Sympathetic Vibrations | Poolin’ It Local

a teenager playing a guitar underwater

August is just around the corner. If your response to that statement was an audible and disgruntled “ugh,” you likely know what the dreaded month has in store around these parts. August in Kansas City is a mixed bag of feelings. Chiefs pre-season will begin and if the Royals continue their hot streak (please God),…

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Sympathetic Vibrations | State of the Stream with Apple Music

an iPod with headphones made into the money sign

Eyebrows rose throughout the music industry late last month when it was widely reported that Apple was renegotiating its deals with major record labels for its subscription-based streaming service, “Apple Music”. Those renegotiations centered on Apple’s desire to reduce the per-stream revenue percentages it pays to the labels as compensation. When Apple first began its…

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Sympathetic Vibrations | Picture Him Rolling

Local rapper Storm

This Friday, June 16, would have been the 46th birthday for one of hip-hop’s biggest and brightest stars, Tupac Shakur. The emcee – best known for his infectious smile, his towering bravado, and his thought-provoking lyrics – died in 1996 during a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. Shakur’s death at the young age of 25 was…

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Sympathetic Vibrations | How My Kid Learned to Rock

A young boy dancing with a Walkman

My son Charlie is 6 years old. And when he’s not playing sports or setting indoor decibel records with his sister, he’s usually walking around our house with headphones on, jamming to his own handpicked tracks on an old, decommissioned iPhone. As a music lover, this makes me a proud daddy. But it wasn’t easy.…

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Sympathetic Vibrations | Make It A Musical Staycation

A band named The Philistine plays

  The seventh annual Middle of the Map Fest kicks off this evening, with shows at venues across Midtown and the Crossroads. The festival, which has become a darling for regional music enthusiasts, boasts a wide range of genres from more than 100 bands who will travel from all over the U.S. to perform. The…

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