“Become a Monk” by Modey Lemon, from Season of Sweets (Birdman Records): For good bands, genres are training wheels, not blueprints. Not to disparage Modey Lemon’s early proto-punk beginnings — those race-car rhythms with frantic, MC5 throb rocked — but the allure was rudimentary. The group’s second album, Thunder & Lightning, rumbles like a grimy, grease-coated version of Blues Explosion….
“Hey There” by Myra Taylor, from My Night To Dream (APO Records): To feel the heart of Kansas City, you have to go to the blues — the root of all jazz, soul, rock and hip-hop. And there’s no better way there than the eighth (almost annual) Kansas City, Kansas, Street Blues Festival. Friday night’s show — from 6 to…
After signing with ATO Records and announcing her upcoming sixth album, Liz Phair told reporters, “I can honestly say, for the first time in 15 years, I feel creative.” The release date is still in limbo, but we’ll settle for Exile in Guyville 15th Anniversary Reissue and its companion DVD, out this week. The updated version of Phair’s song-for-song answer…
“Glory” by D-Will, from Heir of Abraham (self-released): Denzel Williams is a nerd. You can’t tell just by looking at him — he doesn’t wear glasses taped at the bridge of the nose or Urkel pants. The 26-year-old rapper and producer, who goes by the name D/Will, dresses fresh in tilted hats, crisp polos and bright Nike SBs. But he…
A couple of weeks ago, I walked out of one of the new restaurants in the Power & Light District — I won’t be coy here; it was Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant — after dining there with two friends. I was still holding my charge receipt and mumbling about the expense. “Honestly,” I said, turning to my friend Addison. “I…
If you’re the nostalgic type, then get to the Dolphin gallery before it’s over in the Crossroads. Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that the Dolphin is decamping for the West Bottoms, and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art is moving in. Owner John O’Brien’s desire to stake a new claim in an old territory drives him westward….
Simply put, the cast of Reefer Madness is the best, buffest, most limber, most crisply polished, most game-for-anything singing-dancing ensemble you’ll see until Steven Eubank mounts Rocky Horror again in October. The music and book, both by Kevin Murphy and San Studney, are almost as good as the cast. A spoof of the craptastic 1936 pot-scare film of the same…
It’s a warm, breezy May afternoon, and Alexander Austin is wearing a worn, leather cowboy hat while lingering in the lot on the south end of the Power & Light District. His white T-shirt is marked with errant brushes of dried paint, and his fingers are spattered, too. He’s still strapped into the bright-yellow harness that lets him float 30…
It could have happened. Today, in fact, city officials might be cutting the ribbon on a light-rail line stretching from Vivion Road to 75th Street. In 2001, the city went to Kansas City voters with its first and only light-rail plan. (All other ballot questions have been Clay Chastain productions.) For the price of a half-percent sales tax, the city…
Dear Mexican: What do you think would happen if U.S. citizens could buy land and set up businesses in Mexico as easily as Mexicans can do so in the United States? Might that be a big boost to the Mexican economy? I know there are provisions in the Mexican Constitution that prevent this, but what is the rationale? Love Mexico…
Red Night Club
Quixotic Performance Fusion
By CHRIS PACKHAM Small Market Scribblings — the sports feature you’ve seen on this blog for several weeks — has, via the kind of “slingshot” gravity assist you learned about in your junior college orbital mechanics course, been flung out of Plog orbit and is now floating through space as the first and only Pitch sports blog. SMALL MARKET SCRIBBLINGS,…
Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on the blog of The Pitch’s sister paper in St. Louis, the Riverfront Times. By CHAD GARRISON This celebrity news item comes a bit late, but what can I say? I wasn’t on the invite list. The infamous Paige Laurie tied the knot June 14. Word is that Missouri’s most eligible bachelorette, Wal-Mart heiress…
By OWEN MORRIS There’s no concrete definition on what a good summer beer is, just that it should be light and refreshing, usually with a touch of citrus. Last night, Gordon Biersch threw a tapping party (its second of the year) to debut its new summer brew. Power & Light District brewery’s attempt is an excellent, very drinkable offering most…
By ANDY VIHSTADT The Faint recently left the Saddle Creek imprint to start its own blank.wav record label. The Omaha-based dance-punk outfit will debut its new business venture with its fifth LP, Fasciinatiion, out August 5. Have a listen to the album’s first single, “The Geeks Were Right,” here. Categories: Music Tags: MP3, the download extra, The Faint
By CHRIS PACKHAM You must click here. I’m always a fan of co-worker David Martin, but today’s column is EXTRA good, a whole package of public-interest advocacy, pointed observation and stickin’ it to the Man, as portrayed by Robert Culp in Turk 182. %{}% All I have to offer are snotty jokes about local news. This is a test of…
