Perhaps the old adage is true: If women ran the world, there would be no more war. If you follow this logic a little further, Sarah McLachlan would be the top candidate for omnipotent ruler of the universe. Forget Britney and the countless others campaigning on the pop-princess ticket — McLachlan walks the walk with a breathy, literate folk that…
RC: What’s the last incredible song you heard? AR: “It was ‘Deploration de la Mort de Johannes Ockeghem’ by Josquin Desprez. He was a Flemish composer circa 1450. It’s beautiful, from before tonality came into focus. The harmonies that arise out of music that was oblivious to harmony are absolutely astonishing.” RC: How’d you get the name Ariel Pink? AR:…
For most bands, losing a member is often fatal. For a band whose success relies on improvisational interplay, 16 years of hard-earned touring cred and a fickle fanbase ready to dissect every nuance of its craft on a nightly basis, the loss of a founding member to pancreatic cancer should make calling it quits a no-brainer. Then again, Southern-fried jam…
Bright Eyes singer and songwriter Conor Oberst has been dubbed “the new Dylan” often enough that it’s easy to imagine the instructors of tomorrow handing out his tear-stained lyric sheets in class, Dangerous Minds-style. But as the press surrounding his recent releases reveals, Oberst doesn’t confine his words of wisdom to the studio and the stage. Here’s a sampling of…
As much as any white rocker who hasn’t imitated his black heroes outright, Elvis Costello is a soul singer. The influence is unmistakable in the rolling cadences of his singing; in the arrangements of his earlier radio hits “Alison” and “Everyday I Write the Book”; and on his latest album, The Delivery Man, a work more potent and poignant than…
Ron Rooks called the Pitch a couple of months ago to announce that he was planning to sell his famous Westport record store, the Music Exchange, before the end of the year. A few people mentioned that Rooks was kind of a character — not surprising, considering the amount of character his shop possesses, with its purported 1 million records…
Jon Yeager has what Midwestern singer-songwriters often lack: sex appeal. Few musicians — or even entire bands, local or otherwise — are able to sing their asses off, make self-deprecating jokes between songs and carry off the whole enterprise of live music as though they’ve come from the arms of some gorgeous heartbreaker instead of from a musty stone basement….
Alex Gibney’s Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a thoroughly professional, frequently spectacular piece of muckraking. But any American who hopes to watch this portrait of unfettered corporate greed, cynical lust for power, and outrageous deception without going postal about an hour into the thing would do well to bring tranquilizers. Citizens of Houston are advised to double…
Author Douglas Adams died at age 49 on May 11, 2001, of a heart attack suffered during a workout at a Santa Barbara, California, gym. His biographer, M.J. Simpson, blames Adams’ demise in part on his unending battle to get The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on the big screen. Hitchhiker’s Guide, which Adams began writing in the mid-1970s,…
Rank smell: To the individual who withheld his or her name in their letter (“Numbers Racket,” Letters, April 21): Don’t let the facts get in the way. Kansas City, Missouri (expenditures per pupil $8,622, child poverty rate 23.4 percent), is not spending three times as much as Blue Valley ($7,020, 1.7 percent), or any other Johnson County district, for that…
Jimmy the Fetus Hey, kids, Jimmy the Fetus here, your guide to moral values in the Midwest, helping everybody see that what we learned in Sunday school really matters. Dear Jimmy: I’ve been struggling with something ever since New Year’s Eve. My boyfriend and I were at a party that night, and he got so drunk he passed out early….
The Strip hates censorship. Except, of course, when it’s a really humorous sort of censorship. Let this obfuscating oxtail explain. Last week we heard from Sylvia Mooney, a great-grandmother and budding sculptor who says she is a victim of small-minded people who don’t appreciate her artistic vision. Eight years ago, she explains, she went back to school for a master’s…
Donald H. Bell Sr. believes God told him to buy a bank. The revelation came to Bell in 1988. At the time, he was a 56-year-old Olathe builder and developer contemplating semi-retirement. Two sons worked for him. Cutting back and spending more time in Naples, Florida, a favorite vacation spot, seemed highly appealing. But after a night of tossing and…
Last week, I had to drive from Kansas City to Indianapolis (and back again a few days later). It’s a round-trip jaunt of more than 1,000 miles on Interstate 70 — with surprisingly few culinary thrills along the way. I thought it would be easy enough to get breakfast and lunch on the route, but the dining choices looming off…
When we were in London last fall, we learned the value of drinking early and drinking often. Because the pubs closed at 11 p.m., we’d start the boozing around dinnertime, stumble back to the hotel around midnight and immediately pass out. At 7 a.m., we would awake, refreshed for another day of sightseeing. Naturally, we’ve been trying to adhere…
German restaurants have never exactly been abundant here, despite the city’s historically large German-American population. And they’ve decreased in popularity over the past two decades, even as the city has seen a proliferation of Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and French restaurants. Changing culinary tastes obviously have a lot to do with this, especially given that the traditional vision…
4/20-4/23 Independence, Kansas, a town of fewer than 10,000 people, doesn’t mess around when it comes to recognizing its celebrities. OK, it has only one — William Inge, the playwright who wrote Picnic and Bus Stop — but he loved little-city life, and Independence continues to celebrate him with the 24th annual William Inge Theatre Festival. Inge found his way…
4/22 & 4/26 In the age of AIDS and the abortion debate, Playboy sex columnist and Internet radio star Susie Bright fuses the personal and the political. She gives the keynote address at the University of Kansas’ Gay Pride Week, analyzing the April 5 Kansas vote to ban gay marriage. “The Politics of Sexual Representation” starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday…
4/26-4/27 The T-Bones’ first home game isn’t until May 20, but the Community America Ballpark (1800 Village West Parkway in Kansas City, Kansas) isn’t waiting around for baseball fans to fill the seats. The University of Kansas and Kansas State University are two of four teams playing in the Best of the Midwest college baseball tournament this week at the…
WED 4/27 Like the NFL draft, another April event focused on college seniors, the BFA Exhibition lets observers speculate on promising prospects. At the H&R Block Artspace (16 East 43rd Street) until May 14, the exhibition showcases the Kansas City Art Institute’s 2005 class. In one cheeky display, graduate Burak Duvenci frames his diploma and attaches an $86,000 asking price….
True film fans have a consistent complaint about the Academy Awards that has nothing to do with the host or the red-carpet preening. They want to know where they can catch the short films, those little gems that sometimes pack more punch than the big, glossy majors. Touted with the teaser “We’ll show you our shorts,” this year’s Kansas City…
Thursday, April 21 Milk allergies are trendy and all, but “I scream, you scream, we all scream for Tofutti Cuties” just doesn’t roll off the tongue, you know? John Harrison, the Edy’s Grand Ice Cream official taster — and yes, that is his official title — has no time for dairy wusses. He and his million-dollar-insured taste buds are…
To the untrained eye, Crossroads skateboard-shop owner Zach Wilson looks like any other idling scofflaw in a hooded sweatshirt milling about the 18th Street storefront he calls Lovely. His wardrobe — entirely from his own store — proudly proclaims “skateboarder,” but Wilson’s work schedule, which can reach 70 hours a week, contradicts any slacker stereotypes. “Get up. Print some shirts….
Aida In the relatively new tradition of sourcing classical operas for Broadway musicals — Madama Butterfly becomes Miss Saigon, say, or La Boheme becomes Rent — is Elton John and Tim Rice’s take on Verdi’s Aida. Opera fans will recognize the story’s ill-fated lovers’ triangle and the theme of love triumphing over bigotry and hatred. But as much as opera…
