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, October 14, 2020

Songs of Freedom, Protest & Action for 2020 + Marion Merritt + Betse Ellis + Calvin Arsenia + Mike McCoy

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to All That Jazz / 1980
   [WMM’s theme song]

2. The Jinxed – “World On Fire”
   from: World On Fire – Single / The Jinxed / May 8, 2020
   [The Jinxed is Bobby Topaz on vocals & guitar & Jon Ulasien on drums, guitar, bass, vocals, piano, synth. Lyrics, production, tracked and engineered by Jon Ulasien. Bobby Topaz is also in Hot Suede and Bad Wheels, and was in the Abracadabras. Jon Ulasien is in Shadow Rabbits and was part of Antennas Up. The Jinxed released their debut single “The Loon” with “Say To Me” in 2013 on Sharp County Records. Bobby Topaz told Michelle Bacon on The Bridge 90.9 website: “We originally started because Jonny wanted me to sing on ‘The Loon,’ and I had a song too. Then, we kinda moved on from it, but never forgot about it,” Topaz said. “Since we’re not able to play live anymore, it seemed like a good time to put this out. We figured, why not? We’ve got the time to do it right.” “The song itself had the good fortune of timing,” Topaz said. Jon wrote the lyrics about feeling adrift, but being grateful to have someone to lean on. I had no idea what was to come, but I feel like that sentiment of being lost and scared is very relatable to people right now.”]

10:05 – Pledge Break #1

But we interrupt regular programming with a short break to encourage our listeners to donate their financial support to 90.1 FM KKFI. Here to help me are my friends…

Betse Ellis is originally from Fayetteville, Arkansas. She received her Bachelors of Arts in Music and a Bachelors of Arts in English, from the University of Missouri – Kansas City. She has been playing the Violin for over 40 years, with over 20 years playing fiddle and also working as a teacher of music. Betse was one of the founding members of the critically acclaimed and internationally known band, The Wilders. Betse has released two solo records, is part of the 5-piece band Short Round Stringband, and for the last several years is recording and performing with her partner, multi-instrumentalist Clarke Wyatt, as Betse & Clarke. This year they released their latest 8-song release, Winter.

Betse Ellis, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Marion Merritt is our most frequent contributor to WMM, She grew up in Los Angeles, and St. Louis. She went to college in Columbia, Missouri. She studied art and musical engineering, and is a avid lover of classic films and punk rock music. She saw Talking Heads on their first U.S. tour when they played One Block West in 1978. For 16 years she has been sharing her musical discoveries and information from her musically-encyclopedic brain on Wednesday MidDay Medley. Marion has joined us for every on-air fund drive to help raise funds for the MidCoast Radio Project. With her partner Ann Stewart, Marion is the proprietor of Records With Merritt, at 1614 Westport Rd. in Kansas City, Missouri. Records With Merritt features new vinyl releases, in-store performances from young and upcoming bands, holds meetings for a vinyl listening club, and was once the location for a wedding. More information at: http://www.recordwithmerritt.com

Marion Merritt, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

90.1 FM KKFI Kansas City Community Radio is Non-Commercial, and that means that three times a year, we interrupt our regular programming, to ask our listeners, to help us continue our unique, 24-7 programming. 90.1 FM KKFI is over 32 years on the air. While the spirit of this station is kept alive by hundreds of volunteers who passionately donate their time and abilities to keep the transmission of our 100,000-watt-signal alive. We are a operated by a not-for-profit organization, incorporated over 40 years ago, called The MidCoast Radio Project. We’re non-profit, but we still have to pay the electric bill, the rent on our fully accessible production studios and offices, insurance, staff, royalties, production expenses. Even though we have hundreds of committed volunteers, who donate thousands of hours every year, producing radio shows, answering phones, creating websites, producing benefits, rewiring the board, setting up our computer system, we still need YOU, our listener, to take a moment and call 888-931-0901 and donate to keep us alive! Our volunteers are waiting to hear from YOU right now.

YOU are the reason we are able to stay alive. Volunteers are waiting to hear from YOU right now. It only takes a few minutes. Call 888-931-0901. You can also visit us at http://www.kkfi.org, or call 888-931-0901 to support Kansas City Community Radio 90.1 FM.

Along with all of the music, in 2020 we are conducting 107 interviews, with over 150 guests:

Calvin Arsenia, Enrique Chi, Krystle Warren, The Black Creatures, Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, Julia Othmer, Shy Boys, Cuee, Belle & The Vertigo Waves, Una Walkenhorst, Nan Turner, Maria Vasquez Boyd, Chase The Horseman, Dylan Pyles, Johnny Hamil, Betse Ellis, Robert Castillo, Fally Afani, Nico Gray, Chris Haghirian, Nathan Ruesch, Ivory Blue, Scott Hobart, Dedric Moore, Brenton Cook, Konnor Ervin, Tim Finn, Michelle Bacon, Jesse Kates, Sterling Witt, Sid Sowder, Philip Hooser, Jeff Harshbarger, Doby Watson, Kadesh Flow, Shaun Crowley, Nick Carswell, Patrick Alonzo Conway, Teri Quinn, Kemet The Phantom, Cody Calhoun, Cole Bales, Matt Kesler, Bill Sundahl, Noah Davis, Sondra Freeman, Alison Hawkins, Hadiza, Les Ismore, Jairy, Spinning Tree Theatre, Marty Thomas, Cody Wyoming, Kimmie Queen, EBONY TUSKS, Stephanie Carey, Amy Marcus, Dan Jones and The Squids, Ingrid Ingraham, Katy Guillen, Jennifer Owen, Brad Cox, Fritz Hutchison, Colin Haliburton, Charlie Colborne, Bill Belzer, LA Jones, Brodie Rush, Rosé Perez, Mikalla Petillo, Jenna Rae, Peter Beatty, Lava dreams, They Call Me Sauce, Mike McCoy, David Burchfield, Sarah Magill, Sam Wells, Jason Gerkin, Anson The Onery, Andrew Morris, Remy Sryrk, Paul Malinowski, The Republic Tigers, Oh Dear Oh My, Stacy Busch, Sam Platt, Stephonne Singleton, Khrystal., David Shouoghnessy, Steph Castor, Blair Schulman, Eliza Gilkyson, Eddie Moore, Kianna White, Jared White, Maya Coppola, Joe Sears, Max James, Chris Hudson, Blanky, Daniel Gum, Grady Keller, Shanté Clair, Tucker Slough, Julie Bennett Hume.

3 time Grammy Nominated singer songwriter Iris DeMent released the new single “How Long” in September. Last Tuesday, our friend Iris DeMent sent me a new song she just wrote. I immediately wrote back to Iris, “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!”

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. During her teenage years she was first exposed to country, folk, and R&B, drawing influence from Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell. Here is her newest song, this hasn’t even been officially release yet as a record, only as a YouTube lyric video. This is a radio premiere.

3. Iris DeMent – “Going Down To Sing In Texas”
   from: Going Down To Sing In Texas / FlariElla / October 6, 2020 [Unreleased]
   [only released as lyric video]
   [In 2015 Iris Dement released her 6th album The Trackless Woods. 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.]

10:23 – Pledge Break #2

Our WMM Fall Fund Drive Team: Marion Merritt and Betse Ellis

90.1 FM was one of the first radio stations to ever play the music of Grammy Nominated Iris DeMent. We start every year with a birthday tribute to Iris DeMent. My own friendship with Iris DeMent came through our mutual friend named Anne Winter, who invited me to a holiday party in Iris Dement’s River Market condo where we sang old fashioned hymns, with members of The Wilders. Anne Winter had become a close friend of Iris and even went out “on the road” with her at one point. Because of Anne, I stage managed a show at the Uptown Theatre with Michael Moore, Iris deMent and the Wilders all performing. Anne Winter also helped arranged for Iris to play one of our Big Bang Buffet shows in 1999 at The Hobbs Building. In 2002 Iris agreed to do a benefit show for Friends of Community Radio. At this point she was living in Coleman Heights in Kansas City and invited Linda Wilson and I to a home-cooked meal at her house, to talk over the details of the show. In 2004 Iris and Greg Brown performed together in a show with Amy Goodman of “Democracy Now!” to raise over $10,000.00 for KKFI. Iris never took a penny from any of these shows, and has always been such a generous supporter of 90.1 FM. She recognized as a singer songwriter how important community radio is for independent artists like herself, and she has always given back, to help keep this radio station alive. Because of Iris DeMent’s generosity, and in honor of our dear friend Anne Winter, who we lost in 2009, I vowed to pay tribute to Iris on her birthday, each year, with this radio show.

10:31 – Underwriting

4. The Freedom Affair – “One Nation”
   from: Freedom is Love / Sunflower Soul Records / September 25, 2020
   [“Freedom Is Love” is the debut album from Kansas City’s newest soul juggernaut, The Freedom Affair. 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!”]

5. Berwanger – “Change The Season”
   from: “Change the Season” – Single / Wiretap Records / September 18, 2020
   [Last year Josh Berwanger released his 4th full length album “Watching A Garden Die” on Wiretap Records, from Berwanger. Josh was in The Anniversary, a Kansas band that released, 2000’s Designing a Nervous Breakdown & 2002’s Your Majesty and sold over 100,000 records before breaking up on tour in Japan. The band recently reunited for new shows and a tour this year. Berwanger was also in the band, The Only Children, and released, 2004’s Change of Living & 2007’s Keeper of Youth. When Keeper of Touth ended Josh Berwanger took a break and became a high school basketball coach. In the 2012 Josh formed the Josh Berwanger band. Berwanger released Dtrange Stains in April 2014, the EP Demonios November 11, 2016, Exorcism Rock in Oct. 2017, and The Star Invaders October 2017. Josh Berwanger also plays in Radar State.]

10:39 – Pledge Break #3

Our WMM Fall Drive Team: Marion Merritt and Betse Ellis

KKFI is an Independent, non-commercial radio station! Now, more than ever, Independent, Community Media is important for our world. We are here to listen to you, to share your concerns, and offer resources and information.

Along with our National Public Affairs shows like Democracy Now, and Alternative Radio we also offer more locally produced public affairs programs than anywhere else on the dial.

We offer programs specifically produced for the LGBTQIA Community, Women’s Issues, Native American News and Culture, Middle Eastern Music and Information, Latino Programming, African American Public Affairs and Community News, Labor and Worker’s Unions, our prison population and justice system, environmental programming, Visual and Literary Arts, and Performing Arts.

Just remember what you don’t have to hear when you are tuned to 90.1 FM KKFI!

No commercials, we do have brief underwriting announcements, recognizing those who financially contribute to support non-profit community radio.

No automated robot playing the same 40 to 80 songs in a “rotation,” based on a formula, created by a programmer of the robot. KKFI is the opposite of a robot.

There is always human being on the other end of the phone line anytime you call.

We are The Voice of The Community – 90.1 offers 100 different radio programs. 75 of these programs are locally created and produced and hosted and engineered and written by over 100 different people, who create content, and personally handcraft each show, each week.

There are 140 hours each week of locally produced handcrafted programs.

You we not find this kind of representative diversity anywhere else on your radio dial. Or from any singular source on your computer. It is very special. It needs to be nourished and kept alive in a world of corporate, nationally owned, commercial or religious broadcasting.

Not only do we bring the most diverse and unfiltered news and information, but our musical playlists are very deep, and comprehensive. In one week you can hear over 2000 different songs played, in Blues, Jazz, Folk, Hip Hop, Reggae, Classical, World, Americana, Southern Soul, Fusion, Soul, Rock, New Wave, Electronic, Native, Local, Old Timey, Rockabilly, Women’s, Children’s, Gospel, and Experimental.

With all of this, you hear the voices from the hundreds of KKFI volunteers, and thousands of guests from the community, who share their stories, broadcast live from our non-commercial, midtown studios, at 39th & Main, in the center of our metro, across two states, a collective of communities, and thousands of listeners.

10:47

6. 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/;[9] 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.]

7. Nicole Henry – “Big Yellow Taxi (Live)”
   from: So Good, So Right: Nicole Henry Live / Banister Records / Janary 29, 2013
   [This year of 2020 has brought three different covers of Joni Mitchell’s classic Big Yellow Taxi from Great Grandpa, Sasha Dobson, and Harry Styles. // “Big Yellow Taxi” is a song written, composed, and originally recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell in 1970, and originally released on her album Ladies of the Canyon. // Nicole Henry is an award-winning American jazz singer. Her debut CD, The Nearness of You received critical acclaim and earned Henry the “Best New Jazz Artist” award by HMV Japan. Henry’s Teach Me Tonight reached #1 in Japan and was named HMV Japan’s Best Vocal Jazz Album of 2005. She won the 2013 Soul Train Music Award for “Best Traditional Jazz Performance”. // Nicole Henry was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father, Al Henry, moved his family when he played basketball for the Philadelphia 76ers and she grew up in the small community of Andalusia, Bensalem Township, Bucks County. // In 2000, Henry toured as a background singer for Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise, performing dance music. She discovered jazz while singing in Miami Beach when her then bassist, Paul Shewchuk, invited her to learn some jazz standards to perform with his trio. The Miami New Times named Henry “Best Solo Musician 2002”. // In 2004, Henry released her debut CD, The Nearness of You, on Banister Records. The album earned Henry the “Best New Jazz Artist” award by HMV Japan. // The following year, Henry’s Teach Me Tonight reached #1 in Japan and was named HMV Japan’s Best Vocal Jazz Album of 2005. // Her 2008 album The Very Thought of You reached #7 on Billboard’s jazz chart. On this third studio album, she worked with contemporary songwriters like K. J. Denhert (I Found You), and James Bryan McCollum, with whom she co-wrote “All That I Can See.” // Her 2011 release Embraceable reached Top 20 on U.S. Jazz and Smooth Jazz Radio Charts and featured Kirk Whalum, Gerald Clayton, John Stoddart, Julian Lage, Gil Goldstein, Larry Gernadier and Eric Harland among others. // In 2012, she made her San Francisco debut at The Razz Room. Sean Martinfield of The Huffington Post wrote “Nicole Henry emerges hands down as this generation’s First Lady of Jazz.” // In 2013, she sang new renditions of hits from the 1970s on her album So Good, So Right: Nicole Henry Live recorded in front of sold-out crowds at Feinstein’s in New York City. // In 2013, Henry received the “Soul Train Award” for “Best Traditional Jazz Performance” after competing with George Benson, Jeffrey Osborne, Chaka Khan, Tony Bennett, Marc Anthony and Terrence Blanchard. // In a 2014 interview with CBS Miami, she cited Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan as sources of inspiration. // In 2015, Henry released her seventh CD, entitled Summer Sessions, an eight-song acoustic EP with both covers and originals, accompanied by James Bryan. // Throughout her career, the media has taken notice of Ms. Henry, singing her praises and acknowledging her prowess: “I had the sense of being in the presence of a pop-soul superwoman whose every gesture and inflection conveyed confidence and mastery…. time and again she invested familiar songs with an extra fillip of conviction and made you reconsider the words.” – Stephen Holden, NY Times // “A jazz singer of pop instinct and cabaret sophistication.” – Nate Chinen, New York Times // “Jazz singer Nicole Henry seems a paragon of perfection. She is tall, willowy and poised… The voice that pours out of her is even more impressive…the vocal love child of Whitney Houston and Sarah Vaughan.” – Jordan Levin, Miami Herald // In 2019, she returned to the theatrical stage and garnered critical praise for her portrayal of Nikki Marron in “The Bodyguard,” a new musical based on the smash hit 1992 film. In late 2020, she will perform in the new musical “A Wonderful World,” the story of Louis Armstrong, debuting at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach, FL. // Henry is currently in the studio working on her eighth album which is slated to be released in late 2020. ]

11:52 – Pledge Break #4

This is WMM’s Fall Fund Drive Show with Marion Merritt & Betse Ellis.

Our most played artist this year is Krystle Warren. Mark first interviewed Krystle on KKFI in early 2002. During a winter snow storm, at a party where Krystle played with longtime friend Solomon Dorsey on bass, in a packed, smoke filled apartment, near Community Christian Church, Mark waited hours for a 2 song demo, that contained a song called “Chanel #5.” Krystle has since gone on to tour all over the world, but maintains contact with her hometown of KC. Krystle’s critically acclaimed album, Three The Hard Way was #1 on WMM’s 117 Best Recordings of 2017. WMM was the first to play tracks from Krystle’s album. Last month Krystle released the new 4-song EP The Crew, with unique versions of classic songs with the hope of encouraging the rallying cries of The Moment: the movement of the people.

KKFI’s Mission Statement: KKFI is the Kansas City area’s independent, noncommercial community radio station. We seek to stimulate, educate and entertain our audience, to reflect the diversity of the local and world community, and to provide a channel for individuals and groups, issues and music that have been overlooked, suppressed or under-represented by other media.

KKFI’s Philosophy Statement: KKFI is committed to diversity in programming and discourse and seeks to create a climate of mutual respect and collaboration among volunteers and staff.

11:00 – Station ID

8. Mike McCoy’s Trompe-l’œil – “Open Your Eyes”
   from: Eyein’ Lies / Mike McCoy’s Trompe-l’œil / July 19, 2019
   [Formed in Austin, Texas in August 2015, members include: Andrew Duplantis, Jacob Schulze, Travis Garaffa, David Garrett, and Mike McCoy. Kansas native and Austin resident Mike McCoy is a man for all seasons. A gifted singer, composer, songwriter, social commentator and conceptual artist from the heartland, McCoy has been making music for more than 30 years, incorporating a whiplash array of styles and genres from country-roots to punk to performance art and power pop. All overlap in McCoy’s world. Mike founded the KC power-pop band Cher UK (Cargo/FistPuppet) & (Red Decibel/Columbia Records) in the mid 1990s and has fronted other quirky conceptual bands such as the Black Rabbits of Lawrence, Kansas, and two Austin critics’ darlings, the American People and the Service Industry. Mike is also a prolific solo artist . A religion studies and art-history graduate of TCU, fund-raising researcher at Yale, a carpenter/designer in Austin, an online “word contortionist” and a former museum administrator in KC, McCoy’s truest calling is the crafting of songs. He’s a hayseed intellectual-philosopher whose compositions strike the right balance of plaintive and high-brow, sardonic and humble. McCoy brings a singular, poet’s sensibility to the music equation. He writes about a wonderful waitress in a rundown town who has the power to make or break your stay (“if you treat her well, you might get what you want…”), about an immigrant woman whose dreams of America lead her to a lonesome life as a domestic (“feather duster I believe her, no one sees the way I see her…”), about American apathy and how winter is a submarine (“winter is a submarine — I lay inside and I no longer dream…”). In most of McCoy’s songs, there is something deeply wistful, despite the freighted narratives and their dizzying wordplay. He’s a serious guy and he writes about serious stuff. Yet in the lyrics and in the spaces between words and melody, you can almost hear that lone whistle blow in the dark of a heartlands night; you hear a style of writing that combines political commentary and snarky populism with an inextinguishable belief that somehow, with the right blend of gumption and fortitude, we humans might just pull off something good. He’s equal parts punk-rock-Americana — a strange brew of Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, John Mellencamp, Ramones and Burl Ives. But no matter in what incarnation you encounter Mike McCoy, you’ll find he’s driven by the same basic themes: ideas and ideals of humanity, principles and hopes, outrage and indignation, absurdism and dadaism, puns and poetry and parody, with a large dose of red-white-and-blue wishful thinking.]

[Mike McCoy plays the Cher UK 30th Anniversary Show at Lemonade Park, 1628 Wyoming (NW corner of Wyoming & 17th St.), behind Voltaire, on Friday, October 16, at 7:00 PM with Drop A Grand, and Schwervon!. Lemonade Park is a limited capacity socially distanced outdoor venue created in partnership between recordBar, Voltaire, and Moxie Catering.]

9. Schwervon! – “American Idle”
   from: Courage / Olive Juice Records / September 28, 2012
   [Schwervon! is a two piece rock band. Nan plays drums, Matt plays guitar, they both sing. They lived in NYC for 15 years and several years ago relocated to KC. Schwervon were part of the anti-folk music community in NYC. They’ve opened for The Vaselines and Belle & Sebastian. They recorded Courage with Memphis-based engineer Doug Easley who worked with Pavement, Sonic Youth, Cat Power. Nan performs in Nan & The One Nite Stands. Matt performs as Major Matt Mason USA.]

[Schwervon! plays the Cher UK 30th Anniversary Show at Lemonade Park, 1628 Wyoming (NW corner of Wyoming & 17th St.), behind Voltaire, on Friday, October 16, at 7:00 PM with Drop A Grand and Schwervon!. Lemonade Park is a limited capacity socially distanced outdoor venue created in partnership between recordBar, Voltaire, and Moxie Catering.]

10. Mike McCoy’s Trompe-l’œil – “The Hard Way”
    from: Eyein’ Lies / Mike McCoy’s Trompe-l’œil / July 19, 2019
    [Formed in Austin, Texas in August 2015, members include: Andrew Duplantis, Jacob Schulze, Travis Garaffa, David Garrett, and Mike McCoy. Kansas native and Austin resident Mike McCoy is a man for all seasons. A gifted singer, composer, songwriter, social commentator and conceptual artist from the heartland.]

[Mike McCoy plays the Cher UK 30th Anniversary Show at Lemonade Park, 1628 Wyoming (NW corner of Wyoming & 17th St.), behind Voltaire, on Friday, October 16, at 7:00 PM with Drop A Grand, and Schwervon!. Lemonade Park is a limited capacity socially distanced outdoor venue created in partnership between recordBar, Voltaire, and Moxie Catering.]

11:10 – Interview with Mike McCoy & Lyle Wells

Mike McCoy, from Austin, Texas is here with us LIVE in our 90.1 FM Studios. Mike McCoy was born in Kansas and is a singer, songwriter, band leader, and social commentator. Mike McCoy has been making music for more than 30 years, playing country-roots to punk to performance art and power pop. Mike founded the KC band Cher UK & (Red Decibel/Columbia Records) in the mid 1990s and Matt fronted the Black Rabbits of Lawrence, Kansas, and two Austin, bands: American People and The Service Industry. Mike is a religion studies and art-history graduate of TCU. He has worked as a fund-raising researcher at Yale, and a carpenter and designer in Austin. Last year Mike’s newest band: Mike McCoy’s Trompe-l’œil released “Eyein’ Lies” on July 19, 2019, one of WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019.

Mike McCoy is back in KC to play the Cher UK 30th Anniversary Show at Lemonade Park, 1628 Wyoming (NW corner of Wyoming & 17th St.), behind Voltaire, on Friday, October 16, at 7:00 PM with Dan Jones and The Squids, and Schwervon!. Lemonade Park is a limited capacity socially distanced outdoor venue created in partnership between recordBar, Voltaire, and Moxie Catering.

Mike McCoy & Lyne Wells, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

We last talked with you on the phone back on May 6, and you introduced us to your producer Howie Beno, who had worked with Tom Jones, Dionne Warwick, Depeche Mode, Blondie and rock & industrial bands, including Ministry. And sadly Howard Beno passed away this past summer.

11. Mike McCoy & Lyle Wells – “Old North Star” (LIVE) [New song by Mike McCoy in honor of Howie Beno. Mike on vocals & guitar, Lyle on guitar]

Mike McCoy’s Trompe-l’œil was formed in Austin, Texas in 2015, members include: Andrew Duplantis, Jacob Schulze, Travis Garaffa, David Garrett, and Mike McCoy.

Kansas native and Austin resident Mike McCoy is a man for all seasons. A gifted singer, composer, songwriter, social commentator and conceptual artist from the heartland,

McCoy has been making music for more than 30 years, incorporating a whiplash array of styles and genres from country-roots to punk to performance art and power pop. All overlap in McCoy’s world. Mike is also a prolific solo artist.

Mike founded the KC power-pop band Cher UK (Cargo/FistPuppet) & (Red Decibel / Columbia Records) in the mid 1990s and fronted the Black Rabbits of Lawrence, Kansas, and two Austin critics’ darlings, the American People and the Service Industry.

Mike McCoy is back in KC to play the Cher UK 30th Anniversary Show at Lemonade Park, 1628 Wyoming (NW corner of Wyoming & 17th St.), behind Voltaire, on Friday, October 16, at 7:00 PM with Dan Jones and The Squids, and Schwervon!. Lemonade Park is a limited capacity socially distanced outdoor venue created in partnership between recordBar, Voltaire, and Moxie Catering.

A religion studies and art-history graduate of TCU, fund-raising researcher at Yale, a carpenter/designer in Austin, an online “word contortionist” and a former museum administrator in KC, McCoy’s truest calling is the crafting of songs.

It has been written that about Mike McCoy that. “He’s a hayseed intellectual-philosopher whose compositions strike the right balance of plaintive and high-brow, sardonic and humble. McCoy brings a singular, poet’s sensibility to the music equation. He writes about a wonderful waitress in a rundown town who has the power to make or break your stay (“if you treat her well, you might get what you want…”), about an immigrant woman whose dreams of America lead her to a lonesome life as a domestic (“feather duster I believe her, no one sees the way I see her…”), about American apathy and how winter is a submarine (“winter is a submarine — I lay inside and I no longer dream…”)..

He’s a serious guy and he writes about serious stuff. Yet in the lyrics and in the spaces between words and melody, you can almost hear that lone whistle blow in the dark of a heartlands night; you hear a style of writing that combines political commentary and snarky populism with an inextinguishable belief that somehow, with the right blend of gumption and fortitude, we humans might just pull off something good.

It’s been said that Mike McCoy is equal parts punk-rock-Americana, a strange brew of Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, John Mellencamp, Ramones & Burl Ives. But no matter in what incarnation you encounter Mike McCoy, you’ll find he’s driven by the same basic themes: ideas & ideals of humanity, principles & hopes, outrage & indignation, absurdism & dadaism, puns & poetry & parody, with a large dose of red-white-&-blue wishful thinking.

Mike McCoy, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Mike McCoy is back in KC to play the Cher UK 30th Anniversary Show at Lemonade Park, 1628 Wyoming (NW corner of Wyoming & 17th St.), behind Voltaire, on Friday, October 16, at 7:00 PM with Drop A Grand, and Schwervon!. Lemonade Park is a limited capacity socially distanced outdoor venue created in partnership between recordBar, Voltaire, and Moxie Catering.

11:20 – Pledge Break #5

This is WMM’s Fall Fund Drive Show with Marion Merritt, & Betse Ellis.
With extra help from Mike McCoy, Lyle Wells and Bill Sundahl

90.1 FM KKFI Kansas City Community Radio offers loads and loads of information about what is going on in the community. Not only does this show interview 150 guest each year, not only do we play nearly 1000 different songs with nearly half of those being locally produced, but we also shine a light on area not-for-profit theatre companies, art museums & galleries, area festivals, service organizations, area record labels and record stores, the area music scene, arts scene, theatre scene, literary arts scene, political action scene.

In just this past year, we’ve featured segments shining a light on: The Band That Fell To Earth A Tribute To David Bowie, The Kauffman Center for The Performing Arts, UMKC Conservatory of Music, MidCoast Takeover, Spinning Tree Theatre, Coterie Thetre, The Pitch Kansas City, Owen Cox Dance Group, Bandwaggin KC, KC Bands Together, The Green Line Initiative, Black Lives Matter, The Queer Narratives Festival, KC Bass Workshop, Kansas City Syzygy, The Record Machine, Mills Record Company, Records With Merritt, High Dive records, Center Cut Records, Manor Records, Polyvinyl Records, Lost Cowgirl Records, Sunflower Soul Records, KC Irish Fest, The Crossroads Music fest, MixMaster Music Conference, Too Much Rock, Midwest Music Foundation, Apocalypse Meow, filmmaker Morgan Cooper, Charlotte Street Foundation, Inter Urban Arthouse, Lemonade Park, The Brick, recordBar, Weights and Measure Sound Lab, Troost Festival,

11:27 – Underwriting

12. Calvin Arsenia – “Scars and Stripes”
    from: ‘Scars and Stripes” – Single track / (Center Cut Records) / October 12, 2020 (Unreleased)
    [“Scars and Stripes” also feature background vocals from Erin Keller. 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 Kansas City 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 December 13, 2019 Calvin released his full length Christmas album “all is calm.” More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com.]

[Calvin Arsenia stars in “Summer in Hindsight,” a collaborative feature-length film created by The West 18th Street Fashion Show and Film Society KC, premiering Friday, October 16 at 7:00 PM the Boulevard Drive-In Theatre, 1051 Merriam Lane, KC,KS.]

[Calvin Arsenia plays The Sound of Kansas City, Sunday, October 18, Noon to 10:00 PM, A Socially Distant Concert, on the Lawn of the Liberty Memorial, with Back Alley Brass Band, Larsen, The Way Way Back, What A Wreck, Attic Light, Flutienastiness, Emma Jo. ]

11:33 – Interview with Calvin Arsenia

Since 2014 WMM has celebrated Calvin Arsenia, who came home to KC after living in Edinburgh, Scotland. His EPs: Moments, Prose, Catastrophe, Caviar, and full length, Catastrophe led to his signing with Center Cut Records where he released the album Cantaloupe in 2018, and L.A. Sessions in 2019. Calvin released an EP of remixes, Honey Dew, an EP with Quixotic, and the holiday album, All Is Calm, also in 2019. Voted KC’s Best Musician in 2018 and 2019 in The Pitch, and featured on Billboard, NPR.org, NEWNOWNEXT, Pride.com, and GRAMMY.com, Arsenia’s classically trained voice, visually striking 6-foot-7 presence, and deft harp playing have built his reputation as a live performer. Arsenia believes the art comes from crafting the perfect moment, organically unfolding with beauty, surprise, and something for all of the senses. More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com

Calvin Arsenia stars in “Summer in Hindsight,” a collaborative feature-length film created by The West 18th Street Fashion Show and Film Society KC, premiering Friday, October 16 at 7:00 PM the Boulevard Drive-In Theatre, 1051 Merriam Lane, KC,KS. Calvin Arsenia plays The Sound of Kansas City, Sunday, October 18, Noon to 10:00 PM, A Socially Distant Concert, on the Lawn of the Liberty Memorial, with Back Alley Brass Band, Larsen, The Way Way Back, What A Wreck, Attic Light, Flutienastiness, Emma Jo. More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com

Calvin Arsenia, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Born in Orlando, Florida, his 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 the Kansas City music scene 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 Kansas City 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-7-inch harpist with a natural stage command and knack for gilding gold and painting lilies.’

Calvin’s 2018 national debut, Cantaloupe (Center Cut Records), has been acclaimed for melding diverse textures into an alluring signature sound for the adventurous artist. Calvin performed live at L.A.’s The Mint, showcasing the songs on LA Sessions with the musicians who collaborated with him on the album. Says Calvin: “It’s such a special experience to play with them. To be able to perform these songs in front of an audience and do this for a living – to have made a career out of something I love is so amazing – it is an honor that I never take for granted.”

On September 15, 2018 Calvin released Cantaloupe on Center Cut Records. Calvin released L.A. Sessions September 20, 2019 on Center Cut Records

Calvin Arsenia – Honeydew / Center Cut Records / June 28, 2019
[On September 15, 2018 Calvin released Cantaloupe on Center Cut Records. This new EP is a remix of three of the songs from Cantaloupe, plus a Talking Heads cover that was performed live in this style at a New Year’s Eve show at The Truman opening for Making Movies who performed the entire Talking Heads album, Remain in Light. The last three songs on Honeydew were from performed in this style at The Nelson Atkins 2019 event “Party Arty.” Honeydew was produced by Jametatone, Simon Huntley, Calvin Arsenia.

Quixotic & Calvin Arsenia – “Goddess – EP / Quixotic / May 17, 2019
[An innovative performance art collective that fuses imagination with technology, dance, projection, mapping and live music to create fully-immersive, multi-sensory experiences. Quixotic harnesses light, rhythm and expressive emotion. Quixotic was given Silicon Valley’s unofficial stamp of genius when they were invited to perform at the global TED Conference in 2012. A unique blend of performance art, technology and emotion. Quixotic fuses all these elements in to what the New York Times branded an “innovative circus performance,” and Men’s Journal declared “one of the best contemporary [cirque] acts.” They have performed for audiences worldwide and have helped launch brand products for companies such as BVLGARI, Faena Hotels, Garmin, HP, Smithsonian and Toyota. Quixotic harnesses light, rhythm and expressive emotion.] [Quixotic presents Sensatia, Cirque Cabaret, through Dec. 28 at 2450 Grand Blvd, 301 Kansas City

Calvin Arsenia – all is calm / Calvin Arsenia. / December 13, 2019
[Arsenia’s dreamlike whimsy shimmering through your favorite Christmas Classics. All proceeds for this album go towards the purchase of Calvin’s first harp. Featuring: Ben Muñoz on Cello, Shane Borth on Violin and Voila, and Luke “Skippy” Harbur on Beatbox. Mastered by Jametatone at the Infoaming Vertex and special thanks to Simon Huntley. Calvin wrote: “I recorded the majority of this album in my bedroom in between flights to and from KC and SF. I had my nephews and friend’s kids in mind and wanted an album of Christmas lullabys. I think it became just a little more sassy than anticipated, but I think you’ll enjoy it regardless.

Arsenia’s powerful vocals span a 3.5 octave range, playing piano, banjo, guitar & harp. Calvin has played Folk Alliance Int., KC Fringe Fest, Apocalypse Meow, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts, Middle of the Map Fest., The Folly Theatre. Last year he undertook a three month US/European Outlyre Tour playing San Francisco,Vancouver, NYC, Boston, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Switzerland and Paris.

A slice of Calvin’s Shows from 2019 to 2020…

[Calvin Arsenia played Tristian Griffin’s Palimpsest, Thur, June 13 at 7:00 PM & Fri, June 14 at 11:00 PM at Capsule, Charlotte Street Foundation’s new multi-room installation event space, 1664 Broadway Blvd, KCMO. the collaborative multi-media interactive art performance, features award-winning poet Glenn North, and original music by Calvin Arsenia and Pheenix Leeor]
[Calvin Arsenia appeared with The Mike Dillon Band opening for Rickie Lee Jones, Sun, June 16, at Crossroads KC, 417 E. 18th St, KCMO, 8:00 PM. Mike Dillon co-produced R.L.J. new KICKS.]
[Calvin Arsenia played INTER Relation>ship w/ Jade Osborne, Wed, June 19, 7:00 PM at Washington Square Park, 100 E. Pershing Rd, KCMO.]
[Calvin Arsenia played Briarfest, June 21, 4:30 PM at Briar Cliff, 4100 N Mulberry Dr, KCMO.]
Calvin played Crossroads Fashion Show
[Calvin Arsenia played Bad in Bed LIVE Aug 22 – Aug 24, 8:00 PM at recordBar]
[Calvin Arsenia played The Sextet Album Release for Among Friends, Sept 15, at recordBar]
[Calvin Arsenia played Home for the Holidays with Calvin Arsenia & Friends Friday, December 13, at 7:00 PM, at Second Presbyterian, 318 E 55th St]
[Calvin Arsenia played Center Cut Records Holiday Party, Wednesday, December 18, at 7:00 recordBar
1520 Grand Blvd, KCMO with Fritz Hutchison, The Black Creatures and Calvin Arsenia.]
[Calvin Arsenia played a New Year’s Eve show at Crossroads Hotel 2101 Central St., KCMO., Tuesday, December 31, at 9:00 PM with Quixotic, and DJ Marvin Gardens & DJ House of Dante.]
[Calvin Arsenia played Olathe Indian Creek Library, Olathe, KS, on Sunday, January 5.]
[Calvin Arsenia opened for Krystle Warren & The Faculty LIVE at Rough Trade NYC, 64 N 9th St, New York, New York, Saturday, Jan 10, 2020 at 8:00 PM.]
[2/21 Tulsa, OK – Woody Guthrie Center]
[2/23 Oklahoma City, OK – Carpenter Square Theater]
[Friday, August 14, 2020 at 8:30 PM, Live Stream Even presented in partnership with Carlsen Center Presents and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.
[Calvin Arsenia plays a Center Cut Records Showcase at Lemonad(e) Park, 1628 Wyoming. Saturday, August 29, at 7:00 PM, with The Black Creatures.]

Congratulations to Calvin and his fantastic team of co-conspirators and creators: Khitam Jabr, John P. Beatty, Ignacio Galarza III, Ashlee Fairchild Jones, production assistants, and 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 and Best Male Vocalist.

In 2020 Calvin was able to purchase a new harp

The Black Lives Matter Movement has had a great effect on Calvin Arsenia

Calvin’s great, great, great grandmother Alice Gilliam Scott, was a former slave who observed her 100th birthday.

Calvin Arsenia will be participating in The West 18th Street Fashion Show’s 20th year as i a feature-length film. “We are moving it from the street to the screen,” says Peregrine Honig to inkansascitymagazine. “Mike Dillon and Calvin Arsenia will be scoring and performing in the film.” The evening of October 16th at The Boulevard Drive-In will be the debut of the director’s cut of “Summer in Hindsight,” which Peregrine is currently working on. Honig says, “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.”

“Summer in Hindsight” was directed by Khitam Jabr.

Calvin Arsenia, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Calvin Arsenia stars in “Summer in Hindsight,” a collaborative feature-length film created by The West 18th Street Fashion Show and Film Society KC, premiering Friday, October 16 at 7:00 PM the Boulevard Drive-In Theatre, 1051 Merriam Lane, KC, KS.

Calvin Arsenia plays The Sound of Kansas City, Sunday, October 18, Noon to 10:00 PM, A Socially Distant Concert, on the Lawn of the Liberty Memorial, with Back Alley Brass Band, Larsen, The Way Way Back, What A Wreck, Attic Light, Flutienastiness, Emma Jo.

11:47

13. Calvin Arsenia – “Flying Monkees”
    from: “Flying Monkees” – Single track / (Center Cut Records) / October 12, 2020 (Unreleased)
    [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 Kansas City 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 December 13, 2019 Calvin released his full length Christmas album “all is calm.” More info: at http://www.calvinarsenia.com.]

[Calvin Arsenia stars in “Summer in Hindsight,” a collaborative feature-length film created by The West 18th Street Fashion Show and Film Society KC, premiering Friday, October 16 at 7:00 PM the Boulevard Drive-In Theatre, 1051 Merriam Lane, KC,KS.]

[Calvin Arsenia plays The Sound of Kansas City, Sunday, October 18, Noon to 10:00 PM, A Socially Distant Concert, on the Lawn of the Liberty Memorial, with Back Alley Brass Band, Larsen, The Way Way Back, What A Wreck, Attic Light, Flutienastiness, Emma Jo. ]

11:49 – Pledge Break #6

This is WMM’s Fall Fund Drive Show with Marion Merritt, & Betse Ellis.

KKFI offers 24-7 programming, and YOU (the listener), basically get all of this amazing programming for “free.” I, for one, love that I can turn on my radio, or computer device, and tune into the 90.1 FM’s 100, 000 watt, crystal-clear signal, and hear the music, information, news, entertainment, events, and stories, that I really cannot find anywhere else. 90.1 is my comfort, my special companion, my interesting friend, introducing me to all kinds of new & local music, as well as the news & information without the intrusion of commercials. It is radio brought to YOU by real people, who create these shows out of love, and are guided by KKFI’s noble mission that “seeks to stimulate, educate and entertain our audience, to reflect the diversity of the local and world community, and to provide a channel for individuals and groups, issues and music that have been overlooked, suppressed or under-represented by other media.”

Driving in your car, at the office, at the gym, in your garage, in your cubicle, in your art space, on your iPod, at your construction site, in your kitchen, in your barn, YOU can take 90.1 with you, as your companion. 90.1 FM is generally a good date. Good for a few laughs, fun to dance with, always interested in good conversation. Isn’t 90.1 FM KKFI worth a few dollars a day, or a week? So many people tune in to http://www.kkfi.org everyday, but studies show, that less than 1 percent actually donate to keep this miracle of broadcasting alive. Your support means that you will help bring this programming to folks who could not donate at this time, for whatever the reason.

This is your chance to put your money where your ears are. Please help keep this part of our public airwaves alive for our community to enjoy, free from commercials, free from religious sermonizing, free from extremly conservative and slanted right wing “talk radio,” and free from corporately “owned and cloned” robotic affiliates that play the same 15 songs everyday at the same time. YOU deserve better. YOU deserve radio that really reflects our great city, and tells the story of our great music scene, and performing arts scene, and labor rights, and women’s issues, and LBGT information, and programming specifically produced for Latinos and African Americans, working people, Jazz lovers. Support the free-form spirit that is 90.1 FM KKFI!

Marion Merritt, Betse Ellis, Thank You! Thank you to everyone who donated!!!

11:56

14. Miki P – “Don’t Lose Your Hope”
    from: Kansas City Syzygy / Kansas City Syzygy / July 17, 2020
    [Mikala Petillo, who was born in Kansas City, KS, and performed ‘She Loves You’ at her 7th grade talent show. In 9th grade she joined a teen-band called American Slim as drummer & vocalist, and released a full-length album, Irreplaceable, in 2017, played Middle of the Map Fest, Crossroads Music Fest, Kauffman Stadium, Arrowhead Stadium, and The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art before officially ending in 2018. That year, at 21, Miki P began work on her debut solo-record, Dome of Swallows, released August 2, 2018. She then formed Miki P and the Swallowtails who released their first EP, Swallowtail in 2019, with Rachel Lovelace on bassoon, Adee Dancy on cello & vocals, Cade Pool on drums, Robert Castillo on bass, and Miki P on guitar & lead Vocals. In June they’ll release a follow up. With half of the band’s members having Classical music degrees, and the other half with Jazz degrees, Miki P is a self-taught musician/multi-instrumentalist & songwriter driving the Swallowtails into a creative collaboration like any other. Each member is an integral part of the Kansas City music scene, writing, arranging, performing, and collaborating original music for their own groups and several other projects in the metro. “Introspective pop music with lyric-driven folk influences, mixed with collaborative energy & an odd pairing of instruments, Miki P locked in with the Swallowtails create a moment with music written and arranged from the heart.” Miki P started playing guitar in middle school. She taught herself to play the drums, while listening to Mitch Mitchell, Keith Moon and Ringo Starr. As a teen she played drums for various groups including American Slim. She wrote songs for their full-length album Irreplaceable released in 2017, followed by a single “Queen of Hearts” released April 11, 2018. She also plays ukulele & piano, teaching herself how to play both the instruments, using them frequently in all projects she is involved in. She was a featured vocalist with The Band That Fell to Earth Bowie Tribute. She’s played Boulevardia, Middle of the Map Fest, Royal’s Kaufman Stadium, recordBar, Uptown Theater, Arrowhead Stadium, Nelson Atkins Museum, the Crossroads Music Festival and the SXSW Music Fest. More info at: http://www.mikipmusic.com /// Though COVID-19 may have shut down innumerable business and altered our lives forever, one thing it couldn’t stop is the creative drive and spirit in the world’s artists. Kansas City Syzygy is a glimpse into the music created in the middle of the map in the middle of a pandemic. Mastering by J Ashley Miller. Design by JC Franco. Over 25 Kansas City-based musicians came together to create “Kansas City Syzygy,” a compilation of music created during the shutdown of the world in the Spring of 2020. “Syzygy” is a term most commonly used in astronomy and is defined as “connected or corresponding events.” Album designer JC Franco states “like planets or stars aligning, so did our lives.” The nineteen songs on the album span the entire spectrum of music. Calvin Arsenia’s “Painted Ladies” is a dreamscape sung form his voice and harp, while Seth Andrew Davis’ “No Place But Home” invokes scenes of an underground dance club. Some musicians are collaborating for the first time on this album, as demonstrated on “Abyss.” Songs like “The Virus” by KC hip-hop artist Kemet Coleman comments on the impact of the coronavirus, as well as the virus that is racial injustice in America that has received global attention during the past months. All proceeds will be donated to KC Tenants, a local nonprofit organized to ensure that everyone in KC has a safe, accessible, and truly affordable home.]

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

Next week on Wednesday, October 21 we welcome special guests Sid Sowder of Too Much Rock and we will have the premiere of the new Too Much Rock release! Plus Kadesh Flow and Kemet Coleman join us to talk about Troostival – Friday, October 23 In-Person and Live Streamed with Nubclckcity, Crystal Rose, The Royal Chief, We The People, The Black Creatures, Kadesh Flow, and Kemet Coleman. Info at: Troostival.com

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 #859