Wednesday MidDay Medley
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
The Sound & Vision of Rod Parks
- “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
from: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to All That Jazz / 1980
[WMM’s theme song]
- High Fade – “Sharpen Up! (Live)”
from Live in London / RPN Records / October 6, 2023
[High Fade is launching a U.S. Tour in March. They will be playing Portland, Oregon on March 30. Here is what Polaris Hall in Portland wrote about the band: “On a three-man crusade to set dance floors alight with their inimitable brand of razor-sharp funk and disco, Edinburgh’s High Fade captured the attention of a global audience with their music amassing over 30 million views and streams within six months of their first release and, in the process, gaining recognition from music heavyweights including Jack Black, Cypress Hill, Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes, and Brad Wilk from Rage Against The MachineFor a band that only started mid-2018, to already have the support of artists including Emeli Sandé, David Paitch and even Peter Andre is a testament to not only their raw musical talent but also the relentless drive and ambition that has seen the band play over 1000 gigs in the last four years. With a forward-thinking approach to grassroots promotion, High Fade have been able to capture the magic of their live performances with a proactive presence on social media and create multiple viral moments for their tracks “Sharpen Up”, “Burnin”, and “Burnt Toast and Coffee”that feed the appetite of new fans across the world.With a more traditional offline approach towards learning their craft and perfecting the HighFade sound, Harry Valentino (guitar/vocals), Oliver Sentance (bass) and Calvin Davidson(drums/vocals) developed their infectious style whilst feeding off the unpredictable crowd inter-actions that come with street shows and busking. It’s this unmatched live energy that sets their performances apart and results in the impressive musical display that comes from just three musicians working together. Indeed, with other acts in the same genre often having upwards of six members, being a three-piece could be a limiting factor for many, but for HighFade it has become an integral part of the band’s DNA, allowing them to put on a show that supersedes anything their fans have experienced before.]
10:06 – Intro / Interview with Rod Parks
Thanks for tuning into WMM on 90.1 FM. I’m Mark Manning. Today, we present special edition of WMM as we bring you… “The Sound & Vision of Rod Parks.” (Part Duex)
Rod Parks is owner of Retro Inferno. He serves on the board of directors for Owen Cox Dance Group and he is a long-time supporter of area artists and musicians. Rod lives in the Bruce Goff “Nicol House” commissioned by Jim & Betty Nicol in 1964, where Rod hosts fundraisers and house concerts. Rod Parks grew up in Smithville, Missouri, and started playing drums when he was 11. Rod graduated from the University of Missouri in Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in marketing education and completed master’s degrees in education in 1993. Throughout these years Rod played drums in bands, worked in the grocery store business, and taught high school for ten years. Rod was accepted into the UMKC doctoral program in counseling psychology, and finished coursework for the PhD in 1996. Rod started buying mid-century modern furniture in the mid 1990s. In 1998, Rod opened his first store at 1712 Main, and in 2004, Retro Inferno moved to its current beautiful location at 1500 Grand Boulevard, just a few doors north of recordBar.
Rod Parks, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
We just heard High Fade, a band 3-piece powerhouse band from Edinburgh
We’ll also spin tracks from: (more) High Fade, John Zorn, Patricia Brennan, Tony Allen & Adrian Young, and Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela, Ceramic Dog & Marc Ribot & Mark Bibot & Tom Waits.
Rod Parks Grew up in Smithville. His dad had a grocery store there. Rod played sports and got into music at a young age.
Rod Parks graduated High School 1975. Went to MU in Columbia.
10:11
- Hide Fade – ‘Burnt Toast and Coffee”
from: ‘Burnt Toast and Coffee” (Single) / RPN Records / July 7, 2023
- Hide Fade – “Burnin’ (Live)
from: ‘Burnt Toast and Coffee” (Single) / RPN Records / July 7, 2023
10:19 – Underwriting
0:21 – Interview with Rod Parks
Today, we present special edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley as we bring you… “The Sound & Vision of Rod Parks.” Rod Parks is owner of Retro Inferno.
Rod Parks, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Rod Parks bought his first drum set for $40 when he was 11 years old.
Rod got his first “good” drum kit at 15 and he still has it (and others). Rod played in bands in his teens and then not again until he was in his 30’s.
10:26
- John Zorn – “Totem and Taboo”
from: Incerto / Tzadik / September 16, 2022
[Incerto is the birth of an exciting new modern jazz ensemble featuring the remarkable trio from Suite for Piano (Brian Marsella, Jorge Roeder, Ches Smith) joined by the brilliant guitarist Julian Lage. A quartet capable of anything, this is the perfect group to realize Zorn’s quirky compositional twists and turns. The music is wildly varied—maddeningly complex, powerfully driving, heartbreakingly beautiful—and embraces complex meter changes, atonal melodies, unusual harmonies, and bizarre structural complexity. Inspired by Freud, Sartre, and the Uncertainty Principle, the music explores possibilities, probabilities, inevitabilities, and impossibilities. // John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who “deliberately resists category”. His avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, contemporary, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and world music. In 2013, Down Beat described Zorn as “one of our most important composers” and in 2020 Rolling Stone noted that “[alt]hough Zorn has operated almost entirely outside the mainstream, he’s gradually asserted himself as one of the most influential musicians of our time”. // Zorn entered New York City’s downtown music scene in the mid-1970s, collaborating with improvising artists while developing new methods of composing experimental music. Over the next decade he performed throughout Europe and Japan and recorded on independent US and European labels. In 1986, he received acclaim with the release of his radical reworking of the film scores of Ennio Morricone, The Big Gundown, followed by Spillane, an album featuring his collage-like experimental compositions. Spy vs Spy (1989) and Naked City (1990) both demonstrated Zorn’s ability to merge and blend musical styles in new and challenging formats. // Zorn spent significant time in Japan in the late 1980s and early ’90s but returned to Lower East Side Manhattan to establish the Tzadik record label in 1995. Tzadik enabled Zorn to establish independence, maintain creative control, and ensure the availability of his growing catalog of recordings. He prolifically recorded and released new material for the label, issuing several new albums each year, along with recordings by many other artists. // Zorn performs on saxophone with Naked City, Painkiller, and Masada, conducts Moonchild, Simulacrum, and several Masada-related ensembles or encourages musicians toward their own interpretations of his work. He has composed concert music for classical ensembles and orchestras, and produced music for opera, sound installations, film and documentary. Tours of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East have been extensive, usually at festivals with musicians and ensembles that perform his repertoire.]
- John Zorn – “Splendid Soils”
from: 444 / Tzadik / March 17, 2023
[From Free Jazz Collective, by Gary Chapin (8/7/23): Brian Marsella (electric piano), John Medeski (organ), Matt Hollenberg (electric guitar), Kenny Grohowski (drums & percussion) form a group for the ages. The electric piano always sends me back to Bitches Brew, and you might consider that a limitation for me, but its ability to float between shimmering elegy and wild abandon is unmatched. You can do things on the electric piano you can’t do anywhere else (as Sun Ra taught us), and Marsella does so many of those things on 444. // I spotlight Marsella because his voice drew my attention first. The four musicians are the quartet Chaos Magic, which started as Marsella+Simulacrum (a “heavy metal organ trio”). They are bound by the expectations of heavy metal or organ trios. “In Sulphur and in Flame” is a thrashy speed fest with the guitar sounding like an ax counting time. “Astral Projection” sounds like it could live behind a montage of Audrey Hepburn and a bombed-out city in France, just as the plants are starting to grow back. Shifting time signatures and jump scares are par for the course, as are evocations of beauty. The electric piano arpeggios that open “Tayy al-Ard,” with the shimmering cymbals underneath, are poetically powerful, pensive & filled with curiosity. The guitar & organ come in to lay a field, but the tune relies on persistence & repetition to say what it needs to say.
- John Zorn – “Ne’eman”
from: New Masada Quartet Vol 2 / Tzadik / January 20, 2023
[from http://www.tzadik.com: John Zorn’s newest and most exciting ensemble, New Masada Quartet, was one of Tzadik’s best selling and most popular recent releases. Here the quartet returns to perform seven more classic compositions from the Masada songbooks. One of the best ensembles Zorn has ever had, they are tighter than ever, and the performances are filled with burning solos, telepathic group interaction, heartfelt lyricism, and hypnotic grooves. Spontaneously structured by Zorn’s ever-surprising conducting techniques, a crackling live energy brings the Masada music to life like never before. Masada at its passionate best. Personnel: Kenny Wollesen on Drums, John Zorn on Alto Sax, Julian Lage on Guitar, and Jorge Roeder on Bass.]
10:46 – Interview with Rod Parks
Today, our special guest is Rod Parks is owner of Retro Inferno at 1500 Grand Boulevard.
Rod Parks, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
We just heard three different recordings from the mind of John Zorn
10:51
- Patricia Brennan – “Unquiet Respect”
from: More Touch / Pyroclastic Records / November 18, 2022
[Vibraphonist, marimbist, improviser and composer Patricia Brennan “has been widely feted as one of the instrument’s newer leaders.” observed The New York City Jazz Record. She has performed in venues such as Newport Jazz Festival, SF JAZZ, and Carnegie Hall, as well as international venues such as Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria, and Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. // Marcus Gilmore on drums, Mauricio Herrera on percussion. Kim Cass on bass, and Patricia Brennan on vibraphone with electronics, marimba. All compositions by Patricia Brennan (Maquishti Music, BMI) Patricia Brennan and Pyroclastic Records © ℗ 2022 Produced by David Breskin. Recorded by Ron Saint Germain & Ryan Streber
on March 31 & April 1, 2022 at Oktaven Audio, Mt Vernon, NY. Mixed by Ron Saint Germain at Saint’s Place. Mastered by Scott Hull, Masterdisk, Peekskill, NY. Band photography by Frank Heath. Design & layout by Spotswood Erving and July Creek for Janky Defense. Carbon offsets to neutralize the carbon emissions associated with the production and distribution of this album have been purchased through carbonfund.org
- Patricia Brennan – “Sizigia (Syzygy)”
from: More Touch / Pyroclastic Records / November 18, 2022
11:02 – Station ID
11:02 – Interview with Rod Parks
Today, we present special edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley as we bring you… “The Sound & Vision of Rod Parks.” Rod Parks is owner of Retro Inferno.
Rod Parks, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Rod Parks Graduated High School 1975. Went to MU in Columbia. Rod majored in Marketing Education. Coordinated a Marketing Education program in Versailles MO 1979-81. Was in the Grocery business 81-86 in Smithville. Taught school again from 1988-98. Moved to Brookside in ’93 when I got into the UMKC Doctoral program in Counseling Psychology (Rod completed Masters and Ed Specialist degrees from 90-93).
11:07
- Tony Allen, Adrian Younge – “Ebun (feat. Tony Allen”
from: Jazz is Dead 18 / Jazz Is Dead / July 7, 2023
[With each subsequent release, Jazz Is Dead continues to exalt the legacies of iconic musicians who have shaped the fabric of Jazz across generations, genres, and continents. For their latest installment, the label connected with the late great Tony Allen, best known for his foundational work as the drummer for Fela Kuti’s Africa 70, and later Egypt 80. Over the course of Allen’s recording career, he defined the Afrobeat sound, meshing Funk & Jazz influences with Nigerian Highlife to create a cross-cultural dialogue that has gone global. It was no small honor to welcome Mr. Allen for a very special recording session at Linear Labs Studio, and we could not be more thrilled to share these crucial and downright funky cuts with you. // On album opener “Ebun”, guitars and horns build off of Allen’s instantly recognizable drum patterns, stretching and warping time signatures as they cross paths. It instantly recalls the seminal Africa 70 recordings which Allen was a driving force on. Psychedelic keyboards and percussion clash on “Steady Tremble”, a heavy stomper tailor-made for dancefloors in every corner of the world. Just as funky is the kinetic and expressive “Oladipo”. Built between a tense call and response between the horns, the track is filled with drama, and Allen steadily keeps each element in balance. As soon as the flute struts in alongside fiery horns and guitar on “Don’t Believe the Dancers”, the groove plunges further, propelled by an acerbic saxophone solo that animates Allen’s percussion. “Makoko” is a moody, mid-tempo jam that evokes classic Fela Kuti recordings such as “Open & Close” and “Gentleman”, slowly constructing an elaborate orchestra of polyrhythm, all keeping step with Allen’s rhythm. “Lagos” points towards the spiritual and literal home of Allen and Afrobeat, the capital of Nigeria, and homes in on a yearning keyboard. // Similar to on his excellent Art Blakey tribute record, Tony Allen is a revelatory jazz drummer, as heard on “No Beginning”, a mid-tempo tune that sits at the nexus of Spiritual Jazz and Afrobeat, which perfectly transitions into album closer, the aptly titled “No End”, a poignant number that combines all of the passion and precision of the previous tracks, and let’s Allen guide listeners yet again as only he so effortlessly could. // Despite the finite time that Allen had on this planet, as do all of us, his contributions to music are timeless and untouchable, and will continue to inform and inspire generations to come. Jazz Is Dead is honored to have played a part in the legacy of Tony Allen and invites you to discover the unparalleled genius that shifted the entire world’s conception of time, a magician who alchemized the past with the future and influenced countless listeners, currently and to come. – Tony Allen JID018 Liner Notes // All music composed by Tony Allen and Adrian Younge unless otherwise noted; produced and mixed by Adrian Younge at Linear Labs Studios, Los Angeles, CA. Mastered by Dave Cooley for Elysian Masters. Executive Produced by Andrew Lojero. Associate Produced by Adam Block. All songs published by Adrian Younge, Linear Labs Crew (GMR). Graphic Design by Julian Montague Photography by The Artform Studio. // For “Ebun” Musicians: Tony Allen on Drums; Adrian Younge on Electric bass guitar, Electric guitars, Acetone electric organ, Marimba, Percussion; Marcus Gray, Jazmin Hicks, Loren Oden on Additional percussion; Scott Mayo on Flute; Phillip Whack on Alto saxophone; Jaman Laws on Tenor saxophone; David Urquidi on Baritone saxophone; Jacob Scesney on Baritone saxophone; Emile Martinez: on Trumpet; Tatiana Tate on Trumpet; Lasim Richards on Trombone.]
- Tony Allen, Adrian Younge – “Steady Tremble”
from: Jazz is Dead 18 / Jazz Is Dead / July 7, 2023
[ For “Steady Tremble” Musicians: Tony Allen on Drums; Adrian Younge on Electric bass guitar, Electric guitars, Acetone electric organ, Marimba, Percussion; Marcus Gray, Jazmin Hicks, Loren Oden on Additional percussion; Scott Mayo on Flute; Phillip Whack on Alto saxophone; Jaman Laws on Tenor saxophone; David Urquidi on Baritone saxophone; Jacob Scesney on Baritone saxophone; Emile Martinez: on Trumpet; Tatiana Tate on Trumpet; Lasim Richards on Trombone
11:16 – Underwriting
11:18 – Interview with Rod Parks
Today, we present special edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley as we bring you… “The Sound & Vision of Rod Parks.” Rod Parks is owner of Retro Inferno.
Rod Parks, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Mid-Century Modern – Rod Parks happened upon an estate sale while furnishing the Brookside house and started buying 50’s-60’s stuff and people would come over, say it was cool, so I started trusting my eye and researching designers etc.
Rod started buying and selling: garage and basement full turned into storage lockers then warehouse floors. Finished the coursework for the PhD in ’96.
11:23
- Tony Allen – “Secret Agent”
from: Secret Agent / World Circuit Ltd. – BMG / Sept. 9, 2009 / remastered 2022
[Tony Oladipo Allen (20 July 1940 – 30 April 2020) was a Nigerian and French drummer, composer, and songwriter who lived and worked in Paris, France. Allen was the drummer and musical director of Fela Kuti’s band Africa ’70 from 1968 to 1979, and was one of the founders of the Afrobeat genre. Fela once stated that “without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat”. He was described by Brian Eno as “perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived”. // Later in life, Allen collaborated with Damon Albarn on several projects, including Gorillaz, the Good, the Bad & the Queen and Rocket Juice & the Moon.[5] Allen’s career and life were documented in his 2013 autobiography Tony Allen: Master Drummer of Afrobeat, co-written with Michael E. Veal, who previously wrote a comprehensive biography of Fela Kuti. // Tony Allen’s 2009 World Circuit debut, the raw and uncut Secret Agent, has all the ingredients that combine to make Afrobeat so special – fat, full-throated, hard-riffing horns; nagging tenor guitars; jazz- and funk-informed saxophone and trumpet workouts; effervescent chicken-shack keyboards; lyrics rich in folk metaphors and proverbs, some of which confront state corruption and oppression (Kuti’s most frequent targets); deep-soul call and response vocals; and, of course, energizing everything around it, Allen’s majestic drumming.]
- Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela – Robbers, Thugs & Muggers
from: Rejoice / World Circuit Ltd. – BMG / March 20, 2020
[The original sessions were recorded in London in 2010 by World Circuit’s Nick Gold, who was eager to document the first recorded meeting of the two African music legends when their touring schedules coincided. After Masekela’s death in 2018, additional tracks were recorded, again in London’s Livingston Studios, in summer 2019. The album was released on 20 March 2020. In addition to serving as the final studio album for Masekela, it also became Tony Allen’s final studio album before his death on April 30, 2020. The album contains eight tracks written by Allen and Masekela. // The track “Never (Lagos Never Gonna Be the Same)” is a tribute to Fela Kuti, through whom Allen and Masekela first met in the 1970s. // Rejoice was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 82, based on eight reviews, which indicates “universal acclaim”. Album of the Year assessed the critical consensus as 81 out of 100 based on four reviews. // In reviewing the album, Nigel Williamson for Uncut wrote: “Warm, uplifting and fizzing with both passion and virtuosity, Rejoice is not only a fitting last will and testament from Masekela, but a glorious affirmation of music at its most potent and universal.” Jazz Journal’s Bruce Lindsay commented: “Ten years in the making, Rejoice was worth the wait. It’s a celebratory, groove-laden, thoughtful, danceable, collection from two of the great figures in music.” Joel Campbell of The Voice wrote: “‘Rejoice’ can be seen as the long-overdue confluence of two mighty African musical rivers – a union of two free-flowing souls for whom borders, whether physical or stylistic, are things to pass through or ignore completely.” In his review for PopMatters, George De Stefano noted: “If you need something to get your socially isolated ass off the couch and up and shaking, Rejoice is the album. Even if you have to dance alone, some polyrhythmic pleasure during a pandemic is no little thing. With its deep grooves and virtuosic playing, the pairing of Allen and Masekela—overdue and sadly not to be repeated—Rejoice is a posthumous reminder of what Hugh Masekela at his best could deliver and of the now 80-year-old Allen’s amazing vitality.”]
- Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela-“Never(Legos Never Gonna Be The Same)
from: Rejoice / World Circuit Ltd. – BMG / March 20, 2020
11:37 – Interview with Rod Parks (Retro Inferno)
Today, we present special edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley as we bring you… “The Sound & Vision of Rod Parks.” Rod Parks is owner of Retro Inferno.
Rod Parks, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Rod resigned from teaching in 1998 and opened Retro Inferno in June 1998 at 1712 Main from 1998-2004 (having accumulated a warehouse full of stuff).
In March 2004, Retro Inferno moved to its current location at 1500 Grand Boulevard.
- Ceramic Dog & Marc Ribot – “Connection”
from: Connection / Knockwurst Records / July 14, 2023
[Ceramic Dog: Marc Ribot on guitars, tres, dobro, bass, vocals; Shahzad Ismaily on bass, electronics, vocals; Ches Smith on drums, percussion, electronics, vocals. // On their 5th studio album, Connection, Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog have pushed their long-brewing tension between traditional pop songcraft and avantgarde improvisational music to the breaking point, bridging their customary genre-agnostic approach with elements of glam boogie, minimalist disco, psychedelic boogaloo, garage-punk-against-the-machine agitprop, and so much more. Recorded at Figure 8 Recording in Brooklyn, NY and mixed by Ben Greenberg (Danny Elfman, Depeche Mode, Lamb of God) the album sees Ribot – whose prodigious, impossible-to-categorize body of work as bandleader and musician spans no wave and jazz, Brazilian and Cuban music, roots and avant-garde and protest songs (often at the same time) alongside legendary collaborations with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, The Lounge Lizards, John Zorn, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Caetano Veloso, and Laurie Anderson (to name but a few) – continuing to utilize Ceramic Dog as the vessel for his distinctive stream-of-consciousness songwriting, penning three out of the album’s four vocal tracks including the groove-infected “Ecstasy” (showcasing Anthony Coleman’s slinky Farfisa and longtime friend and associate Syd Straw behind the mic). From the anthemic manifesto “Soldiers in the Army of Love” to the unhinged ranting of “Heart Attack” and indescribable “No Name,” Ceramic Dog unleash a fury of complex time signatures, blues abstraction, and free-blowing energy to create their most unapologetically audacious collection thus far, their one-of-a-kind daring evidenced by the unlikely cover of Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz’s “That’s Entertainment,” written especially for the 1953 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film The Band Wagon but here, in Ribot and Co’s hands, deconstructs Hollywood cliches while simultaneously winking at both the post-punk and post-Cultural Revolution iterations of the Gang of Four. Fueled by what Ribot calls “several bolts of creative lightning,” Connections stands as a vibrant, odd, and in many ways definitive milestone in what is truly a singular creative journey for Marc Ribot and Ceramic Dog, its zeitgeist-busting sound and vision not only affirming their place in the musical universe but raising the stakes for whatever comes next. // Lyrics by Marc Ribot (Knockwurst Music, ASCAP). Music by Ceramic Dog (Knockwurst Music (ASCAP, Preposterous Bee (ASCAP), Wazir & Malika Music (BMI). Recorded at Figure 8 Recording, Brooklyn, NY by Vishal Nayak, Engineer. Mixed by Ben Greenberg at Circular Ruin, Brooklyn, NY. Mastering by Scott Hull at Masterdisk]
- Ceramic Dog & Marc Ribot – “Bertha the Cool”
from: Hope / Northern Spy Records / June 25, 2021
[Ceramic Dog: Marc Ribot on guitars, vocals; Shahzad Ismaily on bass, keyboards, backing vocals; Ches Smith on drums, percussion, electronics, vocals. / /When these recording sessions began in the last week of May 2020, I hadn’t left my house to go anywhere other than the grocery store in over two months. I hadn’t taken a cab or subway. I’d lost several friends to COVID-19, and was afraid I’d also lose more thanks to the non-response of our would-be dictator/“president”, whose deliberate embrace of untruth fed tens of thousands of lives to the pandemic, and also reduced what little hope was left for avoiding global warming catastrophe. // I hadn’t seen my partner since February (our plans to fly to each other’s countries shut down) and it would be July before we finally got together. Our difficulties were nothing compared with others. When me and fellow Ceramic Dogs Ches and Shahzad figured out a way to record, we entered the studio separately, sat in separate, isolated rooms from which we couldn’t see each other, communicating through mics and headphones. We were careful to wash our hands: one of us has respiratory issues, so fuck-ups could’ve been bad. We wound up with two record’s worth of material, some released on Bandcamp in October on the EP What I Did on My Long Vacation, and the majority of the music here on this full CD-length recording. // If/when people look back on these times, maybe they’ll seem unreal… foreign, alien: the way I, as a child in the 1960’s, looked at the faded footage of the 1930’s as impossibly ancient, even though the family members who had survived those newsreels sat next to me at breakfast. In fact, my 9 year old self was closer to the burning of the Reichstag than we are now to the release of Nevermind. // Anyway, when we went into the studio, I thought we’d come up with something that spoke to our times… a message in a bottle to our equally shipwrecked (imaginary) listeners. But once we started, it was so much fun to jam that we forgot the disasters outside. So instead, we “spoke” to each other. And to other times that we couldn’t yet see: like the day, 5 months later, when people all over Brooklyn would dance in the streets for joy. // t’s almost December now. Things are shutting down again, and I’m quarantined in Europe writing liner notes for a record that will be released in the new year–once more, speaking to another time… perhaps a future? // Mixed by Randall Dunn at Aleph Recording Company, Brooklyn, NY. Engineered by Shahzad Ismaily at Figure 8 Recordings, Brooklyn, NY. Mastering by Gregory Obis at Chicago Mastering Service. Creative Direction by Bryan Abdul Collins. Management: Mary Ho / Noise Inc.]
11:51 – Interview with Rod Parks
Today, we present special edition of Wednesday MidDay Medley as we bring you… “The Sound & Vision of Rod Parks.”
Rod Parks, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Retro Inferno is at 1500 Grand Boulevard, a few doors north of recordBar. http://www.retroinferno.com
For WMM, I’m Mark Manning. Thanks for listening!
11:54
- Marc Ribot & Tom Waits -“Bella Ciao”
from: Songs of Resistance / Noise Inc. – Anti / September 14, 2018
[Traditional/Italian Partisan; Arranged by Marc Ribot & Tom Waits; Translated by Marc Ribot
Marc Ribot on Banjo, Harmonica, Guitars; Tom Waits on Acoustic guitar. With Songs of Resistance 1948 – 2018, Ribot—one of the world’s most accomplished and acclaimed guitar players—set out to assemble a set of songs that spoke to this political moment with appropriate ambition, passion, and fury. The eleven songs on the record are drawn from the World War II anti-Fascist Italian partisans, the U.S. civil rights movement, and Mexican protest ballads, as well as original compositions, and feature a wide range of guest vocalists, including Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Meshell Ndegeocello, Justin Vivian Bond, Fay Victor, Sam Amidon, and Ohene Cornelius. Ribot began working on the project at the end of 2016, responding not just to the American elections, but to the political trends he was seeing around the world. “I am alarmed by Trump and the movement he’s part of,” he says. “I’ve spent a good chunk of my life running around the world on tour—I’m kind of an accidental internationalist—and I see that he’s not an isolated phenomenon. And if we don’t deal with what is going on, it is going to deal with us.” Ribot was born in Newark,NJ in 1954. As a teen, he played guitar in garage bands while studying with his mentor, Haitian classical guitarist and composer Frantz Casseus. He moved to New York City in 1978. He was a member of the soul/punk Realtones, and John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards. Ribot also worked with Brother Jack McDuff, Wilson Pickett, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Chuck Berry, and many others. Fay Victor was born July 26, 1965. She is an American musician, composer, lyricist and educator. Originally a singer in the traditional jazz field, she has been working in jazz, blues, opera, free improvising, avant-garde, modern classical music, and occasional acting since re-settling in New York in 2003. PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT: THE INDIVISIBLE PROJECT (501c4) http://www.indivisible.org ]
- Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]
Next week on Wednesday, February 14 we welcome Janice Woolery, who shares details about Her Art – Their Art, Friday, Feb 16, 2024, 5:00pm to 8:00pm at InterUrban ArtHouse, 8001 Newton St , Overland Park, KS. This exhibition will showcase the work of nearly 60 artists.
We will also talk with musicians David Luther & Kelly Dougherty about The Love Hangover, Thurs, Feb. 15, 2024 at 7:00pm at recordBar 1520 Grand Boulevard, KCMO with True Lions, Mouthstuff, Dan Jones & Matt Ronan, Marty Bush & Natalie Prauser.
AND…we talk with LGBTQ artist & singer-songwriter Buck Moon about his debut single “Indigo Night” that was just recently released on Jan. 25, 2024.
THANK YOU to our incredible KKFI Staff; Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers.
This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. Instead it is about a collective spirit of hundreds of hardworking people, unselfishly setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the gigantic goal of keeping our airwaves free, non-commercial, and open to all! Congratulations and thank you to all programmers & volunteers who went the extra effort to keep our station alive.
Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information.
Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org
Wednesday MidDay Medley in on the web:
http://www.kkfi.org,
http://www.WednesdayMidDayMedley.org,
http://www.facebook.com/WednesdayMidDayMedleyon90.1FM
Show #1032
Wednesday MidDay Medley 