The first time around, last spring, Crowns seemed like too much head squeezed into too little hat. The compact Unicorn Theatre is ideally proportioned for plays itemizing all the things humanity gets wrong, but no so much for this huge, good-time gospel musical. The show is a proudly one-note affair that offers, according to its subtitle, Portraits of Black Women…
Julie Rofman, a recent graduate of California State University at Long Beach, shows the sophistication that emerges from Southern California art programs and why some New York dealers head to the West Coast around graduation time to snap up the cream of the graduating crop. It’s not unprecedented for these young artists to get major Los Angeles or New York…
Frylock, Meatwad and Master Shake — the three stooges inhabiting Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters — will survive if you avoid their movie. You’ve probably never heard of them anyway, unless you’re a regular viewer of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming block or vaguely recall hearing the name of the film a few weeks ago, when…
Writers Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth receive sole credit for the movie Disturbia, which is surprising because the film clearly is based on both a previously published work (a 1942 short story by Cornell Woolrich titled “It Had To Be Murder”) and the John Michael Hayes-penned, Alfred Hitchcock-directed, Academy Award-nominated screenplay of Woolrich’s tale. The latter would be 1954’s Rear…
The miniburgers at The Hi-Way House (see review) aren’t too bad, as little burgers go. But the 2-ounce Tower Sliders at the Tower Tavern (401 East 31st Street) are exceptional. They come three to an order, topped with caramelized onions and cheddar cheese; if you spend a buck more, you can have Deluxe Tower Sliders, with roasted-garlic cream cheese and…
Common wisdom has it that change is often good but hard to accept. That was abundantly clear on my two visits to The Hi-Way House. The Hi-Way House is the newest incarnation of a Northland roadhouse that dates back to at least the 1940s. For the past 45 years, it has been known as Harold’s Restaurant & Lounge. Harold’s…
“Sugar” by Federation of Horsepower from Stay Down: “Justin Timberlake brought back sexy. We’re bringing back sweaty,” says Federation of Horsepower’s lead singer and guitarist, Gregg Todt. One of Kansas City’s more ferocious quartets, Federation makes visceral rock that lacerates ears with loose, loud sounds and grips the imagination with refreshingly audible (for metal) lyrics. These days, this workhorse…
Beyond their affinity for fuzzy woodsman beards, David Bazan (of Pedro the Lion) and Will Johnson (of Centro-matic) share a kinship for impeccably enunciated lyrics and glacial tempos. For Bazan, the return to performing with voice and acoustic guitar comes on the heels of Pedro’s retirement and the well-received solo EP Fewer Moving Parts (which, truth be told, sounded pretty…
“House Fire” by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin from Broom (Polyvinyl): Unless you consider a long, nonsensical band name cool for its own sake, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin is an off-putting moniker. Luckily, the Springfield, Missouri, quartet it belongs to overcomes the suggestion of bad Eastern Bloc rock or extreme hipster pretension. It helps that SSLYBY sounds…
Martina McBride grew up on a dairy farm near Medicine Lodge, Kansas, in that southern stretch of the state where dirt is red and folks are humble. But you won’t find any cow dung on this diva’s boots. The Celine Dion of country music, McBride has been known to take the stage in white spandex and raise her fists before…
If the unspoken mantra of indie rock is to get noticed without getting too noticed, the members of Omaha’s Coyote Bones might be a little too good at what they do. With nothing but some videos on YouTube and a cryptic Web site or two to whet fans’ appetites with a handful of song snippets, the band is practically a…
“Chemical High & a Hand Grenade” by Red Line Chemistry from Chemical High & a Hand Grenade : After spending a few years treading water in the local scene under the name Penumbra, the members of Red Line Chemistry knew exactly what they wanted to accomplish with their debut album: “To write and record an album that could stand up…
Step aside, Phil Collins. When we want someone who can front a band from behind a drum kit, we’ll look to Sebastien Grainger. Since the demise of his band Death From Above 1979, Grainger has been hard at work on his upcoming solo project. Keep up with his progress at his MySpace, where he has posted a couple of streaming…
At first glance, the mock-Tudor-style exterior of Wax Factory at 3300 Parallel Parkway in Kansas City, Kansas, seems more likely to house somebody’s grandma than CDs, tapes, DVDs and sneakers, among other goods. (Despite the name, there is no vinyl.) Owned and operated by brothers Kilo and Shawn Davenport since 1997, the shop is as laid-back as it comes. On…
What happens when two Canadian dudes in white suits are pitted against the bodybuilding king of mainstream, hip-hop-flavored pop production? When nostalgic, bedroomy electro pop goes pulse-to-pulse with the beats behind club-shaking, chart-topping hits from Missy Elliott, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake and a host of other celebrity entertainers? Is there even a contest? When the Junior Boys of Hamilton, Ontario, released…
The new album from Kansas City band Be/Non is nine songs of pompous, grooving rock from Mars, via the male id. It’s 41 minutes and 29 seconds of expertly produced, insanely layered prog-rock defiance that seethes and strikes like an airlock full of space cobras. It’s weird, sexy and angry, like some green-skinned, antennaed alien exotic dancer from a harebrained…
In getting ready for the Dynasty-themed shindig at Ron Megee’s loft, the Night Ranger went for a suitably Joan Collins-ish look, with a full-length bridesmaid dress that was periwinkle-colored, crystal-bead-encrusted and topped with a white fur shrug. However, we’re sure that Joan wouldn’t approve of adding white Converse low-tops, glasses and nonlacquered hair. Not that it mattered — despite…
It’s early on a Friday morning in February, and five members of the Roseline are standing around outside a quaint blue house in East Lawrence. Waiting on the missing sixth member, keyboardist Ehren Starks, they discuss the best place in town to get a latte (Milton’s? Wheatfields? Conoco?). They talk about how to please spouses (by triple-folding bathroom towels and…
Dear Mexican: What do Mexicans think about President Bush’s grandfather having a hand in getting the guy who robbed Pancho Villa’s head out of jail? Kruising Klassily in Kennebunkport Dear KKK: Ah, Villa’s stolen skull. No macabre Mexican legend is more mired in intrigue, distortion and looniness — and in a country where many believe that the United States stole…
Letters, March 29 Minority Report I was extremely disturbed by the letter titled “Dream Catcher.” The writer requested to remain anonymous. You know what we “border jumpers” like to call people like that? Cobardes. How dare you call this your land, your way of life? Native Americans were here first. You’re worse than the Mexicans! The Mexican population here may…
Hey, you, anonymous IRS worker. I know you probably think everyone hates you, but not me. In fact, you probably hate people like me: I can’t do math, even with a calculator. Yet I still try to do my own taxes every year. What can I say? I’m too cheap to pay H&R Block. And due to my fear of…
Depending on who you ask, Skybox restaurant and nightclub is either the best all-around schmoozeria in Kansas City or the worst buzzkill ever to hit the River Market neighborhood. Criticisms of the club got personal a few months ago when its owners, brothers Alfie and Michael Colorado, began receiving anonymous hate mail. The Department of Burnt Ends was intrigued, so…
Shauntay Henderson sauntered past the TV cameras with a sly smile on her face just three days after she was arrested March 31 by Kansas City, Missouri, police. The 24-year-old had reason to gloat: She’s among a very choice group of women criminals. An alleged gang leader, drug dealer and murder suspect, Henderson is just the eighth woman in…
With warmer temperatures, a strange sight returns to the city: women raising money for a battered-women’s shelter the same way prostitutes hustle for tricks. One afternoon this spring, I saw two women gesturing at cars near West Pennway and Southwest Boulevard. They held signs seeking donations to a shelter for battered women and children. Drivers who rolled down their…
