Review: Eddie Money and The Clocks at Old Shawnee Days

I wanna go back cause I'm feeling so much older.- Eddie Money, "I Wanna Go Back"

Three large-scale fashionable pop music events transpired in Kansas City last night.  The Shins and Foster the People were among the acts at Buzz Beach Ball.  Wiz Khalifa and Yelawolf were scheduled to appear at Dancefestopia.  Jennifer Holliday was among the headliners at a gay pride festival.  

In a mildly pathetic but cost-conscious decision, I opted to go back thirty years to catch Eddie Money and The Clocks at Old Shawnee Days on Saturday.

I was giddy at the rare opportunity to hear The Clocks, a Wichita-based "new wave" band that had a minor hit in 1981 with "She Looks a Lot Like You".  I don't recall seeing the band back in the day.  I regret to report that I was disappointed.  Instead of a set of power-pop gems, the band favored sentimental songs that I associate with the likes of Quarterflash and the Motels.  I hadn't realized that the power-pop of "She Looks a Lot Like You" was atypical of the band's style.

Eddie Money, conversely, was a pleasant surprise. Wearing a personalized Royals jersey and backed by a solid band with a bar band feel, Money made old hits like "Baby Hold On" and "Gimme Some Water" sound shockingly vital.  Money is still a goofball with a shaky voice, but his genial personality immediately won me and the audience of about 2,500 over.

I wondered why the Brooklynite repeatedly complimented the "shawties" in the audience.  I eventually realized he was actually addressing the people of Shawnee.  I shared his affection.  The six dollars I spent on delicious custards represented my only expenditure on the gorgeous evening.

Thanks, shawty!


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The suburban festival also featured country artist Rickie Lee Tanner.  I enjoyed his covers of mainstream country hits, although I gasped at his introduction to "Wave On Wave."  "Any Pat Green fans in the house tonight?" Tanner queried.  Green was performing a few miles away at Crossroads KC.

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An enthusiastic report by Patrick Neas altered me to the debut album by the Kansas City area's Behzod Abduraimov.

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Kansas City Click: Buck 65 plays the Riot Room on Sunday.

The RecordBar hosts Grass Widow on Monday.

Seether opens for Nickelback at the Sprint Center on Tuesday.

A set by She's a Keeper precedes the Royals game on Wednesday.

(Original image of the moon over Old Shawnee Days by There Stands the Glass.)

Doc Watson, 1923-2012

I marvel at the fact that the time I've been allotted on this planet has allowed me to experience performances by artists that seemingly belong to a different era.  I've witnessed the likes of Roy Acuff, Count Basie, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Jay McShann, Little Richard, Bill Monroe, Jimmy Scott, Myra Taylor and Doc Watson.  I last caught Watson at Johnson County Community College.  It was always a treat to see the man who introduced me to material like "Darling Corey," "Intoxicated Rat," "Shady Grove" and "Tennessee Stud."  I can't imagine a kinder or more expert instructor.


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I reviewed a concert by Danzig, Kyng, MonstrO and Hammerlord.

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Hours of research aimlessly goofing around on Spotify led me to the Steve Lehman Trio's Dialect Fluorescent and Floratone II.  So good.  So neglected. 

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The members of Spirit is the Spirit want you to buy them a van.

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Here's the cool story behind a public domain version of the Goldberg Variations.

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While I can't prevent you from calling Horseback a novelty act, nothing you say is going to make me stop loving its new release.

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The Malawi Mouse Boys have a charming new album.  Here's a documentary about the project.  (Look carefully to discern the origin of the collective's name.)

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Mr. Doolittle is a faithful reader of There Stands the Glass.

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Kansas City Click: I'm seriously considering catching The Clocks' opening set for Eddie Money at Old Shawnee Days on Saturday.

Buck 65 plays the Riot Room on Sunday.

The RecordBar hosts Grass Widow on Monday.

Seether opens for Nickelback at the Sprint Center on Tuesday.

A set by She's a Keeper precedes Wednesday's Royals game.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Esbjorn Svensson Trio- 301

I freely admit that I occasionally participate in the "whither jazz" discussions that careen around the internet like shots fired in an empty bank vault. The "absurd lack of an audience" is a frequently-employed tag at my jazz blog Plastic Sax. Instead of weighing in at this heated thread at NPR's A Blog Supreme, I'll use this album review as a meditation on jazz's declining popularity.

I reviewed a concert headlined by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band last week. While poorly attended by the venue's standards, it was still thrilling to witness over 200 people dancing to a raucous jazz act. I fully endorse the #BAM model displayed by acts including the Dirty Dozen, Nicholas Payton, Esperanza "The Future" Spalding, A Tribe Called Quest and Robert Glasper. The other end of the progressive jazz spectrum is no less viable. Witnessing concerts by Enrico Rava and Tord Gustovsen in recent months has only deepened by enthusiasm for the potential of refined European jazz.

The Esbjorn Svensson Trio was perhaps the most popular act of its type to emerge in the past decade. It was poised to single-handedly popularize jazz among a new generation of listeners when tragedy struck.

It's impossible for me to listen to 301 without asking "what if?". What if Svensson hadn't died in 2008? Would E.S.T.'s career momentum have continued? Could E.S.T. have been the act to successfully connect to the indie rock set in America? I think so. The 301 recordings are from a 2007 session reportedly planned for release prior to Svensson's death. Pamela Espeland of Bebopified puts it well: "301" is not a collection of scraps or outtakes. This is the e.s.t. we know and love, the trio that makes us think and feel, groove and raise our fists in the air."

Each of the seven tracks on 301 is excellent. The brilliant "Inner City, City Lights" is a post-Keith Jarrett, post-Pat Metheny mood piece. Is it "jazz"? Who cares? "The Left Lane" is a 13-minute jam that actually goes places. "Houston, The 5th" is an experiment in feedback. "Three Falling Free, Part I" includes a drum feature for Magnus Öström. The raw "Three Falling Free, Part II" is more Mars Volta than Bill Evans. "The Childhood Dream," the soulful blues that closes 301, belies the commonly held assertion that European jazz is bloodless.

Then again, I could be delirious. As of this writing, 301- easily one of the most exciting and artistically important albums regardless of genre to be released in 2012- is ranked as the #20,869 best-selling music title at Amazon. "What if?,"  indeed.


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The members of Saint Etienne apparently uncovered the teenage diary of one of my former girlfriends. I'm smitten by "Over the Border.

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Stik Figa continues to rep Top City. (Via Tony's Kansas City.)

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Is Ozarks' "Pyramids of Love" genius or idiocy? (I can't tell.)

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A new documentary about Cheli Wright looks promising.

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I refuse to upgrade my Sugar collection.

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Kansas City Click: You'll find me at the Celebration at the Station on Sunday.

The Louis Neal Big Band returns to the Blue Room on Monday.

Class Actress is at the Riot Room on Tuesday.

Elizabeth Cook plays Knuckleheads on Wednesday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Psychfest

I went to a psychedelic music festival and a punk rock show broke out.  Carnal Torpor, a band with which I had no familiarity, blew my mind in a most unpsychedelic fashion. 

A bunch of shirtless guys, the band made a sonic racket that fell somewhere in the small space in which Minor Threat, Dan Deacon and Tool overlap.  A dude resembling Dave Navarro hammered away at several instruments including one that looked like jerry-rigged loom.

The singer reeked to high heaven, a fact not lost on anyone in the basement of the FOKL Center.  A riveting presence, he shrieked in frustration, slathered himself in a dark, glue-like substance, decorated himself with foil, flayed at (and usually missed) a cymbal, banged on the rafters and slam danced and fought with a couple of confederates.

I don't know if Carnal Torpor is capable of transferring the same chaotic energy to a setting more conventional than a basement in Kansas City, Kansas, but the fifty people who witnessed its 30-minute set know that the theatrical performance was extraordinary.

Nothing else I heard was nearly as memorable, though I was impressed by DJ Memo, a man who clearly understands that the Geto Boys and Duke Ellington are part of the same continuum.  I also liked the set by one-man-band CS Luxem.  It was enhanced by projected footage of an American Royal Parade from the '90s.  The backdrop for the upstairs stage was similarly effective.  A collection of boxes had been painted white.  A light show specifically constructed for the structure was very impressive.

About 125 people- over half of whom were participating musicians and their friends- were present during the two hours I spent at Psychfest.  The laughably pretentious attitudes and inane amateurism displayed by a couple dozen nitwits were offset by the graciousness of a handful of genuinely groovy, far-out people.


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Me too! I'm also excited about Killer Mike's new album.

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The Liquor Buddies is Steve Wilson's new band.

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Kansas City Click: The KC Sound Collective appears at the RecordBar on Sunday.

Creed plays the Midland on Monday and Tuesday.

Tracii Guns appears at Aftershock on Wednesday.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band top Thursday's bill at Crossroads KC.

(Original image of CS Luxem by There Stands the Glass.)

Bustin' Loose: Donna, Doug and Chuck

The inevitable but dreadful news of the passings of notable musicians is relentless.  Here are brief notes on three recent losses.

• I've long sensed that the blueprints for the future are right in front of all of us.  Yet aside from the countless people who have applied the gifts of the dual geniuses of James Brown and George Clinton to the creation and ongoing evolution of hip hop, very few have advanced the sound of funk and R&B in recent decades.  Chuck Brown was an exception.  He constructed a brand new bag.  
• I realize that much of the world received regular exposure to the Dillards on television, but I've always considered the Dillards to be a regional phenomenon.  Missouri native Doug Dillard meant a lot to people in this region.  And this region meant a lot to him- here's "Kansas City Southern", from a collaboration with Gene Clark, another local boy.
• Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby" was released when I was an impressionable kid.  Nothing more needs to be said about that.

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I reviewed an appearance by Taj Mahal and Anders Osborne.

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I was asked to pull a recent There Stands the Glass post.  I complied.

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Mac Lethal crafted another meme.

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Jazz blog Outside-Inside-Out hipped me to Edmar Castaneda's Double Portion.  I can't decide if I love it or hate it.  Here's the EPK for the album.

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Sam Billen's Kickstarter campaign is one of the best-conceived I've encountered.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Donald "Duck" Dunn, 1941-2012

Most readers of There Stands the Glass pick up on the fact that I often go on musical binges that last between two days and two weeks.  It's not uncommon for me to become fully immersed in a specific artist or style.  I can lose myself in old Dave Holland albums, the Skip James catalog, American Beauty, seminal thrash or Erik Satie.  I love these things so intensely that I inevitably burn myself out on each temporary obsession.  One of the few things I'll never tire of is the music made in Memphis from 1954-74.  Duck Dunn, of course, played a pivotal role in the creation of the timeless sound. (Get a load of this.)  Dunn died two days ago.


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Here's my review of Rockfest.  My favorite of the fifteen performances? That's easy- Trivium.

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Here's another song from the new Neil Young and Crazy Horse project.  I love it.

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This is my introduction to Nathan Salsburg.

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I like the homemade vibe of the Floozies' new video.

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Krizz Kaliko's "Spaz" goes to "the next level."

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The Clocks have reunited!

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A Kickstarter campaign campaign for Renaissance was successful.

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Oh no!  This spells another lost weekend for me.  It's safe to say that Pulp won't make my list.

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Kansas City Click: Rocky Votolato is at the RecordBar on Tuesday.  I've admired his "hit" since its release.

Oriole Post plays at Kauffman Stadium before Wednesday's Royals game.

Chris Hazelton performs at the Blue Room on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Chicago Underground Duo- Age of Energy

A five-track Rorschach test, Age of Energy, the astounding  new album by the Chicago Underground Duo, elicits visions.

1. "Winds Sweeping Pines"- Ignore the selection's title.  I see a riot by discontented assembly line workers at a Chinese industrial plant.  This is everything I'd hoped for but didn't get from internet sensation BadBadNotGood.

2. "It's Alright"-  Once again, the title is grossly misleading.  It's most definitely not alright.  This is the sound of Miles Davis attempting to claw his way out of his grave.

3. "Castle In Your Heart"- The label amusingly refers to the track as a single.  (It's available as a free download here.)  Like a Gauguin painting of Polynesia come to life, the song's fleetingly sensual quality is akin to a moment of oblivious tranquility hours before a tsunami strikes.

4. "Age of Energy"- The drumming on the title track resembles the dull thump of wet Nikes tumbling in a distressed dryer.  The astringent screech of the trumpet might have been achieved through enhanced interrogation. 

5. "Moon Debris"-  The lost Kraftwerk jazz album from 1973. I've got yer jazz robots right here.

Fans of Tortoise, Matthew Shipp and Stereolab are encouraged to seek their own visions with Age of Energy.

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I reviewed a wild concert headlined by Mushroomhead.

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Farewell, Adam Yauch.

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Michael Burks has died.

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The new John Peel site is a thing of wonder.  I recommend watching the feature on Mike Absalom. 

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Have you seen and heard Neil Young and Crazy Horse's Oh Susannah"?  It's insane.  (And that's just the way I like it.)

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Dennis Brown interprets Jimmy Webb.  I love this world.

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Here's Doomtree at NPR.

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Subscribing to archival music channels sometimes leads to tantalizing surprises.  Yowza!

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Kansas City Click: Aretha Franklin graces Helzberg Hall on Tuesday.

Kittie top Wednesday's bill at the Beaumont.

I get to see Bad Company play a corporate event on Thursday.  I hope to meet Mick Ralphs.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)