Another Night Before Christmas This home-invasion Christmas story posits a dude who claims to be Santa and is caught in the home of a skeptical, sensible woman. You can bet that, by the 90-minute mark, she will have learned the true reason for the season. This year’s American Heartland holiday show, a world premiere, comes somewhat pedigreed, with book and…
Bountiful Nora Othic’s archetypal figures and her dynamic, posed compositions evoke regionalists such as Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood but also such mid-20th-century muralists as Anton Refregier and Milton Bellin. In “Mean Bull,” two laughing ranch hands dive over a fence, chased by an enraged bull. The masterly “Diner” is an energetically composed image of two waitresses tending a…
Working with molten metal is hot and dangerous, but it’s also thrilling, especially when it’s big. Chris Weaver gets it right. Weaver learned from the pros during his residency in the Arts-Industry program at the Kohler Co. in Wisconsin. There, select artists work either in the foundry or with the pottery. Part of why those Kohler toilets and sinks and…
After all that smack talk last week between KU and MU fans, it appears Missourians have gotten the last laugh. Here’s the latest e-mail volley. Categories: News
Darren Welch, a member of the Hearers and In the Pines, had, until very recently, the kind of monstrous beard 11th century yeomen would cultivate to keep themselves warm whilst protecting the king’s deer from poachers. Last Wednesday at the Brick during a rousing performance of “Bob Fox’s Wallet,” Darren squealed like a mad hillbilly, shaved, and squealed some more….
Lawrence band Minus Story has released a new video on YouTube. It’s for the single “Stitch Me Up” from the band’s album, My Ion Truss, put out earlier this year by Jagjaguwar. And hoo is it weird. Sort of. It’s basically this cute artsy chick hanging out in her house. She compares her face in the mirror with a gold…
By ERIC BARTON Over the years, we here at The Pitch haven’t been fans of Phill Kine. We’ve called him a “douche bag,” a “dimwit” and a “conservative cyborg.” We’ve put a dunce cap on him and dressed him up like a doctor ready to prod kissing teenagers. But today, we’re defending the guy. Last night, KCTV Channel 5’s…
Maybe the reason that so much good “American” pop and rock music comes out of Sweden nowadays is that Swedes are genetically predisposed to having more fun when they pick up guitars or get behind drums. They charm, rock like monkeys and radiate goodwill and humanity. It’s been true with every Swedish act I’ve seen here over the past two…
By JEN CHEN A fan caught the scripted insanity of ESPN’s College GameDay at Arrowhead. In the aftermath of Saturday’s big game, here’s the only post-game analysis you need. And by “analysis,” I really mean my random thoughts about things other than yards and downs. I sat through ESPN’s College GameDay, which broadcast that morning from the Arrowhead…
Seems that our city’s light rail fanatic has earned himself some folksy mockery. Not sure who Jim Abel is (this guy?); a gal named Martha sent this in today around noon. And we’re always up for musical satire here at the WB, especially when it involves local jokers like Clay Chastain. Jim Abel: “The Ballad of Clay Chastain” MP3 Hey,…
As I Lay Dying, with All that Remains, Haste the Day and Through the Eyes of the Dead Wednesday, November 21 The Beaumont Review and Photos by Caleb Goellner Touring atop the holiday season is a labor I’ve always admired bands for undertaking. I always picture heavily tattooed rocker dudes and dudettes spending their Turkey Days at a Denny’s, clocking…
By ERIC BARTON This is not a scene from Arrowhead. How insane is it that Mizzou is the No. 1 football program in the nation? According to this front page article in The New York Times today, it’s like Albania playing for the World Cup title or Adam Sandler up for an Oscar. Yeah, it’s that insane. The article goes…
BY ANDY VIHSTADT My Grammys Weigh a Ton Outkast has been keeping 10 the Hard Way (most likely dropping in 2009 now, according to this) and next year’s solo effort from Big Boi on the down low. While you’re waiting for info, here’s something new from the duo courtesy of Spine Magazine. “Da Art of Storytellin’ Part 4” feature’s…
By C.J. JANOVY Saturday night’s big football game at Arrowhead was exciting for all of Kansas City, sure. But I have only one thing to say about the experience of watching it at home. The only thing I really remember about the night is this Aflac commercial that perversely bastardizes the classic 1964 stop-motion animated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer television…
I think it was Ludwig von Mises, considered by many to be the greatest economist of the 20th century, who said, “It’s the goddamnedest thing when the subprime lending market collapses and your mortgage division hemorrhages money for months on end and then your shareholders overwhelmingly reject your leadership by voting for dissident board candidates. Fuck.” On the one…
This was my second year to have the profound joy of attending the annual Thanksgiving Breakfast Dance at the National Guard Armory in Kansas City, Kansas. Unlike last year, I did not get trashed and end up at a former Chiefs player’s house in exurban Jackson County. And that’s OK, because I had a blast and a half and was…
Besides the ass-busting effort required to mount a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, is there any particular reason why turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie are only served in November? That’s my favorite kind of question: The kind that answers itself, freeing me up to spend more time on the things that matter, which, this weekend, will be…
If you’ve been to one of the metro’s more spacious liquor stores lately, you might’ve spotted Boulevard Brewing Company’s newest brews. You really can’t miss them: The Smokestack Series, as they’re called, are sold in champagne-style bottles, complete with a cork and antique-looking labels. They sit on wire racks that might otherwise display the newest offering from Napa Valley, rather…
Families like this don’t exist, do they? Writers J.D. Salinger, David Foster Wallace and filmmaker Wes Anderson tell stories about remarkable families whose individual members trace spectacular career trajectories. But who actually knows one? Poet and novelist Kim Addonizio is remarkable in her own right. So it seems unfair, on the day of her appearance at Rockhurst University’s Mabee Theater…
OK, kids, it’s Michael Dukakis trivia time. What Neil Diamond song did Dukakis use for his 1988 presidential campaign? What does the phrase “Dukakis in a tank” signify? While you’re mulling those over, a quick refresher on the life of the Duke: son of immigrants becomes Massachusetts governor, rides the subway to the state capitol every day and rescues Boston’s…
Painter Jeff Aeling’s art suggests a kind of reverse apocalypse — one in which nature has purged the influence of man. His eerie and lovely landscape paintings are now on display as part of the Land, Light and Water exhibit at the Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art Gallery (2004 Baltimore, 816-221-2626). In Aeling’s work, ether meets foam-webbed ocean, and waves curl…
The problem with a lot of events and magazine spreads devoted to Women Who Rock! is the underlying prejudice that a woman rocking is somehow novel. There’s no question that the music industry remains male-dominated, from the guys in suits to the guys at the mic. And that’s reflected on the radio, on TV and in print. But don’t let…
For twenty-six years this charming and magical production with its enchanting music, glorious costumes and entrancing scenery has been the high spot of the Kansas City holiday season. You are transported into the world of Victorian London, materialized straight from the pages of Dickens’ immortal story, and follow Ebenezer Scrooge on his ageless journey as he transforms from miser to…
Beautiful music fills the halls of Crown Center, as more than 130 area school, church and community choirs perform during weekday lunch hours and weekday evenings. Brass quintets and the Dickens Carolers will entertain on the weekends. Nov. 26-Dec. 21, 2007 Tags: Crown Center, Night & Day
