc.. a music that is for anyone and everyone who loves the all -out party euphoria created by these pure vintage sounds. He can take credit for presiding over some of the UK’s most successful music and dance events.He is a key figure in his own musical and dance genres and on the London’s scene, “Healer Selecta re-invented swinging London” (mojo mag). Healer Selecta (aka Yvan Serrano-Fontova) is one of those multi talented characters in music who has blazed his own individual and highly independent trail right from the outset.Starting his musical journey early on, aged 10, playing along on his guitar to 45s by Link Wray and Magic Sam and digging the rebellious sounds his rock & roll and R&B heroes like Gene Vincent and Bo Diddley, Yvan was already displaying his wide ranging, eclectic thirst for music that was raw, exciting, retro and powerful. By the age of 18 he was putting on parties, gigs, shows, festivals and playing guitar in bands and grooving to whatever hidden gems he dug out of the dusty record boxes of record shacks across Europe and the US. The Healer Selecta phenomenon has been involved with an amazing array of influential figures over the years as a musician, club promoter, DJ, and film music supervisor, including John Peel, White Stripes producer Liam Watson, The Noisettes, Charlie Winston, The Portico Quartet and Hinda Hicks,Wanda Jackson, as well as his own well renowned Raison D’Etre Collective and The Dustaphonics. ‘Lets Get It Started’ is an album that displays all of Yvan’s wide ranging taste, musical knowledge and experience. There are precious few groups whose influences range from soul, rocksteady, afrobeat, samba and Rhythm & Blues, latin boogaloo and surf, and even fewer who can blend these influences into a cohesive and original sound for the 21st century. It’s not for nothing that respected publications sing his praises: International music bible Mojo magazine declared that ‘Healer Selecta has made London swing again’ whilst London listings magazine Time Out described Yvan as a ‘hero with a record box. Sit back, let Yvan and his crew take you on a wild musical journey where genre, trends and narrow minded purism take a back seat in favour of simply great music, not old or new – just good Greg Boraman Freestyle RecordsPRESS NOTE:”Hero With a Records box” Time OutAward Winner ” The most Influential French Londoner (ici Londres, France In London 2011)”Healer Selecta has made London swing again” – Will Hodgkinson Mojo Mag. More info at: https://www.facebook.com/Djhealerselecta%5D

11:30 – Underwriting

22. Beck — “I Turn My Camera On”` [Vinyl]
    from: Hypocrite / I Turn My Camera On – 7” single / Kindercore Vinyl / 2019
    [Side A: “Hypocrite” written by Cage The Elephant. Side B: “I Turn My Camera On” written by – Spoon. Pressed By – Kindercore Vinyl – KCV474. Sold on the 2019 Night Running Tour. // Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical collages of wide-ranging genres. He has musically encompassed folk, funk, soul, hip hop, electronic, alternative rock, country, and psychedelia. He has released 14 studio albums (three of which were released on indie labels), as well as several non-album singles and a book of sheet music. // Born and raised in Los Angeles, Beck grew towards hip-hop and folk in his teens and began to perform locally at coffeehouses and clubs. He moved to New York City in 1989 and became involved in the city’s small but fiery anti-folk movement. Returning to Los Angeles in the early 1990s, he cut his breakthrough single “Loser”, which became a worldwide hit in 1994, and released his first major album, Mellow Gold, the same year. Odelay, released in 1996, topped critic polls and won several awards. He released the country-influenced, twangy Mutations in 1998, and the funk-infused Midnite Vultures in 1999. The soft-acoustic Sea Change in 2002 showcased a more serious Beck, and 2005’s Guero returned to Odelay’s sample-based production. The Information in 2006 was inspired by electro-funk, hip hop, and psychedelia; 2008’s Modern Guilt was inspired by ’60s pop music; and 2014’s folk-infused Morning Phase won Album of the Year at the 57th Grammy Awards. His 2017 album, Colors, won awards for Best Alternative Album and Best Engineered Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. His fourteenth studio album, Hyperspace, was released on November 22, 2019. // With a pop art collage of musical styles, oblique and ironic lyrics, and postmodern arrangements incorporating samples, drum machines, live instrumentation and sound effects, Beck has been hailed by critics and the public throughout his musical career as being among the most idiosyncratically creative musicians of 1990s and 2000s alternative rock. Two of Beck’s most popular and acclaimed recordings are Odelay and Sea Change, both of which were ranked on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The four-time platinum artist has collaborated with several artists and has made several contributions to soundtracks.For more info: https://www.facebook.com/Beck%5D

23. Melvin Van Peebles/ Earth Wind & Fire-“Sweetback Losing His Cherry”
    from: Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (An Opera) / Stax / June 1971
    [Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is the soundtrack to Melvin Van Peebles’ 1971 feature film of the same name. The soundtrack was performed by then-unknown Earth, Wind & Fire and released in 1971 on Stax Records. To attract publicity for the film without spending significant money, the soundtrack was released before the movie; it performed well, reaching No. 13 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart. // Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, playwright, novelist, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the 2000s. His feature film debut, The Story of a Three-Day Pass (1967), was based on his own French-language novel La Permission and was shot in France, as it was difficult for a black American director to get work at the time. The film won an award at the San Francisco International Film Festival which gained him the interest of Hollywood studios, leading to his American feature debut Watermelon Man, in 1970. Eschewing further overtures from Hollywood, he used the successes he had so far to bankroll his work as an independent filmmaker. // In 1971, he released his best-known work, creating and starring in the film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, considered one of the earliest and best-regarded examples of the blaxploitation genre. He followed this up with the musical, Don’t Play Us Cheap, based on his own stage play, and continued to make films, write novels and stage plays in English and in French through the next several decades; his final films include the French-language film Le Conte du ventre plein (2000) and the absurdist film Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha (2008). His son, filmmaker and actor Mario Van Peebles, appeared in several of his works and portrayed him in the 2003 biographical film Baadasssss!]

24. Rodriguez — “I Wonder”`
    from: Cold Fact / Sussex / 1970
    [Sixto Diaz Rodriguez (born July 10, 1942), known professionally as Rodriguez, is an American singer-songwriter from Detroit, Michigan. Though his career was initially met with little fanfare in the United States, he found success in South Africa, Australia (touring the country twice), and New Zealand. Unbeknownst to him for decades, his music was extremely successful and influential in South Africa, where he is believed to have sold more records than Elvis Presley, as well as other countries in Southern Africa. Information about him was scarce, and it was incorrectly rumored there that he had committed suicide shortly after releasing his second album. // In the 1990s, determined South African fans managed to find and contact Rodriguez, which led to an unexpected revival of his musical career. This was told in the 2012 Academy Award-winning documentary film Searching for Sugar Man and helped give Rodriguez a measure of fame in his home country. In May 2013, Rodriguez received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from his alma mater, Wayne State University, in Detroit.// Rodriguez has been living in Detroit’s historic Woodbridge neighborhood, through which he is seen walking in Searching for Sugar Man. He is known to live a simple life, possessing no telephone or cell phone of his own, and occasionally visiting bars in the Cass Corridor section of Detroit near Woodbridge and Midtown Detroit, such as the Old Miami pub, where he has performed live concerts for small local crowds. // Cold Fact is the debut album from American singer-songwriter Rodriguez. It was released in the United States on the Sussex label in March 1970. The album sold very poorly in the United States (Rodriguez was himself an unknown in the U.S.), but managed to sell well in both South Africa and Australia, with Rodriguez touring Australia in 1979. // In 1971 the album was released in South Africa by A&M Records. In 1976, several thousand copies of Cold Fact were found in a New York warehouse and sold out in Australia in a few weeks. It went to No. 23 on the Australian album charts in 1978, staying on the charts for fifty-five weeks. In 1998 Cold Fact was awarded a platinum disc in South Africa, and was five-times platinum in Australia. Rodriguez has since toured South Africa and Australia with much success, but remained relatively unknown in his native country of the US. This began to change after the reissues of his albums in the US by Light in the Attic Records in 2008 and 2009, and even further in 2012 with the Academy Award winning documentary film Searching for Sugar Man, which soon led to appearances on major American television shows like 60 Minutes and The Late Show with David Letterman. // Cold Fact has sold 201,000 since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking in 1991, 173,000 of those after the film opened, 98,000 in the wake of the Oscar win. Coming from Reality has moved 105,000 albums, 99,000 since the movie hit, 60,000 post-Academy Awards. And the soundtrack album (which was picked up by Sony’s Legacy catalog division) boasts 152,000 in sales. For more info: https://www.facebook.com/Rodriguez-Sugar-Man-257230877770534%5D

25. Cloud Of I — “Sod”`
    from: Gazing — EP / Batov Records / May 13, 2021
    [Dreamt up in the 18th District, in a Paris squat, and realised back in her spiritual home, of Tel Aviv, Cloud of I is Yuli Shafiri’s first musical incantation. Yuli is an artist who sees nature and earth as her biggest inspiration, and whose sound blurs somewhere between fuzzed out psychedelic acid folk and intense, layered electronic euphoria full of influences from the Middle East. // Whilst only 27 years old she’s well educated on music from far away places. Her Mother’s family is from the Iraqi-Jewish community of India and her father’s family is Latvian and Lithuanian who came to Israel and founded a feminist agricultural Kibbutz called Kineret, on the sea of Galilee. So it’s no surprise to hear the journeying aspect of her songs as they grow and grow, sometimes growling, other times whispering yet always intent on climbing and descending. // In Tel Aviv Yuli used to sing and perform with a well known band called “The White Screen” (who play a mix of psych-pop and art-rock) and in the last two years, up until 2019, she has been singing Turkish 70’s psych with the band, Satellites. Asked about her recent dealings with inactivity and how she experienced 2020 she is serene and positive, having gone off–grid with her contemporaries in a village in Israel where she kept creating and performing in the open air, under the stars, and around bonfires. // The fire is most definitely burning. As Cloud Of I look ahead and dream, we can enjoy this first foray that sees them literally reaching for the skies.For more info: https://www.batovrecords.com%5D

26. Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band —“WORLD PEACE”
    from: Rubber Orchestras / Heavenly Sweetness / Sptember 12, 2011
    [Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band were a band led by Trinidadian poet, novelist and lecturer Anthony Joseph. The band was formed in London in 2005 as an offshoot of his then novel-in-progress The African Origins of UFOs. The band’s musical influences include Free Jazz, Afro-Caribbean funk, spoken word, soca, rapso, Calypso, Rock and the hypnotic Spiritual Baptist rhythms that were prominent in Joseph’s childhood in Trinidad. In December 2005, as a quartet, they recorded their first album ‘The Spasm Band’ in London. The album was self produced and received only limited exposure. It was heard via Myspace by Parisian producer and Jazz aficionado Antoine Rajon who signed Joseph to his Heavenly Sweetness label and released the Spasm Band’s debut 12″ EP Spirit Lash, which featured songs from their initial recordings. // The band’s third album Rubber Orchestras was released in October 2011. It featured production from Malcolm Catto and Jerry Dammers and was named Jazz/World album of 2011 by Les Inrocks magazine, album of the year by Vibrations Magazine. A single and video ‘She is the sea’ was also released from the album in late October 2011. For more info: https://www.facebook.com/ajpoet%5D

27. Habibi – “Come My Habibi”
    from: Anywhere But Here / Bella Union / February 14, 2020
    [Habibi is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York. They are a blend of psychedelic rock and sixties girl group harmonies. The name Habibi means “my love,” an Arabic word vocalist Rahill Jamalifard grew up using despite her Iranian origin (the term is not in use in Iran). // In 2011, former Detroiters, Lenaya Lynch and Rahill Jamalifard, decided to form a band blending their love of psychedelic garage rock and girl group harmonies. They joined Erin Campbell and Karen Isabel, musicians from the Brooklyn rock and roll scene, who both went to LaGuardia School of the Arts. They grew in popularity and found themselves playing the SXSW festival in Austin and the CMJ festival. They signed to Born Bad Records and released the self-titled 7-inch, Habibi. In 2012, Habibi’s song “Sweetest Talk” was featured in actor/director James Franco’s short film series Episodes of an Untitled Film. Lynch left the band due to an emergency in 2012 and Habibi found a replacement with the guitarist Caroline Partamian, who toured with the band for a year and until the return of Lynch in 2013. In 2014, Burger Records released their debut full-length LP, Habibi. // The sound of Habibi is influenced both by the garage rock/girl group sounds from Detroit as well as the Middle Eastern melody structures that were shared by Lynch and Jamalifard, who is herself of Iranian descent. Jamalifard influences are also related to her ancestry mentioning “Iran, gypsies, nomads, the inspiration of poets like Hafez . . . my travels within the country.” In 2012, Interview Magazine wrote “Influenced by grunge, punk, hip-hop, and Motown, Habibi’s sound—and band members—meet somewhere in the middle.” Current line-up includes: Rahill Jamalifard on Lead Vocals, Tambourine; Lenaya “Lenny” Lynch on Guitar, Vocals; Erin Campbell on Bass, Guitar, Vocals; Karen Isabel on Drums; and Leah Beth Fishman on Guitar, VocalsFor more info: https://www.facebook.com/habibi.band%5D

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

Next week on February 2 we play more New & MidCoastal Releases from: Jass, The Talking Trees, Belle & The Vertigo Waves, Asterales, Jo Blaq, Joel Kraft, Ivory Blue, Cole Brood, Extrapedestrian, Lonnie Fisher, Say That Again, Dia Jane, Trevor Turla, and more!

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 #926

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, September 29, 2021

Nico Gray returns as Guest Producer

Mark welcomes back Nico Gray as “Guest Producer”. Nico is a writer, performance artist, and actor who has performed with Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Gorilla Theatre, 8th St. Cafe Theatre, Actor’s Craft, and Big Bang Buffet. He appeared in HBO’s Truman the Robert Altman film Kansas City. Nico has worked for Theatre League, The Midland Theatre, and is currently a marketing & advertising consultant with Union Station, KC Fringe, and KC Creates. Nico grew up in KC but has lived in Chicago, New York, and Marseille. For WMM this is Nico Gray’s 12th appearance as Guest Producer.

Nico spins music from: Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band, SAULT, Cocteau Twins, Leslie Winer, Sworn Virgins, Nino Ferrer, Klaus Nomi, Luca Wilding, Poppy Fusée, Melvin Van Peebles, Yaz, The Cure, Gabriels, Beck, Franco Battiato, Miss White and the Drunken Piano, Rodriguez, Habibi, Meskerem Mees, Cloud of I, Degiheugi, november ultra, Ottis Coeur, and Healer Selecta.

Nico Gray Portrait by: Jan McNiel

Tune in on 90.1 FM KKFI
or streaming live at kkfi.org

Show #926

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, January 19, 2022

Kianna Alarid White & Cale Parks of Ezmerelda + Michelle Bacon & The Band That Fell To Earth + New & MidCoastal Releases

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979
   [WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]

2. Mensa Deathsquad – “Chin Up, Eyes Wide Open (Radio Edit)”from: Light – Single / Gran Cavalera / November 16, 2021
   [This is the second single from the forthcoming album, YOU WILL HEAR THUNDER. Written, performed and produced by Mensa Deathsquad. Mastered at Element Recording and Mastering. Brandon Phillips of Mensa Deathsquad, writes: “By the time I wrote Chin Up Eyes Wide Open, I was just this little emotional soap bubble, exploding in slow motion. I felt safe in my own skin for the first time in a really long time. This is part of trauma recovery – early on there is this identity crisis that starts in your bone marrow and extends outward into the far reaches of the galaxy and it takes a lot of effort to find yourself again in all that messy tissue and ice cold vastness. By some quirk of luck, I bumped into myself by chance when a friend made a joke about my being exactly her “tall, thin and emotionally unavailable” type. To which I shot back, “Babe, all I am is emotionally available. I am skin and emotions.” Boom. There I was, hiding in plain sight. So “Chin Up, Eyes Wide Open” is a song about my deciding to live that punch line and to just fully embody “skin and emotions” and to never mask that version of myself again. It’s a song about showing up for yourself in all your flawed, fucked up glory.” “Chin Up, Eyes Wide Open” is a follow up to “Light” released November 16, 2021. Brandon Phillips writes, “The electronic music that I daydream about, always has that Stooges layer of dirt and shop grease on it. That’s what I want.” Follow up to CYCLIST, the second album from Mensa Deathsquad released February 23, 2021. The cyclist was released with these notes: Brandon Phillips laid in a Kansas City hospital through the winter of 2019-2020 as his own album release (the unintentionally but appropriately named Patient Zero by his alt-synthwave band Mensa Deathsquad) passed by in the outside world. The first tracks from his debut album Patient Zero were premiering and, chained to a Luciferian merry-go-round of post-operative infections, Brandon strained through the pharmaceutical blur to do promotion for his record, emailing editors and scraping together the necessary pieces they needed. Since his surgery a month prior had gone sideways, and the time, energy, and planning for things like photos, videos and shows had been blown to smithereens, all he had left to look forward to beyond the IVs and the machines that go “ping” was this premiere and the street date. And then came COVID-19, like a rogue wave, to finish off the aimless Mensa Deathsquad sailboat. // But Brandon didn’t die and the boat didn’t sink. As the squall receded and the wanton eye of cruel gods passed over him, Brandon clung to the boat and swore revenge… // As the aphorism goes, “revenge is sweet” and thus Brandon and his Mensa Deathsquad will have the triumphant last laugh. Holed up in the spare bedroom of his apartment in Kansas City with an open wound in his abdomen, two surgical drains, and a severely compromised immune system, Brandon slipped back into his Mensa Deathsquad persona and began working on what would become his newest full length album, Cyclist. // The music that emerged from Brandon’s isolation and illness is a raw, nearly garage-rock take on darkwave and a perfect continuation of what he had begun on Patient Zero. Launching with the one-two punch of electro-punk noir in “Nothing Is Ever Enough” and “Therapist” before the pounding synth-rock of “The Disappointment Of The Christ,” Brandon fixes his furious eyes upon the provocative hypocrisy and violence that results from American Christianity. // A heady package of nudge nudges and intellectual ruminations (a trademark of Brandon’s past as a smartpunk upstart in such seminal bands as The Gadjits and Architects), Cyclist carries both a powerful music punch, a cultural rummaging through pop culture, and a run through his ever-evolving intellect. A knowing wink to fans of the seminal vampire flick The Lost Boy, “Join Us, Michael” is at once a seething appraisal of a world scorched and defiled by an older generation and a musical love letter to that pivotal ‘80s vampire movie soundtrack. “Leap Year (Chaos Reigns)” which began as a Siouxsie & the Banshees-inspired jam serves as Cyclist’s true north – the story of a drug-fueled wrinkle in time that brought the entire cyclical nature of existence into visibility one fateful night. “End Of The World” is dance-floor nihilist electro-rock blending angular post-punk guitar with the nostalgia of neon synths and electroclash drums, while “Takes One To Know One” slowly approaches the thunderstorm of toxic relationships, soulful vocals, tech house kick drums, and grimey-as-hell bass. // As a fitting conclusion to the tour de force through his psyche, Cyclist closes with yet another two-track charge, the swaggering post-electro sneer at celebrity social media, “Famous” followed by the throbbing Giorgio Moroder-via-Tech House cover of Iggy Pop’s classic “The Passenger.” “It was important to me that I cover ‘The Passenger’ as a letter of intent.” Says Brandon. “The electronic music that I daydream about, always has that Stooges layer of dirt and shop grease on it. That’s what I wanted for Cyclist.” The result is a triumph over the storm, as Mensa Deathsquad sails, unvanquished, into victory. More info at: https://mensadeathsquad.bandcamp.com or https://facebook.com/MensaDeathsquad.%5D

3. The Creepy Jingles – “Throwing In The Femme Fatale”
   from: “Throwing In The Femme Fatale” – Single / High Dive Records / November 18, 2021
   [The track was recorded last year, in the Ozarks at a remote lake house cabin. This song won’t be on the band’s upcoming 11-track, full-length debut, TAKE ME AT MY WORD PLAY scheduled for release in March. As lead singer Jocelyn Olivia Nixon 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.” The Creepy Jingles released their Debut EP on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019. The release was in the top tenof WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019. From High Dive Records website: “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. Drummer Nick Robertson charges the group forward with a fiery fueled obsidian backbeat. Adam York delivers pulsing bass lines that the compliment the songs and his partner in the rhythm section. 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. Beware The Creepy Jingles, their siren call is coming from inside the house.”]

[Jocelyn Olivia Nixon of The Creepy Jingles joins The Band That Fell To Earth and their Tribute to David Bowie on Saturday, January 22, at 8:30 PM recordBar.]

4. You Monster You – “Doubt”
   from: “Doubt” – Single / You Monster You / January 10, 2022
   [The punk/emo grunge band You Monster You released their debut album “Chariot” in September 2019. with Trent Munsinger on vocals & guitar, Paul Herman onbBacking vocals, & guitar, David Owens on backing vocals & bass guitar, and Andrew McMullin on drums & percussion. They have opened for Third Eye Blind, Paramore, and Jimmy Eat World. The band released their debut single “Iron” on April 30, 2021. They released “Grip” on July 23, 2021. They released “Downtown” on October 15, 2021. You Monster You released their single, “13” on November 29, 2021. More info at: http://www.youmonsteryou.com]

5. Scarecrow Vapors– “Scarecrow Vs. Raven”
   from: Scarecrow Vapors EP / Scarecrow Vapors / December 19, 2021
   [Scarecrow Vapors is a project of Sarah Slaven and Tim Jenkins. The songs were formed around Sarah’s Poetry with Tim providing song arrangements, guitar and other things. In the studio Alex Boyd and Tim Manning came along for Drums and Upright Bass. The EP was recorded, mixed and mastered by Duane Trower at Weights and Measures Soundlab. More info at: https://scarecrowvapors.hearnow.com/%5D

6. Heath Church – “Anesthesia”
   from: “Anesthesia” – Single / Heath Church / January 7, 2022
   [Heath Church is an American singer-songwriter from KC who primarily plays indie-folk music. His style is inspired by Elliott Smith, John Prine, Rivers Cuomo, and The Smiths. Featuring melodies that are often melancholy but yet catchy, many of his songs include intimate vocals, poetic lyrics, and warm acoustic guitar tracks. Heath enjoys performing at many types of venues all over the Midwest and connecting with the locals at his shows. Heath enjoys playing music in smaller, intimate venues and interacting with his faudiences. Heath has released three 5-song EPs and eight singles. Heath Church Discography: “Mystery To Me” (Single) on Feb. 6, 2021. “Free Fall” (Single) on Nov. 27, 2020. COSMIC LOVE 5-track EP on Sept. 18, 2020. “Back to Brazil” (Single) on Aug. 14, 2020. “The Stranger” (Single) on July 10, 2020. “Echoes of You“ (Single) on May 8, 2020. “Extra Pain” (Single) on November 18, 2019. CHEMICAL OPTOMETRY 5-song EP on June 14, 2019. “All Messed Up” (Single) on December 7, 2018. “Breaking Even” (Single) on April 6, 2018. THE THINGS I’VE TRIED (5-song EP) on December 23, 2017. “Dna” (Single) on October 11, 2017. “The Beautiful Things That Haunt Us” (Single ) on Sept. 15, 2014. Info at: http://www.instagram.com/heathchurchmusic Heath Church joinrd us last on WMM on July 15, 2020]

7. Jo Blaq – “Follow Me (feat. Wanda Jae)”
   from: Blaq Joy / DISTRICK / January 1, 2021
   [Jo Blaq is also known as: Joseph Macklin, a native of Kansas City, Kansas. Jo is the youngest of three “preacher’s kids.” Although his musical interest and talents existed then, as a kid, Jo excelled on the basketball court, as well. Jo was ranked as one of the top basketball players in the state of Kansas, hailing from the dominant Washington High School. He went on to play Division 1 College Basketball at the University of Texas-San Antonio, and would later continue his collegiate career at Colorado State. He played professional basketball in Australia before returning home. Blaq invests time, money, and energy into local initiatives in the Kansas City area, including the first-ever Christmas tree lighting and Christmas of Diversity concert in the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District and the rehabilitation of the Quindaro Museum[, which houses houses historical artifacts from the African-American community. Jo has served as the event music producer for the American Jazz Museum and has taught music theory and coding classes through the Full Employment Council and University of Central Missouri for free. The classes offer metro-area teens paid internships and access to Jo as a mentor, songwriter, vocalist, instrumentalist, and producer. Jo has worked with many of the mainstream artists. In 2015, he was nominated for a “Best Pop Vocal Album” Grammy for his vocal production work on Ariana Grande’s MY EVERYTHING. Jo was again nominated for two Grammy’s in 2016 for the vocal production on Tim Bowman’s LISTEN album and Jill Scott’s WOMAN album. Over his genre-spanning career, Jo has worked with artists such as: Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Anita Baker, Justin Bieber, Cruz Beckum, Mario, Big Sean, B5, Chris Brown, 98 Degrees, Jasmine V, Next, Kendrick Lamar, B. Smyth, Evan Ross, Jordin Sparks, Shaunice, Kim Keyz, Evan Ross, Effie, & others. BLAQ GOLD was Produced By JETpack – Joseph “Jo Blaq” Macklin, Stephanie “Effie” Altoro, and Tim Ogutu. Jo Blaq also released the 7-track EP, WHAT THEY DO, in January 1, 2022 also produced By JETpack – Joseph “Jo Blaq” Macklin, Stephanie “Effie” Altoro, and Tim Ogutu. More info at: https://www.instagram.com/joblaqofficial/%5D

10:25 – Underwriting

8. Kianna White – “All Alone With Everything”
   from: “All Alone With Everything” – Single / Yes You Are / April 30, 2021
   [This single was a follow up to Kianna’s “Homecoming Queen” – Single released on Team Love Records on September 25, 2020. Kianna cut her teeth in the critically-acclaimed indie band Tilly and the Wall, touring through the mid to late aughts with bands such as She and Him, Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley and Of Montreal, playing venues around the world and major festivals like Coachella, Japan’s Summersonic, Iceland Airwaves, Reading and Leeds among others, as well as performing on Late Night with David Letterman and Sesame Street before going on hiatus in 2013. During this era, she also performed guest vocals on Rilo Kiley’s “The Absence of God”, “In the Sun” by She & Him and co-wrote and sang on Tiësto’s song “You Are My Diamond”. // Since 2017, her band Yes You Are, with now husband and co-writer Jared White, has had many song placements in movies, television and commercials, most notably in the Pepsi Super Bowl 51 commercial. When Forbes Magazine asked Lyle Hysen, the founder of Bank Robber Music, about the biggest licensing hits over the years, he spotlit Kianna and Jared’s work alongside artists like Spoon and Phantogram saying “Kianna Alarid from Tilly and the Wall has been working on new music with her band Yes You Are. They’re giving us two songs at a time, and they get placements all the time.” // Known for their electrifying live performances, Yes You Are shared the stage with the likes of K. Flay, Young the Giant and Fitz and the Tantrums, and toured the US with Neon Trees. Even though Yes You Are had proven to be successful in many ways, Kianna and Jared felt like the band hadn’t yet accessed their full artistic potential. In mid 2020 they announced the band’s break up when unexpected and major changes in the lineup served as a clear sign it was time to move on. They also decided that Kianna’s ability to hold the spotlight shouldn’t be ignored and set to work on new songs with a solo career for her in mind. The idea proved to be immediately inspiring to the writing duo, and they quickly assembled a collection of impressive new music that feels artistically fresh and full of potential. // Going now by her married name, and having found the support of Team Love Records, Homecoming Queen is Kianna White’s first solo release. The song’s hazy mood and hypnotic guitar lines take indie pop through the looking glass. What emerges on the other side is not flower child psychedelia, but a modern, luscious, psyche-pop, where lyrics of stoned introspection and longing float around on haunted, seductive melodies. Kianna’s voice keeps the trip from spinning off into a hall of funhouse mirrors, becoming a trusted and sober co-pilot, allowing you to surrender, close your eyes, and dance. // High on the freedom to control her individual narrative for the first time Kianna filmed, starred in and edited Homecoming Queen’s innovative and spellbinding music video. All alone in her bedroom and encumbered with the limitations of self-isolation (she used only an iPhone, a Snapchat filter, a flashlight and iMovie) she managed to create something that feels new, slightly unsettling and entirely captivating. The spooky, trance-inducing visual effects over the song’s eerily inviting hooks, present us with a poignant reflection of our anxious times.]

10:30 – Interview with Kianna Alarid White and Cale Parks

Many of us were first introduced to Kianna Alarid White as part of the critically-acclaimed indie band, Tilly and the Wall, touring through the mid to late 2000s with bands such as She and Him, Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley, and Of Montreal, playing venues around the world and major festivals like Coachella, Japan’s Summersonic, Reading, as well as performing on Late Night with David Letterman and Sesame Street before going on hiatus in 2013. Kianna has also performed guest vocals on Rilo Kiley’s “The Absence of God”, “In the Sun” by She & Him and co-wrote and sang on Tiësto’s song “You Are My Diamond”. In 2017, Kianna launched her band, Yes You Are, with husband and co-writer Jared White, with many song placements in movies, television and commercials, including a Pepsi Super Bowl 51 commercial. Known for their electrifying live performances, Yes You Are shared the stage with the likes of K. Flay, Young the Giant and Fitz and the Tantrums, and toured the US with Neon Trees. On November 15, 2019 they released one of our favorite albums of that year, “HERE’S TO THE GREAT UNKOWNS. In mid 2020 Kianna announced the band’s break up when unexpected and major changes in the lineup served as a clear sign it was time to move on. Kianna and Jared decided to start a new band behind Kianna as a solo artist Kianna White, releasing the single, “Homecoming Queen “ on September 25, 2020, along with an incredible video that Kianna herself filmed, starred in and edited alone in her bedroom using an iPhone, a Snapchat filter, a flashlight and iMovie). On April 30, 2021 Kianna released the single “All Alone With Everything.”

Cale Parks is best known for decades of drumming in the bands: Aloha, and Yeasayer, and in high profile side hustles such as: Passion Pit, Chet Faker, and Joan of Arc. Cale released the albums, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT on Sept. 26, 2009, and SPARKFACE on November 3, 2008, and the EP TO SWIFT MARS on Augusgust 3, 2004. But On May 18, 2015, Cale released his 4-track solo EP, LAGOON FOOL giving his fans the first sign of becoming a more of a “mood-altering” electronic producer with his multi-faceted record featuring interlocking melodies and everything from acid techno asides to piano-laced synth progressions. Cale followed LAGOON FOOL with his most recent solo EP, BOARDS, released on January 24, 2020 on Whirling Wolf Records. Boards ventures even further into the ether, piling on the sort of polychromatic chords, artful hooks, and mood-altering melodies one might find on an old Air or Durutti Column album. A lot of this has to do with how it was made: in Parks’ home studio rather than a cramped apartment room, which gave him space to think and toy with a wide range of instruments. Listeners can thank a long overdue lifestyle change: a move from Brooklyn to Kansas City that made Parks look at music differently. “I didn’t own a car in New York,” he explains, “so all of my listening was done as I walked around the city. There’s something about the energy of New York that requires that electricity. Moving to Kansas changed the style of music I wanted to hear; I wanted room to let records breathe.”

Kianna and Cale joins on 90.1 FM to share the details about their new musical collaboration, the duo Ezmerelda and their debut single, “I’m So Nervous.” The duo formed in the final months of 2021, drawing on influences like: Fever Ray, Budgie-era Siouxsie and the Banshees, and early M.I.A. Combining elements of their high intensity live shows with art-rock improvisation, Kianna and Cale took to the basement to self produce their brand of industrial, drum heavy electro-pop in October 2021. The result was a collection of immediately realized dance tracks that will make up the duo’s debut EP. To be released soon.

Kianna White & Cale Parks, Thank you for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley.

Kianna was first on our radio show on January 20, 2016, just after her tour with Neon Trees and the release of Yes You Are’s first music video.

The last time Kianna was on the show was on September 30, 2020, just before her show at Lemonade Patk with The Creepy Jingles and after the release of “Homecoming Queen.

Kianna and Cale you have both collaborated with so many other musicians, and Cale was playing drums with the band that backed up Kianna. bands

Cale talked about what prompted his move from Brooklyn to Kansas City and how that changed his music.

Cale has said, “I didn’t own a car in New York,” he explains, “so all of my listening was done as I walked around the city. There’s something about the energy of New York that requires that electricity. Moving to Kansas changed the style of music I wanted to hear; I wanted room to let records breathe.”

Kianna and Cale took to both of their basements to self produce their brand of industrial, drum heavy electro-pop in October 2021. Kianna talked about how the lyrics just came out of her on the first “take” of recording. The process of writing was completely different for he with Ezmereda.

The new single “I’m So Nervous” has just been released on January 7, 2022, the result was a collection of immediately realized dance tracks that will make up the duo’s debut EP. To be released later this Spring?

10:39

9. Ezmerelda – “I’m So Nervous”
   from: “I’m So Nervous” – Single / Ezmerelda / January 7, 2022
   [Ezmerelda is the diy collaboration between indie veterans Kianna Alarid White (Tilly & the Wall, Yes You Are) and Cale Parks (Yeasayer, Aloha). The duo formed in the final months of 2021, drawing on influences like Fever Ray, Budgie-era Siouxsie and the Banshees and early M.I.A. Combining elements of their high intensity live shows with art-rock improvisation, Kianna and Cale took to the basement to self produce their brand of industrial, drum heavy electro-pop in October 2021. The result was a collection of immediately realized dance tracks that will make up the duo’s debut EP. Produced, mixed, and recorded by Kianna White & Cale Parks. Mastered by TJ Lipple. More info at: http://www.ezmerelda.bandcamp.com]

10:43

Covid-19 has changed the last two years drastically. So many venues are only now coming back to life and again shuttering for various new outbreaks, we talked with Kianna and Cale about navigating through these times.

Along with Cale’s work as a drummer and producer and with Ezmereda, he has also been doing several DJ gigs in Kansas City.

Cale you grew up on Cincinnati, Ohio, and for over 10 years lived with his partner in New York City, and now lives in KC. He told us that there are a lot of similarities between Cincinnati and Kansas City.

We talked with Kianna and Cale about the name Ezmerelda, which is a play on the name: Esmerelda a fictional character in Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame a Gypsy Dance with a pet goat who is kidnapped by Quasimodo.

Esmerelda was also the name of a nervous and anxiety ridden witch on the popular TV show Bewitched.

Kianna told us that “Ezmerelda” actually came through a lyric she was writing and inspired by a story about Imeda Marcos.

Kianna is currently working on a music video for Ezmerelda. She is filming in her house serving as the director, and every other role also.

Background info:

Yes You Are was: Jared White – songwriter, rhythm guitar, backup vocals; Kianna Alarid – songwriter, lead vocals; Jacob Temeyer – lead guitar, keyboards, backup vocals; Joseph Wilner – drums; and Willie Jordan – bass guitar, back up vocals. Yes You Are lead singer

Kianna Alarid White was also lead singer and bassist for the critical acclaimed band, Tilly and the Wall, who released 4 albums on Team Love Records (founded by Conor Oberst & Nate Krenkel in 2003). Tilly and the Wall was an indie pop group from Omaha, Nebraska. Their name originated from a children’s book called Tillie and the Wall, written by Leo Lionni. They are particularly noted for having a tap dancer, Jamie Pressnall, instead of a drummer. // The group formed in 2001 after the demise of several Omaha groups, including Conor Oberst’s Park Ave., of which Neely Jenkins and Jamie Pressnall (then Jamie Williams) were members. Jamie brought along Kianna Alarid from another band that broke up called Magic Kiss. Derek Pressnall and Nick White, natives of Dunwoody, Georgia were drawn to the music scene in Omaha, Nebraska and moved. Nick White was also one of the few constants for Bright Eyes in 2005, appearing on I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, as well as touring worldwide with the band. // Their first show was an open-mic night at the now defunct Ranch Bowl. Their first release, Woo!, was recorded in Conor Oberst’s garage, self-published, and distributed at shows around the Omaha area. The group released a limited-pressing eponymous 7″ on Rue Royale Records, followed by their debut LP, Wild Like Children in 2004. It was the flagship release on Oberst’s Team Love label and made with the help of Presto studios. Wild Like Children garnered the band a substantial amount of critical acclaim and propelled them to national tours with Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley, and Of Montreal. In early 2005, Tilly and the Wall became the first “band in residence” at Omaha’s Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, using the Bemis Underground’s Studio T to develop their follow-up album to Wild Like Children. // In September of that year, they released “You and I Misbehaving” as a limited-pressing 7″ in the UK through indie label Trash Aesthetics. This release picked up further critical acclaim as well as support from BBC radio broadcaster Steve Lamacq. They played their first show outside of the US at the Freebutt in Brighton on February 14, 2006. // Bottoms of Barrels, the band’s follow-up to Wild Like Children, was released on May 23, 2006. Tilly and the Wall appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman on October 27, 2006, to perform “Bad Education”. The song was not played in full due to time constraints. A number of live dates were played to support the album. The band toured with Jenny Lewis in support of her album featuring The Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat. They then went on their first headlining tour to promote Bottoms of Barrels, with acts such as David Dondero, Now It’s Overhead, and Wolf Colonel supporting them. They played the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 27, 2007. In addition to performing at 2007’s Splendour in the Grass festival, Tilly and the Wall toured Australia. Band members Jamie Williams and Derek Pressnall were married shortly after the album’s release, on August 12, 2006. // On February 25, Tilly and the Wall released a video for a new song entitled “Beat Control”. The digital release of the song was on March 4, with a new album track “Cacophony” appearing as a b-side. “Beat Control” was released only as a single and was not included on the album released later in 2008. // Tilly and the Wall’s third album, o, was released on June 17, 2008. Two songs they performed on their 2007 tour, “Too Excited” and “Chandelier Lake”, appear on the album. // Tilly have recorded their own version of the ABC song for the new season of Sesame Street. // The first single from the album is “Pot Kettle Black”. It was featured in the pilot episode of 90210, TV spots for the Seth Rogen film Observe and Report, the film Whip It and its soundtrack album, and in the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles. // Tilly and the Wall released a new album entitled Heavy Mood on October 2, 2012, available in CD and vinyl formats.

In 2020 Team Love released a 16-track retro of Tilly and The Wall’s music from 2002

Kianna White & Cale Parks Thank you for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley.

Kianna and Cale are Ezmerelda and their debut single, “I’m So Nervous” was just released on January 7, 2022. The duo formed in the final months of 2021, drawing on influences like: Fever Ray, Budgie-era Siouxsie and the Banshees, and early M.I.A. Combining elements of their high intensity live shows with art-rock improvisation, Kianna & Cale took to the basement to self produce their brand of industrial, drum heavy electro-pop. The result is a collection of immediately realized dance tracks that make up their debut EP.

10:52

10. Katy Guillen & The Drive – “Reacting to You”
    from: BATTLES – EP / Katy Guillen / December 17, 2021
    [Recorded at Invisible Creature Studio in Los Angeles, CA. Engineered and mixed by Kevin Ratterman. Produced by Kevin Ratterman, Katy Guillen, and Stephanie Williams. Mastered by Shelley Anderson at Black Lab Mastering in Louisville, KY. All songs written by Katy Guillen and Stephanie Williams. Katy Guillen on vocals, guitar, bass, & keyboarda. Stephanie Williams on drums & percussion. Additional keys and programming by Kevin Ratterman. Album design and photography by Morgan JonesThis is a follow up to Katy Guillen & The Drive’s 7-song EP DREAM GIRL, released March 20, 2020. Katy Guillen & The Drive, is a project dedicated to Guillen’s songwriting that is founded on the creative spark and chemistry between Katy Guillen & Stephanie Williams. With Guillen on guitar & vocals and Williams on drums, the two sculpt a sound that recalls bands like Led Zeppelin, The Bangles, and Band of Skulls. In 2012, Guillen & Williams formed Katy Guillen and The Girls, and began to build a foundation of touring and recording that carried them through six years and produced three full-length albums: Katy Guillen & the Girls, Heavy Days, and Remember What You Knew Before. Between 2012 and 2018, they traveled the United States extensively, performed at the International Montreal Jazz Festival, toured Sweden, and supported major acts like The Doobie Brothers, Robin Trower, and Heartless Bastards. In these 6 years playing together, Guillen & Williams created a dynamic, sound informed by Guillen’s mesmerizing, emotive guitar style and poignant arrangements, and an equally captivating live show that showcased Williams’ technical, melodic style, resulting in a powerful on-stage chemistry. In addition to the compelling synergy formed by years of playing together, the two developed a method of working together on Guillen’s songs that only deepened their artistic connection, propelling them to forge a path to a new plateau in their music. KG & The Drive push ahead with a melodic, heavy, and soulful sound while maintaining the edge of the artist’s rock ‘n’ roll and blues roots. Katy Guillen joined us on WMM on March 18, 2020. More info at: http://www.katyguillenmusic.com]

[Katy Guillen & Stephanie Williams of The Drive are core members of The Band That Fell To Earth and they present the 6th annual Tribute to David Bowie on Fri., Jan. 21 and Sat., Jan. 22, at recordBar.]

11. Sam Wells – “For The Deflated”
    from: For The Deflated / French Exit Records / December 31, 2020
    [Debut EP from Kansas City, based singer songwriter Sam Wells who has shared stages with Betsy Phillips, Kelly Hunt, Andrew Ryan, The Zack Pietrini Band, and The Phantastics. She was featured as a composer and performer in the Kansas City Repertory Theater production of “Ghost Light” performed on the lawn of The Nelson Atkin Museum of Art in October, 2020. Sam has also performed in Troostival (2020), Kansas City Porchfest (2019) and Jamdemic. In 2019, Wells released her debut single “Lesson Learned.” In early 2020 Wells released her second single “Sugar” producer and engineered by Riley Corbin at the Lawrence Kansas Public Library recording studio. It was only a decade ago, Sam Wells sat in her bedroom learning the Corrine Bailey Ray classic “Put Your Records On”. This was all it took to ignite a lifetime love affair with music. With her smooth and sultry voice and the warm tones of a baritone ukulele, she shares stories of love, loss and everything in between. Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Sam Wells has lived in Lawrence, but now calls KC home. Info at: http://www.whoissamwells.com. Sam Wells was on January 20, 2021.]

[Sam Wells joins the Band That Fell To Earth, as a guest artist at their 6th Annual Tribute to David Bowie on Friday, January 21, at 8:30 at recordBar.]

11:00 – Station ID

12. David Bowie – “I’m Afraid of Americans (2021 Remaster)”
    from: Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) / Parlophone – ISO / November 26, 2021
    [This version was originally released on the album Earthling February 3, 1997. Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001) is a box set by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released on 26 November 2021. A follow-up to the compilations Five Years (1969–1973), Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976), A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) and Loving the Alien (1983–1988), the set covers the period of Bowie’s career from 1992 to 2001, commonly regarded by analysts as an artistic renaissance following his commercially successful but critically maligned work in the 1980s (Bowie’s 1988–1992 tenure with the hard rock supergroup Tin Machine is excluded). The set comprises eleven compact discs or 18 LPs. // Exclusive to the set are BBC Radio Theatre, a live album showcasing Bowie’s uncut BBC Radio Theatre live show in 2000 (previously documented in an edited form on Bowie at the Beeb) and Re:Call 5, the fifth installment in the retrospective boxes’ exclusive rarities compilations. The latter includes non-album and soundtrack singles, single edits, and B-sides. // The set contains remastered versions of Bowie’s studio albums Black Tie White Noise, The Buddha of Suburbia, Outside, Earthling, and Hours (1993–1999). Also featured is a finalized version of Toy, an album of re-recordings that was produced in late 2000 and set for release in 2001, only to be shelved due to Virgin Records viewing it as commercially unviable in the wake of a financial downturn for the company. An alternate version of Toy, containing prototypes of the Heathen tracks “Slip Away” and “Afraid” but excluding “Can’t Help Thinking About Me” and “Karma Man”, had previously leaked in 2011 “I’m Afraid of Americans” is a song by English musician David Bowie, released as a single from his album Earthling on October 14, 1997 through Virgin Records. The song was co-written by Bowie and Brian Eno and originally recorded during the sessions for Bowie’s 1995 album Outside. This version was released on the soundtrack of the 1995 film Showgirls. The song was then remade during the sessions for Earthling with his then-current band, guitarist Reeves Gabrels, pianist Mike Garson, bassist Gail Ann Dorsey and drummer Zack Alford. The remake was recorded between August and October 1996 at Looking Glass Studios in New York City and featured rewritten lyrics, overdubs and transposed verses. An industrial and techno track, it presents a critique of America through the eyes of a stereotypical ‘Johnny’ and is characterized by drum patterns, synthesizers, various loops and vocal distortions. // Following its release on the album, Virgin Records issued the song as a maxi-single in North America only with six different remixes. The remixes were mostly created by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, continuing his and Bowie’s association following the Outside Tour; the ‘V3’ mix featured Ice Cube while the ‘V5’ mix was created by Photek. Reznor subsequently appeared in the music video, which reflected the song’s theme of a frightened European in an American city. A top 20 hit in Canada, the single peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 16 weeks on the chart. It was the final Bowie single to chart on the Hot 100 until 2015. Reznor’s ‘V1’ mix has since appeared on several compilation albums. // In an interview with Mojo magazine in 1997, Bowie described the song as “one of those stereotypical ‘Johnny’ songs: Johnny does this, Johnny does that”. The absurdist lyrics present a critique of America, in line with Bowie’s 1975 track “Young Americans”. Commentators have sighted similarities between the song’s titular ‘Johnny’ and the ‘Johnny’ of the Lodger track “Repetition” (1979); while the ‘Johnny’ of the former craves objects of status through self-entitlement, the ‘Johnny’ of the latter emotional abuses his wife due to his lower status. The song concludes with the revelation that “God is an American”, which biographer Marc Spitz considers an “ironic jingoism”. // Musically, reviewers have categorized it as techno, with author James Perone writing that it mixes various industrial and techno styles of the 1980s and 1990s. The Guardian’s Caroline Sullivan found the melody reminiscent of Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” (1980), with a “perky jungle percussion loop”, ultimately creating “a most singular fusion of rock and drum & bass”. Characterized by drum patterns, synthesizers, various loops and vocal distortions, O’Leary writes that the remake retained the original’s “‘laughing’ hook” and “synth hook pinging around an E♭ octave. Both the original and remake are also in the key of F major. Biographer Nicholas Pegg calls the remake “darker” and “funkier” compared to the original, while Spitz compares the track’s “loud/quiet/loud anthem[ic]” quality to the Pixies. Perone notes the musicality as “richer” than other Earthling tracks. // The original version of “I’m Afraid of Americans” was released on the Showgirls soundtrack on September 26,1995. Earthling was released on 3 February 1997 on CD and LP formats through RCA Records in the UK, Virgin Records in the US, and Arista Records and its parent distributor BMG elsewhere. “I’m Afraid of Americans” was sequenced as the eighth and penultimate track, between “The Last Thing You Should Do” and “Law (Earthlings on Fire)”. // The CD maxi-single featured various remixes by Trent Reznor (pictured in 2008), who subsequently appeared in the song’s music video. // Virgin issued “I’m Afraid of Americans” as a maxi-single in North America only on 14 October 1997, where it was backed by six remixes; the ‘V3’ mix featured guest vocals from rapper Ice Cube while the ‘V5’ mix was created by producer Photek. The project was instigated by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, continuing his and Bowie’s association following the Outside Tour. Reznor, who stated that he “tried to make it a bit darker”, stripped the production to its roots to create what biographer David Buckley calls “an eerie, psychotic track”. The ending result is an almost 40-minute project that, in Bowie’s words, was “not just a remix [but] almost…an album piece in itself. I was absolutely knocked out when I heard what [Reznor] had done. It was great.” Commercially, the single reached number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained on the chart for 16 weeks, becoming Bowie’s biggest hit in the country since “Day-In Day-Out” ten years earlier. It was the final Bowie single to chart on the Hot 100 until the release of “Blackstar” in 2015. It also stayed in the Canadian top 50 for six months. // Reznor also starred as the titular ‘Johnny’ in the Dom and Nic-directed music video, which was shot in New York City in October 1997 during the American leg of the Earthling Tour. Regarding the choice of Dom and Nic, Bowie explained that the duo were “making very interesting, quite hard-edged British videos at the moment. I felt it was important that it retained that outsider’s perspective of America, you know.” The video depicts Bowie as a man who is chased around the streets of NYC by a stalker portrayed by Reznor, reflecting the song’s theme of a frightened European in an American city. Discussing his character, Reznor stated: “They wanted a kind of Taxi Driver feel to the whole thing. That’s why I’m in my Travis Bickle outfit!” According to Spitz, the video received heavy rotation on MTV, a first for Bowie in over a decade. It also earned Bowie a nomination for Best Male Video at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards. // O’Leary states that while the track has no “definitive” verison, Reznor’s ‘V1’ mix is the most recognisable, which has appeared on the compilation albums Best of Bowie (2002), Nothing Has Changed (2014), and Bowie Legacy (2016). The Showgirls version, ‘V1’ mix and Plati’s “Original Edit” were included on the bonus disc of the Earthling expanded edition in 2004.]

13. David Bowie – “Hallo Spaceboy (2021 Remaster)”
    from: Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) / Parlophone – ISO / November 26, 2021
    [This version was originally released on the album Outside and subtitled The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper-cycle, released on September 25, 1995, through Virgin Records in the United States. This was the 20th studio album by David Bowie. Reuniting Bowie and musician Brian Eno following the late 1970s Berlin Trilogy, the two were inspired by concepts “outside” the mainstream, such as various outsider and performance artists. Recording began in March 1994 in Switzerland and continued on and off until November. During the experimental sessions, Bowie conceived a world where “art crimes”, such as murder, pervade society, resulting in the Leon project, which initially faced resistance from labels due to its uncommercial nature. After the project was bootlegged, additional sessions were conducted in early 1995 in New York City to record more commercial material and revise the Leon concept after Bowie wrote a diary for Q magazine. // Partially influenced by the television series Twin Peaks, the story of Outside concerns the residents of the fictional Oxford Town, New Jersey and is presented in a nonlinear narrative. It follows detective Nathan Adler as he investigates the murder of a 14-year-old girl. Individual tracks show perspectives of specific characters, while spoken word between-song segues convey more ideals from the characters. The story and Adler’s diary entries were presented in the album’s CD booklet. Musically, Outside displays a wide variety of styles, including art rock, industrial rock, jazz, electronica and ambient. It also contains elements found on Bowie’s previous works. The album cover is a painting made by Bowie himself. // “Hallo Spaceboy” is the third and final single from the album. The track was re-recorded in 1996 and issued as a remix featuring Pet Shop Boys as guest artists. Bowie and Brian Eno co-wrote the original album version of the song. // Written in early 1995, Bowie biographers Nicholas Pegg and Chris O’Leary point to the influence of the work of Brion Gysin on the song, who purportedly spoke the words “Moon dust will cover me” just before his death in 1986. Recording partner Reeves Gabrels recalled writing a song fragment called “Moondust” in mid-1994, which he thinks may have also influenced the song. Bowie wrote and recorded the song in mostly-improvised sessions with his band in 1995, and intentionally wrote it with a Nine Inch Nails-like vibe. Early work on the song was done with Brian Eno, Carlos Alomar, and drummer Joey Barron. After finishing the track, Bowie said “I adore that track. In my mind, it was like Jim Morrison meets industrial. When I heard it back, I thought, ‘Fuck me. It’s like metal Doors.’ It’s an extraordinary sound.” // In late December 1995, Bowie was intending “Hallo Spaceboy” to be his next single after “Strangers When We Meet”, and recorded a video for the song at a concert in Birmingham. The song “Hallo Spaceboy” was performed twice at the venue, once as part of the regular set and once as the last encore, with that final performance intended to be the official music video for the song. Two live songs from the set, “Moonage Daydream” and “Under Pressure”, were used as b-sides to the single release as well. However, the Pet Shop Boys were approached to remix the song as well, and their remix was used as the official single version instead. Neil Tennant explained that since the original song had only a single verse, Lowe suggested using lyrical fragments from Bowie’s 1969 song “Space Oddity” to create a second verse. Bowie initially expressed reservation about the additions when Tennant initially told him during a telephone conversation, but later agreed that they worked well. // Tennant told NME in a 1997 interview that he and Lowe, working alongside Bowie, had completed what Tennant called the “Major Tom trilogy”, in reference to a fictional character who first appeared in Space Oddity and who had later recurred in Bowie’s 1980 song “Ashes to Ashes”. Tennant explained, “I said to David Bowie, ‘It’s like Major Tom is in one of those Russian spaceships they can’t afford to bring down,’ and he [Bowie] said, ‘Oh wow, is that where he is?'” // The final official music video for “Hallo Spaceboy” was directed by David Mallet, mixing shots of both Bowie and the Pet Shop Boys into a rapid-fire montage of Cold War era retro-footage of science fiction film clips, atomic bomb testing footage, and television advertising clips.]

11:10 – Interview with Michelle Bacon

Multi-talented musician and writer, Michelle Bacon, is Content Manager at 90.9 The Bridge, where she helps to shine a light on area musicians, causes, and events. Michelle has written for The Kansas City Star, The Deli Magazine KC, and Folk Alliance International. Michelle plays drums in the band Frogpond who released their critically acclaimed album, TIME THIEF on Black-Site Records on November 19, 2021. Michelle also plays bass with Other Americans who released the album PARANOID FICTION on February 9, 2021. Over the last decade Michelle Bacon has played drums or bass with, and Deco Auto, Heidi Lynne Gluck, Erica Joy, Chris Meck and the Guilty Birds, The Blackbird Revue, John L. Johnson, the Nathan Corsi Band, The Philistines, Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Katy Guillen & The Drive and several others. And for the past 6 years Michelle has served as the founder and producer as well as bass player for The Band That Fell To Earth: A Tribute to David Bowie. This year the band is presenting their 6th Annual Tribute to David Bowie. The two night event happens this Friday, January 21 with guest artists Sam Wells, and Meredith McGrade of Emmaline Twist, and Saturday, January 22, with guest artists: Kat King, and Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, of The Creepy Jingles. Both nights start at 8:30 PM at recordBar. Both will have different playlists. Proof of vaccination or negative test within 72 hours is REQUIRED for entry. More info at http://www.therecordbar.com

Michelle Bacon, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Michelle Bacon is the producer of The Band That Fell To Earth: A Tribute to David Bowie, w/ 2 nights of music: Fri, Jan. 21 and Sat, Jan. 22, at recordBar, 1520 Grand Ave, KCMO.
7:00 pm VIP doors. 7:30 pm GA doors. 8:30 pm show starts.

Each night will contain a different set list, special guests, & items created by local makers.

VIP package includes: mezzanine level access, early entry, Signed, numbered 11×17 hand-carved block print poster from Two Tone Press, and a $15 donation to Nafasi Center of KC

The Band That Fell To Earth

Michelle Bacon – bass
Alex Alexander – guitar
Nathan Corsi – vocals/guitar
Kyle Dahlquist – keys
Katy Guillen – guitar
Steve Tulipana – vocals
Stephanie Williams – drums
Havilah Bruders – backing vocals
Julia Haile – backing vocals (replacing Camry Ivory)
Christine Broxterman – cello
Laurel Morgan-Parks – violin (replacing Betse Ellis)
Rich Wheeler – saxophone
Matt Ronan – percussion

Friday, Jan 21 guest vocalists: Sam Wells, and Meredith McGrade (Emmaline Twist)

Saturday, Jan 22 guest vocalists: Kat King, and Jocelyn Nixon (The Creepy Jingles)

The band was curated by musician/writer Michelle Bacon to pay homage to the groundbreaking artist while showcasing talent across Kansas City’s vast musical spectrum.

LIVESTREAM OPTIONS – if you can’t make it to our shows next weekend or prefer to watch from the comfort of home, we now have livestream tickets available for each night!
Tix for livestream & live show are available at https://linktr.ee/bowiekcmo

recordBar is taking every health and safety precaution possible, including that the entire band and production crew will be tested prior to the show.

Video projections from XO Blackwater.

More info at: http://www.therecordbar.com

Commemorative David Bowie prayer candles & pillows will be sold by Kitschup Creations.

Tara at Lost & Found Design is offering an incredible variety of stained glass hangings and earrings – http://www.etsy.com/shop/lostandfounddesignus/ Bonus – Tara has donated one of the stained glass Bowie faces for the auction, along with the signed poster that will be auctioned off during intermission on Saturday night to raise funds for charity recipient!

Michelle Bacon thanks for being with us on WMM.

The Band That Fell To Earth: A Tribute to David Bowie, with TWO nights of music: Fri, January 21 and Sat, January 22 show at 8:30 PM, at recordBar, 1520 Grand Ave, KCMO. More info at: http://www.therecordbar.com

11:25

14. David Bowie – “Brilliant Adventure (2021 Remaster)”
    from: Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) / Parlophone – ISO / November 26, 2021
    [This version was originally released on HOURS, September 21, 1999, on Virgin Records. Written by David Bowie and Reeves Gabrels (who had the longest run with Bowie as his superstar lead guitarist. Hours (stylised as ‘hours…’ ) is the 22nd studio album by English musician David Bowie. It was originally released through the Internet on Bowie’s website BowieNet, followed by a physical CD release on October 4, through Virgin Records. It was the first album by a major artist available to download over the Internet. Originating as a soundtrack to the video game Omikron: The Nomad Soul (1999), Hours was the final collaboration between Bowie and guitarist Reeves Gabrels, whom he had worked with since 1988. The album was recorded in mid-1999 between studios in Bermuda and New York City. Compared to the experimental nature of Bowie’s other works throughout the decade, the songs on Hours were written more conventionally. A song contest conducted on BowieNet in late 1998 resulted in a fan contributing lyrics and backing vocals to one of the tracks. // A departure from the experimentation of its two predecessors, Hours presents a pop rock and art pop style reminiscent of 1971’s Hunky Dory, further evoking styles and ideals previously explored on Bowie’s past works. The lyrics are introspective, detailing topics such as the collapse of relationships and subjects of angst. Also present are overtly Christian themes, which is reflected in the cover artwork. Inspired by the Pietà, it depicts the short-haired Bowie persona from the Earthling era, resting in the arms of a long-haired, more youthful version of Bowie. The title, originally The Dreamers, is a play on “ours”. // Accompanied by multiple UK top 40 singles, Hours peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart but was Bowie’s first album to miss the US Billboard 200 top 40 since 1972. Bowie promoted the album through the Hours Tour and various television appearances. The album was reissued with bonus tracks in 2004 and remastered in 2021 for inclusion on Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001).

15. David Bowie – “Hole In The Ground”
    from: Toy (Toy:Box) / Parlophone – ISO / January 7, 2022
    [TOY is also included in the Box Set Brilliant Adventure (1992-2001) on Parlophone – ISO released Nov. 26, 2021. // Recorded July–October 2000, Summer 2021 (Unplugged overdubs) Studio Sear Sound and Looking Glass (New York City). // Toy is a posthumously released studio album by English musician David Bowie. It was recorded from July to October 2000 in New York City and featured re-recordings of songs Bowie recorded between 1964 and 1971, along with a couple of new tracks. The project was co-produced by Bowie and Mark Plati and featured musicians from Bowie’s then-touring band—Plati, Earl Slick, Gail Ann Dorsey, Mike Garson and Sterling Campbell—with overdubs from Lisa Germano, Gerry Leonard and Cuong Vu. // Bowie’s intention for the project was to rehearse the tracks, record them live and release them as quickly as possible, predating the idea of the surprise album. Intended for release in March 2001, the album was shelved by EMI/Virgin due to financial struggles, leading Bowie to depart the label and begin work on his next album Heathen (2002). Various Toy tracks saw release as B-sides and bonus tracks in the ensuing years; two were remade for Heathen and two appeared on the Nothing Has Changed compilation in 2014. // Different mixes of the Toy tracks leaked onto the Internet in 2011, which caught media attention. Ten years later, Warner Music Group announced on September 29, 2021 that Toy would get an official release as part of the box set Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001) on November 26, 2021, through Bowie’s own ISO label and Parlophone. A separate deluxe edition, featuring previously unseen photographs, alternate mixes, proposed B-sides and 13 new remixes of the tracks, was released on January 7, 2022. The official release received positive reviews from music critics, with many highlighting Bowie’s vocal performances. // “I’ve pulled together a selection of songs from a somewhat unusual reservoir and booked time in a studio. I cannot wait to sit in a claustrophobic space with seven other energetic people and sing till my tits drop off.” – David Bowie. // In 1999, during the Hours Tour, David Bowie began performing songs he originally recorded in the 1960s. After ending his Mini Tour with a performance at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2000, he stated, “I hate to waste the energy of a show-honed band so I’ve asked one and all if they would like to make an album immediately when we get back to New York.” He then revealed his intention of re-recording these songs, explaining “Not so much Pin Ups II as an Up Date I.” Work on the “Sixties album” began a month later in July under the working title Toy, which came from a lyric in two songs recorded. The lineup consisted of the members of Bowie’s touring band: guitarist Earl Slick, bassist Gail Ann Dorsey, pianist Mike Garson, musician Mark Plati and drummer Sterling Campbell. // According to biographer David Buckley, the band rehearsed the songs at Sear Sound Studios in New York City before recording them as live tracks. Plati recalled: “The idea was to keep it loose, fast, and not clean things up too much or dwell on perfection. As a result, we had 13 basic tracks cut in around nine days.” Slick later told Rolling Stone: “We had been doing a lot of gigs up to that point. We didn’t have to do a whole lot of thinking about how to approach the songs. We had an operating system; an unspoken one. We hardly ever talked about anything. We’d just look at each other, or David would look at us, and it would just happen.” He also stated that he refused to listen to Bowie’s original recordings of the tracks, so to prevent the originals from influencing his playing on the new versions. Plati, whom Bowie chose to co-produce the project, was integral to the new album’s sound. Pete Keppler engineered the sessions, while Bowie’s former producer Tony Visconti provided string arrangements on two tracks. Recording took a two-month break in August due to the birth of Bowie and Iman’s daughter Alexandria. // Following the two-month break, multi-instrumentalist Lisa Germano was hired by Bowie, at Plati’s suggestion, to contribute overdubs. After seeing her perform in New York for the rock band Eels in August, Plati stated “I knew I needed to get her on the Bowie album.” Germano was thrilled by the experience and both Bowie and Plati commended her contributions. Overdubs commenced at New York’s Looking Glass Studios in October. Also hired were Gerry Leonard and Cuong Vu, who contributed guitar and trumpet, respectively. Also recorded during this time was a cover of the Who’s “Pictures of Lily” for the tribute album Substitute: The Songs of the Who. Mixing began at the end of October, with Bowie predicting a release date of March 2001. // “We grew up with David’s music. For us, it pretty much started with ‘Space Oddity’, as it would for a lot of people. So we had no prior connection to these [older] songs, which I think was a good thing because there was never this idea to try to replicate those songs. The idea was for us to play them in our own way. So they felt brand new to us, too.” – Mark Plati on the Toy material. // Toy primarily consists of re-recordings of various songs Bowie originally recorded between 1964 and 1971, some of which with numerous bands. Author Marc Spitz describes it as “a sort of Pin Ups without the hits”. These included: “Liza Jane”, Bowie’s 1964 debut single; “You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving”, a 1965 A-side; “Baby Loves That Way”, a 1965 B-side; “Can’t Help Thinking About Me”, a 1966 A-side; “I Dig Everything”, a 1966 A-side; “The London Boys”, a 1966 B-side; “Silly Boy Blue”, first released on Bowie’s 1967 eponymous debut album; “In the Heat of the Morning” and “Karma Man”, rejected tracks recorded in 1967 that first appeared on The World of David Bowie compilation (1970); and “Conversation Piece”, a 1970 B-side. Additionally, a new version of “Shadow Man”, which dated back to the 1971 Ziggy Stardust sessions, was recorded. Many of these tracks had previously seen release on various compilation albums, such as Early On (1964–1966) (1991) and The Deram Anthology 1966–1968 (1997). // Along with the re-recorded tracks, several new songs were written for the project, including “Afraid”, “Uncle Floyd” and “Toy” (later retitled “Your Turn to Drive”). Bowie stated that these were written in the style he “may have written them in the sixties”. More tracks written for Toy included “Hole in the Ground” and “Miss American High”. Bowie explained on his website, BowieNet, that “some of the songs from the sixties were never recorded, let alone released, so will be as new to you as any of the new ones that I’ve written.” Regarding the tracks themselves, Bowie stated: “The songs are so alive and full of color, they jump out of the speakers. It’s really hard to believe that they were written so long ago.” // Bowie initially wanted to release Toy as quickly as possible. At the time, the idea of a surprise album was several years ahead of its time. Plati later commented, “Record labels just weren’t set up to do that at the time—too many moving parts and all the rest of it.” Originally scheduled for release in March 2001, Toy was initially delayed to May. In June, Bowie revealed: “EMI/Virgin seem to have a lot of scheduling conflicts this year, which has put an awful lot on the back burner. Toy is finished and ready to go, and I will make an announcement as soon as I get a very real date.” After making Bowie’s back catalogue available for digital download in 2000, the label, who were in the middle of various financial struggles, feared poor commercial performance for Toy and expressed a desire for an album of new material instead, indefinitely shelving the record. In October, Bowie responded “Fine by me. I’m extremely happy with the new stuff …[but] I won’t let Toy slide away. I’m working on a way that you’ll be able to get the songs next year as well as the newie.” Buckley argues that had it been released, Toy would have “easily” reached the UK top 20, even if it was only bought by Bowie’s hardcore fans. // As the label were negotiating, Bowie began work with Visconti on Heathen. According to Visconti, Bowie was “hurt terribly” by Toy’s rejection and as a result, left EMI/Virgin and signed an agreement with Columbia Records in early 2002 to issue Heathen via his own ISO label. Between 2002 and 2003, tracks from Toy, including “Conversation Piece”, “Shadow Man”, “You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving” and “Baby Loves that Way”, appeared as various B-sides and bonus tracks. “Afraid” and “Uncle Floyd” were remade for Heathen, with the latter retitled “Slip Away”. “Let Me Sleep Beside You” and “Your Turn to Drive” later saw official release on the three-disc edition of the 2014 compilation Nothing Has Changed. Bowie remarked in 2003: “Toy has actually started now to become a reservoir of B-sides and bonus tracks, so it’s much depleted. From the original 14 or so that I did, I think seven are now out there. I think there’s still enough in the past to be able to pop some more back and top it up, so to speak, but you know what? New writing just takes precedence. It always does.” // On September 29, 2021, Warner Music Group announced that Toy would get an official release on November 26, as part of the box set Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001) through ISO and Parlophone. “You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving” was released as a digital single the same day. “Karma Man” and an “alternative ending mix” of “Silly Boy Blue” were released as the next single on October 15, while “Can’t Help Thinking About Me” followed on November 19. Plati, who assisted in the mixing of the Toy material for the box set, said in a statement: “Toy is like a moment in time captured in an amber of joy, fire and energy. It’s the sound of people happy to be playing music. David revisited and re-examined his work from decades prior through prisms of experience and fresh perspective – a parallel not lost on me as I now revisit it twenty years later. From time to time, he used to say ‘Mark, this is our album’ – I think because he knew I was so deeply in the trenches with him on that journey. I’m happy to finally be able to say it now belongs to all of us.” // A separate deluxe edition, titled Toy:Box, was released on January 7, 2022, the day before what would have been Bowie’s 75th birthday. The release includes previously unseen photographs, alternate mixes, proposed B-sides and 13 new “Unplugged and Somewhat Slightly Electric” remixes of the Toy tracks. These remixes contain new guitar parts by Plati and Earl Slick, replicating a style done by the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards. The “Unplugged and Somewhat Slightly Electric” mix of “Shadow Man” was released as a single on streaming services on January 6. The release ends with “Toy (Your Turn to Drive)”, a new track compiled from an extended jam during a take of “I Dig Everything”. Featuring updated mixing, Plati stated: “As it was culled from ‘I Dig Everything’, it makes sense to bookend the album with this track. It’s also a fitting postscript to the Toy era.” Visconti, who called it Bowie’s “ghost album”, was positive about its official release, telling Uncut magazine that he believed it contained some of Bowie’s finest work.

11:30 – Underwriting

16. Hembree – “Close To Me”
    “Close to Me” – Single / Oread Records / January 11, 2021
    [This is the 4th single from the band’s upcoming 15-track album, IT’S A DREAM! KC based band was formed in November of 2015, with Isaac Flynn on guitar, & lead vocals, Garrett Childers on bass & vocals, Eric Davis on keys & synth, Alex Ward on guitar, and Austin Ward on drums. Hembree is signed to Thirty Tigers of Nashville, TN. The band was founded by original members Isaac Flynn, Garrett Childers, and Eric Davis. Brothers Alex and Austin Ward later joined in 2018. Hembree quickly garnered national attention after their single “Holy Water” was placed in an Apple commercial that aired during Super Bowl LII. The band’s music has been featured in a variety of other national placements, including Monday Night Football (NFL) and Bose. Hembree has notably supported Elvis Costello, Phoenix, Cold War Kids, Vance Joy, JR JR, and Joywave, among others. The band first toured Europe in Fall 2018. In 2018, Hembree signed with Thirty Tigers to release their first full-length album House on Fire, released 4/26/2019. In 2019, Hembree performed at Hangout Music Festival. They will also appear on the soundtrack of 13 Reasons Why: Season 3 with the song “Culture”. Hembree was named one of NPR’s Slingshot 2018 Artists to Watch. Rolling Stone named Hembree as one of the thirty best artists at SXSW 2018. “Had It All” debuted on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 on January 19, 2017. Lowe described the song as “absolutely fantastic.” “Holy Water” was featured in Apple’s HomePod “Distortion” TV spot, which ran during Super Bowl LII, the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, and the 2018 Winter Olympics. Hembree released the single, “Reach Out” on July 20, 2021 and “Operators (feat. Bodye)” on Sept. 21, 2021on Oread Records. Info at: http://www.hembreemusic.com]

Our hearts go out to the Schnebelen family after the tragic loss of Kristopher Robert Schnebelen who passed away on January 11, 2022, from cancer. Kris, along with his brother, Nick, and sister, Danielle Nicole, won at the 2008 International Blues Challenge with Trampled Under Foot and went on to win Contemporary Blues Album for ‘Badlands’ at the 2014 Blues Music Awards. Our sincere condolences go out to: Nick, Danielle Nicole, Kris Schnebelen’s fiance Gabriela, their children, and the entire Schnebelen family.

17. Trampled Under Foot – “Down To The River”
    from: Badlands / Concord Music group – Telarc Records / July 9, 2013
    [“Trampled Under Foot” is a song by English rock group Led Zeppelin, featured on their 1975 album Physical Graffiti. The lyrics were inspired by blues musician Robert Johnson’s 1936 “Terraplane Blues.” Trampled Under Foot is also one of Kansas Cities hottest blues bands consisting of siblings: Nick Schnebelen on Guitar & Vocals; Danielle Schnebelen on Bass & Vocals, and Kris Schnebelen on Drums & Vocals. Trampled Under Foot is the winner of the 2012 Pitch Music Award for Best Blues Band. More info at: tufkc.com]

18. Danny Cox – “It’s You”
    from: Danny Cox / Dunhill Records / August 15, 1971
    [In 2021 Danny Cox digitally released YOUNG AND HOT (LIVE AT COWTOWN BALLROOM) EP on July 27, 2021. Danny Cox was born in 1942 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a folk singer and songwriter best known for his 1974 LP album Feel So Good. Danny Cox moved to Kansas City, Kansas in 1967. As a youth, he sang in a church choir together with Rudolph Iseley, and in the 1960s he started his professional career performing on a Hootennany Folk Tour. Cox has recorded albums for ABC Dunhill, Casablanca, MGM and others. He also partnered a company called Good Karma Productions, run by the KC based Vanguard Coffee House owner Stan Plesser, who managed the acts of Brewer & Shipley, and The Ozark Mountain Daredevils.]

Danny Cox Discography:
Live at 7 Cities (1963)
Sunny (1968)
Birth Announcement (1969)
Live at the Family Dog (1970)
Danny Cox (ABC Dunhill Records) (1971)
Feel So Good (Casablanca Records) (1974)
Troost Avenue Blues (3-track EP) (2006)
Bring Our Loved Ones Back (one track) (2007)
Sack of Trout (Single) (2015)
Vandalism in Eb Minor (Coin Heaven) (Single) (2015)
Kansas City – Where I Belong (Recorded at Pilgrim Chapel) (2012)
Time Is What I Need (Single) (2020)
Young and Hot (Live at Cowtown Ballroom) (5-track EP) (July 27, 2021)
Big John Buck O’Neil (Single) (December 7, 2021)

19. Danny Cox – “Big John Buck O’Neil”
    from: “Big John Buck O’Neil” – Single / East of Troost Music, BMI / December 6, 2021
    [Danny Cox released, “Big John Buck O’Neil” just one day after Buck was elected to the Baseball Hall Of Fame. John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil Jr. (Nov. 13, 1911 – Oct. 6, 2006) was a first baseman and manager in the Negro American League, mostly with the KC Monarchs. After his playing days, he worked as a scout and became the first African American coach in Major League Baseball. In his later years he became a popular and renowned speaker & interview subject, helping to renew widespread interest in the Negro leagues, and played a major role in establishing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in KC, Missouri. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2021 as an executive. // O’Neil’s life was documented in Joe Posnanski’s 2007 book The Soul of Baseball. // O’Neil was born in Carrabelle, Florida, to John Jordan O’Neil (1873–1954) and Louella Campbell (maiden; 1884–1945). O’Neil was initially denied the opportunity to attend high school owing to racial segregation. Florida had only four high schools specifically for African Americans. He grew up in Sarasota, Florida in the Newtown community. O’Neil worked the celery fields in Sarasota while his father ran a pool hall in Newtown. He then later moved to Jacksonville with relatives and attended Edward Waters College, where he completed high school and two years of college courses. // He left Florida in 1934 for several years of semi-professional “barnstorming” experiences (playing interracial exhibition games). The effort paid off, and in 1937, O’Neil signed with the Memphis Red Sox for their first year of play in the newly formed Negro American League. His contract was sold to the Monarchs the following year.// O’Neil had a career batting average of .288 between 1937 & 1950, including four .300-plus seasons at the plate, as well as five seasons in which he did not top .260. In 1946, the first baseman led the NAL with a .353 batting average and followed that in 1947 with a .350 mark in 16 games. He also posted averages of .345 in 1940 and .330 in 1949. He played in three East-West All-Star Games in three different seasons and two Negro World Series.// O’Neil’s baseball career was interrupted for two years (1944 & 1945) during World War II when he joined the U.S. Navy after the close of the 1943 season. He served his enlistment in a naval construction battalion in New Jersey. He returned to the Monarchs at the start of the 1946 season. // O’Neil was named manager of the Monarchs in 1948 after Frank Duncan’s retirement, and continued to play first base as well as a regular through 1951, dropping to part-time status afterward. He managed the Monarchs for eight seasons from 1948 through 1955 during the declining years of the Negro leagues, winning two league titles and a shared title in which no playoff was held during that period. His two undisputed pennants were won in 1953 and 1955, when the league had shrunk to fewer than six teams. // O’Neil was known to have played full-time in 1951 and as a reserve and pinch-hitter as late as 1955, but Negro leagues statistics for the period 1951 and after are considered unreliable, and rapidly dropping below major league quality. // When Tom Baird sold the Monarchs at the end of the 1955 season, O’Neil resigned as manager and became a scout for the Chicago Cubs, and is credited for signing Hall of Fame player Lou Brock to his first professional baseball contract. O’Neil is sometimes incorrectly credited with also having signed Hall of Famer Ernie Banks to his first contract; Banks was originally scouted and signed to the Monarchs by Cool Papa Bell, then manager of the Monarchs’ barnstorming B team in 1949. He played briefly for the Monarchs in 1950 and 1953, his play interrupted by Army duty. O’Neil was Banks’ manager during those stints, and Banks was signed to play for the Cubs more than two years before O’Neil joined them as a scout. He was named the first black coach in the major leagues by the Cubs in 1962, although he was not assigned in-game base coaching duties, nor was he included in the Cubs’ “College of Coaches” system, and was never allowed to manage the team during that time. After many years with the Cubs, O’Neil became a KC Royals scout in 1988, and was named “Midwest Scout of the Year” in 1998. // O’Neil gained national prominence with his compelling descriptions of the Negro leagues as part of Ken Burns’ 1994 PBS documentary on baseball. Afterwards, he became the subject of countless national interviews, including appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder. // In 1990, O’Neil led the effort to establish the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) in Kansas City, and served as its honorary board chairman until his death. In 1996, O’Neil became the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree from the University of Missouri – KC in Kansas City, Missouri. // In Feb. 2002, at the end of the NLBM’s Legacy Awards annual banquet, O’Neil received an induction ring from the baseball scouts Hall of Fame in St. Louis. // O’Neil and all-star Ichiro Suzuki developed a relationship, with Ichiro attending the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum with O’Neil and seeking O’Neil’s knowledge of the game when the Seattle Mariners would have road games in KC. “With Buck, I felt something big. The way he carried himself, you can see and tell and feel he loved this game.” // On May 13, 2006, he received an honorary doctorate in education from Missouri Western State University where he also gave the commencement speech. // O’Neil was a member of the 18-member Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans Committee from 1981 to 2000 and played an important role in the induction of six Negro league players from 1995 to 2001 during the time the Hall had a policy of inducting one Negro leaguer per year. O’Neil was nominated to a special Hall ballot for Negro league players, managers, and executives in 2006, but received fewer than the necessary nine votes (out of twelve) to gain admission; however, 17 other Negro league figures were selected. // “God’s been good to me. They didn’t think Buck was good enough to be in the Hall of Fame. That’s the way they thought about it and that’s the way it is, so we’re going to live with that. Now, if I’m a Hall of Famer for you, that’s all right with me. Just keep loving old Buck. Don’t weep for Buck. No, man, be happy, be thankful.” On July 29, 2006, O’Neil spoke at the induction ceremony for the Negro league players at the Baseball Hall of Fame. // The KC T-Bones retired O’Neil’s jersey. The team is now known as The KC Monarchs as a tribute to O’Neil and former Monarchs players. Just before the Hall of Fame ceremonies, O’Neil signed a contract with the KC T-Bones on July 17 to allow him to play in the Northern League All-Star Game. Before the game, O’Neil was “traded” to the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks and was listed as the starting shortstop, although after drawing an intentional walk, he was replaced before actually playing in the field. At the end of the inning, another “trade” was announced that brought O’Neil back to the KC team, allowing him to lead off the bottom of the inning as well (drawing another intentional walk). // On Aug. 5, 2006, O’Neil was admitted to a KC hospital after complaining that he did not feel well. He was admitted for fatigue and was released three days later only to be re-admitted on Sept. 17. On Sept. 28, KC media reported O’Neil’s condition had worsened. On Oct. 6, O’Neil died at the age of 94 due to heart failure and bone marrow cancer. // During the ESPN opening day broadcast of the 2007 KC Royals, on April 2, 2007, Joe Morgan announced the Royals would honor O’Neil by placing a fan in the Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat in Kauffman Stadium each game who best exemplifies O’Neil’s spirit. The seat itself has been replaced by a red seat amidst the all-blue seats behind home plate in Section 101, Row C, Seat 1. Due to the renovations and section renumbering in 2009 the seat number is now Section 127, Row C, Seat 9, and the seat bottom is now padded. The first person to sit in “Buck’s seat” was Buck O’Neil’s brother, Warren G. O’Neil (1917–2013), who also played in the Negro American League. // On December 7, 2006, O’Neil was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush; the award was presented to his brother, Warren, on his behalf on Dec. 15. He was chosen due to his “excellence and determination both on and off the baseball field”, according to the White House news release. He joins other baseball notables such as Roberto Clemente, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, and Jackie Robinson in receiving the United States’ highest civilian honor. On Nov. 13, 2012 the family of Buck O’Neil donated his Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in honor of what would have been O’Neil’s 101st birthday. The medal will be showcased in a special area of the NLBM dedicated to O’Neil. // On March 31, 2007—the day of Major League Baseball’s first annual Civil Rights Game—O’Neil was posthumously awarded MLB’s first annual Beacon of Life Award at the inaugural MLB Beacon Awards luncheon. // On Oct. 24, 2007, O’Neil was posthumously given a Lifetime Achievement Award named after him. He had fallen short in the Hall of Fame vote in 2006; however, he was honored in 2007 with a new award given by the Hall of Fame, to be named after him. // In 2008 a life size statue of O’Neil was placed on display inside the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum on 18th and Vine in Kansas City, and the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented no more than every three years. // At the Hall of Fame induction ceremony on July 27, 2008, Joe Morgan gave a dedication speech for the award and talked about O’Neil’s life, repeatedly citing the title of O’Neil’s autobiography, I Was Right on Time. // On November 5, 2021, O’Neil was selected to the final ballot of 10 candidates for consideration by the Early Days Committee during voting for induction to the Hall of Fame. Candidates needed to receive at least 12 of 16 votes (75%) for election, with the results to be announced in December. On Dec 5, the Hall of Fame announced that O’Neil and Bud Fowler had been elected, with 13 and 12 votes, respectively.]

20. Betse & Clarke – “Auld Lang Syne 2022” (CD #21) (5:21)
    from: “Auld Lang Syne 2022” – Single / Betse & Clarke / January 2, 2022
    [Most recently Betse & Clarke released the album, WINTER on June 4, 2020. It was in the top ten of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2020. WINTER was a collection of songs and tunes, including original compositions, traditional songs and fiddle tunes, and modern songs re-envisioned. This recording was compiled during winter 2020, with a feeling of introspection. Songs under copyright were properly licensed for this digital release. Regular folks, exceptional music: This duo from the heartland (Kansas City, Missouri) has its roots in Ozark old time music, honoring traditional songs and tunes that resonate with human experience. New compositions add compelling elements to their musical tapestry. Follow up to the duo’s 2017 release, Tunes We Like released only in analog on cassette. Betse & Clarke are a traditional and future folk duo with Betse Ellis on fiddles, violins, viola & vocals and Clarke Wyatt on banjos, guitar, cello, multi-instruments. Betse & Clarke have played and toured around the world. Individually their musical roots go deep in the KC music scene. Clarke Wyatt is a founding member of Mr. Marco’s V7, and Betse Ellis is a founding member of The Wilders. Last year Betse & Clarke released ”River Still Rise,” originals and reworked traditional compositions presented “to be enjoyed as a musical adventure, much like the river exploration of the famous duo Lewis & Clark, an inspiration for the band’s name.” http://www.betseandclarke.com]

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

Next week on January 26 – Nico Gray returns as Guest Producer with music from: Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band, SAULT, Cocteau Twins, Fontaines DC, Nino Ferrer, Klaus Nomi, Luca Wildig, Poppy Fusée, Melvin Van Peebles, Yay, The Cure, Gabriels, Beck, Franco Battiato, Miss White and the Drunken Piano, Rodriguez, Habibi, Meskerem Mees, Cloud of I, Degiheugi, november ultra, Ottis Coeur, and Healer Select.

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 #925

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, January 19, 2022

Kianna Alarid White & Cale Parks of Ezmerelda + Michelle Bacon & The Band That Fell To Earth + New & MidCoastal Releases

Mark plays 16 New & MidCoastal Releases from: Mensa Deathsquad, The Creepy Jingles, Hembree, Katy Guillen & The Drive, Betse and Clarke, Danny Cox, Jo Blaq, Scarecrow Vapors, Ezmerelda, Heath Church, Heidi Gluck, You Monster You, and David Bowie. PLUS, we also play music from Sam Wells, Kianna White, and Trampled Under Foot.

At 10:30 we welcome indie veterans Kianna Alarid White of the bands Tilly & the Wall, and Yes You Are, and Cale Parks of the bands Yeasayer, and Aloha. We will talk with Kianna and Cale about their new duo Ezmerelda and their debut single, “I’m So Nervous.” The duo formed in the final months of 2021, drawing on influences like: Fever Ray, Budgie-era Siouxsie and the Banshees, and early M.I.A. Combining elements of their high intensity live shows with art-rock improvisation, Kianna and Cale took to the basement to self produce their brand of industrial, drum heavy electro-pop in October 2021. The result was a collection of immediately realized dance tracks that will make up the duo’s debut EP.

At 11:11 we talk with our friend Michelle Bacon of the bands, Other Americans & Frogpond. Michelle joins us to talk about, The Band That Fell To Earth, and their 6th Annual Tribute to David Bowie. The two night event happens on Friday, January 21 with guest artists Sam Wells and Dee Radke of Radkey, and Saturday, January 22, with guest artists: Kat King, and Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, of The Creepy Jingles. Both nights will have different playlists. Both nights will be at at recordBar. Proof of vaccination or negative test within 72 hours is REQUIRED for entry. recordBar is taking every health and safety precaution possible, including that the entire band and production crew will be tested prior to the show. We’ll also have livestream tickets available soon, if you prefer to watch from the comfort of home. More info at http://www.therecordbar.com

On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or
STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org

Show #925

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, January 12, 2022

WMM Celebrates MLK

Wednesday MidDay Medley celebrates the life of human rights icon, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born Jan. 15, 1929.

MLK led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, was a cofounder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, and served as it’s first president. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. King delivered his, “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination thru civil disobedience and non-violent means.

By the time of his death in 1968, Dr. King had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War. King was assassinated, April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 198I. Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday is Friday, January 15, 2021 The Dr. Martin Luther King Day – National Holiday is Monday January 18, 2021.

As Pete Seeger wrote: “Songs gave them the courage to believe they would not fail.”

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

2. Soweto Gospel Choir – “Pride (In The Name of Love)”
   from: In the Name of Love – Africa Celebrates U2 / Shout! Factory Records / 2008
   [Formed in Soweto, South Africa, by David Mulovhedzi & Beverly Bryer, two choir directors. The 30-member ensemble blends African gospel, Negro spirituals, reggae and American popular music. The group performed at the first of the 46664 concerts for Nelson Mandela and has toured internationally. Their albums Blessed and African Spirit won Grammy Awards for Best Traditional World Music Album in 2007 and 2008.]

3. International Noise Conspiracy / MLK Jr. – “The First Conspiracy / Let Freedom Ring”
   from: Adbusters – Live Without Dead Time / Adbusters / 2003
   [The (International) Noise Conspiracy (abbreviated T(I)NC) were a Swedish rock band formed in Sweden in the late months of 1998. The line-up consists of Dennis Lyxzén (vocals), Inge Johansson (bass), Lars Strömberg (guitar), and Ludwig Dahlberg (drums). The band is known for its punk and garage rock musical influences, and its impassioned left-wing political stance. Influenced by a quote from 1960’s folk singer Phil Ochs, according to lead singer Lyxzén, the band wanted to achieve an ideal blend of music and politics that was, “a cross between Elvis Presley and Che Guevara.”]

4. Labelle – “Something in The Air / The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
   from: Something Silver / Warner Archives / 1997 [orig. Pressure Cookin’ / 1973, 3rd album from the funk/soul trio of: Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash who each shared a rap on “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” a poem and song by Gil Scott-Heron. It was the B-side to Scott-Heron’s first single, “Home Is Where the Hatred Is”, from his album Pieces of a Man (1971). “Something in the Air” is a song orig. recorded by Thunderclap Newman, a band created by Pete Townshend for The Who’s former roadie John ‘Speedy’ Keen who wrote and sang the song. It was a UK #1 single for three weeks in July 1969.]
   

10:14 – Soul Brother…

MLK said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

MLK said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

5. Curtis Mayfield – “Beautiful Brother of Mine”
   from: Roots / Curtom-Buddah / October, 1971
   [2nd solo release from Curtis Mayfield, born in Chicago, June 3, 1942. One of the most influential musicians behind soul & politically conscious African-American music. Mayfield started his musical career in a gospel choir. Moving to the North Side of Chicago he met Jerry Butler in 1956 at the age of 14, and joined vocal group The Impressions. As a songwriter, Mayfield became noted as one of the first musicians to bring more prevalent themes of social awareness into soul music. In 1965, he wrote “People Get Ready” for The Impressions, which displayed his more politically charged songwriting. After leaving The Impressions in 1970, Mayfield released several albums, including the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film Super Fly in 1972. The soundtrack was noted for its socially conscious themes, mostly addressing problems surrounding inner city minorities such as crime, poverty and drug abuse. Mayfield was paralyzed from the neck down after lighting equipment fell on him during a live performance at Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, on August 13, 1990. Despite this, he continued his career as a recording artist, releasing his final album, New World Order, in 1996. Mayfield won a Grammy Legend Award in 1994 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995, and was a double inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of the Impressions in 1991, and again in 1999 as a solo artist. He was also a 2-time Grammy Hall of Fame inductee. He died from complications of type 2 diabetes, Dec 26, 1999, at 57.]

6. Maceo & The Macks – “Soul Power ’74”
   from: James Brown’s Funky People, Pt. 2 / People Records / 1988
   [This record is sampled more than crackers and cheese at Costco, it contains samples itself in the form of tape overlays of civil rights rallies, a Dr. King speech, and an announcement of King’s assassination. Maceo Parker played saxophone with James Brown, Parliament, Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell and Prince.]

7. Sweet Honey in The Rock, Aaron Neville, Lamar Campbell & Spirit of Praise -“Ella’s Song”
   from: Soundtrack to Boycott / HBO / 2001
   [Critically acclaimed 2001 film staring Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Terrence Howard as Ralph Abernathy, and CCH Pounder as Jo Ann Robinson.]

10:26 – Underwriting

10:30 – King’s Life, Death, and Spirit…

MLK said, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

8. Mahalia Jackson – “How I Got Over”
   from: The Original Apollo Sessions / Couch & Madison Partners / May 25, 2013
   [Gospel hymn composed & published in 1951 by Clara Ward (1924-1973). It was performed by Mahalia Jackson at the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 before 250,000 people. Mahalia Jackson (Oct. 26, 1911 – Jan. 27, 1972) was referred to as “The Queen of Gospel”. She became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world, heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist. She was described by entertainer Harry Belafonte as “the single most powerful black woman in the United States”. She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen “golds”—million-sellers. “I sing God’s music because it makes me feel free,” Jackson once said about her choice of gospel, adding, “It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues.”]

9. Martin Luther King Jr. – “MLK – I Have A Dream 1963 (excerpt)”
   from: Inspirational Speeches, Vo. 3 / Orange Leisure / May 16, 2011
   [American civil rights leader/activist and Baptist minister, born Jan. 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. King’s speeches have been issued on numerous releases – his most well-known and influential address being “I Have a Dream”, which was held during “The March on Washington” in 1963. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.]

10. Marian Anderson – “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”
    from: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands / BMG / Orig. 1961 [Reissued 1991]
    [Marian Anderson (Feb 27, 1897 – Apr. 8, 1993) was one of the most celebrated singers of the 20th century. In 1939, the (DAR) refused to let Anderson sing in Constitution Hall. With the aid of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. before a crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions. Anderson became the first black person, to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC on Jan. 7, 1955. Anderson worked as a delegate to the UN Human Rights Committee and “goodwill ambassadress” for the U.S. Dept. of State, giving concerts all over the world. She participated in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, singing at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Anderson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, the National Medal of Arts in 1986, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.]

11. Tramaine Hawkins, Ella Mitchell, Billy Porter & Chorus -“Rocka My Soul”
    from: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre “Revelations” / V2 / 1998
    [Revelations is the signature choreographic work of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. It was first produced by Alvin Ailey Dance Theater in New York City, New York on January 31, 1960. Revelations tells the story of African-American faith and tenacity from slavery to freedom through a suite of dances set to spirituals and blues music. It’s been performed in over 70 countries in the half century since then and has been described as “the most widely seen modern dance work in the world.” The finale song of the three part “Revelations” is “Rocka My Soul In The Bosom Of Abraham” and it has been described by writer Juliana Lewis-Ferguson as a, “spiritually powerful conclusion to the suite and a purely physical release of emotion.”]

12. The Swan Silvertones – “Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep”
    from: Platinum Gospel: The Swan Silvertones / Sonorous Entertainment / 2012 (1959)
    [“Mary Don’t You Weep” (alternately titled “O Mary Don’t You Weep”, “Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep, Don’t You Mourn”, or variations thereof) is a Negro spiritual that originates from before the American Civil War – thus it is what scholars call a “slave song,” “a label that describes their origins among the enslaved,” and it contains “coded messages of hope and resistance.” It is one of the most important of Negro spirituals. The song tells the Biblical story of Mary of Bethany and her distraught pleas to Jesus to raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. Other narratives relate to The Exodus and the Passage of the Red Sea, with the chorus proclaiming Pharaoh’s army got drown-ded!, and to God’s rainbow covenant to Noah after the Great Flood. With liberation thus one of its themes, the song again become popular during the Civil Rights Movement. Additionally, a song that explicitly chronicles the victories of the Civil Rights Movement, “If You Miss Me from the Back of the Bus”, written by Charles Neblett of The Freedom Singers, was sung to this tune and became one of the most well-known songs of that movement. In 2015 it was announced that The Swan Silvertones’s version of the song will be inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry for the song’s “cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation’s audio legacy”. The first recording of the song was by the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1915. The best known recordings were made by the vocal gospel group The Caravans in 1958, with Inez Andrews as the lead singer, and The Swan Silvertones in 1959. “Mary Don’t You Weep” became The Swan Silvertones’ greatest hit, and lead singer Claude Jeter’s interpolation “I’ll be a bridge over deep water if you trust in my name” served as Paul Simon’s inspiration to write his 1970 song “Bridge over Troubled Water”.The spiritual’s lyric God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water the fire next time inspired the title for The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin’s 1963 account of race relations in America.]

13. Krystle Warren – “Red Clay”
    from: Three The Hard Way / Parlour Door Music / August 18, 2017
    [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. Krystle Warren premiered this song and her other new songs from this album at the Middle of the Map Fest in a packed room at Californos in Westport and later at The Polsky Theatre for the Performing Arts Series of Johnsons 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.” On the radio show last year 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.]

10:47 – Freedom…

MLK said, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

14. Nina Simone -“I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free”
    from: Silk and Soul / RCA / 1967
    [Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933. She died on April 21, 2003. Nina Simone was a singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist who worked in a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop. Born in North Carolina, the sixth child of a preacher, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of the few supporters in her hometown of Tryon, North Carolina, she enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in NYC. Simone recorded more than 40 albums. “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” is a gospel/jazz song written by Billy Taylor & “Dick Dallas.”]

15. Solomon Burke – “None Of Us Are Free”
    from: Don’t Give Up On Me / Fat Possum / 2002
    [Back up singers: The Blind Boys of Alabama. Born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1940, Solomon Burke died October 10, 2010. He was an American preacher & singer, who shaped the sound of rhythm & blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s and a “key transitional figure in the development of soul music from rhythm & blues. During the 55 years that he performed professionally, Burke released 38 studio albums on at least 17 record labels and had 35 singles that charted in the US, including 26 singles that made the Billboard R&B charts. In 2001, Burke was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a performer. His album Don’t Give Up on Me won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 45th Grammy Awards in 2003. By 2005 Burke was credited with selling 17 million albums.]

16. Nina Simone – “I Shall Be Released”
    from: To Love Somebody / RCA / 1967
    [1 of 3 Bob Dylan songs Nina Simone performed for this album. Written by Dylan in 1967. The Band recorded the first officially-released version of the song for their 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink, with Richard Manuel singing lead vocals, and Rick Danko & Levon Helm harmonizing in the chorus. The song was also performed near the end of the Band’s 1976 farewell concert, The Last Waltz, in which all the night’s performers (except of Muddy Waters) plus Ringo Starr and Ronnie Wood appeared on the same stage.]

11:00 – Station I.D.

11:00 – The Staple Singers & Bobby Watson and “Unpaid Bills”

MLK said, “In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as ‘right-to-work.’ It provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘works.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining… We demand this fraud be stopped.”

17. Pops Staples – “You Gotta Serve Somebody”
    from: e-town live volume 3 / e-town / December 18, 2002
    [Recorded Sept. 16, 1994, Live in Boulder]
    [Originally written by Bob Dylan. Roebuck “Pops” Staples was born on a cotton plantation near Winona, Mississippi, on Dec. 28, 1914, the youngest of 14 children. When growing up he heard, and began to play with, local blues guitarists such as Charlie Patton, who lived on the nearby Dockery Plantation, Robert Johnson, and Son House. He dropped out of school after the eighth grade, and sang with a gospel group before marrying and moving to Chicago in 1935. A “pivotal figure in gospel in the 1960s and 70s,” and an accomplished songwriter, guitarist and singer. Patriarch of The Staple Singers, which included his son Pervis and daughters Mavis, Yvonne, and Cleotha.]

18. Mavis Staples – “Down in Mississippi”
    from: Live – Hope At The Hideout / Anti / 2008 [Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Mavis Staples, of The Staple Singers, is a celebrated equal rights activist. She’s performed at inaugural parties for Presidents Kennedy, Carter and Clinton, Recorded in June, 2008, in the run up to the Presidential election of Barrack Obama. Recorded live in the intimate bar The Hideout, in her hometown of Chicago. Mavis Staples, marched, sang & protested alongside Dr. Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.]

19. The Staple Singers – “When Will We Be Paid”
    from: Single / Stax (Fantasy / Ace) / 1967
    [The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group from Chicago who signed their first professional contract in 1952. Roebuck “Pops” Staples (1914–2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (1934–2013), Pervis (b. 1935), Yvonne (1936-2018), and Mavis (b. 1939). They are best-remembered for their 1970s hits “Respect Yourself”, “I’ll Take You There”, “If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me)”, and “Let’s Do It Again”. In 1999 the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2005 the group was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The family began appearing in Chicago-area churches in 1948, and signed their first professional contract in 1952. They signed with United Records, then Vee-Jay, Riverside, Epic and, eventually, the black-owned indie Stax Records label where they hit their most fertile commercial peak. In 1967, on Columbia subsidiary Epic, the Staple Singers first began moving into mainstream pop markets with “Why (Am I Treated So Bad)” and “For What It’s Worth” (written by Stephen Stills). In 1968, the Staple Singers signed to Stax and released two albums recorded with Steve Cropper of Booker T & the MG’s fame – Soul Folk in Action and We’ll Get Over. By 1970, Al Bell had become producer, and the family began recording at the famed Muscle Shoals studio, moving in a more funk and soul direction. The first Stax hit was “Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)”. In 1972, the group had a No. 1 hit in the United States with “I’ll Take You There.” Their 1972 recording on Stax of “Respect Yourself,” written by Luther Ingram and Mack Rice, was number 2 on the R&B charts and a Top 40 pop hit as well. The song’s theme of self-empowerment had universal appeal, released in the period immediately following the intense American civil rights movement of the 1960s. During this Stax period they appeared at a 1972 summer concert at the LA Memorial Coliseum attended by 100,000 people and documented in the 1973 film and soundtrack album Wattstax. The Staple Singers then signed to Curtom, Curtis Mayfield’s imprint, and released the soundtrack to a comedy film co-starring Bill Cosby called “Let’s Do It Again”. The soundtrack was produced by Mayfield; and the title song was a huge hit in 1975. After this, however, they were not able to regain their commercial momentum, releasing occasional minor hits, and moving from label to label including Warner Brothers and 20th Century before returning to Epic in the mid 80s. Lead singer Mavis Staples began a fruitful solo career in earnest that continues to this day and involves live performing with her sister Yvonne Staples. The other daughters in the group who did not pursue solo careers were Pervis Staples, and Cleotha Staples. In 1994, the family made this final recording of a duet with Mary Stuart (reprising their Last Watz style backing on a cover of “The Weight” by The Band), somewhat re-establishing an audience. Pops Staples died in December 2000. Cleotha Staples died in Chicago on February 21, 2013. Yvonne Staples died in April 2018.]

20. Bobby Watson & The I Have a Dream Project–”Check Cashing Day” [feat. Glenn North]
    from: Check Cashing Day / Lafiya Music / Digital – Aug. 28, 2013 / Physical – Nov. 12, 2013
    [From wikipedia.org: “Bobby Watson was born in Lawrence, Kansas, August 23, 1953. he is an American post-bop jazz alto saxophonist, composer, producer, and educator. Watson now has 27 recordings as a leader. He appears on nearly 100 other recordings as either co-leader or in a supporting role. Watson has recorded more than 100 original compositions. Watson grew up in Bonner Springs and Kansas City, Kansas.]

21. Janelle Monáe – “Turntables”
    from: Turntables (from the Amazon Original Movie “All In: The Fight for Democracy”) – Single / Badboy Records / September 4, 2020
    [All In: The Fight for Democracy is a 2020 American documentary film directed and produced by Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés. The film revolves around voter suppression. Stacey Abrams worked with Garbus and Cortés on the film. It was released in a limited theatrical release on September 9, 2020, followed by digital streaming on Prime Video on September 18, 2020, by Amazon Studios. Originally, Abrams, a Georgia state representative, did not intend to be part of the film; eventually she agreed to include her gubernatorial race as part of the story. // Janelle Monáe Robinson was born on December 1, 1985 in Kansas City, Kansas and was raised in a working-class community of Kansas City, Quindaro. Her mother, Janet, worked as a janitor and a hotel maid. Her father, Michael Robinson Summers, was a truck driver. Monáe’s parents separated when Monáe was a toddler and her mother later married a postal worker. Monáe has a younger sister, Kimmy, from their mother’s remarriage. // Monáe was raised Baptist and learned to sing at a local church. Her family members were musicians and performers at the local AME church, the Baptist church, and the Church of God in Christ. Monáe dreamed of being a singer and a performer from a very young age, and has cited the fictional character of Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz as a musical influence. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which Monáe bought two copies of with her first check, was another source of inspiration. She performed songs from the album on Juneteenth talent shows, winning three years in a row. // As a teenager, Monáe was enrolled in the Coterie Theater’s Young Playwrights’ Round Table, which began writing musicals. One musical, completed when she was around the age of 12, was inspired by the 1979 Stevie Wonder album Journey Through “The Secret Life of Plants”. // Monáe attended F. L. Schlagle High School, and after high school, moved to New York City to study musical theater at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, where she was the only black woman in her class. Monáe enjoyed the experience, but feared that she might lose her edge and “sound, or look or feel like anybody else”. In a 2010 interview Monáe explained, “I felt like that was a home but I wanted to write my own musicals. I didn’t want to have to live vicariously through a character that had been played thousands of times – in a line with everybody wanting to play the same person.” // After a year and a half, Monáe dropped out of the academy and relocated to Atlanta, enrolling in Perimeter College at Georgia State University. She began writing her own music and performing around the campus. In 2003, Monáe self-released a demo album titled The Audition, which she sold out of the trunk of a Mitsubishi Galant. During this period, Monáe became acquainted with songwriters and producers Chuck Lightning and Nate Wonder. The three would eventually form the Wondaland Arts Collective. She worked at an Office Depot but was fired for answering a fan’s e-mail using a company computer, an incident that inspired the song “Lettin’ Go”, which in turn attracted the attention of Big Boi. // Janelle Monáe Robinson (/moʊˈneɪ/; born December 1, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and record producer. Monáe is signed to Atlantic Records, as well as to her own imprint, the Wondaland Arts Society. Monáe has received eight Grammy Award nominations. Monáe won an MTV Video Music Award and the ASCAP Vanguard Award in 2010. Monáe was also honored with the Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award in 2015 and the Trailblazer of the Year Award in 2018. In 2012, Monáe became a CoverGirl spokesperson. Boston City Council named October 16, 2013 “Janelle Monáe Day” in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, in recognition of her artistry and social leadership. // Monáe’s musical career began in 2003 upon releasing a demo album titled The Audition. In 2007, Monáe publicly debuted with a conceptual EP titled Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase). It peaked at number two on the US Top Heatseekers chart, and in 2010, through Bad Boy Records, Monáe released a first full-length studio album, The ArchAndroid, a concept album and sequel to her first EP. In 2011, Monáe was featured as a guest vocalist on fun.’s single “We Are Young”, which achieved major commercial success, topping the charts of more than ten countries and garnering Monáe a wider audience. Her second studio album, The Electric Lady, was released in 2013 and debuted at number five on the Billboard 200, serving as the fourth and fifth installments of the seven-part Metropolis concept series. // In 2016, Monáe made her theatrical film debut in two high-profile productions; Monáe starred in Hidden Figures as NASA mathematician and aerospace engineer Mary Jackson, and also starred in Moonlight. Hidden Figures was a box office success, while Moonlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 89th annual ceremony. Monáe’s third studio album, Dirty Computer, also described as a concept album, was released in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim; it was chosen as the best album of the year by several publications and earned Monáe two nominations at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 and was further promoted by Monáe’s Dirty Computer Tour, which lasted from June to August 2018.]

22. Calvin Arsenia – “Scars & Stripes”
    from: Summer in Hindsight / Calvin Arsenia & Mike Dillon / October 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,” Peregrine Honig told 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 was our guest on WMM on August 12 and October 14, 2020. Born in Orlando, Florida, Calvin’s creative journey really began when he moved to the KC suburb of Olathe, teaching himself the guitar, and eventually the harp. He learned his signature instrument at the age of 20 after he couldn’t find a harpist as determined as him to meld folk, rock, classical, rap and R&B into the irresistible fusion which has become his calling card in KC and beyond. 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 whose impassioned and conceptual stage shows (regularly sold-out in Kansas City, currently catching fire on the West Coast with a diverse following across Europe), are collaborative, costumed-culture-bridging spectacles which In KC Magazine has hailed as ‘equal parts opera, symphony, musical theatre, rock show, all built around its creator: a charismatic 6-foot-6-inch harpist with a natural stage command and knack for gilding gold and painting lilies.’ Calvin’s 2018 national debut, Cantaloupe, September 15, 2018 on Center Cut Records, has been acclaimed for melding diverse textures into an alluring signature sound for the adventurous artist. On June 28, 2019 Calvin released Honeydew, an EP including a remix of three songs from Cantaloupe. On Dec. 13, 2019 Calvin released his full length Christmas album “all is calm.” Congratulations to Calvin & his fantastic team of co-conspirators & creators: Khitam Jabr, John P. Beatty, Ignacio Galarza III, Ashlee Fairchild Jones, production assistants, & crew. The Toxic music video earned its sixth set of laurels as an official selection of the L.A. Music Video Awards, where they were nominated for Best Music Video, Best Cover Song & Best Male Vocalist. More info at: http://www.calvinarsenia.com]

11:25 – Underwriting

23. The Black Creatures – “wretched (it goes)”
    from: “wretched (it goes)” – Single / Center Cut Records / July 17, 2020 [remastered]
    [“wretched (it goes)” was originally released on The Black Creatures 2019 album Wild Echoes. Recently released as a single in collaboration with Center Cut Records who remixed a few of the songs, and added some new vocals, and remastered the album. Although it is basically the same record, the sound quality was improved. Center Cut Records released the full remastered album on August 28, 2020. The Black Creatures are Jade Green & Xavier Martin. The band joined us on the radio on the August 26 edition of WMM. “Wild Echoes” was #2 in WMM’s 119 Favorite Releases of 2019 (Albums & EPs). Since the release of ”Wild Echoes” the band has released seven entirely new songs, nearly one per month, all posted to their bandcamp page. The Black Creatures fuse dark-pop hip-hop, soul, jazz, and electronic music with elements from science fiction to tell inter-dimensional stories of love, community, life, culture, history. Xavier & Jade have made an impression in the KC music community with their live shows in clubs, galleries, record stores, and area music festivals. The Black Creatures released their debut single “Mouth 2 Mouth” June 5, 2016. They released the album, See No Evil, December 6, 2017. The duo released the singles, “Elements” February 14, 2018; “Silver Tears” June 19. 2018; “Dare” a Gorillaz cover August 8, 2019. They released the album “Wild Echoes” September 30, 2019. The Black Creatures released the singles “Turn” October 30, 2019; “Quartz (Twilight)” November 13, 2019; “SHINE” December 11, 2019; Ghost Bustin’ Dead Prezidentz” January 8, 2020; “To Whom It May Concern” January 22, 2020; “Arcade Love” February 5, 2020; and “Run Up” Feb. 19, 2020. The Black Creatures – released their single, “Negative Zero” on April 2, 2021. All proceeds from this track go to the Tamir Rice Foundation. Info at: http://www.tamirericefoundation.org. The Black Creatures are Jade Green & Xavier Martin. This song was originally on the December 6, 2017 release, SEE NO EVIL The song was recently re-recorded. Band member Xavier Martin told us that, “Everything was done from the ground up. Remixing, rerecording, mastering, etc.” The Black Creatures wanted to released this as a single and video as a “part-two” to their earlier single and video release for “wretched (it goes)”, which was originally released on The Black Creatures 2019 album Wild Echoes. The video for “Negative Zero” picks up where the video for “Wretched (It Goes)” left off, “so there is a conceptual thread between the two,” says Patrick Sprehe of Center Cut Records. All music produced, arranged, recorded, and performed by The Black Creatures. Engineering and Mastering by J. Ashley Miller aka Jametatone. The Black Creatures released their latest single “True Friends” on September 17, 2021. The Black Creatures were last on WMM on May 26, 2021 and September 15, 2021.]

24. H.E.R. – “I Can’t Breathe”
    from: “I Can’t Breathe” – Single / RCA-Sony Records / June 19, 2020
    [Winner of the 2021 Grammy Award for Song of the Year. Gabriella Wilson was born June 27, 1997. She is known professionally as H.E.R. (pronounced “her”, a backronym for Having Everything Revealed). She is an American singer and songwriter. Before gaining notability as H.E.R., Wilson rose to fame by participating in Radio Disney’s Next Big Thing in 2009. She later signed to RCA Records at the age of 14 and released the single “Something to Prove” under her real name in 2014. Wilson re-emerged in 2016 with the H.E.R. persona, releasing her debut EP H.E.R. Volume 1. She then released subsequent EPs H.E.R. Volume 2 (2017), The B Sides (2017), I Used to Know Her: The Prelude (2018) and I Used to Know Her: Part 2 (2018). Her first compilation album H.E.R. was released in October 2017, consisting of tracks from the singer’s first two EPs plus six additional songs. H.E.R. was nominated for five Grammy Awards at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019, winning Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Album. // In 2020, she was nominated for five awards at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for I Used to Know Her and Song of the Year for “Hard Place”. On September 20, 2020, she sang Sinéad O’Connor’s version of Prince’s song “Nothing Compares 2 U”, for the In Memoriam segment of the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards. // Wilson was born in Vallejo, California to a Filipina mother and an African-American father. Raised in California’s San Francisco Bay Area, she was introduced to the public as an artist as a young child, covering Alicia Keys on piano on the Today Show, before competing on Radio Disney’s The Next BIG Thing when she was 12 years old. // Addressing the secrecy over her identity, she has said: “The mystery is a metaphor for who I am, or who I was at the time of creating the project… I feel like oftentimes we don’t like to be open as people about our emotions or things that we are going through. At the time [of recording], I was very closed off except for when I was writing or when I was in the studio.” // She explained further: “I am a voice for women who feel like they’re alone in these situations. This project came from emotion, and that’s what I want it to be about – not what I look like or who I’m with, but the raw emotion and support for women.” To NPR she said, “I feel like this is the era of the anti-star. I really just wanted it to be about the music, and get away from, ‘Who is she with?’ and ‘What is she wearing?'” // After being signed to RCA under Sony at the age of 14, Wilson released a single in 2014 titled “Something to Prove” under her real name. // Re-emerging in late 2016 with a new persona, Wilson released her debut EP, H.E.R. Vol. 1 on September 9, 2016, produced by songwriter David “Swagg R’Celious” Harris. She received support from Usher, Tyrese, Pusha T, and Wyclef Jean; labelmates Alicia Keys and Bryson Tiller helped get the word out through Twitter co-signs, shoutouts, and re-posts. In April 2017, Rihanna posted an Instagram clip with H.E.R.’s track “Focus” playing in the background. The clip has been viewed over 5 million times. Additional public support came from Issa Rae of HBO’s Insecure, Taraji P. Henson of Empire, Kylie Jenner, and Kendall Jenner. // NPR listed H.E.R. Vol. 1 as the first selection in its “5 Essential R&B Albums You Slept On”. Calling the music “Slow-burning R&B that zooms in on emotional highs and lows,” Rolling Stone included H.E.R. in its March 2017 “10 Artists You Need To Know” roundup. Forbes named her one of “5 Alternative R&B Artists to Look Out for in 2017”, reporting: “In the same vein as The Weeknd’s enigmatic introduction to the world, H.E.R.’s image remains a mystery. The irony, though, is that her moniker is an acronym for Having Everything Revealed.” // Wilson’s follow-up EP, H.E.R. Vol. 2 (2017) also produced by Harris, was released on June 16, 2017 and includes the single “Say It Again”. Also in 2017, she was on tour with Bryson Tiller for the Set It Off tour, and concluded her first headlining tour, the Lights On Tour, in support of her most recent effort H.E.R. Vol. 2. She released H.E.R. Vol. 2, The B Sides (2017), also produced by Swagg R’Celious on October 20, 2017 along with the single titled 2, released on October 13, 2017. The compilation album H.E.R. was released on October 20, 2017, comprising the songs from each of the three EP’s in this series. The album won Best R&B Album and received four other nominations at the 61st Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best New Artist for H.E.R. // Wilson announced on September 12, 2018, she will be embarking on the “I Used to Know H.E.R. Tour” in support of her EP series I Used to Know Her: The Prelude and I Used to Know Her: Part 2. Her second compilation album I Used to Know Her was released on August 30, 2019. ]

25. The Freedom Affair – “Rise Up”
    from: Freedom is Love / Sunflower Soul Records / September 25, 2020
    [Debut album from KC’s newest soul juggernaut. The album explores themes of love, heartache, empowerment, and togetherness through a varying landscape of hard-hitting funk, luscious soul, and everything in between. The Freedom Affair is a unique collective featuring 3 powerhouse female vocalists in front of a dynamic 6-piece band. On “Freedom Is Love”, each of the ladies get their time to shine individually, but the magic is on full display when all 3 come together in unison and harmony, symbolically embodying the messages that they sing about. The album was recorded and produced by Chris Hazelton, utilizing the best of vintage and new recording technologies to create an authentic experience, befitting of a soul record that would have been relevant 50 years ago as much as it will be 50 years from now. The Freedom Affair is: Misha Roberts on vocals; Paula Saunders on vocals; Seyko Groves on vocals; Cole Bales on guitar, sitar (Track 3); Branden Moser on guitar; Chris Hazelton on bass guitar, organ (Tracks 1, 2, 9, & 10), Tambourine (Track 1), Glockenspiel (Track 3), & Chimes (Track 4); Dave Brick on drums; Pete Carroll on trumpet; Brett Jackson on tenor sax, baritone sax (Tracks 1 & 5), & tambourine (Tracks 5, 6, & 8). Additional Musicians: Pat Conway on Congas (Tracks 1, 3, & 6), Alyssa Bell on viola (Tracks 3, 4, & 7), Elizabeth Codd on violin (Tracks 3 & 4), Matt Bennett on violin (Tracks 3 & 7), John Wickersham on timpani (Track 4), Pamela Baskin-Watson on piano (Track 10), Nick Howell on tambourine (Track 10), The Freedom Family Choir (Track 10): Misha Roberts, Erica Hazelton, Seyko Groves, Paula Saunders, Jordyn Saunders, Cole Bales, and Chris Hazelton. All Horn & String Arrangements by Chris Hazelton except: “Heartaches Don’t Come Easy” and “Give A Little Love” by Pete Carroll & Brett Jackson “Don’t Shoot” by Chris Hazelton & Allyssa Bell. Produced, Recorded, & Mixed by Chris Hazelton. Assistant Produced by Dave Brick. Rhythm Section on Track 10 recorded by Chad Meise. Mastered by JJ Golden. Cover Artwork by Matthew “Mo” Manley. Front cover photograph of civil rights protesters in Kansas City, MO (April 9th, 1968). The Freedom Affair and their track “Rise Up” were selected to be part of Colemine Records 3xLP box set, “Soul Slabs Vol. 2” a Record Store Day Exclusive, released April 13, 2019. Colemine writes: “The Freedom Affair is a freight train of KC soul! Dirty, funky drums, gritty horns, and the combined vocals of Misha Roberts, Seyko Groves, and Paula Saunders to put this band over the top. Politically charged soul music for the dancefloor!”]

11:43:43 – Gospel & Folk Music Carried the Message…

26. Pete Seeger – “We Shall Overcome”
    from: The Essential Pete Seeger / Columbia – Legacy / 2004
    [Derived from a gospel song by Reverend Charles Tindley called “We Will Overcome” written in 1901. Adapted and made famous by Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and others the song became central to the civil rights movement of the 1950 and 1960s and eventually used all around the world. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made use of “we shall overcome” in the final Sunday March 31, 1968 speech before his assassination.]

27. Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion – “Dr. King”
    from: exploration / New West / March 8, 2005
    [written by Pete Seeger][Sarah Lee Guthrie was born February 17, 1979 and Johnny Irion was born February 3, 1969. They are a musical duo. Guthrie and Irion were married on October 16, 1999 and began performing together as an acoustic duo in the fall of 2000. Their music combined Irion’s love of rock and blues with Guthrie’s roots of folk and country. Guthrie is the youngest daughter of folksinger Arlo Guthrie and the granddaughter of Woody Guthrie. As a third generation singer/songwriter Guthrie released her first self-titled album on the family owned and operated Rising Son Records in 2002. As a child she was involved in theater and dance. Her interest in music was sparked when she worked as her father’s road manager on the 1997 Further Festival tour and saw other members of the tour group having fun at late-night hootenannies. She picked up an acoustic guitar and started playing as a way to join in on the fun. “I always wrote poems, so it wasn’t that far off for me to turn that into songs.” “My dad was absolutely thrilled, of course, and would teach me stuff every day when we were on the road together. That was a really cool way to get to know my dad, because I’d never known him that way. And that’s another thing that made it easy: my dad was so supportive.” Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion performing live for Valentine’s Day 2008 at Tales From The Tavern at The Maverick Saloon in Santa Ynez, CA. Irion originates from a family of artists. His uncle is author Thomas Steinbeck, his great uncle is author John Steinbeck, and his grandmother, Rubilee Knight, is a classical violinist. His late grandfather, Fred Knight, sang tenor in numerous venues. Irion and Guthrie met through a mutual friend (Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes) while the two were working together in Los Angeles. In 1999 Guthrie and Irion joined guitarist Tao Rodríguez-Seeger, grandson of Pete Seeger, and performed as a trio under the name RIG.]

28. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – “This Land is Your Land”
    from: Naturally / Daptone / January 25, 2005
    [written by Woody Guthrie, Sarah Lee’s Grandfather.]
    [In November 2016, Sharon Jones suffered a stroke while watching the 2016 United States presidential election results and another the following day. Jones remained alert and lucid during the initial period of her hospital stay, jokingly claiming that the news of Donald Trump’s victory was responsible for her stroke. She died on November 18, 2016, in Cooperstown, New York, aged 60. Sharon Lafaye Jones was born May 4, 1956 and died this year on November 18, 2016. She was an American soul and funk singer. Although she collaborated with Lou Reed, David Byrne and others, she is best known as lead singer of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, a soul and funk band based in Brooklyn, New York. Jones experienced breakthrough success relatively late in life, releasing her first record when she was 40 years old. In 2014, Jones was nominated for her first Grammy, in the category Best R&B Album, for Give the People What They Want. Jones was born in Augusta, Georgia, the daughter of Ella Mae Price Jones and Charlie Jones, living in adjacent North Augusta, South Carolina. Jones was the youngest of six children; her siblings are Dora, Charles, Ike, Willa and Henry. Jones’s mother raised her deceased sister’s four children as well as her own. She moved the family to New York City when Sharon was a young child. As children, she and her brothers would often imitate the singing and dancing of James Brown. Her mother happened to know Brown, who was also from Augusta.Jones grew up in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. In 1975, she graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn. She attended Brooklyn College. A regular gospel singer in church, Jones often entered talent shows backed by local funk bands in the early 1970s. Session work then continued with backing vocals, often credited to Lafaye Jones, but in the absence of any recording contract as a solo singer, she spent many years working as a corrections officer at Rikers Island and as an armored car guard for Wells Fargo, until receiving a mid-life career break in 1996 after she appeared on a session backing the soul and deep funk legend Lee Fields. Sharon Jones was part of the very beginning of Daptone Records Daptone Records’ first release was a full-length album by Sharon Jones. A new band, the Dap-Kings, was formed from the former members of the Soul Providers and the Mighty Imperials. Some of the musicians went on to record for Lehman’s Soul Fire label, while some formed the Budos Band, an Afro-beat band. From the original Soul Providers, Roth (also known as Bosco Mann) on bass, guitarist and emcee Binky Griptite, percussionist Fernando Velez, trumpet player Anda Szilagyi and organist Earl Maxton were joined by original Mighty Imperials saxophonist Leon Michels and drummer Homer Steinweiss, plus Neal Sugarman from Sugarman 3, to form The Dap-Kings. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, the released the album Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings in May of 2002, , for which they received immediate attention and acclaim from enthusiasts, DJs and collectors. Next they released, Naturally (2005), 100 Days, 100 Nights (2007) and I Learned the Hard Way (2010). They are seen by many as the spearhead of a revival of soul and funk.]

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

Next week on January 19 we load up the playlist with 16 new releases from MidCoastal Artists including: Mensa Deathsquad, The Creepy Jingles, Hembree, Katy Guillen & The Drive, Betse and Clarke, Danny Cox, Jo Blaq, Scarecrow Vapors, Ezmerelda, Heath Church, Heidi Gluck, You Monster You and David Bowie, we’ll also play Sam Wells, Kianna White, and Trampled Under Foot.

We also welcome indie veterans Kianna Alarid White (of the bands Tilly & the Wall, Yes You Are) and Cale Parks (of the bands Yeasayer, Aloha) about their new duo Ezmerelda and their debut single, “I’m So Nervous.”

Plus, our friend Michelle Bacon (of the bands: Other Americans & Frogpond) joins us to talk about her creation, The Band That Fell To Earth, and their 6th Annual Tribute to David Bowie Friday, January 21 and Saturday, January 22, at recordBar.

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 #924

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, January 12, 2022

“Remembering MLK”

WMM celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born January 15, 1929. Dr. King led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. By the time of his death, Dr. King had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War, both from a religious perspective. Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 1981.

Mark plays music of the movement from: Bobby Watson & The I Have A Dream Project (featuring Glenn North), Krystle Warren, The Freedom Affair, Calvin Arsenia, The Black Creatures, H.E.R., Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Curtis Mayfield, Maceo & The Macks, Mahalia Jackson, Marian Anderson, The Staple Singers, Pops Staples, Mavis Staples, The Swan Silvertones, Sweet Honey in The Rock, Aaron Neville, Tramaine Hawkins, Ella Mitchell, Billy Porter, Solomon Burke, Nina Simone, Pete Seeger, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Soweto Gospel Choir, The Intl. Noise Conspiracy, and Labelle.

On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or
STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org

Show #924

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, January 5, 2022

WMM Celebrates Iris Dement and David Bowie

Thanks for tuning into WMM, here on 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio, I’m Mark Manning. Today on WMM we give you a double header. In our 2nd hour we celebrate Rock Music Icon David Bowie, 3 days before what would have been his 75th birthday on Saturday, with a more electronic tribute to a musical performer who was such an important influence to so many of us queer kids, trapped in small towns.

In our 1st hour, we celebrate the birthday of Iris DeMent, born on this day, January 5, 1961, in rural Paragould, Arkansas. She was the youngest of 14 children. At the age of 3, her devoutly religious family moved to California, where she grew up singing gospel music. Within her own family there were many incredible vocalists, including her mother During her teenage years, Iris was exposed to country, folk, & R&B.

In the mid 1980s Iris moved to the midwest, and after a series of jobs as a waitress and typist, she wrote her first song at the age of 25. She moved to Kansas City and played Harling’s Upstairs and open-mic nights along side Scott Hrabko and Howard Iceberg. Iris met producer Jim Rooney from Nashville, in 1988, who helped her land a record contract. Iris Dement made her recording debut in 1992, with her independently produced album, INFAMOUS ANGEL The record won critical acclaim and John Prine mentioned Iris in his list of favorite recordings of the year, published in Rolling Stone. Despite a complete lack of support from country radio, the word of mouth praise for Iris DeMent’s INFAMOUS ANGEL earned her a deal with Warner Bros Records, which reissued INFAMOUS ANGEL in 1993. The album also included the song, “Let The Mystery Be” a composition that has also been covered by David Bryne, 10,000 Maniacs, Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick, Greg Brown, and it was the theme song for the second season of HBO’s The Leftovers.

Today we feature music from some of Iris DeMent’s six full length albums, her collaborative work with Greg Brown, John Prine, and from her inspirations: Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Merle Haggard. Please stay with us.

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

2. Greg Brown – “Let The Mystery Be”
   from: Freak Flag / Yep Roc / May 10, 2011
   [Iris DeMent’s song “Let The Mystery Be” from her debut album, Infamous Angel, from 1992. This song was covered by David Bryne, 10,000 Maniacs, Bun E. Carlos, and many others, it also became the theme song for the 2nd season of The Leftovers.While Greg Brown was recording this album, lighting hit the studio where he was recording songs for his 24th album: Freak Flag, the title track was all that remained of the lost original album. Greg wrote ten new songs, recording them at Memphis, Tennessee’s legendary Ardent Studios. Produced by Bo Ramsey, the album also includes a cover of Pieta Brown’s song, ”Remember the Sun.”]

10:07 – Influences of Iris DeMent

Iris DeMent represents that place in the road, where Country and Folk music merged with honest stories, of working class people, not afraid to tell the truth about the times they are living through. Iris DeMent grew up singing gospel music, but in her teenage years, she discovered other music through the radio: country, folk, and R&B, and the music of Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell.

3. Loretta Lynn – “You Ain’t Woman Enough To Take My Man”
   from: Legends of Country Music / Columbia – Legacy / 1997
   [Live performance for Austin City Limits taped in 1983. Loretta Webb was the second of 8 children; grew up in Butcher Holler, a section of Van Lear, a mining community in Kentucky. Growing up with such humble roots had a huge effect on Lynn’s life and heavily influenced her music as an adult. Her autobiography describes how, during her childhood, the community had no motor vehicles, paved roads, or flush toilets. She married Oliver Vanetta Lynn, known as “Doo,” on Jan. 10, 1948, at age 13. In an effort to break free of the coal mining industry, at 14, Lynn moved to the logging community Custer, Washington, with her husband. The Lynns had 4 children – Betty Sue, Jack Benny, Cissy and Ernest Ray – by the time Loretta was 18, and in her early 20s she then had twin girls, Peggy & Patsy. Loretta Lynn possibly had more banned songs than any other country music artist, prior to The Dixie Chicks, including “Rated X,” about the double standards divorced women face, “Wings Upon Your Horns,” about the loss of teenage virginity, and “The Pill,” lyrics by T. D. Bayless, about a wife and mother becoming liberated via the birth control pill. Her song “Dear Uncle Sam,” released in 1966 during the Vietnam War, describes a wife’s anguish at the loss of a husband to war.]

4. Merle Haggard – “Workin’ Man Blues”
   from: Oh Boy Classic Presents Merle Haggard / Oh Boy Records / 2000
   [Originally released in 1969, a tribute to a core group of his fans: The American blue-collared working man. Backed by an electric guitar that typified Haggard’s signature Bakersfield Sound, he fills the role of one of those workers expressing pride in values of hard work & sacrifice, despite the resulting fatigue & the stress of raising a large family. On Haggard’s 1969 “A Portrait of Merle Haggard,” and John Prine’s Oh Boy Records.]

5. Johnny Cash – “Ring of Fire”
   from: 16 Biggest Hits / Columbia Legacy / 2007
   [Co-written by June Carter (wife of Johnny Cash) and Merle Kilgore. The song was recorded on March 25, 1963 and became the biggest hit of his career, staying at #1 on the charts for 7 weeks. “Ring of Fire” refers to falling in love – which is what June Carter was experiencing with Johnny Cash at the time. Some sources claim that June had seen the phrase, “Love is like a burning ring of fire,” underlined in one of her uncle A. P. Carter’s Elizabethan books of poetry. She worked with Kilgore on writing a song inspired by this phrase as she had seen her uncle do in the past. In the 2005 film, Walk the Line June is depicted as writing the song while agonizing over her feelings for Cash despite his drug addiction and alcoholism as she was driving home one evening. She had written: “There is no way to be in that kind of hell, no way to extinguish a flame that burns, burns, burns”. Cash claims he had a dream where he heard the song accompanied by “Mexican horns”. Four years after the song was released, Carter and Cash were married which Cash states helped to stop his alcohol and drug addictions. Cash’s daughter, Rosanne has stated, “The song is about the transformative power of love and that’s what it has always meant to me and that’s what it will always mean to the Cash children.]

6. Bob Dylan – “I Shall Be Released”
   from: The Essential Bob Dylan / Columbia – Sony / 2000
   [Originally recorded October, 1971 for Greatest Hits Vol. 2. Originally written for The Basement Tapes. Originally recorded by The Band. Later recorded by Nina Simone in 1973.]

7. Joni Mitchell – “For The Roses”
   from: For The Roses / Asylum / 1972
   [Released between her 2 biggest commercial and critical successes, “Blue” and “Court & Spark.” In 2007 it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. “For the Roses” was Mitchell’s farewell to the business; she took an extended break for a year after. The album was critically acclaimed with The New York Times saying, “Each of Mitchell’s songs on For the Roses is a gem glistening with her elegant way with language, her pointed splashes of irony & her perfect shaping of images. Never does Mitchell voice a thought or feeling commonly. She’s a songwriter and singer of genius who can’t help but make us feel we are not alone.” A nude photograph of Joni Mitchell was included on the inside cover of the original LP and is included in the CD booklet. The photograph shows the singer from the rear & was taken from a considerable distance; she is shown standing on a rock and staring out at the ocean. This created some controversy at the time.]

10:22

Iris DeMent‘s first three releases, all on Warner Brothers records, were critically acclaimed. She received two Grammy nominations during this time, in the “Folk Music” category. Meanwhile country radio completely overlooked her original songs, and amazing voice, that has been compared to Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette.

For her 1992 debut record INFAMOUS ANGEL, John Prine wrote the liner notes.

“One night after receiving a copy of “Let the Mystery Be,” I was listening to the tape while frying a dozen or so pork chops in a skillet. Well Iris DeMent starts singing about “Mama’s Opry,” and being the sentimental fellow I am, I got a lump in my throat and a tear fell from my eyes into the hot oil. Well the oil popped out and burnt my arm as if the pork chops were trying to say, “Shut up, or I’ll really give you something to cry about.” Of course, pork chops can’t talk. But Iris DeMent’s songs can. They talk about isolated memories of life, love and living. And Iris has a voice I like a whole lot, like one you’ve heard before— but not really. So listen to this music, this Iris DeMent. It’s good for you. And if pork chops could talk, they’d probably learn how to sing one of her songs. Then we’d all have something to cry about.” – John Prine, Songwriter, musician & president Oh Boy! Records

11:24

8. Iris DeMent – “Infamous Angel”
   from: Infamous Angel / Warner Brothers / 1992 / 1993
   [Debut studio album of singer-songwriter Iris DeMent. It was released by Warner Bros. Records in 1992. In 1995, her song “Our Town” was played in the closing moments of the last episode for the CBS TV series Northern Exposure.. “Let the Mystery Be” became the theme song for the 2nd season of The Leftovers.]

9. John Prine w/ Iris Dement – “We’re Not The Jet Set”
   from: In Spite Of Ourselves / Oh Boy / 1999
   [In 1968 country superstar George Jones witnessed a fight between Tammy Wynette and her husband Don Chapel. At Jones’s urging, Wynette and her daughters drove away with him. Wynette and Jones married Feb. 16, 1969, and Wynette’s 4th daughter, Georgette, was born in 1970. Jones and Wynette, were nicknamed the “President and First Lady” of country music, and they recorded a string of hit duets that seemed drawn directly from their volatile relationship, which resulted in their divorcing in 1975. Their classic recordings included “Two Story House,” “Golden Ring,” and the humorous “(We’re Not) The Jet Set.” ]

10:31 – Underwriting

10:33 – Greg Brown

Iris followed up her debut record with the autobiographical, MY LIFE released in 1994 and quickly followed with her third Warner Brother’s release, THE WAY I SHOULD released in 1996, which contains some of Iris DeMent’s most political songs.

In the 2002 Iris DeMent did a benefit concert for The Friends of Community Radio at Unity Temple on The Plaza. I remember when Iris asked us if it was okay that she have a musician friend open the concert for her, we agreed because Iris was donated her talent to the cause of community radio. And then she told us that this musician friend was Greg Brown, who at this point was know all over the country, but had never before played KC.

Later that year, on November 21, 2002 Greg married Iris DeMent in a private ceremony in the office of Rev. Sam Mann of St. Mark Church in East KC.

Grammy Nominated Greg Brown is one of the most respected singer songwriters working in music today. He started singing professionally at the age of 18 organizing early folk concerts in New York City, Portland, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In the 1980s, he worked and toured extensively as musical director for Garrison Keillor‘s A Prairie Home Companion radio program. He also founded his own record label, named Red House Records after a home in which he lived in Iowa.

Greg Brown has released over 30 recordings and has allowed much of his music to be used to raise funds and awareness for environmental and social causes. His songs have been performed by Willie Nelson, Jack Johnson, Carlos Santana, Michael Johnson, Ani DiFranco, Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Iris DeMent and Joan Baez.

10:35

10. Greg Brown – “Bucket”
    from: Evening Call / Red House / 2006
    [The Washington Post writes, “The singer-songwriter from Iowa has a baritone as rough and chunky as Thanksgiving gravy with the turkey bits still in, and that’s just how his words drip out on his album, “The Evening Call.” on “Whippoorwill” he sing as sweetly as his lover down in KC. That’s his wife, Iris DeMent, and on “Joy Tears,” he tells her, “When you start your singing, honey, the heavens open up with grace.”]

Iris DeMent released her 5th album, SING THE DELTA in 2012, to glowing reviews from, The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, and was #1 on WMM’s 112 Best Recordings of 2012. Iris DeMent released her 6th album, THE TRACKLESS WOODS in 2015 with even more national acclaim, and a #5 spot on WMM’s 115 Best Recordings of 2015. THE TRACKLESS WOODS sets 18 poems by acclaimed 20th century Russian poet Anna Akhmatova to life. Hailed as one of Russia’s finest poets, Akhmatova survived the Bolshevik Revolution, both World Wars and Stalin. When Iris randomly stumbled upon Akhmatova’s work in a book of poetry a friend sent as a gift, she was immediately taken by the sorrow and burden of the poems. Iris recorded the album with co-producer Richard Bennett in her living room over a five-day period. The project also fulfilled a long yearned for desire to connect with her adopted daughter’s culture and history. Iris and her husband Greg Brown has adopted their daughter from Siberia in 2005, when she was 6, and Iris says ”I’d never have made this record were it not for her.”

10:41

11. Iris DeMent – “Listening to Singing”
    from: The Trackless Woods / FlariElla / August 7, 2015
    [6th album from Grammy nominated Iris DeMent who NPR said was ”one of the great voices in contemporary popular music.” The Trackless Woods sets 18 poems by acclaimed 20th century Russian poet Anna Akhmatova to life. Hailed as one of Russia’s finest poets, Akhmatova survived the Bolshevik Revolution, both World Wars and Stalin. She lost family, friends & fellow writers to political killings and labor in the gulags. When Iris randomly stumbled upon Akhmatova’s work in a book of poetry a friend sent as a gift, she was immediately taken by the sorrow and burden of the poems, juxtaposed with Akhmatova’s lightness and transcendence in the face of inhumanity. ”Anna’s gift of song is so strong, about alI I had to do was get really quiet and listen,” says Iris. After reading that first poem the melodies began pouring out of her, and before she even fully understood what was driving her, Iris was gathering musicians & friends, including co-producer Richard Bennett (Emmylou Harris, Neil Diamond, Steve Earle), to record ‘The Trackless Woods’ in her living room over a 5-days. The result is a pairing of piano and voice in Iris’ style with timeless melodies that are rooted in the American South.]

Most recently on September 3, 2020 Grammy Nominated singer songwriter Iris DeMent released the single “How Long.” Then, in October of 2020 Iris DeMent sent me a new song she had just written and created a lyric video. I immediately wrote back to Iris and said, “This song is so beautiful and so needed right now. I cried several times listening to it.” She wrote back, “It’s a cry and dance at the same time song. Can’t say I’ve written one of those before. She ended her message with a smily face and the words, “Much love!”

Just as 90.1 FM KKFI was the first radio station to play Iris Dement’s music, we were also the first radio station to play her new song song, “Going Down To Texas.”

10:45

12. Iris DeMent – “Going Down To Sing In Texas”
    from: Going Down To Sing In Texas / FlariElla / October 6, 2020
    [Stereogum on October 13, 2020 wrote: Other than a handful of guest appearances, Americana legend Iris DeMent hasn’t released new music since her 2015 album The Trackless Woods, a collection of Anna Akhmatova poems set to original music. But DeMent is back today in a big way with “Going Down To Sing In Texas,” a lengthy rambler that’s a lot more serious than its casual, jazzy piano groove lets on.
    Over the course of nine minutes, DeMent addresses police brutality, George W. Bush (“What’s the deal with all these war criminals who get to walk around free?”), Islamophobia, progressive protesters (“I’m so proud of all of these young people for taking it to the streets”), gun control, Jeff Bezos (“Ain’t we all just a little bit tired of greedy people getting a free pass?”), the Chicks, the Squad, and Jesus Christ (“He spoke truth to power, he stood up for the poor/ The church today wouldn’t even let him through the door”) among other things.It’s a hell of a song, clear and direct yet artful in its conversational ease. Never forget that DeMent can go toe to toe with songwriting legends like her old duet partner John Prine.]

In his review for WHYY’s Fresh Air, Entertainment Weekly Music Editor – Ken Tucker wrote: “Iris DeMent possesses one of the great voices in contemporary popular music: powerfully, ringingly clear, capable of both heartbreaking fragility and blow-your-ears-back power. Had she been making country albums in the ’70s and ’80s and had more commercial ambition, she’d probably now be considered right up there with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. Instead, she’s lived a contemporary life, a somewhat private life. As she recently told an interviewer, “There’s a lot that goes into life besides songwriting.” And she’s taken her time in composing songs that fit into no genre easily.”

Last year, and yesterday, I communicated with Iris on her birthday and she sent me her latest single, recorded in November 2020 and called “The Sacred Now.” Happy Birthday Iris DeMent. We love you!

10:56

13. Iris DeMent – “The Sacred Now”
    from: “The Sacred Now” – Single / Flariella / November 6, 2020
    [Newest single from Iris DeMent and one of three new singles she has released since October 2020.]

11:00 – Station ID

You are listening to 90.1 FM KKFI Kansas City Community Radio. Please stayed tuned to the 2nd hour of WMM as we celebrate David Bowie with Bowie music remixed by Steve Reich & James Murphy, and tracks from Kraftwerk, Julia Othmer, & The Sea and Cake.

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

15. David Bowie – “Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix by James Murphy for the DFA)”
    from: The Next Day Extra EP / ISO Columbia / November 4, 2013
    [The Next Day Extra Released 4 November 2013, this 3-disc collector’s edition includes two CDs and a DVD. The first CD is the original 14-track album. The second is a 10-track CD comprising the deluxe edition bonus tracks “Plan”, “I’ll Take You There”, and “So She”, the Japanese exclusive track “God Bless the Girl”, two remixes, and four new songs (“Atomica”, “The Informer”, “Like a Rocket Man”, and “Born in a UFO”). The DVD includes the four promotional music videos (“Where Are We Now?”, “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)”, “The Next Day”, and “Valentine’s Day”). // The Next Day is the 24th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on March 8, 2013 on his ISO Records label, under exclusive lisence to Columbia Records. Co-produced by Bowie and longtime collaborator Tony Visconti, the album was recorded in secret at The Magic Shop and Human Worldwide Studios in New York City between 2011 and 2013. It is primarily a rock album, featuring elements of art rock. The cover art is an adapted version of his 1977 album “Heroes”, featuring a white square with the album’s title obscuring his face. It was announced on Bowie’s 66th birthday, 8 January 2013. Bowie’s website was updated with the video for the lead single, “Where Are We Now?”, and the single was immediately made available for purchase on the iTunes Store. // It was Bowie’s first album of new material in ten years, since 2003’s Reality, and surprised fans and media who had presumed that he had retired from the music business. The album was streamed in its entirety on iTunes days before its official release. The Next Day Extra, an additional disc featuring four more tracks, and remixes of songs from the original album, was released in November. The Next Day was met with critical acclaim, and earned Bowie his first number-one album in the United Kingdom since 1993’s Black Tie White Noise. It was ranked as the second best album of 2013 (in a tie with Blue October’s Sway) by German music magazine Kulturnews and was also nominated for the 2013 Mercury Prize. The album was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 2014 Grammy Awards and for MasterCard British Album of the Year at the 2014 Brit Awards. // Recording of the album took place at The Magic Shop and Human Worldwide Studios in New York City. Bowie and producer Tony Visconti worked in secret alongside long-term engineer Mario J. McNulty, recording the album over a two-year period. The recording sessions were sporadic, and Visconti estimated that only three full months were spent demoing and recording material. Visconti recalled that the album began with a one-week recording session: Sterling Campbell was on drums, I was on bass, David was on keyboards, Gerry Leonard was on guitar. By the end of five days we had demoed up a dozen songs. Just structures. No lyrics, no melodies and all working titles. This is how everything begins with him. Then he took them home and we didn’t hear another thing from him for four months. // Bowie would disappear with the music “to make sure he was on the right track”, then bring the band back together to take the next step in recording when he was ready. Visconti described the recording sessions as “intense”, but they stuck to regular hours. “The last time we did all-nighters was Young Americans”. // During breaks from the studio, Visconti would walk the streets of New York listening to music from The Next Day on his earphones: “I was walking around New York with my headphones on, looking at all the people with Bowie T-shirts on—they are ubiquitous here—thinking, ‘Boy, if you only knew what I’m listening to at the moment.'”// Despite the statement that no guest artists were used to record the album, Bowie did use some of the musicians he’s worked with in the past, including Earl Slick, who recorded his parts for the album in July 2012. Gail Ann Dorsey (bass guitar) and Sterling Campbell (drums), who had both worked with Bowie since the 1990s, also contributed to the album. Dorsey also recorded vocals for the song “If You Can See Me”. Drummer Zachary Alford and guitarists Gerry Leonard and David Torn were hired for the sessions and Slick revealed that Visconti also contributed bass. Saxophonist Steve Elson, who had worked with Bowie since the 1980s, also plays on the album. A story that Robert Fripp, who previously has worked with Bowie in the studio, was invited to play on the album but could not due to other commitments was denied by Fripp, who said, “I haven’t spoken to David for a while and I wasn’t approached [to take part in the album]”, adding “I’m not angry at all. No one is hurt, I’m not upset, just keen for clarity.” // Bowie took great pains to keep the recording of the album secret, requiring people involved in the recording to sign NDAs. Bowie had to change recording studios after one day when someone at the studio disclosed that Bowie was recording there. He moved to the studio The Magic Shop, which ran the studio with a skeleton crew of only one or two employees on days when Bowie was there. Columbia Records’s UK PR firm learned of the project only a few days before the album was released. // Canadian band Metric almost uncovered the secret recording sessions when they arrived at Magic Shop recording studios unannounced in 2011, and Bowie saxophonist Steve Elson said he was tempted to reveal all. // The Next Day is a rock album, mainly featuring art rock. Tony Visconti told the NME that The Next Day “is quite a rock album” and Alexis Petridis of The Guardian considered the record “a straightforward rock album.” // The first single was the ballad “Where Are We Now?”, a track which Visconti described as “the only track on the album that goes this much inward for him”. Visconti suggested that Bowie chose “Where Are We Now?” as the opening single because “people had to deal with the shock that he was back [after a 10-year absence]” and that the introspective nature of the song made it an appropriate choice. The song reached No.6 in the UK charts. Opening lyrics for “Where Are We Now” reflectively recall the name of a train station (plaza) and a street in west Berlin, where Bowie once lived. A video accompanying the single includes props such as a dismantled photo frame lying discarded on the floor in the opening shot, a large ear in the background, and a two-headed soft doll with the torn faces of Bowie and a voiceless counterpart “pasted” onto it in. Lyrics also include the phrase “the moment you know you know, you know”. // “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)” was released as the second single from the album on 26 February 2013. A music video in the form of a short film was premiered the previous day. The song received moderate airplay on BBC Radio 2 and 106.9FM WHCR, peaking at number 102 on the UK Singles Chart. // Visconti, who accepted an interviewer’s suggestion that he was Bowie’s “voice on earth”, commented on the album to the international press and provided insights into the individual tracks. The songs cover a wide spread of subjects and are largely observational: most probe the mind-sets of different individuals. “Valentine’s Day” is about a high school shooter. “I’d Rather Be High” related the story of a Second World War soldier. Visconti described the material as “extremely strong and beautiful”. He added “if people are looking for classic Bowie they’ll find it on this album, if they’re looking for innovative Bowie, new directions, they’re going to find that on this album too.” Visconti commented that 29 tracks were recorded for the album and suggested that some of the material left out of The Next Day could appear on a subsequent record. Visconti speculated that Bowie could return to the studio to produce a new album later in 2013, but this did not happen. // The cover art for the album is an adapted version of Bowie’s 1977 album, “Heroes”, with a white square with the album’s title obscuring Bowie’s face. Designed by Jonathan Barnbrook, who also designed packaging for Heathen and Reality and follow-up Blackstar, the obscuring of the photograph connotes “forgetting or obliterating the past”. The original cover image was shot by Masayoshi Sukita. Barnbrook explained the cover, saying: “If you are going to subvert an album by David Bowie there are many to choose from but this is one of his most revered, it had to be an image that would really jar if it were subverted in some way and we thought “Heroes” worked best on all counts.” A viral marketing campaign was launched to promote the album on 15 February 2013. The campaign grew out of the concept behind the album cover, taking seemingly ordinary images and subverting them through the addition of a white square. // The Next Day debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 94,048 copies in its first week. It was Bowie’s ninth number-one album in the United Kingdom, and his first in twenty years since Black Tie White Noise (1993). The album fell to number two the following week, selling 35,671 copies. In its third week, it slipped to number three on sales of 23,157 units. // In the United States, the album entered the Billboard 200 at number two with first-week sales of 85,000 copies, earning Bowie his largest sales week for an album in the Nielsen SoundScan era, and also his highest charting album on the Billboard 200. The album has sold 208,000 copies in the US as of December 2015. Elsewhere, The Next Day topped the charts in several countries, including Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland, while reaching number two in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, and Spain.] [Born February 4, 1970. James Murphy is a musician, producer, DJ, and co-founder of record label DFA Records. His most well-known musical project is LCD Soundsystem. James Murphy was influenced by Bowie and remixed songs for Bowie’s The Next Day Extras, and is credited as a percussionist on Bowie’s Backstar.]

16. Kraftwerk – “Trans-Europe Express (Remastered)”
    from: Trans Europe Express (Remastered) / Parlophone – Warner Music / March 1, 1977 -2009
    [Kraftwerk translates to: “power station”. They are a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered as innovators and pioneers of electronic music, they were among the first successful acts to popularize the genre. The group began as part of West Germany’s experimental krautrock scene in the early 1970s before fully embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders. Trans-Europe Express is the sixth studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk. The song’s lyrics reference the album Station to Station and meeting with musicians Iggy Pop and David Bowie. Hütter and Schneider had previously met up with Bowie in Germany and were flattered with the attention they received from him. Ralf Hütter was interested in Bowie’s work as he had been working with Iggy Pop, who was the former lead singer of the Stooges; one of Hütter’s favorite groups.Recorded in mid-1976 in Düsseldorf, Germany, the album was released in March 1977 on Kling Klang Records. It saw the group refine their melodic electronic style, with a focus on sequenced rhythms, minimalism, and occasionally manipulated vocals. The themes include celebrations of the titular European railway service and Europe as a whole, and meditations on the disparities between reality and appearance. // Trans-Europe Express charted at 119 on the American charts and was ranked number 30 in The Village Voice’s 1977 Pazz & Jop critics’ poll. Two singles were released: “Trans-Europe Express” and “Showroom Dummies”. The album has been re-released in several formats and continues to receive acclaim. In 2014, the Los Angeles Times called it “the most important pop album of the last 40 years.” // After the release and tour for the album Radio-Activity, Kraftwerk continued to move further away from their earlier krautrock style of improvised instrumental music, refining their work more into the format of melodic electronic songs. During the tour for Radio-Activity, the band began to make performance rules such as not to be drunk on stage or at parties. Karl Bartos wrote about these rules, stating that “it’s not easy to turn knobs on a synthesizer if you are drunk or full of drugs. … We always tried to keep very aware of what we were doing while acting in public.” During this tour, early melodies that would later evolve into the song “Showroom Dummies” were being performed. // In mid-1976, Kraftwerk began to work on the album which was then called Europe Endless. Paul Alessandrini suggested that Kraftwerk write a song about the Trans Europe Express to reflect their electronic music style. Hütter and Schneider met with musicians David Bowie and Iggy Pop prior to the recording, which influenced song lyrics. Maxime Schmitt encouraged the group to record a French language version of the song “Showroom Dummies”, which led the group to later record several songs in French. The album was recorded at Kling Klang Studio in Düsseldorf. Artistic control over the songs was strictly in the hands of members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, with Bartos and Wolfgang Flür contributing sequenced electronic percussion.[6] Kraftwerk went to railway bridges to listen to the sounds the train would actually produce. The group found the sound the train made was not danceable and changed it slightly. // An important piece of new equipment used on the album was the Synthanorma Sequenzer, a customized 32-step 16-channel analog sequencer made for the band by Matten & Wiechers. This allowed the construction of more elaborate sequenced synthesizer lines, which are featured prominently in the tracks “Franz Schubert” and “Endless Endless”, and liberated the player from the chore of playing repetitive keyboard patterns. // Whereas Radio-Activity had featured a mixture of German and English lyrics throughout the album, Trans-Europe Express went further and was mixed as two entirely separate versions, one sung in English, the other in German. At the recommendation of Maxime Schmitt, a French version of the song “Showroom Dummies”, titled “Les Mannequins”, was also recorded. “Les Mannequins” was the group’s first song in French and would influence decisions to record songs in French on later albums. After recording the album in Düsseldorf, Hütter and Schneider visited Los Angeles to mix the tracks at the Record Plant Studio. Elements of the mixing sessions that were done in Los Angeles were dropped from the album, including the use of more upfront vocals in order to do more mixing in Düsseldorf and Hamburg later.// The artwork for the album cover of Trans-Europe Express was originally going to be a monochrome picture of the group reflected in a series of mirrors. This idea was dropped for a photo by New York-based celebrity photographer Maurice Seymour, with the group dressed in suits to resemble mannequins. J. Stara’s image of the group was taken in Paris and is a highly retouched photo-montage of Kraftwerk from their shoulders up again posed as mannequins which are shown on the cover of the English version of the album. On the inside sleeve, a color collage of the group sitting at a small cafe table designed by Emil Schult was used. The photo for this scene was from the session by Maurice Seymour, taken on the group’s American tour. Other photos were taken by Schult that show the group laughing and smiling. These were not used for the album’s release. // Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described the album’s influence as “unprecedented, reaching as wide as rock (Radiohead’s Kid A), hip-hop (Afrika Bambaataa’s classic ‘Planet Rock’, Jay Dee’s recent ‘Big Booty Express’) and pop (Madonna’s Drowned World Tour, which incorporated samples of ‘Metal on Metal’)”. // In the late 1970s, the album influenced post-punk band Joy Division; bassist Peter Hook related: “We were introduced to Kraftwerk by [singer] Ian Curtis, who insisted we play T.E.E. before we went on stage every time. The tape was played at the venue over the PA system, to be heard by everyone. The first time was Pips [a Manchester club well known for its ‘Bowie Room’]. Ian got thrown out for kicking glass around the dance floor in time to the track. It took us ages of pleading to get him back in.” Drummer Stephen Morris also confirmed that Joy Division “used to play Trans-Europe Express before we went on stage, to get us into the zone. It worked because it gets up a lot of momentum. Trans-Europe Express just seemed to express an optimism – even if people see it as machine music”. Morris also said: “It reminds me of Cabaret, the film, with all of the 1920s singing. … When you get that marriage between humans and machines, and you get it right, it’s fantastic. I have to say it’s my favourite Kraftwerk album.” In the mid-1980s, Siouxsie and the Banshees’ rendition of “The Hall of Mirrors”, on their album Through the Looking Glass, was one of the few cover versions that Ralf Hütter hailed in glowing terms as “extraordinary”

17. David Bowie – “V-2 Schneider”
    from: “Heroes” / Parlophone – Warner Music / October 14, 1977 (RCA)
    [“V-2 Schneider” is a largely instrumental song written by David Bowie in 1977 for the album “Heroes”. It was a tribute to Florian Schneider, co-founder of the band Kraftwerk, whom Bowie acknowledged as a significant influence at the time. The title also referenced the V-2 rocket, the first ballistic missile, which had been developed for the German Army during World War II, and whose design (and engineers) played a key role in the American space program. The only words sung are those in the title, initially distorted by phasing. Musically, the track is unusual for the off-beat saxophone work by Bowie, who kicked off his part on the wrong note, but continued regardless. “V-2 Schneider” achieved considerable circulation as the B-side of “‘Heroes'”, released prior to the album, but was not played on the subsequent 1978 concert tour, its first live rendition occurring 20 years after it was recorded (see Live versions). A live version recorded at Paradiso, Amsterdam in June 1997, was released as the B-side of the single “Pallas Athena” in August 1997, under the name Tao Jones Index. This version also appeared on the bonus disc for the Digibook Expanded Edition of Earthling. // “Heroes” is the 12th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on October 14, 1977 by RCA Records. After releasing Low earlier that year, Bowie toured as the keyboardist of his friend and singer Iggy Pop. At the conclusion of the tour, they recorded Pop’s second solo album Lust for Life at Hansa Tonstudio in West Berlin before Bowie regrouped there with collaborator Brian Eno and producer Tony Visconti to record “Heroes”. It was the second installment of his “Berlin Trilogy,” following Low and preceding Lodger (1979). Of the three albums, it was the only one wholly recorded in Berlin. Much of the same personnel from Low returned for the sessions, augmented by King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp. // The album was recorded sporadically from July to August 1977. The majority of the tracks were composed on the spot in the studio, the lyrics not being written until Bowie stood in front of the microphone. The music itself is based in art rock and experimental rock, and builds upon its predecessor’s electronic and ambient approaches, albeit with more positive tones, atmospheres and passionate performances. The album also follows the same structure as its predecessor, side one featuring more conventional tracks and side two featuring mostly instrumental tracks. // The cover photo, like Iggy Pop’s The Idiot, is a nod to the painting Roquairol by German artist Erich Heckel. Upon release, “Heroes” was a commercial success, peaking at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 35 on the US Billboard 200. It was the best-received work of the “Berlin Trilogy” on release, NME and Melody Maker naming it Album of the Year. Bowie promoted the album extensively, appearing on several television programmes and interviews. He supported Low and “Heroes” on the Isolar II world tour throughout 1978, performances of which have appeared on the live albums Stage (1978) and Welcome to the Blackout (2018). // Retrospectively, “Heroes” has continued to receive positive reviews, many reviewers praising Bowie’s growth as an artist and Fripp’s contributions. Although opinion has tended to view Low as the more groundbreaking record, “Heroes” is regarded as one of Bowie’s best and most influential works. The title track, initially unsuccessful as a single, remains one of Bowie’s best-known and acclaimed songs. An altered and obscured version of the cover artwork later appeared as the artwork for Bowie’s 2013 album The Next Day. The album has been reissued several times and was remastered in 2017 as part of the A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) box set.]

18. Julia Othmer – “Heroes”
    from: Seeds (Volume 1) / Julia Othmer & James Lundie / November 13, 2020
    [“Seeds” is Julia Othmer’s 3rd full length album and contains 10 live songs selected from her 30-day Songs of September Project, where Julia performed a different live cover of her favorite songs and broadcast the performance throughout the streaming social media platforms to inspire people to register and vote on November 3. From those songs Julia’s fans democratically selected their favorite tracks to be released together on “Seeds.” 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. She moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to record her 1st full-length album, “Oasis Motel.” In 2018 to 2019 Julia Othmer toured with and opened for The Alarm in US show and shows in the United Kingdom. When Julia Othmer is in Kansas City she plays with Johnny Hamil on bass, Chris Tady on guitar, John Floyd Whitaker on drums. More info at http://www.juliaothmer.com. Julia Othmer joined us onWMM on Nov. 11, 2020.] [“‘Heroes'” is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was co-written by Bowie and Brian Eno, produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, and recorded in July and August 1977 at Hansa Studio by the Wall. It was released on 23 September 1977 as the lead single from his 12th studio album of the same name, backed with the song “V-2 Schneider”. A product of Bowie’s “Berlin” period, the track was not a huge hit in the United Kingdom or the United States after its release, but it has since become one of his signature songs. In January 2016, following Bowie’s death, the song reached a new peak of number 12 in the UK Singles Chart. “‘Heroes'” has been cited as Bowie’s second-most covered song after “Rebel Rebel”. Inspired by the sight of Bowie’s producer-engineer Tony Visconti embracing his lover by the Berlin Wall, the song tells the story of two lovers, one from East and one from West Berlin. Bowie’s performance of “‘Heroes'” on 6 June 1987, at the German Reichstag in West Berlin has been considered a catalyst to the later fall of the Berlin Wall. Following his death in January 2016, the German government thanked Bowie for “helping to bring down the Wall”, adding “you are now among Heroes”. “‘Heroes'” has received numerous accolades since its release, as seen with its inclusion on lists ranking the “greatest songs” compiled by various music publications; Rolling Stone named the song the 46th greatest ever, NME named it the 15th greatest. Bowie scholar David Buckley has written that “‘Heroes'” “is perhaps pop’s definitive statement of the potential triumph of the human spirit over adversity”.]

19. The Sea and Cake – “Sound & Vision”
    from: One Bedroom / Thrill Jockey Records / January 21, 2003
    [6th album from American indie rock band with a jazz influence, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The group has released 11 albums. The group formed in the mid-1990s from members of The Coctails (Archer Prewitt), Shrimp Boat (Sam Prekop and Eric Claridge), and Tortoise (John McEntire). The group’s name came from a willful reinterpretation (as the result of an accidental miscomprehension) of “The C in Cake”, a song by Gastr del Sol. Starting with 1997’s The Fawn, the group has relied on electronic sound sources, such as drum machines and synthesizers, to color its music, but has retained its distinctive post-jazz combo style. The band has shied away from releasing singles, preferring the album format. Contrary to his multi-instrumentalist role in Tortoise, John McEntire almost exclusively plays drums in The Sea and Cake. Members Sam Prekop, Archer Prewitt, and John McEntire each have released solo albums. The cover art of The Sea And Cake’s releases are largely paintings by member Eric Claridge and photographs by Prekop. Prewitt has been involved in publishing his own comic books and doing graphic design. In 1995, the band contributed the song “The Fontana” to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Bothered produced by the Red Hot Organization. The band was on hiatus from 2004 to 2007. Their most recent album Any Day was released in May 2018.] [“Sound and Vision” is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie which appeared on his 1977 album Low. The song is notable for juxtaposing an uplifting guitar and synthesizer-led instrumental track with Bowie’s withdrawn lyrics. In keeping with the minimalist approach of Low, Bowie and co-producer Tony Visconti originally recorded the track as an instrumental, bar the backing vocal (performed by Visconti’s wife, Mary Hopkin). Bowie then recorded his vocal after the rest of the band had left the studio, before trimming verses off the lyrics and leaving a relatively lengthy instrumental intro on the finished song. Selected as the first single from the album, “Sound and Vision” was used by the BBC on trailers at the time. This provided considerable exposure, much needed as Bowie opted to do nothing to promote the single himself, and helped the song to No. 3. The song was also a top ten hit in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. However, it stalled at No. 87 in Canada and only managed No. 69 in the United States, where it signaled the end of Bowie’s short commercial honeymoon until “Let’s Dance” in 1983. The first live performance of the song was at Earl’s Court during the Isolar II Tour on 1 July 1978. In 1990, it was a regular number for Bowie’s greatest hits Sound+Vision Tour. The name was also used for a Rykodisc boxed set anthology in 1989.]

11:29

David Bowie seemed to be from another world. He seemed immortal. His art kept coming. His influence so vast. He was a guide. So much of my journey, as a queer kid finding my way in the world, was influenced by Bowie.

David Bowie was born January 8, 1947. In school he studied art, music, and design before embarking on a music career in 1963. Over a span of 5 decades, he sold over 140 million records and released 27 studio albums, if you count Tin Machine, which you should. His career is notable for his reinvention, his pushing of the boundaries of gender, art and music. He was the first to create a concert tour that was a big as a broadway touring show. He help invent Glam Rock, New Wave, and electronica. He created stage personas to carry thematic concepts with costumes and lights and the very best guitarists and musicians of his time. David Bowie was an actor on stage and in many great independent films including: The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Hunger, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Basquiat, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Labyrinth, and 15 others. He played John Merrick in The Elephant Man on Broadway. He influenced multiple generations with his music, recordings, live concerts, films, music videos, and his very, ever changing, image.

Bowie was a gateway to other discoveries: The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, T-Rex, Iggy Pop, Andy Warhol, Glam Rock, Electronica, Brian Eno, William S. Burroughs, Kraftwerk, Mick Ronson, Tony Visconti, Klaus Nomi, Bauhaus, Gender Expression, and much more.

Six years ago on January 10, 2016, and two days after he released his 25th solo album, Blackstar, on his 69th birthday, David Robert Jones passed away at home surrounded by his wife Iman, son Duncan Jones from his marriage to Angela Bowie, and daughter Alexandria from his marriage to Iman. David Bowie’s death sent shock waves of grief across the world, touching every one of us, that he made feel, less alone. He was a light, a shining star, that guided so many of us through the darkness.

Thanks for tuning into WMM, on 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio. 

We Celebrate David Bowie with musical tracks from deeper inside Bowie’s studio albums, from his Reality Tour Live with bandmate Gail Ann Dorsey, Bowie songs performed by musicians he influenced: The Sea and Cake, Julia Othmer and Ondara, and from electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk who name check him in the lyrics, and Oscar winning film composer and Yellow Magic Orchestra leader Ryuichi Sakamoto who in his very first film acting role and first job as a composer of a film’s soundtrack, played opposite of David Bowie in the film “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” from 1983.

Coming up we play Bowie Live and Under Pressure with Gail Ann Dorsey, music from Ryuichi Sakamoto and Ondara, as WMM celebrates the life of David Bowie in music. Please stay tuned.

11:33 – Underwriting

20. David Bowie – “Under Pressure” with Gail Ann Dorsey
    from: A Reality Tour (Bonus Track Version) [Live] / Sony Music Entertaiment / Jan. 22, 2010
    [“Under Pressure” is a song by the British rock band Queen and singer David Bowie. Originally released as a single in October 1981, it was later included on Queen’s 1982 album Hot Space. The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Queen’s second number-one hit in their home country (after 1975’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which topped the chart for nine weeks) and Bowie’s third (after the 1975 reissue of “Space Oddity” and “Ashes to Ashes” in 1980). The song charted in the top 10 in more than ten countries around the world, and peaked at No. 29 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in January 1982. // A Reality Tour is a live album by David Bowie that was released on 25 January 2010. The album features November 22, and 23, 2003 performances in Dublin during his concert tour A Reality Tour. The 2004, live version features David Bowie – vocals, guitars, stylophone, harmonica; Earl Slick – guitar; Gerry Leonard – guitar; Gail Ann Dorsey – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Under Pressure”; Sterling Campbell – drums; Mike Garson – keyboards, piano; Catherine Russell – keyboards, percussion, acoustic guitar, backing vocals. A Reality Tour was a worldwide concert tour by David Bowie in support of the Reality album. The tour commenced on 7 October 7, 2003 at the Forum, Copenhagen, Denmark continuing through Europe, North America, Asia, including a return to New Zealand and Australia for the first time since the 1987 Glass Spider Tour. The tour grossed $46,000,000, making it the ninth-highest grossing tour of 2004. At over 110 shows, the tour was the longest tour of Bowie’s career. Bowie played Kansas City, May 10, 2004, at Starlight Theatre. I was there, seven rows from the stage.]

21. Ryuichi Sakamoto – “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence”
    from: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence / Milan Entertainment / 2015
    [Ryuichi Sakamoto was born Jan. 17, 1952. He is a Japanese composer, singer, songwriter, record producer, activist, and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono & Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres. Sakamoto began his career while at university in the 1970s as a session musician, producer, & arranger. His first major success came in 1978 as co-founder of YMO. He concurrently pursued a solo career, releasing the experimental electronic fusion album Thousand Knives in 1978. Two years later, he released the album B-2 Unit. It included the track “Riot in Lagos”, which was significant in the development of electro and hip hop music. He produced more solo records, and collaborate with many international artists, David Sylvian, Carsten Nicolai, Youssou N’Dour, and Fennesz among them. Sakamoto composed music for the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and his composition “Energy Flow” (1999) was the first instrumental number-one single in Japan’s Oricon charts history. As a film-score composer, Sakamoto has won an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and 2 Golden Globe Awards. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) marked his debut as both an actor & a film-score composer; its main theme was adapted into the single “Forbidden Colours” which became an international hit. His most successful work as a film composer was The Last Emperor (1987), after which he continued earning accolades composing for films such as The Sheltering Sky (1990), Little Buddha (1993), The Revenant (2015). Sakamoto has also worked as a composer and a scenario writer on anime & video games. In 2009, he was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Ministry of Culture of France for his contributions to music.]

22. J.S. Ondara — “I’m Afraid of Americans”
    from: Tales of America (The Second Coming) / Verve Forecast – UMG Recordings / Sept. 20, 2019
    [28 year old J.S. Ondara is a Kenyan singer-songwriter whose debut album, Tales of America, was released on February 15, 2019 via Verve Label Group. J.S. Ondara was born in August 1992 in Nairobi, Kenya. As a child, he wrote poems and stories as well as songs despite not having an instrument to play them on because his family couldn’t afford one. He was inspired by Radiohead, Nirvana, Death Cab For Cutie, Jeff Buckley, Pearl Jam, Guns N’ Roses, and Bob Dylan. He grew up listening to rock songs on his older sisters’ battery-powered radio. Having discovered The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan following a dispute with a friend over whether Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door was a Guns N’ Roses song, Ondara resolved to travel to the United States to pursue a career in music. In February 2013, after winning in the green card lottery, he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota at the age of 20. He taught himself to play guitar and perform during open mic nights. Eventually, he decided to study music therapy in college, but dropped out of school to return to playing small shows at coffee houses after attending a concert. After moving to Minnesota, Ondara tried his hand at making music and performing in small venues. His big break came when Minneapolis radio station KCMP 89.3 The Current played one of his songs on air by pulling audio from his YouTube channel, where he had been uploading covers of his favorite songs. At the time, he was going by the name Jay Smart. Ondara’s debut album, Tales of America, was released in February 2019 by Verve Label Group. Despite only 11 tracks making the final tracklist, Ondara wrote more than 100 songs for the album, all based on an immigrant’s life in America. The album was produced by Mike Viola of the Candy Butchers. In support of the album, Ondara embarked on his first headlining tour in March 2019. After the release of the album, Ondara debuted on Billboard’s Emerging Artist chart at No. 37 in March 2019. The album also landed on the Billboard Heatseekers Album, Americana/Folk Album Sales, and Rock Album Sales charts. He was nominated for Best Emerging Act at the 2019 Americana Music Honors & Awards. Ondara cites Bob Dylan as his musical hero, which is why he chose to live in Minnesota and why he wears his signature fedora. He has toured with the Milk Carton Kids, Lindsey Buckingham and in 2019, he opened for select dates on tour with Neil Young.]

You are listening to Wednesday MidDay Medley’s Tribute to David Bowie on 90.1 FM.

With musical tracks from David Bowie studio & live recordings and with Gail Ann Dorsey, and from Kraftwerk, Julia Othmer, The Sea and Cake, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Ondara.

11:51

23. David Bowie – “Lazarus”
    from: Blackstar / ISO Records – Columbia / January 8, 2016
    [Lazarus features David Bowie on vocals, acoustic guitar, and Fender guitar; Donny McCaslin on saxophone, flute, and woodwind; Jason Linder on piano, Wurlitzer organ and keyboards; Tim Lefebvre on bass; Mark Guiliana on drums. McCaslin and the rest of the jazz group recorded their parts in the studio over a period of about one week a month from January to March 2015, and until later in recording were unaware of Bowie’s declining health. The song “Lazarus” is part of Bowie’s Off-Broadway musical of the same name. The album has received universal critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching the number one spot in a number of countries in the wake of Bowie’s death and becoming his first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 album chart in the U.S. Blackstar is the twenty-fifth and final studio album by musician, writer, actor, chameleon, David Bowie. It is the 27th when you count the Tin Machine records, which you should. The album was released worldwide on January 8, 2016, on Bowie’s 69th birthday, and just two days later David Robert Jones passed away at home surrounded by his wife Iman, and his son Duncan Jones from his marriage to Angela Bowie, and daughter Alexandria from his marriage to Iman.]

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

Next Week on Wed, Jan 12, we present: “Remembering MLK” celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born Jan. 15, 1929. We’ll play: Bobby Watson & The I Have A Dream Project (featuring Glenn North), Krystle Warren, The Freedom Afair, Calvin Arsenia, The Black Creatures, H.E.R., Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Curtis Mayfield, Maceo & The Macks, Mahalia Jackson, Marian Anderson, The Staple Singers, Pops Staples, Mavis Staples, The Swan Silvertones, Sweet Honey in The Rock, Aaron Neville, Tramaine Hawkins, Ella Mitchell, Billy Porter, Solomon Burke, Nina Simone, Pete Seeger, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Soweto Gospel Choir, The Intl. Noise Conspiracy, and Labelle.

And in two weeks on January 19 we’ll have even more Bowie, with selected tracks from his shelved album TOY, which has finally been released. And we” feature music from the new Bowie Box Set BRILLIANT ADVENTURE 1991 – 2001. Plus, Michelle Bacon from The Band That Fell To Earth will be our special guest.

On Friday, Jan. 21 and Saturday, Jan. 22 at recordBar, 1520 Grand, The Band That Fell To Earth present the 6th Annual Tribute to David Bowie. http://www.therecordbar.com for info.

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

Black Lives Matter

Show #923

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, January 5, 2022

WMM Celebrates Iris DeMent and David Bowie

At 10:00 we reserve our first hour for Iris DeMent, born January 5, 1961, in rural Paragould, Arkansas. She was the youngest of 14 children. At the age of 3, her devoutly religious family moved to California, where she grew up singing gospel music. During her teenage years, Iris was exposed to country, folk, & R&B. In the mid 1980s Iris moved to the midwest, and after a series of jobs as a waitress and typist she wrote her first song at the age of 25. She moved to Kansas City and played Harling’s Upstairs and open-mic nights alongside Scott Hrabko and Howard Iceberg. Iris DeMent made her recording debut in 1991, with her album, “Infamous Angel.” We’ll feature music from Iris DeMent, Greg Brown, and John Prine, and from her inspirations: Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Merle Haggard.

At 11:00 we dedicate our second hour to David Bowie, born January 8, 1947. Over a span of 5 decades, Bowie sold over 140 million records and released 27 studio albums. His career is notable for his reinvention, his pushing of the boundaries of gender, art and music. He was also an actor who appeared in over 20 films. We celebrate David Bowie with musical tracks from his studio albums, from his Reality Tour Live recordings, from songs performed by musicians he influenced: The Sea and Cake, Julia Othmer and Ondara, from electronic musical pioneers Kraftwerk, and from Oscar winning film composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who in his very first motion picture role as an actor and film composer played opposite of David Bowie in the 1983 feature, “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence”.

On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or
STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org

Show #923