We welcome into our studio Ben Wendt. Ben is a long-time KC musician, currently fronting the band Land Lion and he also runs The RINO, a great venue in North KC. Ben and his nine bandmates are getting ready to take the stage at Boulevardia on Saturday, June 14. Find them on the Fountain Stage aka Elevate Stage by the Crown Center fountains at 2:30PM.

On the show, we’ll hear music from Ben’s catalog, including music from Land Lion and some of his past projects, The Way Way Back and Crystal Baller. We’ll also hear music from some acts he’s excited to see at Boulevardia X , including The Freedom Affair, Kat King, and The Creepy Jingles. Also, we’ll hear from a band that’s headed to The Rino on Saturday, June 7, toasterbath.

We’re also going to try to squeeze in a 7 Questions segment with Ben, since he’s a first-time guest on the show. If we pull off all of this in an hour, it’s going to be magical! 

We’ll dive into a stack of new releases from KC bands and musicians.

We’ll hear new music from these acts with upcoming gigs:

• Kate Cosentino with Comet Tide on Percheron on Wed., May 28 on the rooftop of Crossroads Hotel

• The Village Prairie on Wed., May 28 at The Beer Hall at Boulevard Brewery for The Early Show

• Nan Turner on Friday, May 30, “Sequins Before Noon Noon” musical at Charlotte Street (3333 Wyoming)

• Say That Again on Sat., May 31 at The Ship with Doglava and Flash Floods

• Jamogi on Friday, June 6 at KC Pride and on Saturday, June 14 at BLVDIA

• Zion Isaiah on June 10 at Manor Records

• Paris Williams on Saturday, June 14 at Boulevardia

• Ryan Manuel on Friday, June 20 at Blind Box BBQ at Village West

After that, we’ll hear from some more musicians who have also been busy in the studio: Sunvale, Mad Joy, The Beatrix Project, The Human (Medici + Ty Faizon featuring Paris Williams), and Mark Vick.

At the top of the show we’ll hear about a special performance happening this Friday called “Sequins Before Noon”, it’s a musical written and directed by Nan Turner. Our very own producer, Bella is part of the production and she’ll give us some insight about the big, FREE performance happening this Friday at the Charlotte Street Foundation.

We welcome into our studios Makayla Scott from the band Honeybee. Their song "Charmed Life" has been in rotation on The Bridge, and they're getting ready to release a brand new EP, Midtown Girl on Friday, June 6. Today on the show, we'll play the entire album and hear stories about each song from Makayla and she'll do a 7 Questions segment with us.

We'll also preview their special EP Release Show, happening on Friday, June 6 at The Ship, HONEYBEE EP RELEASE SHOW! With Chloe Jacobson & Dunes Day. We'll play music from Chloe Jacobson and Dune's Day.

To kick off the show, our opening bumper is from David Luther, "Home To Kansas City." David Luther has an album release show on Thursday at the recordBar for his brand new album Who You Are, along with Lauren Lovell & the Midnight Spliffs and Teri Quinn.

We welcome Shaun Crowley of Manor Fest and Manor Records into our studio. Manor Fest 7 is coming up very soon, 8 days, 20 venues, with 60+ acts. The fest is a massive undertaking, and we'll get the scoop from Shaun Crowley.

Manor Fest 7 takes place over two weeks: May 21 to 24 and May 28 to 31. For the full lineup, schedule, and more info, go to: https://www.manorrecords.com/manorfest7

On the show, we'll be playing music from several acts on the lineup, including (depending on time): Jamogi, Big Fat Cow, Liney Blu, Natalie Prauser, Jocelyn Olivia Nixon of The Creepy Jingles, Fritz Hutchison, PURE XTC, Shay Lyriq, Kadesh Flow, ALBER, Lava Dreams, and Paris Williams with Saving Miles Lemon.

We welcome Mikal Shapiro into our studios. Mikal has been making music, films, and creating art for a long time in KC and beyond! Back in 2021, Mikal facilitated the successful transition of the Kansas City Folk Festival from an event hosted by Folk Alliance International into its own non-profit and free-standing event. The free event is on Saturday, May 17, it's an all-day city festival that celebrates the music and arts of our neighborhoods, region, and beyond. It all takes place at Washington Square Park, near Crown Center.

On the show, we'll talk about the fest with Mikal and hear music from some of the acts on the lineup, including Sunny War, Dalima Kapten, Jamogi and the Jammers, Pheenix leeor, and Beth Watts Nelson. It should be a good conversation with great music, and we'll give you the ins and outs of KC Folk Fest.

After that, we'll see where we are on time and talk about other upcoming free shows around KC.

Michael Tipton and Kristopher Bruders (as part of Copper Threading) are part of a brand new concert series called "The Early Show", happening at Boulevard Beer Hall/BLVD Tours & Rec Center every Wednesday from May 14 to July 31. It's a free, all-ages concert from 6-8PM. Catch Michael B. Tipton & The Scoundrels there on Wednesday, May 14 and Copper Threading on Wednesday, May 21.

We'll hear music from Danny McGaw, he is part of a new, free, live music series at Char Bar in Westport, kicking off this Thursday with Alicia Stockman. Catch Danny McGaw there on Thursday, June 19.

And then we'll hear what would've been one of my favorite songs of 2023, but I missed it, music from Kari King. She's part of a free concert series at Blind Box BBQ (at Legends) on Friday, May 30.

We are cramming as much as we can into the hour-long show.

We’ll highlight three album release shows, Star Wars Day aka May The Fourth, International Jazz Day (April 30), a 30th anniversary repressing, eight brand new songs, and 10 of the acts you’ll hear music from have an upcoming gig, including these:

• Stranded in the City, April 29 at The Ship, May 16 at B.B.'s Lawnside BarB-Q

• Julie Bennett Hume, May 1 at The RINO for her album release show

• Drew Six, May 1 at City Market Park for a new concert series, River Market Melodies

• Les Izmore, May 2 at The Ship for KCulture Building Jaylen Ward, Collidescope, & more

• Kat King, May 2 at Lemonade Park for Lemonade Social: Husbands, JW Francis

• Ernest Melton, May 4 at Manor Records for a Songbird Session

• Kadesh Flow, MAY THE 4TH (be with you) at The Ship with Professor Shyguy, and Ohm-I

• SHE SAID, May 10 at recordBar for their album release show

• The Greeting Committee, June 14 at Boulevardia

We’ll be playing brand new music from about a dozen KC area musicians and bands. So much new music is coming out, we’re excited to share as much as we can during the show!

Several of the acts on this week’s show have upcoming gigs:

• St. George & The Dragons, April 23 at Knuckleheads with David Luther

• Bobcat Attack, April 23 at miniBar with Minka, FACEFACE, and Lake Love

• OLIVIA FOX, April 30 on The Rooftop of Crossroads Hotel, along with DJ and EJ (David & EvanJohn)

• Kemet Coleman, King Kemet album release show on April 25 at The Ship with DJ SKEME, DJ Maxx Gruv, and Emily Moore

• The Soul Activators, May 17 at Lemonade Park with Carlton Rashad and the Guys

• Radkey, May 24 at Lemonade Park for Radfest 3: with Frogpond, The Creepy Jingles, and GASCAN

We’ll also hear music from these musicians who have been busy in the studio, PURE XTC, Honeybee, Kuribroh, Kangaroo Knife Fight, and TaRon Graham.

We welcome into our studio one of my favorite humans, Steve Tulipana. For years on our show, we have asked our guests “What KC musician has heavily impacted you?” and the TOP answer is Steve Tulipana.

Tune in at 6PM and we’ll talk about the upcoming Season to Risk tour, play a new S2R song, and talk about their Record Store Day release. We’ll talk about the movie, Sounds Of The City, which Steve was just featured in. Steve (and his amazing teams) run three venues in Kansas City - recordBar, miniBar, and Lemonade Park which will open for its 6th season next month. We’ll run through the Lemonade Park calendar and hear music from some acts on its lineup, including The String & Return, Company Retreat, Keo&Them, The Soul Activators, Brother Moses, and maybe more.

In addition to Season To Risk having a KC tour stop on the books, April 23 at recordBar, many of Steve’s other bands have upcoming gigs, we’ll talk about those gigs and hear music from some of them:

• 04/20/25 Dan Jones and The Squids with mssv, Mike Bagetta & Stephen Hodges, and Mike Watt at recordBar

• 05/13/25 Roman Numerals with Gang Of Four at Knuckleheads Kansas

• 05/16/25 MEN of MEN (Take On Bowie) at The Ship

• 06/05/25 Drop A Grand with Peelander-Z at recordBar

Tune in at 6PM on Tuesday for a great conversation about KC music and for a great selection of music. It should be a good one.

We’re back at it with more new releases! Through the first quarter of 2025, we’ve already logged 430+ releases and we’re happy to share a dozen new ones with you this week on the show.

Tune in and you’ll hear the new single from Samantha Fish. Her new album “Paper Doll” comes out on April 25 and then you can see her on tour at The Truman on Saturday, May 10.

We’ll also hear new music from Eddie Moore, Saving Miles Lemon, Chu-Cho and Schwem, Talking Backwards, Champ, Nan + The One Nite Stands, Via Luna, Stephonne, Shelby Floyd, and Jared Bond.

We’ll dive into a stack of new releases from KC bands and musicians.

Kicking off the show, we’ll debut the brand new single from Hembree, “Don’t Look Down” - then catch them on Saturday at Warehouse On Broadway with Post Sex Nachos and Paris Williams.

Then we’ll hear music from Me Like Bees (at The Bottleneck on 4/12), Danielle Ate the Sandwich, Honeybee, David Luther (at Lucia on 4/18), IVORY BLUE, Car Microwave (at miniBar on 5/2), Mad Joy, and Angie Fights Crime.

We’ll also hear Kansas City’s Theme for The FIFA World Cup from Tech N9ne (at Boulevardia on 6/14). In case you missed it, The World Cup is happening in June/July 2026 and KC is one of 16 host cities. Each city was given a base track to use, dress up, and make their own.

Did you know Kansas City is the smallest of the 16 host cities in North America? With that, what city’s World Cup Theme do you think has the most spins on Spotify? We’ll talk about it on the show today at 6PM.

We’ll wrap up the show with a (politely) persistent musician from Des Moines, Dan Tedesco. He’s emailed me six times and asked us to check out his music, we’ll share one of his songs, and if you like what you hear you can catch him at Knuckleheads this Saturday.