Drawing from the same inspirational well as the Jesus Lizard, the Blood Brothers and Amphetamine Reptile, These Arms Are Snakes plays an anxiety-riddled brand of hardcore that could be called screamo if there weren’t so damn much flat-out yelling involved. Maybe that makes them yello. Labeling aside, the group drives razor-edged riffs into the ground, slithering around the grooves and…
Decades before the deep South became known for its dirty crunk, ma-and-pop studios in New Orleans were cranking out R&B hits from the likes of Fats Domino, Little Richard, Lee Dorsey and Professor Longhair. Present in those studios was a lone white boy, the gifted young studio guitarist named Mac Rebennack. The impressionable youth soaked up those early influences —…
Good evening, Kansas! Are you ready for star time? (Kansas roars. ) Are you ready to sulk? To get your icy folk on? To nod politely when you think the drums would hit (if the band weren’t too sensitive to bring drums)? To peer longingly through your fancy black glasses at grad-school hotties whom you find culturally akin to you…
In 1947, legendary matador Manolete killed the bull Islero in the small village of Linares, Spain. And then Islero returned the favor. Manolete, a 40-year-old bullfighting god, gracefully drove his sword into Islero’s steaming flank. But Islero — for his part — was able to drive a horn into his opponent’s groin before falling dead. Manolete was carried away, gushing…
Motley Crue owes reality television a big favor. It’s thanks to VH1’s Remaking: Vince Neil that the Kirstie Alley of metal is back in kinda, sorta shape, thus enabling the Crue to take its anthems to the girls, girls, girls once more. And although history will note Remaking as a low point for rock and roll, Neil can still coast…
It’s entirely too easy to consider Flogging Molly nothing more than the modern equivalent of pint-hoisting Irish pub bands. Just listen to the high-kicking jigs, boisterous punk and Guinness-soaked folk songs on last year’s Within a Mile of Home. Just taste the Emerald Isle flavor inherent in the album’s liberal use of traditionally Irish instruments — tin whistle, fiddle, bodhran….
The Esoteric is defeated. At least that’s the way things look two hours before the Lawrence metal band takes the stage at the Setlist in Warrensburg on March 1. The bar is mostly empty. The streets are quiet. But the Esoteric is here, literally if not figuratively. It’s been a hell of a week. Eight days earlier, the Esoteric’s home,…
Kevin and Anita Robinson — the husband-and-wife team from Portland, Oregon, who make up the indie-pop band Viva Voce — are bickering violently, mere seconds into our phone conversation. Anita has tossed her Nokia onto the dashboard of the tour van in disgust, but I can still hear them shouting at each other. “I can’t believe you spent the money…
Toward the end of the Oscar-winning Born Into Brothels, a superb and piercing documentary by directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, a 12-year-old child examines a photograph. It’s beautiful, he says, because it shows us how its subjects live. The boy’s name is Avijit, and he’s from India. He speaks as a member of the Children’s Jury of the World…
If you’re looking for an escapist shoot-’em-up action adventure and figure a Bruce Willis flick is a reliable option, think twice. Hostage certainly delivers violence and heroics, but not in a way everyone will enjoy. Children and dogs die brutally, and the villains are so thoroughly hateful that even the staunchest liberal will be rooting for them to be…
My way or the highway: Regarding the 2005 Editorial Board of the American Institute of Architects’ letter to the editor (February 10): General Motors set up a bus company and ran the trolley lines out of business. Congress spent money building highways because that’s what members of Congress do — spend money hoping that they can steer more of it…
Jimmy the Fetus Hey, kids, Jimmy the Fetus here, your guide to moral values in the Midwest, helping everyone see that what we learned in Sunday school really matters. Dear Jimmy: I think Kirstie Alley is really brave to do a series called Fat Actress. But my born-again friend Anna said that Kirstie belongs to some cult that worships space…
As the pudgy millionaire guided his aircraft to an uneventful touchdown in front of a few thousand cheering dopes at the Salina airport, the Strip couldn’t help wondering. What is it about Kansas? In the past couple of weeks, the Sunflower State has become the center of the news-media universe more times than a middling central-plains province deserves. This pontificating…
Matt Bartle is not one to gloat. Bartle is chairman of the Missouri Senate’s Judiciary Committee, which has just approved a broad ban on cloning. Bartle introduced the bill, and the committee’s 7-2 vote in favor of his measure bodes well for its future. But rather than celebrate, Bartle, a Republican who lives in Lee’s Summit, chooses to play down…
We’re always looking to fake holidays as an excuse for drinking, and that Hallmark-manufactured, heart-shaped occasion a couple of weeks ago fit the bill perfectly. Even though Valentine’s Day fell on a Monday this year, we wanted to celebrate by hanging out with some of our favorite Research Assistants at one of our favorite places: Harry’s Bar and Tables. Why…
Jeff “Stretch” Rumaner, a Philadelphia native, is proud of the cheesesteaks he serves at Grinders (see Dining Review. But that particular chopped-steak concoction has long suffered a mixed reception from Kansas City diners, who generally prefer burgers and barbecue to the signature sandwich from the City of Brotherly Love. A cheesesteak shop in Westport didn’t last long, nor did the…
Several years ago, I was standing in front of a very large canvas at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, listening to my friend Marvin — who really knows quite a lot about art — tell me why he thought the painting was fabulous. He used phrases such as “fluidity of style,” “organic inspiration” and “dynamic swirls of Earth-based…
FRI 3/4 The sleek African-American dance ensemble Philadanco, founded as a grass-roots community-arts organization in 1970, is well-known for its challenging physicality and innovative choreography. For three decades, the Philadelphia-based troupe has traveled nationally and internationally, performing sold-out shows that fuse elements of ballet, jazz and modern dance with ethnic dances to create something entirely separate — and entirely original….
FRI 3/4 Artists can inspire intense reactions with striking color combinations or alluring vocals, but it’s the layers beneath these elements that reveal truths about the creators or make provocative statements about the social climate. Challenging texts that don’t offer immediate aesthetic inroads require deeper study. To truly appreciate the conceptual writings opening from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at…
WED 3/9 Kansas City Wizards, you are too good for us. The upcoming CONCACAF Champions Cup pits you against teams from Latin America and the Caribbean — teams whose fans love them more than their own madres. But most of Kansas City will not be with you. Some have even said that you merely sully the turf upon which…
WED 3/9 Is it possible to have an art museum without art? The folks at Grand Arts (1819 Grand) will try to prove it is with a series called Mash-Up. Devoid of a central genre, this eight-week crash course in experimental art begins at 9 p.m. Friday with Gut the Museum, in which curator Nato Thompson hosts a game show…
We’re driving along the east side of town, not far from Swope Park, searching for sculptor John Northington’s studio. We can’t read the numbers on the buildings so well, and we’re searching for the scrap of paper on our passenger seat to double-check the address when we notice a man waving to us on the side of the road. We…
Thursday, March 3 Wearhaus, a San Diego collective of designers, was established to unite the five founding fashionistas with boutiques, organizations and companies in their hometown — in other words, set up retail relationships so the style mavens could put food on the table. (Girl’s gotta eat, you know.) They arranged for monthly showcases at a local martini bar, where…
Few people younger than 30 have had much experience with marbles. But everyone knows that from the time civilization was born in the Fertile Crescent until the advent of narcotically addictive video games, those small, hard balls were a crucial component of childhood development. And though marbles will have to beat out Halo 2 and crystal meth to become popular…
