As I made a recent trip to Three Friends Restaurant (2461 Prospect), it seemed like a journey back in time. Not just because the kind of food served at the 24-year-old restaurant — solid Southern-style cooking — dates back a couple of centuries but because the neighborhood itself is rich in history. Heading north on Prospect, past 27th Street,…
30ThursdayWho is the guardian tonight of the Gates of Paradise? asks Agha Shahid Ali in his poem “The Farewell.” He may not know the answer, but he’ll be in Kansas City today along with other well-known poets, such as Dana Gioia, Donna Masini, Liam Rector, Henry Taylor, and Carolyn Beard Whitlow. Don’t know who they are? Get thee to…
A sports fan would haveto have been in a coma the past six months to not have heard the tale of Kurt Warner’s transformation from grocery store clerk to Super Bowl quarterback. But what few people know is that on a much smaller scale, Kansas City Attack forward Clovis Simas has a similar success story. Heading into the Saturday,…
For nearly two decades Forbidden Broadway has skewered all that is sacred about Broadway theater. The pomposity of Andrew Lloyd Webber; the sugary sweetness of Annie; the recycled choreography of a Fosse show; the transformation of Times Square into a huge Disney store — nothing is holy enough to escape the poison pen of its creator, Gerard Alessandrini. Forbidden…
Kansas, to anthropomorphize a bit, is a maligned loner. “It’s so flat,” “There’s nothing there,” “The Land of Ahhhs!” — such are the descriptions applied by people who come with predetermined opinions or who are simply too dumb to witness majesty. But anyone who loves this state will point out that a drive west through the Flint Hills, or…
The area is packed with new-metal upstarts and traditional ’80s-style shriekers, but the straightforward hard-rock category remains underpopulated. Doing its part to correct this oversight is the Kansas City, Kan.-based trio Inphobic, whose three-song demo shows band members’ Motorhead and early-Metallica influences on the sleeves of their black concert T-shirts. After opening with the high-octane “Dragon’s Holiday,” a speedy tune…
Its name screams “death metal,” but StillBorn’s musical focus lies outside of the graveyard. With grooves, guitar experimentation, and whiny/spooky vocals reminiscent of Korn (but without the rap/metal component on which so many local crews have capitalized), this potent group has crafted two solid compositions. The explosive first track features growling vocals on its furious chorus, the time-honored repeat-the-same-line-louder-and-louder device…
So as not to forget, go ahead and set the VCR now for the installment of FarmClub.com TV scheduled to air Monday, April 17, at 10 p.m. on the USA network, for featured on the show will be Lawrence’s own Trucker, making its basic-cable debut. After the band hit the top of FarmClub.com’s unsigned artist list, results of which are…
“I write this particular entry as the most humiliated form of myself. Last night I really fucked up.” — Fiona Apple, March 1, 2000, writing to her Web site. I don’t want to make Fiona Apple more miserable than she already is. She’s at that awkward stage in her career where her fragility is the magnet that draws both fans…
After breaking up last year, The Jesus Lizard has issued its swan song, featuring tracks previously included on various singles as well as unreleased studio and live cuts from bootlegs that the band tracked down. The Jesus Lizard came from a dingy side of Chicago and more than likely spent a great deal of time in the alley that separates…
It is hip-hop groups such as The Murderers that give critics the ammunition to make claims that rap is responsible for off-the-field violence by NFL players and other criminal activities that take place in America. The Murderers, composed of Ja Rule (best known for his hit “Holla, Holla”), female rapper Vita, Chris Black, Black Child, 0-1, and Tah Murdah, spend…
Ex-Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna’s newfound Casio obsession has earned her critical acclaim on solo projects Julie Ruin and Le Tigre, but for those who miss raw, riot-grrrl rock, the movement’s other leader, Bratmobile vocalist Allison Wolfe, continues to deliver with her new group, Deep Lust. Filled with Wolfe’s trademark pottymouth lyrics and a vocal delivery that ranges from cutesy…
In addition to being an integral part of direct transportation, America’s highways are an overflowing source of adventure and good times. On its seventh full-length album, Southern California’s Fu Manchu explores related themes of the road with fuzz-in-your-face, hard-hitting rock and roll. Driven by thick guitar riffs weighted with distortion, chords resonating seemingly through infinity, pounding rhythms, and passionate vocals…
Those who savored the densely hypnotic riffs and rhythms that characterized Lula Divinia, Shiner’s previous effort, have waited more than three years for the next installment from this beloved band. Thankfully, this weekend will prove the dry interval to be worth the wait, as a CD-themed extravaganza will help promote the band’s April 11 release of Starless, Shiner’s first disc…
Unlike many of the groups that dusted themselves off for last year’s Social Chaos tour (punk’s version of the Old-Timer’s Game), D.R.I. has returned to the road for a headlining tour. Now that the band is no longer confined to a 30-minute set (although the thrashers still managed to cram 33 songs into that time period), fans will get to…
With his first solo album freshly in stores and a tour gearing up again, Peter Searcy did something last week that he’s always dreamed of: He mowed his own lawn. “I just bought a house. It’s the first one I’ve ever owned, so today was the first time I’d ever cut my own lawn,” Searcy says from his Louisville, Ky.,…
“There were always eyebrows that went up when they said, ‘What’s your film about?’ I’d say, ‘Gay life in Kansas,’” recalls Shades of Gray director Tim DePaepe during a recent interview in Lawrence, Kan. “Three years ago, when I was in South By Southwest (a film festival in Austin, Texas) pitching this thing, showing the demo around, I remember…
Even though he said very little during his turn as the villain in Lethal Weapon IV, Hong Kong star Jet Li stole the show. His calm, assured presence and seemingly superhuman agility make most American action heroes look like muscle-bound wimps. His latest Hollywood flick, Romeo Must Die, works best when it capitalizes on Li’s remarkable assets. He clobbers more…
In the midst of all the youth-market comedies and horror films comes this romantic drama, in which a prep-school student (American Pie’s Chris Klein) falls for the daughter of a small-town sheriff. The story is woefully predictable, not that it matters — it all happens so fast, there isn’t much chance for viewers to make an emotional investment anyway….
Cute nice guy lusts after the class princess, completely ignoring his pretty female best friend. She, in turn, is being won over by a jerk who has convinced the nice guy to play Cyrano for him. If this sounds familiar, congratulations; it means you’ve seen a high school-themed comedy in the past 20 years. In fact, Whatever It Takes is…
The latest offering from the Dreamworks animation department owes a considerable debt to Disney (much of its staff and tunesmith Elton John are veterans of the Mouse House). However, The Road to El Dorado is at its most enjoyable when it borrows from the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Road movies. A couple of bumbling Spanish con artists named Miguel…
It’s a tough room. The “made men” sit at the table in the back room of Sonny Valerio’s (Cliff Gorman) hangout, a closed-up Chinese restaurant, waiting for an answer from Louie (John Tormey). Louie, a foot soldier in the Vargo crime family, nervously smokes his cigarette under the disapproving — yet familial — looks of Sonny, Ray Vargo (Henry…
Nobody plays Gen X neurotics like John Cusack does. From the comically miserable teenager of Better Off Dead to the angst-ridden hit man of Grosse Pointe Blank, Cusack has a gift for being completely self-absorbed yet likable. Sure, he can do other kinds of roles (he’s actually quite versatile), but he inhabits this particular type better than anyone does. Cusack…
WOULD JENNIFER ANISTON EVEN KNOW THE DIFFERENCE? A man impersonating Brad Pitt has been making appearances in the actor’s hometown of Springfield, Mo. Sporting a black cowboy hat and traveling with his own entourage of bodyguards, the impersonator reportedly prowls the bars of downtown Springfield in an attempt to deceive young women. Unfortunately for the man, though, most of the…
