Kansas City Music Blog

Scottish Rite Temple

​Saturday night's nostalgia-fest at the Scottish Rite Temple was meant to draw out all the "grown 'n' sexy people," which, as it turns out, is a dwindling cohort in KC. Maybe some ran into trouble scoring a babysitter on a Saturday night in order to check out the lineup of Shock G (of Digital Underground), Naughty By Nature, Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh. A promoter with some group called Dutch Entertainment, which I presume worked with Magic 107.3 to put on the show, informed me Friday that tickets were incredibly limited, but the place was never more than half full, and the venue's red, velvet curtains made it feel very much like the opening of a high school play.

That vibe turned out to be kinda perfect, though. Comedian Jus Jay, the night's host, sprinkled the evening with back-in-the-day memories of homemade Pixy Stix made from Kool-Aid and sugar, of blowing into Nintendo cartridges and rollerskating to Bone Thugs N Harmony at Skateland. When he asked the crowd at a quarter to 9:00 PM, "Are y'all havin' a good time?" the couple behind me in balcony seats groaned. "Hell naw," yelled the female half of the pair, "Ain't nothin' happened yet and we been here since 6:00!"

After an opening set of music from DJ Fresh and a performance by a local rapper whose name was never clear (Reece? East? Reef?), Shock G bounded onto the stage, skinny and energetic as a kid on Ritalin, dressed as his alter ego, Humpty.

Shock G as Humpty -- the one who put the satin on your panties

​
Humpty performed "Return of the Crazy One," "Sex Packets," "Same Song," "The Humpty Dance,"  and his verse from "We're All in the Same Gang. Then, he ditched the jacket, Groucho glasses, fake nose and hat and introduced himself as Shock G.

With help from a smooth-jazz guitarist and DJ Fuze, the Digital Underground member reminded us that he was responsible for producing Tupac's first album with a live breakdown of some of the classics from 2Pacalypse Now. Shock G took to his keyboard to play the instrumental to"So Many Tears" and performed his verse from "I Get Around" (a song I affectionately refer to as "In Defense of Date Rape" for the verse: It's a lot of G's doin' time/ 'cause a groupie bit the truth and told a lie) and closed out with "Freaks of the Industry." (There's a song with the same name by Big Scoob, which reminds me that Shock G shouted out Tech N9ne, and said, "Who wants to see Tech N9ne tonight?....Well, he ain't here.")

Nadia Pflaum

The tasting glass is small -- that, or Mac is a giant.

72 beers. That's my excuse. 72
*hic* beers.

The idea of mounting a hip-hop show at the Riot Room after the audience and the performers have spent three hours sipping beers from 30 different breweries sounds like a recipe for disaster. Clearly, though, Black Label president Jeremy Willis knows what he's doing. The only thing that went down in flames on Friday night's Black Clover Beerfest was my ability to write coherent notes on anything before stumbling happily home.

Okay, so Mac Lethal fumbled the words to "Makeout Bandit" and his remix of Hotstylz', "Lookin' Boy," but these are minor details when you consider that, a few hours before, both Mac and DJ Sku were raving about the bacon beer.

Nadia Pflaum

DJ Sku loves bacon

Yeah, I said bacon beer. Scattered all over the Riot Room on Friday night were tubs upon tubs of iced brews, each manned by a knowledgeable liquor rep or brewer who'd happily fill everyone's cute sampling glasses while explaining the peculiarities of each bottle. The guy manning the "bacon beer" station would try to explain that, yes, the flavor is smoky, but smoky like smoked cheese, or anything smoked, not bacon at all, really -- only to be drowned out by somebody dragging a new friend to the tub, like, "Yo, you gotta try the bacon beer."

Another big hit was the Mikkeller coffee-flavored beer. I called Missouri Beverage's Mark Tarry a liar when he told me that it's made from weasel shit, but I've got to apologize now, because the brewer's website confirms Tarry's story. Weasel shit tastes great, by the way.

While some people were up to Irish shenanigans or drunken tomfoolery at one of the various festivals happening across the metro this past holiday weekend, many Christian kids engaged in sober fun at Starlight Theater last Friday and Saturday. Mostly out of curiosity, I trekked out to the tenth annual Rock the Light Christian music festival on its second, sunny day.

Except for local rockers Life in Jersey -- and, OK, superfamous headliners (who I missed 'cause I left early) Newsboys -- I hadn't heard of any of the 20 acts booked for the event's three stages. No matter, half the fun of any festival for a scene outsider is the people-watching.

And it was good.

Jump after the jester.

Crystal K. Wiebe

​

Jim Kilroy, show promoter extraordinaire and Club Wars mogul, presents a show called Monsters of Metal tomorrow night at the Uptown Theater. In keeping with the name, it is a monster of a show, with 14 bands. But how can you book 14 bands in one day, let alone at a show starting at 7?

​
I asked Kilroy, and this is what he had to say:

"2 stages. 25 minute sets. They put a stage in that front bar. I had a 2 stage show at the Uptown as part of the Mix 93 Battle of the Bands back in May. This is how I'm going to do all of my shows there now. I also booked a night called Oktoberfest there on Oct 2. We are going to put a small stage in the room they use for meet and greets and catering down by the main bar. I'm going to have 1 and 2 man Hip Hop acts on that stage."

Say what you will about Kilroy -- the Monsters of Metal show is gonna be cool. Check out the lineup:
Moire
Malikai
Bent
Vanlade
Ascension
Serated
Phrygionic
Injected Element
Plague Of Sinai
At The Left Hand Of God
Everyday Chaos
Feast For Flesh
Every Bullet Needs Blood
Order Number Eleven

Do you have a good Internet connection and a healthy amount of time on your hands? If so, you should check out the exhaustive, thorough, and above all entertaining series of photos the Ssion posted on their MySpace blog. All the photos are from their recent tour with Fischerspooner.

Even if you have no idea what's going, who anyone is, or where they might be (although every photo is organized by tour stop), you'll be entertained. The pics are just one huge post which will take the better part of five minutes to load. You also may want to beware that some photos might be construed as NSFW, as not all are constrained by decorum. In other words, these aren't just snapshots of the band onstage. There are photos from parties, the van, backstage, in the crowd--everywhere the band went, the camera went.

As such, the photos feature the following, although not all in one single picture (although that would be amazing and perhaps violate the laws of time and space): partial nipple, pencil sketch wang, ladies in their undergarments, making out, and something I'm not sure how to describe other than "you can see some scant underpants through pantyhose."

A friend of Wayward Blog was kind enough to forward along this message regarding some recent personnel changes at the Replay Lounge and Jackpot Music Hall. Justin Nicholson and Jenny O have both been let go, while Leslie Kay has been retained as booker for both clubs. Her e-mail follows, and does a good job of explaining why getting shows booked for the next few months might be a bit tricky:

Hey folks,
The Replay Lounge and Jackpot Music Hall have just experienced some major management and booking personnel changes. We're doing our best to get caught up on everything, but due to the chaos, email responses will most likely take a bit longer than we'd like. Please bear with us through these changes; your patience is invaluable.
We have every intention of following through with all shows that have been confirmed and to continue efforts on all holds that have been granted.

If you have any confirmed shows coming up, you can really help by emailing us to advance the show, even if this seems repetitious (it will save us from wading through thousands of old emails hunting for details). Please include all show information and any specifics already agreed upon; the best way to do this is probably to resend the last or most informative email thread pertaining to your show.

If you have holds with us, please feel free to follow up. If the date(s) you requested is not terribly urgent however, please give us a bit of time to get caught up on the more pressing holds.

We hope to get through this transition speedily and efficiently and without putting too much strain on any of you. Thanks in advance for your patience and the extra work this may cause for you too. We look forward to booking more great shows with you in the future.
Leslie.
Replay and Jackpot.

Nick Carroll, owner of both bars, had the following to say regarding the situation:

We have been paying too much salary for one manager and booking agent for both venues with the sales we have had in the last year. We are reorganizing to make running the businesses more efficient. The replacement managers and talent buyer are existing employees and we feel that this move is a positive step forward. As far as I know, the employees have left on fair and good terms.

Local experimental musician H Stewart released a freely downloadable album this weekend, entitled Letters to Kansas City. The album is experimental and ambient. The Internet label through which Stewart released the album, Clinical Archives, has this to say about it:

"The songs are written about Kansas City's neighborhoods, their moods and memories according to H Stewart. The songs were made with a cheap Casio, a used microphone, and a laptop which houses odd programs for sound manipulations."

H Stewart is definitely different (her MySpace lists her genres as "Other / Other / Other"). Her songs are lyricless, and very similar to X-Files composer Mark Snow. The songs drift from one to another without any discernible start or finish, taking the listener on a journey through Kansas City, from "Midtown" to "Downtown," through the "Crossroads" and down "Troost," ending in the "West Bottoms." Very chill stuff that would do you right as background music for a night on the front porch, watching the cars drive by, or even tracing the route of the album in the summer heat.

The album can be downloaded via the Internet Archive in 320 Kbps MP3.

Update,12:33pm: H Stewart is a she, not a he.

And once again, we bring you Friday Freebies, wherein we present things to do this weekend that won't cost you any more than the gas it takes to get to 'em.

Lawrence's Be Moved Studio (above Liberty Hall at 2 E. 7th St.) presents "Antheros: An Evening of Haptic Awakening" on Friday night. Jenny Cook, Natalie Ann Dye, Jenny Hoyt, and Anne Katherine Bruce present the viewer with art and dance that explore touch and movement. Alice Streurwald will lead a community ritual honoring the summer solstice at 7:30, then a dance performance by Jenny Hoyt and Anne Bruce follows at 9:00.

In Kansas City, the Central branch of the Kansas City Public Library shows Near Dark as part of its New Cult Canon series. Doors for the showing of this 1987 vampire Western open at 8pm, and the screening starts at 8:45 on the rooftop terrace. I recommend you RSVP, and make it a point to check this out. Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton are fantastic in this (yes, even better than they were the year before, in Aliens).

If you're looking for a little more family-friendly film fare on Friday, the Westside CAN Center presents Kung-Fu Panda on the lawn at Boulevard Brewery (26th & Jarboe). The movie starts at 9:30pm.

The Heart of America Shakespeare Festival started their 2009 season on Tuesday, but performances of this year's play, The Merry Wives of Windsor, happen every night at 8pm from now until July 5 in Southmoreland Park. There are no performances on June 22 or July 4, so plan accordingly. Bring a picnic and eat your dinner while you watch one of the Bard's lesser-known comedies.

Get the rugrats off the couch for a few hours and make 'em sweat out all the Kool Aid they've been knocking back. On Saturday afternoon from noon-4pm, the Power & Light District has a Family Fun Day. The theme is "Summer Fit 'n' Fun." There will be zumba (which, according to the Zumba website "is a fusion of Latin and International music that creates a dynamic, exciting, and effective fitness system"), yoga and karate demonstrations, a rock wall, putting green, hoola-hooping and more.

Also on Saturday afternoon, the Lawrence Public Library has "Writing Your New Story: Mythology and Poetry," wherein Kansas Poet Laureate Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg will present a poetry writing workshop for adults. Whether you are a novice or a seasoned writer, this session will help you hone your skills and focus your abilities. It runs from 2-4pm.

Normally, this would be something I'd post in tomorrow's Friday Freebies, but this is A) Late at night and B) Pretty doggone unique.

Visitors to Lawrence's historic 1955 Amtrak station are used to the sounds of growling diesel engines and the screech of wheels against steel rails. This Friday night, the depot will be surrounded with different sounds--the voices, guitars, and banjos of local bluegrass and old-time music performers, including Steve Mason and members of the Alferd Packer Memorial String Band.

"Amtrak has built a half-hour Lawrence stop into the schedule of the westbound Southwest Chief, their Chicago to Los Angeles mainline train. Normally, it's pretty forgettable for the passengers," said Carey Maynard-Moody, chairperson of Depot Redux, a local organization promoting restoration of the Lawrence depot. "We want to liven things up and leave them with an impression of Lawrence as the vibrant place that it is."

This Friday night, June 19, will be the first in what organizers hope will be a series of "On-Time Performance" concerts. Other concert dates will be announced later.

"On-Time Performance" is free and open to the general public as well as Amtrak passengers, crew, and depot hosts. "We hope local night-owls will come down to hear the music, see the Southwest Chief, and visit the beautiful depot, which is the finest example of Mid-Century Modern architecture in the area," said Maynard-Moody.

The music will start at 11:30 PM and end with the scheduled departure of the train at 12:32 AM. The Lawrence Amtrak depot is just east of downtown Lawrence at 413 East 7th St.

Over the past few weeks, I've been watching my homies over at Lifted Logic (a design and media company that I wrote the "Troost Tube" feature about in January) put together their second annual Independence Day street party near their headquarters on the grounds of 7th Heaven, at 7621 Troost.

Briston Davidge

Making Movies is set to play Taste of Troost.

Last year, it was a neighborhood affair that featured mainly metal bands and East Side rap acts. This year, they're aiming to bring a bigger party with a more eclectic lineup of entertainment, plus food, drinks and stuffs for the kids.

This July 4, Taste of Troost will give free outdoor stage time to (according to the press release) ...

"rock bands Making Movies, Kick Kick, and Melodie, reggae groups SeedLove, and Jahration, local jazz legend Max Groove, and MCs Pittsburgh Filthy, Ballstar, K- Dean, Miss G, Fierce, Cash Image, Young Devi, Skiem Hiem, Block Life, Rappin Twan, Sliccs Gotcha, and Ron Ron."

And, they, add: "Kansas City's own underground rap legend Rich the Factor will headline the evening's festivities."

Personally, I am very excited for this festival. It's been a profound pleasure getting to know the guys at Lifted Logic over the past half year or so. I'm pretty sure they genuinely want to do something good for their neighborhood and Kansas City's East Side. But, most of all, I can definitely vouch that they want to throw a good party. And with that exceptionally diverse lineup already in place, they're more than halfway there.

But this still room for more, so if you've got a band or a business and want to get in on the hot TOT action, e-mail info@tasteoftroost.com or call 816.298.7018.

Kansas City's greasy rockabilly heathens Them Damned Young Livers recently posted to their MySpace blog the following missive regarding a follow-up to last year's Let The Sin Begin:

Phillip Pursel

We reckon it's time for a new album... But this time it's gonna get done in Bobs house with a bunch a shit we're gonna F up our credit with. We decided we're gonna ruin our good names and charge a bunch of spensive gadgits that we may or may not be good for. We figure we got about 9 new songs and 3 or 4.5 new covers since the release of LET THE SIN BEGIN and frankly we're almost tired of listenin to that thing. So in order for us to continue to sit around talkin bout how bad ass we are and strokin our own gratification locations, we must continue to document the sound track of our lives. So between the Raspy Josh recordings, our own endeavors and even one pre Bob track yer gonna see a new album in October and probably a split and a cover EP by Christmas! Think we might even plan on a new video for ALL HELL! Loan companies will curse us, our egos will thank us and hopefully some of ya'll will by some records cause we need more beer.

Hallelujah, brothers and sisters! You can catch the band around the area over the next month or so. They're at the Newsroom on June 26, with Three Bad Jacks at the Replay Lounge on July 12, with Scott H. Biram at the Riot Room on July 20 and there again August 7 as part of the {Un}Scene KC Fashion Show.

Check out their cover of Billy Joe Shaver's "Georgia On A Fast Train" below.

As the Plog has just reported, the Kansas City Power and Light District has enlisted a PR firm to handle the DJ Jazzy backlash. In a press release sent out less than an hour ago, the district's management describes the technical hazards Jazzy's set posed to the sound system and says, "To characterize this incident in racial terms is absurd and illogical."

Read the whole press release here.

The story continues to make national waves.

Earlier today, I spoke with Kansas City Power & Light District President Jon D. Stephens about why DJ Jazzy Jeff was asked to leave in the middle of his set last night in the district. Read his explanation on the Plog.

As my colleague Justin Kendall reported early this morning on the Plog, DJ Jazzy Jeff had his set cut short last night at Power and Light for, I was told by witnesses, "playing hip-hop." I was at the show, but at the moment Jazzy and his MC, Skillz, allegedly got escorted out, I was inside of Raglan freakin' Road, buying a drink. Gah! The crowd was not rowdy at all. It was the most diverse crowd I've seen at P&L, and everyone seemed to be enjoying Jazzy's jams. I don't know what happened. Afterwards, when Jeff and Skills were long gone -- as if to further the buzzkill -- the people responsible for sound began pumping Bob Seger and Bryan Adams through the PA.

Comments to Kendall's post have already blown up, you'll see. Furthermore, Jazzy has continued to tweet, adding,

i guess...Kansas Just don't Understand...lol
about 10 hours ago from web

Local hip-hoppers are outraged, including Miles Bonny, who, in the wee small hours, posted this video blog to his Web site.

And three local heads repping KChiphop.com sent an open letter ThisMayConcernYou.com in which they say,

Hip Hop & Black America will wake up today and laugh at Kansas City. And we -- the young black professionals and the KC hip hop heads -- are hanging our heads, embarrassed by the Power & Light, The Cordish Co. and KC Live.

And, to top it all off, someone has made an entire blog dedicated to this mess. Behold: Kansas City Hip-Hop vs. Power & Light

I'll try to get in touch with a Cordish rep today and get their side of the tale.

This weekend, metalheads will converge on the Beaumont Club for American Waste, a two-day festival of speed guitars, drum bursts, Cookie Monster vocals, moshing and infinite black T-shirts. Terry Taylor, vice president of Hunt Industries and member of two bands scheduled to perform (Hammerlord and the Blinding Light), has high hopes for the event. He took a little time out of his insane pre-Fest schedule of paper shuffling, countless phone calls and gear accumulating to answer a few questions from us via e-mail.

The Pitch: This festival is something you've been imagining for years, right? What made this summer the right time to go for it?

Terry Taylor: My friend Pat Fielder and I have talked about for almost 4 years that we wanted to do a cool hardcore and metal fest thing, but it always seemed like a pipe dream. We tried last year and the year before to put something together but nothing ever worked out. We decided this was the year to do it and that is how it is going to be. We asked a bunch of the local acts that we liked if they were into it. Most of them were, then we tracked down some headliners. Coalesce is a staple in the metal/hardcore scene in Midwest, so they were the first headliner we asked. After that we blew through some potential headliners for the first day but routing wise just didn't work out. The Testament/Unearth package just fell into our laps and it just sort of worked out that way!

As a promoter, you book single shows all the time. Putting a whole festival together is more complicated. You've done it before, though, right?

Yeah back home in Sioux Falls, I did at least one type of fest a year. There is so much more involved when doing this many bands -- gear, space, set length, time slots, controlling guest lists for 40 bands, food for all the bands, keeping everyone happy, not shooting yourself in the face the day of the show when everything goes wrong (i.e.: bands showing up late, gear breaking, bands playing longer than they are supposed to, etc), and most importantly paying your bills! We need about 1,300 people combined for the 2 days to come for us to break even and as of right now we are not looking so good. We really want this to be a yearly event that we can build on every year but if we take a big loss this year I don't know if we will do it next year.

More straight talk from Terry and an hour-by-hour tentative festival schedule after the jump.

We reviewed the experience, now its time to see what has washed up on the Web since hard rock hooligans took over Liberty Memorial Park this past Saturday.

But first, check out this amazing and oddly MO-centric (apparent) prison tat.

credit: Berry Anderson

You may have caged this bird for a time, Missouri, be he lived to rock -- shirtless -- again!

Viral video-wise, I haven't found anything to compare with last year's video of a hooligan taking on the cops, but here's a quickie stitched together by ListenUpShow that gives a feel for Saturday's heat-and-crowd-fest.

No lie -- it's been fun writing about Josephine Collective. Over the past few years, the screechy emo pop band from Johnson County developed a sizable -- mostly teenage -- fanbase, got signed to a major label, experienced a little backlash, partied hard and (some members) exhibited occasional signs of egomania. But it's all over now.

Well, the Collective part is, anyway.

Last Friday was pretty much the perfect Classic Kansas City night for your pal the Wayward Son. I started off hanging with the hippies, getting kicked out of El Torreon and going over to the Tower Tavern for drinks. Brewer and Shipley were there. The Royals were winning. After a couple of hours and several cocktails, I see my neighbor, Rogers, truckin' down the sidewalk. I rush out and grab him, and Rogers tells me he's headed to a new jazz club on Troost. A jazz club on Troost!? Phase two of the night had just been launched.

I didn't have a camera last Friday, but this pic of Chet Baker evokes the general mood.

Approaching midnight, I found myself installed within a cozy, narrow storefront joint at 3226 Troost. Name: Gi Gi's Jazz Inn and Art Gallery. It was BYOB that night, so Rogers and I had stopped by the gas station on Linwood and Gillham for beers. The crowd was sparse, older and finely appointed. African-American couples in their 40s and 50s dressed to the nines occupied a few of the tables in front of the small, mid-room stage, on which the Horace Washington Quartet (you won't find 'em online) dished out a blend of jazz standards, funk and a little fusion.

Gi Gi's is a family place. It's named for Sharon "Gi Gi" Hill and is run by her daughter, Neecy Michel (who is one of the sweetest people I've ever met, and I really really hope I didn't misspell her name, but, alas, I probably did). Adding the art into the equation, the walls are bedecked with the paintings of paterfamilias Gene Garland, Sharon's husband and Neecy's father, and, man, I had never seen art like this. I spent more time looking at the paintings -- Gene's son, Mike, was kind enough to give my drunk eyeballs an art tour -- than anything else.

Last weekend,Pitch systems specialist and righteous metal fan Matt Spencer made a special trip up to Ohio for a metal festival in Columbus, Ohio. Turns out, he wasn't the only one reppin' KC at the fest. His report:

The Leo Project won the opening slot for the annual Rock on the Range festival in Columbus Ohio. The festival is held by Columbus radio station 99.7 The Rock featuring 38 bands over two days, and would be comparable to our Rockfest with about half the crowd. Leo Project played the Jagermeister music stage opening for Hurt and Static X. Many folks were seen wearing Leo Project stickers for the rest of the festival, and the crowd seemed pleased overall.

Makes for an excellent road trip, and there were big hotel packages available with ticket purchase as well.

When the Thrill Kill Kult canceled its gig Wednesday night at the Record Bar the story was that the band had broken up. According to RB co-owner Steve Tulipana, Marston "Mars" Daley (aka Buzz McCoy) from the band called him Wednesday morning to deliver the news. The entry I posted about the cancellation and alleged breakup took on a little life of its own in the comments section over the ensuing days, with fans disputing the news and Tulipana weighing in with what Mars told him on Wednesday.

Welcome back, Kult.

Turns out, if they were broken up a few days ago (and I wholeheartedly trust Steve at his word), they apparently aren't now.

Yesterday, I e-mailed a spokesperson for the band, and she wrote back today with the following.

"we had to cancel some shows for a variety of reason, including groovie mann has strep throat and our transportation has been a disaster to deal with. hopefully the west coast shows will go on. there has been no official statement from the band."

Good news for TKK fans, then.

Something else I learned: there's a big, very NSFW difference between mylifewiththethrillkillkult.com and just thrillkillkult.com.

Long live My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, and long live "Busty Nastya from Russia."

Our dear friend A to Z just posted an awesome Q&A with Casey Spooner of synth-slicers Fischerspooner, who are playing tonight in the Lou at the Pageant. In Z's interview, the flamboyant frontman tells about how he met and fell in love with our homeboys the Ssion. His story pretty much matches up with Ssion leader Cody Critcheloe's hookup account from last month, but adds a little extra history.

Relevant excerpt below; read the whole interview here.

Peas in a pod: Critcheloe and Spooner

A to Z: I like that the Ssion is opening for you guys on the whole tour. They're a really great fit. How did you discover them?
Spooner: I love those guys. I met Lovefoxxx from CSS in Brazil, and we were hanging out and we went online and she was showing me some of her favorite stuff, showing me her favorite YouTube videos and everything. She was the one who turned me on to Ssion. I know [designer] Jeremy Scott, and Jeremy Scott had been in contact with Cody [Critcheloe], the singer. And Cody and I started a correspondence. We started emailing, and I told him what a big fan I was and how much I loved his record. and he wrote me back and he sent me a fan email that he had sent me in like the year 2000 -- and my response that he had on file.

That's really touching.
Yeah, it's cool. I like that, because it feels like there's this legacy of performance and image. It just seems like there's a similar sensibility that they're carrying on. It just feels like my brother.

Awww.

The Ssion continues touring with Fischerspooner through the end of May. Unfortunately, there's no KC date.

With Spring has come renewal on the Kansas City music scene. I started out this past Friday with a hearty, bolstering meal at Stroud's, followed by a quick drink at Jazz on 39th (where the full moon had its best company of the evening, I swear), and then on to Davey's Uptown Ramblers Club for the first installment of the Midwest Music Foundation's Stay Tuned series.

I missed the earlier acts, Mr. Marco's V7 and the Afterparty, arriving as new-band-of-old-scenesters Hipshot Killer was bashing out no-bullshit American rock in the spirit of the early Replacements and Bad Religion. The band is fronted by ex-Architects guitarist Mike Alexander, who stands feet spread wide and uses just about every nerve in his body when he plays and sings. He's backed up by Chris Wagner on bass and Brad Wicklander on drums. My camera was freaking out, so I only got pictures of American Catastrophe (below), but guess what? I took pictures of Hipshot the first time I saw 'em, which just happened to be at Davey's a couple weeks ago, so here's pretty much exactly what they looked like last Friday.

Hipshot Killah

Lots of people enjoyed the band's sound, which is especially tasty to ears, like mine, that have recently been tuned to the Gaslight Anthem.

Up next: Thee Water Moccasins. I don't have a picture of them, either, but guess what? I took a picture of them playing last Friday at Midwestern Musical Co. and never posted it. So, while this isn't exactly what they looked like playing last Friday, it's as close as we're gonna get.

This past weekend, Crown Center played host to over 20 different Latin bands, many of which were local. Here are five Kansas City bands of the Hispanic persuasion that got cuerpos moving and pies tapping.

La Mañana Band

The lead singer of this five-man Tejano band from "Chorizo Springs, Argentine," Steve Reyes gave lots of shout outs to the damas and gave the crowd easily danceable grooves once the sound board was set. La Mañana Band also performs as All Funked Up, a country-classic rock-jazz-R & B outfit. Heavy on the fiesta privada scene, the Mañana Band switches easily between Spanish lyrics and English on-stage banter.

Damas y caballeros, Billy Smith's... er, Steve Reyes' La Mañana Band!

Miguel "Mambo" de Leon y Orchestra

Miguel "Mambo" De Leon loves to remind the crowd to "baile, baile." This eight-man band attracted a sizeable audience with its salsa and cumbia sounds. With the front of the stage cleared for dancers, the orchestra's cover of the Police's "Every Breath You Take," was smooth and a crowd favorite. Miguel de Leon has been performing for over 27 years now, so his onstage presence is
completely professional, as is his long-winded onstage banter.

Mambo con Miguel de Leon.

Yesterday at 10 p.m. KSHB-TV ran a report saying that after 40 years, the Marching Cobras might come to an end. As with most local TV news stories, it's not as bad as the hook makes it sound.

According to the report, which is summed up in this writeup on KSHB's site, the Cobras need a new building -- and they have a few options already lined up. Whew. I mean, right? I know finding a building where the fabulous all-drumming, all-dancing, Pitch Music Awards-storming marching corps can have "shelter, a place to store drums, uniforms and trophies" (as the article reports) is not gonna be easy. But for a minute there, I was worried maybe, like, the econalypse or state school budget cutbacks had something to do with it.

According to the article, in less than three months, the Minor Community Center, where the group practices, is becoming a family center with evening programs, edging the Cobras out. If it comes back to money, Action News doesn't mention it. I'm sure money would help. If the Marching Cobras had enough, they could freaking build their own building.

But surely someone will step up. The Marching Cobras are a Kansas City institution. Losing them would be like seeing Gates Barbecue go under. Go to KCMarchingCobras.com to find out how you can open your spare wigwam to the Cobs.

This morning, Plogmeister Justin Kendall posted about the homicide of 21-year-old Pierre E. Parker, who, it turns out, had a rap career as Keyz Parker.

Keyz was a member of the Brick Money Click, a collective that included the rappers MO Kash, Rosco Gambino and Filthy Fattz, whom I profiled way back in '05. Brick Money's Web site offers a wealth of free downloads, including mixtapes from Keyz and co. and this compilation. The label identifies itself thusly" "FROM THE STREETZ OF KANSAS CITY, MO, BMC (BRICK MONEY CLICK) ENTERTAINMENT IS YOUR DIRECT CONNECT ON THE NET TO THE KC STREETZ. BMC ENT IS A COLLECTIVE OF TRUE TO LIFE YOUNG GRITTERZ GETTIN IT DAILY."

You can tell by the album covers that in the local rap hierarchy, Brick Money was indeed a crew of "young gritterz." Each mixtape is "presented" by a more authoritative figure or group. Keyz' latest, Keyz Come Up 2, for example, was presented by Tha StreetMonstaz. Its prequel, Come Up vol. 1, had Fatboy Chubb's endorsement and featured verses from bigger names like Rappin' Twan and Skiem Hiem, in addition to Chubb. This is how a lot of professional local rappers, from Rich the Factor to Sliccs Gotcha on down, make rent: up-and-coming rappers pay them to rap on their albums, thereby boosting the youngsters' market value. He wasn't yet up to the level of being presented by Rich, but one day, Keyz very well could have been.

It's a terrible shame that Parker won't get to participate in the music game any longer. Our thoughts go out to his loved ones, and we firmly believe that no matter how hardcore the lyrics are coming out of the local rap community, positivity, encouragement and brotherhood should always be promoted by its players.

A number of things plopped into my inbox, across my RSS reader and into and out of my pants today, so I thought I'd share with a quick little mixed-bag post here at the end of another day in Pitch-land.

Bill Brownlee is jazz hero man of the day. Not only did the local blogger write this killer review of the People's Liberation Big Band's Battleship Potemkin project, he also debuted a jazz events calendar that's an offshoot of his jazz blog Plastic Sax.

We don't have a review of Cake's sold-out show at the Crossroads this past Saturday, but unlike those other reviews (which is actually the same review), we have the photos! Until today, I never knew what the lead singer looked like.

Scott Spychalski

Cake: near

Oh.

What's with the glove? Does it perhaps display his solidarity for fellow used-to-be-good-in-the-90s act G. Love & Special Sauce?

Chris Mullins

The two halves of Scratch Track.

When you talk about "deals" and "bands" in the same sentence, you're usually discussing record deals. But last September 11, Scratch Track was in L.A. for a different kind of deal -- the NBC game show Deal or No Deal.

DJ Lee, one half of the hip hop act, made it his mission to get on the show after catching an episode last summer in Michigan.

"I was like man, this show is just completely ridiculous," he says. "All they do is just give away money. There's no strategy or anything. I was thinking this could be a really good show for me to be on."

As luck would have it, Lee had a friend who had a friend with connections to the show. That guy determined that Lee fit the bill for a good game show contestant -- someone with a good heart, a good story, a great personality and a real need for the money.

Billy Johnson does not have swine flu. So, everyone, please stop asking the drummer for Shots Fired and Paper Cities about it. Johnson and his girlfriend, Alia Castaneda, flew to Play del Carmen, Mexico, on April 26, just before the paranoia about a swine flu pandemic took over the media.

"I was spraying out both ends one day, because I think I had a glass of water," Johnson laughed.

But in the course of their five-night stay south of the border, the couple did not encounter anyone with swine flu. "When we arrived, I didn't even know anything was going on," Johnson said. "By the time we left, some people had started wearing the masks."

Photo courtesy myspace.com/shotsfired.

Here's Billy Johnson at the Isle of Capri casino in Kansas City, which isn't quite as tropical as the Mexcian resort he just got back from.

Earlier, I posted a review and slide show of Franz Ferdinand's visit to KC yesterday, but due to an overcrowded inbox, a few photos from the day's earlier event escaped my attention. But that's kind of good, in a way, because now it seems like a bonus. Without further ado, Alex Kapranos singing his heart out at Kegs and Eggs, in mandals.

Scott Spychalski

Crystal K. Wiebe

Shots Fired rawked real good last night under the pretty lights at Riot Room.

Last night at Riot Room, I caught the newly re-formed KC rock outfit Shots Fired play for the second time, and I've concluded that the reunion is a real gift to the scene. Or at least to all the fans whose hearts cracked when the band dissolved a couple of years ago. Shots Fired played last night after a melodic set by Lucky Graves and some dirty Southern rock from Thunder Eagle. The vibe last night was similar to the band's reunion show last month at Record Bar -- the band slammed through its loud, emo-rock songs, the crowd sang along to every word and everyone had fun. One or two songs in, frontman Zachary Aaron announced that the band was sick of the old shit and the rest of the set would be all new songs. Unless I missed something, however, that seems to have been a joke. The most gripping tracks from Shots Fired's 2004 self-titled album, including "Celebration" and "Ragdoll" -- followed. As I've said before, those chugging guitars, furious drums and bitter imagery still hold up and sound fresh. But I really can't wait to hear some new Shots.