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, November 6, 2013

Local & New Releases + Guest Producer Harris Wilder
+ Poet Bill Bauer + More Music from Lou Reed

1. Rooms Without Windows – “Rooms Without Windows”
from: Single Digital Release / Independent / October 17, 2013
[Elsa Rae – Vocals, Hanna Smith – Keys, Chris Brower – Drums, Chris Turner – Bass, and Corey Vitt – Guitar]

[Rooms Without Windows play 10-Year Anniversary of The Record Machine at the recordBar, Friday, November 8, with Little Legend, Sleepy Kitty, and Max Justus.] [RWW play The Riot Room, Nov. 25.]

2. Little Legend – “Nowhere Fast”
from: No Way To Tell / The Record Machine / July 2, 2013
[Madison based band formed by: Brandy J Tudor, Joseph Copeland, Daniel Jin and Robby Schiller. All songs written and produced by Little Legend. Recorded, Engineered, and Mixed by Brandy John Tudor in Madison, WI. Mastered by Paul Carabello.]

[Little Legend play 10-Year Anniversary of The Record Machine at the recordBar, Friday, November 8, with Rooms Without Windows, Sleepy Kitty, and Max Justus.]

3. Jesca Hoop – “Hospital”
from: The House That Jack Built / Bella Union / June 25, 2012
[From Wikipedia: Born in Santa Rosa, California, Jessica grew up singing hymns & folk tunes with her morman family in 4 part harmony. She began singing in the Santa Rosa Chamber Choir before breaking away from her Mormon background at the same time as her parents separating, becoming a homesteader in the wilderness areas of Northern California, Wyoming and tmountains of Arizona where Hoop worked with a rehab program for children. Hoop began writing music and worked as a nanny for the children of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan. Nic Harcourt at the Southern California radio station KCRW in 2003, featured her with a six-minute demo recorded on a four track recorder. Tom Waits described Hoop thus: “Her music is like going swimming in a lake at night.”]

[Jesca Hoop plays The Midland Saturday, November 9, with Iron and Wine.]

10:13 – Underwriting

10:14

4. The Caves – “Liars”
from: Secret Handshakes/Golden Sound Records+The Record Machine(12″ Split Release)/Apr. 21, 2012
[KC based: Andrew Ashby on Guitar & Voice, David Gaumé on Bass, Elizabeth Bohannon on Keyboards, Percussion & Voice, Jake Cardwell on Drums & Percussion.] [Golden Sound Records, 12″ vinyl split release with The Record Machine, that includes 6 tracks featuring Golden Sound Records artists and 6 tracks including The Record Machine artists, all designed especially for Record Store Day! 2012]

[Andrew Ashby of The Caves performs a solo acoustic set at Prospero’s Uptown Books, Friday, November 8, at 7:00 with The Sexy Accident.]

5. Alaturka – “Dar Hejiroke”
from: Yalniz / Tzigane / March 4, 2013
[From Alaturkamusic.com: “formed in 2009 with the vision of creating an equal “auditory handshake” between two musical cultures, American jazz and Turkish classical music. Founder and director Beau Bledsoe joined with three of KC’s most acclaimed jazz musicians, Rich Wheeler, Brandon Draper and Jeff Harshbarger, to form a quartet in which both cultures are treated with equal respect. The collaboration has resulted in an intriguing new sound that has garnered the ensemble multiple invitations to perform throughout the U.S. and abroad. In 2013, Alaturka’s second recording, “Yalniz” (Tzigane Music) received 4.5 stars in Downbeat Magazine.]

[Alaturka play The Lawrence Art Center, Thurs, Nov. 7, with the University of Kansas Jazz Ensemble]

6. John L. Keck – “Die With Me”
from: Jack Moon Sessions / Independent / , 2013
[Two years ago while John was visiting the famous Sun Studios in Memphis, TN where Presley, Cash, Howlin’ Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, and so many others have recorded John decided to produce a single at the legendary studio and a session being booked. He originally only booked 2 hours thinking that would be plenty of time to get several takes of “Die with Me”, his most recent song. 2 hours turned into 4, and 8 tracks were recorded with 3 takes of each song. This “live” album was brought back to KC and discussed with Brent Jamison & Chappy Felkins of Dreamwolfanimalbear Productions, with the intention of adding more instrumentation to it, to bring out a full band sound that John had planned for most of the songs. John’s friends Betse Ellis; Elaine McMillan; Megan Zander & Chris Taddy of Dream Wolf; Clint Hoffmeier of Ned Ludd and Vehicle; and Hume Man were asked to sit in on the Chappy Road sessions and create the sound John was hearing in his head.]

[John Keck plays CODA, Saturday, November 9, in a special album release show with Dream Wolf.]

10:30

7. Crosby, Stills, Nash – “Daylight Again”
from: Daylight Again / Atlantic / June 21, 1982
[From Wikipedia: “Daylight Again is a 1982 studio album by the band Crosby, Stills & Nash, their 4th of completely original material, and 7th in total. It peaked at #8 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, the final time the band has made the top ten to date. Three singles were released from the album, all making the Billboard Hot 100: “Wasted on the Way” peaked at #9, “Southern Cross” at #18, and “Too Much Love to Hide” at #69. The genesis of the album lies in recordings made by Stephen Stills and Graham Nash at intervals in 1980 and 1981, the album slated to be a Stills-Nash project. They employed Art Garfunkel, Timothy B. Schmit, and others to sing in place of where David Crosby might have been. Executives at Atlantic Records, however, had little interest in anything but CSN product from any member of the group, and held out for the presence of Crosby, forcing Nash and Stills to start paying for the sessions out-of-pocket. They began to turn toward the company’s point of view, however, and decided to invite Crosby to participate at the eleventh hour. He brought two of his own tracks to the album, “Delta,” where Stills and Nash squeezed their vocals into Crosby’s already-taped multi-tracked harmonies, and “Might As Well Have A Good Time,” which received the bona fide CSN treatment. Most of the recording, however, features other voices in addition to the main trio, a first for any CSNY record, as is the number of outside writers. The song “Daylight Again” evolved out of Stills’ guitar-picking to accompany on-stage stories regarding the south in the Civil War, seguing into “Find the Cost of Freedom,” which had been the b-side of the “Ohio” single in 1970.”]

10:30 – Interview with Bill Bauer

Poet Bill Bauer joined us to discuss the re-release of his book, “Last Lambs.” Bill Bauer will be reading at Johnson County Community College, as part of Veterans Week, on Thursday, November 7, at 7:00 pm, in the Hudson Auditorium in the Nerman Museum. The event, A Call to Words: Veterans & Why They Write, features two Vietnam-era veterans reading and discussing their poetry. Reception following at Café Tempo. Collaborating partners: BkMk Press of UMKC, New Letters on the Air, The Writers Place and ResVets.

Bill Bauer grew up in Kansas City, and he credits his mother who taught him to read when I was four years old as igniting his interest in words.

From BillBauerPoetry.com: “I have since been enchanted by the sounds of words and people’s voices. Most of all, I like to catch the sound of the voice at moments when the words are spoken by whim or chance, at random, spoken in moments of want, protest or surprise. I think this is where authenticity can be found.”

“Born into a lower middle class family in Kansas City, Missouri in 1944. I left home at seventeen to escape my father who was diagnosed later in life as manic-depressive. At the time, I thought he was just crazy and mean. I have since become convinced that mental illness is primarily biological in nature. I think my father did the best he could with what he was given.
I made it through college by hook and crook with the help of a half-time scholarship, 50 hours a week working nights as a copy boy and sometimes junior reporter at The Kansas City Star, and a work-study job at school. Then, as I began graduate school, a huge hand reached out of the sky and I awoke one morning against my will at a fire base in South Vietnam.”

“When I returned from the war, my academic career was gone, no longer in reach. The war was followed by a family tragedy; I became a single father and was forced to scrape for The Coin.”

10:37 – Poem Reading

From BillBauerPoetry.com: “Some old business friends are prone to ask, “Why waste your time writing poetry? No bestsellers there.” I have no rational explanation other than that’s what I do and have always done. As a boy, I also enjoyed sewing together pages cut from paper sacks and making books. One of my old high school friends asked another, “Doesn’t Bill know those stupid things are supposed to rhyme?” I have no answer for that. Some critics complain my poems read too much like prose. Others have called them vingnettes or very short stories. It makes little difference to me what they are called. My take on poems and other forms of fiction is that I remain open to accepting them in the form they are offered to me.”

“Poetry does not really need definition. It’s neither “Life distilled,” (Gwendolyn Brooks) nor “… the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings,” that takes “its origins from emotion recollected in tranquility.” (Wordsworth). Like its strange, not so reclusive neighbor, so-called “pornography,” we know a poem when we hear or see it. It defies definition and that’s what makes it attractive to me.”

“There is no such thing in my mind as a good poem or a bad poem, only finished and unfinished poems. I am particularly fond of one shot poets. They have real jobs. I find their poems to be much more meaningful than the “So what?” poems often found in literary journals. My favorite poem is the one I am reading at the moment. I do hold an unfair bias against poems with literary or artistic allusions or references to writing, erudition, other poets or one’s own precious moments.”

Bill Bauer will be reading at JCCC, as part of Veterans Week, on Thursday, November 7, at 7:00 pm, in the Hudson Auditorium in the Nerman Museum. The event, A Call to Words: Veterans & Why They Write, features two Vietnam-era veterans reading and discussing their poetry. Reception following at Café Tempo. Collaborating partners: BkMk Press of UMKC, New Letters on the Air, The Writers Place and ResVets. More info on Bill Bauer at http://www.billbauerpoetry.com

10:45

8. The Burdock King – “Coffee”
from: A Guide To Lake Driving / Independent / August 23, 2013
[Recorded in one day in August of 2013, with one take from the first song to the last with all of the raw scratches and cracks left in. The EP is a concept record about a day in which Justin fell off of a pond boat in Missouri. Justin Vacca – Guitar, Vocals; Analiese Motta – Drums; Dan Kavanaugh – Keys, Kazoo, Vocals and with help on the recording from Ahafia Jurkiewicz-Miles – Violin, Vocals; and Eman Chalshotori – Cello.]

[The Burdock King plays FOKL, 556 Central Avenue, KCK, Sunday, November 11, 8:00 PM, with Heyrocco, SeaKings, Sun Club]

9. David Bowie – “Queen Bitch”
from: Hunky Dory / RCA / December 17, 1971
[From Wikipedia: Bowie was a great Velvet Underground fan and wrote the song in tribute to the band and Lou Reed. He recorded a cover of “I’m Waiting for the Man” in 1967 (which remains unissued), as well as live versions on Bowie at the Beeb and the radio-recording of the live at Nassau Coliseum concert that follow “Queen Bitch”. It starts with Bowie counting down to his acoustic guitar before Mick Ronson’s thrashy guitar riff enters. The song’s arrangement, featuring a melodic bass line, a tight drum pattern, choppy distorted guitar chords, and an understated vocal performance by Bowie, provided the template for the glam rock style which features prominently on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, his seminal 1972 follow-up to Hunky Dory. While the main riff is similar to The Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane”, it is actually lifted from Eddie Cochran’s “Three Steps to Heaven”.]

10. Lou Reed – “Satellite of Love”
from: Transformer / RCA / Nov. 8, 1972
[A Lou Reed song from his 1972 second solo album Transformer. It was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson. From Wikipedia: “One of Lou Reed’s best-known songs from his solo career. It is the 2nd single from Transformer. The song is about a man who observes a satellite launch on television and contemplates what Reed describes as feelings of “the worst kind of jealousy” about his unfaithful girlfriend. David Bowie, who produced the album, can be heard providing background vocals, especially at the final chorus. Reed would write later: “He has a melodic sense that’s just well above anyone else in rock & roll. Most people could not sing some of his melodies. He can really go for a high note. Take ‘Satellite of Love,’ on my Transformer album. There’s a part at the very end where his voice goes all the way up. It’s fabulous.” Often considered a Reed solo song, it was originally recorded by The Velvet Underground. The band played the song at concerts and recorded it during the 1970 sessions for their album Loaded, though like many of the songs recorded during those sessions, it does not appear on the album. The existence of the VU version was largely unknown and even forgotten by the band members themselves until the release of the box set Peel Slowly and See in 1995. It also appears on the 1997 Rhino Records 2-CD version of the Loaded album.]

Lou Reed was co-founder of The Velvet Underground, and he had an extensive solo career. Lou Reed died on Sunday, October 27, at the age of 71.

11. The Velvet Underground – “I’m Sticking With You”
from: Fully Loaded (2-CD reissue of Loaded) / Rhino Records / February 18, 1997
[On February 18, 1997, Rhino Records released a “Fully Loaded” two-CD reissue of Loaded, which contained numerous alternate takes, alternate mixes and demo versions of Loaded songs and outtakes. Two of these include performances by Maureen Tucker (“I’m Sticking with You” demo, vocals; “I Found a Reason” demo, drums) and there is also a cameo appearance by original band member John Cale (“Ocean” demo, organ). “Loaded” was the 4th album by the Velvet Underground, released in November 1970, by Atlantic Records’ Cotillion. It was the final album recorded featuring Lou Reed, who had left the band shortly before its release. Lou Reed – vocals, guitar, piano; Doug Yule – keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, drums, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Who Loves the Sun”, “New Age”, “Lonesome Cowboy Bill”, and “Oh! Sweet Nuthin'”; Sterling Morrison – guitar; (Maureen Tucker – drums: credited, but does not appear due to maternity leave. She does appear singing on the outtake “I’m Sticking With You”, and playing drums on the demo of “I Found a Reason” on the Fully Loaded Edition). Additional musicians: Adrian Barber – drums on “Who Loves the Sun” and “Sweet Jane”; Tommy Castanero – drums on “Cool It Down” and “Head Held High”; and Billy Yule – drums on “Lonesome Cowboy Bill” and “Oh! Sweet Nuthin'”]

11:00 – Station ID

11:00 – Harris Wilder – “Guest Producer”

Harris Wilder began his career in the music business as a singer playing local gigs and high school dances in New Jersey. He made his first recording at 17, and at 18 he joined the band: Wind in the Willows, with future Blondie star Debbie Harry. The Wind in the Willows made one album for Capitol Records and opened for the bands: Traffic, Vanilla Fudge, Spooky Tooth which later became Foreigner, Soft White Underbelly which later became Blue Oyster Cult and many others. During his college years he toured playing clubs and colleges throughout New England and notably as opening act for The Velvet Underground and the J. Geils Band. After graduating from college he appeared at numerous clubs in New York including the legendary Trude Heller’s. Along with Bette Midler, Melissa Manchester, Nick Ashford and Paul Simon, he studied voice with the great David Sorin Collyer. After producing his first solo demo, he was signed by Private Stock Records with production by Grammy winner Tony Camillo (“Midnight Train to Georgia”). Those sessions included Elliot Randall, one of the mainstays on the early Steely Dan recordings.

After finishing law school in New York, Harris stopped singing, lost his mind and moved to Kansas City. In 1985, he formed Kahn-Wilder Management and helped steer the great reggae band Blue Riddm to a Grammy nomination. Over the following years, he has represented various musical groups and organizations and is currently general counsel for the Mutual Musicians Foundation, Maria the Mexican and others. In 2013 he got back into the music business as one of the co-founders of Tom’s Town Media, LLC, concentrating on concert promotion, record production and music publishing.

12. Wilson Picket – “She’s Lookin’ Good”
from: The Very Best of Wilson Pickett / Atlantic Recording Group / April 13, 1993
[Originally a 1968 Single from Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American R&B, soul and rock and roll singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which hit the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100. Among his best known hits are “In the Midnight Hour” (which he co-wrote), “Land of 1,000 Dances”, “Mustang Sally”, and “Funky Broadway”. The impact of Pickett’s songwriting and recording led to his 1991 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ]

13. Mitch Ryder – “Rock N Roll”
from: The Best of Mitch Ryder / TUTM Entertainment / April 26, 2005
[Originally released as a single in 1972. William S. Levise, Jr (born 26 February 1945), known better by his stage name Mitch Ryder, is an American musician who has recorded more than two dozen albums during more than four decades. On February 14, 2012 Ryder released The Promise, his first US release in almost 30 years. Ryder currently resides in South Lyon, Michigan, a western suburb of Detroit, Michigan. He continues to tour and perform in the United States and Europe.]

11:17

14. Ray Charles – “Night Time Is the Right Time (Live At Newport Jazz)”
from: Pure Genius: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1952-1959) [Remastered] / Atlantic Recording Group / September 20, 2005
[Ray Charles originally recorded his version, titled “(Night Time Is) The Right Time”, in October 1958. From Wikipedia: “Blues pianist Roosevelt Sykes (listed as “The Honey Dripper”) recorded “Night Time Is the Right Time” in 1937 (Decca 7324). Called “one of his ‘hits’ of the day”, it is a moderate-tempo twelve-bar blues that features Sykes on vocal and piano. It has been suggested that it was “drawn from the old vaudeville tradition”. In 1938, Big Bill Broonzy recorded the song with slightly different (and more suggestive) lyrics (Vocalion 4149). The same year, Roosevelt Sykes recorded a second version titled “Night Time Is the Right Time #2” (Decca 7438), also with slightly different lyrics. These earliest recordings of “Night Time Is the Right Time” are credited to Roosevelt Sykes and Leroy Carr. Although Carr died in 1935 without any known recordings of the song, “Night Time Is The Right Time” bears considerable similarity to Carr’s “When The Sun Goes Down”. The latter was phenomenally popular song at this time, having been covered by the Ink Spots and also serving as a model for “Love In Vain” by Robert Johnson. In 1957, Nappy Brown recorded the song as “The Right Time” (Savoy 1525). Called “a highlight of Brown’s early career”, his version features additional lyrics with background singers answering his vocal lines. Instrumental accompaniment is provided by Buster Cooper (trombone), Hilton Jefferson (alto sax), Budd Johnson (tenor sax), Kelly Owens (piano), Skeeter Best (guitar), Leonard Gaskin (bass), and Bobby Donaldson (drums). Brown’s version did not reach the national record charts, but was “borrowed by Ray Charles in short order”According to Brown, “The difference between me and Ray Charles’s ‘Night Time Is the Right Time’ … is he had it up-tempo with Mary Ann and them behind him—the ladies [Charles’ female backup singers, the Raelettes]. I had mine in a slow tempo with a gospel group behind me. That was my gospel group. But he got everything just like mine, note for note”. Margie Hendricks with Charles’ backup singers the Raelettes provided the accompaniment to Charles vocals. The song became a hit in 1959, when it reached number five in the Billboard R&B chart and number 95 in the pop chart. The song is included on the albums Ray Charles at Newport and The Genius Sings the Blues.”]

15. Moby Grape – “Hey Grandma”
from: Listen My Friends! The Best Of Moby Grape / Sony / May 10, 2007
[Originally released as a Columbia Records Single in 1967 from the band’s debut record Moby Grape. San Francisco based band made up of: Skip Spence, Jerry Miller, Bob Mosley, Peter Lewis, Don Stevenson.]

16. Howard Tate – “Get It While You Can”
from: Get It While You Can – The Complete Legendary Verve Sessions / UMG / April 30, 2004
[Originally release on his 1966 album “get It While You.” Howard Tate (August 13, 1939 – December 2, 2011) was an American soul singer and songwriter. His greatest success came with a string of hit singles in the late 1960s, including “Ain’t Nobody Home” and “Get It While You Can,” the latter of which became a hit for singer Janis Joplin. After struggling with drug addiction and falling out of the music business, Tate mounted a warmly-received comeback in 2001.]

11:28 – Underwriting

11:30

17. David Ruffin – “My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)”
from: The Ultimate Collection: David Ruffin / UMG / September 22, 1998
[Originally released in early 1969, on Motown Records by Davis Eli “David” Ruffin (January 18, 1941 – June 1, 1991) most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations from 1964 to 1968 (or the group’s “Classic Five” period as it was later known). It is the solo debut single for singer David Ruffin, The song was written by Harvey Fuqua, Johnny Bristol, Pam Sawyer, and James Roach, with its melody and intro based upon the classical music piece “Frühlingslied” by Felix Mendelssohn. Fuqua and Bristol handled the recording’s production. Ruffin had been dismissed from the Temptations in June 1968 for what has been repeatedly deemed increasingly unprofessional behavior. The song was originally intended to be sung by the Temptations when Ruffin was still the group’s front man, but when he finally agreed to a solo contract with Motown, the song was given to him. He was the lead voice on such famous songs as “My Girl” and “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” Known for his unique raspy and anguished tenor vocals, Ruffin was ranked as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2008. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 for his work with the Temptations. Fellow Motown recording artist Marvin Gaye once said admiringly of Ruffin that, “I heard [in his voice] a strength my own voice lacked.”]

18. Al Green & Annie Lennox – “Put a Little Love in Your Heart”
from: Testify: The Best of the A&M Years / A&M Records / September 25, 2001
[Originally released in 1988 as the ending theme song to the 1988 film “Scrooged.” The song reached #9 in the USA on the Hot 100 in January 1989 and climbed all the way to #2 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, as well as becoming a top 40 hit in several countries worldwide.]

11:42

19. Ray Charles – “Tell The Truth”
from: The Great Hits of Ray Charles / Atlantic Recording Group / 2005 (orig. 1964)
[Originally a 1968 Single on ABC Records, release just before Georgia On My Mind.]

20. Laura Nyro – “Save The Country”
from: New York Tendaberry / Columbia / 1968
[Released 18 months after, Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. Considered by rock critics and to be her greatest musical achievement. Born Oct. 18, 1947 – and died April 8, 1997. Laura Nyro was a hybrid of Brill Building-style NYC pop, jazz, gospel, R&B, show tunes, rock and soul. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.]

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

Sources for notes on tracks and interview segments come from: artist’s websites and wikipedia.org and where noted.

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Show #498