Necessity is the mother of invention, especially for one Kansas Citian we will call Mr. Hardup. As layoffs have been sweeping through his Fortune 500 workplace (he won’t let us say which big local company that is, for reasons that will quickly become obvious), the place has begun to resemble the scene from the corporate-workplace-as-hell movie Office Space in which…
Kay Barnes was in a funk. She crept onto City Hall’s observation deck and peered out over downtown. Three and a half years into her term, the city looked too much like it did back in 1999. What had she really done? Oh sure, she took credit for a downtown housing boom. But deep in her heart, she knew she…
Great horned owls look formidable, with yellow, piercing eyes and pointed ear-tufts, but the injured owl that arrived last winter at the WildCare animal rehabilitation center in Eudora, Kansas, looked weak. Its wing and beak were injured, and it was afflicted by parasites. The goal of wildlife rehabilitation is to nurse animals back to health and release them as quickly…
Onstage at the Spiritual Warfare and Prophetic Worship conference at Municipal Auditorium, Mike Bickle sways with his eyes closed as he cradles an open Bible. Beside him, guitarists play and a woman sings. Two thousand Christians again and again sing a simple lyric: Pour your spirit out over this place. Pour your spirit out over this place. Pour your spirit…
Like any aggressive restaurant chain, California-based Mimi’s Café (see review) is planning to conquer Kansas City — one suburb at a time. The first Mimi’s debuted a month ago at Oak Park Mall; the second is scheduled to open even farther south in Johnson County, at 135th and Antioch, in January. Next year will see Mimi’s openings in Independence and…
I’m an impatient fellow. I think my time is too valuable to stand around waiting for anything except superb concert tickets, the payout for a lucrative bet at the racetrack or the chance to be a contestant on The Price Is Right. That’s why I’ve never understood why some diners wait as long as two hours to get a…
“I have to choose my words carefully here,” William Peck says, chuckling. The Kansas City-based performance poet and former editor of the now-defunct Friction Magazine is attempting to find a word that sums up the problem with most poetry readings. After a pause, during which several options are tasted and rejected, he makes his selection and pronounces it with zeal:…
Starlight Theatre’s Halloween celebration is so frightening it scared the theater’s insurance company. “One question they had was, ‘What signage is present to warn patrons of the gruesome nature?’” says Bill Hartnett, who’s overseeing Stage Fright at Starlight. “They said they had covered other haunted houses, and this is by far the bloodiest they’d seen. “Of course, I’m ecstatic,” Hartnett…
This is not how he’s supposed to talk. These are not things he’s supposed to say. These are not things he’s supposed to do. Not the Teen People poster boy, the YM golden child. Not the WB heartthrob. But there he is, anyway, snorting, guzzling, toking, dealing, stumbling, grinding, moaning, screaming, bleeding. There he is showing off his best…
“For the first time, got some public criticism from his coach . I wonder if that didn’t have some effect on his performance .” — Bob Gretz, after Green passed for five touchdowns against Miami, Chiefs Radio Network GH: Green had not responded positively to coddling. Let’s hope Dick Vermeil doesn’t forget where he put his whip. “Half of the…
Celebrate Sunday’s big win, but keep some perspective about the Chiefs’ quarterback. Trent Green has it easier than any other signal caller in the league. Chiefs fans want Green to succeed even more than they want a baseball team for whom a mugging of the first-base coach isn’t the highlight of the season. Kansas City wants to love Trent Green….
If you think Frankenstein at the Coterie Theatre holds the creature up as the perfect metaphor for every outcast ever teased, think again. Instead, Ric Averill’s adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel is just a man-and-his-monster story; with the meat and muscle boiled away, the script is awfully thin. But, wow, is the show beautifully crafted. Fittingly, the Coterie’s…
It’s been a good two decades now since American popular music had any sort of truly mass dance culture — one featuring reasonably widespread integration across race, generation, sexuality and class. There are plenty of reasons for that: The rise of identity politics; the deregulation of the radio industry; the semipopularity of punk and college rock; the very popular (because,…
This tribute to a still-very-much-alive songwriter pairs Greg Brown’s elegantly brusque songs with some of the best female singer/songwriters out there as a benefit for the Breast Cancer Fund. Brown has always made music as rugged as his own salty, Iowa-based vision, and his songs have appeared in places as disparate as Prairie Home Companion (where he grumbles carelessly about…
In the late 1990s, Kansas City was the unlikely home to four vocalists widely identified, if only within their respective subcultures, as among the finest singers working: Iris Dement and Mike Ireland in the field of too-something-or-other-for-radio country, and Karrin Allyson and Kevin Mahogany in the world of more-or-less popular jazz. Still, it’s not always easy for even nationally recognized…
The Toilet, the Clitar, Tomicon and Motorguitar are just a few of the homemade functional art pieces the Heavils strum in the studio and onstage. Ax-grinder Brian Carter created these ultrabizarre-shaped guitar-bass hybrids, using the instruments’ unique sonic capabilities to concoct a sound that’s equally eccentric. Fist-poundingly heavy but still as musically twisted as old-school Zappa, this is not…
It’s getting increasingly difficult to purchase new music for out-of-touch baby boomers. Reissues are a no-brainer, and even the cruelest among us could not wish the new Kansas album on a loved one, so finding original albums for those rapidly approaching curmudgeonhood requires some sure-footed shopping. Here’s a tip: Stay away from the Bellrays. The Bellrays aren’t classic-rock revivalists, but…
The history of rock is littered with wizards, from the pinball to the electric variety, but few acts re-create aggressive ’70s-style scuzz metal better than Bad Wizard. Unlike similar acts straining to recall the magic of Motorhead and the MC5, the Wiz kids leave no room for laid-back stoner bluster, instead choosing the simple but always effective combination of…
Twenty-one years ago, Elvis Costello sat down with notoriously freewheeling interviewer Tom Snyder on the long-gone NBC late-night Tomorrow show. A nation slept. In August 2002, Costello performed on the same network’s Today show for one of its Friday-morning concerts. A nation had already left for work — but plenty of people had left their Tivos running. Not that…
B.B. King (pictured) once said “the blues is an expression of anger against shame and humiliation.” But all too often, misguided souls dilute the potency of the blues while attempting to sanitize the music’s identity. King has become a touchstone for artists seeking to identify themselves not only with the roots of the Memphis blues but also with its…
Having ditched her academic pursuits for Boston’s alluring folk scene, Colleen Sexton (pictured) finds herself in historically rarified company that includes fellow raven-haired folkie Joan Baez. Though the resemblance — both physical and musical — is unmistakable, Sexton also brings originality to the table, displaying wit and wisdom beyond her years. Some critics label her warm vocal style jazzy, but…
Experienced partygoers know that showing up early is a mistake, and hip-hop heads have learned to add a good two hours to any alleged start time for rap attractions. So it’s no surprise that Tech N9ne’s event, which started at 8 p.m. on September 24, offered no live entertainment until nearly 1 a.m. (Though the doors to Tech’s show…
Despite Kansas City’s resilient reputation as a jazz town, inconsistent audiences make Thursday-night gigs notoriously nerve-racking affairs for loyal players. For former Malachy Papers bassist Bill McKemy, a decent draw for his CD release party at the Blue Room must be a welcome sight. But as he circulates through the room between sets, McKemy remains on guard, as if the…
The Wales Invasion begins in Detroit. Super Furry Animals kicks off its first trek across the American heartland just in time for the local health department to make national headlines with news of a syphilis epidemic in the Motor City. Not a good omen unless your business is latex. Super Furry Animals’ business is beauty. Part foamy California surf,…
