Remembering Kenn Cox, cultural warrior

Kenn Cox at Baker's during the summer of 2007. (Photo: W. Kim Heron)

Detroit’s jazz community mourned the loss of pianist and musical activist Kenn Cox on Saturday — even as folks celebrated his life. Years ago, percussionist-composer Francisco Mora Catlett dedicated a piece titled “The Cultural Warrior” to Cox. It was more than apt.
The crowd of mourners overflowed the sanctuary at St. Matthew’s-St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Detroit where the service included a performance of the Jazz Mass that stands as one of K ...

CHRISTMAS IN THE MITTEN...

Our friend Brandon Zwagerman wrote to point out that in our recent post about Deastro and Rodriguez coming in number two and number three, consecutively, on eMusic.com's year-end list of the best albums of 2008, we didn't mention two other Michigan acts that made the list:

Benoit Pioulard came in at number 87, while Breathe Owl Breathe placed at number 53. He also notes that half of the band High Places, which made the eMusic list as well, are from Allendale, MI.

Kenn Cox — another jazz loss

Barbara and Kenn Cox.

We just received the sad word that Detroit musician and musical activist Kenn Cox died Friday morning after a long illness.

What comes to mind first is that Cox, 68, was as passionate about the way the music was represented as he was about presenting it. That’s why, along with his wife, Barbara, he was a mover in the Societie of the Culturally Concerned, which honored Detroit musicians from the bebop era stars and as far back as the generally forgotten Harry P. Guy of the early 1900s.

Likewise, whenever Metro Times screwed up a historical fact — for insta ...

DETROITERS TOP EMUSIC'S "BEST OF" LIST

'Tis the season for "Best of the Year" lists, and Detroit music fans should be pleased to note that two of our own homegrown artists placed No. 2 and No. 3 on emusic's "Best Albums of 2008" list.

Out of 86 artists, Motor City electronic-pop god Deastro was number two with his Keeper's album, while the amazing Rodriguez continued his "comeback of the year" by finding his Cold Fact LP at number three on the emusic list. The two were beat by only Gasoline Anthem, who placed first with their The '59 Sound LP (and it's a really good album...but I'd argue it's not as good as the two Detroit albums it beat....).

BENEFITING THE ANN ARBOR THEATERS

When the economy goes to hell and America heads into a recession or, worse, a depression (and I hope everyone in Michigan who votes Republican remembers from now until the day they die just what political party it was that killed that Big 3 deal -- in other words, in GOP ideology, unions = BAD; outsourcing jobs overseas = GOOD), one of the first things to go is culture. After all, as important as it is to a lot of us, music, film and literature aren't exactly up there with food, water and shelter.

Anyway, as the economy continues to go to hell, one thing that's undoubtedly going to suffer is our theaters and concert halls. There are two benefit projects currently under way to aid two of Ann Arbor's very best venues.

YOST WAS A DETROITER

You may or may not have heard that Dennis Yost, the lead singer of Classics IV, died earlier this week in a Cincinatti hospital. He'd been in a nursing home since sustaining a brain injury following a fall in 2005. And depending on your age, you may or may not care. Whatever the case, the band was responsible for four massive AM radio hit singles -- one right after the other -- in the late '60s, including "Spooky" (which went onto be covered by Dusty Springfield, REM, Andy Williams, King Curtis, Martha Reeves and Percy Sledge, among numerous others) "Traces" (which was one of the "cool" songs my ...

'TIS THE SEASON...

...for music-based benefits to help those less fortunate. Here are a few coming up in the very near future:

In observance of World AIDS Day (WAD) 2008, which took place, as it does every year, on December 1st , the Los Angeles-based humanitarian organization, NextAid, is uniting North American dance music communities from coast to coast, including the scenes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Omaha, Denver, Syracuse, New York, Brooklyn, Boston and Detroit, to raise funds and awareness for kids in Africa who have been orphaned due to the AIDS pandemic.

The Detroit event take place this Saturday, December 13th, as part of Radio Skool’s&nb ...

NEIL AND THE MICHIGAN AUTO CONNECTION

Anyone catch Neil Young at the Palace Sunday night? We didn't this time -- but from reading the setlists posted online during the tour thus far, we're betting that he was as great as ever (though he'll never top premiering the Rust Never Sleeps show at Pine Knob during the late '70s, shocking the hell out of everybody -- by singing about "Johnny Rotten," among so many other things -- at a time when his audience had no idea of what to expect).

Interesting thing is there's been a real connection between Mr. Young and the state of Michigan during the last two months or so. For those of you who haven't heard yet (and if you haven't, you're probably not a big fan), Su ...

WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER FOR HIRE...

Last week, in a post looking back at our recent Detroit music "powerbrokers" list, we mentioned that our friend Doug Coombe -- who should've been on that list -- not only shoots great photos of every local band that's played this city over the last several decades but that he's one helluva wedding photographer as well, having shot the ceremonies and receptions of such local denizens as Augie and KoKo of the Hard Lessons and, recently, Wendy Case, among numerous others.

Here's an even more recent example of his matrimonial work:

Congratul ...

Tesco Vee: On DVD
Punk legend and Meatman mainman Tesco Vee has had a busy year. Not only has the East Lansing native assembled a new Meatmen lineup, taking it on tour starting with this year’s South by Southwest. He’s also busy making good on his promises to release a slew of his hilarious back-catalog stuff this year. In addition to publication of a collection of his Touch and Go fanzine that’s in the works, he’s released an entertaining DVD that features his jizz-soaked, totally offensive brand of hate-comedy.

The disc, titled The Devil’s in the Details (Vol. 1), is more than just a bunch of video clips so old they look like that tape was disintegrating. (Although that’s there too!) This DVD, part farce and part documentary, gives tasteless Tesco the chance ...

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