It would be easy to make an association between spring images — blinking baby birds and fluffy newborn bunnies — and the litter of five just-hatched rappers performing this Friday at the Brick. Even though Greg Enemy recently turned 21, he grabs the mic with the confidence of a battle-scarred vet. At 22, thePhantom has already released two albums. Awe,…
Will any release this year face the scrutiny aimed at Mastodon’s latest album, Crack the Skye? Four LPs in, each new Mastodon release has been licked all over by critics and by both casual and hardcore metal fans. Ah, but success comes at a price, and when the Atlanta-born band announced that its newest disc would be more melodic and…
Mark Mallman has been pedaling along for more than a decade as one of the most underappreciated voices in rock and roll. His pathos-packed piano rock is all about spectacle: Mallman plays his instrument like Danny Federici and straddles it like Tori Amos in heat. His cigarette-and-insomnia-addled voice sounds like an old boxer coming out for one more round, but…
Jason Isbell came of age as part of the Drive-By Truckers’ triumphant axis of songwriters, alongside Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley. Now that he’s two years and two studio albums removed from the Truckers, Isbell remains every bit the embodiment of muscular, Southern-proud rock as his former mates. The Alabama native wears his roots on his flannel sleeves, evoking the…
Rejection from American Idol is no career breaker. Among the millions of contestants who try out and fail, there are always a few who gain star status upon being guillotined by Simon Cowell’s razor-sharp wit. Call it American Schadenfreude. The country loves these would-bes. The title of Irv Da Phenom’s newest album, American Idol Reject, conjures morbid curiosity. What does…
It’s been a tumultuous 18 years for the Nashville-based, art-country outfit Clem Snide. Anchored by mainstay frontman Eef Barzelay, the band has wafted in and out of the mainstream with a rotating lineup and fluid style changes. Originally shelved prior to its 2006 release, Hungry Bird, the band’s sixth full-length recording, has finally been released. Much like Barzelay’s solo work,…
If Victoria Williams sounds unenthusiastic, she says, it’s because of the state of health care in America. She wonders why our country’s priorities are so fucked up. And then there are the damn bombs. “I live near Twentynine Palms, and they’re always shooting off bombs,” the 51-year-old renowned folk singer and songwriter says over the phone from her home in…
Looking for a tasteful verse on Black Nasty’s latest is like looking for a pleasant image in a manual of genital-ravaging STDs. Born and raised in Wichita and now based in Austin, Nasty has invented himself as a raunchy, disease-spreading, white-boy rapper who spins tales of scatology, necrophilia and all manner of beyond-the-pale depravity. I give bitches the motherfuckin’ creeps/They…
At its most animated, Reggie Youngblood’s singing voice creaks like an attic door. During these crescendos of emotion, the lead singer of the Black Kids isn’t as much a frontman as a doorman of an aural fun house. Throughout Partie Traumatic, the Jacksonville, Florida, band’s much-hyped major-label debut, Youngblood ushers listeners through indie pop that is as happily sophomoric, blithe…
For a traveling band, a vodka sponsorship can be both a blessing and a curse. The men of Antennas Up lived that dream — barely. Bombora Vodka gave the Kansas City band two boxes of vodka to take on the road. “That was the drunkest tour we’ve had so far,” says bassist and lead singer Kyle Akers. “Because of open-container…
In the culinary universe, this meat-loving metropolis is most famous for its barbecue, steakhouses and fried-chicken restaurants. But over the years, that mind-set hasn’t stopped vegetarian entrepreneurs from at least trying to make their case. They fervently believed in what they were doing and, damn it, they did it — not always successfully. But it’s not easy focusing only on…
A century after the dawn of modernism, artists exert less energy advancing theories of aesthetics and more just trying to keep the arts schlepping along until the next First Friday. So an idea-driven playwright and director like Bertolt Brecht seems even more singular than he must have in his prime. Today, it’s difficult to imagine theater artists who are determined…
It’s a Tuesday morning in mid-February, and Topeka couldn’t look much bleaker. A white winter sky weighs on the crumbly prairie town, with its sagging houses and faded fast-food restaurants. At the Capitol Plaza Hotel, a tall gray bunker a few blocks south of the Statehouse, the Kansas Livestock Association is meeting in one of the banquet rooms. Leather-skinned men…
Dying Seniors to Be Denied Weed If the econocalypse has done anything, it has given us new respect for the men and women who grew up in the 1920s and ’30s. Be a cynic about that Greatest Generation title all you want — it’s a damn fine way to sell books — but the people in that generation survived crap…
Dear Mexican: For as long as I can remember, Mexicans have been known for doing three things: drinking lots of cerveza, having lots of niños, and saying “¡Ay, caramba!” While I can vouch for the first two, I’ve never, ever personally heard a Mexican utter those famous two words. Is this an urban myth or what? Armenian Andy Dear Armo:…
Title: Norman Rockwell 1982 Calendar & Engagement Book Author: Unidentified Kansas City woman (Ms. Rockwell) Date: 1982 Discovered at: 2nd Chance Thrift, 1229 East 63rd Street The cover promises: Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ … Representative quotes: Wednesday, July 28: “lunch — met Becky for lunch at Main St. Deli egg salad on bagel Jog — Loose Park w/…
Martin: “Red Friday … and Monday … ,” April 2 TIFFED OFF During Kay Barnes’ administration, I attended many functions at which concerned citizens asked her about what was perceived as out-of-control TIF spending — especially in areas such as the Plaza and Briarcliff that did not appear to be blighted. She was always dismissive of our concerns, almost always…
Ease your commercial conscience today in Brookside at the Farmers’ Community Market at Border Star Montessori School (63rd Street and Wornall). Along with the expected organic and locally grown-and-raised fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs and honey, you’ll find handmade soap and crafts. Should hunger strike while you’re shopping, baked goods, breakfast burritos and fair-trade coffee will be available. The market, which…
Set your cell phone alarm and make sure you’re near a computer tomorrow night at 9:30 p.m. Eastern, when NPR will stream a live audio webcast of Neko Case performing at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. Again, that’s 9:30, April 9, at the 9:30 Club. (Only it’ll be 8:30 here, duh.) Let it be made official: Neko’s new one,…
Cranky, fist-waving old man Skip Sleyster really likes Stihl saws. Sleyster pimps Stihl saws in his column paid ad every Sunday in the Kansas City Star (read classic Pitch Sleyster columns here and here). But Stihl doesn’t think much of “long- winded writers,” which might be trouble for our ol’ friend Skip. A friend of the Plog sent me a…
After one album, one year, a Pitch feature, a YouTube video or twelve and some fine flyer work, Kansas City’s Khrusty Bros are kalling it kwitz. From band member Ian Davidson, aka “Hinus King Gustav Huffelheimer”: Well, it’s the end of the proverbial road for the KB. At least for now. At least in this form. But at least there…
Every fast food chain, it seems, is introducing a version of a dollar menu. First it was Wendy’s, then McDonald’s, followed recently by Arby’s, Dairy Queen and KFC. 801 Chop House has a dollar menu, too. Yes, the very expensive Power & Light District steakhouse — where the cheapest steak costs more than $30 — features a happy-hour menu with…
Walking past AMC’s Mainstreet Theatre on my way to work today, I noticed that a new marquee added above the theater’s video board. The theater doesn’t officially open until May 1 but will host the Kansas City FilmFest from April 22-26. The theater’s restaurant — the Marquee Bar & Grill — is already open. On St. Patrick’s Day, I recorded…
Back when I used to get up on stage and squawk out solos at pop concerts and talent shows, I liked to do Bette Midler songs. Somewhere in the family archives is my mortifying rendition of “Wind Beneath My Wings.” My cousin liked ol’ Bette, too, but she always opted for “The Rose” — the heartbreaking song from the movie…
