Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Stephonne Singleton
+ Ted Riederer of Never Records

1. “It’s Showtime Folks”
from: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979
[WMM’s theme song]

2. Marc Ribot & Fay Victor – “John Brown”
from: Songs of Resistance 1942 – 2018 / Noise Inc. – Anti Record / September 14, 2018
[Written & Arranged by Marc Ribot (Knockwurst Music). Background Vocals: Rea Dubach & Lukas Rutzen, Sax: James Brandon Lewis, Trombone: Curtis Fowlkes, Bass: Tony Garnier , Percussion: Reinaldo de Jesus , Drums: Chad Taylor. With his new album Songs of Resistance 1948 – 2018, Ribot—one of the world’s most accomplished and acclaimed guitar players—set out to assemble a set of songs that spoke to this political moment with appropriate ambition, passion, and fury. The eleven songs on the record are drawn from the World War II anti-Fascist Italian partisans, the U.S. civil rights movement, and Mexican protest ballads, as well as original compositions, and feature a wide range of guest vocalists, including Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Meshell Ndegeocello, Justin Vivian Bond, Fay Victor, Sam Amidon, and Ohene Cornelius. Ribot began working on the project at the end of 2016, responding not just to the American elections, but to the political trends he was seeing around the world. “I am alarmed by Trump and the movement he’s part of,” he says. “I’ve spent a good chunk of my life running around the world on tour—I’m kind of an accidental internationalist—and I see that he’s not an isolated phenomenon. And if we don’t deal with what is going on, it is going to deal with us.” Ribot was born in Newark,NJ in 1954. As a teen, he played guitar in garage bands while studying with his mentor, Haitian classical guitarist and composer Frantz Casseus. He moved to New York City in 1978. He was a member of the soul/punk Realtones, and John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards. Ribot also worked with Brother Jack McDuff, Wilson Pickett, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Chuck Berry, and many others. Fay Victor was born July 26, 1965. She is an American musician, composer, lyricist and educator. Originally a singer in the traditional jazz field, she has been working in jazz, blues, opera, free improvising, avant-garde, modern classical music, and occasional acting since re-settling in New York in 2003. PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT: THE INDIVISIBLE PROJECT (501c4) http://www.indivisible.org ]

3. Dirty Projectors – “Break-Thru”
from: Lamp Lit Prose / Domino Recording Co / July 13, 2018
[8th studio album from Brooklyn based band, formed in 2002. The band currently consists of primary recording artist and core member David Longstreth (vocals, guitar), alongside longtime bass guitarist Nat Baldwin, Mike Daniel Johnson (drums), Maia Friedman (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Felicia Douglass (percussion, keyboards, backing vocals) and Kristin Slipp (keyboards, backing vocals). Since its formation the band has released eight full-length studio albums, and has had numerous lineup changes, with major contributions from guitarist and vocalist Amber Coffman from 2006 to 2013. “If 2017’s Dirty Projectors was the band’s dark night of the soul, Lamp Lit Prose marks a vibrant rebirth. Bright, colorful, and bursting with hope, the music here splits the difference between pop instinct and avant-garde ambition, live-band rigor and super-synthetic production—think Talking Heads for the 2000s. And where lead Projector Dave Longstreth’s songs have, in the past, tended toward high concepts, here he dwells on the rush of simple things: optimism (“Right Now”), romance (“Break-Thru”), and pure, unfiltered excitement (“I Feel Energy”). It features assists from Rostam, Amber Mark, Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold, and HAIM.”]

10:14 – Underwriting

4. Seasaw – “God(zilla)”
from: Big Dogs / Seasaw / September 7, 2018
[4th full-length album from Indie rock band duo from Madison, Wisconsin consisting of: Eve Wilczewski and Meg Golz who met while working in an Italian restaurant in Freeport, Illinois. They realized they had similar taste in music, and began playing together, at first as “BoboMosie,” a CocoRosie cover band and eventually composing originals as Seasaw. Seasaw’s album “Too Much Of A Good Thing” was selected as one of the top five underground albums of the month by The Nerdist in July 2016. The same month, they were named Top Emerging Artist at Wisconsin Summerfest. Their song “Into the White” was one of Daytrotter’s Best Songs of 2016.Seasaw has performed with Lucius, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, SOAK, Lissie, Mason Jennings, Har Mar Superstar and Shakey Graves.Golz holds a degree in audio engineering from the Madison Media Institute and Wilczewski was a painting major at University of Illinois.]

[Seasaw plays The Rino at 314 Armour Rd, North Kansas City, on Saturday, September 22 at 7:00 pm, with Other Americans And Pink Royal]

5. Other Americans – “Curtis Mayfield”
from: Other Americans EP / AWAL Records / June 29, 2018
[Debut self-titled EP from Julie Berndsen on lead vocals, Adam Phillips on drums, Brandon Phillips on guitar, Zachary Phillips on bass. Hailing from the musical hotbeds of KCMO, and Lawrence, KS, and comprised of members of The Architects, Latenight Callers, Radar State and Brandon Phillips and The Condition, Other Americans is a virtual Midwestern supergroup of sorts. The cohorts first crossed paths in when a mutual friend and matchmaker introduced Brandon Phillips to vocalist Julie Berndsen “We were all looking for something new to do musically, recalls Brandon. “The way I remember it, a mutual friend (KC music producer Joel Nanos) told me that Julie was looking to start something new and I sent her a note about it. We had tacos to see if we liked each other.” The duo enlisted drummer Adam Phillips, bassist Zachary Phillips and late keyboardist Ehren Starks, who passed away suddenly in March 2018, and began writing the material that would become the EP. The band premiered their video for lead single, “Murdering Crows,” directed by artist Adrian Halperin, via The Spill Magazine in May 2018 Superlatively catchy and conjuring up well-intentioned comparisons to Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fiery Furnaces, and even a jauntier and more aggressive Passion Pit, the new EP captures the excitement and spontaneity that punctuates coastal indie rock while embracing elements of the electronic dance rock that populates midnight warehouse parties. “All the basic tracking [for the EP] was done at Element Recording and was mastered by Joel Nanos,” Brandon Phillips reported. “Then I took it to my spot and worked and reworked it all for a year until it sounded like something none of us had heard before.”. The band’s video for their song, “Make Me Afraid,” was directed by Todd Norris & Mitch Brian./. Illuminated with the knowledge that the journey is as important as the destination, Phillips admits to looking forward to the period of dues paying that their debut brings. “I’m looking forward to all the firsts;. first show. first record. first tour. Magical thinking could have me pining for a post-Grammys Maserati coke party by the sea, but if I’m all wrapped up in making that fantasy come true, I’ll miss the fun of being present for the firsts and the fifths and the tenths.” From there the plan becomes a bit more complicated, “ The ‘Plan” as I see it is to con some major label artist into taking us out as support, steal their identities on laundry day, have reconstructive surgery, then only tour in countries without U.S. extradition treaties,” Brandon jokes. ]

[Other Americans play Plaze Art FAir, Friday, Sept. 21, at 8:00 on Ink! Live Stage]

[Other Americans play The Rino, 314 Armour Rd, NKC, Sat, Sept 22, 7:pm, w/ Seasaw & Pink Royal]

6. Danny McGaw – “You an Me”
from: “You an Me” – Single / Miki P/ September 1, 2018
[Manchester, England born Danny McGaw was a footballer, then a street musician, then a bar music, and then a husband and father living in Lawrence, Kansas, where he released one of our favorite recordings of 2012 – “Eccles Road.” After that he formed the band, Welles The Traveler with Jason Jones, Dan Hines, Chad Brothers, and Mike West, who produced the group’s debut recording. Eventually Danny and family relocated to California. He has made 10 records in 14 years and records his songs in his home studio. Danny is back in KC this week for multiple gigs and to be part of the 87th Annual Plaza Art Fair, Sept. 21-23.]

[Danny McGaw & Friends play Mike Kelly’s Westsider, TONIGHT, Wednesday, Sept. 19]

[Danny McGaw plays recordBar, 1520 Grand Thursday, Sept. 20, at 7:00 pm with 40 Watt Dreams, Supermassive Black Holes, Shapiro Brothers, and The MGDs.]

Danny McGaw & Chad Brothers play The Spikes 10408 Wenonga Ln, Leawood. Sat. Sept. 22, 6:pm]

[Danny McGaw plays Plaza Art Fair, Sunday, Sept. 23, at 3:00 PM.]

10:30 – Interview with Ted Reiderer

New York artist & musician Ted Riederer joins us to talk about Never Records a collaborative project exploring the potential of a record store and record label to unite, educate, and uplift a community through recorded sound. Never Records began in January 2010, in an abandoned Tower Records near Union Square in New York City. Soon the project expanded to become a mobile record-making lab with Riederer traveling from city to city, opening a vinyl record shop with recording equipment and a vinyl record lathe to cut two, four-minute records on the spot for people who visit the store. Never Records has traveled to: Liverpool, Derry, Ireland, London, Lisbon, New Orleans, Victoria Texas, Amman Jordan, and now Kansas City. Never Records opened in KC on August 25, as part of Open Spaces Kansas City, and runs through October 28, in the Crossroads, at 1611 Oak, KCMO, Wed thru Sunday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. More info at: http://www.neverrecords.net.

Ted Reiderer, thanks for being with us today on Wednesday MidDay Medley.

A “one-time refugee from punk and sometime band member,” Ted Riederer has armed himself with painting supplies, electric guitars, amplifiers, old LPs, record players, drum kits, hard disk recorders, photography equipment, a vinyl record lathe, and long-stemmed roses as he’s ambled artistically from the Americas to the Antipodes. His work has been shown nationally and internationally including exhibitions at PS1, Prospect 1.5, Goff and Rosenthal Berlin, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, Jack Hanley Gallery (San Francisco), Marianne Boesky Gallery, Context Gallery (Derry, Ireland), David Winton Bell Gallery (Brown University), The University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, the Liverpool Biennial, and the Dhaka Arts Center, Bangladesh. His “Never Records” project has traveled from New York, to Liverpool, to Derry, to New Orleans, to Texas, and to London, which was sponsored by the Tate Modern.

Ted Riederer is the Founding Artistic Director of Howl! Happening: An Arturo Vega Project, non-profit gallery/performance space in the East Village. The New York Times has described Howl! Happening as, “Instrumental to the history of the area.” Howl! Happening’s thriving publishing imprint A/P/E has included essays by: Ai Wei Wei, Dan Cameron, Anthony Haden-Guest, Robert Nickas, Michelle Grabner, Michael Musto, C. Carr, Nicole Rudick, John Lyons, and James Wolcott.

Never Records is a mobile record-making lab, using recording equipment and a vinyl record lathe to cut 2, four-minute records on the spot.

New York artist and musician Ted Riederer launched Never Records in 2010 as part of a collaborative project with curators No Longer Empty in the former sales floor of Tower Records’ fabled East Village flagship store. One year later, Never Records had expanded to become a mobile record-making lab, using recording equipment and a vinyl record lathe to cut two, four-minute records on the spot for whoever walks in the door (one copy stays behind in the fast-growing library).
Never Records opened August 25, 2018 as part of Open Spaces Kansas City, and runs through October 28th, 2018, in a storefront space in the Crossroads district of Kansas City. The space is located at 1611 Oak St., Kansas City, MO 64108.

The exhibition will be open from Wednesday – Sunday from 10am-6pm. There will be a series of workshops and special events. A calendar of events will be posted on the Never Records website http://www.neverrecords.net.

from: http://www.neverrecords.sameexhibit.com

Never Records is a combination recording studio and record shop, all operating in one building. The sole proprietor, interior decorator, and engineer is New York-based artist Ted Riederer. Inspired by his own redemptive education at a young age inside the walls of a local record store in Rockville, Maryland as well as the field recording projects of Alan Lomax, Riederer devised his unique community art installation in the early part of this century and has been replicating it with regional variations throughout the world since 2010.

Performers from a locale sign up for recording sessions ahead of time, with no auditions necessary. Riederer usually offers three hour sessions, during which he mixes on the fly and cuts vinyl right in front of the artist’s eyes once both are satisfied with a particular take. The recordings are free to the artist, the sessions are open to the public, and you can’t buy anything you see. Ted hasn’t lowered prices by cutting out the middleman. He is the middleman. He is not a vertical operation; he is an elliptical one, a constant feedback loop supplying its own demand. Still, everyone takes something home, even if it’s the barest speck of record shop camaraderie inadvertently inhaled.

Within the walls of the Never Records shop, visitors can view a gallery of photographs and artwork from previous temporary establishments in the US and UK, as well as flip through stacks of vinyl representing the hundreds of solo folk artists, punk bands, storytellers, jazz groups, and noisicians who jumped at the chance for a free recording session. Black wooden bins hold a curated selection of records from the growing collection, but these aren’t for sale or even trade.

The artist or band is allowed to take their own copy home, and another is added to Riederer’s archives, as well as a digital copy. Riederer encourages bands to use the recording any way they want. There are no fees, royalties, or ownership issues.

“I walk them through the cutting process and show them their sound waves on a microscope. I consider this interaction the real performance of Never Records. The alchemy of cutting never fails to put a smile on participants’ faces. The machine is a new one made by these crazy but wonderful dudes in southern Germany. It is called a Vinyl Recorder and while it may not be able to compete with a $50,000 Neumann cabinet lathe, I can get pure, beautiful, hiss free recordings.”

Beyond the technical aspect of recording, his main job is to maintain the right conditions inside the shop for insecurity-free performances. The right conditions go beyond the gear and the Persian rugs covering the floors. The right conditions exist separately from the poster-covered walls or the fact that the distribution chain from studio to factory to anti-commercial outlet runs about twelve feet. The right conditions include Riederer’s ability to quickly ascertain a band’s influences and capabilities and the vast cross-genre knowledge that allows him to alter his recording methods for each artist. The right conditions have everything to do with musicians in eyesight of each other, no one isolated in a booth. Everyone experimenting without worry because the meter isn’t running on dead air, eating up the credit limit.

Never Records has a slogan. It is YOU ARE NOT LISTENING. Riederer explains, “A lot of people say that certain movements just need a voice. But it doesn’t matter if you have a voice if no one is fucking listening! You can have the most articulate voice, but if no one’s listening, it’s like the voice doesn’t matter. You gotta listen. Someone has to listen, and this process I take very seriously.”

In a world where bands are judged on 30 second samples and MP3s are collected and traded like baseball cards with no thought to the hard work and personalities behind their creation, Never Records creates a physical reminder of what a virtual platform can never truly duplicate.

– Ryan Sparks, New Orleans 2013

Ted writes:

“Practically every week during my adolescence, with the regularity of a parishioner, I visited Yesterday and Today Records in Rockville, Maryland. It was there where I communed with the spirit of Punk, Ska, Mod, and Rock and Roll. It was there where I learned about politics, sex, existentialism, style, and fashion. Yesterday and Today was more like a social library, a meeting place for musicians and artists, than a retail space. Never Records is my love letter to the record store. In the ruins of the one of the great retail giants of the end of the last century, a casualty of modernity and the Great Recession, we will reclaim the spirit of music and commune amongst the wreckage.

Never Records is an ever evolving project. As it continues, I will endeavor to make al of the archive available with links contacts to all the performers and participants. A huge heartfelt thanks to my family and friends and to everyone who has made Never Records such a thriving community.”

10:40 – Samples of recent Never Records recordings here in Kansas City

7. Kelly Hunt – “Dear Sara”
Recorded by Never Records September 14, 2018
[Kelly Hunt performs her adaptation of the Sullivan Ballou Civil War love letter:. Sullivan wrote this letter to his wife one week before he was killed at the Battle of Bull Run.]

8. Kerexu – “Kerexu”

9. Shapiro Brothers – “Hot Cool”

10. SJ Downes (SJ played live in our 90.1 FM Studios)

Ted Riederer, thanks for being with us today on Wednesday MidDay Medley.

Never Records opened in KC on August 25, as part of Open Spaces Kansas City, and runs through October 28, in the Crossroads, at 1611 Oak, KCMO, Wednesday thru Sunday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. More info at: http://www.neverrecords.net.

10:50

11. Lovergurl – “Rebel”
from: “Rebel” – Single / Lovergurl / September 14, 2018
[Recorded and mastered with RLT at Audibly Recording. KC based 4-piece band, Lovergurl caught our ear with their synth pop sound and lyrics reflecting social and political messages with hip hop and punk elements. The trio released their EP, The President is a Sex Offender on May 19, 2017. Keyboardist and vocalist, Stephanie Bankston was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. She is a graduate of The University of Missouri. She moved abroad in her 20s, and lived in Seoul, Korea, where she played in a mostly female band called BaekMa (“White Horse”). Stephanie returned to Kansas City in the Fall 2015. Brook Worlledge, is 26 years old and is a Kansas City native. She is the band’s drummer and she sings and writes songs for the band. Brook is a defender of the proletariat. Brook’s influences range from The B-52s, The Velvet Underground, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Lovergurl guitarist and vocalist, Heather Andrews is also 26. She was born and raised in Rhode Island, and moved to Kansas City in 2011 and fell in love with the city.]

[Lovergurl plays Davey’s Uptown Rambler’s Club Friday, Sept. 21, at 9:00 pm with Jupiter and the Moons, and sMallWaves.]

12. Anna Calvi – “Don’t Beat the Girl Out of My Boy”
from: Hunter / Domino Recording Co / August 31, 2018
[3rd album from London singer. Produced by Nick Launay (Nick Cave) at Konk Studios in London with some further production in LA, the album was recorded with Anna’s band – Mally Harpaz on various instruments and Alex Thomas on drums – with the addition of Adrian Utley from Portishead on keys and Martyn Casey from The Bad Seeds on bass. It has a new rawness, a primal energy into which Calvi pushes the limits of her guitar and voice beyond anything she’s recorded before. Hunter is the embodiment of the feeling of truly letting go. For the songwriter and virtuosic guitarist, it was a catharsis, an opportunity to be more truthful than ever. The first new music since 2014’s collaborative release with David Byrne, Strange Weather EP, her self-titled debut album and the 2013 follow-up One Breath, Hunter is a visceral album exploring sexuality and breaking the laws of gender conformity. A queer and a feminist record, it is galvanizing in its hunt for freedom. It was important to Calvi that it was as vulnerable as it is strong; as beautiful as it is harsh; as much about the hunted as it is about the hunter. But she’s careful not to characterize any of these traits as “masculine” or “feminine” – the whole point is that one person, of any gender, can be both. The power is in the contrast itself; in the way she oscillates between extremes, sounding freer than ever before. She wanted to express herself while being “free from the story that either gender is given, free from worrying how people would judge me on what I want to do with my body & myself. For me, that’s quite a utopian

11:00 – Station ID

13. Stephonne Singleton – “You Are Fire”
from: Caged Bird Sings Songs About Red Beard / Glory Blue Music / July 27, 2018
[Full length debut from Kansas City based singer songwriter and actor, who calls himself the lovechild of Prince and Billie Holiday. 31 year old Stephonne Singleton was born in Kansas City and grew up in the inner-city, of Wyandotte County going to High School at Bishop Ward. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Bendictine College and his Masters in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University.]

[Stephonne Singleton will be performing at The Folly Theatre, Friday, September 21, at 8:00 pm, as part of Late Night Theatre’s Las Vegas Legends Show. More info at http://www.follytheatre.org]

11:05 – Interview with Stephonne Singleton

We have the pleasure of welcoming back to the show singer, songwriter and actor, Stephonne Singleton, who shares music from his album, “Caged Bird Sings Songs About Red Beard” released July 27, 2018 by Glory Blue Music. Stephonne and producer Jamie Searle have created a sound that supports Stephonne’s wide ranging and soulful vocals, and vulnerable lyrics. Searle’s orchestrations and arrangements defy category by infusing rock, jazz, r&b, folk and neo-soul into a sound that is timeless and brand new. Stephonne’s press materials report, “It is the voyage of a red state born gay black man that turned the bitter cold and pain of love lost, love mistaken and love unreturned into a body of work that demands to be heard and never forgotten.” Stephonne Singleton will be performing at The Folly Theatre, Friday, September 21, at 8:00 pm, as part of Late Night Theatre’s Las Vegas Legends Show. More info at http://www.follytheatre.org

Stephonne Singleton, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Stephonne released an EP of Caged Bird Sings Songs About Red Beard on April 22, 2016

Calling himself the lovechild of Prince and Billie Holiday, 31 year old singer-songwriter Stephonne Singleton received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Bendictine College and his Masters in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University. He works as a musician and actor in Kansas City.

Glory Blue Music is the LLC Stephonne created to support his music, named after a band he was in.

11:15

14. Stephonne Singleton – “Fine Feelin Blue”
from: Caged Bird Sings Songs About Red Beard / Glory Blue Music / July 27, 2018
[Full length debut from Kansas City based singer songwriter and actor, who calls himself the lovechild of Prince and Billie Holiday. 31 year old Stephonne Singleton was born in Kansas City and grew up in the inner-city, of Wyandotte County going to High School at Bishop Ward. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Bendictine College and his Masters in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University.]

11:19 – Interview with Stephonne Singleton

Stephonne and producer Jamie Searle have created a sound that supports Stephonne’s wide ranging and soulful vocals, and vulnerable lyrics. Searle’s orchestrations and arrangements defy category by infusing rock, jazz, r&b, folk and neo-soul into a sound that is timeless and brand new.

For more information visit: http://www.stephonne.com

Stephonne Singleton, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Stephonne Singleton will be performing at The Folly Theatre, Friday, September 21, at 8:00 pm, as part of Late Night Theatre’s Las Vegas Legends Show. More info at http://www.follytheatre.org

11:29

15. Stephonne Singleton – “How I Feel”
from: Caged Bird Sings Songs About Red Beard / Glory Blue Music / July 27, 2018
[Full length debut from Kansas City based singer songwriter and actor, who calls himself the lovechild of Prince and Billie Holiday. 31 year old Stephonne Singleton was born in Kansas City and grew up in the inner-city, of Wyandotte County going to High School at Bishop Ward. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Bendictine College and his Masters in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University.]

[Stephonne Singleton will be performing at The Folly Theatre, Friday, September 21, at 8:00 pm, as part of Late Night Theatre’s Las Vegas Legends Show. More info at http://www.follytheatre.org]

11:33 – Underwriting

16. Ivory Blue – “Midas Touch
from: Ready Get Set [EP] / Ivory Blue / June 23, 2015
[Ivory Blue started writing music at the age of 14. An Indiana native, Ivory was given up for adoption at the age of 4, into a family that later caused them to run away at the age of 15. IVORY played coffee houses and small venues before landing in Kansas City in 2010. Ivory was one of the first artists to come-out as Non Binary Transgender, and gained respect from radio, television, and international magazines. In 2017 Ivory was among 1800 bands that competed in neXt2Rock. Ivory won local and regional challenges and advanced to the nationals in Los Angeles, where the top five bands played The Viper Room before judges that included: Scott Borchetta President & CEO of Big Machine Label Records; fashion designer John Varvatos; songwriter & producer Desmond Child; engineer Chris Lord-Alge; Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols; and Gavin Rossdale of Bush. Ivory won the entire competition and the opportunity to record “Ready Get Set” for Big Machine Records / John Varvatos Records. The single was released this summer on June 15, 2018.]

[Ivory Blue plays Behind The Gate With Ivory Blue, Friday, September 21, at 7:00 at 11100 E Winner Rd. Independence MO. 64052 a kick off for the “Behind the Gate” patio concert series to benefit “WestiNd Connection.” private, invite / limited seating. More info at: http://www.ivorybluemusic.com]

17. Amanda Fish – “Free”
from: Free / VizzTone / September 14, 2018
[Amanda Fish began as a singer songwriter in late 2012, refining her original material as a solo act for 2 years before she formed her band in early 2014, a Roots Rock and Soul project featuring Amanda’s signature ‘from-the-gut’ vocals locked into a sturdy groove. In 2015, she released her first LP, “Down In The Dirt”, on VizzTone Label Group, for which she was awarded the 2016 “Sean Costello Rising Star” Blues Blast Music Award. Amanda and her band set Beale Street on fire in the 2017 International Blues Challenge Semi Finals, playing new material slated for her next release.]

[Lakeside Live Series presents: Amanda Fish Band, Friday, September 29, at 6:00 PM at Arcadian Moon in Higginsville, Missouri]

18. Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear – “Everybody’s Got Problems”
from: The Radio Winners / Glassnote Records / July 27, 2018
[Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear have garnered international acclaim, and new fans from all over the world. They signed with Glassnote Records and recorded their debut full length album in Nashville with acclaimed producer Jim Abiss. They performed their debut single “Silent Movies” on The Late Show with David Letterman, they’ve toured across the United States, and Europe, more than once. They were featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NBC’s The Today Show, and “Later With Jools Holland and played Bonnaroo, Pilgramage, and the Newport Folk Festival, and the Ryman Theatre, in Nashville. Ruth Ward has continually performed throughout her life, mostly in coffee shops and open mics, for over 30 years, even recording a solo record. In the midst of this she got married and became a mom, and was busy raising a family. Madisen Ward was born in Oklahoma, and grew up in the outskirts of Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated from William Chrisman High School in 2007. Madisen’s journey to become a musician, was “melodically passed down” through the songs of his mother, where Madisen grew up watching his mom perform at local coffee shops. Eventually he began to learn to play the guitar, and poured his talent for writing into the music to create original songs. They began playing Madisen’s original songs along with the occasional cover of a classic track, reinterpreted in their own incredibly beautiful performance of two voices and two guitars in harmony and orchestration. Their debut album, The Skeleton Crew, was released May 9, 2015 and was our most played record that year and was #1 on WMM’s The 115 Best Recordings of 2015.]

[Madisen Ward and The Mama Bear play The Madrid, Monday, September 25, at 8:30 pm, opening for The Record Company]

19. Iron & Wine – “What Hurts Worse”
from: Weed Garden – EP / Sub Pop Records / August 31, 2018
[This EP collects extra Iron & Wine tracks written for 2017’s Beast Epic release. Samuel “Sam” Ervin Beam was born July 26, 1974. He is better known by his stage and recording name Iron & Wine, is an American singer-songwriter. He has released six studio albums, several EPs and singles, as well as a few download-only releases, which include a live album (a recording of his 2005 Bonnaroo performance). He occasionally tours with a full band. Beam was raised in South Carolina before moving to Virginia and then Florida to attend school. He now resides in Durham, North Carolina.[ The name Iron & Wine is taken from a dietary supplement named “Beef, Iron & Wine” that he found in a general store while shooting a film.]

[Iron & Wine play The Midland Theatre on Friday, September 21, at 7:00 PM.]

20. Shiner – “Sleep It Off”
from: Lula Divinia / Castle Face / March 11, 1997 / Reissued by Desoto in 2001
[The group formed in 1992, and quickly found wide exposure, releasing a vinyl EP in 1993 and touring with acts such as Sunny Day Real Estate, Chore, Jawbox, Season to Risk, The Jesus Lizard, and Girls Against Boys. The group released their first LP, Splay (recorded at Steve Albini’s Chicago studio) in 1996, and a second album, Lula Divinia the next year. Sub Pop took notice, and released a 7″ single of the group’s songs “Sleep it Off” and “Half Empty”. Following this the band toured with Hum in 1998. A third full-length, Starless, was released on a label run by members of Descendents, Owned and Operated, in 2000. A fourth LP, The Egg, would follow before the group broke up in 2002. This was recorded and produced at Matt Talbott’s recording studio, Great Western Record Recorders in Tolono IL. Allen Epley is in The Life and Times. Shiner’s 3rd studio album, Starless, from 2000, is now available on vinyl.]

[Shiner plays recordbar on Saturday, September 22, at 7:00 pm with The Whiffs and Bummer]

21. Todd Rundgren – “A Dream Goes On Forever”
from: Todd / Bearsville Records / February 1974
[The 5th album and 2nd double album was an expansion of Rundgren’s experimentation on his previous album, A Wizard, a True Star. It showed his growing interest in the synthesizer, and its ability to expand the textures of rock music. Much of the album is intensely experimental. However, it is not without its share of pop songs. Todd also tinkers with the synth-heavy progressive sound he would take further with his later band Utopia. First issues of this LP included a large wall poster; all the lyrics appeared on one side, while the other was Todd’s cover portrait in shades of fine print, consisting of the names of 10,000 fans who had sent in the postcard included with A Wizard, a True Star. Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia. He is characterized for his sophisticated and often-unorthodox music, flamboyant stage outfits, and his later experiments with interactive entertainment. He also produced innovative music videos, pioneered forms of multimedia, and was an early adopter and promoter of various computer technologies, such as using the Internet as a means of music distribution in the late 1990s. A native of Philadelphia, Rundgren began his professional career in the mid 1960s, forming the psychedelic band Nazz in 1967. Two years later, he left Nazz to pursue a solo career and immediately scored his first US top 40 hit with “We Gotta Get You a Woman” (1970). His best-known songs include “Hello It’s Me” and “I Saw the Light” from Something/Anything? (1972), which have heavy rotation on classic rock radio stations, and the 1983 single “Bang the Drum All Day”, which is featured in many sports arenas, commercials and movie trailers. Although lesser known, “Couldn’t I Just Tell You” (1972) was influential to many artists in the power pop genre. His 1973 album A Wizard, a True Star remains an influence on later generations of “bedroom” musicians. Rundgren organized the first interactive television concert in 1978, designed the first color graphics tablet in 1980, and created the first interactive album, No World Order, in 1994. Additionally, he was one of the first acts to be prominent both as an artist and as a producer. His notable production credits include Badfinger’s Straight Up (1971), Grand Funk Railroad’s We’re an American Band (1973), the New York Dolls’ New York Dolls (1973), Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell (1977) and XTC’s Skylarking (1986).]

[Todd Rundgren plays the Crossroads KC on Saturday, September 22, at 8:00 PM.]

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

Next week on Wednesday September 26, we’ll play more New & Local Releases. Plus Nathan Bowman and members of the Kansas City Public Theatre joins us in the studio.

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

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

Show #752