The moment I walked into the Bottleneck Wednesday night, it immediately became apparent that I had lost all touch of what is popular. You see, the last few shows I’ve seen at the Bottleneck haven’t been empty, but they’ve been a little sparse. At most of these shows, the only people rubbing shoulders have been standing in the front row….
While the real U2 enjoys a maelstrom of attention around its latest release, No Line on the Horizon (which, in my opinion, has both genuinely awesome songs and some real cheez), Dan Regan, president of Kansas City’s beloved annual Irish Fest (which, in my opinion, is fabulous) is polling readers of his Tir Na Blog as to whether he should…
%{}% Tonight is the first of Harvesters’ Forks & Corks dinners. The biggest is next month, but tonight’s proceeds are no less important to Kansas City’s only food bank. Eleven restaurants are participating; each offers a special prix-fixe dinner with a portion of the proceeds going directly to Harvesters. Lidia’s serves a three-course $35 meal, with diners choosing from three…
The Sweet Guy bakery and confectionery shop was an off-the-beaten-path gem in Parkville. A little too off the path. “That’s why we had to close it,” said manager David Reid. Now, four months after shuttering the Parkville location, the Sweet Guy is back in business in a much more central location. It opened last Friday in the heart of Waldo…
Last night, KMBC Channel 9 called the scene of a drive-by shooting “Terror Town.” In January, The Kansas City Star did a three-part series calling the 64130 zip code the “Murder Factory.” No matter what it’s called, yesterday marked the first murder of the year in the area. A 38-year-old man was fatally shot in the head by a stray bullet…
%{}% It’s not a vodka with a huge marketing budget, but there are plenty of other good reasons to drink local Most Wanted Vodka. It’s a familiar situation to be in. Always one missing ingredient away from being able to make the recipe you wanted to. Or in this case, missing one ingredient for multiple recipes. Ah, to be relaxing…
It’s been quite the year so far for Jason Day and Aaron Chronister. Their recipe for the Bacon Explosion got them on the front page of The New York Times and was the highlight of Superbowl parties across the country. Turns out the best was yet to come, as the pair reportedly just inked a six-figure book deal with the…
Decrepit Birth could be the perfect gateway through which the metal-phobic could enter the darkened realm, provided that the prospective listener could overlook that scary-sounding name. Also, an instrumental like “The Enigmatic Form” would be an ideal starting point, to get the unaccustomed listener hooked on the group’s jazzy riffs, symphonic keys, and clear, neo-classical solos before introducing them to…
Missouri lawmakers, I take it back. Meet Kansas state Rep. Bill Otto. Hat tip to Kansas Jackass. Categories: News, Politics Tags: Bill Otto, kansas, Kansas House of Representatives, kathleen sebelius
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. I do this for one reason: Knowledge is power.School Autograph Book of Charles “Chick” Olsen Author: The students of PS 30, RichmondDate: 1945-1946Discovered at: 2nd Chance Thrift, 63rd & Troost Representative Quote:”Dear Charles,Remember me until…
In the artist’s own words, this local exhibition features “watercolors, acrylics and prints of drinking dogs, singing bikers, K.C. buildings and cow stuff.” Charlie Podrebarac will make you smile. Fri., March 6, 5:30 p.m.; Fri., April 3, 2009 Tags: Charlie Podrebarac, Night & Day
In the exhibit Rust Still Dreams, artists Jordan Briceland and Charles Ray consider rust not corrosive but creative. Thursdays-Saturdays, 12-9 p.m.; Sundays, 12-6 p.m. Starts: March 7. Continues through March 29, 2009 Tags: Charles Ray, Night & Day
Tuesday morning at 10 may seem like an odd time to see a play. But it just may be the best hour to catch the world premiere opening today at the Coterie Theatre (2450 Grand). At press time, some of the weekend evening performances of Atypical Boy were already sold-out. Like most Coterie productions, this one is geared to younger…
Outsider art as a designation for work created by nonprofessionals sometimes comes off as derisive or elitist, but Mo Dickens uses the term with unabashed affection for the art when he talks about Rare Visions — Detour Art, the exhibit opening tonight at the Belger Arts Center (2100 Walnut, 816-474-3250). “Most of this work wasn’t made to be in a…
The Kansas City Kansas Community College Department of Theatre presents the critically acclaimed musical that features all Elvis Presley songs. Thu., March 5, 8 p.m.; Fri., March 6, 8 p.m.; Sat., March 7, 8 p.m.; Sun., March 8, 2:30 p.m., 2009 Tags: Elvis Presley, Kansas City Kansas Community College Department of Theatre, Night & Day
The Kansas City Symphony Chamber Players get their war on today. For the first of two free concerts at the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial (100 West 26th Street), the ensemble gears up for Stravinsky’s Octet for Winds and L’Histoire du Soldat. The latter, which reinterprets a Faustian folk tale from old Russia, gives today’s program its…
Who’s Lerner and Loewe? is a musical tribute to the songwriting team responsible for the musical theater hits Brigadoon in 1947, Paint Your Wagon in 1951, My Fair Lady in 1956, the film Gigi for MGM in 1958 and finally Camelot in 1960. Thursdays, Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: March 5. Continues through…
Thanks to free markets and constitutional liberties, even a child born into poverty and oppression can become the next corporate billionaire — or so the mythology goes. Bad news on the economic and environmental fronts, though, have started pushing the concept of the American dream in a different direction. The New American Dream, the 40th-annual Robert F. Kennedy Symposium taking…
Me Rento Para Soñar, translated as I Rent Myself to Dream, is a wide-ranging exhibit of work by Oaxacan artist Alvaro Santiago that opened last month, but a public reception takes place tonight at the Consulate of Mexico (1600 Baltimore, 816-556-0800) from 6 to 10. The 59 exhibited pieces include paintings on canvas, sculpture, ceramic pieces, engravings and book illustrations….
Inside the Painter’s Studio, an exhibition of Joe Fig’s table sculptures at the Byron C. Cohen Gallery for Contemporary Art (2020 Baltimore, 816-421-5665), opens tonight from 7 to 9. After a prolonged hiatus, Fig explores his own artistic motivations by reproducing the work spaces and studios of contemporary painters in tiny, hyper-detailed tableaux. “For me, I was doing the historical…
Happy Tree Friends, sharing its title with a series of disgusting Web animations, is actually a collaborative effort among a group of Kansas City and Lawrence artists that pivots on the theme of trees. “It’s casting a fairly broad net, and while there’s a bit of irony in the title, it embraces the idea that artists have specific and expansive…
