For every fan of Kansas City music who’s heard of Glen Hockemeier, there are a dozen or so who have only heard him. In addition to drumming for hard-riding country-rock band the Gaslights, Hockemeier is the proud owner of this music scene’s most famous laugh. Ringing out of bar doors wherever the Gaslights and their friends are making a night of it, Hockemeier’s rousing, dudely guffaw is the kind of trait most men his age would have discarded like dreams of being a cowboy. But that’s Glen: a man, a child,
a laugher, a drummer.
Now, however, Hockemeier faces the problem of being a self-employed handyman and musician with bills to pay after recent surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome. Tonight at Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club (3402 Main, 816-753-1909), 11 local acts play to raise funds to help Hockemeier. And though the event’s name, Glenefit, is funny, the lineup’s no joke. It’s a rotating showcase of acoustic and electric jams by Gary Cloud, Tony Ladesich, Tommy Donoho, the Architects, Honeywagen, It’s Over, the Expassionates, Pendergast, American Catastrophe, Whiskey Boots and Glen’s bandmates Chris Meck and Abigail Henderson. The suggested donation for entry is $10, but Glen laughs for free.
