On its debut album, Saints, released in September, Destroy the Runner shows a knack for harmonies of both the dual-guitar and vocal varieties. But live, the San Diego band is all about crowd-pleasing breakdowns. Opening for the Chariot at the Grand Emporium earlier this month, Destroy the Runner came out chugging, launching immediately into the sort of stutter-step riffs usually…
One gets the feeling that if the members of the Oranges Band were more creative with their treadmills, they could be the next OK Go. Until they get their dance moves down and take over YouTube, the band will have to keep slugging it out the hard way, playing nervy, lo-fi punk-pop to one audience at a time. Like a…
Pete Townshend is clearly playing here to the school of thought that says Who’s Next is better than The Who Sell Out. And it goes beyond the way he “reinvestigates” the oscillating synth riff of “Baba O’Riley” in the first few seconds of the Who’s first album in 24 years. This is Serious Music for Serious People — rock as…
Some of soul’s finest performers specialize in cutting loose, letting their voices roar with authority. But just as many of the genre’s talents focus on control, synthesizing their emotions into a smooth confection that makes even infidelity or heartbreak taste as sweet as sorbet. John Legend falls into the second category, and though Once Again seems modest on first listen,…
I ain’t got the biggest breast-ises/But I write all the best disses, Lady Sovereign raps on her TRL-topping “Love Me or Hate Me.” It’s a cute line, but it misrepresents the diminutive lyricist’s strengths. London’s Lady Sov actually struggles when it comes to clever insults: Her best zinger might be the abstract You’re starting to look like the sunrise, from…
Portland, Oregon, indie folksters the Decemberists have been so busy plugging their latest album that they’ve decided to outsource the music video responsibilities to its fanbase. At MTVu.com, you can download a green-screen version of The Crane Wife’s next single, “O Valencia,” to animate yourself and submit for the chance to win kick-ass prizes (and, of course, a marginal amount…
The last thing Whole Wheat Bread’s Aaron Abraham wants to talk about after a gig is race. But he’s learned to both anticipate and tolerate it. “It gets old after a while,” Abraham says. “But it’s expected — there’s not too many black people that do what we do.” What the all-black trio does is play punk rock, but don’t…
It started around half past 8 Saturday night at a hazy apartment on Roanoke. Mitch Rich met me outside. He was wearing tight red pants, a red shirt, a black jacket and a black tie (regular, not skinny). With high cheekbones, a mop of orange hair and lips made for microphones, cigarettes and neckin’, he resembled a young Sting. He…
A sinister-looking man with a hood as ominous as the grim reaper’s stands next to another shady transient near the corner of 36th Street and Main — a questionable place for a female at night. All that’s visible through the glass door of the beige brick building is an abandoned reception area. The men are getting closer. They are saying…
Shake That Nalga Dear Mexican: Not long ago, I attended a Los Tigres del Norte concert at a small hall with no dance floor. The people attending were supposed to sit down and enjoy the music. Five minutes into the music, these jumping beans started dancing in the aisle. Within minutes, half of the attendees were going up and…
“In almost every musical case, you’d do well to pay less attention to the audience and more attention to the music.” State Lines, “Dead to Fred,” November 9 Calling All Karls I grew up with Karl Hockenbarger. He has always been strong-willed, opinionated and quick to anger. He’s also .0.been one of the few members of the Westboro Baptist Church…
KC, It’s me (The hardest working activist is KC) with a update about a local murder case that two police organizations ignored. Earlier this year I exposed the fact that details about a local murder case was being featured on a underground rap CD called the Block Mobster Coallition. However, the worst thing about this case was the fact that…
When Dick Copaken was 11 years old, back in the early 1950s, he bribed the concession manager at Starlight Theatre into giving him a job. His offer: a corned-beef sandwich. Four years later, he installed seats at the now-defunct Rockhill Theatre at 46th Street and Troost. So it’s probably little surprise to those who knew Copaken back in his Kansas…
It’s a brilliant, sunny Saturday in Kansas City, the mid-November air sharp enough to require coats and hats. Everywhere, people seem to be in their yards with rakes and piles of ocher leaves. That’s true on West 57th Terrace, too, where Mark Funkhouser’s neighbors are looking industrious. Yesterday was Funkhouser’s last day as city auditor. Today, his own front yard…
Before it takes a couple of days off to stuff itself with white meat, the Strip has some post-election leftovers to digest. This contentious cutlet couldn’t let November end without slapping around a few wayward lefties — specifically the local chapter of ACORN, a national group that fights for the rights of poor people. Before this month’s vote, ACORN hired…
In a recent episode of South Park, the elementary-school-aged troublemakers spend most of the half-hour figuring out whether the U.S. government planned the attacks of September 11, 2001. As they close in on the answer, a squad of poorly drawn, machine-gun-toting Secret Service agents kidnaps Kyle and Stan, along with a 9/11 conspiracy theorist. All of them are whisked away…
Just so you know, they’re making changes to my blog, ultimately to make it work better, but they can’t make the changes all at once, so things may look funky for a stretch here. I hope you still read it. Now, Thanksgiving … Have you ever wanted to have relations with canned cranberry sauce? I have, though I’ve never consummate….
I’m recovering today from a wild weekend of wocal wock and woll starring Wylde Chipmunk and the Cuddley-Poos, It’s Over, the Pink Socks, the Rich Boys, Black Gasoline, your mother, the Last of the V8s, Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk, and the Republic Tigers (three nights, three venues, and your mom’s house). So today I’m handing the wheel to our…
Word up, psychos. If you want to stalk the music editor this weekend, here’s where he’ll be going: FRIDAY: Davey’s Uptown for Wylde Chipmunk and the Cuddley Poos, It’s Over, and the Pink Socks. This is like hockey-rink rock, followed by gypsy-Beatles rock, followed by mad-southern-preacher rock. Alternate route: Nomathmatics at the Pistol Social Club, followed by a dance party…
OK, that was weird. Basically, what I witnessed last night was the complete conquest of Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club by punk kids from Nashville. Here’s what happened. My buddy Highball and I went to the Grand Emporium around 9, hoping to catch all three bands on the bill: Ad Astra Per Aspera, Awesome Color and Be Your Own Pet. As…
Starting today, the nightlife impresarios behind the Kansas City Entertainment Group (KEG) will host Tabu Thursdays from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the Sake Bar (11658 West 135th Street in Overland Park). “The tag line of the night is ‘Seven deadly sins … we want a recount,’” according to Jeremy Bonewitz, who mans the KEG. “Meaning that what you…
It’s a brilliant, sunny Saturday in Kansas City, the mid-November air sharp enough to require coats and hats. Everywhere, people seem to be in their yards with rakes and piles of ocher leaves. That’s true on West 57th Terrace, too, where Mark Funkhouser’s neighbors are looking industrious. Yesterday was Funkhouser’s last day as city auditor. Today, his own front yard…
Brothers of the Head (IFC) Cary Grant: The Franchise Collection (Universal) CSI: The Complete Sixth Season (Paramount) Cream: Royal Albert Hall (Rhino) 49 Up (First Run) Friends: The Complete Series Collection (Warner Bros.) The Green Mile: Two-Disc Special Edition (Warner Bros.) Hate Crime (Image) He Changed Our World: Steve Irwin Memorial Tribute (EMI America) Home Improvement: Season Five (Disney) John…
Final Fantasy is to role-playing games as the Yankees are to baseball. The series — now almost 20 years old — practically redefined the genre with Final Fantasy VII on the original PlayStation, the first console RPG that captured a mainstream audience in the States. But FF was a victim of its own success, spawning a cottage industry of imitators….
