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Mikal Shapiro

December 2015
Mikal Shapiro
"The Musical
"
mp3
Singer-songwriter Mikal Shapiro’s perfectly titled latest release, The Musical, is a collection of not merely songs, but 10 short stories set to wonderful music. The album is a work—or multiple works—of art that are just as mysterious and intriguing as any paintings you will find in a gallery. Shapiro’s palette is splattered with the complete spectrum of colors. There are dreary gray tones and bright whimsical flashes, melding together to create a soundtrack to life—one that touches many musical genres, including rock, folk, jazz, old-school country, and even gospel.
 
The Musical's opening act, “Nope,” is an airy, ethereal fantasy. Odd, evasive lyrics over a folk sound made jazzier by a muted trumpet give the listener a sense of drifting in and out of a dream on a rainy Sunday morning. Drums and crashing cymbals briefly end the slumber, until you are lulled back to sleep as the song comes to a close. Several tracks share this jazz feel, including “Out on the Town,” “Two String Blues,” and the wonderfully whimsical "Hot Cool." Shapiro's vocals are poised and effortless on each of these. 
 
“Here and Now” explores rediscovering love and a desire to forget (or never remember) the past. A dull snare beat blanketed by beautiful steel guitar rivals the purest of cry-in-your-beer country songs. Similarly, “This Way to Heaven” is country with an emphasis on gospel. It begins a cappella and, as the band joins in, becomes the loveliest song on the album. It is simultaneously serene and haunting.
 
Matching the mystery and irony found throughout the album, “Daniel,” the catchiest and most up-tempo tune, is also possibly the saddest. Daniel himself is an enigma. The storyteller, who acknowledges being a “friend” of Daniel’s, clearly knows little more about him than that he can “sleep like a Christian” and “drink like a demon.” The song turns dark when the protagonist is found dead, presumably by suicide. “But on that Saturday, Daniel was down / They couldn’t say where he was found, or how he was found.” Brilliantly, the listener is left to decide how Daniel may have met his demise, and why.  
 
Shapiro is fortunate to be backed by Chad Brothers (guitar and vocals), Johnny Hamil (electric and double bass), and Matt Richey (drums), along with a small army of additional local musicians. This adept team provides a canvas that Shapiro expertly fills. My interpretations of The Musical may differ from other listeners. As with any painting, the artist is not only revealing her emotions, but is also attempting to provoke a response—and Shapiro certainly does. My response may be lost in translation, as the peculiar, personal songs will pierce each listener differently.

--Brad Scott  

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Album review: Mikal Shapiro - The Musical

Singer-songwriter Mikal Shapiro’s perfectly titled latest release, The Musical, is a collection of not merely songs, but 10 short stories set to wonderful music. The album is a work—or multiple works—of art that are just as mysterious and intriguing as any paintings you will find in a gallery. Shapiro’s palette is splattered with the complete spectrum of colors. There are dreary gray tones and bright whimsical flashes, melding together to create a soundtrack to life—one that touches many musical genres, including rock, folk, jazz, old-school country, and even gospel.
 
The Musical's opening act, “Nope,” is an airy, ethereal fantasy. Odd, evasive lyrics over a folk sound made jazzier by a muted trumpet give the listener a sense of drifting in and out of a dream on a rainy Sunday morning. Drums and crashing cymbals briefly end the slumber, until you are lulled back to sleep as the song comes to a close. Several tracks share this jazz feel, including “Out on the Town,” “Two String Blues,” and the wonderfully whimsical "Hot Cool." Shapiro's vocals are poised and effortless on each of these. 
 
“Here and Now” explores rediscovering love and a desire to forget (or never remember) the past. A dull snare beat blanketed by beautiful steel guitar rivals the purest of cry-in-your-beer country songs. Similarly, “This Way to Heaven” is country with an emphasis on gospel. It begins a cappella and, as the band joins in, becomes the loveliest song on the album. It is simultaneously serene and haunting.
 
Matching the mystery and irony found throughout the album, “Daniel,” the catchiest and most up-tempo tune, is also possibly the saddest. Daniel himself is an enigma. The storyteller, who acknowledges being a “friend” of Daniel’s, clearly knows little more about him than that he can “sings like a Christian” and “drink like a demon.” The song turns dark when the protagonist is found dead, presumably by suicide. “But on that Saturday, Daniel was down / They couldn’t say where he was found, or how he was found.” Brilliantly, the listener is left to decide how Daniel may have met his demise, and why.  
 
Shapiro is fortunate to be backed by Chad Brothers (guitar and vocals), Johnny Hamil (electric and double bass), and Matt Richey (drums), along with a small army of additional local musicians. This adept team provides a canvas that Shapiro expertly fills. My interpretations of The Musical may differ from other listeners. As with any painting, the artist is not only revealing her emotions, but is also attempting to provoke a response—and Shapiro certainly does. My response may be lost in translation, as the peculiar, personal songs will pierce each listener differently.
 
 
--Brad Scott
Brad loves music, Boulevard beer, and his family. Not necessarily in that order.
 
Mikal Shapiro and her band will be playing The Musical tomorrow (Thursday) night at Harling’s Upstairs as well as releasing copies of the album on vinyl. Special guests Claire and the Crowded Stage and The Hardship Letters. Facebook event page

 

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Money Wolf's songwriter stage at CMF promises musical diversity

(Photo by Todd Zimmer)
 
This week, we’ll be highlighting some of the events and artists at the 10th annual Crossroads Music Fest on Saturday, September 6. Please visit cmfkc.com for tickets or more information.
 
Along with The Record Machine (see our spotlight on them earlier this week), Money Wolf Music will be curating its own stage at CMF this year for the first time. This Kansas City collective/production house/record label has helped put musicians on display to different audiences in unconventional settings; for instance, they often put on exclusive secret shows and coordinate a private hotel showcase at the annual Folk Alliance International conference. By also co-organizing networking and informational sessions, recording and releasing albums, and advocating for its artist roster—which includes Dollar Fox (pictured above), The Hillary Watts Riot, Dead Ven, and others—Money Wolf is an important resource to Kansas City music.
 
This year, Money Wolf will host a songwriter showcase at Celina Tio’s Crossroads district restaurant, Collection. The event will feature songwriters’ circles: four sets of four artists will trade off songs. Tommy Donoho, one of the main forces behind Money Wolf and the frontman of Dollar Fox, talks to us about what we can expect from Saturday.
 
The Deli: The Money Wolf stage at Collection features 16 different acts. Tell us why festivalgoers should make a point to check out this showcase.
 
Tommy Donoho: We worked hard to put together a lineup that truly represents the amazing diversity in this city. From folk to punk to blues to instrumental to pop to country to full-on freaks, we wanted people to really experience a taste of ALL the great songwriters this city has to offer. Plus, we're doing a very intimate, simple mic set-up—kind of the old time approach—to capture the real essence of what these people sound like. It's a songwriter-focused stage in every possible way.
 
The Deli: Do you have any surprises in store?
 
Donoho: You know us all too well. For us, the surprise was the diversity of the lineup. It's something we're really reaching towards—getting people to see ALL the music KC has to offer. Of course, you get this many folks together, I'm guessing someone is going to bust out something that inspires collaboration.
 
The Deli: Why did you decide to curate a stage at CMF?
 
Donoho: Last year, Justin [Penney] was hired to run sound at the venue for CMF and it went well. Over the last year, he and I have had more contact with both Celina and Bill [Sundahl] and it made sense to bring us back this year.
 
The songwriter circle idea came from Bill. I think he saw the potential of what we were pulling together with our involvement with Folk Alliance International some of the songwriting circles we've been hosting with a variety of artists. What can I say? Bill trusted us to make something unique.
 
The Deli: What value does this have for the KC music community?
 
Donoho: I'm hoping musicians make new friends and fans. I'm hoping fans find more musicians they weren't even aware existed. And mostly I'm hoping we'll get more and more people out to see a wider variety of shows in the future. The town and the people who write songs in it are fucking amazing. I'm starting to see the city embrace this notion more and more. I'm hoping they'll embrace our vision of how there's no difference between Mikal Shapiro and Mike Alexander. They write songs and damn good ones; music fans should see the musicians at the core of what they are. And that's the biggest benefit we can hope for: to have people walking away saying, “Holy shit, those people can write some songs.”
 
The Deli: What else does Money Wolf have coming up that you’re looking forward to?
 
Donoho: We're actually hosting our second Sonic Saturday Social Club at 3:00 on the day of CMF. It's an event we're working on with Coda, where we bring in rock bands on the first Saturday of each month. Day drinking, rock and roll, all ages, good food. It's all about exposing people to great music.
 
On September 22, we're hosting another of our infamous Secret Shows. We have Zachary Lucky from Canada rolling in. He blew people away at the FAI conference and we're hoping to get him in front of more people. He writes some of the best sad bastard tunes around. He picked the most depressing day of the week to hit town. So we're going to celebrate all the sadness by serving up some delicious competition smoked BBQ and music. We're calling it All Your Hopes Go Up in Smoke. It'll be limited to a mere 20 tickets. We'll be announcing all of it soon.
 
The Deli: Tell us what some of Money Wolf’s artists have going on.
 
Donoho: The Hillary Watts Riot has been playing a ton in and out of town and are about to release a new video. Dead Ven is playing everywhere, including a set with the Ataris, I believe. He's a really spectacular songwriter. Dollar Fox is woodshedding for a while, but I'm always out playing. And we just did the Records with Merritt live show, recording. It was a huge success and songs are being mixed to ship out to press here very soon.
 
We stay busy here at Money Wolf Music. And this CMF event is something we're crazy excited for. It's gonna be a great night.
 
 
Start your day off early at Coda and catch Money Wolf’s Sonic Saturday Social Club at 3:00 p.m., with The Thunderclaps (our artist of the month!) and Oldfield Victory. Facebook event page. Then, at 6, be sure to hit up the showcase at Collection, with 16 different songwriters. Facebook event page.
 
--Michelle Bacon
 
 

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Rural Grit Happy Hour celebrates its 15th anniversary

(Photo by Todd Zimmer)
 
Last Monday about 20 to 30 hearty souls braved the cold and the coming snowstorm to go down to the Crossroads and celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of that uniquely Kansas City jam of American music, the Rural Grit Happy Hour
 
The Rural Grit Happy Hour started in the winter of 1999 as Brother Ike's Rural Grit Happy Hour ("Brother Ike" being frontman Ike Sheldon of The Wilders), and it was held on Monday evenings at the Grand Emporium. I worked at that fine establishment back then, and when the word spread through the musical community that Roger Naber had sold the bar, the most frequent question I got from people out in the community, wherever I went, was "what will happen to Rural Grit?" asked by people who were genuinely, painfully concerned. 
 
After the Grand Emporium, the Rural Grit Happy Hour found a home at Mike's Tavern, the bar across Troost from Rockhurst University, where I learned a new definition of "awkward.” While my son and my money were going to Rockhurst, I walked into a Rural Grit one night to find a former colleague from the GE happily serving my minor son while he tapped his foot and bobbed his head in time to the music. Eventually, he felt the daggers I was staring at him and turned slowly to see me standing there cross-armed and fuming. He closed his tab and beat a hasty retreat across the street to his dorm.
 
A few years later, it was my turn to ask "what happened to Rural Grit?" with genuine concern, when that same son, now living in a house a couple of blocks from Mike's, told me in a satisfied tone, that the bar had closed. "Don't worry Mom. It moved to The Brick, and the Brick isn't going anywhere. It'll be there forever."
 
Here's hoping, because looking at the slideshow of fifteen years of Rural Grit on Monday night, I sure did get nostalgic for those Mondays gone by.
 
 
 
--Tammy Booth
 
Tammy (AKA Blue Girl) also blogs for They Gave Us A Republic and Show Me Progress.
 
 
 
The Rural Grit Happy Hour happens every Monday from 6-9 p.m. at The Brick. Old Sound will be the featured artist at tomorrow’s show. If Mondays don’t work for you, you can catch the Rural Grit All-Stars at Halfway To Winfield 2014 at Knuckleheads on Saturday, March 15. Facebook event page. Purchase tickets online. 
 

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Show recap: Murder Ballad Ball 5 - The Verdict

(Photo by Sondra Freeman)
 
Another Murder Ballad Ball has come and gone, leaving a ghostly smile playing about the lips of those who attended that will be a source of puzzlement well in the coming week to those we come in contact who didn't attend.
 
Saturday night, The Verdict, was seven hours of music by some of Kansas City's best musicians performing at The Living Room Theater. The music got started at 6:00 with A.J. Gaither doing a one-man set playing his homemade cigar box guitars and a kick bass, doing mostly original material, except that gospel number he snuck in there because hey, the crucifixion is the most famous murder of 'em all, right?
 
Next up was perennial KC bluegrass favorite Loaded Goat, romping through a five-song set that had the crowd that was starting to trickle in and fill up the place on their feet and dancing from the first notes of “John Hardy” to the final notes of “Six Feet Down.”
 
Next up was David George and cellist Christine Gross doing a stripped-down six-song set of Crooked Mile tunes that had the crowd that was ready to ride off and rob the Glendale Train with Loaded Goat a few minutes before paying rapt attention so as not to miss any of his subtle turns of songwriting phrase.
 
The fourth act of the night was Damon Parker who did a solo-set—just him and his electric piano—reminiscent of Dr. John and New Orleans. His rendition of “Seven Spanish Angels” gave me goosebumps, and the strains of “Night Train” hung in the room long after he had left the stage and the next act was setting up.
 
Mikal Shapiro put together an all-star ensemble for her set, with the one-and-only Betse Ellis on bass, Amy Farrand on drums, and Chad Brothers on lead guitar. Her set opened with a version of “You Are My Sunshine” that my Nana never sang to me, moved into her original song “Technicolor,” followed by “Dublin Reds,”(her interpretation of Townes Van Zant's “Dublin Blues”) and they finished their set with the timeless Leonard Cohen classic “The Future.” Here's hoping we see more of this project in the new year—these musicians just jell when they come together. Each and every one of them is absolutely fabulous in their own right, but never has the phrase “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” been more fitting.
 
 
Anthony Ladesich—Kansas City's answer to Steve Earle—was up next, and he played seven original songs, each one a narrative, and each one a true murder ballad. His set started with “To Vanish and Fade,” a haunting tale of a man who kills the banker who comes to foreclose on his home, then segued into the even more haunting “Down Bellfontaine,” about a serial killer stalking and murdering his first victim. The tune that stuck in my head was “In the Cut”: “we'll get in quick and get out quicker, we'll get high when we get done” about two guys who rob a liquor store, but it's a double cross, and one of them kills the other one—but he got high when he got done.
 
Kasey Rausch, who never disappoints, delivered a knock-out set with alternating supporting musicians. Her first song was “I Used to Love Her,” sang with her sister Kim Rausch McLaws; the sisters delivered some of the tightest harmonies you'll ever hear this side of the Ryman. She finished her set with the Rural Grit All-Stars doing another superb rendition of “Seven Spanish Angels.”
 
The Rural Grit All-Stars have been holding the fans of roots music in thrall for years. I worked for Roger Naber at the Grand Emporium when the Rural Grit Happy Hour got started, and when the news spread through the music community that he had sold the bar, the most common question I got was, “What's going to happen to Rural Grit?” (It has had a couple of homes since then, but it's still going strong, Monday nights from 6:00-9:00 at The Brick, and the cover is still only three bucks.) The All Stars performed their own set, and its various members performed with other acts throughout the night, especially Betse Ellis. She was, without a doubt, on the stage more than anyone else. It seemed like she played with more acts than she didn't; this is not a complaint, it is simply an observation, smug and self-satisfied in a my-town-is-better-than-your-town-for-live-music sort of way.
 
 
The Silver Maggies are always great, and always loud, and Saturday night was no exception. They brought their “A” game to the Ball and crushed it with a wall of sound.
 
 
The Philistines were the penultimate act, kicking their set off with the original number “Stygia,” then following it with a few covers, the first one ‘80s college-rock classic by Adam & The Ants, “Killer in the Home.” That was followed by Neil Young's “Revolution Blues. Cody Wyoming and Kimberly Queen, the couple that makes up the beating heart of The Philistines, are huge fans of ‘80s college rock, and they went back to that well for “Killing and Arab” by The Cure, and finished the set with “Para” by Calexico.
 
 
Since Murder Ballad Ball is the brainchild of Cadillac Flambe (pictured above) frontman Kristopher Bruders, they took the stage last and played until closing time, holding the rapt attention of the die-hards who were still hanging in there at 12:30. Once they got the technical issues with the piano resolved, they blew the roof off the joint. Havilah Bruders has a voice so powerful it can make the hair on the back of your neck stand up when she belts out a murder ballad, and no drummer has ever had more fun with a kit than Michael Payne, but bassist Dave Duly gives him a run for his money. For all intents and purposes, when they're playing, the Cadillac Flambe rhythm section is like kids at recess.
  
Much appreciation to The Living Room Theater for the use of the space and to their staff for putting up with a bunch of rowdy music fans, to the tireless efforts of both Rhonda Lyne and Sondra Freeman who work non-stop to make sure every Midwest Music Foundation event comes together seamlessly, to all the vendors who donated items for the raffles and silent auction, and to the talent for showing up and entertaining us and bringing us together for such a good cause...the health and well being of Kansas City musicians. As I like to say, before the country had Obamacare, KC's musicians had Abby Care.
 
--Tammy Booth
  
Tammy (AKA Blue Girl) also blogs for They Gave Us A Republic and Show Me Progress.
 

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