Thanks to local musicians’ dogged use of MySpace, I’ve learned a couple of things already today. 1. It looks like the Last of the V8s are quitsville. Their profile headline says “Goodnight…,” and the poster for their Pitch Awards Show performance (see here and here) had billed it as their last show ever. I talked to a member of the…
There’s a special museum in Winterset, Iowa. The tiny white house is filled with childhood mementos, movie memorabilia and T-shirts that read “Birthplace of John Wayne.” It may sound unimpressive, but the folks who work there have given enough $4 tours to devise the John Wayne Birthplace Museum and Learning Center, an 8,500-square-foot “interactive experience” that will stand adjacent…
Tonight at 8, there’s a rumble in the Crossroads at Grinders (417 East 18th Street). Now in its third year, Summerbrawl is giving Children’s Mercy Hospital a full nelson of love. This year’s Headlocks and Health Care is a benefit for the hospital, and we can’t think of a better testosterone-fueled entertainment sport to raise ducats for kiddies. Well,…
Do you love Dio? Do you love Satan? Then Kansas City’s Rock U wants to give you the gift of rock — provided you’re between the ages of 8 and 18 and desire a hipper hobby than playing flaccid marching-band charts of Smoke on the Water. Just imagine how life would be different if Mom and Pop had enrolled…
Music performance. Fri., Aug. 24, 9 p.m. Tags: Night & Day
Tonight, three promising acts visit the Record Bar (1020 Westport Road); two are from the KC area, and one is from the Golden State. Action Figure and Making Movies each claim Kansas City as home and play punk-tinged power pop and tortured emo rock, respectively. Meanwhile, the indie-rock band Oliver Future hailed from Austin but relocated to Los Angeles, presumably…
This class will be an introduction into the art of boxing. You will learn proper punching technique and workout on bags, then lift weights to build overall strength. Class finishes with abdominal work. Call Sumya Anani 913-722-2868 for location. Thu., Aug. 23, 6:30-7:45 p.m. Tags: 1164, Night & Day
Orientation session for this 33-week course. Thu., Aug. 23, 7:30-8:30 p.m. Tags: Night & Day
The fateful story begun in Jean de Florette concludes in this companion piece starring Emmanuelle Beart in the title role. Together these compelling films explore the complexities of human nature in a style worthy of a Greek epic. Sun., Aug. 26, 2:30 p.m. Tags: Emmanuelle Beart, Jean de Florette, Night & Day
Tonight’s traditional open jam session will be hosted by bassist Jeff Harshbarger. If you’ve got the chops, come down, sign up, and sit in with the band – or simply watch Kansas City’s best jam session! Mon., Aug. 27, 7-11 p.m. Tags: Jeff Harshbarger, Kansas City, Night & Day
A pillar in the jazz pantheon, Dr. Lonnie Smith is one of the most influential organists to perform on the Hammond B-3; his dynamic playing and prolific composing is featured on over 70 recordings, and he has played with jazz luminaries such as George Benson and David “Fathead” Newman. Thu., Aug. 23, 8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Tags: Dr. Lonnie Smith, George…
Sara Gruen’s novel Water for Elephants begins with a disastrous day at the circus. More than 70 years later, Jacob Jankowski – now ninety-something and in a nursing home – confesses a secret he’s kept since that day with “The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.” You’re welcome to come to either (or both) discussions of this book. Join…
This event, sponsored by the Camaro Club of Kansas City and Superior Chevrolet, is designed as a family event for those who enjoy all years of the Chevy Camaro. There will be a car show, drawings for prizes, awards, music and fun. Last year there were around 115 Camaro’s and expect more this year. Sat., Aug. 25, 9 a.m. Tags:…
Along with all the Kaleidoscope favorites, like making a puzzle and painting with melted crayon, a variety of art materials related to dogs will be available for children to make their own dog inspired artwork. The staff of Kaleidoscope will have some of their very own dog inspired artwork on display. The good people from Wayside Waifs will be…
Get ready for scorching walls of smoke and flame. No, it’s not another summer barbecue festival. It’s the Kansas City Aviation Expo, and it’s packing heat. This year’s show uses a 1,300-foot pyrotechnic curtain of flame as its centerpiece, while iron-stomached trick pilots perform aerobatic feats above. Back on solid ground will be 40-plus stationary airplane exhibits, and a big…
Being an environmentalist used to have a certain stigma. People who recycled their beer cans or brought cloth bags to the grocery store were labeled granola-munching, tree-hugging hippies. While efforts like recycling have gone mainstream, some local residents and businesses go above and beyond to make the Kansas City area a little greener. Jim Hann, a teacher at Bonner Springs…
A rock group that meshes arena rock sounds and opera hits. Fri., Aug. 24, 8 p.m. Tags: 615, Night & Day
In her debut novel, the critically acclaimed The Center of Everything, Kansas author Laura Moriarty followed her narrator, Evelyn Bucknow, from a humble childhood (with an irresponsible mom) to college. In her new novel, The Rest of Her Life, Moriarty chose instead to explore a more detailed and tragic plot. When her teenage daughter accidentally hits and kills a pedestrian…
Because Hollywood is there, common sense would have it that California film students don’t graduate and then leave for Lawrence, Kansas. But this is one way in which Alec Joler, a film student from Oakland who grew up in Lawrence, stands out. Even more eye-catching are his dynamic, noisy collages, which lift images from popular culture and newsprint to produce…
Progressive hard-rock musicians borrow liberally from opera, incorporating vibrato vocals and symphonic strings into dramatic multi-part suites. Impressive as such efforts can be, they don’t inspire much consumer crossover experimentation. Classical purists might be too intimidated by, say, Cradle of Filth’s volume and demonic trappings to appreciate its arias, while metalheads might be unsure where to start within the unfamiliar…
Kansas City’s Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre doesn’t make any promises about its Playwrighting Intensive. But the MET will tell you that toasting the crowd at last year’s event was no less a writer than Arthur Kopit (pictured). The author of Wings and End of the World, Kopit is widely considered Broadway’s last serious playwright. “He stood right up and thanked…
Newsman Walter Cronkite, bombshell Jean Harlow and actor Don Cheadle are among Kansas City’s celebrity exports. But perhaps no KC name generates as much mystique as jazz pioneer Charlie Parker. According to legend, he began at age 11 on a borrowed saxophone. Lacking proper training, Parker was kicked out of the school band for his dreadful playing. Eventually, the Bird…
Clay Perkins and Devin Lawrence should start wearing nut cups all the time. The soulless cads have compiled their hookup expertise into a book, You’re Welcome, aka Ho’ Huntin’ and Bitch Bangin’, Wurd. They’re celebrating the book’s release with a short concert tour that kicks off tonight at Liberty Hall (644 Massachusetts in Lawrence, 785-749-1972). The playboys who used the…
When Theodore “Ted” Logan, portrayed by Keanu Reeves, and Bill S. Preston, Esq., played by the funny and underappreciated Alex Winter, find themselves unable to break into a locked county jail, they settle their dilemma by exploiting a temporal paradox. They resolve to return in their time machine and leave the keys hidden nearby for their present selves to find….
