Night & Day Events

16 Thursday
Tommy Ruskin, whose drumming skills will fill in competing saxophone riffs with cohesive rhythmic patterns tonight during the Battle of the Saxes, says he wishes organizers wouldn’t call it a battle. “I just never cared for the word ‘battle’ in music,” he says. The musicians who share the stage at the Grand Emporium, 3832 Main, at 8 tonight are working to raise money for the Musicians Emergency Assistance Fund, which helps provide a safety net under players for whom health insurance and other benefits are hard to come by. Bobby Watson got involved with the Battle of the Saxes last year, when he had just returned to Kansas City from New York. A similar fund in New York had helped his family pay for medical care, and he was eager to help strengthen Kansas City’s program. So it’s easy to understand Ruskin’s annoyance at the use of the word “battle” to describe an event that is actually a show of solidarity. The night itself is a lot of fun, with each of the four saxophonists — two tenor and two alto — taking turns, then coming together onstage for the finale. Combined with drums, bass and keyboards, “it makes for a really great seven-piece band,” says coordinator Bill Williams, who notes that the finale in particular is hard to predict. “Musicians do what they wanna do, you just have to stand back and enjoy it.” Admission costs $12. For more information, call 816-531-1504.

17 Friday
Just as Reagan-era comedy is seeming more apropos than it has in about eight years, what with the White House’s undergoing a tacky, unsophisticated ’80s revival (we’ve been assured it’s just a phase), Bobcat Goldthwait of Police Academy-fame comes to Kansas City for a stand-up show. Perhaps his talents weren’t put to their greatest use for his role as Zed, the antiauthoritarian rogue cadet who joined the series in Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, but the gravelly, stuttery, high-pitched shout that characterized Zed comes to the stage under brand new guises in Goldthwait’s stand-up tour. If this comic’s popularity is inversely proportional to the intelligence of the president in office, as seems to be the case, tonight’s show should be a rollicking good time for one and all. Goldthwait performs stage at Stanford and Sons in Overland Park, 106th and Metcalf, at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. For more information, call 913-385-3866.

18 Saturday
Tonight marks the Brazilian Carnival celebration at the Ethnic Enrichment Festival in Swope Park, Meyer Boulevard and Swope Parkway, with dance and overall merriment provided by the Brazilian Club Grupo Tropicalia, Batooki, Axe Capoeira and Mango Mamas starting at 8. What began as Brazil’s pre-Lent celebration, akin to Mardi Gras, has evolved into a midsummer festival of extravagant costumes (especially drag) dancing, parades and music in cities from Rio de Janiero to — well, Kansas City. The event is part of a weekend-long festival with the theme Taste the World. It’s not every day that a person can drink Inka Cola from Peru while indulging with a plateful of Serbian potato salad and a croque monsieur. It is recommended that after tasting the world, celebrants give themselves time to digest; the unusual culinary combo might not agree with dancing and drinking as well as event planners hope. The day’s festivities start at noon. For more information, call 816-513-7593.

19 Sunday
At 7:30 this evening, the Kansas City Wizards play the Colorado Rapids at Arrowhead Stadium. It’s a good chance to see the crazy fans known as The Mystics, some overzealous soccer freaks who let out all of their frustrations on the opposing team. They’re not violent, but they’ve got lungs fit for yelling, that’s for sure. Colorado will be rapidly returning home after encountering this special brand of Midwestern loyalty. For more information, call 816-931-3330.

20 Monday
The Wind Will Carry Us, showing as part of the Tivoli Film Forum (4050 Pennsylvania), responds to the constraints of censorship with creativity and meaning. It centers on three film crew members’ stay in a small village as they wait for an old woman to die so that they can record what they hope will be a truly foreign funeral ceremony. The determination of the villagers to adhere to tradition becomes a form of resistance to these outsiders, who want to romanticize the culture they observe. When one member of the crew follows a villager’s young fiancée to a barn where she milks a cow, her back always faces him, representing her refusal to accept his intrusively aggressive flirtation, even when he pathetically quotes Iranian poetry to show her what a swell guy he is. This movie insightfully examines Western perceptions of often-demonized Middle Eastern cultures. For more information, including showtimes, call 816-561-5222.

21 Tuesday
Getting inside the head of a collector is a bizarre experience. Crown Center shoppers can look at collections of Godzilla paraphernalia, casino chips with different celebrities’ faces printed on them and jokers from decks of cards in Still More Things People Collect, on display through September 9 at 2450 Grand. For more information, call 816-274-8444.

22 Wednesday
People who like the slower pace of summer might be sad to see the laziness beginning to ebb. Or even if the laziness itself isn’t going anywhere, the excuse for it certainly is. To make the most of it, Kansas City’s recreational chefs might want to attend tonight’s Lazy Days of Summer Cookout at the Culinary Center of Kansas City, 7914 Foster in Overland Park. Unless, of course, it’s too much trouble to get out of the house. The session starts at 6:30 and costs $55 a person. For more information, call 913-341-4455.