Badass Records

What is up, everyone?!

We're back -- after a small pause -- with another episode featuring a guest, and I'm thrilled to share, regardless of how LinkedIn-y that sounds -- that I was lucky enough to see my interview with Phil Kilmer to the other side.

Meaning, it took a year and-a-half to make it happen. Which is fun!

In that vein, I'll pause for two seconds to say thank you to anyone that's ever replied to my outreach, and everyone that has helped me to see an episode come to finished-product state by committing, showing up, and being awesome. I'm really excited to see that the 200 mark is right around the corner, and -- as of this moment -- I have a small dose of confidence in me that we'll get there.

Where it goes from there is anybody's guess.

Anyway...Phil Kilmer is a son, a boyfriend, a father, a presence in academia, a physical therapist, a doctorate candidate, and I'm -- in botching this list -- not even doing his whole Curriculum Vitae justice.

Regardless, we talked about Frost on the Flint Band, the Lovegrass Music Festival, being a musician, a diehard soccer fan, and...well, we also had a decent look at a few of Phil's favorite albums, which were these:

Live at the Old Quarter (1977), Townes Van Zandt

John Prine's Bruised Orange (1978)

Uprising (1980), Bob Marley

Split Lip Rayfield's Never Make It Home (2001)

Renewal (2021), Billy Strings

Chatting with Phil was super-fantastic, and I'd be remiss to not encourage you to give both the Walnut Valley Festival as well as the Lovegrass Music Festival consideration when planning your next bit of PTO. Thank you, Phil, and nutrition and health to you all.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of the audio clips contained within this episode, or within any of these episodes, for that matter. In this instance, I poached snippets from a Gregory Isaacs tune called, "Night Nurse Dub 2," from his 1982 release, Night Nurse, c/o Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.

I'm equal parts excited to share this episode and sad that the project has come to a close, but before I get all emotional, know that the Apple Music playlist that serves as a companion to this episode can be found here. If that isn't your platform and you want me to create one for you for yours, D.M. me on Instagram or drop a comment on the YouTube post; happy to do it.

It's Episode 189 then and this is my first crack at a discography-series installment all by my lonesome.

I was explaining this to my son earlier in the week, and he was not only curious but felt bad for me having to do one alone. And then he was stunned when I told him how much longer it takes to record and produce an episode without a guest as well as how much shorter the final product is.

Anyway...I started poking around at the J.J. Cale catalog a few months ago, and I've finally made it through all 15 albums three times. And I really can't tell you what a delight it's been.

Now the challenge will be to avoid my favorites (the playlist), and really step away from his work for a little bit so that it'll be somewhat fresh and enjoyable when I feel like revisiting.

There is so much to appreciate within Cale's rich collection. Crafty lyrics, stellar musicianship from all involved, groove, funk, blues, dexterity, love, lust, companionship, and so on. This exploration has made me a fan for life, and I hope that by sharing it I've piqued the interest of someone else, too.

Cale's albums:

Naturally (1971)

Really (1972)

Okie (1974)

Troubadour (1976)

5 (1979)

Shades (1981)

Grasshopper (1982)

#8 (1983)

Travel-Log (1989)

Number 10 (1992)

Closer to You (1994)

Guitar Man (1996)

To Tulsa and Back (2004)

Roll On (2009)

Stay Around (2019)

Snippets of favorites from each appear chronologically in this episode; full versions on the aforementioned playlist.

Talk to each other when you're out there doing human things in the world. It can make a difference.

copyright disclaimer: The intro and outro clips from this episode are not my property. They come from a Portugal. The Man tune called, "Thunderdome [W.T.A.]," from the 2023 release, Chris Black Changed My Life, c/o Atlantic Recording Corporation.

Ladies and gentlemen -- Please put your hands together for Holly Day!

Holly is a daughter, a sibling, a wife, a mother of two, and a darn fine TikTok'er.

She's also my guest for Episode No. 188.

I had the pleasure of meeting Holly about a decade ago, and she's just as awesome as she was back then. We talked a little bit about growing up, parenting and navigating the world as adults, as employees, and as appreciators of music. Speaking of which, Holly and I took a peek at a few of her favorite albums, which were these:

Salt-N-Pepa's Very Necessary (1993)

Crazy Sexy Cool (1994), TLC

Backstreet Boys' self-titled (1996)

The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), Eminem

Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department (2024)

Reconnecting with Holly was a treat, and you should follow her on TikTok; she's @hollydayerday, and she's real funny. And buy some stuff from her there!

A thousand thank-yous to Holly for making this happen. It was a blast.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio samples contained within this episode. They are snippets from a Mark Knopfler tune called, "Boom, Like That," and you can check it out on his 2003 release, Shangri-La, c/o Straightjacket Songs, Ltd., under exclusive license to Mercury Records Limited.

It has been a hot minute since the last installment of a discography-series episode dropped, and I couldn't be happier than to share that I was able to convince Sammy Sanchez to join me for a breakdown of the King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard catalog.

Sammy and I go all the way back to Two Thousand and Twenty-Two, when I met him for the first time after having his awesome father, Cesar, sit down with me to talk music and life.

I've gotten to know Sammy via these (now five total) podcast conversations, and that lane of my life is richer for it.

In our initial conversation, we talked LCD Soundsystem, Pink Floyd, and Tom Waits. Our second installment peeked into the Tom Waits discography. We did a Beck episode, and a Radiohead episode, and now...it's Kay Gee & the Elle Double-you, baby!

How does one attempt to describe King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard? Well...they're an Australian rock band that has broken the mold of prolific studio recordings. In short, they formed in 2010, and have dropped 30 records in that span, and no, there are no typos in this sentence.

Thirty records!

Beyond that, you just have to see for yourself. They can get heavy. They sometimes journey. And -- from time to time -- they jam. Here's the collection (to the best of our knowledge):

Willoughby's Beach (2011)

12 Bar Bruise (2012)

Eyes Like the Sky (2013)

Float Along -- Fill Your Lungs (2013)

Oddments (2014)

I'm in Your Mind Fuzz (2014)

Quarters! (2015)

Papier Mache Dream Balloon (2015)

Nonagon Infinity (2016)

Flying Microtonal Banana (2017)

Murder of the Universe (2017)

Sketches of Brunswick East (2017)

Polygondwanaland (2017)

Gumboot Soup (2017)

Fishing for Fishies (2019)

Infest the Rats' Nest (2019)

Chunky Shrapnel (2020)

K.G. (2020)

L.W. (2021)

Butterfly 3000 (2021)

Butterfly 3001 (2022)

Ominium Gatherum (2022)

Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms, and Lava (2022)

Made in Timeland (2022)

Laminated Denim (2022)

Changes (2022)

Petro Dragonic Apocalypse (2023)

The Silver Cord (2023)

Flight b741 (2024)

Phantom Island (2025)

And there you have it. And in case you were curious, yes, that was exhausting to type and italicize. So, yes, I can imagine how you totally didn't read it at all.

Regardless, Sammy and I motored through the thing and did so (in my estimation) with some sense of efficiency; we didn't dawdle and we certainly didn't speed.

Needless, to say, I hope there's a way for some folks to find this conversation enjoyable, be they K.G. & the L.W. fans or not. It was certainly fun and rewarding to do it.

Many thanks to Sammy for his knowledge and his energy, and thank you to all of you that support the show.

Cheers.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio samples contained in this episode (or any other, for that matter). These particular selections are clips I poached from a tune called, "Packet Man," by Digital Underground. It can be found on their 1990 release, Sex Packets, and is available to us c/o Tommy Boy Music, LLC.

Allison Mendoza, a.k.a. @buffaloroamks on Instagram, is my guest for Episode No. 186.

Allison is a sister, an aunt, an embroiderer, and a lover of instant-film photography.

She's also a person with whom I enjoyed talking a great deal.

We talked about growing up, family-business life, and -- yes -- we also took a peek at a few of Allison's favorite albums. Those were these:

Amor Prohibido (1994), Selena

Fleetwood Mac's The Dance (1997)

Evermore (2020), Taylor Swift

The 1975's Being Funny in a Foreign Language (2022)

Romance (2024), Fontaines D.C.

Please check out all of Allison's stuff, including her Web site, buffaloromaks.square.site. It's good stuff, and you don't wanna miss it.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio clips contained within this episode, or any of the previous ones, either. In this scenario, I chose a tune by The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble, and it's a tune called, "Sander's Lament," which is off of their self-titled 2015 release, c/o Plaid Room Records LLC.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls -- Please put your virtual hands together for this week's guest of Badass Records podcast, Josephine Tsaur!

Jo' is the fantastic mastermind behind Hidden Gems KC, which you can follow on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and/or YouTube.

Hidden Gems KC is the channel you need to follow to find out about all of the cool stuff you might not know about in Kansas City, so -- as Kid Fry Cook once said -- please run up her numbers.

Jo' and I talked about family, creativity, education, leap taking, discovery, and a bunch more, which included two of Jo's favorite albums:

Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown (2009)

Kpop Demon Hunters (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film) (2025)

I super-enjoyed Jo's energy, and really appreciate her time.

Thank you to Jo', and thank you to all of you that support the podcast.

"Buy a Chrysler!"

copyright disclaimer: For whatever reason, I had an itch to go retro on this one, and so, I did. Regardless, I don't own any of the rights to any of the audio samples contained in this episode (or in any other, for that matter). And -- funny (to me) story -- I Googled something about the podcast the other day, and it listed this track as the official song for the show (which probably explains the itch) in not so many words. And I giggled. And felt proud. I don't think anything should be flagged unless you're actually just clearly trying to make money off of someone else's stuff. But...if you're proppin' it up?! Shouldn't that count as promotional and not cause content to be earmarked? At any rate, in this episode I nabbed snippets of "Inversion Layer" by Robert Walter's 20th Congress. It's off of his 2013 release, Get Thy Bearings, and it's available to both you and me c/o The Royal Potato Family. Never have I ever had anything flagged because of including clips from this tune, and so -- I have long since considered making it the show's official anthem. But I keep not doin' that. Anyway, it's a killer track, and people should know about it.

Please put your hands together and give a warm welcome to the Badass Records Podcast stage...Andrew Dodderidge, ladies and gentlemen!

Andrew is a son, a sibling, and a lover of both music and movies. He's a guy that dabbles in photography, but really gets the creative grease hot when it comes to putting words in print. In fact, he does that very thing for Kansas City's very own, The Pitch.

My guest for Episode No. 184 was kind enough to share a little bit of time with me a few Saturdays ago, and we chatted family, growing up, a Kansas state-college house divided like no other, writing and editing, loss and longing.

We also managed to chat a little bit about a few of Andrew's favorite albums, which were these:

Big Star's #1 Record (1972)

Alligator (2005), The National

Thousand Foot Krutch's Welcome to the Masquerade (2009)

Home, Like NoPlace Is There (2014), The Hotelier

Charli XCX's How I'm Feeling Now (2020)

Follow Andrew on Instagram at @andrewdodderidge, but also -- he's more active on Twitter. And please be sure to check out Andrew's writing for The Pitch at thepitchkc.com/author/andrew-dodderidge.

Many thanks to not only Andrew, but to all of the fine, fine folks at The Pitch that continue to do the heavy lifting to keep that publication alive. Our city is greater for both your efforts and your results.

And thanks to those of you that continue to support the progrum.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio clips contained within this episode. Or any episode, really. In this particular case, I have lifted said snippets from a tune called, "Sugar Craft." It's a track by Medeski, Martin & Wood, and it comes from their 1998 release, Combustication, which is just an absolute treat of a record created by one of the finest trios to ever grace American-rock stages. And we have access to said album c/o Blue Note Records.

Kate Taylor is a daughter, a sibling, a wife, a mom, and an expert craftswoman. She's also my guest for Episode No. 183.

Learn more about Kate's awesome artwork at @matchboxkansascity on Instagram. Find her on Facebook at Matchbox KC, or reach out to her regarding a commission piece you'd like her to create for you at matchboxkansascity at gmail dot com. She's also on Threads.

It was lovely meeting Kate and learning a little bit about her story. She's often posted up at First Fridays, so keep your eyes peeled for her setup there.

Kate and I talked about the awesomeness of being Gen Xers. We also talked about the the fantastic live-music scene in Lawrence, KS (both now and especially when we were coming up). We also talked about a few of Kate's favorite albums, which were these:

Janis Joplin's Pearl (1971)

Hunting High & Low (1985), a-ha

They Might Be Giants' Flood (1989)

On How Life Is (1999), Macy Gray

Many thanks to Kate for carving some time out of her busy schedule and making the trek over to chat with me. Additional thanks to her for the cool gifts she brought me, and thank you to all of you that support the podcast.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio clips contained within this episode. They are cuts from a tune called, "Glide," which Phish released as part of their 1992 record, A Picture of Nectar (c/o Elektra Entertainment).

I can't take credit for it 'cause Suzie told me that one of her friends already made the statement, but typing, saying, or thinking Suzannah Johannes sounds like you're talking about a cousin of Roseanne Rosannadanna.

Regardless...Suzannah Johannes -- my guest for Episode No. 182 -- is a resident of one of the finest towns this side o' The Mississippi'.

It's called Elle Eff Kay if you're keepin' score at home.

Anyway...Suzannah was kind enough to drop by to chew the fat with me about collaborating, writing music, and working on those live-performance chops.

Our chat was also a little timely as Suzannah has a) just released a new album, Kansas City: Hans Bronze Boulevard, which is available on vinyl and via the streaming platforms, and b) a second album coming to us in January: Los Angeles: The Missing Album.

You can get either via her Web site, suzannahjohannes.com, or at her Bandcamp.

I really enjoyed our conversation, though, and suspect that you might, too. We covered growing up in a small town, life's detours, being surrounded by supportive friends and loved ones, and making music. We also touched on a few of Suzannah's favorite albums, which were these:

Astrud Gilberto's The Shadow of Your Smile (1965)

Coney Island Baby (1976), Lou Reed

Sybille Baier's Colour Green (2006)

Hanz Bronze's self-titled release from 2015

Chase Me (2024), Brooke Tuley & the Moon Travelers

So, check out Suzannah's new release, give her a follow on Instagram at @suzannahjohannes, and come see her perform at The Ship, on Thursday, September 11.

copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio clips contained within these episodes. The promo beds, the intro/outro, that is. In this particular case, I sampled Kurt Vile's "Goldtone" from his 2013 release, Wakin' on a Pretty Daze (Deluxe Daze [Post Haze]), c/o Matador Records.

Mikey Wheeler is a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a musician, and a tattoo artist. He's also my guest for Episode No. 181.

Every now and again I wax emotional about what a good human with whom I've had the privilege of sitting on the other side of the table of, and when I do so it is 100 percent not in an effort to speak any less of the other fine folks that've been kind enough to join me.

We've all got a story or stories. We've all rowed the channels of life in one form or other.

Being that this show is what this show is, though, it's difficult to manage my time wisely enough to get folks to sit in the chair opposite mine. And it's a whole other cart of magic beans to land someone that's as sharp, articulate, benevolent, and wise as the likes of a Mikey Wheeler.

I said this while we were rolling, and I don't want to ruin anything by repeating any thing that doesn't warrant it, but this one's an exception: Shouts out to Mikey's mom, Debra, his siblings and his grandma and his uncle. Shouts out to the friends and bandmates Mikey's made along the way. Shouts out to his wife and all his work homeys, too. This is a conversationalist, and were I of the means to launch a podcast network, I'd try to get Mikey to be a part of that content with some consistency.

Mikey earns his living inking humans and he does so down at Windhorse Tattoo. The joint's visible online at windhorserising.com, and you can roll your IRL bones in there at 901 E. 31st Street in downtown KCMO. Give them a buzz at 816-283-0500, and toss 'em a follow on the old IG at @windhorsetattoo. At this very moment, I can't personally speak to the fruits of Mikey's labor, but he's got a handful of repeat customers, is perpetually acquiring new, and -- per our conversation -- he's booked out six to eight months. So if you've ever been on the fence and one of your hesitations has been because you don't know who to go to in Kansas City, pick up the phone and call Windhorse; I suspect they can set you straight.

Anyway...Mikey and I talked about the wild life experience of growing up in a way that didn't necessarily look like that of those around you but winding up grateful for the very manner in which it happened, regardless.

We talked hoops, tatts, Steely Dan, Slint, Mike Patton projects, the glorious benefit of attending absolutely dynamite shows where everyone present is just jazzed to the gills about being there. We talked about the idea of there being two kinds of people -- those who care about humanity + everyone else -- on this planet. We man-crushed over Daniel Day-Lewis like a couple of goobers, and we talked about being in bands and making music.

It was awesome.

Follow the dude on Instagram at @mikeywheelertattooer, and stay tuned for the entirety of our chat; I don't typically edit much out, anyway, but this one clicked the whole way through. It'll be worth your time.

copyright disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the audio clips contained within these episodes. In this one particularly, I lifted snippets from a tune called, "Theme from the Bottom." It's a track from the 1996 record, Billy Breathes, that the greatest band in American rock history, Phish, released, c/o of Elektra Entertainment Group. I'm not doing anything non-Fair Use here, though, YouTube, so please stop blocking me from receiving the monetary sums I'm not yet qualified to earn.

Thank you.