“Stepping Stone” by Organic Proof, from Live Vol. 1 (self-released): Like thousands of other impressionable young hippies, John Brewer came down with a severe case of Phish fever during the summer of his 17th year, caravanning for 24 dates with the jam band during the height of its popularity. “It showed me that fans can be more devoted than…
Burnt Ends, March 20 One Moment Of Your Time! I hope you can convince Skip Sleyster to continue to run his “Advertisement” in your paper. When he publishes for The Star, it just doesn’t have the same effect on me. I now carry your “Advertisement” with me so that when I need to experience something so incredibly funny to pick…
A minute or so into Blackbird Revue, Jacob Prestidge coos about a hummingbird while gently fingerpicking his acoustic guitar, suggesting he’s another sensitive singer-songwriter with a precious voice and a nature fetish. But “Hummingbird” turns out to be an inventively spun yarn about a suicide survivor, with cheery ba-ba-ba vocals greeting his awakening from a two-year coma. Kansas City’s Prestidge…
“Thanks for the Therapy” by the Big Iron, from Thanks for the Therapy (self-released): Imagine four seasoned rockers throwing down a roaring batch of old-school, late-’70s-early-’80s hardcore punk songs just for the fun of it. Then imagine that they can pull it off better than just about anybody. Such is the case with the latest release from longtime KC ass-kicker…
Editor’s note: This story was first published March 27 as a Web exclusive. It’s an election year. But Molly Korth Williams hasn’t taken the time to plant a sign in the front yard of her Brookside home. This is a little strange. Because Williams is running as a Democrat for attorney general. In filing the paperwork last month, Williams…
Dear Readers: Belated April Fool’s! So many of you fell for my phony farewell column last week (don’t any of you know that the feast day of St. Melito falls on April 1?) that I’m tempted to call it quits just to bask in your love and hate anew. But I don’t want to be another welfare wab. Dear Mexican:…
When Time recently featured George Clooney on its cover accompanied by the headline “The Last Movie Star” — note not even a question mark at the end — you didn’t have to read the article to know where it was coming from. After all, in a time when stars of the postpubescent variety are an increasingly rare commodity, Clooney…
Miss Nelson Has a Field Day It’s phys-ed terror in this Theatre For Young America musical — and not in the typical body-issues and tight-shorts ways. An adaptation of Harry Allard and James Marshall’s raucous book about what happens when the worst school in Texas meets the world’s meanest substitute teacher, this Miss Nelson promises comic gloom and energetic numbers…
Biographical Landscape: The Photography of Stephen Shore, 1969-1979 American photographer Stephen Shore’s exhibition includes more than 150 images of ’70s-era parking lots, motel rooms, restaurants, highways and other familiar road-trip images from across the country. Anyone who has been on a road trip knows these images by heart. The exterior photographs of filling stations, desolate dirt roads, billboards and other…
The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (4420 Warwick, 816-753-5784) has newly painted black gallery walls for its latest exhibition, Julia Oschatz: Where Else. Tonight’s reception, which runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., marks the German artist’s first solo museum gig in the United States. The show includes 25 paintings and three video installations housed in large, craggy cardboard structures…
By JEN CHEN Deadlines, social obligations and lack of TiVo sometimes interfere with my TV-watching ways, and sadly, I’ve missed the last two episodes of The Real Housewives of New York City. But really, in the grand scheme of things, I’m pretty sure that haven’t missed all that much. My favorite character – former Fort Scott resident Alex McCord…
The Hotel Café Tour featuring Dan Wilson, Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, Meiko and Jim Bianco Tuesday, April 1, 2008 The Record Bar Better than: The Rainforest Café, barely Photos & Review By RICHARD GINTOWT I’ve heard good things about the Hotel Café. Supposedly, it’s the anti-industry gem of Los Angeles, where up-and-coming singer/songwriters enjoy attentive audiences and the chance…
By CHRIS PACKHAM Take Your Daughter to Stupid Day Laura Bush is coming to Kansas City with daughter Jenna on a mother-daughter book tour project next week. You guys, they’re totally going to love the Power and Light district, because you know why? Because moms love the Power and Light District. Your mom says it’s “fancy.” The two Bushes co-authored…
By C.J. JANOVY Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver’s certainty that Barack Obama will win the Democratic nomination and the presidency in November made Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night (and maybe the other news shows too, but I only watched MSNBC). Also exposed: Cleaver’s dissing of Obama’s speechifying, saying that in the black church, Obama’s rhetorical skills would be considered…
Leave it to Wallace Cochran and Jeff Stolz to seem like they’re not doing much then totally blast out of the hoary undergrowth of Lawrence with something completely awesome. This time it’s a tribute to the Louvin Brothers. The new album from Cochran and Stolz’s outfit, Drakkar Sauna, is called Wars and Tornadoes, and apparently it’s all Louvin bros.,…
By DAVID MARTIN Lance Feyh, a writer and Royals fan who lives in Rolla, has come up with Foxworthyesque list of signs indicating terminal allegiance to the hometown team. The son of Kansans, Feyh tells us that he follows the Royals via satellite radio. As if it’s not hard enough rooting for a team that hasn’t won 90 games…
The Wayward Blog is giving away four tickets to see Mac Lethal this Friday, April 4, at the Riot Room, with guests Grieves, DJ Sku and Shudder. All you have to do to claim all four is tell us this: What is Mac’s real name? We’re talking first, middle and last. Spelling counts. Must be 21 or over. Be the…
For a politician looking to connect with the camouflage set, this would seem an ideal photo opportunity: fishermen standing shoulder-to-shoulder along the banks of an Ozark river, their rods poised above the icy water. State Treasurer Sarah Steelman has come to Montauk State Park, not far from her home in Rolla, to witness the opening of Missouri’s trout-fishing season,…
%{}% Radiohead is selling (boo! awww!! come on!!!!!) “stems” of its latest single, “Nude,” from In Rainbows to aspiring remix artists via iTunes (boo!! what?? no!!!!!). It’s all happening at Radioheadremix.com. Here’s the offer, per the site: Radiohead, iTunes and GarageBand are giving you the opportunity to remix the band’s new single “Nude”. To make remixing easy, the separate ‘stems’*…
By CRYSTAL K. WIEBE In the wake of his fourth restaurant’s debut, changes are afoot at the eatery that started Rob Dalzell’s little downtown empire. As of this week, 1924 Main will serve lunch only on Fridays. “It has kind of turned into that whole special occasion place,” Dalzell says, noting that Friday has long drawn the busiest lunch…
By C.J. JANOVY In this interview with Canada’s CBC Radio, U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver — a Hillary Clinton holdout, despite enormous pressure from other African Americans — says he thinks Clinton will not get the nomination. “If I had to make a prediction right now, I’d say Barack Obama is going to be the next president,” Cleaver said. “I…
%{}% By CHRIS PACKHAM Every April 1, the Internet becomes Carrot Top: Look: I just want to get my daily fix of news about MySQL stored procedure programming. Instead, every year on April 1, Slashdot transforms into Gallagher. It’s crazy! Ominously, nothing pseudo-funny has appeared today as of this writing. It’s a ticking time bomb of anti-hilarity, and when it…
Les Izmore is one of the newer faces on the KC hip-hop scene — and better-looking ones, too, as far as the ladies are concerned. Check out dude’s new video. Look for a review of Les’ latest, Vital, in next week’s Pitch. Categories: Music Tags: Les Izmore, YouTube
By NADIA PFLAUM A huge relief: A man has been charged in the killing of 25-year-old Brandon C. Fauntleroy-McDowel (click here for the police complaint). Fauntleroy-McDowel’s slaying caught the metro’s attention because it was downtown, it was random, and it happened to an unmistakably good guy. Fauntleroy-McDowel was a grad student, a fraternity brother, a mentor, a good employee…
