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, December 3, 2025

Michelle Bacon’s Favorite Releases of 2025 +
Wednesday MidDay Medley’s Favorite 15 Singles of 2025

We will spin MidCoastal Releases from: The Whips, Lava Dreams, IVORY BLUE, Kemet Coleman with Marcus Lewis Big Band & Kadesh Flow & Kimology, Jocelyn Nixon, Run With It, Shy Boys, Lucy Gray, Stephonne, Various Blonde, They’re Theirs, RE.VIS.ER, Keo & Them, LyMerrick, Julia Haile, Danielle Ate The Sandwich, Claire Adams, TheBabeGabe, Hailes, Liney Blu, Big Fat Cow, The Freedom Affair, Kat King, Snocaps, and Les Marmoppes.

At 10:00, in our first hour, Mark counts down the Top 15 of WMM’s Favorite 50 Singles of 2025. In 2025 there were over 1675 local releases in Albums, EPs, & Singles…(that we know of). Every week we have culled from these releases to bring you WMM’s special mix of New & MidCoastal releases from Kansas City based musical artists, and the very best national releases of 2025. Our complete list can be found at http://www.wednesdaymiddaymedley.org

At 11:00, we welcome back to the show, our friend Michelle Bacon, Content Manager at 90.9 The Bridge, where she helps to shine a light on area musicians and events. Michelle has also written for The Kansas City Star, The Deli Magazine KC, and Folk Alliance International. Her stories and interviews on area and national musical acts help define the musical community of Kansas City. Michelle plays drums in the band Frogpond, and plays bass and drums in many other bands too. Michelle is also the organizer and leader of The Band That Fell To Earth who in 2025 will present the 10th Annual multi-day Tribute to Davie Bowie at recordBar. Michelle Bacon joins us to share her Favorite Musical Recordings of 2025.

NEXT WEEK on December 10 we present: WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2025, our annual 4-part special celebrating the music of 2025 based on the playlists of this little ole radio show. Tune into Wednesday MidDay Medley on December 10th, 17th, 24th, and 31st for eight hours packed full of 120 musical recordings representing outstanding Albums and EP released from Kansas City and the world in 2025. This year we’ve played hundreds of New & MidCoastal Releases and we conducted over 175 interviews with 159 special guests.

Tune in on 90.1 FM KKFI
or streaming live at kkfi.org

Show #1124

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 19, 2025

Sara Swenson + Chuck Haddix & Barry Lee + The Talking Trees

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. The Beth’s – “No Joy”
   from: Straight Line Was A Lie / Anti- / August 29, 2025
   [The Beths — the New Zealand-based quartet of vocalist/guitarist Elizabeth Stokes, guitarist Jonathan Pearce, bassist Benjamin Sinclair, and drummer Tristan Deck — release their new album, Straight Line Was A Lie, on ANTI-. // The path from The Beths’ critically celebrated and year-end-list-topping 2022 album Expert In A Dying Field to Straight Line Was A Lie was anything but straightforward. For the first time, Stokes was struggling to write new songs beyond fragments she’d recorded on her phone. She’d recently started taking an SSRI, which on one hand made her feel like she could “fix” everything broken in her life, from her mental and physical health to fraught family dynamics. At the same time, writing wasn’t coming as easily as it had before. // With Straight Line Was A Lie, Stokes and Pearce broke down the typical Beths writing process, opening themselves up to a wave of creative input, with Stokes’ free-flowing writing routine proving to be therapeutic. Already a celebrated lyricist, Stokes has long impressed fans and critics with catchy, instant-classic turns of phrase that capture the personal and ladder up to the universal. But Stokes’ intentional deconstruction and rebuilding of her relationship to writing, however, has resulted in a complete renewal. Her songwriting has achieved startling new depths of insight and vulnerability, making Straight Line Was A Lie the most sharply observant, truthful, and poetic Beths project to date.]

[The Beths play The Truman 601 East Truman Road, KCMO, on Friday, November 21, 2025 at 8:00pm, with Phoebe Rings]

3. Run With It – “X2myY”
   from: “X2myY” – Single / Run With It / November 12, 2025
   [Miguel Antonio on lead vocals & guitar. Daniel Cole on drums, Paul Seiz on keyboards. Cody Ryan Stapleton on lead guitar, and Matt Muckenthaler on bass guitar // Run With It is on a new path dropping one new song a month and are fully self-producing as well. in October they released the single, “Darkest Days.” // In 2024 Run With It released their the singles: “Ghost Like You” on September 13, 2024; “Nightwatch” on August 21, 2024; and “It’s Not Over (feat. The Royal Chief) on April 10, 2024. // The band has always been known for their energetic live shows, leaving it all on the stage, and working their musical assets to make their audiences happy. The band has toured extensively. Run With It are influenced by The Black Keys, Maroon 5, Bill Withers, and more. With backgrounds in gritty rock, groovy soul, stylish R&B. // Miguel Carabello was born June 11, 1980 originally from Junction City, Kansas, Married. Daniel Cole was born April 8, 1991 and graduated from Lee’s Summit West HS in 2009. Paul Seiz Paul graduated from Millikin University with a degree in Commercial Music and began his professional career as the Resident Music Director of Playhouse On The Square, a professional theater in Memphis, TN. Paul has been the regional entertainment director for Howl At The Moon for nearly eight years. And also plays with Songwheels and works as a DJ. Paul lives in Overland Park KS and has three kids. Cody Ryan Stapleton lives in KCK he has played with several bands including The Dear Misses. Matt Muckenthaler studied at Missouri Western State University and has played in several bands. // Run With it were last on WMM on February 12, 2025 and October 23, 2024, before that is was nearly eight years ago on March 22, 2017 when the band was aa three-piece with Miguel Caraballo on lead vocals & guitar, Daniel Cole on Drums, and Ben Byard on bass & vocals. promoting their EP How To Start A Fire release March 24, 2017, recorded with producer Josh Gleave. // More information at: http://www.runwithitband.com]

4. KeiyaA – “k.i.s.s.”
   from: Hooke’s Law / XL Recordings / October 31, 2025
   [“Take it: is the second single form KeiyaA;s second album HOOKE’S LAW. // After five years of navigating loss, grief, and anger, Chicago-born, NYC-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer keiyaA emerges in the light of reinvention and healing, shaped by years of solitude spent in the unending tide of mess and renewal, returning to share her findings with unapologetic clarity. Her single “stupid prizes,” was re;eased August 20, 2025, accompanied by a self-co-directed music video with Caity Arthur, is a soulful, arresting prelude that marks a powerful next chapter. Known for her penetrating explorations of Black womanhood and liberation, rich harmonies, and fearless experimentation, keiyaA reintroduces her artistry with the same emotional intensity and sonic innovation that defined her 2020 debut Forever, Ya Girl, arriving in the wake of her first theatrical stage play, milk thot. // Speaking about “stupid prizes,” keiyaA says: “i wrote, recorded, and produced “stupid prizes” all in one sitting, at home late at night in my living room in Brooklyn. i sampled Percy Faith, an orchestral composer known for creating rich and luscious scores and show tunes, helping contribute to this classic “American” sound. i sought out to create this sort of bed of irony, to speak and sing about being miserable on top of this beautiful, dreamy and romantic music. which speaks not only to what it can feel like navigating my internal and external worlds, but also what it feels like being a marginalized person in America.” // In 2020, keiyaA released her self-produced debut album Forever, Ya Girl, a genre-defying blend of jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and experimental music that earned widespread critical acclaim. The project went on to receive Pitchfork’s “Best New Music” designation, landed on year-end best-of lists from The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian, and was later named to Pitchfork’s Best of the Decade So Far list. It also drew praise from artists including Solange, Jay-Z, Earl Sweatshirt, Blood Orange, Kimberly Drew, and Moses Sumney. The album announced keiyaA as one of music’s most vital new voices and producers, and the attention it garnered gave her the access to expand on her creative vision—one that has since grown into a thriving garden of projects, performances, and collaborations, each distinct but rooted in her singular artistry. // Since the release of Forever, Ya Girl, keiyaA showcased her dynamism through a Tiny Desk concert and appearances at Solange’s El Dorado Ballroom show at BAM, Wales Bonner’s Togetherness presentation at the Guggenheim, ESSENSE’s Girls United Summit, and MoMA PS1’s Warm Up series. She walked in Telfar’s 20th-anniversary show, contributed music to the brand’s Moose Knuckles collaboration, and scored Nike’s Come Thru series. She also performed at the Bourse de Commerce in Paris, as well as in her hometown of Chicago at Pitchfork Music Festival and Theaster Gates’ Kenwood Garden community space. // Earlier this year, keiyaA expanded her artistic expression with milk thot, her first full-length stage production, which premiered at Abrons Arts Center in New York City. The performance combined live music, poetry, and choreography to delve into topics such as self-image, family lineage, and societal consumption. Developed during a residency at Abrons, milk thot marked a significant evolution in her multidisciplinary approach to storytelling. // In 2025 keiyaA will release her much anticipated sophomore album. // KeiyaA released her break through album Forever, Ya Girl through Forever Recordings on March 27, 2020 This album was part of WMM’s 120 Best recordings of 2020. The debut album from KeiyaA originally from Chicago, now based in NYC. Written and produced by keiyaA, featuring additional production from dj blackpower & dj cowriiie. Mixed & mastered by BSTFRND. // Chakeiya Camille Richmond was born July 28, 1992. She is known professionally as Keiyaa (stylized as KeiyaA), is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and a record producer. She independently released her debut album Forever, Ya Girl in 2020. // Chakeiya Camille Richmond was born and raised in Chicago on the city’s south side. During childhood she sang in the Chicago Children’s Choir until switching to the alto saxophone in seventh grade. She cited soul artists including Chaka Khan, Patrice Rushen, jazz musicians like John Coltrane and Miles Davis and R&B groups such as SWV as early musical influences. She also finds inspiration in goth and post-punk/alternative rock artists like Nirvana and Siouxsie and the Banshees. // Richmond attended University of Illinois at Chicago and Columbia College to study jazz and play alto sax before leaving due to disillusionment with the program’s hierarchical nature, as well difficulty balancing school with working full-time. Shortly after she decided to pursue music professionally. // While still playing and performing on alto sax, she collaborated with Chicago musicians including Noname and Vic Mensa. She decided to switch her focus to solo work producing and singing R&B and electronic music. Perform-ing under the name Keiya, she released her debut EP, WORK, in July 2015. It was described as “emotional, sleepy, and yet strikingly optimistic” by These Days magazine. Shortly after its release she moved to New York. She added an additional “A” to her name (KeiyaA) in order to differentiate herself from other performers on streaming sites. // KeiyaA’s debut album Forever, Ya Girl was released in March 2020 and self-produced under her personal label Forever Recordings. It was reviewed by Olivia Ovendon for KEXP as featuring “powerful mantra-esque lyrics, and woozy, heady, immersive beats in captivating fashion.” Esquire described the sound as “downcast grime and smooth R&B.” Pitchfork writer Clare Lobenfeld rated the album an 8.2/10 and praised its “resolute realness that can only happen outside the major label gaze.” Forever, Ya Girl was named to Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian’s “Best Albums of 2020” lists // Keiyaa resides in Brooklyn.]

5. The Whips – “Together in Agony”
   from: “Together in Agony”- Single / MidTopia Records / November 14, 2025
   [From Music-News.com: Kansas City-based rock band The Whips – featuring singer-keyboardist Max Cooper (fresh from a four-chair turn on NBC’s The Voice and a spot on Team Michael Bublé), guitarist and co-vocalist Max Indiveri, bassist Quinn Cosgrove, and drummer Miles Patterson – return with “Together in Agony,” out now. The single previews a new slate of material the band will roll out with Wichita’s independent label Midtopia early next year. // Written by Indiveri and recorded in the band’s 10×10 bedroom studio, “Together in Agony” lives in the tension between comfort and self-respect – “the kind of relationship you know is breaking,” he says, “but you’re still in it because you’re scared to start over.” The track builds from quiet reflection to a cathartic climax, mirroring that internal tug-of-war. It’s an early glimpse of a band coming into its voice, unafraid to sit in the feeling and let the lyric breathe.If you know The Whips from the internet, that tracks. Early on, they were the kids ripping through call-and-response solo battles and left-turn funk covers that exploded on TikTok and Instagram. One clip meant for friends woke up to a million views; another hit five million. What started as a handful of posts between college classes turned into a full-blown community of fans who connected with the band’s mix of humor, skill, and heart. The growth was real, but so was the risk of being seen as “the TikTok band.” They leaned into what felt authentic instead – community, curiosity, and the joy of playing without pretense. Those same fans now show up in person, singing along and hanging after shows like it’s a reunion with old friends. // The group’s story goes back to a Kansas City school bus, where Cosgrove and Patterson decided to start a band. Indiveri joined with a songwriter’s ear and a sharp melodic sensibility, and an Instagram search led to Cooper, whose recent Voice run (four chairs, Team Michael Bublé) has given the band an extra spotlight without shifting its center of gravity. Through it all, The Whips have remained what they were from the start – four friends figuring life out in real time and writing songs that capture the process. // “Together in Agony” marks the start of a new chapter for The Whips – one defined by honesty, self-production, and a growing sense of creative independence. The band plans to release more music with Midtopia early next year as part of a slate of projects highlighting emerging Midwestern artists under the label’s Buy Before You Stream initiative, which gives fans a physical connection to new music before it hits streaming platforms.// The Whips released their 12 track debut album HOW TO HOLD A GRUDGE on Lotuspool Records on September 1, 2023, Recorded with Audio Engineer Chris Cosgrove. the album features an array of their favorite local musicians guest in various tracks including: Malek Azrael, Anna Duntz, Atomic Blonde, Die Jane, Tre’ Mutava, Lymerrick & Lucy Brock. // The Whips released their EP STARDUST & MOTOR OIL on Midtopia Records on August 2, 2024. It was part of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2024. The Whips released their single, “Begin Again”on February 2, 2024. The Whips released their single, “As Long As You Want Me” on March 8, 2024. The Whips released their 6-track Debut EP, NEVER CHANGE, OR DO on August 20, 2021 on Draft Crew Records. The Whips released multiple singles in 2021. // More info at: ww.thewhipsband.com]

6. Mitzi McKee and The Precious Cargo – “Metamorphosis”
   from: “Metamorhosis”- Single / Mitzi McKee and The Precious Cargo / August 6, 2025
   [First single, ‘Metamorphosis’, off their upcoming debut album Inverted Shadows. Mitzi’s band, Mitzi McKee & The Precious Cargo, call themselves a “spacey KC rock & roll trio” w/ Mitzi on guitar, piano, & vocals; Brendan Bennett on bass, & Caleb Robertson on drums Mitzi has lived in KC since 2011 where she began singing in the jazz fusion band Valency. // Mitzi has also played drums, keyboards, and sang backup in the KC proto-punk Iggy & The Stooges cover band, No Fun, and the New York Dolls cover band, Trashed with Britt Adair. Mitzi played her first solo show in 2022 at the Pairing, where she also worked the front-of-house. Mitzi and on first Saturdays, at Chartreuse Saloon in the Crossroads.]

[Mitzi McKee & The Precious Cargo play an Inverted Shadows Album Release Show at Gigabtic Records 1614 Westport Road, KCMO, on Friday, November 21 at 7:00pm.]

7. Liam Kazar – “Didn’t I”
   from: Pilot Light / Congrats Records / November 7, 2024
   [KC-based, Chicago-raised musician & acclaimed chef/founder of the Armenian pop-up restaurant Isfahan. // Liam Kazar on vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar; bass on “Didn’t I,” wurlitzer on “Listening”; Sam Evian on bass, vocals; saxophone and keys on “Didn’t I”; Sean Mullins on drums, percussion; Michael Prince Coleman on piano, wurlitzer, organ, synthesizer; Hannah Cohen on vocals; Sima Cunningham on vocals; Dorian Gehring on pedal steel, fiddle; James Elkington on percussion, guitar, arrangement, and production, on “Didn’t I”; Spencer Tweedy on drums on “Didn’t I”; Meg Lui on vocals on “Didn’t I”. All songs written by Liam Kazar. Produced, engineered, mixed by Sam Evian at Flying Cloud in the Catskills. Additional engineering by Dorian Gehring at Fox Hall Studio in Chicago, IL. Mastered by Josh Bonati // Liam Kazar’s August 6, 2021 album, DUE NORTH was in the Top 15 of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2021. Liam described the making of Due North as a revelation, where the more he wrote, the more his songs showed what kind of artist he’s always wanted to be. A bandmate performing with artists like Jeff Tweedy, Steve Gunn, Daniel Johnston, and more, making his own songs presented a chance to find his own voice. But figuring out how to step out was a rewarding challenge. “This record kind of all stemmed from a conversation I had with Jeff,” says Kazar. “I showed him some of my earliest songs I was working on and he told me, ‘It sounds like you’re writing for the people in your bands, you’re not writing for yourself.’ He was completely right. I was not writing songs for myself.” With that needed insight, Kazar decided to start from scratch and write songs that felt like himself. // Jeff Tweedy said, “I love everything about Liam. His voice, his songs, the way he plays instruments, his smile, his cooking…. Everything,” says Tweedy. ”Whenever I hear one of his songs for the first time I almost immediately start thinking to myself, ‘oh yeah! This song! I love this song.’ It’s a magic trick few people can pull off: making something brand new sound like a cherished memory.” “There were 2 words I had in my head during the making of this record, which was joyful & vulnerable,” says Kazar, citing Al Green’s 1978 The Belle Album as an LP that encapsulates such a feeling. “I was trying to talk about things that I’m scared about but acknowledging that I’m not that powerful and you can still be joyful in the face of your own insecurities.” Take album highlight “Frank Bacon,” where Kazar sings, “When you’re running uphill and swimming upstream / Nothing’s ever gonna be the way it seems.” Despite any lyrical uncertainty the track is bursting with life, especially in the monster groove from drummer Spencer Tweedy & bassist Lane Beckstrom. Elsewhere on “Nothing To You,” Kazar finds the sweet spot between indie rock jangle and subtle country twang as he sings, “I hope you don’t resent / The love between your hands.” Along with Tweedy and Beckstrom, Kazar enlists keyboardist Dave Curtin (Woongi), co-producer James Elkington on pedal steel, as well as Ohmme and Andrew Sa on backing vocals. Opener “So Long Tomorrow” showcases the band’s chemistry, a winding jam full of playful & soulful instrumental flourishes. One of the last songs written for the album, it was recorded remotely in quarantine but despite the distance the band’s tight bond is obvious. “These songs totally blew me away the first time I heard them: they sound like David Bowie meets the Band,” says Mare Records co-founder Kevin Morby. Due North was mixed by Sam Evian at his Flying Cloud Recordings Studio in upstate New York. “Sam knew exactly what I’m trying to do with this record,” says Kazar. “He put the whole track listing together and really had a vision for the record that I needed at that time.” // Like most musicians, the pandemic threw Kazar for a loop, knocking out both his touring revenue and his part-time gigs as a bartender. With more than enough time in his KC home, he decided to pursue his longtime love of cooking by creating the restaurant, Isfahan. With recipes that honor his Armenian heritage & family’s journey to USA from Iran, Syria, & Lebanon, Kazar’s cooking has received press from Time Out Chicago & Eater. “In COVID, my mantra was to not have my heart broken about the future and be present,” says Kazar, explaining that ethos is one of the reasons why he named the LP Due North. Though Due North is full of songs that act as a mirror to Kazar’s many talents, few sum it up as concisely as “No Time For Eternity.” On the track, he and Chicago country crooner Andrew Sa sing over wailing pedal steel, taking stock of the most important things in life: “Making time to live my life / Making time for you and me.” “The reality of my life is that when I come home, and I’m talking with my partner, maybe we had a bad day, but we still are laughing & having a good time with each other at the same time,” says Kazar. “I had to make music that expressed that part of me that’s a person who genuinely enjoys themselves.”]

8. Jay Som & Soft Glas – “What You Need (radio edit)”
   from: Belong / Polyvinyl Records / October 10, 2025
   [All songs written, composed, and performed by Melina Duterte, Joao Gonzalez, Mal Hauser, Steph Marziano, and Madden Klass. Produced by Melina Duterte, Joao Gonzalez, Kyle Pulley, Mal Hauser, and Steph Marziano. Recorded at EMA Studios in Los Angeles CA, Headroom Studios in Philadelphia PA, and Klass Drums in Los Angeles CA. Engineered by Melina Duterte, Kyle Pulley, Steph Marziano, and Johanna Baumann. Assistant Engineering by Theo Cobb, Meredith Glover, Eli Glovas-Kurtz. Mixed by Melina Duterte and Kyle Pulley. Mastered by Ruairi O’Flaherty at Nomograph Mastering. // Melina Mae Cortez Duterte (born March 25, 1994), better known by her stage name Jay Som, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and mixing engineer. Initially presenting an indie rock sound, she began releasing music in 2012 and released her debut studio album Turn Into in mid-2016. The follow-up to Everybody Works and Jay Som’s third studio album, Anak Ko, was released on August 23, 2019 via Polyvinyl, Lucky Number, and Inertia. // Born in Walnut Creek, California, Duterte spent most of her childhood in Pleasanton and Brentwood. She grew up playing the trumpet and guitar, and began writing and recording music at the age of 12. She originally intended to attend a conservatory program for jazz but instead decided to focus on songwriting. Her debut record Everybody Works was released on Double Denim Records, and Polyvinyl Records in March 2017. Which was preceded by Turn Into, a collection of songs that first gained her attention as a singer-songwriter. // Duterte was born on March 25, 1994 in Walnut Creek, California to Filipino immigrant parents, and was raised in Pleasanton, California and Brentwood, California. She often cites her parents’ immigrant background and cultural customs as major influences. // Duterte grew up playing the trumpet and guitar, and began writing and recording music at the age of 12. She originally intended to attend a conservatory program for jazz but instead decided to focus on songwriting. After enrolling in community college and studying music production and recording, she began recording in her bedroom studio and self-released music under the moniker Jay Som, which was created from an online baby name generator and means “Victory Moon”. // In November 2015, Duterte released nine tracks on her Bandcamp page under the name Untitled. They began to receive attention online despite the fact that they were intended to be demos, and were eventually re-released twice as Turn Into which was recorded in her bedroom for around three weeks. First under Topshelf Records and then Polyvinyl Records in 2016. Following Turn Into, Duterte opened for Peter Bjorn and John, Mitski and Japanese Breakfast. Duterte’s first proper album as Jay Som, Everybody Works, was released March 10, 2017 under Polyvinyl and Double Denim Records. It was preceded by the song “1 Billion Dogs” in February. Duterte said at the time that the album’s sound was influenced by Tame Impala, Yo La Tengo, the Pixies and Carly Rae Jepsen’s E•MO•TION. Everybody Works landed on Best of 2017 lists from Pitchfork, NPR, Stereogum, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and Billboard. // In January 2018, Duterte released “Pirouette” and “O.K., Meet Me Underwater,” singles that were recorded during the same sessions as Everybody Works but did not end up on the final tracklist. In June 2018, Duterte opened for The National at their show in Dublin, Ireland. She also toured with Paramore that same year, and was their opening act for the second half of Tour 5. In September of the same year, Duterte released a split EP Nothing’s Changed with American singer-songwriter Justus Proffit. The EP consists of 5 tracks, all recorded in her home recording studio—where she also recorded Everybody Works. // The follow-up to Everybody Works, Anak Ko, was released on August 23, 2019 via Polyvinyl. In January 2020, Duterte contributed to a benefit compilation in support of Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential run. Organized by indie rock band Strange Ranger, the compilation was titled Bernie Speaks With the Community. On October 28, 2020, Duterte announced a new project, Routine, with Chastity Belt bassist Annie Truscott by releasing their first single, “Cady Road”. Routine’s debut EP And Other Things was released on November 20 via Friends Of/Dead Oceans. Duterte released a collaborative album under the moniker of Bachelor with Palehound’s Ellen Kempner in May of 2021, entitled Doomin Sun. // In 2023, Duterte toured with Boygenius for their debut album The Record, playing bass in their touring band. That same year, Duterte also produced the album Doom Singer for Chris Farren. Two years later, on July 9, 2025 Duterte announced new LP Belong, her first new album in six years. The album featured contributions from Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkins and Mini Trees.]

10:29 – Underwriting

9. Sara Swenson – “Go On Free”
   from: “Go On Free” – Single / Sara Swenson / November 6, 2025
   [Critically acclaimed singer songwriter Sara Swenson has released some of our most played and favorite recordings of the last 7 years. Her self titled debut ended up at the top of our list of The 100 Best Recordings of 2009. In 2010 Sara Swenson released her second full length recording, “All Things Big and Small” again working with Don Chaffer in Nashville who added new layers to Sara’s great songs and voice. In November of 2011, Sara released her 5 song EP called “Never Left My Mind,” featuring her band at the time, The Pearl Snaps. In that time frame, she also had picked up two Kansas City Singer-Songwriter of the Year awards, performed with Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair, and placed a song on the season finale of ABC’s “Private Practice.” Then after the school year ended in 2012, Sara Swenson left her job as a High School English and Journalism Teacher in Platte County High School, and left the Kansas City music scene, and she flew off to the United Kingdom, where she got married. In the spring of 2014, Sara returned to Kansas City and performed for the Folk Alliance International Conference. On July 18, 2014 she released her 4th album, RUNWAY LIGHTS that captures snapshots of her 18-month experience of living abroad, moving from dating to marriage and sorting through the accompanying transitions and emotions. Produced by Don Chaffer in Nashville. // On March 26, 2021 Sara Swenson released the single, “I Wont Let You Feel Alone” Sara Swenson wrote to me that her new song is featured in her husband Michael Price’s film “The Hidden Pandemic” that premiered Thursday, April 8 at 7:00 PM on Kansas City PBS. The film is about the mental health crisis in KC – it’s a powerful film that also features Mark Lowrey’s piano playing. Sara’s song is featured in various parts of the film, and then also at the end. To see a trailer for “The Hidden Pandemic” you can visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkd7046rPtU. ] [Sara Swenson played the 21st Annual Crossroads Music Fest, Sat, September 6, at 5:00pm, at the Stockyards Brewing Co.]

[Sara Swenson plays recordBar, 1520 Grand BLVD. KCMO, on Sunday, November 30 at 6:30pm with Tyler Chiarelli and John Flynn.]

10:34 – Interview with Sara Swenson

“Go On Free” is the latest and second single from Sara Swenson‘s new full length album to be released in February 2026. It follows “Phantoms” which was released on October 16, 2025. Sara Swenson is one of our most played artists of the last 15 years. In 2009 Sara’s self titled debut ended up at #1 on WMM’s 100 Best Recordings of 2009. In 2010 Sara Swenson released her second album, ALL THINGS BIG AND SMALL, followed by her 5-song EP, NEVER LEFT MY MIND from November of 2011. In that time, she won two Kansas City Singer-Songwriter of the Year Awards, performed with Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair, and placed a song on the season finale of ABC’s “Private Practice.” In 2012, Sara Swenson left her job as an English and Journalism Teacher in Platte County High School, and flew to the United Kingdom, where she got married. After returning to KC and Sara released her 4th album, RUNWAY LIGHTS on July 18, 2014 that captures snapshots of her 18-month experience of living abroad, getting married and sorting through transitions and emotions. Sara Swenson released the single, “I Wont Let You Feel Alone” on March 26, 2021 and is featured in her husband Michael Price‘s film “The Hidden Pandemic.” Sara Swenson plays recordBar, 1520 Grand BLVD. KCMO, on Sunday, November 30 at 6:30pm with Tyler Chiarelli and John Flynn. More info at: http://www.saraswenson.com

Sara Swenson, thank you for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Congratulations on the new singles “Go On Free” and “Phantoms”

“Go On Free” – In this frantic, unpredictable, high-stress world, we all need a song that feels like freedom. This Americana folk-rock anthem helps us escape modern life with its constant demands and instead roll the windows down as we ride into a simpler atmosphere. To embrace the slow pleasures of life and shed the feelings of constant work and responsibilities. With the attitudes of Tom Petty, Rilo Kiley and Sheryl Crow combined with slide electric guitar and other acoustic sounds, the main female vocal (with some close harmonies throughout much of the song) sends us driving into the sunset like it’s the end of something, but also the beginning.

Last time we talk we had ou on the show was Juky 7, 2021, just a few months after the release of your single “I Wont Let You Feel Alone” with Mark Lowrey on piano. That track was also produced by Greg Lafollette who also produced your new album..

In 2009 Sara’s self titled debut ended up at #1 on WMM’s 100 Best Recordings of 2009. was a breakthrough record, establishing Sara as a serious musical voice in Kansas City

10:43

10. Sara Swenson – “Phantoms”
    from: “Phantoms” – Single / Sara Swenson / October 16, 2025
    [Critically acclaimed singer songwriter Sara Swenson has released some of our most played and favorite recordings of the last 7 years. Her self titled debut ended up at the top of our list of The 100 Best Recordings of 2009. In 2010 Sara Swenson released her second full length recording, “All Things Big and Small” again working with Don Chaffer in Nashville who added new layers to Sara’s great songs and voice. In November of 2011, Sara released her 5 song EP called “Never Left My Mind,” featuring her band at the time, The Pearl Snaps. In that time frame, she also had picked up two Kansas City Singer-Songwriter of the Year awards, performed with Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair, and placed a song on the season finale of ABC’s “Private Practice.” Then after the school year ended in 2012, Sara Swenson left her job as a High School English and Journalism Teacher in Platte County High School, and left the Kansas City music scene, and she flew off to the United Kingdom, where she got married. In the spring of 2014, Sara returned to Kansas City and performed for the Folk Alliance International Conference. On July 18, 2014 she released her 4th album, RUNWAY LIGHTS that captures snapshots of her 18-month experience of living abroad, moving from dating to marriage and sorting through the accompanying transitions and emotions. Produced by Don Chaffer in Nashville. // On March 26, 2021 Sara Swenson released the single, “I Wont Let You Feel Alone” Sara Swenson wrote to me that her new song is featured in her husband Michael Price’s film “The Hidden Pandemic” that premiered Thursday, April 8 at 7:00 PM on Kansas City PBS. The film is about the mental health crisis in KC – it’s a powerful film that also features Mark Lowrey’s piano playing. Sara’s song is featured in various parts of the film, and then also at the end. To see a trailer for “The Hidden Pandemic” you can visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkd7046rPtU. ] [Sara Swenson played the 21st Annual Crossroads Music Fest, Sat, September 6, at 5:00pm, at the Stockyards Brewing Co.]

[Sara Swenson plays recordBar, 1520 Grand BLVD. KCMO, on Sunday, November 30 at 6:30pm with Tyler Chiarelli and John Flynn.]

10:47 – Interview with Sara Swenson

“Phantoms” which was released on October 16, 2025as the forst single for Sara Swenson‘s upcoming album. Sara Swenson is one of our most played artists of the last 15 years. In 2009 Sara’s self titled debut ended up at #1 on WMM’s 100 Best Recordings of 2009. In 2010 Sara Swenson released her second album, ALL THINGS BIG AND SMALL, followed by her 5-song EP, NEVER LEFT MY MIND from November of 2011. In that time, she won two Kansas City Singer-Songwriter of the Year Awards, performed with Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair, and placed a song on the season finale of ABC’s “Private Practice.” In 2012, Sara Swenson left her job as an English and Journalism Teacher in Platte County High School, and flew to the United Kingdom, where she got married. After returning to KC and Sara released her 4th album, RUNWAY LIGHTS on July 18, 2014 that captures snapshots of her 18-month experience of living abroad, getting married and sorting through transitions and emotions. Sara Swenson released the single, “I Wont Let You Feel Alone” on March 26, 2021 and is featured in her husband Michael Price’s film “The Hidden Pandemic.”

Sara Swenson plays recordBar, 1520 Grand BLVD. KCMO, on Sunday, November 30 at 6:30pm with Tyler Chiarelli and John Flynn. More info at: http://www.saraswenson.com

Sara Swenson, thank you for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

One of the songs from Sara’s new record “Your Town” features a community chorus of voices from the Kansas City music community.

Over the last 15 years we have watched Sara launch a musical life, playing live, releasing albums produced in Nashville, while also teaching English & Journalism at Platte County High School. We said goodbye as she move to the United Kingdon, got married, came home, released a third full length album and begin raising a family. Sara and her husband Michael Price have two children a six year old boy and a 10 year old girl named Lucy. You were pregnant with Lucy when you performed at Folk Alliance International.

Sara Swenson released her singles: “The Moment You Fall Asleep” and “For Eva Josephine” on June 4, 2021. More information at: http://www.saraswenson.com

“The Moment You Fall Asleep” was originally written in 2018
“For Eva Josephine” was originally written in 2017 and revised in 2021.

Mark: I saw Sara perform this song at recordBar in a show you did with Calvin Arsenia. I think that was the first time I just broke down and started crying when Sara told her story and performed this song. I was blown away by her honesty and ability to share such a sad experience.

Sara Swenson plays the 21st Annual Crossroads Music Fest, Sat, September 6, at 5:00pm, at the Stockyards Brewing Co., 1600 Genessee St. KKFI 90.1FM Stage with Bobby Scharping, John Keck, 3 Trails West, Rural Grit All-Stars, Julie Bennett Hume with Ernest James Zydeco, and Sky Smeed.

From http://www.saraswenson.com

Sara Swenson’s song “I Won’t Let You Feel Alone” (2021) embodies why she makes music – to bring people in and remind them of our shared humanity. In this song, as well as her others, you’ll find yourself in the company an old friend.

Originally Swenson was the high school English teacher who stumbled into a music career. Several albums and TV placements later, her work speaks for itself. Known for her warm, velvety outpouring, she uses her stripped down live sets to protect the space where her voice and lyrics steal the show.

Swenson’s successes include songs featured on the prime time American drama “Private Practice” (ABC), period drama “Reign” (CW) and Canada’s “Hello Goodbye” (CBC). She has performed opening sets for major artists such as Jakob Dylan, Katie Herzig, Gregory Alan Isakov, Peter Bradley Adams, and the Lilith Fair (with McLachlan, Emmylou Harris, Ingrid Michaelson and others.) She’s been voted Singer-Songwriter of the Year twice in Kansas City and has toured in several major cities in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Her previous projects include a full-length record “Runway Lights” (2014) and an EP with her band, The Pearl Snaps, released in November 2011 (“Never Left My Mind.”) Her other two full-length projects, “All Things Big and Small” (2010) and “Sara Swenson” (2008), have been widely loved and critically acclaimed.

Sara Swenson, thank you for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Sara Swenson plays recordBar, 1520 Grand BLVD. KCMO, on Sunday, November 30 at 6:30pm with Tyler Chiarelli and John Flynn. More info at: http://www.saraswenson.com

10:56

18. Sara Swenson – “Lights Brighter”
    from: All Things Big and Small / Sara Swenson / September 18, 2010
    [Critically acclaimed singer songwriter Sara Swenson has released some of our most played and favorite recordings of the last 7 years. Her self titled debut ended up at the top of our list of The 100 Best Recordings of 2009. In 2010 Sara Swenson released her second full length recording, “All Things Big and Small” again working with Don Chaffer in Nashville who added new layers to Sara’s great songs and voice. In November of 2011, Sara released her 5 song EP called “Never Left My Mind,” featuring her band at the time, The Pearl Snaps. In that time frame, she also had picked up two Kansas City Singer-Songwriter of the Year awards, performed with Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair, and placed a song on the season finale of ABC’s “Private Practice.” Then after the school year ended in 2012, Sara Swenson left her job as a High School English and Journalism Teacher in Platte County High School, and left the Kansas City music scene, and she flew off to the United Kingdom, where she got married. In the spring of 2014, Sara returned to Kansas City and performed for the Folk Alliance International Conference. On July 18, 2014 she released her 4th album, RUNWAY LIGHTS that captures snapshots of her 18-month experience of living abroad, moving from dating to marriage and sorting through the accompanying transitions and emotions. Produced by Don Chaffer in Nashville. // On March 26, 2021 Sara Swenson released the single, “I Wont Let You Feel Alone” Sara Swenson wrote to me that her new song is featured in her husband Michael Price’s film “The Hidden Pandemic” that premiered Thursday, April 8 at 7:00 PM on Kansas City PBS. The film is about the mental health crisis in KC – it’s a powerful film that also features Mark Lowrey’s piano playing. Sara’s song is featured in various parts of the film, and then also at the end. To see a trailer for “The Hidden Pandemic” you can visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkd7046rPtU.%5D

[Sara Swenson plays recordBar, 1520 Grand BLVD. KCMO, on Sunday, November 30 at 6:30pm with Tyler Chiarelli and John Flynn.]

11:00 – Station ID

12. The Talking Trees – “Warm Clean Plate”
    from: “Warm Clean Plate” – Single / The Talking Trees / September 5, 2025
    [The Talking Trees is an American post-rock Trio based in Kansas City comprised of multi-instrumentalists Dirk Liebert on bass, guitar, & vocals; Tommy Capps on keyboard, guitar, and vocals. More information: http://www.thetalkingtreesmusic.com]

11:04 – Interview with Tommy Capps and Dirk Liebert

The Kansas City based band The Talking Trees. Have been diligently working on their first full length album called, LIVING ON MARS which has just gone into mixing and mastering production. They have released the singles: “Warm Clean Plate” on September 5, 2025 and “I Don’t Wanna Know” on October 24, 2025. The indie rock trio was co-founded in early 2019 by Tommy Lee Capps on vocal, guitars & keyboards; and Dirk Liebert on vocals, guitar, & bass. The Talking Trees released the 5-song EP, ARE YOU OK? on October 1, 2022, and the 5-song EP, ONCE I WAS BORN on April 22, 2022. The band has released multiple singles in 2020 through 2022, and their debut EP, THE TALKING TREES on August 19, 2019. More info at: https://thetalkingtreesmusic.com

Tommy Capps and Dirk Liebert, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

The Talking Trees are a post-rock band based in Kansas City. They released their 4-song EP, ALIENS on March 1, 2024. That was preceded by the 5-song EP, ARE YOU OK? released October 1, 2022, and the 5-song EP, ONCE I WAS BORN on April 22, 2022, multiple single released in 2020 through 2022, and their debut EP, THE TALKING TREES on August 19, 2019. The band is currently in the studio working on the newest album FOREVER MAN. More info at: https://thetalkingtreesmusic.com

Tommy Lee had released a couple of albums of atmospheric instrumental music under my name Tommy Lee Capps as well as playing jazz/classical piano a couple of nights a week, but was seeking a more “song-based” project.

Dirk Liebert was playing in the Lawrence based band Sycamore and had begun writing and recording his own songs. Both he and Tommy Lee are multi-instrumentalists / songwriters and started collaborating and bouncing around some songs off of each other.

The Talking Trees were co-founded by Tommy Lee Capps and Dirk Liebert in early 2019. The Talking Trees only played two shows before everything shut downdue to Covid 19 pandemic, it gave the band the opportunity to record and fine tune the songs.

They released a series of singles and EPs, splitting recording time at our home setups and Element Recording Studios with engineer/producer Joel Nanos through 2020-2022.

The last couple of years the band has been trying to gig and play those songs as much as possible. Dirk built a recording studio in his home that has become The Talking Trees Head Quarters where they have 3-5 hour band sessions / practice every week. This has made the writing process so much faster and productive.

The Talking Trees have 2-3 albums worth of music they are recording. They recorded the Aliens EP, which will be part of our full length record Forever Man, which is looking to be a January 2025 release.

Their next single “The Light” will be officially released on December 19, 2025

11:12 – Radio Premiere

13. The Talking Trees – “The Light”
    from: Single from upcoming album Living On Mars / The Talking Trees / December 19, 2025
    [The Talking Trees is an American post-rock Trio based in Kansas City comprised of multi-instrumentalists Dirk Liebert on bass, guitar, & vocals; Tommy Capps on keyboard, guitar, and

11:15 – Interview with Tommy Capps and Dirk Liebert

Joining us LIVE in our 90.1 FM Studio is Tommy Capps and Dirk Liebert of the Kansas City based band The Talking Trees.

The Kansas City based band The Talking Trees have been diligently working on their first full length album called, LIVING ON MARS which has just gone into mixing and mastering production. They have released the singles: “Warm Clean Plate” on September 5, 2025 and “I Don’t Wanna Know” on October 24, 2025. The indie rock trio was co-founded by Tommy Lee Capps and Dirk Liebert in early 2019, with Tommy Capps on vocal, guitars & keyboards; Dirk Liebert on vocals, guitar, & bass; and Graham Stone on drums. The Talking Trees released the 5-song EP, ARE YOU OK? on October 1, 2022, and the 5-song EP, ONCE I WAS BORN on April 22, 2022. The band has released multiple singles in 2020 through 2022, and their debut EP, THE TALKING TREES on August 19, 2019. More info at: https://thetalkingtreesmusic.com

Tommy Capps, and Dirk Liebert, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

The Talking Trees is a post-rock band based in Kansas City. They released their 4-song EP, ALIENS on March 1, 2024. That was preceded by the 5-song EP, ARE YOU OK? released October 1, 2022, and the 5-song EP, ONCE I WAS BORN on April 22, 2022, multiple single released in 2020 through 2022, and their debut EP, THE TALKING TREES on August 19, 2019. The band is currently in the studio working on the newest album.

They have released a series of singles and EPs, splitting recording time at our home setups and Element Recording Studios with engineer/producer Joel Nanos through 2020-2022.

The last couple of years the band has been trying to gig and play those songs as much as possible. This last fall Dirk built a recording studio that has become The Talking Trees HQ. This has made the writing process so much faster and productive.

The Talking Trees have 2-3 albums worth of music they are recording. They recorded the Aliens EP, which will be part of our full length record Living On Mars, which is looking to be a January 2025 release.

Tommy Capps and Dirk Liebert Thanks for being with us on WMM

More info at: https://thetalkingtreesmusic.com

11:25

14. The Talking Trees – “I Don’t Wanna Know”
    from: Single from upcoming album Living On Mars / The Talking Trees / October 24, 2025
    [The Talking Trees is an American post-rock Trio based in Kansas City comprised of multi-instrumentalists Dirk Liebert on bass, guitar, & vocals; Tommy Capps on keyboard, guitar, and vocals; Graham Stone on drums & percussion. More information: http://www.thetalkingtreesmusic.com]

11:28 – Underwriting

15. Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five – “Saturday Night Fish Fry”
    from: Hymns For End Times / Drag City Records / November 5, 2025
    [“Saturday Night Fish Fry” is a jump blues song written by Louis Jordan and Ellis Lawrence Walsh, best known through the version recorded by Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five. The recording is considered to be one of the “excellent and commercially successful” examples of the jump blues genre. // While the origins of rock and roll are disputed, some have also suggested that the song may be the first rock ‘n’ roll record. The song contains elements later common in rock ‘n’ roll such as electric guitar, a brisk tempo and “a mix of the bass,” and the singer begins each chorus with the catchphrase, “It was rockin’,” repeating it several times. // The single was a big hit, topping the R&B chart for twelve non-consecutive weeks in late 1949. It also reached number 21 on the national chart, a rare accomplishment for a “race record” at that time (although Jordan had already had earlier crossover hits). Jordan’s jump blues combo was one of the most successful acts of its time, and its loose and streamlined style of play was highly influential. // “Saturday Night Fish Fry” was first recorded by Eddie Williams and His Brown Buddies with spoken vocals by the song’s composer, Ellis Walsh. Williams had a number 2 R&B hit with the song “Broken Hearted”. “Saturday Night Fish Fry” was intended to be the band’s next single, but the acetate found its way to Louis Jordan’s agent instead. As Williams recalled, “They got theirs out there first.” // Jordan changed the song. One source provides this summary: he took “the song’s ‘hook’ and [sang] it twice after every other verse. The arrangement was also more propulsive, too; Williams’ shuffle was replaced by a raucous, rowdy jump Boogie-woogie”. The expression “it was rockin'” appears four times in the chorus, which is sung seven times. His version was produced by Milt Gabler. // At 5:21, the recording ran longer than a standard side of a 78 record, so it was broken into two halves, one on each side of the disc. The song’s lyrics are in the first person and describe two itinerant musicians going to a fish fry on Rampart Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. The party turns wild and is raided by the police; the narrator subsequently spends the night in jail. // Jordan’s “Saturday Night Fish Fry” has been called an example of jump blues because “it literally made its listeners jump to its pulsing beat”, according to NPR, which points out the use of the word “rockin'” in the chorus. The Acoustic Music organization states that the recording marked “the end of the jump blues dominance of the ’40s”. // One reviewer offered this comment in 2016 on the Jordan version: “Jordan’s pithy, witty vocal style, bumping jump-blues rhythms, and taste for lyrics that both wag their tongue and bite are as plainly irresistible as pop music gets”. // Some sources also consider it as a precursor to rock and roll, or perhaps, one of the first rock and roll records. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame stated that the recording was “an early example of rap and possibly the first rock and roll recording”.[5] Another source went a step further in 2013 with this comment: “Jordan’s rapid-fire, talky delivery presaged another musical style that in 1950 was barely on the horizon—rap”. // The song had a “lively jump rhythm, call-and response chorus and double-string electric guitar riffs that Chuck Berry would later admit to copying”, according to o]] In fact, Chuck Berry was quoted as saying, “To my recollection, Louis Jordan was the first [person] that I heard play rock and roll.” // The guitar work, brisk tempo, “and emphasis in the recording mix of punctuating each beat” certainly influenced later artists and the recording’s style went on to “characterize 1950s rock and roll”.Jordan re-recorded the song in 1973 for an album titled I Believe in Music.]

11:34 – Interview with Chuck Haddix and Barry Lee

Chuck Haddix and Barry Lee, are two longtime veterans of Kansas City radio. Chuck Haddix recently celebrated 40 years on the air with his popular radio show, FISH FRY on 89.3 KCUR. Barry Lee recently celebrated 1000 shows of his program SIGNAL TO NOISE on 90.1 FM KKFI. Barry and Chuck will share details about CHUCK HADDIX – A FEW MORE FISH TO FRY, on Saturday, December 6, at 7:00pm presented by Center For Recorded Music, at the UMKC Student Union Theatre, 5100 Cherry Street, KCMO. The evening celebrates the remarkable career of Chuck Haddix who along with serving as radio host, recently retired as Director of the Marr Sound Archives, a collection of 400,700 historic sound recordings housed in the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Over the years, Haddix has contributed to a wide variety of theatrical, recording, video and film projects including Cronkite Remembers a biography of Walter Cronkite, Robert Altman’s Kansas City and Merchant-Ivory’s Mr. and Mrs. Bridge. His articles have appeared in Down Beat and Living Blues Magazine. Haddix is the coauthor of Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop published by Oxford University Press and the author of Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker published by the University of Illinois Press.

Chuck Haddix and Barry Lee Thanks for being with us on WMM

Chuck Haddix recently celebrated 40 years on the air with his popular radio show, FISH FRY on 89.3 KCUR.

Barry Lee recently celebrated 1000 shows of his program SIGNAL TO NOISE on 90.1 FM KKFI.

Barry and Chuck will share details about CHUCK HADDIX – A FEW MORE FISH TO FRY, on Saturday, December 6, at 7:00pm presented by Center For Recorded Music, at the UMKC Student Union Theatre, 5100 Cherry Street, KCMO.

The evening celebrates the remarkable career of Chuck Haddix who along with serving as radio host, recently retired as Director of the Marr Sound Archives, a collection of 400,700 historic sound recordings housed in the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

Over the years, Haddix has contributed to a wide variety of theatrical, recording, video and film projects including Cronkite Remembers a biography of Walter Cronkite, Robert Altman’s Kansas City and Merchant-Ivory’s Mr. and Mrs. Bridge.

Chuck Haddix articles have appeared in Down Beat and Living Blues Magazine. Haddix is the coauthor of Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop published by Oxford University Press and the author of Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker published by the University of Illinois Press.

The Pitch started in 1980 as The Penny Pitch as part of Penny Lane Records, The original editor was Don Mayberger along with co-editor Chuck Haddix. The original owner was Hal Brody.

“I always say that I feature the finest in blues, soul, rhythm ‘n’ blues, jumpin’ jive and zydeco,” Chuck Haddix says on “Fish Fry” From 8 p.m. to midnight every Friday and Saturday on 89.3 KCUR, described as “a public radio party in your living room”

The party got started in 1985, a year after Haddix (who goes by the on-air moniker “Chuck Haddock”) joined the staff of KCUR as a jazz producer.

As Chuck told Calvin Wilson from LKC Studio magazine: “I worked in the record business for many years, but there really wasn’t that much of an opportunity to get ahead, and I’ve always loved radio,” Haddix said. “And I wanted to make a parallel career move.”

Chuck Haddix, Curator of the Marr Sound Archives and host of KCUR’s “Fish Fry” music program received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Award in recognition of his work in preserving African American culture and music, as a part of William Jewell College’s 39th annual Northland Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration. The Clay County African American Legacy co-sponsored the event on Monday, January 16, 2023.

Chuck Haddix worked with jazz collector Norman Saks and Ken Drucker, senior vice president at Verve Label Group, to create the album. “Bird in Kansas City” was originally recorded in 1941-1951, beginning when Parker was just 21 years old. “These recordings chronicle Parker’s musical transformation from a budding soloist with the Jay McShann Band into a brilliant improviser who dominated after-hours jam sessions,” said Chuck Haddix (B.A. ’97), curator of the Marr Sound Archives and Charlie Parker expert. Haddix co-produced and wrote the liner notes for the record. In 1951, jazz icon Charlie Parker jammed on his saxophone at a party at Kansas City’s Eastside, in the home of his friend Phil Baxter. Most of these casual jam sessions are lost to history, but that night, a friend of Baxter’s brought a wire recorder to the party to capture Parker and others playing. More than 70 years later, those recordings are public for the first time.

Chuck Haddix is part of a new documentary film called, BIRD Not Out of Nowhere that looks back at the years Bird spent in Kansas City and his lasting legacy on the Kansas City jazz scene. The film is directed and produced by Emmy Award-winner Brad Austin and features rarely seen archival footage of Parker, and interviews with musicians and historians, and live performances from some of Kansas City’s most talented jazz musicians including Bobby Watson, Lonnie McFadden and Logan Richardson.

Chuck Haddix and Barry Lee Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

CHUCK HADDIX – A FEW MORE FISH TO FRY, on Saturday, December 6, at 7:00pm presented by Center For Recorded Music, at the UMKC Student Union Theatre, 5100 Cherry Street, KCMO.

11:57:30

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

NEXT WEEK on Wed., Nov. 26, Bill Brownlee, creator of the blogs: There Stands The Glass, & Plastic Sax, Judy Mills, owner of Mills Record Company, Chris Haghirian, host of 8160 on 90.9 The Bridge, and Fally Afani – Founder & Editor of I Heart Local Music will share their Favorite Musical Releases of 2025.

IN TWO WEEKS on Wednesday, December 3 We bring you WMM’s Favorite Singles of 2025, and in our second hour we welcome Michelle Bacon, Content Manager at 90.9 The Bridge, will share her Favorite Musical Recordings of 2025.

In THREE WEEKS: WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2025. Tune into Wednesday MidDay Medley throughout December for our 4-week series on December 10th, 17th, 24th, and 31st. This is our celebration of the year in music based on the playlists of this little ole radio show. In 2025 we’ve played hundreds of New & MidCoastal Releases. We conducted over 175 interviews with 159 special guests.

The text in this playlist is a collage and “cut & paste” of information from artist’s websites, press releases, event info, wikipedia, social media pages, BandCamp, liner notes, and where noted.

You can find our playlists at: http://www.wednesdaymiddaymedley.org & http://www.kkfi.org
http://www.facebook.com/WednesdayMidDayMedleyon90.1FM
http://www.instagram.wednesday_midday_medley
http://www.bandcamp.com/wednesdaymiddaymedley

Thank you to KKFI Staff: Executive Director – Bess Wallerstein Huff, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers, Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, and Shaina Littler – Office Manager Book Keeper

This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. It is a collective spirit of hundreds of people, setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the goal of keeping our airwaves, non-commercial, and open! Thank you to programmers who create content for over 85 locally produced radio shows & volunteers who made extra effort to keep our station alive.

For WMM, I’m Mark Manning. Thanks for listening

Show #1122

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

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Howard Iceberg & Chad Brothers & The Matchsellers + Rude Cousin

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Motion Picture Soundtrack to All That Jazz / Universal / Dec. 20, 1979
   [WMM’s theme]

2. Water From Your Eyes – “Nights in Armor”
   from: It’s A Beautiful Place / Matador / August 22, 2025
   [Songwriter Nate Amos, and front person Rachel Brown are Water from Your Eyes. It’s a Beautiful Place is the duo’s dizzying, chrome-tinted masterpiece, which Rolling Stone has christened “their most joyously out there achievement yet.” The band – now a four-piece on stage with Al Nardo (guitar) and Bailey Wollowitz (drums) – will support It’s A Beautiful Place with an extensive North American headline tour. The tour launches September 22 in Philadelphia and runs through November 2 in Denver, including stops at Bowery Ballroom in New York, Lodge Room in Los Angeles, and Sleeping Village in Chicago. // In the time since 2023’s “Everyone’s Crushed”, their Matador debut and critical breakout – which appeared in end of year lists by The New York Times, The Guardian, Pitchfork, NME, Vogue, Wired and Rolling Stone – Rachel Brown and Nate Amos have become a pillar of the city’s alternative music scene and one of its most revered underground exports. They played huge stages supporting Interpol on tour, including in front of 160,000 fans in Mexico City. Back home, the band established a DIY boat show franchise on the East River, hosting friends at the heart of the city’s musical vanguard including YHWH Nailgun, Model/Actriz, Frost Children, and Kassie Krut. Rachel released a new EP under their thanks for coming moniker, while Nate released an acclaimed full length under his This Is Lorelei solo project. The duo finished “It’s a Beautiful Place” last summer, just as they have every other WFYE release: in Amos’s bedroom. // Throughout “It’s A Beautiful Place” is a clear sense of a band who have honed their curveballs into home runs. Looming and melancholy, wide-eyed and petrified, it’s Blade Runner with a touch of WALL-E, it’s Kubrick and Asimov with a hint of Jay and Silent Bob. These are songs that look outward, conscious of our smallness and questioning our place in the universe while admiring the surrounding beauty.The album is the duo’s dizzying, chrome-tinted masterpiece, which Rolling Stone has christened “their most joyously out there achievement yet.” The band – now a four-piece on stage with Al Nardo (guitar) and Bailey Wollowitz (drums) – will support It’s A Beautiful Place with an extensive North American headline tour. The tour launches September 22 in Philadelphia and runs through November 2 in Denver, including stops at Bowery Ballroom in New York, Lodge Room in Los Angeles, and Sleeping Village in Chicago. // In the time since 2023’s “Everyone’s Crushed”, their Matador debut and critical breakout – which appeared in end of year lists by The New York Times, The Guardian, Pitchfork, NME, Vogue, Wired and Rolling Stone – Rachel Brown and Nate Amos have become a pillar of the city’s alternative music scene and one of its most revered underground exports. They played huge stages supporting Interpol on tour, including in front of 160,000 fans in Mexico City. Back home, the band established a DIY boat show franchise on the East River, hosting friends at the heart of the city’s musical vanguard including YHWH Nailgun, Model/Actriz, Frost Children, and Kassie Krut. Rachel released a new EP under their thanks for coming moniker, while Nate released an acclaimed full length under his This Is Lorelei solo project. The duo finished “It’s a Beautiful Place” last summer, just as they have every other WFYE release: in Amos’s bedroom. // Throughout “It’s A Beautiful Place” is a clear sense of a band who have honed their curveballs into home runs. Looming and melancholy, wide-eyed and petrified, it’s Blade Runner with a touch of WALL-E, it’s Kubrick and Asimov with a hint of Jay and Silent Bob. These are songs that look outward, conscious of our smallness and questioning our place in the universe while admiring the surrounding beauty.]

3. Dragon Inn 3 – “Send Your Love”
   from: Full Disclosure / American Laundromat Records / October 13, 2025
   [Second single form Dragon Inn 3’s third album release: Full Disclosure. This song Follows the band’s single “Clock Machine” from August 23, 2024. // “The first four songs on Full Disclosure were written over the course of three decades. Grace started writing “Never Lost” as a teenager in 2002. I started working on “Send Your Love” in 2015 but couldn’t figure out how to finish it until I saw the movie True Romance for the first time last year. Sharon and I collaborated on “Taking It Back” and “Yer Too Good” this year. We couldn’t have made these songs without some of our new and old friends. Ryan Wasoba, who I played shows with in the early 2000s, helped us record some guitars on “Never Lost.” And our new friends Nick Wilkerson (drums), Brandon Yangmi (recording engineer), and Scoops Dardaris (mixing) helped us out on everything else.// The second set of four songs on the EP are a collection of digital singles we released over the past few years and collected here for the first time on cassette. // We’re super lucky and grateful to work with American Laundromat Records, Bank Robber Music, and SRG studios. They’ve been helping us release music for the last seven years. Special thanks to Lonny Unitus for the excellent cassette design and layouts.” – Philip Dickey // Performed by Dragon Inn 3: Grace Bentley on vocals; Philip Dickey on bass, drums, guitar, synths, & vocals; Sharon Hamm on synths, vocals. // Additional Musicians: Nick Wilkerson on drums on Send Your Love, Never Lost, Yer Too Good, and Clock Machine; Ryan Wasoba on distorted guitars on Never Lost;
   Matt Vollmer on Fender VI on Yer Too Good; Juan C. Marioni on Acoustic 12-String on Yer Too Good; Samo T. on feedback on Never Lost. // Mixed by Scoops Dardaris// Recorded by Philip Dickey, Jack Florio, Brandon Yangmi, Ryan Wasoba, and Ross Brown. // Mastered by Sean Glonek at SRG studios // In 2023 Dragon Inn 3 released Trade Secrets on American Laundromat Records on April 18, 2023, their sophomore release featuring 10 new original songs plus a cover of Yazoo’s “Only You.” // For Dragon Inn 3 second album: Grace Bentley on vocals; Philip Dickey on synths, drums, guitar, bass & vocals; Sharon Hamm on synths & vocals; David Hill on vocals & synths. Recorded from 2018 to 2022 at Davey’s house and Sharon’s house. Recorded, mixed, and produced by Philip Dickey. Additional recording and mixing help from Ross Brown, David Hill, and Chase Horseman. Mastered by Sean Glonek at SRG studios. Additional musicians: Bill Belzer percussion “I Can’t Stop”, John Cardwell guitar “Finally Going Down”, Ben Collins guitar “I Can’t Stop”, Tim Gillespie saxophone “I Can’t Stop” “Out Of Control” “Trade Secrets Theme”, Anita Kitungano vocals “See It Your Way”, John O’Hallaron guitar “Teleport”, Bora Wilondja vocals “See It Your Way” “Trade Secrets Theme”, Mauwa Wilondja vocals “Trade Secrets Theme”, Pelo Wilondja percussion “I Could Never”. Additional writers: Emma Bentley Ruzicka “Not Enough”, Bora Wilondja “See It Your Way”, JR Top “See It Your Way”, and Vincent Clark “Only You”. Cover photo: Dominik Podlipniak. Design: Dustin Williams. // Kansas City based band formed in 2012 with Grace Bentley, Sharon Bowie, Philip K. Dickey, E.P. Marcus. Dragon Inn 3’s debut LP DOUBLE LINE on August 17, 2018 through American Laundromat records. DOUBLE LINE was part of WMM’s 118 Best Recordings of 2018. The band spent six years whittling away on the songs. Combining sugary pop hooks, hypnotic beats, and huge MOOG synths, Dragon Inn 3’s playful take on 80s pop could double as the soundtrack to a John Hughes movie (if John Hughes directed Blade Runner). The cinematic origins of Dragon Inn 3 can be traced back to 2012, when Philip Dickey (leader of the indie-pop group, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin) wrote a theme song for the award-winning short film Ghoul School. “If you watch the trailer you can tell it’s the same premise and look as Stranger Things–we just accidentally made it three years before them,” Dickey says. “I had so much fun making the soundtrack with the director (E.P. Marcus) that we decided to start a band.” Dickey recruited his sister, Sharon Bowie, an occupational therapist, and his wife, children’s librarian Grace Bentley, to help with songwriting and vocal duties. The group self-released the Ghoul School Soundtrack EP in late 2012, receiving high praise from Consequence of Sound, Philadelphia’s WXPN, and The Riverfront Times, before climbing to #1 on Bandcamp’s cassette charts. Then it was back to the studio (i.e. the bedrooms, kitchens, garages, and hotel rooms that doubled as makeshift recording studios). In between full-time jobs, parenthood, graduate school classes, and cross country moves, the members of Dragon Inn 3 put Double Line to tape. “I’m a stay-at-home dad now, so I would work on song arrangements and rough mixes when our toddler was taking his naps,” explains Dickey. “Grace would come home from work and record all her parts after his bedtime. We recorded all the breathy vocals in the living room and all the yelly parts in the garage so we wouldn’t wake him up.” The result is a highly addictive album that creates “a soundtrack for the more introspective moments on and off the dance floor,” according to critic David Greenwald. With members spread out over the country (KC, LA, and Springfield, MO), the group signed to American Laundromat Records in early 2018. A demo of “Bad Boy” (co-written with Free Energy’s Paul Sprangers) landed in a commercial for Ryan Adams’ Beats 1 Radio show before the song was even completed. More Info at: http://www.dragoninn3.com] [Philip Dicky joined us LIVE on WMM on May 3, 2023.]

4. The Beth’s – “Straight Line Was A Lie”
   from: Straight Line Was A Lie / Anti- / August 29, 2025
   [The Beths — the New Zealand-based quartet of vocalist/guitarist Elizabeth Stokes, guitarist Jonathan Pearce, bassist Benjamin Sinclair, and drummer Tristan Deck — release their new album, Straight Line Was A Lie, on ANTI-. // The path from The Beths’ critically celebrated and year-end-list-topping 2022 album Expert In A Dying Field to Straight Line Was A Lie was anything but straightforward. For the first time, Stokes was struggling to write new songs beyond fragments she’d recorded on her phone. She’d recently started taking an SSRI, which on one hand made her feel like she could “fix” everything broken in her life, from her mental and physical health to fraught family dynamics. At the same time, writing wasn’t coming as easily as it had before. // With Straight Line Was A Lie, Stokes and Pearce broke down the typical Beths writing process, opening themselves up to a wave of creative input, with Stokes’ free-flowing writing routine proving to be therapeutic. Already a celebrated lyricist, Stokes has long impressed fans and critics with catchy, instant-classic turns of phrase that capture the personal and ladder up to the universal. But Stokes’ intentional deconstruction and rebuilding of her relationship to writing, however, has resulted in a complete renewal. Her songwriting has achieved startling new depths of insight and vulnerability, making Straight Line Was A Lie the most sharply observant, truthful, and poetic Beths project to date.]

5. Julia Haile – “You Weren’t Around”
   from: “You Weren’t Around” – Single / Julia Haile / October 10, 2025
   [Haunted by the idea of you. This song explores the idea of realizing the love isn’t worth the loss of self. “I liked you better when you weren’t around”. Julia Haile -on vocals; Tim Braun – guitar & bass; Fritz Hutchison on drums; Chase Horseman on keyboards, synthesize. One of four new singles released by Julia Haile over the past two years. Julia Haile is a singer and songwriter based in Kansas City, MO. Her natural talent and musical education have fueled a career of exciting performances and beautiful music. From leading Neo-Soul band Hi-Lux and international collaborations to solo works, Julia’s goal is create meaningful musical experiences for all. Julia’s work with Hi-Lux included Tim Braun on guitar, Nick Howell on keys, Dan Loftus on bass, (and prior to that Pete Leibert on bass) and Kian Bryne on drums. Hi-Lux is a Modern-Soul band that blends and bends the boundaries between soul, rock n roll, reggae, and funk. This group aims to create music that pays tribute to their myriad of influences (Amy Winehouse, The Meters, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings). but also claims a spotlight of its own in the musical world. Hi-Lux released the singles, “Revolution” and “Get What You Give” on February 28, 2020, through The Record Machine. Hi-Lux released the single. “Don’t Blame Lee” (featuring Lee Scratch Perry) on April 20, 2018. Hi-Lux released the 7” vinyl single, “”Dance With My Baby” b​/​w “Don’t Blame Me” on January 5, 2018 through Sunflower Soul Records. Hi-Lux released their 6-track, self-titled EP, Hi-Lux on January 2, 2018. All 6 songs had previously been released as singles..]The band brings together elements of soul, reggae and funk for a unique and dance inspiring sound. More info at: http://www.juliaHaile.com]

6. LyMerrick – “Medicine”
   from: “Medicine” – Single / LyMerrick / October 1, 2024
   [LyMerrick is a solo artist and lead singer of Supermoto. LyMerrick released the singles: “Broadway” with Ikey Suave feat. TOP MEECH; Ephemeral”- EP on October 1, 2024; Singles: “Lost and Sedated” on March 26, 2024; “Runaway” on August 24, 2020; “Look at You (feat. Sleepwalker) on May 13, 2020; “Early Days” on March 7, 2020; “Reminiscing to the Future” on April 5, 2019; “Lay Me Down” on February 8, 2018; “Moves (feat. Latenitee)” on January 31, 2019; “First Thing (feat. Latenitee)”; “Queen” on December 15, 2018; “Baggage” on December 9, 2018; “Pipe Down” on September 5, 2018; “Not Another Love Song” on June 27, 2018; and “Not Good Enough” on May 17, 2018. // LyMerrick is also lead singer of Supermoto who released ther self titled debut album, Supermoto /through Manor Records on September 30, 2024. Hailing from Kansas City, this 5-piece group started meeting in the pre covid winter of 2020. April of 2021 they released their first two songs “Moonlight” & “Polarized” which led to a run of energetic & successful live performances – all the while building up many catchy originals drawing on their inspirations of jazz, funk, r&b, city pop and disco. ]

7. Calvin Arsenia – “Is That What You Like”
   from: Paradise / Calvin Arsenia / June 23, 2023
   [Paradise is Calvin Arsenia’s 14 track album. Available through http://www.calvinarsenia.com // A new turning point as a songwriter. His most biographical album yet, with songs about Black Lives Matter, Racism, The Police, being on probation, gay love. The album contains collaborations with Cheery, Kadesh Flow and Jametatone. Calvin Arsenia one of our most frequent guests, who first appeared on WMM on July 25, 2012. KC Magazine has hailed Calvin as ‘equal parts opera, symphony, musical theatre, rock show, all built around its creator: a charismatic 6-foot-7-inch harpist with a 3 and ½ octave range, natural stage command and knack for gilding gold and painting lilies.’ Born in Orlando, Florida, Calvin’s creative journey began when he moved to Olathe, Kansas, teaching himself the guitar, piano, banjo. He learned his signature instrument, the harp, at the age of 20. His passion for stretching the boundaries of musical expression saw him transform a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland’s Fringe Festival early in his career into a life-changing music mission, with an Edinburgh church offering him a role as musical liaison between the church and the city that would change his life. Two years and 300 shows later, Calvin returned to KC reborn as a humanistic songwriter / performer where at 24 he released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. On February 14, 2017 Calvin released his critically acclaimed full length debut, Catastrophe, with a live show at recordBar in November 2016 that involved a company of 50 people, dancers, stilt walkers. After signing to Center Cut Records, Calvin released the albums: Cantaloupe in 2018, with a sold out gigantic spectical at The Gem Theatre on Saturday, September 15, 2018. He then released, L.A. Sessions in 2019, and the EP HONEY DEW, and the EP Goddess with Quixotic, the Holiday album, ALL IS CALM. In 2020 Calvin collaborated with Mike Dillon on the Soundtrack to “Summer in Hindsight,” a feature-length film created by The West 18th Street Fashion Show that starred Calvin as an actor. Calvin is also the co-creator of the podcast “We Were Christian Kids” created with childhood friend Justin Randall who is a stand up comedian working in New York City and now Los Angeles. Calvin is also the published author of VERY GOOD BOY DOES FINE, a collection of Poetry & Prose published on October 5, 2021, by Andrews McMeel Universal. Calvin was voted KC’s Best Musician in The Pitch 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. He has been featured in Billboard, NPR.org. Charlotte Street Foundation announced that the recipients of the 2022 Generative Performing Artist Awards are The Black Creatures and Calvin Arsenia Scott.] [Calvin Arsenia played a PARADISE Album Release Party, Friday, June 23, and Saturday, June 24, at 7:00 PM at The Emerald, 1715 West 9th Street, KCMO, WEST BOTTOMS. More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com][Calvin Arsenia was our guest on WMM on Jan. 18, 2023, June 21, 2023, and our 1000th Show on June 28, 2923.]

[Calvin Arsenia plays the National Museum of Toys and Minatures, 5335 Oak St. KCMO, TONIHJT, Wednesday, October 15 at 6:30am.]

[Calvin Arsenia plays Greenwood Social Hall. At 1750 Belleview, KCMO West Side for BIG FEELS: Stories from the Heartland honeyglazed in love, pain, and the reckless will to survive. Thursday, October 16, at 7:00pm featuring: Fil by Peter Max lawrence, Poetry by Emery Diercks, Jace Jacob and poet Laureare of Kansas City Melissa Ferrer-Civil, and music by Calvin Arsenia.]

8. Car Microwave – “Ford Crown Victoria”
   from: “Ford Crown Victoria” – Single / Car Microwave / September 25, 2025
   [Car Microwave are an indie rock band out of KCMO. Devout haters of Truck Oven! With Katie Boord on vocals; Caitlyn Jacobs on guitar, vocals; Kirsten Krier on bass; Parker Mason on guitar, and Riley Rexford on drums. The band released the single “Kiki’s Delivery Service (feat. Shotgun Wedding Singer)” on October 4, 2024. (Shotgun Wedding Singer is Adam Doyle and Ben Wendt).They released the album, PHOTO ALBUM on May 19, 2023.]

10:30 – Underwriting

9. Rude Cousin – “Scrawny Man”
   from: Rude Cousin / Rude Cousin / September 25, 2025
   [Rude Cousin is comprised of real life cousins from Kansas City, MO. Front women Anna Redmond and Rita Hanch had been making music together way before forming Rude Cousin in 2024. As fate would have it Rita’s sister Elle Hanch plays bass, so they invited her and other cousin and guitarist Brock Johnson to join. The band was completed by local drumming sensation, Dustin Mott. Inspired by the Riot grrrl movement, rude cousin’s songs are a lil rowdy, witty and even melodic. For Rude Cousin Elle Hanch plays bass; Brock Johnson plays lead guitar; Rita Hanch is lead vocalist & guitarist; and Anna Redmond is also lead vocalist & keyboardist & guitarist; and Dustin Mott on drums.]

[Rude Cousin play an Album Release Show, Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7:00pm with special guest Nan & The One Nite Stands at 3807 Troost Ave. DIY Space ~ parking across the street.]

10:35 – Interview with Rita Hanch and Brock Johnson

Rita Hanch and Brock Johnson of the KC based band Rude Cousin. Rude Cousin is comprised of real life cousins from Kansas City, MO. Front women Anna Redmond and Rita Hanch had been making music together way before forming Rude Cousin in 2024. As fate would have it Rita’s sister Elle Hanch plays bass, so they invited her and other cousin and guitarist Brock Johnson to join. The band was completed by local drumming sensation, Dustin Mott. Inspired by the Riot grrrl movement, rude cousin’s songs are a lil rowdy, witty and even melodic. For Rude Cousin Elle Hanch plays bass; Brock Johnson plays lead guitar; Rita Hanch is lead vocalist & guitarist; and Anna Redmond is also lead vocalist & keyboardist & guitarist; and Dustin Mott on drums.

Rude Cousin play an Album Release Show, Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7:00pm with special guest Nan & The One Nite Stands at 3807 Troost Ave. DIY Space ~ parking across the street.

Rita Hanch and Brock Johnson Thank you for being with us on WMM

Rude Cousin were formed in 2024

Rude Cousin is:
Elle Hanch plays bass
Brock Johnson plays lead guitar
Rita Hanch is lead vocalist & guitarist
Anna Redmond is also lead vocalist & keyboardist & guitarist
Dustin Mott on drums.

Rude Cousin is comprised of real life cousins from Kansas City, MO.

Front women Anna Redmond and Rita Hanch had been making music together way before forming Rude Cousin in 2024.

As fate would have it Rita’s sister Elle Hanch plays bass, so they invited her and other cousin and guitarist Brock Johnson to join.

The band was completed by local drumming sensation, Dustin Mott.

Inspired by the Riot grrrl movement, rude cousin’s songs are a lil rowdy, witty and even melodic.

10:44

10. Rude Cousin – “Break 4 U”
    from: Rude Cousin / Rude Cousin / September 25, 2025
    [Rude Cousin is comprised of real life cousins from Kansas City, MO. Front women Anna Redmond and Rita Hanch had been making music together way before forming Rude Cousin in 2024. As fate would have it Rita’s sister Elle Hanch plays bass, so they invited her and other cousin and guitarist Brock Johnson to join. The band was completed by local drumming sensation, Dustin Mott. Inspired by the Riot grrrl movement, rude cousin’s songs are a lil rowdy, witty and even melodic. For Rude Cousin Elle Hanch plays bass; Brock Johnson plays lead guitar; Rita Hanch is lead vocalist & guitarist; and Anna Redmond is also lead vocalist & keyboardist & guitarist; and Dustin Mott on drums.]

[Rude Cousin play an Album Release Show, Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7:00pm with special guest Nan & The One Nite Stands at 3807 Troost Ave. DIY Space ~ parking across the street.]

10:46 – More Interview with Rita Hanch and Brock Johnson

Rita Hanch and Brock Johnson of the KC based band Rude Cousin. Rude Cousin is comprised of real life cousins from Kansas City, MO. Front women Anna Redmond and Rita Hanch had been making music together way before forming Rude Cousin in 2024. As fate would have it Rita’s sister Elle Hanch plays bass, so they invited her and other cousin and guitarist Brock Johnson to join. The band was completed by local drumming sensation, Dustin Mott. Inspired by the Riot grrrl movement, rude cousin’s songs are a lil rowdy, witty and even melodic. For Rude Cousin Elle Hanch plays bass; Brock Johnson plays lead guitar; Rita Hanch is lead vocalist & guitarist; and Anna Redmond is also lead vocalist & keyboardist & guitarist; and Dustin Mott on drums.

Rude Cousin play an Album Release Show, Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7:00pm with special guest Nan & The One Nite Stands at 3807 Troost Ave. DIY Space.

Rita Hanch and Brock Johnson Thank you for being with us on WMM

Rude Cousin were formed in 2024

Rude Cousin is comprised of real life cousins from Kansas City, MO.

Rita Hanch and Brock Johnson Thank you for being with us on WMM

Rude Cousin play an Album Release Show, Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7:00pm with special guest Nan & The One Nite Stands at 3807 Troost Ave. DIY Space.

10:54

11. Rude Cousin – “Ur In A Band”
    from: Rude Cousin / Rude Cousin / September 25, 2025
    [Rude Cousin is comprised of real life cousins from Kansas City, MO. Front women Anna Redmond and Rita Hanch had been making music together way before forming Rude Cousin in 2024. As fate would have it Rita’s sister Elle Hanch plays bass, so they invited her and other cousin and guitarist Brock Johnson to join. The band was completed by local drumming sensation, Dustin Mott. Inspired by the Riot grrrl movement, rude cousin’s songs are a lil rowdy, witty and even melodic. For Rude Cousin Elle Hanch plays bass; Brock Johnson plays lead guitar; Rita Hanch is lead vocalist & guitarist; and Anna Redmond is also lead vocalist & keyboardist & guitarist; and Dustin Mott on drums.]

[Rude Cousin play an Album Release Show, Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7:00pm with special guest Nan & The One Nite Stands at 3807 Troost Ave. DIY Space ~ parking across the street.]

12. Lorna Kay – “Havin’ A Ball”
    from: Lorna Kay – EP / Town & Country / September 19, 2025
    [Lauren Krum solo project with Mike Stover. Lauren Krum is known for her work as lead singer of The Grisly Hand who had their last show on May 11, 2024 at The Ship. The band first started playing live in 2009. When The Grisly Hand released their debut album Safe House, the entire band (at that time: Lauren Krum, Jimmy Fitzner, Johnny Nichols, Chas Snyder, Mike Tuley. Ben Summers & Kian Byrne) climbed into our studios and performed live on our Nov. 10, 2010 show. // Jimmy Fitzner, Johnny Nichols, Chas Snyder were in a band called Left Behind. Lauren had played with them at The Brick, before laving Kansas City to go to Columbia College in Chicago. N Chicago Lauren created the group The Strumpettes a soul-inspired group featuring four female singers and a four-piece band. When the Strumpettes dismantled in 2008 and her life in Chicago started to fall apart, Krum decided to move back to Kansas City. She immediately began singing with From Before. // Within a few months, Krum, Fitzner, Nichols and Snyder were performing as a new group. They had brought on Andy Davis to play mandolin. Krum had found the name “the Grisly Hand” iafter coming across it in the poem “Webster Ford” from Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology. The most Current grouping of The Grisly Hand was Jimmy Fitzner, Lauren Krum, Ben Summers, Mike Stover, Johnny Nichols and Kian Byrne. / A super group of sorts several members have also been involved in other projects. Lauren has played and recorded with Ruddy Swain (w/ David Regnier), Lorna Kay, and Lorna Kay’s Country Club, as well as being a DJ.]

[Lorna K plays Honky the LiftKC Concert at The Ship 1221 Union Ave, KCMO West Bottoms with Kadeshg Flow on Tuesday, October 21 at 5:00pm]

[Lorna K plays Honky Tonk Tuesday at The Ship 1221 Union Ave, KCMO West Bottoms on Tuesday, October 21 at 6:00pm]

11:00 – Station ID

13. Howard Iceberg & The Titanics – “Death In Venice” (from recordings)
    from: Howard Iceberg’s New Songs / Howard Iceberg & The Titanics / October 17, 2025
    [Howard Iceberg on lead vocals with Chad Brothers and Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, over a period of seven years, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. Howard worked exclusively with Chad, Julie and Andrew with the exception of one recording session where Julie was sick and Beth Watts Nelson played in her place. And Brett Hodges plays dobro on a few tracks. Howard would run through the song once and then they would hit “record” and capture each song in one or two takes. No over dubs, no rehearsal. Howard called it “Back Porch Music.” All together 100 songs were engineered and recorded by Chad Brothers. Howard has actually written many more songs but these are the ones that made the cut to be recorded. Howard continue to collaborate with Pat Tomek, producer, engineer, former drummer of The Rainmakers who keeps all of Howards songs in his computer in his studio. When Howard first writes a song he captures the raw track in a demo recording with Pat. Howard has been working with Pat Tomek since the late 1970s.]

[Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple and Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Avenue, KCMO, on Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.]

11:03 – Interview with Howard Iceberg & Chad Brothers & Julie Bates & Andrew Morris

Howard Iceberg, Chad Brothers, and Julie Bates & Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers will play live in our KKFI 90.1 FM Studios.

Legendary Singer Songwriter Howard Iceberg is one of the most prolific and poetic songwriters in Kansas City. He has written thousands of songs. Howard has done all of this while also leading a distinguished career as an immigration attorney (Howard Eisberg), and has donated much of his time and music to projects that serve our community. Howard Iceberg began performing in the late 1970s, and playing with songwriters Scott Hrabko and Iris DeMent in the 1980s. Over the past five and a half decades he has released countless albums, and collections of songs. In 2011, Howard Iceberg & The Titanics released a seven CD, box set, of 106 new songs, all instant classics. In 2014 he released a collection called Spring 2014, on his birthday May 9, 2015 he released, Smooth Sailing which included 13 new songs. In September 2016 Howard released a 2 CD set of 26 new tracks called, “Kansas City Songs.” On December 20, 2017 Howard Iceberg & The Titanics – released the album Netherlands with Rich Hill on organ, Bryan Hicks on electric bass, Doug Auwarter on drums, Dan Bliss on guitar. Over the past seven years Howard Iceberg has been working exclusively with Chad Brothers and Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. Recording 100 new songs. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. All together 100 songs were engineered and recorded by Chad Brothers.

Howard Iceberg Thanks for being with us on WMM

Chad Brothers is a KC-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and bandmate to many. An accomplished guitarist and vocalist of 35+ years, Chad has strong sense of melodic and harmonic patterns, with a uniquely soulful perspective from which he writes original folk, bluegrass, rock and psychedelic music rooted in acoustic and electric guitar. // Born and raised on a family farm outside of Winfield, KS, Chad was deeply influenced from a young age by the acoustic mecca of the Walnut Valley Festival, absorbing and evolving musically under the rich history and uniquely-inviting campground jamming culture of the annual event. // These days, you can find Chad performing around Kansas City and surrounding areas in his impressive array of musical projects, including with Old Sound, Supermassive Black Holes, Shapiro Brothers, Mikal Shapiro & The Musical, Howard Iceberg & The Titanics and several others. Chad has also served as Chief Operator at KKFI 90.1 FM Kansas City Community Radio since August 2019.

Chad Brothers Thanks for being with us on WMM

Julie Bates is a classically trained violinist from Kansas City. Andrew Morris is a Chicago blues guitarist from Warsaw, Indiana. They met in Leipzig, Germany. During their year of living in the former East Germany, the pair began reanalyzing the songs of their homeland, and developed a tight yet gritty bluegrass style. In the summer of 2013 they left their jobs to hit the road and haven’t looked back. This year on August 2, 2025 The Matchsellers released their newest album, Psychobiography. On May 3, 2024 The Matchsellers released LIVE AT THE WAREHOUSE. // On October 28, 2022 The Matchsellers released The Wishful Thinker’s Hall of Game // On February 12, 2016 they released their album, SONGS WE MADE UP. In late 2014 they released their debut full length recording, “Kosciusko County”. The Matchsellers have toured 3 European countries and 25 US States, performing 180 shows a year, including the KC Fringe Festival, Bluegrass Bazaar in Flint, Michigan, Norman Music Festival in Norman, OK, and a 1st place win at the Eddie Owen Presents songwriting competition in Atlanta, GA. And recently wins in finger picking and playing.

Julie Bates and Andrew Morris Thanks for being with us on WMM

Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple and Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Avenue, KCMO, on Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.

Over the past 7 years Howard Iceberg has been working exclusively with Chad Brothers and Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. Recording 100 new songs. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. Howard would run through the song once and then they would hit “record” and capture each song in one or two takes. No over dubs, no rehearsal. Howard called it “Back Porch Music.” 100 songs were engineered and recorded by Chad Brothers.

Howard worked exclusively with Chad, Julie and Andrew with the exception of one recording session where Julie was sick and Beth Watts Nelson played in her place. And Brett Hodges plays dobro on a few tracks.

Howard has actually written many more songs but these are the ones that made the cut to be recorded. Howard continue to collaborate with Pat Tomek, producer, engineer, former drummer of The Rainmakers who keeps all of Howards songs in his computer in his studio. When Howard first writes a song he captures the raw track in a demo recording with Pat. Howard has been working with Pat Tomek since the late 1970s.

Legendary Kansas City Singer Songwriter – Howard Eisberg records and performs under the name Howard iceberg. He is one of the most prolific and poetic songwriters of the Kansas City music scene. He has written hundreds, possibly thousands of songs. Howard has done all of this while also leading a distinguished career as an immigration attorney, and he has donated much of his time and music to valuable projects that serve our community. Howard Iceberg began performing in coffeehouses in the late 1980s with fellow area independent songwriters Scott Hrabko and Iris DeMent.

11:10

14. Howard Iceberg & The Titanics – “Closer Into You” (LIVE)
    from: Howard Iceberg’s New Songs / Howard Iceberg & The Titanics / October 17, 2025
    [Howard Iceberg on lead vocals with Chad Brothers and Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, over a period of seven years, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. Howard worked exclusively with Chad, Julie and Andrew with the exception of one recording session where Julie was sick and Beth Watts Nelson played in her place. And Brett Hodges plays dobro on a few tracks. Howard would run through the song once and then they would hit “record” and capture each song in one or two takes. No over dubs, no rehearsal. Howard called it “Back Porch Music.” All together 100 songs were engineered and recorded by Chad Brothers. Howard has actually written many more songs but these are the ones that made the cut to be recorded. Howard continue to collaborate with Pat Tomek, producer, engineer, former drummer of The Rainmakers who keeps all of Howards songs in his computer in his studio. When Howard first writes a song he captures the raw track in a demo recording with Pat. Howard has been working with Pat Tomek since the late 1970s.]

[Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple and Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Avenue, KCMO, on Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.]

11:13 – More Interview w/ Howard Iceberg & Chad Brothers & Julie Bates & Andrew Morris

Howard Iceberg, Chad Brothers, and Julie Bates & Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers are playing live in our KKFI 90.1 FM Studios.

Howard Iceberg, Chad Brothers, and Julie Bates & Andrew Morris Thanks for being with us on WMM

Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple and Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Avenue, KCMO, on Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.

Over the past 7 years Howard Iceberg has been working exclusively with Chad Brothers and Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. Recording 100 new songs. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. Howard would run through the song once and then they would hit “record” and capture each song in one or two takes. No over dubs, no rehearsal. Howard called it “Back Porch Music.” 100 songs were engineered and recorded by Chad Brothers.

Howard worked exclusively with Chad, Julie and Andrew with the exception of one recording session where Julie was sick and Beth Watts Nelson played in her place. And Brett Hodges plays dobro on a few tracks.

Last February 14 The Matchsellers released their single “I Can’t Believe Were Still In Love” // The Matchsellers played Manor Fest 7 on Saturday, May 24 at Stockyards, 1600 Genessee St, KCMO with Jack Summers, and Natalie Prauser // This year on August 2, 2025 The Matchsellers released their newest album, Psychobiography.

11:18

15. Howard Iceberg & The Titanics – “I Went The Other Way” (LIVE)
    from: Howard Iceberg’s New Songs / Howard Iceberg & The Titanics / October 17, 2025
    [Howard Iceberg on lead vocals with Chad Brothers and Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, over a period of seven years, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. .]

[Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple and Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Avenue, KCMO, on Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.]

11:21 – More Interview with Howard Iceberg & Chad Brothers & Julie Bates & Andrew Morris

Howard Iceberg, Chad Brothers, and Julie Bates & Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers are playing live in our KKFI 90.1 FM Studios.

Howard Iceberg, Chad Brothers, and Julie Bates & Andrew Morris Thanks for being with us on WMM

Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple and Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Avenue, KCMO, on Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.

Pat Tomek at Largely Studios is part of Howard Iceberg’s long time recording project. In 2018 when he was on the show Howard tells us that he has more than 4 albums worth of new songs in the works.

Pat Tomek is longtime member of The Titanics, drummer and member of legendary band The Rainmakers, and drummer in the band Deco Auto, that we played earlier in the show. Pat Tomek is also a recording engineer and producer who has worked with countless area bands and musicians and has been a primary partner and caretaker in the recording and production of Howard’s recording project of songs.

11:26

6. Howard Iceberg & The Titanics – “The Martini Song” (from recordings)
   from: Howard Iceberg’s New Songs / Howard Iceberg & The Titanics / October 17, 2025
   [Howard Iceberg on lead vocals with Chad Brothers and Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, over a period of seven years, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. Howard worked exclusively with Chad, Julie and Andrew with the exception of one recording session where Julie was sick and Beth Watts Nelson played in her place. And Brett Hodges plays dobro on a few tracks. Howard would run through the song once and then they would hit “record” and capture each song in one or two takes. No over dubs, no rehearsal. Howard called it “Back Porch Music.” All together 100 songs were engineered and recorded by Chad Brothers. Howard has actually written many more songs but these are the ones that made the cut to be recorded. Howard continue to collaborate with Pat Tomek, producer, engineer, former drummer of The Rainmakers who keeps all of Howards songs in his computer in his studio. When Howard first writes a song he captures the raw track in a demo recording with Pat. Howard has been working with Pat Tomek since the late 1970s.]

[Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple and Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Avenue, KCMO, on Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.]

11:28 – Underwriting

17. Howard Iceberg & The Titanics – “Lay Down Your Arms” Julie on vocals
    from: Howard Iceberg’s New Songs / Howard Iceberg & The Titanics / October 17, 2025
    [Howard Iceberg on lead vocals with Chad Brothers and Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, over a period of seven years, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. .]

[Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple / Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Ave., KCMO, on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.]

11:33 – Interview with Howard Iceberg & Chad Brothers & Julie Bates & Andrew Morris

Howard Iceberg, Chad Brothers, and Julie Bates & Andrew Morris Thanks for being with us on WMM

Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple and Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Avenue, KCMO, on Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.

Over the past 7 years Howard Iceberg has been working exclusively with Chad Brothers and Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. Recording 100 new songs. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. Howard would run through the song once and then they would hit “record” and capture each song in one or two takes. No over dubs, no rehearsal. Howard called it “Back Porch Music.” 100 songs were engineered and recorded by Chad Brothers.

Howard worked exclusively with Chad, Julie and Andrew with the exception of one recording session where Julie was sick and Beth Watts Nelson played in her place. And Brett Hodges plays dobro on a few tracks.

Legendary Singer Songwriter Howard Iceberg is one of the most prolific and poetic songwriters in Kansas City. He has written thousands of songs. Howard has done all of this while also leading a distinguished career as an immigration attorney (Howard Eisberg), and has donated much of his time and music to projects that serve our community. Howard Iceberg began performing in the late 1970s, and playing with songwriters Scott Hrabko and Iris DeMent in the 1980s. Over the past five and a half decades he has released countless albums, and collections of songs.

11:38

18. Howard Iceberg & The Titanics – “Long Ago And Far Away” (LIVE)
    from: Howard Iceberg’s New Songs / Howard Iceberg & The Titanics / October 17, 2025
    [Howard Iceberg on lead vocals with Chad Brothers and Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, over a period of seven years, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. .]

[Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple / Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Ave., KCMO, on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.]

11:41 – Interview with Howard Iceberg & Chad Brothers & Julie Bates & Andrew Morris

Howard Iceberg, Chad Brothers, and Julie Bates & Andrew Morris Thanks for being with us on WMM

Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple and Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Avenue, KCMO, on Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.

Over the past 7 years Howard Iceberg has been working exclusively with Chad Brothers and Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. Recording 100 new songs. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. Howard would run through the song once and then they would hit “record” and capture each song in one or two takes. No over dubs, no rehearsal. Howard called it “Back Porch Music.” 100 songs were engineered and recorded by Chad Brothers.

Chad Brothers has released new music this year with his band Old Sound last year his band Supermassive Black Holes released a full length album, he hjas dome many live sjows withthese band and also with Mikal Shapiro and The Musical, Barclay Brothjers, Shapiro Brothers and as a solo artist.

11:46

19. Howard Iceberg & The Titanics – “It’s Just Love” (LIVE)
    from: Howard Iceberg’s New Songs / Howard Iceberg & The Titanics / October 17, 2025
    [Howard Iceberg on lead vocals with Chad Brothers and Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, over a period of seven years, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. .]

[Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple / Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Ave., KCMO, on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.]

11:49 – Interview with Howard Iceberg & Chad Brothers & Julie Bates & Andrew Morris

Howard Iceberg, Chad Brothers, and Julie Bates & Andrew Morris Thanks for being with us on WMM

Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple and Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Avenue, KCMO, on Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.

Over the past 7 years Howard Iceberg has been working exclusively with Chad Brothers, Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. Howard would run through the song once and then they would hit “record” and capture each song in one or two takes. No over dubs, no rehearsal. Howard called it “Back Porch Music.” 100 songs were engineered and recorded by Chad Brothers.

For Wednesday MidDay Medley I’m Mark Manning. Thanks for listening!

11:54

20. Howard Iceberg & The Titanics – “The Bad Dream” (from recordings)
    from: Howard Iceberg’s New Songs / Howard Iceberg & The Titanics / October 17, 2025
    [Howard Iceberg on lead vocals with Chad Brothers and Julie Bates and Andrew Morris of The Matchsellers. These musician met every three months for 3-hour sessions, over a period of seven years, in the basement of Chad Brothers’ house where he has a recording studio. Howard worked exclusively with Chad, Julie and Andrew with the exception of one recording session where Julie was sick and Beth Watts Nelson played in her place. And Brett Hodges plays dobro on a few tracks. Howard would run through the song once and then they would hit “record” and capture each song in one or two takes. No over dubs, no rehearsal. Howard called it “Back Porch Music.” All together 100 songs were engineered and recorded by Chad Brothers. Howard has actually written many more songs but these are the ones that made the cut to be recorded. Howard continue to collaborate with Pat Tomek, producer, engineer, former drummer of The Rainmakers who keeps all of Howards songs in his computer in his studio. When Howard first writes a song he captures the raw track in a demo recording with Pat. Howard has been working with Pat Tomek since the late 1970s.]

[Howard Iceberg & The Titanics play Grand Avenue Temple and Grand Avenue Temple Building, 205 East 9th Street & 903 Grand Avenue, KCMO, on Friday, October 17, 2025 at 7:00pm. The Shady Sides will open.]

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

Next week, on Wednesday, October 22, we present WMM’s 20 Favorite Tracks of All Time! To help us celebrate I will be joined by my special co-hosts: Betse Ellis, Sandra Draper, and KKFI’s new Executive Director Bess Wallerstein for our Wednesday MidDay Medley Fall On-Air-Fund Drive. We will need to hear from YOU our listeners to support Community Radio. In our currently political climate we need your support now more than ever. Please call 888-931-0901 during the show so we can say your name over the airwaves.

You can find our playlists at: http://www.wednesdaymiddaymedley.org & http://www.kkfi.org
http://www.facebook.com/WednesdayMidDayMedleyon90.1FM
http://www.instagram.wednesday_midday_medley http://www.bandcamp.com/wednesdaymiddaymedley

A really big THANK YOU to every one of you who donated during Wednesday MidDay Medley and our Summer Fund Drive for KKFI 90.1 FM. We had 47 individuals donate a total of $3529.00 in support of Community Radio. Special thanks go to my co-hosts and guests: Betse Ellis, Mikal Shapiro, Sandra Draper, Steve Tulipana and Lincoln Dreher!!!

Thanks to KKFI Staff: Executive Director – Bess Wallerstein-Huff, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers, Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver. And Shaina Littler – Office Manager Book Keeper

This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. It is a collective spirit of hundreds of people, setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the goal of keeping our airwaves, non-commercial, and open! Thank you to programmers who create content for over 85 locally produced radio shows & volunteers who made extra effort to keep our station alive.

For WMM, I’m Mark Manning. Thanks for listening!

Show #1117

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

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

New & MidCoastal Releases + Beth Watts Nelson & Brandon Day + Whim Production’s “Boys in the Band”

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. Julia Othmer – “White Rabbit”
   from: White Rabbit – Single / Fricken’ Awesome Records / August 29, 2021 (Unreleased)
   [Recorded Live at Kulak’s in North Hollywood with Andy Sanesi (Missing Persons, Eminem, Arturo Sandoval) on drums, Jamie Kime (Dr. John, Zappa Plays Zappa) on guitar, and Chris Roy (Nancy Sinatra, Don Randi) on bass. // On February 27, 2024 Julia Othmer and James T Lundie released the single “Slip Away” from THE FORCEFIELDS, their new musical project, a new “cosmosonic” collaboration between Julia Othmer and James T Lundie AKA Aayama & Max Forcefield. The Forcefields debut EP, BRIDGE, will be released later in 2024. It is a sonic bridge between their previous work together and this new trajectory. Reinterpreting and distilling the essence of two of Julia’s previous songs, BRIDGE is a rhythmic, multi-layered and richly textured exploration of letting go and positive self realization. // Julia released SEEDS VOLUME 2, her 4th album with live recordings from her 30-day “Songs of September Project”, where Julia covered songs of protest & hope, to inspire people to vote. From those songs Julia’s fans democratically selected their favorite tracks to be released together on “Seeds.” In 2020 Julia released SEEDS VOLUME 1. Julia Othmer released “Sound,” on April 12, 2019, her second album, that took 3 years to complete, and was produced with James Lundie, who also married Julia in January of 2016, during the completion of the record. Julia Othmer, is a graduate of Park Hill High School. Julia moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to record her 1st album, OASIS MOTEL. More info at: http://www.juliaothmer.com.]

3. THIMASTR – “Elliptical”
   from: Muscle Memories / High Dive Records / September 26, 2025
   [From Lawrence, KS. Thimastr is bringing fabulous tone to thighs and songcraft since just now. Music that summons nostalgia for the chill vibes and warm tanning booths of Spring Break. Resurrecting the song-writing demons that have long haunted Maxfield Yoder (Dean Monkey & the Dropouts, Plains), Thimastr truly is garage pop for cool grandparents. Now you too can have shapely thighs in minutes a day. No master but Thimastr includes: Max Yoder on voice & guitar; Jen Graham on drums; Jordan Swartzendruber on vocal & tambo; Ellen L’Esperance on vocals & shakers; Renee Huey –on bass; and J. Little on guitar. The new album was Mixed by Robert Pope. Tracked & Mastered by Caufield Schnug. Artwork by Amber Hansen
   Graphic designer Tyler Davis. // THIMASTR released their debut album, Between The Knees And Squeeze on High Dive Records on January 10, 2020 with Maxfield Yoder on guitar & vocals, Max Lock on vocals, Max Smith on tambourine & vocals, Esteban Gomez –on bass, Jennifer Graham on drums, and Jake Little on guitar. Tracked, Mixed and Mastered by Ross Williams and written by Thighmaster. Now you too can have shapely thighs in minutes a day.]

4. Jeff Tweedy – “Lou Reed Was My Babysitter”
   from: Twilight Override / dBpm Records / September 26, 2025
   [Twilight Override is the fifth solo studio album by Jeff Tweedy. It is a triple album featuring 30 songs. It follows Tweedy’s 2020 album, Love Is the King. It was recorded at his Chicago studio, the Loft. It features contributions from James Elkington, Finom’s Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart, and Liam Kazar, along with Tweedy’s sons, Spencer and Sammy. Tweedy’s decision to record a triple album was first inspired after he listened to The Clash’s Sandinista! all the way through during a road trip with his two sons. // In the album’s press release, Tweedy expressed being overwhelmed by the “bottomless basket of rock bottom” of current social conditions, what he described as the “sense of decline” in the “twilight of an empire”. He, however, concluded that he was unsure what exactly was “squeezing this ennui into [his] day”, and described the album as his “effort to overwhelm it right back”. He further credited his recent prolific output to his belief that creativity aligns oneself against destruction, consuming the “darkness”. // Twilight Override was officially announced on July 15, 2025. Four singles were released the same day: “One Tiny Flower”, “Out in the Dark”, and “Stray Cats in Spain”, and “Enough”. The album is scheduled to be released on September 26, 2025, through dBpm Records. “Feel Free” was released on August 19, 2025, and “Lou Reed Was My Babysitter” was released on September 12, 2025. // Following the remaining dates on Wilco’s summer 2025 tour, Tweedy will support the album with “a full-band tour” of North America in October and November 2025, followed by a tour of Europe in February 2026. // Jeffrey Scot Tweedy (born August 25, 1967) is an American musician, singer songwriter, author, and record producer best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band Wilco. Tweedy, originally from Belleville, Illinois, began his music career in high school with his band The Plebes along with Jay Farrar, also in the band. The Plebes later became the alternative country band Uncle Tupelo. // After Uncle Tupelo broke up Tweedy formed Wilco which found critical and commercial success, most notably with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born. The latter received a Grammy for Best Alternative Album in 2005. // During his career Tweedy has released 20 studio albums including four with Uncle Tupelo, twelve with Wilco, one with his son Spencer, a solo acoustic album, three solo studio albums, along with numerous collaborations with other musicians, most notably Mermaid Avenue with Billy Bragg. // Tweedy was born in Belleville on August 25, 1967, the fourth child of Bob and JoAnn Tweedy (née Werkmeister). Bob Tweedy (died August 4, 2017) worked for Alton & Southern Railroad in East St. Louis; JoAnn was a kitchen designer. Tweedy grew up with three siblings, older brother Greg Tweedy (he died in 2013), brother Steven Tweedy, and sister Debbie Voll. // Tweedy’s mother bought him his first guitar when he was six years old, although he did not begin to play it seriously until he was twelve. Apparently Tweedy told people that he knew how to play the guitar once he got his first guitar, even though he did not know how to play. // When he was twelve, Tweedy was injured in a bicycle accident and was laid up for the summer. He decided to learn how to play a few chords before somebody “called him out” on the lie. On an appearance of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he remembered attending an X concert as a youngster in St. Louis. The Replacements opened, and Paul Westerberg, their guitarist and vocalist, fell off the stage while performing. Tweedy recalls thinking “That looks like fun!” // In 1981, when Tweedy was fourteen years old, he befriended Jay Farrar during an English class at Belleville Township High School West.  All of the members of Farrar’s family enjoyed playing music; he already knew rock and roll music very well. By that time, Tweedy was a fan of The Ramones and country music while Farrar enjoyed The Sex Pistols. Tweedy attended Belleville Area College and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.]

[Jeff Tweedy plays Liberty Hall in Lawrence, Kansas on November 8, 2025]

5. Shy Boys – “Upperclassmen”
   from: “Upperclassmen” – Single / Polyvinyl Record Co. / September 16, 2025
   [Written by Collin Rausch. Engineered by Ross Brown. Mixed by Ross Brown. Mastered by Mike Nolte
   Recorded in Kansas City, KS.With additional vocals by Sadie Rausch. From Polyvinyl Record Co. “The energetic single, “Upperclassmen,” is a freewheeling anthem for the underdog that rides high upon bright jangle-pop verses, and charming vocal harmonies led by the commanding falsetto of singer / guitarist Collin Rausch. // Capturing Shy Boys’ ever so gentle punk proclivities, “Upperclassmen” is charged with nimble guitars that evoke the early 80s spirit of South Bay SST bands like Minutemen and Descendents. // Meanwhile, Kansas City artist Diyana Shipp’s beautifully detailed cover illustration of two leaping ‘letter-jacket jocks’ (who will undoubtedly “kick your ass”) calls to mind the iconic pen and ink contrast work of Raymond Pettibon. // Saved by the bell, yet again, “Upperclassmen” gets in and out quicker than you can make it to homeroom. “ // Shy Boys line-up consists of brothers Collin Rausch and Kyle Rausch, Konnor Ervin, Kyle Little and Ross Brown. Members of Shy Boys represent the bands: The ACBs, Ghosty, The I’ms, Fullbloods , and Koney. The group formed shortly after Collin Rausch, Kyle Rausch and Konnor Ervin became roommates in 2012. Kyle Rausch and Konnor Ervin were already band mates in the indie-pop band The ACBs and Collin had been playing for years in the Kansas City area in various bands. The three shared a love for 1960s era pop rock and soon started writing their own music. Soon the band became a 5-piece. In 2014 they released the self-titled Shy Boys on High Dive Records. The album received generally positive reviews and the single “Bully Fight” was featured on Spin.com. In June 2014 the band recorded and released two more singles and one of them, “Life Is Peachy,” was featured on Stereogum. On April 4th, 2018, it was announced that the band had signed to Polyvinyl Record Co. Shy Boys release Bell House on Polyvinyl Records on August 3, 2018. Shy Boys released their third album Talk Loud on Polyvinyl Record Co. on September 25, 2020. More info at: http://www.shyboys.com]

Shy Boys / The ACBs / Ghosty / The I’ms / Fullbloods / Koney – Discography

The ACB’s / The ACB’s / July 10, 2007
[Debut from KC based 4-piece with Konnor Ervin on lead vocals, Bryan McGuire on bass, Matt Saladino on guitar, Corey Egan on drums & vocals. Written by, and arranged by Konnor Ervin. Produced by Tim Suttle. Recorded & mixed at Underdog Studio in Desoto, KS. Mastered at Euphonic Masters in Memphis, TN.]

The Abracadabras – Be Still, Be Cool / The Abracadabras / January 1, 2008
[5-piece KC band formed in the spring of 2007, with Jocelyn Olivia (John) Nixon on keyboards & vocals, Travis Mckenzie on lead guitar, Bobby (Wayne Hutcherson) Topaz on guitar & vocals, Collin Rausch on bass & vocals, and Kyle Rausch on drums & vocals.]

The ACBs – Stona Rosa / The ACBs / January 1, 2011
[After half of the band left to move to LA, Konnor Ervin and Bryan McGuire got help from: Andrew Connor of Ghosty, and Beau Bruns of Cowboy Indian Bear. All songs written by, and arranged, lead vocals & guitar by Konnor Ervin. Mike Nolte on bass, Bryan McGuire on bass & vocals, Andrew Connor on guitar & vocals, Beau Brus on drums. Kyle Rausch on vocals. Produced by Mike Nolte. Mastered by Roger Seibel Recorded at More Famouser Studios. Mixed at More Famouser Studios. Mastered at SAE Mastering.]

The I’ms – Second MIXES / Independent / 2011
[Collin Rausch and Kyle Rausch. Kyle Rausch also plays with The ACB’s. In 2011 on WMM we started playing songs from The I’ms, a duo made of up Collin and Kyle, who posted 6 of their self recorded songs on their facebook page. We included this informal release in our Top Ten of The 111 Best Recordings of 2011. 3 of the songs from The I’ms ended up being rerecorded for Shy Boys.]

Ghosty – GHOSTY / More Famouser Records – High Dive Records / April 17, 2012
[3rd full length release from Lawrence and KC area band. Ghosty is Andrew Connor, Mike Nolte an Bill Belzer who recorded their new album themselves over the last couple of years with help from David Wetzel, Josh Adams, Jake Blanton, Konnor Ervin, Ryan Connor, Kirsten Paludan, and Dan Talmadge. The new release was pressed on vinyl and available on LP and digital download. More info at ghostysounds.com.]

The ACBs – Little Leaves / High Dive Records / March 5, 2013
[Konnor Ervin on lead vocals, & guitar; Bryan McGuire on bass, Andrew Connor on guitar; Kyle Rausch on drums. Their songs have been featured on MTV’s The Inbetweeners, and Daytrotter. The title “Little Leaves” is a nod to Konnor Ervin’s landscaping day job. The lead single, “Ocean” was released as a free download in late 2012, prompting Popmatters to declare the ACBs as one of its “Best Hopes to Break Out in 2013.”]

Shy Boys – Shy Boys / High Dive Records / January 17, 2014
[Debut release. Brothers Collin Rausch, Kyle Rausch, and friend and roommate Konnor Ervin, are members of this KC based trio. Collin and Kyle’s father was a High School band director and music teacher. Konnor Ervin is the lead singer and songwriter of The ACBs, where Kyle also plays drums. The 10 song release had two singles premiered by Stereogum. “Keeps Me On My Toes” was a song Collin wrote in 15 minutes while his girlfriend was in the shower. The album was recorded at West End Studio, over two-weekends.]

Shy Boys – “Life is Peachy” – Single Release / High Dive Records / July 15, 2014
[Stereogum has premiered the band’s new song, “Life Is Peachy”, the A-side to their new 45 rpm, 7″ single coming from High Dive Records. Brothers Collin Rausch, Kyle Rausch, and roommate Konnor Ervin, are members of the Kansas City based band, Shy Boys. ]

Fullbloods – Mild West / High Dive Records / February 26, 2016
[Second full length release from Fullbloods: Ross Brown; Jared Tomasino; David Seume; and Bill Pollock. Recorded at Westend Studios in Kansas City, Kansas by Mike Nolte. Mixed by Fullbloods. Mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering. (Starfucker, Of Montreal).]

Shy Boys – Bell House / Polyvinyl Record Co. / August 3, 2018
[Shy Boys line-up consists of brothers Collin Rausch and Kyle Rausch, Konnor Ervin, Kyle Little and Ross Brown. The group formed shortly after the trio became roommates in 2012. Kyle Rausch and Konnor Ervin were already band mates in the indie-pop band The ACBs and Collin had been playing for years in the Kansas City area in various bands. The three shared a love for 1960s era pop rock and soon started writing their own music. In 2014 they released the self-titled Shy Boys on High Dive Records. The album received generally positive reviews and the single “Bully Fight” was featured on Spin.com

Shy Boys – Dim The Light / Brick By Brick – Singles / Polyvinyl Record Co. / Feb. 15, 2019
[Single release follow up to band’s 2nd album and Polyvinyl debut, Bell House. Shy Boys line-up consists of brothers Collin Rausch and Kyle Rausch, Konnor Ervin, Kyle Little and Ross Brown. Kyle Rausch and Konnor Ervin were already band mates in the indie-pop band The ACBs and Collin had been playing for years in the Kansas City area in various bands. The three shared a love for 1960s era pop rock and soon started writing their own music. In 2014 they released the self-titled Shy Boys on High Dive Records. The album received generally positive reviews and the single “Bully Fight” was featured on Spin.com. In June 2014 the band recorded and released two more singles and one of them, “Life Is Peachy,” was featured on Stereogum. On April 4th, 2018, it was announced that the band had signed to Polyvinyl Record Co.]

Fullbloods – Soft and Virtual Touch / High Dive Records / April 3, 2020
[3rd full-length. All songs written, performed, recorded, mixed by Ross Brown in KCMO. Mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering. Artwork by Nika Winn. Kyle Rausch played drums on 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, & 9, sang on 9. Bill Pollock Played drums on 3 & 5. David Seume played bass on 5. Jerad Tomasino played synth on 9 & 10, sang on 9. Jenni Kornfeld played cello on 4. Leslie Butsch played sax on 10. More info at: http://www.fullbloods.com.]

Shy Boys – Talk Loud / Polyvinyl Record Co. / September 25, 2020
[3rd album from the KC band Shy Boys. New music follow up to the Dim The Light / Brick By Brick, singles released February 15, 2019. Shy Boys released their 2nd album and Polyvinyl debut, Bell House on August 3, 2018. Shy Boys line-up consists of brothers Collin Rausch and Kyle Rausch, Konnor Ervin, Kyle Little and Ross Brown. Kyle Rausch and Konnor Ervin were already band mates in the indie-pop band The ACBs and Collin had been playing for years in the Kansas City area in various bands including The Abracadabras, and The I’ms with brother Kyle. The three shared a love for 1960s era pop rock and soon started writing their own music. In 2014 they released the self-titled Shy Boys on High Dive Records.]

Koney – Koney / High Dive Records / October 9, 2020

[from Lucas Wetzel’s Pitch Feature: “To bring the songs to life, Konnor enlisted brothers Collin and Kyle Rausch, his roommates in their ramshackle West Plaza house/practice space and his bandmates in chamber pop group Shy Boys. Ross Brown (of Fullbloods) played synthesizer and helped run sound, and multi-instrumentalist Kyle Little contributed on guitar. Fritz Hutchison and Andrew Connor also contributed on several tracks. Recording engineer Mike Nolte flew in from Portland to run the controls at Westend Recordings, and the group set up camp in the studio over a long snowy weekend in 2015.”]

Fullbloods – Playing It Safe / High Dive Records / March 7, 2025
[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.]

6. Geese – “Cobra”
   from: Getting Killed / Partisan Records / September 26, 2025
   [Getting Killed is the 4th studio album by Geese. It was released by Partisan Records as the full-length follow-up to their 2023 album 3D Country, as well as frontman Cameron Winter’s 2024 solo album Heavy Metal. It was preceded by the singles “Taxes”, “Trinidad” and “100 Horses”. // Getting Killed was produced alongside Kenny Beats. It was recorded over a 10-day period and has been described as “shambolic in structure but passionately performed”, with the band “[balancing] a disarming tenderness with an intensified anger”. The album’s lead single, “Taxes”, was released on July 8, 2025. The song’s music video has been described as containing “a hallucinatory rush of moshing, screaming, and violence that feels akin to an exorcism”. // On June 23, 2025, the band announced a North American headlining tour in support of the album. The tour is scheduled to begin in South Burlington, Vermont on October 10, and conclude in Brooklyn, New York on November 21. // On July 24, Cameron Winter leaked the album’s opening track, “Trinidad”, via a now-removed link shared on his Instagram page. The song was officially released 5 days later, on July 29. // All lyrics are written by Cameron Winter; all music is composed by Winter, Max Bassin, Dominic DiGesu, and Emily Green. // In the summer of 2021, Geese emerged from out of nowhere, sparking a hype cycle unlike anything that had been seen for a young American rock band in recent memory. Suddenly a band that had previously planned to release some music, break up, and go away to college was touring the world. They made their TV debut on Colbert, were profiled by the NY Times, Stereogum Band To Watch, Consequence Artist Of The Month, Paste Best Of What’s Next, Rolling Stone called them “indie rock prodigies,” and they toured with Jack White and Spoon. // And during this entire process, that very same band everyone was getting to know ceased to exist. On a practical level, Geese are still the group we were introduced to in 2021: vocalist Cameron Winter, guitarist Gus Green, guitarist Foster Hudson, bassist Dom DiGesu, and drummer Max Bassin. But on June 23, 2023 Geese returned with their third album, ‘3D Country’ fusing recognizable sounds with warped meditations on daily life in a world sliding out of view, Geese repurposing fragments of classic rock into a sound that is stranger and wholly their own. Right out the gates, the album kicks off with serpentine grooves underneath the armageddon visions of “2122,” before quickly ceding to the title track’s gospel-flecked chorus.“Undoer” is a slowburn simmer constantly building to something apocalyptic; “Crusades” travels back to Medieval times but chugs along on a “Heroes”-esque groove before strings swoop in around it. Later, Green and Hudson’s guitars bend and fry while Hudson also jumps in on vocals for an inhuman wail on “Mysterious Love,” and the whole album ends with the sideways piano elegy of “St. Elmo,” playing out like a saloon song viewed through a funhouse mirror. // More info: http://www.geeseband.com]

7. Oddisee – “Tomorrow Can’t Be Borrowed”
   from: En Route – EP / Mello Music Group / May 30, 2025
   [Amir Mohamed el Khalifa (born on February 24, 1985), better known by his stage name Oddisee, is a rapper and record producer from Washington, D.C. He is one third of the hip hop trio Diamond District. He was also part of the Low Budget Crew. He is based in Brooklyn, New York. // Oddisee was born to an African-American mother and a Sudanese father, at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C. He was raised by his stepmother (who was also Sudanese) and father. He grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, as well as Prince George’s County, Maryland. He moved back to Washington, D.C. after high school. // In 2010, Oddisee released Traveling Man on Mello Music Group. His Odd Spring mixtape was listed on the Washington Post’s Best Local Hip-Hop mixtapes of 2010. In 2011, Oddisee released Rock Creek Park, which was ranked as a Mixtape of the Week by Stereogum. Odd Seasons, a collection of EPs released throughout the previous 12 months, was also released that year. // In 2012, he released a studio album, People Hear What They See. The Beauty in All, his first instrumental release since Rock Creek Park, was released in 2013. In that year, he also released Tangible Dream. In 2015, he released The Good Fight. In 2016, he released an EP, Alwasta, and a mixtape, The Odd Tape. In 2017, he released a studio album, The Iceberg, as well as a live album, Beneath the Surface. // Oddisee was originally influenced by Black American jazz traditions and the Golden Age of hip-hop from his older American cousins. Oddisee was primarily influenced by Black American musical traditions. Growing up next door to Parliament Funkadelic’s bass player Gary Shider in P.G. County, Maryland left a deep musical impact on the young Oddisee. He is also influenced by gospel music and the vocal harmonizing traditions of his Black American heritage. In an interview with NPR, he explained why he was influenced by early East Coast emcees such as Eric B. & Rakim, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. He stated that these rappers don’t talk about drugs or murder, and he could relate more to their lyrics.]

Oddisee Discography

Studio albums
101 (2008)
Mental Liberation (2009)
New Money (2009) (with Trek Life)
In the Ruff (2009) (with YU and Uptown XO, as Diamond District)
Traveling Man (2010)
People Hear What They See (2012)
The Beauty in All (2013)
Tangible Dream (2013)
March on Washington (2014) (with YU and Uptown XO, as Diamond District)
The Good Fight (2015)
The Iceberg (2017)
To What End (2023)

Live albums
Beneath the Surface (2017)
Compilation albums
Odd Seasons (2011)

Mixtapes
Instrumental Mixtape Volume One (2005)
The Remixture Vol. 1 (2006)
Foot in the Door (2006)
Instrumental Mixtape Vol. 2 (2006)
Odd Summer (2009)
Odd Autumn (2009)
Odd Winter (2010)
Odd Spring (2010)
Rock Creek Park (2011)
The Odd Tape (2016)

EPs
Good Tree (2008)
Hear My Dear (2008)
Odd Renditions Vol. 001 (2012)
Alwasta (2016)
Odd Cure (2020)
And Yet Still (2024)
En Route (2025)

Singles
“Show You” / “Part of the World” (2006) (with Heralds of Change)
“Once Again” (2006)
“101” (2008)
“Slow It Down” (2012)
“Ain’t That Peculiar (Remix)” (2013)
“Lost Cause” (2014) (with YU and Uptown XO, as Diamond District)
“That’s Love” (2015)

[Oddisee plays recordBar 1520 Grand Blvd, KCMO, on Friday, October 3, at 8:00pm with Approach and Negro Scoe]

8. Waxahatchee – “Right Back to It (feat. MJ Lenderman)”
   from: Tiger’s Blood / Merge Records / March 22, 2024
   [Kansas City based Katie Crutchfield’s southern roots are undeniable. The name of her solo musical project Waxahatchee comes from a creek not far from her childhood home in Alabama and seems to represent both where she came from and where she’s going. // Tiger’s Blood was produced by Brad Cook. Engineered & mixed by Gerardo “Jerry” Ordonez. Assistant engineering by Natalia Chernitsky. Mastered by Emily Lazar. Recorded and Mixed at Sonic Ranch Recording Studios. // On March 27, 2020 Waxahatchee released SAINT CLOUD which was in the TOP 20 of WMM’s 120 Best recordings of 2020. On Saint Cloud all songs were written by Katie Crutchfield. Recorded & mixed at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, TX & Long Pond in Stuyvesant, NY. Produced by Brad Cook. Engineered by Jerry Ordonez. Additional engineering by Jon Low. Mixed by Jon Low. Mastered by Brent Lambert at The Kitchen. KATIE CRUTCHFIELD on vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, keys; BRAD COOK on bass, acoustic guitar, piano, keys, synth; BOBBY COLOMBO on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keys; BILL LENNOX on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keys, percussion; NICK KINSEY on drums, percussion; JOSH KAUFMAN on electric guitars, piano, organ, percussion. More info at: http://www.waxahatchee.com.] [Waxahatchee played the Uptown Theatre on April 18, 2024] // [MJ Lenderman released from: Manning Fireworks through Anti records on September 6, 2024 // Mark Jacob Lenderman (born 1999), also known as Jake Lenderman and MJ Lenderman, is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has released three solo albums, and also plays with the alternative rock band Wednesday. He also has played drums for Indigo De Souza. Lenderman’s style has been described as alt-country, classic rock, and indie rock music. // Lenderman was born in Asheville, North Carolina. His great-grandfather was saxophonist Charlie Ventura. He was raised Catholic and was an altar boy. He played basketball and obsessively watched tapes of Michael Jordan. He grew up listening to Mark Linkous and Jason Molina. In his junior and senior years of high school, he began posting his music to Bandcamp. Lenderman studied at UNC Asheville for three semesters.[ // In 2018, Lenderman played the drums for fellow Asheville artist Indigo De Souza on her albums I Love My Mom and Any Shape You Take. Lenderman met Karly Hartzman, lead singer for the group Wednesday, and he joined the band for an EP called How Do You Let Love Into the Heart That Isn’t Split Wide Open (2018). // In July 2019, he released a self-titled album, his first solo album. At that time, he was working in an ice cream shop to support himself financially. // Lenderman toured with Wednesday in early February 2020, until the COVID-19 pandemic ended the tour. During the COVID-19 pandemic, while collecting unemployment insurance, Lenderman wrote the songs that became the album Ghost of Your Guitar Solo, released in 2021. // His third album Boat Songs was released in 2022 on Dear Life Records. It was listed as one of the best albums of 2022 by Pitchfork, The A.V. Club, and The Ringer. After the success of the album, Lenderman signed a recording contract with Anti-. In 2023, he released the singles “Rudolph” and “Knockin'”. // Lenderman contributed guitar and vocals to the album Tiger’s Blood by Waxahatchee, released in March 2024, and was listed as featured guest artist on the album’s lead single, “Right Back To It”. In March 2024, Lenderman performed “Right Back To It” with Waxahatchee on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Lenderman’s next album, Manning Fireworks, released in September 2024. ]

[Waxahatchee plays The Uptown Theatre with Caleb Hearon on Thursday, October 2, in a special benefit for KC Tenants.]

[Kansas City based comedian and actor Caleb Hearon’s debut st763pecial “Model Comedian” is now streaming on HBO Max and his friends Kevin Morby and Katie Crutchfield aka Waxahatchee wrote a special song for Caleb’s special’s into and credits called “35 South”.]

10:30 – Underwriting

9. Royel Otis – “Say Something”
   from: Hickey / Capitol Records / August 22, 2025
   [Hickey is the second studio album by the Australian guitar-pop duo Royel Otis. Explaining the album title, Royel Otis said “…because love bites harder than any other emotion in the world.” // At the 2025 ARIA Music Awards, the album was nominated for Best Rock Album and Group while Jamieson Kerr’s work on “Car” was nominated for Best Video. // Alex Peters from When the Horn Blows called the album “their most emotionally charged yet” saying “the duo have delivered yet another outstanding body of work, one that captures the sting of love lost without sacrificing musical vibrancy. Hickey isn’t just an album about heartbreak. It’s about the strange, beautiful tension of feeling both broken and alive at the same time.”[12] // Royel Otis 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’s chance meeting feels almost destined. They were both working at bars and cafes in the same neighborhood (the beachside town of Bondi) before getting together one day in 2019 with their guitars and some song sketches. And without any expectations, they soon spotted it: an unspoken chemistry that resulted in effortless rock wonders, new tunes that somehow seemed as if they’d always existed. The rest of the world would soon follow suit when the pair became true breakout acts both online and in rock clubs alike with early charmers such as “Oysters in My Pocket” (Bar & Grill EP, 2022) and “Sofa King” (Going Kokomo EP, 2023). Then came their soaring debut album called PRATTS & PAIN and the legendary run that catapulted the band to indie-rock infamy, globally. The album was named for the south London pub where the pair would pen lyrics between sessions with GRAMMY nominated Dan Carey (Wet Leg, Fontaines D.C., Caroline Polachek) and bore hits like “Fried Rice” and “Foam.” Preceding the album’s release in February of 2024, was the pair’s Triple J “Like A Version” recording, taking on Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on The Dancefloor.” The performance became a zeitgeist shaping hit, eventually hitting #1 on Alternative U.S. Radio Chart, #2 on Billboard Alternative Airplay, #5 on Billboard Rock & Alternative and rounding out at the #2 position on Triple J’s Hottest 100 of 2024 charts, earlier this year. Their twilit cover of the Cranberries’ “Linger,” cut for a Sirius XM Session a few months later, led the band to their first Billboard Hot 100 hit and currently has over 220 Million global streams. With the demand for live shows at a high, the guys played more than 100 sold out shows the rest of 2024, selling over 100,000 tickets across Australia, U.K, Europe and U.S. This included multiple nights in major cities like New York (Brooklyn Steel), Chicago (Metro & The Salt Shed) and Los Angeles (The Bellwether). The pair returned home to Australia later that year as one of the most nominated artists at the 2024 ARIA Awards (Australia’s biggest and prestigious music award shows); and went on to win four awards including “Best Rock Album” and “Best Group.” Since their culmination, Royel Otis have drawn from an endless source of good hooks and spirit — riding on their musical chemistry that exudes into mixes of melody and bittersweet humor. Whether it is an original body of work or taking on their favorite song, the pair have cemented their status as one of the most effortless and endearing indie rock bands to emerge this decade.]

[Royel Otis play Grinders Kansas City on October 3, 2025]

10. Neko Case – “Wreck (Radio Edit)”
    from: Neon Grey Midnight Green / Anti / September 26, 2025
    [Neon Grey Midnight Green is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Neko Case, released by record label Anti- on September 26, 2025. Her first entirely self-produced album, it marks her follow-up to Hell-On. She has described it as being “for and about musicians, a love letter and a testimony.” // From October 2025 to January 2026, Case will be touring North America with John Grant and Des Demonas in support of the album. // Neko Richelle Case (/ˈniːkoʊ ˈkeɪs/ NEE-koh KAYSS;[2] born September 8, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case’s singing voice has been described by contemporaries and critics as a “flamethrower”, “a powerhouse [which] seems like it might level buildings,” “a 120-mph fastball,” and a “vocal tornado”. Critics also note her idiosyncratic, “cryptic,”[8] “imagistic” lyrics, and credit her as a significant figure in the early 21st-century American revival of the tenor guitar. Case’s body of work has spanned and drawn on a range of traditions including country, folk, art rock, indie rock, and pop and is frequently described as defying or avoiding easy generic classification. // Born in Alexandria, Virginia, Case is the only child of James Bamford Case. Case’s maternal family surname was originally Shevchenko; her great-aunt was the professional wrestler Ella Waldek. Her father, a Vietnam veteran serving in the United States Air Force, was based in Virginia at the time of her birth. Case’s parents, who were teenagers when they had her, are of Ukrainian ancestry. Her parents divorced when Case began school. In her memoir, Case indicated that she was told that her mother died of cancer when she was in the second grade, but only two years later, she was told that this was not correct. After that, her mother flitted in and out of her life, and eventually Case cut ties with her mother for good. As she writes in the book, she had a revelation: “Perhaps her mother had never been sick at all.” // Case’s family relocated several times during her childhood due to her stepfather’s work as an archaeologist. She lived in Western Massachusetts, Vermont, Oregon and Washington. She considers Tacoma, Washington to be her hometown. // Case left home and was legally emancipated at age 15. By the age of 18 she was performing as a drummer for the Del Logs and the Propanes, playing in venues including a punk club called the Community World Theater. // In 1994, Case moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, to attend the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, completing her studies 1998. While in Vancouver, she played drums in several local bands, including the Del Logs, the Propanes, the Weasels, Cub, and Maow. These bands were, for the most part, local punk groups. Case said of the vibrant Vancouver punk rock scene at that time, “A lot of women wanted to play music because they were inspired, because it was an incredibly good time for music in the Northwest. There was a lot of clubs, a lot of bands, a lot of people coming through, a lot of all-ages stuff—it was a very exciting time to live there.” // In 1998, she left Canada for Seattle, Washington. Before going, Case recorded vocals for a few songs that ended up on Mass Romantic, the New Pornographers’ first album. Her lead vocals on songs like “Letter from an Occupant” are straightforward, full-volume power-pop performances, shedding any country elements. Released on November 28, 2000, Mass Romantic became a surprise success. Although the band was originally conceived as a side project for its members, the New Pornographers remain a prominent presence in the indie rock world, having released their ninth album in 2023. // In addition to recording with the New Pornographers, Case collaborates with other Canadian musicians, including the Sadies and Carolyn Mark, and has recorded material by several noted Canadian songwriters, in particular on her 2001 EP Canadian Amp. As a result, she is also considered a significant figure in Canadian music—both CBC Radio 3 and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada have referred to Case as an “honourary Canadian”. In 2018 Case performed at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. // Case embraced country music on her 1997 album, The Virginian. The album contained original compositions as well as covers of songs by Ernest Tubb, Loretta Lynn and the 1974 Queen song “Misfire”. When the album was released, critics compared Case to honky-tonk singers like Lynn and Patsy Cline, and to rockabilly pioneer Wanda Jackson, particularly in her vocal timbre. // On February 22, 2000, Case released her second solo album, Furnace Room Lullaby. The album introduced the country noir elements that have defined Case’s subsequent solo career. That tone was evident even from the cover photo, featuring Case sprawled out corpse-like on a concrete floor. // Case sometimes tours with Canadian singer and songwriter Carolyn Mark as the Corn Sisters. One of their performances, at Seattle’s Hattie’s Hat restaurant in Ballard, was recorded and released as an album, The Other Women, on November 28, 2000. // In October 1999, around the time Furnace Room Lullaby was released, Case left Seattle for Chicago because she felt that Seattle was no longer hospitable to its local artists.// Case’s first work in Chicago was an eight-song EP that she recorded in her kitchen. Canadian Amp, her first recording without Her Boyfriends, was released on her own Lady Pilot label in 2001. She wrote two of the tracks, with the remaining six being covers, including Neil Young’s “Dreaming Man” and Hank Williams’ “Alone and Forsaken”. Four of the covers were written by Canadian artists. The EP was initially available only at Case’s live shows and directly from Mint Records’ website, but it eventually saw wider release. // Case also recorded her third full-length album, Blacklisted, while living in Chicago. // In April 2003, Case was voted the “Sexiest Babe of Indie Rock” in a Playboy.com internet poll, receiving 32% of the vote. Playboy asked her to pose nude for the magazine, but she declined their offer. She told Entertainment Weekly that…”I didn’t want to be the girl who posed in Playboy and then—by the way—made some music. I would be really fucking irritated if after a show somebody came up to me and handed me some naked picture of myself and wanted me to sign it instead of my CD.” // Case recorded and toured for several years as Neko Case & Her Boyfriends before performing solely under her name. Albums released as Neko Case & Her Boyfriends include The Virginian (1997) and Furnace Room Lullaby (2000). She primarily performed her own material, but also performed and recorded cover versions of songs by artists such as My Morning Jacket, Harry Nilsson, Loretta Lynn, Tom Waits, Nick Lowe, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Scott Walker, Randy Newman, Queen, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Sparks and Hank Williams. // The 2010 New Pornographers album Together features Case as lead vocalist on “Crash Years” and “My Shepherd.” The 2014 album Brill Bruisers features Case as lead vocalist on “Champions of Red Wine” and “Marching Orders.” The 2017 album Whiteout Conditions features Case as lead vocalist on “Play Money” and “This is the World of the Theater.” // In 2016, Neko Case, k.d. lang, and Laura Veirs announced the case/lang/veirs project, with an album released in June 2016. // Case recorded her third full-length album, Blacklisted, in Tucson, Arizona. It was the first full-length album credited to Case alone, without Her Boyfriends, and was released on Bloodshot Records on August 20, 2002. Some believe the title Blacklisted alludes to Case being banned for life from the Grand Ole Opry because she took her shirt off during a performance on August 4, 2001, at one of their outdoors “Opry Plaza” concerts, though Case herself has denied this. Asked about the incident in 2004, Case said “I had heatstroke. People would love it to be a ‘fuck you’ punk thing. But it was actually a physical ailment thing.” // Case’s face in 2009 Most of the album’s fourteen songs are originals; the exceptions being covers of “Running Out of Fools”, previously a hit for Aretha Franklin, and “Look for Me (I’ll Be Around)” previously performed by Sarah Vaughan. Blacklisted finds Case even deeper in a “country noir” mood, and was described by critics as lush, bleak, and atmospheric. Case cited filmmaker David Lynch, composer Angelo Badalamenti, and Neil Young’s soundtrack to the film Dead Man as influences. “I hope I can comfort people a bit—maybe show people that making music is fun and accessible to them as well. I’m not out to become Faith Hill, I never want to play an arena, and I never want to be on the MTV Video Music Awards, much less make a video with me in it. I would like to reach a larger audience and see the state of music change in favor of musicians and music fans in my lifetime. I care very much about that.” // In April 2004, Case played several shows with longtime collaborators the Sadies in Chicago and Toronto. These shows were recorded and released as a live album, The Tigers Have Spoken, by Anti Records in October 2004. // Fox Confessor Brings the Flood was released on March 7, 2006. The album was recorded primarily in Tucson, over the course of two years as Case worked on the live The Tigers Have Spoken and continued to play with the New Pornographers. Critics hailed the record not only for Case’s trademark vocals but also her use of stark imagery and non-standard song structures. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood wound up on many “Best of 2006” lists, such as No.1 on the Amazon.com music editors’ picks and No. 2 on NPR’s All Songs Considered. The album debuted at No. 54 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It contains Case’s most autobiographical song, “Hold On, Hold On”. Case said: “the song is actually about me. It’s not metaphorical about other people. It’s not little pieces of my life made into a story about someone else or someone fictitious.” // “Hold On, Hold On” has since been covered by Marianne Faithfull on her 2009 album Easy Come, Easy Go. It was used over an episode of The Killing (Season 1 Episode 6) before the final credits, and in the 2015 film One More Time. “John Saw That Number” was used in the snowboarding movie “City. Park City”. // Case’s next album, Middle Cyclone, was released on March 3, 2009. In advance of a U.S. and European tour, Case appeared as a musical guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Later in 2009 she also appeared on Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Amazon.com rated Middle Cyclone the number one album of 2009.[49] Middle Cyclone debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard charts in its first week of release, making it Case’s first album ever to reach the top ten in the United States. // At the time of its release, no other record from an independent record company had debuted at a higher position in 2009. She toured extensively to promote Middle Cyclone with dates in North America, Europe, and Australia, as well as a performance at Lollapalooza 2009 in Grant Park, Chicago. // The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You. // In June 2013, Case announced a new album, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You, which was released on September 3. // In early March, 2018, Case released a teaser for an album titled Hell-On, her first solo work in almost five years. The teaser featured Case lying down singing a song of the same name while snakes move around her. The album was released on June 1, 2018. // On November 13, 2015, Case released a compilation vinyl box set containing eight of her solo albums. The set contains her first six studio albums, including the first vinyl pressing of The Virginian, as well as a live album. // On April 19, 2022, Case released Wild Creatures, described as “digital-only, career retrospective”. The album was released on CD, double vinyl, and MP3. It contains 22 tracks from Case’s discography, plus one new song, “Oh, Shadowless”.]

[Neko Case embarks on a 56-city tour that starts today October 1, 2025 in Woodstock New York and last until January 31, 2026 On her 51str city stop Neko Case plays The Uptown Theatre, 3700 Broadway Blvd., KCMO, on Saturday, January 24, 2026 with Des Demonas].

11. KeiyaA – “stupid prizes”
    from: Hooke’s Law / XL Recordings / October 31, 2025
    [“Take it” is the second single from KeiyaA’s second album HOOKE’S LAW. // After five years of navigating loss, grief, and anger, Chicago-born, NYC-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer keiyaA emerges in the light of reinvention and healing, shaped by years of solitude spent in the unending tide of mess and renewal, returning to share her findings with unapologetic clarity. Her single “stupid prizes,” was re;eased August 20, 2025, accompanied by a self-co-directed music video with Caity Arthur, is a soulful, arresting prelude that marks a powerful next chapter. Known for her penetrating explorations of Black womanhood and liberation, rich harmonies, and fearless experimentation, keiyaA reintroduces her artistry with the same emotional intensity and sonic innovation that defined her 2020 debut Forever, Ya Girl, arriving in the wake of her first theatrical stage play, milk thot. // Speaking about “stupid prizes,” keiyaA says: “i wrote, recorded, and produced “stupid prizes” all in one sitting, at home late at night in my living room in Brooklyn. i sampled Percy Faith, an orchestral composer known for creating rich and luscious scores and show tunes, helping contribute to this classic “American” sound. i sought out to create this sort of bed of irony, to speak and sing about being miserable on top of this beautiful, dreamy and romantic music. which speaks not only to what it can feel like navigating my internal and external worlds, but also what it feels like being a marginalized person in America.” // In 2020, keiyaA released her self-produced debut album Forever, Ya Girl, a genre-defying blend of jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and experimental music that earned widespread critical acclaim. The project went on to receive Pitchfork’s “Best New Music” designation, landed on year-end best-of lists from The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian, and was later named to Pitchfork’s Best of the Decade So Far list. It also drew praise from artists including Solange, Jay-Z, Earl Sweatshirt, Blood Orange, Kimberly Drew, and Moses Sumney. The album announced keiyaA as one of music’s most vital new voices and producers, and the attention it garnered gave her the access to expand on her creative vision—one that has since grown into a thriving garden of projects, performances, and collaborations, each distinct but rooted in her singular artistry. // Since the release of Forever, Ya Girl, keiyaA showcased her dynamism through a Tiny Desk concert and appearances at Solange’s El Dorado Ballroom show at BAM, Wales Bonner’s Togetherness presentation at the Guggenheim, ESSENSE’s Girls United Summit, and MoMA PS1’s Warm Up series. She walked in Telfar’s 20th-anniversary show, contributed music to the brand’s Moose Knuckles collaboration, and scored Nike’s Come Thru series. She also performed at the Bourse de Commerce in Paris, as well as in her hometown of Chicago at Pitchfork Music Festival and Theaster Gates’ Kenwood Garden community space. // Earlier this year, keiyaA expanded her artistic expression with milk thot, her first full-length stage production, which premiered at Abrons Arts Center in New York City. The performance combined live music, poetry, and choreography to delve into topics such as self-image, family lineage, and societal consumption. Developed during a residency at Abrons, milk thot marked a significant evolution in her multidisciplinary approach to storytelling. // In 2025 keiyaA will release her much anticipated sophomore album. // KeiyaA released her break through album Forever, Ya Girl through Forever Recordings on March 27, 2020 This album was part of WMM’s 120 Best recordings of 2020. The debut album from KeiyaA originally from Chicago, now based in NYC. Written and produced by keiyaA, featuring additional production from dj blackpower & dj cowriiie. Mixed & mastered by BSTFRND. // Chakeiya Camille Richmond was born July 28, 1992. She is known professionally as Keiyaa (stylized as KeiyaA), is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and a record producer. She independently released her debut album Forever, Ya Girl in 2020. // Chakeiya Camille Richmond was born and raised in Chicago on the city’s south side. During childhood she sang in the Chicago Children’s Choir until switching to the alto saxophone in seventh grade. She cited soul artists including Chaka Khan, Patrice Rushen, jazz musicians like John Coltrane and Miles Davis and R&B groups such as SWV as early musical influences. She also finds inspiration in goth and post-punk/alternative rock artists like Nirvana and Siouxsie and the Banshees. // Richmond attended University of Illinois at Chicago and Columbia College to study jazz and play alto sax before leaving due to disillusionment with the program’s hierarchical nature, as well difficulty balancing school with working full-time. Shortly after she decided to pursue music professionally. // While still playing and performing on alto sax, she collaborated with Chicago musicians including Noname and Vic Mensa. She decided to switch her focus to solo work producing and singing R&B and electronic music. Perform-ing under the name Keiya, she released her debut EP, WORK, in July 2015. It was described as “emotional, sleepy, and yet strikingly optimistic” by These Days magazine. Shortly after its release she moved to New York. She added an additional “A” to her name (KeiyaA) in order to differentiate herself from other performers on streaming sites. // KeiyaA’s debut album Forever, Ya Girl was released in March 2020 and self-produced under her personal label Forever Recordings. It was reviewed by Olivia Ovendon for KEXP as featuring “powerful mantra-esque lyrics, and woozy, heady, immersive beats in captivating fashion.” Esquire described the sound as “downcast grime and smooth R&B.” Pitchfork writer Clare Lobenfeld rated the album an 8.2/10 and praised its “resolute realness that can only happen outside the major label gaze.” Forever, Ya Girl was named to Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian’s “Best Albums of 2020” lists. // Keiyaa resides in Brooklyn.]

12. Jass – “Autumn in The City”
    from: “Autumn in The City” – Single / Manor Records / September 22, 202
    [This release captures Jass’s dynamic sound in a live band recording, tracked and recorded by bandmate Clarence Copridge. The smooth vocals from Jass and instrumentals of vibes and upright bass in this track are the perfect end of summer/welcome to fall track. // Jass writes, “My new single ‘Autumn in the City” s close to my heart—paying homage to my hometown and the fall season that inspires so much love and reflection. Huge thanks to everyone who came out and supported us.” Jass is currently working with her band Jass and the ConrtraBand. Jass is Jasmine “Jass” Couch. // Jass released the EP APRIL SHOWERS on April 27, 2025. // Jass released the single “Hope.wav” on February 29, 2024. // Jass and The Boys released the single, “Daydream Girl” on August 25, 2023. // Jass and The Boys released the single “Gvn2u” on July 14, 2023. // Jass released the single, “Time&Space” on July 14, 2023. // Jass released the single, “Eye Contact.” // Jass released the single, “Lifetime” on January 6, 2023 // Jass and The Boys released the single “Love U Like I Love U” on December 2, 2022. Jass released the single “grow” on November 26, 2022. Jass released the EP, OFF KEY: TOO HIGH on September 23, 2022. Jass released the single “Higher Ground” on August 16, 2022. It was #1 on WMM’s 50 Favorite Singles of 2022. Jass released her single, “Him” on February 23, 2022. Jass released At the Close of a Decade on November 26, 2022. It was part of WMM’s 121 Best Recordings of 2021. She wrote, “After years of writing and recording in voice memos .. I decided to grab my iPad and began recording something that I am very proud of. I named it, At the Close of A Decade, and released it in November 2019. With my iPhone/iPad, some apple headphones, I created this project. The amazing people around me told me it was worth it, even when I didn’t believe it myself. I convinced myself I would be the only one that liked my songs. If you decide to listen you’ll hear sound clips of shows and movies that made a difference in the way I saw the world, the way I saw myself, and the way I overcame my experiences. I remember asking my grandma and my son if I should release what I’ve been writing and they both said very simply to do it, so I’ve done it. I want to thank all of my wonderful friends who have been my soundboards during this process, all of the people that have asked me when it’s coming, the people that have kept me accountable, and believed that this time it was for real. My story is so very triumphant and beautiful because I have overcome experiences and shunned the fear I had to do what I love. It’s crazy how you can talk your way out of some amazing things and also how you can talk yourself into making some amazing things happen. If you partake, I hope you enjoy.” // Jass has opened for Thundercat sat GRINDERS, headlined a show at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, and she opened up for The New Respects at The Uptown, and sang the Negro National Anthem at BLAQUE to School Night at the KC Monarchs game.More info at: http://www.jassrcouch.com]

13. joel vs. joel – “gotta b in love”
    from: Smile in the Mirror / Enigmatic Brunch Records / August 19, 2025
    [all songs written by joel stratton. mixed by daniel gum. mastered by mike nolte @ eureka mastering. performances by: isaiah petrie (vibraphone 2,3,10); micah ritchie (drums); jon self (lead guitar L channel track 10); doug bybee (synth 4,6); joanna metsker (violin on 7,8,11); drums, vibes, strings recorded by mike crawford; bass, aco guitars, recorded by daniel gum. // oel vs joel is the moniker of Kansas City-based multi-instrumentalist, Joel Stratton. With classical training, but also an instinctive and emotive musicality that can’t be taught, joel vs joel sculpts with complex chord structures, time signatures, deftly fingerpicked guitar, well-plotted bass, vibraphones, percussion, and other eclectic musical arrangements. This is all interconnected with vulnerably delivered lyrics that convey the manifold feelings of one’s humanity. // Some craftsmen work in wood, stone, or metal. Others sculpt with more intangible and ethereal materials: notes, chords, rhythms, riffs, melodies, and human emotion. Both toil over their medium until it outwardly takes the shape of their inner being. The outcome of joel vs joel’s labor is the beautifully crafted debut album, Smile in the Mirror. // Smile in the Mirror is a protestation of struggles with identity, paranoia, suffering, anarchy, catharsis, and love. These innate human feelings are combined with instrumentation that is at times comfortably familiar and at others strikingly and pleasingly surprising.]

[Joel vs. Joel plays Arts on Broadway 3550 Broadway Blvd., KCMO, on Friday, October 3, 2025 at 7:00pm with Charmaine.]

14. Superchunk – “No Hope”
    from: Songs in the Key of Yikes / Merge / August 22, 2025
    [“It’s always been the case that everyone is going through something that you may not be aware of,” says the band’s Mac McCaughan. “This is currently more true than ever—but also the case that we are all going through some things together. In the face of that, what good is art and where is happiness found? (Spoiler alert: I don’t know.)” // In seeking an answer, Songs in the Key of Yikes unleashes a sound that is triumphant and bright in the darkness, Majesty Shredding in overdrive. Lead single “Is It Making You Feel Something” sets the tone early with the band—McCaughan, Laura Ballance, Jim Wilbur, and Laura King—building an anthem out of the potential for joy, diving into slop-polluted waters (“now fakes are faking everything / that once made your poor heart sing”) and emerging with a pearl. // “This song is about not second-guessing yourself in the very second-guessable process of writing words and music,” McCaughan explains. “It’s about the legitimate question of ‘who needs this and what is it good for?’ but also about not setting such a high bar for making art that you never get started. ‘Is it making you feel something?’ Ok, that’s a place to start.” // Songs in the Key of Yikes is a signature Superchunk album: visceral and timeless and catchy as hell—a cathartic balm for these oppressive times that will feel even better once we’ve figured our collective shit out. // Superchunk released their 11th album WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE on February 16, 2028. Superchunk were formed in 1989 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Superchunk is Mac McCaughan (guitar, vocals), Jim Wilbur (guitar, backing vocals), Jon Wurster (drums, backing vocals), and Laura Ballance (bass, backing vocals). Since releasing their first 7-inch in 1989, Superchunk has run the gamut of milestone albums: early punk rock stompers, polished mid-career masterpieces, and lush, adventurous curveballs. Recorded by Beau Sorenson at Manifold Recording, Pittsboro, NC., except “Break the Glass” and “I Got Cut” at Overdub Lane. Mastered by Matthew Barnhart at Chicago Mastering.]

15. Britanny Davis – “Sun and Moon”
    from: Black Thunder / Loosegroove Records / June 13, 2025
    [“As a blind person, I’ve never had an actual visual experience,” says artist Brittany Davis. “Sound is the way I’ve always seen my world.” // Brittany brings that world to cinematic life with Images Issues, their full-length debut as a solo artist, released March 1, 2024 on Loosegroove Records. Arriving on the heels of 2022’s I Choose to Live — an introductory EP that was championed by outlets like NPR (who hosted Davis for a Tiny Desk Concert) and SPIN Magazine (who praised Davis’ “intuitive virtuosity across deeply-felt rock, funk, and R&B”) — it’s a wildly creative project that obliterates the traditional borders between genre and job. Brittany isn’t just the album’s vocalist; they’re also the songwriter, engineer, co-producer, and multi-instrumentalist responsible for nearly every sound on the album. Those sounds are just as diverse as the person who created them, with Image Issues making room for gospel piano, hip-hop grooves, house beats, jazz chords, self-made samples, and everything in between. It’s a wide mix — and it’s all Brit. // From Written by Jonathan Cohen’s April 13, 2023 article in DSPIN Magazine: Blind since birth, the talented musician leads their own quartet while also playing in Stone Gossard’s Painted Shield. // Davis, who uses they/them pronouns, has been dazzling people in this fashion more or less since the beginning, while overcoming enormous personal challenges along the way. They were born blind in 1994 in Kansas City, Mo., and were just three years old when their mother was sent to prison for a decade for murder, leaving them to be raised by their maternal grandmother. Davis has a form of synesthesia, where they can experience multiple senses at once. Although for some this might seem like a kind of blessing or superpower, for Davis, it only magnified the struggle to translate the sounds in their young head into something people could actually hear for themselves. // “When I was little, I heard music in everything,” Davis tells SPIN over Zoom after apologizing for the constant loud noises coming from their cell phone (“Forgive me – everything in my life talks,” they say with a huge smile, in a voice as naturally harmonious as their songs). “Music was like a language. There was no quintessential moment where I knew it was magic — it just was. It always was. It’s like breathing. But I didn’t really have anybody to share it with, or the means to share it with people the way that I wanted to. I definitely played in churches sometimes, or maybe if a friend came to the house, they’d be like, ‘OK Brittany, play us a song.’ I felt like a one-trick pony, and I didn’t know how to express my desire and pain through my music. It was almost like a second skin.” // An early breakthrough came through the assistance of a teacher at a Kansas City piano academy, where at the behest of their grandmother, Davis spent four years as a student between the ages of seven and 11. Even though they “can’t stand to practice,” Davis was encouraged to play loops or fragments of their fledgling ideas, which the instructor then helped turn into actual songs. “Bless his soul – he gave me my first recording experience,” Davis says of this material, which is now sadly lost to the ages. // Shortly thereafter, Davis’ life was plunged back into tragedy when, at age 12, their father was murdered. “My mother was still incarcerated at the time, so imagine the impact of what that meant for 12-year-old me,” they say. “My father was my lucky star. I believed he was really God’s conduit for my gift – I’m the vessel, but he was the conduit to show me what was possible.” // Davis’ mother was eventually released from prison, and in search of a fresh start, moved Davis and one of their three brothers from Kansas City to Seattle, where their late father’s sister resided. Although a leading light from the city’s celebrated music scene would eventually figure prominently in Davis’ life, initially, they didn’t even think about what their new hometown might have to offer from a cultural standpoint: “I was just on this adventure, like, ‘Seattle! Let’s go!’ It was as if I found a golden ticket but didn’t know about the contest.” // Davis continued working on music with the help of a basic synthesizer with a built-in sequencer, in spite of ongoing difficulties with their day-to-day well-being. “Definitely I experienced a lot of displacement,” they admit. “I say ‘homelessness’ very loosely, because we didn’t live on the street. But we lived in hotels sometimes. I’d take taxis to school because we didn’t have transportation. I had clothes and food, but just not a steady residence. I moved almost 60 times during the term of my high school career.” // Stability may have proven elusive for a while, but Davis was also beginning to make inroads in the Seattle music community. They played regular gigs at an African restaurant called Rumba Notes and made appearances at local festivals such as Sundiata, Juneteenth, and Folklife, but the big break came just before the pandemic in 2019. // That year, Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard heard from longtime Seattle friend Om Johari that there was a young musician in town who he positively had to meet. Before long, Davis was at Gossard’s Studio Litho recording new ideas of their own and was quickly invited to Pearl Jam’s warehouse to contribute to material from Gossard’s nascent side project, Painted Shield. Gossard also signed Davis to his revived imprint Loosegroove, for which they’ve released the 2022 EP I Choose To Live and are working on a debut full-length that should be out before the end of the year. // “It has been such an amazing experience to be involved with Brittany,” Gossard tells SPIN. “Their capabilities as a musician, improviser, storyteller, producer, and straight-up keyboard hero are as profound as any that I’ve ever experienced. It is beyond an honor to be connected to their blossoming career.” // Davis now finds themself with the good fortune of being in two different bands at once, a situation made even more fruitful now that Painted Shield finally played live for the first time during three March shows at Seattle’s Clock-Out Lounge. Among Davis’ upcoming gigs are solo performances on April 30 and May 28 at Seattle’s Rabbit Box, an appearance to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Seattle Sounders soccer game on May 17, and two June shows with the Quartet (bassist Evan Flory-Barnes, drummer D’vonne Lewis, and guitarist Jason Cameron) as part of the city’s annual Pride celebration. // “When it comes to sitting in front of a keyboard, I will always come through expressively,” Davis says. “If I’m in a rock band, I’ll rock just as hard as any other rocker. If I’m rapping, I’ll rap just as well. I always acknowledge the language being spoken sonically, and that’s one of the gifts I have. To be honest, with Painted Shield, I don’t know how people see me in that band. They probably think, ‘Whoa! That’s a wild card (laughs)! Whoa, Stone! Who is that?’” // While it’s true that a non-binary, sightless, millennial African-American musician may seem like an odd match with four veteran rockers in their 40s and 50s, Gossard can’t say enough about what Davis has brought to songs such as “Til God Turns the Lights on” and “Fallin’ Out the Sky” for Painted Shield, which also features vocalist Mason Jennings, drummer Matt Chamberlain, and bassist Jeff Fielder. // “Britt’s work with Painted Shield is just scratching the surface of what they are capable of, but if I were to list the two biggest aspects of how they’ve impacted the band, it would be their incredible vocal harmonies and their wicked ear, which allows them to layer color and other musical ideas to existing tracks,” Gossard says. “It’s a high priority for me to have more songwriting from Britt on our next album, and to give them more freedom to create outside the lines. I can’t wait to hear it.” // And while Davis is confidently looking forward, enough time has now passed from their tumultuous early years to allow them to trace the evolution of music’s role in their life. They’re now even more committed to what they believe is their God-given purpose: to ignite the spirits, souls, and hearts of people through sonic translation. // “Music has definitely evolved, in the way that I express it and how it expresses me,” Davis says. “That language has broadened. It’s one thing to say, ‘I’m sad,’ but it’s another to say, ‘I’m grieved.’ It’s being able to digest the amalgamation of the emotion that can form through being in contact with music. I’m entrenched in Seattle music now, and I’m working with historical figures who have been a part of historical movements. All of that changes how you walk. It’s not the same as wishing and hoping. No, it’s happening, and the people I’m touching are real. The lives I’m impacting are real. The love being given is real. The journey is no longer in my head, and that’s humbling because you realize that even if it’s all gone tomorrow, the music will always be there.”]

11:01 – Station ID – Interview w/ Kevin King & Pete Kuhn of The Boys in The Band

Kevin King is originally from Topeka, Kansas. He studied at The University of Kansas, In 2011 Kevin founded Whim Productions where he serves as Producing Artistic Director of Whim Productions. He is a queer playwright based in KCMO and is a playwright-in-residence at the Midwest Dramatists Center, former playwright-in-residence in the Charlotte Street Foundation Studio Residency program, and a member of the Dramatists Guild. His short play The Swallows was selected for the 2019 William Inge Theater Festival New Play Lab.

King’s work has also appeared in the Kansas City Fringe Festival, Alphabet Soup: Theater from Queer Voices (Whim Productions, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019,2020), The Barn Players’ 6×10 Short Play festival (2018, 2019), Midwest Dramatists Conference (2018, 2019), One-Minute Play Festival (2016), Fishtank Theater’s 12 Plays of Christmas (2014), and other festivals. His work ranges from campy to slice-of-life realism, portrayed through a quirky, queer lens. Kevin also works as an intimacy coach.

Kevin King joins us to share details about Whim Production’s “Boys in the Band” running October 2 through October 19, at Whim Space, 415 Prospect, Kansas City, MO. Whim Productions, is Kansas City’s LGBTQIA theater company, and is thrilled to announce the limited run of the 1968 seminal classic, Boys in the Band, written by Mart Crowley. A groundbreaking portrayal of the complex lives of urban gay men, Boys in the Band has been adapted into two feature films and is as affecting as ever for live audiences. Whim Productions, founded in 2011, creates challenging and evocative queer theater. We focus on providing opportunities for LGBTQ+ theater artists to tell their own stories and share the diversity of queer experiences with Kansas City audiences. Info: http://www.whimproductions.org.

Kevin King Thanks for being woth us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Contact: Kevin King, Producing Artistic Director // kevin@whimproductions.org

Whim Productions Presents “Boys in the Band”: The Hit Play that Brought Gay Stories into the Mainstream

Kansas City, MO — Whim Productions, KC’s LGBTQ+ theater company, is thrilled to announce the limited run of the 1968 seminal classic, Boys in the Band, written by Mart Crowley. A groundbreaking portrayal of the complex lives of urban gay men, Boys in the Band has been adapted into two feature films and is as affecting as ever for live audiences.

Publisher Synopsis: New York, 1968. A birthday party among a close-knit group of gay friends. As the drinks flow and a party game spirals out of control, long-buried truths rise to the surface, revealing deep-seated insecurities, desires, and conflicts. Hilarious and heartbreaking, this landmark piece explores identity, self-worth, and the complexity of friendship and chosen family within the LGBTQ+ community.

Content Advisory: Please be advised that this script contains:
Period-accurate language including homophobic, racist, and anti-Semitic slurs.
Simulated alcohol and drug use. Strong themes of internalized homophobia.
Brief nudity.

Ticket Information: Full-price tickets start at $30. Discounted season packages and a limited number of Pay What You Whim tickets are available throughout the run.
Tickets are available now at whimproductions.com.

Run Time: ~90 minutes (no intermission)
Venue: Whim Space, 415 Prospect, Kansas City, MO 64124
Dates and Times:
Thu. Oct. 2, 7:30 pm
Fri. Oct. 3, 7:30 pm
Sat. Oct. 4, 7:30 pm
Sun. Oct. 5, 3 pm
Thu. Oct. 9, 7:30 pm
Fri. Oct. 10, 7:30 pm
Sat. Oct. 11, 7:30 pm
Sun. Oct. 12, 3 pm
Thur. Oct. 16, 7:30 pm
Fri. Oct. 17, 7:30 pm
Sat. Oct. 18, 7:30 pm
Sun. Oct. 19, 3 pm

Cast:
Pete Kuhn – Michael
Kyle Tichenor – Donald
Jean-Jacques Corbier – Bernard
Michael Golliher – Harold
Luke Knopke – Larry
Ken Stewart – Hank
Jake Funke – Alan
Dustin Reckling – Cowboy
Taylor Rivera – Emory

Creative:
Director – Kevin King
Intimacy Choreographer – Kevin King
Fight Choreographer – Freddy Acevedo
Scenic Design – Austin Cecil
Costume Design – Marian McClellan
Lighting Design – Celeste Abrahamson
Sound Design – Celeste Abrahamson
Stage Manager – Taylor Hudson
Production Photography & Videography – Janetta Leigh

Past productions describe Boys in the Band as…

“Crowley is a master of the bitchy one-liner, so the play is littered with quotable bon mots, some of them surprisingly sweet to our older, more jaded ears.” — Marilyn Stasio, Variety

“This play did the most powerful thing that a play can do. It showed us a picture of the truth. The joyous, horrific, wondrous, terrifying, painful truth. It was a play about and for the gay community, an important play that exposed what those men had to endure — sometimes still endure — in hiding who they were and in feeling such monumental shame about who they were. But somehow, it was about even more than that. Somehow, in the long silences that they allowed in those powerful scenes, we sat there collectively holding our breath. Uncomfortable. And reflective.” — Jill Ripa, BroadwayWorld
The Boys in the Band premiered April 15, 1968 at Theatre Four, 424 West 55th Street, Manhattan, New York City

The Boys in the Band is a 1968 American play by Mart Crowley. The play premiered Off-Broadway, and was revived on Broadway for its 50th anniversary in 2018. The play revolves around a group of gay men who gather for a birthday party in New York City, and was groundbreaking for its portrayal of gay life. It was adapted into two feature films in 1970 and 2020.

A sequel, The Men from the Boys, premiered in 2002.

Synopsis – The play is set in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, “a smartly appointed duplex apartment in the East Fifties”, and the backgrounds of characters are revealed in the course of a birthday party.

Harold (Michael Golliher) celebrates his birthday. In the character’s own words an “ugly, pock-marked Jew fairy”, he becomes increasingly morose about losing his youthful looks and claims that he no longer can attract cute young men. In the dramatis personae, he is described as being “dark” with an “unusual Semitic face”.

“Cowboy” (Dustin Reckling) an attractive blond hustler who is “not too bright” and “too pretty”, is one of Harold’s birthday presents.

Alan McCarthy, (Jake Funke) Michael’s married college friend and roommate, is an unexpected party guest. He is visiting New York and anxious to tell Michael something, but hesitant to do so in front of the others. It is suggested that he once had homosexual affairs while in college, but his sexual orientation is never explicitly stated, leaving it to audience interpretation. The dramatis personae describes him as “aristocratic” and “Anglo-Saxon”.
The party is given by Harold’s six closest friends:

Michael (Pete Kuhn) is Harold’s “smartly groomed” “frenemy”, the host, and a lapsed Catholic as well as an alcoholic. He is the catalyst for most of the drama of the play.

Donald (Kyle Tichenor) is Michael’s ex-boyfriend, current friend (though the exact nature of their relationship is ambiguous) who has moved from the city to the Hamptons to spurn the homosexual “lifestyle”, and is undergoing psychoanalysis. He has “wholesome American good looks”.

Bernard (Jean-Jacques Corbier) is an African-American librarian who still pines for the wealthy white boy in whose house his mother worked as a maid. In the dramatis personae, he is “Twenty-eight, Negro, nice-looking”.

Emory (Taylor Rivera) is a flamboyant and effeminate interior decorator. He is often campy in his sense of humor, which serves to irritate others.

Larry (Luke Knopke) is a commercial artist who prefers multiple sex partners and is “extremely handsome”.

Hank (Ken Stewart) is Larry’s live-in boyfriend who has been married to a woman from whom he is separated and is divorcing. He “passes” as straight and disagrees with Larry on the issue of monogamy. Physically, he is described as “solid, athletic, attractive”.

During the party, the humor takes a nasty turn, as the nine men become increasingly inebriated. The party culminates in a “game”, where each man must call someone whom he has loved and tell them about it. Michael, believing that Alan has finally “outed” himself when he makes his call, grabs the phone from him and discovers Alan has called his wife. The audience never learns what Alan intended to discuss with Michael in the end.

According to Crowley, his motivation in writing the play was not activism, but anger that “had partially to do with myself and my career, but it also had to do with the social attitude of people around me, and the laws of the day”. He says he “wanted the injustice of it all — to all those characters — known”. Crowley has also stated, “I was not an activist, then or now. I didn’t know what hit me. I just wrote the truth.”

Crowley made no secret that all characters were based on real people in his life, with Michael reminding him of himself, describing the character as “a complex person who is aware of what is politically correct but has a sort of contempt for it”. He called Donald “a foil for Michael” and inspired by a droll friend he would periodically take wry comments from. In the 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet, Crowley explained, “The self-deprecating humor was born out of a low self-esteem, from a sense of what the times told you about yourself.” In The Boys in the Band: Something Personal, a short documentary accompanying Netflix’s release of the 2020 film adaptation, Crowley clarified that Donald was based on Douglas Murray, to whom the play was dedicated. Harold, the character whose birthday was being celebrated, is a cipher for dancer/choreographer Howard Jeffrey, who died in 1988 of AIDS, to whom the play was also dedicated. Crowley took one of the key lines of the play, “I try to show a little affection; it keeps me from feeling like such a whore”, from a hustler he danced with on Fire Island, telling, “I couldn’t write anything that good!”.

Production history – Off-Broadway premiere, 1968
While Crowley was pitching the script, early agents stayed away from the project, and it was championed by playwright Edward Albee and Richard Barr, who at the time was head of the Playwrights Units in New York. For the production, it proved “nearly impossible to find” actors willing to play gay characters. An old college friend of Crowley’s, 33-year-old Laurence Luckinbill, agreed to play Hank despite warnings from his agent that it would end his career, even though the agent was herself a lesbian. It proved hard for Crowley to find producers and theater owners who were interested.

The play premiered Off-Broadway on April 14, 1968, at Theater Four, and closed on September 6, 1970, after 1,001 performances. Directed by Robert Moore, the cast included Kenneth Nelson as Michael, Peter White as Alan McCarthy, Leonard Frey as Harold, Cliff Gorman as Emory, Frederick Combs as Donald, Laurence Luckinbill as Hank, Keith Prentice as Larry, Robert La Tourneaux as Cowboy, and Reuben Greene as Bernard. The play was one of the early works to present a story centered on homosexuals. In 1968, although only originally scheduled to run for five performances at a small venue off Broadway, it was a fast success and was moved to a larger theater. It went on to have a run in London as well. The premiere’s actors such as Laurence Luckinbill drilled a hole in the set so they could spy on whoever was in the house’s best seats, and in the initial weeks, saw Jackie Kennedy, Marlene Dietrich, Groucho Marx, Rudolf Nureyev, and New York mayor John Lindsay. Despite the success of the play, all the gay members of the original company stayed in the closet after the premiere. Between 1984 and 1993, five of the gay men in the original production (as well as director Robert Moore and producer Richard Barr) died in the ensuing AIDS epidemic.

Off-Broadway and London revivals – The play was revived Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in 1996, running from August 6 to October 20, after its initial sold-out run at the WPA Theater. The Boys in the Band was presented by the Transport Group Theater Company, New York City, from February 2010 to March 14, 2010, directed by Jack Cummings III.

A London staging in October 2016 at Park Theatre was the first revival there in two decades. It subsequently transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End. Positively reviewed, including in The Observer, the production starred Mark Gatiss as Harold and Ian Hallard as Michael, with Daniel Boys, Jack Derges, James Holmes, John Hopkins, Greg Lockett, Ben Mansfield, and Nathan Nolan. The production was nominated for four awards in the 2017 WhatsOnStage Awards: Best Play Revival and Best Off-West End Production, with Hallard nominated as Best Actor in a Play and Jack Weir for Best Lighting Design.

Broadway production, 2018 – A Broadway production of The Boys in the Band, directed by Joe Mantello, opened in previews at the Booth Theatre on April 30, 2018, officially on May 31, and ran until August 11, 2018. This production, staged for the 50th anniversary of the play’s original premiere, starred Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto and Andrew Rannells, as well as Charlie Carver, Brian Hutchison, Michael Benjamin Washington, Robin de Jesús, and Tuc Watkins. Quinto portrayed Harold, whose birthday sets the premise. All of the actors who were in the 2018 production are out gay actors.

This production won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play, and Robin de Jesús was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

Reception and impact – When The Boys in the Band premiered in 1968, mainstream audiences were shocked. The play was profiled in the William Goldman book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway, an account of the 1967–1968 season. In the same year, a two-disc, vinyl LP set was released, containing the full dialogue of the play voiced by the original actors. Crowley wrote the 2002 sequel The Men from the Boys.

In 2002, Peter Filichia from Theater Mania contended that the play’s original production helped inspire the 1969 Stonewall riots and gay rights movement.

After gays saw The Boys in the Band, they no longer would settle for thinking of themselves as pathetic and wouldn’t be perceived as such any longer. Now that [characters] had brought their feelings out of the closet, this new generation would dare to be different. And, just as some whites’ view of blacks changed after seeing A Raisin in the Sun, so too did the outlook of many straights after they caught The Boys in the Band. Some whom I personally know felt terrible and–I saw this happen!–actually changed the way they treated gays.

In 2004, David Anthony Fox from Philadelphia City Paper praised this play, its one-liners, and its live performance in Philadelphia. He rebutted criticism that the play portrayed “urban gay men as narcissistic, bitter, shallow”.

In 2010, Elyse Summer in her review for CurtainUp called it a “smart gimmick” full of dated “self-homophobic, low self-esteem characters”. In the same year, Steve Weinstein from the Edge website called it “Shakespearean”.

Whim Productions, founded in 2011, creates challenging and evocative queer theater. We focus on providing opportunities for LGBTQ+ theater artists to tell their own stories and share the diversity of queer experiences with Kansas City audiences.

Whim Productions is dedicated to creating challenging and evocative queer theater. Our mission is to produce works written by LGBTQ+ writers with narratives that center queer characters. We are committed to sharing the diversity of queer lives with Kansas City audiences and providing a platform for LGBTQ+ theater artists to tell their own stories.
Queer Theater. Whimsical Edge.

Producing Artistic Director 𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 founded Whim Productions in 2011 and has directed, written, & choreographed intimacy in many of our productions. He’s currently tackling the sound design and intimacy choreography for the world premiere of Kissing in the Grocery Store! Kevin’s passion for creating safe, evocative, and inclusive theatre shines in this production.

Kevin King thank you for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Whim Production’s “Boys in the Band” written by Mart Crowley is running October 2 through October 19, at Whim Space, 415 Prospect, Kansas City, MO. Whim Productions, is Kansas City’s LGBTQIA theater company, and is thrilled to announce the limited run of the 1968 seminal classic, Boys in the Band. A groundbreaking portrayal of the complex lives of urban gay men, Boys in the Band has been adapted into two feature films and is as affecting as ever for live audiences. For info visit: http://www.whimproductions.org.

11:21

16. Stephonne – “Worship at the Chappell”
    from: “Worship at the Chappell” – Single / Glory Blue Music / August 15, 2025
    [Co-written with Shawn M. Stewart and produced with Patrick Meagher, the song is a declaration of power, pleasure, and pride—a sonic celebration of being fully and freely oneself. “Worship at the Chappell” is a bold, genre-bending anthem from Kansas City artist Stephonne—an electrifying fusion of disco, pop, and gospel spirit. Inspired by fellow Missouri native Chappell Roan, the track transforms the dance floor into a sanctuary for queer joy, spiritual liberation, and unapologetic self-love. With soaring vocals, provocative lyrics, and infectious grooves, Stephonne delivers a soulful sermon for the marginalized. // Stephonne describes himself as the lovechild of Prince & Billie Holiday. He grew up in KCK and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music from Benedictine College, and Masters in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University. Stephonne is a 2023 winner of the Charlotte Street Generative Performing Arts Fellows. // Stephonne is an Alternative/Genrequeer singer-songwriter, cultural producer, and generative performing artist from Kansas City, MO. They synthesize music, written/spoken word, performance and visual art/media into an inimitable art. They share their struggles, triumphs, and journey to self-love through multidisciplinary performance and have sent audiences on visceral and experiential journeys through a multitude of music and video releases since 2015. Bold new 2025 singles and videos continue to push boundaries! New experiences, both sonic and visual, await us from the upcoming sophomore LP, STEPHONNE. // Singer, songwriter, actor, model, artist, activist – Stephonne Singleton keeps very busy, serving as a board member of KC Folk Fest, organizing tribute shows, playing: music festivals, Charlotte Street Foundation, Lemonade Park, Lawrence Pride, Manor Records, Midwest Music Foundation, The AIDS Service Foundation of KC, InterUrban ArtHouse, Crossroads Music Fest, The Black Box, The Folly Theatre, and West 18th Street Fashion Show. Stephonne released his EP SIS: Side B on June 24, 2022. Stephonne released the single “I” on August 21, 2024. Stephonne released the single “I think its Gonna Be Alright” I April 2025. Stephonne released the single, Forgive Me, Father (Sinead O’Connor) on May 21, 2025. // More info at: http://www.stephonne.com]

[Stephonne is currently appearing as Angel in Jonathan Larson’s iconic, Tony Award winning musical RENT running October 2 through October 26 at the Music Theatre Heritage Stage in residence at Crown Center in Kansas City 2450 Grand Blvd. More info at http://www.musictheaterheritge.com]

17. Chappell Roan – “Red Wine Supernova” – (Radio edit)
    from: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess / Amusemet Records / September 22, 2023
    [Kayleigh Rose Amstutz was born February 19, 1998), known professionally as Chappell Roan. She is an American singer and songwriter. She is known for her camp and drag queen–influenced aesthetic. Her debut EP, School Nights (2017), was released by Atlantic Records. After years without success, she was dropped from the label in 2020. Her debut studio album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023), was released through Island Records and received critical acclaim. The album garnered a cult following and became a sleeper hit. // oan rose to prominence in 2024 with the single “Good Luck, Babe!”, which reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and became a global top-five single. It was a catalyst for the success of her debut album, which eventually topped the charts in the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand and reached number two on the US Billboard 200. Several album tracks subsequently entered various charts, including “Hot to Go!” and “Pink Pony Club”, which both reached the top five in the UK. At the 67th Grammy Awards, Roan became one of only 15 artists to be nominated for all the “Big Four” awards in one night, winning Best New Artist. // Roan’s stage name is an homage to her grandfather, Dennis K. Chappell, who died of brain cancer, and his favorite song, “The Strawberry Roan” by Curley Fletcher. // Kayleigh Rose Amstutz was born in Willard, Missouri, on February 19, 1998, the oldest of four children. Her mother, Kara (née Chappell), is a veterinarian; her father, Dwight Amstutz, is now a retired Naval Reservist who also managed the family’s veterinary practice in Springfield, Missouri, and earlier trained as a registered nurse, working in neurological and burn intensive care units. Her uncle is Darin Chappell, a Republican member of the Missouri House of Representatives. // She has described her hometown and her upbringing as conservative and Christian. During her childhood, she attended church three times a week and spent some summers at Christian camps. In a 2023 Variety interview, she said that she struggled with her upbringing and snuck out often: “I just wanted to feel like a good person, but I had this part of me that wanted to escape so bad.” // Roan began playing the piano when she was 10 or 11 years old and began taking lessons at the age of 12. She performed publicly for the first time at age 13, singing “The Christmas Song” at her school’s talent show, which she won. When she was about 14 years old, she auditioned for America’s Got Talent without success. At 14 or 15 years old, she began uploading covers to YouTube, drawing attention from various record labels. She began songwriting as she entered her teen years. She graduated a year early from Willard High School. Roan described missing many childhood experiences in the “messy” beginning of her music career, including her prom and high school graduation. // Roan began uploading on her YouTube channel in 2013, only posting covers and occasional original pieces. Along with her online presence, she also performed around her hometown, as well as Springfield, Missouri, from 2012 to 2015. In November 2014, Roan uploaded her original song “Die Young” to YouTube under the name Kayleigh Rose. She wrote the song while attending summer camp at Interlochen Center for the Arts, which she said “changed my trajectory forever”. She subsequently traveled to New York for several musical showcases, leading to her signing with music label Atlantic Records in May 2015. // In 2016, she adopted the stage name Chappell Roan in honor of her grandfather Dennis K. Chappell, who died of brain cancer that same year. The name is a combination of her grandfather’s last name and a word taken from his favorite song, “The Strawberry Roan” by Curley Fletcher. She has also expressed dislike for her birth name. // On August 3, 2017, Roan released her first single, “Good Hurt”. The song was reviewed favorably in Interview, which praised her “striking maturity and surprisingly deep vocals”. On September 22, 2017, she released an extended play (EP) titled School Nights through Atlantic Records. Also in 2017, she supported Vance Joy on his Lay It On Me Tour. During this time, Roan lived with her parents in Springfield, Missouri, flying with them to Los Angeles or New York City when necessary. In 2018, Roan moved to Los Angeles. She has since stated this was the first time she felt able to live openly as a queer woman, as well as feeling “overwhelmed with complete love and acceptance”, allowing her to begin “writing songs as the real [her]”. From January to March 2018, she toured the United States with Declan McKenna. // Roan began working with songwriter and producer Dan Nigro in late 2018. In April 2020, Roan released “Pink Pony Club”, which she has described as a “hard left turn” from School Nights. The single was produced by Nigro, and its music video was directed by Griffin Stoddard. Roan has cited a visit to The Abbey, a gay bar in West Hollywood, as the inspiration for the song. She said the song expressed her desire to become a go-go dancer in Los Angeles, stating, “truthfully, I’m not confident enough to do that, so I wrote a song about it.” // Roan released two more singles, “Love Me Anyway” and “California”, in May 2020. However, her releases were not profitable enough for Atlantic, who dropped Roan from the label in August 2020. Shortly after, Roan returned to Los Angeles in October 2020 to continue working on her music independently while working a series of odd jobs, including as a production assistant and in a donut shop. That December, USA Today ranked “Pink Pony Club” third on a list of the “10 best songs of 2020”; an accompanying description characterized it as dance-pop that “earnestly [celebrates] queer culture, acceptance and chasing your dreams”. A year after its release, Vulture described “Pink Pony Club” as “the Song of Summer 2021”, calling it a “synthy infectious bangarang”. By August 2022, the song had been streamed more than 10 million times on Spotify. // In early 2021, the success of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” shifted Nigro’s focus from Roan as he worked on Sour with Rodrigo. Roan was unable to find a collaborator whom she liked as much. She briefly moved back to Missouri and worked at a drive-through while continuing to work on her music independently. // By February 2022, Roan had earned a publishing deal with Sony, and reunited with Nigro again to create and release “Naked in Manhattan”. The song was her first release as an independent artist. It was described by NPR as a “queer girl bop” with lyrics that are “tender, nostalgic” and “flirty yet uncertain”. While working with Nigro in an adjacent studio to Olivia Rodrigo, Roan recorded backing vocals on three of Rodrigo’s songs, including “Can’t Catch Me Now”. Roan was selected as the opening act on Rodrigo’s Sour Tour and for Fletcher on her Girl of My Dreams Tour. // In August 2022, she released a third independent single, “Femininomenon”. Earmilk described the song as “so fun and loud but so intricate” and noted it was different from Roan’s past releases. Roan stated that the song, which was produced by Nigro, was an attempt to “get away with being as ridiculous as I possibly can”. An accompanying self-directed music video featured Roan riding a dirt bike. Roan released another single, “Casual”, which she had begun working on with Nigro in 2020. The song, produced by Nigro, criticizes a romantic partner who refuses to commit and was inspired by Roan’s brief relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic that ended with her partner saying they had met someone else. // 2023–2024: Breakthrough with The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess // In February 2023, Roan embarked on the Naked in North America Tour, her debut headlining tour. Each stop on the tour had a theme, with Roan suggesting outfits for fans while making her own camp costumes herself. Inspired by Orville Peck, Roan chose to book drag queens as openers for the tour. Concerts from the tour received positive reviews in The Harvard Crimson and Variety, with Jem Aswad describing it as a concert where “you recognize when a new-ish artist’s career is about to blast off” similar to Lorde in 2013 and Billie Eilish in 2019. In March 2023, Roan released “Casual”, followed later that year by the release of subsequent singles “Kaleidoscope”, “Red Wine Supernova” and “Hot to Go!”. That same month, Roan signed with Amusement Records, an imprint of Island Records and owned by her producer, Nigro, after meeting with nine labels. // On September 22, 2023, Roan released her debut full-length album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and began her second headlining tour, the Midwest Princess Tour. The tour, ending in the spring of 2024, traveled across North America and had shows in London, Paris, Berlin, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, and Amsterdam. Roan donated $1 per ticket sold to the nonprofit For the Gworls and opened each show with drag performers. The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess was included in various best-albums-of-2023 year-end lists, such as those by The A.V. Club, Time, Nylon, Dork, Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Vogue. It was also listed as one of Pitchfork’s 22 Best Pop Albums of 2023 and was named PopBuzz’s Number One Album of 2023. // Roan opened for Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour in the United States and Canada from February to April 2024. In Roan’s first week of the tour, her streams rose by 32 percent. Also in February, Roan was a musical guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. In March, NPR Music released Roan’s Tiny Desk Concert performance. // In April 2024, Roan released the single “Good Luck, Babe!”, describing it as “the first song of the next chapter”. The song speaks about compulsory heterosexuality, describing a woman trying to deny her romantic feelings for Roan and women in general. Praised by Billboard as a “well-deserved breakthrough”, the song received 7 million streams in its first week, was listed in the Spotify top ten, and debuted at number 77 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was Roan’s fastest to hit 100 million streams on the platform. By June, the song became her first top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and by September, it reached a peak of number four, becoming her first top ten song on the chart. Although not included on her debut album, the single’s success was a catalyst for propelling it to worldwide recognition. In June 2024, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess entered the top ten on the Billboard 200 for the first time, with over 40,000 equivalent album units sold. By August, the album had reached number two. // Also in April, Roan performed at Coachella. At this time, Roan saw growing success on Spotify, with her monthly listeners increasing more than 500% from February to April. As reported by Billboard, by June 2024, Roan’s weekly streams had grown by more than twenty-fold from the start of the year. // In June, Roan revealed she had declined an invitation from the White House to perform for that year’s Pride celebration. During the Governors Ball Music Festival, Roan stated, “we want liberty, justice and freedom for all. When you do that, that’s when I’ll come”, mentioning the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and transgender rights. Roan later revealed that she considered attending, but instead of performing music, she would recite poetry by Palestinian women. Roan said that her publicist was supportive of the idea, but warned her that doing so at the White House would likely compromise her and her family’s safety, which is why she decided to decline the invitation instead. During her performance at the Governors Ball Music Festival, Roan debuted a previously unreleased song titled “The Subway”, continuing to work towards a new album.[88] At a concert in June, Roan spoke to the crowd about dealing with her rapid increase in popularity, stating “I think my career is just kind of going really fast and it’s really hard to keep up. I’m just being honest, I’m having a hard time today. […] This is all I’ve ever wanted—it’s just heavy sometimes.” Following her performance at Lollapalooza in August, she drew the biggest daytime set ever seen at the festival. // In September, Roan performed at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards and won Best New Artist. She dedicated the trophy to queer and trans people. In October 2024, she reached number 1 for the first time on the Billboard Artist 100, coinciding with the biggest sales week ever of her debut album. Roan appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on November 2, 2024, along with host John Mulaney, where she performed and teased a new country-tinged song titled “The Giver”. Roan appeared in the Netflix special A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter on December 6, 2024. In January 2025, Roan was named the winner of the Sound of 2025 poll of musicians and music experts, organized annually by the BBC. // In February 2025 at the 67th Grammy Awards, Roan won her first Grammy Award for Best New Artist. In her acceptance speech, she called for record labels to provide artists with a living wage and healthcare, saying, “Labels, we got you, but do you got us?” Roan’s work was also nominated for other awards, with The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess being nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, and “Good Luck, Babe!” being nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance. Following Roan’s Grammy acceptance speech, the former music executive Jeff Rabhan wrote an essay via The Hollywood Reporter criticizing Roan’s acceptance speech as naive and saying labels do not have responsibilities to artists outside paying advances and royalties. The piece went viral, and Roan responded by challenging Rabhan to match a $25,000 donation to artists experiencing financial difficulty. // On March 14, 2025, Roan released “The Giver” on all platforms. In June, she embarked on a new tour, titled the “Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things Tour”. It was announced in July that the tour would be coming to New York City; Kansas City, Missouri; and Pasadena, California. On July 31, 2025, Roan released “The Subway”, more than a year after it first premiered at her 2024 Governor’s Ball set. // Roan writes most of her songs with co-writers, most prominently her producer, Dan Nigro, with her song “Kaleidoscope” being the only song from her debut album written solely by Roan herself. After the release of her debut single, “Good Hurt”, her style was described in Interview as “pop sound […] infused with a dark and unsettling tone that underscores her intense, somber lyrics.”In 2018, she described her musical style as a mix of organic and electronic sounds, with a pop tone, and as “dark pop with ballad undertones”. In her songs written while she was a teenager, according to Atwood Magazine, she “brought the hardship and turbulence of our teenaged years to life with a candidness and vividness seldom seen from her peers.” Roan describes her music as “kind of the fairytale version of what happened in real life” as her persona is a larger-than-life version of her real self. In 2024, Billboard described her as an “innovative art-pop auteur”.]

[Chappell Roan plays Liberty Memorial Park on Friday, Oct. 3 and Saturday, Oct. 4 at 5:00pm.]

18. High Fade – “Street Sweeper”
    from:”Street Sweeper” – Single / RPN Records / September 19, 2025
    [High Fade released SECTEY SAUCE EP on March 21, 2025. // High Fade released Live in London on RPN Records om October 6, 2023. High Fade is currently on a US Tour. Here is what Polaris Hall in Portland wrote about the band: “On a three-man crusade to set dance floors alight with their inimitable brand of razor-sharp funk and disco, Edinburgh’s High Fade captured the attention of a global audience with their music amassing over 30 million views and streams within six months of their first release and, in the process, gaining recognition from music heavyweights including Jack Black, Cypress Hill, Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes, and Brad Wilk from Rage Against The Machine For a band that only started mid-2018, to already have the support of artists including Emeli Sandé, David Paitch and even Peter Andre is a testament to not only their raw musical talent but also the relentless drive and ambition that has seen the band play over 1000 gigs in the last four years. With a forward-thinking approach to grassroots promotion, High Fade have been able to capture the magic of their live performances with a proactive presence on social media and create multiple viral moments for their tracks “Sharpen Up”, “Burnin”, and “Burnt Toast and Coffee”that feed the appetite of new fans across the world.With a more traditional offline approach towards learning their craft and perfecting the HighFade sound, Harry Valentino (guitar/vocals), Oliver Sentance (bass) and Calvin Davidson(drums/vocals) developed their infectious style whilst feeding off the unpredictable crowd inter-actions that come with street shows and busking. It’s this unmatched live energy that sets their performances apart and results in the impressive musical display that comes from just three musicians working together. Indeed, with other acts in the same genre often having upwards of six members, being a three-piece could be a limiting factor for many, but for HighFade it has become an integral part of the band’s DNA, allowing them to put on a show that supersedes anything their fans have experienced before.]

[High Fade plays recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd., KCMO on Thursday, October 2, at 8:00pm with Midnight Thirty.]

11:29 – Underwriting

19. Beth Watts Nelson & Brandon Day – “Gardenia” (Live)
    from: Wahtucna Waltz EP / Rural Grit Records / July 11, 2025
    [Beth Watts Nelson is an award-winning Kansas City based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and lifelong student of music. Building upon a twenty year career in music education she is now the founder and director of Notorious Chorus – a community-based, group singing workshop for adults. In addition to solo and duo performances, she can be heard in several projects throughout the KC metro including Konza Swamp Band, CATGUT, and her 4 piece string band Little Miss Dynamite with Beth Watts Nelson on lead vocals & banjo, Betse Ellis (of The Wilders, Betse & Clarke) on fiddle, Brandon Day (of The Matchsellers) on bass, and Caleb Gardner (of Konza Swamp) on mandolin, guitar & vocals. // Brandon Day attended Olympic College outside of Seattle, working extensively with budding jazz vocalists and small groups. His passion for helping others sound the best they can has lead him through many genres, including jazz, bluegrass, country and western, folk, Americana, classical, and all sorts of fusions. While primarily an upright bassist on call with many jazz vocalists and bluegrass groups in the greater Kansas City Metro, Brandon is also known to sing and play other instruments when needed, including guitar, violin/fiddle and electric bass. He maintains an active performance schedule throughout the year with the bluegrass group The Matchsellers, and Little Miss Dynamite, and with Beth Watts Nelson and teaching students and small groups at Farm School KC, in addition to filling every weekend with guest spots on many of the finest bandstands in town. // Both members of other Kansas City bands (Konza Swamp, Little Miss Dynamite, CatGut, Whiskey Mash) the duo was forged in the rich musical melting pot of the Rural Grit Happy Hour in KC’s Crossroads Arts District. With a focus on vocal melody and harmony, their songs sound as if they had been unearthed with the patina of decades in the songbook of Americana.Together they seek the time and means to provide a genuine and meaningful musical experience to their audiences. // Recording Engineer: Danny McGaw, Northern Sky Recording, Overland Park, KS. Mixed and Mastered: Clarke Wyatt, Gnomes and Goats Studio, KCMO]

[Beth & Brandon play Hammer’s Piano Bar, 3901 Main Street, KCMO on Wednesday, October 1 at 7:00pm. // Beth & Brandon play Tall Trellis Brew Co, 25600 W. Valley Pkwy, Olathe on Thursday, October 2 at 6:00pm. // Beth & Brandon play First Friday at Folk Alliance International Headquarters, 2018 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City on Friday, October 3 at 6:00pm. More information at: bethandbrandonmusic.com]

11:35 – Interview with Beth Watts Nelson & Brandon Day

Beth Watts Nelson is an award-winning Kansas City based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and lifelong student of music. Building upon a twenty year career in music education she is now the founder and director of Notorious Chorus – a community-based, group singing workshop for adults. In addition to solo and duo performances, she can be heard in several projects throughout the KC metro including Konza Swamp Band, CATGUT, and her 4 piece string band Little Miss Dynamite with Beth Watts Nelson on lead vocals & banjo, Betse Ellis (of The Wilders, Betse & Clarke) on fiddle, Brandon Day (of The Matchsellers) on bass, and Caleb Gardner (of Konza Swamp) on mandolin, guitar & vocals.

Brandon Day attended Olympic College outside of Seattle, working extensively with budding jazz vocalists and small groups. His passion for helping others sound the best they can has lead him through many genres, including jazz, bluegrass, country and western, folk, Americana, classical, and all sorts of fusions. While primarily an upright bassist on call with many jazz vocalists and bluegrass groups in the greater Kansas City Metro, Brandon is also known to sing and play other instruments when needed, including guitar, violin/fiddle and electric bass. He maintains an active performance schedule throughout the year with the bluegrass group The Matchsellers, and Little Miss Dynamite, and with Beth Watts Nelson and teaching students and small groups at Farm School KC, in addition to filling every weekend with guest spots on many of the finest bandstands in town.

Both members of other Kansas City bands (Konza Swamp, Little Miss Dynamite, CatGut, Whiskey Mash) the duo was forged in the rich musical melting pot of the Rural Grit Happy Hour in KC’s Crossroads Arts District. With a focus on vocal melody and harmony, their songs sound as if they had been unearthed with the patina of decades in the songbook of Americana.Together they seek the time and means to provide a genuine and meaningful musical experience to their audiences.

Beth Watts Nelson & Brandon Day released Wahtucna Waltz EP on/July 11, 2025

Beth & Brandon play Hammer’s Piano Bar, 3901 Main Street, KCMO on Wednesday, October 1 at 7:00pm. // Beth & Brandon play Tall Trellis Brew Co, 25600 W. Valley Pkwy, Olathe on Thursday, October 2 at 6:00pm. // Beth & Brandon play First Friday at Folk Alliance International Headquarters, 2018 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City on Friday, October 3 at 6:00pm. More information at: bethandbrandonmusic.com

Beth Watts Nelson, and Brandon Day thanks for being with us on WMM

Recently Beth Watts Nelson joined us to share her new 3-song EP, “Tall Grass” a compilation of songs inspired by the Flint Hills. “Tallgrass” was composed in Coffeyville, KS. “Western Wind” and “Wild Indigo” were composed in Volland, KS. // All three songs were recorded in one day on site at the Grimm-Schultz Farmstead during my time in residency with the Volland Foundation on April 26, 2025. // For the recording Beth Watts Nelson played Banjo, Guitar, & Vocals, and Betse Ellis played Fiddle. Mixing and Mastering was completed by Clarke Wyatt, at Gnomes and Goats Studio.

Beth Watts Nelson has a twenty year career in music education.

Washtucna Waltz EP was released July 11, 2025
Recording Engineer: Danny McGaw, Northern Sky Recording, Overland Park, KS
Mixed and Mastered: Clarke Wyatt, Gnomes and Goats Studio, KCMO

A partnership forged in the rich musical melting pot of the Rural Grit Happy Hour in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District, Beth Watts Nelson and Brandon Day combine their classical, folk, jazz and choral music backgrounds to create a modern perspective on a vintage sound. Making music that feels equally at home in a swanky cocktail bar, old honky tonk pool hall, or a pin-drop listening room Beth and Brandon seek the time and means to provide genuine and heartfelt musical experiences to their audiences. Award-winning songwriting paired with close vocal harmonies and intimately expressive musicianship

Beth and Brandon combine their classical, folk, jazz and choral music training to create a modern perspective on a vintage sound. With a focus on vocal melody and harmony, their songs sound as if they had been unearthed with the patina of decades in the songbook of Americana. An array of instruments (guitar, banjo and bass) pass between the hands of the duo to bring original and standard tunes to life.

Both members of other Kansas City bands (Konza Swamp, Little Miss Dynamite, CatGut, Whiskey Mash) the duo was forged in the rich musical melting pot of the Rural Grit Happy Hour in KC’s Crossroads Arts District. Together they seek the time and means to provide a genuine and meaningful musical experience to their audiences.

info@bethandbrandonmusic.com bethandbrandonmusic.com

11:42

20. Beth Watts Nelson & Brandon Day – “Wahtucna Waltz” (LIVE)
    from: Wahtucna Waltz EP / Rural Grit Records / July 11, 2025
    [Beth Watts Nelson is an award-winning Kansas City based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and lifelong student of music. Building upon a twenty year career in music education she is now the founder and director of Notorious Chorus – a community-based, group singing workshop for adults. In addition to solo and duo performances, she can be heard in several projects throughout the KC metro including Konza Swamp Band, CATGUT, and her 4 piece string band Little Miss Dynamite with Beth Watts Nelson on lead vocals & banjo, Betse Ellis (of The Wilders, Betse & Clarke) on fiddle, Brandon Day (of The Matchsellers) on bass, and Caleb Gardner (of Konza Swamp) on mandolin, guitar & vocals. // Brandon Day attended Olympic College outside of Seattle, working extensively with budding jazz vocalists and small groups. His passion for helping others sound the best they can has lead him through many genres, including jazz, bluegrass, country and western, folk, Americana, classical, and all sorts of fusions. While primarily an upright bassist on call with many jazz vocalists and bluegrass groups in the greater Kansas City Metro, Brandon is also known to sing and play other instruments when needed, including guitar, violin/fiddle and electric bass. He maintains an active performance schedule throughout the year with the bluegrass group The Matchsellers, and Little Miss Dynamite, and with Beth Watts Nelson and teaching students and small groups at Farm School KC, in addition to filling every weekend with guest spots on many of the finest bandstands in town. // Both members of other Kansas City bands (Konza Swamp, Little Miss Dynamite, CatGut, Whiskey Mash) the duo was forged in the rich musical melting pot of the Rural Grit Happy Hour in KC’s Crossroads Arts District. With a focus on vocal melody and harmony, their songs sound as if they had been unearthed with the patina of decades in the songbook of Americana.Together they seek the time and means to provide a genuine and meaningful musical experience to their audiences. // Recording Engineer: Danny McGaw, Northern Sky Recording, Overland Park, KS. Mixed and Mastered: Clarke Wyatt, Gnomes and Goats Studio, KCMO]

[Beth & Brandon play Hammer’s Piano Bar, 3901 Main Street, KCMO on Wednesday, October 1 at 7:00pm. // Beth & Brandon play Tall Trellis Brew Co, 25600 W. Valley Pkwy, Olathe on Thursday, October 2 at 6:00pm. // Beth & Brandon play First Friday at Folk Alliance International Headquarters, 2018 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City on Friday, October 3 at 6:00pm. More information at: bethandbrandonmusic.com]

11:45 – More Interview with Beth Watts Nelson & Brandon Day

Beth Watts Nelson & Brandon Day who recently released the EP Wahtucna Waltz. Beth & Brandon combine their classical, folk, jazz and choral music backgrounds to create a modern perspective on a vintage sound. With a focus on vocal melody and harmony, their songs sound as if they had been unearthed with the patina of decades in the songbook of Americana. An array of instruments pass between the hands of the duo to bring award-winning original and standard tunes to life. // Beth & Brandon play Hammer’s Piano Bar, 3901 Main Street, KCMO on Wednesday, October 1 at 7:00pm. // Beth & Brandon play Tall Trellis Brew Co, 25600 W. Valley Pkwy, Olathe on Thursday, October 2 at 6:00pm. // Beth & Brandon play First Friday at Folk Alliance International Headquarters, 2018 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City on Friday, October 3 at 6:00pm. More information at: bethandbrandonmusic.com

Beth Watts Nelson & Brandon Day, thanks for being with us on WMM

She is now the founder and director of Notorious Chorus – a community-based, group singing workshop for adults.

In addition to solo & duo performances, Beth can be heard in projects throughout KC metro including Konza Swamp Band, CATGUT, and her latest endeavor, Little Miss Dynamite.

Little Miss Dynamite released their debut six-song EP of original music featuring stringed instruments and vocal harmony titled “Grow Up”. The band’s spark was ignited when KC singer, songwriter and music educator, Beth Watts Nelson and co-founder, Caleb Gardner (both of Konza Swamp Band) joined up to sing harmonies together in the garage. The addition of long-time friend and fiddler extraordinaire, Betse Ellis (The Wilders) and the inspired playing of Brandon Day (The Matchsellers) on bass.

Production: Rural Grit Records, 2024 Beth Watts Nelson (ASCAP). Musicians and Instrumentation: Beth Watts Nelson – guitar, banjo, lead vocals; Caleb Gardner – guitar, mandolin, lead vocals; Betse Ellis – fiddle, harmony vocals; Brandon Day – bass, harmony vocals. Engineered and Mixed by Clarke Wyatt, Gnomes and Goats Studio. Album Art by Grady Keller, Mound Creative, All songs written by Beth Watts Nelson except “Circle the Drain” by Caleb Gardner

Little Miss Dynamite played the 21st Annual Crossroads Music Fest, Saturday, September 6, 3:00pm to Midnight, in West Bottoms at Lemonade Park, Stockyards Brewing,

Beth & Brandon played the KKFI Band Auction

Beth & Brandon’s Show Schedule

Wednesday, October 1 @ 7:00PM – Beth and Brandon @ Hammer’s Piano Bar – KCMO

Thursday, October 2 @ 6:00PM — 8:00PM – Beth and Brandon @ Tall Trellis – Olathe

Friday, October 3 @ 6:00PM Beth and Brandon @ First Friday @ FAI Headquarters
Folk Alliance International, Kansas City

Saturday, October 11 @ 11:00AM — 12:00PM – Harvest Festival – Independence Boulevard Christian Church, Kansas City

Tuesday, Oct. 21 @ 7:00PM Beth and Brandon @ LX Loft Shows – LX Loft Shows, Cuba,

Wednesday, October 22 – Beth and Brandon @ Village Wine Songwriter Night – Village Wine & Spirits, Effingham, IL

Thursday, October 23 — Sunday, October 26 – Beth and Brandon @ FARM – Folk Alliance Region Midwest, Lisle, IL

Sunday, Oct. 26 @ 7:00PM – Beth and Brandon @ House Concert -= TP House, Gurnee, IL

Monday, October 27 @ 7:00PM – Beth and Brandon @ Arriba Rooftop Jam – Arriba Rooftop, Chicago, IL

Wednesday, October 29 @ 7:00PM – Beth and Brandon @ Evangeline’s St Louis – Evangeline’s Bistro and Music House, St Louis, MO

Wednesday, October 29 @ 7:00PM – Beth and Brandon @ Shaved Duck Smokehouse – Shaved Duck Smokehouse, St Louis, MO

Tuesday, Nov. 4 @ 6:00PM – Beth and Brandon @ KC Current – CPKC Stadium, KCMO

Wednesday, November 5 @ 7:00PM – Beth and Brandon @ Live Recording Kansas City

Thursday, November 6 @ 6:00PM — 8:00PM – Beth and Brandon @ Tall Trellis – Olathe

Friday, November 28 @ 7:00PM – Beth and Brandon @ Luminary Walk – Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, Bucyrus, KS

Thursday, December 4 @ 6:00PM — 8:00PM – Beth and Brandon @ Tall Trellis – Olathe

Sunday, December 7 @ 3:00PM – LMD @ Stockyards – Stockyards Brewing Co, KCMO

Tuesday, December 30 @ 7:00PM – Waldo Folk John Hartford Birthday Bash
Waldo Pizza, Kansas City

Wednesday, January 21, 2026 — Sunday, January 25, 2026 – Beth and Brandon @ FAI New Orleans – New Orleans, LA

Friday, February 6, 2026 @ 3:00PM – Beth and Brandon @ Force of Nature – Force of Nature Brewing, De Soto, KS

Beth Watts Nelson and Brandon May, thanks for being with us on WMM

Beth & Brandon play Hammer’s Piano Bar, 3901 Main Street, KCMO on Wednesday, October 1 at 7:00pm. // Beth & Brandon play Tall Trellis Brew Co, 25600 W. Valley Pkwy, Olathe on Thursday, October 2 at 6:00pm. // Beth & Brandon play First Friday at Folk Alliance International Headquarters, 2018 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City on Friday, October 3 at 6:00pm. More information at: bethandbrandonmusic.com

For WMM, I’m Mark Manning. Thanks for listening.

11:53:00

1. Beth Watts Nelson & Brandon Day – “Winter Rain”
   from: Wahtucna Waltz EP / Rural Grit Records / July 11, 2025
   [Beth Watts Nelson is an award-winning Kansas City based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and lifelong student of music. Building upon a twenty year career in music education she is now the founder and director of Notorious Chorus – a community-based, group singing workshop for adults. In addition to solo and duo performances, she can be heard in several projects throughout the KC metro including Konza Swamp Band, CATGUT, and her 4 piece string band Little Miss Dynamite with Beth Watts Nelson on lead vocals & banjo, Betse Ellis (of The Wilders, Betse & Clarke) on fiddle, Brandon Day (of The Matchsellers) on bass, and Caleb Gardner (of Konza Swamp) on mandolin, guitar & vocals. // Brandon Day attended Olympic College outside of Seattle, working extensively with budding jazz vocalists and small groups. His passion for helping others sound the best they can has lead him through many genres, including jazz, bluegrass, country and western, folk, Americana, classical, and all sorts of fusions. While primarily an upright bassist on call with many jazz vocalists and bluegrass groups in the greater Kansas City Metro, Brandon is also known to sing and play other instruments when needed, including guitar, violin/fiddle and electric bass. He maintains an active performance schedule throughout the year with the bluegrass group The Matchsellers, and Little Miss Dynamite, and with Beth Watts Nelson and teaching students and small groups at Farm School KC, in addition to filling every weekend with guest spots on many of the finest bandstands in town. // Both members of other Kansas City bands (Konza Swamp, Little Miss Dynamite, CatGut, Whiskey Mash) the duo was forged in the rich musical melting pot of the Rural Grit Happy Hour in KC’s Crossroads Arts District. With a focus on vocal melody and harmony, their songs sound as if they had been unearthed with the patina of decades in the songbook of Americana.Together they seek the time and means to provide a genuine and meaningful musical experience to their audiences. // Recording Engineer: Danny McGaw, Northern Sky Recording, Overland Park, KS. Mixed and Mastered: Clarke Wyatt, Gnomes and Goats Studio, KCMO]

[Beth & Brandon play Hammer’s Piano Bar, 3901 Main Street, KCMO on Wednesday, October 1 at 7:00pm. // Beth & Brandon play Tall Trellis Brew Co, 25600 W. Valley Pkwy, Olathe on Thursday, October 2 at 6:00pm. // Beth & Brandon play First Friday at Folk Alliance International Headquarters, 2018 Baltimore Ave, Kansas City on Friday, October 3 at 6:00pm. More information at: bethandbrandonmusic.com]

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

Next week on Wednesday, October 8, we’ll talk with musical genius Ty Faison formerly of Blackstarkids who returns to WMM to share music from his solo debut album UNTIL THE WAR IS WON. ALSO Margo May, Jared Bond and Tim York with all play live in our 90.1 FM Studios. AND FlarethaRebel returns to WMM.

Stay tuned at 12:00 Noon for “Music to Make You Wiggle” with Steve Stemmerman at 2:00pm it’s Jazz Afternoon with Jeff Harshbarger. At 4:00pm we bring you, Dub’s Groove with Warren, at 6:00pm it’s: ON AIR with Nikki Brooks. At 7:00pm it’s VOICES OF KANSAS CITY brought to you by The Kansas City Star and 90.1 FM KKFI.

You can find our playlists at: http://www.wednesdaymiddaymedley.org & http://www.kkfi.org
http://www.facebook.com/WednesdayMidDayMedleyon90.1FM
http://www.instagram.wednesday_midday_medley http://www.bandcamp.com/wednesdaymiddaymedley

A really big THANK YOU to every one of you who donated during Wednesday MidDay Medley and our Summer Fund Drive for KKFI 90.1 FM. We had 47 individuals donate a total of $3529.00 in support of Community Radio. Special thanks go to my co-hosts and guests: Betse Ellis, Mikal Shapiro, Sandra Draper, Steve Tulipana and Lincoln Dreher!!!

Thanks to KKFI Staff: Executive Director – Bess Wallerstein-Huff, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers, Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver. And Shaina Littler – Office Manager Book Keeper

This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. It is a collective spirit of hundreds of people, setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the goal of keeping our airwaves, non-commercial, and open! Thank you to programmers who create content for over 85 locally produced radio shows & volunteers who made extra effort to keep our station alive.

For WMM, I’m Mark Manning. Thanks for listening!

Show #1115

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, September 17, 2025

Nick Carswell & Mix Master Music + Brody Lowe + Fritz Hutchison + Mark Ronning & Iona DeWalt

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. Wednesday – “Pick Up That Knife”
   from: Bleeds / Dead Oceans / September 19, 2025
   [Third single from upcoming album, BLEEDS. Wednesday, the North Carolina rock band led by generational songwriter Karly Hartzman released their breakthrough album, Rat Saw God. The album was one of 2023’s most critically acclaimed releases, landing on year end lists at the New York Times, NPR, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, The Atlantic, The Ringer, The FADER, Paste, Consequence, Stereogum and more. // Wednesday is Karly Hartzman, MJ Lenderman, Xandy Chelmis, Alan Miller, and Ethan Baechtold. // “What makes Wednesday one of the best bands in the world is Hartzman’s songwriting. It’s paradisiacal in a scuzzy way, adaptable to any underbelly in North America and wickedly unafraid of being too truthful or unabashed.” -Paste // “Karly Hartzman’s storytelling remains a beautifully magpie-like collection of little details drawn from memory and observation, woven together into a transcendent indie rock tapestry.” -The AV Club // Rat Saw God released September 8, 2022. It was ij the top 30 of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2024. // // Hartzman was inspired to start playing guitar after watching Mitski’s NPR Tiny Desk concert. Hartzman attended college in Asheville, where she met Daniel Gorham. The two recorded an album together under the moniker Wednesday titled yep definitely. The band’s name was inspired by the British band The Sundays. // After releasing this record, Hartzman formed another band called Diva Sweetly, alongside members of the band Pictures of Vernon. Hartzman was interested in making shoegaze music, which was not the music Diva Sweetly was making. Thus, Hartzman gathered new members to join the Wednesday band and released the second album with the group, titled I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone in 2020. The group released their third record, Twin Plagues, on August 13, 2021.// On March 11, 2022, the band released a covers album titled Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling ’em Up, featuring covers versions of songs by Gary Stewart, Chris Bell, Roger Miller, Drive-By Truckers, Hotline TNT, Greg Sage, Vic Chesnutt, Medicine and The Smashing Pumpkins. On September 8, 2022, the band left Orindal Records and signed to Dead Oceans, releasing the single “Bull Believer”. On January 18, 2023, the band released the single “Chosen to Deserve” and announced a fifth album, Rat Saw God, which was released on April 7, 2023.] [Wednesday played the recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd, KCMO, on Wednesday, May 17, 2025 at 7:00 PM ]

3. Rudy Love & The Encore – “Move Slow”
   from: 11 / Midtopia / July 11, 2025
   [Rudy Love & The Encore is comprised of Rudy Love Jr. (vocals & keys), Marrque
   Nunley (drums), Rachelle Love (percussion), Mariel Jacoda (vocals), Sherdeill (DJ) Breathett (bass), and Willy Simms (guitar). // The band members have played together for most of their lives, and formally introduced the band Rudy Love & The Encore early last year. Rudy Love Jr.’s late father, renowned musician Rudy Love Sr., was a musical mentor to the band members. The band’s name is in honor of Love Sr., based on the idea that this grouping of musicians is Rudy Love Sr.’s legacy — his encore. // In 2023, the band released their debut EP, The Beauty of Burdens, followed quickly by two more singles, “Broken Angel” and “Grey.” They have been busy since the band’s inception, performing and collaborating with Elise Trouw, performing at Black & Loud Fest in Seattle, opening for notable acts like Teddy Swims and The B-52’s, and playing multiple tours across the nation.They traded the hyper-competitive hustle of the Los Angeles show business scene, and are now working together from their hometown of Wichita, Kan. to build a dream they all hold — to make music with people they love, and to share it with the world.]

[Rudy Love & The Encore play the Mix Master Music Fest, Saturday, September 20 at 10:00pm at Northside Social 444 Locust St. Lawrence, KS.]

10:11– Interview with Nick Carswell

Originally from Limerick, Ireland. Nick Carswell has been performing professionally for 25 years, in his native Ireland and across the US Midwest, where he has lived since 2011. His main creative output is as songwriter and frontman for the alt-rock 5 piece, Carswell & Hope. Nick has wide experience with arts & cultural non-profits, community organizing, public art and professional development. Nick is a Creative Industries Specialist for the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, a Senior Artist Leadership Fellow for the Mid-America Arts Alliance’s Artist INC program, and a board member for the Heartland Song Network, Director of the Lawrence Music Alliance, and program manager for the Audio-Reader Network.

Nick Carswell thanks for being with us on WMM.

Nick Carswell joins us to discuss of The Lawrence Music Alliance presents the 12th annual MixMaster Music Conference & Festival, a music community event that brings local artists and music industry professionals from across the region together to share information, learn from each other, and support our music ecosystem.Empowering musicians through collaborative programs and conversations, MXM2025 offers panels, workshops and networking opportunities accessible to all through this independently-organized conference event. The Music Fest line-up includes 6 venues over two nights with more than 25 acts performing all over Lawrence, KS. Plus, a free all ages concert on the library lawn Saturday, September 20, 2025. More info at: http://www.mixmaster2025.com

The Lawrence Music Alliance presents the 12th annual MixMaster Music Conference, a music community event that brings local artists and music industry professionals from across the region together to share information, learn from each other, and support our music ecosystem.

MixMaster 2025 Conference – Friday & Saturday, September 19 & 20, 2025

Presented by the Lawrence Music Alliance, MixMaster2025 is a music conference & fest in Lawrence, Kansas // A music conference in Lawrence Public Library on Sat. Sept 20th with panels, workshops, discussion & networking // Live music showcases on Friday and Saturday feature more than 25 local & regional acts performing in 5 venues across 2 nights of music across Lawrence, KS // A free all ages concert on the library lawn Sat Sept 20.

Saturday Sept 20th, 10am – 3pm: the 12th annual MixMaster Music Conference. Topics include music booking, how to release an album, touring tips, music as mutual aid, production workshops, DJ workshop, and demo dip. In the Lawrence Public Library Main Auditorium, Sound + Vision Studio and Meeting Rooms.​

Through the 2024 Lawrence Music Census we’ve learned much about the needs of our music community in business training, financial support & connectivity. For example, music generates $13M in income locally, with creatives spending an average of $4,435 in the local community. However, gig income is lower than comparative studies, at $101 per gig. Only 1 in 4 music community members has received any financial support for music.

Lawrence creatives surveyed perform more than 9,600 gigs outside of Lawrence, yet 60% of respondents indicated the need for music export funding or tour support. More than 6,500 live events happen in Lawrence each year, yet 82% of respondents need audience development tools, while 57% desire a place to connect with music industry services. 52% of creatives seek audio/video/production training.

MixMaster 2025 Conference – Saturday, September 20, 2025

10:00am – Conference Registration – Lawrence Public Library Auditorium

10:15 – Panel: Lawrence Venue Roundup – Lawrence Public Library Auditorium
Learn how to book gigs and partner with your music venues for gig success!

11:15 – Mastering the Merch Stand – Lawrence Public Library Auditorium
The merch stand can make or break your gig, tour or album release. Learn how to maximize and expand your merch offerings.

11:15 – Studio Tours – Sound + Vision Studios – Lawrence Public Library
Learn about recording, podcasting & production facilities available to all patrons of LPL

12:00 – On the Road: Touring – Lawrence Public Library Auditorium
Panel discussion sharing tips to book, manage and achieve success on tour.

12:00 – Outlasting the Algorithm: A DJ workshop with Jon Sabillon – Meeting Room A
DJ workshop with Jon Sabillon, diving into DJ principles, technology and sharing projects that expand who can DJ and how

12:00 – Studio Workshop: Using the Library’s Synths – Sound + Vision Studios
Studio Specialist Matt Pelsma will demonstrate a typical recording setup using the library’s collection of synthesizers.

01:00 – Make Your Release an Event- Lawrence Public Library Auditorium
This panel discusses how to make the most of your album or music release, capitalizing on media, fan engagement and gigs.

01:00- Music for Mutual Aid – Meeting Room A
Music as Mutual Aid will focus on the role artists and music industry workers can play in today’s challenging political climate.

01:00 – Capturing Live In-studio Performances – Sound + Vision Studio
Learn about how to make the best of out live in-studio performances or how to create your own, with examples from Kansas Public Radio and KJHK.

02:00 – Demo Dip – Lawrence Public Library Auditorium
Submit your unreleased demo for live feedback from a panel of industry experts.

MixMaster2025 is a project of the Lawrence Music Alliance, a non-profit that uses the framework of music ecosystem development to engage the music community, advocate on behalf of musicians and creatives, and act as a vital intermediary between the creative economy and the city of Lawrence, KS.

Live music all across Lawrence: 25+ acts performing in 5 venues across Lawrence showcasing the best in local & regional talent. All genres, colors, shapes and sizes. Plus, a free all-ages outdoor concert on the lawn of Lawrence Public Library. Full weekend wristbands and individual day passes available.

The live music showcases take place at multiple venues around Lawrence, including the Replay Lounge, Lucia, Eighth St Taproom, Northside Social on Friday Sept 19 and Saturday Sept 20. A special free all-ages concert is taking place on the Lawrence Public Library lawn on Saturday Sept 20 from 4pm.

MXM Music Conference FRIDAY SEPT 19

LUCIA:
Tommy Johnson, Paxton Harvey, Eddie Moore

REPLAY:
Kahlulee, Dylan Guthrie, Frankie Shorez, Bed Self Portraits, Zee Underscore, RAP Veterans

Tap Room:
Kat King, The Whips

Northside:
Blood & Velvet, Hello Biplane

MXM Music Conference SATURDAY SEPT 20

Library Lawn:
River City Rock Camp Showcase, Jon Sabillon, VCMN, INDRA, The Roseline, LYXE

REPLAY:
Cheery, Corners of The Sky, Social Cinema

Tap Room:
Foxlin, Teri Quinn, True Lions

LUCIA:
Son Venezuela

Northside:
Jackson Reed, Malek Azrael, Rudy Love and The Encore

PARTNERS
City of Lawrence, KS
Community Solutions Grant
Blue Collar Press
Kansas Public Radio
KKFI 90.1FM
KJHK 90.7FM
Heartland Song Network

MixMaster2025 is a project of the Lawrence Music Alliance, a non-profit that uses the framework of music ecosystem development to engage the music community, advocate on behalf of musicians and creatives, and act as a vital intermediary between the creative economy and the city of Lawrence, KS. Through our collaborative efforts with the city, we aim to promote and support the live music industry and ensure that Lawrence is recognized as a premier destination for music lovers everywhere.

The MixMaster Music Conference is an annual event dedicated to empowering individuals in the music industry. By bringing together musicians, industry professionals, and aspiring entrepreneurs, MixMaster provides a platform for networking, knowledge sharing, and career development. The conference is a program of the Lawrence Music Alliance and supported by the City of Lawrence, Kansas, Mid-America Arts Alliance, and the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission. For information, please visit MixMaster2025.com.

Nick Carswell thanks for being with us on WMM.

Tickets are available through Eventbrite at http://mixmaster2025.eventbrite.com

10:29

4. Zee Underscore – “You Dont Deserve Me (Radio Edit)”
   from: You Don’t Deserve Me (Radio Edit) – Single / Underscore Form / August 8, 2024
   [One of two new singles Zee Underscore has released so far this year. Zee Underscore released her critically acclaimed debut EP, The Zee Underscore Experience on June 15, 2024. Zee Underscore is one of 5 children in her family. Zee Underscore studied at The School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) in Cincinnati, Ohio, where her confidence and talent flourished, sparking a deep passion for music creation and supporting artists of diverse backgrounds. Zee completed a five-year electrical engineering program at The University of Cincinnati, and her work in electrical engineering led her to Kansas City. // Zee is co-founder of ZNTL Enterprises. Through this work she emcees and produces outdoor stage shows at First Friday’s in the West Crossroads. // Zee embodies the spirit of dreaming without limits, juggling roles as a singer, songwriter, recording artist, emcee, event coordinator, entrepreneur, and mentor while also working full time as an electrical engineer. // Zee moved to KC to work in engineering, which brought you out to KC, which helped her find herself and rediscover your love for the arts. Family members would give Zee beats and she would write songs to them. Zee’s band includes: Alex Chase, Jade Harvey, Stephen Bond who helped Zee translate her songs to live instruments. More info at: http://www.linktr.ee/Zeebee.notes%5D

[Zee_Underscore plays the Mix Master Music Fest, Friday, September 19 at Replay.]

10:33 – Underwriting

10:33 – Underwriting

5. Brody Lowe – “Flash Bomb”
   from: Flash Bomb / The Basement Arcade / July 25, 2025
   [First single from upcoming album Draculover. To be released September 19, 2025. Brody Lowe moved to Kansas City from Portland, in 2019 and met Jeremiah James Gonzalez of Redder Moom where Brody contributed to the releases: Land of The Blind and Hell is Other People. Brody quickly found his place in reviving the layered synths and dance undertones of the moody, mostly instrumental music. Lowe is a quiet presence behind a large scope of music videos, album art, and other creative content, his music ranging from video game scores and band collaborations to his solo project, Loqsa.]

10:38 – Interview with Brody Lowe

We just heard Flash Bomb the first single from upcoming album Draculover. To be released September 19, 2025. Brody Lowe moved to Kansas City from Portland, in 2019 and met Jeremiah James Gonzalez of Redder Moon where Brody contributed to the releases: Land of The Blind and Hell is Other People. Brody quickly found his place in reviving the layered synths and dance undertones of the moody, mostly instrumental music. Brody Lowe released Maul (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) on March 3, 2023. Brody Lowe released the 8-track album Cicadaville on May 18, 2021Lowe is a quiet presence behind a large scope of music videos, album art, and other creative content, his music ranging from video game scores and band collaborations to his solo project, Loqsa.

Brody Lowe, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Brody Lowe moved to Kansas City from Portland, in 2019

After moving to KC he met Jeremiah James Gonzalez of Redder Moom where Brody contributed to the releases: Land of The Blind and Hell is Other People.

Brody quickly found his place in reviving the layered synths and dance undertones of the moody, mostly instrumental music.

Brody Lowe released Maul (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) on March 3, 2023

Brody Lowe released the 8-track album Cicadaville on May 18, 2021

Brody Lowe released his debut EP Sea Monsters of the Pacific on February 15, 2018

Lowe is a quiet presence behind a large scope of music videos, album art, and other creative content, his music ranging from video game scores and band collaborations to his solo project, Loqsa.

Keyboards Keyboards Keyboards

Brody Lowe, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

10:54

6. Brody Lowe – “Draculover”
   from: Draculover / The Basement Arcade / September 19, 2025
   [Brody Lowe moved to Kansas City from Portland, in 2019 and met Jeremiah James Gonzalez of Redder Moom where Brody contributed to the releases: Land of The Blind and Hell is Other People. Brody quickly found his place in reviving the layered synths and dance undertones of the moody, mostly instrumental music. Lowe is a quiet presence behind a large scope of music videos, album art, and other creative content, his music ranging from video game scores and band collaborations to his solo project, Loqsa.]

7. Curtis Harding – “The Power – Radio Edit”
   from: Departures & Arrivals: Adventures of Captain Curt / Anti / September 5, 2025
   [Curtis Harding – “making some of the best modern soul music out right now” (Uproxx) – has returned today with his first new music in four years. Following collaborations in recent years with RÜFÜS DU SOL and Jazmine Sullivan, the catchy new song “There She Goes” is accompanied by a new music video by Italian director Michele Civetta; taking place in an opulent Beverly Hills Garden with a sinister Twilight Zone-esque secret and featuring actor Omar Dorsey (Selma, Queen Sugar) who is a recurring presence in Harding’s music videos, watch it below. // Curtis Harding is an American soul singer, born in Saginaw, Michigan. Raised as a Mennonite, Harding’s family had no home until they settled in Atlanta, Georgia, when he was 14. Harding’s father, a mechanic, and his mother Dorothy, a gospel singer, took Harding and his five siblings around the United States in a van, stopping at churches. While his mother performed, Harding grew up playing music, though he originally wanted to play professional sports. In the early 2000s, Harding was part of the hip-hop group Proseed. He rapped on and co-wrote CeeLo Green’s 2002 album Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections along with several Proseed members. He toured with Green as a backing singer on the Smokin’ Grooves Tour in 2002 alongside Outkast, Cypress Hill, Lauryn Hill, and The Roots. Harding spent time working with groups in Atlanta before moving to Toronto for a year. A year later, he “came back to record with some friends in my living room.” From these sessions came his debut album, Soul Power, on the indie label Burger Records, released May 6, 2014. He spent two weeks recording the album. Randy Michael composed the music on the single “Keep on Shining”, and Jason Reynolds co-wrote “Heaven’s on the Other Side” with Harding.He formed the band Night Sun with two Black Lips members, guitarist Cole Alexander and drummer Joe Bradley. His second album, Face Your Fear, was recorded at Danger Mouse’s 30th Century Studio in New York City. “Wednesday Morning Atonement” is the opening single. Harding describes his genre as “slop ‘n’ soul”, a combination of gospel, punk, psych rock, and blues. He has said that his influences include Albert King, the Everly Brothers, and Ronnie Dyson.]

11:00 – Station ID

8. Fritz & Sons – “I’m a Goner!”
   from: Sprinkler Man – I’m a Goner! – Single / Manor Recpords / July 17, 2025
   [Fritz and Sons is Fritz Hutchison on drums, vocals, banjo, songwriting, engineering & mixing; Zachary Arias on electric guitar; Carly Atwood on upright bass; Alison Hawkins on fiddle; and Marco Pascolini on pedal steel, lap steel. Hailing from Kansas City, Fritz and Sons bring a rhythm-forward take on country music blending influences from Ozark old-time, Louisiana honky tonk, the gritty funk of Levon Helm and the cosmic tenderness of Micheal Hurley. “I’m a Goner!” is built around “Goner,” a traditional fiddle tune. More info at: http://www.fritzandsons.bandcamp.com]

11:04 – Interview with Fritz Hutchison

Fritz Hutchison is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter based in Kansas City. Fritz was born May 27, 1991. Fritz landed in the KC Music Community in 2008 gaining notice as part of the critically acclaimed band, She’s a Keeper where he played drums. Fritz played for several years with Grand Marquis, and for a while was part of the band Freight Train Rabbit Killer. Fritz has also played lived with multiple bands and performers including Krystle Warren, Calvin Arsenia, Miki P, J Ashley Miller, Lauren Krum, and others. He released his debut album, Wide Wild Acres in March 2020 on Center Cut Records, receiving positive reviews in the US, Australia, the UK and the Netherlands. His second solo album, MOVIE NIGHT was released on April, 15, 2022 through Manor Records. With his partner Alison Hawkins he has played as a guitarist with the ever evolving genre defying band True Lions, where Fritz has also released a split cassette release of his solo work on one side and True Lions songs on the other. With True Lions he also released Cold Gravy Bowl and MidCoast LIVE! Fritz has also released a series of sweet and sad country singles “All the Way From Here (Happy Holidays)” in January 2021 and the unhinged rock rave-up “Zack Attack!” in March 2022, and “Doug Died” in July of 2024.

Fritz Hutchison joins us to share details about the new recordings of Fritz and Sons, his newest band who released the single tracks: “Sprinkler Man” and “I’m a Goner!” on July 17, 2025. Fritz and Sons is Fritz Hutchison on drums, vocals, banjo, songwriting, engineering & mixing; Zachary Arias on electric guitar; Carly Atwood on upright bass; Alison Hawkins on fiddle; and Marco Pascolini on pedal steel, lap steel. Hailing from Kansas City, Fritz and Sons bring a rhythm-forward take on country music blending influences from Ozark old-time, Louisiana honky tonk, the gritty funk of Levon Helm and the cosmic tenderness of Micheal Hurley. More info at: http://www.fritzandsons.bandcamp.com

Fritz Hutchison thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley.

Fritz and Sons are, for lack of a more nuanced determination, a country band. Led by Fritz Hutchison at the drums, joined by members of True Lions, Polymer Mercies, and the Poor Choices, the Sons bring a rhythm-forward take on country music blending influences from Ozark old-time, Louisiana honky tonk, the gritty funk of Levon Helm and the cosmic tenderness of Micheal Hurley. You can find them touring the region and taking their sweet time cooking up material for their upcoming debut record.

The sons are:
Fritz Hutchison – drums and vocals
Zac Arias – guitar
Carly Atwood – bass
Alison Hawkins – fiddle, keys, vocals
Marco Pascolini – pedal steel and lap steel

Fritz Hutchison is a multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter who has been recording and performing in the Midwest music scene for the past 15 years. His music is a humorous and poetic exploration of everyday life and relationships, blending influences from both Jazz and Folk traditions into a spicy flavor of Rock and Roll. In March 2020, he released his debut solo album Wide Wild Acres on Center Cut Records, to local and international acclaim.

Fritz Hutchison, leader of the band Fritz and Sons, knows his way around the Kansas City music scene. The multi-instrumental singer-songwriter said his “hunger” for music led him to be versatile. Fritz Hutchison plays piano, guitar, bass and other instruments, and makes music under his own name as well. It’s given him the opportunity to play with multiple bands across multiple genres in Kansas City.

Fritz Hutchison told KCUR’s spotlight for Kansas City that he got a drum set at 12 years old, he was hooked. As a kid who was into extreme sports and wanted to be a stunt man, Hutchison says drums offered a release. “I just wanted the extreme kind of adrenaline experience. And the drums are loud and aggressive, and you have to, like, keep playing them endlessly,” Hutchison said. “You have to physically engage with every moment of music that is happening. And I think that I just, like, responded to that level of engagement, and also just it being very loud and aggressive sounding.”

In an interview with KJHK Fritz was asked, What’s your creative process like? What do you do to write a song? Fritz responded: “It’s very slow. I try to write a lot and most of the ideas are bad, but a lot of times there’s a little nugget of something good. … I save up all these scraps and it can take a while for them to come together… I also like to play different instruments. I’ll come up with a chord progression on a guitar and get kind of stuck and don’t know where to go with it. Then I’ll try it on piano instead and my hands will just do something different… So, I try to jump around on different instruments.”

Fritz Hutchison thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley.

Fritz and Sons released the single tracks: “Sprinkler Man” and “I’m a Goner!” on July 17, 2025.

11:22

9. Fritz & Sons – “Sprinkler Man”
   from: Sprinkler Man – I’m a Goner! – Single / Manor Recpords / July 17, 2025
   [Fritz and Sons is Fritz Hutchison on drums, vocals, banjo, songwriting, engineering & mixing; Zachary Arias on electric guitar; Carly Atwood on upright bass; Alison Hawkins on fiddle; and Marco Pascolini on pedal steel, lap steel. Hailing from Kansas City, Fritz and Sons bring a rhythm-forward take on country music blending influences from Ozark old-time, Louisiana honky tonk, the gritty funk of Levon Helm and the cosmic tenderness of Micheal Hurley. “I’m a Goner!” is built around “Goner,” a traditional fiddle tune. More info at: http://www.fritzandsons.bandcamp.com]

11:25 – Underwriting

10. Pool Culture – “Birds Like These”
    from: “Birds Like These” – Single / Les Bonbons Electriques / July 25, 2025
    [Les Bonbons Electriques, an imprint of The Record Machine. “Birds Like These is the first of three new songs that Pool Culture, is putting out over the next three months leading up to Their first EP, PURE LEMON. The second single “Mathletes”, will be released on August 22, 2025 and the band’s third single “Finish Line”, will be released on September 19, 2025. // Pool Culture released their single “brighter lighter” on April 20, 2018, with music and lyrics and production by Mark Ronning. all instruments and vocals by Mark Ronning. mixed by Reid Kruger at Waterbury recording. // Mark Ronning is a musician who specializes in the synthesizer, playing Rhodes and synth in the electrofolk band Mr. Golden Sun and synth in the electronic dreampop four-piece Pool Culture. Mr. Golden Sun is wrapping up their first full length record, and Pool Culture is going into the studio this October and November to work on their first full band releases. Additionally, Mark plays the modular synthesizer and participates in KC Synth Collective, coordinates electronic performance events for his pop-up show Les Bonbons Electriques, and helps out with Outer Reaches. In collaboration with Nathan Reusch, Mark is also starting a record label called Les Bonbons Electriques, which is an imprint of The Record Machine, which will focus on artistry, experimentation, and electronic music. ]

[Pool Culture plays miniBar, Wednesday, September 17, at 7:00pm with Ryder The Eagle, and Prototones.]

10:31 – Interview with Mark Ronning & Iona Dewalt

Mark Ronning joins us to talk about the new release from his band Pool Culture. “Pure Lemon”, the band’s first EP, comes out on Friday, October 17, 2025, and it will be released on the record label Les Bonbons Electriques, an imprint of The Record Machine. Pool Culture is an electronic dream pop band from Kansas City, MO. Through distorted synthesizers, overdriven found-sound samples, and glitched-out electronics, the four-piece puts an electronic twist inside a rock band, removing guitars and substituting them with synths. The band draws on 90s IDM, trip hop, and shoegaze influences, imbuing their synthesizers with the sonic characteristics of busted equipment: filters, overdrives, distortion, and modulation hybridize low and high fidelity instrumentation. This sound, coupled with live bass and drums, captures the dynamic scope of a rock band but with electronic production in a pop package. Blooming beneath dreamy vocals, Pool Culture creates an emotional landscape populated with hope, desperation, love, and doubt, glistening within a vibrant ecosystem of sounds. Pool Culture plays miniBar, Wednesday, September 17, at 7:00pm with Ryder The Eagle, and Prototones.

Mark Ronning thanks for being with us on WMM

Iona DeWalt is a 27-year old Kansas City-native musician and composer, whom is classically trained and studied cello performance at William Jewell College under the direction of Dana Woolard-Hughlett. At the college, she performed in a number of ensembles, including Liberty Symphony, the Jewell String Quartet, and jazz band. She has played for several musicals, such as Into the Woods at Missouri Theatre Heritage and Spring Awakening at Missouri Western. She also participated in the 2017 Missouri All-Collegiate Orchestra, and is a member of the Midwest Chamber Ensemble. Iona Dewalt plays synthesizers in Pool Culture and also performs as a solo artist and with the band Pink Phase who released the EP Wave in January of 2023.

Iona DeWalt thanks for being with us on WMM

Pool Culture is an electronic dream pop band from Kansas City, MO. Through distorted synthesizers, overdriven found-sound samples, and glitched-out electronics, the four-piece puts an electronic twist inside a rock band, removing guitars and substituting them with synths. The band draws on 90s IDM, trip hop, and shoegaze influences, imbuing their synthesizers with the sonic characteristics of busted equipment: filters, overdrives, distortion, and modulation hybridize low and high fidelity instrumentation. This sound, coupled with live bass and drums, captures the dynamic scope of a rock band but with electronic production in a pop package. Blooming beneath dreamy vocals, Pool Culture creates an emotional landscape populated with hope, desperation, love, and doubt, glistening within a vibrant ecosystem of sounds.

The band started as a solo project for Mark Ronning after he graduated from college in 2017, but it grew into an earnest project when it became a full band in 2023, with Jeff McCreary on bass guitar, Kody Krause on drums, Iona DeWalt on synth, and Mark Ronning on vocals and synthesizer. Now, in 2025, Pool Culture features Sean Logan on drums, and they are promoting their upcoming EP “Pure Lemon” with a stint of small tours, beginning this weekend. They’ve released two singles so far, and the third comes out Friday, September 19th.

“Pure Lemon”, the band’s first EP, comes out on Friday, October 17th, and it will be released on the record label Les Bonbons Electriques, an imprint of The Record Machine.

Bird Like These is the first single from Pool Culture’s upcoming EP Pure Lemon. The track evokes both 90s IDM in its dreamy, nostalgic pads as well as 70s psych rock through its dense layers of shimmering lead lines. In their first single, Pool Culture explore a balance of feelings, spanning euphoria to dread, trying to make sense of that spectrum. But they do that in a pop package, complete with sparkling vocals, glistening synthesizers, syrupy leads, and a hypnotizing linear drum pattern.

Birds Like These was the first track we wrote together as a full band. It arose so organically: Iona started playing the progression on her Korg Minilogue with thick, VHS-like synth pad. Kody’s linear drum part appeared almost instantaneously as well. This was the perfect foundation for Mark’s sparkly sawtooth chords that sat above the track. The song evolved over a few sessions, and there was originally a key change after the second chorus. However, that was dumped, but we still liked how the final outro sounded in the key of C minor, so the transition into the outro required some sort of key change, which Iona provided. Mark took inspiration from Jeff’s bass melody for the outo’s vocal melody and added some harmonies and 70s Moog-style leads to flesh out the sonic midrange above Iona’s arpeggiator. This track showcases how inspiring it is to create music with one another and how effortless it can feel when everyone is listening and responding to each other’s ideas.

Birds like these – lyrics
They flood an otherwise
empty heaven
This cloud of starlings
Press against its phantom center of

Birds like these
Birds like these

Hate to say my head’s cracked
by a decade of iron ruin
But it’s Easter season
Is it a womb or a tomb? But there’s

Birds like these
Birds like these

Past three blocks of porch lights outside
And the shimmering headlights of motorbikes
But why does my head hang low like
My spirit’s propped against my insides?

In the dark of this night
I raise my hand to this neon sign
That stands at twice my height
Warms my ears, dries my eyes
Say a prayer, second sight
Gloves are off, laces tied
No star can outshine
Its final spark when it dies

released July 25, 2025
Produced by Pool Culture
Written by Pool Culture
Lyrics by Mark Ronning

Pool Culture is Mark Ronning (vocals, synthesizer), Iona DeWalt (synthesizer), Jeff McCreary (bass), and Kody Krause (drums).

Mixed and mastered by Stephen Sesso at Blue Canyon Recording Studios.
Album artwork by Claire Monroe.
Licensed to Les Bonbons Electriques, an imprint of The Record Machine.

11:39

11. Pool Culture – “Mathletes”
    from: “Mathletes” – Single / Les Bonbons Electriques / August 22, 2025
    [Les Bonbons Electriques, an imprint of The Record Machine. This is from the band’s first EP, PURE LEMON. The second single “Mathletes,” was released on August 22, 2025 and the band’s third single “Finish Line”, will be released on September 19, 2025. // Pool Culture released their single “brighter lighter” on April 20, 2018, with music and lyrics and production by Mark Ronning. all instruments and vocals by Mark Ronning. mixed by Reid Kruger at Waterbury recording. // Mark Ronning is a musician who specializes in the synthesizer, playing Rhodes and synth in the electrofolk band Mr. Golden Sun and synth in the electronic dreampop four-piece Pool Culture. Mr. Golden Sun is wrapping up their first full length record, and Pool Culture is going into the studio this October and November to work on their first full band releases. Additionally, Mark plays the modular synthesizer and participates in KC Synth Collective, coordinates electronic performance events for his pop-up show Les Bonbons Electriques, and helps out with Outer Reaches. In collaboration with Nathan Reusch, Mark is also starting a record label called Les Bonbons Electriques, which is an imprint of The Record Machine, which will focus on artistry, experimentation, and electronic music. ]

[Pool Culture plays miniBar, Wednesday, Sept.17, at 7:00pm with Ryder The Eagle, and Prototones.]

11:44 – More Interview with Mark Ronning & Iona Dewalt

Mark Ronning joins us to talk about the new release from his band Pool Culture. “Pure Lemon”, the band’s first EP, comes out on Friday, October 17, 2025, and it will be released on the record label Les Bonbons Electriques, an imprint of The Record Machine. Pool Culture is an electronic dream pop band from Kansas City, MO. Through distorted synthesizers, overdriven found-sound samples, and glitched-out electronics, the four-piece puts an electronic twist inside a rock band, removing guitars and substituting them with synths. The band draws on 90s IDM, trip hop, and shoegaze influences, imbuing their synthesizers with the sonic characteristics of busted equipment: filters, overdrives, distortion, and modulation hybridize low and high fidelity instrumentation. This sound, coupled with live bass and drums, captures the dynamic scope of a rock band but with electronic production in a pop package. Blooming beneath dreamy vocals, Pool Culture creates an emotional landscape populated with hope, desperation, love, and doubt, glistening within a vibrant ecosystem of sounds. Pool Culture plays miniBar, Wednesday, September 17, at 7:00pm with Ryder The Eagle, and Prototones.

Mark Ronning thanks for being with us on WMM

Iona DeWalt is a 27-year old Kansas City-native musician and composer, whom is classically trained and studied cello performance at William Jewell College under the direction of Dana Woolard-Hughlett. At the college, she performed in a number of ensembles, including Liberty Symphony, the Jewell String Quartet, and jazz band. She has played for several musicals, such as Into the Woods at Musical Theatre Heritage and Spring Awakening at Missouri Western. She also participated in the 2017 Missouri All-Collegiate Orchestra, and is a member of the Midwest Chamber Ensemble. Iona Dewalt plays synthesizers in Pool Culture and also performs as a solo artist and with the band Pink Phase who released the EP Wave in January of 2023.

Iona DeWalt thanks for being with us on WMM

“Mathletes” is the latest single from the electronic dream pop band Pool Culture. The track is melancholy, evoking a rainy afternoon which builds musically into a full storm. Beneath the lyrical narrative of a missed connection, the song evolves from ambient synths and voices into shoegazey choruses and outros, climaxing with modulating sawtooth pads, gliding pulse leads, and snapping granular synths. “Mathletes” captures the pain of putting your faith in something even while it’s slipping away.

lyrics
You wore your medal around your shoulders
Your brand new devil, your good adviser
In your winning, a beginning
As if forgotten or forgiven

But meeting you was easy
As eating breakfast or buying groceries
Or walking to the movies
Every evening

I was waiting at my window
With no bad weather to excuse
Your knock never reaching my door
Your feet failing to cross my floor

But I’ve my garden to watch over
And no thumb can snuff the sun
There’s a highway above your shoulder
That poor devil

Famous as the rain was your blue ribbon
And your racing shoes
I was in between life and living
When I found you

Lining up like athletes between the tape and the gun
Forever winning, forever losing, blowing kisses at the sun
Lining up like athletes between the tape and the gun
Forever winning, forever losing, blowing kisses at the sun

Your train came back
I heard it howl
Your my highway
First day on the job

But I wake up to fire
Howling through its hemorrhage
One tear for this century’s
First day on the job

You’re my highway
I turn the airbags off
Christened through the windshield
First day on the job

credits
released August 22, 2025
Produced by Pool Culture
Written by Pool Culture
Lyrics by Mark Ronning

Pool Culture is Mark Ronning (vocals, synthesizer), Iona DeWalt (synthesizer), Jeff McCreary (bass), and Kody Krause (drums).

Mixed and mastered by Stephen Sesso at Blue Canyon Recording Studios.
Album artwork by Claire Monroe.
Licensed to Les Bonbons Electriques, an imprint of The Record Machine.

Mark Ronning and Iona DeWalt thanks for being with us on WMM

[Pool Culture plays miniBar, Wednesday, Sept.17, at 7:00pm with Ryder The Eagle, and Prototones.]

11:52

12. Pool Culture – “Finish Line”
    from: “Finish Line” – Single / Les Bonbons Electriques / September 19, 2025
    [Les Bonbons Electriques, an imprint of The Record Machine. This is from the band’s first EP, PURE LEMON. The second single “Mathletes”, was released on August 22, 2025 and the band’s third single “Finish Line”, will be released on September 19, 2025. // Pool Culture released their single “brighter lighter” on April 20, 2018, with music and lyrics and production by Mark Ronning. all instruments and vocals by Mark Ronning. mixed by Reid Kruger at Waterbury recording. // Mark Ronning is a musician who specializes in the synthesizer, playing Rhodes and synth in the electrofolk band Mr. Golden Sun and synth in the electronic dreampop four-piece Pool Culture. Mr. Golden Sun is wrapping up their first full length record, and Pool Culture is going into the studio this October and November to work on their first full band releases. Additionally, Mark plays the modular synthesizer and participates in KC Synth Collective, coordinates electronic performance events for his pop-up show Les Bonbons Electriques, and helps out with Outer Reaches. In collaboration with Nathan Reusch, Mark is also starting a record label called Les Bonbons Electriques, which is an imprint of The Record Machine, which will focus on artistry, experimentation, and electronic music. ]

[Pool Culture plays miniBar, Wednesday, September 17, at 7:00pm with Ryder The Eagle, and Prototones.]

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

NEXT WEEK, on Wednesday, September 24, Nan Turner joins us with a new single release and upcoming show. Til Willis also joins us, and we’ll play music in honor of the recordBar’s 20th Anniversary Play Loud Fest,

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

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

On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or
STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org

Show #1113