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

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

WMM presents: RADIO-TRANS-MISSION

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. Electric Orchids – “Transmission (2021)”
   from: Plastic Heart (2021 Remix) / Electric Orchids/ May 13, 2021
   [Electric Orchids originally released their first full-length L.P. album, Plastic Heart on May 13, 2016. All Songs 2016 by Electric Orchids, All Rights Reserved. Produced by Electric Orchids. Recorded, mixed and engineered by Matt Mitchell at Mitcholm Castle. Co Produced by John Granger. Additional sounds courtesy of Sven’s Space Place used with permission. http://www.svengrahn.pp.se // Mastered at Landr.com // Cover art by Val Engholm. // The band remixed Plastic Heart for a special release on May 13, 2021. //Electric Orchids is an Indie-Pop band from Kansas City, Mo. // Electric Orchids are: Marc Thomas on drums, Chris Hutchings on bass, Val Engholm on vocals & keyboards. and Matt Mitchell on Guitar.]

3. Hot Chip – “Transmission”
   from: War Child Presents Heroes / Astralwerks / February 16, 2009
   [War Child Presents Heroes is a 2009 charity album devoted to the War Child charity’s aid efforts in war-stricken areas, such as Iraq, Uganda, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. With a theme of “placing faith in the next generation,” the concept of the album is to have music legends select a track from their own canon and nominate an artist from the next generation to create a modern reworking of that song. // The album was recorded over six months in London, Manchester, Paris, Berlin, New York, and Los Angeles, and mastered at Abbey Road Studios in North London. Previous War Child charity albums include The Help Album (1995), 1 Love (2002), Hope (2003) and Help: A Day in the Life (2005). // Hot Chip is an English synthpop band formed in London in 2000. The group consists of multi-instrumentalists Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke, and Felix Martin. They are occasionally joined by former member Rob Smoughton for live performances and studio recordings. The group primarily produces music in the synth-pop and alternative dance genres, drawing influences from house and disco. // Hot Chip began as a bedroom recording project for Taylor and Goddard, who met while students at Elliott School, Putney; their earliest lineup included Smoughton as their drummer. After completing two EPs, Mexico (2001) and San Frandisco (2002), the group released their debut album, Coming on Strong (2004) and added Doyle, Clarke, and Martin to their lineup. The band’s second album, The Warning (2006), was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Their follow-up, Made in the Dark (2008), included the single “Ready for the Floor”, which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. The band have subsequently released the albums One Life Stand (2010), In Our Heads (2012), Why Make Sense? (2015), A Bath Full of Ecstasy (2019), and Freakout/Release (2022). // Outside of Hot Chip, the band members, individually and in partnership with each other, are active in other musical acts and occasionally perform DJ sets. // “Transmission” is a song by English post-punk band Joy Division. Originally recorded in 1978 for the band’s aborted self-titled album, it was later re-recorded the following year at a faster tempo and released by record label Factory as the band’s debut single. // “Transmission” was released on 7″ vinyl on November 16, 1979 by record label Factory. It was re-released as a 12″ single with a different sleeve on 20 February 1981. The single charted twice in New Zealand, debuting at number 2 in September 1981 and re-appearing again at number 24 in July 1984. // The song was performed once by the band on television, for the BBC Something Else programme. Twenty seconds of the song is shown in the movie Control (2007), directed by Anton Corbijn, a film based on the biography of Ian’s wife, Deborah Curtis’s Touching from a Distance. // Greil Marcus has a chapter on this song in his book The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs. According to Marcus, “‘Transmission’ is not an argument. It’s a dramatization of the realization that the act of listening to the radio is a suicidal gesture. It will kill your mind. It will rob your soul.” Marcus also quotes the band’s bassist Peter Hook about the importance of this song: “We were doing a soundcheck at the Mayflower, in May, and we played ‘Transmission’: people had been moving around, and they all stopped to listen. I realized that was our first great song.” // In May 2007, NME magazine placed “Transmission” at number 20 in its list of the 50 “Greatest Indie Anthems Ever”, one place below “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. In 2016, Pitchfork placed “Transmission” at number 10 in its list of “The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s”.]

10:06 – Intro / Pledge Break #1

Thanks for tuning into WMM on 90.1 FM KKFI.

I’m Mark Manning. Today we present RADIO-TRANS-MISSION a special show in honor of the fierce courage of our Trans, Non-Binary, & Queer artist friends we’ve regularly featured on this show. We’ll spin music from: Ivory Blue, Cassie Taylor, Cuee, MellowPhobia, Chase Horseman, The Creepy Jingles, June Henry, The Black Creatures, Eve Sheldon, Collidescope, Babydoll, Ingrid Ingram, Shamir, Flamy Grant, Laura Jane Grace, Moses Sumney, Lyra Pramuk, Sam Smith, John Cameron Mitchell, and we started the show with Electric Orchids and Hot Chip.

PLUS, we’ll play more tracks from the non-profit Red Hot Organization‘s new release: TRAИƧA, (that we’ve been featuring this season). TRAИƧA is a spiritual journey across 8 chapters and 46 songs w/ over 100 artists contributing & collaborating with this incredible collection. This 6-LP Box Set spotlights many of the most daring, imaginative trans & non-binary artists working in music today. Many of the artists in this collective we have been featuring on WMM since our inception as a radio show. More info at: https://redhot.org/

We’re living in an age when an entire Political Party, a President, his entire cabinet, the U.S. Congress & Senate, The Supreme Court, Kansas & Missouri State governments are eliminating equality, civil rights, jobs, healthcare, & legal protections for our Transgender, Non-Binary & Queer friends. The recent Presidential election brought out cruel campaigns on every level, that blanketed our media with venomous bigotry, manufactured misinformation and lies, while commercial television & radio profited from the hate.

90.1 FM is non-commercial. We are Community Radio. We are different! It is our mission to give evidence of the humanity that is put at risk by these irresponsible campaigns of hate. Throughout WMM’s 20 year history we’ve been the first to present recordings, live performances and interviews with Ivory Blue, Mitzi McKee, Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, Tillie Hall, Chase Horseman, Cuee, Ingrid Ingram, The Black Creatures, Collidescope, Flamy Grant, Remy Styrk, Calvin Arsenia, Stephonne, Al Hawkins, Kat King and many others.

We bring you this special show as part of our KKFI Winter Fund Drive. And this is where YOU can be involved! We’ll take a few short breaks each hour, to encourage YOU to call us at 888-931-0901 or http://www.kkfi.org to make a donation in support 90.1 FM KKFI.
Joining me in the studio, we have some very special co-hosts:

Betse Ellis. Originally from Fayetteville, Arkansas, Betse received her Bachelors of Arts in Music and a Bachelors of Arts in English, from the University of Missouri – Kansas City. For over 40 years she has been playing the violin and fiddle professionally and also working as a teacher of music. Betse was a founding member of the acclaimed internationally known band, The Wilders. Betse has released two acclaimed solo records, and records & performs with the band Little Miss Dynamite, and The Starhaven Rounders and with her husband, multi-instrumentalist Clarke Wyatt, as the internationally known, Betse & Clarke.

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

Also with us is Rachel Christia a Kansas City born tech-girl, afro-futurist, vocalist, actress and landlocked mermaid. She has performed with notable MidCoast bands such as Hearts of Darkness; an eclectic collective influenced by 70s afrobeat, and the Denver based powerhouse Pink Hawks; pulling funky polyrhythms from West Africa and South America. More recently, she enjoys collaborating with her favorite Kansas Music legends or concocting fully improvised audience led musicals with The Maestro’s – Kansas City. She is perfectly aligned as a Kansas City Folk Fest Board member as her primary directive is to build community by lovingly blurring the lines between art and activism.

Rachel Christia, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Also with us is Mikal Shapiro the creator and co-host and producer of Siren Song, Saturdays at 11:00 AM on 90.1 FM KKFI Kansas City Community Radio. Mikal is also the co-founder of River Trade Radio on 90.1 FM. Mikal Shapiro is the coordinator of the annual Kansas City Folk Fest. They are also founder of State City Films creating documentary and experimental filmmaking practices. A third generation storyteller, they draw inspiration from their travels, love life, and the state of the Union. Mikal studied Film History, Film, & Writing at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. They received their MFA in Film/Video/New Media/Animation from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012. Artist, filmmaker, puppeteer, ring-leader, Mikal Shapiro is a KC songwriter whose musical influences span popular songs, psych rock, lounge, classic country and old time spirituals. They have toured extensively across the United States and have recorded 5 critically acclaimed albums. Mikal records and performs with their band The Musical. They also perform with Shapiro Brothers, and Monta At Odds.

Mikal Shapiro’s The Musical plays a Dinner Matinee on Friday. March 7 , at 7:00 to 9:00 PM, at The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO.

Mikal Shapiro, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

90.1 FM KKFI Kansas City Community Radio is Non-Commercial, and that means that three times a year, we interrupt our regular programming, to ask our listeners, to help us continue our unique, 24-7 programming. For 37 years 90.1 FM KKFI has been on the air. While the spirit of this station is kept alive by hundreds of volunteers who passionately donate their time and abilities to keep the transmission of our 100,000-watt-signal alive. We are a operated by a not-for-profit organization, incorporated over 40 years ago, called The MidCoast Radio Project. We are a non-profit, with a dedicated paid staff of four incredible individuals, and hundreds of volunteers, who donate thousands of hours every year, producing radio shows, training new hosts & producers, developing new radio shows, serving our vast community landscape with music and news, information and stories that reflect the many communities we serve.

90.1 FM KKFI is “Radio Powered By Diversity” For 37 Years our Kansas City Area Community Speaks Through our Airwaves and this Program.

In 2024 on WMM we conducted over 119 interviews with 152 special guests: Michelle Bacon, Adee Dancy, Lonnie Fisher, Tara Fisher, Katie Gilchrist, Erin Keller, Mitzi McKee, Katie Gilchrist, Rod Parks, Jennifer Roe, Janice Woolery, David Luther, Kelly Dougherty, Buck Moon, James Carter, Julia Othmer, James T. Lundie, Flamy Grant, Malek Azrael, Alisön Hawkins, Fritz Hutchison, Betse Ellis, Trecen Peeler, Carlos Nunez, Joelle St. Pierre, Kat King, Elaine McMilian, DJ Thundercutz, Jasmine Majors, Nico Gray, Sarah Bradshaw, Michael Byars, Chris Haghirian, Manuel Abarca, Kim Stanton, Kris Bruders, Paul Wenske, Nancy Meis, Chris Wenske, Isaac S. Cates, Claire Adams, ALBER, Rick Truman, Sondra Freeman, Mara Williams, JM Banks, Jen Owen, Brad Cox, D. Rashaan Gilmore, Anson The Ornery, Shaun Crowley, Chris Kinsley, Sid Sowder, Josh Thomas, Justin Brooks, James Capps, Chris Smead, Jeremiah James Gonzales, Scott Hrabko, Beth Watts Nelson, Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, Lauren Krum, Mike Stover, Brenton Cook, Mikal Shapiro, Stephonne, Chad Brothers, Calvin Arsenia, Ivory Blue, Klaartje Van Lue, Kasey Rausch, Maria Vasquez Boyd, Necia Gamby, Clarke Wyatt, Danny Santell, Miki P., Rachel Lovelace, Peregrine Honig, Izzy Vivas, Krystle Warren, Ashlee Fairchild Jones, Jean Fabien Dijoud, Dan Parsons, Aaron Rhodes, Ethan Payton, Nicolette Paige, Zee Underscore, Charlie Colborne, Bill Belzer, Tommy Capps, Dirk Liebert, Graham Stone, Audrey Crabtree, MusicbySkippy, Lone Stranger, Adam Phillips, Danielle Ate the Sandwich, Scott McCaughey, Kristina King, Lincoln Dreher, Tom Mardikes, Glenn Robinson, Ayron Alexander, Noah Cassidy, Kole Waters, Cameron Thomas, Scott Easterday, Kyle Dahlquist, Bill Sundahl, Bryan Redmond, Ryan Wurtz, Nick Carswell, Fally Afani, Lava Dreams, Hillary Watts, Chuck Whittington, Just Angel, T.A. Rell, Duff Thompson, Josh Mobley, David George, Tucker Slough, Nathan Reusch, Mark Ronning, Lori Raye Erickson, Jessica Dressler, Jen Frank Klenke, Adria Patterson, Alex Kimball Williams, Michael McQuary, Paris Williams, Jesse Kates, Christina Graves, Brandon Graves, Sandra Draper, Beth Barden, Rachel Christia, Miguel Carabello, Daniel Cole, Paul Seiz, Scott Heidemann, Ken Petti, Sondra Freeman, Destiny Atkinson, Kate Hall, Damron Russell Armstrong, Brock Wilbur, Nick Spacek, Bill Brownlee, Rachel Ytyurralde

10:15

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

5. Cassie Taylor – “DEADNAME (Find You) (feat. Cuee & Dante Foley)”
   from: DEADNAME (Find You) (feat. Cuee & Dante Foley) – Single / Former Child / 6-6-2024
   [“Taylor’s new song “DEADNAME (Find You)” tells the story of a trans man coming into his own and finding love. // The story was inspired by people in Taylor’s life that transitioned during the pandemic as well as the artist coming to terms with her own queer identity. // The single works as an anthem of acceptance and a musical form of resistance. \ Cassie Taylor told Luis Xavier De Pena of Watermark online, “For people to have the ability to show up as themselves, I think it’s going to make the fight more sustainable,” Taylor says. “I think to be queer and to lean into joy is a protest.” // It took over two years from concept to execution between issues with label managers not wanting to release a song about trans issues to finding an authentic voice on the record. Releasing the song was no easy feat but the hard work paid off. // Taylor says the single has received overwhelmingly positive support since it release. For Taylor, it’s important to normalize the discussions around transitioning and gender-affirming practices as almost everyone is prone to do the latter. // “I don’t think that there’s a single celebrity, model, human being on Earth that isn’t participating in something to affirm their gender. I think that the thing that catches people up, especially in the conversation about trans rights and inclusivity, is that we’re all doing that,” Taylor says. // Taylor has recently been back in the studio recording new music that speaks on LGBTQ+ topics. The artist says fans can expect new music to drop sometime this summer. // Cassie Taylor was born in 1986 in Boulder, Colorado. They are an American singer-songwriter and blues musician. She started her career in the early 2000s touring as a bassist for her father Otis Taylor, a trance blues musician. Taylor released a positively received solo album, Out of my Mind, in 2013, which infused traditional Delta blues with genres as diverse as electronica, indie rock, and psychedelia. Based in Kansas City, Missouri as of 2013, they are also a model and fashion designer. // Cassie Taylor was raised by her parents Carol Ellen Bjork and blues musician Otis Taylor. They have one younger sister. Despite being born during a period when her father was on hiatus from the music industry, he did expose her to blues music and teach her piano when she was young. She only became aware of his previous career around age 8 or 9. At around age 12, Taylor began playing electric bass, impressing her father with a rendition of “Hey Joe.” // When Taylor was 16, their father asked them to tour as the bassist in his band. Since his usual bassist Kenny Passarelli had a conflicting schedule, she joined his summer tour, playing for twenty dollars per gig. According to Taylor, her father didn’t build her up as a prodigy, but rather “I think I was just cheap child labor. Plus, he knew I wasn’t going to get drunk on the road or go missing. Some people have the fear of God in them. I had the fear of Otis.” // Cassie toured multiple countries with the band, picking up vocals and keyboards as well and went on to appear in eight of his albums, SSWD including lending bass and vocals to his 2007 album Definition of a Circle. Taylor was also on the board of directors for the Blues Foundation. // By 2009, Taylor quit the band to work on her own demo recordings. Frustrated with the process, she moved to Memphis with her then-boyfriend and stepped back from music. They began working in retail, started studying fashion design, and began a modeling career. She later started her own company, Moorhead Apparel, with a focus on men’s clothing. Taylor has made appearances in a number of studio and student films. They now also work as a photographer and videographer. // In June 2023, Taylor met drag queen Trixie Mattel backstage during a performance of Mattel’s in Kansas City. After Taylor posted photos with Mattel in a Playboy jacket on Instagram, they were scouted by Playboy and became a Playboy Bunny for Playboy’s online platform, Centerfold. // Taylor rededicated herself to music in 2010, beginning to work on her debut solo album, Blue, where she wrote all the tracks. Released in 2011, The New Yorker called it a “solid collection of original songs, with occasional nods to her father’s trance blues.” // During this time she formed the trio Girls With Guitars with musicians Dani Wilde and Samantha Fish. They released an eponymous album in 2011, afterwards beginning to tour. While she mostly writes her own material, Taylor has also reworked songs by artists as diverse as Nine Inch Nails and Muddy Waters. // By 2012, Taylor had moved to Kansas City, Missouri and started and started mixing tracks for her second album. Originally financed through the proceeds of her husband selling his car, she was signed by Yellow Dog Records during the production process. Most of the recording took place at Immersive Studios in Boulder, where she had previously worked. // Taylor wrote, arranged, produced, and sang all tracks, also providing bass guitar, piano, Hammond organ, and theremin. The band she formed for the album and live performances includes Larry Thompson on drums and Steve Mignano on guitar, as well as Jon Gray on trumpet. The 12-track album, Out of my Mind, was released on May 7, 2013. // A music video for the first track, “That’s My Man,” was shot in Memphis early in 2013. About the video, which she dedicated to friends in the modeling industry who were LGBTQ, “In the video there are four different ‘males.’ There are the muscle cars, which represent the personification of the traditional male, a man, a transgendered (female to male), and a drag queen. All of them represent different forms of male, whether it be mental, physical or spiritual.” // Reviews were positive, earning sound comparisons to Diana Ross and the Supremes, Janis Joplin, and Gladys Knight, with one review calling the album a “mesmerizing, nuanced, and imaginatively arranged collection of blues-inflected originals.” Also, “Her writing is both intelligent and moving, with exceptionally strong melodies and challenging rhythms, and her production is vivid and adventuresome.” “Taylor’s original compositions here all have to do with heartbreak, but she expresses her pain so exquisitely that it’s a pleasure for the listener to bear.” About her vocals, Premier Guitar wrote “Taylor floats through her melodies with a relaxed, sassy vibe and none of the melismatic tinsel that plagues many contemporary female singers.” // Out of my Mind merges traditional Delta blues with electronica, indie rock, psychedelia, and other modern genres. According to Taylor, “I use a lot of different influences …from West African psychedelic rock, to classic rock, to industrial metal.” About combining genres, “For me, the blues is the root of all American music, and I love each individual genre of American music. It would be dishonest to not use all of the things that I’ve been exposed to because I love them so much.” // Taylor was married to Chuck Haren in late 2012 until their divorce in June 2023. // Taylor came out as bisexual and ambiamorous in June 2022.]

6. Cuee – “Proud Boi”
   from: “Proud Boi” – Single / Cuee / June 1, 2023
   [Cuee released the (3-song Single) “With Love” including the track “See You Tonight” on February 14, 2023. Before that Cuee released the (3-song Single) “Coming Out” on June 24, 2022. // Lawrence/Chicago based hip-hop artist Cuee is a rapper with a Master’s Degree. Cuee received his Master’s Degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Kansas. Cuee is also a graduate of Artist Inc. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Cuee has wowed audiences with exciting live performances. And since 2017 Cue has released several critically acclaimed albums, an EP, multiple singles. We last talked with Cuee on March 3, 2021 and on May 5, 2021 and before that, on August 12, 2020, when he released the single “Who’s Back.” and before that on May 29, 2019. Cuee released the single: “Ain’t Goin Backon May 7, 2021, “Gravity (Feat: Lindsey Alderman)” on April 29, 2021 and part of GOSPEL the album. In 2020 Cuee’ track, “Shook” landed on an official Spotify playlist dedicated to transgender, non-binary and gender-fluid musicians across the globe including Kim Petras and Lex Allen. Spotify sent out a note said, “Hey Cuee you hit a high note this month.” Cuee said he didn’t even know what that meant, and he looked up to discover he had over 24,000 listener during the month of June on Spotify. I was trying to figure out what happened. I did a little research, I logged onto my instagram account, I was starting to get a flood of followers. I was just tracing it back and I landed on a Spotify playlist, it was an editorial playlist so he couldn’t find out who put him on there. “Someone found me.” Cuee made three trips home to Chicago to record the record. For the new album GOSPEL Cuee explained that this term can have biblical connections but it also means ‘the truth.” The video for “Ain’t Going Back” takes place in a church, and is a declaration of freedom, and identity, while also paying respect. Cuee talked us about how the track was created in the studio and translating the song into a video that was shot in a church. Last time we talked with Cuee he shared his thoughts about ‘”Queerness in a church,” Cuee said, “you know, is very…different, I mean I wanted to bring that into that space, and freedom into that space, allow that space to be seen and heard by other people who traditionally wont take up that space.” Along with getting his Master’s Degree, Cuee has released around 30 different musical tracks, legally changed his name, and has transitioned physically and vocally. The song “Ain’t Going Back” features Cuee’s friend Joel Leoj who is originally from Florida, but after moving to Chicago, became friends with Cuee in school, and recently moved to Lawrence to make music and collaborate on recordings with Cuee. Cuee explained that they have known each other since high school, that they “started a Hip Hop culture club in our high school, to bring music, kinda having a place to chill after school, write music together as a community. That’s how we started.” “I moved out here to Kansas, to go to school, he stayed back in Miami, and then we kind of connected back, maybe about two years ago, and hit it off really strong. We decided we wanted to pursue this music thing together. We decided let’s just do this. So he said he was going to move to Lawrence. I didn’t believe him at first, until he showed up on my doorstep, and I was like, Wow, you are here, let’s do this.” Joel Leoj released the album, JOEY IN WONDERLAND on January 31, 2021. Cuee is a featured guest emcee on the tracks “Eden” and “No Debate.” More info at: http://www.officialcuee.com]

7. MellowPhobia – “Finding It Hard”
   from: The Act of Loving In Return / Jackal And Hide Records / May 15, 2024
   [Based in Kansas City, Kansas, MellowPhobia is an alt-rock band that brings a lively and dynamic sound to the music scene. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the band relocated and recorded their debut EP, “Is This Seat Taken?” released in 2021. Their single, “Jackal” later gained attention, leading to performances at festivals and indie venues. Notable highlights include sharing stages with national touring acts such as The Greeting Committee, the Regrettes, The Velveteers, Colony House, and more. By 2024, “Jackal” had surpassed 40,000 streams and the band continues to grow its fan base. Looking ahead, MellowPhobia is gearing up for new releases, each contributing to their evolving sound. // From I Heart Local Muaic., May 15, 2024 written by Fally Afani: “ It’s been a while since we’ve had a really well-produced local indie album come our way, but MellowPhobia continues to check all our boxes. // The Act of Loving in Return is a masterclass in youthful angst. It kicks off with the frustration-laden “Finding It Hard,” setting the tone right away for the album with angsty lyrics over guitar tantrums. From there, the band continues to share their dissatisfactions with us, all while treating their listeners to fantastically-written melodies. We’ve noticed that their bridges are always a moment for quiet reflection before diving back into their noisy airing of grievances. We love it. The frontperson certainly has the vocals for this mood. // We’ve said before that this is a great band live. However, they’ve been garnering a lot of attention online for their recorded work as well. The single “Jackal” is a popular one at shows, but it’s racked up thousands of streams on Spotify. There’s a great vintage vibe for songs like “Scholars” and “Therapy.” “Los Angeles” breaks our hearts, and closer “Breaker Waves” is absolutely stunning. // MellowPhobia is great therapy for today’s young fans. Their live sets are already a blast, but The Act of Loving in Return seals the deal with solid indie rock songwriting. The sheer innocence of it all is enough to leave us emotionally wrecked. We hear these songs and just want to hug them (or shake them) and say “You have your whole lives ahead of you! It’s going to be ok!” If nothing else, this is a perfect Summer album released at just the right time. // MellowPhobia played Lawrence Pride on June 1, 2024.]

10:27 – Underwriting

10:29 – Pledge Break #2

Our WMM Winter Fund Drive Team: Betse Ellis, Rachel Christia, & Mikal Shapiro

Timothy Finn in KC Star named WMM “The Best Place to Hear Local Music on the Radio.” and the Best Place to hear area musicians talk about their music.

Last year on May 15, 2024 – WMM celebrated 20 Years on the radio w/ LIVE performances from: Calvin Arsenia, IVORY BLUE, Stephonne, Julia Othmer, Kasey Rausch and guests Marion Merritt, Maria Vasques Boyd, Nico Gray, and Necia Gamby.

As of this week WMM has done 1085 weeks equaled 2170 hours of radio, 14,105 hours of preparation, over 2800 Interviews, 2500 guests, and over 20,000 songs, from thousands of musical artists. We have made it our mission to mix musical genres, playing with themes, diversity, equality, free speech, connecting artists and venues and listeners and communities. Wednesday MidDay Medley has proudly endeavored to help tell the story of our growing Kansas City area music community, “The Midcoast Sound,” as we like to call it. We have dedicated a majority of our programming to New & MidCoastal Releases.

WMM has presented new formats in radio, with our “A Story In A Song” series, our shows featuring: Apocalypse Meow, Juneteenth, Power to The People Fest, Crossroads Music Fest, Folk Alliance International, Manor Fest, The Outer Reaches Festival, Boulevardia. KC Fringe Festival, Waldo Folk Series, Shuttlecock Music, The Folly Theatre, Owen Cox Dance Group, Bach Aria Soloists, KC Pride, our annual tribute shows to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., David Bowie, Iris Dement, Pioneers of Punk, LGBTQIA Themes, Black Lives Matter and interviews with Tommy Ramone, Iris Dement, Laurie Anderson, Lily Tomlin, Regina Spektor, Holly Near, Sam Harris, Sweet Honey in The Rock, Regina Carter, our annual 4-week special: WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of the Year.

To say this WMM has been inspired by the KC music community, is an understatement. The KC music community is fueled by a collaborative and generous heart that is beating in so many of the artists we’ve met while doing this show.

We are inspired by the Fearless Women who created radio on 90.1 FM long before us: our friend April Fletcher who plays bass professionally in Los Angeles, and hosted Mix Well Before Serving on 90.1 in 1988 on KKFI’s first year of broadcast, and last year returned after 35 years to host and produce WMM.

And our friend Anne Winter, who left us in 2009, and reminded us how we’re all connected. At Anne’s funeral we realized that we are connected to hundreds of other people who Anne had touched with her gentle, wise, guidance and had nudged into taking a job, going out on a stage, organizing an event, doing a radio show. We were all connected, she had loved us all and supported us, and some of us made a pact to do just a little bit of what Anne did, if we all did a little we could continue her work to help build our community, that is how we keep Anne alive in our heart.

And through collaboration, and shining a light, like Abigail Hope Henderson, who we lost in 2013, but not before she ignited a movement to create the Midwest Music Foundation supporting heath care needs and mental health care for the music community. I’m inspired by the diverse , intelligent, motivated, listeners, looking for place on the dial, where they can connect to the stories & music & voice of our community.

Today we celebrate the pure idea of community radio, free form radio, radio that tells the story of the people who live here, the artists, the writers, the teachers, the performers.

We celebrate 1085 weeks of WMM, the show that has brought us together, at this time, on this frequency, in these community airwaves. Thanks for listening.

Donating to 90.1 FM KKFI is investing in your community.

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

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

10:37

8. Chase The Horseman – “Silver Liner”
   from: “Silver Liner” – Single / Chase The Horseman / October 25, 2024
   [Silver Liner drums and additional engineering by Ian Dobyns, Additional vocals by Heidi Gluck. Mastered by Anthony Puglisi. Written, produced, performed and mixed by Chase Horseman at Element Recording. // Chase Horseman has composed music for over 40 films and as musician and producer collaborated with Clairaudients, Teri Quinn, Heidi Lynne Gluck, KD Kuro, Nan Turner and more. Chase The Horseman film composer, band leader, multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer, & producer. They have composed music for over 40 films and as producer collaborated with Teri Quinn, Heidi Lynne Gluck, KD Kuro, and Nan Turner. On April 2, 2024 Chase released the 22 track Original Sound Track for Headcount, a feature film fro the Burghart Brothers, priduced by Continuance Pictures, Methoid Media, and Shout Factory. Chase created the music for two feature-length episodes of the Blum House Films and Hulu original series, “Into the Dark.” In February 2020 Chase released “Poor Song,” a cover of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs track by Karen O Chase played Sequential Circuits Prophet 600, Dave Smith MiniMopho, Korg Minilogue Xd, Moog Grandmother, Roland Alpha Juno 2, Mellotron, Guitar, Drums, Vocals pall erformed by Chase Horseman. Recorded at Element Recording Studios and Winky World. Mixed by Chase Horseman. Mastered by Joel Nanos Chase the Horseman is a band, film composer, multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer, & producer. On May 1 Chase released, a quarantine cover of “Midnight, The Stars and You” written by Harry M. Woods, Jimmy Campbell & Reg Connelly Stanley. The most famous version was recorded in 1934 by Ray Noble & his Orchestra with an uncredited Al Bowlly on vocals. This was used in the ballroom scene and closing of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror film The Shining based on the novel by Stephen King. All of the profits of this single will be donated directly to service industry workers in Kansas City and Midwest Music Foundation on a 50/50 basis. http://www.chasethehorseman.bandcamp.com. They have composed music for over 40 films and as musician has collaborated Teri Quinn, Heidi Lynne Gluck, KD Kuro, and Nan Turner. Chase The Horseman released Disinformation Blues EP on July 12, 2019. One of WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019. Chase released the single “U Martyr U” June 19, 2018, and the single “Modern Ruins” on Oct 4, 2018.]

9. The Creepy Jingles – “Love Like You”
   from: “Love Like You” – Single / High Dive Records / July 14, 2024
   [The was #1 in WMM’s 50 Favorite Singles of 2024. This was the third of four new singles released by The Creepy Jingles in 2024. The band released “Repeat After Me” on April 19, 2024. The band released “When Things Go Wrong” on February 23, 2024. The Creepy Jingles are a Kansas City based, rock and roll band that both honors and defies convention. Led by singer / song-writer Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, a transgender wordsmith who charms with razor wit and dazzles with her lyrical acrobatics. // Song (lyrics/melody/chords) written by Jocelyn Olivia Nixon. Mixed and Recorded by Paul Malinowski and recorded at Massive Sound Studios in Shawnee, Kansas. Mastered by Zack Hames. Jocelyn Nixon on lead vocals & rhythm guitar, Will Van Doorn on lead guitar & backing vocals, Andrew Woody on bass & backing vocals, Nick Robertson on drums & bait. // The Creepy Jingles released their album, TAKE ME AT MY WORDPLAY on March 25, 2022 through High Dive Records. Paired up with lyrics centering on themes of identity, strained relationships, social media madness, meme magic, pandemic paranoia, paid off political pundits, backyard bullies and barking up the wrong tree. Everything and the kitchen sink or swim. No stoner left unturned. The Creepy Jingles released their Debut EP on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019. The release was in the top ten of WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019. The Creepy Jingles released their Debut EP on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019. The Creepy Jingles played Apocalypse Meow 17 on Saturday, November 2nd at recordBar,]

10. Moses Sumney + Lyra Pramuk + Sam Smith – “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”
    rom: TRAИƧA / Red Hot / November 22, 2024
    [One of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by the storied activist and music production non-profit Red Hot, TRAИƧA is a spiritual journey across eight chapters and 46 songs with over 100 artists contributing. The album spotlights the gifts of many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working today. // Dust Reid, who led production on Red Hot’s 2014 tribute to Arthur Russell, and Massima Bell, an artist and activist based in Los Angeles, began tracing the contours of what would become TRAИƧA together in 2021. The two producers originally met at a video shoot in upstate New York, and immediately bonded over their shared love of Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s music, as well as a common devotional connection to nature. // The passing of SOPHIE, the pathbreaking electronic producer who died in January 2021, galvanized the producers and focused their work. “We started talking about all the gifts that trans artists have been giving to the world, and wanted to create a Red Hot project that centered and celebrated those gifts,” says Reid. “We hoped to create a narrative that positions trans and non-binary people as leaders in our society insofar as the deep inner work they do to affirm who they are in our current climate. We felt this is something everybody should do. Whether you identify as trans or non-binary or otherwise, if you took the time to explore your gender, get in touch with the feeling side of yourself, maybe we would have a future oriented around values of community, collaboration, care, and healing.” // Bell and Reid began conceiving of the album as a spiritual journey in eight chapters, a mirror of the original eight-stripe rainbow pride flag. The narrative begins at the earliest awareness of consciousness; moves through awakening, trauma, and grief; and arrives at liberation and continual reinvention. “One thing trans people do all the time is turn grief into possibility,” says Bell. “Living under the ongoing Western binary system, trans people reveal maps of possibility for everyone. It’s something that we can all learn from – expanding the possibility of human life.” Each chapter begins with a “chapter track,” kicking off a collection of songs that speak to that chapter’s theme. // As the producers began inviting musicians to contribute to TRAИƧA, the political climate in the United States and across the world started to foment an acute reactionary streak. Legislation denying trans people the hard-won right to medically transition proliferated across the country. Book bans rained down on libraries, stamping shut crucial apertures into trans and queer lives. The necessity of TRAИƧA’s presence in the world started to crystallize. // “The stakes have never been higher,” notes Bell. “We’re seeing a rise in anti-trans hate and vitriol that is particularly being spewed in the United States. I am a trans person from Iowa, one of the states that signed into law a bill that prohibits access to gender-affirming care. It is clearly, materially, a terrifying time.” // TRAИƧA FEATURED ARTISTS:Adrianne Lenker * Ahya Simone * Alan Sparhawk (Low) * Allison Russell * Am Taylor * Anajah * Ana Roxanne * André 3000 * Anjimile * Arthur Baker * Asher White * AV María * Babehoven * Bartees Strange * Belina Rose * Benét * Beverly Glenn-Copeland * Bill Callahan * Blake Mills * Bloomsday * Calvin Lauber * Caroline Rose * Cassandra Croft * Cassandra Jenkins * Christian Lee Hutson * claire rousay * Clairo * CLARITY * Cole Pulice * Dave Longstreth * Devendra Banhart * Eileen Myles * Eli Winter * Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland * Ezra Furman * Faye Webster * Fleet Foxes * Frankie Cosmos * Gary Gunn * Gia Margaret * Green-House * Grouper * Hand Habits * Heart Shaped * Helado Negro * Hunter Schafer * Jamal Shakeri * Jay Dee Daugherty * Jayne County * Jeff Tweedy * Jlin * Joy Guidry * Julianna Barwick * Julie Byrne * Julien Baker * Kara Jackson * Kathi Wilcox * KB Brookins * Kelela * Laraaji * Laura Jane Grace * Lauren Auder * Lee Ranaldo * Lightning Bug * Lomelda * Lucy Liyou * Lynn Avery * Lyra Pramuk * L’Rain * Mary Lattimore * MIZU * Moor Mother * More Eaze * Moses Sumney * Nico Georis * Niecy Blues * Nina Keith * Nsámbu Za Suékama * NYC Trans Oral History Project * Pepper MaShay * Perfume Genius * Pharoah Sanders * Quinn Christopherson * Rachika Nayar * Sade Adu * Sam Smith * Sharon Van Etten * SKY * SOAK * Soft Rōnin * Sparkle Division * Taryn Blake Miller * Teddy Geiger * Time Wharp * Wendy & Lisa of the Revolution * Yaeji * Yaya Bey // Moses Sumney was born May 19, 1992 and is an American singer-songwriter. His self-recorded EP, Mid-City Island, was released in 2014. He released another five-song EP in 2016, titled Lamentations. His first full-length album, Aromanticism, was released in September 2017. His second studio album, Græ, was released in 2020. Sumney has performed as an opening act for James Blake, Solange Knowles, and Sufjan Stevens. // Born in California, Sumney was raised by pastor parents, and moved with his family back to Ghana at the age of 10. He described his childhood as “Americanized” by this age and had difficulty adjusting to the culture of Ghana, especially the rural nature of his new environment. There he grew up on a goat farm in Accra and commuted by public bus to school. His family returned to Southern California when Sumney was 16, settling in Riverside. // He did not learn to play any instruments until he was older, writing a cappella music for years instead. Sumney did not perform his musical compositions publicly until he was 20. // After high school, he moved to Los Angeles in 2010 to attend the University of California, Los Angeles. He majored in creative writing and studied poetry, which helped him improve his songwriting. // Lyra Pramuk fuses classical vocalism, pop sensibilities, performance practices and contemporary club culture in what can best be described as futurist folk music. // Lyra Pramuk released her debut album, Fountain through Bedroom Community on March 20, 2020. It was part of WMM’s 120 Best recordings of 2020. Lyra Pramuk’s debut explores a post-human, non-binary understanding of life. Lyra fuses classical training, pop sensibilities, performance practices and contemporary club culture in what may best be described as futurist folk music. The American opera-trained vocalist and electronic musician releases her album via Iceland’s Bedroom Community label. Created entirely from her own voice, although often shaped and structured by electronics, Fountain is an emotional, sensual, and devotional journey. The title is derived from her family name, Pramuk, which translates from Czech as ‘well spring’ or ‘fountain.’ Often wordless, these songs evoke a new wholeness sustained by the ritual force of drowning, immersion, cleansing, and bathing – also referred to in the album artwork by acclaimed visual artist Donna Huanca. Fountain plays with the perception of music, rhythms, speech, body, and the relation between technology and humanity, exploring a post-human, non-binary understanding of life and the fragile ecosystems it depends on. The work documents a healing that is still in process, and a full circle-moment that reunited Lyra with her sound engineer twin brother, Ben, for the final mix, which they completed in tandem. As a vocal activist and member of the queer community, Lyra moved to Berlin in 2013, following her degree at the Eastman School of Music in New York. Since then, she has also been awarded residencies at Elektronmusikstudion EMS Stockholm, Open Port Club Residency in Tokyo and Sapporo, and Future Music Lab of the Atlantic Music Festival in Maine. Her interests also encompass writing, poetry, and fashion, where she is sometimes called upon as a model. As a performance artist, she has collaborated extensively with Donna Huanca and at events such as Glasgow International and the Rochester Fringe Festival. Music composed and produced by Lyra Pramuk. Vocals recorded by Lyra Pramuk and Ben Pramuk in Berlin and at EMS Elektronmusikstudion in Stockholm. Mixed by Ben Pramuk in Berlin. Mastered by Valgeir Sigurðsson and Francesco Fabris at Greenhouse Studios. // Samuel Frederick Smith was born May 19, 1992. Sam is an English singer and songwriter. In 2012, they[a] rose to prominence when they featured on Disclosure’s breakthrough single “Latch”, which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart. The following year, they featured on Naughty Boy’s single “La La La”, which became a number one single in the UK. // Smith’s debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour (2014), was released through Capitol Records UK and debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart. The album’s lead single, “Lay Me Down”, was released prior to “La La La”. The album’s second single, “Money on My Mind”, became their second number one single in the UK. Its third single, “Stay with Me”, was internationally successful, reaching number one in the UK and number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, while subsequent singles “I’m Not the Only One” and “Like I Can” reached the top ten in the UK. The album won four awards at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album, Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. // Smith’s song “Writing’s on the Wall” served as the theme for the James Bond film Spectre (2015), and won Smith a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Smith’s second studio album, The Thrill of It All (2017), debuted atop the UK and US album charts. The album’s lead single, “Too Good at Goodbyes”, reached number one in the UK and Australia and number four in the US. Following the 2018 single “Promises” (with Calvin Harris), which peaked at number one in the UK, Smith released “Dancing with a Stranger” (with Normani) in 2019, which peaked within the top ten in the UK and the US, also receiving a nomination for Song of the Year at the 2020 Brit Awards. The singles, along with “How Do You Sleep?”, would precede the release of their third studio album, Love Goes (2020). In 2022, Smith’s single “Unholy” (with Kim Petras), would become their first number one single in the US and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. The song would precede their fourth album, Gloria (2023). // Smith’s numerous accolades include five Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, three Billboard Music Awards, and an American Music Award, as well as a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. On the UK Albums Chart, In the Lonely Hour was the best-selling debut album of the 2010s and the sixth best-selling album of the decade, while collectively Smith’s albums spent the fourth-most weeks at number one in the 2010s, behind Ed Sheeran, Adele and Eminem. Smith is the first openly non-binary musician to both release a song that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and to win a Grammy Award. // “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” is a song by American disco/R&B singer Sylvester. It was written by James Wirrick and Sylvester, and released by Fantasy Records as the second single from the singer’s fourth album, Step II (1978). The song was already a largely popular dance club hit in late 1978, as the B-side of his previous single “Dance (Disco Heat)”, before it was officially being released in December. It rose to the number one position on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. Music critic Robert Christgau has said the song is “one of those surges of sustained, stylized energy that is disco’s great gift to pop music”. // In 2019, the song was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. In 2023, Billboard ranked it among the “500 Best Pop Songs of All Time”. // The song was originally recorded as a mid-tempo piano-driven gospel song; however, after producer Patrick Cowley saw a rehearsal of the song at San Francisco’s City Club, he offered to remix the song. The result was one of the pioneering disco records using some electronic instrumentation and effects, following closely on “I Feel Love” by Donna Summer which heavily used electronic instrumentation ahead of its time. These 1970s songs using electronic instrumentation would have an influence on 1980s and 1990s dance music, which in turn, would have an influence on dance music in the next century. // The song was Sylvester’s first top 10 hit in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart in October 1978. In Sylvester’s home country, the single was his second top 40 hit, peaking at No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1979. The song also reached No. 20 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. A 12″ single was released in 1978, with “Dance (Disco Heat)” as the A-side and “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” as the B-side, and these two extended dance mixes proved to be very popular in dance clubs at the time. The two songs held down the top spot on the Billboard Dance/Disco chart for six weeks in August and September 1978. These two songs helped to establish Sylvester’s career as a noted disco and dance music performer, both in the US and abroad. // Sylvester James Jr. (September 6, 1947 – December 16, 1988), known simply as Sylvester, was an American singer-songwriter. Primarily active in the genres of disco, rhythm and blues, and soul, he was known for his flamboyant and androgynous appearance, falsetto singing voice, and hit disco singles in the late 1970s and 1980s. // Born in Watts, Los Angeles, to a middle-class African-American family, Sylvester developed a love of singing through the gospel choir of his Pentecostal church. Leaving the church after the congregation expressed disapproval of his homosexuality, he found friendship among a group of Black cross-dressers and transgender women who called themselves the Disquotays. Moving to San Francisco in 1970 at the age of 22, Sylvester embraced the counterculture and joined the avant-garde drag troupe the Cockettes, producing solo segments of their shows, which were heavily influenced by female blues and jazz singers such as Billie Holiday and Josephine Baker. During the Cockettes’ critically panned tour of New York City, Sylvester left them to pursue his career elsewhere. He came to front Sylvester and his Hot Band, a rock act that released two commercially unsuccessful albums on Blue Thumb Records in 1973 before disbanding. // Focusing on a solo career, Sylvester signed a recording contract with Harvey Fuqua of Fantasy Records and obtained three new backing singers in the form of Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes – the “Two Tons O’ Fun” – as well as Jeanie Tracy. His first solo album, Sylvester (1977), was a moderate success. This was followed with the acclaimed disco album Step II (1978), which spawned the singles “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Dance (Disco Heat)”, both of which were hits in the US and Europe. Distancing himself from the disco genre, he recorded four more albums – including a live album – with Fantasy Records. After leaving this label, he signed to Megatone Records, the dance-oriented company founded by friend and collaborator Patrick Cowley, where he recorded four more albums, including the Cowley penned hit Hi-NRG track “Do Ya Wanna Funk”. Sylvester was an activist who campaigned against the spread of HIV/AIDS. He died from complications arising from the virus in 1988, leaving all future royalties from his work to San Francisco-based HIV/AIDS charities. // During the late 1970s, Sylvester gained the nickname of the “Queen of Disco” and during his life he attained particular recognition in San Francisco, where he was awarded the key to the city. In 2005, he was posthumously inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame, while his life has been recorded in a biography and made the subject of both a documentary and a musical. // During the late 1970s, Sylvester gained the moniker of the “Queen of Disco”, a term that continued to be given to the singer into the 21st century. The English journalist Stephen Brogan later described him as “a star who shined brightly. He only happened once. He was a radical and a visionary in terms of queerness, music and race.” Reynaldo Anderson of Harris-Stowe State University described Sylvester’s influence upon disco and subsequent electronic dance music as “incalculable”. He added that Sylvester’s songs “Dance (Disco Heat)”, “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”, and “Do You Wanna Funk” represented “anthems of disco aficionados for a generation”, while also expressing the view that Sylvester himself “personified the excesses of the 1970s and the experimentation that characterized [the decade’s] changing social norms” within the United States. // Sylvester has been described as having a “flamboyant and colourful” public persona, wearing both male and female gendered clothes as part of his attire, with his biographer Joshua Gamson opining that for Sylvester, “gender was an everyday choice”. Sylvester described his public persona as “an extension of me, the real me”. Sylvester’s friend and publicist Sharon Davis described him as “a quiet, often thoughtful, caring guy, who put others before himself, and was generous to a fault, having little regard for money. His policy was you only live once, so enjoy!” She also noted that he could be “unpredictable”, being “stubborn as a mule” and “always speak[ing] his mind”. Sylvester was considered to be a prima donna by members of the Hot Band and could be temperamental and difficult with those with whom he worked. He found it difficult saving the money that he earned, instead spending it as soon as he obtained it, both on himself and on his lovers, friends, and family. // Sylvester was openly gay, with Gamson noting that he tended to enter into relationships with men who were “white, self-doubting and effeminate”. In 1978, he entered into a relationship with a young white model named John Maley; Sylvester later devoted the song “Can’t Forget the Love” from his Too Hot to Sleep album to his young lover. Maley ended the relationship to move to Los Angeles, later recollecting that Sylvester “was a lovely man, and I owe him a lot”. In 1981, Sylvester entered into a relationship with a slim brunette from Deep River, Connecticut, named Michael Rayner, but unlike his predecessors, he did not move into Sylvester’s house. Their partnership ended when Rayner admitted that he had not fallen completely in love with Sylvester. Sylvester’s next major relationship was with Tom Daniels, a hairdresser whom he met in 1982, but their romance ended after six months when Daniels discovered that Sylvester had been having sex with other men while on tour. The singer’s final partner, the architect Rick Cranmer, was a six-foot two blond, and the duo moved into a house together in the hills. Cranmer died of AIDS-related complications in 1987, the year before Sylvester succumbed to the virus. // In 1985, Sylvester’s boyfriend, Rick Cranmer, became aware that he had become infected with HIV. With no known medical cure, his health deteriorated rapidly and he died September 7, 1987. Sylvester was devastated, and although recognizing that he too was probably infected, he refused to have his blood tested, only noticing the virus’ first symptoms when he developed a persistent cough. Beginning work on an album that would remain unfinished, he moved into a new apartment on Collingwood Street in the Castro, and tried his best to continue performing in the Bay Area, even though he became too ill to undertake a full tour. Eventually diagnosed with AIDS, he was hospitalized for sinus surgery in late 1987, and upon returning to his apartment, he began to be cared for by his mother and Tracy, before being hospitalized again in May 1988, this time with pneumocystis pneumonia. Returning to his flat, he gave away many of his treasured possessions and wrote his will. // Having lost a lot of weight and unable to walk easily, he attended the Castro’s 1988 Gay Freedom Parade in a wheelchair, being pushed along by McKenna in front of the People with AIDS banner; along Market Street, assembled crowds shouted out his name as he passed. The subsequent 1988 Castro Street Fair was named “A Tribute to Sylvester”, and although he was too ill to attend, crowds chanted his name to such an extent that he was able to hear them from his bedroom. He appeared at the Dreamland nightclub (now The Vendry), watching the dancers from the second floor balcony, and DJ Steve Fabus put together an impromptu set of Sylvester songs. When he waved weakly goodbye, the dance floor erupted in stomping and shouting “We love you!” He continued to give interviews to the media, being open about the fact that he was dying of AIDS, and sought in particular to highlight the impact that the disease was having in the African-American community. In an interview with the NME, he stated, “I don’t believe that AIDS is the wrath of God. People have a tendency to blame everything on God.” // For Thanksgiving 1988, his family spent the holiday with him, although he had developed neuropathy and was increasingly bed-ridden and reliant on morphine. He died in his bed on December 16, 1988, at the age of 41. Sylvester had planned his own funeral, insisting that he be dressed in a red kimono and placed in an open-top coffin for the mourners to see, with his friend Yvette Flunder doing his corpse’s makeup. He wanted Tracy to sing at his funeral, accompanied by choirs and many flowers. The whole affair took place in his church, the Love Center, with a sermon being provided by Rev. Walter Hawkins. The event was packed, with standing room only, and the coffin was subsequently taken and buried at his family’s plot in Inglewood Park Cemetery. An album titled Immortal was posthumously released; it contained Sylvester’s final studio recordings and was compiled by Marty Blecman.]

10:48 – Pledge Break #3

Our WMM Winter Fund Drive Team: Betse Ellis, Rachel Christia, and Mikal Shapiro

Today on WMM we present RADIO-TRANS-MISSION a special show in honor of the fierce courage of our Trans, Non-Binary, & Queer MidCoastal Artists we’ve regularly featured on the show. 90.1 FM KKFI’s non-profit organization and governing body is the MidCoast Radio Project. The MidCoast is where we are, on the coasts of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers with a music community that spans the Kansas City Metro region and west to Lawrence and Topeka and south to Olathe and east to Columbia and North to St Joseph. The reach of our community extends beyond the 40 mile reach of our 100,000 watt signal.

WMM and KKFI are committed to featuring artists under-represented in other media, and that includes the music community that lives within the radiance of our 100 watt signal. The story of KC’s Arts & Music Community is a primary focus on WMM, where for 20 years we’ve shined a light on the artists, the labels, recording studios, and music venues.

Wednesday MidDay Medley 90.1 FM was the first radio show to ever play the recordings of: The Black Creatures, Ivory Blue, Cuee, MellowPhobia, Chase Horseman, The Creepy Jingles, June Henry, Eve Sheldon, Remy Styrk, Collidescope, Babydoll, Ingrid Ingram, Shamir, Flamy Grant, Calvin Arsenia, Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear, Krystle Warren, KD Kuro, The Shy Boys, The Salvation Choir. We were the first to interview many of these artists live on the radio and bring their music to a wider audience.

We’re living in an age when an entire Political Party, a President, his entire cabinet, the U.S. Congress & Senate, The Supreme Court, Kansas & Missouri State governments are eliminating equality, civil rights, jobs, healthcare, & legal protections for our Transgender, Non-Binary & Queer friends. The recent election brought out cruel campaigns that blanketed our mainstream media with venomous bigotry, misinformation and lies, while commercial television & radio profited from the hate.

90.1 FM is non-commercial. We are Community Radio. We are different! It is our mission to give evidence of the humanity that is put at risk by these irresponsible campaigns of hate. Throughout WMM’s 20 year history we’ve been the first to present recordings, live performances and interviews with Ivory Blue, Mitzi McKee, Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, Tillie Hall, Chase Horseman, Cuee, Ingrid Ingram, The Black Creatures, Collidescope.

On Feb. 21, 2024 we interviewed Flamy Grant LIVE in our 90.1 FM Studios. Flamy Grant also played live. In 2023 Flamy released BIBLE BELT BABY, the world’s first contemporary Christian music album recorded by a drag performer. Flamy Grant’s single “Good Day” was released September 6, 2023 and is the first song by a drag performer to reach #1 on the iTunes Christian charts. It also debuted at #20 on Billboard’s Christian digital sales chart. // Last year Flamy Grant released her second album, CHURCH which climbed onto the iTunes Country chart and was part of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2024.

One of my favorite tracks from Flamy Grant is “Fortune Teller.”

The great design of our world is built on a solid foundation diversity, a vast spectrum, a balance of living creatures, in a beautiful chaos of birth and death and new life from ashes

As a Queer human this song reminds me that Queer, Gay, Lesbian, Non-Binary, Transgender, Bisexual, humans were raised in a world where they had to develop an extra sensitivity simply to survive.

The ability to immediately read a room full of strangers.

Finding safety in public places, community centers, schools, churches, taverns, grocery stores. If you didn’t read the room correctly you could be hurt, or even killed.
This extra sensitivity, developed through difficult circumstances is actually a gift, and we Queer people are willing to share it with everyone… if you let us.

10:57

11. Flamy Grant – “Fortune Teller”
    from: “Fortune Teller” – Single / Glam & Glory Records / October 24, 2023
    [Produced by Ben Grace. Sound engineer and electric guitars by Daniel Shearin. // Flamy Grant is winner of 2023 Kerrville New Folk Competition; and the 2023 San Diego Music Award nominee for Best Pop Album for BIBLE BELT BABY, the world’s first contemporary Christian music record by a drag performer. With influences from gospel, blues, folk & rock, hines light on queerness, faith, and overcoming spiritual trauma so often endured by LGBTQ+ people and others who grow up in conservative religious spaces. // Flamy’s iconic roots-rock sound is influenced by singer/songwriters like Natalie Merchant, Tracy Chapman, Over the Rhine, and Amy Grant. Her art shines a spotlight on the queer spiritual journey, telling stories of resilience and recovery from religious trauma. With a bold lip, a big lash, and a blistering voice, Flamy is here to rewrite the rules when it comes to faith-based entertainment, demanding a reckoning for an industry that for too long has silenced and shut out its LGBTQ+ artists and fans. // Flamy’s single “Good Day” released 9/6/23 is the first song by a drag performer to reach #1 on the iTunes Christian charts. It also debuted at #20 on Billboard’s Christian digital chart. Flamy Grant played an Official Showcase the 2024 Folk Alliance Intern. Feb 22.]

Fortune Teller (Lyrics)

I’m a medium, I’m a fortune teller
I know every word you’re gonna say
I’m a headstrong, lifelong city dweller
I can take you where you’re going by the fastest way
It’s gonna be okay

I traveled time, I’m here from the future
I can show you how this all turns out
I can save you with the data in my computer
We can flourish in the flood and avoid the drought
Yeah, we’re gonna make it out

You feel it in your bones 
But your head is moving slow

I’m a scientist, I got a method and a measure
For observable, reliable, repeatable fact
I’m a decorated educator in the field of pleasure
I’ve learned a lot of lessons I can reenact
Yeah, I been keeping track

You sense that I am true
But your heart is split in two

I’m a prophetess, singing my story
A dressed-up, effervescent, ethical fraud
But this world ain’t ready for an allegory, no
We’re still waiting on a literal god
I just smile and nod

You have intuition
And it’s telling you the story isn’t done

11:00 – Station ID

12. June Henry – “sega dreamcast”
    from: The Exhumation of Princess Pavement / June Henry Nation / ]=February 14, 2024
    [June Henry is a 20-year-old is a Lawrence KS. Based, freak folk singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.. Her music explores themes of mental illness, queerness, and growing up. // Prior to her official debut, Henry had collected her music in a Google Drive folder, shared only with a small group of friends. Bedridden in 2022, she was convinced to release this music in her first official album Class Pet. // It’s not really something I know how to do, as much as something I have to do to stop myself from exploding,“ from June Henry’s Spotify bio. // Since her debut, she hasn’t gone more than a couple months between releases- creating a niche audience and some of her most popular songs, such as Void-Adjacent and Excoriation. // In 2024 she has released 9n singles, two 4-song EPs., the 11 track album, The Exhumation of Princess Pavement, released February 14, 2024, the 14 track album Between Singles and One-Offs, exclusive CD comprised of singles and EP tracks released May 27, 2024, the 17 track album Podium, released June 30, 2024. // June Henry released the single “method act” on December 16, 2023. // June Henry released the single “fall into” on December 2, 2023. // June Henry released the 3-track EP “the light I SPIT OUT” on November 14, 2023. // June Henry released the single “vampire song” on November 3, 3023. // June Henry released the 5-song EP “flat earth romcom” on September 22, 2023. // June Henry released the 11-track album “something friend” on June 20, 2022. // June Henry released the 15-track album “class pet” on March 15, 2022. // June Henry released the 7-track album, “SOUTH RAMP” through Lotuspool Records when she was “a gay boy in high school (released as August Henry.) // June Henry has been posting a bunch of tunes on bandcamp! These are official releases along with things that have been archived from streaming platforms, AND many demos and voice memos from long ago. Her personal favorite is “the trouble i made”, which features five tracks written and recorded in high school. The first one, “straight boys, was recorded when June was fourteen. Check http://www.junehen.bandcamp.com for even more releases from June Henry.]

13. Eve Sheldon – “My Beautiful Self”
    from: Recorded in one-take from a facebook request / Eve Sheldon / May 20, 2018
    [Originally recorded by Foolish Sad Robot and 1990s band made up of Tom Livesay and Eve Sheldon. On Sunday, May 20, 2018, early in the evening Eve Sheldon asked Facebook humans to request a song of her’s and she would record four of them on the couch and post them. She ended up recording 10 songs in an hour or so, and she wrote to Tim Finn that it “was a fun freakin snapshot of her singing life.” Friends chose songs from Foolish Sad Robot, The Wilders, and a Trouble In Mind rap. Eve wrote, that the recordings represent her “mellow vocal stylings of this century, and the VERY FIRST song she ever wrote.” (She was 14.) Eve Sheldon called out other singers to ‘get down with this…imagine some 90s cats layin’ down some of their old tunes…and new cats laying down new tunes. i wanna hear!” Eve called out: Mark Smeltzer, David Regnier, Lauren Krum, Betse Ellis, Howard Iceberg, J Ashley Miller…the list is endless…”sing for us, y’all!”. // Eve Sheldon (they/them) is originally from a small rural town in southern Missouri with a population of 128. Eve received a B.A. in vocal performance from William Jewell College in 1989. After college Eve was in the bands Young Johnny Carson Story, My Childhood Hero, and Foolish Sad Robot in the Kansas City. Eve was a professional internationally touring musician for 10 years with their band, The Wilders. // Eve now lives in Frenchtown, NJ. Eve has worked as a Music teacher at River Valley in several musical capacities since 2016, including being the musical director for the middle school musical every year since then. They were the full-time music teacher for the 2017-2018 school year as well as the accompanist for eurythmy and the choirs for several years since 2016. In addition, since 2015, Eve has played in the parent band Moonshine & Millet for many fundraisers, as well as accompanying the River Valley Parent Choir. Eve attended the Waldorf music educators conference in Wisconsin in 2017. // Eve shared thoughts on the nature of inclusivity greatly valued at River Valley. “As a member of the trans community, I hope to be someone kids can look to and see someone who doesn’t fit into society’s ‘traditional’ roles, yet has found a way to thrive and succeed in this world. I also hope they will also see that gender identity is just a part of who you are, and that it doesn’t have to define your life, but rather enhance it.” Eve loves reading, driving, and playing music. They have had a close relationship to the school since their child enrolled there in 2013, sharing, “I’ve worked in many capacities and I’m just honored to be able to lend my help and skills and love for music to a school and students that I believe in.” // Eve Sheldon played The Folly Theatre for KKFI’s 30th Anniversary Celebration, June 30, 2018]

14. Shamir – “The Beginning”
    from: Homo Anxietatem / Kill Rock Stars / August 18, 2023
    [Shapeshifting Philadelphia-via-Vegas artist Shamir shares a sentimental third and final single & video “The Beginning”from Homo Anxietatem the 9th album & debut for Kill Rock Stars out August 18, 2023. “The Beginning” dives into the missteps of a relationship gone by, while feeling emotionally trapped as time barrels forward. Opening with a jolting record scratch, then seamlessly flowing into a driving guitar strum, the building chorus evokes a nostalgia akin to the soundtrack of a coming-of-age film. With playful lyrical snacks like “I wish I could turn back time, just like Cher” to the painful reality check “we’re so caught up on having a happy ending…we forgot the beginning” – you can’t help but dance & cry along to Shamir’s ever poignant songwriting. The new track follows healing first single “Oversized Sweater”, bittersweet “Our Song”, and surprise release “Crime” featured in HBO’s Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York. // Shamir (he/she/they) directed the hometown video filmed in Bartram’s Garden with musician friends, including members of the band Friendship and Accidental Popstar Records’ own Ladifa, saying “’The Beginning’ is a song I wrote when I was 14 years old and had never experienced love, yet I was already inundated by all the typical tropes. Even back then I realized a happy ending was contingent on a healthy beginning. The video represents the healing power of being around friends after a break up.” // Homo Anxietatem releases August 18, 2023 . For the 9th Shamir album in eight years, and his debut for the legendary Kill Rock Stars label, the shapeshifting songsmith tries on yet another shade of perfect popcraft. After a run of critically acclaimed heavy rock and industrial-tinged records, Shamir forms his literally unforgettable tunes into alternately subdued and soaring alt-pop. For a 28 year-old, Shamir’s amassed a huge body of work. His live show and recorded output are more closely aligned than ever, holding close to guitar-bass-drums combos. The songs are elemental, yet flawless in their own Shamir-ness. And with the studio polish provided by Hoost (Rina Sawayama, VC Pines), the barebones songwriting becomes the foundation for Shamir in a more introspective mode. This is what happens when one of the most prolific songwriters of a generation calms down a bit: the search for meaning becomes mundane. What happens when someone who lives a chronically unstable life finds solid ground? Well, out comes a perfect pop-punk-rock record. // All songs Written by Shamir Bailey with the exception of “Appetizer” written by Grant Pavol. // All songs Produced by Justin Tailor with the exception of “Appetizer” Produced by Grant Pavol and Justin Tailor and “Words” produced by Teddy Thompson. // All guitar, bass, and live instrument performed by Shamir Bailey and Justin Tailor with the exception of “Appetizer” guitar, bass, and drums performed by Grant Pavol and “Words” bass by Teddy Thompson. // All songs Mixed by Charlie McClean // Mastered by Amy Dragon.]

11:09 – Pledge Break #4

This is WMM’s Winter Fund Drive Show w/ Betse Ellis, Rachel Christia, & Mikal Shapiro

Where can I find out about what is happening in my community?

We need KKFI Now More Than Ever. LGBTQIA, Urban Issues, Black Lives Matter, Labor Rights, The Environment, The Kansas City Visual & Literary Arts , The Performing Arts, Stadium Campaigns, Women’s Issues, Native American Issues, Jazz, Blues, Reggae, Classical, Hip Hop, Folk, Women’s Music, Indie Rock, Pop, Electronica, Punk…the answer is KKFI 90.1 FM Kansas City Community Radio.

KKFI is an Independent, non-commercial radio station!

Now, more than ever, Independent, Community Media is important for our world. We are here to listen to you, to share your concerns, and offer resources and information. Along with our National Public Affairs shows like Democracy Now and Alternative Radio we offer more locally produced public affairs programs than anywhere else on the dial.

We offer programs for women, the LGBTQIA Community, Native Americans, Black Public Affairs, Labor & Worker’s Unions, Middle Eastern Music & Information, Latino Programming, prison population & justice system, environmental programming, Visual & Performing Arts, KC Tenants, Economics for the People, Understanding Isreal Palistine.

Just remember what you don’t have to hear when you are tuned to 90.1 FM KKFI! – No commercials, we do have brief underwriting announcements, recognizing those who financially contribute to support non-profit community radio.

At KKFI there is no automated robot playing the same 40 songs in a “rotation,” based on a formula, created by a singular programmer of the robot. KKFI is the opposite of a robot.

There is almost always a human on the end of the phone line when you call 816-931-KKFI.

90.1 offers 100 different radio programs. 85 of these programs are locally, produced, hosted, engineered and written by over 100 different people, who create content, and personally handcraft each show, each week. There are 64 local music shows and 21 locally produced News, Public Affairs, Arts & Talk shows.

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

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

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

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

11:17

15. The Black Creatures – “The Weight of Worth”
    from: By Thy Hand / Center Cut Records / August 12, 2022.
    [By Thy Hand was #1 on WMM’s 120 Best Rercordning of 2022. This new album follows their singles: “Criminal” on June 24, 2022, “Loud For Nothin” on May 27, 2022, and “True Friends” on September 17, 2021. After being signed to Center Cut Records the label remastered and reissued their album WILD ECHOES in 2020 and was named Album Of The Year from The Pitch Magazine. the original 2019 release of WILD ECHOES was #2 in WMM’s 119 Favorite Releases of 2019 (Albums & EPs). The Black Creatures fuse dark-pop hip-hop, soul, jazz, and electronic music with elements from science fiction to tell inter-dimensional stories of love, community, life, culture, history. Xavier & Jade have made an impression in the KC music community with their live shows in clubs, galleries, record stores, and area music festivals. The Black Creatures released their debut single “Mouth 2 Mouth” June 5, 2016. // Jade Green & Xavier Martin of The Black Creatures began working together in 2013. The Black Creatures blur the boundaries of hip-hop, dance, R&B, soul, and EDM, telling stories of real life, and the struggle for equality. Jade’s incredible vocals reveal their background in opera, and their honest lyrics are both personal and political. Jade can interpret soul, jazz, hiphop, and pop. Xavier Martin started music as a violinist, and has transitioned into a co-songwriter, producer, beat-maker, keyboardist, vocalist, engineer, and style maker. // From Center Cut Records Promo Materials: The Black Creatures blend contemporary styles of pop, hip-hop, dance, R&B, EDM and soul with cinematic and storytelling sci-fi/fantasy elements and themes. With the complex and creative approach The Black Creatures take to their art, a diverse audience regularly flocks to their gripping and intensely enchanting performances. // Representing the strange land of Kansas City, Missouri, Jade Green and Xavier began working together around the end of 2013 after meeting on-line talking about cosmetics. After Jade stumbled upon Xavier’s SoundCloud, they asked if they could put their vocals on it, and this led to future collaborations with no more than the intention to dabble. They couldn’t stop and eventually dubbed the project The Black Creatures. // Both Jade & Xavier write and perform vocals, with Xavier at the helm of production and composition. Jade Green has a vocal background in opera and a penchant for theatrics, and both are the foundation of their ever-evolving approach to writing and performing in The Black Creatures. While the instrumentals may set the tone for the show, Jade’s voice captivates the audience from beginning to end. Originally a violinist, Xavier unfurled into a producer and vocalist, maintaining the same air of intrigue and mystery throughout his compositions and performances in The Black Creatures. // After releasing Wild Echoes in the fall of 2020, and receiving Album Of The Year from The Pitch Magazine, high praise came from around the world for the four released singles and accompanying videos. “Wretched (It Goes)” was featured in the NPR Live Sessions “Songs For Change” when The Black Creatures were selected as one of 12 national artists, and included in 90.9 The Bridge’s Top 100 singles along with their song “D’ummm” which was in heavy rotation in the winter. Nuance Magazine wrote, “The Black Creatures take their musical talents and use them in such a way that forces listeners to not only tap their foot to a catchy tune, but pay attention and feel something about what is going on in the world around them. Tackling fascism, police brutality, and the deep-rooted effects of slavery in a rhythmic fashion is one thing. Simultaneously making it a good listen is another. However, The Black Creatures make it happen.” // Mark’s brief review: “Being named “Album of The Year” from The Pitch Kansas City was the recognition this young band deserved, because there is really no other band in Kansas City creating incredibly beautiful and painful protest songs in multi genre styles of beats, vocal styles, textures. The immediate personal and poetic lyrics of Jade Green and tribal, dance floor and soulful beats and melodies of Xavier bring the listener into a multicultural, mixed, gender fluid, soul celebration of life and an honest indictment of the racist, homophobic, and sexist world they are navigating through to survive. Listen carefully to these young music makers, they are wise beyond their years. They sound beautiful and speak the truth to power. They are beautiful. They are The Black Creatures.” Charlotte Street Foundation announced that the recipients of the 2022 Generative Performing Artist Awards are The Black Creatures and Calvin Arsenia Scott. Jade and Xavier completed performances in the world premiere of Christian A. Walker’s “What Came With Spring” for the Owen/Cox Dance Group October 7, 8, and 9 at City Stage Theatre, Union Station, 30 W Pershing Rd, KCMO ]

The Black Creatures Discography
The Black Creatures “Mouth 2 Mouth” – Single, June 5, 2016.
The Black Creatures released their debut album, See No Evil, Dec. 6, 2017.
The Black Creatures “Elements” – Single, February 14, 2018
The Black Creatures “Silver Tears” – Single, June 19, 2018 with additional voices provided by AniMal (Ana Marcela Maldonado Morales) , Barbara Solomon , Kassidee, Quaranta , Adres Va Cortas
The Black Creatures “Dare” (Gorillaz Cover)” – Single, August 8, 2019
The Black Creature – Wild Echoes – September 30, 2019
The Black Creatures – “Turn” – Single, October 30, 2019
The Black Creatures – “Quartz (Twilight)” – Single, November 13, 2019
The Black Creatures – “SHINE” – Single, December 11, 2019
The Black Creatures- “Ghost Bustin’ Dead Prezidentz” – Single, January 8, 2020
The Black Creatures – “To Whom It May Concern” – Single, January 22, 2020
The Black Creatures – “Arcade Love” – Single, February 5, 2020
The Black Creatures – “Run Up” – Single, February 19, 2020.
The Black Creature – Wild Echoes – September 30, 2019
The Black Creatures – “wretched (it goes)”- Single [Center Cut], July 17, 2020 [remastered]
The Black Creature – Wild Echoes – Album (Remastered] August 28, 2020 [Center Cut]
The Black Creatures – “Negative Zero” – Single/Video [Center Cut]
The Black Creatures – “FRIENDS” – Single/Video [Center Cut]
The Black Creatures – BY THY HAND – album August 12, 2022

16. Collidescope – “Dodo Bird”
    from: FunHouse / Collidescope / June 2, 2023
    A col·lide·scope [kəˈlīdəˌskōp] is a group of butterflies…and is the electronic experimental music outfit of musicians Hadiza Sa-Aadu (Hadiza.) and Madison Monroe (Babydoll). United in music and in intersections from their individual queer experiences, the pair as of late have been leaning into heavier and darker soundscapes providing backbone to the words that are most often sung, sometimes screamed, and least often spoken. Words that point crosshairs at power structures while opening an escape route through fantasy and surrealism. // In June 2023, the pair followed up their first two EPs DEEP TAPE and Systemic, realising their first full length album Funhouse on Bandcamp (and everywhere else). // Tim Harte: Production and mixing on 4 // Dekota (Hop) Trogdon Drums on 1, 4, 6, 8, 10 // Victoria Falls Stillwater: Add’l Vocals on 4 // Les Izmore: Vocals & Add’l Vocals on 9 // Gavin Neves: Engineering, mixing, mastering, production on all tracks; beats on 5, 7, and 9 // Collidescope is Hadiza: Vocals & Synth and Madi Monroe: Guitar, Bass, Synth, Beats, Production, Add’l Vocals on 1 and 9 // Cover art by Hadiza. // We dedicate this album to those we’ve lost. // Special thanks to the number one babies ever Dougie Jones and D’angelo Babycat for the constructive criticism and emotional support. // On December 31, 2020 Collidescope released their 7-track album DEEP TAPE. DEEP TAPE includes Victoria Falls Stillwater on addition sound production and vocals, and was mixed and mastered by J.Ashley Miller. DEEP TAPE is a follow up the band’s debut EP SYSTEMIC released December 16, 2017. Hadiza also released her solo album SHADOW WEIGHT on Nov. 22, 2019. More info at: http://www.hadizaisnothere.bandcamp.com or http://www.acollidescope.bandcamp.com]

17. Babydoll – “Flamethrower”
    from: “Flamethrower” – Single / Babydoll / April 7, 2021
    [Babydoll is the alternative musical project of Madison Monroe on guitar, bass, beats, synthesizers, mixing & vocals. Flamethrower also includes Hadiza on background vocals. with mastering by Jametatone. “Flamethrower” was released as a single with the track “Wet Noodle”. all rights reserved.]

11:29– Underwriting

11:31 – Pledge Break #5

This is WMM’s Winter Fund Drive Show w/ Betse Ellis, Rachel Christia, & Mikal Shapiro

Last year we offered Live in studio performances from: True Lions, Lonnie Fisher, Mitzi McKee, Calvin Arsenia, Ivory Blue, Stephonne, Kasey Rausch, Julia Othmer, Kasey Rausch, The Swallowtails, Danny Santell, Krystle Warren, MusicbySkippy, Lone Stranger, Just Angel & T.A. Rell, Christena Graves

We have made radio shows that cover: The Kansas City Rep, Outer Reaches Fest, Owen/Cox Dance Group, No Divide KC, The Folly Theatre, recordBar, Lawrence Arts Center, Manor Records, The Rino, KC Blues Society, KC Star, Lawrence Music Alliance, MixMaster Music Conference, Midwest Music Foundation, KC Gift, Juneteenth, Power to The People Fest, The Record Machine, Lemonade Park, Crossroads Music Festival, The Ship, The Black Box Theatre, Amplify Lawrence, Quindaro Ruins, Queer Narratives Fest, Art in the Loop, The film: “I’m So Glad” documenting the KC Gospel Music, Fringe Festival, Make Music Day, Boulevardia, Arts in The Park, UMKC Conservatory of Music, The Crossroads Hotel, High Dive Records, Greenwood Social Hall, KC Folk Fest, Manor Fest, Center Cut Records, KKFI Band Auction, Charlotte Street Foundation, Women’s History Month!, University of Missouri at Columbia, Lawrence Public Library, I Heart Local Music, Black History Month, Bach Aria Soloists, Folk Alliance International, Martin Luther King Jr., Tribute to David Bowie, Tribute to Iris DeMent.

11:39

18. Ingrid Ingram – “Just Joking”
    from: Worried / Ingrid Ingram / March 8, 2020
    [Ingrid Ingram joined us live on our March 18, 2020 WMM. Ingrid Ingram is a trans-femme musician who uses samples and traditional instruments to create erratic and dreamy soundscapes. On March 8, 2020 Ingrid released her debut full length album, “Worried,” where she explores glam-punk, touching on themes of paranoia, addiction, narcissism and commodified identity in a capitalist society. Ingrid Ingram also plays bass in the KC based band The Creepy Jingles. Prior to “Worried,” 26 year old Ingrid Ingram released three singles from “Worried,” plus her EP “Inside Outside” from January 2017, and “Noises And People” from February 2016. Many of the sounds used in these earlier two releases were recorded on a phone during a two-year period of travel around the United States and stitched together on friend’s laptops. Our first question to Ingrid was, are you worried? She immediately, and bravely identified herself as having BDP, Borderline Personality Disorder. About 1.6% of people have BPD in a given year, with some estimates as high as 6%. Women are diagnosed about three times as often as men. It appears to become less common among older people. Up to half of people improve over a ten-year period. There is an ongoing debate about the naming of the disorder, especially the suitability of the word borderline. The disorder is often stigmatized in both the media and the psychiatric field. When we asked Ingrid Ingram about her musical influences and she told us about Micachu and the Shapes. The UK band was formed by Mica Levi, born February 2, 1987, also known by her stage name Micachu. She is an English singer, songwriter, composer and producer. Micachu and the Shapes includes Raisa Khan on keyboards and Marc Pell on drums. The band signed to Accidental Records. With the Shapes, Levi’s focus has been on experimental pop music. Most of this music prominently features an acoustic half-guitar with various non-standard tunings, extensive distortion, and use of noise and found-object elements, as well as occasionally unusual time signatures. Despite these experimental leanings, the artist categorizes her output with the Shapes as pop music. Ingrid Ingram met Jocelyn Olivia Nixin of The Creepy Jingles when she was working at Succotash, Beth Barden’s restaurant at 2601 Holmes, in KCMO. Ingrid told us about jumping into an already established band that have been playing together for several years and that is was especially fun because Ingrid was a big fan. On WMM, over the past 7 years, we’ve been watching the growing number of brave trans-artists opening us and coming out in the collective Kansas City music communities. Ivory Blue, Eve Sheldon, Ada Brumback, The Creepy Jingles, Mazzy Mann, Cuee, HellKat, True Lions, Chase The Horseman, are many of the artists we’ve had as guests on Wednesday MidDay Medley and have featured their recordings. Ingrid said that she has found acceptance in the KC music community, especially in early DIY spaces, that we can’t mention on the radio. Ingrid grew up in Raytown, Missouri and was home-schooled. She talked about the irony of being home-schooled in relationship to her current job, as the “lunch lady” at an elementary school in Gladstone. Ingrid Ingram is a trans-femme musician who uses samples and traditional instruments to create erratic and dreamy soundscapes. On”Worried,” she explores glam-punk, touching on themes of paranoia, addiction, narcissism and commodified identity in a capitalist society.]

19. Hedwig & The Angry Inch – “Tear Me Down”
    from: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Hedwig & The Angry Inch / Hybrid / 2001
    [Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask and a book by John Cameron Mitchell. The musical follows Hedwig Robinson, a genderqueer East German singer of a fictional rock and roll band. The story draws on Mitchell’s life as the child of a U.S. Army major general who once commanded the U.S. sector of occupied West Berlin. The character of Hedwig was inspired by a German divorced U.S. Army wife who was Mitchell’s family babysitter and moonlighted as a sex worker at her trailer park home in Junction City, Kansas. The music is steeped in the androgynous 1970s glam rock style of David Bowie (who co-produced the Los Angeles production of the show), as well as the work of John Lennon and early punk performers Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. // The musical opened off-Broadway in 1998, and won the Obie Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical. The production ran for two years, and was remounted with various casts by the original creative team in other US cities. In 2000, the musical had a West End production, and it has been produced throughout the world in hundreds of stage productions. // In 2014, the show saw its first Broadway incarnation, opening that April at the Belasco Theatre and winning the year’s Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. The production closed on September 13, 2015. A national tour of the show began at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre in October 2016 before closing at the Kennedy Center in July 2017.]

11:45 – Pledge Break #6

WMM’s Winter Fund Drive Show w/ Betse Ellis & Rachel Christia & Mikal Shapiro

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

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

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

Mikal Shapiro’s The Musical plays a Dinner Matinee on Friday. March 7 , at 7:00 to 9:00 PM, at The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO.

For Betse Ellis, Rachel Christia, Mikal Shapiro, I’m Mark Manning. Thanks for listening!

11:53

20. Laura Jane Grace –“Surrender Your Gender (feat. Lee Ranaldo, Jayne County, Kathi Wilcox, Jay Dee Daugherty & Am Taylor)”
    from: TRAИƧA / Red Hot / November 22, 2024
    [Originally written by trans icon Jayne County. // One of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by the storied activist and music production non-profit Red Hot, TRAИƧA is a spiritual journey across eight chapters and 46 songs with over 100 artists contributing. The album spotlights the gifts of many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working today. // Dust Reid, who led production on Red Hot’s 2014 tribute to Arthur Russell, and Massima Bell, an artist and activist based in Los Angeles, began tracing the contours of what would become TRAИƧA together in 2021. The two producers originally met at a video shoot in upstate New York, and immediately bonded over their shared love of Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s music, as well as a common devotional connection to nature. The passing of SOPHIE, the pathbreaking electronic producer who died in January 2021, galvanized the producers and focused their work. “We started talking about all the gifts that trans artists have been giving to the world, and wanted to create a Red Hot project that centered and celebrated those gifts,” says Reid. “We hoped to create a narrative that positions trans and non-binary people as leaders in our society insofar as the deep inner work they do to affirm who they are in our current climate. We felt this is something everybody should do. Whether you identify as trans or non-binary or otherwise, if you took the time to explore your gender, get in touch with the feeling side of yourself, maybe we would have a future oriented around values of community, collaboration, care, and healing.” // Bell and Reid began conceiving of the album as a spiritual journey in eight chapters, a mirror of the original eight-stripe rainbow pride flag. The narrative begins at the earliest awareness of consciousness; moves through awakening, trauma, and grief; and arrives at liberation and continual reinvention. “One thing trans people do all the time is turn grief into possibility,” says Bell. “Living under the ongoing Western binary system, trans people reveal maps of possibility for everyone. It’s something that we can all learn from – expanding the possibility of human life.” Each chapter begins with a “chapter track,” kicking off a collection of songs that speak to that chapter’s theme. // As the producers began inviting musicians to contribute to TRAИƧA, the political climate in the United States and across the world started to foment an acute reactionary streak. Legislation denying trans people the hard-won right to medically transition proliferated across the country. Book bans rained down on libraries, stamping shut crucial apertures into trans and queer lives. The necessity of TRAИƧA’s presence in the world started to crystallize. // “The stakes have never been higher,” notes Bell. “We’re seeing a rise in anti-trans hate and vitriol that is particularly being spewed in the United States. I am a trans person from Iowa, one of the states that signed into law a bill that prohibits access to gender-affirming care. It is clearly, materially, a terrifying time.” // Laura Jane Grace (born Thomas James Gabel; November 8, 1980) is an American musician best known as the founder, lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the punk rock band Against Me!. In addition to Against Me!, Grace fronts the band Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers, a solo project she started in 2016. Grace is notable for being one of the first highly visible punk rock musicians to publicly come out as transgender, which she did in May 2012. She released her first solo studio album since transitioning, Stay Alive, in 2020, followed by Hole in My Head in 2024.// Grace experienced feelings of gender dysphoria from a young age, citing them as her “earliest memories”. Grace publicly came out as a transgender woman in May 2012 in an article to Rolling Stone. Grace announced plans to begin transitioning. Having been inspired to come out after meeting a transgender Against Me! fan, Grace had informed the rest of the band that February. In 2012, she began publicly using the name Laura Jane Grace. “Laura” is the name her mother would have chosen had she been assigned female at birth, “Jane” was selected simply because she thinks it’s pretty, and “Grace” is her mother’s maiden name. On continuing to perform in Against Me!, Grace said, “However fierce our band was in the past, imagine me, six-foot-two, in heels, fucking screaming into someone’s face.” // In her 2012 interview with Rolling Stone, Grace revealed plans to take hormones and undergo electrolysis. She said she was also considering surgery. She expressed apprehension about chondrolaryngoplasty and bottom surgery, saying, “I don’t give a fuck if I lose my penis. It’s just fucking scary because of the surgery. I’ve needed to have my wisdom teeth removed for five years, and I still haven’t.” She said that she would live as a woman and undergo psychotherapy for a year before considering gender-affirming surgery: “Right now, I’m in this awkward transition period. I look like a dude, and feel like a dude, and it sucks. But eventually I’ll flip, and I’ll present as female.” In 2015, Grace stated, “I think it’s perfectly valid [for a trans person] to never undergo bottom surgery”. // In response to Grace’s announcement, a number of figures in the punk community voiced their support, including musicians Brian Fallon, Brendan Kelly, Franz Nicolay, and Mike Shinoda; cartoonist Mitch Clem; and professional wrestler CM Punk. Herndon Graddick, President of GLAAD, hoped that Grace’s public profile would increase public awareness and acceptance of trans people: “[Laura] is displaying extraordinary courage by coming out as transgender after already establishing herself as a rock star. For many of the band’s fans, this may be the first time they’re actually thinking about transgender people and the bravery it sometimes takes in order to be true to yourself.” // Grace confirmed in January 2019 that she underwent facial feminization surgery in December 2018 as part of her transition. // Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth; Jayne County who was born Wayne Rogers, on July 13, 1947 and is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer whose career has spanned six decades. Under the name Wayne County (inspired by Wayne County, Michigan), she was the vocalist of influential proto-punk band Wayne County & the Electric Chairs; Kathi Wilcox who was born November 19, 1969, and is an American musician. She is the bass player in Bikini Kill and guitar player in the Casual Dots. She was also a member of the Julie Ruin and the Frumpies; Jay Dee Daugherty was born March 22, 1952 and is an American drummer and songwriter most known for his work with Patti Smith. As a member of the Patti Smith Group, he has been nominated twice to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Moving to New York City in 1974, Jay Dee Daugherty co-founded the Mumps with high school friends Lance Loud and Kristian Hoffman; & Am Taylor – Amy Louise Taylor is an Australian musician and activist from Mullumbimby, Australia. She is known as a songwriter and lead vocalist of the ARIA Award winning rock band Amyl and the Sniffers based in Melbourne, Australia.]

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

NEXT WEEK, on March 12 we welcome Shanté Clare, Seth Davis, Evan Verploegh(ver-ploo) and Benjamin Bake of The Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society. ALSO Seyko Groves joins us to talk about her solo music and her work with The Freedom Affair, and we’ll have many new releases from Ghosty, Kat King, Birdie, They’re Theirs, Til Willis & Erratic Cowboy, Lee Walter Redding, and more

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

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

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

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

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

Show #1085

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

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

WMM presents: Miss Boating + T.A. Rell & Just Angel + 4th Dimensional Flowers

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. LYXE – “All Alone”
   from: “All Alone” – Single / LYXE / February 21, 2025
   [Ryan Wise (of The Sluts) on vocals, Jimmy Girod on percussion, AJ Knudson on bass,. This indie/alternative rock band LYXE, is from Lawrence, Kansas. // The track is a raw and powerful anthem that taps into the pain of a broken relationship and the messy aftermath of trying to heal. Known for their high-energy live performances and a sound that effortlessly blends nostalgia with originality, LYXE continues to carve out their place in the indie scene with “All Alone.” Drawing from the energy and grit of 80s, 90s, and early 2000s rock, the song brings listeners a no-frills, back-to-basics rock and roll experience. With stripped-down instrumentation and emotive lyrics, the band’s latest track dives deep into the personal struggle of dealing with an ex’s departure and the unhealthy coping mechanisms that follow. // Lead vocalist and guitarist, Ryan Wise explains, “‘All Alone’ is about feeling like you’re stuck in a cycle of self-destruction after losing someone. The pain becomes a comfort, and it’s easier to lean into unhealthy habits than face the truth. It’s not about the ex anymore – it’s about how we often lose ourselves when the world feels too heavy.” // The single arrives on the heels of LYXE’s consistently packed live shows, which have become a staple in the Midwest music scene. Their vibrant and engaging performances have earned them a dedicated following, making them one of the most exciting and authentic indie bands to watch in 2025. Fans of hard-hitting guitar riffs and unapologetic, emotional storytelling will find “All Alone” to be a perfect addition to their playlist. The song is a raw, cathartic journey that resonates with anyone who has ever been left behind and found themselves drifting in search of a way back to something real. // Formed in 2019, they’re an energetic three-piece whose music blends the best of modern rock radio with danceable ’80s New Wave. If Wavves listened to a lot of early INXS, the music they made would sound like LYXE. I Heart Local Music describes them as “…easily Lawrence’s most exciting band at the moment, and they prove it with every show.” // LYXE, a three piece pop-rock outfit formed out of the love of getting fans to sing and dance along to hip shaking rhythms reminiscent of classic 80’s and 90’s sounds. They quickly became a favorite of crowds and musicians alike with the lead of Ryan Wise’s crooning vocals and vintage guitar sounds. The trio has an undeniable chemistry that caught the local scene like wildfire. Bassist AJ Knudson brings a loveable charisma to their live presence, while drummer Jimmy Girod’s subtle, elegant delivery gives this act a sophisticated backbone. // LYXE released their debut EP, EVERYTHING YOU COULD EVER WANT on September 15, 2022. Pulling inspiration from a wide range of genres, this six-song EP has a pop-rock, new wave nostalgia that sinks its teeth into you. Luring in listeners with dramatics and lush hooks on “Wave,” yet unafraid to tap into their feral side on “I Got Everything.” The record closes with “Fit,” which makes you feel like you’re in an argument with your prom date in 1989. Recorded, at Element Recording Studios in Kansas City. The new EP gave listeners a different side of Ryan Wise’s songwriting with crooning vocals and vintage guitar sounds. // On June 23, 2023 LYXE released a remastered version of their song “Wave (Remastered 2023)” produced by Joel Nanos. Remaster by Jake Vertigo, with: Ryan Wise (of The Sluts) on vocals, Jimmy Girod on percussion, AJ Knudson on bass, and Chase Horseman on synthesizer. This was originally the debut single “Wave.” // LYXE release their singe ”Ice Cream” on June 23, 2023 // LYXE released their single “P{rom Song” on November 10, 2024. // LYXE released their single “Hard To Talk” on October 4, 2024. // For additional information or inquiries please contact: wearelyxe@gmail.com ]

3. Malek Azrael – “Room 4U”
   from: “Room 4U” – Single / Malek Azrael / February 28, 2025
   [First single from Malek Azrael’s upcoming EP FEELS LIKE. // On March 1, 2024 Malek Azrael released his single, “in ur mind.” On October 15, 2021 Makek Azrael released his 10-track album debut. Male Azrael lives in KCMO. He has worked for Boys Grow, and is currently working with touring. Malek Azrael has been involved with Making Movies non-profit organization Art As Mentorship. He sometimes plays with Making Movies and played the Ameri-Kana Fest. Malek Azrael played KKFI’s 18th Annual Crossroads Music Fest, on Aug. 27, at The Black Box, in West Bottoms. Malek & The Vibez played Boulevardia Festival at Crown Center, on June 16, 2024.]

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

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

4. Krystle Warren & The Faculty – “Build It Up”
   from: Extended Play / Parlour Door Music / November 1, 2024
   [Krystle Warren & The Faculty are: Krystle Warren, Solomon Dorsey, Zach Djanikian, Mike Riddleberger, and Jonathan Anderson. // Krystle is one of our most played artists, of all time, on this radio show. Krystle is also one of our most frequent guests, today is her 20h appearance on our show. // Krystle Warren began performing in her native KC at the age of 16. Krystle graduated from Paseo Arts Academy and in 2001 began her musical career collaborating with area jazz and pop musicians. After moving to New York City, she started busking on the streets and later formed her band, The Faculty. After her independent EP release, Diary, Krystle was signed to Paris based music label Because Music who sent her a one-way ticket. Krystle Warren & The Faculty released the album CIRCLES in 2009. Following their double album LOVE SONGS (2012) Krystle Warren & The Faculty were involved in many musical projects. Krystle Warren & The Faculty, released the single “Macca” on May 22, 2023. They released and their single “Rising” released May 31, 2019, and written especially for Ava DuVernay’s critically acclaimed television mini series WHEN THEY SEE US. When Covid delayed the upcoming release of Extended Play, Krystle and members of The Faculty along with some of their frequent collaborators formed The Crew to release the 4-song CREW EP on September 15, 2020. // The Faculty was formed with Krystle Warren, Solomon Dorsey, Zach Djanikian, Mike Riddleberger, and Dave Moore. While the four boys had classes and gigs, Krystle floated around New York and made a lot of friends. She busked and wrote songs, and, with the help of her band members and Ben Kane, who had an internship at Electric Lady Studios and was sneaking them in at odd hours, Krystle turned those songs into an e.p. called Diary. // Diary led to Circles, which Ben Kane co-produced with Voodoo engineer Russell “The Dragon” Elevado. Circles was bought by Because Music in France, but Krystle still recorded Love Songs in New York, a double album that invokes a Blakean duality with its two subtitles, ‘A Time to Refrain from Embracing’ and ‘A Time You May Embrace’. // Love Songs​ was produced with most of the Faculty (Zach was on tour with Amos Lee) and a slew of guest musicians in Brian Bender’s Brooklyn studio, The Motherbrain. Bender’s assistant, Jonathan Anderson,]

Krystle Warren & The Faculty Discography
Krystle Warren & The Faculty has released the EP “Diary” on May 1, 2007
Krystle Warren released “The Up Series – EP” on November 10, 2008
Krystle Warren releases the 13-song Album CIRCLES on March 13, 2009
Krystle Warren & The Faculty released “A Time To Keep – Love Songs EP”, Aug. 12, 2011
Krystle Warren & The Faculty released the double album 24-song “Love Songs” released on vinyl in Europe on April 9, 2012 as “Love Songs: A Time to Embrace,” and “Love Songs: A Time to Refrain from Embracing. ” And released on separate digital and CD albums in the United States as: “Love Songs: A Time to Embrace,” on March 13, 2012 and “Love Songs: A Time to Refrain from Embracing” on February 27, 2015
Krystle Warren released the album THREE THE HARDWAY on August 18, 2017
Krystle Warren & The Faculty released the single “Rising” on May 31, 2019
Krystle Warren & The Crew released the 4-song EP, THE CREW on September 15, 2020
Krystle Warren & The Faculty released the single “Macca”on May 22, 2023
Krystle Warren & The Faculty released the single “LA DOLCE VITA” on March 1, 2024

5. Sweeping Promises – “Shadow Me”
   from: Good Living is Coming For You / Feel it Records – Sub Pop / June 30, 2023
   [“For more than a half century, underground music revolutionaries have taken a whack at the mundane mainstream like a piñata. England punks spat “NO FUTURE” at germ-free adolescents. Ohio new wavers devolutionized mankind with whips. Athens art school students chomped at hero worship. MetroCard-carrying riot grrrls rebirthed the bomp with a gasoline gut. In 2020, Sweeping Promises read our pandemic minds with Hunger for a Way Out. In 2023, they return with a new message: Good Living Is Coming For You. At first glance, this nouveau wave slogan offers hope wrapped around relief. At first listen, we realize this may actually be a warning. Darker still, a threat. // A band famous for their unfussy, monolithic anthems, Sweeping Promises elegantly ravage us again with another future classic. They return as a fist of velvet rose petals roaring inside a compact wrecking ball. Gone is the Boston brutalist ambience of their subterranean concrete laboratory and the revelatory single mic recording technique. In its place, a retired and resplendent nude painting studio in Lawrence, Kansas, bathed in light with high ceilings and hardwood floors. Guided once again by their surrounding architecture, a reverb-rich space remains the defining element at the heart of their highly stylized sound. A watery ghost from the golden age of art-punk now wields sharper knives and more microphones. // If the mood of HFAWO was hungry, GLICFY is RAVENOUS. In 2023, appetite is addressed in new ways: Power struggles are aired in “Eraser,” restraints are broken in “You Shatter,” anguished exclamations sting in “Good Living Is Coming for You.” The taboo subject of aging is (s)heroically dragged out into the open. Every line is delivered with such joyous, soaring layers that each punch lands like a chef’s kiss. // Sweeping Promises are Lira Mondal and Caufield Schnug. A chance meeting in Arkansas led to a decade of playing in an eclectic assortment of projects together. Their relentless practice made perfect. Bass playing Lira is an emotive bolt of thunderous energy with the iconic blast of a girl group rolled into one robust throat. Caufield is an intentional guitar player and drummer. No note or hit is extraneous. Together they are meticulous sound engineers, using space as a key ingredient to their distinct sound. Controlling every aspect of their craft, from the first note they write together, all the way through to the final mastering process, each record is an unspoiled fingerprint unique to their dynamic chemistry. // Written before the pandemic, Hunger for a Way Out was released on Feel It Records in the summer of 2020. These songs drip with the anxious urgency of a commanding live performance yet their gauzy production transports us like the fading memory of a favorite song. This distorted sense of time resonated with thousands of quarantined listeners who turned the album into a life-saving floatation device and most beloved album of the year. This is when Feel It Records (North America) and Sub Pop (everywhere else) joined forces to divide/unite and conquer; beginning with the 2021 single “Pain Without a Touch” and now carrying through to Good Living Is Coming For You. // The pandemic went on to trigger an absurd chain of events for Sweeping Promises. Under financial strain, Mondal and Schnug uprooted their lives. They surrendered their studio in Cambridge to take refuge with family in Texas. They completed over 50 demos between their Austin bathroom and a Marfa abode, but feeling unsatisfied, they sought another fresh start. When a disused church in Ohio proved too difficult to rehab, they ultimately found lasting inspiration in Kansas. With their home and studio all under one roof, life is music and music is life.]

[Sweeping Promises play the Palestine Benefit Show, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, at 7:00pm at The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St., Lawrence, Kansas with Drifter, Ghoulies, Flatline, and Toasterbath. Presented by I Heart Local Music, Blood Bank DIY & KU Students for Justice in Palestine. All proceeds will go directly toward getting critical aid to victims of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.]

6. The Matchsellers – “I Can’t Believe Were Still In Love”
   from: “I Can’t Believe We’re Still In Love” – Single / The Matchsellers / February 14, 2025
   [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. // In the band’s most recent iteration, mandolinist Brian McCarty brings an invaluable lifetime of experience in the Bluegrass tradition, while Brandon Day thrills audiences with his intricate bass solos. // On May 3, 2024 he 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, one of Wednesday MidDay Medley’s 116 Best Recordings of 2016.. In late 2014 they released their debut full length recording, “Kosciusko County,” one of Wednesday MidDay Medley’s 115 Best Recordings of 2015. The Matchsellers have toured 3 European countries and 25 US States, performing 180 shows a year, including last year for 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.]

7. 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.]

[MJ Lenderman and The Wind plays The Bottleneck, 737 New Hamphshire St., Lawrence, Kansas, Monday, March 3, at 7:00pm]

9. Joy Oladokun – “Observation #1”
   from: Observations From A Crowded Room / Amigo Records – Verve Forecast / Oct. 18, 2024
   [Joy Iladokun released Proof of Life her 4th studio album on April 28, 2024. The album was supported by five singles released throughout 2022 & 2023. The album features guest appearances from Mt. Joy, Manchester Orchestra, Chris Stapleton, Maxo Kream, and Noah Kahan. In a press release about the album, Oladokun said that she intended for the songs on Proof of Life to be “helpful anthems” and to resonate with “anybody who feels normal and needs a little musical boost to get through the day”. The first single, “Keeping the Light On”, was released on January 21, 2022. The second single, “Sweet Symphony” (featuring Chris Stapleton), was released on September 23, 2022. Of the song, Oladokun said that the song was about “the vulnerability, the fear, and the ups and downs that come from loving someone.” The third single, “Changes”, was released on February 17, 2023, simultaneously with the album announcement. The fourth single, “We’re All Gonna Die” (with Noah Kahan), was released March 17, 2023. The 5th and final single, “Taking Things for Granted”, was released on April 21, 2023. // Joy Oladokun was born April 6, 1992, she is an American singer-songwriter. Oladokun’s music spans the genres of folk, R&B, rock, and pop and is influenced by her identity as a queer woman of color. Oladokun grew up in Casa Grande, Arizona, listening to country and folk music, as well as Bob Marley and Lauryn Hill. Both of her parents are Nigerian immigrants to the United States. Her family regularly attended a Christian church, where Oladokun was chosen to lead worship. Later, Oladokun left the church because it limited her creativity. // When Oladokun was 10, a video of Tracy Chapman inspired her to learn guitar.// After college, at a friend’s suggestion, Oladokun moved to Los Angeles to pursue her music career. She later moved to East Nashville, where she signed with Prescription Songs. She has released three studio albums. In 2015, Joy Oladokun self-released her debut EP Cathedrals. Her debut studio album, Carry Me was funded by Kickstarter and released on April 29, 2016 through Well Records. // Oladokun released the single “Sunday” in 2019, saying “‘Sunday’ is the song that 12-year-old Joy, seated in the back of church youth group, needed to hear. She needed to hear that you can be queer and happy. Queer and healthy. Queer and holy. She needed to see married women kissing and playing with their kids.” The music video highlights people in LGBTQ relation-ships and has a predominantly queer cast. // Oladokun’s song “Mercy” follows in the same theme, describing her experience as a Black person in the United States, while the single “I See America” criticizes systemic racism. NPR listed “I See America” on its 100 Best Songs of 2020. // On July 17, 2020, Oladokun released her 2nd studio album, In Defense of My Own Happiness (Vol. 1). Billboard described the album as a “stunningly emotional collection.” Mitch Mosk, editor-in-chief of Atwood Mag., called it a “a sweeping, soaring, and stunning sophomore record oozing heart and soul.” // In 2021, Oladokun received a grant from YouTube’s “#YouTubeBlack Voices Fund”. The same year she signed with Amigo Records, Verve Forecast Records, & Republics. http://www.joyoladokun.com Oladokun played The Truman on Sept. 12, 2024]

10. Joy Oladokun – “Strong Ones”
    from: Observations From A Crowded Room / Amigo Records – Verve Forecast / Oct. 18, 2024

[Joy Oladokun plays The Truman, 601 E.Truman Road, KCMO, TONIGHT, Wednesday, February 26, at 8:00pm with Luke Tyler Shelton]

10:34 – Underwriting

10. 4th Dimensional Flowers – “gum”
    from: Love/Time / 4th Dimensional Flowers / February 3, 2025
    [4th Dimensional Flowers is a Kansas City-based music group composed of: Dylan Peace, on guitar and vocals. Gwen Heath, on Bass, Andy Wooden on drums, and lead guitarist Isaac Samayee. The music of 4th Dimensional Flowers is a fresh reincarnation of Grunge/Alternative Rock, and poppy Midwest Shoegaze with an emphasis on crunchy, melodic guitars, bass so full you can bite right into it, and beats that’ll get you dancing until you can’t feel your legs! 4th Dimensional Flowers has played alongside other popular acts such as Brady Rowland and the Missile kids , Lucky dragon no. 5, MabKC, and Island Policy/ // The Bi/Polar Album is a unique blend of extreme emotions, made to represent what having bipolar depression feels like, with major ups and downs, extreme genre/mood change, every song brings you just a smidgeon closer to insanity, and hopefully a better understanding of people with severe mental illness. // Switching from introspective singer-songwriter songs like If I, to more hardcore, heavy-hitting songs like Antifreeze. The band writes, “This album is made to cry to, to thrash to, or just to vibe to, and we hope it helps to bring people with mental illness some peace, in knowing that you are not alone, and we love you.”]

10:39 – Interview with Dylan Pease & Andy Wooden of 4th Dimensional Flowers

Dylan Peace is a vocalist and guitar player for 4th Dimensional Flowers. His main influences are The Thermals, Nirvana, and Jack White. Dylan hosts a goofy late-night radio show about local Kansas City musicians on 90.1FM called Local Wave, heard Thursday nights / Friday mornings, from Midnight to 2:00am. Dylan also absolutely loves to bake. He loves rocks and their magical properties. Dylan’s favorite television show is American Dad. From the very first time he could play guitar, Dylan has been making music for people like himself, with mental illness. Dylan just doesn’t want anyone to feel alone, and I hopes to spread a little “community” with his music.

Dylan Pease thanks for being with us again on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Andy Wooden plays drums for 4th Dimensional Flowers. Andy’s dad is also a professional drummer. Andy’s dad saw an ad placed by Dylan looking for a drummer. Andy’s dad encouraged him to call Dylan and set up a meeting. Andy Wooden is originally from Kansas City. Andy has also played with the bands: Kid Computer. and OK O’Clock, and 20 other bands. At one point Andy was playing drums in so many bands that he had band practice every day of the week, with two different sessions on Saturdays and Sundays. For several years Andy worked for Explorers Drums & Percussion, at 8050 Wornal Road, KCMO before it closed.

Andy Wooden, thanks for being with us again on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Dylan Pease & Andy Wooden are here to talk about their band, 4th Dimensional Flowers join us live in our 90.1 FM Studios. The music of 4 Dimensional Flowers is a fresh reincarnation of Grunge/Alternative Rock, and poppy Midwest Shoegaze with an emphasis on crunchy, melodic guitars, bass so full you can bite right into it, and beats that’ll get you dancing until you can’t feel your legs! 4th Dimensional Flowers is made up of Dylan Peace, on guitar and vocals. Gwen Heath, on Bass, Andy Wooden on drums, and lead guitarist Isaac Samayee. The band has played alongside other popular acts such as Brady Rowland and the Missile Kids, Lucky Dragon no. 5, MabKC, and Island Policy. More info at: http://4thdimensionalflowers.com

4th Dimensional Flowers include:

Dylan Peace, on guitar and vocals
Gwen Heath, on Bass,
Andy Wooden on drums, and
lead guitarist Isaac Samayee.

New songs are part of the band’s new EP Love/Time.

Gwendolyn Heath plays bass with 4th Dimensional Flowers. She is heavily influenced by the styles that got her into playing music as a teenager: rock, metal, punk, and anything with guitars, drums, and the volume cranked to 11. Gwen’s Biggest inspirations are bands such as Mastodon, Red Fang, and Refused. Gwen first became addicted to making music and playing shows when she was in her first band Nuclear Destruction, a melodic death-metal project that eventually grew apart. Eventually one of her closest friends Dylan Pease was looking for a bassist and she fit like a glove with a new line up and a rebrand of 4th Dimensional Flowers. Gwen found music to be an outlet for her repressed feelings. Before she transitioned, her love of music and the community of Kansas City allowed her to first “come out” to her fellow musicians.

Gwen Heath thanks for being with us again on Wednesday MidDay Medley

4th Dimensional Flowers will be releasing A full length album in May called Bi/Polar. The album will be a unique blend of extreme emotions, made to represent what having bipolar depression feels like, with major ups and downs, extreme genre/mood change, every song brings you just a smidgeon closer to insanity, and hopefully a better understanding of people with severe mental illness

10:47

11. 4th Dimensional Flowers – “Antifreeze”
    from: Love/Time / 4th Dimensional Flowers / February 3, 2025
    [4 Dimensional Flowers is a Kansas City-based music group composed of: Dylan Peace, on guitar and vocals. Gwen Heath, on Bass, Andy Wooden on drums, and lead guitarist Isaac Samayee. The music of 4 Dimensional Flowers is a fresh reincarnation of Grunge/Alternative Rock, and poppy Midwest Shoegaze with an emphasis on crunchy, melodic guitars, bass so full you can bite right into it, and beats that’ll get you dancing until you can’t feel your legs! 4 Dimensional Flowers has played alongside other popular acts such as Brady Rowland and the Missile kids , Lucky dragon no. 5, MabKC, and Island Policy/ // The Bi/Polar Album is a unique blend of extreme emotions, made to represent what having bipolar depression feels like, with major ups and downs, extreme genre/mood change, every song brings you just a smidgeon closer to insanity, and hopefully a better understanding of people with severe mental illness. // Switching from introspective singer-songwriter songs like If I, to more hardcore, heavy-hitting songs like Antifreeze.]

10:50 – Interview w/ Dylan Pease & Andy Wooden of 4th Dimensional Flowers

Dylan Pease and Andy Wooden join us to talk about their band, 4th Dimensional Flowers join us live in our 90.1 FM Studios. The music of 4th Dimensional Flowers is a fresh reincarnation of Grunge/Alternative Rock, and poppy Midwest Shoegaze with an emphasis on crunchy, melodic guitars, bass so full you can bite right into it, and beats that’ll get you dancing until you can’t feel your legs! 4th Dimensional Flowers is made up of Dylan Peace, on guitar and vocals. Gwen Heath, on Bass, Andy Wooden on drums, and lead guitarist Isaac Samayee. The band has played alongside other popular acts such as Brady Rowland and the Missile Kids, Lucky Dragon no. 5, MabKC, and Island Policy. More info at: http://4thdimensionalflowers.com

Dylan Pease, Andy Wooden and Gwen Heath thanks for being with us again on WMM

4th Dimensional Flowers is Dylan Peace on guitar & vocals; Gwen Heath on Bass, Andy Wooden on drums, and Isaac Samayee on lead guitar

New songs are part of the band’s new EP Love/Time.

4th Dimensional Flowers will be releasing A full length album in May called Bi/Polar. The album will be a unique blend of extreme emotions, made to represent what having bipolar depression feels like, with major ups and downs, extreme genre/mood change, every song brings you just a smidgeon closer to insanity, and hopefully a better understanding of people with severe mental illness.

The music of 4th Dimensional Flowers is a fresh reincarnation of Grunge/Alternative Rock, and poppy Midwest Shoegaze with an emphasis on crunchy, melodic guitars, bass so full you can bite right into it, and beats that’ll get you dancing until you can’t feel your legs!

4th Dimensional Flowers has played alongside other popular acts such as Brady Rowland and the Missile kids, Lucky Dragon No. 5, MabKC, and Island Policy.

Dylan Pease & Andy Wooden thanks for being with us again on WMM

More info at: http://4thdimensionalflowers.com

10:57

12. 4th Dimensional Flowers – “Reptilez (Live from KKFI Band Auction)” (CD #11) (3:26)
    from: Love/Time / 4 Dimensional Flowers / February 3, 2025
    [4th Dimensional Flowers is a Kansas City-based music group composed of: Dylan Peace, on guitar and vocals. Gwen Heath, on Bass, Andy Wooden on drums, and lead guitarist Isaac Samayee. The music of 4 Dimensional Flowers is a fresh reincarnation of Grunge/Alternative Rock, and poppy Midwest Shoegaze with an emphasis on crunchy, melodic guitars, bass so full you can bite right into it, and beats that’ll get you dancing until you can’t feel your legs! 4 Dimensional Flowers has played alongside other popular acts such as Brady Rowland and the Missile Kids, Lucky Dragon no. 5, MabKC, and Island Policy.]

11:00 – Station ID

13. T.A. Rell – “4oreign (Radio Edit)”
    from: “4oreign (Radio Edit)” – Single / T.A.P. OUT Music / April 13, 2024
    [Arick “TA. Rell” Ridgell is a 23 year old producer/writer/artist who recently has began emerging by way of the internet. The Kansas City,Missouri native was born August 29,1990. He’s an alumni of Center High School (Kansas City,MO, 64131), and a current student at Longview Community College (Lee’s Summit,MO), where he’s currently looking to obtain a degree in Audio Engineering. He’s what you’d call a mixing pot of R&B, country, gospel, pop, rock and roll, etc… TA’s “style influenced by a variety of artists such as Ray Charles, James Brown, Smokie Robinson, The Temptations, Jamie Foxx, Tank, Tyrese, Musiq Soulchild, Fred Hammond, John P. Kee, amongst others]

11:04 – Interview with T.A. Rell

Arick “T.A. Rell” Ridgell is a 34 year old musician has been writing and producing music since the age of 18. The Kansas City, Missouri native was born August 29, 1990. He’s an alumni of Center High School (Kansas City, MO), and a current student at Longview Community College (Lee’s Summit, MO), where he’s currently looking to obtain a degree in Audio Engineering. He’s what you’d call a mixing pot of R&B, country, gospel, pop, rock and roll, etc… TA’s “style influenced by a variety of artists such as Ray Charles, James Brown, Smokie Robinson, The Temptations, Jamie Foxx, Tank, Tyrese, Musiq Soulchild, Fred Hammond, John P. Kee, amongst others. T.A. tries not to trap himself in the box on genres but tries to use his love for all music to unlock the hearts and souls of listeners around the world.

T.A. Rell return to Wednesday MidDay Medley to share the newest single from T.A. Rell called, “Take It Back.” T.A. Rell plays keyboards and sings background with Just Angel in their band The Wades. Just Angel is a musician, songwriter, dancer, and creative artist. Her powerful voice has been called, “Passionate … Soulful… and Inspiring.”

T.A. Rell thanks for being with us again on WMM

Arick “T.A. Rell” Ridgell has been writing and producing music since the age of 18. The Kansas City, Missouri native was born August 29, 1990.

He’s an alumni of Center High School (Kansas City, MO), and a current student at Longview Community College (Lee’s Summit, MO), where he’s currently looking to obtain a degree in Audio Engineering.

He has produced music with many artists including the song “Make Love” produced by Tj-Hooker)

“Take It Back” – Single / T.A.P. OUT MUSIC – DistroKid / February 14, 2025

11:13

14. T.A. Rell – “Take It Back”
    from: “Take It Back” – Single / T.A.P. OUT MUSIC – DistroKid / February 14, 2025
    [Arick “TA. Rell” Ridgell is a 23 year old producer/writer/artist who recently has began emerging by way of the internet. The Kansas City,Missouri native was born August 29,1990. He’s an alumni of Center High School (Kansas City,MO, 64131), and a current student at Longview Community College (Lee’s Summit,MO), where he’s currently looking to obtain a degree in Audio Engineering. He’s what you’d call a mixing pot of R&B, country, gospel, pop, rock and roll, etc… TA’s “style influenced by a variety of artists such as Ray Charles, James Brown, Smokie Robinson, The Temptations, Jamie Foxx, Tank, Tyrese, Musiq Soulchild, Fred Hammond, John P. Kee, amongst others]

11:17 – More Interview with T.A. Tell and Just Angel

We are talking with T.A. Rell and Just Angel who with their band, The Wades can be found rocking stages with original songs from their recordings and eclectic takes on popular music. We just heard the new single from T.A. Rell

Just Angel is a singer, musician, songwriter, dancer, and creative artist. Her powerful voice has been called, “Passionate … Soulful… and Inspiring.” Her music finds its home in Rock, Jazz, and Alternative, and she has found a way to incorporate those genres within her love with Soul and R&B. Just Angel has performed with My Brothers & Sisters. Just Angel and her band, The Wades (which include T.A. Rell) can be found rocking stages with her original songs from her recordings and eclectic takes on popular music. She released her debut EP, JUST ANGEL, PART 1 on December 24, 2020. She released her follow up EP, JUST ANGEL, PART 2 on December 25, 2021. She also contributed vocals to the amazing Sisterbot record. Just Angel has performed in multiple theatre theatre productions., and has been working on her musical degree at UMKC. Last year Just Angel released the single “Dumb” which was part of WMM’s favorite 50 Singles of 2024.

Just Angel and T.A. Rell thanks for being with us again on WMM

Just Angel produced the 4 song EP, JUST ANGEL PT.1 in 3 days in 2020, She then produced a second 4-song EP, JUST ANGEL PT. 2 in 24 hours in 2021. Just Angel has a birthday on December 24. Producer & Musician T.A. Rell helped birth into fruition the Just Angel EP releases with the 5 month hiatus between recordings.

Just Angel has been working on her musical degree at UMKC.

Just Angel collaborated with Sisterbot aka Adee Dancey on the track “Approval.”

With Adee Dancy Just Angel has a band called Neo Emo Soul.

Last year Just Angel released the single “Dumb” which was part of WMM’s favorite 50 Singles of 2024.

Just Angel and T.A. Rell thanks for being with us again on WMM

More info at: https://linktr.ee/JustAngel_TigerLilyStar

11:25

15. Just Angel – “Dumb”
    from: “Dumb” – Single / T.A.P. OUT MUSIC/ August 9, 2024
    [Just Angel is a Kansas City based, singer, musician, songwriter, dancer. and creative artist. She recently contributed vocals to the recent Sisterbot record. More info at: /distrokid.com/hyperfollow/justangel/just-angel–pt-1: Just Angel: Pt. 2 is a followup to Just Angel Pt.1 – EP released on December 24, 2020 Just Angel is a musician, songwriter, dancer, and creative artist. Just Angel, has been seen on stages of The Barn Players Community Theatre, at Johnson County Arts & Heritage Center in BEAUTIFUL, The Carole King Musical,, The Music Theater Heritage: Ruby Room performance of “Piece of My Heart” in 2023, The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City “After Midnight” in 2022, and playing Osceola Mays in “Texas in Paris” in 2021. Her band, The Wades, can be found playing eclectic takes on pop music, and Just Angel‘s originals, from Part 1 & 2. Her single “Dumb”, was released August 9, 2024. More at https://linktr.ee/JustAngel_TigerLilyStar%5D

11:28 – Underwriting

16. Miss Boating – “You’ll Sparkle”
    from: Jewel In The Trash / High Dive Records / June 29, 2024
    [Miss Boating signed with High Dive Records to release their debut album, JEWEL IN THE TRASH. Miss Boating is a KC based, 5-piece with multi-instrumentalist & lead singer Charlie Colborne, drummer Bill Belzer, Aaron Jones on trombone, Tom Gillespie on Saxophone, and Bryan McGuire on bass. (Phil Dickey played bass on the album.) Charlie and Bill met in the late 1980s. In the beginning they were called The Sympathetic Fringe, and then The Sleazebeats. In recent years Charlie & Bill added Aaron, Tim and Bryan. Described by one local radio host as “the perfect house band for a John Waters After Party.” One of their songs is about a friend’s mom’s dynamic relationship with prescription medication. Another is a tribute to the late Evan Jolly, their former bassist. All of the songs written by Charlie Colborne through his blue/gay eyes. These songs have a fine patina of ditch weed, filthy humor, cigarette smoke, gay drama, Bee Gee’s inflected new wave, queer music hall schmaltz, odd stiff naive sambas, and box wine. More info at: http://www.highdivekc.com // From the ashes of their former band The Sleazebeats, Charles Colborne and Bill Belzer faced a difficult 2019 when combined with the death of Charlie’s own beloved mother, their friend and bassist Evan Vhargon died. The band wrote that they “were lost when Evan passed.” Through the tough times Bill and Charlie kept playing and wrote that they “were blown away when Phil Dickey wanted to jam with us… the jamming turned into something more and we were going again. We couldn’t be more thankful and humbled.” Phil is part of the bands Dragon Inn 3, and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. // On Jan 1, 2020 Miss Boating released The Vhargon Sidestep w/: Charlie Colborne on keyboards, guitar, vocals; Bill Belzer: drums, vocals; Phil Dickey on bass; Aaron Jones on trombone; Tim Gillespie on saxophone. Ross Brown served as engineering, did all of the mixing for The Vhargon Sidestep and Mike Nolte handled all of the mastering.]

[Miss Boating play The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO, Friday, March 7, 2025 at 9:00pm with Sit Queen both opening for Paisley Fields.]

11:33 – Interview with Charlie Colborne & Bill Belzer

Charlie Colborne is Senior Editor & Editorial Manager for Greeting Cards at Andrews McMeel Publishing. Prior to this position Charlie worked as an Attorney for Legal Aid. Charlie Colborne is from KC, and literally lives 3 blocks from where he was born. As he writes, “…basically, he’s gone nowhere.’ Charlie came from a musical family, his mother Kathleen passed down to him her love of playing the piano. Charlie has been playing in bands since the late 1980s including The Larvae, The Post-Executives, Crackpot Idealists, Borax Babies, Faun, The Sympathetic Fringe, The Escapegoats, The Sleazebeats and Miss Boating. Charlie also has collaborated with theatre performances.

Charlie Colborne, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Bill Belzer was born on the day Nixon was elected to his only full term (November 5, 1968 ) at the now demolished St. Mary’s Hospital, in a room over-looking the Liberty Memorial. He played bass guitar and drums in high school, first at Catholic Savior of the World High School Seminary in Kansas City, Kansas and then Rockhurst High School, in Kansas City, Missouri, from which he graduated in 1987. While at Rockhurst High School he joined the band Mongol Beach Party as drummer. The band’s breakup coincided with Bill leaving to join Uncle Tupelo as drummer for a stint on their European-American Tour with Michelle Shocked, The Band and Taj Mahal in the early 1990s. Like Charlie he has stuck close to home. His beloved boyfriend Aaron plays trombone in Miss Boating and they are both very much looking forward to having band practice again. Bill has been a part of the bands: Mongol Beach Party, Grumpy, Uncle Tupelo, The Grant Hart Band, The Sleazebeats, The Patio Set, The Terrible Twos, Ghosty, Lazy, The New Amsterdams, and Miss Boating.

Bill Belzer Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Miss Boating play The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO, Friday, March 7 at 9:00pm opening for Paisley Fields.

Congratulations on being signed to High Dive Records

High Dive Records says, “These songs have a fine patina of ditch weed, filthy humor, cigarette smoke, gay drama, Bee Gee’s inflected new wave, queer music hall schmaltz, odd stiff naive sambas, and box wine.” More info at: http://www.highdivekc.com

Charlie and Bill met in the late 1980s.

In the beginning they were called The Sympathetic Fringe, and then The Sleazebeats. In recent years Charlie & Bill added Aaron, Tim and Bryan.

Charlie Colborne on keyboards and guitar,
Bill Belzer, on drums
Aaron Jones on trombone,
Tom Gillespie on Saxophone,
Bryan McGuire (The ACBs) on bass.
(Phil Dickey played bass on the album.)

Described by a local radio host as “the perfect house band for a John Waters After Party.

Many of the tunes on their self titled debut LP may have been written before your parents were born. One song is about a friend’s mom’s dynamic relationship with prescription medication.

Another describes what tetracycline does to your teeth. Another is a tribute to the late Evan Jolly, their former bassist, but it could be about anyone you still love but miss every day.

All songs written by Charlie Colborne. Bee Gee’s inflected new wave, queer music hall schmaltz, odd stiff naive sambas. Many genres. This queen contains multitudes.

11:42

17. Miss Boating – “Jewel In The Trash”
    from: Jewel In The Trash / High Dive Records / June 29, 2024
    [Miss Boating is a KC based, five-piece with multi-instrumentalist & lead singer Charlie Coleborne, drummer Bill Belzer, Aaron Jones on trombone, Tom Gillespie on Saxophone, and Bryan McGuire on bass. (Phil Dickey played bass on the album.) Charlie and Bill met in the late 1980s. In the beginning they were called The Sympathetic Fringe, and then The Sleazebeats. In recent years Charlie & Bill added Aaron, Tim and Bryan. Described by one local radio host as “the perfect house band for a John Waters After Party.” One of their songs is about a friend’s mom’s dynamic relationship with prescription medication. Another is a tribute to the late Evan Jolly, their former bassist. All of the songs are written by Charlie Colborne. // From the ashes of their former band The Sleazebeats, Charles Colborne and Bill Belzer faced a difficult 2019 when combined with the death of Charlie’s own beloved mother, their friend and bassist Evan Vhargon died. The band wrote that they “were lost when Evan passed.” Through the tough times Bill and Charlie kept playing and wrote that they “were blown away when Phil Dickey wanted to jam with us… the jamming turned into something more and we were going again. We couldn’t be more thankful and humbled.” Phil is part of the bands Dragon Inn 3, and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. // On Jan 1, 2020 Miss Boating released The Vhargon Sidestep with: Charlie Colborne on keyboards, guitar, vocals; Bill Belzer: drums, vocals; Phil Dickey on bass; Aaron Jones on trombone; Tim Gillespie on saxophone. Ross Brown served as engineering, did all of the mixing for The Vhargon Sidestep and Mike Nolte handled all of the mastering.]

[Miss Boating play The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO, Friday, March 7, 2025 at 9:00pm with Sit Queen both opening for Paisley Fields.]

11:44 – More Interview with Charlie Colborne & Bill Belzer

We are talking with multi-instrumentalist & lead singer Charlie Colborne, drummer Bill Belzer, about their band Miss Boating.

Last year Miss Boating were signed to High Dive Records

Miss Boating play The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO, Friday, March 7, 2025 at 9:00pm with Sit Queen both opening for Paisley Fields of the band Lavender Country

Miss Boating:
Charlie Colborne on keyboards and guitar,
Bill Belzer, on drums
Aaron Jones on trombone,
Tom Gillespie on Saxophone,
Bryan McGuire (The ACBs) on bass.
(Phil Dickey played bass on the album.)

How the band took on the name “Miss Boating,” is inspired by, Charlie’s mom, Kathleen Rita Colborne, who in January 1956, was crowned “Miss Boating” at the Kansas City Sports Show. A photo of Miss Boating went up at the bar in the Twin Oaks apartment complex where she lived. The photo caught the eye of John H. (Jack) Colborne, from Wausau, Wisconsin. They met, and after a brief courtship they married in August 1956.

From the ashes of their former band The Sleazebeats, Charles Colborne and Bill Belzer faced a difficult 2019 when combined with the death of Charlie’s own beloved mother, their friend and bassist Evan Vhargon died.

The band wrote that they “were lost when Evan passed.” Through the tough times Bill and Charlie kept playing and wrote that they “were blown away when Phil Dickey wanted to jam with us… the jamming turned into something more and we were going again. We couldn’t be more thankful and humbled.” Phil is part of the bands Dragon Inn 3, and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.

On January 1, 2020 Miss Boating released The Vhargon Sidestep with: Charlie Colborne on keyboards, guitar, vocals; Bill Belzer: drums, vocals; Phil Dickey on bass; Aaron Jones on trombone; Tim Gillespie on saxophone. Ross Brown served as engineering, did all of the mixing for The Vhargon Sidestep and Mike Nolte handled all of the mastering.]

Miss Boating rose from the ashes of your former band The Sleazebeats, who played live in various incarnations for 20 years, always with Bill and Charlie. Releasing a full length album with Jeff Harshbarger on bass on January 1, 2012

Charlie and Bill faced a difficult 2019 when combined with the death their the friend and Sleazebeats bassist, Evan Vhargon who took his own life on November 8, 2018. And also with Charlie’s mother passed away on March 1, 2019.

You guys wrote that you “were lost when Evan passed.”

Through the tough times Bill and Charlie kept playing music and “were blown away when Phil Dickey wanted to jam with us… the jamming turned into something more and we were going again. We couldn’t be more thankful and humbled.”

Phil Dickey is part of the bands: Dragon Inn 3, and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.

A midtown staple, Charlie has been in a bunch of bands, most of which seldom ventured out of the basement.

Here’s the list:
The Larvae,
The Post-Executives,
Crackpot Idealists,
Borax Babies,
Faun,
Sympathetic Fringe,
The Sleazebeats,
The Escapegoats,
Miss Boating

Charlie Colborne & Bill Belzer thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Miss Boating play The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO, Friday, March 7, 2025 at 9:00pm with Sit Queen both opening for Paisley Fields.

11:54

18. Paisley Fields – “Iowa”
    from: Limp Wrist / Don Giovanni Records / August 26, 2022
    [James Wilson, is known professionally as Paisley Fields. They are a queer country music artist based between Brooklyn, NY and Nashville, TN. // Wilson grew up in Hudson, Iowa where their grandparents owned a farm. They grew up listening to country music, but resisted performing in the genre until they reconnected with their country roots while living in Japan. // Wilson is queer and non-binary. // Wilson assembled an alt-country band which performed their first show as the Paisley Fields in Brooklyn on New Year’s Eve 2013. After the release of their first EP Oh These Urban Fences in 2015, Wilson adopted the name Paisley Fields as a stage name. Their first full-length album Glitter & Sawdust, released in 2018, is an exploration of the duality of the masculine and feminine. // The next two albums Electric Park Ballroom and Limp Wrist were released on Don Giovanni Records. Electric Park Ballroom is named after a dancehall they visited in childhood but the songs center on present-day urban narratives while Limp Wrist focuses on the realities of rural queer life. // In 2019, Paisley Fields toured with queer country pioneers Lavender Country and Lavender Country later guested on Paisley Fields’ “Stay Away From My Man.” They played keyboards on Lavender Country’s 2022 album Blackberry Rose. // “Burn This Statehouse Down,” a duet with Mya Byrne protesting Tennessee’s anti-trans legislation, was chosen as one of NPR music critic Ann Powers’ favorite songs of 2023. // As a songwriter, Wilson has written with Bob the Drag Queen (“Purse First”) and Scarlet Envy (“Feeling Is Mutual,” “Press On,” “Is It Me?”). // Paisley Fields combines country, rock, pop, and disco while their lyrics include explicit queer themes, ranging from gay sex (“Ride Me Cowboy”) to being outed (“Blackhawk County Line”) to referencing Matthew Shepard (“Iowa”)..]

Paisley Fields Discography
“Burn This Statehouse Down” with Mya Byrne (2023) (Kill Rock Stars)
The Field Sessions Live EP (2023) (Don Giovanni Records)
Limp Wrist (2022) (Don Giovanni Records)
Electric Park Ballroom (2020) (Don Giovanni Records)
Glitter & Sawdust (2018)
Oh These Urban Fences EP (2015)

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

NEXT WEEK, on March 5 we present Radio-Trans-Mission featuring our favorite Trans artists we’ve regularly featured on our show musically and as special guests. Also next week we are joined by Rachel Christia, Fran Stanton, and Betse Ellis as our special Guest Co-Hosts, for our Wednesday MidDay Medley Winter On-Air-Fund Drive.

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

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

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

Wednesday MidDay Medley in on the web:
http://www.kkfi.org
http://www.WednesdayMidDayMedley.org
http://www.instagram.wednesday_midday_medley
http://www.facebook.com/WednesdayMidDayMedleyon90.1FM
https://www.soundcloud.com/wednesdaymiddaymedley
http://www.bandcamp.com/wednesdaymiddaymedley

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

Show #1084

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

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

WMM presents: Ross Brown of Fullbloods + Run With It + Nathan Reusch & Zach Laman of KC Synthesizer Collective

Mark spins more New & MidCoastal Releases from: Fullbloods, Run With It, Bobcat Attack, wrker, Dusk Runner, Lady Blackbird, Moses Sumney with Syd + Meshell Ndegeocello, Lauren Auder + Wendy & Lisa, Benjamin Booker, Beabadoobee, and FKA twigs.

We’ll also play more tracks from a new project from the non-profit Red Hot Organization. TRAИƧA is a spiritual journey across eight chapters and 46 songs with over 100 artists contributing and collaborating with this incredible collection. This 6-LP Box Set spotlights many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working in music today. Many of the artists in this collective we have been featuring on WMM since our inception as a radio show. More info at: https://redhot.org/

At 10:30 we’ll talk with Ross Brown about “Playing It Safe” the new studio album from Fullbloods released both digitally and on vinyl through High Dive Records on March 7, 2025. Fullbloods is a studio project of songwriter and producer Ross Brown who is also in the bands: Shy Boys, Koney, and Snacky. When Fullbloods play live, Ross is joined on stage by his friends: Konner Ervin on guitar, Kyle Little on keyboards, Kyle Rausch on bass, Fritz Hutchison on drums. Lionell Williams aka “Vinyl Williams” of PRIVATE PLAYLIST on KCRW calls “Ross Brown a frickin’ genius. He’s the modern day Brian Wilson of America. His whole album, the entire way through, is one of those albums [where] every microsecond, every quantum moment, is wow. He’s just a straight-up genius.” // Fullbloods play The Ship 1221 Union Ave, KCMO on Friday February 21, at 9:00 pm with Fake Italian for Daniel Gum’s The Great Conjunction Album Release Show. // Fullbloods play their own Album Release Show at Hillsiders 403 N. 5th Street, KCK on Friday, March 7 at 8:00 PM with Schemada, and 2w33dy. More info at: http://www.fullbloods.com

At 11:00am members of Run With It return to WMM. Miguel Antonio on lead vocals & guitar, Daniel Cole on drums & percussion, Paul Seiz on keyboards, Cody Ryan Stapleton on lead guitar; and Matt Muckenthaler on bass guitar collectively are one of the hardest working bands in Kansas City. For nearly a decade, Run With It has been touring across the country, from college campus showcases to corporate galas. Their high-octane performances leave an indelible mark. Run With It combine their exceptional original songs with skillful covers of artists like Kings of Leon and Ed Sheeran. Run With It are influenced by The Black Keys, Maroon 5, Bill Withers, OneRepublic, and Imagine Dragons with backgrounds in gritty rock, groovy soul, and stylish R&B. Their alternative rock vibe creates an electrifying atmosphere. Run With It released their recent 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. // Run With It play a 60-minute concert on MidCoast LIVE! Friday, February 14, at 12:00 noon on 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio. More info at: linktr.ee/runwithitband

At 11:30 Nathan Reusch and Zach Laman share details about the Kansas City Synthesizer Collective, a group of electronic musicians working to build platforms for experimental & emerging artists. The KC Synthesizer Collective is cultivating a community centered around creativity & self-expression in the electronic music scene. The collective meets on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays from 6:00pm to 10:00 pm at Stockyards Brewing Co. Nathan is co-founder of indie label, The Record Machine and is also a DJ. The pandemic inspired Reusch to dust off his Bobcat Attack moniker and renewed his interest in making music. He joined KC’s Synth Collective and found a group of similarly-minded electronic musicians. Zach Laman records as wrker. We feature wrker’s newest single “Ice” from wrker’s upcoming EP. // The Kansas City Synthesizer Collective will celebrate their third anniversary with a special show, Friday, February 21, at 7:00pm, at Stockyards Brewing Co, 1600 Genessee St, Ste 100, KCMO. More info at: http://www.kcsynthcollective.com

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

Show #1082

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

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

WMM presents Chris Garibaldi & Mark Henning on James Grauerholz – Life’s Too Good To Keep + Daniel Gum + Diana Watts, Trish Price, & Kevin King of Whim Productions

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. Fontaines D.C. – “Starburster (Radio Edit)”
   from: Romance / XL Recordings / August 23, 2024
   [4th studio album by Irish rock band Fontaines D.C. “Starburster” was the lead single. It also features the singles “Favourite”, “Here’s the Thing”, “In the Modern World” and “Bug”. It is their 1st release on XL Recordings, after the band left Partisan Records, and was produced by James Ford. // Fontaines D.C. are an Irish post-punk band formed in Dublin in 2014. The band consists of Grian Chatten (vocals), Conor Curley (guitar), Conor Deegan III (bass), Tom Coll (drums) and Carlos O’Connell (guitar). // The band members met while attending music college and bonded over a common love of poetry. They began self-releasing singles and performing live regularly, signing to Partisan Records in 2018. The band’s debut album, Dogrel, was released on April 12, 2019 to widespread critical acclaim. It was listed as Album of the Year on record store Rough Trade’s website, voted Album of the Year by presenters on BBC Radio 6 Music, and nominated for the Mercury Prize and the Choice Music Prize. // The band’s second studio album, A Hero’s Death, written and recorded in the midst of touring to promote their debut album, was released on 31 July 2020. A Hero’s Death was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 2021 Grammy Awards. Their third album, Skinty Fia, released in 2022, was the band’s first to reach number one on the Irish Albums Chart and UK Albums Chart and contributed to their winning the Brit Award for International Group. The band’s fourth album, Romance, was released on August 23, 2024. Romance won The Album Award at the Rolling Stone UK Awards 2024.]

3. Kadesh Flow – “Thesis Statement (Radio Edit)”
   from: “Thesis Statement (Radio Edit)” – Single / Kadesh Flow / January 31, 2025
   [Instrumental Production: D. Professor; Lyrics & Vocal Performance: Kadesh Flow; Mixing: Kadesh Flow; Mastering: Kadesh Flow; and Single Art: Kadesh Flow // Kadesh writes: “I started writing this during my flight to Belfast on November 5, 2024. Just reflecting on how 2024 was my redo of 2019, and how pivotal 2019 was for me. I hit rock bottom and rose to great success from it. Lost everything in 2020, mostly due to COVID shut downs, and spent 3 years rebuilding from 2021-2024. Aside from the personal reflection, this song is a recognition that there could be hard times coming, but there’s hope as long as we’re alive, so we have to keep fighting to win. Community is immensely important, especially now.” // Kadesh Flow is Ryan Davis is a rapper with an MBA. He is an emcee, producer, & trombonist. At age 11, he began rapping and playing trombone within two weeks of one another. His music has been featured on network television in multiple countries and territories across Southeast Asia. Kadesh performs as a solo hip hop artist. He also plays with The Phantastics, Marcus Lewis Big Band, Deshica Rage (w/ Jessica Paige). Info at: http://www.kadeshflow.com]

Kadesh Flow Discography
“Thesis Statement (Radio Edit)” – Single – January 31, 2025
“Our Christmas Town (feat. Mix Williams & Oricadia)” – Single – Dec. 24, 2024
“All Day” – Single – October 14, 2024
“Vader Choke Freestyle” – Single – May 3, 2024
‘Level Up” – Single – April 22, 2024
“I Can (Mahito) -Kadesh Flow x Gr3ys0n x Shwabadi” – Single – April 5, 2024
“Stand on Business (feat. Mega Ran)” – Single – January 19, 2024
“Overcome (Nanami)” – Single – January 1, 2024
“Stakes” – Single – November 17, 2023
“Switch Up” – Single – January 6, 2023
“Heaters” _ Singles – November 11, 2022
”Chill (feat. Mir Blackwell).” – Single – October 21, 2022
“Dream For Me” – Single – October 10, 2022
“You’re Very Special (feat. Kemet Coleman, Kadesh Flow & Kevin Church Johnson) – Marcus Lewis Big Band – single – September 30, 2022
“Away From You” – Single – July 1, 2022
“Future Ex (feat. Vincent Orsolini & DJ Skittlez)” – Single – Feb. 14, 2022
“Move Different (feat. Gr3s0n)” – Single – January 21, 2022
“Part of The Plan” – Single – January 7, 2022
“Beast Mode (feat. Mega Ran)” – Single – Dec. 31, 2021
“Choice (The Cost)” – Single – December 17, 2021
“Gardens Out The Gutter” – Single – Dec. 3, 2021
“No Options (feat. Jamar Rose)” – Single – Nov. 12, 2021
“Fiend” – Single – Sept. 4, 2021
“Easy” – Single – August 27, 2021
“Coming For Your Neck” – Single – August 20, 2021
ROOM SERVICE 2 – 13-track album – July 19, 2021
“Elegant” – Single – May 21, 2021
”Lighten Up” – Single – May 7, 2021
“On Target” – Single – April 30, 2021
“So Far” – Single – April 23, 2021
“That Way” – Single – April 16, 2021
“I Don’t Care” – Single – April 9, 2021
“Take Backs (feat. Ryan Heinlein)” – Single – March 26, 2021
“But Hope” – Single – March 26, 2021
“Forgot About Me” – Single – March 14, 2021
“Your Dream Isn’t Always Yours” – Single – March 12, 2021
“No Doubts” – Single –
“Not on My Watch” – Single – February 19, 2021
“Cry For Me 2” – Single – February 12, 2021
“Frosty” – Single – February 12, 2021
“Assumptions feat. Shubzilla,” – Single – Jan. 29, 2021
“Soft Side” – Kadesh Flow & The Enclave – Single – Jan. 21, 2021
“Lit For The Holidays (feat. Andrew The Only)” – Single – Dec. 22, 2020
Bleach Anime Lofi Pack 1 – 2-track Single – October 8, 2020
“Too Soon” / “Free People” – 2-Pack Single – June 5, 2020
JoJo’s Jazz-hop 1 (2-Pack) Single – April 23, 2020
“I’m A Hero (Bone Bars)” – Single – April 9, 2020
MOTIVATED – 6-track EP – January 31, 2020
“Something Now (feat. Richie Branson & Atlas)” – Single – September 14, 2018
ROOM SERVICE – 6-track EP – March 30, 2018
“Headmaster” – Single – December 9, 2016
WE ARE FAITHFUL – 8-track album – October 9, 2015
GATEWAYS – 15-track Album – October 2, 2014
NerdKrunk Volume 3 – 10-track Album – April 18, 2013
NerdKrunk Volume 2 – 10-track Album – November 28, 2012
NerdKrunk Volume 1 – 10-track Album – September 5, 2012
THE BANKAI FLOW MIXTAPE – 11-track Album – July 27, 2012

4. Cymande – “Chasing An Empty Dream (Radio Edit)”
   from: Renascence / BMG / January 31, 2025
   [Legendary British band Cymande release their highly anticipated new album, Renascence, via BMG. // Cymande (pronounced /sɪˈmɑːndeɪ/ sih-MAHN-day) are a British funk group that was originally active in the early 1970s. The band name derives from a calypso word for “dove”, which symbolises peace and love;[2] “Dove” is also the title of one of their best-known songs. With a membership deriving from several Caribbean nations, Cymande were noted for an eclectic mix of funk, soul, reggae, rock, African music, calypso, and jazz that they called “nyah-rock”.[3][4][5] The band formed in 1971 and released three albums before disbanding in 1974. After gaining newfound popularity when their music was sampled by many notable rap artists, Cymande reformed in the 2010s. Their most recent album Renascence was released in January 2025. // A true return to form and jewel in the crown of their iconic discography, Renascence picks up where their 1974 album Promised Heights left off – a spiritual and sonic follow-up, bringing a fresh modern edge to their iconic sound, which remains foundational to early hip-hop and funk scenes in the United States and UK. Renascence tells the story of a band that never fully got its due back in the day; but are back to take the crown by remaining true to themselves – politically aware, and spiritually positive with infectious grooves. // “Chasing An Empty Dream,” the first track on Renascence, beckons you back into the world of Cymande with an unforgettable grizzly bassline hook – as is their way – addictive percussion, global rhythms inspired by their diasporic origins, layered horns and a powerful message for the world. // Their new album, Renascence is a true return to form and jewel in the crown of their iconic discography and picks up where their 1974 album Promised Heights left off – a spiritual and sonic follow-up, bringing a fresh modern edge to their iconic sound, which remains foundational to early hip-hop and funk scenes in the United States and UK. Renascence tells the story of a band that never fully got its due back in the day, but are back to take the crown by remaining true to themselves – politically aware, and spiritually positive with infectious grooves. // Last year, Cymande’s unique story was told on the on big screen for the first time in the UK (via BFI) and in cinemas around the world (via Abramorama) with Getting It Back: The Story Of Cymande (Directed by award winning director Tim Mackenzie-Smith). This empowering and thought-provoking documentary shows the band’s depth of influence across decades and features interviews with Mark Ronson, Laura Lee and Mark Speer (Khruangbin), DJ Maseo (De La Soul), Jazzie B (Soul II Soul), Cut Chemist, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Louie Vega, Kool DJ Red Alert, and so many others. Directed by Tim Mackenzie-Smith, the film debuted at SXSW in 2022 and has now traveled the world twice over. // As Total Film said in their review of the documentary ‘Tim Mackenzie-Smith’s joyous doc offers some Searching for Sugar Man-style reappraisal // Cymande (pronounced /sɪˈmɑːndeɪ/ sih-MAHN-day) are a British funk group that was originally active in the early 1970s. The band name derives from a calypso word for “dove”, which symbolises peace and love; “Dove” is also the title of one of their best-known songs. With a membership deriving from several Caribbean nations, Cymande were noted for an eclectic mix of funk, soul, reggae, rock, African music, calypso, and jazz that they called “nyah-rock”. The band formed in 1971 and released three albums before disbanding in 1974. After gaining newfound popularity when their music was sampled by many notable rap artists, Cymande reformed in the 2010s] Their most recent album Renascence was released in January 2025.]

5. Dandelion Lakewood – “Faerie Queen from Cahersiveen”
   from: Faerie Queen from Cahersiveen / Fire Next Time Records / January 29, 2025
   [Dandelion Lakewood, the psychedelic artist known for blending multiple genres of folk music. “Faerie Queen from Cahersiveen” is a 6/8 minor key blues ballad telling the tale of a magical adventure in County Kerry, Ireland. // “Faerie Queen from Cahersiveen” is a bluesy folk song with a full arrangement of guitars, Irish penny whistle, Turkish banjo, hand drums and tambourine. and vocal layers. Lakewood’s characteristic singing blends all these ingredients into a captivating mixture of sounds and rhythms. // Dandelion writes: “Years ago, I was backpacking and busking across Ireland with barely a penny to my name. I had some inspirational moments during that time and decided to pen a ballad in homage to my time absorbing the traditions of the Green Isle.” // Dandelion Lakewood is a bard, multi-instrumentalist, composer, audio engineer, and video maker born in Kansas City. He is the founding member of the band Bowl of Dust & Co. and host of the podcast “Voice Seeker”. He integrates various styles into his eclectic blend of Folk, Blues, Americana, Balkan, Middle Eastern and Psychedelic sounds. // Dandy became a wandering bard unexpectedly in 2014. It was then that he abandoned his life in Chicago and went on a musical journey spanning Hawai’i, Europe, Ireland, North Africa, The Balkans, and Turkiye to absorb musical traditions and play music for countless people in festivals, bars, cafes, living rooms, barns, streets, and forests. He has been based in Kansas City since 2022 and has music available on streaming platforms everywhere.]

6. Religion of Heartbreak – “Dream Reflection (EP Mix)”
   from: Dream Reflection – EP / Religion of Heartbreak / February 3, 2025
   [Dedric Moore on vocals, guitar, synths, programming; Mikal Shapiro on vocals
   Krysztof Nemeth: baritone guitar, electronic percussion; Alexander Thomas on electronic percussion on MGGG, Dream Reflection, Skeptic; Regan Moore on electronic percussion on Dark Hour of Meditation // Dream Reflection EP carries forward the motorized heartbeat of classic darkwave while forging its own metallic path. Drawing from EBM and Synth Pop traditions, this five-track release sees the Monta At Odds offshoot strip away unnecessary embellishments, leaving only the essential elements and textural remnants that speak to our collective digital malaise. // The EP’s centerpiece and title track emerges like a ghost in the machine, with Mikal Shapiro’s coolly delivered vocals floating above Dedric Moore’s gritty synth programming and precision-guided guitar along with Krysztof Nemeth’s synth pad percussion. Each track builds upon this foundation, from the robot-dance urgency of “Forget About You” to the beautiful desolation of “Skeptic,” creating a cohesive statement about modern isolation and the personas we construct. The result feels familiar and alien—like catching your reflection in a black mirror and seeing someone else staring back. // Religion of Heartbreak, an offshoot of Monta At Odds, dives deep into darkwave and EBM territories, crafting a sound that’s nostalgic and cutting-edge with Dedric Moore on vocals, guitar, synths, programming; Mikal Shapiro on vocals; and Krysztof Nemeth on baritone guitar and electronic percussion.]

7. Jamie xx & Nia Archives– “Waited All Night (ft. Romy, Oliver Sim & The xx)”
   from: In Waves / Young / September 20, 2024
   [One of multiple singles from In Waves, the second studio album by English producer Jamie xx. It was preceded by the singles “Baddy on the Floor” featuring Honey Dijon and “Treat Each Other Right”, and will be his first album in nine years, following In Colour (2015). The album also includes collaborations with Jamie xx’s xx bandmates Romy and Oliver Sim, Kelsey Lu, John Glacier, Panda Bear, Robyn, the Avalanches, and Oona Doherty. An additional collaboration with Erykah Badu will feature on the deluxe vinyl. // The album was recorded over a period of four years. In a statement, Jamie xx likened his experiences since releasing his previous album to “waves that we have all experienced together and alone”, and said that he wanted to “make something fun, joyful and introspective all at once” as “the best moments on a dance floor are usually that” for him. From 2022 to early 2024, Jamie xx released the standalone singles “Let’s Do It Again”, “Kill Dem”, and “It’s So Good”, which are included on the deluxe vinyl edition of the album. // James Thomas Smith (born 28 October 1988), known professionally as Jamie xx, is an English musician, DJ, record producer, and remixer. He is known for both his solo work and as a member of the indie pop band the xx. // He has been described as a “driving force” behind the xx, contributing to the group’s significant commercial and critical success. As a solo artist, he has been recognised with a 2015 Mercury Prize nomination, and a 2016 Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album nomination for In Colour. // Smith was born in London on October 28, 1988. His musical career began in 2006 when he joined the xx accompanying old schoolmates Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, and Baria Qureshi of the Elliott School in London, notable for alumni including Hot Chip, Burial, and Four Tet. He first used the stage name Jamie xx in July 2009 in a promotional mix for the band’s debut album xx released on the FACT magazine mix series. The mixtape was compiled by Jamie Smith and featured, amongst others, four tracks credited to Jamie xx – one self-production and three remixes. The xx album went on to become platinum in the UK. Afterward, Jamie Smith went on to do more remix work for artists like Florence + The Machine, Adele, Jack Peñate and Glasser. // In late 2010, a Jamie xx remix of the song “NY Is Killing Me” from Gil Scott-Heron’s last album I’m New Here aired on radio stations across the UK and Europe. The remix of “I’ll Take Care of U” followed in January 2011. Both singles drew the attention of the general public and the critics. They set the way for a 13-track remix album entitled We’re New Here, produced entirely by Jamie xx and credited to “Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx”. The album was released on February 21, 2011 on the XL Recordings label, but a full-album preview could be streamed on the website of The Guardian as early as 14 February. We’re New Here received critical acclaim and was named “a cohesive, considered masterpiece in its own right” by BBC’s Ele Beattie. // On June 6, 2011, the two-track self-produced single “Far Nearer / Beat For” was released. The song “Far Nearer” was selected Best New Track by Pitchfork, and the double A-side single charted at number 128 on the UK Singles Chart. Later the same year, Smith produced the title track off Drake’s second album, Take Care, which features Rihanna. In addition, Smith helped create several reworks for Radiohead’s song “Bloom” which were released on a remix album entitled TKOL RMX 1234567. He also co-produced the song “When It’s All Over” with Alicia Keys on her Girl on Fire album. In 2014, he announced an upcoming collaboration with John Talabot on Tim Sweeney’s Beats in Space online radio show. In 2014, he released the singles “Girl/Sleep Sound” and “All Under One Roof Raving”. // On 27 March 2015, he released two singles: “Loud Places”, featuring the xx’s Romy Madley Croft, and “Gosh”. On the same day he also announced that his debut album, In Colour, would be out on 1 June 2015. Ahead of its release, In Colour was streamed on iTunes as a preview with album-spanning visuals that ‘reacted’ to each sound.[14] It was ultimately released on 29 May 2015 to widespread critical acclaim, debuting at number three on the UK Albums Chart and receiving nominations for the 2015 Mercury Prize and for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 58th Grammy Awards. // Jamie xx composed the score for a ballet, Tree of Codes, commissioned by Manchester International Festival for its 2015 edition. Based on a novel of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer, the ballet was choreographed by Wayne McGregor and had a set created by Olafur Eliasson. // In 2020, he released his first single in five years, “Idontknow”, which received positive to lukewarm reception from critics. He was credited on Tyler, the Creator’s 2021 album Call Me If You Get Lost as a co-producer on the track “RISE!”. // Jamie xx has worked on each of his The xx bandmates’ respective solo albums: he produced Oliver Sim’s Hideous Bastard (2022), and co-produced Romy’s Mid Air (2023).]

10:29 – Underwriting

10:30 – Interview with Diana Watts, Trish Price & Kevin King of Whim Productions

Diana Watts is originally from Manhattan, Kansas. She received her Bachelors in Science degree in Theatre at Kansas State University in 2013. Diana is a writer, director, actress, and organizer. Diana works as Marketing Copywriter & Editor for Centene Corporation. Diana served as Social Media Manager and Writer at Improv Nerd in Chicago, and has also worked at Indikon Media, United Airlines, Quantum Assembly, and The Fishtank Theatre in Kansas City. Diana volunteers for Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Diana also serves as a Board Members for Whim Productions, where she is making her directorial debut or Kissing in the Grocery Store. Her Whim Productions acting appearances include Boxed, Playing on the Periphery, Marriage Play, and Lesbians Definitely Not Lost in Space.

Diana Watts welcome to Wednesday MidDay Medley

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,zaz (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), a’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 serves as intimacy coach and sound designer for Kissing in the Grocery Store.

Kevin King welcome to Wednesday MidDay Medley

Trish Price is making their Kansas City stage debut with 𝙆𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙚! Trish graduated from Missouri State University’s BFA Acting program. After moving and working as an actor in New York City, Trish is back in Kansas City and the KC theater community. Previous work includes 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘳, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵, and national commercials (Swiffer, Etsy, YouTube Official). Trish is represented by Long Island Models

Trish Price welcome to Wednesday MidDay Medley

Diana Watts & Kevin King & Trish Price are joining us to share details about of Whim Productions about the world premiere of Claire Carson’s, KISSING IN THE GROCERY STORE, a multimedia theater experience exploring queer identity, love, loss, and the quest for courage to live authentically. KISSING IN THE GROCERY STORE runs Thursday, February 6 through Sunday, Feb 16, 2025 at Whim Space, 415 Prospect Ave, KCMO, in historic Pendleton Heights. For info visit: http://www.whimproductions.org.

Diana Watts is the Director of this show and Kevin King is Artistic Director of Whim Production.

KISSING IN THE GROCERY STORE by Claire Carson (she/they) is a multimedia experience told through time shifts and movement. The story reminds us that coming out is often scary, even if your family is liberal. Carson describes the play as a “mix of humor, movement, magic, and poetry.” It is “for anyone who has ever battled themselves, grappled with their past, or yearned for a life filled with more joy, more honesty, and more room to grow.”

KISSING IN THE GROCERY STORE runs Thursday, February 6 through Sunday, Feb 16, 2025 at Whim Space, 415 Prospect Ave, KCMO, in historic Pendleton Heights. For info visit: http://www.whimproductions.org.

Meet the Playwright! Claire Carson (she/they) is a Denver-based playwright, poet, and theatermaker. Previously produced work includes Hypochondria (Margo Jones Theatre), Shadow Woman (The Bathhouse Cultural Center), and Michelle with Wet Eyeballs, self-produced with friends in a transformed garage.

Claire’s work emphasizes collaboration, visual metaphor, and the strangeness of being alive. Claire describes Kissing in the Grocery Store as a “mix of humor, movement, magic and poetry.” This play is “for anyone who has ever battled themselves, grappled with their past, or yearned for a life filled with more joy, more honesty, and more room to grow.”

Whim Productions is excited to present the world premiere of Claire Carson’s Kissing in the Grocery Store, a multimedia theater experience about love, loss, and the quest for courage to live authentically.

ABOUT THE SHOW: The moon is in conjunction or something. You miss your ex-girlfriend, and you’re afraid to come out to your parents. You can read a self-help book, talk to a trusted friend, or be like Q and look to a YouTube Witch for a “letting go” spell.
Quinn, or Q, is a 20-something lesbian struggling to move on from their first queer relationship. Their ex ended the relationship because she couldn’t be with someone who hides their true self from their family. The breakup ignites a comical and poignant battle between Q’s inner voices, leading them to seek solace in a YouTube magic influencer.

KISSING IN THE GROCERY STORE by Claire Carson is a multimedia experience told through time shifts and movement. The story reminds us that coming out is often scary, even if your family is liberal. Carson describes the play as a “mix of humor, movement, magic, and poetry.” It is “for anyone who has ever battled themselves, grappled with their past, or yearned for a life filled with more joy, more honesty, and more room to grow.”

Directed by Diana Watts (she/her), the production features Trish Price (they/them), Sandy Osborn (she/her), Adriana Randall (they/them), and Megan Reynolds (she/her). Lighting design is by Austin VanWinkle (he/him), scenic design by Austin Cecil (he/him), costumes by Marian McClellan (she/her) and Patricia Reed (she/her), sound design and intimacy choreography by Kevin King (he/him).

Kissing in the Grocery Store is presented at Whim Space (415 Prospect Ave, Kansas City, MO) in historic Pendleton Heights. For full details, visit whimproductions.org.

Dates: February 6-16
Ticket Information: https://our.show/whimproductions/kissing
General Admission – Advanced Tickets: $25 / Walk-Up: $28
Pay What You Whim pricing is available for some performances
Premium Seating: $30
VIP Seating: $40
.
Run Time: 90 minutes without intermission

Appropriate for Ages 16+
Contains some adult language and conversation about sex

Performance Details: Venue: Whim Space, 415 Prospect, Kansas City, MO 64124

Dates and Times:
Thursday, Feb 6th, 7:30 pm – “Pay What You Whim”
Friday, Feb 7th, 7:30 pm – “Pay What You Whim”
Saturday, Feb 8th, 7:30 pm
Sunday, Feb 9th, 3:00 pm
Monday, Feb 10th, 7:30 pm – “Pay What You Whim”
Thursday, Feb 13th, 7:30 pm
Friday, Feb 14th, 7:30 pm
Saturday, Feb 15th, 7:30 pm
Sunday, Feb 16th, 3:00 pm

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

Queer theater. Whimsical edge.

Meet the Director! Kissing in the Grocery Store marks Diana Watts’ (she/her) directorial debut, stepping outside her roles as an actor and Whim board member. Her Whim Productions acting appearances include Boxed, Playing on the Periphery, Marriage Play, and Lesbians Definitely Not Lost in Space.

Meet the Team! Artistic Director 𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 founded Whim Productions in 2011 and has directed, written, and 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.

Diana Watts, Trish Price, and Kevin King thank you for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

KISSING IN THE GROCERY STORE runs Thursday, February 6 through Sunday, Feb 16, 2025 at Whim Space, 415 Prospect Ave, KCMO, in historic Pendleton Heights. For info visit: http://www.whimproductions.org.

10:49

We now sing more tracks from a new project from the non-profit Red Hot Organization, it is called, TRAИƧA a spiritual journey across eight chapters and 46 songs with over 100 artists contributing. The album spotlights many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working today. TRAИƧA reintroduces Sade Adu to the world with a loving song dedicated to her son, Izaak, a trans man. The culture-shifting ballad “Young Lion” debuts on this collection alongside Sam Smith and Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s historic reimagining of “Ever New.” More info at: https://redhot.org/

10:49

8. Sade Adu – “Young Lion”
   from: TRAИƧA / Red Hot / November 22, 2024
   [In 2016, on National Coming Out Day, Sade’s child, Izaak Theo Adu, came out as a transgender man. In September 2019, Izaak posted a message online, thanking his mother for her support through his transition. In the fall of 2024, Sade and the Red Hot Organization’s TRANSA project released “Young Lion”, a song dedicated to her son. // One of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by the storied activist and music production non-profit Red Hot, TRAИƧA is a spiritual journey across eight chapters and 46 songs with over 100 artists contributing. The album spotlights the gifts of many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working today. // Dust Reid, who led production on Red Hot’s 2014 tribute to Arthur Russell, and Massima Bell, an artist and activist based in Los Angeles, began tracing the contours of what would become TRAИƧA together in 2021. The two producers originally met at a video shoot in upstate New York, and immediately bonded over their shared love of Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s music, as well as a common devotional connection to nature. // The passing of SOPHIE, the pathbreaking electronic producer who died in January 2021, galvanized the producers and focused their work. “We started talking about all the gifts that trans artists have been giving to the world, and wanted to create a Red Hot project that centered and celebrated those gifts,” says Reid. “We hoped to create a narrative that positions trans and non-binary people as leaders in our society insofar as the deep inner work they do to affirm who they are in our current climate. We felt this is something everybody should do. Whether you identify as trans or non-binary or otherwise, if you took the time to explore your gender, get in touch with the feeling side of yourself, maybe we would have a future oriented around values of community, collaboration, care, and healing.” // Bell and Reid began conceiving of the album as a spiritual journey in eight chapters, a mirror of the original eight-stripe rainbow pride flag. The narrative begins at the earliest awareness of consciousness; moves through awakening, trauma, and grief; and arrives at liberation and continual reinvention. “One thing trans people do all the time is turn grief into possibility,” says Bell. “Living under the ongoing Western binary system, trans people reveal maps of possibility for everyone. It’s something that we can all learn from – expanding the possibility of human life.” Each chapter begins with a “chapter track,” kicking off a collection of songs that speak to that chapter’s theme. // As the producers began inviting musicians to contribute to TRAИƧA, the political climate in the United States and across the world started to foment an acute reactionary streak. Legislation denying trans people the hard-won right to medically transition proliferated across the country. Book bans rained down on libraries, stamping shut crucial apertures into trans and queer lives. The necessity of TRAИƧA’s presence in the world started to crystallize. // “The stakes have never been higher,” notes Bell. “We’re seeing a rise in anti-trans hate and vitriol that is particularly being spewed in the United States. I am a trans person from Iowa, one of the states that signed into law a bill that prohibits access to gender-affirming care. It is clearly, materially, a terrifying time.” // TRAИƧA FEATURED ARTISTS:Adrianne Lenker * Ahya Simone * Alan Sparhawk (Low) * Allison Russell * Am Taylor * Anajah * Ana Roxanne * André 3000 * Anjimile * Arthur Baker * Asher White * AV María * Babehoven * Bartees Strange * Belina Rose * Benét * Beverly Glenn-Copeland * Bill Callahan * Blake Mills * Bloomsday * Calvin Lauber * Caroline Rose * Cassandra Croft * Cassandra Jenkins * Christian Lee Hutson * claire rousay * Clairo * CLARITY * Cole Pulice * Dave Longstreth * Devendra Banhart * Eileen Myles * Eli Winter * Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland * Ezra Furman * Faye Webster * Fleet Foxes * Frankie Cosmos * Gary Gunn * Gia Margaret * Green-House * Grouper * Hand Habits * Heart Shaped * Helado Negro * Hunter Schafer * Jamal Shakeri * Jay Dee Daugherty * Jayne County * Jeff Tweedy * Jlin * Joy Guidry * Julianna Barwick * Julie Byrne * Julien Baker * Kara Jackson * Kathi Wilcox * KB Brookins * Kelela * Laraaji * Laura Jane Grace * Lauren Auder * Lee Ranaldo * Lightning Bug * Lomelda * Lucy Liyou * Lynn Avery * Lyra Pramuk * L’Rain * Mary Lattimore * MIZU * Moor Mother * More Eaze * Moses Sumney * Nico Georis * Niecy Blues * Nina Keith * Nsámbu Za Suékama * NYC Trans Oral History Project * Pepper MaShay * Perfume Genius * Pharoah Sanders * Quinn Christopherson * Rachika Nayar * Sade Adu * Sam Smith * Sharon Van Etten * SKY * SOAK * Soft Rōnin * Sparkle Division * Taryn Blake Miller * Teddy Geiger * Time Wharp * Wendy & Lisa of the Revolution * Yaeji * Yaya Bey // Helen Folasade Adu was born on January 16, 1959 in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Her middle name, Folasade, means “crowned with wealth” in Yoruba. Her parents are Adebisi Adu, a Nigerian lecturer in economics of Yoruba background, and Anne Hayes, an English district nurse; they met in London, married in 1955, and moved to Nigeria. Sade was four years old when her parents separated. Hayes returned to England with Sade and her elder brother, Banji, to live with their maternal grandparents near Colchester, Essex. At age 11, Sade moved to Holland-on-Sea, Essex with her mother and brother. After completing her education at Clacton County High School and Colchester Institute at the age of 18, she moved to London and studied fashion design at Saint Martin’s School of Art. // Sade is a Nigerian-British singer, known as the lead vocalist of her band Sade. One of the most successful British female artists in history, she is often recognised as an influence on contemporary music. Her success in the music industry was recognised with the honour Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2002, and she was made Commander in the 2017 Birthday Honours. // She studied at Saint Martin’s School of Art in London and gained modest recognition as a fashion designer and part-time model before joining the band Pride in the early 1980s. After gaining attention as a performer, she formed the band Sade, and secured a recording contract with Epic Records in 1983. // A year later, the band released the album Diamond Life, which became one of the era’s best-selling albums and the best-selling debut by a British female vocalist. In July 1985, Sade was among the performers at the Live Aid charity concert at Wembley Stadium, and the next year, she appeared in the film Absolute Beginners. The band released their third album (Stronger Than Pride) in 1988, and a fourth album (Love Deluxe) in 1992. The band went on hiatus in 1996 after the birth of Sade’s child. // In 2005, Sade moved out to the British countryside, where she bought a run-down cottage to renovate. Sade rarely grants interviews.]

9. Sam Smith & Beverly Glenn-Copeland – “Ever New”
   from: TRAИƧA / Red Hot / November 22, 2024
   [Beverly Glenn-Copeland was born January 1944, and is an American-born Canadian singer-songwriter. His albums include Keyboard Fantasies (1986). Glenn-Copeland began publicly identifying as a trans man in 2002. // Glenn-Copeland was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a musical family. As a child, Glenn-Copeland listened to his father play the music of Bach, Chopin, and Mozart on the piano, and heard his mother occasionally sing spirituals. // In 1961, Glenn-Copeland was one of the first black students to study at McGill University in Montreal. // Glenn-Copeland started his career as a folk singer incorporating jazz, classical, and blues elements. He also performed on albums by Ken Friesen, Bruce Cockburn, Gene Murtynec, Bob Disalle, and Kathryn Moses, and was a writer on Sesame Street. He spent twenty-five years entertaining children as a regular actor on Canadian children’s television show Mr. Dressup. // Glenn-Copeland’s 1986 electronic album Keyboard Fantasies, recorded using equipment including a Yamaha DX7 and a Roland TR-707, and other recordings were rediscovered and promoted by Japanese record collector Ryota Masuko in 2015. Before Glenn-Copeland’s gender transition was made public, Keyboard Fantasies was selected as one of the 70 greatest recordings by women by The Stranger. The album was named as the public vote winner of the Polaris Heritage Prize at the 2020 Polaris Music Prize. Keyboard Fantasies was remastered and reissued in February 2017 as Copeland Keyboard Fantasies by Invisible City Edition and re-released again on vinyl that same year on Séance Centre. // Other albums by Glenn-Copeland include Beverly Copeland (1970), Beverly Glenn-Copeland (1971), At Last! (1980), Primal Prayer (released under the pseudonym Phynix in 2004), and the career-spanning compilation Transmissions (2020). // Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story, a documentary directed by Posy Dixon, was released in 2019. // Planned 2020 international tours to Australia, the United Kingdom, and other European destinations were rescheduled to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A fundraising campaign was initiated to help Glenn-Copeland and his wife after the loss of their house that resulted from these changes; the campaign raised over $90,000. In the same year, Glenn-Copeland created a prerecorded video performance of his song “Courage” for Buddies in Bad Times and CBC Gem’s online Queer Pride Inside show. // His 2023 album The Ones Ahead was a longlisted nominee for the 2024 Polaris Music Prize. // In 2024 Glenn was awarded an honorary doctorate from University of Toronto, and won the Joyce Warshow Lifetime Achievement Award from SAGE, an organization that focuses on advocacy and services for LGBTQ+ elders. // In 1973, while in Los Angeles, Glenn fell in love with the chanting at a local Soka Gakkai International meeting and has been a practicing Buddhist since the mid-1970s. // In September 2024, Glenn-Copeland shared that he has been diagnosed with dementia. // Samuel Frederick Smith was born May 19, 1992. Sam is an English singer and songwriter. In 2012, they[a] rose to prominence when they featured on Disclosure’s breakthrough single “Latch”, which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart. The following year, they featured on Naughty Boy’s single “La La La”, which became a number one single in the UK. // Smith’s debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour (2014), was released through Capitol Records UK and debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart. The album’s lead single, “Lay Me Down”, was released prior to “La La La”. The album’s second single, “Money on My Mind”, became their second number one single in the UK. Its third single, “Stay with Me”, was internationally successful, reaching number one in the UK and number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, while subsequent singles “I’m Not the Only One” and “Like I Can” reached the top ten in the UK. The album won four awards at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album, Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. // Smith’s song “Writing’s on the Wall” served as the theme for the James Bond film Spectre (2015), and won Smith a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Smith’s second studio album, The Thrill of It All (2017), debuted atop the UK and US album charts. The album’s lead single, “Too Good at Goodbyes”, reached number one in the UK and Australia and number four in the US. Following the 2018 single “Promises” (with Calvin Harris), which peaked at number one in the UK, Smith released “Dancing with a Stranger” (with Normani) in 2019, which peaked within the top ten in the UK and the US, also receiving a nomination for Song of the Year at the 2020 Brit Awards. The singles, along with “How Do You Sleep?”, would precede the release of their third studio album, Love Goes (2020). In 2022, Smith’s single “Unholy” (with Kim Petras), would become their first number one single in the US and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. The song would precede their fourth album, Gloria (2023). // Smith’s numerous accolades include five Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, three Billboard Music Awards, and an American Music Award, as well as a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. On the UK Albums Chart, In the Lonely Hour was the best-selling debut album of the 2010s and the sixth best-selling album of the decade, while collectively Smith’s albums spent the fourth-most weeks at number one in the 2010s, behind Ed Sheeran, Adele and Eminem. Smith is the first openly non-binary musician to both release a song that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and to win a Grammy Award.]

10:58 – Station ID

10. James Grauerholz – “Be That Way”
    from: Life’s Too Good To Keep / Lotuspool Records / November 1, 2024
    [Written in 1993. Recorded by Brad Koehler, at Hairball IV Studio, Lawrence, Kansas. / James Grauerholz writes: “I wrote this for Matt Schepis, who was my boyfriend in 1993. He is now almost fifty and we’re good friends. Other players: Mark Henning of Zoom, guitar fills and vocal; Scott Lovern of the Lonesome Wranglers on keyboards; Bill Belzer of Mongol Beach Party on drums; Darren Welch of Dracomagnet on bass guitar. For this one session we were Draco Zoom Mongol Ramblers. The song was first released on Tim/Ker records out of Portland, Oregon on the “Cough It Up: The Hairball Story” compilation.” // Mark Henning writes in the album’s liner notes: To anyone in the Art, Literary & Music world, James has long been known as ‘The Burroughs Guy’. From 1974 until William Burroughs death in 1997, James has handled the business of William S. Burroughs Communications, acting as his manager, bibliographer, editor, literary executor and companion. To this day he continues to helm the business of Burroughs. What has been little-known up until now is that James has led a double life as an accomplished musician and songwriter with an extensive body of work stretching back from the late 1960s to the present. In fact, music was his first passion. // James set out to be a singer-songwriter before fate led to his calling with William S. Burroughs and despite the demands of his literary responsibilities, he continued to write music as a creative outlet. Over the years James witnessed and has been an important figure in many extraordinary musical eras. He was referred to as the ‘Zelig of Punk Rock’, having been part of a small coterie who helped kick-start the CBGBs scene in NYC from 1974 through the end of the decade. If you haven’t read the book ‘Please Kill Me’ by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain, do yourself a favor and pick it up. James’ stories are among the best in it. His ‘mates’ during that time were the likes of Lester Bangs, Howard Brookner, Robert Palmer and Robert Quine -to name only a few. // The Zelig comparison is dead accurate, but it goes far beyond Punk Rock. James was there for the Midwestern Country-Rock explosion of the early 1970s. The legendary oral history ‘Cows Are Freaky When They Look At You’ paints a hilariously warped picture of the people in James orbit during those K.C./Lawrence years prior to him moving to NYC. He was there for the AOR singer-songwriter movement of the late 1970s, mixing his songs with Boz Skaggs in San Francisco. He was at the Hacienda in Manchester when Factory Records ruled the scene and where New Order, The Smiths and The Fall took the world by storm. He was around when New Wave and Hardcore emerged AND he was a steadfast contributor to the evolution of underground music of the early 1990s. In Lawrence, KS where James has lived since the early 1980s, and where Zoom and Lotuspool Records evolved, James lent his opinions, his studio, his gear, his chops and his time, unselfishly on innumerable occasions to help fledgling bands get a leg up. // Through all of these eras, James’ voice as a songwriter has held its own piece of real estate. Each of the twenty-two tracks represented on this double album bear a style that is distinctly his own, both lyrically and compositionally. It is worth adding that James is one hell of an accomplished guitar player too. Assembling this collection was no easy task, despite James’ impeccable documentation of his own catalog. Tapes were baked, no stone was left unturned and several ‘new’ discoveries were made that hadn’t made their way into the master list. // What you have here is a collection of songs that span thirty years, or as James so aptly puts it ‘My Life In Four Acts’ -with each side of the two LPs representing an Act. Though much of the material could easily be considered Great American Songbook in style (hooks everywhere, turns of phrase that remain stuck in your head, broad themes of love, loss & loneliness…), there is also a deeply personal and distinctly Queer element to the songs. One must not forget that back in the 1970s hardly anyone was doing this. In fact, James may have created his very own lane. There were Queer outsider artists like Tom Wilson doing more ‘camp’ numbers, but NO ONE was doing pop-type radio songs represented here. Some of the songs could even qualify as a new genre: Gay Yacht Rock. One must also wonder whether, despite the appeal factor, maybe James just wanted to keep the songs for himself as a log of his own personal journey? // You, the listener can decide for yourself. We hope you enjoy these four acts as much as we did while assembling them. For me they just keep getting better the more I listen.” – Mark Henning (Zoom, National Trust, Voice of Action)]

11:01 – Interview with Chris Garibaldi & Mark Henning

Mark Henning was born on South Side of Chicago in 1970 into a musical family. His Grandfather was a Music Educator and Big Band Leader of the Leo Henning Orchestra. Mark was initiated into his music and started playing guitar at the age of 8 and then saxophone and electric guitar and started his first band The Locals. Mark met Chris Garibaldi when he moved to his neighborhood. In high school Mark discovered the underground music in Chicago, and played basement Hardcore shows. Mark went to University Of Kansas in 1988 where he majored in Advertising and got my undergrad B.S.J. from the William Allen White School Of Journalism. With Chris Cosgrove and Steve Tubbart and Jeremy Sidener the band Zoom was created. Mark met James Grauerholz and William Burroughs in 1992. They were label-mates on T/K Records out of Portland but all lived in Lawrence. Mark played and recorded with James. Mark moved back to Chicago in 1995, ad started playing in The National Trust, recording two albums on Thrill Jockey. Mark worked at Reckless Records in Chicago from 1996-2000 and also Dusty Groove Records. Mark started a successful D.J. night at Danny’s in Chicago that continued for 20 years until 2017. Mark moved to Brooklyn in 2000 and managed Dubway Recording Studios in Manhattan, worked and lived in New Orleans and eventually moved back to Chicago in 2006 to focus on music with the National Trust. Mark toured Europe, bought a bungalow on the West Side Chicago, worked for a commercial photography house, had a son name Leo in 2008. Mark continuea to write. He put out a 45” with Fred Schneider and Elvira on Jack White’s Third Man label in 2013-14. Started a three piece called VoA and released an album on Lotuspool in 2018. On 2019 he started work on the James Grauerholz Album until it was released in November of 2024.

Mark Henning thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Chris Garibaldi is the co-founder of Lotuspool Records. He also is lead singer, guitarist and occasional trombonist for the band Suneaters who released their 7th album, the 13 track album, Suneaters IV: Absinthe Makes The Heart Grow Fingers, on September 23, 2022. Lotuspool Records, was born in 1992. Chris writes “We started the label when we were very young, and the bands that were on it were very young, too,” he tells me. “Back then, you could put out an indie record and get a lot of attention and press. At that time, there was a lot of support for indie music. Around 2000, Lotuspool went on an unofficial hiatus. The label was never inactive, but Garibaldi spent most of 2000s working for companies in Los Angeles. In 2011, a Garibaldi relocated to Parkville, he and Scott Hartley — bassist in the Suneaters — brought a new vision for Lotuspool Records. He label has been the moe for releases for Heidi Lynne Gluck, The Bump Band, Bully Pulpit, The Whips, Poster Children, Zoom, Voice of Action, June Henry, Hollow Body, Chris Cardwel, and many others This year the label is celebrating 33 years!

Chris Garibaldi, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Chris Garibaldi and Mark Henning join us to share details about the new Lotuspool release: James Grauerholz – Life’s Too Good To Keep, a 21-track, double vinyl album of the recorded songs of James Grauerholz. Grauerholz has long been known as ‘The Burroughs Guy’. From 1974 until William Burroughs death in 1997, James handled the business of William S. Burroughs Communications, acting as his manager, bibliographer, editor, literary executor and companion. To this day he continues to helm the business of Burroughs. What has been little-known up until now is that James has led a double life as an accomplished musician and songwriter with an extensive body of work stretching back from the late 1960s to the present. In fact, music was his first passion. More info at: http://www.lotuspool.com

Chris Garibaldi and Mark Henning, thanks for being with us on WMM

Lotus Pool Records presents…James Grauerholz Life’s Too Good To Keep Album liners notes fro, Mark Henning:

Mark Henning first met James in 1992 when his band Zoom was being courted by Tim Kerr Records of Portland, Oregon. Zoom had been introduced to the label through Greg Sage of Wipers fame, who was Producing what would be our final record, Helium Octipede.

Coincidentally James and William Burroughs were both signed to Tim Kerr Records and we all happened to live in Lawrence, KS. James and I met up at a Mexican restaurant near 19th & Mass St. and discussed the music biz over enchiladas. James was incredibly supportive of our move to join the label, gave me a boatload of wise advice and a long friendship ensued.

To anyone in the Art, Literary & Music world, James has long been known as ‘The Burroughs Guy’. From 1974 until William Burroughs death in 1997, James has handled the business of William S. Burroughs Communications, acting as his manager, bibliographer, editor, literary executor and companion. To this day he continues to helm the business of Burroughs. What has been little-known up until now is that James has led a double life as an accomplished musician and songwriter with an extensive body of work stretching back from the late 1960s to the present. In fact, music was his first passion.

James Grauerholz was referred to as the ‘Zelig of Punk Rock’

James set out to be a singer-songwriter before fate led to his calling with William S. Burroughs and despite the demands of his literary responsibilities, he continued to write music as a creative outlet. Over the years James witnessed and has been an important figure in many extraordinary musical eras. He was referred to as the ‘Zelig of Punk Rock’, having been part of a small coterie who helped kick-start the CBGBs scene in NYC from 1974 through the end of the decade. If you haven’t read the book ‘Please Kill Me’ by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain, do yourself a favor and pick it up. James’ stories are among the best in it. His ‘mates’ during that time were the likes of Lester Bangs, Howard Brookner, Robert Palmer and Robert Quine -to name only a few.

The Zelig comparison is dead accurate, but it goes far beyond Punk Rock. James was there for the Midwestern Country-Rock explosion of the early 1970s. The legendary oral history ‘Cows Are Freaky When They Look At You’ paints a hilariously warped picture of the people in James orbit during those K.C./Lawrence years prior to him moving to NYC. He was there for the AOR singer-songwriter movement of the late 1970s, mixing his songs with Boz Skaggs in San Francisco. He was at the Hacienda in Manchester when Factory Records ruled the scene and where New Order, The Smiths and The Fall took the world by storm. He was around when New Wave and Hardcore emerged AND he was a steadfast contributor to the evolution of underground music of the early 1990s. In Lawrence, KS where James has lived since the early 1980s, and where Zoom and Lotuspool Records evolved, James lent his opinions, his studio, his gear, his chops and his time, unselfishly on innumerable occasions to help fledgling bands get a leg up.

“New York City Lullabye “ – Written in 1974. Recorded by James Grauerholz on stereo cassette tape in Aprik 1974 while William slept – late one night at 452 Broadway, New York City. / James Grauerholz writes: “William S. Burroughs, my father and lover for 23 years until his death on August 2, 1997. He had been my favorite writer since 1966, and when I finally met William, I immediately decided ‘Life’s to good to keep.’”

11:13

11. James Grauerholz – “New York City Lullabye”
    from: Life’s Too Good To Keep / Lotuspool Records / November 1, 2024
    [Written in 1974. Recorded by James Grauerholz on stereo cassette tape in Aprik 1974 while William slept – late one night at 452 Broadway, New York City.. / James Grauerholz writes: “William S. Burroughs, my father and lover for 23 years until his death on August 2, 1997. He had been my favorite writer since 1966, and when I finally met William, I immediately decided ‘Life’s to good to keep.’”]

11:16

11:16 – More Interview with Chris Garibaldi & Mark Henning

We are talking with Chris Garibaldi and Mark Henning about the new Lotuspool release: James Grauerholz – Life’s Too Good To Keep, a 21-track, double vinyl album of the recorded songs of James Grauerholz. Released Noveber 1, 2024. More info at: http://www.lotuspool.com

Chris Garibaldi and Mark Henning, thanks for being with us on WMM

Single Release Dates:
10/4/24: Be That Way
10/11/24: New York City Lullabye
10/18/24: Heaven’s Radio
10/25/24: The Intersection Of You And Me

Grauerholz has long been known as ‘The Burroughs Guy’. From 1974 until William Burroughs death in 1997, James handled the business of William S. Burroughs Communications, acting as his manager, bibliographer, editor, literary executor and companion. To this day he continues to helm the business of Burroughs.

What has been little-known up until now is that James has led a double life as an accomplished musician and songwriter with an extensive body of work stretching back from the late 1960s to the present. In fact, music was his first passion. More info at: http://www.lotuspool.com

Through all of these eras, James’ voice as a songwriter has held its own piece of real estate. Each of the twenty-two tracks represented on this double album bear a style that is distinctly his own, both lyrically and compositionally. It is worth adding that James is one hell of an accomplished guitar player too. Assembling this collection was no easy task, despite James’ impeccable documentation of his own catalog. Tapes were baked, no stone was left unturned and several ‘new’ discoveries were made that hadn’t made their way into the master list.

What you have here is a collection of songs that span thirty years, or as James so aptly puts it ‘My Life In Four Acts’ -with each side of the two LPs representing an Act. Though much of the material could easily be considered Great American Songbook in style (hooks everywhere, turns of phrase that remain stuck in your head, broad themes of love, loss & loneliness…), there is also a deeply personal and distinctly Queer element to the songs. One must not forget that back in the 1970s hardly anyone was doing this. In fact, James may have created his very own lane. There were Queer outsider artists like Tom Wilson doing more ‘camp’ numbers, but NO ONE was doing pop-type radio songs represented here. Some of the songs could even qualify as a new genre: Gay Yacht Rock. One must also wonder whether, despite the appeal factor, maybe James just wanted to keep the songs for himself as a log of his own personal journey?
You, the listener can decide for yourself. We hope you enjoy these four acts as much as we did while assembling them. For me they just keep getting better the more I listen.

Mark Henning (Zoom, National Trust, Voice of Action)

Chris: “One of the mistakes we made as kids running the label was that we made a lot of short-term decisions,” Garibaldi says. “We didn’t have foresight. We were too concerned about paychecks and debt. And now it’s like, ‘Let’s take the thing that we do well, which is to foster interesting music, and not worry about the little things.’ Let’s see if we might be able to figure out something that might make the music bigger. That’s the goal.”

“Spring is Just Around the Corner ” – Written in 1998. Recorded by James Grauerholz, solo piano and vocal demo to eight-track ADAT master at hairball IV Studios in Lawrence. / James Grauerholz writes: “ From my demos for my unfinished TATTOOS musical theatre piece, 1998-2005

Chris Garibaldi and Mark Henning, thanks for being with us on WMM

The new Lotuspool release: James Grauerholz – Life’s Too Good To Keep, a 21-track, double vinyl album of the recorded songs of James Grauerholz was released November 1, 2024 More info at: http://www.lotuspool.com

11:27

12. James Grauerholz – “Spring is Just Around the Corner “
    from: Life’s Too Good To Keep / Lotuspool Records / November 1, 2024
    [Written in 1998. Recorded by James Grauerholz, solo piano and vocal demo to eight-track ADAT master at hairball IV Studios in Lawrence. / James Grauerholz writes: “ From my demos for my unfinished TATTOOS musical theatre piece, 1998-2005]

11:30 – Underwriting

13. Daniel Gum – “Silvergirl”
    from: The Great Conjunction / Manor Records / February 7, 2025
    [All songs written/performed by Daniel Gum (BMI), production/engineering: Mike Crawford & Daniel Gum, mixing: Daniel Gum, bass: Joel Stratton, drums/percussion: Micah Ritchie. With Joel Stratton (piano on 1, baritone guitar on 2), Wills Van Doorn (slide guitar on 3), Brandon Bray (lead guitar on 6), Cole Crawford (piano on 10), Devon Teran (pedal steel on 2), Evan Herd (writing for drums on 7), Rachel Cionitti (bgvs on 1-6, 8), mastering: Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering, artwork/lettering: Daniel Gum]

[Daniel Gum plays an Album Release show for The Great Conjunction on Friday February 21, ay 9:00 pm at The Ship 1221 Union Ave, KCMO with Fullbloods and Fake Italian.]

11:35 – Interview with Daniel Gum

Daniel Gum joins us to share details about his new 10-track album THE GREAT CONJUNCTION to be released on February 7, 2025 on Manor Records. Daniel Gum is a singer-songwriter based out of Kansas City, KS. Since the age of 12, Daniel has been writing and recording songs. He released his 10-song album REORIENT on July 31, 2015. He released his electronic pop EP, I’M NOT DEAD on October 25, 2017, and released the acoustic, 3-track EP, MOON on December 7 2018. Daniel Gum was signed to Manor Records in the spring of 2020. Channeling the likes of Elliott Smith and Andy Shauf he released his 12-track album, THIRTEEN on October 30, 2020, co-produced with Mike Crawford. On September 10, 2021 Daniel Gum released the single “Wolverine” with Rachel Cionitti on vocals & Peter Beatty on lap steel. On October 21, 2022 Daniel released a cover of Big Star’s “Thirteen,” and on December 9, 2022 he released a cover of The Beatles “Julia” both with Joel Stratton on bass, Micah Ritchie on drums, and Evan Herd on drums. On January 24, 2024, Daniel Gum released “Sophia” / “Don’t I Know”. On December 13, 2024, he released the 4-track EP, MET YOU TOO SOON. On January 10, 2025 he released the 5-track EP, COWBOY SONG. Daniel Gum joined us on WMM on November 11, 2020. More info at: http://www.manorrecords.com

Daniel Gum plays an Album Release show for The Great Conjunction on Friday February 21, ay 9:00 pm at The Ship 1221 Union Ave, KCMO with Fullbloods and Fake Italian.

Daniel Gum Thanks for being with us on WMM

Daniel Gum is a singer-songwriter based out of Kansas City, KS.

Since the age of 12, Daniel has been writing and recording songs.

THE GREAT CONJUNCTION to be released on February 7, 2025 on Manor Records.

The Great Conjunction on Manor Records released February 7, 2025. All songs written/performed by Daniel Gum (BMI), production/engineering: Mike Crawford & Daniel Gum, mixing: Daniel Gum, mastering: Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering, artwork/lettering: Daniel Gum

bass: Joel Stratton,
drums/percussion: Micah Ritchie
with Joel Stratton (piano on 1, baritone guitar on 2),
Wills Van Doorn (slide guitar on 3)
Brandon Bray (lead guitar on 6)
Cole Crawford (piano on 10)
Devon Teran (pedal steel on 2)
Evan Herd (writing for drums on 7)
Rachel Cionitti (bgvs on 1-6, 8),]
He released his 10-song album REORIENT on July 31, 2015.

He released his electronic pop EP, I’M NOT DEAD on October 25, 2017,

and released the acoustic, 3-track EP, MOON on December 7 2018.

Daniel Gum was signed to Manor Records in the spring of 2020.

Channeling the likes of Elliott Smith and Andy Shauf he released his 12-track album, THIRTEEN on October 30, 2020, co-produced with Mike Crawford.

On September 10, 2021 Daniel Gum released the single “Wolverine” with Rachel Cionitti on vocals & Peter Beatty on lap steel.

On October 21, 2022 Daniel released a cover of Big Star’s “Thirteen,” and on December 9, 2022 he released a cover of The Beatles “Julia” both with Joel Stratton on bass, Micah Ritchie on drums, and Evan Herd on drums.

On January 24, 2024, Daniel Gum released “Sophia” / “Don’t I Know”.

On December 13, 2024, he released the 4-track EP, MET YOU TOO SOON.

On January 10, 2025 he released the 5-track EP, COWBOY SONG. More info at: http://www.manorrecords.com

On December 13, 2024, he released the 4-track EP, MET YOU TOO SOON. On January 10, 2025 he released the 5-track EP, COWBOY SONG.

Here’s what Daniel had to say about this track: “This song was written reflecting on a past relationship—thinking things probably could have worked out if we met 5 years later than we did. Or maybe they wouldn’t have.. but I’ll never know. This song is a part of a series of singles leading up to my second album. I hope you enjoy the chord progressions and slide guitar especially”.

11:43

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

[Daniel Gum plays an Album Release show for The Great Conjunction on Friday February 21, ay 9:00 pm at The Ship 1221 Union Ave, KCMO with Fullbloods and Fake Italian.]

11:46 – More Interview with Daniel Gum

Daniel Gum joins us to share details about his new 10-track album THE GREAT CONJUNCTION to be released on February 7, 2025 on Manor Records. Daniel Gum is a singer-songwriter based out of Kansas City, KS. Since the age of 12, Daniel has been writing and recording songs. More info at: http://www.manorrecords.com

Daniel Gum Thanks for being with us on WMM

Daniel Gum is a singer-songwriter based out of Kansas City, KS who has been active since 2017—releasing a couple EPs before putting out his debut album ‘Thirteen’ in 2020. In 2021 he released a one-off single and music video for his song “The Wolverine”, and in 2022 a cover of Big Star’s “Thirteen” and The Beatles’ “Julia”. In addition to working with his band on his solo projects, Daniel has worked with other local groups—playing bass and engineering for the band Pillow (a post-punk/shoegaze group) and playing drums behind singer-songwriter Chloe Jacobson—as well as producing some of her music. Although Gum has been writing songs since he was 12, he has doubled down on songwriting in the last couple of years—most notably writing over 60 songs in preparation for his LP debut. Channeling the likes of Elliott Smith & Andy Shauf, he co-produced his new record Thirteen with Mike Crawford, playing almost everything you hear on the album and mixing it himself. He is currently working on writing and recording his next 2 albums.

Daniel had great response from his album ‘Thirteen’—being featured on multiple Spotify Playlists such as Spotify Fresh Finds, Fresh Finds Indie & Fresh Finds Rock. And he was named artist of the week in November 2020 by Kansas City radio station and NPR affiliate 90.9 The Bridge. In 2022, his cover of “Thirteen” by Big Star was placed on New Commute’s Spotify Playlist.

Here’s what reviewers had to say about Daniel’s album ‘Thirteen’:

“Gum has an obvious knack for turning his pain into something elegant, drifting from cautious sparseness to subdued urgency — with a folk backbeat, twinkling pedal steel and reverb-drenched undertones. It’s reminiscent of Elliott Smith, whose music Gum found a close kinship with.” – Michelle Bacon of 90.9 the Bridge (NPR)

“Daniel Gum’s Thirteen feels like the soundtrack to figuring out life in your twenties– a portrait of transition, reflection, and gratefulness (with a hint of cynicism). The album shifts back and forth from optimism to mellow reflection, finding a sweet spot for introspection somewhere between despondence and joy . . . While the record is full of deeply personal and honest reflections of Gum’s young adult life, I think everyone who listens can create their own internal universe based around the Andrews, Marys, and Sarahs of their own life.” – Coco Lashar, Manor Records blog

[Daniel Gum plays an Album Release show for The Great Conjunction on Friday February 21, ay 9:00 pm at The Ship 1221 Union Ave, KCMO with Fullbloods and Fake Italian.]

THE GREAT CONJUNCTION to be released on February 7, 2025 on Manor Records. Daniel Gum is a singer-songwriter based out of Kansas City, KS. Since the age of 12, Daniel has been writing and recording songs.

Daniel Gum joined us on WMM on November 11, 2020.

11:54

15. Daniel Gum – “Cowboy Song”
    from: The Great Conjunction / Manor Records / February 7, 2025
    [All songs written/performed by Daniel Gum (BMI), production/engineering: Mike Crawford & Daniel Gum, mixing: Daniel Gum, bass: Joel Stratton, drums/percussion: Micah Ritchie. With Joel Stratton (piano on 1, baritone guitar on 2), Wills Van Doorn (slide guitar on 3), Brandon Bray (lead guitar on 6), Cole Crawford (piano on 10), Devon Teran (pedal steel on 2), Evan Herd (writing for drums on 7), Rachel Cionitti (bgvs on 1-6, 8), mastering: Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering, artwork/lettering: Daniel Gum]

[Daniel Gum plays an Album Release show for The Great Conjunction on Friday February 21, ay 9:00 pm at The Ship 1221 Union Ave, KCMO with Fullbloods and Fake Italian.]

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

NEXT WEEK, on February 12 we play more New & MidCoastal Releases. At 10:30am we welcome Ross Brown who shares all the details about the new Fullbloods album PLAYING IT SAFE, to be released March 7, 2025. At 11:00am the band Run With It returns to WMM, just before their LIVE on-air concert on MidCoast LIVE on Friday, February 14 at NOON, AND at 11:30 Nathan Reusch joins us to talk about the KC Synth collective.

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

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

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

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

Show #1081

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

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

Heath Church Discography

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

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

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

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

10:29 – Underwriting

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

10:34 – Interview with Doug Hitchcock

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

Doug Hitchcock Thank you for being with us on WMM.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10:43

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

10:47 – More Interview with Doug Hitchcock

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

Doug Hitchcock Thank you for being with us on WMM.

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

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

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

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

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

Doug Hitchcock Thank you for being with us on WMM.

10:56

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

11:00 – Station ID

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

11:05 – Interview with Julie Bennett Hume

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

Julie Bennett Hume welcome to Wednesday MidDay Medley

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

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

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

11:12

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

11:16 – More Interview with Julie Bennett Hume

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11:25

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

11:29 – Underwriting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11:41

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11:53

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

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

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

NEXT WEEK, on February 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Show #1080