Some consider economics a dismal science, with its practitioners involved in arcane discussions that have few real-world implications for normal citizens. But those who dismiss the science of economics miss the rare treat of Stephen Dubner’s writing. The author of Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics brings a scientific approach to issues that most people wouldn’t consider within the realm of economics: the…
Local comedy troupe Improv-Abilities, fresh off performances in New York, Oklahoma City, and the KC Improv Festival, teams up with other KC-based groups — including the acclaimed Not A Great Gorilla and Slow Adults Playing — to create a memorable night of comedy! Guaranteed funny, artfully improvised, fast-paced, and appropriate for all ages. Directed by Tim Marks. Fridays, 7:30 p.m….
The Kansas City Art Institute — you’ve heard of it, right? In SAT terms, it is to art what Vatterott College is to HVAC certification. It’s like Hogwarts, only instead of wizardry, students learn about art. This year, the ‘tute is 125 years old, and it seems that every gallery and museum in the city is commemorating KCAI’s history with…
When local musician Paul Hakan was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, doctors gave him six months to live. Defying the odds, he managed to beat that prognosis by a good two years before succumbing to the disease in July. Tonight’s fundraiser at Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club (3402 Main, 816-753-1909) honors him while spreading the word about pancreatic cancer. At the Van…
Ask Joe Six-Pack about Japan, and he’s likely to mention anime, manga and video games. The near fetishization of these entertainments in American culture can be irksome for those interested in the broader culture of Japan, yet they offer an attractive and heavily stylized alternative world to our own. The Motaku 2010 anime convention, taking place through Sunday at the…
You’re never too old for some things — like lovable monkeys who can’t stay out of trouble but always learn a lesson at the end of their adventure. Grab the nearest elementary school student, and head to Independence Events Center for fun with Curious George Live. Tue., Oct. 12, 11 a.m. & 7 p.m.; Wed., Oct. 13, 7 p.m., 2010…
Writers Place presents a series of deconstructions and reconstructions of past, present and future works by St. Louis artist, Sean Semones. Oct. 9-Dec. 31, 2010 Tags: Night & Day, Sean Semones, st. louis
Maren Kloppman (’93 ceramics) and Jesse Small (’97 ceramics) will give a presentation in connection with the exhibit (Re)form at H&R Block Artspace. Thu., Oct. 7, 7 p.m., 2010 Tags: H&R Block Inc., Jesse Small, Maren Kloppman, Night & Day
Currently the senior art critic for New York Magazine, Jerry Saltz also has written for the Village Voice, Frieze, Modern Painters and Art in America. Hear him give a lecture at KCAI. Fri., Oct. 8, 1 p.m., 2010 Tags: Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine Holdings LLC, Night & Day, Village Voice Media Inc.
Is there anything more quintessentially Kansas City than gnawing meat directly off the bone and licking tangy barbecue sauce from your fingertips while tapping your foot to some sexy jazz beats? Canceled last summer due to fundraising challenges, the Rhythm & Ribs Jazz & Blues Festival returns today to the historic 18th and Vine District’s American Jazz Museum (1616 East…
Flashbulb Fire’s swirling, atmospheric sound fits somewhere between introspective piano rock and Radiohead copycat. The Denver band claims a lush catalog that makes for dreamy listening, as long as you don’t get caught up in the incisive, sharp-tongued lyrics. We could see that band you like/Even though I heard those guys are dicks, Patrick McGuire sings over lilting acoustic strums…
From the ghoulish lair of Egads Theatre (and just in time for Halloween), the company that brought us Eating Raoul, The Rocky Horror Show and Hedwig and the Angry Inch now gives us the all-singing, all-dancing, blood-curdling horror revue Evil Dead: The Musical. Requiring absolutely no familiarity with the source material — Sam Raimi’s cult films The Evil Dead, Evil…
Ross Freese has been trying to teach that Kansas City’s gay and lesbian history is more than just the grand opening of Missie B’s. He leads the Kansas City Museum’s first Gay and Lesbian History Trolley Tour, which hits former locations of some historic Kansas City gay clubs and highlights many places with political and social significance in the gay…
In 2006, British ceramist Clare Twomey had an exhibition called Trophy at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In an effort to create interaction between the museum and its visitors, Twomey filled the museum’s courts with 4,000 little sculptures of blue birds around and among the classical works, presenting viewers with the choice to take one or leave the…
Recipients of the 2010 Charlotte Street Foundation Generative Performing Artist Awards — the CSFGPAAs, in the absence of a showbizzy nickname like “the Charlottes” or “the Charlies” — perform at 8 p.m. in the Polsky Theatre at Johnson County Community College (12345 College Boulevard in Overland Park, 913-469-8500). Brad Cox, co-founder and musical director of the Owen/Cox Dance Group, and…
In the good old days, the music on the radio wasn’t preselected by a computer program. Stations honored listener requests. In the case of the Coon Sanders Nighthawks Orchestra’s weekly show on WDAF radio, in 1920s Kansas City, the music wasn’t even prerecorded. The Nighthawks were a popular, local big band that broadcast live from the downtown Muehlebach Hotel. In…
Remember when every indie-rock band seemed obligated to sneak the word wolf into its name? Well, don’t expect that kind of self-conscious frippery at Wolfstock. Death Valley Wolfriders headline this night of foot-stomping country, rockabilly and hard rock. That band’s members all have stage names including Wolf, and the band’s description on MySpace reads: “Fuckin’ WOLVES, man!!” The rest of…
Horses make lousy protagonists, what with their inability to speak, emote or do much of anything other than run or stand around. No surprise, then, that Secretariat employs its subject as merely a vehicle for a human victory-over-adversity story. This based-on-real-events case involves owner Penny Chenery (Diane Lane) triumphing against the chauvinistic “old boys” — and setting a feminist example…
Kansas City is known for two things: the soul and the sauce. The American Jazz Museum is celebrating this iconic combination at this year’s jazz and blues festival at 18th Street and Vine. Big names include locals Everette DeVan, Horace Washington and Trampled Under Foot, who share billing with nationally known acts Kirk Whalum and Nicholas Payton. The festival was…
Ra Ra Riot wavers between sophistication and bristle. Its August release, The Orchard, lingers too long in midtempo ballads that wax and wane to Wes Miles’ quivering tenor, in contrast to the group’s earliest efforts that vibrated with infectious urgency. Those releases — 2007’s self-titled EP and 2008’s full-length debut, The Rhumb Line — still sound spunky and driving. The…
Dear Mexican: Mexico is truly an amazing, beautiful country! Huge oil reserves, mineral deposits second to none, tourist potential unparalleled! God gave Mexico every possible advantage. And yet the Mexicans, in all their wisdom and intellect, have turned it into a backwater, undeveloped, narco-ruled Third World cesspool of corruption and poverty. How were you able to achieve such an accomplishment? Are you and other…
Menomena has a sound all its own. One of the members, Brent Knopf, invented a complex digital looping program — he calls it the Deeler — that the Portland, Oregon, band uses during the recording process. Menomena is musically versatile and ambitious, too, able to chop up and loop together a kitchen-sink jumble of tech-savvy art rock — saxophones, xylophones,…
Set up on a blind date by their married best friends, Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Eric (Josh Duhamel) show each other the worst of themselves and separate in a huff before making it to dinner. Soon, the best friends die, leaving custody of a baby daughter to the “incompatible” twosome. Guess how long it takes the barely mourning singles to…
Jack Goes Boating is Philip Seymour Hoffman’s movie — his directorial debut. And he stars as its namesake sad sack, wearing his hair in those terrible dreadlocks that he covered with a big woolen hat at the Academy Awards. But let’s talk about John Ortiz instead. Ortiz plays Jack’s best friend, Clyde, and is the film’s urgent, beating heart. Clyde…
