Despite the half-filled bars and the departure of Stanford and Sons, comedy flourishes in Westport. Better still, it’s of the low-price, off-the-cuff variety, with ComedyCity running its competitive improv shows Thursday through Saturday at the Westport Flea Market (817 Westport Road) and a parade of ambitious local troupes exploring the possibilities of extemporaneous scenes and stories Fridays and Saturdays in…
Robert Dana — Iowa’s former poet laureate, whose collection of poems Starting Out for the Difficult World was on the short list for a 1988 Pulitzer Prize — tends to draw inspiration from his experiences as an orphan and a veteran of World War II. His poems are full of images of dread and solitude, of walking never-ending paths in…
This event has been canceled. Keep watching The Pitch for an announcement when it is rescheduled. Blood giving and headbanging. Why the hell not?”We haven’t done anything like this in the past,” says Stann Tate, director of marketing at the Community Blood Center of Kansas City, the sponsor of the KC Live! Blood Drive. The blood starts flowing today at…
There’s no mystery to barbecue, especially when a master of smoked meat such as Kansas Citian Ardie Davis explains the techniques of sauces, rubs and smoking in his various cookbooks. The puzzle in this case is why Davis — the author of America’s Best BBQ: 100 Recipes From America’s Best Smokehouses, Pits, Shacks, Rib Joints, Roadhouses, and Restaurants — is…
Author Lee Child discusses and signs his newest Jack Reacher thriller, Gone Tomorrow. Tue., June 2, 7 p.m., 2009 Tags: Jack Reacher, Lee Child, Night & Day
Jammin for Chuck—a benefit for Chuck Chubb, recently diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Live music. Silent auction. Raffle. Musicians volunteering their time include Ben Hoppes, Clockwork Blue, Spiny Norman, Kan Eyed, Drunkard’s Dream, The Great MFM Band, Mojo Lotus. Hosted by Ken Eyed. Chuck and his wife have been very active with volunteering in Lee’s Summit and were responsible…
It’s just about summer vacation for classical musicians — time to rub some SPF 60 on the old tuba and trade the valve oil for a piña colada. The Kansas City Symphony closes its season this afternoon with guest Peter Serkin. The pianist pulls up a bench for Charles Wuorinen’s “Flying to Kahani: Concertpiece for Piano and Orchestra” (which Pulitzer…
Really educated, supremely powerful men discriminate. That’s painfully obvious in author Fred Strebeigh’s book Equal: Women Reshape American Law. As with almost every other profession, it took women a long time to break into the field of law, and they remain under-represented in courtrooms and law firms today. Through interviews with lawyers, judges (including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader…
The Art of Improvisation is a live outdoor concert and freeform experiment featuring a cast of top-notch local musicians as they blend genres and instrumental dialects into a new musical language. Rooted in improvisation from the first note to the last, this performance yields a one-of-a-kind experience for the audience. Fri., May 29, 8:30 p.m., 2009 Tags: 158, Night &…
America’s Pub is the site of a fashion show featuring clothing from the local line MGOT, which stands for Money Grows On Trees. Thu., May 28, 9 p.m., 2009 Tags: 2502, Night & Day
Pulse Performing Arts Center presents Route 66: Road Trip, a family show featuring a cast of over 150 dancers along with adult professional dancers. Sat., June 6, 7 p.m.; Sun., June 7, 2 p.m., 2009 Tags: Night & Day, Pulse Performing Arts Center
Pi Gallery presents the exhibit Break: Rhythmized Textiles from the African Diaspora. The show is in conjunction with the Surface Design Conference. Pi is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Wednesdays-Sundays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Starts: May 29. Continues through June 29, 2009 Tags: Night & Day, Surface Design Conference
Something about the Royals encourages thrift. Maybe it’s the hard-to-escape parking charge or team owner David Glass’ Wal-Mart fortune. Maybe it’s the losing. In any case, there’s a thrill to enjoying a baseball game at Kauffman Stadium (Interstate 70 and the Blue Ridge Cutoff) while spending as little money as possible. Monday nights offer budget-minded fans the equivalent of an…
Brooke Letourneau’s photography mixes traditional and digital techniques, often in the same image. The Pittsburg State University graduate’s debut exhibition, Accumulation, opens tonight at the Barbershop Gallery (415 East 33rd Street, 816-665-8118). Owner John Mulvihill says, “Brooke worked her way through a wide variety of artistic media — started out in ceramics, then moved into drawing and painting and ended…
As the title of her one-woman show In Conclusive Woman implies, Julie Rae Pratt is, like most, a whole host of things at once — not only friend, lover, sister and mother, but also, in her words, sexual survivor, momma’s child, fat chick, post-40s party girl and beloved teacher. Tonight, at the new Fishtank Performance Studio (1715 Wyandotte), she’ll let…
Too many businesses on Troost have bloomed for a season or two and then withered like so many flowers after the first hard frost. But the East Side artery has one perennial source of hope. The Tulips on Troost movement is a dedicated band of green thumbs working to bring color to the Kansas City urban core. The George Harrison…
Simply stated, Fritz Lang’s silent masterpiece Metropolis (1927) is a towering achievement whose shadow looms over all of cinematic science fiction. Never mind that one can draw a straight line from Lang’s robot Maria to George Lucas’ droid C-3PO — it’s impossible to look at such films as Tron, Blade Runner, Brazil, The Matrix and both Tim Burton’s and Christopher…
The words newspaper and tycoon don’t really go together anymore. Which should make watching Citizen Kane tonight at the Central Branch of the Kansas City, Missouri, Public Library (14 West 10th Street, 816-701-3407) even more of a trip than usual. Hailed as one of the greatest movies of all time, the Orson Welles classic centers on the rise and fall…
(6332 Raytown Road in Raytown, 816-353-5700): Not only is happy hour from open to close at the Irish Pub House (10 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.), with well drinks starting at $2.25, but you can also puff away while downing a highball, just like in the good old days. Tue., June 2, 10-1:30 a.m., 2009 Tags: Night & Day, raytown
(1519 Grand, 816-421-7222): Downtown’s Cigar Box opens its doors at 11 a.m. and starts the day with two-for-one well drinks, which will run you about six bucks. The offer ends at 7 p.m. Tue., June 2, 11 a.m., 2009 Tags: Night & Day
(1515 Westport Road, 866-486-3138): At the Westsider, well drinks cost a mere $2 from open (11 a.m.) until just before the band comes on (8 p.m.). Tue., June 2, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., 2009 Tags: Night & Day
Most Kansas Citians know that there were violent confrontations between pro-slavery and free-state settlers in Kansas before it became a state. But what set off this volatile era? “Most people think they know what the Kansas-Nebraska Act is,” says Kimberlee Ried of the National Archives at Kansas City. “But seeing the real thing puts it all in perspective. The act…
(10940 Parallel Parkway in Kansas City, Kansas, 913-328-0247): Part of the Bar Room Blitz trivia network, Danny’s runs free trivia from 8 to 11 p.m. with DJ Matt Naylor. Drink $2.25 domestic bottles while answering questions in multimedia formats and enter the metrowide tournament with a final $1,000 payout. See barroomblitztrivia.com for details. Wed., June 3, 8-11 p.m., 2009 Tags:…
(5400 Martway in Mission, 913-384-0986): Answer questions about movies, TV, sports, music and pop culture at this Xtreme Trivia spot at 8 p.m. with DJ Danny. Teams can have any number of players in this free tournament. Get loose with shot specials and $2 Bud, Bud Light and Miller Lite pints. Wednesdays, 8 p.m., 2009 Categories: Beer & Spirits Tags:…
