Merle Haggard probably doesn’t sleep well at night knowing what’s become of his beloved country music. Every time Kenny Chesney sashays across a stage, ol’ Hag must want to dig out a revolver and make it all go away. Can you blame him? This is the guy who finished what Buck Owens started, who made the Bakersfield, California, scene a…
Freakwater’s partnership of Catherine Ann Irwin and Janet Beveridge Bean harks back to the early ’80s, when they shared an apartment in Louisville, Kentucky. Their self-titled debut appeared in 1989, a year before Uncle Tupelo’s No Depression started the Americana land rush. Delivered with neither smirk nor wink, their parched alt-country style rings with age-old authenticity. Irwin and Bean’s tender…
After a 20-year career that began with nitrous and graduated to Zoloft, Ween still has a strong fanbase (aka the Church of Boognish), and even though Monday’s performance at The Granada sold out weeks ago, you can still get your fix of new material. Sort of. Available only on the Internet, Shinola Vol. 1 is the first in a series…
Seeing a DJ work a sparsely populated room filled with uninterested drinkers ranks among nightlife’s most pitiable scenes. Fat Sal and Señor Ozgood, whose Soundsystem event has been a popular Thursday-evening attraction at Jilly’s, want to avoid that pathetic plight (not that they’re in danger of it), so they’re ending their three-year run on Thanksgiving. “It’s time to move on…
And Moses, clad in shimmering boots of chain mail and a leather frock bearing the skull-crest of the most holy Misfits, spake to the people, saying: Hear, O Israel! Forsaketh thee thy Deftones and cast thine Korn into the furnace. Henceforth, thou shalt followeth only Clutch, whom the Lord thy God hath declared totally sweet and heavy. — Roxodus…
Forget about tu padre’s Mexican radio. With growing immigrant populations in the United States plus a pop-music market favorable to crossover artists such as Shakira and Enrique Iglesias (not to mention the delightfully shady likes of Pitbull and Daddy Yankee), Latin pop — as it’s actually heard in the Spanish-speaking world — is finally reaching American airwaves. Except for the…
The son of reggae legend Bob Marley and former Miss World Cindy Breakspeare, Damian Marley (aka Junior Gong) takes his nickname from his famous dad and also his mission: to uphold truth and rights and to forward consciousness “in this generation triumphantly,” as Bob would have said. Nowadays, the roots reggae promoted by his dad and others has become associated…
A few weeks ago, Harold Ramis was sitting in a hotel conference room discussing the subtext of The Ice Harvest, his new film based on the novel by Scott Phillips and adapted by Robert Benton and Richard Russo. Ramis explained that he took the project because it was about far more than two men swindling a mobster out of $2…
Richard Gere? Mr. Salt-and-Pepper-Sexy-Buddhist-Wasp plays Saul Naumann in Bee Season, the film version of Myla Goldberg’s best-selling novel. In the book, Saul is an oppressive and learned Jewish patriarch, a cantor and a student of mysticism whose text-strewn home office is off-limits except by invitation. Saul is the type who is so busy seeking a relationship with God through ancient…
The mouth that roared: I enjoyed C.J. Janovy’s piece on the Rona Barrett of KC, the dreaded Hearne Christopher ( Tags: AL Central Division, American League (Baseball), kansas city royals, letters, Major League Baseball
Hip-hop MC Priceless Diamonds describes herself as a “boss bitch” who grew up boosting clothes and turning the occasional trick. She’s no angel, but she’s got advice. So listen up, y’all. I heard Britney Spears lost all her baby weight already. WTF? She was a porker! What do you think she did? I hear Britney is on the Coke-and-cigarettes diet….
The Strip can’t wait: In 2014 or 2016, Kansas City will roll out the red carpet for pudgy sportswriters, out-of-state strippers and a 70-year-old Mick Jagger loosening his pipes for a kickoff rendition of “Start Me Up.” In case you were in Bangladesh getting an MRI and missed the news last week, the NFL has promised Kansas City — holy…
Trisha Orr knows strong odors. She remembers the farm where she grew up in southwest Missouri and Saturday mornings cleaning up after the family’s dairy cows. She shoveled manure and hosed down concrete floors, rushing through her chores to get back to the house in time to watch Teen Hop, Joplin’s version of American Bandstand. “If I didn’t have that…
Deep down, we all want money for nothing and chicks for free. Back in 1985, when Dire Straits first revealed this eternal truth, it seemed that any goofball with a Day-Glo headband could pour himself into package-hugging spandex and become a rock star. But it turned out that noodling on the fret board wasn’t nearly as easy as advertised. Those…
Punishment Park (New Yorker Video) This 1971 movie from director Peter Watkins could have been made yesterday, which is no doubt why it finally sees video release long after accruing cult status. Born of the filmmaker’s outrage over the Kent State killings, the war in Vietnam, and other abominations of the era, Punishment Park resonates like some brand-new thing in…
AVP: Alien Vs. Predator — Unrated Collector’s Edition (Fox) Cheaper by the Dozen: Baker’s Dozen Edition (Fox) 8MM 2 (Columbia/Tristar) Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Buena Vista) The Honeymooners (Paramount) Keane: Strangers (Interscope) King Kong (1976) (Paramount) King Kong: Collector’s Edition (1933) (Warner Bros.) King of the Hill: Season 5 (Fox) The Last Days of Pompeii (Warner Bros.) 9 Songs (Tartan)…
Restaurateur Patrick Quillec’s Gallic invasion of the local restaurant scene was an impressive achievement back in 2002, when he was running the original Hannah Bistro (3895 State Line Road); a suburban satellite location of Hannah’s in Lee’s Summit; the tiny Café Provence in Prairie Village (3936 West 69th Terrace); and the stylish Café Paris (7070 West 105th Street). But Quillec’s…
Back in October, right before Halloween, the Body Art Ball took over the Uptown Theater. The event sounded intriguing; we had the vague notion that it’d be one of those soirées where hot naked models walked around painted to look like they had clothes on. Like everyone else, we went for the rampant nudity. And, like everyone else, we…
You don’t have to be a fishing aficionado to know that a “fish story” is all about exaggeration. “An exaggeration or incredible story,” according to my Random House Dictionary. In other words, a lie. I’ve told my own fish stories over the years — none of them having to do with any aquatic creatures — but I’ve used a…
THU 11/17 We haven’t had a chance to see New York City’s new and improved Museum of Modern Art since its $425 million face-lift — actually, let’s call that major reconstructive surgery — but we’re curious to see architect Yushio Tanaguchi’s redesign and its use of natural light. One thing we’re not so excited about: the increase in admission price…
SAT 11/19 We don’t know many musicians whose KC performances are preceded by two such incongruous stops as Kansas native Karrin Allyson’s: New York City, then Clayton, Missouri. Perhaps that just speaks to her scope — this is the same singer whose résumé includes classical piano, folk, an all-girl rock band and a Grammy-nominated John Coltrane tribute album. Her latest…
SAT 11/19 If break dancers are like greyhounds, then hip-hop is the fake bunny that leads the dogs around the track. Put a needle to bass-heavy wax (try “The Champ” by the Mohawks), and it’s like that scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in which Christopher Lloyd tries to coax the cartoon out of hiding. He taps “shave-and-a-haircut,” and…
THU 11/17 Crossroads goodie emporium Aesthetica (1817 Wyandotte, 816-421-5455) helps out those who lack the Martha Stewart gene with Wine & Wrap. Learn how to make your gifts stand out from the pile — while snacking and sipping — Thursday at 7 p.m. The class costs $30; attendees receive 10 percent off purchases. — Rebecca Braverman Rich Man, Pour Man…
If not for the furious drawing, agitated erasing and hard-core creating going on here, Parrish Baker and his assemblage of comic artists at the Broadway Café might resemble (as one coffeehouse patron observes aloud) a support group. After all, the members of the collective are more concerned with encouraging one another’s endeavors in their often thankless work than in offering…
