The year was 1936, and the place was Club Reno. The Reno reportedly shared its downtown Kansas City building with ladies of ill repute and was merely one among dozens of hot spots jumping on any given night. It was at the Reno that an aspiring young saxophonist named Charlie Parker first opened his ears to the sound of Lester…
Perhaps the only anarcho-folk group ever to upset punk purists by embracing electric guitars, Against Me operates in its own universe, far from the Warped Tour’s melodicore mainstream. The group’s lyrics remain subtly strident, opting for eloquent but emotional statements instead of profane shots at easy targets, so the underground’s anti-progress watchdogs have resorted to questioning the band’s improved production…
Go to hell, Grammys. What are you looking at, Oscars? Make way for the Heavies. Or is it the Freques? Either way, the Heavy Frequency Awards made their auspicious debut this past weekend to reward the region’s purveyors of hard and heavy rock with kind words, fancy trophies and an excuse to binge drink on a Sunday afternoon. The verdict?…
It’s a bitch trying to get a giant stuffed grizzly across international borders these days. “We have a big bear. He’s been coming onstage with us lately,” Hamilton explains in a British accent thicker than a London phone book. “We’d like to bring our bear , but he’s not allowed through customs, apparently.” Hamilton is the unimonikered bassist for…
John Kerry only wishes he were in Guster. Sure, the Massachusetts senator hasn’t done too shabby on his own merits. But when it comes to building a rabid base of loyal supporters, the POTUS hopeful could perhaps learn a trick or two from his Boston neighbors when it comes to building a rabidly loyal fanbase. Hordes of Guster admirers follow…
At the opening of The Fog of War, the brilliant new documentary from director Errol Morris, a composed, sharply groomed and middle-aged Robert McNamara prepares to brief the press on the Vietnam War. He asks if the chart he’s set up is visible and whether the cameras are ready to roll. It is an efficient reminder that McNamara is no…
This Jew has spent several hours in the past week reading all four Gospels and various supplementary texts, the work upon which Mel Gibson based his The Passion of the Christ. I’ve read the interpretations of scholars, the apologies of popes and the damnations of zealots. I’ve read dozens of articles documenting the making of the film and dozens…
Wed search: C.J Janovy’s “Altar Ego” (February 12) was a true and fantastic piece, which I would hope would make people realize what is happening! The only trouble is, I don’t want to focus too much attention on the right-wingers, because that would only serve to their advantage, to which Janovy eludes. I hope Janovy saw that Family Research Council…
The Strip always marvels at the way wealthy and powerful people manage to get themselves out of scrapes. The latest example comes courtesy of former mayor Emanuel Cleaver, whose campaign for Congress hit an early snag last week. Dave Helling at KCTV Channel 5 (one of the station’s reporters who, unlike the clowns baiting Internet perverts for ratings, does serious…
At 29 stories, Kansas City’s City Hall is the tallest city government building in the nation, and it has long been a monument to civic pride. But after years of neglect, it stands as a symbol of just how ratty Kansas City has become. Its front steps are cracked and crumbling and littered with rocky debris. The reason for this…
A confrontation that occurred in the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department last October — and Chief Richard Easley’s subsequent handling of it — continues to reverberate in a police force that wants the public to believe it’s tackling racial prejudice in its ranks. Last year, the department subjected its officers to 16 hours of racial-sensitivity training in groups of 25…
All over Kansas City one fall evening, dieters tuned in to KMBC Channel 9 for a Healthwatch report that promised information on a weight-loss miracle. Thanksgiving was approaching, and those extra holiday pounds couldn’t be far behind. Channel 9 reporter Kelly Eckerman said just what overweight people wanted to hear: Imagine that you could eat whatever you want and still…
Of all the symbiotic relationships that exist (lichen, tapeworms and those little birds that ride cattle and eat their bugs), there is none more symbiorific than the one between copious amounts of alcohol and karaoke. One just can’t exist without the other, whether you’re performing or just kicking back and listening to some caterwauled rendition of “Killing Me Softly.” So…
There’s something hilarious about finding a restaurant called Café New Yorker (see review) in the least-urban setting imaginable, in this case an Overland Park shopping center. The name New York suggests sophistication, I suppose, and that’s a commodity Kansas Citians apparently crave. The town boasts a New York Brake repair shop; New York Barber Shop; New York Burrito; New York…
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, it’s not always amore. It might be nostalgia. There’s something about Italian-American cuisine that encourages modern restaurateurs to think back to the kind of mom-and-pop restaurants that sprouted up after World War II. Those family-owned joints are getting harder to find today, mostly because the corporate chains imitating…
FRI 2/20 Born of icy Sweden but more a child of Hollywood’s hot go-go era, Ann-Margret ponies into the Ameristar Casino (8201 Northeast Birmingham Road) Friday night. Her hip-swiveling stardom defined quintessential camp movies such as Kitten With a Whip. She worked with Elvis Presley on the so-bad-it’s-good Viva Las Vegas and she earned an Oscar nomination for her…
TUE 2/24 If the last time you thought about the Flaming Lips was when they made that cameo on Beverly Hills 90210, you have some catching up to do. Luckily, Recycled Sounds owner Anne Winter has kept the band at the forefront of her mind. Last year, the record store’s Mardi Gras parade float was a tribute to the band’s…
MON 2/23 When picturing Mardi Gras celebrations for kids, perhaps you envision youngsters in platinum wigs, pink feather boas, fishnet stockings and black bandit masks. They drink Capri Sun by the keg and trip over themselves with excitement, so giddy are they from the sugar. This, however, is not what will happen at the West Wyandotte Library (1737 North 82nd…
SAT 2/21 Of all the winter sports concocted by civilized athletes, none is more baffling than the polar bear tradition. Why would people choose to dive into a lake in the middle of winter when there are activities near fireplaces, hot chocolate and central heating? Instead, the Ninth Annual Polar Bear Plunge, this Saturday at the Lake of the Ozarks,…
2/20-2/21 For the best abs and pecs in midtown, one doesn’t automatically think of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (4525 Oak). But why not? Artists have revered the human form for centuries. For this weekend’s “The Curator Is In” lectures, Robert Cohon, the museum’s ancient-art curator, turns a critical eye on the well-preserved bodies in the museum’s collection for…
When the massive, ’40s-era Union Pacific steam engine No. 3985 puffed into Union Station a couple of weeks ago, it was like Halley’s comet, a lunar eclipse and leap year all rolled into one. At least, that’s what it was like for folks whose calendar revolves around trains, be they new or old, big or small. Folks such as the…
Thursday, February 19, 2004 A kid’s allowance can teach fiscal responsibility and the importance of saving, or it can be turned into an impressive cache of comic books. Either way, once the kid goes off on his own, wise parents usually kill the cash flow. Right Bed, Wrong Husband tells the story of a young bachelor who cons his…
While the aspiring runway stars on UPN’s America’s Top Model try to figure out what charisma means so they can show it off to the panel of semi-celebrity judges, the much younger hopefuls taking part in the Most Beautiful Baby Contest must impress the judges with something else that you either have or you don’t. “We’re looking for the natural…
Albert Maysles, with brother David, made two different films about two different rock-and-roll bands five years apart, but to this day he can’t think of one without immediately thinking of the other. The first he was shooting 40 years ago this very day, more or less: The Beatles were on United States soil from February 9, 1964, until February…
