Category Archives: Entertainment
Sounds Good: Spring into Summer@Replay, Delbert McClinton@Knuckleheads, Tennis@RecordBar, Truckstop Honeymoon@Barnyard
All my picks this week are on Saturday, so you’ve got some touch choices to make…
Plus there’s a Sporting KC game Saturday at 7:30. The boys in blue are away at rival Chicago, so if you can’t park it in front of the tube at 7:30, make sure to set the old DVR.
In other concert news: the much anticipated James Morrison concert that was scheduled for the Granada tonight has unfortunately been cancelled. I believe Mr. Morrison will be hitting up Jay Leno tonight instead. His loss, right?
On to the picks!
Sounds Good: Damn Yankees, Til Willis, Hank III, Allison Olassa & Hearts of Darkness
We’ve got lots and lots going on this weekend.
There’s plenty of music to go around, which I’ll get to in a sec. But there’s also some other stuff to keep you out of trouble. Or get you into it.
For example, starting Thursday the team everyone loves to hate- the New York Yankees- roll into town to throttle our young Royals.
Sporting KC plays Saturday at home against expansion Montreal after their much needed week off.
Then there’s First Friday in the Crossroads, which is featuring free music and some art by a pro skateboarder.
And by the time Sunday rolls around I suggest you get your ass to Lawrence’s Burcham Park (it’s by the river) for a free show from some hipster bands like Robocopter, Johnny Booth, Ask an Adult, and Bloody Knives. It’s BYOD (dog) and it’s also BYOB (beverages?) so long as it’s not in glass bottles. Starts at 4:00.
Now on to my awesome and well-informed picks…
Sounds Good: Glen Campbell@Uptown, Electric Guest@Granada, Weston Bluegrass Festival, Shooter Jennings & Cody Canada@Crossroads, Real Estate@Bottleneck, Arthur Dodge@Replay
The summer concert season is heating up…
Artists heading into KC include Phish, The Avett Brothers, Aretha Franklin, Van Halen, Chicago, the Doobie Brothers, Taj Mahal, Pat Green, M83, and many, many more.
And despite the few curmudgeonly commenters that think otherwise, for my money there’s still no better way to see a show than outside underneath the stars.
To that end the Crossroads has the first offering of the season this weekend, with a gritty double bill of Shooter Jennings and Cody Canada & the Departed (more on them after the jump).
On to the picks!…
Hearne: Oracle of Lawrence Speaks Out on Best Buy Booty Boondoggle & Free Fall
There’s little doubt that few in Lawrence, Kansas loom larger than businessman John Kieffer…
From humble beginnings on the wrong side of the tracks on Kansas City’s East Side, Kieffer built both an audio/video and commerical real estate empire in the Land of the Jayhawk by being in the exact right place at the exact right time. For 53 years and counting, no less.
Not to mention he’s lived to tell the story.
Kieffer’s take on the ongoing free fall of audio/video giant Best Buy, which recently ousted it’s 50-something, married CEO over a sex scandal with a 20-something woman subordinate, after days earlier announcing the closing of 50 stores, hundreds of layoffs and a plan to downsize its box store biz by opening 100 smaller, Best Buy Mobile stores?
Sounds Good: Win Evanescence Tickets @ Midland, JJ Grey & Mofro @ Knuckleheads, Fourth of July & Ghosty @ Replay & Jimmy Buffett @ Sprint
Don’t say I never gave you anything…
Evanescence took a break after their somewhat surprise Grammy winning debut album Fallen and subsequent sophomore slump The Open Door. But they put out a self titled album in late 2011 that was more warmly received, and they’re coming to the Midland next week on April 24th in support.
And…
KCC just so happens to have a couple tickets to pass along to a deserving KC Con.
All we ask is that at the show you don’t do anything Hearne wouldn’t do, and definitely don’t do anything Glazer would do. We have an image to protect.
So tell me in the comments section why you deserve the tickets and I’ll pick someone. I’ll email the winner with the lurid details… and requirements. Or buy your own here.
Sounds Good: Leftover Salmon@Liberty Hall, Leon Russell@Knuckleheads, Quixotic@Midland, Cults@Granada, School of Seven Bells@RiotRoom
I know I’ve said it before, but this week’s Sounds Good has something for everyone. 
OK, maybe not the sluts and motorheads. But the jocks, geeks, dweebies and dickheads are all covered.
First up is a nice happy Thursday night show in Lawrence to get your weekend off right, featuring a storied band that plays what the kids call "Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass." They’ve been on an extended break since the death of their banjo player and founding member Mark Vann at way too young an age – 39.
But they’re back and rejuvinated with a youngster, Andy Thorn, filling in admirably and providing some new life to the band….
Donnelly: Quixotic Fusion Scheduled to Freakout the Midland this Saturday
After an epic headlining set by My Morning Jacket at 2011’s Wakarusa Festival, I stumbled my way onto a local wine booth.
The wine guy was super friendly, offering liberal tastes to parched campers. He explained that Arkansas wine is pretty good, and that the market is up and coming.
It all tasted great to me, and so I lingered to get a photo and the guy’s info for inclusion in my story. As I was telling him about KC Confidential, I think a bomb went off somewhere behind me. Except instead of fleeing, people were running toward the furious sound.
I squinted through the starlight. Is that stage on fire?
Turns out, it kind of was.
Sounds Good: Sporting vs LA @ LIVESTRONG, Leo Kottke @ Uptown, Muder by Death @ Beaumont & Split Lip @ Bottleneck
A bunch of news that may be of interest to you awesome people who love soccer and music…
First, the soccer.
Tickets for the HUGE Sporting-LA Galaxy game this Saturday at LIVESTRONG are sold out.
However, there are still a few standing room tickets you can buy in a package that includes a ticket to the Montreal game on May 5th. And trust me, some of the standing room spots in LIVESTRONG are my favorite places to watch from, so the view will still be great. Plus, as an added bonus – you’ll be closer to the beer concession.
Think about it.
And Wakarusa pass prices are increasing this Saturday at 11:59 pm.
Donnelly: Yonder Mountain String Band Channels Earl Scruggs @ Liberty Hall, March 29, 2012
With the passing of bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs Wednesday, Thursday night’s Yonder Mountain String Band show at Liberty Hall became something of a tribute to the banjo pioneer.
Right off the bat, mando player Jeff Austin paid his respects, calling Scruggs an innovator and an influence. Later in the show, bassist Ben Kaufmann alluded to the fact that without Scruggs, YMSB would not be what they are today.
Indeed, Scruggs paved the way for today’s contemporary bluegrass and country acts, and is credited with basically inventing the three finger rolling style that most people automatically associate with banjo-playing.
Yonder belted out multiple Scruggs numbers over the course of two sets and an encore- along with their usual assortment of barn burners and ballads- to a raucous 2/3 full room of beards and summer dresses…
Sounds Good: Yonder Mountain@Liberty Hall (for real), Tyler Gregory@Barnyard, Adam Corolla@Uptown, Late Night Callers@Bottleneck
Do I have to do everything around here?… 
I mean, we’re in the midst of a magical ride in Larryville– and nothing? We’re surfing atop a wave of momentum that had thousands of crimson and blue crazies filling Mass Street last weekend.
Conversations of Jayhawk Nation are filling up message boards, Facebook posts, Twitter, and dominating water cooler talk. Just a few short months ago, could anyone have imagined it?
No, I’m not talking about KU’s Final Four run per se. I’m talking about #KUBoobs.
Where are you when we need you Lefty?…
Edelman: KC REP WHIPS UP CIVIL WAR DRAMA
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Some first class acting in the service of an intriguing if not fully mature script makes THE WHIPPING MAN (now through April 8 at KC Rep on the UMKC campus) a thought-provoking two hours of theater.
Though by no means fearless or adventurous (when is the Rep gonna give up on those superlatives?), Matthew Lopez‘s new play– competently staged by Rep Artistic Director Eric Rosen— takes us back in time to what must have been one of the strangest moments in our country’s history.
It’s April, 1865. One day, you’re a slave; the next, you’re free. One day, you’re a master– the next, just a guy with control issues.
Donnelly: The Million Dollar Quartet @ Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
Most people are familiar with the iconic photo of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis…
The one taken the night of December 4, 1956 at a jam session at Sun Studios in Memphis. Part of what makes the photo so powerful is the youth of the musicians all but one of whom (Lewis) are deceased.
It was a simpler time, before the sequined jumpsuits, the scandals and the drug abuse.
Obviously, all of them went on to become legends.
And that night is what The Million Dollar Quartet is all about. It unfolds now through Sunday at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. I caught the show Wednesday night before a packed house.
Sounds Good: Yonder Mountain@Liberty Hall, Andrew Bird@Uptown, Kinetiks@Jackpot
OK music fiends…
Concert season is nearly upon us. So make sure you get your mind, body, and soul prepared. I mean, you don’t want to pull something.
How does one go about preparing mind, body, and soul for the rigors of an epic concert season? Simple.
First, get yourself a bucket and fill it with beer. Second, drink the bucket of beer. Third, place the bucket on your head.
That’s it folks. Now don’t get too cocky, it’s not as easy as it sounds.
Oh, and go check out these shows…
McPansy: Jane’s Addiction at the Uptown Theater, March 16, 2012
Friday night’s Jane’s Addiction show at the Uptown Theater saw KCC‘s photog/music fanatic Katie Grogan soaking in some good ol’ 90s alt rock.
Though Jane’s peaked as a band a decade (or two?) back, a solid crowd turned out to catch Perry Farrell‘s shaman act.
Here’s what Katie had to say about it, and some pics of what it looked like…
Sounds Good: Galactic@Liberty Hall, Jane’s Addiction@Uptown, Kepi@Replay, Elders@Uptown St. Pats, We Were Promised Jetpacks@Riot Room
I don’t even have time to… 
It’s jam packed with great shows to go to along with a disturbingly nice basketball tournament. Could it set up any better for a Lawrence chap?
We’ve got KU on Friday along with Kepi at the Replay, St. Patty’s/barf at LIVESTRONG Saturday Night, more KU Sunday, then we all get jetpacks! Like we were promised.
Who’s with me?…
Donnelly: Ava Luna & Night Moves at the Jackpot in Lawrence, March 9, 2012
“What do you guys do for fun around here in Lawrence, drink?”
The question was posed midway through Night Moves set at the Jackpot on Friday, where the new Minnesota band was opening for NYC headliner Ava Luna. The audience glanced nervously around, nodding and shuffling their feet.
Pretty much, yeah. Well, that and watch basketball.
With the crowd now fully engaged by their witty stage banter, Night Moves busted into another psych-rock soundscape, the boom boom bass combining with a hip hop backbeat. The lead vocals were high and reverb-soaked, in the now crowded vein of MGMT or Band of Horses.
Donnelly: Ashes to Immortality@The Barnyard, March 8, 2012
I took a sip of Barnyard Beer’s Bonfire Porter and looked around the room.
Hay bales bordered the stage at one end, concealing a recording setup that local country station 92.9 The Bull brought out to document the whole affair. The Bull was on hand to tape the bands’ sets, edit them down a bit, and then air them on what will become a weekly bluegrass/Americana program called LIVE!stock at Barnyad Beer.
On stage was Lawrence’s Menage of Twang picking through some original bluegrass/country tunes with a standard setup of guitar, banjo, upright bass, fiddle, and washboard.
The room sounded good, aided by the 100 plus bodies filling the wide open space that is the Barnyard. Towards the end of their opening set they launched into Take the Night Train to Memphis, which featured a nice down-home fiddle run that highlighted their set.
Sounds Good: Ashes to Immortality@Barnyard, Ava Luna@Jackpot, Radiohead@Sprint
A little something for everyone this week…
I’ll break it down for you:
If you’re a beer fan, you’ve ever skinny dipped in only cowboy boots, and you would certainly try a homemade possum recipe, then The Barnyard‘s the place for you Thursday night.
If you’re the adventurous type looking for something new, something that might put you a bit out of your element, and you enjoy thick rimmed glasses and semi-choreographed stage dancing by three girls from NYC, check out the Jackpot Friday.
And if you’re a lucky SOB and you already have tickets for Sprint Center Sunday – Yep, it’s Radiohead week.
On to the picks…
Donnelly: Kansas Craft Beer Expo@Abe & Jake’s, March 3, 2012
The Kansas Craft Bee
r Expo was a smashing success weeks before the doors opened this past Saturday at 1:00 in Lawrence…
The $30 tickets sold out in about a week, leaving many who had initially balked at the price tag scrounging to find extras. The event was held at Abe & Jake’s Landing, which boasts a large and unique room with balconies, terraces, a stage, a side pub, weird art sprawled all over the place, and a porch overlooking the Kansas River.
On Saturday, the place packed in about 700 thirsty revelers.
Good thing there was plenty beer…
Sounds Good: Dirtfoot@Bottleneck, Blind Pilot@Granada, The Head and The Heart@Granada
Some cool, tasty things happening in Lawrence right now…
Aside from the great live music, that is. I’ll get to that in a sec.
First off is the Kansas Craft Beer Exposition at Abe & Jake’s Landing this Saturday afternoon. It features not only Kansas Beers, but also selections from Cali, Missouri, Nebraska, and a bunch of other places. For a full listing go here: http://kscraftbrewfest.com/brewers/
But alas! The brewfest is sold out. So if you want to go you’ll have to sneak in. I think it can be done.
Speaking of craft beer, the word in Larryville is that a new micro-brewery is set to open soon that will double as a live music venue. The brewers go by the name of Barnyard Beer, and rumor has it that they’ve been operating on a limited sort of soft-opening word of mouth basis and featuring some underground bluegrass jams.
‘Bout time for some new beer ’round here! Don’t tell me Lawrence doesn’t have room for Free State, 23rd Street, and Barnyard. Do not tell me that.
That’s about all I know right now, but I do have a call out to the Barnyard brew masters, and when I hear back, you, loyal KCC readers, will be the first to know.
On to the picks!…
