Kansas Rock City

In the late ’70s, would-be disco dancers strolled into nightclubs expecting boogie grooves and instead encountered safety-pin snarls. Instead of turning the beat around, they had to turn to avoid getting beat down. Erstwhile dance destination Jilly’s (1744 Broadway, 816-221-4977) recently completed its own punk-for-funk switch, canceling its Thursday vinyl showcase Sound System, which had been drawing sparse crowds since Fat Sal and Señor Ozgood (now at the Record Bar) split last November.

Tony Davis, best known for running the punk venue Fusebox in 1994 and booking the Pyro Room during its brief 2001 reign as the city’s live-music hot spot, started filling Jilly’s Thursday slots with rock acts in February. After pumping up the club’s amp wattage, Davis started contacting area groups.

Tonight, old-school-style punks Hopeless Destroyers and bouncy glam band Golden Hearted Whores share the venue’s tiny stage. Casual clubgoers returning from a Sound System hiatus could be Hopeless-ly destroyed.

“The music scene has always been strong here,” Davis says. “If a city can’t have more than a couple places to do live music the same night, it’s a rotten place to live.”
Thursdays, 2006