The way they were…
Those of you who halfway know me, understand that I’m not given to shameless plugs…
Not in print anyway.
That said I’m about to make an exception as I reach back into my dark, hazy past to the late 1980s/early 1990s when I was more-or-less the go-to promoter in KC and Lawrence for up-and-coming alternative rock acts.
Artists like They Might Be Giants, Romantics, Violent Femmes, Dead Kennedys, Living Color, Pixies, Alex Chilton, Jonathan Richman, Alejandro Escobedo Butthole Surfers, Indigo Girls, Timbuk 3, Husker Dü, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Replacements, Wall of Voodoo, Soul Asylum and a band called Drivin N Cryin.
The list goes on and for seven years I promoted many of the top alternative rock acts of the day.
And on Saturday one of my all-time favorite live bands – Drivin N Cryin – will take the stage at Knuckleheads Saloon in the East Bottoms.
Let me be clear; don’t miss this show.
The first or second time Drivin N Cryin played KC was at a tiny club on 31st Street just east of Main called Epitath. The club was run by a young couple, graduates of the Kansas City Art Institute and the room the band played in was barely large enough for the three band members, their gear and maybe 25 or so smushed-in attendees. As always, it was an amazing, high intensity performance.
If I stretched my memory a bit – but not the truth – I could probably tell you some fairly out there tales of the bands many trips here and to Lawrence. Possibly even some incriminating ones.
Ah, but I’ll relegate those to the dustbins of concerts past, and merely advise you once again not to miss this show.
Singer songwriter Kevin Kinney was and remains a creative force to be reckoned with along with longtime partner-in-crime Tim Nielsen. And for this tour the band is being joined by alt-country band Jason and the Scorchers guitarist Warner Hodges.
“Over the course of seven albums and more than a decade, the Georgia band Drivin N Cryin has made some appealingly ragged Southern-rock anthems, as well as some remarkably tender love songs,” reviewer Stephen Thompson wrote more than a dozen years ago. “It’s even ventured into Def Leppard-style hard rock…which should give you an idea of the group’s occasional identity crises.”
“This was a band that wanted to sing Springsteen-like ballads to the sensitive kids while rocking out like Led Zeppelin with the stoners,” Pop Matters Ed Whitlock wrote two years ago.
Get the picture?
See you there!
The Romantics ??? You must be that guy from Firm Productions.
BUMP
His name used to be Hearne Fritz. He then went by Chris Christopher. Then Harley told him he should go by Chris Fritz and the rest, as they say, is history.
that harley didn’t actually chime (blunder?) in and agree with you is a miracle — knowing of course that he knows all, sees all, and is never, EVER, wrong.
i think you dodged a bullet there, pw.
Fly Me Courageous…
D’n’C’ – Man, I loved that band back in the day! Scarred But Smarter, Whisper Tames the Lion, Fly Me Courageous, etc. They put on a great show. Sadly, old man age requires about a 2-week notice so I can make necessary babysitter arrangements and/or get the hall pass from the old lady so I’m likely out. But, if you’re looking for a good time rock n roll show, you won’t be disappointed!
I can’t believe you didn’t list YO LA TENGO. The finest of the fine.
Anything with Warner will shred.
Great show Hearne, thanks for the heads up.
“Kevin Kinney”
It is spelled Kevn.