Sympathetic Vibrations
Sympathetic Vibrations | The Politics of Campaign Music
Last week in Cleveland, Ohio, as an overhead PA system boomed Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” an awkwardly hunched silhouette of Donald Trump, draped in fog, preceded the presidential candidate’s entrance to the Republican National Convention. And almost as quickly as Trump’s own hot air had whisked away the lingering fog, Queen had denounced his…
Sympathetic Vibrations | Beats for a Cause
A disc jockey who was always willing to help others in his profession is getting help from his fellow DJs through a benefit concert this Sunday.
Sympathetic Vibrations | Run DMCA
No one better than a music-loving lawyer to break down for us why T. Swift & Co. have been in a petition-signing frenzy of late. We look at the DMCA and why it has industry giants raising up battle flags against YouTube.
Sympathetic Vibrations | It Wasn’t Built in a Day
What’s it take to make a festival run as smoothly as beer flowing from a tap? A lot. We talk to organizers and take a time-lapse look of set-up in advance of tomorrow’s Boulevardia kick off.
Sympathetic Vibrations | Taking That Tone
Dave Wendler is obsessed with tone. So much so that he has spent the majority of his life striving to unearth the tonal potential of every instrument he comes across. And it’s at his unassuming home in the south Kansas City suburbs where Wendler hones his craft. Wendler is the owner and operator of Wendler Instruments —…
Sympathetic Vibrations | A Generous Mob
Music is art. There is no denying that. But well before your favorite artist’s music tickles your eardrums, there are hundreds of business-related decisions made about that art. And nearly all of those decisions have to do with money. In the past, if artists wanted to be heard by a national audience, they had to…
Sympathetic Vibrations | Your Guide to the Bottom of the Bill
Yesterday kicked off the music leg of Kansas City’s sixth-annual Middle of the Map Fest, a music, film and forum festival that bears a not-so-coincidental resemblance to Austin’s South by Southwest. The two-week fest is something of a crown jewel for Kansas City’s arts scene, showcasing more than 25 films and 100 bands throughout 11…
Sympathetic Vibrations | Local Goes Focal
Kansas City’s perceived contribution to America’s cultural heritage has been typically limited to smoky clubs (jazz), outdoor shacks (blues), and white napkins covered in red splotches (barbecue). But times have changed. Kansas City’s efforts to embrace the arts have altered its very makeup over the last decade, and the nation has taken notice. An extremely…
Sympathetic Vibrations | Record Store Day 2016
On Saturday, April 16th, many of Kansas City’s finest purveyors of vinyl will celebrate the ninth annual Record Store Day – an international music holiday of sorts, aimed at promoting and encouraging the music-buying public to purchase said music from local, independent, brick-and-mortar retailers. The revered music nerd festivus began in 2007, not long after traditional retail…
Sympathetic Vibrations | Remembering Phife Dawg
It was a rough Wednesday morning for hip-hop enthusiasts like me, who learned that Malik Taylor, aka Phife Dawg, aka The Five Foot Assassin, had passed away at age 45. The MC was best known for his work with A Tribe Called Quest – a Queens-based hip-hop trio featuring Phife, Q-Tip, and Ali Shaheed Muhammed,…