Calvin Wilson

January 5, 2021

Singer-Songwriter Karrin Allyson Headlines Rescheduled 40th Folly Jazz Series

Jazz instrumentalists are known for taking a melody and running with it — and often taking the listener to places far more mesmerizing and memorable than the source material.

November 23, 2020

A Singular American Moment

Unwarranted and unrestrained police violence against African Americans has long been a stain on the nation.

September 14, 2020

Artist to Watch: G.S. Griffin

Socialism is quite frequently brought up as a buzzword — particularly during election season, when candidates either struggle to explain it or rush to condemn it, even as the average voter remains oblivious to just what socialism means.

August 3, 2020

A Tribute to Charlie Parker as KC Celebrates the Centennial of the Artist’s Birth

Charlie Parker is revered as a jazz genius — a bold and brilliant innovator largely responsible not only for revolutionizing the music’s sound, but for transforming its image from that of captivating entertainment to incontestable art.

April 8, 2020

Arts News: Intimate Images of a Champion

Gordon Parks, American (1912–2006). Muhammad Ali Interviewed by Reporters, London, England, 1966. Gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 inches. (courtesy of and copyright the Gordon..

March 26, 2020

Spartan Press: Purveyor of Poetry

Launched in 1998 by Prospero’s Books, Spartan Press has published more than 200 books, ranging from poetry and essay collections to memoirs, short fiction and coffee-table art books.

March 5, 2020

Honors: Maryfrances Wagner

Maryfrances Wagner has established a national reputation through her poetry, but her latest accolade is one from the heartland.

January 28, 2020

Tivoli Cinemas reborn at the Nelson-Atkins

At a time when cities are overrun with franchise coffeehouses and froyo joints, cultural landmarks are to be cherished. But Kansas City almost lost one when Tivoli Cinemas closed last April.

September 9, 2019

An American Classic Slated for Two KC Productions This Fall

Ntozake Shange, a playwright, poet and novelist who died last October, was only the second African-American woman to see her work produced on Broadway. That 1976 theater piece — which Shange described as a “choreopoem” — was “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf.”

Author: Calvin Wilson