Vox Magazine
Jam Time
Ruth Acuff and Rae Fitzgerald
Two of Columbia’s singer-song writers come together to bring us music with a somber sort of beauty. Their breathtaking vocals are only out shined by musing lyrics found in “Newborn” and “Copper & Genesis,” which is something we talk about during an interview with Acuff and Fitzgerald, before bringing the bands together to perform their version of Nirvana’s “Something in the Way.” Acuff plays the harp with Jeff Mueller on upright bass and Mary Leibovich performs percussion and backup vocals. Fitzgerald strums a Fender Strat, Ian Vardell plays lead and Jeremy Morton is on drums.
Jefferson City News Tribune
“California, Missouri”:
Hometown admiration, lamentation
January 25th, 2018 Bin News Read Time: 3 mins.
Kassi Ashton has left the starry night skies of California, Missouri, for the bright lights of Nashville, Tennessee, but the country singer still carries a little of its gravel in her boots.
Ashton — locally known as Meisenheimer, a 2012 graduate of California R-1 High School — hearkens back to home in her debut single, “California, Missouri,” through Universal Music Group NASHVILLE and Interscope Records.
Although she grew up the misunderstood child in homemade dresses, she still has a sweet spot for the farming community that helped shape her future, as she sings in the song: “I was born in the wrong place in the wrong time, but sometimes the wrong way makes you the right kind.”
Ashton said she wanted to write this song her entire life.
“It’s kind of an intro into everything I am, and I want this to be the first piece that people find out about me,” she said in promotional materials.
The single is part soulful lament, part unrequited love song for the community in which she was raised. Ashton broke into the country music industry with a ballad that weighs this dichotomy with somber sobriety and melancholy nostalgia.
The chorus, “I don’t know if I’m running away. I don’t know if I’m running toward you. I guess that’s what you get when you’re born and stuck in California — California, Missouri,” represents her drive to succeed on new, bigger stages while being drawn back to the comfort of home and the gooseneck trailers on which she started performing.
The second verse’s opening — “I just really hope one day that you are going to love me” — shows while the trials of her childhood drive her onward, she still wants to love and be loved by the people in California.
“Growing up, I always knew I wanted to write a song about my hometown,” she said in the promotional materials. “I want people that live (in California) to hear it and know that I love them, but also I want them to know how bad it hurt. I also want them to realize that the hurt and the beauty is what made me who I am, completely.”
Ashton was raised between unmarried parents and split her time between their two worlds. Her mother was a singer who entered her into dance and beauty pageants, while her father was a farmer who taught her how to ride dirt bikes. With Mom she designed and sewed her own dresses; while back on the farm, Grandpa showed her how to shoot black powder rifles.
Although she was a standout singer, poet and public speaker throughout high school, Ashton did not feel like she fit in with her classmates. “California, Missouri” opens with the lyrics: “I graduated with 86 sheep. I was the black one. If there was a reputation to be had in this town, I had the bad one.”
She told Taste of Country she wore combat boots to school rather than cowboy boots because she didn’t want to dress like the girls who were mean to her. Antagonism between some of her classmates became so serious, she said, counselors recommended the family consider homeschool.
Ashton began converting her poetry into lyrics in high school. She used the natural soulfulness of her voice to blend classic country with the doleful qualities of inspirations like Adele and Amy Winehouse.
“California, Missouri” is also a rebuke of the classic hometown country song, which stereotypically looks at small-town America through rose-colored glasses. Ashton recorded this song for country fans who have more complicated relationships with their hometowns, maybe even those in California.
“Most of the hometown songs in country music are really glorifying and romanticizing the hometown, which is great,” Ashton said in the promotional materials. “If your hometown is really your haven, I think that’s beautiful. But mine was a little different, and I really wanted to get perspective, because I know a lot of kids in small towns feel the same way that I did.”
Mid-Missouri murder
comes to life in song
The killer didn’t run. Instead, he dropped his pistol on the table and ordered a bottle of beer as his victim lay bleeding from seven gunshot wounds in the riverfront nightclub’s storeroom.
Musician Fred Wickham is returning to his family’s hometown to sing the tragic, true tale of murder and mayhem that befell his great-uncle 77 years ago outside Jefferson City.
The chronicle of infidelity and injustice unfolds in the bluesy title-track of the Americana veteran’s latest album, “Mariosa Delta.”
Fred Wickham & The Hadacol Caravan stop off on their Midwest tour Saturday in Jefferson City at The Bridge, 619 E. Capitol Ave. Doors open at 7 p.m.
The six-piece band weds bluegrass, country, blues and rock ‘n’ roll to create a colorful roots repertoire including bucolic fiddle, jazzy piano and rocking electric guitar. The ensemble is composed of old friends and Wickham’s son, Fred Wickham Jr., on mandolin.
“It’s a pretty big lineup playing all sorts of roots music,” Wickham said. “I have a lot of different musical interests, and they all seem to rear their heads at different times. That’s true of the band. We’ve played together a long time in different formats. We’ve straight country to rock ‘n’ roll bands and covered a lot of bases together, so it all comes out in this (performance).”
“Mariosa Delta” is Wickham’s first solo album. He gained notoriety as the singer and guitarist for Kansas City group Hadacol. Although he’s an experienced frontman, Wickham is still getting used to seeing his name in lights.
“It’s just weird seeing my name out there,” he said. “I’m not entirely comfortable with that. I sort of liked the anonymity of a band rather than having my name plastered on everything.”
“Mariosa Delta” was also the last album produced by legendary Missouri music man Lou Whitney, who has worked with more than a thousand bands over the years. Wickham worked with Whitney on four albums and said the band performs this record in honor of their friend and mentor’s memory.
“There’s a certain sense of responsibility to do it justice,” Wickham said. “Lou was really proud of the record, and we feel that still.”
There are many memories tied into this album, good and bad.
Wickham first set out to write the title track, “Mariosa Delta, 1940,” after hearing an old family story from his grandmother. It was a long-kept secret concerning the demise of his grandmother’s 29-year-old brother, James Tharp, at the hands of the jealous Art Lynes in the year 1940.
The track features a swaying, melancholy Southern blues style Wickham thought was fitting for the story’s setting.
“It was such an interesting story, and even more so because it was kept so secret,” Wickham said. “I was probably around 30 years old when I first heard about it. Even stranger, my mom — who my grandmother was pregnant with at the time the murder took place — she didn’t know anything about it until she had kids of her own.
“It seems like a really interesting story, and it is to us; but when I would talk with my grandmother, it was still as if it had just happened. It was a painful thing for her to talk about.”
Wickham dove into court records and newspaper articles to research the incident. He learned Lynes was driven to kill when his wife, Maxine, admitted to having an affair with Lynes’ former boss, James Tharp.
On the night he died, Tharp was in his brother Roy’s nightclub where the Maries and Osage rivers meet, known as the Mariosa Delta (aka Mari-Osa Delta), about 10 miles outside Jefferson City.
Witnesses stated Lynes came in revolver-blazing and chased Tharp through the kitchen onto the dance floor and finally to the storeroom, where Tharp collapsed and quickly died.
Wickham’s grandmother held the body close and mourned while carrying his unborn mother.
Roy attacked his brother’s killer but was pulled away after landing several punches. As Roy was restrained, Lynes “threw down his pistol and ordered a brew,” Wickham sings in the track.
As the killer patiently waited for police to arrive, Lynes declared, “I told him I’d do this,” and greeted the officers with, “I did it, let’s go,” according to the Jefferson City Post-Tribune’s May 27, 1940, edition.
At trial, Maxine testified on her husband’s behalf, admitting to the affair that enraged Lynes. With that in mind, the all-male jury found Lynes “not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.”
Wickham concludes the story in his song by singing about the jurors: “You could almost hear ’em saying, ‘I’d have done it, too.'”
About the only thing in the song that wasn’t factually derived was about the “nine dirt farmers” who served on the jury. It turns out one of them was a banker instead.
“It’s really factual, as much as I could make it. The only thing that was too hard to work in was it was easier to say nine farmers instead of eight farmers and a banker. It didn’t rhyme very well,” Wickham said with a hearty laugh over the otherwise dark tale.
Fairy tale finale for beloved trouper
Audie Cline retires from stage after last ‘Beauty and the Beast’ performance
Audie Cline graces the stage like dancing flames, exhibiting frantic excitement and comforting warmth while bringing the cast and audience together around his charisma, like a family fireplace.
The passionate trouper has gone from Tiny Tim to old Maurice and left many hearts a little larger as curtains close on the long career of a locally beloved actor and director.
“The man is a legend,” family friend and Mrs. Potts actress Amy Pringer said.
Capital City Productions President and long-time friend Rob Crouse said Cline is one of the most dedicated, versatile and knowledgeable people with whom he has worked.
“Because Audie is also a director, he understands (and respects) the demands and responsibilities of every person on the cast and crew,” Crouse said.
The godfather of Jefferson City’s playhouse community took what he intends to be his final bow after Saturday’s conclusive Capital City Productions performance of “Beauty and the Beast.”
After more than 30 years as a stalwart leader of local theater — spanning approximately 25 productions as an actor and 20 as a director — Cline has decided to step away from the stage. Now, he just has to convince his friends and fellow theater enthusiasts not to drag him back into the spotlight.
“Beauty and the Beast” Director Nate Grey said Cline is a professional perfectionist and a wonder to work with. “Everybody loves him,” Grey said. “He’s got such a joyful spirit, and he will always have a place here.”
In “Beauty and the Beast,” Cline played Belle’s father, Maurice, the wild-eyed inventor. However, he has also shown a maternal side: in “Hairspray,” he played Edna Turnblad, the mother of Pringer’s character, Tracy Turnblad.
“He is an amazing man, an amazing actor, whether he is playing my mother or a father or someone from Rome in a toga,” Pringer said. “He was the most loving, kind and gentle mother you could ever have — not to mention, he looked very good in a wig and hose.”
Although Cline is convinced “Beauty and the Beast” was his last performance, Pringer said his presence will be felt for a long time.
“Audie is always going to be around the theater, and no matter what his presence and his influence will still be there,” she said.
Although he was born and raised far from the big lights of Broadway in little Lupus, Cline caught the acting bug in first grade.
“I was in ‘A Christmas Carol’ as Tiny Tim,” he said. “I loved it so much that I decided I was going to do something about that.”
Cline was born into a large family and trying to amuse his siblings like he does for audiences, the thespian’s evening kindred.
“I loved the audience reaction,” he said. “There’s nothing better to hear than laughter and applause. I grew up in a family of eight (siblings). I had one brother and six sisters, so I was constantly entertaining. I could be pretty annoying.”
However, Cline didn’t break into acting outside of school until he moved to town in 1981 and joined the Little Theater of Jefferson City. Until then, his stage was at the front of English, speech and drama classes, teaching in Vienna for five years and California for two decades.
Cline said Jefferson City has one of the warmest, most welcoming theater communities he has experienced. He has taken up this fellowship and been a major player in growing and promoting local productions, as well as helping other actors prosper.
“He is always very encouraging,” Crouse said. “Audie will offer to come in early to work on a scene with (struggling actors) until they get it right.”
Tori Stepanek, who played Belle in “Beauty and the Beast,” said Cline is a fatherly figure for everyone in the cast, especially when playing Belle’s dad, Maurice. It wasn’t difficult for Cline to summon his paternal instincts on stage. The father of two girls had plenty of experience to draw from. His daughter, Megan Cline, was under his direction when he led a “Nunsense” production. In fact, while they sang the duet, “No Matter What,” Papa Audie was so at home in the role he felt as though Stepanek became his third child.
“When I took on the role of Maurice, it wasn’t difficult to act crazy, and my daughters will tell you that,” Cline said. “It was also not hard to think about the advice I gave to them. Maurice tells Belle it’s all right to be different, that you have to be true to yourself in all aspects of your life.”
Stepanek hopes she can keep Cline around to offer more on-stage expertise.
“I think he will be around the theater, and I’m sure if we asked him to sing for us, he’d come back,” she said. “He loves being up there, so I have my serious doubts that this is the last time he will perform. Maybe it will be his last full-fledged musical, but we will see him again.”
Grey said Cline is welcome back to Capital City Productions, but he honors the decision to retire on top. Cline has already come back from a scare after emergency surgery to install a pacemaker kept him from the “Hairspray” production for a while.
Under the motto “the show must go on,” Cline was back on stage, singing and dancing the next week. “That’s what professional is,” said Crouse, who took over as Edna in Cline’s absence.
This time, Cline is confident the show will continue without him, and he is ready to watch it happen. He is eternally grateful to all the people who came to watch local performances, making it possible to play prized characters like Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof,” Fagin in “Oliver” and Sancho in “Man of La Mancha.”
Now, he is ready to exit the stage with his trademark grace. Cline can’t wait to see the next Jefferson City production from the other side of the curtain.
“I have been probably the luckiest actor in Jefferson City,” he said. “I have been given the opportunity to play characters that most actors smack their lips over. So when I made the decision (to retire), I wanted to be the actor who realized I’ve reached my peak and to step aside.
“I’m taking on a new role coming. I’m going to become an audience member, and I think I’m going to love it.”
A trumpeter’s dreams come true
Hermon Mehari‘s dreams are coming true.
The jazz trumpeter has come from the Thomas Jefferson Middle School band to touring Europe. His latest record, “Bleu,” hit No. 22 on Billboard’s jazz album charts Tuesday and was iTunes’ top jazz album March 17.
“Bleu” is Mehari’s first album as a band leader, after two albums with the group Diverse. It was recorded in Kansas City and written to bring out the best in his esteemed backing ensemble, like world-renowned jazz pianist Aaron Parks and premier saxophonist Logan Richardson.
“Although I play the trumpet, it’s in my musical personality to really focus on the ensemble at large, the people around me,” he said.
Mehari and Richardson have a lively fugue on the album’s last song, “We Love,” in which the dual horn solo begins like an orderly debate between the two instruments and gradually grows into a heated brass argument before the song and album abruptly end, slamming shut the window into Mehari’s imagination.
Each song on “Bleu” is unique, inspired by a variety of music — such as soul and hip hop — and emotions — from frenetic to desolate — wed into a cohesive listening experience.
“From a stylistic point of view it is a jazz album, but it draws from a lot of various forces, styles, genres that influence me,” Mehari said.
Mehari felt confident to record as band leader after winning the Carmine Caruso International Trumpet Jazz Competition and becoming a semifinalist in the 2014 Thelonious Monk Jazz Trumpet Competition. He also headlined the 2014 Jazz en Tte Festival in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and was featured on his former college teacher and world-renowned saxophonist Bobby Watson’s 2013 release, “Check Cashing Day.”
The album’s promotional tour hasn’t started yet, but Mehari plans to perform in Japan, France, Spain and the United States. He said Columbia’s “We Always Swing” Jazz Series has expressed interest in having him perform this year, and he has other Kansas City performances scheduled for April.
“The touring for the album is going to be spot-based and pretty sporadic throughout the year because the band members I have are pretty much all-stars in the jazz world, so it’s a matter of scheduling,” he said.
Mehari composed about half of the album’s 10 tracks. Two are jazz standards — such as “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face,” a cover of John Coltrane’s “A Moment’s Notice” — and bandmates helped compose, as well.
The word “bleu” is French for the color blue.
“France has played a big part of my life for the past seven years,” Mehari said. “I’m in Paris right now. I’ve been coming to France quite a bit to play, and starting to come here was a turning point in my career as far as what I’ve been able to do globally.”
Mehari said his American fan base is the largest, but he is gaining support in Europe.
The song “Eleven Thirteen (Une Nuit Noire)” — translation: “11/13 (A Dark Night)” — was inspired by the Nov. 13-14, 2015, mass shootings and suicide bombing in Paris.
“We were here during that,” Mehari said. “It’s a homage and tribute to victims of that attack.”
Although Mehari is currently based between Kansas City and France, he learned to play the trumpet in Jefferson City. He said he lived in the Capital City from about age 5.
“I don’t consider it my home anymore because I’ve been in KC for 10 years,” he said. “But I still come back to Jefferson City at least once or twice a year. I have some really great friends still there. I feel deeply connected to these people.”
Mehari said he enjoys monitoring the Jefferson City music scene and is glad to see more venues than when he lived in town. “Everyone needs to hear live music everywhere, and it’s great that’s happening (in Jefferson City).”
He grew up very close to his aunt and uncle, Tesfai Tsehaie and Turu Negash, who still reside in the city. His father, Mehari Zehaie, lived in Jefferson City but passed away last year, and his mother, Rigat Ghebre, has since moved away.
Mehari began playing trumpet as a seventh-grader in Thomas Jefferson Middle School’s band program and became obsessed with Miles Davis’ album “Kind of Blue.” He took a summer enrichment course on improvisation and loved it.
“I fell in love with improvisation and creating music in the moment,” he said. “It was beautiful to me.”
He continued pursuing jazz trumpet in high school and was taken under the wing of Jefferson City band teacher Tim Alexander. “Tim was a great teacher for me and exposed me to a lot of stuff,” he said.
Mehari began touring with the VanHoose family band, led by Michele VanHoose, playing mostly blues and R&B around Mid-Missouri on the weekends. As an upperclassman, he also began performing as a solo jazz musician.
After high school, Mehari moved to Kansas City on a music scholarship, where he earned a bachelor of music degree in jazz performance from the University of Missouri — Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance in 2010.
“The (UMKC) jazz instructor, Bobby Watson, is a legendary jazz musician,” Mehari said. “Literally, when he called me to tell me he wanted me to come to his school, I had his record next to me. It was serendipitous, to say the least.”
Mehari moved to Kansas City and said it worked out great.
“I’m definitely living the dream, and here’s why: I absolutely love music and playing music for people,” he said. “To me, it’s not about the end goal, it’s all about the journey. My career is going to keep going and going, and if I don’t enjoy the process, it doesn’t make sense for me to do it.”
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