Archives: November 2013
Moon Taxi is at Riot Room this Saturday
Trevor Terndrup, lead singer of Nashville alt-rock five-piece Moon Taxi, has got quite a set of pipes. His voice sidles up next to you, as casual as an afternoon bike ride on a warm summer day, nonthreatening and friendly, and sucks you in. Moon Taxi’s latest release, Mountains Beaches Cities, traipses through genres like a child playing hopscotch: We hear…
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon came out in support of gay marriage yesterday
Jay is pro-gay. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced yesterday that he supports same-sex marriage and that, by his executive order, Missouri will now accept combined state tax returns filed by gay couples who have legally married in other states. The latter is a reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s spiking of DOMA earlier this summer. “Missouri is one of a…
Arcade Fire is coming to the Starlight Theatre in April
We’ve been waiting for this announcement. Hot off the release of their much-anticipated fourth full-length Reflektor, Arcade Fire has just publicized dates for a big national tour that will take them to huge venues this spring and summer. On April 23, Arcade Fire will be bringing their hazy indie rock to the Starlight Theatre. Tickets go on sale on Friday, November…
Proposal to fund redevelopment of King Louie building shot down by Johnson County Commission
A slim majority of Johnson County commissioners voted on Thursday against a bond issuance that would have raised $10.2 million to fund work on the King Louie building in Overland Park. Steve Klika, Jason Osterhaus, John Toplikar and Michael Ashcraft all voted against funding further improvements on the county-owned building; Ed Eilert, Ed Peterson and Jim Allen voted for the…
Gossup wants your secrets about Kansas City and Lawrence – anonymously, of course
Got some gossip that you’re dying to share? Then download the Gossup app – created by Kansas Citians Eric Miller, a social-media strategist with Barkley; Kevin Bradford, an app developer; and Jeff Schroer, an art director at VML – and post it in complete anonymity. “A long time ago, we saw a gap in what you can do with social media,” Miller tells The Pitch….
Trey Anastasio Band coming to Uptown Theater in January
Ah, the wonders of Phish. Frontman Trey Anastasio has just announced that he will be touring this winter with his Trey Anastasio Band (TAB), and he’ll be bringing the outfit to the Uptown Theater on January 31. Here’s a video, in case you forgot the familiar sounds of everyone’s favorite jam-band guitarist. Tickets go on sale on Saturday, November 23, through…
The Strokes’ Albert Hammond Jr.: “We roll the dice as often as we can”
Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. has had himself a rough few years, but you’d never know it to listen to his new EP AHJ. The five tracks don’t total more than 15 minutes, but they are a generous 15 minutes, bursting with purpose and promise. Hammond sounds alive here. Which is kind of a relief, considering the place he was…
Janelle Monáe comes to the Uptown Theater this Friday
Janelle Monáe is weird. You might not notice because she’s so pretty and has such a big, soulful voice, but this Kansas City – born diva has an elaborate plan to reinvent R&B. On Monáe’s latest album, The Electric Lady, she fuses funk beats and bombastic vocals with a vaguely dystopian story line that she has been building since her…
Dr. Charles Wheeler is downsizing – in a big way; estate sale this weekend
Don’t call this weekend’s sale of Dr. Charles Bertan Wheeler’s furnishings and household items (including artwork, books, antiques) an estate sale. Kathe Kaul, local estate-sale maven and owner of her namesake estate-sale and appraisal-services company who is handling the two-day sale, prefers to call it a “downsizing sale” because the 87-year-old Wheeler – who served as Kansas City’s mayor for…
Blue Is the Warmest Color
Blue Is the Warmest Color is a movie about a lesbian, not a movie about all lesbians. But ever since it took top honors at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, it has become a source of international notoriety, thanks to some juvenile press coverage. First came gawking at the movie’s pivotal sex scene, then clucking over whether the lead actresses…
Jazz Beat: Matt Carrillo Quartet, at Take Five Coffee + Bar
Matt Carrillo started sitting in on Kansas City–area jazz jams while still in his teens. His rich, full-bodied tenor sax evoked the bluesy sounds of this city’s heritage, and he’d swing with sophistication as his solos grew more adventurous. He matured as a regular in Everette DeVan’s quartet. Then, three years ago, Carrillo moved to New York, which makes a…
Shelby Floyd shines in Egads’ Tell Me on a Sunday
I admit it: I’ve never been fond of Andrew Lloyd Webber. If this is a flaw, I accept responsibility for it and do so without blaming, say, a very early exposure to Starlight Express and a vague memory of dancing onstage in a fur-covered bodysuit. But surely I’m not the only person whose nightmares are scored to “Jellicle Cats” on…
The Dead Girls sit up again with a new album
Cameron Hawk and JoJo Longbottom always look a little surly, even when they’re in a good mood. The two have played in bands together for the past 16 years, since they met in high school in Manhattan, Kansas. With all that time invested in the local music scene — including the nine years they’ve spent as half of the Dead…
Tech N9ne makes his new Therapy appointment
Three days before his 42nd birthday, Tech N9ne sits at the head of an enormous, shiny conference table inside his Strange Music headquarters in Lee’s Summit. He’s dressed in dark denim, a black button-up, and the snake-and-bat pendant that seems never to leave his body. Without face paint, Tech seems oddly friendly — the brown eyes kind, the smile easy,…
Music Forecast November 14-20: Janelle Monáe, Mountain Sprout, Moon Taxi, Wiping Out Thousands, and more
Selena Gomez People love using words like “wholesome” and “classy” to describe 21-year-old Disney Channel graduate Selena Gomez. Compared with her pop-culture counterpart Miley Cyrus, Gomez certainly is the more family-friendly car-ride CD choice. I have a hard time believing that there’s anything beyond marshmallow fluff between Gomez’s ears. The starlet’s latest record, Stars Dance, is filled with polished pop…
Are Larry Sells’ dreams of a shiny Uptown district finally coming true?
Cautiously optimistic is how you might describe Larry Sells, owner of the Uptown Theater, these days. In 1989, the historic theater, at 3700 Broadway, closed after the previous owner failed to pay back taxes. The building eventually fell into the hands of the Land Trust of Jackson County, which Sells was president of at the time. He spent a few…
Former business partners chip-shot each other in a battle over Hillcrest Country Club
From the back of the Missouri Court of Appeals’ dimly lighted courtroom in Kansas City, David Francis fixes his gaze on his former business partner, Terry Clark. Francis shakes his head often as Clark, a military veteran, pleads with the court’s three-judge panel to reverse a 2012 decision by the Circuit Court of Jackson County that sliced away Clark’s stake…
Find The Pitch
