8-Track: The Sounds of the ’70s Each decade, radio’s definition of “oldies” refreshes itself in accordance with the key demographic’s nostalgic sweet spot. These days, the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boys of the world have been cut for the Elton Johns and — shudder — Billy Joels. Nobody knows more about tonguing said sweet spots than the American Heartland Theatre, where…
America Starts Here Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler, both graduates of the Kansas City Art Institute, collaborated for 10 years on the work exhibited here, until Ericson’s death in 1995 at age 39. Their widely recognized work is conceptual — it’s about ideas rather than experiences. Through mixed-media sculptures and installations, they explore the ironies of American life. “Squeaky Clean”…
Oh, yeah. This is why people like musicals. It’s easy to forget sometimes, especially in a city of small stages and budgets, a city whose theaters can afford just a handful of Equity actors per production, a city where the classics of the genre are, by necessity, left to high schools and hobbyists. I have nothing against the folks…
For 23 years, art dealer Jan Weiner has been showing the work of Kansas City artists in a home west of the Plaza. Hers isn’t the kind of gallery that’s likely to draw crowds of casual art viewers — you have to make an appointment. But if you work anywhere near the Plaza, it’s a pretty engaging way to…
Werner Herzog’s latest feature, based on his 1997 documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, offers a suitably fantastic tale of war, freedom and fortitude, set in the jungles of Indochina and featuring an immigrant lad who turns out to be just as American as John McCain — or is it John McClane? Dieter Dengler was, like Herzog, a small…
I was sorry to hear that Casa Grande, the Mexican restaurant at 700 Southwest Boulevard, had closed. It didn’t last quite a year after taking over the space — it’s grande, all right — from the ill-fated Café Sevilla, which opened with great fanfare in 2005 as the newest restaurant to feature legendary local chef Jose “Don Pepe” Fernandez. If…
Recently, I ran across this line in a magazine: “The Hotel President will soon be operating at full capacity now that it is in new hands. The Phillips Hotel, after a long dormant period, opened its doors and appears stable. The Aladdin Hotel, with its see-saw approach of opening, closing, opening is hanging on like the rest of the community.”…
“Bloodclot” by Murderbot, from www.murderbot.net: Local DJ Murderbot is one of the leading producers of ragga-jungle in the world. Don’t believe me? Well, outside of Kansas City, his fanbase sprawls across two hemispheres. Haven’t heard of this international superstar? That’s because local fame just doesn’t matter much to him. But mull this over: Though many DJs can get people…
“Bad Little Irish Boy” by the Elders, from Racing the Tide: It’s summer, and the Elders are making the festival rounds. The band’s fourth studio album, Racing the Tide, was released locally last year but is current enough to warrant a review — because one of these nights, you’ll hear that fiddle a-comin’ and you’ll want to know what to…
“Plot Synopsis” by Roanoke, from Roanoke EP: Ask any band to categorize itself, and the members will balk, blissfully unaware that they’re actually straight-up metal or stereotypically emo. Roanoke sums itself up on MySpace as “Kansas-bred quasi-core.” This time, the vagueness fits. A new, self-titled EP from the Kansas City quintet contains traces of hardcore, metal, emo and indie rock…
“The Rifle” by Alela Diane, from The Pirate’s Gospel (2004): Fusing Regina Spektor’s theatrical lingual inventiveness with P.J. Harvey’s sensuous anti-diva intensity, Nevada City, California’s Alele Diane crafts bewitchingly transfixing folk. On the singer-songwriter’s latest album, 2006’s The Pirate’s Gospel, guitars and strings act as percussive throw rugs for Diane’s playfully precise vocal acrobatics. Caught up in her starkly intimate…
St. Vincent, whose real name is Annie Clark, has performed as a member of the Polyphonic Spree and has just released her full-length debut, Marry Me. The album is as great as its title and is reminiscent of Bjork’s early career. St. Vincent pals around or plays with the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Grizzly Bear and Xiu Xiu, so she’s…
“Monogamous Maybe” by the Pomonas, from Good Cop, Good Cop: Well, fuck. The Pomonas, one of the area’s finest guitar-pop bands, is breaking up. The members are moving to different cities and probably taking their girlfriends with them (bastards). Somewhere, in a parallel universe, a kitten is being murdered and a prism is falling off the Great Chandelier of Unknown…
Look up “alpha male” in the dictionary, and right next to David Hasselhoff you’ll find Chris Isaak. Besides being the modern crooner closest to Elvis, the pompadour-sporting songwriter is an actor, a Tonight Show correspondent and a former Golden Gloves boxer. Such extracurricular activities do little to detract from Isaak’s penchant for smoky, baritone-guitar barroom ditties that David Lynch loses…
“Move Over” by Ghost In Light, from After Fox Meadow: The St. Louis trio Ghost in Light is quite comfortable integrating doses of throttling postrock and dynamic volume shifts with its quieter moments. The band’s latest EP, After Fox Meadow, features seamless transitions between spaced-out reflection and brazen chord-bulldozing. Buzzing keyboards, harmonic latticework and spidery riffs abound, conjuring the yawning…
A decade after its release, Radiohead’s technophobic opus still computes. While you’re waiting for the next cryptic message about LP7 to be posted on the band’s Dead Air Space site, hit up Stereogum for OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer, a free, digital-only album that includes newly recorded covers from indie heavyweights such as Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan, John…
In the early 1980s, bands such as New Order and Depeche Mode jettisoned gritty guitar riffs in favor of slick synthesizers, and the dancing masses went ballistic for this newfangled pop. “Just Can’t Get Enough,” Depeche Mode’s first hit, as well as most of the band’s 1981 debut, Speak & Spell, was penned by Mode co-founder Vince Clarke. After…
“Suzanne” by the ACB’s, from The ACB’s: Wait a minute, Mr. Postman. The ACB’s don’t want to hear from you today. “We’re at an age when you’ve got 80 save-the-date postcards on your refrigerator,” says 25-year-old bassist Bryan McGuire. “We’ve had a couple friends who basically stopped living, and they’re just trying to succeed in their careers and do everything…
“Really” by Softee, from Babies from the Lair: Former Girl Scouts have a certain campfire ditty about BFF-dom ingrained in their noggins forever. Make new friends, but keep the old/One is silver, and the other’s gold/A circle’s round, it has no end/That’s how long I’m gonna be your friend. If the cuddlecore popsters in Softee had a credo, this would…
On a recent Saturday night, I played in the “All-Star Media Game” during halftime of the Wizards vs. Real Salt Lake match. OK, Real Salt Lake? Lamest name ever. That’s almost as bad as when the Wizards called themselves the Wiz. If there’s anything royal about Salt Lake, I’d like to know. Anyway, this event was just like it sounds…
“The Empty” by Red Line Chemistry from Chemical High & a Hand Grenade: Something just wasn’t quite right backstage at this year’s Rockfest. There were rows upon rows of massive, silver tour buses parked around Liberty Memorial, each vehicle serving as a temporary home to some big-name rock band. Inside, members of bands such as Godsmack, Buckcherry, Sevendust and other…
Dear Mexican: Why don’t Mexicans ever drop their Spanish? Even third- and fourth-generation Mexican-Americans still speak the language to some degree or another. I speak Japanese, but I’m losing it quickly, and when my mother passes on, so will my language. The typical Asian-American kid may attend Chinese, Korean or Japanese school on Saturdays, but guess what? They do it…
Hey, You, July 12 Shorts Circuit Damn! I always seem to be in the wrong place. At least if I had been at the Lenexa barbecue contest, I would have had my camera, and this never-had-any-glory-days-at-the-frat-house, cargo-shorts-wearing guy would have had pictures of the two little hotties. I may not be much — certainly nothing to write home about —…
All you dudes wearing flip-flops: Cut that shit out! I’m sick of seeing your snaggletooth yellow toenails everywhere I go. I have a foot fetish, and I can’t help but look when I see bare feet. Then I see yours and I want to puke. When did flip-flops become socially acceptable footwear for men, anyway? Wearing them at the pool…
