Ah, Valentine’s Day — that one day a year when you can say, “Baby, the depth of my love for you can be shown with this diamond pendant from Zales.” Or, if you’re one of the unlucky ones, it’s that one day a year when the loneliness actually gets worse. That’s because finding love ain’t as easy as the movies…
Many artists have attempted to express love’s mysterious ways in song. Take, for example, the singer Haddaway, whose Eurodisco hit “What Is Love” boldly endeavored to answer an age-old question but ended up fixated on a lone request: Baby, don’t hurt me/Don’t hurt me no more. Haddaway had gumption, but his follow-through was unfocused, to say the least. Not so…
To say that the music Archer Prewitt makes now is different from what he did in the 1980s is a gross understatement. Nowadays he’s a guitar-playing singer-songwriter who crafts radiant, introspective pop. But when he got behind the drums in KC bands the Tunnel Dogs and Mudhead, he played as though someone had handed him two rusty cleavers and told…
BR549’s new record, Dog Days, is, as usual, a conglomeration of all things country, classic and swingin’, but it’s clear from the first listen that this band is visiting some brand-new places. On that opening track, “Poison,” for example, aren’t those congas mixed in with the bluegrass? And those place names ticked off in “Bottom of Priority,” names such as…
Bully Pulpit White wash: Regarding C.J. Janovy’s well-written article “She’s No Martin” (Janovy, January 26): To avoid coming across as one of those conservatives constantly crying “foul” (which I am not), let me first say I realize that the headline might have been written with tongue planted firmly in cheek. But what the Pitch must also realize is that if…
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. What’s the best way to win a girlfight? Fight her like a girl. Hitting, biting, scratching, kicking, all that. Whatever you have to do to win. I only fight…
You gotta envy a guy who’s never heard of the Rev. Fred Phelps. Apparently, down in Houston, some people have been lucky enough to go through life oblivious to the famous Topeka minister and his sign-toting, fag-hating, fake-religion-vomiting clan from the Westboro Baptist Church. The Phelpses’ latest message is “Thank God for IEDs” — improvised explosive devices, the roadside bombs…
Cornrowed linebacker Chris Morant feeds a dollar bill into a vending machine in the bowels of the American Airlines Center in Dallas. A spiral turns. A brightly colored pouch falls. “Some Skittles to ease the mind,” Morant says. Two hours remain before the 2 p.m. kickoff. As Morant buys candy, several of his Kansas City Brigade teammates loosen up on…
The Brick (1727 McGee) is well-known as a KC hipster haven filled to the gills with beer-soaked rock-and-roll memories — not really an encouraging environment for nervous, first-time entertainers sharing their virgin wares. Owner Sheri Parr was hoping to change all that when she unveiled the club’s first open-mic night a few weeks ago. With former Jilly’s Open Forum MC…
Benny Hill: Complete and Unadulterated — The Hill’s Angels Years, Set Four (A&E) Billy Graham Presents: Gift Set (Fox) Bubble (Magnolia) Captains Courageous (1937) (Warner Bros.) Drake & Josh Go Hollywood (Paramount) Extreme Comedy Collection (Team America: World Police, Beavis and Butt-head Do America, and Jackass: The Movie) (Paramount) Four Weddings and a Funeral: Deluxe Edition (MGM) Gone With the…
Every fighting game needs a hook to stand out: Mortal Kombat has gore, Soul Calibur has weapons, Def Jam has hip-hop stars. And Dead or Alive? It has boobies. The DOA series — developed by Tecmo — made its name with a cast of fighters who look like pinups and fight like Bruce Lee. Think Enter the Dragon, as filmed…
Dune: Extended Edition (Universal) On paper it sounds insane: A mammoth sci-fi epic directed by David Lynch, based on an intensely weird Frank Herbert novel about ecology and giant worms. What resulted was a flop that has yet to be remedied by multiple edits through the years. This disc includes Lynch’s original Dune, as well as a 177-minute cut credited…
The Nerd Sunny, skilled performances from the principals — especially Ron Megee, plutocrat du jour Kip Niven and appealing straight man Craig Benton — can’t keep author Larry Shue’s comedy from grating. Everything is subordinate to the laugh, including sense and character; it’s a shame, then, that most of the jokes are as sharp as a wet Frito. Some…
Celebrating a Grand Gift: The Hallmark Photographic Collection On January 12, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art announced that when its new Bloch Building opens in 2007, it will house the 6,500-piece Hallmark Photographic Collection. Keith Davis, director of Hallmark’s fine-art programs, has spent 25 years assembling the collection — which, with its emphasis on the history of American work, is…
Circus characters star in the work of Rochester, Minnesota, sculptor Judy Onofrio. There’s a sequined female dancer, a lion jumping through a circle of fire, a juggler, elephants — and above all else, monkeys. They inhabit nearly every piece. Onofrio’s animals are more than decorative or cute. They frequently mirror — or ape — their companions, sharing the limelight with…
The lighting is the first clue about what could go wrong. The orderly but threadbare Younger apartment is glazed in sepia; the lighting is warm, nostalgic and gorgeous — not what you’d hope for in a play with a title borrowed from a poem asking, “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up, like a raisin in…
The studied British theatricality and sharp wit of Mrs. Henderson Presents are likely to make it a favorite among nostalgiaphiles, theater buffs, and the tea-and-crumpets set. Sailing along on the strength of another showy performance by Judi Dench, Stephen Frears’ period frolic is this year’s Being Julia, adorned with the same kind of high-toned baubles and bitchy bons mots. Playwright…
Anthony Hopkins lends style points to any movie in which he appears. The thing may be a dog, but the actor who brought the gruesome psychopath Hannibal Lecter to life and got deep inside a repressed English butler always gives us something fascinating to behold. The depth and gravity of his work remain even when all else fails. This is…
If Tonic (see Cafe) represents a new breed of upscale watering holes where the appetizers are as sophisticated as the décor — mini-crab cakes and shiitake-mushroom risotto, for example — then the venerable Fric & Frac (1700 West 39th Street) is the anti-Tonic. The no-frills saloon, which turns 30 years old this year, still serves the greasy, delicious stuff that…
The word tonic evokes all kinds of happy adjectives: bubbly, light, refreshing. Interestingly enough, none of those words would be enough to describe Tonic, the sleek, dark new restaurant and nightclub in old downtown Overland Park. “Don’t use the word nightclub,” insists Nick Pruitt, the thin, stylishly dressed assistant general manager of the venue. “We prefer to call it…
We can always count on a boisterous good time at Lawrence bars, and our recent trip to “Neon night” at The Granada was no exception. We had heard that Neon, its regular ’80s-themed Thursday event, draws a costumed, wig-wearing crowd that dances their asses off. Because we’re all about events involving all of the above, the Night Ranger combed out…
When DJs Sku and Konsept christened their Tuesday night event Table Manners, they had more in mind than simple turntable wordplay. “The use of manners implies etiquette when we’re mixing music,” Sku explains. “Basically, if we drop a hip-hop a cappella over a rock beat, we will drop it in on time so the music flows like it was…
What, you ask, is a “Gillhead”? Well, it ain’t a fuckin’ fish. You may not figure out the answer listening to Gillhead Structure, so we’ll tell you. D-Loc, Dalima and crew represent Argentine, a ‘hood they like to refer to as Guillotine. A Gillhead, therefore, is a hardcore resident of that part of KCK — “Gilla” being the abbreviated form…
The best way to keep an organization clandestine is to conceal it from public view. Some of the music on this career-spanning collection dates back to 1996, but the band from Mission was a studio-only project until 2003. That’s when studio-whiz founder Jason Hall and fellow sonic engineer Chris Wagner dropped their other projects and started focusing on completing their…
