A few weeks ago, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke announced that the UK outfit had “started work” on its seventh album. Included in the recording sessions is “Nude.” The song, also known as “Big Ideas (Don’t Get Any),” has been a staple of the group’s live sets since the days of OK Computer. Air-Radiohead.com has posted several live versions of “Nude”…
Besides the normal MTV-video rips and late-night TV appearances, Youtube.com contains a treasure trove of rare music videos of rock stars before they hit the big time. (And no, we’re not talking about Madonna’s legendary appearance on American Bandstand.) Here are a few choice clips we’ve found that we suspect musicians won’t be screening at their high school reunions. Gwen…
James Blunt’s debut, Back to Bedlam, was the No. 1 album in the UK last year, catapulting him from obscurity to superstardom thanks in large part to “You’re Beautiful.” A few years earlier, he was a personal guard to the Queen of England, and a few years before that, he was a peacekeeper in Kosovo, where he served as…
It’s midnight in downtown Austin, Texas. A black Cadillac Escalade pulls up to a crowded street corner. People mill about en route from one packed venue to another, their hands and wrists inked with the smudgy hieroglyphics of clubs admission stamps. Two men and a gnarled humanoid bulldog in a paramedic’s jumpsuit climb out of the Escalade and open the…
Winemakers must really be onto something. While the rest of the world tries to evaluate every micro-success and mini-failure in life by the day, the hour and the minute, vintners have known for centuries that the perfect measure of quality is calculated by the year. Any more than 365 days, and you begin to lose perspective. Any less, and you’re…
Hostile fire: Regarding Jason West’s letter about the article “A Tale of Two Soldiers” (March 9): A little bitch, indeed! I guess living in your parents’ basement and playing on the Internet all day gives Jason West the moral authority to say how someone severely wounded in this war should behave. He is the first person to ever say that…
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. Who’s shooting at the new Kansas City Star distribution center? Somebody’s hating on that big, pretty glass building real bad. It’s a good look for our city, so I…
Crow Free The assault on Unity Temple has officially ended. In case you missed it, the Plaza headquarters of religious tolerance was under attack by those pesky black beasts of the air. No, not Missouri-based stealth bombers. We’re talking crows, bro. It started last fall when somebody a bit south and a little west of the place — in the…
As Mother Nature unleashed her tornadic fury upon liberal Lawrence on March 12, the Strip waited for Pat Robertson to tell those freethinkers at the University of Kansas that God’s wrath was a penance. Thankfully, the rest of Christ-lovin’ Kansas was mostly spared. During the big blow job, this meat patty was just happy to be across the state line…
It’s three in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve, and a hundred or so people have shown up at the Gem Theater. Among them are celebrity politicians, including U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. Sen. Jim Talent has sent his comments in a short video. They’re not here for a party, though. Cleaver is here to bestow Kansas City souvenirs — a…
I went to G’s Jamaican Cuisine on a recent Tuesday night because the hip-hop scene is divided in half. No, I didn’t think an order of oxtails or jerk chicken would solve the problem or seal the division. (Though it would make an interesting movie to adhere two rappers together using a powerful glue made from goat curry, conjoined-twin style…
I was considering writing a review of the P.O.S./Mac Lethal show last night at the Record Bar, but two things stood in my way: (1) I missed Mac Lethal because I forgot about the damn thing and didn’t get there until midnight, and (2) I just found a very good review of the engagement at What the F#@% is This?,…
Getting out of Austin was a lot harder than getting in. After eating a Schlotzsky’s sandwich (important side note: Schlotzsky’s, a Texas chain, claims to be “home of the original sandwich.” This is written without trademark signs, so there’s no way to tell that their “original sandwich” is actually a sandwich they made up themselves with Italian meats and olives…
Sunday Morning: I’m in my hotel, wearing a free t-shirt some publicist gave me that promotes a documentary about the Warped Tour, I think, called Wake Up Screaming. I didn’t tip the guy at the overpriced snack bar downstairs, and as a direct karmic result, I spilled an entire cup of breakfast burrito salsa in my lap. But, hey, this…
It was a good day for Kansas City on St. Patrick’s Day down here in Austin. Maybe all that pretending to be Irish back home gave us all a wee bit of luck. The day started off, for me, at the Anodyne/Cheap Lullaby showcase at the Parish, where, at the crack of noon, Be/Non commanded the stage. With the Architects’…
Yesterday was a long day’s journey into rock for the Wayward Son. I’m at South By Southwest this weekend in Austin. It’s my first time out here, and I hadn’t known what to expect. I thought it would be overcommercialized. After all, my music badge cost nearly $600, and somewhere this weekend there are trade shows, golf tournaments, softball games…
There is no textbook for the art of the rock video. Few successful artists have made it through their careers without producing one or two or perhaps entire collections of absurdly stupid videos. In fact, some of the biggest stars have produced the worst music videos. For instance, Lionel Richie has to be the king of bad videos. First, there’s…
Snow might have dampened Kansas City’s 18th Street Mardi Gras spirit back in 2005, but this year’s Fat Tuesday saw herds of locals making the trek from Y.J.’s Snack Bar to the Jazz District on foot, weaving between the floats — and, well, weaving in general. Obviously, New Orleans’ 2006 celebration was not so improved. But at Union Station (30…
Through the Fire (Disney) He’s averaging just nine points in his second season for the Portland Trail Blazers, but considering where he came from and what he’s overcome, Sebastian Telfair is doing just fine, thank you. Jonathan Hock’s fascinating documentary takes us back to the young New York basketball legend’s pivotal senior year in Brooklyn — the year he committed…
All Dogs Go to Heaven/All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (MGM) American Psycho (Lions Gate) Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers (Warner Bros.) Basic Instinct: Ultimate Edition (Lions Gate) Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo — The Little Black Book Edition (Disney) A Fish Called Wanda (MGM) Get Shorty/Be Cool (MGM) How to Lose Your Lover (New Line) Ice Age (Fox)…
Gamers have a derogatory name for people who prize a game’s visuals above all: “graphic whores.” But sometimes great graphics can enhance game play — or even provide an experience that couldn’t have occurred otherwise. Fight Night Round 3 for the Xbox 360 is a perfect example. The boxers in the game — especially famous faces like Evander Holyfield and…
Before and After Kevin McGraw refers to himself as a “junkyard guy.” Based on this show, the description is accurate. The title refers to the objects — metal traffic signs, skateboard pieces, tire treads, mudflaps — that McGraw frequently finds along the sides of roads. He incorporates these materials into photographs of assemblages he’s already made. There’s a bit of…
At the Belger Arts Center, the world has just grown smaller. The center’s director, Mo Dickens, is curious by nature, and one Saturday afternoon he had an hour to kill. He spent it at the Kansas City Art Institute gallery, where he happened to run into Art Institute President Kathleen Collins, who was in touch with a woman named Colette…
Call it The Millinery Monologues. When I heard that Crowns, the Unicorn Theatre’s wildly popular new musical, was all about hats, I figured it was true in the same sense that The Glass Menagerie is about zookeeping. Lord, was I wrong. Clues abounded. The Unicorn’s smart-looking Crowns poster is dominated by the brim of a leopard-print hat tipped siesta-style over…
