Though the genre of Celtic music includes the shimmery sounds of Loreena McKennit and Enya, it also encompasses music charged with all the rowdy irreverence of an Irish pub. And that’s right where Kansas City’s Celtic rock outfit the Elders feel most at home. Sporting the infernal energy of a bar fight, this six-piece band sprays out an array of…
Whether Roy Hargrove is funking up your apartment with smooth neo-soul or jamming vintage hard bop, the 36-year-old trumpeter and flugelhorn maestro has kept audiences on their heels throughout his heralded career. Discovered by Wynton Marsalis as a teenager, Hargrove has played alongside his idols (Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock) as well as contemporary soul music’s VIPs (D’Angelo, Erykah Badu). His…
Since JD Flow relocated to Seattle, DJs Mythik and Dublow 7 (pictured) have taken over the Wednesday night weekly at the Peanut downtown known as The Jumpoff. The two have taken a night that was once was a mere shadow of the popular Sunday night Peanut offering, Hip-Hop and Hot Wings, and developed their own supreme clientele. Dublow 7…
Jay Reatard Blood Visions (In the Red) Remember the first time you heard the Pixies classic “Where Is My Mind?” It condensed the euphoria of cutting anchor and sailing into the abyss into a four-minute pop song. Now Jay Reatard (that Memphis garage punker from the Lost Sounds, the Retards, Angry Angles and probably a dozen other bands that…
The R&B song “Nothing Feels Better” off Too Short’s new album Blow the Whistle will make the average female listener swear off blow jobs for the rest of her life. Nothing in the world make a nigga feel better/Than when you’re suckin’ my dick goes the appetizing hook, sung by Atlanta rap crooner Jazze Pha. These cheesy turn-off fantasies might…
Back in the day, naming your rock band was simple. You took the definite article the and followed it with a common noun: the Beatles, the Doors, the Cars. As of late, many groups have decided that articles and nouns just aren’t good enough to describe their aural awesomeness. Instead, they brand themselves with overwrought, nonsensical, fucking goofy monikers. At…
Lou Rip likes to say things with a straight face. Outlandish, crazy shit, with a perfectly flat expression. But then his stern mouth, way up at the tippy-top of his 6-foot-7-inch frame, cracks into a toothy grin, and it turns out that Lou’s totally fucking with you. So when he says he’s left his three-man hip-hop group, Ukuepto, to…
2006 was a good year, but it’s bloody well over, innit? So, over the Christmas break, I collected some New Year’s wishes, predictions, fears and general future-oriented blather from people in and around the scene. Post your own at www.pitch.com/blogs. But first, me. As local venues go, the Hurricane and the Brick should be more competitive in their booking. Mike’s…
It’s a little after 10 p.m. when Joe Good takes the stage for a Saturday night show at the Flying Monkey Brewery in Olathe. And, as usual, he’s got a fan. This is not just any fan — Good has plenty of those, all bunched up near the stage waiting to hear him dictate rhymes like some sort of smooth-talking…
The Mexican is inside a trunk trying to sneak back into the United States after the Christmas holiday. Meanwhile, here are some oldies-but-goldies. Dear Mexican: A friend of mine calls Mexicans “wabs” but, being a menso, doesn’t even know what it means, except that it’s not P.C. What’s it mean? Thesaurusaurus Mex Dear TM: “Wab” is a slur that assimilated…
Ask a Mexican, December 7 Norwegian Would Hey, Mexican Dude, I’ve been a Kansas Citian for about a year, and I happen to be one of those “dirty Norwegians” you wrote about. I want to tell you … right on! I do, however, have a lot of Mexican friends, and I love the Mexican culture, music, food, etc., even though…
Hey, you! I see you at about quarter to nine every day near 27th Street and Gillham. And every time, I ask: What’s up with the dress? Yes, I know for priests it’s called a robe. But with you walking as fast as you do, that flowing black fabric looks like it was cut to be a farm girl’s sundress….
Missouri Lottery officials announced recently a new way to get those who can’t afford to gamble even more involved in games of chance. Thanks to the Design-A-Ticket contest, you can create the game card that will make you broke. The top five finalists will get $500 in scratch-off tickets, and the top 20 finalists will score $200 worth of those…
Danny Edwards is not about to take a break during his lunch rush. At 10 a.m., the owner and chef at Lil’ Jake’s Eat It & Beat It — known for its pink concrete pig — is up to his elbows in beef tips. A dozen Styrofoam boxes sit empty except for a scoop of coleslaw, ready for those famous…
Buck O’Neil’s final resting place is down a newly poured sidewalk in the Forest Hills Cemetery at the corner of Troost and Gregory. The sidewalk passes a marble monument and a pair of evergreen trees. Out in the open, just to the west of the sidewalk, is O’Neil’s gravestone. It’s bronze on a granite background. It’s about 3 square feet…
It’s a Thursday morning at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, and the halls are awash with a yellow flier exposing a popular professor’s extracurricular activities. The yellow paper is scattered on tables in the ground-floor lounge, where students are grabbing free pieces of pizza. The crowd shuffling between classes is dotted with yellow, as students read the…
For me, New Year’s isn’t about resolutions, it’s about atonement. For every band we decide to write about, there are five or so that don’t make the cut, their e-mailed entreaties for coverage going cold and forgotten in the “Hello, We’re a Band” folder of my inbox until the computer hivemind places it in the archive. Heaven help the fools…
