When Tori Kudo wonders Who will rescue me from this body? on “Miserable Man,” the tone-deaf Maher Shalal Hash Baz frontman could be speaking for any of us rooting through L’Autre Cap to locate acorns hidden among the rotting leaves. Here, this Japanese group — aided by assorted Olympia, Washington, scenesters, including Calvin Johnson and Melanie Valera — mucks through…
You have to admire an ambitious rock band, even if you don’t really want to listen to its music. Cougar is such a band. Titling its sound “Emergency Rock,” Cougar gives listeners a synthesis of aural and visual (through album photographs) experience, experimenting with all manner of traditional and nontraditional noisemakers. It’s even more impressive that the band does all…
You can’t help but admire the D.I.Y. success behind Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Through self-promotion, blogger buzz and a bit of sweat equity, the Brooklyn art-rock outfit managed to sell more than 100,000 copies of its self-titled debut without ever signing a record deal (though it did have to outsource its overseas demand to Wichita Records). The band won’t…
Headbangers could argue all day whether Slayer is the greatest heavy-metal band ever. And 25 years into the band’s career, a smaller number of musical authorities — not all of them metalhead Blabbermouth addicts — claim that the thrash king is one of the best rock bands ever. But here’s one undisputed superlative: No group’s fans are so ready to…
The disaffected, downtown-mod persona of the Strokes rests heavily on frontman Julian Casablancas. The band’s chief songwriter comes off equal parts aloof introvert and sly trickster. Watching him perform, you wonder if he covets the spotlight or resents the intrusion. (The guy frustratingly refuses to break a sweat onstage, though his take-it-or-leave-it attitude can be attractive in song.) Casablancas’ alluring…
I hesitate to go on record with this, but there are parts of the new Bacon Shoe DVD that are damn near sublime. For those unfamiliar, Bacon Shoe is a popular local, absurdist-comedy rap act. Its well-edited DVD contains two chapters: (1) a short film titled Bacon Shoe: The Movie that blends skits and concert footage and (2) a documentary…
There’s a certain aesthetic inherent in a particular strain of Scottish pop music — a vaguely nostalgic aura that conjures rain-streaked windows and gray days, buttoned-up cardigan sweaters to ward off chills, a whistling pot of tea and prim ladyfingers. This lineage runs deep, from the Postcard-label pop warbles of Edwyn Collins’ Orange Juice, through Aztec Camera’s lounge-act crooning and,…
Got Papers? Dear Mexican: Last November, a trusted employee of mine came out about his status as an illegal immigrant. Our big-box retail conglomerate’s policy clearly spells out the termination of my employment should I fail to report such an offense, but I love the mojado to death. He’s loyal, punctual and works all the hours I can provide him….
Feature: “In Search of the Smokiest Bar,” January 11 Air Supply Good story by Jen Chen. But please allow reference to notions Alexis de Tocqueville cautions from Democracy in America: “It must not be forgotten that it is especially dangerous to enslave men in the minor details of life. For my own part, I should be inclined to think freedom…
There’s a public parking garage in the River Market. Except that you and I don’t park there. A few years ago, a Kansas City, Missouri, agency issued almost $8 million in bonds to build the garage. The City Council said the garage was supposed to be open to the public. Yet today, it’s about as welcoming as a country club…
Hey, you, elderly patrons of the 7:30 Friday night showing of Letters From Iwo Jima at the Tivoli Cinemas. Not sure if you read the preview correctly, but Iwo Jima is not some green-tea ice cream. It is, in fact, an island in the Pacific on which an important battle in World War II was fought. And psst — spoiler!…
Julie Coon wants to wear vaginas on her chest. Call it artistic pride, call it feminist spirit, but the UMKC student wants to see people all across campus sporting an artsy anatomical drawing, with the slogan “Made in Vagina.” Here at the Department of Burnt Ends, we couldn’t agree more that college campuses have too few displays of genitalia. But…
For six years now, the Pitch has employed the Kansas City Strip to tell its stories. Since July 13, 2000, the Strip has put out 311 articles on a dizzying array of topics. The meat patty had a remarkable ability to pontificate on topics as varied as astronomy, downtown baseball stadiums, Internet pervs and aerial gondolas. But the cutlet has…
Hidden in a patch of trees north of the Kansas River, four drifters sat by a fire and watched a battery-operated television. They’d fallen out of society, living in a camp by the Kaw. It was the evening of another June scorcher in which temperatures had topped out in the 90s. Three of the four had just returned from eating…
