Breathe easy, Kansas City. The Ginger Musical is not some redheaded version of Hair. Instead, Christopher McGovern’s promising dance musical, at the American Heartland Theatre, is inspired by the old joke that Ginger Rogers did everything that the more celebrated Fred Astaire did, only backward and in heels. Sure, Astaire’s stage and film career was one of the most inventive…
(2450 Grand, 816-398-4825). The glass-enclosed Italian restaurant offers $3.75 mimosas and $3 bottles from 3 to 5 p.m. Sun., March 8, 3-5 p.m., 2009 Tags: 2817, Night & Day
(2450 Grand, 816-472-5959). Streetcar 52 moved from 4922 Main to Crown Center in 1984 and has been serving cheap food and drinks ever since. From noon to 5 p.m. today, drink $4.50 Guinness drafts, $3.50 Rolling Rock bottles and $3.75 wells. Sun., March 8, 12-5 p.m., 2009 Tags: Crown Center, Night & Day
(2450 Grand, 816-472-1717). Kabuki is one of the only places in town that serves Shabu Shabu, the DIY beef-tofu-veggie hot-pot dish. Try it from noon to 9 p.m. with $5.95 glasses of house plum wine and $6.50 saketinis. Sun., March 8, 12-9 p.m., 2009 Tags: 1291, Night & Day
If you are what you eat, then nobody knows the British royal family like Darren McGrady does. He prepared every meal, party and spot of tea for Princess Diana and her two sons from 1993 until her death in 1997. Prior to serving the princess, McGrady was Queen Elizabeth II’s cook for 11 years. Now a private chef in Dallas,…
Equal parts handsome leading man and gifted physical comedian, Cary Grant translated Archie Leach’s talent for pratfalls into the unparalleled grace of a man who could traverse a steep rooftop in Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief. As reformed cat burglar John Robie, the debonair Grant pitches both ends of a doubleheader — tracking the jewel thief who’s arousing renewed…
In the prevailing horrible economic climate, you know which industry is doing really well? Used cars and used auto parts. New shiny cars have become luxury items for Americans clinging by their fingernails to jobs they thought they hated just six short months ago. Eight hours in a call center doesn’t sound so bad now, does it? Staring at unblemished,…
One hundred years ago, on the heels of a 15,000-women march in New York City for shorter workdays, better pay and voting rights, the Socialist Party of America declared the first National Women’s Day. A year later, the first Women’s Day was established at the International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the first International Women’s Day was…
Beer thirty has become little bit holier on Thursday nights in Lawrence. Henry’s on Eighth (11 East Eighth Street, 785-331-3511) is the bar of choice for Theology on Tap, an event presided over by the Rev. Josh Longbottom, pastor at Lawrence’s Plymouth Congregational Church. According to him, everyone from atheists to “people who have a strong sense of Scripture” gather…
Twenty-six years ago, a young bartender named Dick Schulte took over the space known as Blayney’s (415 Westport Road, 816-561-3747) and turned it into the bedrock of blues action in Westport. Since then, the open-until-3 a.m. location with the 1,800-square-foot back deck and underground stage and bar has hosted John Fogerty and the Rainmakers and helped birth such bands as…
Israelis are tough. They’re supposed to serve in the military at age 18 — even the women. They invented the Uzi. Also? They party like rock stars. Join the Jewish Federation’s Young Professionals Initiative and the Israeli Committee at Lucky Brewgrille (5401 Johnson Drive in Mission) from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. for the third-annual Purim Masquerade Party. Tickets cost…
Compare Laurent Cantet’s terrific The Class with Mr. Holland’s Opus and Dangerous Minds. Note the structural similarities: misbehaving students, a charismatic educator who wants them to succeed, and big thoughts about the classroom as urban microcosm. Discuss the difference between Hollywood’s triumphal individualism and Cantet’s delicate examination of what counts as success — and failure — in a corner of…
Former Tony! Toni! Toné! bass player and singer Raphael Saadiq (aka Charlie Ray Wiggins) spent much of the last decade super-producing albums for Mary J. Blige, the Roots, Joss Stone and D’Angelo, including the latter’s Grammy-winning single “Untitled (How Does It Feel).” Last September, Saadiq super-produced his own fourth solo release, The Way I See It, a joyful evocation of…
As Waylon Jennings famously asked, “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?” The answer from Shelton Hank Williams III is a resounding “no.” The third-generation torchbearer has carved his own path, penning thunderous metal anthems to complement a selection of tunes that would make his grandpappy proud. His fourth studio album, Damn Right Rebel Proud, boldly proclaims, “I’m here…
It’s the economy, stupid. This notion has been taken to heart lately by musicians in particular. But with just two instruments and two people, you have a little more room to move. Vonnegut would recognize this as a nation of two, and here’s one that’s flying a don’t tread on me flag. Rock duo Jucifer originated in the heavy ’90s,…
For the self-proclaimed “worst-behaved rock band” in Kansas City, burnout was inevitable. The dissolution of Shots Fired occurred on the heels of endless months of touring, including a full summer of Warped Tour in 2005 and a stint as part of Reggie and the Full Effect’s stage ensemble (a gig that involved wearing pink bunny suits). “We weren’t doing six-week…
When Blitzen Trapper set the stage for Stephen Malkmus at Liberty Hall last August, it felt like a passing of the torch. Like Pavement, Malkmus’ deceased indie-rock fraternity, Blitzen Trapper splits the difference between absurd wankery and knockout songcraft. The Portland, Oregon, group’s fourth album, Furr, revised its mission statement inasmuch as it presented a more polished and coherent set…
The DJs have been assembled. And the clock is ticking, ticking … down to 9 p.m. this Friday night at NV (220 Admiral), where a fresh crop of DJs will face off with randomly ordered, back-to-back, live, super-intense, peak-time, club-banging, 30-minute sets in the city’s biggest yearly DJ event: The Pitch Ultra Music DJ Contest. We’re totally excited about this…
Christopher Crisci is a man of few words. Well, that’s only partially true. When he’s not performing, the lead singer and guitarist for the Appleseed Cast is a relatively talkative guy. But when he’s making music, Crisci’s words are sparse — especially on the band’s latest full-length, Sagarmatha. “On this record, the vocals are really serving as an instrument —…
My friend Truman loves soul food — he’s from the South — and has eaten at the new Peachtree Restaurant in the Power & Light District several times. His major complaint about the place has nothing to do with the food. “No one there can mix a decent martini,” he told me. “If you order one, you feel like you’re…
The most eagerly anticipated (as well as the most beleaguered) movie of the year, Watchmen is neither desecratory disaster nor total triumph. In filming David Hayter and Alex Tse’s adaptation of the most ambitious superhero comic book ever written, director Zack Snyder has managed to address the cult while pandering to the masses. Warner Bros., which battled Fox for possession…
Deep Time + Rapid Time is a sprawling, messy exhibition organized by the shifting collective Spurse. The group’s research-oriented work emerges here as a laboratory in which broad, global concepts mingle with local landmarks and minute examinations. The experience implies the strain of expressing temporality: Deep time measured in millions of years, rapid time in more recognizable increments. The published…
Here’s the key to enjoying The Clean House, Sarah Ruhl’s highly touted comedy, now receiving great tides of applause at the Unicorn Theatre: Accept that a play can share something vital about the human condition even when its own humans behave in ways that no humans would. If that doesn’t work, just focus on the precious bits and on Vanessa…
Brenda has the weathered features of a woman who has worked Independence Avenue, selling her body for a few bucks and dulling her crack high with a bottle of alcohol. Sitting at a long table at the city jail, she twists her arms in front of her and squirms in her seat like a fifth-grader. Her tired eyes pick up…
