FRI 7/8 Photographer Frederick Sommer, the subject of an exhibit now at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, combined ordinary elements to produce maximum discomfort. He turned a portrait translucent, setting his subject against a weather-worn wall so that the subject, too, seemed to be decaying. Placing a doll in a dilapidated box, he created a stark scene that resembled a…
It’s been a long day at work. Traffic’s down to one lane (again) on Main Street, and there aren’t any parking spots left in front of our apartment building — thank you, Shakespeare in the Park. After picking up the latest stack of third-notice bills, trudging up three flights of stairs in heels and partaking in the daily battle…
Thursday, July 7 We’re freaks for accessories, especially the sparkly, jangly kind, which means that more of our paycheck than we’d like to admit goes to up-and-coming jewelry designers and, OK, sometimes Claire’s, where we have a good ten years on all the patrons (not to mention most of the employees). So it’s no surprise that Communiversity’s Intro to…
David Mansour’s recently published encyclopedia From Abba to Zoom includes 3,001 entries, and to quote a Sesame Street song that the book cites, “one of these things is not like the other.” As a compulsive list maker, the Kansas City author is attracted to round numbers, so it would have made sense for him to jettison the outsider. Instead, he…
Bug This gets-under-your-skin drama details the iffy romance between doped-up, 40-ish Agnes (Jan Rogge, commanding even in her character’s most skittish moments) and younger, paranoid Peter (Cedric Hayman). Life in their hellish motel room is evoked with almost too much success; after a half hour or so, we start to freak out a little ourselves. But soon, Peter is claiming…
Ghada Amer Barbie clothes always have some kind of ridiculous waistband tailored to the fashionable doll’s strangely shaped torso. Ken’s midsection is no less bizarre. Nothing highlights this more clearly than seeing Barbie and Ken clothes enlarged to fit real people. One of Ghada Amer’s most well-known early pieces — “Barbie Aime Ken, Ken Aime Barbie (Barbie Loves Ken,…
This probably sounds like faint praise, but when the Late Night Theatre folks tackled Purple Rain awhile back, the show — a stiff despite all that killer bug-funk — was saved by Corrie Van Ausdal, who made more out of Apollonia than the real Apollonia ever had the gumption to. Van Ausdal is a bit of a mannequin, born…
Like a good fireworks show, a Sandra Collins concert saves its premium pyrotechnics for the grand finale. Many deep-trance DJs stagger their summits, giving fans frequent climaxes while dulling the intensity of each release. Collins’ sets are linear climbs to a sky-piercing peak, followed by an exhilarating free-fall. Collins solidified her beat-building credentials in 2000 by helming the third entry…
Chasing 7 knows how to talk to an angel, will go wherever you will be, and isn’t afraid to ask, “What about breakfast at Tiffany’s?” Critics will hate them for it. However, this Kansas City band’s layered acoustics, warm riffs, driving rhythms and, above all, summer-anthem melodies should prove perfect for netting scads of beautiful, adoring fans. And we won’t…
Re-releasing an album less than a decade old, bundled with bonus tracks, means that somewhere, a record executive smells a trend coming back around. Endtroducing, DJ Shadow’s 1996 debut, has just been reissued in double-disc form, and it isn’t hard to imagine why. The downtempo-trip-hop-electronic movement that Shadow helped popularize in the late ’90s is coming back in a big…
Some songwriters see a full moon and swell with wonder at the power of love to make a distant, pockmarked satellite look like the perfect getaway. Other songwriters stand on the cold lunar surface waiting for the solar wind to end their exile. If the latter seems more capital-R romantic to you — and who says romance is always gibbous?…
As a Vancouver resident writing a concept album about the American heartland, Mark “Ox” Browning initially comes off as overeager as a beret-topped tourist arriving in France. His ersatz-Stipe vocals (particularly pronounced on the opening track), forced-cute rhymes (Carolinah with higher) and early-album fetishization of the most American of automobiles (the Trans Am and the Camaro) detract from the music’s…
Unlike many underground bands tearing up stage carpet and microphone stands these days, Ouija Radio knows that a mere disco beat, a repeating bass line, aggressive shouting and so-called “angular” guitar are not, by themselves, adequate elements for danceable rock and roll. So in addition to mirror-ball beats, this Minneapolis band offers the gothic overtures of Bauhaus; Black Sabbath breakdowns;…
Unlike the megatours of his graying peers, Tom Petty concerts aren’t a study in baby-boomer bombast. He doesn’t bring 57 semis full of special effects — no flying pigs or blow-up dolls, no vain strutting or ten-minute guitar solos. What Petty does offer is one of rock’s tightest backing bands and more hits than 15 rounds of heavyweight boxing. Petty’s…
A little over six months ago, soul crooner John Legend released the first single, “Used to Luv U,” from his major-label debut, Get Lifted. The tune, rooted in R&B but blended in hip-hop, introduced the world to Legend’s throaty talents. Legend, born John Stephens in Springfield, Ohio, has lent his vocal, songwriting and piano-tickling talents to a roster of the…
If the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame held open voting, All-Star Game-style, to determine the best players at every instrumental position, Les Claypool would rank among the top-ten bassists. Considering that his most popular group, Primus, wouldn’t crack a list of music history’s 500 most notable bands, Claypool’s lofty esteem is even more impressive. His burbling tone and playful…
Early-’80s mainstream-rock queen Pat Benatar was the last of the pre-Madonna teen icons, a girl idol whose image did not overshadow old-style notions of class and comportment in the public eye. The Lady Madge certainly benefited professionally from the market space Benatar opened up and from the tough sexuality the latter could exude, yet she possessed neither the vocal chops…
Until recently, the Moaners’ guitar-and-vocals half, Melissa Swingle, was the mysterious voice of alt-gothic heroes Trailer Bride. One day, she found herself singing one beautifully depressing country song too many, and that was it. Next thing you know, she was partnered with Grohlesque rock drummer Laura King, firing up sliding, swampy surfish tunes and rocking all the joints she used…
Here’s a cultural riddle: Take an icon of a major pop movement and pretend the movement never happened: Ice Cube without gangsta rap, Ken Kesey without LSD, John Lydon without punk. What’s left? Would we have ever even heard of these guys? Like Lydon, Joe Strummer rose with punk and will always be associated with it. But if punk had…
To attend a lot of DJ-centric events is to realize the phenomenon of “DJ face.” Some DJs’ mouths hang open, as if they’re astonished at their own abilities. Some tuck their tongues into the sides of their mouths. Some stare blankly ahead, listening to their handiwork. DJ Sku’s face is pure elation, but you might miss it if you’re too…
You’ve probably heard that the Get Up Kids have called it quits. If you haven’t, then I’m sorry, but you’re just not “with it,” by KC standards. So, for those of you who are behind the times: After ten years as a band, putting together a reasonable résumé of tours and CD sales (at the top of which is the…
In the 1997 film The Apostle, Robert Duvall plays E.F., a charismatic Pentecostal preacher who travels across the South, hitting the radio waves and filling tents with his fiery brand of syncopated hallelujah preaching and wild-eyed histrionics, inspiring hand-clapping, ass-shakin’ and wailing incantations. Pocketbooks would open, and the good Lord’s work was done. A new breed of bands has begun…
If you’re short on reasons to be grateful these days, look no further than March of the Penguins, the astonishing (if imperfect) nature documentary from first-time director Luc Jacquet. Hard times may have befallen you, but at least you are not a penguin, an animal destined to repeat a devastating sequence of events for nine months every year in an…
When was the last time you walked out of a theater feeling shell-shocked, like you’d seen something truly messed up? We’re talking the sort of messed-up stuff in which human beings devise insanely elaborate ways to be cruel to each other, the kind of psychological nastiness you not only wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy but probably aren’t twisted…
