Blood Brothers
THU 1/27
Before moving to Lawrence and forming the hilarious, backwoodsy band Drakkar Sauna, John Wallace Cochran wrote and directed a surrealistic comedy about a black-market-medical-oddity collector hired to find a videotape of some poor kid failing Gowers’ test. For the pediatrically uninitiated, Gowers’ sign test is one in which a doctor watches a child rise from lying down to a standing position. If the motion is awkward and gangly, the kid probably has MS. “I don’t know if I was intentionally looking for something obscure, but I find obscure things more interesting,” Cochran says.
A collaborative project that reunited Cochran with friends from Michigan and Pennsylvania (including bandmates Jeff Stolz and Chris Kuhlman), Blood Feud was filmed on MiniDV over 26 days in Pittsburgh at a cost of around $9,000 in piggy-bank savings. Editing took five months and involved transforming 28 hours of footage into a 75-minute caper flick reminiscent of Luis Bunuel and Lindsay Anderson, whom Cochran cites as major influences.
Though the movie itself may prove typical of clever DIY auteurs, we’re expecting some real fireworks from the soundtrack, a montage of music by the crew members (each of whom is in one of four bands) tightly woven into the plot and mood. After the movie screens for the first time at 9:30 p.m. Thursday at Liberty Hall (644 Massachusetts in Lawrence, 785-749-1972), each band performs, and audience members will probably leave feeling that they, too, would fail Gowers’ test. — Jason Harper
Kinder Bender
SAT 1/29
The ten-band Kindercare bill Saturday at the Brick (1727 McGee) contains some riveting troublemakers. Shotgun Idols exude street-punk savagery on trashy thrashers such as “Big Tittie” and “Ass Shaker.” The Brass Knuckle Choir creates swaggering serenades for soccer hooligans. The Federation of Horsepower grinds out fire-starting odes to life’s unsavory elements. And the liquor-veined Throttlers excel at inhibition-obliterating rock mayhem. Groups like these usually make concerned citizens wail, “Won’t somebody think of the children?” But this is a 21-and-over affair, and given that all proceeds go to Children’s Mercy, someone already thought to keep kids in mind. The show starts at 7 p.m.; call 816-421-1634. — Andrew Miller
Stencil Pushers
FRI 1/28
Thanks to the insuppressible creativity of students at the Kansas City Art Institute, midtown residents are no strangers to stencils. Whether it’s a black-lipped 1950s moll on a newspaper dispenser or a display of admiration for Shepard Fairey on the side of a warehouse, acts of voluntary civic beautification appear as often as goat turds at a petting zoo. Learn more about this infamous pastime at 8 p.m. Friday, when Josh MacPhee of JustSeeds.org comes to the Solidarity Radical Library (1119 Massachusetts in Lawrence) to present a slide show on revolutionary stencil art. Brooklyn indie rockers the Good Good add more bang for the $3-$5 cover. Call 785-865-1374. — Harper
Demo Crew
THU 1/27
The KC Pride Democratic Club, a grass-roots human-rights (read: gay) organization founded in 2002, hosts its annual meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The group gets the business stuff — electing officers for the coming year — out of the way first, then moves on to its touted attraction, a panel discussion titled “The Red State Blues: The Future of the Democratic Party in Missouri.” (Notable participants include Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, State Auditor Claire McCaskill and Missouri State Democratic Party Chair Roger Wilson.) Awards and a wrap-up party follow; it all takes place at the Broadway Church (3931 Washington). Call Van Buckley at 816-517-8389 for more information. — Annie Fischer
