If the idea of another predictable restaurant outing has you contemplating a long-term fast, head to Bar Natasha (1911 Main, 816-472-5300) tonight between 5 and 9 p.m. to sample the fare of more than a dozen local restaurants at the Kansas City Originals’ seventh-annual Urban Picnic. The KC Originals, an association of more than 50 area restaurants, works to promote…
It looked good recently for a proposed law in Missouri that would make roads safer for cyclists. But then the Missouri Department of Transportation threw up a the state capitol version of a flashing-orange-light-topped barricade in front of the Complete Streets bill. Brent Hugh, the director of the Missouri Bicycle Federation, says the group had been working all year…
Discuss a broad spectrum of topics like travel, food, religion, the arts, fashion, politics, sports, people, sex, architecture and life-styles. Third Sunday of every other month, 2 p.m., 2005 Tags: Night & Day
Based on the popular book series by Laura Joffe Numeroff, this hilarious play rollicks with the mishaps and mayhem that begin when Mouse comes to visit. The well-meaning but harried rodent simply asks for a treat, then the turmoil begins. The beloved trouble-making Mouse makes frenzy and laughter at every turn, as a young Boy tries to keep the…
The Kansas City Royals struggle to put runs on the scoreboard. The task gets more difficult this weekend with the arrival of the pitching-rich Cleveland Indians. The Royals are likely to face the reigning Cy Young winner, C.C. Sabathia, in a three-game series that begins at 7:10 p.m. at Kauffman Stadium (I-70 and Blue Ridge Cutoff, 816-504-4040). Sabathia dominated…
Part of the Kansas City Public Library’s Sounds of Silents film series. Third Saturday of every month, 3:30 p.m. Starts: April 19. Continues through June 21, 2008 Tags: kansas city public library, Night & Day
James Vivian puts on scrubs as if he’s preparing for surgery. He wraps a silver cross on a chain around his wrist. Next to the leather recliner, he sets a plastic bucket lined with a fresh trash bag, in case his visitor vomits. The sun is setting on a mid-March day, and the man Vivian is expecting is almost 20…
These days, everybody wants to be green. Environmental boutiques are sprouting up across Kansas City, and Toyota Priuses roam the streets like the buffalo that once grazed the Midwest prairies. By now, even Hummer drivers who toss Styrofoam cups out their windows and hunt cyclists for sport know that April 22 is Earth Day. But because there are still those…
Morgan Spurlock, the daredevil documentarian who lived on Big Macs for a month and turned the exercise in body art into the 2004 hit Super Size Me, returns — this time expanding his horizons rather than his girth. Paraphrasing the title of a popular computer game, Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? presents Spurlock’s fact-finding tour of the…
The plot is pure choose-your-own-adventure: A bullied fanboy from South Boston (Michael Angarano) is teleported back into a fantasia of feudal China, where he’s singled out as the long-anticipated “Chosen One” prophesied to topple the despotic warlord. Our nominal hero then recedes behind the pair of Mr. Miyagis who adopt him: Jackie Chan (in a Lisa Bonet wig) and warrior-monk…
Jon Avnet’s cheesy new thriller is 105 minutes long, and I feared that 100 of them would be eaten up by Al Pacino chewing scenery. Alas, it’s worse than that. Pacino again goes for world-weary, heavy-lidded ennui, this time as Jack Gramm, a Seattle forensic psychiatrist and professor in symbiotic thrall to the death-row serial killer (cyborgian Neal McDonough) he…
Dear Mexican: Our customer-service department uses a phone-tree system that asks all callers to press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish or a few other numbers for commonly spoken languages in our area. I handle customer complaints as part of my job, and I get a surprising number of complaints from people who feel they shouldn’t have to press a…
Jason Segel is responsible for two of the most cringe-inducing, hands-in-front-of-your-face moments in the recent history of television, both of which occurred during the sole season of NBC’s Freaks and Geeks, on which Segel played bright-eyed burnout Nick Andopolis. On the episode “I’m With the Band,” Nick imagined himself an arena-sized drummer behind his 29-piece kit, where, clad in…
A couple of people called last week to tell me that Cheesehead Homemade Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwiches at 16th Street and Grand had closed. I walked by the joint, and that certainly appeared to be the case. Also, the phone number is no longer in service. I’m not surprised. The product never lived up to the promise of “gourmet” grilled…
“Trouble” by the Hopeless Destroyers, from Now With 13% More Punk! (self-released): The Hopeless Destroyers don’t waste time. Their newest EP, all 11 minutes of it, is punchy, efficient punk rock. The sound is reminiscent of the Zero Boys, though the guitars may move more nimbly than the vocals — there’s too many goddamn lyrics. This EP might be better…
“Happy That Way” by the Wilders, from Someone’s Got to Pay (Free Dirt Records): For a red-hot decade, Kansas City’s the Wilders have been walking the line between pleasing the folk-festival contingent and the teamsters who warm the bar stools at local honky-tonks. Having already put their own righteous spin on traditional numbers, the next logical step for the quartet…
“Rise” by Hozey-T: It never hurts to be the new guy. You know the appeal — he walks in out of nowhere and steals all the attention. That’s how it was when a lanky newcomer named Hozey-T took the stage at the Record Bar during a recent Soul Providers Crew set. In black Jordans, a black T-shirt and a…
Taking its name from the infamous punk-rock dive on the edge of Lawrence, Outhouse was one of Kansas City’s picks to click in the postgrunge era. The band hooked up with Mercury Records and producer Ed Rose to release one album of crisp, melodic alt-rock — 1997’s Welcome — but the group never quite fulfilled its manifest destiny. Channeling the…
“Thelonius” by Common, from Like Water for Chocolate (MCA Records): Rare is the rapper who can maintain his musical edge while moonlighting as an actor. Then again, Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. — aka Common — is a rare rapper: the kind whose mainstream body of work surpasses the ambitions and artistry of his underground efforts. Common’s silver-screen presence surfaced in…
In North Carolina’s Chris Daughtry, America has finally found a new-century rock hero it can believe in: an affable, chrome-domed underdog whose 2006, self-titled debut went multiplatinum, even though he finished fifth in American Idol’s fifth season. The winning anthems keep on comin’, stirring even those of us who usually can’t be bothered with monstrous post-grunge singles (Creed? Puddle of…
“Terribly Empty Pockets” by the Cops, from Free Electricity (The Control Group and Mt. Fuji Records): One can imagine this band’s genesis: “Hey, guys,” one of them said, “we’re a band and we’re fuckin’ sick of the man. Let’s call ourselves the Cops.” And just like that, the world’s bullshit level decreased by 3 percent. All broken-bottle guitars, dance-tempo…
Martin, “Who’s That Girl,” April 3 Link Not I am somewhat amazed at David Martin’s column linking Molly Williams to Chris Koster with no further evidence than that she has played in a golf tournament with his “mentor,” Joe Dandurand. I happen to play in that same golf tournament foursome and, as a former employee of Chris Koster, am no…
If you don’t remember a game called The Typing of the Dead, you’re not alone. Released on the failed Sega Dreamcast system, this gory, hilariously titled arcade-style shooter was in many ways exactly like its popular counterpart, The House of the Dead. But instead of aiming a gun at the screen, players fired by typing non sequiturs — “Smeg…
“The Journeyman” by Devil Blare, from The Journeyman (Murder in the Living Room Records): A thick, nasty, cold, piss-ass drizzle is coming down over Community America Ballpark, but the game goes on. The Kansas City Wizards are down 3-1, looking at their first defeat of the season, to the New England Revolution. Soccer team names are fruity. I am standing…
