Linus had it all wrong. You’ll never catch a glimpse of the Great Pumpkin by camping out in some rural setting and praying for moonlight magic. But if you wait long enough in one of those nondescript fields, you might spot the Great Bumpkin — Porter Wagoner — en route to yet another tour stop off the paved path. It’s…
Now in its third year, the Pitch Music Showcase proves that Kansas Citians will show up by the thousands to support local music, especially if they’re paying 50 cents per act. Politically astute as well as bargain-minded, these August 7 concertgoers compared and contrasted candidates throughout the evening before casting their votes. The people’s voices will be heard on Friday,…
It’s 2 a.m. on a July night, and Danielle Nelson is finally getting a chance to work on her local-music Web site, thezone.org. She puts in a twelve-hour shift as an electrical engineer from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., then attends classes at DeVry until 11 p.m., so she has a brief window starting at midnight to devote to the…
The Abbey Pub isn’t sold out, but the crowd is far from meager. A couple hundred revelers shuffle closer to the tiny stage of the Chicago nightspot as the New Amsterdams unveil their strident set opener, “The Smoking Gun,” taken from the band’s just-released third effort, Worse for the Wear. If the song — a swaying rock ditty getting a…
In the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee tradition of sampling intriguing documentaries about lovable eccentrics comes Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew. Directed by first-timer Matthew Buzzell, the film spotlights the odd, heartbreaking, yet ultimately victorious career of jazz singer Jimmy Scott, who turned 78 last month. In 77 minutes, Buzzell’s film succeeds in chronicling the arc of a man’s life….
There’s magic in Northfork — both in the movie, by twin brothers Mark and Michael Polish, and in the Montana town soon to be drowned by the opening of the dam keeping the baptismal waters at bay. Northfork is a beguiling and bittersweet fantasy set in a netherworld where the living and dead meet on their sojourns to higher…
Full court press: Regarding Casey Logan’s “Slab Happy” (August 7): Once again, I see the city leaders pandering to certain groups. I do not skate, but I like to watch it. I play basketball, and most of the city’s courts are in terrible shape. They have large cracks that can contribute to ankle sprains, and none that I know of…
Since nothing’s sacred on TV, NBC’s Today Show has been airing a summerlong segment in which one couple has their marriage planned entirely by viewers. Businesses compete on-air to provide the mandatory goods and services — the ring, reception, dress, cake, bride’s hairstyle, and honeymoon — with the winner chosen by Internet voting. Allyson Smith, a striking 29-year-old brunette, watches…
For more than twenty years, the Law Building rotted on the corner of 12th and Grand while members of the Downtown Council, a consortium of business owners, tried to buy the property. But its owner, a Californian named Robert Lipson, declined their offers. In 2001 they tried to have it condemned and destroyed. They sought help from the Public Improvements…
You are a phantom, a heroine, a soldier, a pillar of your community. Rock on! — from the DIY “How To” Guide section on how to create 40-foot inflatable teddy bears. The sun beat down on a scruffy, slight guy pedaling a hydrant-yellow bike up a hill. In the pocket of his ragged button-down shirt, a walkie-talkie crackled. Sweat fogged…
Is it possible that all the cool bars in town go by someone’s first name? There’s Harry’s, Dave’s, Davey’s and Chez Charlie. Now we can add Jilly’s. For months, we had been hearing that its Fat Sal Señor Oz Soundsystem (definitely not a one-name moniker), which goes from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. on Thursday nights, was a rockin’ good…
It’s been a sad year for fans of some local food legends. Writer and raconteur Larry “Fats” Goldberg, who covered the “junk food beat” on KMBZ 980 radio, died January 27. More recently Bobbi Marks, the stylish host of KCMO 710’s Dining with Bobbi, died of cancer on July 24. Bobbi’s death was a shock. Only 66 years old, she’d…
I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for the old Steak & Ale restaurant chain, which was considered a very hip and happening string of steakhouses in the 1970s. In those days, the drawing card was a sexy, “Olde English” theme — the chain was started in 1966, three years after the release of the hit movie Tom…
SAT 8/9 Neil Young’s country is just a small town. But in a summer of fictive sonic geography — Bob Dylan tramps through a fictional despotic state in Masked and Anonymous, and Radiohead’s latest album includes a map of, well, someplace all its own — Young’s invented town of Greendale does not seem out of place. Young’s current tour with…
FRI 8/8 Coming in second in the sprints leading up to October’s Kansas City Gay and Lesbian Film Festival marathon is A Family Affair, an offering for the ladies to balance last month’s beefcake title for the boys (The Trip). The low-budget romance — written and directed by its high-strung star, Helen Lesnick — screens at 7 p.m. Friday…
WED 8/13 Nothing screams summer like a luscious scoop of ice cream. In honor of this classic warm-weather treat as well as Edy’s Grand Ice Cream’s 75th birthday, official Edy’s taster John Harrison comes to town this week. He’ll be at Sun Fresh Market (4001 Mill Street) from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, August 13, inviting kids to come…
MON 8/11 Though neither the sport of kings nor the sport of champs, fishing earns its title as the sport of the serene. What other sport endorses bringing your own chair and cooler full of beer, then smoking a cigarette while deep in competition? And we dare you to find another sport that allows you to eat your opponent after…
WED 8/13 Jilly’s on Broadway: the Apollo of the Midwest? OK, maybe not. But when the downtown bar hosts open-forum stand-up comedy on Wednesday nights, the crowd frequently turns hostile. The victims may be young Stanford & Sons regulars or old locals armed with one-liners. No matter. Performing just a few feet from a popcorn machine full of hot grease,…
Nobody knows where Amelia Earhart’s final landing took place. But one place Earhart landed for sure was Cleveland — for the conclusion of the 1929 Women’s Air Derby. That competition, won by the lesser-known but also Kansas-born Louise Thadden, is the subject of Women of the Wind, a new play by Lori Lee Triplett of Overland Park. Triplett, who directs…
Thursday, August 7, 2003 In honor of National Blueberry Day (that’s today), it would be nice to enjoy the sweet goodness that is the blueberry without going to a fluorescent-lit supermarket and handing over a couple of bucks, only to watch the fruit turn moldy in your fridge a few days later. The picking conditions at The Berry Patch (223rd…
At the Missouri State Fair, there is no safe haven from entertainment. Arenas, bandstands and stages are the epicenters of fun events like pie eating and hog judging. Meanwhile, strolling the grounds are a clown, a singing and dancing robot, a one-armed juggler, and an eco-friendly comedian — each of them ready to foist a good time on the unsuspecting….
Ian Kennedy, the curator of European painting and sculpture at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, swears that A Magnificent Age is a fun summer show. But summer isn’t the first thing that comes to mind while viewing these academic, grandiose and sometimes gloomy works. Perhaps Kennedy describes A Magnificent Age as a fun summer show because putting it together…
Recorded during last year’s California Crossing trek, Fu Manchu’s latest effort showcases the California stoner-metal quartet’s love for all things 1973. Surprisingly, the laid-back outfit storms out of the gate kicking ass and taking names with “Hell on Wheels,” which sounds eerily reminiscent of Black Flag circa 1985 — except Fu Manchu actually tunes its guitars. It then downshifts back…
Townes Van Zandt’s death in 1997 seemingly triggered a flood of “found” Van Zandt tapes and concert releases, the kind of albums a cynic might see as crass cash-ins. The quintessential Texas songwriter’s medical problems undoubtedly left a pile of debt, but Van Zandt also left behind a circle of family and friends doggedly determined to see him make it,…
