No Static at All
Every Wednesday morning, Mark Manning heads into the KKFI 90.1 studio at 39th Street and Main and carries out, with enthusiasm, the mostly thankless task of hosting and programming two hours of community radio. Since 2004, his show, Wednesday MidDay Medley (10 a.m.–noon), has focused on Kansas City’s artistic community, with a heavy emphasis on the music scene. Most of the program is Manning playing local songs and interviewing artists, but a couple of times a year, he invites guests in for a segment he calls “A Story in a Song.”
“I’ve always felt that radio is such a great place to tell stories,” Manning says. “And I’ve always found it interesting that people will often have a memory with a significant song attached to it that’ll kind of carry that memory forward. So I had the idea to have people come on the radio and share a story about a song that changed their life in some way. And then when the story’s over, we play the song.”
When it was time to plan for KKFI’s fundraising season this year, Manning had a thought: Why not try out “A Story in a Song” as a live show with storytellers? Also, what if he could get a band to play those songs live? He recruited the Wilders’ Betse Ellis, and soon a seven-piece band (including Abigail Henderson and Chris Meck of Tiny Horse, plus members of Dead Voices) had been assembled. On Tuesday at RecordBar, that band performs interpretations of the songs selected by the raconteurs: David Wayne Reed, Lisa Cordes, Sarah Beth Mundy, Maria Vasquez Boyd, Meghan Whelan, Natasha Derakhshanian, and Manning.
“One of the stories is about an old Harry Chapin song. The newest one is about a Regina Spektor song,” Manning says. “Most of them have already been told on the radio show at some point. Some are really funny, but with some, people called in and said we made them cry. So I’m hoping that kind of intimacy will translate live.”
The show starts at 8 p.m. and runs about 90 minutes. (Each story ranges between five and seven minutes.) Afterward, things pick up with dance rock from Molly Picture Club, psych blues from the B’Dinas, and punk from Red Kate.
“I’m not exactly sure how it’ll work at RecordBar, since bars are loud and storytelling requires you to listen,” Manning says. “Just one person onstage with a microphone — it’s very personal. I think it’ll resonate.”
