Kansas City Playlist: Work & Words 2025

There is a great quote about the nature of work which has been lost to digital AI slop at this moment in time.

The phrase was either noted by Pope St. Gregory The Great or legendary lovelorn communist poet Pablo Neruda . . . Either way, it goes like this . . .  

"Work and not words are the proofs of love." 

From the vantage of a writer/blogger that's exceptionally cruel since the "work" is all about words. And that dictum taken from our university days set up our love of contradiction which, ironically, defines most of the discourse around labor that's of interest for late night readers.   

Currently . . .

MAGA conservatives enjoy the support of so many unions and workers even if the idea of collective action against the status quo hasn't always defined the legacy/policy of the Republican Party. Alternatively, progressives imagine kinship with laborers while ignoring that so much of the Democratic Party infrastructure is maintained by corporate donors who mostly prosper by crushing competition and any notions regarding the democratization of profits. 

Don't worry, it gets worse . . .

At the local level and beyond . . . So many workers in desperate need of representation often find themselves at odds or even sold out by union leaders given that even the very best collective bargaining represents some kind of compromise. 

Accordingly . . . 

Tonight we welcome local insights about the legacy of American labor and hope to re-post anything worthwhile for Labor Day.

Seriously, we want to know how Kansas City still feels about labor day given that there was once a parade for the holiday here in KCMO but now the original sentiment behind the weekend of tribute is mostly forgotten. 

In the meantime . . .

Right now we share www.TonysKansasCity.com favorite songs on the topic of work and the world . . .

The hack move for Labor Day 2025 is to talk about AI and robots replacing people . . . We might do that Monday and so this classic techno track from Daft Punk serves as a place-holder given that "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" still powers so many 40-somethings through the work day.

Our traditional TKC Labor Day weekend confession . . . 

Yes, we still listen to 101 the Fox from time to time and we crank up this tune at full volume in an ongoing tribute to classic rock and the American working-class.

Fun-fact . . . 

Women hold a majority in the college-educated American workforce and, sadly, they're almost always left of out discussions about working life. 

It's beyond the scope of a blogger to fix any of that but this is one of our favorite 80s-era collabs — Featuring British pop duo Eurythmics and American singer Aretha Franklin — And at least the tune seems to imagine that the future of American labor probably lies in the hands of women.

For the bridge we are forced to admit this is a just a blog and culture war is our stock & trade so America's favorite drag performer RuPaul and her iconic track "Supermodel (You Better Work)" powers us through . . .

Finally, there's still a lot of weekend ahead and we don't want to bring down some very good energy in Kansas City. Accordingly, we'll simply conclude tonight's playlist with our second favorite retro Canadian band Loverboy and "Working For The Weekend."

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