Interpol, with Liars Wednesday, October 10, 2007 The Uptown Theater Better than: Shopping for dress pants at Maj-R-Thrift. Words by Jason Harper / Photos by Scott Spychalski It’s kind of hard to type right now because my right hand feels half-asleep. There’s a tingling running through the end of my middle finger. Don’t worry — I’ll blog until they nail…
Remember when you moved into your second apartment, the one that was so much bigger than the first? It felt a bit weird right off, like when you weren’t sure what to do in that thing the neighbors call the vestibule. It sort of feels like that when you walk into the new, comparably spacious Danny Edwards BLVD Barbecue. If…
Half-price menu every day from 3:00-6:00pm (Wednesday-Saturday). Featuring tasty and unique “charcuterie round” and “fruit & cheese round”. Ask about special prices on the “Cellar List”. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 3-6 p.m., 2007 Tags: 2817, Night & Day
What makes zombie films so compelling? For local musician Scott Hobart (best known as frontman for Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys), it’s the genre’s inspired approach to addressing cultural issues. From mythological tales of corpses roaming the Earth to postmodern conceptions of American consumers as the mindless undead, zombie stories have always been used to reflect the human dread…
Audiences leaving the Unicorn Theatre’s premiere production of Martin McDonagh’s brutal farce The Lieutenant of Inishmore will likely be talking about the mangled cats, the exploding blood squibs and the rapid-fire feck yous. But it’s McDonagh’s deep gift for arresting, surprising storytelling that has made him the theater’s great, wicked hope. The playwright loves to shock, as anyone knows who…
Of all the years to add a second theater. With almost twice the stage acreage to fill, no artistic director to help with the filling and some $6 million to lavish on plays carefully calibrated to fill as many seats as possible — while still making theatergoers feel like they’re the smartest, most special people in town — the Kansas…
Beer festivals can be a tricky proposition: Pay a stiff entrance fee, and you risk not getting sloshed on your allocation of “free” 4-ounce samples. That’s why the fine folks at KC Beerfest are offering unlimited suds at their premier kegger at the Legends at Village West (1843 Village West Parkway, 913-788-3700). More than 100 craft and microbrewers will attend…
Scoring a free breakfast for the kids is cool. Not having to dress them to dine in public? Even cooler. Sweet Tomatoes restaurant (1309 Meadow Lake Parkway) hosts the Sweet Tomatoes Pajama Party from 9 a.m. to noon, encouraging kids to show up in PJs, clutching teddy bears and blankies. The occasion is a clever melding of National Pajama Month…
Sisters in Crime, an organization promoting the advancement of women who write mystery novels, is 20 years old. The group celebrates the anniversary with the release of an anthology of stories by members called Sisters on the Case, which includes a story from member and Kansas resident Nancy Pickard, author of The Virgin of Small Plains. She reads her work…
Even before the wavering Morricone whistle cut through the dusty air between Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef, the mythos of the American West had been exalted, parodied and pilfered. It endures as the most pronounced American iconography, though largely flushed of meaning by Hollywood and more than a few political posers.A new exhibit called Looking West at the Belger…
The spirit of Showbiz Pizza meets Martini Corner — without the singing mechanical bear — when the Velvet Dog officially unveils its two new Skee-Ball machines. Test your ball-handling skills at tonight’s grand opening, in honor of the bar’s remodeled upper levels. The party starts at 9 p.m. and includes a single-elimination Skee-Ball tournament for cash and prizes.”Everyone in the…
Local roller-derby chicks, rugby girls and female footballers have battered their competition and put the fear of Kansas City into athletes across the country, proving that women can tackle and block as well as any man. The Roller Warriors recently skated to a national championship, the KC Storm finished at the top of its division in the National Women’s Football…
How’s this for a feel-good activity: Paint Your Own Pottery Day. To encourage folks to get creative, Paint Glaze & Fire Ceramics & Coffee House (12683 Metcalf in Overland Park, 913-661-2529) lets customers decorate ceramic works free today. The first 50 people who show up get to paint a coffee mug or a piggy bank. When those run out, studio…
“Independent theatre all the way up your ass” is the MySpace headline for Lawrence’s E.M.U. Theatre. Anyone who’s seen an E.M.U. production can attest to the troupe’s master cleansing powers. Four independent local scripts make up the fiber of the company’s new production, Horrorshow, an alternately comedic and dramatic Halloween show involving sinners, monsters, military vets and zombies. With original…
The Psychical Research Society of Kansas City predicts that you will have a killer time at its Fall Psychic Fair, held at the MCC Exhibit Hall (Interstate 435 and Front Street). The nonprofit organization, which is the largest of its kind in the Midwest, holds fairs twice a year to raise dough to pay for crystal balls, flowing velvet capes…
Usually, bull riding is the dessert of the rodeo experience. Sure, calf roping and barrel racing are exhilarating. But the sweet high comes at the end, when insane cowboys hop atop a half-ton of bucking-mad bovine and hang on with one hand. In the interest of prolonged adrenaline rushes, the PBR Enterprise Open brings a full weekend of just bull…
Even for a popular restaurant like the new Bo Lings in City Market (20 East Fifth Street, 816-423-8036), attracting the masses on certain days can be a challenge. “Sunday nights and Monday nights are our slowest evenings,” says manager Taryn Kelly. In an attempt to lure early-week homebodies, the newest Bo Lings has lengthened happy hour on those two days….
A packed crowd at Chicago’s Allstate Arena witnessed the horror of the Punjabi Prison during the WWE Smackdown on October 7. An inescapable 20-foot exterior bamboo cage surrounding a 16-foot interior cage beset with trap doors, the prison was the least formidable obstacle World Heavyweight Champion Batista “The Animal” confronted. He also had to fight the Great Khali, the 7-foot-3-inch,…
You can’t hear the phrase Planet of Ice and not think: cool. Fortunately, the Seattle band that so named its latest album will have no problem living up to the expectation. Minus the Bear has been cranking out cool indie rock since 2001. The band lends texture to its atmospheric guitar sound with frequent time-signature changes. And singer-guitarist Jake Snider…
Deseos Deseos means desires in Spanish, and this installation is an abstract representation of the artist’s hopes and desires placed at the foot of an altar. Carolyn Kallenborn’s inspiration comes from the ubiquitous makeshift altars known as ofrendas, or offerings, found in Oaxaca, Mexico. Kallenborn has transformed this folk-Catholic tradition into a river of rose petals and painted stones that…
Even that kid who destroyed the Tibetan monks’ sand art at Union Station should know this about Southeast Asian culture: There’s great value in patience. In China, that acute attention to small details is evident in calligraphy, which is the inspiration for a performance tonight by Taiwan’s Cloud Gate Dance Theatre at KU’s Lied Center (1600 Stewart Drive, Lawrence). Dancers…
Conventional wisdom suggests that Sputnik’s launch in 1957 caught the Eisenhower administration and the American intelligence community off-guard. The evidence, according to Scott Curtis, head of reference services at Linda Hall Library, does not support the conventional wisdom. “Military intelligence had predicted the launch and was pretty close about the date range that it would happen,” he says. “Eisenhower wanted…
Before the technological advent of soundtrack-synchronized motion pictures, filmmakers were reliant on extremely broad, emotive acting and the simplest possible melodrama — the stories had to be conveyed by imagery alone. Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame lends itself to the form with its romantic tale of unrequited love and a visual space that soars from high bell towers…
For the first time in history, the poor are fatter than the bourgeoisie. When it comes to the culture we consume, this holds true as well: Syndicated reruns and shitty flicks from Redbox cost less than, say, that new Jean Renoir boxed set, and they’re a thousand times easier to track down. Do a bit of research, though, and even…
