Cotton Candy Is Gone

Dynamic Kansas City blues singer Annetta "Cotton Candy" Washington died yesterday. She's been a fixture on the live scene for as long as I can remember. The Star reports that she suffered a stroke on stage at Blayney's earlier this month. I took this picture of her performing with Eugene Smiley on September 15 at the American Jazz Museum's street festival. As always, she was ribald and exuberant. I recall trying not to blush as she playfully propositioned men in the audience as she modified the lyrics with suggestive asides. Kansas City is now a slightly less joyful place.