Oh, Beautiful …

5/27-5/29
At 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, the Kansas City Singers present the final concerts in their Americana series, From Sea to Shining Sea, at the Just Off Broadway Theater (3051 Central). Expect sentimental, patriotic favorites. Call 816-361-0431. — Fischer

We Love the ’90s

Two concerts this week send us back — way back.

5/27 & 6/1
As anyone who grew up in a small town can attest, there isn’t much to do besides gravel-roading, where we can listen to music and smoke cigarettes. But as high school freshmen, we didn’t have many transportation options for getting to those back roads. If said vehicle were a beat-up Ford F-150 with no CD player, we went — and we were happy, damn it. As a result, hearing any radio hit from 1995 — regardless of how terrible it sounds to us now — still makes us feel as fuzzy inside as we did then. Whether that was the effect of cheap beer or youthful adrenaline, we don’t know. But we hope that both stimulants contribute to a buzz when we go see Better Than Ezra (“Good”) at 8 p.m. Friday at the Beaumont Club (4050 Pennsylvania, 816-561-2560) and when Seven Mary Three (“Cumbersome”) plays the Grand Emporium (3832 Main, 816-531-1504) at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Both shows cost $15. — Annie Fischer

ONE Nation

WED 6/1
Despite the efforts of Friends‘ Phoebe to ruin the reputations of coffeehouse performers everywhere, local musicians, including Mac Childs and Sarah Mueller, keep fighting the good fight. Wednesday’s 6 p.m. show at Coffee Girls (310 Southwest Boulevard) is a benefit for ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History. We promise, no “Smelly Cat.” — Rebecca Braverman