Not Your Average Joe

I first met Joe McGuire on April 8 at the big concert in Lawrence called Day on the Hill. His older brother, the well-known Kansas City DJ Oz McGuire (aka Señor Ozgood), had given me a CD that Joe made under the moniker Pleasuremaker. Funky, sexy and steeped in Latin and Brazilian sounds, Afro-beat and hip-hop, the jams on the disc were half a world away from the local scene. That record, on top of his brother's high commendations, made me a fan of Joe before I met him.

Decked out like a Havana fruit-stand proprietor, Joe passed out fliers for his and Oz's gig later that night at Louise's Downtown. At 24, the younger McGuire is deeply tanned and has a mop of curly brown hair. Physically and musically, he seems to resist his white KCMO origins. For the average honky, such a mindset would result in lameness, at the heart of which would be the glaring fact that said whitey ain't got no soul. It seems to be working for Joe, though.

He reads musician biographies and ethnomusicology books and can tell you more about the African diaspora than most cats like him who lack degrees. He practices scales, works on ear training and is fascinated with the art of repetition and breakbeats. "If you go back to James Brown and Fela Kuti, they were doing loops," he says.

The fliers Joe and Oz were handing out at Day on the Hill advertised "Afro-licious," the Saturday-night residency they were starting in the upstairs Continental Room at Louise's. On the flier, Joe was billed as "Cheo," his DJ name on the KJHK show Latin Lab. He's also earned the nickname Shirtless Joe and used to play in a band called Jose PH, which broke up in 2001.

I headed up to the Continental Room around 11 p.m. At first, the floor was empty. Brazilian beats from Oz's decks echoed off the walls, and a jazz pianist (John Brewer) laid down light keywork. But when a dreadlocked bassist and drummer took the stand, accompanied by a guitar-playing Joe, people began spilling out of booths and onto the dance floor. The Pleasuremaker had delivered.

Brewer, Oz, Joe and guest saxophonist Mark Southerland brought the dance-friendly improv to the Record Bar last Thursday night as well, and their sound was even more popping than it was that first night at Louise's. On Friday, April 28, and Monday, May 1, then continuing every Monday night thereafter, the McGuire brothers will host Beat Sanctuary at the Record Bar, developing the same instruments-plus-DJing format they've worked the past month.

If all goes well, regardless of the demographics of the patronage, the only whiteness about the evening should be the White Russians getting mixed at the bar.