When humanity is wiped out in 2012 and the world’s sole survivor crawls from a granite shelter to dance a mad jig, the Kansas City Bear Fighters’ Apocalypse Party will be sorely missed. Nearly half of the 16 tracks on this 35-minute vaudevillian bluegrass hoedown are about one of the following: zombies, wolfmen, festering wounds, paranoia or general doom and…
Bleach Bloodz tells it like it is. Listeners are promised slinky, swinging rock on this debut EP, and that’s exactly what the Kansas City band delivers. Inspired by ’70s anthems about sex, drugs and (what else?) rock and roll, Bleach Bloodz’s Pure captures the raw energy of a live bar band powering through a drunken set. “Got a Feelin” is…
A rap battle, like a moonlit knife fight, is a brutally beautiful art form. Battle rapping between talented MCs leaves innards of ego spilt on the barroom floor as audiences cheer with the sadism of cage-fighting fans. Reputations are frequently won — and lost — during freestyle battles. Kansas City doesn’t have a thriving battle scene, so the rare local…
The content of other people’s notebooks somehow seems more substantial and meaningful than one’s own. The notes present the person behind the writer — someone in the moment, without the deliberation, editing or polish that come later. A pair of exhibits at Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art explore this fascination in divergent but complementary ways. For The Helmet Project, multimedia artist…
What’s better than Pop Art? Beer Art! The makers of Pabst Blue Ribbon, the perennial brew of choice for broke hipsters, are reaching out to their art-inclined customers. Since October, the company has been accepting submissions for its fourth annual PB Arts Contest. The deadline for entry is January 31, so get out those crayons and Photoshop, kiddies! To be…
Tonight’s usual matinee show at RecordBar with Bob Walkenhorst will feature some additional performers that Walkenhorst has invited to play with him to raise some money for the victims of the Haitian earthquake. The show starts at 6:00 p.m., and for the $10 admission, you’ll get to see Walkenhorst as opener, with special guests the Elders, Sara Swenson and Danny…
“Live, late breaking, investigative” could be getting a face-lift. It just depends what the research says. KCTV Channel 5 has a new news director. His name is Blaise Labbe (It’ll be a little while before we get a better look at Labbe. I asked KCTV 5 for a photo of him and received the small one below), and at the…
Do you think that pawing through a recently deceased person’s worldly goods is a skeevy way to spend a Tuesday night? Good. That’s just how the bargain hunters at the Kansas City Auction Company like it — more for them. We snapped these shots at last Tuesday’s auction from the estate of Diane Pell, the former owner of Middle Class…
Popwreckoning is putting together an eight band showcase at the Beaumont Club on March 8 5. Of those eight bands, three will get slots on a showcase at this year’s SXSW in Austin. Should you want your band on the Beaumont showcase, contact Popwreckoning’s Josh Hammond via e-mail at joshua@popwreckoning.com. The show will be 18 and up, with tickets priced…
After almost three years of fighting, Kansas City’s park board has rejected Sunnyside Park at 83rd and Summit Street as a potential off-leash dog park, despite the park being favored by several dog owners as well as Mayor Mark Funkhouser. Kansas City has one off-leash dog park in Penn Valley Park. Five other locations are still being considered. They include:…
The Wine Bar (13657 Washington Street) is holding a small-plate and wine tasting tomorrow from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The tasting features six Paso Robles wines, and Marc Ladierre of Vina Robles will be on hand to talk about each one and the wine producing region in California. Among the pairings will be a 2008 Sauvignon Blanc and jumbo crab…
%{}% Wyandotte County prosecutors charged two teens in a botched robbery that left a third suspected robber dead. De’Vonta Findley, 16, and Sequoya Miner, 17, were charged today with aggravated robbery, conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, conspiracy to commit burglary and felony theft. A third suspect in the robbery, 16-year-old Deangelo Graham, was fatally shot during while allegedly attempting to…
You may think Bo Ling’s is good Chinese food — but it’s apparently really good Chinese food. The Chinese Restaurant News named Bo Ling’s second overall in its Sixth Annual Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in the U.S.A., which “recognizes, cultivates, and preserves the best in Chinese cuisine.” Bo Ling’s was recognized at an award ceremony earlier this month in Las…
Up until January of 2008, Max Floyd had been on the air in Kansas City for over 30 years. He started with KY102 when the station launched in 1974, and managed to stick with KYYS even after an overnight format switch resulted in the whole on-air team moving to 99.7 in 1997. Then, in 2008, 99.7KY became “The Boulevard,” and…
%{}% Leonard Zeskind is filing dispatches from the trial of Scott Roeder, the man accused of killing Wichita abortion provider George Tiller, for the Huffington Post. In yesterday’s post, “Still Picking the Jury, A Word About Kansas,” he writes that jury selection is still underway (it’s finally reached voir dire in which prospective jurors tell their backgrounds and beliefs, which…
As long as we’re headed down memory lane with Binaca, it only seems appropriate to think about what else has been hanging around since lunch came in a lunchbox. Two dishes have yet to leave my diet, despite the passage of two decades. The first is a dish that launched my career as a published author: ants on a log….
Capitol Federal Park Sandstone announced the first show of 2010 season yesterday, and it’s a doozy: The Flaming Lips with the Dead Weather, Minus the Bear, and the White Rabbits. Tickets officially for the Friday, April 23, show go on sale to the general public Saturday, January 23 at 10:00 a.m., but you can grab them right now through 10:00…
The quirky radio man behind America’s most popular podcast is coming to Kansas next month. Each week, 1.7 million people tune in to “This American Life” to savor the always informative, mostly offbeat and sometimes laugh-out-loud hilarious stories about everyday life and current events. There are plenty of geek celebrities, like David Sedaris and Sarah Vowell, who’ve made the National…
Binaca — the stinging mint breath spray that might have gotten you through junior high — hopes its next big commercial idea might come from the collective hive of the Internet. The contest is being run through the social networking-cum-market research consortium Tongal, a Web site with the stated goal of democratizing the creative commercial process. A 250-word pitch is…
Kansas City police are looking for 37-year-old Tanya N. Mills, who was last seen at 5550 Noland Road at around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Mills is described as a black female, 5-foot-5-inches tall and weighs 128 pounds. Police say Mills is schizophrenic, and her family is worried about her safety. If you’ve seen her, call the Missing Persons Section at 816-234-5136….
To celebrate the opening of the area’s ninth LaMar’s Donuts, the storied franchise is giving away a free Ray’s Original glazed donut and small brewed coffee to customers who come to the shop between Thursday, January 21, and Saturday, January 23. The latest LaMar’s opens at 12520 Quivira in Overland Park with a ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for 8 a.m. today….
%{}% So that whole Tom Wiggans for governor experiment didn’t work. So now Kansas Democrats may be leaning on at least someone who’s been elected before. Prime Buzz reports that Kansas state Sen. Tom Holland is likely to run for governor and is creating an exploratory committee. Although the 48-year-old from Baldwin City is only in his first term as…
