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, January 29, 2025

WMM presents Malek Azrael & Rock is Black + Julie Bennett Hume + Doug Hitchcock

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979
   [WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]

2. Σtella – “Adagio”
   from: Adagio / Sub Pop Records / March 7, 2025
   [On April 4th, Greek Artist Σtella (pronounced Stella) will release her mesmerizing new record Adagio from Sub Pop. Adagio is a pop record that feels like a warm blanket; it swaddles its listeners with nylon-string guitars, featherlight percussion, psychedelic keyboards, and staccato drums. Written and recorded over the span of five years with a consortium of international collaborators, including !!!’s Rafael Cohen and British songwriter Gabriel Stebbing, Adagio is a 27-minute meditation on love and desire, rest, and time. The album was produced by Σtella and mixed by Edmund Irwin-Singer. Though the bulk of it is sung in English, as all her records have been, Σtella also delivers her first two songs in Greek, “Omorfo Mou,” and a cover of a 1969 cult classic of the Greek New Wave, Litsa Sakellariou’s “Ta Vimata.”]

3. Ivory Blue – “Rhythm of the Radio”
   from: “Rhythm of the Radio” – Single / IVORY BLUE / January 31, 2025
   [Written and dedicated to RADIO STATIONS, DJs all over the world. What IVORY says about this song: “I really wanted a song to express how scared I was for the future. But I also wanted a positive message to lift myself up. I realized in the process of writing it that this song was getting me through my emotions and I felt that all music really does just that. It helps us in our darkest times. This song is officially dedicated to all the radio stations that continually change people’s lives through the power of music and to the artists that continue to write out their deepest personal experiences through their own ideas. Let’s make the future a unifying happy place for all!” // IVORY BLUE released the single “Exiled” on November 29, 2024. IVORY BLUE released the single “Olé!” on October 4, 2024, Breathing Underwater” on August 9, 2024, “Bad Dreams”on June 7, 2024, “Batter Up” on April 22, 2024, “Flashback” on March 15, 2024, “Howl” on Feb. 16, 2024. // IVORY BLUE released their second full length album, STARLIT LOVE CHILD, on Nov. 17, 2023. The 10-track album was in the top five of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2023, and in the “Best of” lists at 90.9 The Bridge and other radio stations around the world. For STARLIT LOVE CHILD, IVORY BLUE served as songwriter, producer, & vocalist. // On October 27, 2023 IVORY BLUE released the single “Ghost of Life.” This single followed IVORY’s previous releases,”In A World Like This” from September 22, 2023, ”The Best of Life” from August 4, 2023 and “Control” from May 26, 2023. IVORY released the single “All Outta Love” on February 24, 2023. // IVORY BLUE released the single “Starlit Love Child” on Oct. 28, 2022, “Red Light” on July 29, 2022. // IVORY BLUE released their full length debut album COMPOUND LOVE on Feb. 25, 2022. COMPOUND LOVE was in the Top 10 of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2022. For COMPOUND LOVE, IVORY BLUE served as songwriter, producer, vocalist and played all instruments with the exception of: Lester Estelle on drums, Klaartje Van Lue on piano, Craig Kew on bass, Lennon Bone on drums, and Marco Pascolini on pedal steel guitar. Nick Poortman served in mixing, with Kurt Festge who also served in mixing & Mastering. // IVORY BLUE released the single “Good Changes” on Oct 26, 2021. Ivory Blue released the singles: “Heavy,” “Bad Weather,” “It Must Have Been Me,” “Compound Love,” and “The Start” on December 14, 2021. // IVORY BLUE’s debut EP, Ready Get Set was released in June 2015. While the EP helped spread the word and give IVORY BLUE attention from regional radio and TV stations, a big break would come in 2017. In 2017 Ivory was among 1800 artists/bands that competed in neXt2Rock. Ivory won local & regional challenges and advanced to nationals in Los Angeles to win the top prize. // IVORY BLUE has played with The Band That Fell to earth, Boulevardia, Crossroads Music Festival, The Middle of the Map Festival, The Westport Roots Festival, the KCPT Screening of “Real Boy” at The KC Public Library, and Kauffman Stadium. // Ivory Blue was born in 1986 in Peoria Illinois, as Devin James Miclettet. Ivory’s birth mother put them up for adoption at the age of four. Ivory speaks about how it was difficult to find trust in people offering their home to someone denied it for so long, Ivory lived with eight different families, before running away at 15. // Ivory has talked with us about how in their life they have turned to music to express pain. Ivory spent most of their childhood looking for a family. In 2010 Klaartje Van Lue saw Ivory performing in a YouTube video and contacted them, flying Ivory to Kansas City, and adopting Ivory into the Van Lue family. In 2011, Ivory settled in the Kansas City, MO area. During the past 10 years Ivory came out as “Non-Binary Transgender”, and then later as Trans-Female. // As a multi-instrumentalist, Ivory began refining their performance style, using digital looping pedals to stack harmonies and guitar parts live on stage, giving their solo shows the feel of a full band. More info at: http://www.ivorybluemusic.com]

4. Heath Church – “Sacred Talks”
   from: “Sacred Talks” – Single / Heath Church / January 3, 2025
   [Heath Church writes that, “Sacred Talks reflects on the fading art of deep, meaningful conversation. I wrote this song because I wanted to encourage connection in a disconnected world. You know that moment when you put yourself out there in a friendship for the first time and open up about something really personal? This song is about that moment and vulnerable, healing, conversations.” // Heath Church is an American singer-songwriter from KC who primarily plays indie-folk music. Heath Church grew up in Blue Springs, Missouri and performs all over the metropolitan area. His style is inspired by Elliott Smith, John Prine, Rivers Cuomo, and The Smiths. Many of his songs include intimate vocals, poetic lyrics, and warm acoustic guitar tracks. His lyrics speak poetically about his own life, losses, struggles and intimate moments. Heath enjoys playing music in smaller, intimate venues and interacting with his audiences. In the last four years Heath has released four 5-song EPs and eleven singles. More info at: http://www.heathchurchmusic.com]

Heath Church Discography

Keep the Pretty Ones Away – Single – March 29, 2024
Magic Hangover Cure – 5-Song EP – October 28, 2022
Kamikaze – Single – October 28, 2022
Mystery to Me – Single – February 5, 2021
Freefall – Single – November 27, 2020
Cosmic Love – 5-Song EP – September 18, 2020
Back to Brazil – Single – August 14, 2020
The Stranger – Single – July 10, 2020
Echoes of You – Single – May 8, 2020
Extra Pain – Single – November 18, 2019
Chemical Optometry – 5-song EP – June 14, 2019
All Messed Up – Single – December 7, 2018
Breaking Even – Single – April 6, 2018
The Things I’ve Tried – 5-song EP – December 23, 2017

5. Benjamin Booker – “SHOW AND TELL”
   from: Lower / Fire Next Time Records / January 24, 2025
   [Third full length album from Benjamin Booker was born Benjamin Roderick Evans on June 14, 1989. He is an American musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist. He cites The Gun Club, Blind Willie Johnson and T. Rex as influences. His music was described by the Chicago Tribune as “a raw brand of blues/boogie/soul,” by The Independent as “frenzied guitar-strumming and raw, soulful vocals that are hair-raising in intensity” and by Spin as “bright, furious, explosive garage rock.” // Benjamin Booker was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia. His family relocated to Tampa, Florida, where he attended all-ages DIY punk shows as a teenager. He attended Orange Grove Middle School, a magnet school for the performing arts, followed by Hillsborough High School, where he studied in the International Baccalaureate Program. He then attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, studying journalism with intentions of going into music journalism. After college, he moved to New Orleans to work for a non-profit organization and began playing shows. He self-released the four-track EP Waiting Ones in 2012, a collection of “low-fi blues-influenced folk-punk recordings and handclap percussion” that gained the attention of music blog Aquarium Drunkard. The track “Have You Seen My Son” eventually landed on Sirius XM satellite radio. In 2013, he began touring as an electric duo and signed with ATO Records to produce his debut album.]

6. Ayron Alexander – “Lucky”
   from: “Lucky” – Single / Ayron Plummer Music / January 19, 2025
   [Originally from Virginia, Ayron was born from the flames of sultry sound and raised in the warm arms of the treble clef.// In his younger years, Ayron started off in Church like all great singers do before soon moving to choirs outside of the general praise spectrum; from Show to Chamber Choir! // Later, after leaving his hometown and moving to Columbia, MO, Ayron became a member of a Christian Rock band and one of five singers of Just the Five of Us. // It wasn’t until the departure from the band that Ayron realized the sound and style he was looking for and wanting was something completely different from what he had been giving the crowds. // Now, considered a Neo-Soul Artist and living right in the heart of KC, Ayron wows his audience with his smooth voice and awesome stage presence. Ayron believes that music, no matter the genre, can heal a soul and bring love and life to anyone, which is why he sings everything! // Quotes: “Music is the gateway to the soul, living it is the key that unlocks the gate.” // “Give me a note and I’ll compose you a song. Give me a song and I’ll sing with you till my vocal chords are burning with agony.”]

7. The MGDs – “Hold On”
   from: Hold On / The MGDs / January 11, 2025
   [1st single (released Jan. 6, 2025) from the band’s 5th album. The MGDs released their 4th album, Midtown on Nov. 22, 2029. This followed, Somos Como Somos, from Nov. 4, 2017. The band is: Matt Davis on drums, percussion & vocals; Greg Bush on bass; Damon Parker on keyboards & vocals; Scott “Snoof” Middleton on guitar; Rudy Vasquez on saxophones; and Eric Martens on trumpet. This KC based 6-piece band that mixes piano and brass with a dynamic rhythm section that adds a unique flavor to the iconic KC music culture, blending of funk & blues with soulful stylings. In what started as a 3-piece between longtime friends Matt, Greg & Damon in 2008, the MGDs have evolved into a potent powerhouse, high-energy ensemble with regular monthly appearances at the Phoenix, and athe Sunset Music Fest, the City Market Crawfish Fest, the Phoenix Fest, Crossroads Music Fest, Middle of The Map Fest, Boulevardia, The Plaza Art Fair, Kauffman Stadium before two KC Royals games. In 2016 the band released, “Wake Up” their 2nd album.]

10:29 – Underwriting

8. Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom – “His Hat”
   from: BURST / Bad Egg Records / September 6, 2024
   [D. Hitchcock on drums, synths, production. Sal Cataldi on guitars/guitar synth. Percy Jones on fretless bass, with Malcolm Smart on bass. Bob Madiou, Hannes DeKassian, Jim Houghton on guitars. Po Gyzer on keys, Jim Seely on trumpet, Richard Brinka, Kenny Conti, Jim Ollin on saxes. // Mick Cantarella on Engineering, co-producer. Sal Cataldi on Mastering. // New 5-Track EP Spans Electro-Funk to Free Jazz with an All-Star Lineup Including Fretless Bass Master Percy Jones (Eno, Brand X) // BURST, the new instrumental EP from the critically acclaimed Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom, was released via iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Bandcamp, and other platforms. The curiously named duo’s five-track, 26-minute collection continues their explorations of funky, experimental, post-rock, dub and free jazz in the company of special guests, including Percy Jones, the fretless bass innovator best known for his work on Brian Eno’s Another Green World and his fusion band, Brand X. // The leaders of the oddly named duo, Kansas City-based percussionist D. Hitchcock and New York City & Hudson Valley-based guitarist Sal Cataldi, first outlined their recombinant genre research on the 1998 cult smash Escape Velocity, a jazz-inflected/noise & dub fueled flight for the chill-out room featuring another star by Percy Jones. The duo followed this with the even more adventurous and acclaimed 2012 release, Geolago. These albums garnered raves from all edges of the cognoscenti universe, including The Village Voice (“truly excellent… where Miles meets Midi”), Jazz Times (“an interesting potpourri of styles and spacious ambiance”), Alternative Press , Aquarian Weekly (techie gorks, a free-funk direction reminiscent of Last Exit or Sonny Sharrock’s soundtrack to ‘Space Ghost’), CMJ, Fantastic Voyage System (“marvelous head candy, an all-out trip fest”) and Fact Sheet Five (“part jazz, dub, funk, industrial and experimental, way more exciting than 99% of the music being released these days”). // BURST pre-dates Hari Karaoke’s first two album releases. It was recorded in 1992-93 when Hitchcock and Cataldi lived in Brooklyn. Hitchcock was the driving force behind this collection—as its producer, the solo composer of four of the five tracks, and supervisor, along with engineer and co-producer Mick Cantarella of Grampa Studios, of the outrageous dub-and-electronica-flavored mix. Cataldi supervised the mastering and sequencing in July 2024 at his Sonic Garden Studios in Woodstock, NY. The cover art is from Sonja Hitchcock. //“In the early ‘90s, eclecticism was the order of the day,” says Hitchcock. “Eno, Tackhead, Bill Laswell, ‘70s Miles and King Tubby were the soundtracks in our houses, the guideposts for what would become Hari Karaoke. The project began with me laying down five solo drum tracks, complete improvisations, at Mick’s studio. I returned to generate harmonic parts with Mick’s early triggering devices and effects. // “The next step was bringing in my musical friends to build these into songs. I was playing with Sal in a rock band, and he was also deep into jazz and experimentation, so he was an obvious choice and played a major role, especially as we partnered up to co-produce and compose the two following albums. We had Bob Madiou, Hannes DeKassian, and Jim Houghton adding some guitar. Po Gyser offered up some keys, along with Cynthia Harden. Jim Seely and Kenny Rampton played trumpet, and we had sax players Sam Brooks, Richard Brinka, Jimmy Ollen, and Jeff Zelnick. Malcolm Smart, who played in the rock band with Sal and me, is featured on the EP’s opener. Why these tracks were never released then is still a mystery to me. I’m glad Sal lit a fire under me to get this stuff out there.” // HK Trio previewed this new archival release by dropping the EP’s opening track as a single earlier this month: the feedback- and deep groove-drenched “Tropical Depression.” The tune opens with 28 seconds of wailing feedback guitar from Cataldi before bassist Smart lays down a rootsy, repetitive bottom groove, accented by Hitchcock’s phased drums and cut-up vocal samples. // The remaining four tracks are a virtuosic tour-de-force, especially from bassist Jones. “Denatured” begins with the quiet ambiance of temple bells before a prominent drum beat kicks in. Jones is the lead instrumental here, deploying chordal slurs, bell-like harmonics, percussive beats and scratches on his bass. The track concludes with the bassist and guitarist Cataldi trading eights, with the latter on nylon string guitar. “His Hat” once again kicks off with feedback and whammy bar abuse from Cataldi before heading into a deep funk groove. Jones again runs rampant, and the track boasts solos from trumpeter Jim Seely and guitarists Madiou and Cataldi. “Limo Ride to the Moon” has a world music flavor, underpinned with kalimba melodies and samples of Muslim prayers. The EP’s closer and longest track, “Hit List,” is a nine-plus-minute free jazz marathon of harmolodic interplay between the players, with multiple guitars, reeds, and brass going full bore – a taste of the authentic flavor of Knitting Factory-styled downtown jazz of New York City in the ‘90s, a venue where Hari Karaoke often performed.

10:34 – Interview with Doug Hitchcock

Doug Hitchcock has been working as a musician since the mid-1980s. He played with Freedy Johnston on demo recordings that got Freedy his first recording deal. Doug also played with the Lawrence Kansas bizarre-core outfit Near-Death Experience and others. Doug moved to New York in the late 1980s and wound up drumming for a number of bands in the so-called Brooklyn Beat Scene, including The Original Rays, Frank’s Museum, Bite the Wax Godhead, The X-Rays, and Medicine Sunday. Doug’s Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom began in that period as a series of studio experiments that morphed into a working band gigging at The Knitting Factory and other NYC venues. Since returning to KC in the late 1990s, Doug becomes a mainstay on the Blues and Jazz scene, performing with Everette DeVan, TooBig2Fail, The Midtown Quartet, The Old Crows. A rocker at heart, Doug has also kept busy over the years with The Douglas County Quintet, Ricky Dean Sinatra, The Mad Kings, and his “home band,” SHE SAID.

Doug Hitchcock Thank you for being with us on WMM.

He played with Freedy Johnston on demo recordings that got Freedy his first recording deal. Doug also played with the Lawrence Kansas bizarre-core outfit Near-Death Experience and others.

Doug moved to New York in the late 1980s and wound up drumming for a number of bands in the so-called Brooklyn Beat Scene, including The Original Rays, Frank’s Museum, Bite the Wax Godhead, The X-Rays, and Medicine Sunday.

Doug’s Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom began in that period as a series of studio experiments that morphed into a working band gigging at The Knitting Factory and other NYC venues.

The leaders of the oddly named duo, Kansas City-based percussionist D. Hitchcock and New York City & Hudson Valley-based guitarist Sal Cataldi, first outlined their recombinant genre research on the 1998 cult smash Escape Velocity, a jazz-inflected/noise & dub fueled flight for the chill-out room featuring another star by Percy Jones. The duo followed this with the even more adventurous and acclaimed 2012 release, Geolago. These albums garnered raves from all edges of the cognoscenti universe, including The Village Voice (“truly excellent… where Miles meets Midi”), Jazz Times (“an interesting potpourri of styles and spacious ambiance”), Alternative Press , Aquarian Weekly (techie gorks, a free-funk direction reminiscent of Last Exit or Sonny Sharrock’s soundtrack to ‘Space Ghost’), CMJ, Fantastic Voyage System (“marvelous head candy, an all-out trip fest”) and Fact Sheet Five (“part jazz, dub, funk, industrial and experimental, way more exciting than 99% of the music being released these days”).

BURST pre-dates Hari Karaoke’s first 2 album releases. Recorded in 1992-93 when Hitchcock & Cataldi lived in Brooklyn. Hitchcock was the driving force behind this collection—as producer, solo composer of 4 of the 5 tracks, and supervisor, along with engineer and co-producer Mick Cantarella of Grampa Studios, of the outrageous dub-and-electronica-flavored mix. Cataldi supervised the mastering and sequencing in July 2024 at his Sonic Garden Studios in Woodstock, NY. The cover art is from Sonja Hitchcock.

“In the early ‘90s, eclecticism was the order of the day,” says Hitchcock. “Eno, Tackhead, Bill Laswell, ‘70s Miles and King Tubby were the soundtracks in our houses, the guideposts for what would become Hari Karaoke. The project began with me laying down five solo drum tracks, complete improvisations, at Mick’s studio. I returned to generate harmonic parts with Mick’s early triggering devices and effects.

“The next step was bringing in my musical friends to build these into songs. I was playing with Sal in a rock band, and he was also deep into jazz and experimentation, so he was an obvious choice and played a major role, especially as we partnered up to co-produce and compose the two following albums. We had Bob Madiou, Hannes DeKassian, and Jim Houghton adding some guitar. Po Gyser offered up some keys, along with Cynthia Harden. Jim Seely & Kenny Rampton played trumpet, and sax players Sam Brooks, Richard Brinka, Jimmy Ollen, and Jeff Zelnick. Malcolm Smart, who played in the rock band with Sal and me, is featured on the EP’s opener. Why these tracks were never released then is still a mystery to me. I’m glad Sal lit a fire under me to get this stuff out there.

10:43

9. Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom– “Tropical Depression”
   from: BURST / Bad Egg Records / September 6, 2024
   [D. Hitchcock on drums, synths, production. Sal Cataldi on guitars/guitar synth. Percy Jones on fretless bass, with Malcolm Smart on bass. Bob Madiou, Hannes DeKassian, Jim Houghton on guitars. Po Gyzer on keys, Jim Seely on trumpet, Richard Brinka, Kenny Conti, Jim Ollin on saxes. // Mick Cantarella on Engineering, co-producer. Sal Cataldi on Mastering. // New 5-Track EP Spans Electro-Funk to Free Jazz with an All-Star Lineup Including Fretless Bass Master Percy Jones (Eno, Brand X) // BURST, the new instrumental EP from the critically acclaimed Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom, was released via iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Bandcamp, and other platforms. The curiously named duo’s five-track, 26-minute collection continues their explorations of funky, experimental, post-rock, dub and free jazz in the company of special guests, including Percy Jones, the fretless bass innovator best known for his work on Brian Eno’s Another Green World and his fusion band, Brand X.]

10:47 – More Interview with Doug Hitchcock

Drummer Doug Hitchcock has been gigging and recording since the mid-1980s. Played with Freedy Johnston on the demo recordings that got him his first records deal; with Moved to New York late ’80s and wound up drumming for a number of bands in the so-called Brooklyn Beat Scene, including The Original Rays, Frank’s Museum, Bite the Wax Godhead, The X-Rays, and Medicine Sunday. Doug’s Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom began in that period as a series of studio experiments that morphed into a working band gigging at The Knitting Factory and other NYC venues.

Doug Hitchcock Thank you for being with us on WMM.

Since returning to Kansas City in the late ’90s, Doug is a mainstay on the Blues and Jazz scene, performing with Everette DeVan, TooBig2Fail, The Midtown Quartet, and The Old Crows.

The Douglas County Quintet and Ricky Dean Sinatra, The Mad Kings, and his “home band,” so to speak, SHE SAID.

The KC based, 4-piece band, SHE SAID, is made up of Jennie Ferguson on vocals & guitar, Scott Mize on guitar, Doug Hitchcock on drums, and Matt Kesler on bass & vocals.

Matt Kesler and Scott Mize used to be in a band called Sylvan Grove. Jennie Ferguson and Scott Mize used to play in a band called Shotgun Solution. This was after the time of Jennie’s all-girl psych/pop band PMS.

Doug Hitchcock has played with Matt Kesler in the Midtown Jazz Quartet. Doug has played with Freedy Johnston, and the band Near Death Experience. Matt Kesler also plays in the famous bands The Pedajets and The Doo Dads.

Doug Hitchcock Thank you for being with us on WMM.

10:56

10. She Said – “These Are The Days”
    from: What! / She Said / April 2025
    [Jennie Ferguson on vocals & guitar, Scott Mize on guitar, Doug Hitchcock on drums, and Matt Kesler, on bass. From the upcoming 12-track album/vinyl release What! Produced by She Said, Recorded & Engineered by Paul Malinowski at Massive Sound Studios. Mixed by Paul Malinowski and She Said. Mastered by Mike Nolte, Eureka Mastering.Lyrics by: Jennie Ferguson. Music by Jennie Ferguson and She Said. Matt Kesler and Scott Mize used to be in a band called Sylvan Grove. Jennie Ferguson and Scott Mize used to play in a band called Shotgun Solution. This was after the time of Jennie’s all-girl psych/pop band PMS. Doug Hitchcock has played with Matt Kesler in the Midtown Jazz Quartet. Doug has played with Freedie Johston, and the band Near Death Experience. Matt Kesler also plays in the famous bands The Pedajets and The Doo Dads.]

11:00 – Station ID

11. Julie Bennett Hume – “John Lewis”
    from: The Lorelei / Julie Bennett Hume / February 9, 2025
    [4 years in the making, “The Lorelei” was produced by Chad Brothers and includes musicians: Chad Brothers, Marco Pascolini, Brandon Day, Scotch Hollow, Mark Montgomery, and Ernest James. // Julie Bennett Hume has been playing and writing music for over 35 years in the Lawrence/KC area. She has played and sung in various ensembles including a blues trio, an Afro-Cuban ensemble, various string bands, a Cajun ensemble and folk/Americana duos and ensembles. Her music shows a strong Cajun, Old-time and Blues influence with a nod to some of her favorite songwriters such as Stephen Stills, Maggie Roche and Gillian Welch. Julie has released four CD’s of original music including “Late Bloomer” in 2017, “Vinegar” in 2019, “Songs of Latter Days” in 2021 with the Multiverse and “The Lorelei” coming in February of 2025. The title track of “The Lorelei” is based on the poem of the same name by the German poet Heinrich Heine and revisits the theme of the dangerous siren. Songs deal with politics, family dynamics, love and loss. http://www.juliebennetthume.com]

11:05 – Interview with Julie Bennett Hume

Julie Bennett Hume is a singer-songwriter from Lee’s Summit, MO. She has been playing folk music for over 35 years in the Lawrence/KC area. She has played bass, guitar, banjo and performed as a vocalist in folk ensembles such as The Alferd Packer Memorial String Band, The KC Cajun Band, The All Night Fiddlers, the Afro- Cuban ensemble Manos, The Euphoria String Band, Table for Three, and Lost Cowgirl Revue which toured Germany and the Netherlands. She performs solo and with the duo The Stray Grays (with Leslie Giggler). Julie is also a High School teacher. Julie also works in radio, recently serving as producer and host of the KKFI program “River City Chautauqua“. She is currently getting ready to return to Community Radio with a new Women’s focused Public Affairs show starting in April. Julie served as a board member of the “Heartland Song Network”. Julie has released four solo albums of original music including “Late Bloomer” in 2017, “Vinegar,” in November of 2019, Songs Of Latter Days With Chris Hudson as The Multiverse, on November 1, 2020, and “The Lorelei” coming February 9, 2025.

Julie Bennett Hume welcome to Wednesday MidDay Medley

“The Lorelei” was four years in the making, “The Lorelei” was produced by Chad Brothers and includes musicians: Chad Brothers, Marco Pascolini, Brandon Day, Scotch Hollow, Mark Montgomery, and Ernest James.

Julie Bennett Hume is a singer-songwriter from Stilwell, Kansas. She has plays bass, guitar, and banjo. The title track of “The Lorelei” is based on the poem of the same name by the German poet Heinrich Heine and revisits the theme of the dangerous siren. Songs on her latest project deal with politics, family dynamics, love and loss .

Julie plays in the folk duo “The Stray Grays” with Leslie Giggler. Julie and Chris also perform in the group “Lost Cowgirl Revue”.

11:12

12. Julie Bennett Hume – “One Man”
    from: The Lorelei / Julie Bennett Hume / February 9, 2025
    [4 years in the making, “The Lorelei” was produced by Chad Brothers and includes musicians: Chad Brothers, Marco Pascolini, Brandon Day, Scotch Hollow, Mark Montgomery, and Ernest James. // Julie Bennett Hume has been playing and writing music for over 35 years in the Lawrence/KC area. She has played and sung in various ensembles including a blues trio, an Afro-Cuban ensemble, various string bands, a Cajun ensemble and folk/Americana duos and ensembles. Her music shows a strong Cajun, Old-time and Blues influence with a nod to some of her favorite songwriters such as Stephen Stills, Maggie Roche and Gillian Welch. Julie has released four CD’s of original music including “Late Bloomer” in 2017, “Vinegar” in 2019, “Songs of Latter Days” in 2021 with the Multiverse and “The Lorelei” coming in February of 2025. The title track of “The Lorelei” is based on the poem of the same name by the German poet Heinrich Heine and revisits the theme of the dangerous siren. Songs deal with politics, family dynamics, love and loss. http://www.juliebennetthume.com]

11:16 – More Interview with Julie Bennett Hume

Julie Bennett Hume is a singer-songwriter from Lee’s Summit, Missouri. She has been playing folk music for over 35 years in the Lawrence/Kansas City area. She has played bass, guitar, banjo and performed as a vocalist in numerous folk ensembles such as The Alferd Packer Memorial String Band, The Kansas City Cajun Band, The All Night Fiddlers, the Afro- Cuban ensemble Manos, The Euphoria String Band and Table for Three, and Lost Cowgirl Revue which toured Germany and the Netherlands. She performs solo and with the duo The Stray Grays (with Leslie Giggler). Julie is also a High School teacher who teaches German in public schools. Julie also works in radio, recently serving as producer and host of the KKFI program “River City Chautauqua“. She is currently getting ready to return to Community Radio with a new Women’s focused Public Affairs show starting in April. Julie has also served as a board member of the “Heartland Song Network”. Julie has released four solo albums of original music including “Late Bloomer” in 2017, “Vinegar,” in November of 2019, Songs Of Latter Days With Chris Hudson as The Multiverse, on November 1, 2020, and “The Lorelei” coming in February of 2025.

Julie Bennett Hume thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

“The Lorelei”. The title track of “The Lorelei” is based on the poem of the same name by the German poet Heinrich Heine and revisits the theme of the dangerous siren. Songs on her latest project deal with politics, family dynamics, love and loss.

Julie Bennett Hume – “Vinegar / Lost Cowgirl Records / November 1, 2019 . Julie Bennett Hume is a singer-songwriter from Stilwell, Kansas. She has been playing folk music for over 35 years in the Lawrence/Kansas City area. She has played bass, guitar, banjo and sung in numerous folk ensembles such as The Alferd Packer Memorial String Band, The Kansas City Cajun Band, The All Night Fiddlers, the Afro- Cuban ensemble Manos , The Euphoria String Band and Table for Three. She currently performs solo and with the duos The Stray Grays (with Leslie Giggler), The Multiverse (with Chris Hudson), the string band Wolves a’ Howlin’ and the group Lost Cowgirl Revue, which recently toured Germany and the Netherlands. Julie also teaches German part-time at a local high school and is the producer and host of the KKFI program “River City Chautauqua”. Her newest CD, Vinegar, was released in November of 2019.]

The Multiverse is Chris Hudson & Julie Bennett Hume have been playing and creating songs for decades in the KC – Lawrence area. Prolific songwriters with a love of poetry and prose, their music is an eclectic mix of folk, blues and country. For this recording of 13 songs Chris wrote 6 and Julie wrote 6 and they wrote one song together. They play on all songs together with help from the Kansas City acclaimed alternative string duo The Wires with Laurel Morgan parks on violin and Sascha Groschang on cello. Also contributing to the recording was Jason Beers. Chris Hudson also plays solo and with the bands “Gullywasher” and “The Bard Owls”. More info at: http://www.themultiversekc.com

Julie is also a High School teacher who teaches German in public schools.

Julie also works in radio, recently serving as producer and host of the KKFI program “River City Chautauqua“.

She is currently getting ready to return to Community Radio with a new Women’s focused Public Affairs show starting in April.

Julie Bennett Hume thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Julie Bennett Hume’s new album “The Lorelei” will be released on February 9, 2025
More info at: http://www.juliebennetthume.com

11:25

13. Julie Bennett Hume – “I Feel A Chill”
    from: The Lorelei / Julie Bennett Hume / February 9, 2025
    [4 years in the making, “The Lorelei” was produced by Chad Brothers and includes musicians: Chad Brothers, Marco Pascolini, Brandon Day, Scotch Hollow, Mark Montgomery, and Ernest James. // Julie Bennett Hume has been playing and writing music for over 35 years in the Lawrence/KC area. She has played and sung in various ensembles including a blues trio, an Afro-Cuban ensemble, various string bands, a Cajun ensemble and folk/Americana duos and ensembles. Her music shows a strong Cajun, Old-time and Blues influence with a nod to some of her favorite songwriters such as Stephen Stills, Maggie Roche and Gillian Welch. Julie has released four CD’s of original music including “Late Bloomer” in 2017, “Vinegar” in 2019, “Songs of Latter Days” in 2021 with the Multiverse and “The Lorelei” coming in February of 2025. The title track of “The Lorelei” is based on the poem of the same name by the German poet Heinrich Heine and revisits the theme of the dangerous siren. Songs deal with politics, family dynamics, love and loss. http://www.juliebennetthume.com]

11:29 – Underwriting

14. Malek Azrael – “in ur mind”
    from: “in ur mind” – Single / Malek Azrael / March 1, 2024
    [On October 15, 2021 Makek Azrael released his 10-track album debut. Male Azrael lives in KCMO. He has worked for Boys Grow, and is currently working with touring. Malek Azrael has been involved with Making Movies non-profit organization Art As Mentorship. He sometimes plays with Making Movies and played the Ameri-Kana Fest. Malek Azrael played KKFI’s 18th Annual Crossroads Music Fest, on Aug. 27, at The Black Box, in West Bottoms. Malek & The Vibez played Boulevardia Festival at Crown Center, on June 16, 2024.]

[Malek Azrael plays Manor Records Songbird Sessions, Sunday, February 2, 2025, at 6:00pm, at Manor Records, 5540 Troost Ave., KCMO. This is the Heartland Song Network Takeover as Malek Azrael is their Artist of The Month.]

[Malek Azrael & The Vibez plays ROCK IS BLACK—a celebration of Black artists in rock music, happening February 28, 2025 at 7:00 PM at the Zhou B Art Center, 1801 E 18th Street, KCMO. Rock is Black features: Jamogi and The Jammers, Stephonne and Frankie Shorez & Mercy Fire.]

11:34 – Interview with Malek Azrael, Izzy Vivas, and Josh Luke

Malek Azrael is a Kansas City-based singer, songwriter, and producer whose music effortlessly blends elements of Indie Rock and R&B Pop. Born and raised in the heart of the Midwest, Malek’s music is a reflection of his upbringing and his experiences, which he translates into honest, heartfelt lyrics and infectious melodies. // In October of 2021, Malek Azrael released his first album “Waves” which first featured members of his live band “The Vibez”. Upon the release of the debut project, The band hosted a sold-out release concert with 110 tickets sold. Since then, they have grown their fanbase in KC and surrounding areas through live concerts land appearances at Boulevardia Festival, Ameri’Kana, and the 18th and Vine Gumbo Fest, and shows at RecordBar, The Truman, Grinders, and Knuckleheads and collaborated with larger acts such as Making Movies, The Greeting Committee, and D Smoke. // Malek and The Vibez are set to release their new EP on February 28, 2025.

Izzy Vivas is Art Director at the Zhou B Art Center. Izzy Vivas received her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Bachelor of Arts (BA), and Social Practice Minor, from the Kansas City Art Institute. Izzy has honed her skills in curating immersive art experiences and pushing creative boundaries. She has worked at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Doo Good KC, and is a visionary behind the West 18th Street Fashion Show, Izzy leads the creative direction of this iconic event, uniting designers, artists, and performers to showcase cutting-edge designs and celebrate Kansas City’s cultural richness. Izzy’s expertise lies in her ability to merge art and fashion seamlessly, provoking thought and inspiring change through her innovative storytelling and visionary leadership.

Joshua Luke is the drummer for Malek Azrael & The Vibez. Josh Luke is a Kansas City-based audio engineer with a wide variety of skills and is the sole owner of Josh Luke Music and Audio LLC. He has a wide range of experiences in audio and the entertainment industry due to his passion, work ethic, easygoing attitude, ability to troubleshoot, and a degree in audio engineering. One of Josh’s greatest strengths is his constant desire to learn. Regarding live events, Josh has worked as an audio specialist or stagehand for MJH Media Group, Crossroads Sound, City Light Orchestra, The Levee Bar and Grill, and a handful and churches in the area. Through these opportunities, he has mixed at the Midland and Truman event spaces and set up and run audio for corporate events and weddings in hotels and venues all over town and the Midwest. He’s recently partnered with Prosperoes Bookstore by live recording and mixing a diverse range of local bands and artists for their Bell Tower concert series. Josh is also an energetic wedding and event DJ/MC. He will ensure your wedding or event flows smoothly and the music perfectly captures the mood. A few of the places he has DJ’d at include Gather at Red Cedar, Museum at Prairiefire, the Deleware, Beck Event Space, and Eltron KC. More info at: joshlukemusicandaudiollc.com

Malek Azrael, Izzy Vivas, and Joshua Luke joins us to share details about ROCK IS BLACK—a celebration of Black artists in rock music, happening February 28, 2025 at 7:00 PM at the Zhou B Art Center, 1801 E 18th Street, KCMO. Rock is Black features: Malek Azrael & The Vibez, Jamogi and The Jammers, Stephonne, and Frankie Shorez & Mercy Fire.

Malek Azrael, Izzy Vivas, and Joshua Luke thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Rock is Black is dedicated to uplifting and showcasing under-represented Black artists in the rock music genre, and celebrate the rich, yet often overlooked, contributions Black artists have made to rock music throughout history. From blues rock to pop punk, this unique occasion serves as the release concert for the highly anticipated indie rock EP by Malek Azrael & the Vibez, a band committed to redefining the landscape of music through a Black lens. Malek Azrael is a KC-based singer, songwriter, & producer whose music effortlessly blends Indie Rock & R&B Pop.

Malek and The Vibez are set to release their new EP on February 28, 2025., diving into and Indie Rock souind with a Y2k essence inspired by bands like Weezer, Wheatus, Lenny Kravitz, Smash Mouth, and Paramour.

ROCK IS BLACK—a celebration of Black artists in rock music, happening February 28, 2025 at 7:00 PM at the Zhou B Art Center, 1801 E 18th Street, KCMO. Rock is Black features: Malek Azrael & The Vibez, Jamogi and The Jammers, Stephonne, and Frankie Shorez & Mercy Fire.

11:41

15. Frankie Shorez – “Wanna Be Bad”
    from: “Wanna Be Bad” – Single / Mercy Fire LLC / January 3, 2024
    [Frankie B. Shorez is a 22 year old singer, Songwriter, Model, actress, and clothing designer and Small Business owner from Kansas city MO. From Rags to Riches chasing the dream..]

[Frankie Shorez & Mercy Fire plays ROCK IS BLACK—a celebration of Black artists in rock music, happening February 28, 2025 at 7:00 PM at the Zhou B Art Center, 1801 E 18th Street, KCMO. Rock is Black features: Malek Azrael & The Vibez, Jamogi and The Jammers, and Stephonne.]

11:45 – Interview with Malek Azrael, Izzy Vivas, and Joshua Luke

Malek Azrael returns to WMM to talk about ROCK IS BLACK—a celebration of Black artists in rock music, happening February 28, 2025 at 7:00 PM at the Zhou B Art Center, 1801 E 18th Street, KCMO. Rock is Black features: Malek Azrael & The Vibez, Jamogi and The Jammers, Stephonne, and Frankie Shorez & Mercy Fire.

Malek Azrael, Izzy Vivas, and Joshua Luke, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Malek Azrael plays Manor Records Songbird Sessions, Sunday, February 2, 2025, at 6:00pm, at Manor Records, 5540 Troost Ave., KCMO. This is the Heartland Song Network Takeover as Malek Azrael is their Artist of The Month.

Rock is Black is dedicated to uplifting and showcasing under-represented Black artists in the rock music genre, and celebrate the rich, yet often overlooked, contributions Black artists have made to rock music throughout history. From blues rock to pop punk, this unique occasion serves as the release concert for the highly anticipated indie rock EP by Malek Azrael & the Vibez, a band committed to redefining the landscape of music through a Black lens. Malek Azrael is a KC-based singer, songwriter, & producer whose music effortlessly blends Indie Rock & R&B Pop

Malek Azrael grew up in Kansas City. Malek Azrael was part of Making Movies non-profit organization Art As Mentorship, and sometimes plays with Making Movies. Makek Azrael released his 10-track debut album on October 15, 2021. Malek Azrael released the singles “22” on January 13, 2023, and “Anxiety” on April 30, 2023. Malek is the lead singer and songwriter of his band, Malek & The Vibez.

Malek has played the Folk Alliance International Conference, and has played the Ameri-Kana Fest, KKFI’s Crossroads Music Fest, Boulevardia Festival, and The Greenwood Social Hall. Malek Azrael’s new single will be officially released on Friday, March 1, 2024. More info at: http://www.mavband.us . More info at: http://www.mavband.us

Malek & The Vibez is a band that includes lead singer songwriter Malek Azrael, drummer Josh Luke, bassist Jack Roberts, and guitarist Calvin Haverkamp. Malek Azrael grew up in Kansas City. He has worked for Boys Grow, and is currently working with touring. Malek Azrael was part of Making Movies non-profit organization Art As Mentorship, and sometimes plays with Making Movies. Malek played the Ameri-Kana Fest, and KKFI’s 18th Annual Crossroads Music Fest, on Aug. 27, 2022. Makek Azrael released his 10-track debut album on October 15, 2021. Malek Azrael released the single “22” on January 13, 2023, and the newest single, “Anxiety” on April 30, 2023. More info at: http://www.mavband.us

Malek Azrael’s debut album “Waves” was compared to the likes of D’angelo, Stevie Wonder, and Prince with a voice that rivals the greatest RnB singers of our generation. Malek then added ‘The Vibez” as a live band to support the record and the combination of Drummer Josh Luke, bassist Jack Roberts, and guitarist Calvin “CLAV” Haverkamp created a groove that would make even a geriatric shake their hips.

Malek’s autobiographical single “22” featured Malek’s experience of growing pains and learning lessons in your 20’s. Turning 20 and 21 during the Covid epidemic where you’re not out making mistakes and living life. So when I turned 22 and I was finally able to leave my house, I found that it was toxic overload tbh. Malek says, “Your 20’s are toxic and hard and so my 2022 year was exhausting trying to be a young adult and learning to be a social human again.”

Malek’s band, The Vibez are total Taylor Swift fans but we realized after naming the song 22, that our song was in direct opposition of hers’. She was selling the awesome party, hipster version of being 20 and made us believe that we were going to be these cool adults drinking and laughing with our friends and we are all looking at each other like “this shit sucks” but we’ve got to keep going cause maybe it gets better… hopefully. So we love TAY SWIZZLE, we just wanna know when we can say “It feels like a perfect night to dress up like hipsters and make fun of our exes” cause its not feeling that way just y

Malek talks about having a particularly hard time with being told what music and sound was expected of him because he was a black male R&B singer and it made it extremely hard to create. Malek writes, “I started writing because I loved telling a story no matter the genre, and I actually grew up with a huge appreciation for rock thanks to my dad and his obsession with most of the soundtrack from guitar hero. I decided to say fuck expectations and make music thats fun and that me and my band align with right now in this part of our journey. I’m not saying goodbye to my roots at all, I’m just saying “ hey i’m an artist, not a genre” and creating freely, that is what i think music should be. I want to remind others that black rock stars still exist!”

Malek’s transition from a solo artist to a band wasn’t easy because a lot of it dealt with trust. It was a challenge of trusting the growth, the process, and others to care for the something that you nurtured by yourself for so long. It was extremely new navigating being a man who spoke for himself to be a front man who now has a band of skilled artists who bring their own style and point of views to this project. Honestly, I have to thank my band mates Josh Luke, Jack Roberts, and Calvin “CLAV” Haverkamp, along with our producer and friend Brandon Yangmi because they allowed me to be able to speak my truth and actually helped me elevate my recording technique and see the potential in my work. I dream bigger when I write now, which I didn’t even know was possible until we started this project.

Malek Azrael, Izzy Vivas, and Joshua Luke, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Malek Azrael plays Manor Records Songbird Sessions, Sunday, February 2, 2025, at 6:00pm, at Manor Records, 5540 Troost Ave., KCMO. This is the Heartland Song Network Takeover as Malek Azrael is their Artist of The Month.

ROCK IS BLACK—a celebration of Black artists in rock music, February 28, 2025 at 7:00 PM at the Zhou B Art Center, 1801 E 18th St, KCMO. Rock is Black features: Malek Azrael & The Vibez, Jamogi & The Jammers, Stephonne, Frankie Shorez & Mercy Fire

11:53

16. Jamogi – “Hot Block”
    from: “Hot Block” – Single / Jam Tunes / May 30, 2024
    [Jamogi is also know as Byron Hyde a Kanas City based singer, songwriter, MC, producer, originally from Los Angeles, California. Jamogi released the EP, Star-Crossed Lover on March 3, 2023. Jamogi then released a “Star-Crossed Lover GALACTIC REMIX (feat. Watchman)” single on June 9, 2023.Jamogi previously released the AGE OF AQUARIUS EP on March 3, 2023, and the single “Celebration” on December 9, 2022, and the single “Anymore” on May 6, 2022.]

[Jamogi plays ROCK IS BLACK—a celebration of Black artists in rock music, happening February 28, 2025 at 7:00 PM at the Zhou B Art Center, 1801 E 18th Street, KCMO. Rock is Black features: Malek Azrael & The Vibez, Jamogi and The Jammers, Stephonne, and Frankie Shorez & Mercy Fire.]

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

NEXT WEEK, on February 5

At 10:30 we’ll talk with Diana Watts of Whim Productions about the world premiere of Claire Carson’s, Kissing in the Grocery Store, a multimedia theater experience exploring queer identity, love, loss, and the quest for courage to live authentically. Also joining us is Kevin King Whim Production’s Artistic Director. Kissing in the Grocery Store runs Thursday, February 6 through Sunday, Feb 16, 2025 at Whim Space, 415 Prospect, KCMO 64124. //

At 11:00am we’ll talk with Chris Garibaldi co-founder of Lotus Pool Records and Mark Henning of the bands Zoom, National Trust, Voice of Action. Chris and Mark will share all the details about the newest Lotus Pool release titled: James Grauerholz – Life’s Too Good To Keep, a 21-track, double vinyl album compilation of the recorded songs of Grauerholz. James Grauerholz has long been known as ‘The Burroughs Guy’. From 1974 until William Burroughs death in 1997, James has handled the business of William S. Burroughs Communications, acting as his manager, bibliographer, editor, literary executor and companion. To this day he continues to helm the business of Burroughs. What has been little-known up until now is that James has led a double life as an accomplished musician and songwriter with an extensive body of work stretching back from the late 1960s to the present. In fact, music was his first passion.

At 11:30 we’ll talk with Daniel Gum about his new EP Met You Too Soon released on Manor Records on December 13, 2024.

THANK YOU to our incredible KKFI Staff; Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers and Shaina Littler – Office Manager Book Keeper

This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. Instead it is about a collective spirit of hundreds of hardworking people, unselfishly setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the gigantic goal of keeping our airwaves free, non-commercial, and open to all! Congratulations and thank you to all programmers & volunteers who went the extra effort to keep our station alive.

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

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

Show #1080

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, January 22, 2025

Michelle Bacon & The Band That Fell To Earth + Mike Dillon + Music from TRAИƧA

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979
   [WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]

2. Fullbloods – “White House Dot Com (Blue Websites)”
   from: Playing It Safe / High Dive Records / March 7, 2025
   [Second Single from the 4th studio album of Fullbloods. The first single, “No Hesitation” was released on December 7, 2024. // Fullbloods is a studio project of songwriter and producer Ross Brown (Shy Boys, Koney, Snacky). Live he is joined by his friends and the music is probably better that way. Thanks for listening! // Fullbloods released their 3rd full-length album Soft and Virtual Touch on High Dive Records on April 3, 2020. All songs written, performed, recorded, mixed by Ross Brown (℗© 2019 Bargain Hunt Music / ASCAP) in Kansas City, MO. Mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering. Artwork by Nika Winn. Kyle Rausch played drums on 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 9, sang on 9. Bill Pollock Played drums on 3 and 5. David Seume played bass on 5. Jerad Tomasino played synth on 9 and 10, sang on 9. Jenni Kornfeld played cello on 4. Leslie Butsch played sax on 10. More information at: http://www.fullbloods.com.]

3. Tunde Adebimpe – “Magnetic”
   from: ”Magnetic” – Single / Sub Pop / October 29, 2024
   [Tunde Adebimpe, the multi-hyphenate talent and enigmatic frontman for TV on the Radio, shared the single “Magnetic”, both his solo debut and first release at his new label home Sub Pop Records. “Magnetic” will be featured on his debut solo album coming in 2025. Accompanying the single is the official video, directed by Adebimpe. // The label’s co-founder Jonathan Poneman says of the signing, “We heartily welcome Tunde Adebimpe to Sub Pop’s roster of artists. His inclusion makes the whole lot better – and a whole lot classier! We’ve waited 20-plus years for Sub Pop to earn the chance to be Tunde Adebimpe’s label.” Sub Pop Records is home to celebrated artists such as Suki Waterhouse, Father John Misty, Weyes Blood, and Beach House // Outside of TV on the Radio, Tunde Adebimpe is a musician, actor (Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Rachel Getting Married, Twisters), animator, director and visual artist (A Warm Weather Ghost, Plague Heroes). His prior solo work has been in collaborations with artists such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Massive Attack, and Run The Jewels, plus contributions to Grand Theft Auto V, Sleater Kinney’s covers album, and more. // TV on the Radio is currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes, with a string of sold-out shows this November and December in New York, Los Angeles, and London.]

4. Moses Sumney – “Is It Cold In The Water (feat. ANOHNI)”
   from: TRAИƧA / Red Hot / November 22, 2024
   [One of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by the storied activist and music production non-profit Red Hot, TRAИƧA is a spiritual journey across eight chapters and 46 songs with over 100 artists contributing. The album spotlights the gifts of many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working today. // Dust Reid, who led production on Red Hot’s 2014 tribute to Arthur Russell, and Massima Bell, an artist and activist based in Los Angeles, began tracing the contours of what would become TRAИƧA together in 2021. The two producers originally met at a video shoot in upstate New York, and immediately bonded over their shared love of Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s music, as well as a common devotional connection to nature.
   The passing of SOPHIE, the pathbreaking electronic producer who died in January 2021, galvanized the producers and focused their work. “We started talking about all the gifts that trans artists have been giving to the world, and wanted to create a Red Hot project that centered and celebrated those gifts,” says Reid. “We hoped to create a narrative that positions trans and non-binary people as leaders in our society insofar as the deep inner work they do to affirm who they are in our current climate. We felt this is something everybody should do. Whether you identify as trans or non-binary or otherwise, if you took the time to explore your gender, get in touch with the feeling side of yourself, maybe we would have a future oriented around values of community, collaboration, care, and healing.” // Bell and Reid began conceiving of the album as a spiritual journey in eight chapters, a mirror of the original eight-stripe rainbow pride flag. The narrative begins at the earliest awareness of consciousness; moves through awakening, trauma, and grief; and arrives at liberation and continual reinvention. “One thing trans people do all the time is turn grief into possibility,” says Bell. “Living under the ongoing Western binary system, trans people reveal maps of possibility for everyone. It’s something that we can all learn from – expanding the possibility of human life.” Each chapter begins with a “chapter track,” kicking off a collection of songs that speak to that chapter’s theme. // As the producers began inviting musicians to contribute to TRAИƧA, the political climate in the United States and across the world started to foment an acute reactionary streak. Legislation denying trans people the hard-won right to medically transition proliferated across the country. Book bans rained down on libraries, stamping shut crucial apertures into trans and queer lives. The necessity of TRAИƧA’s presence in the world started to crystallize. // “The stakes have never been higher,” notes Bell. “We’re seeing a rise in anti-trans hate and vitriol that is particularly being spewed in the United States. I am a trans person from Iowa, one of the states that signed into law a bill that prohibits access to gender-affirming care. It is clearly, materially, a terrifying time.” // TRAИƧA FEATURED ARTISTS:Adrianne Lenker * Ahya Simone * Alan Sparhawk (Low) * Allison Russell * Am Taylor * Anajah * Ana Roxanne * André 3000 * Anjimile * Arthur Baker * Asher White * AV María * Babehoven * Bartees Strange * Belina Rose * Benét * Beverly Glenn-Copeland * Bill Callahan * Blake Mills * Bloomsday * Calvin Lauber * Caroline Rose * Cassandra Croft * Cassandra Jenkins * Christian Lee Hutson * claire rousay * Clairo * CLARITY * Cole Pulice * Dave Longstreth * Devendra Banhart * Eileen Myles * Eli Winter * Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland * Ezra Furman * Faye Webster * Fleet Foxes * Frankie Cosmos * Gary Gunn * Gia Margaret * Green-House * Grouper * Hand Habits * Heart Shaped * Helado Negro * Hunter Schafer * Jamal Shakeri * Jay Dee Daugherty * Jayne County * Jeff Tweedy * Jlin * Joy Guidry * Julianna Barwick * Julie Byrne * Julien Baker * Kara Jackson * Kathi Wilcox * KB Brookins * Kelela * Laraaji * Laura Jane Grace * Lauren Auder * Lee Ranaldo * Lightning Bug * Lomelda * Lucy Liyou * Lynn Avery * Lyra Pramuk * L’Rain * Mary Lattimore * MIZU * Moor Mother * More Eaze * Moses Sumney * Nico Georis * Niecy Blues * Nina Keith * Nsámbu Za Suékama * NYC Trans Oral History Project * Pepper MaShay * Perfume Genius * Pharoah Sanders * Quinn Christopherson * Rachika Nayar * Sade Adu * Sam Smith * Sharon Van Etten * SKY * SOAK * Soft Rōnin * Sparkle Division * Taryn Blake Miller * Teddy Geiger * Time Wharp * Wendy & Lisa of the Revolution * Yaeji * Yaya Bey // Moses Sumney (born May 19, 1992) is an American singer-songwriter. His self-recorded EP, Mid-City Island, was released in 2014. He released another five-song EP in 2016, titled Lamentations. His first full-length album, Aromanticism, was released in September 2017. His second studio album, Græ, was released in 2020. Sumney has performed as an opening act for James Blake, Solange Knowles, and Sufjan Stevens. // Born in California, Sumney was raised by pastor parents, and moved with his family back to Ghana at the age of 10. He described his childhood as “Americanized” by this age and had difficulty adjusting to the culture of Ghana, especially the rural nature of his new environment. There he grew up on a goat farm in Accra and commuted by public bus to school. His family returned to Southern California when Sumney was 16, settling in Riverside. // He did not learn to play any instruments until he was older, writing a cappella music for years instead. Sumney did not perform his musical compositions publicly until he was 20. // After high school, he moved to Los Angeles in 2010 to attend the University of California, Los Angeles. He majored in creative writing and studied poetry, which helped him improve his songwriting. // Anohni Hegarty (formerly Antony Hegarty, born 1971), styled as ANOHNI, is a British-born American singer, songwriter, and visual artist. She has presented solo work and as the lead singer of the band Anohni and the Johnsons, formerly known as Antony and the Johnsons.// She started her musical career performing with an ensemble of New York musicians as Antony and the Johnsons. Their self-titled first album was released in 2000 on David Tibet’s label Durtro. Their second album, I Am a Bird Now (2005), was a commercial and critical success, earning her the Mercury Music Prize. // In 2016, Anohni became the first openly transgender performer nominated for an Academy Award;[5] she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, along with J. Ralph, for the song “Manta Ray” in the film Racing Extinction. Her debut solo album, Hopelessness, was released in May 2016 to wide critical acclaim, including another nomination for the Mercury Music Prize and a Brit Award. In 2023, as Anohni and the Johnsons, the artist released her sixth album, My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross. // Anohni was born in 1971 in Chichester, England. She identified as transgender from an early age. In 1977, her family moved to Amsterdam for a year, and then, in 1981, they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area of California, settling in San Jose, where Anohni attended Lincoln High School and studied music and was an avid record collector. She told The Telegraph in 2005, “I was listening to OMD, Kate Bush, Culture Club, Alison Moyet and especially Marc and the Mambas, which was this incredibly dark and emotional side project for Marc Almond.” Anohni also recalled how she “saw [her] reflection” in Boy George, the lead singer of Culture Club. // In 1990, Anohni moved to Manhattan to attend Experimental Theater Wing at New York University. In 1992 she founded the performance collective Blacklips, later known as Blacklips Performance Cult, with creative partner Johanna Constantine, and she spent the next several years singing in after-hours bars and clubs using pre-recorded cassettes as self-accompaniment as well as writing and directing late-night theatre productions]

5. Claire Adams – “Westerlies (feat. Lyndsay Pruett)”
   from: “Westerlies (feat. Lyndsay Pruett)” – Single / Claire Adams / December 21, 2024
   [Claire Adams writes to tell us that, Westerlies is a contemplation on life and death, beginnings, cycles, endings, joy and depression, friendship and connection. With: Claire Adams on vocals and bass. Featuring Lyndsay Pruett (of Jon Stickley Trio) on fiddle, Fritz Hutchison on mandolin, Abraham Villaseñor on guitar. Recorded at Rio Verde in Guadalajara, Mex. Additional recording, mixing, mastering by Duane Trower at Weights+Measures Soundlab in Kansas City, Missouri // Last year Clair released the 3-song EP Words of Love on April 2, 2024 with Claire Adams-vocals, bass; Daniel Dissmore on trumpet; Fritz Hutchison on drums; Jackie Myers on piano; Trevor Turla on trombone; Abraham Villaseñor on guitar. // Recorded, mixed and mastered by Duane Trower at Weights & Measures Soundlab, KCMO. Additional recording by Odin Parada at Rec4 Studios, GDL. // Musically curious and multifaceted, Claire Adams is dedicated to collaborating, recording and songwriting to hone her melodic instincts and vision. A bassist, guitarist, singer and songwriter, Adams has lent a discerning ear and versatility to a number of projects. Claire founded the eight-piece genre-jumping collective Claire and the Crowded Stage – a project that united her pop sensibilities with non-traditional instrumentation. This project teamed her up with guitarist Katy Guillen and drummer Stephanie Williams, leading them to form the nationally touring blues-rock trio Katy Guillen & the Girls in 2012, with Adams on bass and backing vocals. In recent years Adams has been performing solo, collaborating with the KC based string quartet Rewound, and in a trio featuring pianist Alyssa Murray.[Claire Adams played The Ship, 1221 Union Ave, KCMO West Bottoms on April 11 opening for Fritz Hutchison & His Honky Tonk Band] [Claire Adams played The Gospel Lounge at Knuckleheads 2715 Rochester Ave. KCMO on April 14 with Jackie Myers and Fritz Hutchison. More info at: claireadamsmusic.com]

6. Daniel Gum – “Met You Too Soon”
   from: Met You Too Soon – EP / Manor Records / December 13, 2024
   [Here’s what Daniel had to say about this track: “This song was written reflecting on a past relationship—thinking things probably could have worked out if we met 5 years later than we did. Or maybe they wouldn’t have.. but I’ll never know. This song is a part of a series of singles leading up to my second album. I hope you enjoy the chord progressions and slide guitar especially”. // Daniel Gum is a singer-songwriter based out of Kansas City, KS who has been active since 2017. Daniel Gum released the single “Julia” on December 9, 2022. Daniel Gum released the single “Wolverine (ft. Rachel Cion)” on September 19, 2921. Daniel Gu, released the electronic pop EP, I’M NOT DEAD in 2017 and an acoustic EP, MOON in 2018. In addition to working on his own solo project, Daniel has been working with other local groups—playing bass and engineering for his band Pillow (a post-punk/shoegaze group) and playing drums behind singer-songwriter Chloe Jacobson, also doing some recording for her. Channeling the likes of Elliott Smith & Andy Shauf, he co-produced his new record THIRTEEN with Mike Crawford, playing almost everything you hear on the album and mixing it himself. Signing to Manor Records in the spring of 2020, he officially released THIRTEEN on cassette & CD on October 30, 2020. All songs written, performed, and.mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering. Daniel Gum is a 24 year old singer-songwriter . Since the age of 12, he has spent the majority of his time writing and recording songs by himself in his room. The Moon EP was released December 7, 2019. It was engineered by Mike Crawford and Daniel Gum and mixed by Daniel Gum with piano and accordion by Cole Crawford. Daniel Gun released his EPI’M NOT DEAD on October 25, 2017, and his 10-song album Reorient on July 31, 2015, with all songs written, recorded and mixed by Daniel Gum who also performed all vocals guitars, drums, piano, bass. harmonica, and programming. The first single from Daniel Gum’s album, Thirteen “Ruin Your Life” was released on September 4, The second single, “In The Worst Ways” was released September 28, 2020. ] [On our July 22, 2020, WMM show we played Daniel Gum’s track, “Tired Saint” from French Exit Records – Black Lives Matter Compilation, released July 6, 2020. French Exit Records was launched two years ago as an independent music label in KCMO, founded by Brad Girard. French Exit Records has released albums for No Magic and Raymond,. BLM Compilation is 22 acts from the area, with all proceeds donated to One Struggle KC’s Liberation Fund, a Black-led coalition of KC activists seeking to connect the struggles of oppressed communities, locally & globally. Daniel Gum joined us on WMM on November 11, 2020]

7. Kim Deal – “Coast”
   from: Nobody Loves You More / 4AD / November 22, 2024
   [Debut solo album by the American musician Kim Deal. It was released by 4AD, and promoted with the singles “Coast”, “Crystal Breath”, “A Good Time Pushed” and “Nobody Loves You More”. // Nobody Loves You More is Deal’s first solo album. It includes contributions from her sister Kelley Deal and other former Breeders collaborators, such as Jim MacPherson and Mando Lopez, as well as Savages’ Fay Milton and Ayse Hassan, Raymond McGinley of Teenage Fanclub, and the Raconteurs’ Jack Lawrence. // The album includes over a decade’s work, with its earliest songs dating back to 2011, shortly after Deal’s departure from the Pixies following their Lost Cities Tour. “Are You Mine?” and “Wish I Was” were written in 2011 and released in 2013 as part of a self-released seven-inch vinyl series in 2013. Steve Albini, a frequent collaborator, recorded “A Good Time Pushed” in the final sessions at Electrical Audio in Chicago before his death in May 2024. // Musically, Nobody Loves You More blends familiar Breeders-esque rock with surprising stylistic choices, such as bossa nova and brass instrumentation, as heard in the title track. Songs like “Disobedience” and “Big Ben Beat” evoke the energy of Breeders’ classics, while others, like “Wish I Was,” reimagine earlier material with fresh arrangements. Despite its eclectic nature, the album retains Deal’s style, offering both familiarity and innovation. // The album’s themes range from the deeply personal to whimsical inspirations. For instance, the poignant track “Are You Mine?” is inspired by a moment with Deal’s mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s. Conversely, “Crystal Breath” arose from Deal’s admiration for actress Rose Byrne, though the song’s intended purpose as a TV theme was ultimately declined. // Upon its release, Nobody Loves You More was well received by music critics. According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Nobody Loves You More received “universal acclaim” based on a weighted average score of 89 out of 100 from 11 critic scores. // The Quietus highlighted the range, from the vibrant, brass-infused bossa nova of the title track to the raw vulnerability of songs like “Are You Mine?” AllMusic added their ‘Editor’s Choice’ tag to the collection and stated “Nobody Loves You More is some of her finest music yet, and while any of these songs would’ve been a standout with one of her other projects, it’s all the sweeter that they’re hers alone”.]

8. Florist – “Have Heaven”
   from: “Jellywish / Double Double Whammy / April 4, 2025
   [“Have Heaven” is the first single from Florist’s upcoming album. // “Jellywish is billed as an exercise in imagining a world where magic is a daily companion, possibility is everywhere, and asking the difficult questions is rewarding.” – PITCHFORK // “Sprague’s gossamer vocals float atop a soft wash of hypnotic acoustic guitar strums—which sound almost harp-like—as effortlessly graceful as leaves skimming the top of a pond.” – PASTE // With their new album, New York minimalist folk quartet Florist invite listeners to question everything — to imagine a world where magic, surrealism, and the supernatural are our companions in day-to-day life. Jellywish, due April 4th on Double Double Whammy, dares to present a realm of possibility and imagination in a time that feels evermore prescriptive, limiting, and awful. // On Jellywish, Florist explores life’s big questions without offering silver linings, morals, or definitive answers. Instead, the band asks perhaps the most difficult of questions: Is it possible to break free from our ingrained thought cycles and pedestrian way of life? That, Florist posits, may be the only way to be truly happy, fulfilled, and free. // Singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter Emily Sprague says that the record is purposely complicated. “It’s a gentle delivery of something that is really chaotic, confusing, and multifaceted,” she explains. “It has this technicolor that’s inspired by our world and also fantasy elements that we can use to escape our world.” The album’s lead single “Have Heaven,” released today alongside a music video made by animator Kohana Wilson, is a perfect example of this cosmic alchemy the band conjures on Jellywish. // “We enter an observational fever dream about floating through liminal space between lifetimes, individual perceptions. There is reflection on our connectedness in joy and suffering through the wish for a peaceful place for our spirits to live and land,” Sprague explains. “‘Have Heaven’ establishes the world of the album to be not quite always lucid, but rather a perspective that is blended into the worlds of the magic and death realms swirling around us. The chorus is a chant that pleads for a better symbiosis between these worlds, and between our earthly forms trying to survive alongside each other, bound to the systems we must exist within.” // Jellywish is an exercise in multidimensional world building. The album’s panoramic cover art, which looks like something out of a Henry Darger volume, wraps the music in a collage of color that presents as science fiction-adjacent, hinting at something mysterious, fantastical, and mythological. Inside the album’s jacket, however, are tender and catchy sonic meditations on life’s most knotty subjects: life, death, earth, reality, relationships, joy, and pain. Taken together, Florist offers an acute sense of the band at this moment, one that worries about the world and its place in it. In contrast, it also presents an alternative to the doldrums of day-to-day life, and the necessary suggestion that very different things may be true at the same time. // With Jellywish, Florist offers a complex album in a time that is anything but simple. In mining the chaos and wonder of physical and spiritual worlds, the band holds a mirror to itself to the great benefit of all. It tells us that we are not alone, and challenges us to believe in magic.]

10:30 – Underwriting

9. Mike Dillon & Punkadelic – “Pandas”
   from: Inflorescence / Royal Potato Family / January 27, 2023
   [Punkadelick: Mike Dillon – Vibraphone, Marimba, Prophet 6, Congas, Bongo; Brain Haas – Fender Rhodes, Piano, Bass Moog, Melodica; Nikki Glaspie – Drums, Cymbals, Vocals. Mixed and Recorded by Chad Meise. Mastered by Collin Jordan / Boiler Room Mastering. Cover Art: Peregrine Honig. // From Bandcamp notes: Mike Dillon & Punkadelick makes its recorded debut with Inflorescence, an album of heady, instrumental rock highlighting a band deep in the throes of creative freedom, road tested and wild. Consisting of 10 tracks in 42-minutes, it’s an expansive, focused and fearless collection, representing a world where Duke Ellington and Augustus Pablo rub shoulders with crate-digger exotica, the freak-funk of Parliament and the ‘anything fits’ outsider ethos of acid-fried punks like The Meat Puppets. // A trio featuring Mike Dillon (Ricki Lee Jones, Ani DiFranco, Les Claypool) on vibraphone, marimba, Prophet 6, congas, and bongos, Brian Haas (Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey) on Fender Rhodes, piano, bass Moog and melodica and Nikki Glaspie (Beyonce) on drums, cymbals and vocals, Punkadelick is the unified vision of six hands creating a world that often sounds like the work of an ensemble three times the size. // During 2020 and 2021, while many music venues were still shuttered, the group began touring, sweating their way through cuts Dillon and Haas had composed during quarantine writing sessions. Locking in on stage, it quickly became clear the band was functioning at a level that made the hair on their arms stand at attention—even for three live music veterans accustomed to life on the road. // “It became obvious to let this become a collaboration,” Dillon says. “This is really something all three of us are doing because we have so much love for one another and a love for the music that we started creating.” // “There’s only three of us, but we move together like a big, nasty school of fish,” Haas adds, laughing. // During the tail end of a 2021 tour, the band booked time to record with engineer—and functioning fourth band member—Chad Meise, and Inflorescence sprouted. Opener “Desert Monsoon,” sets the stage with a spiritual-jazz intro of organ, vibraphone, percussion and wordless vocal coos before crackling to life as a swaggering funk strut. The title track, and “Pandas,” dig into thick dub textures built around Glaspie’s drumming and Haas’s subwoofer-straining bass synths. // “Apocalypse Daydream,” which appeared as an exotic head-nodder on 2020’s Shoot the Moon (titled “Apocalyptic Daydreams”) is reborn as a meatier jazz-rock slab where Dillon and Haas circle each other like Television performing as a lounge act on a cruise ship sailing seas of psilocybin. // Bending ears and surprising audiences has long been part of Dillon’s MO and Glaspie and Haas act as perfect foils for forays into the weird. While Dillon bristles at the “punk jazz” tag, punk rock and jazz remain core influences to the band, in sound and spirit. // “We’re students of the titans of music. We grew up listening to punk and rock ’n’ roll but we also love instrumental music—particularly the forefathers of Black American Music. In our minds, Led Zeppelin and Milt Jackson, Parliament-Funkadelic and The Minutemen, The Bad Brains and Frank Zappa are interconnected influences,” explains Dillon. “All that comes together in how we approach instrumental creative music. Both punk rock and jazz are not prefab things, they’re about the freedom. We have no genre restriction in this band, and people who get it really respect that.” // Maybe the greatest example of the band’s punk-steeped sonic free-for-all is “Slowly But Surely,” a track Dillon told Haas to compose as if he were “writing for Queens of the Stone Age.” The song plays like QOTSA translated to piano runs, vibes and deeply swinging drums—big-riff stoner rock upended and played with huge smiles by America’s premier proponents of the unclassifiable. // “We try to challenge our listeners. We’re touching a nerve with people who maybe don’t want to see the same songs done in the same variations all night long,” continues Dillon. “Part of my mission is taking these instruments that are primarily designed for the orchestral or jazz world and taking them to the rock world, the club world, running them through pedals and effects. We’re not afraid to be soft, or to surprise. That’s what we all do in this band — get beyond our own conceptions of what music is supposed to be.” // “We are so blessed and lucky to do what we do for a living — it’s apparent in the music,” Glaspie chimes in. “It doesn’t matter how the day is going, but we get to the club, set up and crush the gig, all the other stuff doesn’t matter. We’re likeminded individuals who love life, love people and want to spread happiness.”

10:35 – Interview with Mike Dillon

Mike Dillon was born in San Antonio, Texas. He is a percussionist, vibraphonist, bandleader, and vocalist. Mike has released over 12 solo records, and multiple albums with his other bands, many singles, and collaborations with Ricki Lee Jones, Ani DiFranco and others. He is a member of Mike Dillon & Punkadelick, Les Claypool’s Fancy Band and Garage A Trois. He has performed with Galactic, Brave Combo, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Marco Benevento, Clutch, Claude Coleman Jr., and New Orleans musicians Kevin O’Day, Johnny Vidacovich and James Singleton. In the 1990s he led Dallas-based Billy Goat, after Billy Goat disbanded and he performed in the KC-based Malachy Papers and the Austin-based Hairy Apes BMX (HABMX). In 2006, Dillon started Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle with members of Billy Goat, drummer Go-Go Ray, and bassist, J.J. Jungle. Dillon also performs with The Dead Kenny G’s, and The Fancy Trio. Dillon is married to artist Peregrine Honig. His current project, Mike Dillon & Punkadelic features Mike on vibraphone, ma-rimba, Prophet 6, congas, & bongos; Brian Haas (of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey) on Fender Rhodes, piano, bass Moog & melodica; and Nikki Glaspie (of Beyonce) on drums, cymbals & vocals. Punkadelick released their 10-track instrumental rock, debut album, INFLORESCENCE on Royal Potato Family Records, on January 30, 2023. The album was produced with Chad Meise. More information at http://www.mikedillonvibes.com

Mike Dillon Thank you for being with us on WMM.

Mike Dillon is an American percussionist, vibraphonist, bandleader, and vocalist born in San Antonio, Texas. He is a member of Critters Buggin, Les Claypool’s Fancy Band and Garage A Trois.

In 2023 Mike Dillon called into our show from the road, where he was touring as a member of Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, with Les on vocals & guitar, Sean Lennon on guitar, Harry Waters on keyboards, Paulo Baldi on drums, Skerik on saxophone, and Mike Dillon on percussion. Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade played Grinders KC, on Friday, May 26.

Mike Dillon is based in New Orleans and Kansas City

Mike has produced albums for others including Rickie Lee Jones album Kicks.

He has performed with many musicians including Ani DiFranco, Galactic, Brave Combo, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Marco Benevento, Clutch (band), Claude Coleman Jr., and New Orleans musicians Kevin O’Day, Johnny Vidacovich and James Singleton.

Dillon’s love of playing percussion was born out of his love for the band Rush as a teenager. He originally performed in the 1980s with local Dallas and Denton favorites Ten Hands.

In the 1990s he led Dallas-based Billy Goat, In the late 1990s, Billy Goat disbanded and he performed in the Kansas City-based Malachy Papers and the Austin-based Hairy Apes BMX (HABMX).

In 2006, Dillon started a project “Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle” which included members of Billy Goat, drummer Go-Go Ray, and bassist, J.J. Jungle.

The live Go-Go Jungle also performs songs from Dillon’s prior projects. They released their second CD entitled Rock Star Bench Press in 2009.

Dillon contributed the majority of compositions to Garage A Trois’ Power Patriot CD released in 2009.

Dillon and saxophonist Skerik perform as a trio called “The Dead Kenny G’s” with alternate third members. National tours have included keyboardist Brian Haas and bassist Brad Houser. With Houser they have also toured as “Critters Buggin Trio”. They released a CD entitled Bewildered Herd in 2009. As a trio with bassist James Singleton, Dillon and Skerik have toured as “Illuminasti” and as a trio with Les Claypool they have been billed as “The Fancy Trio”.

Dillon is married to artist Peregrine Honig, whom he resides with in Kansas City and New Orleans, but a busy touring schedule keeps him on the road much of the time.

Discography
Black Frames Solarallergy (2002)
Mike Dillon (2003)
Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle Battery Milk (2007)
The Dead Kenny G’s Bewildered Herd (2009)
Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle Rock Star Bench Press (2009)
Mike Dillon and Earl Harvin People Gardens (2010 – recorded 2005)
The Dead Kenny G’s Operation Long Leash (2011)
Mike Dillon Urn (2012)
The Dead Kenny G’s Gorelick (2012)
DVS [Mike Dillon, Johnny Vidacovich, James Singleton] “Bones”
Mike Dillon Band of Outsider (2014)
Nolatet “Dogs” (2016)
Mike Dillon Functioning Broke (2016)
Mike Dillon Life is Not a Football (2017)
Nolatet No Revenge Necessary (2018)
Mike Dillon Bonobo (2018)
Mike Dillon Rosewood (2020)
Mike Dillon & Punkadelic Shoot the Moon (2021)
Mike Dillon & The Bad Decisions Suitcase Man (2021 )
Mike Dillon 1918 (2021)
Mike Dillon & Punkadelick Featuring Nikkie Glaspie and Brian Haas ‘’Inflorescence’’ (2023)

See also discographies
Billy Goat
Hairy Apes BMX
Malachy Papers
Critters Buggin
Garage A Trois
With others
Ten Hands Kung Fu … That’s What I Like (1988)
Ten Hands The Big One Is Coming (1989)
MC 900 Ft Jesus One Step Ahead of the Spider (1994)
Ten Hands The Big One That Got Away (1996)
Pigface The Best of Pigface: Preaching to the Perverted (2001)
Karl Denson The Bridge (2002)
Les Claypool Purple Onion (2002)
Les Claypool Of Whales and Woe (2006)
Ani DiFranco Canon (2007)
Marco Benevento Live at Tonic (2007)
Ani DiFranco Red Letter Year (2008)
Santogold Santogold (2008)
Les Claypool Of Fungi and Foe (2009)
Ani Difranco “Which Side Are You On” (2012)
Wavves “Afraid of Heights” (2013)
Secret Chiefs 3 (Ishraqiyun) Perichoresis (2014)
Primus Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble (2014)
Karl Denson New Ammo (2014)
The Revivalist Men Amongst Mountains (2015)
Stanton Moore “With You in Mind” (2017)
Robert Walter’s 20th Congress Spacesuit (2018)
Clutch Book of Bad Decisions (2018)
The Dean Ween Group rock2 (2018)
Rickie Lee Jones Kicks 2019
Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe Gnomes and Badgers (2019)
The Iceman Special Circular Purple Circus (2021)

10. Mike Dillon & Punkadelic– “Run White Boy Run (feat. Calvin Arsenia)”
    from: Run White Boy Run / Royal Potato Family / February 14, 2025
    [Run White Boy Run presents Mike Dillon with his ever fierce and subversive trio Punkadelick, featuring keyboardist Brian Haas and drummer Nikki Glaspie. This time around the fearless vibraphonist/percussionist — whose resume runs from Les Claypool to Garage A Trois, Ani DiFranco to Rickie Lee Jones — takes on Cumbia, a Latin American style of music that originated in Colombia in the 1800s, and injects it with his own patented no-holds-barred, punk jazz vision. He’s joined along the way on this provocative musical rollercoaster ride by special guests including David Shaw (The Revivalist), Tiff Lampson (Givers), Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) and Shane Theriot (Hall & Oates). All songs written by Mike Dillon, Brian Haas, and Peregrine Honig. (except for “I Want To Be Your Dog” – The Stooges) Mixed and Recorded by Chad Meise]

10:48 – More interview with Mike Dillon

Mike Dillon has released over 12 solo records, multiple albums with his other bands, many singles, and collaborations with Ricki Lee Jones, Ani DiFranco and others. More information at http://www.mikedillonvibes.com

Mike’s band, Mike Dillon & Punkadelic features Mike on vibraphone, ma-rimba, Prophet 6, congas, & bongos; Brian Haas (of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey) on Fender Rhodes, piano, bass Moog & melodica; and Nikki Glaspie (of Beyonce) on drums, cymbals & vocals.

Punkadelick released their 10-track instrumental rock, debut album, INFLORESCENCE on Royal Potato Family Records, on January 30, 2023.

The album was produced with Chad Meise.

A trio featuring Mike Dillon (Ricki Lee Jones, Ani DiFranco, Les Claypool) on vibraphone, marimba, Prophet 6, congas, and bongos, Brian Haas (Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey) on Fender Rhodes, piano, bass Moog and melodica and Nikki Glaspie (Beyonce) on drums, cymbals and vocals, Punkadelick is the unified vision of six hands creating a world that often sounds like the work of an ensemble three times the size.

Mike Dillon on The Road

JAN 18 SAT
The Maple Leaf- The New Fuck Yeahs @ 10:00 PM
New Orleans, LA, United States

FEB 22 SAT
No So Super Hero Ball- The New Fuck Yeahs- Carrolton Station @ 9:00 PM
New Orleans, LA, United States

FEB 28 FRI
Mike Dillon, Brian Haas, Otto Schrang @ 9:00 PM
New Orleans, LA, United States

MAR 4 TUE
The New Fuck Yeahs- The Blue Nile mardi Gras Day @ 7:00 PM
New Orleans, LA, United States

MAR 21 FRI
Punkadelick- Jack London Revue- Brian Haas, Nikki Glaspie, Mike D Portland, Or @ 9:00 PM
Brian HaasNikki Glaspie Fan Page
Portland, OR, United States

MAR 21 FRI
Punkadelick- Jack London Revue- Brian haas, Nikki Glaspie, Mike D Portland, Or @ 9:00 PM
Brian Haas
Portland, OR, United States

MAR 22 SAT
Punkadelick and OG McTuff- High Dive Settle @ 8:00 PM
Brian HaasNikki Glaspie Fan Page
Seattle, WA, United States

More information at http://www.mikedillonvibes.com

During 2020 and 2021, while many music venues were still shuttered, the group began touring, sweating their way through cuts Dillon and Haas had composed during quarantine writing sessions. Locking in on stage, it quickly became clear the band was functioning at a level that made the hair on their arms stand at attention—even for three live music veterans accustomed to life on the road.

“It became obvious to let this become a collaboration,” Dillon says. “This is really something all three of us are doing because we have so much love for one another and a love for the music that we started creating.” // “There’s only three of us, but we move together like a big, nasty school of fish,” Haas adds, laughing.

During the tail end of a 2021 tour, the band booked time to record with engineer—and functioning fourth band member—Chad Meise, and Inflorescence sprouted. Opener The title track, and “Pandas,” dig into thick dub textures built around Glaspie’s drumming and Haas’s subwoofer-straining bass synths.

Bending ears and surprising audiences has long been part of Dillon’s MO and Glaspie and Haas act as perfect foils for forays into the weird. While Dillon bristles at the “punk jazz” tag, punk rock and jazz remain core influences to the band, in sound and spirit. // “We’re students of the titans of music. We grew up listening to punk and rock ’n’ roll but we also love instrumental music—particularly the forefathers of Black American Music. In our minds, Led Zeppelin and Milt Jackson, Parliament-Funkadelic and The Minutemen, The Bad Brains and Frank Zappa are interconnected influences,” explains Dillon. “All that comes together in how we approach instrumental creative music. Both punk rock and jazz are not prefab things, they’re about the freedom. We have no genre restriction in this band, and people who get it really respect that.”

Maybe the greatest example of the band’s punk-steeped sonic free-for-all is “Slowly But Surely,” a track Dillon told Haas to compose as if he were “writing for Queens of the Stone Age.” The song plays like QOTSA translated to piano runs, vibes and deeply swinging drums—big-riff stoner rock upended and played with huge smiles by America’s premier proponents of the unclassifiable.

“We try to challenge our listeners. We’re touching a nerve with people who maybe don’t want to see the same songs done in the same variations all night long,” continues Dillon. “Part of my mission is taking these instruments that are primarily designed for the orchestral or jazz world and taking them to the rock world, the club world, running them through pedals and effects. We’re not afraid to be soft, or to surprise. That’s what we all do in this band — get beyond our own conceptions of what music is supposed to be.”

Mike Dillon was a percussionist with Billy Goat, and was one third of influential and acclaimed band, The Malachi Papers.

Mike Dillon Thank you for being with us on WMM.

More information at http://www.mikedillonvibes.com

10:57

11. Malachi Papers – “Jane and Brad”
    from: Backbelly / reapandsow, Inc / January 1, 2003
    [Mike Dillon on Percussion, Vibraphone, Mark Southerland on Saxophone, Brad Houser, Johnny Hamil on bass, E Clarke Wyatt on keyboards, Joe Max on Turntables, Earl Harvin o drums. Recorded by Chad Meise, Mastered by E Clarke Wyatt, Cover art by Peregrine Honig

11:00 – Station ID

We play two more tracks from a new project from music production non-profit Red Hot, TRAИƧA is a spiritual journey across eight chapters and 46 songs with over 100 artists contributing. The album spotlights many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working today.

12. Mary Lattimore, MIZU & Jamal Shakeri– “I. Midnight Moon Pool (Womb Of The Soul) [feat. Laraaji]”
    from: TRAИƧA / Red Hot / November 22, 2024
    [One of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by the storied activist and music production non-profit Red Hot, TRAИƧA is a spiritual journey across eight chapters and 46 songs with over 100 artists contributing. The album spotlights the gifts of many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working today. // Dust Reid, who led production on Red Hot’s 2014 tribute to Arthur Russell, and Massima Bell, an artist and activist based in Los Angeles, began tracing the contours of what would become TRAИƧA together in 2021. The two producers originally met at a video shoot in upstate New York, and immediately bonded over their shared love of Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s music, as well as a common devotional connection to nature. // The passing of SOPHIE, the pathbreaking electronic producer who died in January 2021, galvanized the producers and focused their work. “We started talking about all the gifts that trans artists have been giving to the world, and wanted to create a Red Hot project that centered and celebrated those gifts,” says Reid. “We hoped to create a narrative that positions trans and non-binary people as leaders in our society insofar as the deep inner work they do to affirm who they are in our current climate. We felt this is something everybody should do. Whether you identify as trans or non-binary or otherwise, if you took the time to explore your gender, get in touch with the feeling side of yourself, maybe we would have a future oriented around values of community, collaboration, care, and healing.” // Bell and Reid began conceiving of the album as a spiritual journey in eight chapters, a mirror of the original eight-stripe rainbow pride flag. The narrative begins at the earliest awareness of consciousness; moves through awakening, trauma, and grief; and arrives at liberation and continual reinvention. “One thing trans people do all the time is turn grief into possibility,” says Bell. “Living under the ongoing Western binary system, trans people reveal maps of possibility for everyone. It’s something that we can all learn from – expanding the possibility of human life.” Each chapter begins with a “chapter track,” kicking off a collection of songs that speak to that chapter’s theme. // As the producers began inviting musicians to contribute to TRAИƧA, the political climate in the United States and across the world started to foment an acute reactionary streak. Legislation denying trans people the hard-won right to medically transition proliferated across the country. Book bans rained down on libraries, stamping shut crucial apertures into trans and queer lives. The necessity of TRAИƧA’s presence in the world started to crystallize. // “The stakes have never been higher,” notes Bell. “We’re seeing a rise in anti-trans hate and vitriol that is particularly being spewed in the United States. I am a trans person from Iowa, one of the states that signed into law a bill that prohibits access to gender-affirming care. It is clearly, materially, a terrifying time.” // TRAИƧA FEATURED ARTISTS:Adrianne Lenker * Ahya Simone * Alan Sparhawk (Low) * Allison Russell * Am Taylor * Anajah * Ana Roxanne * André 3000 * Anjimile * Arthur Baker * Asher White * AV María * Babehoven * Bartees Strange * Belina Rose * Benét * Beverly Glenn-Copeland * Bill Callahan * Blake Mills * Bloomsday * Calvin Lauber * Caroline Rose * Cassandra Croft * Cassandra Jenkins * Christian Lee Hutson * claire rousay * Clairo * CLARITY * Cole Pulice * Dave Longstreth * Devendra Banhart * Eileen Myles * Eli Winter * Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland * Ezra Furman * Faye Webster * Fleet Foxes * Frankie Cosmos * Gary Gunn * Gia Margaret * Green-House * Grouper * Hand Habits * Heart Shaped * Helado Negro * Hunter Schafer * Jamal Shakeri * Jay Dee Daugherty * Jayne County * Jeff Tweedy * Jlin * Joy Guidry * Julianna Barwick * Julie Byrne * Julien Baker * Kara Jackson * Kathi Wilcox * KB Brookins * Kelela * Laraaji * Laura Jane Grace * Lauren Auder * Lee Ranaldo * Lightning Bug * Lomelda * Lucy Liyou * Lynn Avery * Lyra Pramuk * L’Rain * Mary Lattimore * MIZU * Moor Mother * More Eaze * Moses Sumney * Nico Georis * Niecy Blues * Nina Keith * Nsámbu Za Suékama * NYC Trans Oral History Project * Pepper MaShay * Perfume Genius * Pharoah Sanders * Quinn Christopherson * Rachika Nayar * Sade Adu * Sam Smith * Sharon Van Etten * SKY * SOAK * Soft Rōnin * Sparkle Division * Taryn Blake Miller * Teddy Geiger * Time Wharp * Wendy & Lisa of the Revolution * Yaeji * Yaya Bey]

13. Yaya Bey – “A Survivor’s Guilt”
    from: TRAИƧA / Red Hot / November 22, 2024
    [Hidaiyah “Yaya” Bey is an American rhythm and blues musician from Brooklyn. // Bey released her first album in 2020 titled Madison Tapes. Bey released an EP titled The Things I Can’t Take With Me the following year, through Big Dada. Bey released her second full-length album on June 16, 2022. The album received “Best New Music” from Pitchfork upon release. // Bey is the daughter of hip hop artist, Grand Daddy I.U.]

Discography
Studio albums
The Many Alter-Egos of Trill’eta Brown (2016, Elevated)
This Too… (2019, Elevated)
Madison Tapes (2020, Elevated)
Remember Your North Star (2022, Big Dada)
Ten Fold (2024, Big Dada)

EPs
The Things I Can’t Take with Me (2021, Big Dada)
Exodus the North Star (2023, Big Dada)

14. Piney Gir – “Show Me The Lightning”
    from: “Show Me The Lightning” – Single / No Distance Records / September 20, 2024
    [Written by Piney Gir. Piney Gir on vocals, percussion; Garo Nahoulakian on guitars, bass, percussion, key; Mike Monaghan on drums, percussion; Tomas Greenhalf on keys, saxophone. Produced and Mixed by Tomas Greenhalf at Direktorenhaus. Mastered by Kevin Tuffy at Manmade Mastering. Artwork by Tim Benton.. // Piney Gir (pronounced “gear”), often shortened to Piney, is an American musician and singer, born in Kansas but based in London, England since 1998. She has released seven studio albums. // Piney’s musical style is predominately edgy indie-pop, although she has been described both as a musical “chameleon” and as “the indie Dolly Parton” and “Transatlantic Pop Guru” . // Piney was raised in the Bible Belt of Midwest America and was sheltered from most secular music and culture growing up. She took piano lessons from the age of four and sang every week in church. As a teenager, Piney rebelled against this upbringing embracing all types of music, which may later explain her ability to write and create all genres of music. She then went to UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance where she majored in music, firstly playing drums and pitched percussion, but then changing her major to voice. When she moved to London, she went to Central Saint Martins and took some night classes while doing temp jobs by day; working in bars and clubs at night, she then joined synth pop duo Vic Twenty. Vic Twenty released a single on Mute records sub label Credible Sexy Units and toured the UK and Europe with Erasure. It was at Truck Festival that Truck Records saw Piney play the Trailer Park Stage and offered her a record deal in 2003, the start of her prolific career as a solo artist. // Piney is an established figure on the London music scene, and has toured the UK, Europe and America extensively. Among others, she has supported Gaz Coombes, Ride, Erasure, Wanda Jackson, The Hidden Cameras and The Research and she’s played many festivals around the UK, US and Europe including appearances at Glastonbury festival on the Park Stage and South by Southwest. She has collaborated with many successful artists, including Andy Ramsay of Stereolab; Rob Campanella from The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Eamon Hamilton from the band Brakes and British Sea Power; Sweet Baboo, Willie J Healey, Angela Correa of Correatown, The Real Tuesday Weld, and Simple Kid. // Piney sings in Gaz Coombes’s band and is a singer with Noel Gallagher. She has also sung with Garth Hudson from The Band and regularly sings with Dream Themes and Ralfe Band (both live and on their records). She also sang on the Corona Virus themed Disco album “Stayin’ Alive” with Rhodri Marsden. Piney is a backing singer on Danny Goffey’s forthcoming solo album as well as singing on Lawrence’s new Go-Kart Mozart (album release date TBC).]

15. Art d’Ecco – “True Believer”
    from: Serene Demom / Paper Bag Records/ July 23, 2019
    [Serene Demon may be Art d’Ecco’s most ambitious album to date, but fans won’t struggle to recognize his handiwork. For all its hints of mystery, opener “True Believer” picks up the thread of last summer’s non-album single “I Feel Alive.” The push-and-pull of “Tree of Life” could’ve easily propelled it into heavy MTV rotation in the heyday of the Psychedelic Furs, while the slinky “Shell Shock” and its Roland SH-2000 synth grooves evokes memories of Steve Miller’s “Fly Like An Eagle.” Even the audacious title tune is carefully sequenced between a moody instrumental (“Meursault’s Walk,” a nod to Camus’ The Stranger) and an upbeat pop tune (“Honeycomb”) embellished with steel drum. // Like Bowie and Björk, Miles Davis and Kate Bush, Art d’Ecco intends to keep nudging his listeners forward, prompting them to explore – and accept – unfamiliar ideas. “Once you’ve trained the ear of the audience, it establishes a new precedent,” he concludes. Tastes change and evolve, and outliers mature into icons. “That moves pop music forward in the most beautiful, organic way, and I’m constantly trying to exist within that paradigm. How do I challenge myself and throw the rule book out, but still make this the catchiest, quirkiest piece of music possible? I like existing between those two worlds.” // Great pop music accommodates big ideas and simple truths with equal finesse, but don’t expect a record – even one as ambitious as Serene Demon – to solve all life’s mysteries. “If you’re constantly searching for answers or hope to bestow any relevance to the existence that you’re living, then take a pause and realize that life is happening right now,” concludes Art. “You don’t need to constantly defer happiness. Just exist in the moment.” // Based in British Columbia, “There’s more than a little David Bowie in both the sonic and fashion leanings of Art d’Ecco, a performer who fluidly crosses musical and gender lines, creating highly memorable tracks — and sporting an unforgettable look. Often labelled “neo glam,” the music boasts hints of everything from ’50s pop to psychedelics, from Velvet Underground-era art rock to Grimes-inspired electronics.” – CBC Music Art d’Ecco freleased the album Trespasser on Paper Bag Records on October 12, 2018. When d’Ecco moved into his grandmother’s cottage on one of the islands, he hadn’t planned on creating a new project. But, as it often does, circumstance charted his course. His grandmother, living with Alzheimer’s, suffered a related phenomenon called ‘sundowning,’ which triggers increased agitation and anxiety around sunset. “The only way to calm this lady down was to sit down at the piano,” says d’Ecco. He would play “Bohemian Rhapsody,” passing it off as Beethoven. After she was relocated, d’Ecco remained in the empty house where he had played as a child. Draped in memory, he gravitated toward the piano, spending the long, lonesome, quiet nights on the bench before the instrument. This is where Art d’Ecco was created. He relocated to a new cottage, built a studio and barricaded himself with copies of Deerhunter’s Cryptograms, Bowie’s Low, and choice krautrock records. In this solitude, d’Ecco would chase tones for hours. The result is a richly-realized confluence of the ferocious spark of those trailblazers and a distinct sadness, with d’Ecco as mad scientist, stitching together these delicious fragments and animating them.]

11:15 – Tribute to Nile Rodgers

Michelle Bacon joins us in a few minutes to share details about The Band That Fell To Earth who’ll perform David Bowie’s album, Let’s Dance, as a Special VIP Benefit, on Thursday, January 23 at 8:00 at at recordBar. As we focus on David Bowie’s biggest selling album “Let’s Dance” we have to recognize the contribution of Nile Rodgers.

Nile Rodgers Jr. who was born September 19, 1952 The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million singles worldwide.

He produced David Bowie‘s biggest selling album, Let’s Dance, which yielded the hit singles “Let’s Dance”, “China Girl”, and “Modern Love”. He produced the single “Original Sin” by INXS, and in 1984, he produced Madonna‘s album Like a Virgin, which scored four hit singles including its title track, “Material Girl”, and “Dress You Up”. He worked extensively with Duran Duran, remixing their biggest-selling single, “The Reflex”, producing “Wild Boys” on their 1984 live album, Arena, and co-producing the album Notorious. Rodgers produced albums for Sheena Easton, Jeff Beck, Thompson Twins, Mick Jagger, and others, and performed at Live Aid with Madonna and the Thompson Twins. At the end of the decade, he produced albums for Grace Jones, Al Jarreau, Earth Wind and Fire’s vocalist Philip Bailey, and performed on “Higher Love” with Steve Winwood, as well as on records for Cyndi Lauper, and others. In 1989, he co-produced the B-52’s multi-platinum album Cosmic Thing; it reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and yielded the singles “Love Shack”, and “Roam”. He produced Workin’ Overtime, Diana Ross‘ return to Motown, and the soundtracks for Alphabet City, Gremlins, White Nights, and The Fly. He later composed an orchestral soundtrack, his first, for the film Coming to America.

Bowie met Nile Rodgers of the American band Chic in the after-hours New York nightclub Continental, where the two developed a rapport over industry acquaintances and shared musical interests; he eventually asked him to produce his next record. // “Let’s Dance” was the first song recorded for the album. The sessions, co-produced by Bowie and Rodgers, took place at the Power Station in New York City during the first three weeks of December 1982. Engineered by Bob Clearmountain, the song was completed in one or two takes and set the tone for the rest of the project. The rest of the album was recorded quickly, completed in just 17 days. Contributing additional guitar overdubs towards the end of the sessions was Stevie Ray Vaughan, a then-unknown 28-year-old Texas blues guitarist, whom Bowie hired after seeing him play at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival. Bowie praised his guitar playing, saying: “He’s got a whole other thing going on.” He used a Fender Stratocaster plugged into an old Fender amplifier.

11:18

16. Laurie Anderson – “Language is a Virus”
    from: Home of The Brave / Warners Brothers / May 26, 1986
    [Produced by Nile Rodgers. Home of the Brave is the third studio album and first soundtrack album by avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson, released in 1986 by Warner Bros. Records. The album is a soundtrack of her concert film of the same name. // Three of the eight tracks on the album were recorded in the studio and thus differ considerably from the filmed versions. A music video for “Language Is a Virus” was produced, using the soundtrack studio recording but footage of the live performance. // Two songs on the album were remakes of earlier works: “Language Is a Virus” was originally titled “Language is a virus from outer space – William S. Burroughs” and was performed on Anderson’s earlier United States Live (the soundtrack album omits the song’s spoken word introduction, “Difficult Listening Hour”, which had appeared on United States Live and which was also performed in the film). “Sharkey’s Night” is a song from Anderson’s previous album, Mister Heartbreak. However this rendition is performed by Anderson herself (the original was vocalized by William S. Burroughs) as it is in the film. Burroughs’ voice is heard on the track “Late Show,” however. The soundtrack album omits the other live performances of songs from Mister Heartbreak that were featured in the movie. // An alternate, faster-paced version of “Smoke Rings” was recorded for release as a possible single, but there is no indication it was ever issued; it can be heard during Anderson’s made-for-TV short film What You Mean We? // Laura Phillips “Laurie” Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting, Anderson pursued a variety of performance art projects in New York City during the 1970s, focusing particularly on language, technology, and visual imagery. She achieved unexpected commercial success when her song “O Superman” reached number two on the UK singles chart in 1981. // Anderson’s debut studio album Big Science was released in 1982 and has since been followed by a number of studio and live albums. She starred in and directed the 1986 concert film Home of the Brave. Anderson’s creative output has also included theatrical and documentary works, voice acting, art installations, and a CD-ROM. She is a pioneer in electronic music and has invented several musical devices that she has used in her recordings and performance art shows. // Laura Phillips Anderson was born in Chicago on June 5, 1947, and grew up in the nearby suburb of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, one of eight children born to Mary Louise (née Rowland) and Arthur T. Anderson. Growing up, she spent weekends studying painting at the Art Institute of Chicago and played with the Chicago Youth Symphony. // She graduated from Glenbard West High School. She attended Mills College in California, and after moving to New York in 1966, graduated in 1969 from Barnard College with a B.A. magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, studying art history. In 1972, she obtained an M.F.A. in sculpture from Columbia University. // Her first performance-art piece — a symphony played on automobile horns — was performed in 1969. In 1970, she drew the underground comix Baloney Moccasins, which was published by George DiCaprio. In the early 1970s, she worked as an art instructor, as an art critic for magazines such as Artforum, and illustrated children’s books—the first of which was titled The Package, a mystery story in pictures alone.]

Nile Rodgers talks about making “Lets Dance”

18. David Bowie – “Let’s Dance” (Single Version)
    from: Let’s Dance / EMI America / April 14, 1983
    [Let’s Dance was co-produced by Chic’s Nile Rodgers, the album contained three of his most successful singles; the title track, “Let’s Dance”, reached No. 1 in the US, “Modern Love” and “China Girl” both reached No. 2 in the UK. “China Girl” was a new version of a song which Bowie had co-written with Iggy Pop for the 1977 album The Idiot. The album also contains a re-recorded version of the song “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” which had been a minor hit for Bowie a year earlier. Let’s Dance was a stepping stone for the career of the Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who played on it. Let’s Dance has sold over 10.7 million copies worldwide, making it Bowie’s best-selling album. Let’s Dance is Bowie’s 18th official album release since his debut in 1967, including two live albums, one covers album (Pin Ups, 1973), and a collaboration with the Philadelphia Orchestra (1977). The success of the album surprised Bowie, who felt he had to continue to pander to the new pop audience he acquired with the album. This led to Bowie releasing two further solo albums in 1984 and 1987 that, despite their relative commercial success, did not sell as well as Let’s Dance, were poorly received by critics at the time and subsequently dismissed by Bowie himself as his “Phil Collins years”. Bowie would form the hard rock and grunge-predecessor band Tin Machine in 1989 in an effort to rejuvenate himself artistically. David Bowie had planned to use producer Tony Visconti on the album, as the two had worked together on Bowie’s previous four studio albums. However, he chose Nile Rodgers for the project, a move that came as a surprise to Visconti, who had set time aside to work on Let’s Dance. Visconti called [Bowie’s personal assistant] Coco and she said: “Well, you might as well know – he’s been in the studio for the past two weeks with someone else. It’s working out well and we won’t be needing you. He’s very sorry.” The move damaged the two men’s relationship and Visconti did not work with Bowie again for nearly 20 years (until 2002’s Heathen). Rodgers later recalled that Bowie approached him to produce his album so that Bowie could have hit singles. Rodgers reported that Bowie came into his apartment one day and showed him a photograph of Little Richard in a red suit getting into a bright red Cadillac, saying “Nile, darling, that’s what I want my album to sound like.”]

11:30 – Underwriting

19. David Bowie – “Without You”
    from: Let’s Dance / EMI America / April 14, 1983
    [Let’s Dance was co-produced by Chic’s Nile Rodgers, the album contained three of his most successful singles; the title track, “Let’s Dance”, reached No. 1 in the US, “Modern Love” and “China Girl” both reached No. 2 in the UK. “China Girl” was a new version of a song which Bowie had co-written with Iggy Pop for the 1977 album The Idiot. The album also contains a re-recorded version of the song “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” which had been a minor hit for Bowie a year earlier.

11:04 – Interview with Michelle Bacon

Multi-talented musician and writer, Michelle Bacon, Content Manager at 90.9 The Bridge, where she shines a light on musicians & events. Michelle has written for KC Options Magazine, The KC Star, Deli Magazine, and Folk Alliance Int. Michelle plays drums in the band Frogpond, and plays bass & drums in many other bands Other Americans, Katy Guillen & The Drive, The Philistines, Heidi Lynne Gluck, Chris Meck and the Guilty Birds, The Blackbird Revue, Dolls on Fire, John L. Johnson, the Nathan Corsi Band, Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Erica Joy, Deco Auto, and several others.

Michelle is also the leader of The Band That Fell To Earth who will present the 9th Annual 3-day Tribute to Davie Bowie. The Band That Fell To Earth will perform David Bowie’s album, Let’s Dance, as a Special VIP Benefit, on Thursday, January 23 at 8:00 at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., KCMO.

The Band That Fell To Earth will continue with Bowie Tribute shows on Friday & Saturday, January 24 & 25, at 8:00 PM at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd. KCMO.

A portion of each ticket sale will go to MOCSA, as well as proceeds from a live charity auction held at the final show. But it’s never too late to donate — visit http://www.mocsa.org.
Tickets available at: https://linktr.ee/bowiekcmo.

Michelle Bacon, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

This is the 9th year The Band That Fell To Earth is celebrating the music of Bowie with a “Super Group” of KC’s finest musicians organized and led by Michelle Bacon.

The Band That Fell To Earth KC is KC’s premier annual David Bowie tribute event

Michelle Bacon is the producer of The Band That Fell To Earth: A Tribute to David Bowie.

The Band That Fell To Earth KC

Michelle Bacon – bass
Alex Alexander – guitar
Nathan Corsi – vocals/guitar
Kyle Dahlquist – keys
Katy Guillen – guitar
Steve Tulipana – vocals
Stephanie Williams – drums
Havilah Bruders – backing vocals
Seyko Groves – backing vocals
Christine Broxterman – cello
Laurel Morgan – Parks – violin
Rich Wheeler – saxophone
Matt Ronan – percussion

This year, The Band That Fell To Earth is raising money for Metropolitan Organization Countering Sexual Assault Kansas City! For nearly 50 years, MOCSA KC has been a vital resource in the metro that offers support, healing and hope to those impacted by sexual violence. A portion of each ticket sale from our concerts goes to MOCSA, as well as proceeds from a live charity auction held at the final show. But it’s never too late to donate — visit http://www.mocsa.org.

ALL tix available at http://linktr.ee/bowiekcmo

18+ / minors allowed with guardian

7 pm VIP doors
7:30 pm GA doors
8:00 pm show starts

Each night will contain a different set list, and special guests,.

Special guests:
Friday, Jan. 26 – Chase The Horseman, Cassie Taylor, Steddy P
Saturday, Jan, 27 – Ivory Blue, Katie Gilchrist, Jordan Smith

This is the 9th year The Band That Fell To Earth is celebrating the music of Bowie with a “Super Group” of KC’s finest musicians organized and led by Michelle Bacon.

Michelle Bacon, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

The Band That Fell To Earth who will present the 9th Annual 3-day Tribute to Davie Bowie. The Band That Fell To Earth will perform David Bowie’s album, Let’s Dance, as a Special VIP Benefit, on Thursday, January 23 at 8:00 at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., KCMO.

The Band That Fell To Earth will continue with Bowie Tribute shows on Friday & Saturday, January 24 & 25, at 8:00 PM at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd. KCMO.

A portion of each ticket sale will go to MOCSA, as well as proceeds from a live charity auction held at the final show. But it’s never too late to donate — visit http://www.mocsa.org.
Tickets available at: https://linktr.ee/bowiekcmo.

20. David Bowie – “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)”
    from: Let’s Dance / EMI America / April 14, 1983
    [Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” is a song recorded by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie as the title track of the 1982 erotic horror film Cat People. Bowie became involved with the track after director Paul Schrader reached out to him about collaborating. The song was recorded at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland in July 1981. Bowie wrote the lyrics, which reflected the film, while the Italian producer Giorgio Moroder composed the music. // The song was released as a single by Moroder’s label MCA Records in March 1982, appearing in different edits between the 7″ and 12″ releases, alongside edits for other countries. It also appeared on the accompanying soundtrack album. The single was a commercial success, charting in the UK and the US, and topping the charts in New Zealand, Sweden, Norway and Finland. It is considered one of Bowie’s finest recordings of the 1980s. The song has since appeared on numerous compilation albums and was remastered in 2017 for inclusion on the A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) box set. // Unhappy with the original recording, Bowie remade the track for his 15th studio album Let’s Dance (1983), recording it at the Power Station in New York City in December 1982. Featuring production by Chic member Nile Rodgers and lead guitar by blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, the remake is more aggressive. Despite the remake being the more well-known version due to its parent album’s success, some critics have expressed a preference for the original recording. The remake was remastered in 2018 as part of the Loving the Alien (1983–1988) box set. // Director Paul Schrader reached out to David Bowie in 1980 to collaborate for the theme song of his remake of the Jacques Tourneur horror film Cat People (1942). Biographer Chris O’Leary describes the original film as “a subtle exploration of sexual repression and xenophobia”, while he calls the remake a “gory fashion spread”. Italian producer Giorgio Moroder had already recorded most of the music at Carla Ridge Camp in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, so Bowie was approached to write the lyrics to the main theme. Bowie met with Moroder in July 1981 at Mountain Studios in Montreaux, Switzerland to record “Cat People”.During the same session, Bowie ran into the English rock band Queen, who were recording their 1982 album Hot Space. After recording backing vocals for their song “Cool Cat”, the session resulted in the collaboration “Under Pressure”. // Musically, “Cat People” has been described as new wave. In keeping with the dark tone of the film, the song has some goth rock influences, with Bowie singing in a deep baritone croon while being backed up by a female chorus. Bowie’s octave leap on the word “gasoline” has been called “a magnificent moment” and “among the most thrilling moments he ever committed to tape”. Moroder’s music is built around several chord changes, including C minor. Bowie’s lyrics reflect the film’s pretensions, taking influence from his prior songs “Sound and Vision” (1977) and “It’s No Game” (1980), such as the line “those who feel me near / pull the blinds and change their minds”. Regarding the film, Bowie said: “It works on a dream state, it feels like the kind of thing you go through at night. That’s the way I look at it lyrically”. // “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” was released as a single on 12 March 1982. Because of Moroder’s contract, the single was issued by MCA Records. The B-side was “Paul’s Theme (Jogging Chase)”, a Moroder composition from the Cat People soundtrack. The single appeared in numerous different edits. The full-length 6:45 version appeared on the soundtrack album and the 12″ single, while a 4:08 edited version was made for the 7″ release. In Australia, a 9:20 edit, featuring additional saxophone and synthesiser, was released on a 12″ single. Other edits made included a 3:18 edit for American and German promos and a 3:08 edit for Dutch promos. A 4:55 mix appears in the Cat People film itself, with additional panther roars. // Upon release, the single was a commercial success. The 7″ single reached number 26 on the UK Singles Chart, remaining on the chart for six weeks, and at number 13 in Canada. In the US, the 7″ single charted on three different Billboard charts: it peaked at number 67 on the Pop Singles chart, remaining there for 10 weeks; at number 9 on the Mainstream Rock chart, remaining there for 20 weeks; and at number 14 on the Club Play Singles chart, remaining there for 16 weeks. In other countries, it peaked at number 1 in New Zealand, remaining there for three weeks, as well as in Sweden for four weeks. It was also number 1 in Norway for seven consecutive weeks, and then returned to the top for a further week. The single also peaked at number 1 in Finland. // An RCA executive believed that the collaboration would result in a more “user-friendly” album like Young Americans (1975). The executive told a colleague: “If it isn’t too much trouble, it would be nice if DB went into the studio and recorded a real album”. He did not, instead acting in the Alan Clarke play Baal and appeared in more films, including The Hunger and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, both released in 1983. // Alongside appearing on the accompanying soundtrack album in 1982, “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” has been released on various compilation albums. The full-length version appeared on the US release Bowie: The Singles 1969–1993 in 1993, on the 2003 edition of Bowie’s Sound + Vision collection, and on Re:Call 3, part of the A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) boxed set, in 2017. The shorter 7″ single edit has appeared on some versions of Best of Bowie (2002) and on The Platinum Collection (2005). // After leaving RCA Records and signing a new deal with EMI America Records in late 1982, Bowie wanted to start fresh with a new producer. Wanting a commercial sound, he chose Nile Rodgers of the rock band Chic, one of the most commercially successful bands of the late 1970s. After demoing tracks in Montreux, Switzerland, recording for Let’s Dance began at the Power Station in New York City during the first three weeks of December 1982. // Bowie had been unhappy with Moroder’s backing track for “Cat People”, telling Rodgers that he wanted to remake it. Rodgers stated in 1984: “The way ‘Cat People’ came out on the soundtrack really bothered him. He didn’t like it at all. He played me his original demo and I said, ‘Wow, that’s the way ‘Cat People’ goes?'” For the re-recording, Rodgers made it cut time “but kept the same tempo so [Bowie] could sing the vocal the same way and the band could keep the pocket”. Bowie claimed in 1983: “I took the instruments away. They don’t weave quite such a magic spell over the construction of the lyrics…they get the chords right and that’s about all I wanted to do”. // The re-recording is described by Pegg and O’Leary as more “aggressive”. The synthesisers of the original are replaced by keyboards, the verses are “halved” and the backing vocals are run through an Eventide Harmonizer with the pitch raised a minor third. Like the rest of the album, then-unknown blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan plays lead guitar on the song. // The remake of “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” was released on 14 April 1983 as the seventh and penultimate track on Bowie’s 15th studio album Let’s Dance, sequenced between the cover of “Criminal World” and “Shake It”. The remake was also released as the B-side to the title track’s single release on 14 March. It was subsequently performed throughout the Serious Moonlight Tour. At the 26th Annual Grammy Awards, “Cat People” was nominated for the Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male, losing the award to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”. // The remake was remastered, along with the rest of its parent album, in 2018 as part of the box set Loving the Alien (1983–1988) and released separately the following year. A concert performance recorded on 12 September 1983 may be heard on the live album Serious Moonlight (Live ’83), which was included in Loving the Alien (1983–1988) and released separately in 2019. The performance was filmed and appears on the concert video Serious Moonlight and the DVD version of Best of Bowie.]

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

NEXT WEEK, on January 29, 2025, we welcome special guests: veteran musician and drummer Doug Hitchcock and music from his release from Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom. Se also welcome KC based siner songwriter Julie Bennet Hume, and Malek Azreal joins us to share details about ROCK IS BLACK – Friday, February 28 at Zhou B Art Center, 1801 East 18th street, KCMO with Frankie Shorez and Mercy Fire, Jamogi and the Jammers, Stephonne, Malek Azrael and the Vibez. Plus we’ll play new music from The MGDs, Ivory Blue, Heath Church, Benjamin Booker and more

THANK YOU to our incredible KKFI Staff; Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers and Shaina Littler – Office Manager Book Keeper

This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. Instead it is about a collective spirit of hundreds of hardworking people, unselfishly setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the gigantic goal of keeping our airwaves free, non-commercial, and open to all! Congratulations and thank you to all programmers & volunteers who went the extra effort to keep our station alive.

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

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

Show #1079

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, November 13, 2024

Brock Wilbur & Nick Spacek of The Pitch + Damron Russel Armstrong of The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979
   [WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]

2. Necrot – “Cut The Cord (Radio Edit)” (Nick’s #10)
   from: Lifeless Birth / Tankcrimes / April 12, 2024
   [Debut single from new album. Luca Indrio on bass & vocals, Chad Gailey on drums; Sonny Reinhardt on guitar. Recorded by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studio in Oakland, California. Mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege September-October 2023. Art by Marald Van Haasteren. Necrot logo by David Mikkelsen. Layout by Mark Reátegui © Tankcrimes / Necrot 2024; ℗ Necrot 2024. In February Nrcrot went out on the road for the Brainsqueeze Tour with Municipal Waste, Ghoul and Dead Heat.]

10:06 – Intro / Interview with Brock Wilbur & Nick Spacek

Thanks for tuning into WMM on 90.1 FM KKFI. 
I’m Mark Manning.

We welcome Brock Wilbur & Nick Spacek of The Pitch. The Annual Pitch “Best Of” Issue recently hit the streets last week on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. We’ll talk with Brock & Nick about some of the “Headlines” of 2024. And Nick shares his 10 Favorite Musical Releases of 2024 from: Ghost Funk Orchestra, Royal Otis, Confidence Man, The Linda Lindas., Kaitlin Butts, GEL, Odie Leigh, Katheryn Hahn and the cast of Agatha All Along and Vic-Man / VCMN with Joel leoJ. We started the show with, Necrot.

Brock Wilbur is the editor-in-chief of The Pitch in Kansas City and the author of several books on video games and apocalyptic cinema. He lives with his wife, political journalist Vivian Kane, their three cats. Brock Wilbur’s most recent book, “Postal” was published through Boss Fight Books and is available wherever books are sold. Brock also has experience doing stand-up comedy, and working as a researcher.

Brock Wilbur, thanks for being with us on again on WMM.

Nick Spacek is the music editor of the Pitch. Additionally, he’s the co-host of horror podcast, The Carnage Report. Nick lives in Lawrence with his wife, two cats, and a movie and record collection big enough to constitute an actual problem. Nick has been covering music in the KC / Lawrence area, for two decades. Nick Spacek has worked in print and radio media. Nick covers soundtracks and film scores for Starburst Magazine, and is a freelance writer for Sunflower Publishing. Nick served as Station Manager and Program Director for KJHK 90.7 in Lawrence, and for 20 years worked as a baker at Great Harvest Bread Company in Lawrence. Nick Studied at The University of Kansas.

Nick Spacek, thanks for being with us on again on WMM.

The Pitch is celebrating 44 years as Kansas City publication.

The Pitch started in 1980 as The Penny Pitch as part of Penny Lane Records, The original editor was Dwight Frizzell and the original owner was Hal Brody. The Pitch has survived the difficult print media landscape, multiple owners, multiple generations of some of Kansas City’s very best writers and journalists, and remains an essential publication, continuing to break important stories about working conditions in area restaurants and theatres, that some of our older news papers have bungled. The Pitch continues to be the very first to break news that has international reverberations.

The “Best Of” issue has been part of The Pitch for as long as I can remember, celebrating all things Kansas City.

Brock Wilbur picked up a Pitch “Best of” issue during a visit to KC and it was a big part of his wife and his decision to move to Kansas City from Los Angeles.

The Pitch “Best of” Issue is divided between The “Our Picks” section, selected by The Pitch writers, and the “Your Picks” section, where people of KC cast 517,861 votes across 488 categories and 2,900 nominees, selecting their favorite people, restaurants, creators, businesses, and places. The “Your Picks” section of the issue is fully hands-off from our internal team, and no weight was placed on any of the scales. The winners and runners-up in these categories were 1000% picked by the city after rounds of nomination and voting. http://www.thepitchkc.com

10:16

3. Ghost Funk Orchestra – “To The Moon!” (Nick’s #9)
   from: A Trip To The Moon / Colemine Records / February 23, 2024
   [Coming off the heels of 2022’s A New Kind of Love, A Trip To The Moon sees GFO diving even deeper in the worlds of film music, exotica, and psychedelic surf rock. The aim is to create a layered and collaged listening experience with more elements than you could possibly pick out in a single listen. The guitars are fuzzy and flooded with spring reverb, and the horns are arranged in a studio big band fashion. It’s full of big compositions with garage rock attitude. Influences range everywhere from Eddie Palmieri and Esquivel to The Lively Ones, Dusty Springfield, and War. The tracks are tied together by real recorded transmissions from the Apollo moon missions. The concept for the album is a story about a woman stranded on earth by her cosmonaut partner, left to ponder his whereabouts and whether or not he’ll make it back from the cosmos alive. // Ghost Funk Orchestra is the brainchild of composer/multi-instrumentalist Seth Applebaum. What started as a one-man recording project has now evolved into a powerhouse live band. It’s a sonic kaleidoscope that defies genre specification, but draws heavy influence from the worlds of soul, psych rock, salsa, and beyond. Their unique blend of genres has attracted praise from the likes of NPR, Bandcamp, KUTX, Brooklyn Vegan, Earmilk, and more. Over the years they’ve had the honor of sharing the stage with the likes of Os Mutantes, Grace Potter, Marco Benevento, La Luz, Monophonics, The Nude Party, and The Jack Moves, as well as playing such legendary festivals as Montreal Jazz, Treefort, Telluride Jazz, Otis Mountain Get Down, and BRIC’s NYC Winter Jazz. Local NY blog Post-Trash described their sound as a ‘psych odyssey of traditional sounds delivered in a non-traditional fashion.’ Bandcamp’s Editorial Director J. Edward Keyes praised the band’s ability to ‘leave no funk-adjacent genre unexplored.’ Experimentation is the key, and unpredictability is what has been attracting folks from all corners of the globe to see what GFO pulls off next]

4. Royel Otis – “Murder on the Dance Floor (triple j Like A Version)” (Nick’s #8)
   from: Murder on the Dancefloor (triple j Like A Version) – Single / Austrailian Broadcasting Corporation / January 29. 2024
   [Royel Otis are an Australian guitar-pop duo from Sydney. The band was formed in 2019 by Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic. They released three EPs, including Sofa Kings, before their debut studio album, Pratts & Pain, was released in February 2024. // Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic had known of each other around the Byron Bay area before Pavlovic sent Maddell some demos in 2019, with Maddell claiming this was “the collaboration he’d been chasing his whole life”. The band’s name is a combination of the first names of Maddell and Pavlovic, respectively. // In October 2021, the duo released their debut EP Campus. This was followed in August 2022, with Bar n Grill. Their third EP Sofa Kings, released in March 2023, peaked at number 43 on the ARIA Charts following its physical release in July 2023. Their song “Going Kokomo” was included in the EA Sports FC 24 soundtrack. // In October 2023, the group announced the release of their debut studio album Pratts & Pain, which was released on 16 February 2024. In January 2024, the duo received attention for their cover of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s song “Murder on the Dancefloor” on the Australian radio station Triple J, which reached the ARIA Charts in February. Their cover of The Cranberries’ “Linger” reached the Billboard Hot 100 in August 2024.]

10:23 – Underwriting

10:25 – More Interview with Brock Wilbur and Nick Spacek

Today, we welcome Brock Wilbur & Nick Spacek of The Pitch. The Annual Pitch “Best Of” Issue hits the streets this Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. We’re talking with Brock & Nick about some of the “Headlines” of 2024. And, Nick is sharing his 10 Favorite Musical Releases of 2024.

Brock Wilbur is the editor-in-chief of The Pitch in Kansas City. Nick Spacek is the music editor of the Pitch.

The Pitch “Best Of” issue is out. http://www.thepitchkc.com

The Pitch “Best of” Issue is divided between The “Our Picks” section, selected by The Pitch writers, and the “Your Picks” section, where people of KC cast 517,861 votes across 488 categories and 2,900 nominees, selecting their favorite people, restaurants, creators, businesses, and places.

Top Stories of 2024 from The Pitch “Best of” issue – Our Picks

Presidential Election 2024 – Popular vote:
Trump received 74,223,975 votes in his loss to Biden in 2020 (Biden) 81,283,501
Trump received 75,457,118 votes in his win over Harris in 2024 (Harris) 72,314,666
Jill Stein 730,238

10:35

5. Confidence Man – “I Can’t Lose You” (Nick’s #7)
   rom: 3AM (LA LA LA) / A Chaos – Polydor Records / October 18, 2024 [Confidence Man are an Australian indie electro pop band formed in 2016 in Brisbane, Queensland. They released their debut album Confident Music for Confident People in April 2018. The front-duo and their band members have been a part of many festivals across the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia, most notably Glastonbury Festival. The drummer, Clarence McGuffie (one of the band members behind the black veils) is not publicly known. Previous musicians taking the role of Clarence McGuffie were Sam Hales and Lachlan McGeehan, both ex-boyfriends of Janet Planet. // 2016–2022: Formation, Confident Music for Confident People and Tilt // The band was formed in 2016. The members had met on the Brisbane music scene, and had been in other bands including: The Belligerents, Moses Gunn Collective and The Jungle Giants, and use pseudonyms in Confidence Man; McGuffie and Goodchild reportedly took their stage names from tombstones. They started writing dance songs together, initially as a “kind of joke”, but eventually realised the material was worth pursuing. // Planet and Bones provide vocals and dancing while Goodchild and McGuffie, who appear as masked figures, play keyboards and drums. The band signed to UK label Heavenly Records and released their debut UK single, “Bubblegum”, in March 2017. // Confidence Man released their debut album, Confident Music for Confident People, on April 13, 2018. They toured Europe extensively in the middle of the same year, with festival slots and a sell-out at London’s Scala before returning to Australia for dates in September. // The band released a Christmas single, “Santa’s Coming Down the Chimney”, in December 2018. On November 17. 2019, Janet Planet and Sugar Bones were guests on Richard Kingsmill’s ‘2019’ programme on Triple J to premiere their new single “Does It Make You Feel Good?” During the interview, they revealed they have made celebrity friends with U2 and had been partying with them and Noel Gallagher while in Melbourne. They continued to explain their plans to feature The Edge playing tambourine on a future recording.// On August 21, 2020, Confidence Man released the non-album single, “First Class Bitch”.// On November 10, 2021, the band announce the forthcoming release of their second studio album, Tilt and released “Holiday” as its lead single. Tilt was released on 1 April 2022 and peaked at number 7 on the ARIA charts. In late 2022, the band toured Australia, the United Kingdom and Europe, which also included a performance at Glastonbury Festival which received critical acclaim. // In September 2022, the band released a remix EP, titled Re-Tilt. The EP featured collaborations with Tame Impala, CHAI, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and more. // In April 2023, Confidence Man released “On & On (Again)” with Daniel Avery. The single continued the shift from electro-pop towards a club-focused sound which had begun with Tilt, and marked their debut at new label home at Polydor. In July, the band released a collaboration with Swedish producer DJ Seinfeld on dance-pop record “Now U Do”. Clarence McGuffie (or Sam Hales) is not credited as a songwriter on either single, making them the first releases that do not credit all four originating members. // In November 2023, after releasing several bootlegs and mashups through their SoundCloud page, Confidence Man released “Firebreak”, an instrumental house single that they had been performing at shows all throughout the prior year. The song was described as “[welcoming] Reggie and Clarence to the front while Janet and Sugar get a well earned rub down”. However, Reggie Goodchild (Lewis Stephenson) is the only one of the two who is credited on the track. // The band started running their “Active Scenes” party at Glastonbury 2023. // In February 2024, the band released a single in collaboration with DJ Boring, “Forever 2 (Crush Mix)”. In May, Confidence Man released ConMan Club Classics Vol 1., a compilation EP featuring the non-album singles and their remixes, including a new remix of “Boyfriend (Repeat)” by Cowboy Rhythmbox. // On June 5, 2024, the band announced their third album, 3AM (La La La), with the release of the single, “I Can’t Lose You”, along with a video of Planet and Bones singing the track in a helicopter naked over the London skyline. The album is inspired by the band’s move to London, and by British rave culture of the 1990s. // Members: Janet Planet (Grace Stephenson) – vocals; Sugar Bones (Aidan Moore) – vocals; Reggie Goodchild (Lewis Stephenson) – production; Clarence McGuffie (currently unknown, previously Lachlan McGeehan; and Sam Hales) – production.]

6. The Linda Lindas – “Yo Me Estreso (feat. Weird Al Yankovic)” (Nick’s #6)
   from: No Obligation / Epitaph / October 11, 2023
   [No Obligation is the second studio album by American rock band The Linda Lindas. The Linda Lindas is an American rock band from Los Angeles. The all-female group comprises Bela Salazar, Eloise Wong, and sisters Lucia and Mila de la Garza. // The band formed in 2018, and took their name from Linda Linda Linda, a Japanese film. After being noticed by director Amy Poehler, they recorded the soundtrack for her film Moxie, which was released in 2021. Later that year, they released the single “Racist, Sexist Boy”, which went viral. Epitaph Records signed them shortly afterwards. // In 2022, they released their debut album, Growing Up, and received mostly positive reviews. // Epitaph Records released the album on October 11, 2024. It was produced again by Carlos de la Garza, the father of band members Lucia and Mila de la Garza. Recording sessions for No Obligation took place at Henson Recording, Sunset Sound, and Music Friends Studios in Los Angeles in 2024. Six singles were released from the album: “Too Many Things”, “Resolution/Revolution”, “All in My Head”, “Yo Me Estreso”, and the title track “No Obligation”, and “Nothing Would Change”. // Following the release of their debut studio album, Growing Up (2022), “Too Many Things” was the Linda Lindas’ first release of 2023. The band subsequently opened for Paramore on the North American leg of the This Is Why Tour. // No Obligation was written between 2022 and 2024, whenever the Linda Lindas had time outside of school or touring. Writing sessions occurred on holiday breaks and long weekends. // Recording sessions for No Obligation took place at Henson Recording, Sunset Sound, and Music Friends Studios in Los Angeles in 2024. // The track “All in My Head” was written from the perspective of a character from the 2018 novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. Guitarist Lucia de la Garza called it a “break from reality”. // In a press release, the band said they would be experimenting with post-punk, garage rock, power pop, new wave, and rock en español on the album. At the time of its announcement, the band members ranged from 13 to 19 years old, with Bela Salazar having finished high school, Mila de la Garza having finished middle school, and Lucia de la Garza and Eloise Wong in high school. “All in My Head” has been described by Lucia as more indie song, due to its use of an acoustic guitar. “Too Many Things” is a pop-punk song. Staff at Paste call the song “an anthemic slice of rock ‘n’ roll”. “Resolution/Revolution” is classified as a punk rock and power pop song, with influences from riot grrrl style. In a review at Far Out, editor Aimee Ferrier says the song “[blends] the accessibility of pop with the raw energy and power of punk.” “Resolution / Revolution” was influenced by Pantera and Judas Priest, as Bela Salazar had been listening to them.]

10:41 – More Interview with Brock Wilbur and Nick Spacek

Today, we welcome Brock Wilbur & Nick Spacek of The Pitch. The Annual Pitch “Best Of” Issue hits the streets this Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. We’re talking with Brock & Nick about some of the “Headlines” of 2024. And, Nick is sharing his 10 Favorite Musical Releases of 2024.

Brock Wilbur is the editor-in-chief of The Pitch in Kansas City. Nick Spacek is the music editor of the Pitch.

The Pitch “Best Of” issue is out. http://www.thepitchkc.com

The Pitch “Best of” Issue is divided between The “Our Picks” section, selected by The Pitch writers, and the “Your Picks” section, where people of KC cast 517,861 votes across 488 categories and 2,900 nominees, selecting their favorite people, restaurants, creators, businesses, and places.

Top Stories of 2024 from The Pitch “Best of” issue – Our Picks – SPORTS

Royals Stadium Proposal in East Crossroads – Voters overwhelmingly reject naked cash grab for downtown stadium – After more than a year of reporting by The Pitch and other activists about backroom dealings around proposed Royal stadium move, a thinly outlined plan to allocate funds for the next 40 years to John Sherman and co. was flatly rejected by nearly 60% of voters. $3.5 Million dollar campaign to sell proposal to voters became threatening, untrue, and racist in the weekly mailings. Jackson Country Legislators and City Hall looked incredibly out-of-touch with voters. (excerpt from Pitch Best Of Issue – November, 2024)

Chiefs on track to 3-peat

KC Currrent

10:51

7. Kaitlin Butts – “You Ain’t Gotta Die (To Be Dead To Me)” (Nick’s #5)
   rom: Roadrunner! / Soundly Music / June 28, 2024
   [Kaitlin Butts has never been one to shy away from a little drama in her music. In fact, intrigue and murder have been recurring themes in her catalog. All the more reason for the Oklahoma native to lean into that theatrical side of her music for her third official album inspired by the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! It’s called Roadrunner! and it’s set for release on June 28th. // “Every summer when I was a kid my parents would take me to see a performance of ‘Oklahoma!’ at a local amphitheater, and I’ve felt such a strong connection to it my entire life,” says Butts. “It’s a love story but there’s also a murder and a little bit of an acid-trippy feel to it at times; it’s set in the same place where I come from. Once I got the idea for this album I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before, and it turned into something that completely encompasses who I am and what I love.” // If you loved her last album what else can she do (2022) but the seven songs left you wanting even more, don’t worry, Roadrunner! will include a total 17 tracks. It’s an epic, conceptualized work produced by Oran Thornton, with contributions from steel-guitar/multi-instrumentalist Russ Pahl. Vince Gill and Cleto Cordero also pop in for a featured spots, and co-writers include Angaleena Presley, Natalie Hemby, and Courtney Patton. // Kaitlin has done nothing but continued to create buzz and momentum around her career behind quality songs and strong performances. This gives Roadrunner! the opportunity to really put her over the top. “Making this album showed me that little ideas can grow and take on a life on their own, and it’s so exciting to know that sticking with my vision can lead to something bigger than I ever even imagined,” she says. // The album draws directly from Rodgers and Hammerstein in a couple of moments, and also includes a cover of Kesha’s “Hunt You Down” that Kaitlin released a couple of months ago and has already been creating social media buzz. Now Kaitlin has released the album’s title track (listen below), which fans have been hearing live for a while now. // Roadrunner! is an album of music, but Butts wants to create a strong visual and interactive component to it, which we’ve already seen from the early songs and videos, including the title track inspired by the touring life. // “The version of me depicted in the video is much closer to what I’m like onstage, where there’s real emotion and truth but also humor and a tendency to poke fun. It’s all those different versions of me at once. In making this music video, I wanted to show the highs and lows and chaotic lifestyle that I love so much.”]

8. GEL – “Persona” (Nick’s #4)
   rom: Persona – EP / Blue Grape Music / August 16, 2024
   [Gel is an American hardcore punk band from New Jersey. Formed in 2018 as a side project of powerviolence band Sick Shit, Gel has released one full-length album, two EPs, one demo, and one split mini album. Huw Baines of NME credited them for “shaping the sound of hardcore in 2023”. // Gel has its origins in New Jersey powerviolence band Sick Shit, which was founded by guitarist Bobko and drummer Zach Miller. Sami Kaiser joined soon after. When Sick Shit’s bassist departed from the group, the role was filled by Anthony Webster, who soon after switched to guitar. This lineup of Sick Shit began Gel in 2018 as a side project in order to pursue a more traditional hardcore punk style. Gel released their debut self-titled EP in 2019. That same year, the band released a tape called HC For The Freaks. The band released their second EP in 2021 titled Violent Closure. Gel also released a standalone single in 2021 called “Mental Static”. In 2022, Gel released a split, Shock Therapy, with the band Cold Brats. The band’s debut album, Only Constant, was released on March 31, 2023. The album received positive reviews. // On August 16, 2024, Gel released a 5-song EP titled “Persona” on new record label Blue Grape Music. The EP’s themes were inspired by the works of Carl Jung, particularly his concept of the shadow self. “Persona” has been well-received by critics, with praise for its sonic evolution that incorporates a bolder production style while maintaining the band’s aggressive hardcore sound. // Gel play a style of traditional, fast hardcore punk. Their music sometimes makes use of elements of post-punk and D-beat. Unlike the predominant style in hardcore during the 2010s and 2020s, Gel’s music leans heavily on the genre’s punk rock roots. Revolver magazine called their “fast, noisy and uncompromisingly energetic” style as “filling the void that’s been empty in the broader hardcore landscape since the early days of Trash Talk”. Members: (Current) Sami Kaiser – vocals (2018–present); Matthew Bobko – bass (2018–present); Madison Nave – guitar (2021–present); Alex Salter – drums (2023-present). (Former) Anthony Webster – guitar (2018–2024); and Zach Miller – drums (2018-2023)]

10:57 – More Interview with Brock Wilbur and Nick Spacek

Today, we welcome Brock Wilbur & Nick Spacek of The Pitch. The Annual Pitch “Best Of” Issue hits the streets this Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. We’re talking with Brock & Nick about some of the “Headlines” of 2024. And, Nick is sharing his 10 Favorite Musical Releases of 2024.

Brock Wilbur is the editor-in-chief of The Pitch in Kansas City. Nick Spacek is the music editor of the Pitch.

The Pitch “Best of” Issue is divided between The “Our Picks” section, selected by The Pitch writers, and the “Your Picks” section, where people of KC cast 517,861 votes across 488 categories and 2,900 nominees, selecting their fav people, restaurants, creators, places.

Top Stories of 2024 from The Pitch “Best of” issue – Our Picks

Celebrating Weed without worry – another year into recreational legality – Recreational cannabis sales have been legalized in the state of Missouri for almost two years now. Topping $2.5 Billion in sales as of May 2024, since medical cannabis sales were legalized in October 2020. – $370 million of cumulative sakes tax revenue from $2.5 billion dollars was generated for a good cause: expunging marijuana-related criminal records and funding veteran’s healthcare, Creating 20,000 jobs. (excerpt from Pitch Best Of Issue – November, 2024)

Moctails

11:06

9. Odie Leigh – “My Name on a T-Shirt” (Nick’s #3)
   from: Carrier Pigeon / Mom + Pop / July 12, 2024
   [American indie folk musician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, currently based in Detroit, Michigan. // Leigh attended Loyola University New Orleans, where she studied film. Leigh gained attention after her original song “Crop Circles” went viral on TikTok. At the time of the recording of Crop Circles, Leigh was living with two hip hop musicians, and all three made a bet for who could make a viral song first. Leigh released her debut EP, How Did It Seem To You, in 2022. Leigh released her second EP, The Only Thing Worse Than A Woman Who Lies Is A Girl Who’ll Tell Truths, in 2023. In 2024, Leigh announced her debut album. The album, Carrier Pigeon, was released on July 12, 2024. The album was named one of “The best albums out July 12” from All Things Considered. Leigh was named “The Best of What’s Next” by Paste in 2024.]

10. Kathryn Hahn, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Patti LuPone, Aubrey Plaza, Joe Locke & Agatha All Along Cast – “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road (Cover Version)” (Nick’s #2)
    from: Agatha All Along: Vol. 1 (Episodes 1-5) [Orig. Soundtrack] / Marvel Music / Oct. 11, 2024
    [‘The Ballad of The Witches’ Road (Cover Version)‘ is a featured song from the fourth episode of the Disney+ and Marvel Television original miniseries ‘Agatha All Along’. The song was written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and features the cast of show, performed within the episode as a part of Alice’s trial. // Agatha All Along is an American television miniseries created by Jac Schaeffer for the streaming service Disney+, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Agatha Harkness. A spin-off from the series WandaVision (2021), it is the 11th television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) produced by Marvel Studios and the first to be released under its Marvel Television label, sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. Schaeffer serves as showrunner and lead director. // Kathryn Hahn reprises her role as Agatha Harkness from WandaVision, with Joe Locke, Debra Jo Rupp, Aubrey Plaza, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Okwui Okpokwasili, Patti LuPone, Evan Peters, Maria Dizzia, Paul Adelstein, and Miles Gutierrez-Riley also starring. Development began in October 2021, with Schaeffer and Hahn attached, and the series was formally announced the next month. Schaeffer, Rachel Goldberg, and Gandja Monteiro were set as directors in early 2023 ahead of filming, which took place from January to May 2023 at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, and in Los Angeles. Cast and crew returned from WandaVision, including the series’ musical team. Several different titles were announced for the series as part of a marketing campaign before the official title of Agatha All Along—referencing the song of the same name from WandaVision—was announced in May 2024. // Agatha All Along premiered on Disney+ on September 18, 2024, and ran for nine episodes until October 30. The series is part of Phase Five of the MCU. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its production value, humor, and the cast’s performances, especially those of Hahn, Locke, LuPone, and Plaza.// Three years after being trapped under a magical spell in the town of Westview, New Jersey, at the end of the miniseries WandaVision (2021), the witch Agatha Harkness escapes with the help of a teen who wishes to face the trials of the legendary Witches’ Road. Without her magical powers, Agatha and the teen form a new coven of witches to face the trials, while contending with some of Agatha’s old enemies such as the Salem Seven.]

11:15 – More Interview with Brock Wilbur and Nick Spacek

Today, we welcome Brock Wilbur & Nick Spacek of The Pitch. The Annual Pitch “Best Of” Issue hits the streets this Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. We’re talking with Brock & Nick about some of the “Headlines” of 2024. And, Nick is sharing his 10 Favorite Musical Releases of 2024.

Brock Wilbur is the editor-in-chief of The Pitch in Kansas City. Nick Spacek is the music editor of the Pitch.

The Pitch Best Of issue is out. http://www.thepitchkc.com

The Pitch “Best of” Issue is divided between The “Our Picks” section, selected by The Pitch writers, and the “Your Picks” section, where people of KC cast 517,861 votes across 488 categories and 2,900 nominees, selecting their favorite people, restaurants, creators, businesses, and places.

Top Stories of 2024 from The Pitch “Best of” issue – Our Picks

KC Fringe Festival – Tom Mardikes UMKC Theatre Sound Dept. – Sound Mandala

KC Music Makers: Hembree / The Greeting Committe / Epitome

Brock Wilbur & Nick Spacek, thanks for being with us on WMM.

The Pitch “Best of” Issue is divided between The “Our Picks” section, selected by The Pitch writers, and the “Your Picks” section, where people of KC cast 517,861 votes across 488 categories and 2,900 nominees, selecting their favorite people, restaurants, creators, businesses, and places. The second half of the issue is fully hands-off from our internal team, and no weight was placed on any of the scales. The winners and runners-up in these categories were 1000% picked by the city after rounds of nomination and voting. http://www.thepitchkc.com

11:25

11. VCMN & Joel Leoj – “Fab (Vmix)” (Nick’s #1)
    from: Fab (Vmix) – Single / VCMN Music / September 2, 2024
    [VCMN released the single “Fab” on July 26, 2024. VCMN release the single, “Boounce (Remix) [feat. Amira Wang & The Epitome] on August 11, 2023. VCMN released their debut album entitled “The VCMN Project” on Friday, May 13, 2022. VCMN is an American singer-songwriter duo who’s artistry is shaped by way of edgy, alternative R&B, Pop, and Rock. Victoria and Emmanuel “Manny” Cable—aka the “Vic” and “Man” of VCMN. Victoria grew up in the Bethel International Center of Worship church in Kansas City, Kansas, where her father, Cleveland Drone, was a pastor. From the ages of 10-19, she toured across the country singing gospel music. Manny came to performance via a different path: ballet and modern dance. They’ve been working it out with the rhythms and the rhymes for years now. VCMN Project was first birthed into existence when they were still dating; the album was finished after they were married. It all began on their living room sofa. The VCMN Project is just as much a party as it is a beautifully written love story. The 10-track “The VCMN Project” encompasses a song from every top 40 music genre. R&B, Rap, Pop, Alternative Rock, Ballad, Country, Hip Hop, and Dance Pop. VCMN played Lawrence Gay Pride, presented by I Heart Local Music. Fri. June 24, 2022 at Lucia, 1016 Mass with Cuee & Friends. INFOt: http://www.vcmnofficial.com%5D%5D

11:28 – Underwriting

11:30 – Interview with Damron Russel Armstrong

Damron Russel Armstrong, Executive Artistic Director of The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City. Damron is a producer/director/actor who spent his formative years right here in Kansas City. He has worked on most of the stages Kansas City: Unicorn Theatre, The Coterie Theatre, Theatre for Young America, The American Heartland Theatre, The Living Room Theatre, Chestnut Fine Arts Center, New Theatre Restaurant, and Kansas City Actors Theatre. After graduating from Ruskin High School, Damron sought to further his education in New York City. He has performed nationally in A Raisin in the Sun; The Full Monty; Children of Eden; and Dreamgirls, just to name a few. As a Director, his credits include: Three Guys Naked from the Waist Down…A Comedy; Assassins; and Red Hot and Jazz (Piza Festival, Guatemala).

The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City kicks off their 2024/25 Season with, Hip Hop Cinderella, a family-friendly musical that reimagines the classic Cinderella in a futuristic, intergalactic setting. Music & lyrics by Rona Siddiqui, Book by Scott Elmegreen, Story adaptation by Linda Chichester & David Coffman. Hip Hop Cinderella runs Nov. 22 thru December 8 at The GEM Theatre 1615 E 18th St. KCMO. More info at: http://www.brtkc.org

Damron Russel Armstrong thanks for being with us on WMM.

The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City is the premiere home for African American plays and musicals! Come help us celebrate our ninth season of great work.orie

The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City (BRTKC) is a not-for-profit organization designed to impact the Kansas City community. This production company utilizes theatre productions, and educational programming to enhance the contributions made by minorities in our neighborhoods and communities and beyond. Each production has been tasked to give life to the neglected stories, virtually untold in American theatres. In an effort to bridge the gap between the rich realities of black experiences and the incomplete depiction displayed in most media outlets, BRTKC tells the tales of the unsung.

Mission Statement: The mission of The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City is to educate and inspire our community by presenting and promoting appreciation for African-American culture through our stories.

Vision Statement: The vision of The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City is a united community embracing stories of the African-American experience.

The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City 2024/25 Season #9

Hip Hop Cinderella – November 22 through December 8, 2024
The Gem Theatre, 1615 E 18th St., Kansas City, MO 64108

Hairspray – February 1 through February 23, 2025
The White Theater at The J, 5801 W 115th St., Overland Park, KS 66211
(a co-production with The White Theater at the J)

Mahalia A Gospel Musical – March 20 through April 6, 2025 – Location TBA

Thoughts of a Colored Man – May 8 through May 18 – Location TBA

The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City – Board of Directors and Advisors
Tracy E. Jamerson – President
Willard Snyder – Vice President
Kenneth Powell – Treasurer
Jeff Williams – Secretary
Dr. Everlyn Williams – Education Chair
Karen Wright – Community Outreach
Amy Hull – Volunteer Chair
Dr. Chris McCoy – Operations Chair
Damron Armstrong – Executive Artistic Director
Maurice Watson
Pat Jordan
Michelle Wimes
Gayle Krigel
Debby Ballard
Dennis Hennesy
S. Sloane Simmons
Mamie Hughes

info@brtkc.org

About the Young Actor’s Summer Conservatory (YASC) – is a 4-week theatre intensive run by The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City, a professional non-profit 501(c)3 theatre based in Jackson County, MO. Under the direction of Damron Russel Armstrong, students will be trained by theatre professionals in drama, dance, music, stagecraft, and African American theatre history. The program culminates in a fully-staged production. Students must be available for the duration of the program. the conservatory runs Monday through Friday from 1 to 6 pm beginning June 3 through the show date of June 28 at 7pm. A limited number of scholarships are available to qualifying students (see Scholarship Request form for more information).

Get in Touch! at 816-663-9966 / PO Box 410294 Kansas City, MO 64141 / info@brtkc.org

Coming in the fall of 2025, the new home for The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City will be Boone Theater, 1701 E. 18th St., Kansas City, MO 64108

Damron Russel Armstrong thanks for being with us on WMM

The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City kicks off their 2024/25 Season with, Hip Hop Cinderella, a family-friendly musical that reimagines the classic Cinderella in a futuristic, intergalactic setting. music & lyrics by Rona Siddiqui, Book by Scott Elmegreen, & story adaptation by Linda Chichester & David Coffman. Hip Hop Cinderella runs November 22 through December 8 at The GEM Theatre 1615 E 18th St. KCMO. Tickets and More informational: http://www.brtkc.org

11:51 – Tribute to Quincy Jones

On Sunday, November 2, 2024 we lost a legend. Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received many accolades including 28 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for seven Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards.

Jones came to prominence in the 1950s as a jazz arranger and conductor before producing pop hit records for Lesley Gore in the early 1960s (including “It’s My Party”) and serving as an arranger and conductor for several collaborations between Frank Sinatra and the jazz artist Count Basie. Jones produced three of the most successful albums by pop star Michael Jackson: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), and Bad (1987). In 1985, Jones produced and conducted the charity song “We Are the World”, which raised funds for victims of famine in Ethiopia.

Jones composed numerous films scores including for The Pawnbroker (1965), In the Heat of the Night (1967), In Cold Blood (1967), The Italian Job (1969), The Wiz (1978), and The Color Purple (1985). He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for the miniseries Roots (1977). He received a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical as a producer for the revival of The Color Purple (2016).

Throughout his career he was the recipient of numerous honorary awards including the Grammy Legend Award in 1992, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1995, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001, the National Medal of the Arts in 2011, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2014, and the Academy Honorary Award in June 2024. He was named one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century by Time.

Thank you all for listening For WMM I’m Mark Manning. Thanks for listening!

11:54

12. Quincy Jones – “Stuff Like That”
    from: Sounds…and Stuff Like That / A & M / 1978
    [Sounds…and Stuff Like That!! is a 1978 studio album by Quincy Jones. // “Stuff Like That” (Quincy Jones, Valerie Simpson, Nickolas Ashford, Eric Gale, Steve Gadd, Richard Tee, Ralph MacDonald) Vocalists: Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Chaka Khan Alto sax solo: George Young.]

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

On The Next Show! – Next week on Wednesday, November 20 we welcome back Michelle Bacon, Content Manager at 90.9 The Bridge, where she helps to shine a light on area musicians and events. Michelle Bacon joins us to share her Favorite Musical Recordings of 2024.

Thank you to all who have donated during our two Fall Fund Drive Show on Wednesday MidDay Medley and our WMM Facebook Fundraiser, we received donations from 46 individuals who donated a total of $3436.00. That is 97% of our ambitious goal, I call that a success!!!

THANK YOU to our incredible KKFI Staff; Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers, KKFI Accounting & Administration – Shaina Littler

This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. Instead it is about a collective spirit of hundreds of hardworking people, unselfishly setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the gigantic goal of keeping our airwaves free, non-commercial, and open to all! Congratulations and thank you to all programmers & volunteers who went the extra effort to keep our station alive.

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

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Show #1069