I've talked about music a lot on here and the evolution of my tastes. Before I had access to Amazon Prime Music, Spotify, Sirius XM Radio, etc. I listened almost exclusively to two stations: NPR and KQRC 98.9 The Rock. THE go to over the air radio station in Kansas City. They put on Freakers Ball and Rockfest, two of my favorite music festivals. Like most local radio stations they have an interesting line up of wild personalities but most notably is the morning DJ John Caprefoli who goes by the handle "Johnny Dare".
Years as a radio DJ has allowed Johnny Dare to make friends with celebrities at all levels. Among them is Jesse James Dupree the lead singer of the heavy metal band Jackyl. Their friendship resulted in cross advertisements of products they sponsored and Jackyl appearing in several concert lineups hosted by the station. In 2010 it was announced that the band would be filming a music video in Kansas City and they were looking for folks to be an extra.
My buddy Matt and I have attended many of the aforementioned concerts so I called him up and asked if he was interested. Matt is the kind of guy who is up to try just about anything and so we made plans to meet in the West bottoms at the warehouse turned sounds stage. Although not the most well known rock group (recognized more for their times on the Full Throttle Saloon TV show than anything I imagine) the idea of being in a music video must have appealed to a lot of folks because when we arrived we found a line wrapped around the building.
As it inched forward we saw Johnny and other radio staff intermingle with us as they thanked us all for our patience and occasionally cherry picked folks to jump to the front of the line. It was at this point I first heard the name of the song, "Just Like a Negro". The name made me a little uncomfortable without context but I quickly recovered when I discovered it also featured DMC. When the video was released I must admit I was a little disappointed. You can see the crowd only very briefly, blurry and the backs of their heads. Just the same it was a memorable experience.
9/2/2021