KC Confidential

We take all kinds of pills that give us all kind of thrills

But the thrill we’ve never known

Is the thrill that’ll getcha when you get your picture

On the cover of the Rollin’ Stone

That was Dr. Hook’s musical homage to that great institution and what it meant to land that coveted spot, the COVER of Rolling Stone magazine.

But if you can find a copy when its released this week at the store of your choice, its famous cover this month isn’t going to Kanye, The Kinks, R Kelly or The Killers, its being bestowed upon – Ka-Tump Ka-Thump – the Boston Marathon Bomber.

That’s right; the cover of this iconic rag has been given up to a terrorist. In the words of Larry the Cable Guy, “Where do we live; RUSSIE?” Continue reading →

I know, as Hearne likes to lecture me, it’s the white man’s double standard…

But on Tuesday, HLN’s marginal talk show host Nancy Grace lit into George Zimmerman and is now being accused of racism herself.

Frankly, I could come up with 100 other things to accuse Grace of before I ever got around to racism, but I’ll leave that one alone. Grace is over the top angry, abhorrent, abrasive and acerbic on more grounds than I have time to contemplate right now. Continue reading →

“Well, it’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, my hometown, out on the edge of the prairie…”

And with those words, I know it’s the weekend. Most of my Saturdays are set aside for the creation of art furniture and to attend an auction where my wife and I buy pieces for the studio that become our next works. As our Saturdays weave their way through the various activities of the day, the constant for each weekend is what I have come to call my “NPR Saturday.”

It starts early with the news, This American Life and it ends late with The Fish Fry. But the most enjoyable part of that day for me is the broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion. I’ve listened for years and have been a huge fan.

So it’s with a great deal of joy that I welcome this Friday’s presentation as the show rolls into Starlight Theatre at 7:00pm, courtesy of the Capitol Federal Concert Series. Continue reading →

Ian Anderson‘s performance of Thick as a Brick Saturday was a masterful one…

Not since Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention have I seen anything comparable to this two and one half hour long production of orchestrated perfection and musical tightness at the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts.

Before I tear into the show, allow me make an observation or two. Continue reading →

KISS unleash @ Rock & Brews

Theeeey want to rock and roll and all night, and party ev-er-y day…

Don’t look now but the band KISS is poised to bestow its Rock & Brews upon lowly Overland Park in Prairiefire at 135th and Metcalf. More to the point, bandmates Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of KISS plan to open their 11th eatery/party zone in the suburban Cowtown easrly next year.

About time OP got a replacement for Dick Clark’s Continue reading →

“Really don’t mind if you sit this one out,” is the opening line of the 1972 Jethro Tull album “Thick as a Brick.”

I could only describe TAAB as a single song opus, inside a rock musical and wrapped up in a concept album. It was one single track, broken only by flipping the album over to play side two.

Sgt. Pepper and Tommy didn’t even try that trick.

Seen by his fans and contemporaries in ’72 as eccentric, Anderson’s remained that way in my mind all these years. And now that he’s returning to this great work to remake it as Thick as a Brick II, it’s a perfect illustration of that. Continue reading →