Rex Sinquefield enjoys the reputation of political kingmaker in Missouri. In any given election season, he is talked about as a savvy puppetmaster who inspires fear in opponents and awe in libertarians, a prodigious donor who gets his way. Most of that isn’t really true. Yes, he has plenty of money. Sinquefield built his wealth developing some of the nation’s…
It seems only fitting that a play about the cruelties of time would leave me longing to spend more with its characters. The Kansas City Actors Theatre lives up to its name in its season-ending production of The Island, an apartheid-era drama that unfolds in four blistering scenes. The play, devised by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona, opens…
When the national dialogue on guns is as polite as a dumpster fire, the bar for critical discourse sits perilously low. Gunplay, a variety show of topical sketches by local playwright Frank Higgins, stoops to the occasion. The Fishtank Performance Studio’s polished production — staged in the upstairs Aquarium space — lends clarity and style to Higgins’ two-act script. But…
When you go to a play about a 600-pound man, and that play is titled The Whale, you don’t expect it to afford its main character much humanity. When the play opens with the title character masturbating furiously enough to provoke cardiac arrest, you don’t expect it to afford him much dignity, either. But Samuel D. Hunter’s script, mounted on…
How do I know I’m not the only person who passed the Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt shop, tucked into the retail building at 7140 Wornall Road, and, without bothering to stop, thought, What a strange place for a frozen yogurt store? I know because Orange Leaf, a franchise operation, is already gone. Emptied of soft-serve handles and other chain-venue accoutrement,…
Of the dozen songs on the MGDs’ newest album, Wake Up, only three are under the five-minute mark. You could say the groove band has a lot to share. With six members, each claiming a stake in the songwriting, brevity is not a priority. It isn’t the length of Wake Up that will surprise listeners, but rather the album’s ambling…
Patti Austin’s “Baby, Come to Me,” her duet with James Ingram that reached No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart in 1983, remains the singer’s biggest pop moment. But it’s a relative blip in a long musical life: Austin has been singing since she was coaxed onto the stage at New York’s Apollo Theater at age 4 by jazz great…
Jordan Geiger’s speaking voice is a lot like his singing voice: Soft, a little high and so gentle a good gust of wind would overrule it. It’s these characteristics that make Geiger’s new record, The Past Is Not a Flood, his first under the Hospital Ships moniker since 2013, so affecting. All but one of the album’s six songs stretch…
My Gold Mask In October, Chicago’s My Gold Mask put on a stunning show for about a dozen people at the now-closed RecordBar. Singer Gretta Rochelle, pale and long-limbed, commanded the stage like an otherworldly white witch, crouching next to the speakers and perching on the edge of the stage. The only thing more absorbing than her acrobatics was her…
Sam Brownback wants the American Royal to relocate to Wyandotte County so much that one almost gets the sense that he owes someone a favor. We’re not saying that he wants to deliver the goods for a livestock organization that has several board members who donated to his re-election campaign, we’re just saying that Brownback wants the American Royal in…
Override on STAR bonds passes 30-8 #ksleg— Bryan Lowry (@BryanLowry3) March 15, 2016
The Kansas City Neighborhoods and Public Safety Committee is used to hearing from representatives from the Kansas City Police Department — but they won’t on Wednesday, days after the police received criticism for how it handled crowds at a Donald Trump rally. KCPD officers arrested four people and pepper-sprayed several more on Saturday outside the Midland Theater, where noted blowhard…
Looking for a house? Rich Wiles, former executive chef and co-owner of Westport Café & Bar, might be your man. He’s going into real estate. Looking for a chai-poached pear? Westport Café’s new co-owner and executive chef, Romain Monnoyeur, is one of two new French-born faces in the six-year-old restaurant. Monnoyeur and Kevin Mouhot joined the restaurant’s founder, Aaron Confessori,…
Thursday 3.17Watching 1962’s subversive mind-trip The Manchurian Candidate today, it’s easy to see why it was a box-office flop. Its cynical, paranoid vision of an America mired in foreign wars and a suffocating political climate is tough to watch. Today, as pundit brainwashing and the rise of demagogues have become status quo, it’s more prescient than ever. Watch the new…
Monday of SXSW sometimes sees a lull as some of the big splashy parties and events have ended. But, for me, Monday was super productive. Today, I’ll highlight sessions and brands that were moving things forward. 1. Snapchat I started off the morning in a session called “That Snapchatter Makes More Than You.” While the session covered much more than…
Selection Sunday has come and gone, and the 2016 NCAA Tournament will officially commence with the First Four games in Dayton, Ohio on Tuesday night. Eight teams will contend for an official spot in this year’s Men’s tournament before first round action kicks off Thursday afternoon. East and Midwest regional games will hit Scottrade Center in St. Louis between Friday…
Mavis Staples and Nick Lowe Sunday, March 13 Kauffman Center For the full slideshow from last night, go here. “I can promise you, Mavis is on fire,” British singer-songwriter Nick Lowe told the audience last night, a few songs into his opening set. “When is she not, I ask?” Last night’s double-bill at the Kauffman Center was the final date…
