Pennsylvania native Dawn Kinnard, even this early in her career, is surely growing a little weary of Lucinda Williams comparisons. But there’s no denying that, as beautifully as she delivers her songs, Kinnard has the Lucinda quaver in her voice, that hesitation, as if her lyrics were in danger of being overwhelmed by emotion and her songs, bleak yet warm,…
Cincinnati-born Yoni Wolf is the first kid from rabbinical stock to put a stamp on hip-hop. But because his solo debut album, Oaklandazulasylum, comes from Anticon records, hip-hop signifiers come in the form of oblique allusion. This album’s more about schmoes than hos, and Why? sounds more like Tuli Kupferberg (of lo-fi hippie pervs the Fugs) than like Eminem or…
The list of accolades on Honey Tongue’s résumé is as long as the tracks on Sid Vicious’ forearms: South by Southwest, countless cross-country treks, and a number of appearances on syndicated radio and television outlets have helped create a serious buzz for the Seattle quartet. But the Tongue’s calling card is vocalist, keyboardist and official band bombshell Jen Ayers, who…
Young Heart Attack hails from Austin, Texas, but the band is currently being hyped as this month’s next-big-thing in the U.K., where its single, “Tommy Shots,” is lighting up the airwaves. Musically, these leather- and denim-clad brats are clearly in awe of AC/DC’s bluesy, bad-boy boogie, but the group is also fronted by a pair of Spandex-throated boy-girl vocalists who…
One of the more authentic country artists to come out of Texas in recent memory, Pat Green possesses a twangy voice that invokes Willie Nelson on an especially lazy Sunday afternoon. Nearly a decade into his career, Green remains an anomaly in the high-gloss world of showbiz country — he’s a rootsy musician who lacks the flash and dazzle of…
Many moons ago, a cigarette company sponsored a songwriter’s showcase during which John Hiatt, Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett and Steve Wariner swapped songs onstage. Although saving some gas money is probably a nice side benefit, that musical intimacy is the goal of the “Four Men from Now” tour, four more Texas songwriters casually doing their thing. San Marcos native…
Kristie Stremel has taken a turn for the twangier with her just-issued second record, Here Comes the Light, which she’ll introduce at this free outdoor show. Other than a turbulent version of Paul Westerberg’s “Waiting for Somebody,” Light dims Stremel’s focus on rockin’ folk. It’s a gutsy move, but her alternately vulnerable and confident country vocals and her outstanding backing…
With his superfast flow, gritty topics and dingy piano backdrops, Vigalantee represents Kansas City rap’s hardcore, streetwise sound — at least on some of the tracks on his The $5 Likk EP. At other times, though, he makes a move for the dance floor with club bangers, or plays to the ladies by tag-teaming with R&B crooner Shadó. Regardless of…
While Leftover Salmon has been riding the jam circuit for the past eleven years, its current incarnation represents a marked departure from its meager origins. After emerging at the prestigious Telluride Bluegrass Festival, the Boulder, Colorado-born group quickly earned accolades as a next-generation soldier in the slamgrass revolution, a movement that owes much to the efforts of such innovators as…
The people have spoken, via the Pitch Music Awards, and they have declared Lawrence-based newcomer Salt the Earth to be the area’s finest hardcore/metal act. But now it’s time for Club Wars mastermind and metal mogul Jim Kilroy to have his say at the thirteenth annual Banzai Awards Show. Many of the winners earned the honors at an earlier band…
If you’re a professional athlete, color commentators will publicly validate your every heroic act. When players grit through a game on broken joints or literally “leave it all on the field” during a bout with the stomach flu, listeners nationwide witness the accolades. By contrast, star musicians, for all their perks, don’t have this context-establishing tradition at their disposal. Announcers…
For most burgeoning rock outfits, the chance to play on national television would be the opportunity of a lifetime. Instead, it nearly drove Trucker to an early grave. In April 2000, the Lawrence trio battled its way to the top of an unsigned-band contest on Farmclub.com, winning a slot in a concert that aired on cable’s USA Network. Trucker…
Hippies ruin everything.” Earlier this summer, that became the rallying cry from spurned scenesters standing in front of the Bottleneck. While early-bird earth children spun spastically inside the crammed-to-capacity club, less organically inclined (if not cleaner-cut) Split Lip Rayfield fans seethed and recalled the days when they didn’t have to plan ahead to catch the region’s — and quite possibly…
As film festivals go, FilmFest Kansas City (opening this weekend at Cinemark on the Plaza) is at once boldly optimistic and a tad disheartening. On the one hand, the lineup includes a host of highly praised foreign films, such as Lilya 4-ever; documentaries with equally laudatory buzz, including Bus 174; and the new John Sayles film. On the other hand,…
As one who assesses creative works, you try to separate the individual artist from the output he or she produces. Watching Bedtime for Bonzo, for instance, you don’t want to think about Reaganomics. But Jeepers Creepers 2 writer-director Victor Salva doesn’t make it easy to ignore the fact that he was convicted for molesting the twelve-year-old lead in his 1988…
The 1990-95 run of Saturday Night Live, when the show was a playground populated by the likes of Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, Dana Carvey, Chris Rock, Chris Farley, Kevin Nealon, Mike Myers and David Spade, was a low point in a show with a longer history of inducing groans than eliciting laughs. The sketches played like entries in a…
Yell leader: Regarding Andrew Miller’s “Rebel Yell” (August 7): The venue formerly known as the Outhouse is four miles outside of Lawrence on 15th Street. It is under the jurisdiction of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department — not the police, as was stated in the article. The venue was grandfathered as a party house in the ’50s and was used…
Rumors and speculation have been fermenting over the past few weeks about which local Democrats might take on Congresswoman Karen McCarthy in the primary next August. Finally, one challenger isn’t afraid to speak up. “I’m absolutely in,” Damian Thorman tells the Pitch. Thorman, who serves on Kansas City’s Public Improvements Advisory Committee, had been eyeing Marsha Campbell’s term-limited seat in…
Ray Wilson leans against a railing in Sanford B. Ladd Elementary School and rubs a hand across his forehead. “Whew,” he says. “What is it? Two more days? Heat gonna break in two days?” It’s about ten on a Wednesday morning. An early rain has momentarily taken the edge off the heat wave that has socked Kansas City with…
Neon beer signs blinked in the front window. Frost chalked the sidewalk outside. It was a Tuesday night at Harpo’s in Westport, and the front bar was a shipwreck of tipped cups and overflowing ashtrays as people pressed shoulder-to-shoulder to flag down the bartender. On Tuesdays, the beer special was quarter draws — people could get lit for parking-meter money….
