R. Kelly, Ghosty, Grechaninov -- unfortunately not all at the same time

I'm pretty disappointed that I didn't get to see R. Kelly at the Sprint Center this weekend. It would have been the perfect way for me to see the new arena for the first time. Why didn't anyone tell me?

Oh well. Kansas City Star music writer Tim Finn wrote a pretty great description of the show that you can read here. An excerpt:

The show was a spectacle that included dancers and soft-core strippers, flash pots and fireworks, a bizarre skit featuring tribal music and prehistoric babes in animal skins (and the rhyme “rain forest” with “sex-a-saurus”).

Several times he advised the crowd: “What happens in this building stays in this building.”

Man. It must have been something. Ever since I first saw "Trapped in The Closet" a few months ago, I've been hooked. Maybe I'll catch him on his next arena tour. If there is one.

I'd like to follow the last post with a few more musical notes of interest. First off, Jon has a new video for Ghosty's "Dumbo Wins Again." The video is made up of photos by Jon, Jeff Bransted and Jennifer Brothers, and I found a few that I've taken in there as well. Jon traced other pictures to create the images on top, and some friends helped him literally stitch it all together. The places and people in the video flash by pleasantly but rapidly, making it all a bit dizzying. Kind of like life.


Ghosty's album will be out January 11 on Oxblood Records, and they'll be playing a bunch of shows next month as well.


And in case you're getting tired of hearing about bands I have family members in, or in the event that your ears are still smarting from watching the Ree-Yees video clips, than do not despair. I can appreciate quieter, more classically sophisticated sounds as well.

In this case I'm talking about the new recording of Russian composer Alexander Grechaninov's "Passion Week," which the Kansas City Chorale recorded and released this year. The Chorale and director Charles Bruffy have since earned nominations for no less than 5 Grammy Awards for this album and one other release, including best classical album. They're also going head-to-head with the Flaming Lips for competition on Best Surround Sound Album.

I was lucky enough to see one of the Chorale's performances of "Passion Week" last spring, which was incredibly entrancing, even to someone like me who is not terribly familiar with choral music. The disc sounds great as well, especially in the stillness of 4 in the morning while the freezing rain falls quietly outside.

You can find more information and listen to an audio clip at kcchorale.org, or read an article about the choir from today's KC Star. If you'd like to hear a complete track from the album, than allow me to suggest this one entitled, "Let My Prayer Be Set Forth."

So that's it for music news. I finished uploading my pictures from the SA trip today, so I'll be sharing a few of those this week. For now I'll just share this one that I took at the African Music Store in Cape Town, since I think it ties in nicely with what I've been talking about today.


Later.