Concert Review: J. Cole at the T-Mobile Center

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I was priced out of J. Cole’s arena tour in 2024. Given the least expensive tickets for the rapper’s return to the T-Mobile Center on Wednesday, August 20, were more than $100, I reckoned I’d be shut out again. Yet a few hours before the concert I spotted a front-row aisle seat in a newly opened “obstructed view” section for an all-in price of $57. Suddenly, "I'm in the building and I'm feeling myself!"

Could I see? Sometimes! I was situated thirty feet from an on-stage drink and towel stand Cole visited between songs in his two-hour performance. Could I hear Cole and his live band clearly? Not really! I was behind the banks of speakers pointed at the capacity audience of approximately 14,000. I was glad to be surrounded by women who shouted the words to most of the songs. Their cues allowed me to immediately recognize personal favorites like “Middle Child” and “A Tale of 2 Citiez.”

Many people went home raving about the child who went bar-for-bar with Cole on Benny the Butcher’s “Johnny P’s Caddy.” I can’t stop thinking about one of the night’s few glitches. Situated above the tech crew, I marveled at a spate of finger-pointing when Cole’s microphone cut out and a replacement couldn’t be quickly located. I was also surprised at the indifferent reception hometown producer Conductor Williams received during his opening set.

Cole insisted he belongs on a Mount Rushmore of rap during a lengthy manifesto early in the concert. His grind and talent are irrefutable. Yet the intrinsic corniness on full display in Kansas City locks him out of my top four. On the other hand, Cole’s everyman persona makes him unique among rap superstars. He may not be in my top four, but he’s a shoe-in for my top twelve.

Album Review: Evil Island- Terraform the Afterlife

I’ve always been embarrassed for old guys who gradually abandoned their once-fervent passion for rock and roll. Then I hit sixty. The sound of hotly tabbed rock bands like Geese, Wednesday and Wet Leg made me wish I was listening to jazz or classical music during the past several years.

It’s not as if I turned soft. The sudden fashionability of yacht-rock- a form of music for people who don’t like music- mystifies me. Instead, only punk-rooted bands like Militarie Gun and Poison the Well satisfy me. I’m pleased to have stumbled upon a similarly dangerously scuzzy recording.

Terraform the Afterlife rings my bell. The new album by Evil Island makes me feel like a hormonal teenager. The sleazy nihilism of songs like “Death by Cop” is precisely the sort of wild-eyed idiocy I want from rock. The bubblegum screamo of “Tiger Baby” and the Stooges update "Melted Heart" are also gloriously dumb.

"T-Hexx" conveys what I imagine the sensation of a first hit of street meth feels like. “Evil Island Death Cult National Anthem” might be a field holler transmitted from hell by shackled members of the New York Dolls. “Blinding Rage” resembles Royal Trux doing a sea shanty. Thanks partly to Evil Island, I won’t be going gentle into that good night.

My Songs of the Summer

Original image of the Oregon coast, August 2026, by There Stands the Glass.

The annual song of the summer media cycle is inherently ridiculous. I’m playing along this year in order to acknowledge The Popper’s regional hit “Welcome to Kansas City.” As it's a humid 85 degrees as I type these words at 10 a.m., the doom jazz, solo piano and avant-garde improvisations I ordinarily favor are as appealing as a tall glass of milk. Consequently, ten frothy songs including sweltering covers of classics by the Human League, Robert Earl Keen and Nelly claim spots on my short list of ebullient favorites.

1. The Popper- “Welcome to Kansas City”
Landmark that!

2. Don Toliver- “Gemstone”
Glittery.

3. Al Xapo- “Fosta Fosta”
Blistering.

4. Meshell Ndegeocello featuring Cat Power- “Don’t You Want Me”
This much is true.

5. Shenseea- “Brucksweat”
Scorching.

6. Charli xcx- "Wink Wink"
Eyes wide open..

7. Turnpike Troubadours featuring Sierra Hull- “Feeling Good Again”
Happy hour.

8. Karol G- “Matadora”
From her disappointing new album.

9. Oscar Maydon- “Sinaloka”
From his glorious summer-themed new album. 

10. The Booyah! Kids- “rwm”
Must be the money.

Book Review: Gary Stewart: I Am From the HonkyTonks, by Jimmy McDonough

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

As a fourth-generation Kansan raised on Waylon and Willie, quail hunting and bass fishing, I’m probably typecast as a country boy by a lot of people. A harrowing new biography of Gary Stewart reminds me that I’m little more than a precious city slicker in spite of my Midwestern drawl and the hereditary dirt under my fingernails. 

When “Drinkin’ Thing”, "Out of Hand" and “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)” were among my family’s favorite sing-alongs in 1974, I was unable to intuit the backwoods darkness behind Stewart’s first radio hits. The ill-fated musician was a real-deal Kentucky hillbilly.

Jimmy McDonough’s gonzo-style documentation of the terrible choices, devastating losses and self–sabatoge of Stewart and his extended family goes far beyond standard Nashville chicanery. In addition to the constant backdrop of alcohol, drugs and infidelity, Gary Stewart: I Am From the Honky Tonks contains wooly tales of organized crime, chicken fighting and airplane crashes.

Stewart’s considerable intelligence and artistic talent were swamped by a chaotic rustic upbringing. Repeatedly described as childlike throughout McDonough’s 500-page doorstop, Stewart was a stereotypical genius without a lick of sense. His inability to assume autonomy over his career is maddening.

Unlike Stewart, I rarely handle guns. I’m not even sure where my shotguns are stored. And the accumulation of hard knocks I’ve suffered would merely equate to a bad week in Stewart’s abbreviated life. McDonough’s excellent work causes me to thank God I come from a line of Kansas teachers, preachers and farmers rather than coalminers in an impoverished Kentucky holler.

Album Review: Skúli Sverrisson and Bill Frisell- For All Your Flowers

I’m blessed to suddenly find myself spending much of my time in the company of babies. Profound reflection accompanies the obligatory cycle of overseeing sleeping, crying and diaper changes. For All Your Flowers is an ideal companion to my soul searching. Not only does the hushed tone of the new duet album by Skúli Sverrisson and Bill Frisell not wake napping infants, it stimulates mindful reflection on life’s beginnings and endings. Sentimental but not mundane, the serene 2025 recording by the Icelandic bassist and the American guitarist is a lowkey stunner.

Barroom Boor

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

My regrets are infinite. Most every honest person who reaches my age shares the painful trait. I’m often reminded of a relatively minor but nevertheless unacceptable incident in my past as I attend performances in spaces ranging from barrooms to amphitheaters.

Riding high during SXSW in 1997, I met up with a few of my clients at an Amy Rigby showcase somewhere along the 6th Street corridor. My memory places the gig in a space that was more like a glorified hallway than a proper venue.

The configuration meant that most members of the audience of several dozen were within twenty feet of Rigby and her band. The intimacy was marred by my oblivious insistence on chatting up clients during the performance.

I regretfully recalled my boorish behavior the next day. The guilt I feel about the incident is undiminished nineteen years later. Every time I grow livid at rude chatter during musical performances, I’m forced to check myself before chiding the offenders.

Album Review: Shannon Lay- Past the Veil

Folk promoters, publicists and musicians regularly accuse me of willfully neglecting- or worse still, disrespecting- the form. As the selection of my 2025 Person of the Year indicates, I’m innocent of such charges.

I am guilty, however, of resolutely dismissing tired soundalikes and retro nostalgists. Only extraordinary songwriting compels me to assent to conventional folk settings. The use of unconventional staging by imaginative folk artists such as Willi Carlisle often pushes their music over the top.

Rather than indulging Mimi Fariña and Tom Rush clones, I’m drawn to innovators like Shannon Lay. Even as it references the vintage British folk-rock sounds of Sandy Denny, Nick Drake and Renaissance, elaborate production makes Lay’s new album Past the Veil seem futuristic.

The folk roots are never washed out by the psychedelic drone washes on “Whom Gods Destroy,” trip-hop bumping on “Room For Less,” fun-house ambience on “Sky Song” and cloudy pop on “I Need More Water.”  To paraphrase Woody Guthrie, these sounds are my sounds.

July 2026 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer for Gran Teatre del Liceu’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Falstaff” by There Stands the Glass.

The Top Ten Albums of July 2026 (through July 26)
1. Play Time- Magic Object
My review.

2. Lesley Mok- transient
My review.

3. Charli xcx- Music, Fashion, Film
Pop nihilism.

4. Oscar Maydon- Música En Mi Jetski 
The cure for the summertime blues.

5. Matt Otto- Ephemeral
My review.

6. Nu Jazz- Un Jazz
My review.

7. Orquesta Akokán- América!
Mambo!

8. Punch Brothers- The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers
Highfalutin pickin’.

9. Willow- The Thread
Arena-jazz.

10. Jack White- Frozen Charlotte
He’s back in Wichita.

The Top Three Reissues and Reimaginings of July 2026 (through July 26)
1. Gary Stewart- One Track Mind
Jukin’.

2. Seamus Blake- EH!: Plays the Music of Eddie Harris
Trying to make it real.

3. Nicholas Payton and Butcher Brown- A Supreme Blue
A bad idea made good.

The Top Ten Songs of July 2026 (through July 26)
1. Shenseea- “Brucksweat”
Sweltering.

2. Larry June and DJ Fresh- “Organic Motion”
Blurry.

3. Tinashe- “Crash Out”
Psychotic reaction.

4. Ken Carson with Playboi Carti- “deaf note”
What?

5. Fathers- “STUB”
Nate Smith, Kiefer, Carrtoons and Kenny Beats.

6. Dinner Party- "Piece of Mind"
Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin and 9th Wonder.

7. Syd featuring James Fauntleroy- "Any Time"
Diamonds and pearls.

8. Nick Hakim- “The Reason”
Slow jam.

9. Show Me the Body- “Do What’s Right (Happy)”
Backsliding.

10. Rome Streetz featuring Westside Gunn- "Marathon Or Race"
Tortoise and hare.

The Top Ten Performances of July 2026 (through July 26)
1. Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams and John Doe at Starlight Theatre
My review.

2. Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society’s “A Convocation of Exoplanets” at Charlotte Street Foundation
My review.

3. Graham Nash at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
My review.

4. Gerald Spaits’ Sax & Violins at Greenwood Social Hall
My review.

5. Drew Williams, Ben Tervort and Brian Steever at the Ship
My Instagram snapshot.

6. The Overland Park Civic Band at Thompson Park
My Instagram clip.

7. JWB with Ernest Melton at 515 Music Hub
My Instagram clip.

8. Trinity Jazz Ensemble at Prairie Baptist Church
My Instagram clip.

9. Eboni Fondren at Vine Street Brewing
My Instagram snapshot.

10. Sally’s Tomato at Black Dolphin
My Instagram clip.

The previous monthly recap is here.

Album Review: Nu Jazz- Un Jazz

I’ve been on a Frank Zappa jag since hearing a startling arrangement of “Peaches en Regalia” at Greenwood Social Hall on July 1. For better or worse, I’m finally receptive to the late iconoclast’s caustic sensibility.

A new episode of Andrew Hickey’s phenomenal A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs podcast further enhanced my appreciation. I even (tried) to watch Uncle Meat, the experimental Zappa film completed in 1987.

The Zappa immersion prepared me for Un Jazz, the hilariously confrontational new album by a sextet operating under the moniker Nu Jazz. Zappa almost certainly would have appreciated the room-clearing combination of jazz fusion, heavy metal, prog-rock, punk and hyperpop.

Fire-Toolz is among the contemporary artists who have cleared a path for Nu Jazz, but the astonishing musicianship and knowing comedic intent of Un Jazz compels me to bang my head while laughing out loud. My three-week Zappa binge ends here.

Album Review: Lesley Mok- transient

There was a time when the earliest forms of gangster rap and the heaviest strains of extreme metal could scare me. These days, only the most carefully calculated and absurdly rarified sounds are capable of inducing fear.

“In the Funhouse” and “Weightless Light,” consecutive tracks on Lesley Mok‘s new album transient, give me the willies. Scores to my existential anxieties, the pieces hit me like muffled sounds permeating my coffin in the crypt of a church. 

Other tracks are less nightmarish. Portions of “berserk” resemble a meth-addled homage to Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit.” The delicate minimalism of “Caught by the Tides” might appeal to fans of Max Richter.

I became aware of Mok, a New York based percussionist, through their contributions to avant-garde jazz albums like last year’s excellent A Reflection Distorts Over Water. The occasionally terrifying ambient drones of transient are something altogether different.