The H&R Block Artspace’s Humor Me aims to explore humor as it’s expressed in the contemporary art world. Gallery curator Raechelle Smith has assembled an impressive array of work by national and international artists, and the show earns its share of laughs — but there are also uncomfortable moments when the jokes bomb. One of the more entertaining pieces…
From this week’s e-mail, an audition announcement we could almost run as a personal ad: “If you are looking to come and do improv with funny, attractive men, then please come to our female-only auditions.” Desperate as it is, it’s kinda sweet. Especially that first “come.” Even in comedy, a club that’s as boyish as NAMBLA, guys understand that they…
In his 1961 farewell address, President Eisenhower warned Americans that an insidious new force was taking hold of the country. He called it the “military-industrial complex.” Born of necessity during World War II, this once valuable conjunction of the military, the federal government and the arms industry had taken on a life of its own — and was threatening to…
Didn’t Richard Donner retire? The director, a star in the 1980s, is one name among many that should now send bolts of discouraging dread down your spine. But Donner may well be seeing his filmmaking skills peak with 16 Blocks — even if saying it’s his best, least flatulent, most efficient film is tantamount to saying that the guy’s work…
It has been nearly two decades since the A-frame building at 3260 Broadway was an International House of Pancakes. (California-based IHOP hasn’t built a new restaurant using that architectural design since the early 1980s.) Meanwhile, the building has attracted an international array of tenants. Two years ago, it was home to the Twin Dragon Chinese Restaurant, which served both Chinese…
A couple of years ago, I found an old postcard from the late 1930s, I believe, of a snazzy-looking dining room in a restaurant that once stood at 14th Street and Baltimore. The place was called Southern Mansion, and if the postcard is an accurate depiction of the actual place, it must have been a happening spot. It was…
As breastravaganzas go, Holly’s Big Boob Fundraising Bash wasn’t a bust. Yep, the name said it all. Someone named Holly organized a benefit at Balanca’s to fund her boob job. She even got local acts Cattle Lack Order, Mi Corazon Negro and DJ Rico to donate their time to perform for this, uh, worthy cause. Of course, the concept of…
Detroit producer and rapper J Dilla (James Yancey, also known as Jay Dee) died of lupus in February at age 32, stunning the hip-hop nation. J Dilla kept the severity of his illness concealed from the public, and he continued to compose beats from his hospital bed. The Detroit Free Press documented recently how he worked drum machines and…
Kredulous’ fourth release (his third since 2003) is by far one of the more polished independent projects we’ve heard in a while. From the brief, biographical intro to the up-tempo, club-banging “I’m Back” to the when-we-ride vibe of “That’s How We Do” (with Lloyd Daniel) to the introspective lyrics of “Raindrops” and the ode to lost love “Silent Cries” (with…
In the early ’90s, bands such as the Hollow Men, the Mahoots, and the Rainmakers (when they weren’t playing Denmark) rattled our region with intelligent lyrics and sounds half 1965 and half post-Reagan anxiety. Rockhill — more K-10 limestone road than Rockhill Road or William Rockhill Nelson — proves that the sound never quite went away. The band has bluesy,…
Back in the early days of Mogwai’s career, an album titled Mr. Beast would have matched the band’s category-5 noise hurricanes perfectly. But as the Scotsmen refined their sound over the next decade, moments of levity and clarity — airy synths, strings, eerie silences — made the band’s emotional maelstroms more compelling. In fact, Mr. Beast feels like a sequel…
At long last rescued from the out-of-print wilderness, Sonic Youth’s self-titled, underheard debut reveals itself as quite the opposite of the festering, tonal Hades subsequent records such as Confusion Is Sex or Bad Moon Rising implied. Here we find a diminutive, blond Art Forum contributor picking up a bass, a pair of Glenn Branca-affiliated guitar soldiers, and a not-long-for-this-lineup drummer,…
Boo and Boo Too isn’t scared. Whereas most bands stabilize their lineups and approach before playing live and recording, the recently formed Boo (the name lies somewhere between clever and annoying) lost two of its members before recording an EP and heading out on the road for the first time. This month, the group takes on the Midwest and Texas…
Nirvana-like has become shorthand for any band both noisy and melodic. The word fits Kansas City’s Bodisartha (born in the wilds of Springfield, that name can’t be an accident), especially with singer Josh Thomas’ ragged screams and shattershot guitar chords. Shoot, there are songs on the group’s debut, Find Yourself Getting Lost — “Is It a Gay” or “Like a…
If you’re keeping score at home, music researchers have added a third item to their list of peculiar facts about deceased women. As was previously discovered, pretty girls do, indeed, make graves. And, of course, there really is a death cab for cutie. But thanks to some top-notch investigation by four Lawrence music makers, we can now confirm that dead…
Of the three Berlin brothers in the St. Louis band Living Things, Lillian, Eve and Bosh, it’s Lillian who looks most like the one you wouldn’t want to dare to jump off a roof. Even if it wasn’t a triple-dog dare, he’d probably act on it in a heartbeat. The darkly androgynous frontman for Living Things definitely has the feral…
Napalm Death smuggles fiercely political lyrics into sonic bombs that detonate like nuclear tests. Once known for its impossibly fast outbursts, including a 1.3-second song (“You Suffer”) that’s Guinness Book-recognized as history’s shortest, Napalm Death now extends that intensity well past the minute mark. The 2001 record title Enemy of the Music Business summarizes the outsider ethos of a group…
If the world were a just place, when Kansas Citians moved the dial to KFKF 94.1 or KBEQ 104.3, they would hear Lucinda Williams instead of Kenny Chesney. This is true for two reasons. The first is obvious: Kenny Chesney sucks (surely we can all agree on that); the second — and more significant — reason is that Williams is…
All hail Jurassic 5! They were a breath of fresh air, bringing pleasure and fun back to the type of hip-hop listened to by indie-rock fans. But they did not come alone — and the group that came with them, Black Eyed Peas, has turned from a fun bit of whimsy into the foulest sort of plastic band. We applaud…
In the wake of Jamie Foxx’s Billboard-chart-topping Unpredictable, plus a visit from country singer and Sex and the City hunk John Corbett (last Wednesday at the Grand Emporium), it’s easy to forget where the actor-turned-singer phenomenon truly began: Jack freakin’ Wagner! Here, we pit him against the poseurs. Jack Wagner Choice acting gig: Melrose Place (Dr. Peter Burns) Music:…
An aspiring musician’s first recital is typically full of sour notes and awkward moments. For Flogging Molly’s accordion player, Matt Hensley, it was a particularly strange experience. At 25, he was a full 15 years older than anyone else in his debut recital. Now 35, Hensley owns 20 accordions and rocks out nightly on the bulky instrument for sold-out…
Thanks, Todd Comer. The 108 pictures you took of the Pitch Ultra Music Festival DJ Competition and posted on your Web site, Phocas.net, really helped that event’s hapless host (me) relive the evening two days later for this column. Of course, I didn’t remember the babe in the white halter top, and I somehow managed to forget the dude with…
As supergroups go, Year Long Disaster, which includes the former Karma to Burn bassist, Third Eye Blind’s drummer, and a kin of the Kinks, isn’t high-wattage. It’s fortunate, then, that this power trio isn’t a calculated experiment, a fantasy-football-style combination of theoretically compatible players. YLD sounds like what it is: A rock band with origins that can be traced to…
Theater of the absurd: Thank you so much for Nadia Pflaum’s article about Rick West (“Horn Dog,” February 16). My dad was part of his band for almost a year, and when he first started with Rick, he really thought that he had gotten himself into something special. He bought into Rick’s belief that this theater would change entertainment in…
