Everybody has a story to tell. Some of us have more than one. In 2005, author Jeannette Walls made an arresting contribution to the memoir trend with her book, The Glass Castle. Starting at age 3, she recounted the burns and scrapes, hunger pains and small joys of a childhood spent under the care of a rambling alcoholic and a…
No small theater in town is as daring as Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre (3614 Main), that thriving, loose-limbed concern whose directors fill their storefront space with sand by the ton if, say, a beach is called for, and with cast members by the dozen when mounting great, rarely performed plays such as Arthur Miller’s The View From the Bridge or William…
Better late than never. Just as we dip our feet into the second decade of the new millennium, along comes the Journeyman Theatre Company with a production of The Violet Hour, a future-tripping 2003 drama written by the man the New York Post called the “best American playwright of the decade.” That’s the decade that ended last week, of course,…
Is a bayonet more of a gun or a knife? If this is the sort of question that keeps you awake at night, you’ll fit right in at the 17th-annual Missouri Valley Arms Collectors Association’s Winter Arms Show at the KCI Expo Center (11731 North Ambassador), where hundreds gather each year to showcase their antique arsenals and discuss the whose-is-bigger…
Shark Week, an annual gala dedicated to raising shark awareness, is all well and good for our toothy friends the sharks. But what about the eagles? Shouldn’t there also be some kind of shark week for America’s magnificent airborne raptors? Clay County’s parks department and the Missouri Department of Conservation have banded together with the notoriously pro-eagle Army Corps of…
In its first concert of the new year, the Takács Quartet plays the Folly Theater (300 West 12th Street, 816-474-4444) tonight. In 2009, the brilliant, hard-touring Colorado group commemorated the 200th anniversary of Joseph Haydn’s death with frequent performances of his works. It’s 2010, but why stop the party now? The father of the string quartet gets his due here…
The brightly lit neon façade of the Quaff beckons drinkers to the edge of downtown with its ice-cold drafts served in plastic cups. Since 1946, the Bonino family has operated the 7,500-square-foot bar and grill in a building at 1010 Broadway that was constructed in 1890. No nonsense and no frills, the Quaff is open from 11 a.m. to 3…
Here are the two questions of the night: What Is the state of black Kansas City for 2010, and what would Abraham Lincoln think? Gwen Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, leads a discussion at 6:30 p.m. at Kansas City, Missouri’s Central Library (14 West 10th Street) using data from the State of Black…
Equal parts software application and architectural installation, NTER CHNG encourages visitors to turn on their cell phones and communicate in real-time through both faces of a digital wall constructed in the gallery. Over the course of the exhibition, messages from participants combine to form a virtual dialog that demonstrates the character of the TXT messaging phenomenon. Fri., Jan. 8, 6…
Artist Richard Van Cleave has been experimenting with process and design for over 30 years. His first art exhibit was a complex installation at The Writer’s Place in 1997. He has also done art intstallations at Aha! Dance Theater and the Lawrence Art Center. Years of set design include work for new EAR, Eric Satie and Gorilla Theater. His work…
Calling to mind a modern-day Mae West, Susanna Lee — AKA Lucky DeLuxe — clearly speaks her mind, tickling the audience with a combination of sharp wit and teasing sexuality. Having integrated burlesque routines into her comedy stage-show, Lee brings a bevy of sass and seduction to every performance. She presents Cabaret DeLuxe at Jardine’s. Tue., Jan. 12, 9-10:30 p.m.,…
Ian Thomas died of brain cancer on January 11th, 2007, he was 33. He was involved in many musical projects as a young man but most recently owned the record label, Invisible Generation. He will be remembered at this fundraiser for Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care. Funds will be raised through a Silent Auction and ticket sales. Entertainment is…
The Byron C. Cohen Gallery presents an exhibition of original works by artist Lesley Dill, who meditates on The Strange Experience of Beauty. From the artist’s statement: “The power of language to affect as private murmur is so varied and complex. I find I often use the same language over and over, and for me, it always seems to mean…
Discover the relationship that America’s national bird has with Kansas during a presentation by Mike Watkins, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Tue., Jan. 12, 7 p.m., 2010 Tags: Mike Watkins, Night & Day, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
In 2007, Cindy Kane began work on The Helmet Project that evolved as a natural progression of her respect for journalists and the desire to create a visual tribute to their work. Kane envisioned a memorial monument created by an installation circle of 50 used steel military helmets, suspended, floating in space, each a stand-in portrait for a specific journalist….
The week of Christmas, as rosy-cheeked metro children looked forward to playing in piles of fresh snow, North Kansas City man John Dixon led a brave charge against gay-penguin indoctrination in our public schools. Dixon wanted the children’s book And Tango Makes Three removed from circulation at all North Kansas City schools. The book is based on the true story…
Everyone in Red Light Winter, right down to the whore, is big on Tom Waits and the corresponding idea that a fucked-up life is a romantic one. Soaked through with sex and ennui, the play — a dark comedy by Adam Rapp running in the tiny Fishtank studio — revels in grimy bedrooms, unrequited love, and the fantasy of achieving…
Dear Readers: The Mexican is still trying to shake off the Herradura from the previous year, so I’m reprinting this week a favorite column of mine from el pásado. To make up for my siesta, though, I’m bringing back the YouTube edition of this column, where I’ll take the questions of the non-anonymous brave and ramble muy funny. Just visit…
Feature: “Fantasyland,” December 17 Nailed It Thanks for David Martin’s article on Crown Center. It did a lot to shed light on what has always been a mysterious area of Kansas City. I think it’s easy for developers to isolate themselves from the community for which they are building and forget that the people decide in the end. I laughed…
Outside the midtown basement venue, it’s a lung-freezing 10 degrees and snowing. Inside, it’s a dark, smoky paradise for aging punks. Leaking pipes anoint unsuspecting guests with sticky water. In one corner, a green-neon sign lazily flashes the word open. Behind it is a handwritten sign announcing that there’s no alcohol for sale. Just about everyone is drunk. Zach Phillips…
People take Ryan Hiser pretty damn seriously despite his blooming mustache. And when he’s onstage, singing his own lyrics and wailing on a guitar that’s patched through an array of pedals, the Thieves frontman is perfectly adept at channeling his cultural references into a cohesive musical statement. But when it comes to ordering pub food, Hiser minces words. “I might…
For more than 20 years, Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) has worked as the hired help for an upper-class Santiago family, whom she has served with the dedication of a novitiate. But her labors have taken their Sisyphean toll as she celebrates her 41st birthday. So the family proposes hiring a second maid to relieve Raquel of some responsibilities. This she takes…
According to supposed Irish custom, women may propose to their reluctant boyfriends on February 29. The woman in Leap Year is Anna (Amy Adams), a Boston apartment stager, and her intended fiancé, Jeremy (Adam Scott), is a surgeon more in love with his BlackBerry than with her. But after four years, he hasn’t pulled the Tiffany trigger. What’s a girl…
Reunited with Charles McKeown, his co-writer from Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam has created another ultimate post-mod adventure, crammed to a fault with big ideas and bigger images that mutate a grungy contemporary London into a living heaven and hell. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is nothing if not one from the heart, and not just…
