Kansas City Playlist: Klingon Proverbs & Local Streets

Quote context on our post headline from one of our heroes . . . 

"Ah, Kirk, my old friend, do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? It is very cold in space!" —  Khan Singh 

Actually . . . 

Attributed to Klingons in Star Trek, the phrase is commonly believed to have originated from the 18th-century French author Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.

And this cold night got us thinking about vendettas both political and otherwise . . . For balance we'll also share a more commonly used quote from Chinese culture that offers the opposite perspective . . . 

"He who seeks vengeance must dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself."

And all of that is what we're thinking about tonight . . . 

Promises of an "American Golden Age" seem to have brought to an era of political & cultural revenge that risks sending us all into a doom spiral. 

Thankfully, a great deal of it is predictable, petty and nothing more than a distraction to stir emotions of low-info voters and those poor souls who have dedicated their lives to competing with AI chatbots & the otherwise programmatic political discourse that's ALWAYS rigged in favor or corporations and the status quo.

Translation: Americans are infinitely blessed that most of use would rather play video games than engage in discourse over macroeconomics, worsening class divisions, immigration and political philosophy.   

Nevertheless . . .

We look around and notice that the motivation for revenge seems to be powering the nation's politics.

Clearly we're in the midst of what looks like EPIC PAYBACK directed and illegal/undocumented migrants and the leftist activists who advocate for them. 

In turn, progressives seems to be advancing their decade-long battle against Prez Trump even as time and nature makes faster progress than political action.

Even worse . . . The false dichotomy presented by mainstream news offers voters a choice betwixt trigger-happy masked ICE agents and their enablers vs. angry masked protesters pushing for open border policy that the Democratic Party doesn't even support. And that's really not much of a choice at all . . . It's merely a framework to freeze out any real discussion about moving forward as a nation in a world of rapidly increasing uncertainty.  

Nevertheless . . .  

We could end this post with a traditional quote that reveals a bit more about our worldview than we'd like to share publicly . . . But, since we're parroting smarter people on this frosty evening . . . We'll offer a few alternative takes in order to reinforce a sense of chill for any reader nice enough to give us a late night read . . . 

"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding." — Albert Einstein

"Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means." — Ronald Reagan

"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without." — Buddha

And all of this inspires our www.TonysKansasCity.com playing on the topic of winter, cold and the peace that we wish unto anybody good enough to visit our humble corner of the Internets . . .

TKC values the wisdom of American signer James Brown far more than any other contemporary philosopher and this intro to "Cold Sweat" in 1974 might be one his greatest insights ever bestowed upon fans.

As always, these playlists are a tribute to nostalgia and tonight we remember "Cold Shot" by Stevie Ray Vaughan played during his iconic 1989 performance on Austin City Limits rebroadcast by PBS as one of their most popular concerts in the history of the network.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers might be entering their winter years but they remain relevant to millions of fans who continue to celebrate their funk-punk-rock fusion that features a few melodic offerings m‐ Snow [Hey Oh] is apropos for tonight.

All of our best playlists include at least one Rolling Stones track and we're sharing this clip of "She's So Cold" if only because it defies the wisdom of experts who seemed to believe the band would soon stop touring in 1981 . . . Only now in 2026 has the group decided to rest a bit as the band endures amid their octogenarian years and STILL might offer a few more select shows.

Finally, it's our tradition on this blog to pick out an appropriate winter moment in order to share "In The Cold, Cold Night" — A very chill TKC fave from the White Stripes whose career might punctuate the fighting spirit of Gen-X and so-called "elder-millennials" as these demographics start to hit critical mass in terms of voting.

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