Concert Review: Brent Cobb at Knuckleheads

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

The clothes worn by Brent Cobb, a long-haired country boy from Georgia, at Knuckleheads on Wednesday, October 18, included cowboy boots and an Otis Redding t-shirt. The music he performed with a four-piece backing band was a correspondingly diffuse blend of Southern rock, outlaw country and swampy soul.

Cobb opened the show with folk-tinged songs he jokingly called “hippie sh*t” like the wry “Keep ‘Em on They Toes” before digging into vital variations on the iconic sound of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Three sets of imbeciles within a ten foot radius of my front-and-center position amid the audience of approximately 500 rowdy fans who paid $25 for entry (I was comped) marred the otherwise stellar experience. 

Their infuriating shrieks are audible on my Instagram clip of the raucous “Devil Ain’t Done”, my favorite track on Cobb’s latest album Southern Star. While the incessant yapping throughout the extremely loud concert was a physically impressive feat, it was a bad look for the “Bar, Guitar and Honky Tonk Crowd”.

Album Review: Ava Mendoza- Echolocation

Conventional wisdom would have people believe that jazz and punk are diametrically opposed forms of music. The transgressive spirit of the two forms are actually the same. As a teenager swept up in the initial punk revolution, Television’s Marquee Moon and Miles Davis’ Dark Magus seemed like two sides of the same coin when the albums were released in 1977. Both recordings sound like precursors to Echolocation, the new album by guitarist Ava Mendoza, saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Ches Smith. The quartet fuses raw metallic power with free improvisation on the crunchy Echolocation.

Concert Review: Hilary Hahn at the Folly Theater

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

Hilary Hahn’s solo recital at the Folly Theater on Friday, October 13, administered spiritual balm in a fraught moment. The violinist offered 90 minutes of ethereal restoration for members of the near-capacity audience of about 950 rattled by current events. The room’s excellent acoustics allowed Hahn’s elevated reading of four timeless works by Johann Sebastian Bach to sanctify the back row seat I purchased for $20. The event was less a concert than a consecrated prayer.

Album Review: Kevin Cheli and Seth Andrew Davis- Pinball

Pinball is an apropos title for the new recording by St. Louis percussionist Kevin Cheli and the Kansas City guitarist Seth Andrew Davis. The three improvised tracks are flush with ricochets, tilts and caroms. Even so, the abrasive give-and-take might as easily been named Curb Stomp, Avalanche or Glitch. Only the most inured listeners will appreciate the album. Yet dedicated aficionados of mayhem will recognize the constant churn of Pinball as a monumental achievement.

(Need of more noise? Davis and his collaborators in the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society are regularly featured at the Kansas City jazz blog Plastic Sax.)

Album Review: Kaija Saariaho- Reconnaissance

Receiving a flu vaccination is akin to intentionally getting jumped in an alley. Given my fragile constitution, I can count on being laid up between three to twelve hours after being dosed. It’s a drag, but it beats the alternative.

I rushed home after getting jabbed at Walmart yesterday. Before crawling into bed, I hit play on Reconnaissance, a posthumous release of works by Kaija Saariaho. I don’t know how I came to add Reconnaissance to my queue, but the June release perfectly matched my self-inflicted affliction.

Head-spinning tracks like "Tag des Jahrs: III. Der Herbst" performed by the Helsinki Chamber Choir made me unable to distinguish between the recording and room ambiance in my delirium. Having since recovered, I’m still not sure what to think of these hallucinatory sounds.

EP Review: Earl Sweatshirt and the Alchemist- Voir Dire

My lifelong love of music is littered with abandoned relationships. Numerous passions of previous years now seem like fleeting fancies. The Clash is among the indispensable bands of my teens that now seem childish infatuations. I abandoned my passion for roots music about 15 years ago. Given my current immersion in highbrow art music, my ongoing attraction to Earl Sweatshirt is unlikely. Yet much as Doris floored me in 2013, I’m currently infatuated with the grimy Voir Dire. My allegiances may be fickle, but I’ll be surprised if I’m not listening to Earl for the remainder of my life.

Concert Review: Oz Night at Farewell and Howdy

Original image of Citric Dummies by There Stands the Glass.

A handful of the 100 punks at the companion venues Farewell and Howdy on Thursday, October 5, propped themselves up with canes and walkers. The people half my age might have suffered their debilitating injuries in precisely the sort of mosh pits that made the concurrent shows dangerous.

Like the decrepit concertgoers, I deliberately put myself in harm’s way for three hours during performances by six bands. I felt fortunate to stumble to my car with only a wrenched wrist, a few bruises and ringing ears. I paid $15 admission for each show. A chronological rundown follows.

1. Konrad Hell and the Highwaters (Farewell) A friend’s description of the Kansas City group’s concept as spiritually akin to Sid Vicious’s cover of “My Way” is close to the mark.

2. C-Krit (Howdy) Even though the obnoxious miscreants are musically inept, their ultraviolent spewing was my favorite set of the night.

3. Citric Dummies (Howdy) The Minneapolis trio are Hüsker Dü hooligans.

4. Vintage Crop (Farewell) Shouty Australian indie-rock.

5. Alien Nosejob (Howdy) The Australians’ myriad variations of punk and garage rock exhausted me.

6. Jackoffs (Farewell) Punk fatigue and an aching wrist compelled me to surrender after 15 minutes of fury.

Smooth

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

The cheesy 1999 hit "Smooth" almost ruined my beach vacation. An open air bar fifty steps from the room I rented in Southern California blared Santana’s hit around midnight each night of my trip. After exhausting myself on the beach, I was subjected to played-out rock songs as I tried to sleep. The torture wasn’t cheap. I couldn’t afford pricey tickets to the concerts by Beyoncé and Bob Dylan that open my October concert recommendations for KCUR.

September 2023 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of Opéra de Lille’s production of Verdi’s Falstaff by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums of September (through 9/22)

1. Angelika Niescier- Beyond Dragons

Monstrous fire.

2. Yeule- softscars

Are friends electric?

3. Escher Quartet- Terra Incognita

Unexplored territory.

4. Tomas Fujiwara- Pith

With Patricia Brennan and Tomeka Reid.

5. Willie Nelson- Bluegrass

Pleasing redundancy.

6. James Brandon Lewis- For Mahalia, With Love

Wade in the water.

7. Mireya Ramos & the Poor Choices- Sin Fronteras

Possibly the year’s best non-jazz album out of Kansas City.

8. Irreversible Entanglements- Protect Your Light

My least favorite album by my favorite band.

9. Laufey- Bewitched

My review.

10. The Count Basie Orchestra- Swings the Blues

My review.

Top Ten Songs of September

1. Yahritza y su Esencia- "Rositas"

Cool kids.

2. Cultura Profética- "Para Mi"

My kind of Margaritaville.

3. Camilo and Diljit Dosanjh- "Palpita"

Culture clash.

4. James Blake- "Fall Back"

Tripping.

5. Tirzah- "Stars"

Outer space.

6. Tinashe- "Uh Huh"

Validated.

7. Earl Sweatshirt and the Alchemist featuring Vince Staples- "The Caliphate"

Haram.

8. DOE- "Holy Hands"

Sanctified.

9. Bad Bunny- "Un Preview"

Unstoppable.

10. Carrie Underwood- "Drunk and Hungover"

Formulaic fun.

Top Ten Performances of September

1. RP Boo at the Encore Room

My review.

2. Thee Sinseers, The Altons and Alanna Royale at Lemonade Park

My review.

3. Mahani Teave at the Folly Theater

My review.

4. Queens of the Stone Age, Viagra Boys and Jehnny Beth at Starlight Theatre

My review.

5. Alan Voss Quartet at Swope Park Pavilion

My review.

6. Dan Clucas at World Culture

My review.

7. OJT at the Prairie Village Jazz Festival

My Instagram clip.

8. Electric Blue Yonder at Tin Roof

My Instagram clip.

9. The Jazz Disciples at the Blue Room

My Instagram clip.

10. Hudspeth & Taylor at Ward Parkway Shopping Center

My Instagram clip.

The previous monthly survey is here.

Concert Review: Queens of the Stone Age, Viagra Boys and Jehnny Beth at Starlight Theatre

Original image of Queens of the Stone Age by There Stands the Glass.

Ushers and security personnel had a rough night at Starlight Theatre on Wednesday, September 20. About thirty minutes into Queens of the Stone Age’s headlining set, frontman Josh Homme encouraged the approximately 5,000 members of the audience to crowd toward the stage.

Homme’s insistence that Starlight’s employees were “working for me” didn’t go well. Scofflaws aren’t welcome at the regimented outdoor venue. I monitored testy skirmishes between belligerent fans and determined staff from my vantage point in a (comped) seat up front for the next 45 minutes. 

I eventually retreated to uncontested territory as Queens of the Stone Age revamped the riff-based, swing-inflected classic rock of Cream amid the chaos. Groovy!

I hadn’t understood the appeal of Viagra Boys. Now that I’ve taken in the band’s cheeky visual component, I finally get it. The concert began with Jehnny Beth’s tormented take on industrial rock. My skepticism of the very concept of Big Rock in 2023 was- for the moment, anyway- vanquished.