Night & Day Events

Thursday, September 23
Who says women ain’t got balls? We know plenty of ballsy gals. The problem is that the female anatomy suggests no equally emphatic synonym for guts. Yet, when we consider the accomplishments of Hollywood stunt doubles Jeannie Epper and Zoe Bell, we think of big, brass balls. The recent documentary Double Dare, which follows their careers, screens at 7:30 tonight at Tivoli Cinemas (4050 Pennsylvania) after a discussion with Epper and the film’s producer, Karen Johnson, at the Westport Coffee House (4010 Pennsylvania). Epper, 60, doubled for Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman back in the ’70s and recently found herself in the fray of The Italian Job. Bell, 25, started doubling for Lucy Lawless in Xena: Warrior Princess when she was 18 and just finished doing Uma’s dirty work in the Kill Bill movies. Call 913-649-0244 for more information.

Friday, September 24

The painters known as the old masters were a wily bunch. British artist David Hockney has accused some of them of using lenses and prisms to render perfect lines and proportions. And every old master had dozens of pupils, many of whom often neglected to identify their work. As a result, collecting the old masters’ paintings is, as the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s European painting and sculpture curator Ian Kennedy puts it, “quite a volatile business.” Kennedy, well-known for his animated and often hilarious lecture style, tells all about the perils of collecting in his lecture “The Mad, Bad World of Art: An Insider’s View on Collecting Old Master Paintings, Past and Present” at 6 tonight at the Nelson’s Ford Learning Center (4525 Oak Street). Call 816-751-1278.

Saturday, September 25

No amount of money or technology can guarantee a good laugh. So we applaud the people of Iola, Kansas, for knowing good comedy when they see it, especially in long-dead local hero Buster Keaton, who got lots of laughs without saying a word. Today, the second day of the Annual Buster Keaton Celebration in the little town 2 hours southwest of KC, Keaton’s silent films are accompanied by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center (205 East Madison). Admission is free. Call 620-365-4765.

Poetry slams are hybrids of performance art and poetry in which outspoken audience members judge the writers’ work. Putting microphones in the hands of artists who love to hear their own voices (and giving them an opportunity to win cold, hard cash) can make an event brutal — and loud. Nonetheless, the new Central Library (14 West 10th Street) is hosting a poetry slam. We’ve always considered libraries to be havens of hush, but an image transformation goes down from 1:30 to 4 p.m. today when Stan Banks, Debra DiBlasi and Glenn North referee a demonstration in the library’s new café area. Call 816-701-3400 for more information.

Sunday, September 26

When the It’s Just Lunch dating service issued statistics in honor of National Singles Week, we thought it would be fun to stage an experiment: go out with two different people on the same day, following the service’s “guidelines” on one date but not on the other. So today we’re taking potentials to the Plaza Art Fair
(816-753-0100) and the Un-Plaza Art Fair (816-561-1181), where chances are slim that we’ll run into Date 1 while we’re with Date 2 (and vice versa). According to the stats, 86 percent of men agree that two alcoholic beverages is the maximum; one-third think lighting up a cigarette is the biggest turnoff, and almost half prefer that their ladies wear dark colors. So from noon to 2 p.m., find us at the second-string street party (4501 Walnut), acting prim and proper in blasé black, but from 3 to 5 p.m. we’re getting tipsy at Tiffany’s and smoking at Saks — and wearing red.

Monday, September 27

This season, Nip/Tuck, the most deliciously trashy show on television, introduced Ava Moore. Played by former Bond girl Famke Janssen, Moore was the “life coach” to Joely Richardson’s Julia McNamara. Naturally, Moore stirred up trouble when she also began servicing McNamara’s ex-flame, Christian Troy (played by one hot Julian McMahon), and McNamara’s freaky, Michael Jackson-look-alike son, Matt, using sex to get his, um, grades up. We’re sure that’s not what the Keeler Women’s Center, a ministry of the Benedictine Sisters of Atchison, Kansas, has in mind with its Living a Strategic Life program. At group sessions, professional life coach Linda Miller helps attendees identify obstacles and develop goal-oriented plans. Classes are from noon to 1 p.m. Mondays at 608 North 18th Street in Kansas City, Kansas; call 913-621-8749 for reservations.

Tuesday, September 28

We don’t care to know how prehistoric man, deprived of stainless steel cutlery and Larousse Gastronomique, fared when cooking up a chicken dinner. We assume it was painful for both man and bird. Nor are we interested in how the Neanderthal version of Julia Child developed her sauce recipes, which, we expect, involved mostly blood. And yet, with our fridge-to-microwave-to-paper-plate system, we are in a way less sophisticated than the earliest hominid hash slingers. So we hope that the Culinary Center of Kansas City (7917 Foster in Overland Park) will help us evolve with its Cooking 101 classes. From 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. today, Nancy Stark addresses knife care and use, and from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Jim Ladd and Jeff Stopa take on sauces. Each class costs $50. Call 913-341-4455 for more information.

Wednesday, September 29

There’s a new ’80s night in town. On Wednesdays, DJ Casey and DJ Prato take over the Point (917 West 44th Street) for the Plastic Social Club. We couldn’t think of a more perfect bar; the basement there is actually just like our best friend’s from high school, which was probably the last place we heard a lot of these songs. We’re going tonight in search of our very own Jake Ryan. For more information, call 816-561-7660.