Tradition

THU 2/5

Everybody loves a Thursday-night tradition. In fact, Thursday is arguably the most social night of the week. Some people go to dive bars. Others stay home and watch pathetically addictive sitcoms like Friends. Then there are those still searching for the perfect way to spend this particular night every week, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health. Pot Pie, the new home-cookin’ eatery where the Stolen Grill used to be at 904 Westport Road, started hosting live music on Thursday nights back in November. Owner John Williams hopes his restaurant will become Kansas City’s answer to Nashville’s Bluebird Café, where, he explains, “a lot of famous singer-songwriters got their start.”

The first act to take the stage at Pot Pie was Arthur Dodge. Since then, most gigs have featured bands doing their fourth or fifth show, with occasional appearances from seasoned pros. (Dodge has returned for at least one recent encore.) Thursday night, Williams brings in the Afterparty, a three-piece he describes as “country trance.” By this he means soft and lulling country music, not electronic country-music remixes for the rave set.

You can wash it down with a Pabst, which Williams serves in bottles. “Everyone drinks Pabst,” he says. It’s the only night of the week that Pot Pie customers order more beer than wine.— Gina Kaufmann

Indefensible

Caveman might be hard to defend, buddy.

2/5-2/8

There’s a slight chance that Rob Becker’s one-man show Defending the Caveman is a subversive dig at the idea of men being from Mars and women from Venus. But it’s more likely that Becker just thinks the idea that men and women are different is still a subject ripe for sidesplitting analysis.

To create the show, Becker conducted an “informal” study of such hilarious subjects as anthropology, psychology, sociology and mythology. His theory that men are hunters and women are gatherers is backed by examples of men fighting the television by flipping through channels and women filling chip bowls at parties. With that in mind, if you are inclined to spend $30 to $40 on a show that one critic says will have audience members “nudging each other with delight,” head to the Music Hall (301 West 13th Street) or call 816-931-3330 for tickets.— Sarah Steele