Back about the time that George W. Bush took office, a University of Kansas homecoming game pretty much amounted to tailgating and flipping the channel to a more enticing matchup. If the boys in blue actually pulled out a win, bedlam was the requisite response — that is, dumping the goal posts in the lake and cavorting around downtown with…
Before there was a Kansas City, there was the town of West Port. Founded 175 years ago at the junction of the Santa Fe, California and Oregon trails, West Port was indeed a portal to the West — a place for pioneers to load up their covered wagons with supplies before venturing farther.From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m today, Westport…
Melba Moore has been nominated for a Grammy Award many times over. And in 1970, she became the first black woman to receive a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Purlie. But, at times, it’s been a hard-knock life for the singer-actress. Among her darkest hours: the destitute time that followed the dissolution of her marriage….
(13350 College Boulevard, 913-345-9717). Keep it simple with $3 import bottles and 50-cent tacos. Tuesdays, 2008 Tags: Night & Day
(13412 Santa Fe Trail Drive, 913-894-9676). Enjoy the calypso sounds of Bartholomew with $5 domestic pitchers and $2 Alpen Wolfe bombs. (Mmm … tastes like Jäger!) Tue., Oct. 28, 2008 Tags: Alpen Wolfe, Night & Day
(12906 West 87th Street Parkway, 913-541-0137). Hook yourself up with 75-cent tacos and $2.75 margaritas, well tequila shots, Corona and Corona Light bottles. No sombrero required. Tuesdays, 2008 Tags: Corona (New York), Corona Light, Night & Day
Back in 1978, Columbia, Missouri, native William Least Heat-Moon spent three months traveling the back roads and small towns of the United States. The account of his wanderings, Blue Highways, became what The New York Times described as a giant honkin’ best-seller and established Least Heat-Moon as a funny, lyrical voice in travel writing. His newest book, Roads to Quoz:…
Pride and Glory makes no effort to disguise what it is: a barely held-together string of vignettes lifted from every cop movie ever made, except perhaps Turner & Hooch. It serves up clichés bound together by a flimsy, bored-out-of-its-own-skull story about bad cops, black sheep, good sons, and a climactic punch-out between related-by-marriage cops in a bar called — no…
After fronting the Modern Lovers, Jonathan Richman retreated from the machismo world of Sex Pistols, Dead Boys and Buzzcocks, and though often considered a godfather of punk rock, he quickly surrendered himself to endless childhood. Where the Velvet Underground served as the major catalyst to his earliest work, Richman soon became a sponge for an array of world-music sounds. Absorbing…
If God is dead, no one told MSTRKRFT. This Toronto-based duo resurrects Old Testament fury on the turntables. Jesse Keeler and Alex Puodziukas (Al-P) follow up their 2006 debut effort, The Looks, with the same hard-banging loops that have made MSTRKRFT the master of the electronic remix. Its newest tracks — set for official release in early 2009, under the…
Having toured with the likes of Boris, Isis, Baroness and the Sword, Torche would seemingly be metal by association, but the quartet proves to be a lot harder to peg than that. Occasionally referred to as “doom pop,” the Miami-based combo takes the gritty, riff-heavy influence of doom metal and melds it with the shoe-gazey melody of dream-pop. Heavy but…
With album titles like Springtime Can Kill You and the newly minted The Living and the Dead, Jolie Holland must be stoked for Día de los Muertos. Holland’s death-tinged tunes echo the eerie traditionalism of Tom Waits. More than just an influence, Waits figures into her career arc: Her homemade 2003 debut album, Catalpa, earned his praises and was snatched…
Those interviewed for Stefan Forbes’ fascinating documentary about Lee Atwater end anecdotes about the Republican strategist’s dirty tricks with a titter that is either nervous or ambivalently appreciative. It may be enough to know that Atwater (who drove race into the 1988 presidential campaign to win the election for George Bush Sr. against Michael Dukakis) was a disciple of Strom…
If you’re a folksy, idiosyncratic musician from Austin, it might be in your interest not to have a name as commonplace as Bob Schneider. Luckily, the inimitable Schneider has avoided any woodwork-blending by rocking a style that defies classification. It has paid off with high-profile opening gigs for the Dixie Chicks and Dave Matthews, and a (perhaps unrelated) headline-grabbing romance…
Back when video games topped out at 64 bits, the Toadies would never have guessed that one might resurrect their career someday. But the inclusion of “Possum Kingdom” in the Guitar Hero II set list seemed to be the perfect precursor to the Texas outfit’s return. Fourteen years have passed since frontman Vaden Todd Lewis first haunted radio waves with…
Two decades removed from its last truly cutting-edge work, 1988’s classic … And Justice for All, Metallica finds itself strangely resting on top of the world while still fighting to stay relevant. Starting with 1991’s Metallica (known as the Black Album), the band began to veer wildly from the thrilling thrash-metal style it once played with unparalleled skill. Now, it…
Over the last 10 months, a few Italian restaurants have closed: midtown’s The Copa Room, the Ameristar Casino’s Bugatti’s Ristorante & Café, and Olathe’s Carrabba’s Italian Grill. Last Saturday, the 13-year-old Il Trullo at 9056 Metcalf in Overland Park joined the list. I know what you’re thinking: Hasn’t that restaurant closed before, only to reopen in the same location? Yes,…
Despite the shaky economy, new restaurants continue to open in the Power & Light District, and that’s a good thing. What I keep waiting for is the day when a great restaurant opens in this expensively mounted complex of dining and drinking establishments. Except for the Bristol Seafood Grill, which is beautifully decorated and has a first-rate menu, the P&L…
With speed and efficiency, the railroad pulled America westward, while in Europe, a rising tide of industrialization was often celebrated and bemoaned by artists. Art in the Age of Steam: Europe, America and the Railway, 1830-1960 carefully and beautifully unpacks this story from its rather humble but transformative beginnings. Divided into six sections for organization and narrative purposes, this giant…
As double crosses accumulate and desperate characters wrangle amusingly for priceless postage stamps, Mauritius might surprise you. Now enjoying a crisp and intelligent production at the Unicorn, Mauritius aims at nothing more than telling a good, old-fashioned story. Playwright Theresa Rebeck and director Cynthia Levin ace the story’s fundamentals — compelling characters, marvelous pacing, dialogue that sounds like the best…
Child, I haven’t had sex in 40 years,” says 64-year-old Lillian Cole, laughing unself-consciously. She’s sitting in her wheelchair on the porch in front of the Don Bosco Senior Center, which faces a row of brick buildings in the historic Columbus Park neighborhood. “I ain’t missed it, either,” Cole continues. Don Bosco is a day center where disabled individuals and…
Opposition to Kansas City’s light-rail proposal gives new meaning to the term narrow interest. A couple building a 43-foot-wide car wash on Main Street is funding the campaign, calling the route a billion-dollar train to nowhere. Last month, Michael Messina, a lawyer with an office in Waldo, gave $10,000 to the Committee for Sensible Transit. A trust in the name…
Dear Mexican: One of our Arizona politicians once said, on the PBS show Horizonte, that the “crime” of being undocumented in this country is equivalent legally to that of a parking ticket. Do you know where I can verify this statement? So often, in the argument over immigration, the bottom line for those who are anti-immigrant is that there must…
Last spring, the city of Roeland Park installed seven sculptures around town for its “Art in R Park.” The program, which started in 2007, rotates works by Kansas City Art Institute students every six months. Over the summer, one sculpture stood out: “Ponder,” a massive carved-stone figure created by Derek Webster, depicted an alien-looking bald man sitting on the ground,…
