The Kansas Zen Center hosts an evening with Brad Warner, Soto Zen Priest, punk rock bassist and author of Hardcore Zen, Sit Down & Shut Up and Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate as he discusses his new book, Sex, Sin & Zen. Thu., Feb. 17, 7:30 p.m., 2011 Tags: Brad Warner, Kansas Zen Center, Night & Day
The Victorians had Ouija boards, mediums and other manifestations of the afterlife. Our digitized era has its own ectoplasms — Facebook profiles and Twitter accounts that survive their progenitors, phones that beep after hearts stop beating. The latter is the premise of Sarah Ruhl’s new play, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, filled with the same cheeky humor that powered her In…
Learn about the first African American labor union chartered by the American Federation of Labor, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids, through artifacts donated by a former local Pullman porter, Ollie Ollison, at Kansas City Museum’s February Community Curator Lecture at 6 p.m. Tuesday, February 22 at Union Station. Dr. Delia Cook Gillis, professor of Africana Studies at…
In order to better celebrate Black History Month, UMKC Libraries is participating in the 22nd National African American Read In. Traditionally, a read-in consists of folks reading aloud, but because UMKC is the arts campus of the University of Missouri system, it has been expanded to include dramatic and musical interpretations of African-American literature and song. UMKC students, faculty and…
Cao Fei is a 32-year-old Beijing artist whose upbringing was influenced by supercharged Chinese commerce, popular culture and the Internet. Through June 5, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (4525 Oak, 816-751-1278) presents the American debut of her video project RMB City Opera, a sweeping narrative set in the virtual world of Second Life. In the 1940s, China’s revolutionary propaganda included…
Classic TV lovers, unite! The groovin’ musical group Television graces listeners’ ears with jazz-infused renditions of retro tunes during Kansas Public Radio’s Retro Cocktail Hour, starting at 8 p.m. at Pachamama’s (800 New Hampshire, in Lawrence, 785-841-0990). The show features the memorable themes of Star Trek, Dragnet and Bullwinkle. Television started playing quirky versions of classic TV themes in 2004….
If you’re into local art and fashion, you know who Peggy Noland is. She can turn stinky garbage into runway couture. Rock stars and fashionistas, from Germany to Japan, wear her bizarre designs. And Nylon, Teen Vogue and The New York Times have hyped her style. (Of course, you read about Noland here first — she was a 2006 Pitch…
The sci-fi convention Snowflake 13: the Return of the Flake brings fantasy, fandom and role-playing to the Ramada Overland Park (7240 Shawnee Mission Parkway) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Billed as “the Cabin Fever Fan Party,” the day includes discussion panels; dealer tables with books, collectibles and memorabilia; a gaming table; a costume contest; a costume workshop; and guests…
Beane is an exile from life- an oddball. His well meaning sister Joan, and brother-in-law Harry, try and make time for him in their busy lives, but no one can get through. Following a burglary on Beane’s apartment, Joan is baffled to find her brother blissfully happy and tries to unravel the story behind his mysterious new love, Molly. Funny,…
Choreography is visual poetry. The movement is the metaphor, with mood and narrative relayed in the arc of a raised arm or the speed of a dancer’s leap. The original ballets of the locally based Störling Dance Theater are renowned for their physical expression of emotion and history. The much-lauded Störling production Underground, an interpretation of the story of the…
Can’t decide between Oscar nominees Winter’s Bone and True Grit? Watch ’em again — or for the first time — on the big screen at the AMC Best Picture Showcase, which brings all 10 Academy Award nominees to five metro theaters over two consecutive Saturdays. The first half of the festival starts today at 10 a.m. with Toy Story 3,…
Music and art come together to bring Kansas City a night of premier electronic music, courtesy of homegrown bass extraordinaire Jeremy Baguyos. The Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project and the Kansas City Electronic Music & Arts Alliance present Back to the Source Code, a project developed by Baguyos that marries digital music and electroacoustic bass lines by exploring the…
Perhaps if I spent more time in the vegetable section of the supermarket than in the bakery department, I’d already know that the cost of certain vegetables — including tomatoes — has almost doubled since below-normal temperatures in Mexico, Florida and Texas have, as Time Magazine’s Newsfeed website reported yesterday, negatively affected the U.S. supply of high-demand vegetables such as…
Until today, it was uncertain whether Bernard Jackson would ever be charged with the recent series of Waldo rapes, for which he’s been considered a “person of interest” since last May. But today, Jackson County Prosecutor Jim Kanatzar held a press conference to announce that Jackson has been charged with 22 new counts related to two of the five “modern”…
When Borders announced it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this morning, it was inevitable that Kansas City-area stores would be caught up in a cull of 30 percent of the chain’s 700 stores. Now the list of stores to be shuttered is out, and the Borders at 8628 North Boardwalk Avenue is getting the ax. A store manager reached…
In 2011, Dirtnap is an anomaly: the first local indie-rock band to use keyboards and an oft-referred to foursome that scenesters could possibly lump together with some of the founding fathers of the Kansas City sound. There have been a few line-up changes, but drummer Pete LaPorte has been around since the band’s inception in 1996. This weekend, he’ll fly…
No, I never cooked with my parents as a fun family activity: My mother hated cooking, and my father had even less interest in the culinary arts than he did in “having fun” with his children. But chef Mark Mollentine — former owner of the Governor’s Meeting House Restaurant — wants parents to spend quality time in a kitchen with…
This is part one of our interview with Cafe Sebastienne chef Jennifer Maloney. Check back for more tomorrow, and check back every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for more chef interviews. It would be all too easy to imagine chef Jennifer Maloney rising through the ranks of Kansas City kitchens. With a menu that changes weekly to reflect the harvest of…
Yes, those are dead squirrels nailed to the front of a car. A Pitch reader sent us the photo of this horribly gross display. Here’s what we know: The squirrels were nailed to a car with Illinois plates. Four cops were checking it out and then removed the squirrels. But the real question is, why? If you have a weak…
Louder Than Bombs, the 1987 compilation album released by the Smiths, has taken on a new meaning in Kansas City. Craig Klein and Brian Klein (no relation, just coincidental) have moved their Brit-rock and shoegaze dance party from a Mexican restaurant in the burbs to Westport, where it will become a regular monthly love affair for the whiskey-and-PBR-swigging hipsters to…
Kansas’ medical-marijuana community is taking its semi-regular shot at legalizing medical pot. As usual, it’s a bit of a Hail Mary. Lawmakers on Monday introduced the Kansas Compassion and Care Act, which would make growing, selling, prescribing, buying and smoking medical marijuana legal under state law. Categories: News Tags: medical marijuana
In light of Abe Vigoda stopping by the Jackpot next week, we thought we’d look at some other bands that reference real people in their band names. Turns out, it was pretty easy. So, what’s with the trend? For Abe Vigoda — and Springfield, Missouri, rockers Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin — the simple random name serves as the…
UPDATE: KMBC reports that the south Kansas City search for Kara Kopetsky was called off just after noon. Authorities wouldn’t say what, if anything, was found. However, I found this part of the story awfully interesting: Swanson said police think they know what happened to her after leaving school, but he declined to say what that was. Isn’t that what…
%{}% A 20-year prison sentence sounds like a long time. But as punishment for using your stepdaughter to make child pornography, I’m not so sure. A federal judge sentenced Patrick Neal Porter, 40, to two decades at club fed. But this is a guy who, with the help of his wife, removed the stepdaughter from protective custody and fled to…
