Each Thursday, your Crap Archivist brings you the finest in forgotten and bewildering crap culled from basements, thrift stores, estate sales and flea markets. I do this for one reason: Knowledge is power. Various Clown-Related Craft Books Discovered at: Thrift stores throughout the Midwest Post-Poltergeist, Pennywise, and that Pied Piper of diabetes Ronald McDonald, it’s not news to point out…
Charles Henderson, the victim of a shooting Tuesday afternoon in the 2600 block of Bellefontaine, has died. View Larger Map Henderson, 29, was one of two people shot around 3:45 p.m. Police say both were engaged in an altercation prior to the shooting. (Updated 12:59 p.m. April 29: KCPD says Henderson is 29, not 19.) On Tuesday, police said a…
Mexicans lived in America before many territories became states. Indeed, much of our country was once their country. Today, Mexican immigrants are part of the fabric of this nation. Yet there is now fervor to drive immigrants out -almost at all costs. Keep them from coming here-almost at all costs. What part of “illegal” don’t you understand? Arizona, ground zero…
Ahmad Alaadeen is a magic man. Though we’ve never seen him levitate a grand piano, we do know that the 78-year-old saxophonist has been moving the heads, hands and hearts of jazz fans since the late 1950s. A lifelong disciple of (and occasional sideman to) Jay McShann, Alaadeen has also played with the likes of Miles Davis, Billie Holiday and…
It’s been about two and a half years since producer Clay Perkins and photographer Joshua Ferdinand launched the Rock N’ Fashion Show, a local production that pairs homegrown bands with models showcasing clothing lines, jewelry, and hair and makeup artists. Since then, Perkins and Ferdinand have formally introduced KC to the likes of Nathaniel Ren3wal and Christian Micheal. This year’s…
Luis J.Rodriguez is convinced that a writer can change the world. It was through education and the power of words that Rodriguez made his own way out of poverty and despair in the barrio of East LA , breaking free from years of violence as an active gang member. Achieving success as an award-winning Chicano poet, he was sure the…
To call Jim Lehrer “venerable” is an understatement: As an anchor of Public Broadcasting System’s flagship newscast, now called PBS NewsHour, Lehrer has served “viewers like you” for 35 years — longer than Brian Williams, Katie Couric, Shepard Smith and every post-Jennings ABC World News anchor combined. That’s a career, as they say, but along the way, the overachieving Lehrer…
“Self-hatred is the black woman’s poison,” a woman observes in And Her Hair Went With Her, Zina Camblin’s often boisterous comedy of weaves and wigs and the sisterhood of the beauty shop. Like the hardy women it celebrates, Camblin’s play, at the Unicorn Theatre (3828 Main, 816-531-7529), finds joy and comedy in life’s grimness. Expect sunny talk, wild hair, amusing…
The Strawberry Hill Museum presents a display of Silk Tapestries from The National Silk Art Museum of Weston, Missouri. The process was pioneered by Joseph-Marie-Jacquard (1752 -1834). Jacquard used punch cards to control patterns on a special loom, which cause the reverse to be the exact negative of the original. Saturdays, Sundays, 12-5 p.m. Starts: May 1. Continues through July…
The Brookside Art Annual has come a long way in 25 years. Beginning as a collection of paintings in storefront windows, the art fair at 63rd Street and Brookside Boulevard now attracts more than 180 artists from all over the country and approximately 70,000 looky-loos for a weekend of glass, fiber, metal, photography and clay. Among the displays: beer-can sculptures…
Break out your couture gown and view the work of a future Spielberg at the fifth-annual Lawrence High School Focus Film Festival. This Cannes Jr. features short films submitted from all over Kansas by high schoolers. Industry professionals judge the 11 categories, including drama, experimental and documentary. According to LHS teacher Jeff Kuhr, what started as simply “an opportunity to…
Before Charlie Parker, there was Benny Carter, a native New Yorker whose bluesy, pure sax tone was steeped in Kansas City jazz. To give props to the late, great altoist, composer and bandleader, the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra presents Sweet Kansas City, a performance of the music of Carter’s Kansas City Suite, at 8 p.m. at the Folly Theater (300…
When a group calling itself Bicycle Bang Gang puts on something called Battlecat and promises that the event includes “knockout eliminations,” it’s easy to conjure images of post-apocalyptic death cyclers with appetites for destruction and sharpened blades for spokes. But BBG’s Harish Anderson wants to assure Kansas Citians that this Battlecat doesn’t involve any combat. “This is not a ‘contact…
For comic-book enthusiasts, the first Saturday in May is like Christmas, except Santa doesn’t visit you. Fortunately, on Free Comic Book Day, the equivalents of St. Nick’s workshop are easy to find. Just enter your ZIP code into the store locator at freecomicbookday.com to figure out which local shops to hit up for goodies. In addition to giving away complimentary…
Uptight socialite Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) divorced C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) because, he says, she didn’t understand his “deep and gorgeous thirst.” But the weekend of her impending marriage to stodgy buzzkill George Kittredge finds Tracy knocked for a loop — both by drink and by a love rectangle that includes her ex, her betrothed, and the reporter dispatched…
Kansas City is full of beautiful voices begging to be heard. Musical Theater Heritage opened the call to local vocalists last year for its Musical Mondays, evenings of cocktails and impromptu show tunes at Off Center Theatre (2450 Grand). “We now have a list of about 150 people who want to sing,” says Chad Gerlt, MTH associate producer. Consequently, most…
With its slightly dated boutiques and kid-heavy dining options, Corinth Square caters to a neighborhood that’s been itching for something more modern and elemental. Enter BRGR Kitchen + Bar (4038 West 83rd Street in Prairie Village, 913-825-2747), a seven-week-old, farmhouse-chic burger joint. Simply enough, the words “Eat. Drink. Socialize” are painted by the front door, reminding customers that the upscale…
There you are, a smart, successful, busy woman with her nose to her work and her ears tuned to family matters, when suddenly something happens that changes everything: You read Every Last One, the masterful new tearjerker by Pulitzer Prize-winning op-ed columnist, novelist and movie-adaptation magnet Anna Quindlen. Then you wring out your hanky, say a little prayer for Every…
RA Sushi rewards the warriors of the service industry — and everyone else who likes to drink on Sundays — with its weekly Flying Fish Lounge. From 8 to 11 p.m., enjoy drink specials, sexy beats and, of course, sushi. Sundays, 8-11 p.m., 2010 Tags: 3987, Night & Day
Support one of downtown Lawrence’s most offbeat and interesting galleries — Wonder Fair: Art Gallery, Shoppe and Studio. The 7 p.m. Fun Raiser and Fundraiser features a local music showcase with performances by Fourth of July, The California Craisins & the Team Bear Club All-Stars featuring Greg Enemy and Morris Mars. Fri., April 30, 7-11 p.m., 2010 Categories: Music Tags:…
La Esquina hosts performances and readings from KCAI’s annual Spring Formal literary magazine. Spring Formal is the award winning student publication released annually featuring visual/literary work by students, faculty, local and nationally recognized artists. Artists featured in past issues include Tao Lin, Jennifer L. Knox, Edwin Torres and K. Silem Mohammad. A special edition to this years’ publication is an…
“I hate the ’70s,” says Vincent Lawhon, bassist of Bleach Bloodz. “The ’70s sucked.” But this is a band whose sound owes a sonic debt to some secret cache of Rolling Stones outtakes and looks ripped from a 1978 Polaroid taken at CBGB. Why would these messy-mopped, leather-jacketed, sticky-fingered guys hate on the ’70s? The sunglasses-shielded musicians stay silent for…
Dear Mexican: I live in a northeastern city, and a game I play with myself during the cold, wintry months is counting how many Mexicans I see without a heavy coat or appropriate outer garment. Believe me, I’m not prejudiced (I, too, am a minority, and this game is lightweight compared with some of the games I play involving my…
