therobots.org - Music

Places to buy music Kansas City (Missouri / Kansas) and Lawrence, KS

Fri, 21 May 2010 23:48:11 +0000

It seems that the number of music stores in KC is dwindling as digital music purchases continue to grow. I am an avid music collector and wanted to create a list of local stores that still sell vinyl (LPs), CDs, etc. I tried to leave chain stores off the list...

Kansas City / Overland Park

Vinyl Renaissance (Nieman Rd. and Shawnee Mission Pkwy) - CDs new and used, vinyl new and used. Highly recommended http://www.vinyl-renaissance.com/

Earwaxx Records (64th N. Oak Tfwy) - new and used CDs, new and used vinyl, recently expanded. Owner Gary is very knowledgable and will cut you a good deal.

Zebedee's Records (39th St. and Roanoke) - used CDs and vinyl Zebedee's

Streetside Records (Westport and Broadway) - CDs new and used, new vinyl

It's a Beautiful Day (40th and Broadway) - A fairly large selection of used and new vinyl, CD, and cassettes in a hippie setting.

1/2 Priced Books (SW Tfwy and Westport Rd., 119th St. Olathe, 89th and Metcalf, Lawrence) - Used CDs, vinyl, and cassettes

Prospero's Books (39th St. and Bell) - They sell used CDs and vinyl in the basement

Halcyon Diversified Trading (47th and Mission Road) - They sell posters, music equipment, and vinyl as well as old toys, clothes, and anything kitsch

Vintage Stock (Liberty, Independence, Blue Spings, Lee's Summit, Overland Park 135th St., Overland Park 92nd St., Shawnee) - new and used CDs

180 Records (39th St. and Broadway) - DJ records. not sure if still operational

CD Warehouse (58th and Antioch in Northland, 64th and Quivira Shawnee Mission, I believe Lee's Summit and Blue Springs as well) - used CDs

CD Tradepost (1094 West Santa Fe Olathe, KS) - Used Cds.

The Flipside (11212 W. 75th St. in Shawnee, KS) - Posters and a small selection of used CDs.

7th Heaven (76th and Troost, Blue Springs, Lawrence) - new CDs. I'm not really sure what they carry here anymore.

Boom Records???? (19th and McGee) - I've heard rumors of this place opening in another month or so. The guy running it supposedly has 60K plus LPs.

Lawrence

Love Garden (822 Massachusetts) - CDs new and used / Vinyl new and used. They also run their own record label. Love Garden.

Kief's (across the street from Love Garden) - A Lawrence fixture that carries vinyl and used CDs.

Lawrence Downtown Antique Store (Massachusetts Street) - Various booths of used cassettes and vinyl.

CD Tradepost (2540 S Iowa and also 4000 W 6th Suite C) - Used Cds

Hasting's (1900 W 23rd St) - I was told they carry CDs.

-ick!

Music Venues in the Kansas City / Lawrence Area

Fri, 21 May 2010 23:23:43 +0000

Here is a list of music venues in the Kansas City (Missouri / Kansas) and Lawrence, KS area. I've included a brief review. My favorites are listed near the top.
Kansas City

Uptown Theater - large old renovated theater off Broadway in midtown. This place is generally pretty solid for seeing a show.

The recordBar - small club on west side of Westport. Run by KC musicians The Roman Numerals. Excellent at booking small shows and local shows. They do a great job at running sound given the club's setup.

The Crossroads- Outdoor venue in the middle of the Crossroads behind Grinders. They book some great bands, always very diverse, and it's nice to be outside in the city. I think tickets can be bought inside Grinders without all of the service charges tacked on.

Mutual Musician's Foundation - A not-for-profit organization near the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District. They generally don't open until midnight and are open and serving drinks until 5am!!! hosting improvisational jazz. This is one of the oldest clubs in town.

Beaumont Club- One of the oldest running clubs in Westport. A large space that they've recently remodeled. They are booking a lot more bigger named bands now.

Czar Bar- 18th & Grand, owned by Anodyne Records founder. Small stage and very much trying to do what the recordBar has already done.

Davey's Uptown Ramblers Club- off Main in midtown. Very old dive bar that has some great rockabilly, alt-country, folk, rock bookings. Sound is usually decent here with cheap drinks.

The Brick- 18th and McGee. Good food for a divey club. The owner of this place is very into the local scene and they are very good at hosting local bands and novelty shows.

The Pistol / The Foundation- Two clubs in a warehouse art space in the West Bottoms. They will have small independent artists, noise bands, performance pieces here from time to time.

Crosstown Station- Right across from Power + Light off McGee. Very nice club, sound is good. Book local shows and some very small national acts and specialy shows, but decent shows are scarce.

The City Market- Large open-aired venue right inside of the city market. Will get some big shows occasionally but they only have them in the summer.

Starlight Theater- Large open-aired venue outside of the KC zoo. Every once and a while, this place will book a very big show and it goes over great - sometimes not.

Sprint Center- Very large arena that books some of the biggest shows in KC.

Folly Theatre- Downtown. Classical, jazz, as well as occasional bigname national acts.

Kemper Arena- Very large old arena. I think they still book shows here from time to time but I'm not positive on that.

Power + Light District- they will have free shows in the summer on Wednesdays I believe in the common area. Hey, you can't beat free.

Sandstone Amphitheater- A large outdoor amphitheater outside of Bonner Springs, KS. This place will put on festivals and large outdoor shows from time to time.

Midland Theater- An old theater in downtown KC that has been recently renovated. Sound can sometimes be off here with lound bands because of the cavernous space but it looks great.

Voodoo Lounge- inside Harrah's Casino and run by House of Blues. Very nice club, sound is always good - but can be expensive. They will occasionally book a decent national act and I think they do an okay job of getting hip hop shows.

Memorial Hall- large venue in downtown KCK. It's been a very long time since I've seen a show here but I think they still book shows there from time to time.

Knucklehead's- In the Northeast section of Kansas City. They specialize in blues, rockabilly, alt-country, country, and folk. I've heard good things but have never been.

The Blue Room- jazz club off of historic 18th and Vine. Tied in with Kansas City Jazz Museum.

The Riot Room- off Westport. Used to be The Hurricane. They mostly specialize in local bands and hard rock / metal bands now. Sound is usually pretty loud in here.

The News Room- on Broadway in midtown. They just rebuilt the back / side area and are planning on hosting a lot of live music / djs. Still a very random place to see a show.

Westport Flea Market- On Westport Rd. in midtown. Live music on Sundays and sometimes other nights.

Mike's Tavern- around 51st and Troost I believe. This place has local acts from time to time in a divebar setting.

Mike Kelly's Westsider- west end of Westport Rd. Small divey place that advertises free local shows every day of the week, usually just a singer / songwriter.

Trouser Mouse- this is a Blues, Jazz, Bluegrass, & Rockabilly club in Blue Springs, MO. I've never been here.

Harry's Country Club- small outdoor stage in the City Market area. They will have local acts play outside in the summer occasionally.

Jazz- cajun restaurant on 39th and State Line Rd that has rockabilly, zydeco, jazz play regularly.

Prospero's Books- Bookstore on 39th and Bell St. Have free poetry and singer /songwriter acts from time to time.

O'Dowds- Occasionally the one in the plaza will have a local act play on the stage there.

Fred P. Otts- located off the plaza. Will occasionally have local bands playing on Sunday nights on a small floor space. But they've been doing this for 15+ years.

The Bulldog- 17th and Main. Wednesday night music hosted by Kirsten Paludan; maybe other nights too.

The Levee- east side of Westport. A lot of local acts, blues, reggae and the like.

El Torreon- old punk club off Martini Alley. Not sure if it is still open, there were talks of remodeling it just a year ago.

Blayney's - in Westport. Mainly blues music here. Defunct now, but may open again eventually.

The Madrid Theater- Off Main in midtown. Once in a blue moon there will be a show here. It's very much like the Uptown Theater only I like it more. It's a shame they don't have more shows here.

Westport Coffee House- Off Pennsylvania in Westport. Has singer / songwriters most every week.

Californos- 41st and Pennsylvania. ???

Aftershock- in the 'burbs. I don't know much about it.

Jerry's Bait Shop- In Shawnee Mission and Lee's Summit. Small bar / restaurant with local bands.

Carlsen Center- At Johnson County Community College in Olathe. National acts play here from time to time.

Frontier Park- In Olathe. There's a summer concert series every year

Brooksider- 63rd St. in Brookside. I've been told there are bands there occasionally.

Lawrence

Liberty Hall - nice large venue in an old theater similar to Uptown Theater. They will book some good national acts from time to time.

The Bottleneck - This place has been around forever. It's medium sized and they are very good at booking both local and national acts. I've seen a lot of my favorites here over the years.

The Granada - A fairly large club. Sounds is generally pretty loud here for some reason. They do a great job of booking local and national acts though.

Jackpot Saloon- Long narrow club, sound is generally pretty rough. Same concept as The Bottleneck only smaller.

Replay Lounge- Very small area for a band in the front part of the bar. Occasionally they will have something cool playing there and you'll catch an up-and-coming band before they were famous.

Jazzhaus- Upstairs club on Massachusetts St. It's a small venue that play a variety of music.

Lied Center- Very nice concert space but mainly for classical music. I've heard of random bands playing there though.

Gaslight Tavern- Small coffee shop / bar. I've never been here, not sure if it's still running.

8th St. Taproom- This place has a show every once in a while. I've never seen one here though. Any input?

Hope you enjoyed the list. Looking for input on this.

25 Formative Albums

Fri, 21 May 2010 23:11:56 +0000

The 25 Formative Albums post started as a thread on the KMNR facebook group. Here are the 25 albums that shaped my music listening ears. The albums I would need on a deserted island. You get the point. This is something like my Top albums of all-time, but not exactly the same thing. In no particular order.

Nirvana - Nevermind (also In Utero)

Thurston Moore - Psychic Hearts

Black Sabbath- Paranoid

Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set Star

Tortoise- Millions Now Living Will Never Die

The Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers - The Mother Of Love Emulates The Shapes Of Cynthia

David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World

The Notwist - Neon Golden

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

Godspeed You Black Emperor!- F#A# Infinity

Mogwai- Come On Die Young

Smashing Pumpkins- Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Guns n Roses - Use Your Illusion 1 & 2

Kraftwerk- Man Machine

The Velvet Underground- The Velvet Underground & Nico

Pixies - Doolittle

Wire - Pink Flag

Enon- High Society

Pinback- Pinback

Stereolab- Dots and Loops

Ween- The Pod

Kings of Convenience- Riot On an Empty Street

Built to Spill- Keep It Like a Secret

Of Montreal- Satanic Panic In the Attic

The Beatles - The Beatles (White Album)

-ick!

SXSW 2010 Recap

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:29:16 +0000

I got back from SXSW in Austin, TX last Sunday night and have had a few days to recover and gather my thoughts. This was my first time going and I thought the entire festival was fantastic and extremely well run. With over 2000 bands and 200 venues this was by far the biggest festival I've ever attended. Of course you are left choosing which shows you really want to see, which ones you can miss, and which ones you can salvage. For the first three days, I travelled all over the city and the last day was mainly reserved for the Hilton and the KC showcase at Canvas because of extremely cold weather and rain (still better than the snow they got in Kansas city). My transportation and show mates Sherman, Matt, and Kaileen kept an agressive schedule with the mindset that we'll sleep when we're dead. And this kept us going and able to see a lot of shows. Much thanks goes to them for the ride down there, the place to stay, and putting up with my shenanigans and sometimes one-off show selections.

JPT Scare Band

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:22:30 +0000

I just discovered this band JPT Scare Band while researching some heavy psych rock from the early 70s. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they were from Kansas City, MO. They're actually still playing and recording and call themselves "Lost Pioneers of Heavy Metal". Check out this amazing video for their song "Ramona", completed with some amazing animation and old clips of Kansas City. I believe that is the Nelson-Atkins Museum at one point in the video.

Best Albums of 2008

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:17:53 +0000

This list is a little bit late but at least I made my personal deadline of getting it in before baseball opening day. 2008 was a decent year for music. There weren't too many albums released that absolutely floored me but I still found some albums that I thoroughly enjoyed. Bradford Cox had an impressive year with two releases that made my top dozen with his bands Deerhunter and Atlas Sound. Kansas City locals The Republic Tigers put out one of the most impressive albums the city has ever heard. Mainstream favorites Beck, Santogold, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, and The Raconteurs put out albums good enough that even the biggest music snobs could also enjoy. I heard some interesting new electronic projects such as Starfucker, Crystal Castles, High Places, Empire of the Sun, Tussle, Ladyhawke, and Tobacco. More than anything though, I think I enjoyed hearing some of the releases put out by artists that have been around for a while but had slipped my attention before: Deerhunter, Mount Eerie, The Mae Shi, The Kills, and Thao with the Get Down Stay Down. My three finds of the year (stuff you probably haven't heard) would have to be Finnish collective Paavoharju, Absolutely Kosher weirdos Little Teeth, and San Diego rockers The Muslims - a band so fresh, they had to change their name to The Soft Pack after releasing their first album. Enjoy the list, feel free to comment, and here's to an awesome 2009!

*****Top 100 Albums of 2008*****

1)	Deerhunter	Microcastle
2)	Why?	Alopecia
3)	MGMT	Oracular Spectacular
4)	Mount Eerie, Julie Doiron, Fred Squire	Lost Wisdom
5)	Portishead	Third
6)	Bon Iver	For Emma, Forever Ago
7)	Hot Chip	Made in the Dark
8)	Paavoharju	Laulu Laakson Kukista
9)	The Republic Tigers	Keep Color
10)	Little Teeth	Child Bearing Man

Flashback to The Year In Music 1998

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:27:27 +0000

Stealing an idea from my friend Holly and Tripwire.com, I thought it would be good to take a look back at the albums released 10 years ago. This was a pretty pivotal time in my auditory life. It spanned my first and second years of college, a time when I devoured new music and discovered that there was so much other music out there instead of what they play on Top 40 radio. I'd known this for years but had yet to take that plunge. I tried out for my campus' free-format radio station and failed the interview process twice before finally being accepted. Some of the stuff on this list was actually still on the new rack when I started at the radio station, some of it I discovered a few months later, and some I didn't listen to for years. So yeah, 1998 was a pretty good year in music overall I think. My favorites are near the top. Feel free to comment any of your favorites...

Poradova

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:21:15 +0000

Check out my friend Sarah's band Poradova. She also has some audio samples up on her myspace page.

-ick!

Best Album of 2006

Sun, 18 Mar 2007 00:08:17 +0000

Three months late for 2006 but I've finally completed my annual Top Albums list. 2006 was a bit of an off year for music overall but I really enjoyed most of these albums. My finds of the year made number six and seven on the list. In the Pines are a folk / country string band from Kansas City. I attended their CD release party and was pretty well blown away. Ten Kens I found through MySpace and I love their debut CD. Good job guys. Feel free to comment on this list as I always enjoy hearing what others are listening to...

*****Top 100 Albums of 2006*****

1)	Beirut	The Gulag Orkestar
2)	Islands	Return to the Sea
3)	Joanna Newsom	Ys
4)	Belle & Sebastian	The Life Pursuit
5)	Man Man	Six Demon Bag
6)	In the Pines	In the Pines
7)	Ten Kens	Ten Kens
8)	Hot Chip	The Warning
9)	Yeah Yeah Yeah's	Show Your Bones
10)	Peter Bjorn and John	Writer's Block

Hidden Pregap Audio Tracks

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 15:39:39 +0000

It's a rare occasion that you get to completely blow the mind of a record store worker about something music related. I managed this last night as I picked up a couple new CDs at the last remaining record store in midtown. Stumbling in, I was surprised to hear Lamb's Fear of Four playing, which I happen to own and is at least 5 years old. I mentioned to the clerk that this CD has a hidden track before the first track that you have to rewind to get to. He blinked for a few minutes then proceeded to finish bagging my purchases. A few seconds later, after giving it some time to process, he retorted "Really?", then "I'll have to check that out at home tonight".

Prison Wine

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 02:11:50 +0000

This last week was pretty fun. I finally escaped the doldrums of winter and made it out to several fun events around the city. I don't have too much to say about the last several months, just know that lots of movies were watched, many books were read, and the number of mostly-completed crosswords littering my house is innumerable.

Tuesday, I saw old favorites Of Montreal play at The Granada in Lawrence. They'd just played in Larryville a year before and I'd attended that much more sparcely attended show. Their popularity seems to have expanded exponentially in one year and I can't figure out why. You'd think after ten years and almost as many full-length albums that the masses would have recognized their great talent for writing great pop songs. Maybe it's the recent Outback Steakhouse commercials that feature the reworking of "Wraith Pinned to the Mist" that are bringing out all the kids. At any rate, the show was pretty good but not quite as good as last year's performance (which still rates in my top 5 of all time), even with the new video backdrop and stage props. A Japanese sextet called Elekibass opened for them. They fit right in with their bubblegum pop over thick Japanese accents. I left thinking that I probably won't see anything like this ever again.

Cities

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 01:56:57 +0000

I just finished up a great new compilation CD for a CD group that just started up again. We pick 10 songs and a bonus track but I usually burn a whole disc's worth just to have extras in case somebody else also picked one of my songs. The theme of this one was my idea, "cities". The requirements I set up for myself were that every song had to have the city in the title, I could only use a city or artist once, and the song had to be about the city or repeat the city name at some point in the song. Here's my list...

Tapes 'n Tapes - In Houston

Peter Bjorn and John - Amsterdam

Sufjan Stevens - Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head...

Beirut - Bratislava

Of Montreal - Oslo In the Summertime

Poni Hoax - Budapest

Seelenluft - Manila (Headman Remix)

Spoon - Chicago At Night

Regina Spektor - Dusseldorf

The Thrills - Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)

The Walkmen - Lost In Boston

X - Los Angeles

The Clash - London's Burning

Rancid - Arrested in Shanghai

Tom Waits - Singapore

The Magnetic Fields - Tokyo A-Go-Go

The Books - Venice

Why? - Next Atlanta

Ben Folds - Adelaide

They Might Be Giants - New York City

The Extra Glenns - Going to Marrakesh

Loretta Lynn - Portland Oregon

Neko Case - Train From Kansas City

-ick!

Pumpkin and Gravy

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 16:32:55 +0000

I've had a really good last month or so. The weather hasn't been too bad. There have been a handful of decent local rock shows around the city. Halloween is always a blast and this November also marked a very surprising and momentous midterm election. Top this off with my trivia team's domination over the last few month and things are looking on the up.

I stayed at the recordBar late after a big first place trivia win one week and watched up-and-coming Detroit indie rockers Thunderbirds Are Now!. TAN! showed up early and competed against fellow bar patrons in skills of the mind. They held their own and I think they had a pretty good time. About two years ago, I was quite impressed with them as an unknown opener touring with Enon (who produced their new album). Once again, they didn't disappoint . I was also a big fan of the local opening band. I didn't catch their name but I'm sure I'll see them again somewhere around town. They were a bit of a Yeah Yeah Yeah's ripoff - but who gets tired of that. The female lead singer was just as much a spaz as Karen O.

Hotel Living

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 01:13:01 +0000

This must be the year for traveling. I'd already been in six states this year and just added three more with a couple of weeklong mini-vacations along the I-35 corridor of Kansas City, Austin, and Minneapolis / St. Paul. These trips were nice but not entirely leisurely in nature and at times even stressful. More than ever now, I'm just looking forward to some downtime in my home city as fall rolls across the midwest.

I finished out August with a surprise visit from my out-of-town friend Rick. He'd heard that a few other high school chums were playing a special show at McCoy's that weekend and decided to make the drive up from Springfield for the event. We caught some great pizza and beers at Waldo Pizza and I won $20 from him in a bowling bet before we went to the show. My friends' band Golden City, Mars were the opening noise band / performance art installation. Most of the band members wore masks and their only song was 10 minutes of drony gloom-and-doom chords. I can't do them any justice retelling the mythical tale of how they came to earth from Golden City, Mars - just know that it happened. McCoy's own 30-Minute Recess headlined and were solid as usual. The highlight for me was the Brokeback Mountain theme played as an intro to one of their own country numbers. Hilarious.

The Pleasure Principle

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 12:45:25 +0000

This Tuesday I had the opportunity to see the legendary synthpop android Gary Numan at the recordBar in Kansas City. I've been a fan of Gary Numan's music since my friend Daniel first popped in the Pleasure Principle CD as I was cutting my teeth on electronic music. His early stuff is absolutely fantastic and he's been consistently releasing music and redefining his sound...

As the date of this show approached, I became increasingly apprehensive that it may be cancelled. I looked up some of the other dates on the tour and every show was booked in rather large concert halls or House of Blues venues. One such bar was Bogart's in Cincinnatti that I have been to and holds at least 2000 people. The recordBar holds maybe 300 tops and the stage hovers but only a few feet above the floor with little room for maneuvering about. I felt cramped on there just hosting trivia one night and that was with hardly any equipment. Also, I had heard that he had a ridiculous list of audio equipment demands that would be tough for the relatively new bar to provide. Luckily, I pulled up to the club to see his enormous touring bus parked outside. I guess I'm just one of the lucky ones that gets to see a true music icon in a most cozy setting. Kudos to Billy for booking this show...