#539 – August 20, 2014 Playlist

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, August 20, 2014

Guest DJ – Daisy Buckët aka Spencer Brown
+ Dustin Rapier + Spinning Tree Theatre

1. Sleepy Kitty – “What Are You Gonna Do When You Find Bigfoot?
from: Projection Room / Euclid Records / January 14, 2014
[From Chicago and St. Louis. Paige Brubeck on vocals/guitar/keys, and Evan Sult on drums/vocals/tapes. More info at: sleepykittymusic.com]

[Sleepy Kitty play Lawrence on Saturday, August 23, at Replay Lounge for the Shy Boys 7″ release party with Rev Gusto; and Sunday, August 24, they’re back at The Riot Room for the first time since Middle of the Map Fest, with Abandon Kansas, Scientist, and Bears and Company.]

2. Josh Berwanger – “Time Traveler”
from: Strange Stains / Good Land Records / October 1, 2013
[From Berwangermusic.com: “Josh Berwanger could easily be considered a veteran of the rock and roll wars. He first made a name for himself as a member of The Anniversary, a seminal Kansas band that released two glorious albums (2000’s Designing a Nervous Breakdown and 2002’s Your Majesty) and selling over 100,000 records before imploding in a breakup of Fleetwood Mac-style proportions while attempting to tour Japan. Undeterred, Berwanger put together a new band—a country-rock outfit called The Only Children–and would go on to release two criminally underrated records (2004’s Change of Living and 2007’s Keeper of Youth) before pulling the plug on that project and taking a job doing the next most logical thing possible– coaching high school basketball in Lawrence, Kansas. For the recording of Strange Stains, Berwanger joined forces with old pal (and original drummer for The Anniversary) Michael Hutcherson, who brought not only brought the rhythm to the record, but a wonderful familiarity as well. “Josh and I met in 1996 while playing in local Kansas City pop punk bands,” recalls Hutcherson, “I am honored to be making music with Josh again. For all that’s changed in our lives over the years, we’ve still got a symbiotic musical relationship. No questions, no egos, just rock and roll. The new also features additional playing from The Breeders’ Jim Macpherson.”]

[The Josh Berwanger Band play The Bottleneck in Lawrence, this Saturday, August 23, with Major Games, and Honey Bears.]

3. Phil Neal & The Wornalls – “Out Of Touch”
from: Lifeline / Delaware Street Records / May 24, 2014
[Veteran singer songwriter, and rock and roller, Phil Neal’s early eighties band, The Artists, had a video in rotation on MTV, critical acclaim, and national management. When the band fell apart, Phil continued on, writing songs, and playing for over three decades, with several different bands, all while raising a family, and making a home, here in Kansas City. The songwriter has written dozens, of what he calls “Midwestern Rock” numbers. The Wornalls are the band Phil wanted, to bring his songs to life. Doug Gunn on drums, Danko Loftus on bass, Gary Paredes on guitar, Ben Eisiminger on keyboard, and Bruce Sidener on guitar, they are more than a band to Phil, they’re old friends.]

[Phil Neal & The Wornalls play Crossroads KC behind Grinders, this Saturday, August 23, with The Rainmakers]

4. Jon Dee Graham – “Just Like That”
from: Garage Sale! / Freedom Records / June 26, 2012
[Jon Dee Graham is a musician, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas. He was born February 28, 1959. Graham was named the Austin Musician of the Year during the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference in 2006. He was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame three times: as a solo artist in 2000, again in 2008 as a member of The Skunks, and again in 2009 as a member of the True Believers.] [Jon Dee Graham played the Folk Alliance International with a special set with his 13 year old son William.]

[Jon Dee Graham & Band with special guest Chris Meck and the Guilty Birds play the Living Room at Knuckleheads, this Friday, August 22.]

10:15 – Interview with Robert Gibby Brand

Kansas City based, professional actor, Robert Gibby Brand, has a long and distinguished resume. He has performed with the Kansas City Lyric Opera, Quality Hill Playhouse, Actors’ Theatre of Kansas City, the New Theatre, the Unicorn Theater, Bach Aria Soloists, The Kansas City Public Library, The Kansas City Rep, and he has been a frequent actor with the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival. He joins us today to talk about Spinning Tree Theatre’s KC Premiere of “Ghost-Writer,” playing August 22 through September 7, at Quality Hill Playhouse, starring Robert Gibby Brand, Katie Kalahurka, and Jeannie Blau, directed by Michael Grayman.

Robert Gibby Brand has worked on stage at Quality Hill Playhouse, but this is his first show with Spinning Tree Theatre, and this is Spinning Tree Theatre’s first show at Quality Hill Playhouse, which seems like a good fit for this show.

Ghost-Writer is a new play written by Michael Hollinger that takes place in 1919

Robert Gibby Brand plays the novelist Franklin Woolsey who dies mid-sentence.

Katie Kalahurka plays Myra Babbage, devoted typist of two decades to the novelist who sits at her typewriter taking dictation from beyond. Woolsey is still with her.

and Jeannie Blau, plays Vivian Woolsey, widow of Franklin, not very pleased about Myra’s claiming to still hear Franklin Woolsey’s voice. She worries this woman may exploit her dead husband’s name or damage his literary standing with whatever she completes.

Ghost-Writer is loosely based on Theodora Bosanquet, who was secretary to Henry James from 1907 until his death in 1916. She went on to write her own literary histories after that, but certainly not in the voice of her former employer.

Directed by Michael Grayman.
Set Design by Laura Burkhart

Running time: 85 minutes, no intermission.

Brand resides in KC with his wife, director, Linda Ade Brand, and daughter, Julia.

Spinning Tree Theatre’s KC Premiere of “Ghost-Writer,” plays August 22 – September 7, at Quality Hill Playhouse, starring Robert Gibby Brand, Katie Kalahurka, and Jeannie Blau, directed by Michael Grayman.

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

10:28 – Underwriting

10:30

5. Dustin Rapier – “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”
from: Spectrum / Fly Penguin Records / June 22, 2014

10:34 – Interview with Dustin Rapier

Dustin Rapier was born into a musical family in Northwest Arkansas. His debut album “Songs About No One” was released July 23, 2012. The album began in a college dorm room at a small private college. After trying a few things using school recording equipment, Dustin fell in love with the recording process. He eventually created Fly Penguin Records. Now in Kansas City, Dustin played a midwest album release tour for his latest release, as well as steady gigs at Californos, The Point, Kill Devil Club, restaurants, piano lounges, and bars all over the Midwest, where Dustin on piano plays everyone from Earth Wind & Fire, to Lana Del Rey, and the Jackson 5. Dustin’s latest shows feature live looping and sampling to craft a mesmerizing, “something from nothing” performance. Dustin released his second full-length album, “Spectrum” in June.

“Spectrum” is the true story of Dustin’s journey from a place of loneliness, self-doubt and despair in an unfamiliar city to a place of happiness, self-affirmation and fulfillment. The first single released from the album, “One More Chance” offers a snapshot of this journey, chronicling Dustin’s victory over a near suicide attempt in fall of 2013. “Spectrum” is a message of hope; that for every stormy season, there is light on the other side. That each of us has a purpose, even though it may not always be clear; that you matter simply because you exist.

10:38

6. Dustin Rapier – “Stay” (LIVE)
also available on: Spectrum / Fly Penguin Records / June 22, 2014

From wikipedia: A spectrum (plural spectra or spectrums) is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary infinitely within a continuum. The word was first used scientifically within the field of optics to describe the rainbow of colors in visible light when separated using a prism. As scientific understanding of light advanced, it came to apply to the entire electromagnetic spectrum.

10:49

7. Dustin Rapier – “Brand New” (LIVE)
also available on:Spectrum / Fly Penguin Records / June 22, 2014

Dustin’s sound is soulful piano ballads, upbeat a cappella songs, raw, singer-songwriter acoustic guitar tunes, and catchy electronic dance tracks, all produced in-house by Dustin Rapier himself.

Dustin is featured in The Vital Voice Magazine’s 2014 entertainment issue.

Dustin Rapier’s new release, Spectrum and his first album Songs About No One are available at iTunes. More info at: http://www.dustinrapier.com

10:55 – Interview with Marion Merritt

Money Wolf Music & Records with Merritt present:
Recording a Record in a Record Store
Saturday, August 23, at 5:30pm

Records with Merritt 1614 Westport Rd, KCMO

Records with Merritt is celebrating the end of their first summer in business and asked Money Wolf Music to lend a hand. Seven KC songwriters will make an appearance. The entire thing will be recorded and released on a super limited edition record – available only at the show, and with a few left over to purchase in their shop. It’s the only place to get it. So don’t miss out.

The Performers:

Nathan Corsi of Not A Planet
Cameron Joel Hawk of The Dead Girls
Tommy Donoho
Folkicide Mercury
Dead Ven
Justin Penney

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

11:00 – Station ID

11:00 – Guest DJ – Daisy Buckët aka Spencer Brown

8. Erma Franklin – “Piece of My Heart”
from: Piece of Her Heart The Epic and Shout Years / Sony / February 18, 2011
[Erma Vernice Franklin (March 13, 1938 – September 7, 2002) was the elder sister of Aretha Franklin. Known for recording the original version of “Piece of My Heart”, written & produced by Bert Berns, and recorded in 1967, for which she was nominated for a Grammy Award. The better-known cover version was recorded the following year by Big Brother and the Holding Company, with the lead vocal by Janis Joplin.]

11:03

After graduating from Shawnee Mission North, Spencer Brown, moved to New York City where he studied Musical Theatre, Voice, Dance, and Acting at American Musical & Dramatic Academy. A professional actor, singer, spokesmodel, super hero, Spencer has appeared on stage at The Unicorn Theatre, Late Night Theatre, The KC Fringe, Union Station, The Folly Theatre, Off Center Theatre, Broadway Jazz Club, and for the past six years Spencer has toured nationally and internationally and recorded several albums and single recordings as a member of The Kinsey Sicks, America’s Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet where Spencer plays Trampolina. The Kinsey Sicks will be making their much anticipated return to the Folly Theater on Sunday, December 20, with their hilarious show “Oy Vey in a Manger.” More info at http://www.follytheatre.org

This month celebrates eight years since Spencer Brown first premiered his alter ego Daisy Buckët at Bar Natasha. Since then Daisy Buckët has help usher in a new generation of drag in Kansas City. Last year Daisy Buckët was voted Kansas City’s Best Drag Performer of 2013 by the Pitch. You can see Daisy each week at Hamburger Mary’s hosting brunch on Sundays, charity bingo on Wednesdays, and evening shows on Saturdays. On Fridays Daisy co-hosts shows at Missie B’s with Anna Full-Access played by Ron Megee.

Daisy Buckët will be returning to the Broadway Jazz Club, 3601 Broadway, Thursday, August 21, 6 to 10:00 pm, backed by the Michael Pagán Trio – Michael Pagan (puh-gone) on piano, Steve Rigazzi (rih-got-sea) on bass, & Keith Mallory on drums, singing jazz & standards from the Great American Songbook. More info at http://www.broadwayjazzclub.com

11:06

8. Caro Emerald – “Dr. Wanna Do”
from: Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor / Grandmono / January 29, 2010
[Born 26 April 1981, Caro Emerald, is a Dutch pop and jazz singer. Her debut album Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor set a new all-time Dutch chart record on August 20, 2010, spending its 30th week at #1 on the country’s albums chart, beating the previous record set by Michael Jackson’s Thriller by one week. The album became the biggest selling album of 2010 in the Netherlands and has sold over 300,000 copies so far. In total more than a million copies have been sold. On 3 October 2010, Van der Leeuw was awarded the Dutch music prize “Edison Award” for Best Female Artis]

11:14

9. Liza Minelli – “Come Rain of Come Shine”
from: 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Liza Minnelli / Interscope – Geffen / April 3, 2001
[Born March 12, 1946 she is the daughter of singer & actress Judy Garland & film director Vincente Minnelli. Liza Minnelli has won a total of 4 Tony Awards, including a Special Tony Award. She has also won an Oscar, an Emmy Award, 2 Golden Globes & a Grammy Legend Award for her contributions & influence in the recording field, along with many other honors & awards. She is among the few who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, & Tony Award. In 2000, Minnelli was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.]

11:17

10. Dusty Springfield – “I’ll Try Anything (Single)”
from: The Look of Love / Phillips Records / December 1967
[Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien born April 16, 1939 , she died March 2, 1999. Known professionally as Dusty Springfield, she was an English pop singer and record producer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s. With her distinctive sensual sound, she was an important blue-eyed soul singer and at her peak was one of the most successful British female performers, with six top 20 singles on the United States Billboard Hot 100 and sixteen on the United Kingdom Singles Chart from 1963 to 1989. She is a member of both the US Rock and Roll and UK Music Halls of Fame. International polls have named Springfield among the best female rock artists of all time. Her image, supported by a peroxide blonde bouffant hairstyle, evening gowns, and heavy make-up, made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties]

11:23

11. Carol Burnett – “Nobody”
from: Let Me Entertain You – Carol Burnett Sings / Universal Classics / August 29, 2000
[Fresh off her 1959 Broadway hit Once upon a Mattress, Carol Burnett recorded two solo albums, in 1960 and 1963, paired on this 64-minute CD. Carol Burnett Remembers How They Stopped the Show collects such standards as “Johnny One Note” and “The Trolley Song,” while Let Me Entertain You features 12 songs by Jule Styne, ranging from the obvious “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” and “Just in Time” to less familiar fare from 1953’s Hazel Flagg. Also included is “All I Need Is the Boy” with gender-switched wording by original lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Burnett sounds great accompanied by full orchestras under the direction of Irwin Kostal and Harry Zimmerman, showing off the charm and big voice that helped her become a leading television personality in the late 1960s and 1970s. She returned to Broadway in the ’90s with Moon Over Broadway and Sondheim’s Putting It Together. –David Horiuchi]

11:29 – Underwriting

11:31

12. Bette Midler – “Heaven Can Wait (Demo)”
from: Early 1970s Demo – Not released
[Produced by Mike Camen, written by Jim Steinman. Early 1970’s music demos of song selections from the musical The Dream Engine; considered by the New York Shakespeare Festival but not produced. Unearthed by Bellminer from the New York Public Library in 2011.]

11:34

13. Wanda Jackson – “Dust On The Bible”
from: The Party Ain’t Over Yet / Third Man Records / Jan. 21, 2011
[Wanda Lavonne Jackson was born October 20, 1937. She is an American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist who had success in the mid-1950s and 60s as one of the first popular female rockabilly singers and a pioneering rock and roll artist. She is known to many as the First Lady of Rockabilly. She has been releasing albums since 1958. This year at age 74, she released her 33rd album, produced by Jack White.]

[Wanda Jackson, Loretta Lynn, and Nikki Lane will come to Kansas City to doa show at the Uptown Theatre, November 22, at 6:30 pm. Tickets will be available starting Friday, August 22, at 10:00 am.]

11:37

14. Emily Skinner – “The Alto’s Lament”
from: Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley – Unsuspecting Hearts / Varese Sarabande / Oct. 26, 1999
[Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley follow up their successful 1998 collaboration Duets with Unsuspecting Hearts. As in the previous album, the talented duo sings female duets from Broadway shows old and new, familiar and unfamiliar. In addition, each singer gets three solos, most notably Skinner’s amusing take on the woes of singing middle parts in Heisler and Goldrich’s “The Alto’s Lament”; Ripley’s “Losing Track of Time,” from a musical based on Summer of ’42; and Ripley’s “She’s Gone,” a number cut from Side Show, the 1997 production in which these two first made their name together by playing Siamese twins. Also adding some variety are a couple of duets originally written for men, Sweeney Todd’s “Pretty Women” and Martin Guerre’s “Live with Somebody You Love.” The title track is a previously unrecorded song from Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford’s 1988 show Carrie. Those who enjoy Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley should also try the cabaret collaboration of real-life sisters Ann Hampton Callaway and Liz Callaway, Sibling Revelry. –David Horiuchi]

11:43

15. Big Brother & The Holding Company & Janis Joplin – “Call On Me (Alternate Take)”
from: Big Brother & The Holding Company (feat. Janis Joplin) / Independent / July 8, 2014
[The debut album from Big Brother and the Holding Company and the studio debut of Janis Joplin. It was originally released in the summer of 1967, following the band’s major success at the Monterey Pop Festival. The album was a minor success, peaking at #60[1] and almost producing a top forty hit with the song “Down on Me”. A year after its initial release, Big Brother would release their second album Cheap Thrills which went on to become a massive hit. “The Last Time” and “Coo Coo” do not appear on the original Mainstream release, only available on a 45 rpm single; they were added when Columbia Records reissued the album]

11:46

16. Lea Delaria – “I Can Cook Too”
from: My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies / Sh-K-Boom / June 15, 2005
[Born May 23, 1958. Comedian, actress, and jazz musician. The “famously controversial” DeLaria was “the first openly gay comic to break the late-night talk-show barrier” with her 1993 appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show.Currently starring the Netflix original Orange Is The New Black. A live concert at Carnegie Hall filmed in September 1998, My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies gathers a glittering lineup of Broadway’s best, past and present. Some marquee names such as Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, and Betty Buckley are conspicuously missing, and Julie Andrews hosts but does not sing, but it still has Liza and stars aplenty from the ’90s (Bebe Neuwirth, Faith Prince) as well as the ’70s and ’80s (Elaine Stritch, Jennifer Holliday, Nell Carter). The older stars sing songs from landmark original roles, while the ’90s stars tend to sing either songs they’ve performed in revivals or songs from older shows–curiously, modern headliners such as Audra McDonald and Linda Eder sing older material rather than the contemporary shows (Ragtime, Jekyll & Hyde, respectively, among others) with which they are strongly associated.]

11:52

17. The Kinsey Sicks – “Surprise Yourself”
from: Surprise Yourself – Single / The Kinsey Sicks / April 9, 2014
[The Kinsey Sicks were formed in 1993, by original members: Ben Schatz (“Rachel”) is a Harvard-trained civil rights lawyer, former Director of the national Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, and one-time presidential advisor on HIV issues, who created the first national AIDS legal project and authored Clinton’s HIV policy during the 1992 presidential campaign, and Irwin Keller (“Winnie”) is a University of Chicago-trained lawyer and linguist and former director of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel of the San Francisco Bay Area, who authored Chicago’s gay rights ordinance, passed into law in 1989. In 2004, the Kinsey Sicks were joined by actor/singer/designer Jeff Manabat, who is responsible for Trixie’s inordinate glamour and soaring counter-tenor, as well as the entire group’s hot couture. Beginning in October of 2008, the Kinsey Sicks are joined by the hilarious and talented Spencer Brown (“Trampolina”), a Kansas City-based actor and singer, already known for his drag character Daisy Buckët (pronounced, of course, “bouquet”).]

[The Kinsey Sicks will be making their much anticipated return to the Folly Theater on Sunday, December 20, with their hilarious show “Oy Vey in a Manger.” More info at http://www.follytheatre.org]

11:55

18. Scott Bradlee & Postmodern Jukebox – “Call Me Maybe”
from: Twist is the New Twerk / Imudhut digital / January 31, 2014
[The Postmodern Jukebox is a project of Scott Bradlee pianist, composer, writer. Scott began to work more seriously on forming Postmodern Jukebox in 2013, with a rotating group of musicians producing covers of pop songs in the styles of jazz, ragtime, and swing. The group broke out onto the public radar with their doo-wop cover of Miley Cyrus’s “We Can’t Stop”. Several artists have publicly noted their appreciation for the group’s work. As the viral surge grew, Bradlee was interviewed by news outlets such as NPR and also performed live on Good Morning America and Fuse. The group capped off their meteoric year with a visit to Cosmopolitan Magazine’s New York office for a year end review of their work and popular songs.]

Daisy Buckët will be returning to the Broadway Jazz Club, 3601 Broadway, Thursday, August 21, 6 to 10:00 pm, backed by the Michael Pagán Trio – Michael Pagan (puh-gone) on piano, Steve Rigazzi (rih-got-sea) on bass, & Keith Mallory on drums, singing jazz & standards from the Great American Songbook. More info at http://www.broadwayjazzclub.com

11:59:30

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

Sources for notes on tracks: artist’s websites and wikipedia.org

Next week on Wednesday, August 27 Bill Sundahl and Nathan Reusch join us to feature music from the 10th Annual Crossroads Music Fest.

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

Show #539

Advertisement

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s