Slighty Feral Media: The Raccoon's Cabinet of Curiosities

FIELD NOTE // THE BAND NAMES CHANGED. THE HUMANS KEPT PLAYING. Combo Diablo, the Doo-Dads, and a Slightly Feral Journey Through Kansas City Music History By Alethea F. Mehdipour — Slightly Feral Media THE SHIRT The first thing the raccoon saw was the drummer’s shirt. THE GRAND EMPORIUM. The letters reached into an old, poorly labeled section of the archives, grabbed an entire collection of memories, and dumped them directly onto the floor. The raccoon may have squealed. Not a dignified, professional Kansas City concert photographer squeal. More like a slightly feral teenage girl encountering a boy band in the wild. This was unexpected. She had arrived to photograph Kansas City rock ’n’ roll band Combo Diablo. Instead, before the band had played a single note, drummer Joe Gose was standing there wearing a doorway into the raccoon’s own live-music history. BEFORE THE DIGITAL EVIDENCE Many years ago—decades, even—before digital cameras allowed a raccoon to take 1,200 photographs and quiet...