%{}% “We pretty much all left,” native son Chris Suellentrop writes in a piece posted today at Grantland, the ESPN-sponsored treasure chest of writing about sports and pop culture. The “we” refers to smart and talented people like Suellentrop, who works as an editor at the New York Times Magazine. The place they left is Kansas City, a wasteland for…
%{}% The funny thing about 24-year-old local pastry chef Carter Holton winning the Star Wars Cake Challenge on the Food Network Challenge series last week is that the competition required Holton and his three competitors — all bakery owners and professional cake designers — to create a cake based on a character from the Star Wars film series. And Holton…
It’s taken almost 16 years, but HR, frontman of DC hardcore legends Bad Brains, is finally welcome in Lawrence again. For those of you not hip to the story, Bad Brains reformed their original lineup to record 1995’s God of Love. Touring in support of that record, the band played a show at the Bottleneck on July 20, 1995. During…
Some additions today to the 2011 Farm Aid festival out at Livestrong Sporting Park (Aug. 13). In addition to Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Dave Matthews, and John Mellencamp, we’ve got…well, let’s just list ’em all. Categories: Music Tags: FarmAid 2011
UPDATE: CNN is reporting that Casey Anthony will be released from jail on July 13 after getting credit for time served. Original Story: Since the Casey Anthony trial seems to be the big news of the day, here’s the latest that you’ve probably already seen everywhere else in the world. Anthony was sentenced to four years in prison for lying…
%{}% Former Mayor Mark Funkhouser announced on Facebook today that he’s taken a job with a think tank in Washington, D.C. Funkhouser wrote: “I’ve taken a job as the Director of the Governing Institute in Washington DC. The Institute advances better government by focusing on improved outcomes through research, decision support and executive education. I really appreciated serving the citizens…
We decided to take a look back at June and see what you guys cared about last month. The top story of the month: Jackass star Ryan Dunn dying in a drunken driving car crash (with a blood alcohol content of .196 and driving between 130 and 140 mph in his Porsche). You guys also cared about Donald Jones, who…
Tavern in the Village (3901 Prairie Lane) was recently picked to be the Kansas representative for a fifty-state ‘Tree to Table’ campaign sponsored by the Washington State Fruit Commission to highlight the short, but sweet, Northwest cherry season (June to late August). The cherry on the award? The Prairie Village restaurant will be featuring Rainier cherries on its menu this…
Big ups to the Get Up Kids: the band got a shout-out yesterday from Paste for its new music video for “Rally ‘Round The Fool.” The song’s off the band’s recently released album, There Are Rules. Check the video here. Categories: Music Tags: get up kids
Welcome to What I Like, our weekly chat with local musicians about their favorite things. This week: The B’Dinas (all of ’em) on the band’s pre-show “Roxanne” drinking game and love of t-shirt tigers (grrr). Categories: Music Tags: The B’Dinas, What I Like
Superman may crave the sun, but when the weather gets warmer, life for us mere earthlings is about barbecue. July is National Baked Beans Month — don’t worry I’ve been eating all manners of sides these past few years without knowing it either. But armed with that knowledge and a desire to use any flimsy excuse to fill my caw…
Pro basketball player Michael Beasley made a lot of bad decisions on June 26. The former Kansas State Wildcat and current member of the Minnesota Timberwolves was clocked driving 84 mph in a 65 mph zone on Interstate 394 in Minnetonka around 3 a.m. Uh, oh. Nothing good happens after 2:58 a.m., especially when an officer smells a strong odor…
When the gates opened Wednesday morning for the Vans Warped Tour 2011, it was overcast and relatively cool outside — a far cry from last year’s show. The threat of impending thunderstorms didn’t stem the tide of teenagers. Lines wound through the parking lot, stretching almost all the way to the Renaissance Festival front gates. Categories: Music Tags: Asking Alexandria,…
Get out your dress whites, togas or whatever you use to honor the gods of drink and nourishment. Salute! A Festival of Wine and Food, an annual three-day benefit for the nonprofit Cottonwood Incorporated, is back in Lawrence today through Saturday. Tonight’s Mass Street Mosey is sold-out, but tickets are still available for the Winemaker’s Dinner tomorrow and the Grand…
There are a few things you need to have with you when you see Gallagher perform. First, plastic trash bags. (Unless you sit in the back, there’s the chance that you’ll be hit with flying food, smashed by his Sledge-O-Matic.) Second, a state of reverence. (Gallagher doesn’t particularly appreciate it when his fans talk during his routine.) And last, it’s…
Swimming and reading are two beloved summer activities. Introduce your little one (or someone else’s) to the joys of both at Bookworms and Waterbugs at the Lawrence Public Library. For the past three years, the library and the city’s Parks and Recreation Department have partnered for this multi-part event, which begins with a 30-minute summer-themed story and a pirate-song sing-along…
If you’re lucky, your backyard has a grill and a smoker. If you’re really lucky, there’s a fire pit. Even then, though, it won’t be as pimped out as the Back Yard at the Beaumont Club when the concert venue goes meatballs for the Westport Food Truck Festival from 3 p.m. to midnight (and Friday, July 8, from 5 p.m….
A former journalist and disc jockey, Don Cornelius created Soul Train in October 1971. The syndicated music variety show featured black performers and spotlighted the latest dance and fashion trends. But as rap and hip-hop rose to prominence in the 1980s, Cornelius missed the bandwagon, balking at the steamy, suggestive dance moves. Celebrate a time when a ride on the…
We’re coy these days about our appreciation for melodrama. Today’s Snidely Whiplashes don’t twirl their mustaches or wear top hats. They slick their hair back and use Bluetooth headsets. The word dastardly has fallen into disfavor. But the stories we watch — whether they’re set in a 1960s advertising agency or in a battlestar fleeing from a race of sexy…
Want to feel like you’re part of a super-secret society today? A super-secret naked society? Sign up for the Heartland Naturists’ annual Sun Run, a clothes-free 5K run and walk through an undisclosed location in McLouth, Kansas. Once you sign up — $15 for nonmembers of the Heartland Naturists ($20 for nonmember couples and families) — you’re given the top-secret…
It’s been just 2,478 years since the first production of Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, part of a trilogy written about the legacy of Oedipus, King of Thebes, the original motherfucker. A work rich with dialogue but short on plot, it chronicles the strife between Oedipus’ two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, as their plan to rule Thebes in alternating years goes…
The mission of sustainable-design nonprofit Eco Abet is to bring experienced architectural design to underserved groups: poverty- and disaster-relief agencies, schools and orphanages in developing countries, and the like. Among the group’s beneficiaries are St. Mary Kevin Orphanage in Uganda and the Nabolu Girl’s Center in Kenya. As a fundraiser, Eco Abet is holding a design charrette — a collaborative…
Californos (4124 Pennsylvania, 816-531-7878) is nestled just south of Westport Road amid shops, restaurants and other bars. The warm and inviting place is well-known for its self-declared “restaurant redefined” status, and it even serves as a wedding-reception venue. The wood-and-brass bar is just a few steps from the front door, and the liquor assortment is vast, with a cocktail menu…
Georgette Jones is the author of The Three of Us, a look into the life of a broken family living in the public spotlight. Like so many of her generation, Georgette had to make sense of loving two parents who couldn’t love each other. With never-before-told stories about George and Tammy, it recounts Tammy’s descent into prescription pill addiction, her…
