An official who’s who of regional poets convenes at 4 p.m. in the Central Court of the Spencer Museum of Art (1301 Mississippi on the University of Kansas campus, Lawrence, 785-864-4710). Poet Laureati: Midwest Poets Laureate Read From Their Poetry includes performances by current and former poets laureate from Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa and Oklahoma — including Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Denise…
For a half-century now, one plastic blonde has represented style, sex appeal and so much more to millions of little girls (and little girls at heart). But Barbie’s reign as queen of the toy box hasn’t gone uncontested. Hence, the nuanced analysis presented through a series of activities, including the 6:30 p.m. lecture on Thursday, March 11, by feminist author…
In 1937, the Hitler Youth handbook included this provocative passage: “The great genetic river of a people can suffer many impurities and injuries along the way … diseased genes can develop within the bloodstream of a people … these cannot be allowed to be passed on.” From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany used scientists and public-policy officials to create a…
The Underneath, a play by Susan Soon He Stanton that is set in Hawaii, will be read as part of The Unicorn’s In-Progress Reading Series. Ron Megee will direct Keenan Manuel Ramos, Andi Meyer, Vi Tran, Nancy Marcy and Ron Simonian in the piece. Sun., March 14, 7:30 p.m., 2010 Tags: Andi Meyer, Keenan Manuel Ramos, Night & Day, Stanton,…
Who needs spring break when there’s South By Southwest? Since its inception nearly 25 years ago, the annual festival in Austin, Texas, has gone from a musical street party to a networking and tastemaking cartel. Drawing acts from around the world, the event’s official showcase features hundreds of acts on nearly 80 stages. But plenty of unofficial audiences are up…
Kansas City will not descend quietly upon Austin next week if the Gusto Lounge’s Josh Martinez has anything to do with it. “If you can’t knock on the front door, smash the back door in,” Martinez says. Midwasteland Takeover, a 32-act collective complete with scenester hangers-on, is Martinez’s battering ram, and it’s set to bombard Austin March 18-20. Having lived…
Lia Romeo’s play Green Whales, a sprightly, world-premiere comedy at the Unicorn Theatre, dares to roughhouse with this culture’s greatest sexual crime. Fortunately, Romeo is funny, and her cast (directed by Cynthia Levin) is funnier still — funny enough that even the two concerned septuagenarians sitting beside me on opening night couldn’t find a lot worth objecting to in the…
A look at some of the recent stories covered on Plog (The Pitch’s news blog) shows a clear trend toward the destruction of civilization. Or maybe spring is here. One of those. Amber Alert Jesus is missing, at least along U.S. Highway 71. Tune to your local news for details. Nostradamus Never Saw This Guy Coming Jesus is missing, but…
T yler Gregory has never read Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road. But he has lived like Sal Paradise, camping out in RVs, on strangers’ couches and on apartment rooftops. “Every time I would couch-surf, I would escape in the evening up to the roof and sleep outside,” Gregory says, talking about his time wandering in New York City. “I…
Dear Mexican: When I was in high school, everyone called the Mexican students like me “cheddars.” I’m not sure where this originated from, or what it really has to do with Mexican culture. When I have asked other Mexicans what this means, they are not sure, either. “Cheddar packing” is a term used to describe a car full of Mexicans….
Everyone agrees that West 39th Street took a turn for the better on the day that John Bregin Jr. bought the former Loretto Academy. Built in 1903, the Loretto Academy originally served as a boarding school for girls. A Bible college took it over in the 1960s. The property was tied up in bankruptcy court when, in 1996, Bregin came…
Marriage, sexual ambiguity and the muted foxiness of the band’s drummer have been the subtext of every White Stripes album. So it’s no surprise that Emmett Malloy’s documentary boils down to a scene in which the duo shares a piano bench, and silent tears run down Meg White’s face while Jack White plays “White Moon” to an otherwise empty room….
This isn’t entirely without its selling points, chief among them T.J. Miller, who’s a cross between Seth Rogen and Jason Segel — paging Judd Apatow, now. Miller plays Stainer, a mop-topped giant and best bud to Kirk (Jay Baruchel, an Apatow player from way back), a TSA lackey and a “hard five” who catches the eye of Molly (Alice Eve),…
Reputedly a new romance starring Robert Pattinson, Remember Me begins like a vigilante movie: In a racially charged stickup, an 11-year-old girl watches her mother shot on a Brooklyn subway platform, 1991. It’s the first sign that this film won’t just chart the little measures by which two people become able to love — in fact, it’ll barely do that…
An unconvincingly broad culture-clash comedy whose Latino and African-American ensemble might’ve made for a progressive film if director and co-writer Rick Famuyiwa (Brown Sugar) hadn’t pandered to the lowest common denominator with brainless screwball laughs, this sitcom-grade competition of paterfamilial egos is essentially Meet Los Fockers or My Big Fat Black Wedding. Afraid to tell their folks about their new…
If autism can reboot Claire Danes’ career, can it guarantee crossover success for Bollywood’s biggest star? Shah Rukh Khan plays Asperger’s-afflicted Rizwan Khan, a Muslim who leaves Mumbai for San Francisco after his doting mother dies. There he meets and marries single-mom Mandira (Kajol), a Hindu hairstylist. The World Trade Center collapses, an Islam-phobic tragedy strikes the Khans, and Rizwan…
Already a blogosphere punching bag for right-wing Christians, Creation — about Charles Darwin’s writing of On the Origin of Species — commits the sin of thoughtfulness, and is quite moving in the process. Director Jon Amiel, working from a screenplay by John Collee, injects flashes of artsy craftsmanship (such as the time-lapse photography depicting a bird’s body decaying and being…
It’s better late than never for a bang-bang pulse-pounder predicated on the Bush administration’s deliberate fabrication of WMDs in Iraq. Paul Greengrass’ expertly assembled Green Zone has evidently been parked for some time on Universal’s shelf. Had the movie been released during the 2008 election season, it might have been something more than entertainment. Still, Green Zone — which could…
Polished and primitive, Omaha’s Digital Leather is a self-described oxymoron. Shawn Foree’s songs are offensive but undeniably infectious, lobbing Nazi references, homophobia and pornography into punk-powered pop with an ease that’s enraging all by itself. Technicolor synths manage to transcend ironic kitsch in favor of catchy tunes saturated with charisma. Dirtier than M83 and wittier than Casiotone for the Painfully…
Via Audio’s sound isn’t as gauzy and laconic as that of your average dreamy band from Brooklyn. With punchy guitar hooks that would appeal to the Shins or Stars, Via Audio adheres to a structured aesthetic, but it’s one that gleams like a cloudless summer day. Bright riffs brush past light rhythmic beats, and keyboards work the melody under singer…
Eerie, bucolic echoes and raw, isolated melodies make Woods an appropriate name for this New York quartet. Frontman Jeremy Earl’s songs suggest the tender intimacy of Neutral Milk Hotel warmed by a Sterno of psychedelic shimmer. Though not as noisy as its underground lo-fi peers, Woods shares a ragged beauty with labelmates Wavves and Crystal Antlers, particularly on its latest…
Surfer Blood’s name suggests menace, and the cover art of the group’s debut, Astro Coast — a mosaic of an open-jawed great white shark — is downright bloodthirsty. But there’s nothing savage about Surfer Blood’s wistful brand of guitar music. The Florida quartet doesn’t shy away from catchy melodies amid distortion and fuzz, creating reverb-drenched tunes that retain the accessible appeal…
It’s here, it’s queer and it serves beer: Hamburger Mary’s, a restaurant that does for America’s favorite sandwich what Liberace did for classical music. It’s flamboyant in every sense of the word, right down to the color of the building. Previously home to Smokin’ Joe’s Bar-B-Q and, more recently, a short-lived boxing-themed bar, the building where Southwest Boulevard meets Baltimore…
Spicing radio-friendly alternative rock with Latin rhythms and Spanish verses may not sound appetizing initially. But listeners will find a startlingly captivating flavor in Making Movies’ latest release, In Deo Speramus (translation: in God we trust). Fusing influences from frontman Enrique Javier Chi’s native Panamanian roots with sensitive, aching guitar and crunchy rock riffs, Making Movies serves up hot Central…
