Archives: September 2010
‘Lara Croft is always game for water sports’: Freaky sex in kids’ books, starring Jack Frost & Tinky Winky
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. Three Bizarre and Filthy Cash-in Kids’ Books Discovered at: Thrift stores across this great nation Once in a while, attentive cartoon fans spot impossible surprises that shouldn’t…
Case 39
The parents of 10-year-old Lilith (Callum Keith Rennie and Kerry O’Malley) want to “send her to hell,” which must be why they’re digging that deep hole in the cellar. Called out to investigate a report of abuse, Portland social worker Emily Jenkins (Renee Zellweger) takes a shine to pretty and sweet but demonic Lilith (Jodelle Ferland), who comes to…
GREAT SCOT
Late-night TV viewers owe an incalculable debt to the affably mediocre Craig Kilborn. (Remember him?) His departure as original host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show installed the invaluable Jon Stewart behind the anchor desk. And his vacancy at CBS’ The Late Late Show was eventually filled by the mischievous, multitalented Glaswegian Craig Ferguson, who not only is wickedly funny…
Longview Art and World Music Festival
Longview Art & World Music Festival is a free, outdoor, 3-day festival of fine arts that will feature 90 local, regional and national artists. Visitors will enjoy a unique blend of art and music in historic Longview. Fri., Oct. 1, 3-9 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 2, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sun., Oct. 3, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., 2010 Tags: 1362, Night & Day
Fun Sauce
Break out the bibs and fat pants, people. The American Royal Barbecue is again upon us, and it’s the biggest, most barbecue-bustin’ party in the world. (That’s not an exaggeration — with close to 500 cook teams participating and a crowd that goes well into the thousands, it really is the single largest barbecue event in the world.) But it…
DARK CITY
It’s the closest cinema gets to discovering a holy grail, a prize so elusive that somewhere along the way, hope of ever finding it is given up or the search is forgotten altogether. Two summers ago, a film curator in Buenos Aires stumbled upon a 16 mm negative of Fritz Lang’s landmark 1927 silent film, Metropolis, including 25 minutes of…
Cracked Idol
Some of the best comedians leave audiences chuckling uncomfortably by poking at social or political ironies. After pissing off a lot of people, Lenny Bruce and George Carlin became legendary for their ability to shock and make relevant points while entertaining. Starting in the 1970s, the comedian known only as Gallagher disturbed and amused audiences with a fury unleashed on…
Visions of the Flint Hills Art Benefit and Sale
Honorary Chairs former Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker and former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius present the Visions of the Flint Hill Art Benefit and Sale. “The Visions of the Flint Hills Art Benefit and Sale features original art inspired by the Flint Hills of Kansas and the Great Plains. It is a juried show that “recognizes beautiful art as well as…
DANDY DUDS
Looking for a few updates to your fall wardrobe, specifically of the Edwardian- or steampunk-influenced variety? Creations from Jon Fulton Adams tend to step far outside strip-mall-basic fashion. The local designer hosts an evening of sales from 4 to 10 p.m. for his label Queen’s Rocket. Just stop by Prose…Boutique at the Living Room event space (1818 McGee, 816-221-4260) for…
Retro Remembrance
Time to break out the pomade and poodle skirts for a good cause. Kansas City Rockabilly is putting on its Benefit to Battle Alzheimer’s, beginning at 7 p.m. at Aftershock Bar & Grill (5240 Merriam Drive in Shawnee, 913-384-5646). The fundraiser has a nitro-injected lineup of local rockabilly bands, including the Slick Brothers, Blue Boot Heelers, Miss Major and Her…
Handler Hanna
Animal expert and frequent David Letterman guest Jack Hanna may eventually achieve mythical badass status heretofore reserved for Chuck Norris, especially after fending off an angry adolescent grizzly bear with naught but a can of pepper spray. (The real reason that bears hibernate is to hide from Jack Hanna.) But there’s no denying that Hanna has a soft spot for…
A Devil Inside
For 14 long years, Mrs. Slater has waited to tell her son, Gene, the truth. So when he wakes up on his 21st birthday, she greets him with customary good wishes and then gets to the point. “Your father was murdered. He was stabbed in the back and his feet were lopped off and thrown into a drainage ditch.” Gene,…
John & Jen
Squeezing lemonade from its little lemon, the Fishtank (1715 Wyandotte, 816-809-7110) excels at putting its small space to big dramatic effect. During the KC Fringe Festival, the claustrophobic setting provided an ideal scene for Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story, where sitting so close to the two leads implicated audience members in the characters’ disturbing hothouse codependence. Fishtank again…
WORLD VIEWS
Set your corn to “pop.” With 52 films from, or set in, Norway, Croatia, Burma, Mexico, Sweden, Mali, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Guatemala, Slovakia, France, Kenya, Lebanon, Austria, Australia and Hong Kong — among others — the Kansas International Film Festival does a lot more to earn the “international” in its name than does our local airport. The festival’s 10th anniversary outing…
Six Characters in Search of an Author
A Rockhurst University theater department stage production will give the groundbreaking play Six Characters in Search of an Author a local and modern twist by featuring a short fictional documentary shot by professional videographers and starring Rockhurst actors, professional actress Marilyn Lynch, and Lexington, Mo. residents. Thu., Sept. 30, 8 p.m.; Fri., Oct. 1, 8 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 2, 2…
First-Friday Hit List
Impressionist painter Philomene Bennett is a Kansas City art-world fixture and the subject of the Late Show Gallery’s most ostentatiously named exhibit to date. “Philomene was one of the founders of the Kansas City Artists Coalition,” Late Show gallery owner Tom Deatherage says. “The work is very good. It’s a survey of paintings over the last 40 years. It’ll be…
Limited Offer
Americans have practiced the hobby of autograph collecting since the early 1800s. Possessing a signed letter — or maybe a signed book — provides a sense of closeness to the scrawler, who tends to be famous or somehow celebrated for personal or professional achievements. Grab a Sharpie and an event program, if not a glossy 8-by-10, to collect a few…
Symphonic Success Speech
Internationally renowned composer Jonathan Leshnoff kicks off the Jewish Community Center’s new lecture series — “Success: the 614th Commandment?” — at 7 p.m. in the center’s White Theatre (5801 West 115th Street in Overland Park). The series aims to highlight individuals who excel in secular fields while retaining their Jewish identities. Leshnoff will discuss his career with the world’s top…
I Could Not Land a Plane: Photography by Patrick Andrew Adams
From the artist’s statement: This collection is inspired by vivid dreams, nightmares, and recollections of fractured memories from my youth and from my travels. I layer together pictures and pieces of pictures that I have taken over the years to make one new and complete solid image. There is no central field of focus or subject; each image is to…
Shauntay Henderson facing federal felon in possession of a firearm charge (updated)
Shauntay Henderson, redux. Update (4:09 p.m. September 29): A federal grand jury indicted former FBI’s Most Wanted Shauntay Henderson of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The indictment replaces a criminal complaint filed on September 16 when the 27-year-old Henderson was arrested after a chase with Kansas City police. Original Story (4:40 p.m. September 16): The criminal…
Local entrepreneur spreading family mustard recipe around
Kansas City’s a good place for taking a family recipe, manufacturing the product on a large scale, and creating a successful small cottage industry. The greatest success stories are probably Wishbone salad dressing and KC Masterpiece barbecue sauces (both later purchased by corporate conglomerates), but there are plenty of other culinary products that started the same way: with a favorite…
Keith D. Williams, KCMO homicide No. 82: Shot, killed at 12th Terrace and Fremont
Keith Williams was killed just after midnight. Update (2:53 p.m. September 29): The victim of this morning’s homicide at 12th Terrace and Fremont had been identified as 34-year-old Keith D. Williams. Police are still looking for suspects in the case. Original Story (7:32 a.m. September 29): The death toll is even higher this morning than we first realized. Two…
The National perform at an Obama Rally yesterday
If Obama’s presidential campaign tapped The National because of its name, they got lucky. The Brooklyn rock band — known for its understated, powerful songs, which were put into heavy rotation by Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008 — played at the President’s “Moving America Forward” rally at the University of Wisconsin yesterday, with Ben Harper. (They tapped the anthemic rock band in…
Find The Pitch
