The Northwest Passage! Lo, how she beckoned to men stout of heart and steely-willed, an icy temptress who no man might tame. To venture into those Arctic climes was to sound the depths of one’s own bravery; for many a soul were taken into her embrace, there pressed ‘gainst her frozen bosom, never again to be seen by his fellow…
Movie Nite at the Pistol Social Club (1219 Union, 816-509-3699) differs from comparably named attractions at area bars in several ways: Most crucially, no films will be shown. Instead, Nate Bogert (VJDN8 in the Kansas City, Kansas-based electronic outfit Monta at Odds) splices live video from the group’s performance into his collected outside-world footage, scratching and blending these clips like…
It ain’t easy being green. Just ask the most infamous inhabitant of the Land of Oz – Elphaba, aka the Wicked Witch of the West. The misunderstood sorceress gets some sympathy, though, in Wicked, the book-turned-Broadway sensation that tells her side of L. Frank Baum’s fairy tale. Tonight, a production of Wicked kicks off a run through May 25 at…
In 1854 Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act which provided that the question of slavery in those territories was to be decided by their residents. This precipitated a proto-civil war between North and South, both sides sending men and money to Kansas to swing the balance of national power. The South was in control of the federal government. Now it’s an…
Used to be that Sluggerrr had the only raging mullet in Kauffman Stadium’s home dugout. But there’s a new man in town with business in the front and party in the back. Manager Trey Hillman brings his bilevel to Kansas City, along with a whole lot of optimism for the youngsters who dominate his lineup. Names like Gordon, Butler and…
Used to be that Sluggerrr had the only raging mullet in Kauffman Stadium’s home dugout. But there’s a new man in town with business in the front and party in the back. Manager Trey Hillman brings his bi-level to Kansas City, along with a whole lot of optimism for the youngsters that dominate his lineup. Names like Gordon, Butler and…
This weekend, funny gal Caroline Rhea cracks up Stanford and Sons Comedy Club (1867 Village West Parkway, Kansas City, Kansas). No, Rhea’s not the mom from Beetlejuice, although she does resemble a younger, slightly puffier version of fellow Canadian comedienne Catherine O’Hara. You know Rhea from her role as Hilda on Sabrina the Teenage Witch and as a former host…
Nationally syndicated radio talk show host and New York Times best-selling author, Dave Ramsey, offers tips to business owners. Fri., May 2, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m., 2008 Tags: Dave Ramsey, Night & Day, The New York Times Company
Kansas City-based improv comedy troupe the Improvabilities performs tonight in the Hollywood Room. Fri., May 2, 6:30, 7:30, 8:30, 9:30 & 10:30 p.m., 2008 Tags: Kansas City, Night & Day
At the South by Southwest festival this past March, keynote speaker Lou Reed declared, “I have a B.A. in dope but a Ph.D. in soul.” Kansas City actor David Wayne Reed has a B.A. in theater but a Ph.D. in Lou, as he’ll demonstrate at tonight ‘s Walk on the West Side tribute to Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground….
In 1934, the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association (precursor to the Motion Picture Association of America) started enforcing censorship guidelines proposed by former U.S. Postmaster General Will H. Hays. Trouble in Paradise, released in 1932, is exactly the type of film Hays aimed to suppress. Its hero, Gaston Monescu, is a master thief. The Hays Code maintained that criminals…
Make sure your bed isn’t facing the wrong direction or a wastebasket isn’t sitting in your wealth corner today when the KC Metro Chapter of the International Feng Shui Guild hosts a Feng Shui seminar from noon to 4 p.m. at Unity Temple on the Plaza (707 West 47th Street). Learn how to work with — not against — your…
People always make a big deal out of St. Patrick’s Day, but really, how special is it? It’s not hard to find a celebration of Irish culture anytime of year — listen to the Dropkick Murphys, rent The Departed or order a Guinness at any of a dozen local Irish-themed pubs. Now, Polski Day — that’s something unique. When do…
In Brian Stuparyk’s eyes, there’s something not quite right about Lawrence. The artist takes his hunch to the next level in It Happened in Lawrence, Kansas, a silk-screen print exhibit inspired by the city and B-movies. The free show debuts in an opening reception from 7 to 9 p.m. today at the Bourgeois Pig (6 East Ninth Street, Lawrence). Ten…
Rising fuel prices, home foreclosures, an obsessive and irrational desire to buy new sneakers — there are a lot of reasons that free is a $10 word these days. Luckily for fans of graphic fiction, the comic-book biz is making like a grocery store and hawking samples all day as part of Free Comic Book Day.During the annual event, comic…
Pity the fool who broke up with Kathleen Edwards and inspired the lyric You say you love me in your memory/You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. The lanky Canadian calls bullshit better than any of her singer-songwriter peers, drawing out each discriminating word with an I-mean-it-buddy conviction. But there’s also a lightness to Edwards’ three albums of articulate folk and…
“Werewolves in the City” by Viking Moses: During its 2006 cult-hit single, “Werewolves in the City,” Viking Moses undergoes a ferocious transformation worthy of the titular lupine creature. “Werewolves” starts as a clever dance-pop tune, with Brendon Massei mumble-singing quirky lines (I’m a biker/But not like Harley-Davidson/But like the Spandex and the gloves on/Sexy) over a totally ’80s keys-and-electro-beat backdrop….
“Not a Love Song” by Uh Huh Her, from Common Reaction (Nettwerk): Uh Huh Her is the synthpop partnership of Murmurs co-founder Leisha Hailey and multi-instrumentalist Camila Grey. Both found success in Los Angeles, Hailey as the actress who portrays bisexual journalist Alice Pieszecki on The L Word, and Grey as a session vocalist for film soundtracks and the illustrious…
“Foam Hands” by Destroyer, from Trouble In Dreams (Merge): From carefully orchestrated torrents of words to whispered asides, Destroyer’s Dan Bejar never sounds less than completely wrapped up in the moment — even if his meaning remains nigh impenetrable. It’s a switch from Bejar’s affiliation as one of the New Pornographers, where he comes off as merely cryptic, applying his…
The Station Agent’s writer-director, Tom McCarthy, follows up that surprise success with another precious, whimsical tale of an unlikely threesome. This time, though, he gets political, making a liberal-guilt-trip movie about Western ignorance of Third World culture. When recently widowed Connecticut economics professor Walter Vale (the excellent character actor Richard Jenkins in an unfortunately fussy, mannered performance) returns to his…
Wong Kar Wai called Chungking Express, his fourth film but first international calling card, “a road movie of the heart.” My Blueberry Nights, his first film in English, has been called an actual road movie, but it’s more of a destination film with three settings: East goes West when Elizabeth (Norah Jones) ditches New York with a broken heart and…
In Made of Honor, Patrick Dempsey plays a conveniently rich and willfully single serial fornicator slowly but surely domesticated by his unspoken love for longtime BFF Hannah (Michelle Monaghan). She’s on her way to Scotland to marry Mr. Right Now because Mr. Right is too chickenshit to say boo before her “I do.” Which, come to think of it, sums…
Chalk it up to personal preference, but I’ve always been fonder of comic-book heroes who emerge by intent rather than by happenstance. I mean the ones whose transformation from average Joe into masked crusader is an act of will instead of the unintended result of a genetic mutation, a spider bite, or a meteor ride to earth from the outer…
Before the night of April 3, 2007, Fernando Guzman and Ramona Moreno were unfamiliar with the sound of gunfire. At first, they thought they had heard an explosion. The young couple had spent the evening at the hospital, where Ramona’s sister had given birth that day. They had left their 2-year-old daughter, Yelena, at her grandparents’ house — a tidy yellow-and-green…
