Monsters vs. Aliens is strictly playbook material for DreamWorks, makers of kidult-friendly pop-culture mash-ups. But it has one thing going for it that its predecessors did not: It will heretofore be known as the first 3-D movie to render all previous comers headache-inducing charlatans, rinky-dink pretenders. For the first time in the medium’s history, you are there — from the…
Chicago’s Maps & Atlases bridge an unlikely divide between math-rock (being the domain of mostly dudes obsessing over Mars Volta’s YouTube footage) and indie-pop (the comfy cocoon of under-exercised Belle-and-Sebastian–loving library rats). Maps & Atlases toy with your inner metronome with all kinds of outlandish time signatures, stop-starts, midsong interjections, and waterfalls of guitar arpeggios cascading toward organized chaos. Amazingly,…
Surprise! Not every notable indie-rock band from Omaha is on Saddle Creek Records. Example: Little Brazil. Frontman Landon Hedges has strummed alongside Saddle Creek stars Conor Oberst and Tim Kasher in their less famous projects (Desaparecidos and the Good Life, respectively). But, until recently, the guitar-based band that Hedges leads put out its records, including 2007’s heart-wrenching Tighten the Noose,…
Again, grumpy old geezers are burnished into old dears just in time for Christmas by a rosy young beauty with problems of her own. The twist here: The embittered seniors languishing in an Irish retirement home appear to be former flower children, on account of them swearing like troopers and sneaking tokes whenever Authority leaves the room. It was surely…
There’s no rest for the dead — or the living — in this laughably hokey haunted-house hand-wringer based on yet another Amityville-style “true story.” The trouble begins when the Campbell clan moves into a rickety fixer-upper with “a bit of history,” only to discover (spoiler alert!) that it’s a former funeral home where something very bad happened. In the realm…
Kanye West popularized nerdy swagger, and Kansas City rapper Greg Enemy seems to have run with it. As of this writing, Enemy’s profile picture on MySpace finds him staring pensively from beneath a run-down stocking cap, with oversized Urkel-like glasses and a mustache sprouting from his upper lip. It’s the sort of laissez-faire look fashioned by someone who cares very…
As William, a taciturn senior who seems to be planning for his final days, veteran character actor and former Elvis Presley bodyguard Red West takes center stage in Goodbye Solo, co-written and directed by Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart, Chop Shop), who has quietly emerged as one of the major figures in American independent film. In Goodbye Solo, the title…
Two things to know about Eleni Mandell: (1) She’s a badass. (2) Her band is always badass, too. Though the Los Angeles singer-songwriter is all-too-frequently lumped in with the Jolie Holland cabaret set, Mandell is a fully modernized musical mistress with a repertoire seven albums deep. Showcasing sultry-rock numbers in the vein of P.J. Harvey and picturesque Lee Hazlewood pop,…
It’s no wonder that the Appleseed Cast’s latest album is titled after the Nepalese name for Mount Everest. Sagarmatha, the Lawrence-based band’s latest effort, represents a journey into unfathomable heights. The opening track, “As the Little Things Go,” seems in awe of a far-off mountaintop, its recurring instrumental interludes sounding as if they hailed from an angelic choir. In the…
Anti-Crew has altered its sound drastically since its previous releases, both of which earned a spot in local hip-hop lore. How much have things changed? The best moments on the Foundation EP are the guitar solos. Flare tha Rebel and DJ Eternal have assembled a full band (guitarist Pat Attack, drummer Archangel and bassist Cambo), with which they generate hard…
A month ago, the venerable Raphael Hotel on the Country Club Plaza, eager to connect with that desirable younger demographic, introduced Chaz on the Plaza. The dining room is definitely dolled-up compared with its stuffy predecessor. My friend Truman, looking around at the red Fortuny-style lampshades, the smoky mirrors, and the Lucite panels embedded with bamboo sprigs and gingko leaves,…
The book Winesburg, Ohio is often preoccupied with the question of how an artist might capture the truth of a place like Winesburg, Ohio, so I can’t assume that author Sherwood Anderson would object to giving his bleak, disillusioned masterwork the old show-tune makeover. The writers, painters and dreamers of Anderson’s Winesburg ache to make sense of their stifling town….
T. Boone Pickens looks tired. Standing in a packed lecture hall at Rice University in Houston, he’s hawking his Pickens Plan for energy independence, saying we need to use more wind power and natural gas. The 80-year-old, with flesh-colored hearing aids set deep inside his ears, looks confused and momentarily loses track of what he’s saying. He pauses, takes off…
October 25, 1985, was a good night to be in Kansas City. The Royals won the sixth game of the World Series. Across town, Tina Turner performed at Kemper Arena. Turner was touring in support of her smash record Private Dancer. Word of the Royals’ victory passed from spectator to spectator during her rendition of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.”…
Spring is here. You can tell because the budgets are budding. But it’s never long before the blooms drop off, poisoned from within. Here’s an example: Citing some kind of technicality on budget rules, Republicans in the Missouri House of Representatives decided not to give health-care coverage to poor kids. Last Thursday, Rep. Jonas Hughes held a press conference at…
Dear Readers: In honor of April Fools’ Day, I’m turning the column over this week to those who think America can stop the Reconquista. A couple of semanas back, I issued a challenge to know-nothings, asking them to explain in 100 words or less — without mentioning culture — how they can hate the illegal Mexican while loving the legal…
Martin: “Do-Nothing Do-Gooders,” March 19 Please Summit The kids in the Kansas City, Missouri, School District deserve action on education reform. Kansas City leaders have spent years developing recommendations that struggle to get traction, as noted in David Martin’s March 17 article on efforts to help the school district. Mayor Mark Funkhouser’s plan to hold an education summit could transform…
Despite balking at building a Hard Rock Hotel & Casino with Cordish next to its Kansas City Speedway, the International Speedway Corp. still thinks people want to roll them bones. The Daytona Beach company plans to make another pitch for the same location by April 1 — this time focusing on an unnamed hotel/casino/dining/retail/entertainment complex. This probably just means 50,000 nickel slots and…
The expiration of union contracts on Tuesday, March 31, may stop construction at the Truman Sports Complex, 610 Sports and 980 KMBZ are reporting. 610 says the Chiefs and Royals organizations are on the outside looking in as the new contracts are being renegotiated. We received this statement from Calvin Williford, a spokesman for Jackson County. Despite rumors to the…
The list of WB shows that incorporate Republic Tigers music just keeps growing. The latest: Rockville CA, a new web-only series filmed at the L.A. rock club The Echo. I actually checked out The Echo while on vacation recently — it’s kind of like the Bottleneck with better sightlines. And really good pizza. I haven’t watched any of the Rockville…
Brooklyn Vegan is reporting that ex-Modern Lover Jonathan Richman and sidekick Tommy Larkins will be coming to the Record Bar on June 29. Fellow sardonic singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt will be joining Richman for part of the tour, but, unfortunately not the part that comes to KC. Unless Vic’s eight loyal local fans want to stand up and demand he be…
Yesterday, a Jackson County judge declared an ordinance regulating adult entertainment businesses — namely Erotic City — constitutional. The ordinance outlaws sex in video booths and forced Erotic City to shutter the booths, which were huge sources of revenue as well as meeting places for anonymous hookups. The ordinance came after Jesse Franklin Herd III was convicted of sexually abusing…
Spring is officially here, with its lovely 50 degree weather. Anyway, buds blooming in Westport makes us think of one of the most famous patios in town, which belongs to one of the best bars in town. I talked with Harry’s Bar and Tables bartender Sonya Lamberg, who confirms that with more people on the patio during the spring, “that…
Better hurry and grab this week’s Pitch. In the Pines fans are snatching it up by the bushel to read, clip out and paste to the walls of their children’s bedrooms my Wayward Son column on the band’s triumphal return to the Record Bar this past Saturday. Click on the photo below for a slide show from the concert. Categories:…
