Because we fancy ourselves amateur anthropologists studying Kansas City’s nightlife, we were pleased and flattered when a reader recently wrote in and described Night Ranger as “ethnographic studies in blurred vision.” After all, every bar has its own customs and subculture, so it’s a fun challenge trying to decipher the mores of a club within the confines of a visit….
You can still find a 1920s book of nursery rhymes at the River Market Antique Mall (115 West Fifth Street) with the famous “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers” tongue twister in it. But seriously impassioned pepper purchasers would do much better to stroll outside to the mall’s parking lot, where pepper promoter Larry Mallin has fenced off…
A very macho, tobacco-chewing friend of mine stepped into the bar at the City Tavern one night for a drink. “It looked like the kind of place where you might see a cowboy and a whore sitting at the bar,” he said of the dimly lit, tiled room. “And you were disappointed that they weren’t there.” It was a…
SAT 9/27 “My playing is self-taught and rather pedestrian at times, but that’s all right,” says a self-deprecating Will Johnson, frontman for the lyrical indie band Centro-matic. Johnson’s achingly gritty, no-frills vocals accompany the dramatic, classical-sounding melodies of keyboardist and electric violinist Scott Danborn. The rhythm section contributes a driving garage sound, so you’re just as likely to rock out…
9/26-9/27 To those who believe that every entertainment force is balanced by an opposite pole, we offer Madonna’s new children’s book, then hold our noses and gesture at Andy Dick’s rock album. Warmly titled Andy Dick and the Bitches of the Century, the 2002 disc holds treasures to make even Meatmen fans blush: “Cock & Balls,” “I’ll Fuck Anything…
9/27-9/28 Children lost inside this 16-acre maze can’t see it from behind the 10-foot-high walls of corn, but from above, the 3 miles of twisting, turning trails running through the Sacry family’s cornfield take the shape of a giant pair of hands holding the Earth. The One World Maze’s pathways not only trace the continents and oceans but also…
SAT 9/27 Being a hockey fan in Kansas City sucks. Remember way back when we had an NHL team? Think way back before we even lost our NBA team, all the way back to the ’70s. They were called the Scouts, they played at Kemper and they were awful (12 wins, 56 losses and 12 ties in the 1975-76…
ONGOING Some people are never at rest. Such is the case with Comics Creators Network founder Elizabeth Jacobson. She was out for a couple of months with what she calls “a minor bout of meningitis,” but she has bounced back in rare form. And we mean that literally. As a yoga instructor heading up Exhale Studios with Pilates guru Jennifer…
Between going to school at the University of Kansas, presiding over KJHK 90.7’s rock rotation, running a Web site and having a life, Peter Berard somehow has enough time to help coordinate an art event. “I don’t like being bored, so I stay as busy as I can,” he says. When Berard stays busy, everyone benefits. For instance, this Saturday’s…
Thursday, September 25, 2003 P.E. for Life sounds kind of like a prison sentence, doesn’t it? Like, from now on, even when you’re 82, you’re going to wake up to the shrill sound of a whistle blowing, followed by someone yelling at you to hustle. Then, upon rising, you’ll change into ugly, polyester-blend shorts — all because you’ve committed…
Five alienated adults and the grungy charm of Baltimore make up the cast of Mark Street’s film At Home and Asea — this month’s Indy Film Showcase. The film hazards a potentially disastrous blend of documentary and fiction, but the talent manages to pull it off, which is no small accomplishment. Street, who spoke with the Pitch during his…
The publicity materials sent in advance of the at-long-last release of The Kids Are Alright on DVD suggest that the maker of the 1979 documentary about The Who has been on the lam—in the rock-and-roll witness relocation program, perhaps, far from the long windmilling arm of justice. A “recluse” is how the press release describes Jeff Stein, who as a…
Playwright Del Shores has cut a swath for himself through the national theater scene that has the texture and aroma of polyester stained with Pabst Blue Ribbon. With such plays as Daddy’s Dyin’ — Who’s Got the Will? and Sordid Lives, now at Just Off Broadway, he’s become the stage’s equivalent of John Waters — a successful archivist of…
A good illustrator is simultaneously a storyteller, a salesperson and an artist, creating an image that captures viewers’ attention and provides insight into a narrative someone else has created. Although the final product ends up in a book or magazine or on a soda-bottle label, it packs the same emotional appeal as any work of fine art and reflects society…
On the Web site for the Kansas City-based label Closed System, visitors can download and remix selections from Pesky’s An Effort to Do Good. It’s a win-win situation: Surfers get free tunes without incurring the RIAA’s wrath, and Pesky’s songs might get the help they so desperately need. Insubstantial as a mild breeze, the group’s output leaves few footprints. Its…
When seeking a scapegoat for the overall crappiness of mainstream country these past few years, observers have often blamed the music’s pop ambitions. And you can bet that any improvements on country radio will be credited to the so-far-slight return of twang. Pop-bashing is by now as venerable a part of the country story as patriotic anthems and cheating songs….
Far and away the most popular of the myriad Insane Clown Posse offshoots, Detroit horrorcore rap duo Twiztid is beginning to find an audience of its own. Twiztid has been virtually ignored by credible hip-hop circles, but founders Jamie Madrox and Monoxide Child have impressive mic skills and a ringmaster’s knack for spectacle. With its freakish face paint, serial-killer…
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (famously named after Marlon Brando’s biker gang in The Wild One) has established itself as a genuine press darling. Critics can’t seem to stop gushing about the leather-bound trio’s quixotic — and anachronistic — blend of fuzz-tone vocals and lush instrumentation. No mere imitator of the pasty-faced past, BRMC takes the best bits of Britpop stalwarts…
B-sides and rarities compilations and concert encores are riddled with covers of guilty-pleasure tunes, most of which aren’t worth the muscle energy needed to wink in self-congratulatory acknowledgment of the gesture. When they cover Ratt’s “Round and Round,” though, the Meat Purveyors aren’t joking. Dressed up in the group’s love, harmonies and quick pickin’, the song sounds like a lost…
While the RIAA continues to go after illegal music downloaders by handing out subpoenas as if they were post-show fliers for upcoming events — and with the sort of vehement joy that alienates even the most loyal and law-abiding fans — the jam scene’s trading communities continue to flourish. Armed with the blessings of the musicians themselves, fans with the…
Turbonegro is not a long-lost Chris Rock movie, nor is it one of Old Dirty Bastard’s numerous alter egos. But the Norwegian glampunk unit is responsible for one of the year’s more memorable releases, Scandinavian Leather. Equal parts oily punk and glitter-flake metal, Leather is crammed with boisterous odes to bad drugs, good rock and … ass fucking. Those who…
Few groups cross over between the goth and comic/sci-fi communities quite like the Crüxshadows. The quartet’s music (which blends baroque melodies and rousing dance beats) and its wardrobe (which suggests that an oil tanker crashed into its closet) establish the group’s children-of-darkness credentials. On the other side of the equation, the male singer’s name, Rogue, gender-bends an X-Men moniker….
Although the all-inclusive “jam band” label has created a musical community that stretches from the Southern rock sounds of Widespread Panic to the jazz-funk grooves of Medeski, Martin and Wood to the bluegrass amblings of the Yonder Mountain String Band, the term fails to paint a consistent picture of style beyond an obvious slant toward improvisation. Take, for instance, the…
Though he racked up rave reviews for his debut disc, Bubba Sparxxx couldn’t always command the same respect on the road. Most memorably, unimpressed juggalos pelted him with projectiles during his ill-advised appearance at an Insane Clown Posse performance. Professional partiers Digital Underground and DJ Funk should prove much better matches for Bubba’s bubbly hick-hop jams. Sparxxx emerged with a…
