Since 1966, George Takei has guided the starship Enterprise (and, later, the Excelsior) through an endless series of reruns of Star Trek and through six feature films and an animated series (plus video games) as Hikaru Sulu. Driving James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (the late Leonard Nimoy) around the universe would have been enough to secure Takei’s…
Most comic-book writers and illustrators toil in anonymity, seeming less real to their fans than their alter egos on the page. Stan Lee is a notable exception.Starting in 1961, the onetime editor and later publisher of Marvel Comics helped introduce the world to Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, X-Men, the Silver Surfer and Iron Man. The heroes he created…
More than 250 beers will be up for sampling at the sixth annual Waldo Hopfest, from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday in the Waldo Outdoor Pavilion (201 West 74th Terrace). Get there early for rare tappings. When I go through the gate, I’m making a beeline for the Founders tent to drink Canadian Breakfast Stout, and maybe a little KBS….
Dee Dee Bridgewater has won three Grammy Awards (Best Jazz Vocal Album, Best Jazz Vocal Performance and Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocal) and a Tony Award (Best Featured Actress in a Musical, as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wiz). She has recorded with jazz legends, including Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins. Last year, Bridgewater and her playful…
Kansas City has owed debt continuously on Kemper Arena since 1973.But later this month, the city will make its final debt payment on the aging arena — and then get it off its hands.A press release from Kansas City on Monday described Kemper Arena’s fate as fait accompli. The Foutch Brothers, at long last, would get to preserve much of…
Louis CK has no love for Kansas City … but he’s coming back anyway. The Sprint Center has announced a Thursday, July 7, date with Louis.Tickets are available now through Louis’ website. They’re $65 apiece. Louis famously went on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and told Leno’s chin that KC is “a terrible place,” “an awful place” and “a…
We love it when a plan comes together. The relocated RecordBar recently opened at 1520 Grand after losing its lease in Westport last winter, and now it appears that recordBar owners Steve Tulipana and Shawn Sherrill are back in the full booking swing for the new downtown location. An exciting announcement among recordBar’s newly booked shows includes a stop by Thao…
They’re coming in hot this morning. Two more Midland concerts have been announced, including Sturgill Simpson and Chris Isaak (it would be weird/interesting, but they are not appearing together). Sturgill Simpson is one of the hottest names in country music right now, because of his authentic and crossover appeal. He will be appearing at the Midland on Tuesday, November 1,…
Puff Daddy’s Bad Boy Records was the stuff of ’90s megastar hip-hop dreams, featuring a deep roster that included Puffy himself, as well as Lil’ Kim, Mase and, of course, Biggie. The dream manages to live on apparently, and Puffy is bringing the family back together for a 20th Anniversary Reunion tour, which includes a stop at the Sprint Center…
Classic Rock Summer is a series wherein we attempt to see as many classic-rock concerts coming through the Kansas City area as possible. From May through September, we will immerse ourselves in the music of our parents, from yacht rock to oldies to hair metal, you’ll find us there.The Beach BoysThe Midland, Kansas CitySaturday, May 14Technically, summer doesn’t start until…
Judy Mills recently celebrated the three-year anniversary of her Westport record store, Mills Record Co., just 10 days ago, and it appears that even brighter days are ahead. Mills remains open in its current location at 314 Westport Road, but in four to six weeks, it will open new doors at a much larger location just around the corner at…
Dave Chappelle is coming to Kansas City. No, this isn’t one of those fake concert announcements that your friends are sharing on Facebook. This is real. Chappelle, pretty much the funniest guy on the planet, is slated to appear at Music Hall on Wednesday, June 8. Tickets go on sale today at 10 a.m. And there’s an all-caps warning for…
For actor, writer and director Orson Welles, whose reputation today rests comfortably on Citizen Kane and Touch of Evil, his lost project Chimes at Midnight was not merely a movie. It was a lifelong obsession. Welles’ clever recombination of Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I and Part II, Henry V and The Merry Wives of Windsor — a thrilling restoration of…
Let’s say you’re tight on cash. You might not have enough for groceries to make it to the end of the week.Anyone who has had that feeling of financial desperation — that smoldering gut feeling of panic — knows it can lead to risky decisions. So let’s say you go to Google and type in “where can I get quick…
The culinary partnership of chef Joe West and Il Lazzarone owner Erik Borger ended this week, with both parties steaming like a pot of boiling noodles.West, a former chef de cuisine for Bluestem, had been hired as executive chef for the yet-unopened Komatsu ramen restaurant at 3951 Broadway. He and Borger had also established an arrangement for West to open…
Gauzy, dream-pop duo Beach House is no stranger to Kansas City, having appeared several times since the release of its addictive album, Teen Dream, in 2010. The band shows no signs of slowing and still churns out lovely, soundtrack-ready songs perfect for falling in (or out of) love. See Beach House at another local stop late this summer, Saturday, August…
Occupation:Amy: Physical therapy assistant Jonny: Project manager at a creative agencyTwitter handle: @nopw_Hometown: (West) ShawneeCurrent neighborhood: (West) Shawnee. We both grew up out here in the sticks but are in the city all the time. What I do: Amy: As a PTA, I help people get better after getting sick, having surgery, and/or an injury. My patients often call it…
One of hip-hop’s most prolific (and funniest) artists, Lil Wayne is returning to Kansas City to perform at the Sprint Center on Saturday, June 18. His last Kansas City performance was, randomly enough, at Boulevard Nights, promoting his latest mixtape. This much larger-scale performance is part of Summer Jam 16. Rapper 2 Chainz is also performing.Tickets go on sale at…
The line for Prince’s fortune is starting to grow. The latest claim comes from a Colorado inmate with Kansas City ties.Charles Q. Williams claims he’s Prince’s son, and he’s filed a paternity claim with a Minnesota court. According to news reports, Williams’ mother, Marsha Henson, claims in an affidavit that she met Prince in the lobby of a Kansas City…
Thursday 5.12Nicholas Ray is famous for directing James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, but his Humphrey Bogart-led 1950 melodrama, In A Lonely Place, may be his (and Bogart’s) finest moment. Ray’s most personal film, it chronicles the lusty highs of true love between Bogart’s troubled screenwriter and his mysterious neighbor (Gloria Grahame), and the eventual dissolution of the relationship….
Mayer HawthornePerhaps we’ll set aside the politics of a white boy from L.A. building a successful music career off a very convincing Motown sheen and just enjoy Mayer Hawthorne’s latest album, Man About Town, for what it is: smooth grooves and a silky good time. Hawthorne knows what he’s doing, after all, and Man About Town certainly sets a sexy…
Nathan Bowman has a flair for the theatrical. You might guess that after watching “Whiskey Love,” the latest music video from his band, Attic Light, and the lead single off the April-released Exile EP. Bowman — dressed in a white suit and a perilously unbuttoned shirt — mugs for the camera and exaggerates his singing. All this, he says, is…
Over the years, my enthusiasm for a certain kind of cozy restaurant has waned. I’m talking about that unpromising category of dining establishment invariably referred to, usually by some well-meaning convert, as “a great little hole in the wall.” I’m sorry to report that, in my experience, most holes in the wall are not merely lacking in greatness — they…
A saison with brett. Sounds familiar. But here’s the curveball: This one isn’t from Kansas City’s biggest brewery. It’s from one of Kansas City’s newest — Crane Brewing Co. — and it’s sessionable. Small Ball Saison comes in at 5.2 percent ABV, and this is another tribute to the boys in blue without saying as much (hello, Crown Town Ale)….
