Around Hear
Music fans hoping to avoid corny canned renditions of “Auld Lang Syne” and misguided DJs who spin Prince‘s “1999” in a futile attempt to stir up the millennial mayhem that failed to materialize last year have plenty of options this year. In addition to Arthur Dodge‘s triumphant homecoming in Lawrence, the Grand Emporium’s blues bash starring Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets, and the Warren Brothers‘ hoe-down at the Beaumont Club (all of which are chronicled elsewhere in this section), venues both traditional and obscure are offering live bands on this most festive of Sunday nights.
• The SuperNauts team with their mentors in Liverpool at Union Station, 30 W. Pershing Road. Liverpool plans to stick with its usual all-Beatles set list, a wise choice given the stunning success of that group’s recent collection of chart-topping singles. Since those in attendance certainly will get their Fab Four fix during this portion of the program, the SuperNauts will eschew their trademark Beatles covers in favor of an originals-heavy concert showcasing these teenagers’ budding songwriting skills. Additional attractions for later in the night include indoor fireworks, a laser show, and a live video feed featuring ‘N Sync, those dubious heirs to The Beatles’ pop throne.
• Mississippi Grace hosts a snow-melting blues exhibition from Lester Wizard King, a scorching guitarist whose debut album was misleadingly titled Turning Cold. Visitors to this Kansas City, Kansas, venue, located at 731 Minnesota Avenue, receive complimentary champagne with their purchase of a $12 ticket. On the jazz side of the fence, Simon Wonderbrown jams at the 75th Street Brewery, 520 W. 75th Street. The Blue Room, 1616 E. 18th Street, will be closed on New Year’s Eve, but Philadelphia native Bootsie Barnes should get early revelers properly warmed up for the festivities with his Friday- and Saturday-night hard-bop shows.
• After experimenting with cover bands, Niener’s, 815 N. Noland, has made an early New Year’s resolution to return to hungry metal acts, and its lineup of Die Sextion Ate, Equinox, and Phantom Fear goes a long way toward establishing the North Kansas City club as the area’s finest hard-rock venue for 2001. Staking its own claim to that title is Grandview’s Filling Station, 11515 Hickman Mills Drive, which boasts an impressively loud trio of New Year’s Eve noisemakers: Bent, Everybody’s X, and Canvas.
• Meanwhile, in Lawrence, another purveyor of fine twisted rock, Ricky Dean Sinatra, headlines a gig at Rick’s Neighborhood Bar and Grill, 623 Vermont. The Eudoras, specializing in ’60s-era surf music, open the festivities.
• Modern-radio listeners looking to usher in 2001 while listening to something in the Three Doors Down/Collective Soul vein (those points of comparison come courtesy of Heavy Burden‘s singer, Herschel Burden) can make the trek to Scoreboards, 920 W. Highway 56 in Olathe, to catch the band. Of course, in a perfect world — or at least a world in which area radio stations regularly placed local bands in heavy rotation — The Creature Comforts and Ultimate Fakebook would have the high profile they deserve for crafting tunes far superior to “Kryptonite” and “Shine.” The winners of the past two years’ Klammies for Best New Album (The Creature Comforts in 1999, Ultimate Fakebook in 2000) pair up for a Bottleneck show that will offer hooks so sharp that even those who drink themselves into a stupor will wake up with memorable melodies running through their throbbing heads.
• Hadacol found an appropriately Old-West-sounding setting for its authentic Americana tunes — Wild Bill’s, located at 12804 Santa Fe Trail Drive in Lenexa. Midnight champagne and an appetizer buffet are included in that show’s $20 ticket, which Wild Bill’s asks to be purchased in advance at the venue.
• Perhaps acclaimed chef Ernie Locke will cook up some treats for fans who attend his band Parlay‘s boisterous bash at Davey’s Uptown. But even if Locke doesn’t pull any spicy dishes out of the oven, his outfit will bring enough searing heat to make this show a suitable stop for fans looking to sweat off their Christmas dinners without hitting the treadmill.
Sparkling Grape Juice Not Included
If Christmas is one of the few holidays reserved for the very young — those who still believe in Santa, don’t have to go to school or venture out onto icy roads, and have no one for whom to shop — New Year’s Eve is a frustrating affair for the underaged. Even those old enough to escape the indignity of being put to bed before the new year dawns usually have precious few entertainment options. However, thanks to the year-old midtown all-ages haven El Torreon and the longstanding Olathe oasis Club 301 (formerly Gee Coffee), teens can party along with some of the area’s finest bands until the wee hours of the morning.
• At El Torreon, the Revolvers play what is lamentably reported to be their last show, though one would hope that the immensely popular melodic punk group might consider reuniting to play a set at next April’s Klammies showcase in celebration of its nod in the punk/ska category. Setting the right example are the Breakups and Annie on My Mind, two defunct outfits inspired by the season’s spirit to reassemble their original lineups. Rounding out this bill are Doozers, Tanka Ray, and the ever-popular Gadjits, whose raw Stones-style rock is punk enough to satisfy this show’s target audience but classic enough to inspire any chaperoning adults to boogie, for better or worse.
• Club 301 offers National Fire Theory, which impressed a packed Hurricane crowd with its high-energy emotional tunes while supporting Season to Risk in mid-November; Jade Raven, an irrepressible female-fronted trio that seems to be the people’s choice to fill the Frogpond/Lushbox void, since its shows pack venues its members aren’t old enough to legally enter; and The Silvermen, a group talented and eclectic enough to conjure images of Man or Astroman? and Stevie Ray Vaughan within a 10-minute span.
