Editor’s Note: What follows is an essay, then a poem. They speak of Kansas City’s authentic cultural identity and how it relates to using our past as a primary pillar of the city’s economic future. Part I, the essay, explains the concept. Part II is a DJ type “roll call” which pays tribute to some of the many cultural legends, icons, people’s heroes, spaces and events upon which modern Kansas City is built.

Part I

Regardless of what happens with the national economy, Kansas City will always have its people and our culture. But we must first learn to respect the diverse mosaic that is the people. Then we’ll be better able to respect their culture. Once we learn to appreciate our culture we will then be in a position to value, cultivate and market the process of Kansas Citians, “making a living at being ourselves.”

Much of what many Kansas Citians take for granted, people in other states and even other countries often see as unique, potent and on occasion exotic. Kansas City is one of the primary reasons why Missouri tourism annually generates over 12 billion dollars in expenditures, over a billion dollars in state revenue and sustains over 200,000 jobs. Kansas City’s jazz, barbeque, burritos, blues, bluegrass, gospel, r&b, mariachi, hip-hop, country, folk, Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music, the plays, musicals, concerts, steaks, galleries, grits, frijoles, horsemanship, powwows, poetry and more, constitute primary parts of a virtually unlimited living source of excitement, joy, consciousness and beauty. But this homegrown culture largely remains a long untapped living treasure.

Most jobs are created by small businesses. The culturally-rooted small business people and artists throughout Kansas City, the muralists, designers, activists, story tellers, poets, promoters, brewers, cooks, bell hops, desk clerks, carpenters, cashiers, and electricians, the theaters, museums, hotels, theme parks, taverns, bars, restaurants, and exhibitions, the athletes, actors, writers, singers, dancers, and musicians should be accepted and nurtured as a major component of this city’s plans for development. Their works on display in churches, temples, mosques, nightclubs, at festivals, on theater stages, and in stadiums across the city, are the very lifeblood of the often hidden Kansas City. They are part of the authentic Kansas City, which has proven to be far more self-generating, joyful, and
marketable than artificial KC. Most people, when given a chance, gladly choose the actual over the facade, the real over the fake. What is a skyline without the people? A city whose soul is under arrest.

We have to overcome the historical amnesia and inferiority complex still plaguing many Kansas Citians. We need to recognize that bright, strong, creative working people built this town, which was once called “Paris on the Plains”, and that who we are is OK! It’s not just a heritage. Culture and cultural tourism are latent contemporary investment opportunities. They’re gold deposits. Deposits from which we can all gain far greater benefit. We need to proudly accept who we are, love who we are, nurture who we are, and pay ourselves for being who we are, as we move deeper
into the 21st Century, “mining cultural gold.”

Part II

A Roll Call

Go head on “in the spirit” of the legends and the deep well of unsung heroes and role players who carried their weight. This is a poem for Charlie Parker, Charlie, Mary, Memo Lona and Captain Tate. Lester Young, Thomas Hart Benton, Tom Bass, Tom Pendergast, Big Joe Turner, the Sign, the Ram and Saber Jets, Mrs. Meeks, Chuck Moore, Town Hall Ballroom, Cowtown Ballroom, the Inferno, Freedom Palace, Buck O’Neal, Ida McBeth, Satchel Paige, Owen Bush, Owen Murray, Mattie Rhodes, Mike Ross, Milt Morris, Buck Buchanon, Larry Sells, John L. Frasier, Eddie Baker, Otis Taylor, Roger Nabor, and Chucky Draper.

In the spirit of Dale Eldred, Steve Harvey, Mamie Isler, Michael Charles, Ed Charles, Eddie Griffin, Frank White, the Vanguard, Ed Asner, Martin Chisholm, C.A. Franklin, Roy Wilkins, SDS, and SLP, the Twilight Zone, the long way home, and SAC-20. Alvin Sykes, Teddy Grover and Joy, Brewer and Shipley. Do Do Martin’s jabs, Consolidated and Palace cabs, Everette DeVan, Nhuong Tran, breakfast jams on Thanksgiving Day, Harlow’s, and Martha’s Café.

In the Spirit of Manny’s, Mooney’s, the Mardi Gras, Brush Creek Charlie, MT Productions, Vaughn McCormick, Todd Storz, Earl Grant, Groovy Grant, Kelly’s, Bobby Del Greco, the McFadden Brothers,
the Metheny Brothers, the Smith Sisters, Great India, the Hitching Post, John Wyatt, David Hutton, the Beatles at Municipal Stadium, James Brown at Municipal Auditorium, Horace Washington, Alonzo Washington, Coleman Hawkins, Danny Cox, and Islamic Force. Norman Brown, Ronnie Brown, Ralph Brown, the Signatures of Sound, Christine Eason, Atomic Pool Hall, and Flanker’s Lounge.

In the spirit of Garozzo’s, Horace Peterson, Edward Beasley, packin’ house killin’ floors, Ralph Gaines, Rhythm and Melody Lanes, Chris Carter, Vincent Carter, Jay McShann, the Mutual Musicians Foundation, Niecie’s, Olivia Dorsey, Henry Winston, Sonny Gibson, and Leon Dixon. OG’s, Rosie’s Bar & Grill, Niles Home, Lawrence A. Jones, D.A. Jones, Fairyland for the thrill and both Mack Lee and Watermelon Hills, and then Dennis Rucker asked, “What is the deal?”

In the Spirit of the Party House, Lena Rivers Smith, Bill Leeds, Chuck Haddix, Bishop Cunningham, the Landmark, Off Broadway, Bryant’s, Ruby’s, Carroll Jenkins-Kamau Agyei, Campy Campaneris, Sonny Kenner, the Sunset Club, Bobby’s Hangout, Nate Robinson, Buck Clayton, Herman Oates, Kevin Mahogany, the Reno Club, Dahoud Muhammad, Dell Rice, and Bubble Klice.

In the Spirit of Lee Vogel, Dwight Frizzell, the Salazars, Chico, Byond Davis, Bernard Powell, Lawrence Barry-King Spinner, Claude Williams, Herschel Connor, Jay Byrd, the Midwestern Free School, Madam Lovejoy’s, Freddie Bell, Tony DiPardo, Kai Aiyetoro, Don St. Clair, Deborah Johnson, Tony Johnson, Bobby Watson, and Hoover Dodson.

In the spirit of Bettye Hughes Williams, Mary Lou Williams, R.T. Coles, St. James-Spruce, St. Andrews-Troost, and St. James-Gregory, Phil Lawson, John Preciphs, and Cecil Williams did Glide. Count Basie, Donald Cox, Little Jimmy Tindall, Matlaws, Stan Banks, and 2-4-5. Bennie Moten, Ossco Bolton, Bill Russell, Ra and Zookenstein, the Orchid and Blue Rooms, you sort of had to be there, on 12 th Street and 18th & Vine.

In the Spirit of Vi’s, Ivy League, Foster’s, Cherry’s, Recycled Sounds, Bodyworks, the Black Contemporary Players, Bettye Miller & Milt Abel, Donna Stewart, Point Blank, Harold Pener, Guadalupe Center, the Ep, the group that’s Level with the Ground, and the Universal Lounge. Crossroads, the Jerusalem and Broadway Cafés, City Market, Don Brake, La Fonda El Taquito, Bobby Scroggins, and Bobby Day. The Green Duck, the Drum Room, Kenneth Mosley and These Are They, Frank White, Booker Wright, Oleta Adams, Carol Comer, and Marilyn Maye.

In the spirit of Leather coats at the Field House that got jacked, gangsters at Union Station and in River Quay, who got whacked, the Landmark, the North End, the South, the East and West sides. The Red Star Food Coop, Ron Finley, Clemett Triplett, Fred Curls, Bruce Rodgers, the Zollars, and Tech N9ne did scrimmage. Sam Johnson, Bump & the Soul Stompers, and it took the Hobleys to raise a village. Pick up trucks and tattoos, the hot, slow Swope Park and the late night low rider Boulevard cruise, Stormy Weather, Luqman Hamza, and Mamie Hughes.

In the spirit of Gregg Pratt, Lucky Pratt, and Slick Surratt. The Foolkiller, R.C. Robinson, Cassandra Tomlinson, Dan Diamond, Carmell Jones, D.A. Holmes, and Kenneth and Miriam Simon. Elliot Carmichael, Ed Lewis, Bo Jackson, Lenny Zeskind, the Blankenships, the Powells, the Panthers, the Medinas, Don Mocker, the Asiatic Shabazz Posse, the Brown Berets, Alvin Brooks, Nick Civella, Tony Ferella, Bob Berdella, Walt Disney, Gene Richardson, and Face, Temple Slug, 7th Heaven, Penny Lane,
and Big Mondaine. Jeremiah Cameron, Marian Watkins, Leon Jordan, the Teamsters, Locals 31 & 42, the El Cap, Chris King, Seldom Seen, and SEIU.

In the spirit of the Carver, Castle, Linwood, Lincoln, Isis, Gem, Starlight, Capri, Paramount, Empire, Midland and Uptown theaters, Walt Bodine, Maxine’s, Ahmad Alaadeen, Maurice Green, and of course
the Beavers. Lucille Bluford, Skip Carter, Manuel and Clara Reyes, boogie-woogie, Eulipion, swing, Pullman Porters, Euphrates, Rex Purefoy, Vernon Vanoy and steaks at the Savoy. The Inner City Riders, Mike Carter, Robert Altman, Denise Low, Brother Oscar, Joe Popper, Melvin Tolson, Charles Stith, J.J. Maloney, and Mbembe Milton Smith.

In the Spirit of Ed and Psyche Pate, Tommy Neeley, Joe Faus, and all the rest of the those who did not wait, the Smiths, Curls, Hills, Holidays, Hughes, Browns, Williams, Daniels, Jordans, Jacksons, Joneses, Johnsons, Guzmans, and Gates … through the people, in the hearts and minds of the lovers of the culture, the true spirit of KC still lives and waits.

Editor’s Note: Lloyd Daniel is a writer, educator and a former member
of the Missouri State Legislature. To read, watch and listen to more of
his work, logon to his website. The address is www.lloyddaniel.info