Josh Kingsley

Happy Independence Day a couple days late!!

Fourth of July is always an awesome day. My columns constantly illustrate how I keep myself busy and take very few fully disconnected days. The Fourth is typically one of them. No work, all play (or laziness) with a small group. I enter the day with three goals: cook on the grill, fireworks in some capacity, and watch the 1996 cinematic masterpiece, Independence Day. Check x 3.

As detailed last year this timing also includes the Milwaukee Summerfest concert festival. I hit it hard last week. Here is my weekly list of musical suggestions or reinforcements:

Dave Matthews Band

I considered myself a long-time admirer and almost fan. Always liked the music, never felt compelled to make a live show happen. Things lined up to finally catch a show. By things lined up I mean I had nothing on the calendar. No kid events, just open calendar. Tickets were reasonable. I started the show with my vanilla opinion: they’re good, but don’t understand the hype.

Anthony (Titans fan and DJ colleague) and I had a short conversation at the beginning of the set. He brought up two interesting points:

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1. I have no clue who is a DMB fan, and this crowd clears nothing up.
2. DMB is essentially five bands in one. They are a rock band, jam band, country band, indie band…and a cover band.

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The crowd was incredibly eclectic in every way. I mostly agreed about the multi band thing, but questioned the cover comment. 

The show started and my opinion remained intact: these guys are fun, but nothing to blow me away. A few songs in, Anthony made a comment about the drummer and keys players keeping perfect sync through half a dozen tempo changes in one song. I also noticed the ebb and flow of dictated energy by the band. Something clicked and I suddenly got what many already knew: Dave rocks and his shows are awesome. A couple songs later they played a nice rendition of Brick House confirming they are, in fact a cover band too.

It took me a bit, but I made it. I will see him again as a proud Dave fanatic.

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Cyprus Hill

I was born in 1981, so I am an 80s kid. However, middle school and high school happened in the 90s. I grew up with some 80s music, but really claim the 90s as my formative music years. The 90s music scene gave us three things:

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1. Grundge alt rock. Genres like ska (madness) and new wave (Devo) began in the 80s, but the 90s added a flannel wearing, hard rocking spin. The musical world is a better place thanks to the likes of Nirvana and Pearl Jam and many, many others.
2. Country. Country music was definitely a thing by the 90s. Players like Hank Williams, George Jones and Alabama live in music lovers’ souls for great reason. The 90s are the best era of country. That decade produced tasteful pop infusion while keeping the music to three chords and the truth. Artists like Garth Brooks provided the box office, but every band kept their fiddles and steel guitars.
3. Hip hop. Again, rap/hip hop was already a thing. The likes of Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy and many others built this genre from the ground in New York. Hip hop is not for everyone, and never tried to be. It started as a urban storyteller take on the blues. It became the urban take on glam and excess. My favorite part of the journey is the 90s. The stories remained as the excess began. It was musical and mainstream. The decade holds up incredibly. I could fill any amount of dance time with 90s rap and R&B easily.

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Cyprus Hill is part of the third group. Every proper 90s hip hop conversation includes their name. A kid in me finally saw them live.

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Coi Leray

She is part of the ever growing sphere of female hip hop dominance. Women continue to find their voice in the genre thanks to killer beats aggressive lyrics. Coi got her start on Tik Tok. Love or hate it’s the world we are in. She melted sass seamlessly with traditional sampling and rock star attitude. I expect Coi Leray to dominate my playlists in the next couple wedding seasons. She is rap’s next big thing.

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Earth, Wind and Fire

I really am an old music soul and deeply respect the pioneers and trailblazers. EWF still has the swag and beats that made them famous in Chicago and then the world over. See this band if you have not. See them again if you have. Summerfest shows with locals are always special. Chicago and Milwaukee are neighbors. EWF felt like a local that night.

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.38 Special

The absolute best art of Summerfest is the range. My crew (Adam, Sarah and Anthony) hit Earth, Wind and Fire, made a scheduled stop for another show (Yung Gravy, new age rapper, didn’t enjoy live), and headed for the exit. Thoroughness made us check the app for stage passing awareness. Somehow .38 Special escaped our plans. They did not escape our thoroughness. We got to the Uline stage at the north end just in time for Caught Up in You and the encore, which included Hold on Loosely. That band rocks hard and sounds great. A fitting night cap.

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What Constitutes an Athlete?

Here is Webster’s definition:

athlete – noun (ath·​lete)
1 : a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina
2 : an animal (such as a horse or a dog) that competes in races or other sporting events or has qualities (such as stamina and agility) suggestive of a human athlete

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July 4th produces an annual tradition of mass scrutiny. The online masses question things like “are we actually as free as we celebrate,” “should fireworks exist at all,” and notably “why do we do the hot dog contest?”

Joey Chestnut is the king of competitive eating. The annual Nathan’s hot dog contest on the 4th of July is the major of majors. Joey won his 8th consecutive and 16th total this week. Posts immediately went up all over the Internet calling him the goat of eating, which led to countless comments questioning the contest, calling him gross, etc. Same as every year.

The conversation always ends up asking questions like “why are ESPN and other sports outlets showing this non-athlete?” After that golfers and NASCAR drivers join the list of “non-athletes.” Re-read the definition above. Golfers walk 4+ miles while maintaining a consistent swing, NASCAR drivers spend 3+ hours in a 3,300 lbs beast of a car in close proximity to other drivers on the side of a hill, and competitive eaters consume 10+ meals in a short sitting. All three activities require a combination of physical strength, agility, and stamina. The people competing are athletes by definition. Thus, the activities are sports. Let’s show some respect for the competitors in these arenas and remember the channel change buttons on our remotes if we don’t like or agree with an activity.

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This Week in CHIEFS

The annual NFL.com All-Under-25 Team released just before the holiday. Our CHIEFS feature three players: Creed Humphrey at C, Trey Smith at OG, and Nick Bolton at LB. I cannot think of a greater high-five for GM, Brett Veach. That list of three easily doubles as his greatest list of draft steals. The Chris Jones extension saga continues to slow burn. Each passing day brings to question Jones’ status. A trade becomes more likely every 24 hours. To be clear: I am neither predicting nor calling for a Jones trade. I want the extension. However, basic pragmatism requires me to acknowledge the possibility of him moving. Veach simply cannot pay everyone their market value. Jones and the three honorees comprise a list of top flight talent on both sides of the ball. Who gets the big extensions? I consider Creed the slam dunk and am not sure beyond that.

Our other major “story” is the continuous scrutiny of the Super Bowl LVII field conditions. Yes, the field for a game almost five months ago. This is such a joke. I considered avoiding, but reality dictates acknowledgement. The NLF world, at least on social media, views this as news. Both the CHIEFS and Eagles played on the same turf in the Super Bowl. Said turf sucked like most offerings from the Cardinals stadium. The CHIEFS figured it out a FG more than the Eagles and won the game. Cleat selection may have played a role. End of story.

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The Glorious Hatred

The entire thing simply contributes to the current reality: the CHIEFS are the most successful, and thus most hated NFL team. We as fans occupy the seat recently vacated by the Patriots fan base: constant scrutiny of our teams’ accomplishment. The CHIEFS win too much, so they have to be paying the refs and otherwise cheating the League rules. CHIEFS fans profile as uneducated, non-football intelligent, bandwagon fools. Teams like the Bengals, Bills and Eagles are the current victims. The masses of NFL fans feel this way and sports hate us. I think it’s awesome. All the shade is a result of two things: recent AND projected winning. The CHIEFS will contend for another Super Bowl this season. They may win another one. Non-CHIEFS fans everywhere spend their days tripping over themselves finding reasons to invalidate this theoretical situation.

I’ve waited my football fan life to be on the receiving end of this criticism. I thoroughly enjoy laughing off every single comment, while being very sorry every critic is upset. Keep it up Clark, Veach, Reid and Patrick, we CHIEFS fans love it!!

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Josh Kingsley — ArrowheadOne and Arrowhead Kingdom

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