You know how everyone hates those long recipes with big expository introductions? Sorry.

For years I’ve been threatening to write a book. Curiously, the subject has nothing to do with local music or photography or any topic Too Much Rock readers might think I’d be interested in. It would instead be about amusement parks in Kansas City. Specifically, the ones that dotted the region from 1900 to 1920. Of course, in my proposed book there would be a chapter devoted to Electric Park. The first Electric Park was a beer garden and amusement park located in Kansas City’s East Bottoms from 1900 until 1907. Michael Heim of Heim Brewery Co. developed the park to draw residents to his family's adjoining brewery. Floods forced the park to relocate after the 1906 season, leaving the area either abandoned or underdeveloped for a century. In 2019 local distillery J. Rieger & Co. took over one of the remaining Heim buildings to serve as its new distillery, and later it opened a landscaped patio in a nod to Heim’s original beer garden. Rieger calls its courtyard the "Electric Park Garden Bar," and several times a week this venue hosts live music. This is where my passion for trolley parks and live music intersects.

At 2pm I walked into Electric Park and immediately bumped into Daniel Gum and Shaun Crowley (Manor Records empresario) as they waited in line for a drink. Gum delighted that he could just order "a beer" like they do in the movies. Rieger and KC Bier have eliminated the need for any follow-up questions by only providing one option – the specially brewed Heim Beer. Afterward, Gum carried his cup onto the pergola-turned-stage, picked up his acoustic guitar, and hoisted himself onto a stool. Show time.

Daniel Gum is one of my favorite performers in town. He’s friendly, dryly hilarious, and broadly talented. The fact that his musical tastes often overlap mine only seals the deal. Gum’s first set included a dozen songs – many of them new and slated for his long overdue second album. There was a lot of fingerpicking in those songs, and plenty of low, elongated vocals. Both of which recalled Nick Drake. Five or so songs in, the set picked up. New song "Rock N Roll in E (Performed in A)" has some pep. There's a bit borrowed from The Replacements' " Androgynous," though Gum denied it when I asked him about it later. He claimed only Johnny Paycheck and Willie Nelson as lyrical inspirations for the song. Maybe I was the only one who noticed, as most of the audience kept its distance. They were there to enjoy the warm late summer weather, the food and drink, and maybe the games that are placed on the tables. Most of those sitting at tables under shade umbrellas were unaware there would be live music, so Gum decided to lure them in with a familiar cover. When it was over he said, "That was a Tom Petty song. That's why it was good." The self-deprecation continued later in the set: "I'm going to try one that usually doesn't go so well acoustic." It went just fine. As did his cover of "Miss Misery" by Elliott Smith. Maybe it's too on the nose for most shows, but it proved a solid choice for a performer looking to engage an otherwise occupied audience. The first set ended with "35 Years" (my request) and "Sarah" from Gum's 2020 debut album, then he excused himself for a short break.

Fifteen minutes later, the second set picked up right where the first ended. Gum warned the audience that his upcoming single "Ain't Much Time Now Left for Summer" might sound a little like Jack Johnson, but promised he'd win them over by the end. I never really gave Mr. Johnson much thought, but this song – with its "If you ever wanna fool around with me" vocal hook – is a gem of Alex Chilton proportions. And then disaster struck. Anyone who has ever spent time in the East Bottoms knows that it isn't just littered with train tracks, but also serves as a "hump yard" where engines stop, cars are sorted, tracks are switched, and horns regularly blare. For the next 40 minutes, one or more trains passed just twenty feet from Gum's perch. Some rumbled while others crawled, but all were deafeningly loud. Gum tried to wait it out, and then when he got antsy, he made jokes: "Ever heard of taking the weekend off?" he asked to a chugging locomotive. He then decided to pass the time by playing covers and half-remembered bits of covers. He tried to learn Bruce Springsteen's "State Trooper" on the spot. The trains stayed on the rails; the show did not. A cover of J.J. Cale's "After Midnight." A cover of "Bar Tender's Blues" originally by George Jones. Beatles covers including "And Your Bird Can Sing" and "Eight Days a Week" followed. The latter featured harmonies from simpatico musician Wills Van Doorn who had arrived with friends to celebrate a birthday. The duet was a highlight of the second set, but for the rest of the afternoon, Gum was accompanied only by screeching train trucks and by horns that took haphazard solos without regard to timing. Gum forced out "Parker Posey" and a few other originals over the din, but by then, it was labor, not joy. Afterward, he was understandably frustrated. I suspect it was quieter in 1900 when Heim sold its Belgian-style ales and lagers to thousands of guests, but blowing into a tuba with a coal train belching nearby couldn’t have been easy either.

If you'd like to hear more from Daniel Gum, tune in Wednesday morning at 9am to 90.9 The Bridge. If you'd like to more of my ramblings about Kansas City pleasure gardens, you'll have to wait for the book.