Angels in America Tony Kushner’s epic has survived the transition from news to history to HBO miniseries, suffering no loss of urgency. A decade after the exemplary Unicorn productions that marked its regional premiere, and a full 15 years after Millennium Approaches first debuted, the full two-part Angels in America is back in the area, this time in Mark Swezey’s…
I love James Woodfill’s installations. Built imaginatively into their surroundings, they decorate the landscape quietly, not screaming to be noticed as much as whispering or humming an urban Midwestern song. Woodfill’s work in the city presents a cognitive map of Kansas City. Skyline (2002) sits atop the Sulgrave Condominium Building, a neat display of colors gracefully passing in and…
Before I carry on about how misty I got watching Leaving Iowa, a sweet and funny meditation on family and loss marketed by the American Heartland as a rambunctious, Vacation-style road-trip comedy, I must take this opportunity to lament some of the maddening cultural shorthand from the people who write and costume plays. Putting your lead in a baseball cap,…
Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth is something alchemical. To an astonishing degree, the 42-year-old Mexican filmmaker best known for his contribution to the Blade and Hellboy franchises has transformed the horror of mid-20th-century European history into a boldly fanciful example of what surrealists would call le merveilleux. Literally and figuratively marvelous, a rich, daring mix of…
In the new Clint Eastwood movie, ordinary young men are drafted into a war that many of them do not fully understand. There, on an island called Iwo Jima, they fight against an enemy who has been demonized by wartime propaganda — a supposedly brutal oppressor with a taste for torture. At each step of the way, they are…
My friend Ralph says that when he dies, he wants to be reincarnated as a rich Johnson County housewife. “I want to live in a big house in Leawood, get facials and manicures and aspire to nothing more in life than joining the Junior League.” That particular lifestyle would be my personal concept of hell, but it might be a…
When it comes to Mexican food, restaurateur Victor Esquada knows who likes his style of cooking and who doesn’t. “My public is not the yellow-cheese people,” he says. “My food is not for everyone, but my public knows where I am, and they find me here. I’m a destination point.” For the past three years, that destination has been…
In the anatomy of Kansas City suburbs, Raytown has long been derided as a hickish armpit. But a recent bar tour has inspired us to suggest a new slogan for its chamber of commerce: “Home of the fantastically cheap drinks.” Where else can you get soused for less than $20 while talking to people about scabies, phallic religious statues and…
If you’re not doing time in the big house ‘cuz the fuzz busted your cheeba-toking ass with some totally harsh night goggles, perhaps you’ll be interested in a preview of the upcoming Wakarusa Festival. Granted, the local bands participating in the Winter Waka Classic aren’t exactly cause for Widespread Panic, but they do aim to play on the same stage…
There’s nothing gimmicky about Lawrence’s Volunteers. Perhaps that’s what sets the band apart from the pack. Like Josh Rouse or Matt Costa, the five-piece band casually kicks out shoulda-been radio hits — if only the radio weren’t so feebleminded. Singer-songwriter Tyler Jack Anderson sings with the enthusiasm of a mental patient finally allowed a four-track, and keyboardist Andrew Kissel sings…
Matt Costa was on the verge of becoming a professional skateboarder when he shattered his leg trying to perform a trick. Instead of sulking over what might have been, Costa spent his rehabilitation time learning to write songs. The result: a style that expresses nothing but pure joy. It appealed to No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont, who produced Costa’s early…
Their hearts pumping retro blood, the Terminals blend the soul of Chuck Berry with the punch of the Ramones. The Nebraska band’s fuzzed-out recordings — especially its new album, Forget About Never — rage with juiced-up country beats, crunchy guitars and enough energy to galvanize the most lethargic of bodies. Why doesn’t everyone make this kind of music? Ushering in…
First it was radio, then American Bandstand, then MTV, then Dawson’s Creek. Now, if you’re a band that wants a megahit, you gotta get your tune onto Grey’s Anatomy. For that to happen, however, your music has to be polished and melodic but not too saccharine, interesting but not too edgy. A tinge of melancholy is vital, too, as long…
Anyone who has a passing familiarity with comic books will recognize the character Bizarro. Superman’s imperfect doppelgänger has gone through many changes over the years, but, as originally envisioned, Bizarro was a sympathetic character — a villain, sure, but one whose many mishaps made him far more human than the Man of Steel. In short, he was a lovable fuckup….
When a friend of mine asked whether it was a big deal that the February 2007 Down Beat magazine had named the Blue Room among 100 Great Jazz Clubs around the world, my gut reaction was a resounding and somewhat cynical No. Down Beat hasn’t been cool since jazz musicians themselves were America’s arbiters of cool (i.e., before Wynton Marsalis…
These days, percussion and vibraphone master Mike Dillon practically breathes music. With a new band (Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle), a new record (Battery Milk) coming out on January 30, and a monthlong tour kicking off in his old stomping grounds, Dillon is stoked. And living in New Orleans obviously doesn’t hurt. “I’m driving over Lake Pontchartrain right now,” he says,…
Dear Mexican: Why do non-Mexicans consider it a compliment when they tell Mexicans they don’t look Mexican? I am 100 percent Mexican — 5 feet 7, with black hair, brown eyes and olive skin — and ever since I left my hometown of El Paso, I’ve been subject to this backhanded compliment. No Soy Italiana, Pendejo Dear I’m Not an…
Feature: “Back to School With Kris Kobach,” January 4 Shear Admiration As both a die-hard liberal and a former hairstylist of Kris Kobach’s, I read with interest Carolyn Szczepanski’s recent article about him. I am in a situation somewhat similar to Jessica Allen-Piedra’s. During the occasions when I had Kris in my chair, I would often ask him about immigration…
Hey, you, Craigslist poster who put up for sale a $2,775 engagement ring setting. “I purchased this with the purpose of proposing to my girlfriend of six years,” you wrote on December 16. “However, as things would have it, we broke up, and I now have a ring which I cannot in good faith give to another woman (because of…
Fatal Bow A year after Kansas City’s Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel rallied to win a top video-game championship, the world’s most famous gamer says he’s headed the way of many aging athletes: to the broadcast booth. We caught up with 25-year-old Wendel ((“Fear This Geek,” January 12, 2006)) by phone last week as he attended the Consumer Electronics Show in…
As city officials wait for word on whether the Pittsburgh Penguins will bring big-league hockey to the Sprint Center, critics continue to gripe that Kansas City doesn’t have a hockey tradition. To pass some time until the end of the month, when the Penguins are supposed to reach their decision, we put in a call to the NHL to see…
Last Friday afternoon, this meat popsicle had ice on the brain, and not just because sheets of frozen crap were falling out of the sky. As it shivered in its office while the week wound down and co-workers got the hell out in a desperate attempt to avoid rush-hour accidents, the Strip kept thinking about the multimillion-dollar ice cube…
Forty people are in a church to watch a movie about transsexuals. Tonight’s showing is part of a weekly film series at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church. The sanctuary smells like popcorn; plastic jugs near the entryway await donations. It’s mid-November, and tonight’s screening is Kansas City filmmaker Lisa Marie Evans’ The Same But Different. In it, Evans profiles…
This Just In: The Apples In Stereo, March 1, the Record Bar. And days after that, Cold War Kids plays the Bottleneck on the 4th. A good week for critically acclaimed indie rock, right there, if that’s your thing. If it’s not, then you might enjoy hearing about a couple of the unknown-to-the-rest-of-the-world local Kansas City bands I saw at…
