When Doug was a teenager in the 1960s, he spotted a TV commercial that would have a lasting effect on him. It was a car ad, and in it a young, fully clothed woman toppled from a raft into a lake. She popped to the surface — hair slicked back, wet clothes clinging to her body —and squealed: “It’s a…
The political view from John Ashcroft’s Washington, D.C., office was probably anything but pastoral on June 22. For one, the normally conservative American Medical Association (AMA) had unleashed an ad campaign in Missouri that morning accusing Ashcroft of carrying water for the insurance industry by voting against the consumer-tailored patients’ bill of rights. For another, a group of senior citizens…
“I’m not the celebrity type,” says Vincent D’Onofrio, and he does not lie. His is a household name in very few neighborhoods; it appears in film credits buried just beneath those of actors more famous, or just luckier. Rare is the filmgoer who utters the words, “Dude, let’s go check out the new D’Onofrio movie.” On the movie-star food…
Another world: Until last spring, one Kansas City restaurant served “New World” cuisine, although the focus of the now-closed New World Bistro was less on Central America and the Caribbean, like Lawrence’s Pachamama’s (see review above), and more “on all culinary cultures from all over the globe, with an emphasis on Asian,” says New World Bistro owner Joseph Fisher. Fisher,…
Will the real Pachamama please stand up? “It’s pronounced ‘Pock-a-mama,’” announced a know-it-all acquaintance when I told her I was driving to Lawrence to dine at that restaurant with the unusual name. But once I arrived there with John and Carolyn in tow, our waitress corrected me: “It’s ‘Pash-a-mama.’” Ah! But a couple of days later the restaurant’s chef,…
24 Thursday While vacationing in the Caribbean, Bob Whelan came up with a name for the band he fronts. He was sitting at a restaurant with his brother, arguing about what to call his band. A voice from across the bar yelled, “Call it Angry Salad.” Whelan looked up to see the unmistakable Freddie Mercury. The name stuck, and…
He went up to the highest point he could find and began making a lot of noise, stamping his feet, and yelling as loud as he could: “Come on over for a good time, ladies; I’m in the mood.” Ah, the ritual of mating. Apparently not a lot of originality exists when it comes to getting it on, because out…
Holidays have become quite an industry. So much so that months before these one-day events (which pay homage to, most often, Christian icons), businesses, distributors, and enthusiastic decorators alike begin displaying money-making and money-taking holiday gadgets. Easter displays go up days after Valentine’s Day; Christmas displays go up immediately following Halloween; and Halloween, well, at least under the 12th…
Not usually thought of as a sport, lifeguarding is associated more often with sunblock, poolside lounging, and Baywatch than with competitive endeavors. But in fact good lifeguards combine athleticism, skill, stamina, and the ability to think and act quickly — just like in any traditional sport. “We tell ’em when they first come to our class, ‘If you’re here to…
In the introduction to the text of Scott McPherson’s play, Marvin’s Room, AIDS activist Larry Kramer describes the conundrum at its core. “Marvin’s Room is not a play about AIDS. And (it’s) not a gay play,” Kramer says. “Yet Marvin’s Room is a magnificent gay play about AIDS.” Kramer is certainly referring to the realities of the writer’s life…
As one esteemed music critic once opined to another, “Iron Maiden doesn’t mess around with the fire and explosions.” And had Beavis and Butthead been part of the capacity crowd that greeted the venerable metal crew on Sunday night, they surely would have blurted “Cool!” at frequent intervals. Maiden delivered the goods with three (!) guitarists, a technically proficient…
Tuesday, August 29Stir Fried; The Allman Brothers; and Buzztopia 2000at the Grand Emporium; Sandstone Amphitheatre; and the GranadaWhen playing a recent game of Trivial Pursuit’s Millennium Edition, I ran across a question that proved all those lunch hours in the baseball bleachers weren’t wasted after all. “Which event,” asked the card, “would a 1990s hippie be least likely to…
Quoth the Raven … For those who have been petitioning a higher power for another female-fronted punky-pop juggernaut to replace the lamentably defunct Frogpond and Lushbox, your prayers have been answered. Jade Raven, a Gladstone-based group with singer/songwriter Holly King handling vocals, recently crafted In the Dark, a solid album that blends perky singalongs with enchanting ballads. Jade Raven will…
After two years of persistent touring and plenty of lineup changes, Be/Non, the area’s most adventurous psychedelic rock outfit, has returned to recapture local listeners. Its first showcase is Thursday, August 24, at The Bottleneck, as part of a bill that also includes the indie-rock all-star band Enon (with former members of Skeleton Key and Brainiac). But singer/guitarist Brodie…
When a mainstream alternative band unwittingly takes the name of an underground group and uses it as an album title, the only appropriate response is to return the favor. See The Nimrods’ Green Day or, more recently, Candy Ass’ Orgy. These three women (and one male drummer, who is amusingly absent from all press material and the record’s cover art)…
Cypress Hill’s recent release, Skull and Bones, had an EP’s worth of tunes that dabbled in the currently popular genre of rock-meets-rap. In fairness, the group was merely returning to a genre that it helped popularize through duets with Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth, Black Sabbath samples, and tours with Lollapalooza. Still, these songs got by mostly on momentum and…
Eric Clapton explained recently that the cover photo of this new collaboration comes from his idea to celebrate B.B. King by showing, Driving Miss Daisy-style, white Clapton chauffeuring around his black elder. Of course, Morgan Freeman didn’t have a $10,000 watch on his wrist and an Armani suit on his back for that movie, but at least Clapton and King…
Of all the people whose songwriting volume begs frequent releases, how did Juliana Hatfield swing a deal to put out two discs simultaneously? Grossly underqualified to merit the kind of hubristic but artistically valid move tested by Guns N’ Roses and Bruce Springsteen almost 10 years ago, Hatfield has cursed her shrinking fanbase with two, two, two bad records, and…
Some bands, such as Annie On My Mind and Lushbox, break up abruptly, even after they’ve poured years of angst onto analog. Others, such as Season to Risk, bring to mind those misguided but passionate couples that break up just for the make-up sex. Then there’s Lawrence’s Jesse Jackson 5, a band that could have easily parted ways, like countless…
The only Texan campaigning harder than George W. Bush right now is Dallas resident Jack Ingram. The songwriter will play close to 170 dates this year to support last autumn’s Hey You, his fifth and best album. But unlike pollsters and convention delegates, Ingram operates on instinct, refusing to be programmed. “Steve (Earle) and Ray (Kennedy) produced my last record,…
At the age of 10, young Martin (Jeremy Kreikenmayer) is forced by his single mother to finally meet the father he has put off seeing every year. Nothing wrong with that, at least on the surface; a boy heading into adolescence needs his father. Dad (Pierre Maguelon), as often is the case in French society, is fairly rigid and authoritarian,…
When John Waters is at his best, as he is in his latest, Cecil B. Demented, he can drive you in in a way few filmmakers have ever managed to do. But recognizing that fact can sometimes be difficult in today’s market-driven context. In fact, for the first half hour or so of Cecil, it’s hard not to reflexively evaluate…
Saturday Night Fever I just finished reading Bruce Rodgers’ article about Westport (“Saturday Night Special,” August 17). Was his purpose to point out the racial inequities that occur? Was it to expose the abuse of power some officers exhibit? Or was his purpose to possibly give all of us a better understanding of the situation and to possibly get a…
Follow that story: As soon as last week’s issue of the Pitch hit the streets, our phones started ringing with tipsters calling from Crown Center to report that Hallmark goons — actually, women dressed in business suits — were confiscating bundles of our newspapers. Apparently Hallmark was not pleased with staff writer Allie Johnson’s cover story about deplorable working conditions…
