I Am a Sex Addict (IFC) Caveh Zahedi has made a movie of our times — a strange mix of self-absorption, shamelessness in the pursuit of fame, and sex. Most shocking of all is that it works. Part fiction and documentary, confessional and comedy, the film traces the history of Zahedi’s addiction to sex with prostitutes using reenactments, home-movie footage,…
Everyman What we dread doesn’t change much as the ages fly by, so this 16th-century morality play, which concerns a regular Joe accounting for himself before death, is as contemporary as, say, The Odd Couple. Granted, it’s the kind of Western Civ-type exercise in which sins have speaking parts and the characters have names like Goods and Discretion. But this…
Elissa Armstrong: Objects of Innocence and Experience Lawrence artist Elissa Armstrong takes the lighthearted concept of “sit-arounds” (or “set-arounds,” depending on how rural your accent is) —decorative objects, including porcelain unicorns, free-standing arrangements of dried flowers and Precious Moments figurines — and flips it on its innocent little head. For this show, the Alfred University-educated ceramist (and University of Kansas…
Bob Bartholic couldn’t cut it as a high school art teacher. But his latest show at the Grothaus and Pearl Gallery, Reflections of a Spirit Within, makes a good case for why he shouldn’t have kept his day job anyway. Bartholic, a native of Wichita, is now retired and lives in a little town north of Tulsa, Oklahoma, with his…
Given his training ground — not the Actors Studio but the World Wrestling Federation — the player who bills himself these days as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson sounds a bit, well, bogus when he makes speeches about the differences between winning and losing. But that’s exactly what he does through most of Gridiron Gang, a well-meant trifle about an idealistic…
Directed by Brian De Palma from the novel by neo-noirist James Ellroy, The Black Dahlia is a true-crime policier unfolding in late-’40s Los Angeles somewhere between the neighborhoods of Chinatown and Mulholland Drive. The premise involves one of the city’s most notorious unsolved homicides. In early 1947, the naked corpse of a 22-year-old aspiring actress was found dumped in a…
Southwest Boulevard saw lots of action last week. Something’s happening to the building formerly occupied by the short-lived DaDa’s Bistro (520 Southwest Boulevard). Daniel and Angela Guzman and David and Amabelle Kimball opened there last fall in the space occupied not once but twice by veteran chef and restaurateur Jose “Don Pepe” Fernandez. Like Fernandez’s venues, DaDa’s didn’t last; the…
I was happy to hear that The Cordish Company, developer of downtown’s Power & Light District, had reeled in a new Bristol Seafood Grill as part of its urban entertainment plan. Downtown hasn’t had a seafood restaurant since 1992, when the Colony Steakhouse & Lobster Pot vacated the old Rusty Scupper location on 14th Street so the city could…
Kinky Friedman (Shout Factory) For the past 40 years or so, Kinky Friedman has outraged his friends and enemies with his highbrow intellect and guttersnipe humor. He’s been a successful crime writer, with a series of best-selling novels starring a detective named, er, Kinky Friedman, and is running for governor of Texas, but it was music that first earned him…
The Changes (Drama Club Records) Chicago sound engineer Chris Brickley, who has worked with R. Kelly (R) and Wilco (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot), has made Chicago newcomers the Changes’ debut full-length, Today Is Tonight, squeaky-clean and dripping with sugar. (It also happens to be the debut album for local label Drama Club, headed by Matt Morgus and Shannon Schlappi.) Though it…
The Mountain Goats (4AD) Listening to Get Lonely, one thing is certain — Mountain Goats mainstay John Darnielle has finally received that shipment of Xanax he’s been waiting for. Compared with his last three albums, which benefited greatly from the golden touch of indie wonder-producer John Vanderslice, Lonely is almost completely devoid of the sharp edges and biting soliloquies that…
Behemoths, fire ants and sea beasts, oh my! Mastodon is that rare band that transcends genres and transports listeners, assaulting and overwhelming the senses and the imagination. Ambitious, careening, unpredictable heaviness is the order of the day for this colossal destroyer from Atlanta (not Atlantis). On the eve of the release of its third full-length album, Blood Mountain, Mastodon is…
Built to Spill At Built to Spill’s last Kansas City show, the normally shy and plaintive Doug Martsch stopped the set because of the continued insults of a heckler near the stage. “How much did you pay ?” Martsch asked. Upon hearing the young man’s answer, Martsch pulled cash out of his wallet, threw it at the man and told…
Muse By this point in Muse’s career, comparing them to Radiohead is a lazy move. Whereas the latter thrives on atmosphere and subtlety (or enigma and experimentation), the former announces its presence with pure sensory overload. Brutal fretwork (which is arguably way more metallic than many “real” metal bands), beehive-quivering piano and sci-fi prog-geekery explode like a mad scientist’s supercollider….
Nina Nastasia By itself, Nina Nastasia’s voice is enough to perk ears. She’s been using it adeptly since the mid-’90s, combining the beauty of her rich, folk-infused music with wise lyrics that glide from one deep thought to another. And like a good singer-songwriter, Nastasia turns any topic into poetry: She sings about graveyards and peeping toms and offers witty…
The Starboard Side Someone must have buried Belton band Civella in a pet cemetery, because the group that rose from its grave seems demonically rabid. The Starboard Side, established in October 2005 with three of Civella’s four members, smuggles a few surging melodies through its hardcore minefields, but the previous project’s emo fragility has mostly vanished. Robust shouts replace vulnerable…
Though it’s kind of a cliché for rock stars to pursue spirituality as they mature, Ian Gillan speaks on metaphysical matters with the same grounded assurance with which he once sang … shall we say, more practical lyrics, such as Nobody gonna take my car/I’m gonna race it to the ground/Nobody gonna beat my car/I’m gonna break the speed…
Scrubs star Zach Braff’s directorial debut, Garden State, was more than just an art-house hit about twentysomething depression. When it was released in 2004, its melancholic soundtrack was like a nursery for up-and-coming dream-pop bands and acoustic-minded artists. Braff, the album’s executive producer, won a Grammy. Acts such as Frou Frou, Iron & Wine, Colin Hay and the Shins…
Normal people would find this a bit premature, but the loonies at record labels are already pimping their holiday-themed releases. Among this year’s most noteworthy is Sufjan Stevens’ Songs for Christmas, a five-disc boxed set including traditional songs as well as originals. It won’t be released until November, but you can already download “That Was the Worst Christmas Ever” and…
It’s late on a rainy Saturday night in Norman, Oklahoma. I’m trashed and Texas two-stepping with a stranger. It’s a lot of work, getting to that point in Oklahoma, because the state decrees that most bars serve no beer containing more than 3.2 percent alcohol. A rockabilly band fronted by two hot Asian chicks is playing. My dance partner…
Feature: “Party Cove Pimps,” August 31 24-Hour Party People What exactly was the point of Ben Paynter’s article that made it worthy of publication? If you had wanted to do a wide-angle piece on the wild times at Party Cove, then you should have interviewed partiers, local residents, law enforcement, etc., and given us a thorough, informed picture of this…
Mexicans With Chainsaws Dear Mexican: I’m interested in hiring day laborers. I plan on feeding them, hydrating them and so forth. Problem is, I can’t find them in Lawrence, Kansas, where I have a project. Where do I find day laborers? Should I feel good about providing them work or shitty about denying an American the job? And how…
Grill Love The following information first requires the admission of a shameful and unflattering truth: We, on occasion, watch MTV’s Cribs. That said, we were giddy following a recent episode that featured Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson. No. 56’s unpretentious segment offered an inside look at his football trophies, sophisticated furniture and home theater. That’s where he watches his “favorites”: Life…
For those in radio or TV, the Gateway City Radio chat room is a place for the gossip that usually shouldn’t leave the snack room. There’s speculation on whether weatherwoman Katie Horner is eating for two again and a flurry of accusations about the allegedly sordid love life of ex-KCTV Channel 5 traffic reporter Ally Francis. The steamiest post yet…
