When Laura Cantrell says she’s going on at 7:30 sharp, she means it. The charming chanteuse started her October 9 set at the Midland Theatre right on time, with an abrupt, intro-free ditty that made it seem as if she’d timed her entrance to the second. If only fans of headliner Elvis Costello could have been so punctual. The audience…
Kansas City maintains a cowtown-caliber music reputation, with critics on both coasts expecting nothing more out of the region than meat-and-potatoes rock. Recently, emo’s emergence added fine whine to the menu, but Puddle of Mudd’s success only reinforces images of unfashionable groups still grazing on grunge guitar. A closer look, however, reveals such oddities as a cheerful Elf, an eccentric…
In many ways, Approach’s abode — which the MC shares with Archetype’s Jeremy “Nezbeat” Nesbitt and Datura Records owner Brent Lippincott — resembles all the other student-ghetto crash pads in Lawrence. Oversized posters (Rage Against the Machine, Erykah Badu, Miles Davis, Blackalicious, Radiohead, OutKast) cover all available wall space; rows of records are piled near a turntable station in the…
Poor Mexico, poor United States, so far from God, so near to one another.” — Carlos Fuentes, The Crystal Frontier Deserts laugh at borders. In the Arabian peninsula, where the natives know a thing or two about the desert, this is abundantly clear. No cartographer or diplomat has ever bothered to define the Saudi-Yemeni border deep in the heart…
If you’re a fan of that baseball-cap-wearin’, Nader-votin’, muckrakin’, best-sellin’, corporation-confrontin’ son of a gun Michael Moore, all you need to know about his latest film, Bowling for Columbine, is that it’s more of the same: easy humor, political potshots, attempts (some successful, most not) at interviewing and confronting corporate crooks and the odd emotional sucker punch that’ll leave you…
Give Tom Tykwer credit for knowing that he can’t possibly outdo Run Lola Run, his frenetic breakthrough that made critics cheer and took MTV pacing to a whole new level, blending animation with live action, still photos and alternate realities in a way that raised the viewer’s adrenaline levels. Tykwer would probably have to smoke crack for several months to…
Skate of mind: I loved the article C.J. Janovy wrote regarding Kay Barnes (“On a Roll,” October 10). It seems Barnes has a lot of free time on her hands. I have a thirteen-year-old son who loves to skateboard, and four months ago I told him I would take him and a buddy downtown. I remember when I used to…
For Phill Kline, right-wing candidate for Kansas attorney general, campaigning must be full of little irritations. Kline is under siege from the dueling Steves. On September 15, Kansas City Star columnist Steve Kraske ripped Kline for refusing to disclose his tax returns and the results of an FBI background check and for letting his law license expire three times. On…
Passenger counts are dropping at Kansas City International Airport, but business is booming for consultants overseeing the airport’s renovation. Kansas City Aviation Director Russ Widmar has hired a consultant to help supervise a consultant hired to supervise the rehab, the cost of which is now estimated at $258 million. Every inch of the three airport terminal buildings is being updated…
On August 6, Kansas City voters narrowly declined an opportunity to add $35 million to the city’s public-improvements budget without a tax increase. Their message to City Hall was clear: “Listen to us before spending our money.” Now the $35 million Question No. 1 is back. Kansas Citians have one last chance to pour extra funds into the city’s backlog…
It’s a sunny Friday afternoon in June. In Independence, the parking lot of the Hilton Garden Inn is crammed with cars sporting every left-wing bumper sticker imaginable. Free Tibet. Bush Cheated. Hate is Not a Family Value. If You Want Peace, Work for Justice. Shiny Lexuses are parked alongside battered Corollas. Inside the hotel, political heavies and wide-eyed young campaign…
John Raux points to the windowless buildings that surround the downtown parking lot just south of 18th Street and Wyandotte. “There’s no glass,” he proudly explains. “So no breaking, either.” That makes it a perfect setting for a monthly dodgeball game. Raux owns the tiny art gallery known as the Forum, located around the corner from the parking lot. Not…
“The contortion act is just so beautiful,” boasts Don Hughes, producer of the Shangri-La Chinese Acrobats. “If you don’t bring the contortionists, the people complain.” No worries — when the acrobats come to the Madrid Theatre this Saturday, they plan to disfigure themselves into ovation after ovation. The 27-year-old troupe carries on the celebrated ancient Chinese tradition of assuming pretzelesque…
For singer and songwriter Vance Gilbert, the destination has never meant nearly as much as the journey. Armed with a honey-sweet tenor, an impish sense of humor, and the ability to wear as many different musical hats as he can cram into his trunk full of talent, Gilbert blends blues, folk and pop, and he’s won a loyal following…
Born out of the Allman Brothers Band’s late-’80s rebirth, Gov’t Mule was a force of nature that combined talented guitarist/songwriter Warren Haynes with noted Southern-rock bassist Allen Woody. Augmented by the percussive prowess of drummer Matt Abts, Gov’t Mule quickly grew from side-project status to a full-time gig. However, Woody’s unexpected death in August 2000, barely a month after…
Maybe it was the desire to make a personal statement 100 percent his own. Perhaps making the record just sounded like a lark. There are probably a slew of reasons why Old 97s frontman Rhett Miller decided that now was the time to go forth with his major-label solo debut, The Instigator, but here’s another possibility that shouldn’t be overlooked:…
Of all the bands named after Russ Meyers flicks (Mudhoney, Faster Pussycat, Motorpsycho, Vixen), My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult seems most inspired by the filmmaker’s bawdy vision of the world. For fifteen years, the Chicago ensemble has titillated concertgoers with over-the-top live sets, complete with GWAR-like creatures, voluptuous showgirls and fire-breathing antics. The group even leaves room for…
The Damned became British punk icons the same year the American Bicentennial quarter became collectible. After playing its first gig with the Sex Pistols way back then, the Damned launched “New Rose,” recognized by most as the first punk single, on an unsuspecting public months before the Pistols had their bollocks lined up. These days, drummer Rat Scabies is gone,…
When Stone Temple Pilots debuted with 1992’s Core, snooty rock pundits immediately dismissed the So-Cal quartet as one of the numerous Pearl Jam knockoffs coming out of the grungework. But STP always had a few extra tricks up its sleeve, toying with its bruised-boy image onscreen in videos and crafting music that wasn’t afraid of Northwest no-nos such as glam…
Former Pixies frontman Frank Black remains indie-rock’s most extraterrestrial being, a balding interstellar alien armed only with a guitar, a handful of supercatchy anti-anthems and a supersized chip on his shoulder. Black is undeniably prolific, having issued an album a year since his 1999 debut with the Catholics. Though his work with the Catholics has been virtually overlooked by the…
Like so many adolescents, Imperial Teen has finally outgrown its awkward period. First, the band endured the schoolyard gossip that accompanied its 1995 debut album, Seasick, back when the buzz about the band focused more on its personnel than its sound. (“Ohmygod, did you hear the keyboardist used to be in Faith No More? And he’s gay! And there’s a…
In the mid-1980s, three friends opened a Midtown restaurant. The trio — an ambitious former waiter, his wife and their best friend — came up with an interesting menu concept. And by doing much of the construction and remodeling work themselves, they turned a space once occupied by a greasy diner into a hip bistro. For the first ten months,…
I was having a languid Wednesday night dinner at Café des Amis with my fashionista friend Jennifer, who began flirting aggressively with our waiter after her second glass of Latour Pinot Noir. Then a notorious local roue — a male publicist with bedroom eyes — entered the nearly empty dining room and started coming on to Jennifer in a…
The prayer book used during the Pet Blessing Procession at Valley View United Methodist Church, held in conjunction with the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, instructs the clergy member leading the service to “make allowances for larger animals such as horses and livestock.” At New York City’s St. John the Divine, which will be the world’s largest gothic cathedral…
