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 7, 2025
WMM Celebrates Iris DeMent and David Bowie
- “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”rom: Motion Picture Soundtrack to All That Jazz / Universal / Dec. 20, 1979 [WMM’s theme]
- Greg Brown – “Let The Mystery Be”
from: Freak Flag / Yep Roc / May 10, 2011
[Iris DeMent’s song “Let The Mystery Be” from her debut album, Infamous Angel, from 1992. This song was covered by David Bryne, 10,000 Maniacs, Bun E. Carlos, and many others, it also became the theme song for the 2nd season of The Leftovers.While Greg Brown was recording this album, lighting hit the studio where he was recording songs for his 24th album: Freak Flag, the title track was all that remained of the lost original album. Greg wrote ten new songs, recording them at Memphis, Tennessee’s legendary Ardent Studios. Produced by Bo Ramsey, the album also includes a cover of Pieta Brown’s song, ”Remember the Sun.”]
Thanks for tuning into WMM, here on 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio, I’m Mark Manning. Today on WMM we give you a double header. In our 2nd hour, in honor of what would have been his 79th birthday – TOMORROW – January 8, we celebrate David Bowie, with a sonic tribute to the musical chameleon who was such an important influence on so many of us especially us queer kids, trapped in small towns.
But first…In our 1st hour, we celebrate the birthday of Iris DeMent, born on, January 5, 1961, in rural Paragould, Arkansas. She was the youngest of 14 children. At the age of 3, her devoutly religious family moved to California, where she grew up singing gospel music. Within her own family there were many incredible vocalists, including her mother During her teenage years, Iris was exposed to country, folk, & R&B.
In the mid 1980s Iris moved to the Midwest, and after a series of jobs as a waitress and typist, she wrote her first song at the age of 25. She moved to Kansas City and played Harling’s Upstairs and open-mic nights along side Scott Hrabko and Howard Iceberg. Iris met producer Jim Rooney from Nashville, in 1988, who helped her land a record contract. Iris Dement made her national recording debut in 1992, with her independently produced album, “Infamous Angel.” The record won critical acclaim and John Prine mentioned Iris in his list of favorite recordings of the year, published in Rolling Stone. Despite a complete lack of support from country radio, the word of mouth praise for Iris DeMent’s INFAMOUS ANGEL earned her a deal with Warner Bros Records, which reissued INFAMOUS ANGEL in 1993. The album also included the song, “Let The Mystery Be” a composition also covered by David Bryne, 10,000 Maniacs, Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick, Greg Brown, and it was the theme song for the second season of HBO’s The Leftovers.
Today we feature music from some of Iris DeMent’s 7 full length albums, her collaborative work with Greg Brown, John Prine, and classic songs from her inspirations: Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Merle Haggard. Please stay with us.
10:08 – The Influences of Iris DeMent
Iris DeMent represents that place in the road, where Country and Folk music merge, with honest stories of working class people, not afraid to tell the truth about the times they are living through. Iris DeMent grew up singing gospel music, but in her teenage years, she discovered other music through the radio: country, folk, and R&B, and the music of Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell.
- Loretta Lynn – “You Ain’t Woman Enough To Take My Man”
rom: Legends of Country Music / Columbia – Legacy / 1997
[Live performance for Austin City Limits taped in 1983. Loretta Webb was the second of 8 children; grew up in Butcher Holler, a section of Van Lear, a mining community in Kentucky. Growing up with such humble roots had a huge effect on Lynn’s life and heavily influenced her music as an adult. Her autobiography describes how, during her childhood, the community had no motor vehicles, paved roads, or flush toilets. She married Oliver Vanetta Lynn, known as “Doo,” on Jan. 10, 1948, at age 13. In an effort to break free of the coal mining industry, at 14, Lynn moved to the logging community Custer, Washington, with her husband. The Lynns had 4 children – Betty Sue, Jack Benny, Cissy and Ernest Ray – by the time Loretta was 18, and in her early 20s she then had twin girls, Peggy & Patsy. Loretta Lynn possibly had more banned songs than any other country music artist, prior to The Dixie Chicks, including “Rated X,” about the double standards divorced women face, “Wings Upon Your Horns,” about the loss of teenage virginity, and “The Pill,” lyrics by T. D. Bayless, about a wife and mother becoming liberated via the birth control pill. Her song “Dear Uncle Sam,” released in 1966 during the Vietnam War, describes a wife’s anguish at the loss of a husband to war.]
- Merle Haggard – “Workin’ Man Blues”
from: Oh Boy Classic Presents Merle Haggard / Oh Boy Records / 2000
[Originally released in 1969, a tribute to a core group of his fans: The American blue-collared working man. Backed by an electric guitar that typified Haggard’s signature Bakersfield Sound, he fills the role of one of those workers expressing pride in values of hard work & sacrifice, despite the resulting fatigue & the stress of raising a large family. On Haggard’s 1969 “A Portrait of Merle Haggard,” and John Prine’s Oh Boy Records.]
- Johnny Cash – “Ring of Fire”
from: 16 Biggest Hits / Columbia Legacy / 2007
[Co-written by June Carter (wife of Johnny Cash) and Merle Kilgore. The song was recorded on March 25, 1963 and became the biggest hit of his career, staying at #1 on the charts for 7 weeks. “Ring of Fire” refers to falling in love – which is what June Carter was experiencing with Johnny Cash at the time. Some sources claim that June had seen the phrase, “Love is like a burning ring of fire,” underlined in one of her uncle A. P. Carter’s Elizabethan books of poetry. She worked with Kilgore on writing a song inspired by this phrase as she had seen her uncle do in the past. In the 2005 film, Walk the Line June is depicted as writing the song while agonizing over her feelings for Cash despite his drug addiction and alcoholism as she was driving home one evening. She had written: “There is no way to be in that kind of hell, no way to extinguish a flame that burns, burns, burns”. Cash claims he had a dream where he heard the song accompanied by “Mexican horns”. Four years after the song was released, Carter and Cash were married which Cash states helped to stop his alcohol and drug addictions. Cash’s daughter, Rosanne has stated, “The song is about the transformative power of love and that’s what it has always meant to me and that’s what it will always mean to the Cash children.]
- Bob Dylan – “I Shall Be Released”
rom: The Essential Bob Dylan / Columbia – Sony / 2000
[Originally recorded October, 1971 for Greatest Hits Vol. 2. Originally written for The Basement Tapes. Originally recorded by The Band. Later recorded by Nina Simone in 1973.]
- Joni Mitchell – “For The Roses”
from: For The Roses / Asylum / 1972
[Released between her 2 biggest commercial and critical successes, “Blue” and “Court & Spark.” In 2007 it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. “For the Roses” was Mitchell’s farewell to the business; she took an extended break for a year after. The album was critically acclaimed with The New York Times saying, “Each of Mitchell’s songs on For the Roses is a gem glistening with her elegant way with language, her pointed splashes of irony & her perfect shaping of images. Never does Mitchell voice a thought or feeling commonly. She’s a songwriter and singer of genius who can’t help but make us feel we are not alone.” A nude photograph of Joni Mitchell was included on the inside cover of the original LP and is included in the CD booklet. The photograph shows the singer from the rear & was taken from a considerable distance; she is shown standing on a rock and staring out at the ocean. This created some controversy at the time.]
10:22
Iris DeMent‘s first three releases, all on Warner Brothers records, were critically acclaimed. She received two Grammy nominations during this time, in the “Folk Music” category. Meanwhile country radio completely overlooked her original songs, and her amazing voice, that has been compared to Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. For Iris’ 1992 debut album, Infamous Angel, John Prine wrote the liner notes:
“One night after receiving a copy of “Let the Mystery Be,” I was listening to the tape while frying a dozen or so pork chops in a skillet. Well Iris DeMent starts singing about “Mama’s Opry,” and being the sentimental fellow I am, I got a lump in my throat and a tear fell from my eyes into the hot oil. Well the oil popped out and burnt my arm as if the pork chops were trying to say, “Shut up, or I’ll really give you something to cry about.” Of course, pork chops can’t talk. But Iris DeMent’s songs can. They talk about isolated memories of life, love and living. And Iris has a voice I like a whole lot, like one you’ve heard before— but not really. So listen to this music, this Iris DeMent. It’s good for you. And if pork chops could talk, they’d probably learn how to sing one of her songs. Then we’d all have something to cry about.” – John Prine, Songwriter, musician & president Oh Boy! Records
11:24
- Iris DeMent – “Infamous Angel”
from: Infamous Angel / Warner Brothers / 1992 / 1993
[Debut studio album of singer-songwriter Iris DeMent. It was released by Warner Bros. Records in 1992. In 1995, her song “Our Town” was played in the closing moments of the last episode for the CBS TV series Northern Exposure.. “Let the Mystery Be” became the theme song for the 2nd season of The Leftovers.]
- John Prine w/ Iris Dement – “We’re Not The Jet Set”
from: In Spite Of Ourselves / Oh Boy / 1999
[In 1968 country superstar George Jones witnessed a fight between Tammy Wynette and her husband Don Chapel. At Jones’s urging, Wynette and her daughters drove away with him. Wynette and Jones married Feb. 16, 1969, and Wynette’s 4th daughter, Georgette, was born in 1970. Jones and Wynette, were nicknamed the “President and First Lady” of country music, and they recorded a string of hit duets that seemed drawn directly from their volatile relationship, which resulted in their divorcing in 1975. Their classic recordings included “Two Story House,” “Golden Ring,” and the humorous “(We’re Not) The Jet Set.” ]
10:30 – Underwriting
10:32 – Greg Brown
Welcome back to WMM, and our Annual Birthday Celebration of Iris DeMent. Iris followed up her debut album INFAMOUS ANGEL with the autobiographical, MY LIFE, released in 1994. Iris followed with her third Warner Brother’s release, THE WAY I SHOULD, released in 1996, which contains some of Iris DeMent’s most political songs.
In the 2002 Iris DeMent did a benefit concert for The Friends of Community Radio atUnity Temple on The Plaza. I remember when Iris asked us if it was okay that she have a musician friend open the concert for her, we agreed because Iris was donating her talent to the cause of community radio. And then she told us that this musician friend was Greg Brown, who is known all over the country, but had never before played KC.
Later that year, on November 21, 2002 Greg married Iris DeMent in a private ceremony in the office of Rev. Sam Mann of St. Mark Church in East KC. Iris had originally learned about Rev. Sam Mann from listening to his radio show “East of Troost” on 90.1 FM KKFI. Iris started attending his church, and eventually Rev. Mann realized he had a Grammy nominated musical artist in his parish.
Grammy Nominated Greg Brown is one of the most respected singer songwriters working in music. He started singing professionally at the age of 18 organizing early folk concerts in New York City, Portland, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In the 1980s, he worked and toured extensively as musical director for Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion radio program. He also founded his own record label, named Red House Records after a home in which he lived in Iowa.
Greg Brown has released over 30 recordings and has allowed much of his music to be used to raise funds and awareness for environmental and social causes. His songs have been performed by Willie Nelson, Jack Johnson, Carlos Santana, Michael Johnson, Ani DiFranco, Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Iris DeMent and Joan Baez.
10:35
- Greg Brown – “Bucket”
from: Evening Call / Red House / 2006
[The Washington Post writes, “The singer-songwriter from Iowa has a baritone as rough and chunky as Thanksgiving gravy with the turkey bits still in, and that’s just how his words drip out on his album, “The Evening Call.” on “Whippoorwill” he sing as sweetly as his lover down in KC. That’s his wife, Iris DeMent, and on “Joy Tears,” he tells her, “When you start your singing, honey, the heavens open up with grace.”]
Iris released her 5th album, SING THE DELTA in 2012, to glowing reviews from,The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, and was #1 on WMM’s 112 Best Recordings of 2012. Iris DeMent released her 6th album, THE TRACKLESS WOODS in 2015 with even more national acclaim, and a #5 spot on WMM’s 115 Best Recordings of 2015. THE TRACKLESS WOODS sets 18 poems by acclaimed 20th century Russian poet Anna Akhmatova to life. Hailed as one of Russia’s finest poets, Akhmatova survived the Bolshevik Revolution, both World Wars and Stalin. When Iris randomly stumbled upon Akhmatova’s work in a book of poetry a friend sent as a gift, she was immediately taken by the sorrow and burden of the poems. Iris recorded the album with co-producer Richard Bennett in her living room over a five-day period. The project also fulfilled a long yearned for desire to connect with her adopted daughter’s culture and history. Iris and her husband Greg Brown has adopted their daughter from Siberia in 2005, when she was 6, and Iris says ”I’d never have made this record were it not for her.”
10:41
- Iris DeMent – “Listening to Singing”
from: The Trackless Woods / FlariElla / August 7, 2015 [6th album from Grammy nominated Iris DeMent who NPR said was ”one of the great voices in contemporary popular music.” The Trackless Woods sets 18 poems by acclaimed 20th century Russian poet Anna Akhmatova to life. Hailed as one of Russia’s finest poets, Akhmatova survived the Bolshevik Revolution, both World Wars and Stalin. She lost family, friends & fellow writers to political killings and labor in the gulags. When Iris randomly stumbled upon Akhmatova’s work in a book of poetry a friend sent as a gift, she was immediately taken by the sorrow and burden of the poems, juxtaposed with Akhmatova’s lightness and transcendence in the face of inhumanity. ”Anna’s gift of song is so strong, about alI I had to do was get really quiet and listen,” says Iris. After reading that first poem the melodies began pouring out of her, and before she even fully understood what was driving her, Iris was gathering musicians & friends, including co-producer Richard Bennett (Emmylou Harris, Neil Diamond, Steve Earle), to record ‘The Trackless Woods’ in her living room over a 5-days. The result is a pairing of piano and voice in Iris’ style with timeless melodies that are rooted in the American South.]
On September 3, 2020, Grammy nominated singer songwriter Iris DeMent released the single “How Long.” Then, in October of 2020 Iris DeMent sent me a new song she had just written and created a lyric video. I immediately wrote back to Iris and said, “This song is so beautiful and so needed right now. I cried several times listening to it.” She wrote back, “It’s a cry and dance at the same time song. Can’t say I’ve written one of those before. She ended her message with a smily face and the words, “Much love!”
Just as 90.1 FM KKFI was the first radio station to play Iris Dement’s music, we were also the first radio station to play her song, “Going Down To Texas.”
10:45
- Iris DeMent – “Going Down To Sing In Texas”
from: Workin’ On A World / FlariElla / February 24, 2023
[Stereogum on October 13, 2020 wrote: Other than a handful of guest appearances, Americana legend Iris DeMent hasn’t released new music since her 2015 album The Trackless Woods, a collection of Anna Akhmatova poems set to original music. But DeMent is back today in a big way with “Going Down To Sing In Texas,” a lengthy rambler that’s a lot more serious than its casual, jazzy piano groove lets on. Over the course of nine minutes, DeMent addresses police brutality, George W. Bush (“What’s the deal with all these war criminals who get to walk around free?”), Islamophobia, progressive protesters (“I’m so proud of all of these young people for taking it to the streets”), gun control, Jeff Bezos (“Ain’t we all just a little bit tired of greedy people getting a free pass?”), the Chicks, the Squad, and Jesus Christ (“He spoke truth to power, he stood up for the poor/ The church today wouldn’t even let him through the door”) among other things.It’s a hell of a song, clear and direct yet artful in its conversational ease. Never forget that DeMent can go toe to toe with songwriting legends like her old duet partner John Prine.]
Iris DeMent’s 7th full length album, WORKIN’ ON A WORLD was stalled partway through by the pandemic, the record took six years to make with the help of three friends and co-producers: Richard Bennett, Pieta Brown, and Jim Rooney. It was Pieta Brown, (Greg Brown’s daughter,) who gave the record its final push. Iris write, “Pieta asked me what had come of the recordings I’d done with Jim and Richard in 2019 and 2020. I told her I’d pretty much given up on trying to make a record. She asked would I mind if she had a listen. So, I had everything we’d done sent over to her, and not long after that I got a text, bouncing with exclamation marks: ‘You have a record and it’s called Workin’ On A World!’” With Bennett back in the studio with them, Brown and DeMent recorded several more songs and put the final touches on the record in Nashville in April of 2022. // DeMent sets the stage for the album with the title track in which she moves from a sense of despair towards a place of promise. “Now I’m workin’ on a world I may never see ‘ Joinin’ forces with the warriors of love / Who came before and will follow you and me.”
In his review for WHYY’s Fresh Air, Entertainment Weekly Music Editor – Ken Tucker wrote: “Iris DeMent possesses one of the great voices in contemporary popular music: powerfully, ringingly clear, capable of both heartbreaking fragility and blow-your-ears-back power. Had she been making country albums in the ’70s and ’80s and had more commercial ambition, she’d probably now be considered right up there with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. Instead, she’s lived a contemporary life, a somewhat private life. As she recently told an interviewer, “There’s a lot that goes into life besides songwriting.” And she’s taken her time in composing songs that fit into no genre easily.”
I communicate with Iris every year, checking in with her, giving her news from Kansas City a place where she loved living, where she found herself as a singer-songwriter, and where she doesn’t mind if we say it’s her “chosen” hometown. Iris joined us live on the show on March 22, 2023 just before her SOLD OUT show at Knuckleheads on Thursday, March 23, 2023 with guest Ana Egge ” Happy Birthday Iris DeMent. We love you!
- Iris DeMent – “Say A Good Word”
from: Workin’ On A World / FlariElla / February 24, 2023
[Iris DeMent’s 7th full length album, WORKING ON A WORLD was stalled partway through by the pandemic, the record took six years to make with the help of three friends and co-producers: Richard Bennett, Pieta Brown, and Jim Rooney. It was Pieta Brown who gave the record its final push. “Pieta asked me what had come of the recordings I’d done with Jim and Richard in 2019 and 2020. I told her I’d pretty much given up on trying to make a record. She asked would I mind if she had a listen. So, I had everything we’d done sent over to her, and not long after that I got a text, bouncing with exclamation marks: ‘You have a record and it’s called Workin’ On A World!’” With Bennett back in the studio with them, Brown and DeMent recorded several more songs and put the final touches on the record in Nashville in April of 2022. // DeMent sets the stage for the album with the title track in which she moves from a sense of despair towards a place of promise. “Now I’m workin’ on a world I may never see ‘ Joinin’ forces with the warriors of love / Who came before and will follow you and me.” “Goin’ Down To Sing in Texas” is an ode not only to gun control, but also to the brave folks who speak out against tyranny and endure the consequences in an unjust world. // On October 6, 2020 iris DeMent released her single “Going Down To Sing In Texas.” Stereogum on October 13, 2020 wrote: Other than a handful of guest appearances, Americana legend Iris DeMent hasn’t released new music since her 2015 album The Trackless Woods, a collection of Anna Akhmatova poems set to original music. But DeMent is back today in a big way with “Going Down To Sing In Texas,” a lengthy rambler that’s a lot more serious than its casual, jazzy piano groove lets on. Over the course of nine minutes, DeMent addresses police brutality, George W. Bush (“What’s the deal with all these war criminals who get to walk around free?”), Islamophobia, progressive protesters (“I’m so proud of all of these young people for taking it to the streets”), gun control, Jeff Bezos (“Ain’t we all just a little bit tired of greedy people getting a free pass?”), the Chicks, the Squad, and Jesus Christ (“He spoke truth to power, he stood up for the poor/ The church today wouldn’t even let him through the door”) among other things.It’s a hell of a song, clear and direct yet artful in its conversational ease. Never forget that DeMent can go toe to toe with songwriting legends like her old duet partner John Prine. In his review for WHYY’s Fresh Air, Entertainment Weekly Music Editor – Ken Tucker wrote: “Iris DeMent possesses one of the great voices in contemporary popular music: powerfully, ringingly clear, capable of both heartbreaking fragility and blow-your-ears-back power. Had she been making country albums in the ’70s and ’80s and had more commercial ambition, she’d probably now be considered right up there with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. Instead, she’s lived a contemporary life, a somewhat private life. As she recently told an interviewer, “There’s a lot that goes into life besides songwriting.” And she’s taken her time in composing songs that fit into no genre easily.”] [Iris DeMent played Knuckleheads 2715 Rochester Street, KCMO on Thursday, March 23, 2023 in a SOLD OUT SHOW with guest Ana Egge opening the show.] [Iris Dement was our guest LIVE on WMM on March 22, 2023]
11:00 – Station ID – Celebrating David Bowie
You are listening to 90.1 FM KKFI Kansas City Community Radio. Please stayed tuned to the 2nd hour of WMM as we celebrate David Bowie born on this day January 8, 1947.
In school he studied art, music, and design before embarking on a music career in 1963. Over a span of 5 decades, he sold over 140 million records and released 27 studio albums, if you count Tin Machine, which you should. His career is notable for his reinvention, his pushing of the boundaries of gender, art and music. He was the first to create a concert tour that was a big as a broadway touring show. He help invent Glam Rock, New Wave, and electronica. He created stage personas to carry thematic concepts with costumes and lights and the very best guitarists and musicians of his time. David Bowie was an actor on stage and in many great independent films including: The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Hunger, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Basquiat, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Labyrinth, and 15 others. He played John Merrick in The Elephant Man on Broadway. He influenced multiple generations with his music, recordings, live concerts, films, music videos, and his ever changing, image.
Bowie was a gateway to other discoveries: The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, T-Rex, Iggy Pop, Andy Warhol, Glam Rock, Electronica, Brian Eno, William S. Burroughs, Kraftwerk, Mick Ronson, Tony Visconti, Klaus Nomi, Bauhaus, Gender Expression, and much more.
Nine years ago on January 10, 2016, and two days after he released his 25th solo album, Blackstar, on his 69th birthday, David Robert Jones passed away at home surrounded by his wife Iman, son Duncan Jones from his marriage to Angela Bowie, and daughter Alexandria from his marriage to Iman. David Bowie’s death sent shock waves of grief across the world, touching every one of us, that he made feel, less alone. He was a light, a shining star, that guided so many of us through the darkness.
We celebrate David Bowie with musical tracks from deeper inside Bowie’s studio albums, “Blackstar” performed by Chase Horseman, Calvin Arsenia with an original unreleased track called “Ashes”, the Steve Reich remix of “Love is Lost” from THE NEXT DAY (Extra), The Sea and Cake with “Sound and Vision” from LOW, electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk who name check Bowie and Iggy Pop in lyrics to their “Trans-Europe Express” from 1977; Bowie responding with “V-2 Schneider” from HEROES of the same year; Julia Othmer’s beautiful cover of “Heroes” followed by Ondara, with “I’m Afraid of Americans” from Bowie’s EARTHLING from 1997; “Under Pressure” from from Bowie’s Reality Tour Live with bandmate Gail Ann Dorsey, and ending with Oscar winning film composer Ryuichi Sakamoto who in his very first film acting role and first job as a composer of a film’s soundtrack, played opposite of David Bowie in the film “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” from 1983. WMM celebrates the life of David Bowie in music.
- David Bowie – “Ian Fish U.K. Heir (Moonage Daydream Mix 1)”
from: Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film / Parlophone / September 16, 2022
[Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film is the soundtrack to the 2022 documentary film Moonage Daydream based on the life of English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released digitally on September 16, 2022 by Rhino Entertainment and Parlophone Records, preceded by a two-disc CD release on November 18, 2022 and a three-disc vinyl edition, set for later release in 2023. // The album was announced on August 25 2022, to accompany the film, that contained previously unreleased live singles, tracks cut from the album, film-specific remixes of Bowie’s tracks, orchestral performances and interview excerpts and monologues from Bowie himself. A single from the album – the remixed version of the song “Modern Love” – released on the same date. Bowie’s official website, stated it as “This version is a unique mix starting with the isolated piano motif from the track, building up into the chorus before ending on the a cappella backing vocals offering an insight into the individual elements that create the classic we all know and love”. The film-specific remix of the song “D.J.” was released as the second single on September 9, 2022 // Brett Morgan worked for nearly 18 months to design the accompanying soundtrack, with the sound design team — re-recording mixers Paul Massey and David Giammarco, sound and music editor John Warhurst, supervising sound editor Nina Hartstone — working with him. On designing the film’s music, Massey mashed up “a lot of music that wasn’t designed to go together into some amazing pieces of work. And the sound design is fully integrated into that. The soundtrack is like a huge dissolve, from the very beginning of the film until the end.” // At the Cannes Film Festival premiere on May 2022, Carey Matthew of Deadline Hollywood called it as “thundering soundtrack that literally shakes the seats”. Kenji Fujishima of Slant Magazine wrote “Though Bowie’s music dominates the soundtrack (with his songs remixed for maximum heart-thumping arena-rock impact), the documentary also includes music inspired by the man’s art, including snippets from the Philip Glass symphonies based on Bowie’s Low and Heroes albums.” Max Bell of Classic Rock wrote “If it’s axiomatic that great artistic careers build to a form of crescendo then this double CD, the official soundtrack to Brett Morgen’s anticipated documentary on the musical odyssey of David Bowie, meets that criterion. Morgen’s work on Crossfire Hurricane, for the Rolling Stones, and Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck, persuaded Bowie’s estate to give him carte blanche on over fifty years of material, utilising sonic enhancement, mixes that veer from the sublime to the ridiculously sublime, and a spoken word narrative of sorts that threads the meaning of time, death and faith.”]
- David Bowie – ““You’re aware of a deeper existence…”
from: Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film / Parlophone / September 16, 2022
[Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film is the soundtrack to the 2022 documentary film Moonage Daydream based on the life of English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released digitally on September 16, 2022 by Rhino Entertainment and Parlophone Records, preceded by a two-disc CD release on November 18, 2022 and a three-disc vinyl edition, set for later release in 2023.]
- Chase Horseman – “Blackstar”
from: “Blackstar” – Single / Chase Horseman / To be released January 31, 2024
[Produced, engineered, & mixed by Chase Horseman who also played everything, except for Ian Dobyns who played drums, and also mastered the track. // David Bowie’s 25th solo studio album BLACKSTAR was released eight years ago on his 69th birthday on January 8, 2016. Two days later David Robert Jones passed away at home surrounded by his wife Iman, son Duncan Jones from his marriage to Angela Bowie, and daughter Alexandria from his marriage to Iman. BLACKSTAR has received universal critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching the number one spot in a number of countries in the wake of Bowie’s death and becoming his first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 album chart in the U.S.]
- David Bowie – “Let me tell you one thing…” (CD #17) ( :18)
from: Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film / Parlophone / September 16, 2022
[Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film is the soundtrack to the 2022 documentary film Moonage Daydream based on the life of English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released digitally on September 16, 2022 by Rhino Entertainment and Parlophone Records, preceded by a two-disc CD release on November 18, 2022 and a three-disc vinyl edition, set for later release in 2023.
- Calvin Arsenia – “Ashes” (CD #18) (1:59)
from: Live at Greenwood Social Hall / Calvin Arsenia / Unreleased, 2017
[from Calvin’s June 11, 2017 live performance at Greenwood Social Hall, 1760 Bellevue. Born in Orlando, Florida, Calvin’s creative journey really began when he moved to the KC suburb of Olathe, teaching himself the guitar, and eventually the harp. He learned his signature instrument at the age of 20 after he couldn’t find a harpist as determined as him to meld folk, rock, classical, rap and R&B into the irresistible fusion which has become his calling card in KC and beyond. His passion for stretching the boundaries of musical expression saw him transform a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland’s Fringe Festival early in his career into a life-changing music mission, with an Edinburgh church offering him a role as musical liaison between the church and the city that would change his life. Two years and 300 shows later, Calvin returned to KC reborn as a humanistic songwriter / performer whose impassioned and conceptual stage shows (regularly sold-out in Kansas City, currently catching fire on the West Coast with a diverse following across Europe), are collaborative, costumed-culture-bridging spectacles which In KC Magazine has hailed as ‘equal parts opera, symphony, musical theatre, rock show, all built around its creator: a charismatic 6-foot-7-inch harpist with a natural stage command and knack for gilding gold and painting lilies.’]
- David Bowie–”Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix by James Murphy for the DFA)”
rom: The Next Day Extra EP / ISO Columbia / November 4, 2013
[The Next Day Extra was released Nov. 4, 2013. This 3-disc collector’s edition includes two CDs and a DVD. The first CD is the original 14-track album. The second is a 10-track CD comprising the deluxe edition bonus tracks “Plan”, “I’ll Take You There”, and “So She”, the Japanese exclusive track “God Bless the Girl”, two remixes, and four new songs (“Atomica”, “The Informer”, “Like a Rocket Man”, and “Born in a UFO”). The DVD includes the four promotional music videos (“Where Are We Now?”, “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)”, “The Next Day”, and “Valentine’s Day”). // The Next Day is the 24th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on March 8, 2013 on his ISO Records label, under exclusive licence to Columbia Records. Co-produced by Bowie and longtime collaborator Tony Visconti, the album was recorded in secret at The Magic Shop and Human Worldwide Studios in New York City between 2011 and 2013. It is primarily a rock album, featuring elements of art rock. The cover art is an adapted version of his 1977 album “Heroes”, featuring a white square with the album’s title obscuring his face. It was announced on Bowie’s 66th birthday, 8 January 2013. Bowie’s website was updated with the video for the lead single, “Where Are We Now?”, and the single was immediately made available for purchase on the iTunes Store. // It was Bowie’s first album of new material in ten years, since 2003’s Reality, and surprised fans and media who had presumed that he had retired from the music business. The album was streamed in its entirety on iTunes days before its official release. The Next Day Extra, an additional disc featuring four more tracks, and remixes of songs from the original album, was released in November. The Next Day was met with critical acclaim, and earned Bowie his first number-one album in the United Kingdom since 1993’s Black Tie White Noise. It was ranked as the second best album of 2013 (in a tie with Blue October’s Sway) by German music magazine Kulturnews and was also nominated for the 2013 Mercury Prize. The album was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 2014 Grammy Awards and for MasterCard British Album of the Year at the 2014 Brit Awards. // Recording of the album took place at The Magic Shop and Human Worldwide Studios in New York City. Bowie and producer Tony Visconti worked in secret alongside long-term engineer Mario J. McNulty, recording the album over a two-year period. The recording sessions were sporadic, and Visconti estimated that only three full months were spent demoing and recording material. Visconti recalled that the album began with a one-week recording session: Sterling Campbell was on drums, I was on bass, David was on keyboards, Gerry Leonard was on guitar. By the end of five days we had demoed up a dozen songs. Just structures. No lyrics, no melodies and all working titles. This is how everything begins with him. Then he took them home and we didn’t hear another thing from him for four months. // Bowie would disappear with the music “to make sure he was on the right track”, then bring the band back together to take the next step in recording when he was ready. Visconti described the recording sessions as “intense”, but they stuck to regular hours. “The last time we did all-nighters was Young Americans”. // During breaks from the studio, Visconti would walk the streets of New York listening to music from The Next Day on his earphones: “I was walking around New York with my headphones on, looking at all the people with Bowie T-shirts on—they are ubiquitous here—thinking, ‘Boy, if you only knew what I’m listening to at the moment.'”// Despite the statement that no guest artists were used to record the album, Bowie did use some of the musicians he’s worked with in the past, including Earl Slick, who recorded his parts for the album in July 2012. Gail Ann Dorsey (bass guitar) and Sterling Campbell (drums), who had both worked with Bowie since the 1990s, also contributed to the album. Dorsey also recorded vocals for the song “If You Can See Me”. Drummer Zachary Alford and guitarists Gerry Leonard and David Torn were hired for the sessions and Slick revealed that Visconti also contributed bass. Saxophonist Steve Elson, who had worked with Bowie since the 1980s, also plays on the album. A story that Robert Fripp, who previously has worked with Bowie in the studio, was invited to play on the album but could not due to other commitments was denied by Fripp, who said, “I haven’t spoken to David for a while and I wasn’t approached [to take part in the album]”, adding “I’m not angry at all. No one is hurt, I’m not upset, just keen for clarity.” // Bowie took great pains to keep the recording of the album secret, requiring people involved in the recording to sign NDAs. Bowie had to change recording studios after one day when someone at the studio disclosed that Bowie was recording there. He moved to the studio The Magic Shop, which ran the studio with a skeleton crew of only one or two employees on days when Bowie was there. Columbia Records’s UK PR firm learned of the project only a few days before the album was released. // Canadian band Metric almost uncovered the secret recording sessions when they arrived at Magic Shop recording studios unannounced in 2011, and Bowie saxophonist Steve Elson said he was tempted to reveal all. // The Next Day is a rock album, mainly featuring art rock. Tony Visconti told the NME that The Next Day “is quite a rock album” and Alexis Petridis of The Guardian considered the record “a straightforward rock album.” // The first single was the ballad “Where Are We Now?”, a track which Visconti described as “the only track on the album that goes this much inward for him”. Visconti suggested that Bowie chose “Where Are We Now?” as the opening single because “people had to deal with the shock that he was back [after a 10-year absence]” and that the introspective nature of the song made it an appropriate choice. The song reached No.6 in the UK charts. Opening lyrics for “Where Are We Now” reflectively recall the name of a train station (plaza) and a street in west Berlin, where Bowie once lived. A video accompanying the single includes props such as a dismantled photo frame lying discarded on the floor in the opening shot, a large ear in the background, and a two-headed soft doll with the torn faces of Bowie and a voiceless counterpart “pasted” onto it in. Lyrics also include the phrase “the moment you know you know, you know”. // “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)” was released as the second single from the album on 26 February 2013. A music video in the form of a short film was premiered the previous day. The song received moderate airplay on BBC Radio 2 and 106.9FM WHCR, peaking at number 102 on the UK Singles Chart. // Visconti, who accepted an interviewer’s suggestion that he was Bowie’s “voice on earth”, commented on the album to the international press and provided insights into the individual tracks. The songs cover a wide spread of subjects and are largely observational: most probe the mind-sets of different individuals. “Valentine’s Day” is about a high school shooter. “I’d Rather Be High” related the story of a Second World War soldier. Visconti described the material as “extremely strong and beautiful”. He added “if people are looking for classic Bowie they’ll find it on this album, if they’re looking for innovative Bowie, new directions, they’re going to find that on this album too.” Visconti commented that 29 tracks were recorded for the album and suggested that some of the material left out of The Next Day could appear on a subsequent record. Visconti speculated that Bowie could return to the studio to produce a new album later in 2013, but this did not happen. // The cover art for the album is an adapted version of Bowie’s 1977 album, “Heroes”, with a white square with the album’s title obscuring Bowie’s face. Designed by Jonathan Barnbrook, who also designed packaging for Heathen and Reality and follow-up Blackstar, the obscuring of the photograph connotes “forgetting or obliterating the past”. The original cover image was shot by Masayoshi Sukita. Barnbrook explained the cover, saying: “If you are going to subvert an album by David Bowie there are many to choose from but this is one of his most revered, it had to be an image that would really jar if it were subverted in some way and we thought “Heroes” worked best on all counts.” A viral marketing campaign was launched to promote the album on 15 February 2013. The campaign grew out of the concept behind the album cover, taking seemingly ordinary images and subverting them through the addition of a white square. // The Next Day debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 94,048 copies in its first week. It was Bowie’s ninth number-one album in the United Kingdom, and his first in twenty years since Black Tie White Noise (1993). The album fell to number two the following week, selling 35,671 copies. In its third week, it slipped to number three on sales of 23,157 units. // In the United States, the album entered the Billboard 200 at number two with first-week sales of 85,000 copies, earning Bowie his largest sales week for an album in the Nielsen SoundScan era, and also his highest charting album on the Billboard 200. The album has sold 208,000 copies in the US as of December 2015. Elsewhere, The Next Day topped the charts in several countries, including Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland, while reaching number two in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, and Spain.] [Born February 4, 1970. James Murphy is a musician, producer, DJ, and co-founder of record label DFA Records. His most well-known musical project is LCD Soundsystem. James Murphy was influenced by Bowie and remixed songs for Bowie’s The Next Day Extras, and is credited as a percussionist on Bowie’s Backstar.]
- The Sea and Cake – “Sound & Vision”
from: One Bedroom / Thrill Jockey Records / January 21, 2003
[6th album from American indie rock band with a jazz influence, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The group has released 11 albums. The group formed in the mid-1990s from members of The Coctails (Archer Prewitt), Shrimp Boat (Sam Prekop and Eric Claridge), and Tortoise (John McEntire). The group’s name came from a willful reinterpretation (as the result of an accidental miscomprehension) of “The C in Cake”, a song by Gastr del Sol. Starting with 1997’s The Fawn, the group has relied on electronic sound sources, such as drum machines and synthesizers, to color its music, but has retained its distinctive post-jazz combo style. The band has shied away from releasing singles, preferring the album format. Contrary to his multi-instrumentalist role in Tortoise, John McEntire almost exclusively plays drums in The Sea and Cake. Members Sam Prekop, Archer Prewitt, and John McEntire each have released solo albums. The cover art of The Sea And Cake’s releases are largely paintings by member Eric Claridge and photographs by Prekop. Prewitt has been involved in publishing his own comic books and doing graphic design. In 1995, the band contributed the song “The Fontana” to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Bothered produced by the Red Hot Organization. The band was on hiatus from 2004 to 2007. Their most recent album Any Day was released in May 2018.] [“Sound and Vision” is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie which appeared on his 1977 album Low. The song is notable for juxtaposing an uplifting guitar and synthesizer-led instrumental track with Bowie’s withdrawn lyrics. In keeping with the minimalist approach of Low, Bowie and co-producer Tony Visconti originally recorded the track as an instrumental, bar the backing vocal (performed by Visconti’s wife, Mary Hopkin). Bowie then recorded his vocal after the rest of the band had left the studio, before trimming verses off the lyrics and leaving a relatively lengthy instrumental intro on the finished song. Selected as the first single from the album, “Sound and Vision” was used by the BBC on trailers at the time. This provided considerable exposure, much needed as Bowie opted to do nothing to promote the single himself, and helped the song to No. 3. The song was also a top ten hit in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. However, it stalled at No. 87 in Canada and only managed No. 69 in the United States, where it signaled the end of Bowie’s short commercial honeymoon until “Let’s Dance” in 1983. The first live performance of the song was at Earl’s Court during the Isolar II Tour on 1 July 1978. In 1990, it was a regular number for Bowie’s greatest hits Sound+Vision Tour. The name was also used for a Rykodisc boxed set anthology in 1989.]
11:31 – Underwriting
- Kraftwerk – “Trans-Europe Express (Remastered)”
from: Trans Europe Express (Remastered) / Parlophone – Warner Music / March 1, 1977 – 2009
[Kraftwerk translates to: “power station”. They are a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered as innovators and pioneers of electronic music, they were among the first successful acts to popularize the genre. The group began as part of West Germany’s experimental Krautrock scene in the early 1970s before fully embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders. Trans-Europe Express is the sixth studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk. The song’s lyrics reference the album Station to Station and meeting with musicians Iggy Pop and David Bowie. Hütter and Schneider had previously met up with Bowie in Germany and were flattered with the attention they received from him. Ralf Hütter was interested in Bowie’s work as he had been working with Iggy Pop, who was the former lead singer of the Stooges; one of Hütter’s favorite groups. Recorded in mid-1976 in Düsseldorf, Germany, the album was released in March 1977 on Kling Klang Records. It saw the group refine their melodic electronic style, with a focus on sequenced rhythms, minimalism, and occasionally manipulated vocals. The themes include celebrations of the titular European railway service and Europe as a whole, and meditations on the disparities between reality and appearance. // Trans-Europe Express charted at 119 on the American charts and was ranked number 30 in The Village Voice’s 1977 Pazz & Jop critics’ poll. Two singles were released: “Trans-Europe Express” and “Showroom Dummies”. The album has been re-released in several formats and continues to receive acclaim. In 2014, the Los Angeles Times called it “the most important pop album of the last 40 years.” // After the release and tour for the album Radio-Activity, Kraftwerk continued to move further away from their earlier krautrock style of improvised instrumental music, refining their work more into the format of melodic electronic songs. During the tour for Radio-Activity, the band began to make performance rules such as not to be drunk on stage or at parties. Karl Bartos wrote about these rules, stating that “it’s not easy to turn knobs on a synthesizer if you are drunk or full of drugs… We always tried to keep very aware of what we were doing while acting in public.” During this tour, early melodies that would later evolve into the song “Showroom Dummies” were being performed. // In mid-1976, Kraftwerk began to work on the album which was then called Europe Endless. Paul Alessandrini suggested that Kraftwerk write a song about the Trans Europ Express to reflect their electronic music style. Hütter and Schneider met with musicians David Bowie and Iggy Pop prior to the recording, which influenced song lyrics. Maxime Schmitt encouraged the group to record a French language version of the song “Showroom Dummies”, which led the group to later record several songs in French. The album was recorded at Kling Klang Studio in Düsseldorf. Artistic control over the songs was strictly in the hands of members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, with Bartos and Wolfgang Flür contributing sequenced electronic percussion. Kraftwerk went to railway bridges to listen to the sounds the train would actually produce. The group found the sound the train made was not danceable and changed it slightly. // An important piece of new equipment used on the album was the Synthanorma Sequenzer, a customized 32-step 16-channel analog sequencer made for the band by Matten & Wiechers. This allowed the construction of more elaborate sequenced synthesizer lines, which are featured prominently in the tracks “Franz Schubert” and “Endless Endless”, and liberated the player from the chore of playing repetitive keyboard patterns. // Whereas Radio-Activity had featured a mixture of German and English lyrics throughout the album, Trans-Europe Express went further and was mixed as two entirely separate versions, one sung in English, the other in German. At the recommendation of Maxime Schmitt, a French version of the song “Showroom Dummies”, titled “Les Mannequins”, was also recorded. “Les Mannequins” was the group’s first song in French and would influence decisions to record songs in French on later albums. After recording the album in Düsseldorf, Hütter and Schneider visited Los Angeles to mix the tracks at the Record Plant Studio. Elements of the mixing sessions that were done in Los Angeles were dropped from the album, including the use of more upfront vocals in order to do more mixing in Düsseldorf and Hamburg later.// The artwork for the album cover of Trans-Europe Express was originally going to be a monochrome picture of the group reflected in a series of mirrors. This idea was dropped for a photo by New York-based celebrity photographer Maurice Seymour, with the group dressed in suits to resemble mannequins. J. Stara’s image of the group was taken in Paris and is a highly retouched photo-montage of Kraftwerk from their shoulders up again posed as mannequins which are shown on the cover of the English version of the album. On the inside sleeve, a color collage of the group sitting at a small cafe table designed by Emil Schult was used. The photo for this scene was from the session by Maurice Seymour, taken on the group’s American tour. Other photos were taken by Schult that show the group laughing and smiling. These were not used for the album’s release. // Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described the album’s influence as “unprecedented, reaching as wide as rock (Radiohead’s Kid A), hip-hop (Afrika Bambaataa’s classic ‘Planet Rock’, Jay Dee’s recent ‘Big Booty Express’) and pop (Madonna’s Drowned World Tour, which incorporated samples of ‘Metal on Metal’)”. // In the late 1970s, the album influenced post-punk band Joy Division; bassist Peter Hook related: “We were introduced to Kraftwerk by [singer] Ian Curtis, who insisted we play T.E.E. before we went on stage every time. The tape was played at the venue over the PA system, to be heard by everyone. The first time was Pips [a Manchester club well known for its ‘Bowie Room’]. Ian got thrown out for kicking glass around the dance floor in time to the track. It took us ages of pleading to get him back in.” Drummer Stephen Morris also confirmed that Joy Division “used to play Trans-Europe Express before we went on stage, to get us into the zone. It worked because it gets up a lot of momentum. Trans-Europe Express just seemed to express an optimism – even if people see it as machine music”. Morris also said: “It reminds me of Cabaret, the film, with all of the 1920s singing. … When you get that marriage between humans and machines, and you get it right, it’s fantastic. I have to say it’s my favourite Kraftwerk album.” In the mid-1980s, Siouxsie and the Banshees’ rendition of “The Hall of Mirrors”, on their album Through the Looking Glass, was one of the few cover versions that Ralf Hütter hailed in glowing terms as “extraordinary”
- David Bowie – “V-2 Schneider”
from: “Heroes” / Parlophone – Warner Music / October 14, 1977 (RCA)
[“V-2 Schneider” is a largely instrumental song written by David Bowie in 1977 for the album “Heroes”. It was a tribute to Florian Schneider, co-founder of the band Kraftwerk, whom Bowie acknowledged as a significant influence at the time. The title also referenced the V-2 rocket, the first ballistic missile, which had been developed for the German Army during World War II, and whose design (and engineers) played a key role in the American space program. The only words sung are those in the title, initially distorted by phasing. Musically, the track is unusual for the off-beat saxophone work by Bowie, who kicked off his part on the wrong note, but continued regardless. “V-2 Schneider” achieved considerable circulation as the B-side of “‘Heroes'”, released prior to the album, but was not played on the subsequent 1978 concert tour, its first live rendition occurring 20 years after it was recorded (see Live versions). A live version recorded at Paradiso, Amsterdam in June 1997, was released as the B-side of the single “Pallas Athena” in August 1997, under the name Tao Jones Index. This version also appeared on the bonus disc for the Digibook Expanded Edition of Earthling. // “Heroes” is the 12th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on October 14, 1977 by RCA Records. After releasing Low earlier that year, Bowie toured as the keyboardist of his friend and singer Iggy Pop. At the conclusion of the tour, they recorded Pop’s second solo album Lust for Life at Hansa Tonstudio in West Berlin before Bowie regrouped there with collaborator Brian Eno and producer Tony Visconti to record “Heroes”. It was the second installment of his “Berlin Trilogy,” following Low and preceding Lodger (1979). Of the three albums, it was the only one wholly recorded in Berlin. Much of the same personnel from Low returned for the sessions, augmented by King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp. // The album was recorded sporadically from July to August 1977. The majority of the tracks were composed on the spot in the studio, the lyrics not being written until Bowie stood in front of the microphone. The music itself is based in art rock and experimental rock, and builds upon its predecessor’s electronic and ambient approaches, albeit with more positive tones, atmospheres and passionate performances. The album also follows the same structure as its predecessor, side one featuring more conventional tracks and side two featuring mostly instrumental tracks. // The cover photo, like Iggy Pop’s The Idiot, is a nod to the painting Roquairol by German artist Erich Heckel. Upon release, “Heroes” was a commercial success, peaking at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 35 on the US Billboard 200. It was the best-received work of the “Berlin Trilogy” on release, NME and Melody Maker naming it Album of the Year. Bowie promoted the album extensively, appearing on several television programmes and interviews. He supported Low and “Heroes” on the Isolar II world tour throughout 1978, performances of which have appeared on the live albums Stage (1978) and Welcome to the Blackout (2018). // Retrospectively, “Heroes” has continued to receive positive reviews, many reviewers praising Bowie’s growth as an artist and Fripp’s contributions. Although opinion has tended to view Low as the more groundbreaking record, “Heroes” is regarded as one of Bowie’s best and most influential works. The title track, initially unsuccessful as a single, remains one of Bowie’s best-known and acclaimed songs. An altered and obscured version of the cover artwork later appeared as the artwork for Bowie’s 2013 album The Next Day. The album has been reissued several times and was remastered in 2017 as part of the A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) box set.]
- Julia Othmer – “Heroes”
from: Seeds (Volume 1) / Julia Othmer & James Lundie / November 13, 2020
[“Seeds” is Julia Othmer’s 3rd full length album and contains 10 live songs selected from her 30-day Songs of September Project, where Julia performed a different live cover of her favorite songs and broadcast the performance throughout the streaming social media platforms to inspire people to register and vote on November 3. From those songs Julia’s fans democratically selected their favorite tracks to be released together on “Seeds.” Julia Othmer released “Sound,” on April 12, 2019, her second album, that took 3 years to complete, and was produced with James Lundie, who also married Julia in January of 2016, during the completion of the record. Julia Othmer, is a graduate of Park Hill High School. She moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to record her 1st full-length album, “Oasis Motel.” In 2018 to 2019 Julia Othmer toured with and opened for The Alarm in US show and shows in the United Kingdom. When Julia Othmer is in Kansas City she plays with Johnny Hamil on bass, Chris Tady on guitar, John Floyd Whitaker on drums. Info: http://www.juliaothmer.com. Julia Othmer joined us onWMM on Nov. 11, 2020.] [“‘Heroes'” is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was co-written by Bowie and Brian Eno, produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, and recorded in July and August 1977 at Hansa Studio by the Wall. It was released on 23 September 1977 as the lead single from his 12th studio album of the same name, backed with the song “V-2 Schneider”. A product of Bowie’s “Berlin” period, the track was not a huge hit in the United Kingdom or the United States after its release, but it has since become one of his signature songs. In January 2016, following Bowie’s death, the song reached a new peak of number 12 in the UK Singles Chart. “‘Heroes'” has been cited as Bowie’s second-most covered song after “Rebel Rebel”. Inspired by the sight of Bowie’s producer-engineer Tony Visconti embracing his lover by the Berlin Wall, the song tells the story of two lovers, one from East and one from West Berlin. Bowie’s performance of “‘Heroes'” on 6 June 1987, at the German Reichstag in West Berlin has been considered a catalyst to the later fall of the Berlin Wall. Following his death in January 2016, the German government thanked Bowie for “helping to bring down the Wall”, adding “you are now among Heroes”. “‘Heroes'” has received numerous accolades since its release, as seen with its inclusion on lists ranking the “greatest songs” compiled by various music publications; Rolling Stone named the song the 46th greatest ever, NME named it the 15th greatest. Bowie scholar David Buckley has written that “‘Heroes'” “is perhaps pop’s definitive statement of the potential triumph of the human spirit over adversity”.]
- Ondara —“I’m Afraid of Americans”
from: Tales of America (The Second Coming) / Verve Forecast – UMG Recordings / Sept. 20, 2019
[28 year old J.S. Ondara is a Kenyan singer-songwriter whose debut album, Tales of America, was released on February 15, 2019 via Verve Label Group. J.S. Ondara was born in August 1992 in Nairobi, Kenya. As a child, he wrote poems and stories as well as songs despite not having an instrument to play them on because his family couldn’t afford one. He was inspired by Radiohead, Nirvana, Death Cab For Cutie, Jeff Buckley, Pearl Jam, Guns N’ Roses, and Bob Dylan. He grew up listening to rock songs on his older sisters’ battery-powered radio. Having discovered The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan following a dispute with a friend over whether Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door was a Guns N’ Roses song, Ondara resolved to travel to the United States to pursue a career in music. In February 2013, after winning in the green card lottery, he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota at the age of 20. He taught himself to play guitar and perform during open mic nights. Eventually, he decided to study music therapy in college, but dropped out of school to return to playing small shows at coffee houses after attending a concert. After moving to Minnesota, Ondara tried his hand at making music and performing in small venues. His big break came when Minneapolis radio station KCMP 89.3 The Current played one of his songs on air by pulling audio from his YouTube channel, where he had been uploading covers of his favorite songs. At the time, he was going by the name Jay Smart. Ondara’s debut album, Tales of America, was released in February 2019 by Verve Label Group. Despite only 11 tracks making the final tracklist, Ondara wrote more than 100 songs for the album, all based on an immigrant’s life in America. The album was produced by Mike Viola of the Candy Butchers. In support of the album, Ondara embarked on his first headlining tour in March 2019. After the release of the album, Ondara debuted on Billboard’s Emerging Artist chart at No. 37 in March 2019. The album also landed on the Billboard Heatseekers Album, Americana/Folk Album Sales, and Rock Album Sales charts. He was nominated for Best Emerging Act at the 2019 Americana Music Honors & Awards. Ondara cites Bob Dylan as his musical hero, which is why he chose to live in Minnesota and why he wears his signature fedora. He has toured with the Milk Carton Kids, Lindsey Buckingham and in 2019, he opened for select dates on tour with Neil Young.]
- David Bowie – “Under Presssure” w/ Gail Ann Dorsey
from: A Reality Tour (Bonus Track Version) [Live] / Sony Music Entertaiment / Jan. 22, 2010
[“Under Pressure” is a song by the British rock band Queen and singer David Bowie. Originally released as a single in October 1981, it was later included on Queen’s 1982 album Hot Space. The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Queen’s second number-one hit in their home country (after 1975’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which topped the chart for nine weeks) and Bowie’s third (after the 1975 reissue of “Space Oddity” and “Ashes to Ashes” in 1980). The song charted in the top 10 in more than ten countries around the world, and peaked at No. 29 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in January 1982. // A Reality Tour is a live album by David Bowie that was released on January 25, 2010. The album features November 22, and 23, 2003 performances in Dublin during his concert tour A Reality Tour. The 2004, live version features David Bowie – vocals, guitars, stylophone, harmonica; Earl Slick – guitar; Gerry Leonard – guitar; Gail Ann Dorsey – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Under Pressure”; Sterling Campbell – drums; Mike Garson – keyboards, piano; Catherine Russell – keyboards, percussion, acoustic guitar, backing vocals. A Reality Tour was a worldwide concert tour by David Bowie in support of the Reality album. The tour commenced on October 7, 2003 at the Forum, Copenhagen, Denmark continuing through Europe, North America, Asia, including a return to New Zealand and Australia for the first time since the 1987 Glass Spider Tour. The tour grossed $46,000,000, making it the ninth-highest grossing tour of 2004. At over 110 shows, the tour was the longest tour of Bowie’s career. Bowie played Kansas City, May 10, 2004, at Starlight Theatre. I was there, seven rows from the stage.]
- Ryuichi Sakamoto – “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence”
from: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence / Milan Entertainment / 2015
[Ryuichi Sakamoto was born Jan. 17, 1952. He is a Japanese composer, singer, songwriter, record producer, activist, & actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With bandmates Haruomi Hosono & Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres. Sakamoto began his career while at university in the 1970s as a session musician, producer, & arranger. His first major success came in 1978 as co-founder of YMO. He concurrently pursued a solo career, releasing the experimental electronic fusion album Thousand Knives in 1978. Two years later, he released the album B-2 Unit. It included the track “Riot in Lagos”, which was significant in the development of electro and hip hop music. He produced more solo records, and collaborate with many international artists, David Sylvian, Carsten Nicolai, Youssou N’Dour, Fennesz among them. Sakamoto composed music for the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and his composition “Energy Flow” (1999) was the first instrumental #1 single in Japan’s Oricon charts history. As a film-score composer, Sakamoto has won an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, 2 Golden Globe Awards. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) marked his debut as both an actor (playing Captain Yonoi the commander of a POW camp in Japanese-occupied Java and also serving as the conposer of the film’s score. Its main theme was adapted into the single “Forbidden Colours” which became an international hit. His most successful work as a film composer was The Last Emperor (1987), after which he continued earning accolades composing for films: The Sheltering Sky (1990), Little Buddha (1993), The Revenant (2015). Sakamoto has also worked as a composer & a scenario writer on anime & video games. In 2009, he was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Ministry of Culture of France for his contributions to music.]
- David Bowie –“Well you know what, this has been an incredible pleasure”
from: Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film / Parlophone / September 16, 2022
[Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film is the soundtrack to the 2022 documentary film Moonage Daydream based on the life of English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released digitally on September 16, 2022 by Rhino Entertainment and Parlophone Records, preceded by a two-disc CD release on November 18, 2022 and a three-disc vinyl edition, set for later release in 2023.
You’ve been listening to Wednesday MidDay Medley’s Tribute to David Bowie on 90.1 FM.
We just heard and new recording of “Blackstar” performed by Chase Horseman, followed by Calvin Arsenia with an original unreleased track called “Ashes”, then the Steve Reich remix of “Love is Lost” from THE NEXT DAY (Extra), followed by The Sea and Cake with their version of “Sound and Vision” from Bowie’s LOW, and then electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk who name check Bowie and Iggy Pop in lyrics to their “Trans-Europe Express” from 1977; and Bowie responding with “V-2 Schneider” from HEROES of the same year; Julia Othmer‘s beautiful cover of “Heroes,” followed by Ondara, with his version of “I’m Afraid of Americans” from Bowie’s EARTHLING from 1997; followed by “Under Pressure” from Bowie’s Reality Tour Live with bandmate and bassist Gail Ann Dorsey singing the Freddy Mercury part. Bowie’s Reality Tour played Kansas City, the week I startd doing WMM, May 10, 2004, at Starlight Theatre. We ended with Oscar winning film composer Ryuichi Sakamoto who in his very first film acting role and first job as a composer of a film’s soundtrack, played opposite of David Bowie in the film“Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” from 1983.
- Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]
Next week Jan. 14, we present “Remembering MLK,” our annual tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born Jan. 15, 1929. We’ll play: Bobby Watson & The I Have A Dream Project (featuring Glenn North), Krystle Warren, The Freedom Afair, Calvin Arsenia, The Black Creatures, H.E.R., Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Curtis Mayfield, Maceo & The Macks, Mahalia Jackson, Marian Anderson, The Staple Singers, Pops Staples, Mavis Staples, The Swan Silvertones, Sweet Honey in The Rock, Aaron Neville, Tramaine Hawkins, Ella Mitchell, Billy Porter, Solomon Burke, Nina Simone, Pete Seeger, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Soweto Gospel Choir, The Intl. Noise Conspiracy, and Labelle.
In 2 weeks on Jan 21 we‘ll spin even more Bowie in honor of The Band That Fell To Earth who are presenting their annual Tribute to Bowie with 4 shows: Fri & Sat, Jan. 16 & 17, and Fri. & Sat., Jan. 23 and 24 at recordBar. Michelle Bacon joins us.
Thank you to KKFI Staff: Executive Director – Bess Wallerstein Huff, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers, Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, and Shaina Littler – Office Manager Book Keeper
KKFI is a collective spirit of hundreds of people, setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the goal of keeping our airwaves, non-commercial, open!
For WMM, I’m Mark Manning. Thanks for listening!
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 #1129
Wednesday MidDay Medley 