I Care About Detroit

In light of all the talk about bailing out the big automakers, this song by Smokey Robinson sounds particularly humorous. To hear the track, click here, and to read a bit about the background and hear a bunch of other odd finds from all genres, check out the amazing (and unfortunately no longer updated) Office Naps site.

325 doodles and counting...

Nearly a year after she announced the plan to create and post a drawing each day, friend and local artist/designer Elizabeth (aka T-Bit) is closing in on her goal. The drawing above is one of my recent favorites, and the lil' dracula below was plucked from the September archives to represent the countdown to completing 365 consecutive sketches, paintings and illustrations. Make sure to stop by her site, check out the art and cheer her on.

Credit-default swaps!

This is a picture of Jeremiah Tucker and I in front of the nightclub we were set to open on July 5. (Not sure what year it was, maybe 1978? 1983? Those times are still such a blur!) As you can see, we were optimistic, but unfortunately the whole thing suffered a few setbacks. For one, we didn't own (or rent) the property and the consequential lack of access prevented us from tending to certain details like decorations. I'm pretty sure we would have gotten people in the door if only we had been able to pry it open. Believe me, though, we had plenty of booze, a healthy portion of which had already been carefully siphoned into a giant watermelon. Despite that failed venture, I hope to work with Jeremiah again in the future. He's a heck of a guy, with a 14-carat mind, even though I suspect he has secretly made fun of the "Black Cat" t-shirt I wore to this year's 4th of July picnic. He's also a great writer, and his latest piece at McSweeney's is a scintillating read.

See you on the shooting range, Tucker(s)!

Back in the time it takes to break a heart

(if you'd just like to get to the song, skip to the last paragraph)

Songs about Kansas City are often a letdown. Even the most swinging of them irritate me most of the time, either because they hearken back to a jazz-age heyday that no longer exists, or because they just aren't very good. I remember how my excitement about finding a Van Morrison record with a song about Kansas City faded when I discovered all it included was a bunch of female backup singers repeating "Excuse me do you know the way to Kansas City?" which quite honestly sounds a bit absurd when listened to locally.

One Sunday I was driving around town when the James Brown version of "Kansas City" came on the radio. I was at a traffic stop just blocks away from 12th and Vine when JB sang the part about standing at that intersection. Except instead of some hep cat snapping his fingers in rhythm on the corner, there were a couple of down-and-outs sitting in a bunch of newspaper. One of them was asleep while the other looked after him and took slugs from a brown paper bag. Though I saw definite evidence of "wine and crazy little women" in the neighborhood, it didn't exactly look like the kind of drinking and craziness you'd want to celebrate in song.

I don't want to be too hard on that particular blues standard, as it has been covered by great musicians ranging from Wanda Jackson to Muddy Waters. And I've always enjoyed the Beatles take, especially when it would come on at a bar on the Reeperbahn around 4 in the morning. On the opposite spectrum is a tune like "18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare)" in which Cat Stevens wrestles with some vague neurosis that doesn't subside until he gets on a plane. Whether or not his problems described in that song were caused by his visit to Kansas City or just happened to occur during his stay, it's not something you'd use to promote the town on a travel brochure.

Last week, however, I discovered the Kansas City-referencing tune I've been waiting for my whole life: "The Train from Kansas City" by the Shangri-Las. Technically it isn't really about Kansas City, just a train originating from this location, but the heartbreak and tension the song builds up to are certainly not foreign to anyone who has spent a few years within this proud yet troubled municipality.

Right from the song's start, you know trouble is on the way, thanks to the rumbling piano and ominous female plea, "Baby, baby, please believe me, I would never, never do anything to hurt you..."

If you aren't a big fan of mid-1960s girl groups, this might not be the song for you. I, however, have been pretty caught up in it for the last few days, and for several reasons. 1) I like songs about trains, especially when they use sound effects. 2) I'm a big fan of catchy girl groups of all races, languages and tempos. And, 3) After having made countless futile train trips to visit old flames in faraway locations like Chicago and Jefferson City, it's nice to finally hear things from the lady's perspective. If I would have known how much she thought about and -- dare I say -- agonized over her rejection of my overtures, the last 10 years would have been a lot easier.

But alas, that's a topic for a whole different blog post. For now, enjoy the Shangri-Las' "Train from Kansas City," and feel free to check out any of the other recent posts on that mix-tape that won't die, the Lukebox. Oh, and if you've got any other notable mentions for songs that mention KC, feel free to comment.

Have a good weekend.

Jean Shin

Speaking of art, there are some really neat installations and sculptures viewable at New York artist Jean Shin's homepage. The above piece from 2007, entitled Sound Wave, "aims to physically manifest the ephemerality of music as well as one man’s musical tastes, as represented by his personal record collection."

The one below is made from broken umbrellas.

jacksonpollock.org

I remember seeing the Jackson Pollock painting at the Nelson when I was a kid and being really unimpressed with it and the Mark Rothko.

Nowadays, I'm an expert on modern art who has written dozens of important critical essays on these two artists and many others (unfortunately all of these essays are yet to be published, but just you wait!).

In the meantime, this is a really fun site that gives you a chance to create your own masterpiece. Click the mouse to change colors and space bar to erase.

Happy painting.

Tuesdays

Come to the show tomorrow. The Czar bar is a nice place. I'm going to play some songs as well.

Autumn

This postcard kind of sums up the season for me. For many people, hunting is a throwback to the kind of primal stalking and killing that was once necessary for survival. You put on an orange vest, load your rifle, bring your dog or kid or whatever and disappear into the woods and don't come out again until you've killed something. My own grandfather had to go hunt deer and small game to put food on the table when he was no older than 12. I, however, have never had that experience. For me, hunting is very much like the postcard depicted above. I slink off into the woods wearing a green velvet cap, smoking a corncob pipe with my gun tucked under my arm, my simian son following behind me with a bottle of wine and a pair of rabbits stalking us the entire way. It's a directionless and often unfruitful style of hunting, but I much prefer it to any actual bloodshed.

Alton Ellis

Alton Ellis, known as the "Godfather of rocksteady" and also one of my favorite reggae artists, died last month.

He left behind hundreds of wonderful songs and something like 20 children.

I just found out about this last week, so I wasn't able to attend the funeral/celebration at Scots Kirk on Duke Street. In case you missed it, too, the Jamaican Observer has the details, and I've got this classic tune by Mr. Ellis which you can listen to and enjoy.

Rocksteady.

LW

Pooch Cafe blog pays tribute to "Hog & Dog" friendship

This morning while visiting poochcafe.com, the site of one of North America's finest comic strips, I saw that Paul had posted an exclusive, never-before-seen shot we captured east of Lawrence along with some color commentary by Dave that describes the encounter beautifully.

I promise to post a larger version of the picture shortly so you can zoom in and see in better detail how amazing these animals actually are. But for now, check it out here.

And if you're not yet acquainted with the lovable id-driven Poncho of Pooch Cafe fame, then here's a taste of what you're missing...

New Administration Mix

http://www.sendspace.com/file/8kqqoe

Above is the link to directly download the FunkyUSAdministration mix I compiled last week. I know I promised to post it last Thursday, but boiling it down to these 15 tunes required some test-listens and deliberation, so thanks for your patience. A quick note: the track numbers that show up when you import it to iTunes might be off, but the names in the folder are correct. Also, you can use the track list below as a guide or just stream the songs individually there.

There are plenty of obvious choices for this tribute to the Obama campaign and upcoming administration, such as the Bob Dylan and Sam Cooke songs, but I left off a few other likely inclusions. A few of you suggested Parliament's "Chocolate City," with its immortal lines "You don't need the bullet when you got the ballot" and "They call it the White House, but that's a temporary condition" (not to mention the endorsement of Stevie Wonder as Secretary of Fine Arts). It's a great tune, but perhaps a tiny bit too cutesy for my purposes. Instead I went with the Parliaments (early incarnation of Parliament) classic "Testify," with its soulful cries of "Change! There's been a change, and it's oh so plain to see." Also, I had "Funky President" by James Brown on the original tracklist, but after about five listens I got a bit tired of it and decided to save it for next time.

I also didn't include Nas' "Black President," The Black Eyed Peas guy's songs for the occasion or any of the tributes made by artists in the last several weeks. Nothing wrong with any of these, but there were quite a few established classics to choose from instead. They are, as follows:

1) "Walk Tall" -- The Cannonball Adderly Quintet, with an introduction by the Rev. Jesse Jackson

2) "Yes We Can" -- Lee Dorsey

3) "We're A Winner" -- Curtis Mayfield

4) "Life Monologue" -- Lou Rawls

5) "This Land Is Your Land" -- Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

6) "The Times They Are A Changin" -- Bob Dylan

7) "Black President" -- JC Burris

The money line in this prophetic blues number by Sonny Terry's nephew: "We gonna love one another, like one big giant football team."

8) "Our Generation" -- Ernie Hines

9) "Sweet Home Chicago" -- Magic Sam

10) "Testify" -- The Parliaments

11) "What Will Tomorrow Bring" -- Wendy Rene

12) "A New Day" -- The Notations

13) "In My Own Time" -- The Bee Gees

14) "Bring the Boys Home" -- Freda Payne

15) "A Change Is Gonna Come" -- Sam Cooke

Hope you enjoyed these selections. Next time: honorable mentions and your own fine suggestions.

Voices from the day after the election

Now that I've shared both my pre-election reservations and my post-victory speech excitement, I thought I'd go ahead and close out this extraordinary 24 hours with a day-after-the-election post.

Jeremiah wrote today about the inevitable need to come down a little bit from last night. "Walking through my neighborhood last night as people were letting off fireworks and jubilantly yelling in the street, I may have felt a little too good about America’s future," he said, acknowledging that skepticism from certain quarters and a feeling of disillusionment are likely unavoidable in the coming months. After seeing all the typos in my last post this morning, I also admit that I might have been getting a bit too excited. But when you've got a girl dressed in a donkey mask kissing you on the cheek at the bar and your downstairs neighbor runs out to the lawn and plays "The Star-Spangled Banner" on her trumpet each time a swing state is called for the man you've been cheering on for months, it's hard not to get at least a little carried away.

So I'm certainly still enjoying what my friend Jeff proclaimed "the greatest Wednesday ever." Maybe it's the 70 degree weather in November, he said, or the over-the-top leafiness of the neighborhood. "Oh, or maybe it's that my faith and pride in America has been instantly restored, sort of like when Super Mario eats the mushroom that makes him all big and strong."

It's a great analogy, and the beauty of it is that this same renewed faith and pride is being felt across the world.

Another friend wrote from Berlin to tell me about watching his German colleagues become visibly moved as the results came in there in the early morning. "There really is substance behind the argument that people view the US as a land where anything is possible," Wade said, while noting that the incredibly high expectations are already fostering a bit of skepticism in the European press. Still, it's such a far cry from what it was like for me in Berlin just before the 2004 election -- when the only things anyone wanted to discuss with an "Ami" were 9/11 conspiracy theories, the supreme genius of Super-Size Me (of COURSE you'll get fat if you eat that shit every day, nitwits!) and what morons we were for letting Bush into the White House the first time, not to mention for a second term. In 2004, change didn't even seem to be on the menu, as I was coldly reminded that year with the graffitied phrase, "Fuck Bush and Fuck Kerry too!"

Now all that animosity seems to have disappeared, even if the problems and strategies that got us there haven't. It's nice to feel like part of the world again, and I hope the new President can build on that goodwill to work with foreign leaders on issues such as world hunger, climate change and making the American study-abroad student a sexy commodity once again.

Since my own study abroad days are gone, I'm glad all my friends won't be moving to foreign countries like they threatened to if McCain got elected. Still, it would have been interesting to see who really followed up on that and where they wound up going.

A few quick comments, and then I'm done with this subject until the "New Administration Mix" is complete (still taking suggestions, by the way).

Missouri: My own state proved something of a disappointment to me. Though it's not official yet, it looks like McCain took the state by a margin not much wider than the number of votes cast in Missouri for Nader. Thank goodness our electoral votes didn't prove critical, or I would have been newly furious with those Green party-spoilers. Given that he's already 74, I hope I never see the name "Nader" on another presidential ballot. It's not that I doubt the man's accomplishments, but if he's so hell-bent on serving the country in office, why didn't he start by running for something slightly easier to attain than the presidency?

So it looks like Missouri's "Bellweather" status no longer holds, which is disappointing, I guess, but something of a moot point now that this year's election is settled.

Light Rail: Like a lot of people in Kansas City, I really wanted to like this proposal. I love subways, streetcars and public transit in general, and I had hopes that this thing could help transform the blighted Main Street corridor into a more lively and utilized space. But the people voted this down pretty overwhelmingly, and I have to concede they had some pretty powerful reasons why. Just looking at the language of that issue, the phrases "tax increase" and "25 years" leap out as being pretty daunting in this economic climate. Also, I think a lot of people wanted to send a message that light rail is not their main priority right now -- schools, crime and even sewers come first.

Legacy: Someone pointed out to me the stat (I'm not sure if it was national or a specific state) that 96 percent of black people voted for Obama, which certainly is one of the most lopsided demographics in this election -- even more than fundamentalist Christians for McCain-Palin. He asked if voting strictly along racial lines did not in itself constitute some form of racism. Not wishing to get into it with this particular elder, I cautiously agreed that they may have a point. But thinking about it today, I realized what I could have said: While race should never be the chief factor for choosing a candidate, think of what this election means for African-Americans -- that a people whose ancestors were brought over as slaves less than two centuries ago can today reach the highest office in the land. No matter who you are, how you voted or where you're from, that's pretty powerful stuff.

Thanks for reading, and tune back in tomorrow for some Thursday tracks to close out my political coverage.

Sincerely,

11/4/08

I know I posted earlier tonight, but that was from the pre-election calm. Tonight did wind up being something special and exciting. I watched the first wave of results come in at the Record Bar while a newly retooled Ghosty played some great covers and new tunes. After that we rode to McCoy's and watched the Obama speech in the cigar lounge/living room. There seemed to be a different sound delay in each part of the bar, but the staggered cheers and chants made for an interesting and dramatic effect. There was a lot of emotion in the room. Embraces and periodic shouts of excitement, but mostly silent attention to Obama's speech. I saw a gay kid I know walk by with tears in his eyes, most likely because he was specifically included in the acceptance speech. Big smiles went out around the bar as final results and text messages poured in. Fireworks and honking horns and kids yelling and banging on empty cans made the streets especially festive, though I rode past everything so quickly on my newly repaired bicycle that it was all something of a blur. At home Jenn and I played a couple of apt numbers on the stereo, namely "Yes We Can" by Lee Dorsey and "Funky President" by James Brown. Speaking of which, in the next few days I'd like to throw together a mix called "The New Administration," but so far it's only about 1/4 done so if anyone has any contributions please let me know. Again, actually casting my ballot today and seeing all the young people crowd the precinct was a special thrill, though I'd like to repeat what I said earlier: that now it's up to us to take all of the energy put into this campaign and channel it into substantive efforts to actually improve our situation and that of our neighbors. For now, I plan to get some rest, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who will sleep well knowing that the American people have decidedl conclusively to move beyond the irresponsible policies of the last eight years and the same cultural bickering we've seen for decades.

Love from KC,

LDHW

Election Day

All my friends are really excited right now. Their Facebook statuses and G-chat message exclamation marks express an almost euphoric excitement about the probable Obama victory.

If I'd slept more than a few hours in a row the last few nights I might be sharing in part of that. But this election has been so tense and my eyes are about to burn up from all the hours spent poring over online predictions and perspectives and ridiculous campaign minutia. All signs point to an Obama presidency, but at a moment when I should be feeling energized, I feel prematurely worn out by all the problems our country will be slogging through for the next who knows how long.

I did vote today, and that at least was an energizing experience. My last name sent me to the quickest line, and after only a few minutes I was back outside sipping coffee and watching other voters file in -- in pairs, on their own or in wheel chairs.

It was nice to see so many people from my building and my neighborhood, including a few dudes I never would have expected to see at the voting booth. The high percentage of young people in line was really encouraging to me, and I was glad to see so many people actually follow through on their enthusiasm. Not that it's anything heroic to make it out to the polls, but considering that four of the closest voting stations to me all had the wrong voter registration books this morning, causing long lines and several hour waits while they sorted it out, it's good that people were a bit patient with the mix-up. Not that bureaucratic incompetence is anything alien to residents of Kansas City, Missouri.

I'll probably relax and sip some brew tonight while watching the results come in, but part of me just wants to hole up on the disc golf course with a tent, a few frisbees and a bb-gun and avoid the inevitable deluge of excitement, analysis and hand-wringing that's sure to follow no matter what the result. Unfortunately I don't really have time to do that, and besides, that would be a little dramatic, even for me.

After a nap I'll probably get at least a little bit caught up in the excitement of watching tonight's returns. But as quite a few Obama supporters have pointed out, the election is just the beginning, and if any kind of real change is going to have a prayer of taking place it will require a lot of effort and involvement from all of us. If I take a look at my actual contributions to society so far, they're pretty scarce. That's something I plan to change, no matter what happens tonight.

Here's to hoping all the hope helps us help ourselves and our fellow countryfolk. I've got a good feeling about things, even if I'm too tired right now to show it.

cheers.

LDHW

"Crying in their scotch and Ambien"

Found this via Matt. An excellent read on the daring depravity of the times from John Cusack, of all people.

the unbearable lightness of rail

I'm going to go out on a limb and say I support light rail in Kansas City.

There's complaints that the line doesn't serve the entire city. That's true. But let's not forget, the vote on Tuesday is to fund a starter line. After you have a starter line, you build more lines to other places. It takes time, but a confident start would bode well for future growth.

I know we're used to a slumbering downtown and blighted surroundings, but it hasn't always been that way -- if you look at old photos of KC you'll notice how much life there was on the streets. And if you go downtown today you might be surprised how many signs of life are springing up again.

I'm with many of you out there who say there's more pressing needs in this city, such as putting more police on the street, funding education and the unfortunately unsexy issue of sensible sewage treatment. But if this thing is done right, the whole area will benefit from increased traffic flow, revenue and jobs.

So many times in the last few years I've driven past the bleak facades, payday loan signs, shell station crime tape, carjack-friendly drive-thrus, DUI checkpoints and heavily medicated pedestrians of the Main/Broadway Corridor and thought, "Man, this places needs a serious, far-sighted overhaul to help it get its shit together." It won't happen overnight, but as the thing gets built and used, new crosswalks, amenities and hopefully businesses will begin to appear.

Light rail -- like Barack Obama -- will obviously not be a singular savior to a city replete with complex problems. But the argument that there's "too many questions" smacks of the same subtle fear-stirring and defeatism heard throughout this election ("Do we know the real Barack Obama? Whose interests does he really serve? Too many questions!")

Light rail would have its flaws, hiccups and growing pains, without question. Personally I'd rather have trolleys -- that's a cool method of transit if this city ever saw one. Or better yet, the little trains they have at the Kansas City Zoo. But that's not what's on the ballot.

And those of you who think KC is getting all white and uppity trying to be like Portland or someplace should at least be thankful we're not voting on gondolas.

Rather than spell out any more arguments, I'll introduce this exchange between Matt and Nick. Matt rides the bus to work in KCMO. I don't know anything about Nick except that he doesn't like light rail and lives in Kansas, where (correct me if I'm wrong) light rail is not on the ballot. Reading Matt's comment-section refutations of Nick's points is an interesting exercise for those of you out there who are undecided. Or you could go even further and read about both sides in the Star. Much of the local blog noise over this thing can be found via Tony, who characteristically maligns the measure as a racist plan from an evil mayor.

On Tuesday you'll have to decide for yourself.

update: thanks again to Matt for this link to a very coherent and thorough discussion of the light rail issue