Why is Eclipse, the third film in the Twilight series, so fantastically successful? Why does the audience shriek and moan and giggle throughout in feverish joy? Perhaps they’d do that no matter what, but Eclipse is the least laughable installment yet, and director David Slade efficiently delivers the fan service that Twihards require. In the world of shonen manga, “fan…
Justin Townes Earle carries his legacy in his name. Nashville hardcore troubadour Steve Earle named his son for legendary Texas songwriter Townes Van Zandt, saddling Justin with a weight of musical history that might sink a frailer talent. But after surviving five drug and alcohol overdoses before age 21, Earle has demonstrated that he’s sturdy enough to shoulder more than…
This jangly, witty band has been churning out raucous tunes in Lawrence since 2002. Fourth of July’s deadpan humor is given voice by frontman Brendan Hangauer’s quavering vocals and the band’s thrumming, thumping hooks. The Lawrence group, which started playing the Replay Lounge on its namesake holiday in 2008, hasn’t played out much lately, making this already eventful show all…
If James Christos’ latest album were a war, it would be Vietnam. Enigmatic is a dense jungle of heavy beats napalmed with rhymes. (Christos, of course, is no stranger to guerrilla tactics — just check the name of his label.) I’ve done some things, and I think you need to call somebody about it, he tells a doctor in Enigmatic’s introduction….
Opening a restaurant in a suburban antique mall sure sounds like a gamble to me. But it makes sense to serve the kind of food that complements the merchandise of vintage china and flatware, 1940s tablecloths and juice glasses, old cookbooks, carefully preserved copies of Life magazine, boxed Barbie dolls from the 1980s, vinyl record albums from the 1960s, and…
Let it not be said that the Belles are rock stars. “When I think that people refer to the Belles as ‘lo-fi,’ I feel as if it’s just more of our approach as to how we do things,” says singer and guitarist Chris Tolle. “We don’t have a big, machine-type thing going.” The Belles are the melancholic acoustic rock duo…
It’s a hobo’s armpit of a summer night in Missouri, and the vestibule at H&R Block Artspace is packed with damp, overheated visitors shifting artist guides and plastic cups of wine between their hands amid a rolling fog of perspiration. People crowd into the main gallery, gathered around the twin viewing stations that constitute the storage and display schema for…
In its 80 minutes, the razzle-dazzle singing-animal musical Lucky Duck struts from barnyard to catwalk and from pleasure to pleasure. Over a series of witty, crisply choreographed production numbers, Jennie Greenberry (playing Serena, the title quacker) blossoms from wretched stray to supermodel swan, a transformation that plays like a waterfowl American Idol in a faraway fairy-tale land. Half of the…
Prisons serve an important function. They keep the bad guys from messing with the rest of us. The notion that prison bars act as barricades seems obvious enough. On occasion, though, prosecutors miss an opportunity to quarantine a real scoundrel. Last month, U.S. marshals rounded up Ron Shepard. He was taken into custody on suspicion that he had violated the…
Dear Readers: The Arizona pendejas have emboldened hundreds of Know-Nothings in the past week to boast to the Mexican that they’re not racist if they support S.B. 1070. According to them, they believe in the law and have no problems with immigrants as long as they’re legal. Nosotros los buenos know that argument is almost always demonstrably false due to…
A quarter of a century ago, this was unthinkable. The Royals had just won the World Series, capping off a decade-long stretch in which the team dominated the American League West. It was a young team with a deep farm system, indicating that it might continue winning for years. Today, though, Royals fans no longer greet the season with hopes…
At the Live! Block in Power & Light
