Kansas City Playlist: Starting Another Season Of Potholes

This week we noticed a progress report via press conference . . .

"Kansas City is celebrating a significant achievement in its Street Preservation Program: the city has now surpassed 1,500 lane miles resurfaced since the fiscal year 2021-2022. Achieving this goal completes resurfacing for 25% of all Kansas City roadways."

That sounds nice.

And we have to AT LEAST give credit for the effort given that this is a longstanding local problem that so many other civic leaders have politely ignored.

However . . . Let's consider . . .

There's a lot more work to do and KC's pothole problem isn't solved by any stretch of the imagination. It's just better than it has been . . . Which might be due to dry weather and recent drought or maybe just because life on local streets doesn't have a lot in common with "news" items from city hall.

Accordingly . . .

For tonight's www.TonysKansasCity.com playlist we not only wanted to share the mayor's perspective, our doubts but also these tunes . . . 

Let's get started . . . 

This track was the first to come to mind for tonight's playlist . . . Background info that cinema fans know by heart . . . The iconic 1979 song "Street Life" from The Crusaders was re-recorded by Doc Severinsen with Randy Crawford reprising her vocal for the opening sequence of the noir crime drama Sharky's Machine, directed by Burt Reynolds in 1981. This faster paced version was also featured in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, released in 1997.

This might be the only protest song from The Rolling Stones and it's better than most . . . A bit of background: Recorded for the group’s 1968 album Beggars Banquet, “Street Fighting Man” finds Jagger reflecting the spirit of the time as he calls for “a palace revolution” and, in a nod to a Martha & the Vandellas hit that he would later cover with David Bowie, insists that “summer’s here and the time is right for fighting in the street.”

Bono gets a great deal of well-deserved criticism for being one of the biggest libs in the world and even earning an award for feminism. However, detractors might unfairly overlook the overtly faith-based lyrics in the work of U2 that are unmatched in most modern pop music. One of the band's biggest hits "Where The Streets Have No Name" was supported by an EPIC music video that's remains unrivaled.  The dramatic musical mini-documentary features the band in a struggle against an LAPD shut down not too long before the Rodney King riots at a time when most understood that city was reaching a boiling point. Thousands of people stopped in the street to watch the band during the video's filming, which took place on the rooftop of a liquor store in Downtown Los Angeles on 27 March 1987.

In the 90s the track "Street Dreams" actually seemed important . . . A bit of background on one of the biggest hits for NAS who is low-key one of the top ranking rappers in music history by people who actually appreciate the art form: "The song's big-budget video, directed by Hype Williams, was an allusion to the Martin Scorsese film Casino. It was filmed in Las Vegas around the time Tupac Shakur was murdered and featured a cameo appearance by Frank Vincent. Kenya Moore of The Real Housewives of Atlanta is also featured in the video. "The song was Nas's first to enter the top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 22. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on January 8, 1997." 

And yes, that is R. Kelly on the re-mix . . .

As always we finish with an American classic . . . A jazz standard from The Great American Songbook. Here's the history: "On the Sunny Side of the Street" is a 1930 song composed by Jimmy McHugh with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Some authors say that Fats Waller was the composer, but he sold the rights to the song. It was introduced in the Broadway musical Lew Leslie's International Revue starring Harry Richman and Gertrude Lawrence. 

Our favorite version . . . A timeless duet from Willie Nelson & Tony Bennett . . . 

As always, thanks for reading this week and have a safe & fun Saturday night.