Ask any midtown musician if he or she has heard the name James (Jimmy) Armbrust, and chances are, the answer will be yes. Armbrust was once a constant presence in the KC music scene, playing in bands such as Piston Grind, Tarantula X and Gunfighter. But the times are a-changin’ for Armbrust. A little more than three years ago, he…
Experienced Wakarusa wanderers recall that last year’s inaugural event became a quick introduction to Trombicula alfreddugesi, or the Midwestern chigger. Of course, the jam crowd, ever the experimental sort, sought chemical relief, but unfortunately, nothing kills a wicked buzz faster than an ass full of bites and a face full of Deet. So with the scale of Wakarusa Twosa building…
The news came to the Pitch office last Thursday that American Chrome, known for most of its nine-month life span as Johnny Dare’s, had declared bankruptcy and closed without notice. Our editorial staff was hit hard, shifting into a pronounced state of mourning. Tuna sandwiches went uneaten in the fridge at lunchtime, Diet Coke cans were tossed recklessly into the…
Because those who care about the long-departed Uncle Tupelo care deeply, fervently, even rabidly, there are bound to be conspiracy rumors among the faithful this summer. Both Tupelo founders, Jeff Tweedy with Wilco and Jay Farrar with the new Son Volt, are hitting the Wakarusa Festival within 36 hours of each other. (Anyone else heard reunion rumors?) A new Son…
Ten is a magical age, when kids are old enough to make articulate statements about their experiences and young enough to express their feelings without shame. In a couple of years, excitement will go the way of the bag lunch and become uncool, and acceptable poses will shrink to a few — boredom, anger, bravado. But at 10, inside a…
DC Comics has kept its superheroes locked in a fortress of solitude for almost a decade, forcing the likes of Superman and Batman to warm the bench while longtime rival Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man and the Hulk and the X-Men and Blade galloped up and down the playing field. Not counting Catwoman, which is being most charitable, the Time Warner…
Hippie hippie shake: Bravo, bravo, Jason! Sounds like you understand what is taking place with the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival in Lawrence (Wayward Son, by Jason Harper, June 9). As a seasoned veteran of the festival scene, I can tell you Wakarusa ranks up with the best, and you captured that feel in your article. I also want to…
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: You seem so wise. I was wondering what your take was on why the Royals are so crappy, and will the new manger turn it all around? Also, who’s…
The Lollipop Guild: Waaaah! Boo-hoo! Screech! Glinda the Good Witch: Come now, what’s all this crying about? Munchkin No. 1: You had no right to do what you did! Munchkin No. 2: You can’t tell us what to do! Munchkin No. 3: Our school plan was just fine! Glinda: Oh, no, little ones, your school-financing plan was a steaming…
Quietly, one of Kansas City’s chief law enforcement officials, prosecutor Michael Sanders, has been scaling back the drug war in Jackson County. In the three years that Sanders has been in office, he has filed fewer and fewer drug cases. In 2002, the year Sanders was elected, the prosecutor’s office filed 2,333 drug cases. Last year, his office filed 1,882….
Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline has received national attention for his high-profile fight against abortion. He’s vigorously defended his attempt to wrest control of the medical records of women who had abortions at two Kansas clinics. His unprecedented subpoena for the records has made him far more visible than any Kansas attorney general in recent memory. But last year, Kline…
In the world of lushery, warmup action can be the most hazardous part of the night (uh, aside from getting home, that is). Also known as pre-gaming, this is the phenomenon in which you gather at a residence or a starter bar to knock back a couple of drinks before heading out to the main event. Of course, everyone’s had…
Sometimes a restaurant can be too good to its customers. The Plaza restaurant that used to be the Canyon Café (4626 Broadway) is a perfect example. Customers who cruised in for that venue’s Southwestern fare were treated to more than an ordinary basket of tortilla chips and bottled salsa; instead, a year ago, the perfectionist chef Douglas Czufin created the…
Don’t confuse soft-spoken Gamal Hamza, the chef-owner of Gamal’s Euro Bistro, with the hunky 23-year-old Egyptian soccer star of the same name. The middle-aged Hamza did play soccer during his school days back in his native Cairo, but that was another life, long before he left law school to move to the United States. As an independent restaurateur, Gamal Hamza…
6/9-6/12 Depending on one’s political and cultural persuasions, black female role models currently run the gamut from Tyra Banks to Condoleezza Rice. In such times, it makes sense to look anew at Ntozake Shange’s theater piece from the mid-1970s, For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, staged this weekend by InPlay Productions. To call the play…
TUE 6/14 It’s no doubt reductive (and definitely immature) but not wholly inaccurate to consider David McCullough our leading chronicler of dead white guys. His biographies John Adams and Truman were both best sellers, with the added imprimatur of Pulitzer Prizes, and his latest subject is the guy on the dollar and the quarter (and the namesake of our capital’s…
FRI 6/10 Golfers, here’s a chance to get closer to Hugh. Tiffany Greens (6100 Northwest Tiffany Springs Parkway) hosts the Playboy Scramble at 2 p.m. Friday, and the winner could end up on the greens at the Playboy Mansion. It’s $275 to play. Call 866-521-4052. — Rebecca Braverman Great Scots! Bring the whole clan. SAT 6/11 Men in skirts aren’t…
SAT 6/11 When patriotic Chinese poet Chu Yuan drowned himself in the Mi Lo River 2,000 years ago, it was an act of protest against corrupt leaders. Fishermen ran to their boats and hit drums to scare the fish away from Chu Yuan’s body, throwing them zong zi, steamed and leaf-wrapped rice balls, to feed on instead. There’s some dispute…
On the bootleg movie market, a search for Donkey Show fetches seedy video of an all-male revue and, more luridly, women performing sex acts with Mexican mules. Filmmaker Jim Henniquin, however, plans to bring new respectability to this movie moniker with his debut effort, a cinematic look at Kansas City’s bestiality-free variety series of the same name. Promoter Bill Sundahl…
Thursday, June 9 We always think of book clubs in a touchy-feely, share-your-thoughts, Oprah sort of way. The Flavor of Great Books discussion group, however, lays down the law. Proceedings begin tonight at 7 at the Johnson County Central Resource Library (9875 West 87th Street in Overland Park), and instructions require that attendees have given the book not just one…
Though it’s an otherwise forgettable movie, we remember two things from Ocean’s Twelve. First, George Clooney just keeps getting cuter, damn it. And second, that scene at the end — in which the Night Fox flips and folds his body in an intricate series of acrobatics, maneuvering around randomly searching laser beams — fuckin’ rocked, even if we’re pretty sure…
Extra/ordinary: Fiber Artists Rethinking Art and Everyday Life There’s a piece in Extra/ordinary that nicely sums up this group show. It’s Michelle Carol Fried’s embroidered work depicting a little girl stitching a hankie. Above her, a thought bubble reads: “fuck it.” To some extent, that’s the motivating force behind the show. For this exhibit (in conjunction with June’s International Surface…
As perhaps the only DJ ever to appear in both Urb and Teen Vogue, Katie Kabel (who spins as K-Swing) blends style and skill as easily as she mixes tracks. Sex sells, but K-Swing prefers to peddle her music without overemphasizing her aesthetic appeal: The “bikini photos” section of the New Jersey native’s Web site includes only ink-drawn stick figures….
Just as the buzz around glam-and-trombone-rockin’ Kansas Citians Doris Henson seemed to be subsiding, the band scored some sweet tour spots this summer, beginning with a show Saturday at the Brick supporting ex-Dismemberment Plan singer and lyricist Travis Morrison, who’s gone solo with a new album titled Travistan. Following the Morrison tour, on June 22 in Atlanta, Doris Henson joins…
