As the NCAA Tournament continues along, it is a bit of a disappointment that the Shockers of Wichita State are no longer involved in the tourney. Wichita State went undefeated during the regular season, posting a 34-0 record while winning the Missouri Valley Conference tournament along the way. They entered the tourney with very high hopes, but after defeating Cal…
The NCAA Tournament is heating up and we have reached the Sweet 16. There are a lot of Cinderellas left in the tournament and fans are excited to see how the field will dwindle down to just four teams. In the West Region, the teams that are left are the 1st seeded Arizona Wildcats, the 4th seeded San Diego State…
Last night, at the home of one of the band members for local heavy metal act At the Left Hand of God, a thief broke in and stole most of the band’s equipment. According to the band’s Facebook page, the value of the stolen goods is more than $10,000. “This happened in the Northland area near Parvin and Chouteau,” the…
How sluggardly you feel coming home from a Wes Anderson movie. Back to the rubber-band scrum and plastic miscellany of the kitchen junk drawer. Hello again, indifferently folded cotton clothing. Hiya, maybe-not-even-real-wood shelves of paperback fictions and aluminum-pressed recordings. Thanks for nothing, artless detritus of the postmillennial mass market. There’s nary a secret-society membership pin in sight, let alone lapel….
Travis Guerin’s usual medium is feet — he’s in his third season dancing with the Kansas City Ballet, and he also choreographs. But sometimes he relies on his hands to produce motion: He writes music for dance. Guerin’s “Meta” is the latest piece of original music he has composed for dancers he has choreographed himself. It’s one of the works…
The night of Harvey Milk’s assassination, November 27, 1978, the first openly gay men’s chorus raised its collective voice in grief, for him and for San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, who was also killed. It was the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus’ first public performance, on the steps of City Hall. Over the next few years, gay choruses would emerge…
Anton Chekhov and Christopher Durang make an odd couple. Despite Chekhov’s insistence that many of his melancholic plays were comedies (who could forget that rollicking farce Three Sisters?), it’s hard to imagine his characters riffing in Durang’s hyper-real absurdism. With mixed results, though, the Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s production of Durang’s 2012 play, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,…
Shay Estes has established herself as one of Kansas City’s premier singers. She has done it all: weekend late nights with Trio ALL at the now-defunct Jardine’s; Brazilian music with Arara Azul; and swinging contemporary arrangements of jazz and pop standards with various ensembles. Estes has mastered a range of music uncommon with jazz singers. This week, you can catch…
Last summer, in a sudden burst of spontaneity while visiting a friend at a west Texas cattle ranch, Annie Clark — better known as St. Vincent — stripped in order to commune with nature. There was peace — and then the distinct sound of a snake’s rattle. Clark, still naked, forgot all about peace and took off running for refuge….
Top Five Songs That Define Spring Break 1. “Thong Song” from Unleash the Dragon, by Sisqó: “Pretty awkward beachwear, right? Thank God, that was just a trend.” 2. “Ignition (Remix)” from Chocolate Factory, by R. Kelly: “Always works.” 3. “Be Thankful for What You Got” from Be Thankful for What You Got, by William DeVaughn: “Cyrus D.–approved. OG Gangsta Lean…
“Look at me, with this cane,” Ida McBeth says. She laughs. “You must think I’m so old.” The jazz icon extends a hand without rising from a stool in her living room. We’re in her spacious East Side home, where she’s recuperating from a recent injury that broke several of her toes. Her face is immaculately made-up, her dark hair…
Middle Twin A lot of ear-appeasing things are coming out of Lawrence, and one of the newest and most noteworthy is Middle Twin. On the power-pop five-piece’s new EP, City of Gold, lead singer Demi Renault’s razor-sharp vocals cut through a sophisticated assembly of synths, keys and electronic drumbeats. Middle Twin straddles the cosmic line between dance music and electronic…
David Glen Riggs’ last lousy decision happened in China. The Raytown prodigal’s blithe globe-trotting had yielded consequences in the past — not least, a trail of scorned investors and furious business partners. But once he thought of his next risky stunt, executing it was generally a matter of when, not if. Riggs was scarcely seen in the Kansas City area…
When artist Mike Bechtel told me, back in October, that he was planning to call his new restaurant Kansas Town, I cringed. Was he opening near the National Agricultural Hall of Fame and costuming the servers in floor-length gingham gowns? Bechtel patiently withstood my skepticism and explained the vision informing his new bistro on 39th Street, in the former Macaluso’s…
Missouri policymakers might pay heed to an Oklahoma judge’s ruling on Wednesday that struck down that state’s execution privacy law, saying that secrecy enveloping the process is so tight that it violates an inmate’s due process rights. The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that Oklahoma County District Court Judge Patricia Parrish ruled that Oklahoma’s law restricting any disclosure of information about…
Like the green beer you chased your whiskey with last week, the Reuben is not an everyday concoction. Knowing that, though, didn’t keep me from eating six of them in 72 hours. My attempt to assemble a definitive Reuben list before St. Patrick’s Day led me to taste the things in my dreams, a whiff of sauerkraut on my fingertips…
The Al Rahman Café’s new sign is officially in place above the storefront at 2202 Lexington in the historic Northeast. “Al Rahman” is one of the 100 names for Allah. “It also means grace,” says Ali Abdalla, who operates the tiny East African bistro with his three brothers. For the last year, the place was known as Towfiq, with windows…
The Crossroads Arts District reminds Raygun owner Mike Draper of Des Moines’ burgeoning East Village, home to his original T-shirt and novelty shop. That familiar feeling has led Draper to open his first Raygun store outside Iowa at 1803 Baltimore, in the heart of the Crossroads. “The Crossroads is kind of exactly what we were looking for,” Draper says. The…
Johnson County Sheriff Frank Denning arrived at the March 13 Board of County Commissioners meeting ready for a fight. A county audit released in late February had cast a suspicious eye on the ballooning overtime pay – $4.75 million – incurred by uniformed staff in the Sheriff’s Office. Denning, called to testify, made his frustration plain. He also had a…
Over a decade and a half since the release of her groundbreaking solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the indomitable artist is back on tour – despite rumors of another IRS tax-fraud scandal, which seem to be false. It has been 12 years since Hill has put out a record, but recent concert reviews suggest she has lost none of…
Kansas Town has opened on 39th Street. Pitch food critic Charles Ferruzza reviews it (read his review here), and photographer Angela C. Bond gives a peek at the food.
After operating his West Plaza pizzeria, Johnny Jo’s, for the last 30 months, restaurateur John Milone is expanding his operation: He’ll open a new pizza shop called the Pizzeria at 516 West 103rd Street (in the shopping strip where the popular Coach’s Bar & Grill is located). The carryout venue is scheduled to open in the former Rosati’s Pizza location,…
%{}% Once word emerged Monday night that the streetcar probably wouldn’t extend south of the University of Missouri-Kansas City onto Brookside Boulevard, a klatch of transit supporters took to social media to flog Brookside as a backward conglomerate of stubborn conservative suburbanites who find progress repellent. Here are a few examples: Kansas City Star columnist Yael Abouhalkah got in on the mudslinging,…
