TKC Saturday Night Playlist: 18th & Vine Honors Charlie Parker Despite His Deathbed 'Don't Bury Me In Kansas City' Request

Historians might try to dispute this urban legend but jazz aficionados still debate the final words of Charlie Parker. 

Many claim that Bird exclaimed, "Don't let them bury me in Kansas City,” to his wife Chan on his death bed.

Like most things on the Internets, social media and in life . . . It's a fun story even if it's not true. 

And that bit of macabre trivia brings us to a far less interesting municipal effort . . .

KCUR: Kansas City's American Jazz Museum Launches Fundraising Campaign To Keep The Music Of Charlie 'Bird' Parker Going

Again, this is a nice cause but we're pretty sure the former heroin junkie wouldn't care too much for this schmaltzy display of civic pride.

As always, ritualistically, we must remind readers that KCMO has spent 100 MILLION at 18th & Vine since the 90s and they're still begging for cash in the absence of a viable business model.

The song remains the same and local politicos are unlikely to change their tune even as the Prez Biden COVID bailout will provide more cash for god times.

To be fair, the biggest bill for music and partying in Kansas City currently goes to the P&L District and that entertainment district fiasco has cost taxpayers HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS worth of cash which has been refinanced multiple times. Younger residents with families should know that their children will be paying off the debt well into their middle-age.

Nevertheless . . .

The legacy of irresponsible spending as a tribute to a legend who didn't want anything to do with this cowtown seems like a fitting conclusion to Saturday night amid what we hope is one the last few weeks of COVID restrictions.

And so we share this jazzy playlist for late night listeners:

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

Comments

  1. Better title for ya T, jazzy fun times on somebody else's dime.

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  2. World famous musician and heroin addict who hated Kansas City.

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  3. Jazz needs to be subsidized because very few people listen to live jazz music. It is an art form, unfortunately it is dead.

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  4. ^^^ 100% truth

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  5. The number of new Escalades will be announced after the fund raiser in a closed meeting in the mayors office.

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  6. He hated killa shitty so much he left home at an early age and he became a heroin addict because of the brain damage kc caused him, it haunted him his entire life. So it makes perfect sense that the city is so desperate for attention they have to use a dead mans name that begged to never be buried here.

    Nothing like stepping on a dead mans grave.

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  7. I tend to go a little Buddy Rich when I fly off the handle.

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  8. Jazz isn't dead
    It just smells funny.

    Frank Zappa

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  9. Kansas Shitty. Nobody with any well meaning intentions wants to be associated with it. That's a fact that apparently has been a thing for decades. Kansas City isn't a jazz mecca... it was a pass though, at best. Kansas City will hang on to a failed story line as long as it's profitable... nevermind the truth.

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  10. Parker was a drug addict and mental case. Only fools who post here would take his addled opinions seriously.

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  11. ^^And he is dead too. So there's that.

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  12. I'm a bigtime jazz guy like my boy Harry Bosch.

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  13. Polka and square-dance music are more popular than jazz; which is about as low as a bar can go.

    Can we get a couple hundred mil of Biden Bucks for a KC Polka and Square Dance museum?

    It's all in the name of inclusivity and diversity, don't ya know

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  14. these days for aspiring reed players there is the omnibook eb in pdf form that contains parker's work.

    just by looking at some of the time signatures of his music he couldn't of always been on heroin - there's no way to play that fast on a downer.

    his hate of k.c. may of been based on lack of opportunity/no money to be made.

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  15. And yet who cares if he hated KC? He is forever associated with it. Weird.

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  16. Exactly what he died for, trying till his dying breath to forget kc and the idiots at city hall are taking advantage of a dead man who can’t stop them from associating his good name and talents for a lost cause. The truth is this is a desperate attempt to bring any attention to a dying and worthless city, imagine that, it took two black mayors less than ten years to destroy a once viable and livable city into a broke ass third world shithole city complete with world record breaking murderous blacks and drugs. The city is full of homeless people, burned up and abandoned houses, closed businesses and empty hotels that weren’t needed but the taxpayers had to pay for. Weird.

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  17. ^and yet KC is a magnificent city and a jewel of the Midwest. Weird.

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  18. A turd is a turd. You may call it a jewel, but it's still a turd.

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  19. If ya like hip hop instead of jazz, it pretty well describes who and what you are.

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  20. btw Indeed on Bosch. Cool as hell.

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