Blog: There Stands the Glass

The 25 Best Albums of 2010 A new album changes my life every other year. It just didn't happen in 2010. With no clear favorite, I made my hometown jazz hero's new album my top pick. (My jazz-only selections are here .) The Star 's Tim Finn compiled dozens of music lists here . 1. Bobby Watson- The Gates BBQ Suite 2. Sleigh Bells- Treats 3. Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green- Apex [...]

I was about ten years old when I innocently took a flyer on Clear Spot after I spotted it in a four-for-a-dollar cassette bin. The album changed by perception of "music." I was aware of the blues, but this baffling outsider music was something entirely different. It raised several questions. Did the band sound like this on purpose? What's wrong with this "Captain Beefheart" guy? What color is his skin? Why would Reprise issue an album by this deranged blues man? Did I [...]

I was flabbergasted when I read the 20th item of a survey conducted on behalf of The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts . 20. The following is a list of performers that potentially fit within the programming vision of the Kauffman Center. Please rate your interest in attending a performance by each performer: BB King, Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Demetri Martin, Ricky Gervais, Tracy Morgan, Bill Maher, Seu Jorge, The Peking Acrobats, Mumford & Sons, Ben Folds, The Flaming Lips, Norah Jones, Regina Spektor, Janelle Monae, FELA! On [...]

My friend Joel initiated a chat about Christmas music with the idea that we could publish our discussion at The Daily Record and There Stands the Glass. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but today I was reminded that Arcade Fire tops his Top Ten Albums of 2010 list . And he writes haikus. I don't particularly care for either affectation. Anyway... I made this list but I didn't check it twice. I already know that I overlooked a few of my favorites. [...]

The first album I reached for when I had time to mourn the death of James Moody was Young At Heart . I hadn't listened to the 1996 collection of standards associated with Frank Sinatra in a decade. It floored me. Gil Goldstein's arrangement of "That Old Black Magic" is especially stunning. It opens with Mulgrew Miller quoting Thelonious Monk's "Mysterioso" before Moody brilliantly solos without interruption for four enthralling minutes. Authoritative appreciations of Moody can be found elsewhere. I'll simply suggest the obvious- the world [...]

Jazz musicians excepted, it seems like every area musician with a Flip camera and a recording to promote made a video in 2010. I've listed the 25 most effective efforts here. Don't mistake this for a music-based "best-of" list. I made these selections based on a subjective combination of importance, relevance and general watchability. 1. Making Movies- "Tormenta" 2. Tech N9ne- "O.G." 3. Soft Reeds- "This Affair" 4. ACBs- "Street Fighter II" 5. Janelle Monae- "Cold War" 6. XV- [...]

Welcome to a blues time machine. Reverend John Wilkins' You Can't Hurry God is the first great album of 2011. Even though it's not officially released until next year, it's available for purchase now directly from Big Legal Mess/Fat Possum. Wilkins' time machine also transports us back 75 years. His father, acoustic blues legend Reverend Robert Wilkins, began recording in 1928. The vintage Wilkins style remains virtually unchanged. In addition to affecting his father's spectacles and hat (compare and contrast above), Rev. John recreates two of his [...]

Maybe it's much too early in the game but I thought I'd ask you just the same. I go out a lot. Last night I caught a jazz band at a club in south Kansas City. So why not close out 2010 with yet another live music event? Ornette Coleman, the Flaming Lips, Janelle Monae, Os Mutantes and Nancy Wilson aren't in town on December 31, so I'll have to make do with what's actually on tap at Kansas City's live music emporiums. Because I just can't bring myself [...]

I watched a woman's head bounce off the floor of the Riot Room last Saturday night. A minute or two after her hard fall, she was aggressively making out with the guy who had propped her up against a wall. I wondered about the different ways the two of us were experiencing Mac Lethal's performance. Maybe I'm reading her all wrong, but I suspect the woman is the type of Mac fan who shouts along with his atrociously juvenile mashup of "Party In the USA" and ICP's "Miracles." While I love "Pound That [...]

All Kanye, all the time. Kanye West has dominated discussion among my music-oriented friends and within the There Stands the Glass compound all week. I can't remember the last time everyone seemed to be simultaneously obsessing over the same artist. A couple friends, S. and C., suggested that I find time to give Nicki Minaj's new album a chance. I was skeptical, not because she looks like this , but because she failed to impress me both times I've seen her perform with the Young Money crew. Even so, Minaj's features [...]

Laundry detergent- $11.99. Toothpaste- $4.74. Deluxe version of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - $13.99. Loaf of bread- $1.99. I have nothing against Target, but my heart broke this morning as I purchased a physical copy of Kanye West's new album from my neighborhood mass merchandiser. As I wrote yesterday at Plastic Sax , my town doesn't have an independent record store that stocks much new music. So Target it is. My actions, furthermore, confuse me. I noted earlier this month that I [...]

While I'd seen Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock perform separately on several occasions, I'd never seen the three on stage together. Along with about 250 other geezers, I paid over thirty dollars to see The Flatlanders on Wednesday. Since both The Pitch and The Star reviewed the show, I'll just add a few personal notes. *"He looks old," I gasped when I first spotted Gilmore. "He is," a friend replied. Gilmore is 65. I had no idea... [...]

Tim Finn compiled a list of his favorite music venues yesterday. Although I conducted a similar exercise four years ago, both the landscape and my memory bank have since shifted. I couldn't resist posting an update that includes both existing and shuttered clubs. My friend Chris likes to say that your favorite show can't be in an arena. I tend to agree. I've excluded all large rooms from my list. I included Lawrence venues mostly because my world was turned upside down at The Outhouse . [...]

I occasionally experienced anxiety attacks night terrors as a child. The room spun and a sonic whirlpool rushed through my head. I'd suppressed forgotten these incidents until I first saw Mark Southerland twirl a hose connected to a saxophone during a Snuff Jazz performance. The effect recreated the nightmarish sound that once terrified me. Last night's Snuff Jazz recital was doubly intense. Guest artist Brian Haas , keyboardist of the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, echoed Southerland's sound effect on a melodica. I now know [...]

Reba sang Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" on the CMA Awards. And I liked it. There's really no point in railing against last night's celebration of the bland, homogenized lite-rock that passes as mainstream country music today. It is what it is. And as my admiration for Reba's crossover move implies, I'm not a purist. The blurring of genres interests me. Now that I've learned to stop worrying about categories, it doesn't bother me that the members of Lady Antebellum might never have heard of Waylon Jennings. [...]

For reggae fans, at least American reggae fans of my generation, a recording's producer and the corresponding record label are often just as important as the name of the artist. The names Scratch Perry, Duke Reid, Trojan Records, Sly & Robbie, Beverley's Records, Island Records, King Tubby, Coxsone Dodd, Studio One, Leslie Kong and Byron Lee often serve notice as to the style and quality of a production from reggae's so-called classic era. Sonia Pottinger and her Gay Feet, Tip Top, Rainbow and High Note labels are also significant names from that period. [...]

Lazerbeak- "Let It Go" (video) Kanye West- "Runaway" (video) One of the two albums I played last night stirred my soul. The other one was a bitter disappointment. The pointillistic pop of Legend Recognize Legend , the new album by Lazerbeak , came as a shock. The member of Doomtree is best known as one of the elite producers of the hip hop underground. Forget all that. Legend Recognize Legend is more akin to the epic psychedelia of [...]

This is why I do it. "P.O.S. Is Ruining My Life" is more than an ironic song title. It's my story. I attend live music events night after night. Classical, country, hip hop, jazz or metal- if it makes me feel alive, I want to be there. Continually going out takes an emotional, financial and physical toll, but I have no regrets. The grainy fan video shot last night at the Jackpot in Lawrence captures a bit of the magic provided by the Doomtree collective. I truly [...]

I've been holding out. One of my favorite albums of 2010 hasn't been mentioned at There Stands the Glass until now. It's not that I'm embarrassed about adoring an album that I imagine is largely loved by women. I've been reluctant to write about Love and Its Opposite because the uncomfortable intimacy of Tracey Thorn 's new project hits too close to home. The events described in "Oh, the Divorces!" play out around me every day. ""Now there's kids to tell and legal bills and custody," Thorn [...]

I'm forever indebted to Gregory Isaacs . During my tenure in fetid dorm rooms and scruffy bachelor pads, Isaacs' sweet whine regularly served as a bridge between the sexes. As a lifelong music geek, the music played at my social functions was even more important than the drinks I served. I had other guys make liquor runs so I could obsess over playlists. The challenge was finding the proper balance of music that both guys and gals could appreciate. My male friends and I typically wanted testosterone-fueled noise. Left to our own devices, [...]