Sympathetic Vibrations | The Politics of Campaign Music

The Republican National Convention.

Last week in Cleveland, Ohio, as an overhead PA system boomed Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” an awkwardly hunched silhouette of Donald Trump, draped in fog, preceded the presidential candidate’s entrance to the Republican National Convention. And almost as quickly as Trump’s own hot air had whisked away the lingering fog, Queen had denounced his…

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Sympathetic Vibrations | Beats for a Cause

Collage of DJs

While disc jockeys tend to draw the ire of many music listeners and musicians alike, the fact remains – people love to dance. This keeps DJs in high demand, often pulling in more pay than traditional musicians due to their ability to draw a crowd. But this weekend, some of the city’s top DJs will…

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Sympathetic Vibrations | Run DMCA

An illustration of Taylor Swift leading the charge

Last week, more than 180 artists and record labels ran a petition in a number of Washington, D.C., publications aimed at convincing Congress to amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act – a body of law that regulates copyrighted material on the Internet. The open letter petition suggests that the DMCA is outdated and allows tech…

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Sympathetic Vibrations | It Wasn’t Built in a Day

A ferris wheel

Kansas City’s West Bottoms will be invaded by a small nation this weekend. Not to fear, though. Unless the city has a general aversion to a three-day festival, delightfully brimming with craft beer, food, and music, we can call off the National Guard. The “nation” in question is Boulevardia, which its organizers playfully describe as…

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Sympathetic Vibrations | Taking That Tone

Guitar-maker Dave Wendler with Wendler a custom built electroCoustic double neck 12-string/6-string that is being shipped today to a repeat customer in New York. (Photo: Dan Calderon)

Dave Wendler is obsessed with tone. So much so that he has spent the majority of his life striving to unearth the tonal potential of every instrument he comes across. And it’s at his unassuming home in the south Kansas City suburbs where Wendler hones his craft. Wendler is the owner and operator of Wendler Instruments —…

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