Because we have too much free time between bouts of being hungover and doing this writing thing, we’ve adopted a new pet project. We’re trying to secure grant money from the National Science Foundation to find out why greasy food is so symbiotically perfect with alcohol. We researched this recently at Grinders, the relatively new drinking establishment and pizza joint…
While I was writing my review of one classic Independence dining establishment, the 72-year-old Bamboo Hut on Highway 40 (see review, page 31), I got an e-mail from one of our online readers, Dwight Wilcox in Tennessee, wanting to know if I could get him a recipe for the Zip Burger served at another legendary Independence spot, the 48-year-old Mugs-Up…
It’s not unusual when restaurants — even beloved places such as Café Allegro, La Mediterranee or Mrs. Peters Fried Chicken — close their doors. Things happen, you know. Tastes change. Owners get bored (or get divorced, go bankrupt or die). Neighborhoods lose their vitality. Or the restaurant just runs out of joie de vivre. What’s amazing is when a…
SAT 2/26 The University of Kansas brings the beloved Bizet opera Carmen to the Lied Center (1600 Stewart Drive in Lawrence) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. This story of a free-spirited gypsy and her jealous lover boasts a full orchestra and chorus, a flamenco dance ensemble and Spanish soloists. Call 785-864-3469 for tickets. — Annie Fischer Reckless Abandon UMKC hopes…
SAT 2/26 Once upon a time, long hours and hard work were the keys to success in the business world. Thanks to this modern age, however, apparently all it takes is a photogenic appearance and a sliding scale of dignity. The Apprentice, the reality show that made Donald Trump famous again, holds an open casting call Saturday at Union…
2/25-2/26 College gymnastics might be the most underrated spectator sport. It boasts all the acrobatic thrills and balance-beam tension of the Olympic variety without the guilt of watching preteens who have surrendered their childhoods to toil under exacting coaches. The University of Missouri team includes astoundingly athletic women, all of whom stand tall enough to board any amusement-park ride. And…
SAT 2/26 At first, Whispers From the Streets, a play about homeless people by former Avila University theater major Jeremy Lillig, reminded us of Max Fischer’s Vietnam melodrama Heaven and Hell, from the satirical Wes Anderson movie Rushmore. After all, the knowledge gap between playwright and subject seemed rather wide. It turns out, however, that Lillig spent a year interviewing…
Recently, we’ve had to accept the fact that our liberal-arts degree has earned us financial destitution, preventing us from ever attaining the status of music aficionado. Our CD collection has hovered around 250 since adolescence. And though we’d like to think our taste is eclectic and sophisticated, we bar most self-described indie connoisseurs from our door, lest they peruse our…
Thursday, February 24 Rarely do we get superexcited about the new ballet whirling through town. After all, how many times do we have to see Twyla Tharp’s name in lights before we get burned out? Tonight, however, we’re actually pretty eager to witness the latest installment in the dance season, which includes Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun, set to…
For us, medieval Europe evokes cloistered nuns, torture chambers and rats crawling with disease-infested fleas. But for some, the period between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance means good eatin’ — even with dirty dishes. “They had the world’s worst cleanliness,” admits medieval cooking guru Bob Winner, who goes by the name Lord William Crume when he’s participating in…
Kansas City Kong The old joke about where the 900-pound gorilla sleeps is being appropriated by the Martin City Melodrama & Vaudeville Co., which claims it has had to renovate its performance space to accommodate the big lug. Though snapshots of the show reveal the kind of ape suit Ed Wood might have used in one of his tawdry…
From Bingham to Benton, Midwest as Muse Those of us who grew up around here have seen paintings by Thomas Hart Benton and company from such an early age, and on such abysmally boring field trips, that the artists’ work constitutes — for us — the visual equivalent of white noise. Incredibly, this exhibit could change that. George Caleb Bingham’s…
On the night of January 31, the Old Nut, Bolt and Screw building in the West Bottoms — the vacant one you used to see off to the north as you cleared the 12th Street bridge — burned down. That’s old news by now, of course. It was a five-alarm fire that raged through the night, and firefighters were…
Chicago-based house DJ Paul Anthony shares his name with a performer who bills himself as the “ultimate hypnotist,” but the techno titan would likely top the pendulum swinger in a mesmerism marathon. Even if he were to spin concentric circles instead of records, Anthony could not get his audience any more entranced. His steady-pulsing programs ensure constant movement, but…
Motley Crue’s sixth retrospective, barely distinguishable from its five predecessors, compiles the usual suspects — “Looks That Kill,” “Girls, Girls, Girls,” etc. — and a whole disc of 1990s lowlights. Material from the quartet’s bratty 1981 debut, Too Fast for Love, is savant-style genius — the band’s sleazy stew of metal, glam-punk and cocaine still sounds potent. Motley’s slow dive…
The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower’s jazz-thrash fusion could be the spastic soundtrack to the world’s craziest choreography. If someone commandeered a club’s sound system with this disc, its aggressively jerky rhythms would jolt limbs into awkward action like marionette strings, and its fractured funk riffs would spur more frantic butt-shaking than a mechanical bull with a shock-rigged…
Grammy’s annual self-tribute CD is just like the awards show — one or two great moments, a lot of overwrought dreck and a handful of bad jokes. Also like the show, the tame and tepid rule the roost. Exceptions are Kanye West, who manages radio friendliness without sounding like a complete whore, and Ray Charles, who had to die to…
At Mogwai shows, sound waves visibly distort the air, like summer heat warping the horizon. Even if fans cranked the volume on a recording of one of the band’s sets while clamping high-end headphones to their ears, they could not duplicate the experience. Recognizing that a standard live record wouldn’t work, the group has released Government Commission, culled from seven…
Dust Brothers, Chemical Brothers, Brothers Johnson — it’s hard to keep ’em all straight. If you need a quick refresher, the Chemical Brothers are the dudes who wrote that song about “Block Rockin’ Beats,” not the brains behind Beck and the Beasties and not the soulful penners of “Strawberry Letter 23.” Like Prodigy, Paul Oakenfold and that guy who wrote…
Who cares if his recent recordings don’t stand up to his amazingly diverse earlier works? You still have to see Herbie Hancock to witness one of the world’s most influential musicians in the flesh. After parting ways with the Miles Davis Quintet, Hancock went on to push the boundaries of jazz and the size of its audience by bringing in…
If World Leader Pretend sounds anything like Radiohead, it’s because lead singer and songwriter is a pen pal of Thom Yorke, who has offered his input on the group’s videos, music and direction. Which isn’t to say that this New Orleans group is without its own identity — Fit for Faded is a smart album full of unusual keyboard riffs,…
For more than a decade, blues music has been overrun by suburban towheads whose fathers no doubt had ambitions of Southern-rock stardom in the ’70s. Nakota (Sioux) family quartet Indigenous has had to reckon with this reality in the shadow of such poster boys as Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Jonny Lang. The band’s new Silvertone release, Long Way Home, dazzles…
What is the final frontier for jam bands that have spent entire careers exploring the “space” inside their own heads? Why, more down-to-earth writing sensibilities, of course. Though Phish made a heavy impression on Moe during the band’s formative years in the early ’90s, Moe has always worn the mark of the jam-band beast — i.e., catchiness that rears itself…
Life must’ve been hectic for Alison Krauss early in her career. After all, most 14-year-olds don’t have to balance puberty with band practice, awards ceremonies and recording first albums. Krauss has been in the spotlight (albeit the dimmer spotlight of bluegrass) since her talent-contest days at age 8. But she’s weathered her celebrity well and advanced her career beyond youthful…
