Thanks to movers and shakers like Miles Bonny, Mondays don’t have to suck. Bonny and his esteemed DJ partner, Joc Max, are firing up a free weekly night called A Case of the Mondays at 8 p.m. every Monday at the Phoenix Jazz Club (302 West Eighth Street, 816-472-0001). The historic jazz club was a thriving speakeasy during the Pendergast…
This performance is part of a series of free community concerts being presented by the Kansas City Symphony. The string quartet performing features: Andrew Fuller, violin Kevin Hao, violin Sean Brumble, viola Richard Bell, cello Tue., March 3, 7 p.m., 2009 Tags: Andrew Fuller, Kansas City, Kevin Hao, Night & Day, Richard Bell
Every Sunday, members of the Community of Reason meet to discuss philosophical, religious, environmental and other matters. A featured guest leads the events, which begin with an informal gathering at 12:30 p.m., followed by a lecture. The meetings take place in room 301. Sun., March 1, 12:30 p.m., 2009 Tags: Night & Day
Sometimes you pick up a paperback with a title that promises thrills — say, Tomorrow You Die. Then you look at the jacket, and the plot description is so boring that you just walk away. We don’t want to ruin great art with bad synopses, so we’re just going to let these awesome titles speak for themselves: Glass Jaw, Slow…
Sarah Ruhl’s well-regarded 2004 play The Clean House, now enjoying its Kansas City premiere at the Unicorn Theatre, dares to ask just who’s responsible for cleaning up after Americans. But for all its complex themes and gray-area political explorations, The Clean House is a comedy. This production, directed by Cynthia Levin, stars Peggy Friesen as a doctor and Vanessa Severo…
The Kansas-Missouri rivalry took a weird turn when the men’s basketball teams met in Columbia February 9. The Tigers scored a mere 16 points in the first half but still managed to hand KU its first conference loss of the season. The Jayhawks left Mizzou Arena cursing the 27 turnovers they had committed — after the game, head coach Bill…
(625 Northwest Mock Avenue, Blue Springs, 816-220-1222). Drink $2 wells and domestic bottles from 3 to 7 p.m. After that, glasses of wine are $2 until close at this bar and grill close to where Interstate 70 meets Missouri Highway 7. Tue., March 3, 3-7 p.m., 2009 Tags: 318, Night & Day
(1205 East 85th Street, 816-822-7427). The “Bar Stool Special” from 4 to 6 p.m. includes smoked chicken wings for $4.95, boudin balls for $3.95 and $1.50 domestic bottles. Stay parked on the same stool and check out Trampled Under Foot from 7 to 10 p.m. Tue., March 3, 2009 Tags: Night & Day
(6948 North Oak Trafficway, 816-468-0550). From 3 to 6 p.m., this bar in Gladstone has domestic bottles for $2.25 and 16-ounce Bud Light draws for $2. Tue., March 3, 2009 Categories: Beer & Spirits Tags: Bud-light, Night & Day
If you ever become tired of hearing Modest Mouse on the radio, just remember what could be on the air if “Float On” wasn’t. The group’s 2004 hit took precious spins away from Avril Lavigne and Hoobastank, proving that quirky indie-rock bands still had a fighting chance to make a substantial commercial impact. The group’s addition of Smiths guitarist Johnny…
Though he now lives in a red-brick mini-mansion down a silent cul-de-sac in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., Alberto Mora is at heart a Miami Cuban. Among the clues are a voracious appetite for debate and the Bustelo espresso he brews for visitors to his sparsely decorated home. And until recently, you could tell by his politics. When U.S….
Known for his work producing and engineering landmark recordings by Sonic Youth, Brian Eno, John Zorn, Unsane, the Dresden Dolls, and a slew of others (including Herbie Hancock during his “Rockit” period), Martin Bisi is only now beginning to concentrate on his own material. This rare appearance comes on the heels of his new album, Sirens of the Apocalypse, a…
The Foundry Field Recordings isn’t the most prodigious of indie-rock bands. But the group from Columbia, Missouri, makes up in quality and consistency what it lacks in quantity. Its 2006 full-length, Prompts/Miscues, and its follow-up 2007 EP, Fallout Station, earned the band critical support and an ever-widening local and national fanbase. The Foundry sound leans heavily on shoegaze indie-pop while…
If “post-rock” is going to endure as a supposed genre, it’s going to have to sound at least as interesting as Annuals. The Raleigh, North Carolina, six-piece (not to be confused with Salt Lake City’s Band of Annuals) evokes a sense of catharsis on a par with Animal Collective or Broken Social Scene but is generally a lot more hummable….
Heads of rap labels are apt to use “family” as a euphemism for their crew of artists, homeboys and hype men. Kocane Cowboy 2.2, the newest release from rapper Rushin Roolet, finds local legend Rich the Factor truly keeping the music in the family. The Hanson brothers they’re not, but the partnership between Rush (Rich’s cousin) and Rich (owner, Major…
As rap divorces go, this one is pretty amicable. After five years with Tech N9ne’s label, Strange Music, rappers Skatterman and Snug Brim are cutting the cord. The marriage of Tech N9ne’s painted persona with Skatterman and Snug Brim’s true-crime gangsta swagger had been an odd fit from the start. The duo released two albums and rocked more than 300…
I ‘ve always said that Jack Fiorella has an angel on his shoulder. The most recent proof: In the early morning hours of Sunday, February 15, firetrucks were called to the 25-year-old original Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue — the rambling place in Martin City. A blaze had started in one of the restaurant’s barbecue ovens. “It wasn’t even an oven…
Why Che Guevara and why now? Who in 2009 could be interested in a four-hour movie on the minutiae of guerrilla warfare? The Motorcycle Diaries and the long-ago failure Che! were made to capitalize on the Guevara myth; each, in its way, served to infuriate either Che’s enemies or his fans. By contrast, Steven Soderbergh’s Che is neither romantic nor…
I haven’t seen the movie in 15 years, so I spent much of the Coterie Theatre’s revival of The Breakfast Club marveling at the mere existence of the source material. How often, in popular art, is the adolescent’s need to kick at the world (but still get hugged) expressed so honestly? John Hughes’ script — sensitively adapted for this production…
Soldiers move through the wheat field, scanning the windswept plain for signs of trouble. The six of them, dressed in fatigues and body armor, wear the sunglasses and bushy beards popular among the special forces. They are a few miles outside of Ab Khail, a small Afghan hill town near the Pakistan border, deep in Taliban territory. It’s a primitive…
As she waits for a bus, Regina Potter holds tightly to vouchers for baby formula. The 32-year-old gave birth to twins — a girl and a boy — two months ago. She got the vouchers at the Jackson County Health Department in Independence. The orange bus line will take her home. “This is the way the good Lord helps me,”…
While Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ silver hair was frosting The New York Times last week and sources were calling her President Obama’s first choice to be secretary of health and human services, we noticed that Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson seemed to be increasing his visibility with a few e-mailed press releases about the kind of stuff Sebelius’ office would usually…
Dear Mexican: I believe that the words people use to describe other people, intentionally or unintentionally, reflect their political values. But I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, so I write to you. In a previous column, you described Cesar Chavez as hating “illegals” and as being ethnocentric early in his career. This isn’t the first time…
On Tuesdays at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church (4501 Walnut, 816-531-2131), folks engage in inexpensive educational entertainment. That’s how Carolyn MacDonald describes the Tuesday Documentary Film Series, which is meant to get viewers talking about social justice. Every week, MacDonald shows a new film and then leads a discussion. Admission to the screening is free, but donations are accepted. The…
