Event review: KDHX fans and DJs share love, music and chaos at Midwest Mayhem at the City Museum, Thursday, May 10

Funky Butt Brass Band outside the City Museum at Midwest Mayhem 2012

Funky Butt Brass Band outside the City Museum. Photo by Sara Finke.

St. Louis music fans of all stripes gathered at the City Museum for Midwest Mayhem on Thursday evening to celebrate with the city’s independent radio station, 88.1 KDHX.

While walking towards the entrance one could glimpse the familiar school bus extending over the street as the mantis praying from above seemed to bless the mayhem ahead.

The night began with the sounds of Bob Reuter’s Alley Ghost welcoming patrons at the first floor Whale Stage (Reuter is host of Bob’s Scratchy Records on Friday afternoons on 88.1 KDHX). The crowd continued to grow throughout the evening as attendees wandered and climbed through four floors of entertainment including an excellent variety of live music, indoor and outdoor playgrounds, spin sessions by DJs, burlesque performers and even an in-house vintage clothing shop featuring its own side stage.

Like KDHX, the City Museum is ever evolving. Areas under construction at last year’s event were now open to exploration as renovations were being done on new sections. The evening was highlighted by musical acts ranging from traditional folk and country to modern rock and electronica.

Opening on the second floor, synth-pop group Née provided dance tunes beneath white icicle lights hanging from the ceiling. Meanwhile, the third floor was washed over by the folk and country blend of the Five and Dimers. On the other side of the building, burlesque performers entertained a packed house with three sets that included a grand finale male performer.

As the night continued, featured drinks by New Belgium and Sailor Jerry ensured a well-lubricated evening. Javier Mendoza was second to take the Whale Stage; the St. Louis veteran offered up a selection of singer-songwriter rock tunes attracting familiar fans and passers by who were simply following their ears.

Up again on the third floor, the Lawn Chair Brigade was present and in full effect as they marched around, snap-folding their chairs and providing a welcomed pre-show for the KDHX Blues Band (which included long-time 88.1 KDHX DJs Papa Ray, Art Dwyer, Ron Edwards and Michael McHenry). The crowd continued to expand as the band wielded wildly entertaining harmonica solos over lively and tight blues jams, attracting a wide variety of listeners.

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Posted by | May 11, 2012 | Concerts, KDHX, Music | Comment 

88.1 KDHX DJ Spotlight: Rob Levy of Juxtaposition

Roy Kasten

An 88.1 KDHX DJ for 17 years, Rob Levy still calls Juxtaposition, his show that airs every Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. Central, “a work of chaos.”

A few weeks ago Rob and I met at Meshuggah coffee house in St. Louis to talk about how writing, the ’80s and KDHX have influenced his musical taste and affected his long-running show.

Kate Williamson: How did you get started at KDHX?

Rob Levy: I got out of college in ’95 and I had a broadcasting degree with a marketing degree like every kid who comes out of a mass communication degree. I had done, in college, a radio show before, so I was kind of looking around, and my options if I wanted to work in radio were to go to Sikeston or Warrenton or some of those places and bounce around.

Back in the day people would go to a station in Warrenton or Sparta, Illinois, they’d be there for six months, there’d be a change, then they’re off to some other station. And I didn’t really want to mess with that. So I was really looking for marketing and PR jobs and trying to get a radio job, but figuring I wasn’t going to. This was right around the time that the Point was in full swing, but I think I was a little too rough for that in terms of stuff I played and my style.

So, I’d listened to KDHX and I recognized a lot of people from shows and stuff growing up. I just thought one day on a lark I was going to call down there and see what would happen. And I called and it wasn’t organized like it is now. It was like literally going through four or five people. I got a call back and it was like, “What would you like to do?” and I had a demo and it was a cassette. I got a slot, it was an overnight, I started off doing 3 to 5 [in the morning] which in a way was good because I got a feel for the station, and they kind of know you really want to do it. I don’t remember much about the overnights other than I just sort of played what I wanted to play and did requests and tried not to make anyone mad. And then a slot opened up in the afternoon. I did an afternoon show for about a year, and then I ended up in the evenings.

Did the style of the show change? The type of music?

Yeah, kind of. When I was on in the afternoon they didn’t have the schedule set up like they do now where they try to make everything flow into the next show. So I was playing everything from Fat Boy Slim, Billy Bragg, to Front 242 in the afternoon, which in a way was probably kind of jarring. Once I got the evening slot I thought I’m going to be able to do some stuff with this so let me build what I’m going to do. So then it was like ok, I’m always going to want to play new music. I’ve always thought the core of KDHX was new music and I’ve always tried to play new music.

I’m always going to try to play stuff that people aren’t going to hear anywhere else because I think the basic reason people listen to the station still is because they want to hear programming that is alternative to anything else they’re going to hear. But I always have tried to play something new or something really cool ahead of time before it comes out but also mix in something like these great records from the ’80s that people may not have heard or may have forgotten about. And I don’t really put any handcuffs on what I want to play. I try to think about the show that comes on before me — Dr. Jeff and Kate after me — in terms of what I’m doing and what other shows are on during the day. So it’s about how it’s all going to fit together as a puzzle and try to make it work.

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Posted by | April 3, 2012 | Interviews, KDHX | 2 Comments 

88.1 KDHX DJ Spotlight: JJ Loy of Ska’s the Limit

88.1 KDHX DJ JJ Loy, host of Ska's the Limit

Sara Finke

Every Saturday night JJ Loy keeps the two-decade run of Ska’s the Limit bouncing from one foot to the other.

While he took a break from teaching Javascript, we bantered about the current state of local and imported ska as well as the steady hold that ska has over him.

Joe Duepner: How long have you been at KDHX?

JJ Loy: About three and a half years now.

You started out doing the show?

Yeah, I’d done a ska-themed podcast that Paul Stark (previous host for 16 years) knew about. Paul stepped down to do the Musical Merry-Go-Round show and he told KDHX that he was going to end Ska’s the Limit. A few people said they didn’t want the show to go away as it was a weekend staple. I was on the list of possible hosts, and when they asked me if I wanted it, and I took it. So I didn’t have to go through a lot of the rigmarole that other hosts have.

I mean they did stick me on in the middle of the night for about a year to prove I could do it, but other than that…

Where did the logo come from? I really like it.

I had that designed. Before Ska’s the Limit had the standard checkerboard thing. It was done by Steve Kitchen from Combination13. He does skate decks and album covers for bands. He did it up real nice.

The way you said Ska’s the Limit, are you not a fan of the name?

Well I feel like it’s kind of a joke name.

But a lot of ska bands are pun names.

That’s a trend that’s kind of ending though. I think that did the scene a kind of disservice. You’d have trouble selling yourself today if your name was the Veal Skallipinis or something. There’s a lot of stigma attached to the word ska as well even though the music the current scene is playing isn’t the kind of ska that people hate.

Which would be what?

You know, ska punk has probably got the worst reputation. I’m thinking the Reel Big Fishes and No Doubts. The ones with the really big names are the ones that make people think, “Yeah I know what ska is now and I hate it.” It’s not that I hate the name, but it’s more that I think I could find a more fitting one. Honestly I play only about half ska. Mostly it’s Jamaican and retro music. Most of the bands that you would call a ska band are playing more reggae than ska. So I think it’s not a fair descriptor.

So this fourth wave of ska, it’s more back to roots?

There was an argument about that for a while. It doesn’t seem to be a wave anymore. There aren’t peaks or breaks, just a steady movement. I think the Internet has kind of normalized the popularity of genres. It’s not such a flash in the pan or revival to revile or to backlash. I’d say for 10 years now it’s been steady growth. At least on the early reggae scene. Not so much regarding the ska punk stuff.

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Posted by | March 12, 2012 | Interviews, KDHX, Music | 1 Comment 

Marley / Volare: Bob Marley memories on the occasion of his 67th birthday

wikimedia.commons.org / Ueli Frey

Now and again in addition to co-hosting the reggae radio program Positive Vibrations on KDHX I do club spins. No chatter, just a lotta platter. Roots, dub, dancehall from eighties to present as long as the music’s conscious, or at least thoughtfully sexy and wittily worded, with a couple of shakes of rock steady.

One October Saturday night a couple of years ago, I did the early set, 6-10 p.m., at Atomic Cowboy. As regular denizens know, even among nightspots in the Manchester Grove, Atomic is set apart, a 3 a.m. nightclub-restaurant (better than average food, too) with music ranging from hip hop and house DJs to indie rock and jam bands. Servers can be expected to wear a mélange of leather, denim, piercings and tattoos, a point I mention only because of the contradistinction soon to appear. I was in their outdoor space on a raised stage in front of the patio and covered bar. A bonfire to my left would begin as soon as the sun went down.

The night was warm with a light breeze. First hour I came out with old time Treasure Isle, original riddims sliding into newer versions, same thing with Studio One, stirred and shaken with top-shelf dub. People arrived in trickles. Next hour I flicked the discs experimentally, Ernie Ranglin merging into Thievery Corporation, a Bob Marley “Stir it Up” running into a Nigerian tune with the same structure, and ran a sequence of new takes on old riddims, including Bob Marley’s “Coming in From the Cold” and Desmond Dekker’s “(007) Shanty Town.”

The real energy was at a picnic table, eight middle-aged folks of Indian descent hunched into each other, six on the benches and two on chairs on each end. A couple of the women wore saris, but the rest were in western attire. Several times I looked their way; the people didn’t seem perceptibly affected by the music. They ordered a full dinner and several rounds of drinks. Off to the side, purely for decoration, the bonfire was lit.

In the last hour I put on a dub and went to the bar so I could start tapping the $20 credit that came as part of the deal. One of the men from the picnic table was standing there, and I nodded at him. He began talking.

The man was sixty-ish, wearing the retiree’s regulation plaid shirt and a crisp haircut, and bore the aura of an immigrant freshly dispensed from the church van for an elderhostel lecture. He and his kin had heard my jams for a solid hour and a half, and I would have enjoyed being reggae ambassador for a minute but I had set the music loud. I could hear almost nothing beyond chin-kuhchun, chin-kuhchin of guitar, backbeat and the wicked Prince Jammy-produced crash of the cymbals.

I began thinking the man was a pharmacist, likely somebody unaccustomed to nightclubs. Maybe he and the missus originated in New Delhi early that morning and had been in transit all day. I began trying to imagine his story. They had just gotten off the plane, and the diasporan relatives had taken the weary couple directly to midtown St. Louis for their first night in America. To Atomic Cowboy for dinner and music. This must all seem very strange.

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Posted by | February 1, 2012 | Culture, KDHX, Local, Music | 3 Comments 

88.1 KDHX DJ Spotlight: Jason Robinson of the Mixtape

Sara Finke

“You shouldn’t do a job just to do it; you should do a job because you give a damn,” says Jason Robinson, host of the Mixtape on 88.1 KDHX.

Now that he’s settled into his new, earlier time slot (Monday evenings, 11 p.m.-1 a.m. Central), the father of two and member of St. Louis rock band the Orbz paused for a discussion about music, life, mixtapes and how it all comes together.

Matt Champion: Let’s start with an easy one.

Jason Robinson: Sure.

How did you get started with KDHX?

Well, I started volunteering after I met [KDHX Co-Executive Director] Bev Hacker. I was doing my undergrad program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville majoring in communications, and one of my projects was to talk to someone who was a director at a station to get the feel for how it is day to day. I visited the offices over on Euclid and it was really interesting. I got to learn about how to volunteer and I picked up a packet that day and was like, “I’m going to take the first class, do orientation and become a member.” So that would have been about 10 years ago at the ripe old age of 20.

I had a nice interview with Bev and got interested right then. So I became a member, put in a demo and waited and waited until I heard from Andy [Coco, Production Manager] then cut another demo. At the time the name of the show was Ninja Rock Radio. I was working doing production and one of the things was to put together a package. What I did was a fake radio show that I recorded myself. It was interesting. I got to learn the board and the equipment there. That was my first demo. It was only about three or four years ago that I submitted it. I had to submit three shows worth of material. I was like “Okay!” Actually, I still have those mixes around somewhere.

Around three years ago I was working, well, volunteering I guess, for Riverfront Radio, one of the Internet radio stations. I had a show on there. That’s where I learned how to structure a show, and once I got that I was comfortable enough to approach KDHX. About two years ago I got a call in January that said, “Hey, we’ve got a slot open” and I was so jazzed that I didn’t even care that it was from 3 to 5 in the morning on a Monday. Well, Tuesday morning/Monday night. I made it in and started doing the show and found out that my wife was pregnant. 3 to 5 a.m. was not going to cut it since I needed to be up with those kids. It kind of snowballed from there.

I changed time slots about a year ago in January. I switched to 11 p.m.-1 a.m. to take over for Tim and Matt of Super Happy Fun Hour. I’ve been at that particular time slot since then.

What made you decide to choose the name “The Mixtape” and go with the random format?

It had a lot to do with the fact that when I was a kid that was how you expressed yourself to other people. You would put together a 90-minute tape of just stuff. That was when cassettes were the new thing. I’d go get some $5 compilations over at Streetside Records and mix the best tracks on those and give them to my friends and say, “Listen to this, you gotta hear this stuff, man.” I remember BMG mail order CD service. That was huge for me since I would send off for a bunch of stuff and then never pay for them. I’m sure that somewhere out there a BMG representative is still out there looking for me.

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Posted by | January 31, 2012 | Interviews, KDHX | 1 Comment 

Pop! The Beat Bubble Burst expands its Black History Month celebration

The Beatles and Little Richard, 1962. Photo by Les Chadwick for Mersey Beat.

Pop! The Beat Bubble Burst covers many genres and sub-genres — British Invasion, Mersey beat, folk rock, garage rock, power pop, jangle pop, pub jock — but without the influence of African Americans it’s doubtful that many of those genres would exist, and if they did they would most likely not merit our attention.

It is because of this that I will be recognizing and celebrating those contributions by setting aside the four February shows (February 2, 9, 16 and 23) on P!TBBB.

This year I’ll be expanding said celebration. During the show’s first three years, the month featured three weeks of the bands that appear regularly on P!TBBB covering blues, soul R&B and other material either written by or performed by African Americans. The last show of the month has featured selections from the first three shows performed by the songs’ originators.

This year valis from Trip Inside This House will be joining me and providing the music for the February 2 show. Trip Inside This House is valis’ weekly exploration of the last 40 plus years of psychedelia; he will be bringing that expertise to P!TBBB. The show will feature two hours of music by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, Muddy Waters and the Temptations, which will showcase the  contributions African Americans have made to psychedelia.

The remaining three shows will revert to the format from the last three years of Februaries. Those shows have not been finalized yet, but will no doubt mine selections from the following: Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers, the Kinks, the Searchers, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Tony Jackson, Manfred Mann and many more. You can expect to hear original versions by bands and performers like: Brenda Holloway, the Supremes, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Otis Redding to name several.

So, please join me (and valis) and celebrate Black History Month as we pay tribute to and celebrate the unique, dynamic and undeniable contributions made by African Americans to the music of Pop! The Beat Bubble Burst (and beyond).

Pop! The Beat Bubble Burst airs Thursday mornings, 5-7 a.m. Central on 88.1 KDHX.

Posted by | January 30, 2012 | Culture, KDHX, Music | Comment 

KDHX Blog wins 2012 RFT Point and Clique Award

Laptop photo courtesy of Simon Law

When it comes to music coverage, local and national, the KDHX Blog is a terrific, one-of-a-kind resource. That excellence has just been recognized by the Riverfront Times Point and Clique Awards.

A panel of judges from a range of St. Louis-based interactive media outlets recently selected the KDHX Blog as Best Music Blog of 2012. Here’s what they said:

OK, it’s not really fair. KDHX (88.1 FM) has tremendous resources, including an army of volunteer writers and DJs and an in-house studio for shooting great live performances. But, hey, at least the radio station isn’t squandering its opportunities. Instead, it has made KDHX Blog the envy of any music site out there, with expert reviews and interviews of local and traveling acts, music downloads and a breadth of content as diverse as its over-the-air broadcasts.

Dozens of dedicated volunteer writers, photographers and DJs contribute to the KDHX Blog every month, and dozens more power all the music features, videos and live performance sessions you’ll find on KDHX.org. It’s a true community effort.

We thank each and every one of our volunteers, and thank you for reading, watching and listening to KDHX.org and the KDHX Blog. Independent music plays here — because of you.

Sara Finke

Posted by | January 25, 2012 | KDHX, News | Comment 

KDHX’s super winter electronics and office supply sale

We’re shutting down our Central West End office and that means there are great deals on office furniture, electronics, storage cabinets, filing cabinets, audio and video equipment and building materials.

The sale is at 625 N. Euclid, Suite 100 in the Euclid Plaza Building (corner of Delmar and Euclid) from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, January 14.

Here’s some of what we’ve got for sale. And check it out on Craigslist. Don’t miss out!

See photos of items we have for sale after the jump.

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Posted by | January 12, 2012 | KDHX, News | Comment 

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