Takayuki Mishima Godfathers of Japanese rock and roll Guitar Wolf are legends. Their full-throttle sound is astounding, but it almost plays second fiddle to the sheer cool the trio projects. The band’s appearance in the cult classic Wild Zero endeared it to not only rock fans but also to B-movie afficionados wolrdwide. Guitar Wolf’s show at the Bottleneck this Friday,…
You can’t miss the big orange truck. The car slammed into the back of Brian Jurgens’ trailer just outside Independence, sending the whole rig off the road – with Jurgens’ future packed inside. The roaster that was going to launch Jurgens’ coffee company came to rest in the median. “I see my roaster pass me on I-70 and flip upside…
Bethany Day Todd Bridges and Race to the Future haven’t given up replacing KCIR. Kansas City International Raceway’s 45th year would be revving up, had the track’s ownership group, NP3 Racing LLC, not sold the drag strip three months ago to the city of Kansas City. At the time of the sale, angry racers accused NP3 of selling out the…
Categories: News Tags: bishop robert finn, Frank Martin
Have you heard the one about the preacher who walked into a bar church?” A glossy mailer asks the question — not the usual come-on from a church looking for new members. The promotion belongs to United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, and so does the bar church. Church of the Resurrection has arrived in downtown Kansas City and taken…
Local actor and writer David Wayne Reed is a dedicated urbanite, but his Midwestern roots remain very much on view. As a child of Miami County farmers, the Kansan was no stranger to rural ways. “We raised cattle, hogs and sheep,” Reed says. “I sometimes helped when the veterinarian came. I remember helping castrate bull calves and throwing their balls…
For nine months after graduating from college, I worked as a nonsalaried data-entry employee at Shook, Hardy & Bacon, the juggernaut law firm at 25th Street and Grand. Shook’s business — defending Big Tobacco, Big Pharma and other comically villainous corporations — is pure evil, but I was always struck by how friendly everyone there was. It was terrifying, when…
The Standard Theatre, later known as the Century Theater and then Shubert’s Missouri, before settling into its name as the Folly Theater, opened in downtown Kansas City in 1900. In its early days, the building — the oldest theater in the city — hosted tawdry burlesque and vaudeville shows. In the late ’60s, you could catch a skinflick in the…
In 2012, where are the punk-rock shows in Kansas City? That depends. Millennial crowds favor semi-legal spaces like the Studded Bird, which closed late last year, or the ridiculously named squatter-house venues that have popped up in its wake along Troost. The occasional punk nights at Davey’s Uptown skew a little older. In between are non-venue bars, such as Harling’s…
The Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s 2003 breakout film, Distant, had him pegged by many as a master of Jarmuschian deadpan, a static chronicler of the drolly pathetic lives of lonely, submerged characters. But subsequent films have revealed the director to be more of a seeker, both in form and content, delving into intensely intimate relationship dramas and neoclassical family…
David Gelb’s documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi qualifies as triple-X food porn, but not just in the most obvious way. When you call something “(blank) porn,” you’re of course referring to its desirability: Would’ya look at that (dress, auto, food item)? But you’re also saying something about its unavailability. Porn is all about the search for something you aren’t getting. And in Jiro…
Middle of the Map Fest More than 80 acts perform on 10 Westport stages this weekend, when Middle of the Map Fest returns for its second year. Below, see some suggestions for your itinerary. Thursday, April 5 The dream of the ’90s is alive as the fest kicks off with a slew of reunion shows from former scene heroes at…
That man over there keeps looking at you,” my friend Martha whispered. “Do you know him?” What man? Where? We were sitting in the charmless dining room of a suburban restaurant. The lighting was bad, the better to disguise the unappealing furniture. I didn’t recognize anyone in the room, and that was fine with me. But Martha persisted. “That man,”…
Superstruct’s construct is simple: The five artists in this show have assembled work about man-made environments. At times, though, the essay for the fourth exhibition at artist-run Plug Projects veers past simplicity toward unhelpful broadness: “The use of collage, layering of paint, and construction within a pre-existing space parallels the building methods found in the everyday urban environment.” That description…
Downtown law firm Lathrop and Gage hosted a fundraiser for the arty local children’s show Whoop Dee Doo on Friday night. Outfits ranged from colorful to grotesque. Click through for shots of the “Telebration.” Photography by Brooke Vandever.
The Kentucky Wildcats may have been the better team on the court last night, but fans of the Kansas Jayhawks proved to be classier in defeat. While Kentucky fans overturned cars and set fires, Mass Street in Lawrence was a serene party scene. Pitch photographer Angela C. Bond captured the Rock Chalk revelry last night.
DeJuan Gordon is Kansas City, Missouri’s 29th homicide victim of 2012. Last Friday, a man was shot to death at 20th and Montgall. On Monday, police identified the victim as 29-year-old DeJuan Gordon. Gordon’s body was found on a sidewalk around 12:30 a.m. Information on Gordon’s suspected killer has not been released. If you have a tip for police, call…
They look … pretty much the same. What do you guys think? Categories: News Tags: kansas city chiefs, nfl, nike
Gary Huggins needed to raise $70,000 by 1:59 a.m. to make his first full-length feature film – and he did it. Last week, I wrote about Huggins’ Kickstarter campaign to make a film starring Kansas City, Kansas, cop Santiago Vasquez called Kick Me. More than 360 backers pledged $70,302. Congrats to Huggins and everyone involved. Huggins is planning to start…
