The annual Red, White & Boom concert is a must for musical schizoids. Where else can you see ex-hometown rap hero Tech N9ne share the bill with reformed blow-job queen Liz Phair and one of the members of ‘NSYNC (J.C. Chasez)? Headlining the show is Maroon 5, which has blown up in a big way with its ubiquitous radio smash…
Yellow day, afternoon/Heavy heat turns cool, Eleni Mandell sings on the last song of her fifth and best album, the new Afternoon. She could be describing the effect her voice has on her own sultry songs. The music — played for the first time on a Mandell recording by her touring band and produced without fuss (but not without detail)…
Malta owes me five bucks. That smug little republic — floating like a limestone-rich turd in the Mediterranean toilet bowl — stole one crisp Abraham Lincoln from my sweaty little paws. All because it just had to join the European Union. I had been poised to earn untold riches from the barflies and indie geeks gathered for Trivia Riot…
PD: How’s the weather? JO: It’s a nice day here in New York. Well, it’s raining here. But it still feels like 90 degrees thanks to the humidity. Oh, I’ve had my share of those days in Kansas City. But that’s OK. It’s much better than minus-30 degrees in Montreal. Do you prefer Central Park or Times Square? I just…
I don’t subscribe to postmodern, neostructural, impressionistic deconstructionism. No, when it comes to art, I adhere to the Neo-Modern School of Carnival T-Shirts, whose adage — “Beauty is in the eye of the Beerholder” — could teach us all a thing or two about presurrealist dadaism. But some art can be riveting, emotional and life-changing. And when art and music…
It’s not easy being a Kiss fan, even a reformed one. I haven’t been able to stomach the self-proclaimed “hottest band in the world” for years. I still cringe every time it hawks another overpriced trinket or embarks on its annual farewell tour. It’s almost too tough to bear. You see, Kiss was my first love, the first band that…
Those seeking a spiritual counterpart to the yin of Lynne Ramsay’s masterfully moody Morvern Callar will find their yang in David Mackenzie’s exquisitely sorrowful Young Adam. Art-house aficionados may recall that in Ramsay’s recent film, a young male writer commits suicide, leaving his simple girlfriend to absorb his very being. Here we discover anew what happens when an impassioned writer…
A strong toxin requires a strong antidote. In the case of the Bush administration, the cure is being served in significant part by Michael Moore, who previously delivered the rousing documentaries Roger & Me and Bowling for Columbine. This time, however, the exposé feels even more personal; Moore reveals footage of George W. Bush publicly jeering him. “Behave yourself, willya?”…
Put out to pastor: My name is Debbie Graves, and I am a member of the Lenexa Christian Center. I would like to apologize to the Pitch for what it received from Jon when visiting the church (KC Strip, ” Unholy Roller,” June 10). It is un-Christlike to do anything except love others, no matter how different they may be….
The Strip was fascinated this week to discover that one of Kansas City’s more interesting characters might have solved one of the enduring mysteries of U.S. history. Not that the subject is a happy one. It seems that, as a young man, Abraham Lincoln suffered bouts of depression and thought several times about committing suicide. For more than a hundred…
Sean O’Byrne, the new interim director of Union Station, doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes of his imperious and indecisive predecessor, Turner White. On the job since June 1, O’Byrne occupies a windowless office in the basement. White had perched in the mezzanine, preferring a view of the Great Hall to being near his staff, who were hunkered down below….
Kevin Bratton is graduating today. The 18-year-old spent 4 arduous years sweating and praying for this moment — his moment — in the spotlight. And hell if he isn’t going to enjoy it. Bratton is neatly shaven for the occasion. His familiar chin-strap scruff has been streamlined. His beaming smile is unfettered by twisted, black brambles of facial hair. For…
Because bitching about local TV weathercasts is something of a pastime in KC, we’ll add our own contribution: Was it really necessary to pre-empt the third game of the Stanley Cup finals for four hours of storm coverage of a tornado that (eventually) hit way north of town? OK, we know this sounds callous. Three people died, and we’re truly…
I officially said to hell with dieting last week. Call it a coincidence, but the day before I went to see The Day After Tomorrow, I finished reading the 1995 Graham Hancock book Fingerprints of the Gods. Hancock suggested that at the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012, the modern world will probably end, flooded and icy — just…
Ronald Reagan was still in the White House when I first met Brenda. We were skinny young servers at a midtown Italian restaurant that was very trendy for about 15 minutes. Brenda’s husband was one of the chefs, and although I had never worked so hard in my life — those goddamned stone floors! The faulty air-conditioning! — we…
6/18-7/25 Playwright Richard Greenberg has said that Take Me Out, his 2003 Tony Award-winning play (debuting at 8 p.m. Friday at the Unicorn Theatre, 3828 Main), derived from “a new gigantic fact in my life — becoming a baseball fan.” The pro-Yankees Greenberg told Playbill.com that “the pairing of baseball and the idea of a gay player just coincidentally…
FRI 6/18 We expect déjà vu to be in full effect at Friday’s closing reception at the Bank (11th and Baltimore). Homecoming consists of one-time local artists, so the mix of once-familiar faces and sort-of-recognizable art on the walls might have some visitors scratching their heads trying to figure out how they know these people. Take us for instance….
SAT 6/19 The modern soapbox derby isn’t much like the first such race. Back then, kids showed up to race homemade jalopies built from orange crates, tin saucepans, baby-buggy wheels and all manner of hopelessly dangerous objects. Jagged metal edges threatened to slice vulnerable little shins, and there was nary a helmet in sight. Today’s fancy-pants drivers, on the…
6/18-6/20 “You can’t trust politicians,” Irish rocker Bob Geldof said. “It doesn’t matter who makes a political speech — it’s all lies … and it applies to any rock star who wants to make a political speech as well.” Good thing Geldof’s cynicism didn’t stop him from organizing Live Aid, which raised more than $100 million for famine relief…
The distance between Kansas City and Cuba is a scenic 1,700 miles of land and water. Maria Finn Dominguez, KC native and editor of the new anthology Cuba in Mind, headed 3,700 miles in the other direction to get there. “I wanted to travel to Latin America, but I’d never saved any money, so I thought I’d go to Alaska,…
Thursday, June 17 There’s a reason why Curious George is a bit of a hipster. The monkey created by Hans A. Rey can swallow puzzle pieces, knock over huge dinosaur displays at the science museum and get shot into outer space in a rocket and still make it back to the Man in the Yellow Hat in one piece….
Summer Breeze has no political agenda. It has no comment about the war or the upcoming presidential election or the imminent, much-hyped “transfer of power.” It is, by definition, just meant to cool us off, to provide respite from the relentless heat of pressing issues, to redirect concerned citizens’ minds to other topics. Like sex. Larry McAnany’s exhibit of…
Curious George While actor Ry Kincaid plays screen icon James Dean at night at the Westport Coffee House in the June production of Little Bastard, he’s making a monkey of himself during the day for Theatre for Young America. Playing the title role in Curious George , Kincaid reprises the simian role and mannerisms he created for TYA’s hit…
The African Art Experience It isn’t often that Kansas City audiences have a chance to see a collection of non-Western art as diverse as the one on display at the Belger Arts Center. The majority of the pieces in The African Art Experience are three-dimensional objects made of wood, clay, metal or natural materials such as woven and dyed textiles….
