As Dr. Thomas Egan, head of the lung transplant program at the University of North Carolina, explains, the procedure involves the “taking out of a part of the lung that is doing nothing but occupying space.” That lets the patient’s diaphragm and chest muscles collapse back toward their normal size, helping the patient regain freedom of movement and improving breathing….
Jim Farris could walk, but slowly and only if he stopped every few yards to rest. He could breathe, as long as he had a tube up his nose feeding him oxygen 24 hours a day. He could eat, but not too much, because chewing tired him and a full stomach made it hard to inhale. He could talk, but…
His name appears in almost every book written about Groucho Marx, so much so, he has been given the appropriate appellation by members of the Marx family: Wesso. But Paul Wesolowski is of no relation to the famous clan. He’s a man in his 40s who lives outside Philadelphia and, several times a month, works with children who suffer from…
It was Michael DeLeon, the strolling guitarist at Los Chavez Mexican Restaurant in Lenexa, who set me straight: The lilting Spanish song with the refrain Aye yi yi yi is named “Cielito Lindo” — not “The Frito Bandito Song.” I was dipping a tortilla chip into a bowl of con queso sauce ($3.75) — a puddle of melted cheese, cooked…
8 Thursday They’re calling it “a genuine festival of the arts.” It’s The Smoky Hill River Valley Festival, and it runs today through Sunday at Oakdale Park in good ol’ Salina, Kan. In its 24th year, the festival spans the artistic spectrum with two juried shows, a fine arts show, a craft show, and demonstrations. But that isn’t all:…
The wildest talk show in Kansas City isn’t on television or radio. BareTV.com is Kansas City’s first and only live Internet TV talk show (www.baretv.com) broadcast from the Westport Coffee House Theatre every Friday at 9 p.m. BareTV features aspiring Kansas City comics “baring” all of their wit and humor in an offbeat improvisational talk show, followed by musical performances…
Local artist Shane Evans doesn’t see himself as being all that successful. But he is. He has exhibited work in Paris, West Africa, Chicago, New York, Kansas City, and other major U.S. cities. He doesn’t emanate arrogance, even though he’s illustrated three nationally recognized children’s books, including Shaq and the Beanstalk and Other Very Tall Tales and Osceola: Memories of…
If Laura Fenton feels as if she’s got the weight of the world on her back, it’s probably because she does. It’s not merely a result of the nagging injury that’s plagued the world-class racquetball star for nearly a year but also the circumstances that brought her to her new hometown of Kansas City. Last August, a family member allegedly…
The title of J. Kent Barnhart’s latest cabaret, Four’s Company, is a bit misleading. Songs arranged for four voices get plenty of the five-voice treatment here, with Barnhart singing more than usual, even stepping out from behind the piano for the three choices performed a cappella. But the “company” part is perfect. The show is the equivalent of that party…
The title of Cuban artist Rafael Perez’s show at Fahrenheit Gallery, So Near and Yet So Foreign, derives from the slogan of a mid-’50s, pre-embargo tourism poster. “Visit Cuba,” the poster urged, “90 miles from Key West.” An illustration of a buxom girl playing the maracas enticed prospective American travelers. Only the red star on her straw hat identified Cuba’s…
Garage rock is one of those genres that can fool you, the fan, into thinking that if you’ve seen one band, you’ve seen them all. That’s not entirely untrue because, like its punk cousin, garage rock retreads the same well-worn chords repeatedly. Add to that the fashion prerequisites one must meet to be a true playa in the garage and…
It’s not as if Todd Rundgren is God or anything — that title is reserved for Eric Clapton — but for a lot of the baby boomers in attendance Friday night, his appearance at The Beaumont Club was akin to the second coming. Rundgren’s three-piece band put in a 90-minute set of often-obscure tunes, with a few hits sprinkled in…
When two gifted songwriters collaborate, the resultant group is often greater than the sum of its parts because it encompasses the strengths of both, adding the added dimension of diversity. However, when such bands go on tour, natural ebb and flow dictates that on some nights, one light will outshine the other. Sometimes Paul was a little off and John…
Over a couple of days during which the Kansas City weather turned less sultry than usual, the unusually sultry Lavay Smith handled the two main chores a non-rock musician is assigned these days. Saturday night, she and her band lit up the Grand Emporium, a tight, gritty blues club. Monday night, the crew gave a sunset show just inside an…
The drawing power of headliners Stone Temple Pilots and Godsmack set the turnstiles in action for Rockfest 2000, but the groups scheduled to fill the twilight slots seemed to be a distant dot on the horizon as rock fans eagerly piled into Sandstone early Saturday afternoon. Of more immediate interest was Papa Roach, which kicked off the proceedings with a…
Tuesday night at El Torreon offered a befuddling mix of musical chairs and ever-evolving rock and roll outfits. Not only was there some confusion about the site of the show (some rumors had it taking place at The Bottleneck), but also just one of the four bands on the bill ended up playing at full strength. Two of the others…
There is no sadder sight in cyberspace than the error message that a Web site no longer exists, and no band in recent memory has more defunct sites to its name than Veruca Salt. The frontwomen of this postgrunge version of Heart, minor-league Chicago hotties Nina Gordon and Louise Post, parted company as friends and collaborators a couple of years…
Some bands are renowned for the intensity and inventiveness of their concerts. The Flecktones, with their unusual blend of instruments and musical personalities, certainly fit into this category. Playing tunes that veered all over the musical map, they put on an excellent display of just how exciting a live performance can be. This reputation for expansive, enlightening jamming has…
Slap a pair of suspenders on smooth jazz saxophonist Boney James and he becomes a dead ringer for erstwhile comedian Gallagher. Like his supposedly funny doppelganger, James is an acquired taste. Incorporating pop, salsa, and bebop into his smooth jazz stylings, he works many of the same areas so successfully mined by the late Grover Washington Jr., another artist…
Described as a “gay Everly Brothers” — or you could say a gayer Everly Bros. — Pistol Pete & Popgun Paul have come out of the closet to make front-porch music. With a decidedly vaudevillian take on folk, gospel, and blues, this acoustic duo has done well to uphold the title of “wise-ass troubadours of modern love.” Formed in New…
Despite ruling classic-rock radio and winning over countless impressionable teens, Styx continues to fight an uphill battle for approval from snobby music critics, many of whom still find such ballads as “Babe” and such concept albums as Kilroy Was Here and Grand Illusion difficult to stomach. However, thousands of fans continue to groove along with its songs, as the thirtysomething…
Those who happened to drive or stroll past El Torreon on Memorial Day weekend might have noticed a boisterous crowd gathered outside — one that approached Chiefs tailgaters in reveling intensity. A closer look revealed that many of these partiers sported tattoos and close-cropped haircuts. At this point, the passersby might have quickened their pace or locked their car…
While Angrius is fluent in high-speed riffs and double-bass-pedal drumbeats, this KC-based quartet separates itself from the headbanging herd in a number of ways. Instead of rehashing coroner’s reports or combing through medical dictionaries to find the perfect rhyme for “disemboweled,” Angrius delivers poignant political commentary on the Sepultura-style “Joneses” and intriguing portraits of hapless characters on “Out of Pills”…
he newest local addition to the promising breed of heavy bands with vocalists who can sing as well as scream (see Staind, Full Devil Jacket, Life of Agony), Hydro delivers a well-produced debut that showcases Jonathan Collichio’s impressive pipes alongside an aggressive, two-ax attack. “Little One,” the album’s strongest track, moves from an arty guitar intro to a choppy rock…
