For most non-motorcyclists born after 1984, motocross brings to mind images of Nintendo’s 8-bit epic Excite Bike, in which pixellated riders faced gigantic jumps and harsh competition. Art imitated life, but today’s motocross is an athletic feat that requires far more advanced skills than mashing buttons. Observe the exciting necessity for racing helmets tonight at the Toyota AMA Arenacross…
Before comedian Kathy Griffin crowned herself queen BFF to “the gays,” there was Margaret Cho. Starting in the ’90s, Cho regaled audiences with childhood nuggets about the bookstore that her Korean-born parents ran in gay-friendly San Francisco. Aping her confused but well-meaning mother, Cho would squint her eyes and shriek, “What is Ass Mastah?” and “Is he the gayyyyy?” In…
There’s at least one upside to the ongoing Writers Guild strike: Craig Ferguson has time to hit the road. The former Drew Carey Show player, longtime comic and novelist, and now the host of CBS’ Late Late Show, has been off the air for two months. “I have a great time doing it. I miss it,” Ferguson says of his…
Music performance. Thu., Jan. 10, 2008 Tags: Night & Day
It would be true but also a cliché to say that Japanese-American painter Fumio Sawa combines two worlds, the East and the West. More strikingly, his work — abstract paintings created with a light pen on a light screen and printed on acid paper — unites man and machine. Or, better, subordinates machine to man. His dynamic, bright abstract paintings…
A two-time Tony Award winner in 1992, Falsettos depicts a spectacularly dysfunctional family. The play’s bittersweet tone recalls Little Miss Sunshine, and the omnipresent music (all of the exposition is conveyed through singing) inspired a Time critic to dub lyricist and composer William Finn “the child of Stephen Sondheim.” Much to the befuddlement of his 10-year-old son, Jason, Marvin leaves…
Duncan Busser just might make it in flyover country. Tired of the East Coast, the former Philadelphian decided to take his RV for a spin around middle America in search of something new. Visiting his brother in Kansas City, Busser quickly fell for this town’s Midwestern charm. Brusser is bringing his years of event- and party-planning experience to bear…
It stands to reason that kids who know how to build robots can also outsmart fancy-pants public-radio station KCUR 89.3 in fundraising acumen. Whereas 89.3 prefers a time-tested combination of pledge-week broadcast interruptions and some pretty clear-cut passive-aggressive behavior, today the Liberty High School robotics team holds its first-annual pancake breakfast fundraiser.Today is also the day the team finds out…
Behind Benni Ewing’s house, there’s a festering, empty expanse where a shiny new shopping center should be. The area looks like an abandoned dumping ground. Hip-high weeds blanket awkward mounds of dirt. Unruly vines creep up half-toppled utility poles. Huge piles of rubble sit next to streets with no houses. On the northeast end of the 35-acre tract, a crumpled…
High-society types in this town love to get dolled up and give to a favorite cause: themselves. Polite society welcomes a new batch of debutantes every June at the Jewel Ball, which raises money for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Kansas City Symphony. The symphony takes another crack at the well-to-do during a cocktails-and-dancing soiree in September. A…
For the past couple of years, Lawrence Letterday, four young punks from Kansas (guess which city) have been crafting bouncy songs about puppy love and growing up. Hardly the first Lawrence act to dwell on emo themes, Letterday draws from the well of the Get Up Kids for its poppy guitar hooks and nasally singer Ben Kressig’s bittersweet lyrics. To…
Left to their own devices, Ken Lovern and his jazz organ trio — with guitarist Brian Baggett and drummer Kevin Frazee — are consummate players who use every inch of open space to prove it. But as the backing unit for soul-jazz vocalist Bukeka Shoals, Lovern’s OJT goes the restrained route. As a result, OJT + B equals a schooled…
Roma 79, “Gold” Though it’s located four hours east on Interstate 70, St. Louis’ Ascetic Records plays an integral part in Kansas City’s music scene. Home to KC outfit the Stella Link, the label also sends a constant barrage of other gems through KC — so much so that out-of-towners such as Traindodge, Riddle of Steel and Dropsonic feel like…
Until you read the fine print, this billboard in midtown looks like something Phill Kline hoisted in hopes of discouraging your purchase of the latest Jugs magazine. But put away that new neck massager long enough to read the small type in the right-hand corner, and you’ll see that it’s a public-service announcement. “Make an emergency plan at ready.gov,” it…
For the Kansas City Chiefs, 2007 was a year to forget. They slogged through a losing season and played their last home game to a half-empty stadium peppered with frustrated fans so ashamed that some wore paper bags over their heads. But Jared Allen had a standout season. The fourth-year defensive end is among the league leaders in sacks, and…
The MP3 player turns 10 this year, and what better way to celebrate than with a covers collection that reminds us of a time when the CD was the king of convenience? Jason Drake, aka Cassettes Won’t Listen, has posted One Alternative, a tribute to ’90s indie acts such as Sebadoh, Pavement and Liz Phair. The digital-only EP is available…
In one amazing year, Topeka’s Andy McKee has gone from a relatively unknown guitar teacher to an international overlord of progressive acoustic music. The amazing ascension began in November 2006, when McKee’s label CandyRat posted a remarkable rendition of his song “Drifting” — a percussive-tapping number that made McKee look like a reanimated superoctopus. The shit went viral, and pretty…
As two different Radiohead releases this past December proved, rock boxed sets aren’t becoming any more sensible. The “discbox” version of the band’s new record, In Rainbows, is stuffed with extras useful (music), aimless (booklets and artwork) and mystifyingly redundant (the album on CD, vinyl and MP3). Meanwhile, Radiohead’s former label, EMI, is cashing in on the free-download delirium by…
“Miles Gets Open” 7-inch single by Miles Bonny It’s a Wednesday night at the Starbucks on Ward Parkway, and Miles Bonny is tucked away at a table near the back, finishing off his grande peppermint hot chocolate, and the scene is completely ludicrous. A dozen people pass through the coffee shop during the hour he’s there, and none of them…
Most people I know consider lard to be a four-letter bad word. Not me. I still use it to make pie dough, and I’d use it to fry chicken if I ever fried chicken at home. But why go to all that trouble when I can get a vastly superior (and probably cheaper) chicken dinner at a restaurant? Most restaurants…
A photograph is a slippery and unstable idea — it never has only one meaning. In capturing the face of a loved one, it’s a hedge against loss. As a document or a formal record, it’s dependent on the political, economic and propagandist impulses of the photographer. It can provide evidence of what has been — if we understand…
American Soil In the elegant and subtle new Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, architect Kyu Sung Woo has designed a light-filled space whose primary duty is to showcase art, not itself. Inaugurating the first-floor galleries is an exhibition in which diverse images suggest landscape in its broadest possible sense. Los Angeles artist Tomory Dodge creates monumental and unknowable landscapes that…
Martin: “The Two Funkitiros,” December 13 Feature: “Pay 2 Play,” December 13 Critical Thinking I fell in love with The Pitch three years ago when I read C.J. Janovy’s story about her visit to First Family Church (“Open Wide,” February 10, 2005). As I have become more experienced as a journalist and after a recent conversation with a friend, I…
Dear Mexican: As everyone knows, dogs seem to reflect their masters’ personalities. Likewise, the breeds invented by a nation say a lot about that nation. Germans bred the German shepherd and Rottweilers: smart, loyal, faithful (yet a little cold) and not the kind of dogs you want to piss off. The French created the poodle: all about style, yappy, not…
