Next week, Saul Williams’ Niggy Tardust will see a physical release. No longer free to download, the CD will come with a handful of extras, including the song from that recent Nike commercial (link) and the track below (courtesy of Pitchfork).
MP3: Saul Williams, “World on Wheels”, The Inevitable Rise and Fall of Niggy Tardust! (Fader)
KCK Street Blues Festival
Date: June 27 & 28, 2008 Venue: Koran Temple parking lot Better Than: A drunken evening at B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ
By LORNA PERRY
Click to view slideshow.
The 8th Almost Annual KCK Street Blues Festival got underway this weekend at the corner of 13th and State, in Kansas City, Kansas. Friday night featured Cadillac Flambé, Koolaide & Exact Change, Dan Bliss, Blue River Ordonnance with special guests Phil Sanders and Ernie Johnson and Millage Gilbert plus Tommy Soul. Friday’s attendance was hearty, but Saturday was the biggest draw – a sizeable crowd had settled in by the time the first event, a 12:30 panel discussion titled “KC Blues – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” with Jim O’Neal, Lindsay Shannon, Chuck Haddix, Groovy Grant and White Hat Mike Ross got underway. Throughout the large parking lot in front of the very tall stage, people had laid claim to asphalt, throwing down blankets, lawnchairs and coolers. Venders and their wares – be it BBQ, T-shirts, African Juices or the African American Democrat Caucus booth – were everywhere.
There’s little doubt that “American Idol” is the best thing that could have ever happened to Kansas City’s annual Red, White & Boom extravaganza. Having pulled through a few awkward years (think “Livin’ la Vida Loca” and “White Wedding” on the same bill), this homegrown event started to hit its stride during its tweens thanks to a parade of artists hand-picked by primetime hitmakers Randy, Paula and Simon and, in most cases, rejected en masse by an American voting public obviously more interested in minting popstars than presidents. Now officially entering its teens, Red, White & Boom is starting to express a unique sense of style and personality, much like the young girls and boys (but let’s face it -- mostly girls) that packed the recently rechristened Sandstone Amphitheatre this past Saturday.
Bolstered by incredible weather that produced more suntans and cool breezes than cases of heat stroke, the show opened with Drew 6, winners of 93.3’s Ultimate Band Search, followed by the Last Goodnight. By the time the venue started to fill with bedazzled teens sporting puffy painted t-shirts declaring “[insert heartthrob of the moment here] 4 EVAR!,” Ferras pulled up a keyboard centerstage and settled into a short set capped off by this past Idol season’s official sayonara song “Hollywood’s Not America.”
The glitter fell but doom never did. So much the better for this -- how else can it be put? -- historic Tom Waits show at the Fox Theatre. Not that Waits didn’t try to summon all the spirits in the boneyard at the end of the junkyard at the end of the world. The hall roared when he gave “What’s He Building In There?” all his crypto-voyeurism, but his greatness has nothing to do with channeling Vincent Price. And who cares who “Mr. Stitches” is anyway? One can only take so much persona.
For all the prophecies of chaos and clusterfucks that heralded the anti-scalper gouge-fest that is the Tom Waits ticketing system, the Fox staff moved the sell-out crowd through the block-long lines on Grand like they knew what they were doing. To think I could I have driven to Memphis, chased some trucker speed with a half pint of bourbon, and made it back to St. Louis, stopping for all the coffee and cigarettes I could consume at every other truck stop along the way, for the same price as my VIP2 Row H ticket. I might have gotten some stories out of it, but none of them would have been history.
Only July 29, Thirsty Ear Records and the Future of Music Coalition will bring the subject of Net Neutrality to the forefront with the Rock the Net compilation. The album will feature new and exclusive cuts from artists like the Wrens, Portastatic, and They Might Be Giants. Where the proceeds go isn’t quite clear, but you can stream the entire thing right here.
Along with running the Serato for Kanye West on tour, Montreal’s DJ A-Trak has amassed an impressive collection of trophies, including being the youngest and first to win five DMC championships. He recently contributed a workout mix for the Nike Original Run series, now available on iTunes. Get a free taste below, thanks to Spinner.
MP3: DJ A-Trak, “Say Whoa,” The Running Man: Nike + Original Run
The Faint recently left the Saddle Creek imprint to start its own blank.wav record label. The Omaha-based dance-punk outfit will debut its new business venture with its fifth LP, Fasciinatiion, out August 5. Have a listen to the album’s first single, “The Geeks Were Right,” here.
MP3: D-Will, "Glory," from Heir of Abraham (self-released)
Punk rocker cum mountain man Tommy Ramone strokes his wiry white beard this week at Mountain Music Shoppe, where he plucks the mandolin and gee-tar for bluegrass duo Uncle Monk.
This week’s issue of Rolling Stone has an interview with American Idol winner and Blue Springs native David Cook. Among the fascinating revelations: at a “glitzy restaurant on the south tip of Manhattan’s Central Park,” Cook is “scared” of foie gras on toast, drowning out the taste with a Sprite, and refuses to eat “a delicate flan of pureed peas.” Cook also shows his “gnawed fingernails.” Although Cook seems out of place in New York City, he has fond memories of going to Royals games and performing his first audition, a second-grade try-out for a cowboy-themed Christmas pageant. And learning his first instrument, the violin, because he liked a girl in the orchestra. Read the interview here.
From the tipline: Beginning today and ending July 7, if you preorder Beck's new one, Modern Guilt, from iTunes you'll get a password for concert tix presale. Says the Ticketmaster page, Beck is expected to hit the following markets;
Albuquerque, NM
Boston, MA
Chicago, IL
El Paso, TX
Kansas City, MO
Minneapolis, MN
New York, NY
Phoenix, AZ
After a ten year hiatus, Richard Ashcroft and co. will be releasing their reunion album on August 19. Aptly titled Four, the Verve’s fourth LP will include all four original members. The band posted the first single, “Love is Noise,” yesterday. Stream it here, via MySpace.
Anyone who already has a ticket or wants to buy a ticket at the door at tonight's Matisyahu show at the Crossroads at Grinders can now bring their rabbi -- for free.
Just go to this web page and print out the "golden ticket."
Apparently, ticket sales aren't going to well. Not surprising -- it's $28 for GA; $35 for bleachers; $76.50 for VIP.
Local politicians don't know where the Embassy is; midtown scenesters don't know that it's still open. But the spacious, two-room storefront bar at the intersection of Main and Westport Road is most definitely still open, and its Monday night hip-hop open mic, hosted by KC's patriarchal Heet Mob, is alive and well.
