A friend of mine is a member of the Kansas City International Visitors Council, so she gets to meet people from all over the world when they come to check out KC. Earlier this week, she agreed to host a home-cooked dinner for several delegates here on a three-week tour of the U.S. She was a little nervous at the…
Each Thursday, your Crap Archivist brings you the finest in forgotten and bewildering crap culled from area basements, thrift stores, estate sales and flea markets. He does this for one reason: Knowledge is power. Unseen Kingdoms Author: Bill Cox Publisher: Inner Light Publications, New Brunswick, NJ Date: 1983 Discovered at: Joe’s Town Antique Mall, Grandview The Cover Promises: A volcano?…
Kansas City native Ed Asner is no stranger to controversy. The Emmy-winning actor fought with CBS in the 1980s when the network objected to his political activism, and he has been outspoken against the Iraq war since its infancy. So it should be entertaining to watch him play a conservative — stubborn lawyer William Jennings Bryan — in The Great…
Glitz and glam meet up with 2,000 years of ancient tradition tonight and Saturday as graduates of the famed Fu Hsing Academy bring their act to Yardley Hall at Johnson County Community College’s Carlsen Center (12345 College Boulevard in Overland Park). The National Acrobats of China comprise gravity-defying artists, dancers, contortionists, athletes and magicians — all of whom work together…
Now that there’s no more arena football in Kansas City, the stage is set for rugby to finally make its long-awaited entrance at the Sprint Center — or not. “Most people are surprised to find out rugby even exists in Kansas City,” says Wayne Nicholsen, a co-founder of Kansas City’s fifth and newest rugby team, the Rogues. The sport has…
Witty barbs exchanged between master thriller writer, Selwyn, and his estranged wife, Imogen, turn fatal … or do they? When the writer is found dead by his loyal secretary and the amateur detective neighbor insists on solving the crime, the twists and turns begin in this comedy for the stage. Crisp and funny, this light-hearted and inventive thriller unfolds with…
Feature films once came packaged not only with previews (which ran after the movie) but also with self-contained short pieces. The first-annual Kansas City, Kansas, Film Fest revives that value-packed format, supplementing the full-length Bunker Hill with eight regionally produced shorts ranging from two to 19 minutes. Event host Kevin Willmott’s terrorism parable, Bunker Hill, examines a quiet Kansas town…
Super Bowl 43 (we refuse to use the pretentious Roman numerals) will feature two star players with lots of hair shooting out from the backs of their helmets (Larry Fitzgerald, Troy Polamalu), as well as performances by Jennifer Hudson, Faith Hill, and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The big game coincides with the first anniversary of Crosstown Station…
The combined weight of the women on the Kansas City Tribe’s 2009 roster is 6,984 pounds. This all-female tackle football team, which finished 4-4 last season, returns to its home field at Center High School (8715 Holmes) for the season opener against the Minnesota Vixen on April 11. Until then, the 42 women, including eight all-star players, have practices to…
At this free event, get tips on reducing your carbon footprint, recycling, winterizing your home, learn about “green” jobs and more. Also: a cheerleading competition, plus free facials and haircuts Sat., Jan. 31, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., 2009 Tags: 3560, Night & Day
Thousands of comic books will be available at the Kansas City stop of the Midwest Comic Book Convention. Admission is free. See epguides.com/comics for more details. Sat., Jan. 31, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 2009 Tags: Kansas City, Midwest Comic Book Convention, Night & Day
An expert on national security issues, Dr. D. Robert Worley discusses The Evolution of the National Security Council: Truman to Present. Because the National Security Council’s organization and process is not specified in law, each president has differed in how he structured and employed the Council to support his personal decision-making style. Mon., Feb. 2, 6:30 p.m., 2009 Tags: D….
Pi Art Gallery’s five-day art sale culminates with a Happy Hour Haggle from 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, January 31. Check out the great art deals as you sip on tasty beverages. Tue., Jan. 27; Wed., Jan. 28; Thu., Jan. 29; Fri., Jan. 30; Sat., Jan. 31, 2009 Tags: 2817, Night & Day
The FBI had a thick file on Jackie Ormes. Widely regarded as the first African-American female cartoonist, Ormes had the misfortune of working during the Joe McCarthy era. Surveillance and suspicion were paranoid disorders of the day. None of the 287 pages that the bureau compiled on Ormes even mentioned her comic strips. As Nancy Goldstein writes in her book,…
One needs no hipster sensibilities to know that Marc Pepperman, Justin Tricomi, Ryan Pinkston, Adam McGill and Kenn Jankowski, the men of the Republic Tigers, are Kansas City’s latest contribution to the world of electro-pop. From NPR to Letterman, from London to Los Angeles, the Tigers are steadily building a considerable following alongside their 2008 release, Keep Color. Check out…
Although the Unicorn Theatre’s longstanding support for new plays inspired James Still to choose it for the premiere of The Velvet Rut, the playwright credits another local institution with awakening his love of the stage. “When the Rep was called the Missouri Rep, their touring production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf came to Ottawa,” recalls Still, a native of…
There’s something about the work of Andy Goldsworthy that makes the beholder forget to breathe. The British sculptor creates his art from the grit and delicacy provided by nature, dabbling in both the permanence of stone and the transience of icicles and twigs. Despite his international recognition for bending nature into striking installations, Goldsworthy is just one in a species…
In today’s corpse-strewn music marketplace, how can four young people harness their get-in-the-van spirit without losing their catgut? Easy: Start a string quartet, the original rock band — all the road warring and none of the drummer jokes. In the shadow dimension of classical performance, the old violin-violin-viola-cello setup is hotter than American Idol, with no shortage of passion, facility…
It’s dangerous to become too absorbed in Blowupnihilist’s music. Those captivatingly eerie, ambient waves yield to harsh, grinding metal. It’s like getting lulled into a daydream by the repetitive clamor on an assembly line, only to be jolted by the abrupt, bloody realization that your hand has become lodged in the machinery. The Vancouver, Washington, instrumental act combines industrial rhythms,…
In 2003, Azar Nafisi published Reading Lolita in Tehran, in which she recounted her experience of leading a secret book club in her native Iran. The book offered a look beyond the veil and into the minds and everyday experiences of a group of educated Iranian women in the mid-1990s. Nafisi’s new memoir exposes more secrets — hers. In Things…
(4536 Main, 816-561-6480). Half-priced bottles of wine are available from open to close. After 6 p.m., Miller High Life bottles are two-for-one, and well bourbon shots are $3. All go with the sounds of the Roger Wilder Quartet, starting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 2009 Tags: Miller High Life, Night & Day
(931 Broadway, 816-474-8484). The Joe Cartwright Duo plays at 6:30 p.m. and can be enjoyed with $4.95 glasses of house wine, $5 wells or $3.50 domestic bottles. Wednesdays, 2009 Tags: Night & Day
(302 West Eighth Street, 816-221-5299). Happy hour at the reopened corner club is from 4 to 7 p.m. and features $3 drafts, $4 house wines and $5 specialty martinis. Sherri Hand plays piano from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. After that, Dan Thomas and Friends perform at 7. Wednesdays, 4-7 p.m., 2009 Tags: Dan Thomas, Night & Day, Sherri Hand
(4501 West 119th Street, Leawood, 913-345-0800). Go south for $7.95 Electric Blue martinis, $8-$10 glasses of house wine, and the music of Greg Richter from 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesdays, 2009 Tags: Greg Richter, Night & Day
