The Pitch: January 23, 2014

Ja nua ry 2 3–2 9, 2 014 | f r ee | Vol . 3 3 no. 30 | pi t ch.com

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Missouri to death-row inmates: Hurry up and die.

By S t ev e vo c k r odt

January 23-29, 2014 | Vol. 33 no. 30 E d i t o r i a l

Editor Scott Wilson Managing Editor Justin Kendall Music Editor Natalie Gallagher Staff Writers Charles Ferruzza, David Hudnall, Steve Vockrodt Editorial Operations Manager Deborah Hirsch Events Editor Berry Anderson Proofreader Brent Shepherd Contributing Writers Tracy Abeln, Krystin Arneson, Jonathan Bender, Liz Cook, Adrianne DeWeese, April Fleming, Larry Kopitnik, Angela Lutz, Dan Lybarger, Dan Savage, Nick Spacek

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stu ck w i th s ecr ets As questions linger about Missouri’s shadowy lethal-injection protocol, the state is days away from killing another inmate.

Art Director Ashford Stamper Contributing Photographers Angela C. Bond, Barrett Emke, Chris Mullins, Lauren Phillips, Sabrina Staires, Brooke Vandever

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Where have you gone, PAT ROBERTS? Let’s bring back FiRiNG SqUADS for death-row prisoners, suggests Missouri Rep. Rick Brattin.

Questionnaire

Lee Hartman

Adjunct instructor, UCM; artistic director, Mid America Freedom Band; editor-in-chief, kcmetropolis.org

Occupation: I dwell among the rank and file of underemployed 20- and 30-somethings.

Thankfully, Kansas City is hospitable to such a lifestyle. On Monday evenings, though, I put on my serious hat as co-captain of “But, Fun!” — my trivia team based out of the Green Room.

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Twitter handle: @LeeHartmanMusic What’s your addiction? Coffee with too much

half-and-half to be appropriate and Trader Joe’s cranberry-pistachio biscotti. My CD collection.

Yes, CDs. I can’t bear to part with them. I have tons of out-of-print, rare classical discs.

What’s your game? Every Monday night it’s

Geeks Who Drink Pub Trivia at the Green Room with my awesome, eclectic team, But, Fun! shout-out to Calli, Cully, Katie, Lara and Thomas! We’re oddly formidable.

What’s your drink? Salty Dog. No one drinks

them. Grapefruit, vodka, salted rim. So good.

I enjoy trying new craft beers, too. Tallgrass Vanilla Bean Buffalo Sweat is pure taste-bud happiness.

Where’s dinner? When we’re going to drop

some cash: Pierpont’s, Bluestem, Louie’s Wine Dive, Gram & Dun. Otherwise, Jalapenos in Brookside, Waldo Pizza, Green Room, but I cook a lot at home. I can make a mean brined pork chop.

What’s on your KC postcard? If there was one

with the J.C. Nichols Fountain spurting Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ sauce, I’d be all over that.

S a b r i n a S ta i r e S

moved to Kansas City for grad school, I thought I would be entering the land of tumbleweed and rodeo. I was shocked to find out about free art museums, high-caliber music in all genres and gorgeous parks.

“Kansas City needs …” Public transportation!

Light rail! Accredited and well-funded public schools! I love living here, and it pains me to live in a city that can’t meet some of those most basic needs.

“In five years, I’ll be …” Paralyzed from riding

Verrückt, the new slide at Schlitterbahn. It better be worth it. No, seriously, my husband and I hope to become dads, more gainfully employed, that sort of thing. How domestically prosaic is that?

“I always laugh at …” A well-placed Dark Crystal

reference.

“I’ve been known to binge-watch …” Last sum-

mer, I watched the entirety of Deep Space Nine over two weeks.

“I can’t stop listening to …” Glass Animals, Janelle Monáe, the National, the 1975, Other Lives. I get to attend a lot of classical concerts for KCMetropolis, so I’m always drowning in music, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

But to prep for this Austin trip to Geek Bowl VIII, it’s been a lot of Top 40: One Direction, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift.

“I just read …” A Feast for Crows. I lost some

Finish this sentence: “Kansas City got it right when …” They approved the zoo tax. That pen-

serious geek cred admitting that. Also, probably some sophomoric BuzzFeed post involving otter or puppy GIFs or an article on Salon, ThinkProgress or Towleroad.

“Kansas City screwed up when …” The Chiefs hired Andy Reid. I’m an Eagles fan, and he was our coach for over a decade, so these words are said with love and sadness. Oh, sure, the Chiefs will make the playoffs repeatedly. Just don’t expect them to advance to the big game.

The best advice I ever got: Don’t burn bridges.

Being in education and music, this maxim is especially important. I’ve had many opportunities come up years later just because I was nice to someone in undergrad.

guin exhibit is delightful! I can’t wait for the expanded centers for the tigers and orangutans.

Worst advice: When I got rejected from the

Sibelius Academy after applying there for a Fulbright, they wrote “lacks the basic skills in which to succeed in such a program.” The past nine years have been dedicated to proving those judgmental Fins wrong!

My sidekick: My two rescue dogs, husky-mix Feyd and chow-mix Rabban.

My dating triumph/tragedy: Well, I have to say meeting my husband, Thomas, right? That counts as “triumph,” btdubs. We met on Manhunt, so there’s that tawdry knowledge bomb.

My brush with fame: I once rang up Paul Rudd

at what was the Borders on 119th and Metcalf.

He was very nice and very dreamy. Sadly, I was so taken aback at the time, I don’t remember what he bought.

My 140-character soapbox: But, Fun is coming for you, Austin! Kansas City represent! We’re bi-state-ual! #geekbowl, #geekswhodrink What was the last thing you had to apologize for?

Not knowing enough of Mariah Carey’s oeuvre or wars fought in Ancient Greece. Trivia is an unforgiving mistress.

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My high school academic-competition coach would be proud. Here’s to you, Mr. Chappell!

But, Fun is one of two Kansas City teams heading to Austin, Texas, for Geek Bowl VIII on January 25. They’ll compete, with $10,000 on the line, against 175 other teams.

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As questions about Missouri’s lethal-injection protocol linger, the state is days away from killing another inmate. > By Steve Vockrodt

A

t 10:52 p.m. December 11, the Missouri Department of Corrections executed Allen Nicklasson with a single, lethal drug dripped into the convicted murderer’s veins.

Just before the dose was administered, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster issued a statement to the media saying that “the highest court in the nation has removed the last restriction to carrying out the lawfully imposed punishment of Allen Nicklasson.”

Except, for the second time last year, that wasn’t quite the case.

“Missouri put Nicklasson to death before the federal courts had a final say on whether doing so violated the federal constitution,” said Judge Kermit Bye, of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a December 20 opinion.

Bye, a federal appellate-court judge since 1999, said the 11 judges on the 8th Circuit had not yet voted on Nicklasson’s request for a stay of his execution.

Missouri put Nicklasson to death before his due process had been fully resolved.

A death-row inmate’s gauntlet of appeals often takes years, and Nicklasson’s run through the courts was no exception. He was sentenced to death in 1996. Death-penalty proponents say the appeals process is expensive and drags out the suffering of victims’ families. But that process is designed to safeguard against the possibility of an innocent person suffering an irreversible fate — and to ensure that the death penalty is administered properly.

There was no question of innocence in Nicklasson’s case. He had admitted to shooting Excelsior Springs businessman Richard Drummond in the middle of a 1994 crime spree, after Drummond offered to help Nicklasson

and Dennis Skillicorn with their broken-down car. Rather, Nicklasson’s attorneys were trying to figure out where Missouri would obtain the drug it intended to use on him. Is that drug, they wanted to know, suitable to kill a prisoner with a right to avoid a painful death? Nicklasson died before he got those answers.

So did serial killer Joseph Franklin. When Franklin was executed November 20, he, too, was still awaiting a final ruling from a judge on whether his attorneys could learn more about Missouri’s death-penalty protocol.

“I think that because they didn’t let the courts do what they were supposed to do, it undermines the authority of the court,” says Rita Linhardt, board chairwoman for Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. “It’s setting Missouri above the law that the court isn’t allowed to do what it’s allowed to do.”

Bye’s opinion has attracted newfound skepticism of Missouri’s whack-a-mole execution methods.

State Rep. Jay Barnes, a Republican from Jefferson City, called for a hearing before the Missouri House committee on Government Oversight and Accountability over whether the state is affording condemned prisoners their due process before their executions. “Regardless of what anyone thinks of the death penalty, everyone should agree that it must be carried out according to the requirements of the Constitution and the laws of our state,” he said in a January 13 statement.

That hearing was canceled when George Lombardi, director of the Missouri Department of Corrections, declined to testify.

Rep. John Rizzo, a House Democrat from Kansas City, has called for a one-year moratorium on Missouri’s death penalty while the

Legislature studies the Department of Corrections’ actions.

But that scrutiny hasn’t slowed the Department of Corrections. Herbert Smulls is the next death-row prisoner set to die. His execution is scheduled for January 29.

“The trend nationwide is away from executions, and Missouri is jumping into this full force,” Linhardt says.

Missouri officials are staying quiet publicly.

The Department of Corrections, Koster’s office and Gov. Jay Nixon’s office have all either declined or ignored The Pitch’s requests for comment on Bye’s decision and other questions about Missouri’s death-penalty practices.

Ahead of Smulls’ execution, though, a lawsuit is under way in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, as well as in the 8th Circuit in St. Louis. Attorneys for several condemned prisoners are asking those courts to cast light on Missouri’s shadowy death-penalty methods.

So far, lawyers suing the state believe that Missouri has purchased its lethal-injection drug from a compounding pharmacy in Oklahoma that is not licensed to do business in Missouri.

The state of Missouri, responding to an open-records request, disclosed a heavily redacted copy of a license from the pharmacy from which it obtained pentobarbital. Two things not redacted were the date upon which the license was issued (November 16, 2012) and the fee paid for the license ($255).

The Pitch obtained from the Oklahoma Board of Pharmacy a list of licenses processed on that date.

Three Oklahoma pharmacies on that day received the type of license and the specific combination of permits shown on the redacted license released by Missouri, and made the

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$255 payments. One was Pharmcare in Hydro; another was Economy Pharmacy in Muskogee; the third was the Apothecary Shoppe in Tulsa.

The Pitch called pharmacy technicians at all three businesses and asked if they performed sterile injectable compounding, a method through which compounding pharmacies make drugs suitable for injections. Technicians at Pharmcare and at Economy Pharmacy said they did not; a pharmacy clerk at Apothecary Shoppe said the company did.

The Pitch reached Apothecary Shoppe CEO Deril Lees on January 20. When asked if the pharmacy ever had ever supplied Missouri with pentobarbital or had a contract with Missouri, Lees said no.

“There are serious questions about the integrity of the pharmacy,” says Tony Rothert, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri. “If you wanted to buy a drug from an [unlicensed] out-of-state pharmacy for a controlled substance, you’d be put in jail.”

Compounding pharmacies, unlike conventional drug makers, exist outside the reach of the stringent federal regulatory framework.

They operate in the murky “gray market” of the pharmaceutical industry — theirs is not an illegal black market but one in which a product’s origins are untraceable and beyond the watch of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It’s often difficult to determine in advance the potency of a compounding pharmacy’s product or whether it’s contaminated or impure.

In 2011, the Missouri Board of Pharmacy tested 158 compounded drugs from various pharmacies. It found that 17 percent failed its potency test.

Why does anyone care where the Department of Corrections gets continued on page 7 j a n u a r y 2 3 - 2 9, 2 0 1 4

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Stuck With Secrets continued from page 5 its drugs? The primary concern is whether condemned inmates suffer painful and unconstitutional deaths by lethal injection — something that has almost surely happened in Missouri. issouri’s first lethal-injection machine was designed by a Nazi sympathizer.

Fred Leuchter was the only bidder in 1990, after Missouri resumed the death penalty in 1989 and needed a device to administer fatal drugs. He had no formal training in medicine or engineering, but that didn’t stop him from advertising his invention as an effective means of capital punishment at a time when previous methods were falling out of favor.

The Constitution protects Americans from cruel and unusual punishment, and by the 1970s and 1980s, electrocuting or gassing inmates to death was widely considered problematic. In 1928, photojournalist Tom Howard sneaked a camera into New York’s Sing Sing Prison and snapped a photo of Ruth Snyder at the moment she received a fatal jolt of electricity. Howard’s grotesque document of Snyder — hooded and strapped to the electric chair — ran on the front page of the next day’s New York Daily News and gave the world a glimpse of state-sanctioned death.

After that came consistent reports of inmates screaming as currents ran through their bodies and of the odor of burning flesh.

Florida dispensed with its electric chair after the 1999 execution of Allen Lee Davis, who witnesses said convulsed and bled while being electrocuted. The Florida Supreme Court later released troubling photos of Davis that showed what was under his hood when prison officials lifted it: a bloodied face mashed against the leather strap meant to keep his head still.

The gas chamber didn’t make a suitable replacement; inhaling cyanide gas proved to be a painful way for some inmates to die.

Lethal injection, first used by Texas in 1982, was proposed as humane and painless. An inmate would receive a drug and drift off into a medically induced slumber, as though waiting to have a molar pulled. Some death-penalty critics opposed lethal injection because they didn’t want Americans to have the illusion that state-sanctioned death was a clean procedure.

The lethal-injection machine that Missouri bought from Leuchter was designed to pump three drugs into an inmate: one to knock him out, another to paralyze him, and the last to end his life.

Everybody but the Missouri Department of Corrections had written off Leuchter, whose credibility was shredded when he offered his testimony in support of anti-Semite Ernst Zündel in 1988. Zündel was on trial that year in Canada, where it is illegal to antagonize ethnic and racial groups with bogus information.

He had published Richard Verrall’s pamphlet “Did Six Million Really Die?” that questioned

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whether Jews were exterminated by Nazi Germany before and during World War II. Leuchter was one of the chief experts testifying on Zündel’s behalf, presenting so-called evidence denying the Holocaust. The minimal scientific veneer of his testimony was undercut when his phony engineering credentials were exposed, and Leuchter was charged in Massachusetts in 1990 for running an unlicensed engineering practice. A New York Times article about Leuchter’s legal troubles reported that an anesthesiologist in Illinois had testified that Leuchter’s lethal-injection protocol would “paralyze inmates and cause them intense pain before they died.”

Missouri ultimately canceled its contract with Leuchter but pushed on with a similar three-drug protocol, despite experts’ misgivings about whether a method that presented itself as antiseptic and painless was actually an excruciating way to die.

The first drug to enter an inmate’s veins was sodium thiopental, a fast-acting anesthetic commonly used in outpatient surgeries to induce unconsciousness. It’s not as strong as general anesthesia, though, and is prone to wearing off. The next drug was Pavulon, which paralyzes muscles. Finally, potassium chloride was used to stop the inmate’s heart.

But questions persisted about inmates receiving enough of the sodium thiopental.

Without an adequate dose, death would be painful, and expression of that pain would be impossible because of the paralyzing Pavulon.

Carol Weihrer, a Virginia resident, became the spokeswoman for what is now called anesthetic awareness when the sodium thiopental she was given for an eye surgery in 1998 wore off before her doctors completed the procedure. She sent written testimony to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2005 that described her experience.

“I remember the intense pulling on my eye, the spine-chilling instructions of the surgeon to the resident to ‘cut deeper here, pull harder, no pull harder, you really have to pull.’ I re-

member fighting with every ounce of energy and thought process I had to let the surgical team know I was awake,” she recalled.

Sean O’Brien, a University of Missouri– Kansas City School of Law professor and frequent legal counsel to death-penalty inmates, says he first became interested in the potentially painful effects of lethal injection when Missouri executed Emmitt Foster in 1995.

In those days, Department of Corrections personnel involved in the execution would shout “foxfire one” when the first drug began its flow to the inmate, “foxfire two” when the next drug was pushed, and “foxfire three” when the fatal drug began its course. “Checkmate” was the word when the inmate was pronounced dead.

O’Brien says when the first drug reached Foster, the inmate started coughing and twitching. Something seemed amiss. Prison officials closed the curtain to the window that allowed witnesses to observe the execution.

A prison official realized that a strap was restricting the flow of drugs to the rest of Foster’s body. The band was removed, and Foster took 30 minutes to die.

The April 16, 2005, edition of the weekly medical journal The Lancet analyzed autopsy and toxicology reports of 49 executed inmates.

It found that 43 of them had received doses of sodium thiopental lower than the standard for surgery, and that 21 had received such a low dose that they could have been aware of what was happening to them.

“That is: those being executed may have been awake,” the report’s abstract reads. “Of course, because they were paralyzed, no one could tell. It would be a cruel way to die: awake, paralyzed, unable to move, to breathe, while potassium burned through your veins.”

The same report pointed out that the American Veterinary Medical Association and 19 states ban the use of drugs such as sodium thiopental in the killing of animals. In other words, the drugs that can be used in a statesanctioned execution of a human are in some

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From left: Franklin and Leuchter places deemed unsuitable to put down a dog with an untreatable case of heartworm.

The Lancet article came out a month ahead of Vernon Brown’s scheduled execution in Missouri. His lawyers used the journal’s findings as the basis to ask the state how much sodium thiopental it planned to use in Brown’s execution. But Missouri fought Brown’s attorneys in court, ultimately killing Brown without having to tell him how much of a drug they were going to give him.

The concern was well-founded. The following year, it was discovered that a doctor who had assisted in 54 Missouri executions was dyslexic and, according to his testimony, had improvised the dosages.

Missouri corrections officials couldn’t keep the doctor from testifying in front of a federal judge, but they succeeded in obscuring his name from the public record.

A federal judge in Kansas City was furious about the doctor’s testimony and lamented that Missouri lacked a written protocol for its lethal injections. He ruled that the state needed to come up with a better lethal-injection method and to stop using the doctor in question.

Despite the state’s secrecy, reporters with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch figured out that the dyslexic doctor was Alan Doerhoff, a physician who had been reprimanded by the Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts for trying to hide the fact that he had been sued for malpractice.

Missouri’s embarrassment over the Doerhoff affair slowed the state’s deathpenalty pipeline. The state didn’t execute another prisoner until Dennis Skillicorn, in 2009.

Missouri’s capital-punishment methods returned to the international limelight in 2013, when the state prepared to execute Joseph Franklin. He was an admitted mass murderer, but his case attracted attention from someone he didn’t kill.

Larry Flynt, the pornography magnate who doubles as a free-speech proponent and antideath-penalty activist, has been in a wheelchair since 1978. That continued on page 9 j a n u a r y 2 3 - 2 9, 2 0 1 4

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Stuck With Secrets continued from page 7 was when Franklin, a white supremacist who took exception to Flynt’s Hustler magazine showing photo spreads of interracial sex, shot Flynt and a lawyer in Georgia. Flynt and the American Civil Liberties Union sued to find out which medical personnel were participating in executing Missouri’s condemned.

Doctors are supposed to save lives and are thus prohibited by virtually all profes­ sional codes of conduct from helping with an execution.

Flynt’s lawsuit didn’t stop Franklin’s exe­ cution. But it was the European Union that temporarily stalled Missouri’s death penalty.

Missouri had dispensed with the old three­ drug method and was planning to kill Franklin with a drug called propofol.

Propofol, used as a relaxant and an anes­ thetic, is coveted by hospitals and doctors in the United States. It’s manufactured mostly in Germany, where capital punishment is illegal.

When the Germans caught wind of Missouri’s plans to use propofol, the European Union threatened to stop exporting the drug to the United States.

Several medical associations expressed an­ noyance at the prospect of a propofol short­ age if the state pressed on with the drug for Franklin’s execution. That got Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s attention. He delayed the execution until the state could figure out another way to kill Nicklasson.

Some states’ use of federally approved drugs against the wishes of their manufacturers has resulted in something of a shortage of drugs that have other legitimate medical functions.

Joel Zivot, a medical director and an an­ esthesiologist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, wrote in a December 16 editorial published in Ohio’s Lancaster EagleGazette that drug maker Hospira stopped pro­ ducing sodium thiopental in protest of states using the drug in executions. This left him without access to the medicine: “States may choose to execute their citizens, but when they employ lethal injection, they are not practicing medicine. They are usurping the tools and arts of the medical trade and propagating a fiction.”

With propofol out of the picture, the Mis­ souri Department of Corrections changed its execution protocol several times in the weeks leading up to Franklin’s execution, a move that frustrated attorneys representing Franklin and other inmates.

On October 18, the state proposed using pentobarbital. On November 15, it changed the execution recipe again, five days before Franklin was scheduled to die. That left little time for lawyers to investigate what the drug was and where Missouri was get­ ting it. Franklin’s attorneys made a motion before the U.S. District Court in Kansas City to stay his execution, but he died November 20, before a judge could get to that motion.

The shell game that preceded Franklin’s execution, coupled with Missouri’s secrecy

over how it plans to carry out future execu­ tions, is the subject of intense litigation in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City — just days before Herbert Smulls is scheduled to die.

M

odern capital­punishment laws have typ­ ically kept the identity of the executioner secret. The stigma attached to ending someone else’s life, even in a state­sanctioned execution, has enabled governments to justify obscuring an executioner’s name from public view.

Until 2010, Utah used a firing squad for some of its executions. The custom called for five rifle shooters to aim at the prisoner. One of the five guns was loaded with the rough equiva­ lent of a blank cartridge to ease each shooter’s conscience; each man could doubt whether he had fired one of the lethal shots.

Missouri laws also keep secret the names of members of the state’s execution team, which includes not only the person who administers the fatal dose but also those who assist that person. Missouri officials have tried to expand that cloak to include the pharmacy that makes the execution drug and the pharmacist who writes a prescription for the fatal dose. At­ tempts by attorneys for death­row prisoners to learn the whereabouts of the state’s drug sup­ plier were met throughout 2013 by resistance from the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Corrections, which insisted that Missouri law allowed corrections officials to keep the drug supplier secret as part of the execution team.

Toward the end of 2013, state officials de­ ployed the “state secret” privilege to convince federal judges to affirm the shield around the death team. It’s a legal concept normally used in matters of national security, intelligence gathering, and budgets for federal organiza­ tions such as the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency.

That led to a December 12 teleconference among U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughery and attorneys for both prisoners and Missouri officials. Joseph Luby, a lawyer with Kansas City’s Death Penalty Litigation Clinic, re­ minded Laughery of his legal team’s Catch­22.

“The only scientific expert that is present in this case says that we actually do have a need to know who it is that is supplying these drugs, who has compounded them, so that we have an idea of what it is that the state is administering and seeking to administer in the future,” Luby said, according to a transcript of the conversation. “Otherwise, we don’t know where the active pharmaceutical ingredient comes from, how it was manufactured, the cir­ cumstances under which it was compounded, what impurities might exist and what hazards are involved in administering it.”

The scientific expert whom Luby referenced was Larry Sasich, chairman of the pharmacy practice at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Pennsylvania and adviser to the Food and Drug Administration commissioner.

Sasich offered a lengthy affidavit outlining the potential hazards of compounded drugs: “The

Smulls is scheduled to die January 29. potential harm associated with the use of such contaminated or sub­potent drugs is extremely high. Consumers who use compounded drugs do so at their own risk.”

Andrew Bailey, a lawyer representing the Missouri Department of Corrections, reiter­ ated the need for secrecy to protect the safety of those involved with an execution. He cited the slaying of a former Missouri Department of Corrections official a year ago.

He didn’t name the victim, but he was likely talking about Tom Clements, the longtime De­ partment of Corrections director who took the same position in Colorado in 2011. He was killed at his home in March 2013 by a man who inves­ tigators believe was a white supremacist and may have been carrying out an assassination.

But Clements’ identity and responsibili­ ties were widely known. The issue of secrecy wasn’t a factor in his death.

Bailey pressed on, saying that disclosing the identity of the drug supplier would have no effect on whether the state could carry out an appropriate execution.

“The director [Lombardi] has stated that he will not use chemicals that aren’t pure, potent and sterile and the director’s adminis­ tered two successful executions at this point,” Bailey said.

Laughery didn’t find the state’s position persuasive. She rejected both the state­secrets argument and the notion that Missouri law required that the pharmacy remain secret.

“The balance clearly weighs in favor of revealing the information to the plaintiffs [prisoners] because it’s impossible for the plaintiffs to meet the burden of proof estab­ lished by the courts in the absence of those elements,” Laughery said. She ordered the Missouri Department of Corrections to hand over information about its drug supplier, the pharmacist writing the prescription, and the lab reports about the drug to Luby and to Cheryl Pilate, a Kansas City lawyer who is part of the death­row­inmate legal team.

The information was supposed to go to Luby and Pilate and no one else.

Missouri officials tried to get Laughery to change her mind on December 16, but she

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didn’t and instead reiterated that Missouri must release its drug­supplier records.

Pilate on December 16 sent several e­mails to Department of Corrections lawyers, asking for the information she was expecting. She sat before her computer until midnight, waiting for information that never came.

Attorneys for Missouri kept resisting dis­ closure while trying to get the 8th Circuit to reverse Laughery’s decision.

In an odd twist, Missouri officials did send their information to Laughery’s office. And in an odder twist, Laughery sent the informa­ tion to Pilate and Luby on December 28, not knowing that, the day before, the 8th Circuit had said to hold off.

Once Laughery realized that a higher court had intervened, she told Pilate and Luby to sit tight with any knowledge they had gleaned from her disclosure. On December 30, she held another teleconference with all of the lawyers involved. She told Pilate and Luby not to act on anything they had learned from the Department of Corrections’ file and to scrub any record of it from their files and computers.

That left attorneys representing condemned prisoners with knowledge of a key piece of information — the identity of a pharmacy they fought in court for more than a year to discover — but unable to investigate it further.

Laughery recused herself from the case on December 30.

“We have a pharmacy in Oklahoma that is manufacturing chemicals and importing them into Missouri in violation of Missouri and federal law and possibly in violation of the intellectual rights of pentobarbital’s manufac­ turer,” says UMKC’s O’Brien.

Meanwhile, the tortured legal proceedings over whether prisoners are allowed to know where Missouri’s death­penalty drugs comes from is in limbo while a new judge, former Kansas City U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips, gets up to speed. A trial is scheduled for June 16.

That leaves unresolved the fate of Herbert Smulls. Will his attorneys persuade the state or federal judges to delay his January 29 exe­ cution while the peculiarities surrounding Missouri’s death penalty get sorted out? Will Missouri give federal judges enough time to figure it out?

At least one appellate judge may stand in Missouri’s way.

Judge Kermit Bye wrote in a biting Decem­ ber 20 opinion: “Missouri’s … current practice of using shadow pharmacies hidden behind the hangman’s hood, copycat pharmaceuticals, numerous last­minute changes to its execu­ tion protocol and finally, its act of proceeding with an execution before the federal courts had completed their review of an active request for a stay has committed this judge to subject­ ing the state’s future implementation of the penalty of death to intense judicial scrutiny, for the sake of death­row inmates involved as well as adversaries and advocates for capital punishment alike.”

E-mail steve.vockrodt@pitch.com j a n u a r y 2 3 - 2 9, 2 0 1 4

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WEEK OF JANUARY 23-29, 2014

SMALL PLATES The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art this weekend opens In the Looking Glass, a Bloch Building show of its most recent daguerreotype acquisitions. Not every surviving example of the oldest photographic method is as spooky as the beauty on this page (“Portrait of three girls,” maker unknown, from 1850s Britain), but seeing a bunch of daguerreotypes mounted together is usually pretty haunting — in a great way. The free exhibition stays up through July 20.

Daily listings on page 28 pitch.com

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art By

beautiful, fine-boned ‘Anatomy’

T r a c y a be l n

E.G. SchEmpf

Monsterpiece

Inspecting Miles Neidinger’s

M

iles Neidinger’s “The Anatomy of the Palace of Wisdom” — the central object of his City Ice Arts exhibition and the piece that gives the show its title — exerts a powerful force that a photo (such as the one on this page) can’t capture. The riot of lines, crafted from everyday items, towers to the light fixtures of City Ice Arts’ high ceiling, free to be viewed from any angle against the purity of this room’s empty white walls and offset by a flat white base. Installed in situ over the course of two weeks, it comes down after Saturday, having been on view less than a month. That relative transience lends urgency to the whole exhibition.

Neidinger, 37, has a decade-plus history of building with ropes of joined straws (or coat hangers or wires or toilet paper or various other materials he describes as “crummy”), but his installation hits its mark in a new way.

It feels very much alive inside its purposely limited (blue, red, green) palette, with subtle color exceptions that help animate it. And it contrasts an earlier work of his, “Everything We See Is Never Enough,” which hails excess with a fervor that makes the composition appear monstrous and ugly. (Neidinger installed versions of that work in 2010 at the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art and the following year at New York City’s Flatiron Building.)

Neidinger’s current conglomeration is a more beautiful kind of monster. And though he may have begun this, too, as a critique of excess, it comes close to showing us “the

apart stand-in for that gutted house, a reprepalace of wisdom” glimpsed in the William Blake poem “The Marriage of Heaven and sentation of what happened when, he said, the “excessive attempt to remodel the home Hell,” which Neidinger references. became too much.” But “Anatomy” doesn’t Tendrils of red twist-tie material, spiraled convey pain. Rather, Neidinger finds enlightby the artist with a mechanical process involvenment with the realization that, as he put ing a drill, hang down (or reach up) from a it during his talk, “there are limitations to a tangled, dense nest of long, neon-green drinking straws. This network is draped with lines person — you can try to do too much.”

There are spatial limitations even in a place of cobalt-blue plastic straws spilling into loop after loop, intertwining with more red wiring as spacious as City Ice Arts, though. Neidinger told his audience that he felt he’d run out and extending horizontally along the floor in luscious, wavelike sweeps. It concludes in of room here. He said that if the space were perhaps two or three times bigger, he would geometric lattices that operate as foundations.

One of the 20 or so people who gathered have incorporated in “Anatomy” dozens of cell-like leaflets, which instead are scattered January 18 to hear the artist talk about his in a big circle on the wall near the entryway. work smartly noted that the recurring meThe pieces of “Ideational” are mini drawtallic accents here give off a kind of sparkle. ings made of flat and threeNeidinger agreed — he does, dimensional glitter and bits he said, look for contrast Miles Neidinger: of hair tinsel (the kind you in what he called “sheens The Anatomy of the can have woven into your and surfaces” as much as Palace of Wisdom own locks) pressed between through color. With that in Through January 25 at two layers of clear packmind, you can look again at City Ice Arts, 2015 Campbell, ing tape. (Children have the red twist ties that ripple, 816-820-4105, cityicearts.com long saved autumn leaves veinlike, from the top and between contact paper in see the shine in the materials and in the little squares of aluminum tape a similar way.) But Neidinger’s sheer obsessive presentation of so many of these colorful that help hold them in place.

These laid-bare dendrites refer to a child- chips elevates them to something jewel-like and desirable. He said they look a lot like the hood memory that Neidinger said he returns magnificent images captured by the Hubble to time and again: his parents’ attempt to Space Telescope, and they do. They present renovate an old house, and the unsettling a separate anatomy — of the birth of galaxies, insights generated by that reminiscence.

“Anatomy” is, among other things, a pulled- for example.

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Neidinger’s big project With the com ma nding presence of “Anatomy” anchoring your attention, the remaining elements of Anatomy the exhibition (seven horizontal drawings and paintings) might seem negligible, like afterthoughts. But Neidinger’s four maplike “Schematics” — together with three conglomerates of little color blocks, variously filled with patterns and each called “Tessellation” — hold your gaze as a middle ground between the looming tangle and the tiny nebulae.

The blocky plan-scapes of “Schematics” resemble the photographs you see online of crammed-together apartments in Asia, like an aerial view of some non-place devised by a planning agency that wasn’t really paying attention. Nothing matches, yet the parts come together anyway. A few words visible here and there (“fuck” is one) might represent a reaction to excess — or could be the artist’s code for something else.

Neidinger told the gallery audience that his work is largely about reversal — that he criticizes excess by being excessive with materials, for example. He said, “It starts as being about me holding a mirror up to the public, but it ends up revealing more about my own proclivity.” That duality is something Blake might have appreciated.

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s ta g e

Tree of Life

Spinning Tree’s founders

By

are 24/7 partners.

de bor a h hir s ch

ndrew Parkhurst and Michael Grayman first met — and became friends — 15-1/2 years ago on a European tour of West Side Story.

Grayman lived in Los Angeles, Parkhurst in New York City, but they kept in touch. “The ‘crush’ was still there for both of us,” Parkhurst says, when they landed on the same national tour of Mamma Mia! five years later, traveling and performing together for three years.

They’ve been in Kansas City since 2010, when they settled in Parkhurst’s hometown to start Spinning Tree Theatre (where both produce and direct). And this past December, just a month after Gov. Jay Nixon ordered that same-sex couples could file joint tax returns in Missouri, they decided to marry. “His passion, commitment and artistry … inspire me daily,” Grayman says. “I learn from him constantly,” Parkhurst adds. They took time out from producing, directing and teaching to answer our questionnaire.

Why the name Spinning Tree Theatre, and how did it come about?

Grayman: We liked the strength of roots and the eclectic way we branch out.

Parkhurst: Michael and I worked for several years as a director-choreographer team for regional theaters across the country. We wanted to establish a way to work together on a regular basis.

What first lit the theater spark?

Grayman: I was the kid in the neighborhood who wrangled all the other kids to put on shows. I started attending the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts at the age of 10, so theater has been a part of my life for quite a long time.

Parkhurst: I performed, at age 9, in The Music Man at Theater Under the Stars, KC Parks and Rec’s version of Shawnee Mission Theatre in the Park which, at the time, was held annually on the north lawn of then Penn Valley Community College. I was given a dance feature and was instantly hooked!

How and when did you decide on a life in theater?

Grayman: I always knew I had a passion for theater, but touring the country with The King and I at the age of 14 sealed it for me.

Parkhurst: In the fifth grade at Martin City Elementary School, we had to make a career book. I think mine is in a box in the basement.

I believe my choices were performer, puppeteer and baker. One out of three ain’t bad!

Where did you train?

Grayman: I graduated high school from the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts majoring in drama and musical theatre and received my BFA in theatre from the Boston Conservatory.

manon halliburton

A

Parkhurst: Locally, I studied ballet with Kathy and Dennis Landsman, and tap with Shirley Marley. Graduated Texas Christian University with a BFA in modern dance, and was a Young Artist Scholar at American Dance Festival. I studied voice and acting all along the way, creating my own musical-theater program of study. I went back last year as a guest for the 20th anniversary of the Dance Department's AIDS Benefit Concert, which I founded in 1993.

What drew you into acting? directing? dancing?

Grayman: I was on the national tour of Mamma Mia! for three years, and I started trailing the director when she would come out on the road for replacement rehearsals. It was about that time that I decided to transition to directing. I served as assistant director for a year at the Tony Award–winning McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey. I essentially learned on the job from assisting the producer and many top directors.

Parkhurst: While most of my career was as a featured dancer in big musicals, I was always curious about the director’s job. In Vienna, I performed in Tanz der Vampire, Roman Polanski’s musical based on his film The Fearless Vampire Killers. As dance soloist, I had little opportunity to work directly with Polanski, who naturally focused most of his time on the principal actors. I asked to sit in on his blocking rehearsals. The stage manager reported back to me, “Roman isn’t sure why you’d want to watch his rehearsals. He thinks that would be boring. But you can watch.” I was a sponge.

If he wasn’t getting exactly what he wanted from an actor, he would demonstrate it precisely the way he wanted it. Before preview performances, he would wander through the Maske (makeup department) backstage, instructing the artists to apply to the performers

Parkhurst (left) and Grayman a bit more rouge. (“It’s funnier,” he said.) One of my proudest moments was having Polanski compliment me on my work as dance soloist after a performance backstage.

How and when did you begin to direct?

Grayman: My first directing gig was at McCarter Theatre. I directed for their Youth Ink Festival: a festival of one-act plays written by winning high school students in New Jersey.

Parkhurst: Several of the directors I choreographed for would remark that I worked “like a director.” Some of them meant this as a compliment. Michael and I tend to co-direct musicals, although I would call myself his associate director. In general, where Michael’s work ends, mine begins … and vice versa. Motherhood Out Loud is my debut directing a play.

When did you begin to choreograph?

Parkhurst: The first “official” choreography project I can remember was the musical Oklahoma! at Grandview High School. The drama teacher was intent to cut the entire Act 1 ending, the dream ballet, and at age 16 I talked her out of that choice by persuading her that it furthers the action and is not “just dance.” I got some professional opportunities while working in Vienna. I assisted Rob Ashford on Curtains on Broadway, then choreographed The Wild Party for Michael John LaChiusa and Columbia University. In choreographing musicals, I've often had that challenge of working with directors who are not Michael or who do not come from a place of understanding choreography.

And I think most people don't. On one project, the director told me in preproduction, “I don't usually direct musicals because I don't like dance musicals.”

How does the audience affect your performance or directing decisions?

Parkhurst: In theater, we’re always aware of

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the audience throughout the decision-making process — from choosing titles to casting to preshow music to marketing. If it feels “right” in the rehearsal room, it tends to feel right with an audience added to the room. There are exceptions, and this is why we have preview performances.

What’s the best part about what you do?

Grayman: I have been a member of Actors’ Equity Association for almost 20 years. It is so rewarding as a theater producer to be able to employ members of my union.

Parkhurst: Employing and giving opportunities to artists, entertaining discerning Kansas City theatergoers.

What’s the hardest part?

Grayman: Grant writing, but we are getting into the groove with this one.

Parkhurst: As a producer, worrying about ticket sales. That can keep me up at night.

What’s the best thing that has happened during a performance?

Parkhurst: Laughter. And tears.

What’s the worst thing?

Parkhurst: Having the feeling that, for usually unknown reasons, the piece isn’t “landing” like it did the night before. The audience’s collective mood, what was in the news that day, the weather … these things can all affect audience members and actors alike.

What are some of your favorite shows?

Grayman: Hello Again by Michael John LaChiusa, Translations by Brian Friel, Old Wicked Songs by Jon Marans You both also teach?

Parkhurst: I teach private dance lessons, and Michael teaches private acting lessons.

More than ever, if kids want a career in musical theater, they must be a triple threat: actor, singer and dancer. Dancer-singers are a dime a dozen. Our students are hard-working, disciplined, and love to learn and improve. Their parents realize that, for their children, this is not a “hobby” but a career, and that the level of dedication and work it takes to improve one's craft, to develop and maintain technique, is immense and never-ending.

What's next?

Parkhurst: The 2014–15 season of four shows instead of three! Hopefully a child is in our future. We’d like to give a good, safe home to a child who needs that. And we’d like to keep creating and producing artful theatrical productions with like-minded, creative and collaborative local artists.

Grayman: Motherhood Out Loud, running February 6–16 at Off Center Theatre in Crown Center

E-mail deborah.hirsch@pitch.com j a n u a r y 2 3 - 2 9, 2 0 1 4

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A New FlAme

Firebirds wants to take your love from the other chains.

By

Ch a r l e s F e r ru z z a

Firebirds Wood Fired Grill • 6601 West 135th Street, Overland Park, 913-202-1761 • Hours: 11 a�m�–10 p�m� Sunday–Thursday, 11 a�m�–11 p�m� Friday–Saturday • Price: $–$$

C

hain restaurants don’t always deserve all the put-downs they get. Yes, the food is typically uninspired and leaves almost no room for personality. But corporate operations score points for consistency and value, and the most successful train their service staffs well. Yes, a lot of the newer restaurant chains shamelessly imitate their predecessors, but the best ideas are meant to be borrowed — and improved upon. It’s the American way.

Which makes the North Carolina–based Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, which has opened an e r Mo out post i n O verla nd Park, something like the Joseph Cornell of chain t a ine Onl .com restaurants. It’s a stylish h pitc collage that smartly reassembles menu and dining elements taken from other franchise outfits.

That’s not a bad thing. In fact, it is this very déjà vu quality of Firebirds that most works in its favor. I mean, something is working here because the venue has been jampacked since it launched last month. (Reservations really are necessary, particularly on weekends.)

Firebirds is not yet a well-oiled hospitalityindustry machine, on the order of Houston’s.

The service is attentive but inconsistent. And the food plays it safe — it is thoroughly likable but not lovable.

The problem is that Firebirds wants to be loved, and wants it very badly. On each of my visits, I heard a mantra floating through the restaurant’s vast, barnlike space: “Everybody loves this.”

“Everyone just loves this,” one server told me as he set the restaurant’s signature starter, a lobster-and-spinach queso, in front of me. What everyone claims to love is a platter of corn chips with a soup-size bowl of chunky, orange-colored cheese (cheddar, cream cheese, pepper jack and asiago) that also contains chopped lobster. I feel somewhat guilty admitting that my heart didn’t go pitter-patter, though it may have stalled a little had I finished the serving. The stuff is creamy and rich. And also kind of bland and ordinary.

The appetizer that I could have fallen for (a little, anyway) is a lineup of plump, ruby-red squares of seared ahi tuna, served with a squiggle of punchy mustard sauce and a “garnish” of mixed-green salad. (The salad is far more generous than a garnish and chock-full of sugar-roasted pecans, a recurring ingredient in many dishes here, including the green beans.)

AngelA C. Bond

Café

containing too much black pepper. I chose tater tots over cider slaw or fries, but these spuds were so salty that I ate just one.

“Sometimes things can get a bit salty The interior design here was inspired, I’ve here,” a manager told me. “We’re working been told, by a lodge in Colorado, though the on that.” (Someone should also work on the servers insist that the room and the menu have a “Southwestern feel.” I guess they loaded baked potato. I do like salt-baked mean that the macaroni and cheese (avail- spuds, but this one tasted as if it had been rubbed in a whole shaker of the stuff.) able as a side dish) is made with green chiles, There are a few things to love on this and the house soup is a chicken-tortilla menu. The herb-encrusted concoction. The latter, by prime rib I sampled was the way, is another dish Firebirds thick and red and almost “everyone” loves.

Wood Fired Grill fork-tender, and the 7-ounce Oh, there’s the Durango Lobster-spinach prime filet mignon I ordered burger, wh ich is c h ilequeso �����������������������������$11�95 had spent precisely the right spiced but topped w ith Seared ahi tuna �������������$14�50 amount of time on the fire pickles and fried onions. If Prime rib, 12 ounces ��� $22�99 — the grill is visible from that sounds too adventurFilet mignon, almost any spot in the dinous, stick with the house 7 ounces ��������������������� $24�99 Pecan-crusted trout ����$19�95 ing room — and was delicheeseburger, a thick beef Carrot cake ����������������������$7�25 cious. The trout, thickly patty blanketed with melted encrusted with those sweet, smoked cheddar (but not, finely chopped pecans, is you know, too smoky). If a also very satisfying. basic cheeseburger is your acid test for a place The dessert list has the five sweets you like this, then Firebirds passes. expect from a menu that mimics, with zero It’s a more solid choice than the American Kobe meatloaf, which looks promising on subtlety, places like J. Alexander’s and Houston’s: a warm chocolate brownie, Key lime pie, the plate — thick, round slabs that are, on a hunk of chocolate layer cake, carrot cake, first taste, properly moist — but soon turns and a crème brûlée cheesecake. Also, as you’d monotonous, even with a portabella sauce

The dishes at Firebirds demand — and sometimes earn — our respect�

pitch.com

expect, the staff gets a little wonky when you ask whether the desserts are made in-house.

“Well, not all of them,” one waiter told me. No, not all of them. In fact, none of them.

“Our desserts are made by area bakers and brought to us daily,” Charlie Wade, the restaurant’s general manager, told me later.

Whoever is making Firebirds’ carrot cake is getting it right. The dish comes out as warm and soft as bread pudding, thickly covered with a swath of melting cream-cheese icing and sided with a pitcher of hot caramel sauce. It’s luscious (raisin-free but plenty nutty), big enough to share, and smoldering enough to be a little sexy.

“Everybody loves this dessert,” the server said. This time, yes.

And, hey, when enough staff and servers tell you about that love enough times — about the food, about the décor, about the chain, about the dessert you end your meal on — you can’t help but feel seduced by the repeated suggestion. Everybody loves this, everybody loves this, everybody loves this. I bet a lot of people do love Firebirds.

I didn’t, but I respected it in the morning.

Have a suggestion for a restaurant The Pitch should review?

E-mail charles.ferruzza@pitch.com j a n u a r y 2 3 - 2 9, 2 0 1 4

the pitch

17

FIND MOVIE TIMES P ON

p

fat c i t y

Beer Me

By

N ata l ie G a l l a Ghe r

Becoming a beer steward: a day to kind of learn, more than a day to master.

L

et me start by saying that I am not a beer person.

This I can trace to the quiet resentment I held against my small Midwestern hometown, where beer more often than not was the only available libation. (Even before I was legal, I was a snob.) Still, in all my years of drinking, and even given my lengthy tenure in the service industry, I never acquired a taste for taps.

Four months ago, though, I moved here from Minneapolis — and quickly figured out that Kansas City is a beer town. Now I find myself ordering something from the Boulevard family when I end up (as I often do) in a bar. But my learning curve remains steep, so when the chance to attend the Master Brewers Association of the Americas Beer Steward seminar presented itself to me, I gladly seized the opportunity. I was told that I would learn about how beer is made, what kinds of beer there are and where their flavors come from.

And, of course, I was promised lots of beer samples.

At 8:36 a.m. Monday, January 13, I slipped into a packed showroom at the brand-new brewery of the Kansas City Bier Co., in Waldo.

In a room with a warm wooden bar, high ceilings and picnic-table-style seating, I was one of four women among the 30 or so attendees. A handful of scruffy young guys looked like they all were bartenders at the same place, and a few men looked like they owned that bar.

I sat down, and in front of me was a set of carefully arranged plastic thimbles filled with various liquids and chocolate samples. It looked like a hospital tray for an exceptionally challenging patient. I wondered what the tiny cup of cloudy pale liquid labeled “R1” could be, and what drinking it would teach me.

It was lemon juice. Warm tonic water followed, then unsweetened tea, then baker’s chocolate. This session was like a carefully administered punishment for some minute infraction, but the idea was to use all five senses — not just looks and taste, but smell and so on — and to judge the flavor profile of each sample accordingly.

The morning wore on, and I began to think I wouldn’t last. The discussion of the beerbrewing process was somehow simultaneously too simple and too scientific for me to follow, like a recap for people who already knew how to brew beer. Fresh trays were brought to us, this time holding small portions of malts, and the man next to me proceeded to munch on the ricelike grains as though they were corn nuts.

It wasn’t until after lunch that we got to the beer. This, finally, was the exciting part 18

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Malt and hop samples, mmm — or would have been had the pours been larger and more varied.

“What is the nose?” the presenter, Steve, asked after each taste. “What’s the mouthfeel?”

Later, we were to learn about “pairing” by tasting food morsels with different styles of beer and deciding which combinations worked best. New trays, more thimbles, tiny plastic spoons.

“We can’t exactly afford a five-course meal,” Steve joked. “So we have some condiments.”

The power of imagination would have to suffice as we were offered Thai peanut sauce as an approximation of pad Thai. Marinara sauce was a substitute for bucatini. Brown gravy stood in for a rib-eye. For my part, I found Boulevard’s Bully Porter an excellent match for pretty much everything except the ranch dressing.

(Honestly, there is no pairing beer and salad.)

The point of the seminar was to ingrain an in-depth understanding of beer and its presentation. It was an industry-focused class, with all the attendees — aside from myself — involved, on some level, with the world of beer.

In the end, what the day revealed to me were details small enough for those little cups. For instance: The pint glass, in which beer is most commonly served, is actually the enemy; it doesn’t allow a proper foam collar to form. In the absence of proper glassware (which varies, depending on the style of beer you mean to drink), you should just use a wineglass. Which means that the 39 percent of Americans who say they prefer beer to all other alcoholic beverages aren’t even properly enjoying the stuff.

As Steve released us, he reminded everyone to study the guidebook provided as part of the day’s course. In a few weeks, we could take the online Beer Steward exam and attempt to become certified. I might. Though I don’t love beer, I do love feeling superior.

E-mail natalie.gallagher@pitch.com

fat c i t y

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his was an Irish pub that didn’t have any lamb on the menu,” says Jeff Wiltfang, the KC restaurant veteran heading up the new staff at the Dubliner. He’s telling me just how challenging his job has been so far.

Wiltfang, a former Gilbert-Robinson manager, was working at the National Golf Club of Kansas City last year when he applied for a More position at another upscale private club. He didn’t get that job, but t a e in Onl .com one of the movers and h c it p shakers who sat in on the interviews was impressed Wiltfang, at downtown’s Dubliner digs enough to call Wiltfang and offer him a gig time. The Dubliner “changes its personality at a different venue. throughout the day,” Wiltfang says. “From “The gentleman who called me was a major 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., we’re a family-friendly investor in the Dubliner, the Irish restaurant restaurant. From 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., we’re a and nightspot in the Power & Light District,” traditional late-night venue. And from 1 to Wiltfang says. “I met with him, looked at the 3 a.m., we’re going to pay more attention to property and told him he was crazy.” the younger demographic who come to the Maybe not the best response but an honPower & Light District.” est one.

That includes, he says, letting servers The Irish saloon at 170 East 14th Street wear “more flexible, sexier clothes” when opened as Raglan Road in 2008, after a they work the late shift. “We’re strict about build-out that cost a reported $2 million. uniforms during the day but will be less so It was an ambitiously mounted place, with during the late-night hours.” a 10,000-square-foot interior that included And Wiltfang says the Dubliner is rollwoodwork imported from the ould sod, ing out a new menu — yes, with lamb — on along with bits and pieces from at least one January 24.

130-year-old pub. But its inconsistent food “We’re paying a lot more attention to failed to win over patrons, and the space’s quality,” he says. “Our new menu has lamb live-music bookings veered confusingly in the shepherd’s pie, and we’ll offer lamb from Celtic acts to bluegrass. In September kebabs with a Guinness 2011, Raglan Road’s operaglaze and a grain-mustard tor, Great Irish Pubs Florida “This is not dipping sauce.”

Inc., filed for Chapter 11 Other featured dishes bankruptcy protection. the façade of an include a “Ploughman’s Several months later, Platter” of impor ted the space’s new owner, loold Irish pub. It’s cheeses and locally made cal entity Downtown Irish the real thing.” sausages. “We’re in talks Pub Inc., hired KC Hopps with Alex Pope of Local Pig — the company behind the and the Broadway Butcher 75th Street Brewery and Shop,” Wiltfang says. other popular local restaurants — to make Wiltfang wants customers to think of the modest menu changes and turn Raglan Road Dubliner as a neighborhood bar, even if it’s into the Dubliner. in an unconventional neighborhood. “There Now KC Hopps is out (mostly: “There are is a large population of loft dwellers living still people in the KC Hopps group who are downtown, but our location sort of puts us involved in our ownership,” Wiltfang says), at the far end of that,” he says. “But we can and a new crew is in. change perceptions about what we are.”

“This is not the façade of an old Irish And what is that? pub,” says Wiltfang, whom Downtown Irish “An Irish bar,” Wiltfang says, “with somePub Inc. hired as director of operations and thing for everyone.” general manager last October. “It’s the real thing.”

But it’s not all St. Patrick’s Day all the E-mail charles.ferruzza@pitch.com

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21

music

GettinG Slutty

Lawrence’s the Sluts make

By

sleazy music to drink to.

N ata l ie G a l l a Ghe r

K

ristoffer Dover and Ryan Wise speedily crush Miller Lite tallboys at the Jackpot Saloon in Lawrence. Side by side, they make an odd couple. Dover, with a Beatles-like moppy haircut, looks like he could be on his way to a frat party; Wise, a bespectacled, shaggy blond, seems vaguely bookish.

Wise is content to let Dover lead the discussion about their band, the Sluts.

But Dover, a quick-witted charmer with a sharpness that suggests his self-deprecating humor pulled him through a lot of childhood unpleasantness, calls Wise the true brain behind the duo.

The Sluts came together three years ago, after guitarist Wise finally convinced Dover, a longMore time friend and fellow native of Carl Junction, Missouri, to join him and t a ine play drums. Dover says Onl .com pitch the decision was owed to a lack in Lawrence of “music to drink to” and a few too many drinks. He can trace the exact moment back to the Jackpot.

“We came here — the Jackpot, but it was different owners — four years ago,” Dover says.

“And there were these two dudes, dressed in witch costumes, playing two little Casio keyboards, like my sister had back in 1989, and mumbling some bullshit, and it was just terrible. And I remember being broke and just being like, ‘Fine, let’s make a fucking band.

We have to.’ ” At that point, Dover hadn’t touched a drum kit in eight years, not since his post-highschool, jazz-band days. (“I was terrible,” he admits.) Wise had been playing around town as a fill-in guitarist with various bands. Neither had any solid musical projects attached to his name. But Dover and Wise were getting burnt out on local music, and they saw a void that needed filling.

“If you lived in Lawrence for the last 10 years, all you’d be able to find was a bunch of crunchy, hippie bluegrass and death metal,” Dover says. “There was nobody singing and playing guitars with a hook. It was driving me crazy.”

Wise adds: “We felt like there was a lot lacking from the local scene as far as grunge rock.

Like, garage rock definitely had a scene here, but we just wanted to do something more direct: pop-influenced grunge.”

In November, the Sluts released Virile, a full-length debut that couldn’t sound more like the essence of the 1990s if you listened to it on your Walkman while rebooting Windows and snacking on Dunkaroos. Virile’s nine songs rush out of the gate and bang around

S P I N CyC le Our monthly local-record-store Top Five

LovE GardEn SoundS

822 Massachusetts, Lawrence, lovegardensounds.com

Top Five Albums to Inspire Optimism in the Face of Yet Another Year

— By Kelly Corcoran

22

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b r o o k e va n d e v e r

M us i c

Dover (at right) and Wise: “Our music is pretty seedy.” with pent-up frustration, only one of them making it past the three-minute mark. The songs are built around the hooks that Dover and Wise hold dear.

Quiet, mild-mannered Wise becomes a lead singer from hell with his melodic yelling. On “Die,” he sounds grimy and tormented as he throatily rages against a girl who scorned him.

“Every single one of the songs on this record is based on some shit that happened to either me or him,” Dover says.

It’s not that so much shit has happened to Dover and Wise but rather that Wise, who writes the lyrics, has a way of throwing a delightfully unsavory spin on his experiences.

On “Friends,” Wise rails against acquaintances who have abandoned debauchery for enlightened paths. (Dover calls these onetime pals “automatons who are not themselves anymore.”) On “Misdemeanor,” Wise refers to being “fucked up,” picked up by the police and spending a night in jail: Hey, Pop, can you bail me out? I need to take a piss.

“We’re not out to play bat mitzvahs or eighth-grade dances,” Dover says.

While it’s unlikely that a middle-school teacher would ever consider the Sluts for a winter formal, Dover and Wise are onto some-

pitch.com

thing with Virile. The boys are like unholy messiahs of our most sordid, private desires, saying what we wish we could say. And they do it loudly. What’s more, they do it in a way that makes you want to hit the Repeat button.

“We were interested in playing simply, not embellishing too much,” Wise says. “I felt like there was a lot of busy jam music going on, and I was sick of hearing it. I wanted to do something that was fun and dumb and had distorted guitars and a fuzzy vocal and no showing off, necessarily. We have no frills, no flash.”

Dover adds: “Our whole thing is trying to capture something that’s awesome and then not fuck it up by overdoing it.”

I ask Dover and Wise if they are aware of what the most immediate Google hit is upon trying to look them up on the Web. “Pornography,” Wise says.

“Awesome shit, awesome, awesome shit,” Dover adds. “I think it’s awesome that anyone who has ever bothered to try to look us up has probably gotten the treat of a little porn before they found us.”

Wise agrees: “Our music is pretty seedy, so if you have to sift through a bunch of seedy websites to find ours, then that’s cool. I can deal with that.”

E-mail natalie.gallagher@pitch.com

1. The Beginning Stages of the Polyphonic Spree, by the Polyphonic Spree: “What’s more optimistic than a traveling, singing cult?”

2. Perseverance, by Hatebreed: “You have a New Year’s resolution to get fit?

This band makes music to work out to, get ripped or go home.”

3. Dirty Mind, by Prince: “Wake up to this record every morning and you’ll feel sexy. That’s worth aspiring to, right?”

4. Hi De Hi De Ho, by Cab Calloway: “We ought to be streaming it into outer space so we can prove to any alien race that we are a creative, fun-loving species — harmful only to ourselves. That’ll keep the invasion at bay for another year.”

5. Odyssey & Oracle, by the Zombies: “This will be our year. Optimism to spare.”

MiLLS rEcord co.

314 Westport Road millsrecordcompany.com

Top Five Songs to Listen to While You Break Your Resolutions

— By Judy Mills and Christian LaBeau

1. “Since I Left You,” from Since I Left You by Avalanches: “Break up with 2013 already. Close. That. Door.”

2. “Dance Yrself Clean,” from This Is Happening by LCD Soundsystem: “Even if you snuffed up a resolution, there is nothing a dance party won’t cure.”

3. “Get By,” from Quality by Talib Kweli: “An inspirational track for anyone. And who can’t use inspiration in January?”

4. “Move On Up,” from Curtis by Curtis Mayfield: “This song makes you feel like you’re high-fiving God (or Goddess, whichever you prefer) while crossing the finish line with the winning Powerball ticket in hand.”

5. “Just Be Thankful for What You’ve Got,” from Blue Lines by Massive Attack: “Pretty solid advice right there, and you can feel sexy singing it in the mirror in your bedroom. Just no selfies, please.”

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23

WHERE THE BEST MUSICIANS IN THE WORLD PLAY

KNUCKLEHEADS F re e S h u tt le in S u rr o u n d in g A reth e a

JANUARY: 22: Back Porch Blues Band 23: Bart Crow 24: Atlantic Express 24: Cassie TaylorGospel Lounge 25: Atlantic Express 29: Outlaw Jim and the Whiskey Benders 30: Shinetop Jr’s imprompt sessions 30: Jason Boland & the Stragglers 31: Jeff Bergen’s Elvis Show 31: Jason Eady

SATURDAY, FEB. 1

An Evening with GreG Brown featuring Bo Ramsey

Photo Credit: McCabes

For more info & tickets: knuckleheadshonkytonk.com 2715 Rochester, KCMO

816-483-1456

24

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music

In Bloom

Frankie Rose is fully in charge of her music now.

By

N ata l ie G a l l a Ghe r

F

or a while, it seemed that enigmatic, brighteyed Frankie Rose would donate her considerable singing and drumming talents to bands that were — whatever their sometimes convincing charms — beneath her.

A founding member of garage-rock outfit Vivian Girls, Rose moved on to Crystal Stilts and then Dum Dum Girls before forming Frankie Rose and the Outs in 2010. In early 2012, Rose dropped the Outs and released Interstellar, a synth-pop album, to critical acclaim.

The follow-up, September’s expansive Herein Wild, signals an artist coming into her own.

Ahead of her Tuesday show at RecordBar, we dialed up Rose at her Brooklyn home.

The Pitch: You’ve made quite a transition in sound over the years, from the Vivian Girls to the Dum Dum Girls to the music you’re making now.

Rose: It’s kind of funny, because I never actually know what I’m doing at any given By any other name: Frankie Rose goes Wild. time. I knew that when I finished my first solo I wasn’t setting off to make this sad kind album, which was definitely more of a garage of pop record. I know that, looking back on it, project — and it was totally my creation, my songwriting, my production — I realized that it’s going to be a really weird one for me. Not that it’s good or bad, just strange.

I didn’t want to make this kind of garageyThere’s a lot of drama in Herein Wild. What sounding music anymore. I wanted to bring in electronic drums and synths, and that was made you decide to bring in the strings and the horns? all I did when I started Interstellar.

I just always wanted to record and have a By the time Herein Wild came around, I didn’t know what I wanted to do anymore. It real string section and see what that would be like, to record real strings in a proper was definitely a weird place for me. And I made space. There was a lot of criticism about that, that record without making any plans. Like, “Whatever happens and whatever the songs too, because Interstellar has a lot of strings and stuff, but it’s not real are like is just what’s going to strings — it’s string pads — happen. I’m not gonna judge Frankie Rose and I was told that it [the it too much.” I think before with La Guerre real thing] weighs down I make another album, I’d Tuesday, January 28, the recordings or whatreally like to know exactly at RecordBar ever. But I don’t think that what I want to be doing. that’s true. It was just fun In an interview you did a few months ago, you were talking about lyrics, to record them and have someone actually playing those parts, like putting emotion and you said that for this record they became into the moment. You can’t get that out of a more real for you. How exactly did the lyrics synthesizer, you know? become “real” or more important this time?

Why do you think you had to cycle through I think that I didn’t used to care that much about lyrics. I don’t think I thought I was really three bands before you struck out on your own?

Well, to be honest with you, I’ve been capable of writing them, and I just thought, doing my own project now for longer than “Well, I’m not going to try and make something I’ve been in other people’s bands, but people sound beautiful. I’ll just sound like an idiot, like always think about my other bands before I’m trying to be a poet or something.”

I didn’t plan when I was writing the lyrics they think about that. They don’t actually realize that I’ve made more records on my for Herein Wild — it just ended up being so dramatic. They’re pretty sad, dark songs. I own than with the other bands that I’ve don’t think I was really aware of it at the time. been in. [Laughs.] I’m consistently considered “Frankie Rose of ‘X,’ Frankie Rose ‘X’ It was what came to me. When you’re alone this, Frankie Rose ‘X’ that, Frankie Rose with yourself and you’re just being honest, a lot of times the truth will come out, whether ‘X,’ ‘X,’ ‘X.’ ” I don’t think people think of Neko Case you want it to or you expect it to or not. I was as one of the New Pornographers. To me, it’s a little horrified when those songs came out, funny because I’m just Frankie Rose. I have actually. [Laughs.]

pitch.com

another project that’s coming out in June called Beverly, a two-piece with myself and the lead guitarist in my band, and I wonder if I’ll be “‘X’ Frankie” then. That’ll be interesting.

E-mail natalie.gallagher@pitch.com

J a z z B e at Jazz WintErludE, at Johnson County Community CollEgE

Jazz Winterlude, a festival put on by Johnson County Community College, broadens its reach this year by adding world music. The lineup is full of traditional jazz and plenty of spicier sounds, too.

You can choose from the Ron Gutierrez Quartet, KC Sound (with Hermon Mehari and Steve Lambert), Juha’s World Beat, Chris Clarke Trio, Guitarras Ibericas (with Beau Bledsoe and Karim Memi), Gamelan Genta Kasturi, and so many more. The big draw, though, are the Grammywinning headliners: Friday night in the Polsky Theatre, percussionist Terri Lyne Carrington celebrates the 50th anniversary of Money Jungle, the Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach album; Saturday night, trumpeter and Dizzy Gillespie disciple Arturo Sandoval takes over Yardley Hall.

— Larry Kopitnik Jazz Winterlude, featuring Terri Lyne Carrington and Arturo Sandoval. Friday, January 24, and Saturday, January 25, at the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College (12345 College Boulevard, Overland Park); see jccc.edu/music/ jazz-winterlude.html for prices, lineup and schedule.

pitch.com

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25

mon: rur happy houal grit fri 1/24 r 6-9 // karaoke @ 1 jib jab 0pm family bjoeDnes, ,b sat 1/25 y ojimbo urDoCk king sat 2/1

, booomCl ap

(Chris Co from jaCombs & josh raymer b akkilles, mfreD jazz oDyssey)

at shoare banD, sat 2/8 nloose park owhere, sil haunteD m Ver maggies aestro

Music

Music Forecast

By

n ata l ie G a l l a Ghe r

Twista, the Abnorm

Twista, the man who held the “Fastest Rapper in the World” Guinness World Record in 1992, speedily ricochets verses off the Riot Room’s walls Thursday. In November, the master MC turned 40. In hip-hop years, that would be regarded by many as retirement age.

But Twista hasn’t slowed down during his two-decade career. The title of his upcoming album, The Dark Horse, is a subtle reference to his underdog status in the rap game. Local up-and-coming rapper the Abnorm opens.

Thursday, January 23, at the Riot Room (4048 Broadway, 816-442-8179)

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The Bottleneck and Astrokitty invite you to unleash your inner Dungeons & Dragons and get nerdy Friday night. Really nerdy.

So nerdy that you sing your own version of a “geek anthem” during Geekaraoke or you play SINemascope, a drinking game in which you take a swig every time you witness one of the seven deadly sins in one of the films screened throughout the evening.

Eight monitors will feature old-school video games and a whole mess of other things to enchant the secret Pokemon card collector within you. Music fans should pay attention to the local lineup, which includes the Sluts, CS Luxem, Five Dream Guns and Haunt Ananta. Super Nerd Night might convince you to start dressing up as Princess Leia, even if you didn’t as a kid.

Friday, January 24, at the Bottleneck (737 New Hampshire, Lawrence, 785-841-5483)

Patty Griffin

Once upon a time, the modern music industry tried to ruin Patty Griffin. The roots-rocker had recorded Silver Bell in 1999, but Universal Music’s takeover of Griffin’s then-label A&M Records ended with the new suits discarding her album in a storage basement. Fifteen years, multiple albums and a Grammy later, Griffin’s long-lost gem has finally surfaced.

With its crafty, confrontational lyrics and

WEEKLY

SUN. 12-5PM BARTENDER’S BRUNCH & BLOODY MARY BAR MON. 7PM SONIC SPECTRUM MUSIC TRIVIA TUES. 7PM HONKY TONK SUPPER CLUB WED. 7PM BOB WALKENHORST & FRIENDS THURS. 7PM TRIVIA CLASH

OPENDAILY SUN. 12PM-12AM MON.TUES.SAT. 4PM-1:30AM

WED-FRI 12PM-1:30AM KITCHEN OPEN LATE

the pitch

j a n u a r y 2 3 - 2 9, 2 0 1 4

jagged-edge guitar, Silver Bell might have been a game-changing album for Griffin had it been released in 2000. No matter. It’s out of the vault and no less enjoyable now. Folk singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell opens.

Saturday, January 25, at the Bottleneck (737 New Hampshire, Lawrence, 785-841-5483)

Cate Le Bon

The majority of the music world is a little bit in love with Cate Le Bon. The Welsh singersongwriter has a low and lulling voice that sulks across records like dark velvet. Comparisons with Nico are as inevitable as they are accurate. Le Bon’s latest full-length, Mug Museum, was inspired largely by the death of her maternal grandmother, and many of the songs on that album explore — in fairly ambiguous language — the delicate and obscure nuances of relationships, familial roles and loss. But Mug Museum is not a eulogy. Le Bon’s themes may be gloomy, but she brings light into the songs with an interesting vocal trick here, a jangly guitar note there. The album sometimes

f o r e c a s t

has the feel of a distorted carnival soundtrack, playful and eerie at the same time. This show may just lighten your Monday blues.

Monday, January 27, at RecordBar (1020 Westport Road, 816-753-5207)

England in 1819

When the great English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote his “England in 1819,” he was condemning the “leechlike” nobility and hoping for a revolution against a lawless government. Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s England in 1819 shares little in common with its namesake, aside from brothers Andrew and Dan Callaway spending some of their childhood in the English countryside. The trio makes quiet, moody, electronic-driven music most suited for hipster funerals. They seem like they could maybe give Bon Iver a lesson in being more like Bon Iver. If you romanticize being sad, you’ll probably like this band.

Sunday, January 26, at RecordBar (1020 Westport Road, 816-753-5207)

K e Y

Pick of the Week

Locally Sourced

Have a Seat

Speed Raps

Out of the Vault

Calls for Valium

World Records

Grammy Winner

Sounds Like Bon Iver

Nerds!

Roots Music

From Across the Pond

WWW.THERECORDBAR.COMFOR FULL SCHEDULE

26

Cate Le Bon

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AGENDA

continued from page 11

Thursday | 1.23 |

RANSOM RIGGS

KC Voices: Poetry and Prose | 7 p.m. The Uptown

EXPOS

Arts Bar, 3611 Broadway

2014 Overland Park Boat Show | 5-9 p.m. Overland

ART EXHIBITS & EVENTS

LITERARY EVENTS

Park Convention Center, 6000 College Blvd.

William S. Burroughs. Creative Observer

| Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire, Lawrence

EXPOS

Monster Buck Classic | 3-9 p.m. Kansas Expocentre,

SPORTS & REC

1 Expocentre Dr., Topeka, monsterbuckclassic.com

Crown Center Ice Terrace | 10 a.m.-9 p.m., $6 ($3

skate rental), 2450 Grand

2014 Overland Park Boat Show | Noon-10 p.m.

Overland Park Convention Center, 6000 College Blvd., Overland Park

Red Dog’s Dog Days | 6 a.m. Allen Fieldhouse, 1651 Naismith Dr., Lawrence

Celebrating Picasso: Through the Lens of David Douglas Duncan | Through Sun-

day, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak, nelson-atkins.org

Charlotte Street’s 2013 Visual Artist Awards Exhibition | Grand Arts, 1819 Grand, charlottestreet.org

SPORTS & REC

UMKC vs. Utah Valley women’s basketball | 7 p.m.

Swinney Recreation Center, 5100 Rockhill Rd. (at UMKC) FILM

Monty Python and the Holy Grail Quote-Along | 7:15 p.m., $12, Alamo Drafthouse, 1400 Main COMEDY

Chris Franjola | 8 p.m. Stanford’s Comedy Club, 1867 Village West Pkwy., KCK

D TH U RS

of Art, 4525 Oak

Harlem Globetrotters | 7 p.m., $22-$76,

Dressed Up | Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, 4420 Warwick Blvd., kemperart.org

skate rental), 2450 Grand

AY

1. 2 3

Kansas Expocentre, 1 Expocentre Dr., Topeka, harlemglobetrotters.com

Author Ransom Riggs | 7 p.m., $17.99 (plus tax), Rainy Day Books, 2706 W. 53rd St., Fairway, rainydaybooks.com

The Ice at Park Place | 11 a.m.-10 p.m., 117th St. and Nall, Leawood, $7 ($3 skate rental) FILM

Charlie Murphy | 8 p.m. Improv Comedy Club and Dinner Theater, 7260 N.W. 87th St.

Laura Lisbeth | 7 p.m. Coda, 1744 Broadway Rivertown | PBR Big Sky Bar, 111 E. 13th St.

The Goonies Quote-Along | 7:35 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, 1400 Main

MUSIC

Akkilles, Fight the Quiet, Avenue 17 | 6 p.m. Czar, 1531 Grand

Arara Azul | 8 p.m. Broadway Jazz Club, 3601 Broadway

Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club, 3402 Main

The Brody Buster Band, J.D. and the Chasers | 10 p.m. Westport Saloon, 4112 Pennsylvania

Crosscurrent | 7 p.m. The Blue Room, 1616 E. 18th St. Bart Crow with James Pardo and Kyle Reed | 8 p.m. Knuckleheads Saloon, 2715 Rochester

Millage Gilbert Big Blues Band | 7 p.m. Danny’s Big

Easy, 1601 E. 18th St.

John Paul’s Flying Circus | B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ, 1205 E. 85th St.

Sons of Brasil | 9 p.m. Green Lady Lounge, 1809 Grand Tropic Thursdays with Bartholomew | The Kill

Twista, DeeJay Spinstyles, the Abnorm, Nelson L | 7 p.m., $20. The Riot Room, 4048 Broadway

Feel Good | 8 p.m. The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire,

Lawrence

Freddy Todd, Marvelyear, Thumpur | 8 p.m. The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire, Lawrence

Gunna, DJ BRM | 8 p.m. The Granada, 1020 Mas-

sachusetts, Lawrence

Luxury Bump | 10 p.m. Firefly Lounge, 4118 Pennsylvania

Music for the End Times with Don Beasley | 10 p.m. MiniBar, 3810 Broadway

Friday | 1.24 |

Kid Slim, the Specktators, Matt Easton, Jonnie Mindez | Jackpot Music Hall, 943 Massachusetts,

PERFORMING ARTS

Shawn Larson | 8 p.m. Mestizo, 5270 W. 116th Pl.,

Mahler’s Symphonic Farewell: Symphony No. 9 | 8 p.m. Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, 1601

Lawrence

Leawood

28

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Gorgeous & Outrageous: The Art of Tony Naponic | Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, 2012 Baltimore, leedy-voulkos.com

History & Hope: Celebrating the Civil Rights Movement | Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525

Oak

Chris Franjola | 7:45 & 9:45 p.m. Stanford’s Comedy Club, 1867 Village West Pkwy., KCK

pitch.com

of Art, 4525 Oak

Kaws • Ups and Downs; Dylan Mortimer • Illuminate | Nerman Museum of Contemporary

MUSIC

Neeta Madahar: Falling | Kemper Museum

and Dinner Theater, 7260 N.W. 87th St.

Adrianna Marie and Her Groovecutters | 9 p.m.

B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ, 1205 E. 85th St.

Atlantic Express featuring Hal Wakes | 8:30 p.m.

Knuckleheads Saloon, 2715 Rochester

The Buttermilk Boys | Coda, 1744 Broadway Cardboard Kids, Attic Wolves, Brent Lee | 8 p.m.

Czar, 1531 Grand

Terri Lyne Carrington: Money Jungle; Doug Talley Quintet | 7 p.m. Polsky Theatre, JCCC, 12345

College Blvd., Overland Park, jccc.edu

Destruction Unit | 10 p.m. MiniBar, 3810 Broadway The Double Ds, Good Time Charley, Freight Train Rabbit Killer | 10 p.m. Westport Saloon, 4112

Pennsylvania

Broadway, kcsymphony.org

Impressionist France | Nelson-Atkins Museum

Charlie Murphy | 8 & 10:30 p.m. Improv Comedy Club

NIGHTLIFE

Attic Light, Fight the Quiet, Mad Libby | 9 p.m.

Echoes: Islamic Art and Contemporary Artists | Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak

COMEDY

Devil Club, 61 E. 14th St.

Alien Jones, Southerland Nights, the Perfect Pursuit | Jazzhaus, 926-1/2 Massachusetts, Lawrence

Edgar Degas Pastels | Nelson-Atkins Museum

Crown Center Ice Terrace | 10 a.m.-11 p.m., $6 ($3

Eboni Fondren | The Kill Devil Club, 61 E. 14th St. Angela Hagenbach Trio | 7 p.m. Chaz, 325 Ward Pkwy.

Art, JCCC, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park

of Contemporary Art, 4420 Warwick Blvd.

The Neighborhood: New work by Stephanie Bloss | Kiosk Gallery, 3951 Broadway Reality and Fantasy: Land, Town and Sea | Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak

Stages of Conversion: Santero Shrines of Gene Emerson Friedman | Thornhill Art Gallery, Avila University, 11901 Wornall, avila.edu/viscom/gallery

James Turrell: Gard Blue | Spencer Museum of Art, 1301 Mississippi , Lawrence We Are Not This Body — A Solo Exhibition

by Scott Dickson | PLUG Projects, 1613 Genessee,

plugprojects.com

We Now Pronounce You: Redefining Marriage in the 21st Century | UMKC Gallery of

Art, 5015 Holmes, Room 203, info.umkc.edu/art

TheaTer Dates and times vary.

Afflicted: Daughters of Salem | Starting

Tuesday, the Coterie Theatre, 2450 Grand, Crown Center, thecoterie.org

All Sinatra | Quality Hill Playhouse, 303 W. 10th St., qualityhillplayhouse.com

Grounded | Starting Wednesday, Unicorn Theatre, 3828 Main, unicorntheatre.org M. Butterfly | Through Sunday, Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre, 3614 Main, metkc.org Romeo and Juliet | Kansas City Repertory

New Red Onion Jazz Babies | 8:30 p.m. The Blue

Room, 1616 E. 18th St.

Nuthatch-47, Coitus, Sage & Sour | 6 p.m. Czar, 1531 Grand

Wayne Pain and the Shit Stains, South Bitch Diet, All Blood | 10 p.m. Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts, Lawrence

Railroad Earth, Have Gun Will Travel | 7 p.m. The

Granada, 1020 Massachusetts, Lawrence

Sellout | Jazzhaus, 926-1/2 Massachusetts, Lawrence Society Red | 9 p.m. Green Lady Lounge, 1809 Grand The Stolen Winnebagos | Fuel, 7300 W. 119th St.,

Theatre, 4949 Cherry, kcrep.org

Overland Park

Shrek: the Musical | Through Sunday,

Cassie Taylor | 9 p.m. Knuckleheads Saloon, 2715

the Barn Players, 6219 Martway, Mission, thebarnplayers.org

Sister Act | Through Sunday, Municipal

Auditorium/Music Hall, 301 W. 13th St., theaterleague.org

MUSeUM exhibiTS & evenTS Citizen Soldiers on the Prairie | Johnson County Museum of History, 6305 Lackman Rd., Shawnee, jocomuseum.org Convergence: Jazz, Film, Dance and the Visual Arts | American Jazz Museum, 1616 E. 18th St.

25th Anniversary Holiday Exhibit |

12-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Strawberry Hill Ethnic Museum and Cultural Center, 720 N. Fourth St., KCK, strawberryhillmuseum.org

Rochester

Philip Wakefield Trio | 8 p.m. Take Five Coffee + Bar, 5336 W. 151st St., Leawood

NIGHTLIFE

Jeffrey Bass | 10:30 p.m. Czar, 1531 Grand DJ Apollo Beats | 9 p.m. Mestizo, 5270 W. 116th Pl., Leawood

INTERNS WANTED P p

If you have an interest in marketing, advertising, design, event planning and/or media, we may have an opportunity that will fit your internship needs.

To qualify you must currently be enrolled in college and able to receive college credit.

You also must be able to handle multiple projects at once and have related computer knowledge.

The Pitch is currently accepting applications for interns for the Spring & Summer semesters in the departments listed. Feel free to send us an email letting us know why you would like to intern with us.

DJ B-Stee | 10 p.m. MiniBar, 3810 Broadway Super Nerd Night | 8 p.m. The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire, Lawrence

Willy Joy, Brent Tactic, Wstendgrl | 8 p.m. The Riot

Room, 4048 Broadway

Saturday | 1.25 | PERFORMING ARTS

Into It Over It, A Great Big Pile of Leaves, the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, Maps for Travelers | Jackpot Music

Hall, 943 Massachusetts, Lawrence

Mahler’s Symphonic Farewell: Symphony No. 9 | 8 p.m. Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, 1601 Broadway, kcsymphony.org

ExPOS

Dionne Jeroue | 9 p.m. Broadway Jazz Club, 3601 Broadway

Jib Jab Jones and the Indigo Circus, the Family Bed, the Burdock King, Field Day Dreams | The Brick, 1727 McGee

Monster Buck Classic | 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Kansas Expo-

centre, 1 Expocentre Dr., Topeka, monsterbuckclassic.com

2014 Overland Park Boat Show | 9 a.m.-9 p.m.

Overland Park Convention Center, 6000 College Blvd.

Marketing / Business jason.dockery@pitch.com

Sales / Business erin.carey@pitch.com

FITNE S S CR AW L

Graphic Design / Advertising

Loose Change | 8 p.m. Danny’s Big Easy, 1601 E. 18th St.

Bikram Hot Yoga | 9 a.m. Bikram Yoga, 910 W. 39th

christina.riddle@pitch.com

Meck & the Guilty Birds, Anna Cole & the Other Lovers, the Philistines, Freight Train Rabbit Killer | 10 p.m. RecordBar, 1020 Westport Rd.

High Intensity Strength Training | Noon, Synergy

Damien Joseph | PBR Big Sky Bar, 111 E. 13th St.

The MGDs | 9 p.m. The Phoenix, 302 W. Eighth St. Josey Milner, Robe | 7 p.m. VooDoo Lounge, Harrah’s Casino, 1 Riverboat Dr., North Kansas City

St., fitnesscrawl.com

Fitness Studio, 4233 Roanoke, fitnesscrawl.com

Graphic Design / Editorial Layout ashford.stamper@pitch.com

SPORTS & REC

1701 Main St • KCMO • Crossroads District

Crown Center Ice Terrace | 10 a.m.-11 p.m., $6 ($3 skate rental), 2450 Grand continued on page 30

816.561.6061 pitch.com

j a n u a r y 2 3 - 2 9, 2 0 1 4

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29

ARTURO SANDOVAL

SATUR

DAY

1.25

de interlu Jazz W CC C J t a

Arturo Sandoval | 7 p.m. Yardley Hall, JCCC, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park

continued from page 29 Harlem Globetrotters | 2 & 7 p.m. Sprint Center, 1407 Grand, sprintcenter.com

The Ice at Park Place | 11 a.m.-10 p.m., 117th St. and Nall, Leawood, $7 ($3 skate rental)

Missouri Mavericks vs. Tulsa Oilers | 7:05 p.m.

GIVE THE GIFT OF 4 PARTIES IN 2014!

HIT ALL OF THESE ‘

CALL 816.561.6061 FOR MORE INFO

30

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pitch.com

Hampshire, Lawrence

Eboni & the Ivories, Jazz Winterlude afterparty with Chris Hazelton Trio | 8 p.m. Take Five Coffee +

Topeka RoadRunners Hockey vs. Lone Star Brahmas | 7:15 p.m. Kansas Expocentre, 1 Expocentre

Shay Estes | 9 p.m. The Phoenix, 302 W. Eighth St.

UMKC vs. Bakersfield women’s basketball | 2 p.m.

1205 E. 85th St.

COMEDY

Chris Franjola | 7:45 & 9:45 p.m. Stanford’s Comedy Club, 1867 Village West Pkwy., KCK The Improv’s Comedy Magic Show | 1 p.m. Improv

Dollar Fox, David George, Victor & Penny | 10 p.m.

Bar, 5336 W. 151st St., Leawood

Fast Johnny Ricker | 9 p.m. B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ,

Flannigan’s Right Hook | Kelly’s Westport Inn, 500 Westport Rd.

Get at Me, the Perfect Pursuit, the Family Bed | Jackpot Music Hall, 943 Massachusetts, Lawrence Patty Griffin, Anais Mitchell | 8 p.m. The Bottleneck,

Comedy Club and Dinner Theater, 7260 N.W. 87th St.

737 New Hampshire, Lawrence

Major League Improv | 7:30 & 10 p.m. ComedyCity at Westport Flea Market, 817 Westport Rd.

Scott Hrabko and Howard Iceberg | 7 p.m. The

Charlie Murphy | 7 & 10 p.m. Improv Comedy Club and

Hubtonic | 9 p.m. Green Lady Lounge, 1809 Grand

Dinner Theater, 7260 N.W. 87th St.

WE KNOW TIMES ARE TOUGH SO WE’RE MAKING OUR EVENTS MORE AFFORDABLE FOR YOU!

Das Furbender | 10 p.m. The Bottleneck, 737 New

Polar Plunge and 5k Strut | 9 a.m.-1 p.m., $35-$110, Shawnee Mission Park, 7710 Renner Rd., Shawnee

EVENTS s

Danny Cox | 7 p.m. Chaz, 325 Ward Pkwy.

Czar, 1531 Grand

Swinney Recreation Center, UMKC, 5100 Rockhill Rd.

SUGAR RUSH • BACON & BOURBON FESTIVAL • TASTE OF KC • PITCH MUSIC AWARDS

Knuckleheads Saloon, 2715 Rochester

Independence Events Center, 19100 E. Valley View Pkwy., Independence

Dr., Topeka

PASSPORTS

Atlantic Express featuring Hal Wakes | 8:30 p.m.

MUSIC

Sharon Andrews | 9:30 p.m. Broadway Jazz Club,

3601 Broadway

Uptown Arts Bar, 3611 Broadway

Jumping James | 8 p.m. Danny’s Big Easy, 1601 E. 18th St.

KC Groove Therapy | Fuel, 7300 W. 119th St., Over-

land Park

Lonesome Hank | 7 p.m. Jazz, 1823 W. 39th St.

Members Only: ’80s Tribute | 10 p.m. RecordBar,

Swizzymack, Spinstyles, Tracebeats with DJ Jeremy Tracy | 11 p.m. The Riot Room, 4048 Broadway

Muscle Worship, Me Like Bees, Vehicles | 10 p.m.

Third Annual Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Pizza Party | 8 p.m. Pizza Bar, 1320 Grand

1020 Westport Rd.

Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts, Lawrence

Pilot for a Day, Abandon Kansas, the Noise FM, Get Busy Living | 6:30 p.m. The Granada, 1020 Mas-

Sunday | 1.26 |

sachusetts, Lawrence

Jeff Porter | 7 p.m. RecordBar, 1020 Westport Rd. Pottersfield, the Heavy Figs, songwriter in the round dinner show | 6:30 p.m. Coda, 1744 Broadway Ragged Heirs, Not a Planet | 9 p.m. Mestizo, 5270

PERFORMiNG ARTS

More

EvEnts

On

at line

pitch.co

m

W. 116th Pl., Leawood

Mahler’s Symphonic Farewell: Symphony No. 9 | 2 p.m., $23-$74, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, 1601 Broadway, kcsymphony.org

LiTERARY EVENTS

The Runaway Sons, the Donner Diaries, KC Thieves, American Ghouls | 8 p.m. The Riot Room,

4048 Broadway

Arturo Sandoval | 7 p.m. Yardley Hall, JCCC, 12345

College Blvd., Overland Park

Taproom Poetry Series and open mic with Alyse Bensel, Mary Klayder, Brenda Sieczkowski |

5 p.m. The Eighth Street Taproom, 801 New Hampshire, Lawrence ExPOS

Scammers, Pageant | 10 p.m. MiniBar, 3810 Broadway

Monster Buck Classic | 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Aftershock Bar & Grill, 5240 Merriam Dr., Merriam

Kansas Expocentre, 1 Expocentre Dr., Topeka, monsterbuckclassic.com

School of Rock presents Tom Petty | 6:30 p.m.

Aftershock Bar & Grill, 5240 Merriam Dr., Merriam

2014 Overland Park Boat Show | 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Overland Park Convention Center, 6000 College Blvd.

School of Rock presents Guns N’ Roses | 4 p.m.

Sellout | Jazzhaus, 926-1/2 Massachusetts, Lawrence Suckertrain, the Devil and the Southern Fellowship, Starcrows | 9 p.m. Davey’s Uptown Ramblers

Club, 3402 Main

Wedding Open House | 1-5 p.m., $5-$10, Arrowhead

Stadium

SPORTS & REC

Crown Center ice Terrace | 10 a.m.-9 p.m., $6 ($3

Schwervon, Teach Me Equals, Josh Johnson | 6 p.m. Czar, 1531 Grand

The Vi Tran Band | The Kill Devil Club, 61 E. 14th St. Wells the Traveler, Brother Bagman | 10 p.m.

Westport Saloon, 4112 Pennsylvania

Tim Whitmer & KC Express | 4:30 p.m. The Phoenix,

302 W. Eighth St.

Roger Wilder Duo | 10 a.m. Chaz, 325 Ward Pkwy.

Charles Williams and Lisa Henry | 8:30 p.m. The Blue Room, 1616 E. 18th St.

Women of Rock: Double Vision | 8 p.m. VooDoo

Lounge, Harrah’s Casino, 1 Riverboat Dr., North Kansas City

Yojimbo, Boomclap | The Brick, 1727 McGee NiGHTLiFE

DJ Mike Scott | Hotel, 1300 Grand DJ Rico | MiniBar, 3810 Broadway Music video-release for Cache Monet | 9 p.m. The

Uptown Arts Bar, 3611 Broadway

skate rental), 2450 Grand

The ice at Park Place | Noon-8 p.m., 117th St. and Nall, Leawood, $7 ($3 skate rental)

Seventh Annual Psychodelic 5k: ice Version |

9 a.m., meet at Shelter No. 2, Wyandotte County Lake Park, 91st St. and Leavenworth Rd., KCK

2014 Children’s TLC Groundhog Run | 9 a.m., $45/$50, Hunt Midwest SubTropolis, 8300 N.E. Underground Dr. Topeka RoadRunners Hockey vs. Lone Star Brahmas | 6:35 p.m. Kansas Expocentre, 1 Expocentre Dr., Topeka, topekaroadrunners.com FiLM

Girlie Night: Sixteen Candles | 7:15 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, 1400 Main

FOOD & DRiNK

Backsliders Brunch with gospel music by T.J. Erhardt and A.J. Gaither | 1-4 p.m. Westport Saloon, 4112 Pennsylvania

City Market | 8 a.m.-3 p.m., 20 E. Fifth St. continued on page 32

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31

STORYTELLING: WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS

APPEARING LIVE THIS WEEK wednesday:

DOCUMENTARY & THE CALAMITY CUBES!

thurs 1.23: 10PM $5

AY TUESD

THE BRODY BUSTER BAND

DAILY MENU

SPECIALS

HAPPY HOUR

MONDAY-FRIDAY

1.28

fri 1.24:

DINNER SHOW 6 TO 9 PM WITH THE PHANTOMS OF THE OPRY 10 PM $5: THE DOUBLE D’S CD RELEASE, GOOD TIME CHARLEY, FREIGHT TRAIN & RABBIT KILLER

ories g mem s Sharin g rou h of Bur

sat 1.25: 10PM $5

UPCOMING LIVE MUSIC: Cameron & Shane from F.R.H. 1/23/2014 - 8:00pm Fast Johnny Ricker 1/24/2014 - 9:00pm Billy Ebeling 1/25/2014 - 9:00pm

WELLS THE TRAVELER, BROTHER BAGMAN

mon 1.27:

SPECIAL DINNER SHOW WITH MOOT DAVIS!!

FT. VINCE ALTEN, GARY CLOUD, SMELLER & TALLEY (OF THE BLUE BOOT HEELERS), KASEY RAUSHE

816.960.4560 4112 Pennsylvania Ave

Mon-Fri 4p-3am Sat-Sun 12pm-3am

westportsaloon.com

Storytelling: William S. Burroughs | 7 p.m. Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire, Lawrence,

lawrenceartscenter.org

continued from page 31 Jazz brunch | 11 a.m.-1 p.m. The Majestic Restaurant, 931 Broadway

LITERARY EVENTS COMEDY

Charlie Murphy | 7 p.m. Improv Comedy Club and Dinner Theater, 7260 N.W. 87th St. MUSIC

32

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Group Kick | 5:30 p.m. HealthRidge Fitness Center, 17800 W. 106th St., Olathe, fitnesscrawl.com

Bears and Company, England in 1819, Daydream Empire, Authors & Illustrators | 8 p.m. RecordBar,

Bad Suns, Rose & Louise, A Gecko Named Terrance, Slight Right | 7:30 p.m. Czar, 1531 Grand

The Irieplaceables | 9 p.m. The Riot Room, 4048

816.561.2444 www.erniebiggs.com nsas 4115 Mill Street West Port Ka

FITNE S S CR AW L

MUSIC

Rich Berry | Jazz, 1823 W. 39th St.

a week

Author Ian Rankin | 7 p.m., $26 (plus tax), Unity Temple on the Plaza, 707 W. 47th St., rainydaybooks.com

Vince Alten, Gary Cloud, Smeller and Talley, Moot Davis | 6 p.m. Westport Saloon, 4112 Pennsylvania

1020 Westport Rd.

Live Music Live Music 7 nights 7 nights a week

Monday | 1.27 |

Broadway

Stan Kessler Quartet | 10 p.m. Green Lady Lounge, 1809 Grand

Mark Lowrey Trio jazz jam | 6 p.m. The Majestic Restaurant, 931 Broadway

Lee McBee and the Confessors | 6-9 p.m. B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ, 1205 E. 85th St.

School of Rock presents Guns N’ Roses | 6:30 p.m. Aftershock Bar & Grill, 5240 Merriam Dr., Merriam

School of Rock presents Tom Petty | 4 p.m. Aftershock Bar & Grill, 5240 Merriam Dr., Merriam

Bob Bowman & Roger Wilder jam | 10 p.m. Green Lady Lounge, 1809 Grand

Jazz Disciples | 7 p.m. The Blue Room, 1616 E. 18th St. Cate Le Bon, Kevin Morby | 9:30 p.m. RecordBar, 1020 Westport Rd.

Mark Lowrey Trio | 6 p.m. The Majestic Restaurant,

931 Broadway

Pagarazzi | 6 p.m. Chaz, 325 Ward Pkwy.

Tuesday | 1.28 | FITNE S S CR AW L

Fitness & Nutrition Workshop | 6 p.m. Wellspring School of Allied Health, 9140 Ward Pkwy., Ste. 100, fitnesscrawl.com (class is full) SPORTS & REC

City

Don Warner Duo | 10 a.m. Chaz, 325 Ward Pkwy.

Bram Wijnands Trio | 9 p.m. Green Lady Lounge,

1809 Grand

KU vs Texas women’s basketball | 7 p.m. Allen Fieldhouse, 1651 Naismith Dr., Lawrence

Red Dog’s Dog Days | 6 a.m. Allen Fieldhouse, 1651

Naismith Dr., Lawrence

ComeDy

open-mic comedy night | 9 p.m. Hamburger Mary’s,

101 Southwest Blvd.

FiTNe s s CR AW L

Rd., Lenexa, fitnesscrawl.com (class is full)

Change it up | 6:35 p.m. Sylvester Powell Community

Center, 6200 Martway, Mission, fitnesscrawl.com

open mic Night | Stanford’s Comedy Club, 1867 Village West Pkwy., KCK

sPoRTs & ReC

Ku vs. iowa state men’s basketball | 8 p.m. Allen

musiC

Fieldhouse, 1651 Naismith Dr., Lawrence

el Barrio Band | 7 p.m. Danny’s Big Easy, 1601 E. 18th St.

ComeDy

Billy Beale’s blues jam | 10 p.m. Westport Saloon,

Christina Pazsitzky | 7:30 p.m. Improv Comedy Club

Busker’s Banquet | 9 p.m. The Uptown Arts Bar,

musiC

4112 Pennsylvania

3611 Broadway KCMO 64111 6 - 1:30 Mon-Sat

Capoeira | 8 p.m. Brazil Academy, 11441 Strang Line

and Dinner Theater, 7260 N.W. 87th St.

OPEN MICS

Sat Jan 25

@ 7:00pm

3 nights per week

MONDAYS

Comedy Night 10:00pm NO COVER!

TUESDAYS

Busker’s Banquet 9:00pm - NO COVER!

WEDNESDAYS

Poetic Underground 9:00pm - NO COVER!

us on

Howard Iceberg $5

$10 acebook

&

Scott Hrabko

Sat Feb 15 @ 7:00pm

featuring our best artists from the last two years!

2-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

HUGE VARIETY SHOW $5

See Our Full Calendar at uptownartsbar.com

3611 Broadway

Dan Doran Trio | 6 p.m. Chaz, 325 Ward Pkwy.

Billy ebeling | 7 p.m. Jazz, 1823 W. 39th St. Frankie Rose, La Guerre | 10 p.m. RecordBar, 1020 Westport Rd.

Hermon mehari Trio | 6 p.m. The Majestic Restaurant, 931 Broadway

Naughty Pines Happy Hour Band | 6-9 p.m. Coda,

1744 Broadway

Rock, Paper, scissors | 7 p.m. RecordBar, 1020

Acoustic jam session with Nicholas st. James | Jazzhaus, 926-1/2 Massachusetts, Lawrence

emo Nick, Grenadina | 8 p.m. The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire, Lawrence

Field Day Dreams, max Justus, the Fog | 10 p.m.

RecordBar, 1020 Westport Rd.

Jesse Harris & the Gypsy sparrows | 7 p.m. Kanza Hall, 7300 W. 119th St., Overland Park

irie in KC: Rock & Reggae | 9 p.m. Davey’s Uptown

Ramblers Club, 3402 Main

Westport Rd.

steve Lambert Trio | 8 p.m. Broadway Jazz Club,

southerland Nights, Airfield, Last Nights Regret, Green River Kings | 8 p.m. Czar, 1531 Grand

Brendan macNaughton | Jazz, 1823 W. 39th St.

Gerald spaits Trio | 8 p.m. Broadway Jazz Club,

The old No. 5s | The Kill Devil Club, 61 E. 14th St.

3601 Broadway

3601 Broadway

Trampled under Foot | 7 p.m. B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ, 1205 E. 85th St.

Various Blonde, Rubedo | 10 p.m. Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts, Lawrence

Roger Wilder Trio | 9 p.m. Green Lady Lounge, 1809 Grand

816.218.6735 CALL TO BE A PART

organ Jazz Trio with Ken Lovern | 9 p.m. Green Lady Lounge, 1809 Grand

outlaw Jim & the Whiskey Benders | 7:30 p.m.

Knuckleheads Saloon, 2715 Rochester

Brian Ruskin Quartet | 7 p.m. The Phoenix, 302 W.

Eighth St.

shinetop Jr. | 7-9 p.m. B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ, 1205 NiGHTLiFe

Karaoke with Paul Nelson | MiniBar, 3810 Broadway Tap Room Trivia | 8-10p.m.WaldoPizza,7433Broadway Trivia Bang Bang | 7:30 p.m. Helen’s Just Another Dive, 2002 Armour Rd., North Kansas City

Wednesday | 1.29 |

E. 85th St.

Drew six | 6-9 p.m. Cactus Grill, 11849 Roe,

Leawood

stone sour, evalyn Awake | 7:30 p.m. The Midland, 1228 Main

Tru Blood Blues Band | 8 p.m. Czar, 1531 Grand

PeRFoRmiNG ARTs

Kansas City symphony Free Happy-Hour Concert: A Percussion extravaganza | 6 p.m. Kauffman

Center for the Performing Arts, 1601 Broadway, RSVP required, kcsymphony.org

WEDDING GUIDE COMING FEB 20

COMING: FEB 6 FEB 13

E-mail submissions to calendar@pitch.com or enter submissions at pitch.com, where you can search our complete listings guide.

pitch.com

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Dating Easy

S ava g e L o v e

G r eat Pa ins

made

I just recently lost my virginity. I’ve had sex only three times (not with a monogamous partner) and have found each time to be incredibly painful, even when the guy’s just using his fingers.

I’ve always been extremely sensitive. In the past, I’ve had guys run their hands over my jeans, and even that hurts. I brought this up when I went to my first OB-GYN appointment, and my doctor assured me that everything was normal down there. It’s driving me nuts because I feel like I’m missing out on a big part of my life. I know a lot of this may be psychological, but I wanted to know if I’m just supposed to continue having sex until it becomes pleasurable?

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some women the first time or two that they have sex, it’s usually not ‘incredibly painful,’ ” says Dr. Debby Herbenick, a research scientist at Indiana University, a sexual health educator at the Kinsey Institute, and an author. “Women rarely experience pain when it’s just fingers (unless the person is being really rough or has sharp fingernails), and especially not when someone is just running hands over jeans.”

You did the right thing by seeing a doc. “It’s fantastic that she went to an OB-GYN so soon after starting to have sex,” Herbenick says.

“Many women are too shy or nervous, even though it’s recommended for all sexually active women. Unfortunately, many doctors have had little to no training in diagnosing or treating vulvar pain, something that groups like the National Vulvodynia Association (nva.org) have been working to change.”

You’re going to have to see another doctor, though, one who knows something about vulvar pain. Herbenick recommends someone who “lives and breathes the vulva and vagina in their medical practice,” and there are organizations that can help find them. “TT can find such a health-care provider through the NVA or the International Society for the Study of Vulvovaginal Disease (issvd.org),” Herbenick says. “I don’t know where she lives, but there are excellent vulvovaginal health clinics at the University of Iowa and the University of Michigan. The United States is really far behind other countries in the establishment of such clinics, but we’re getting there.”

For more info on vulvar and vaginal pain — and other sexual health and pleasure issues — get your hands on a copy of Herbenick’s latest book, Sex Made Easy: Your Awkward Questions Answered — For Better, Smarter, Amazing Sex.

Dear Dan: Five years ago, my wife and I decided to pursue her MFM threesome fantasy. Part of 34

the pitch

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pitch.com

D a n S ava ge

so long as everyone is up for it and no one feels disrespected or dehumanized. But because this big black cock is attached to a fun and trustworthy guy whom you enjoy spending time with (and cleaning up after), maybe you could refer to him as your ABC (“awesome black chum”)? Just, you know, to show some respect for him as a person. Which is what he is.

Anyway, as for your problem: A man’s body releases the hormone prolactin when he comes. That particular hormone makes a man sleepy, it makes his boner deflate, and it temporarily renders him indifferent to and/or repulsed by sex. So something that sounded hot right before you came — eating your own come out of the wife’s pussy — is going to be much less appealing right after you come.

It’s a snatch-22, and there’s no fix.

Dear Dan: I’m a straight 24-year-old female, and

Kansas City

By

her fantasy was that the other chap have a BBC (big black cock), so we advertised and met this great guy who we’ve seen three times a year ever since. He’s nice and open-minded, and we’ve become so comfortable with our BBC that we meet at our home now instead of a hotel. So there are respectful and safe people out there to be found!

The issue I’m writing about is a problem with me.

After our BBC ejaculates in my wife — everyone is tested and free of STIs — I enjoy going down on her, he enjoys watching me go down on her, and she enjoys having me lick the interloper’s come from her pussy. That isn’t the problem. The problem arises when our BBC isn’t in the picture.

We enjoy talking about our dirty threesomes, and we both talk about how hot it will be when I go down on her after I’ve unloaded in her myself.

But once I’ve made my deposit, I have zero desire to go down on her. Something I couldn’t wait to do is suddenly repulsive to me. This problem doesn’t arise in our threesomes because our BBC always comes before I do. What is my issue? Is there a fix?

Dear Dan: I’m 45, female, and married to a smart, funny, intelligent 50-year-old man. We’ve been together nine years, married seven. The sex was good for the first year and then dropped off to nothing. He says, “I’ve had plenty of sex in my life. I’m just not interested anymore.”

During my first marriage, the sex was so bad that I thought, “If I could find a man who loved to cuddle, I could go the rest of my life without sex.” Perfectly describes husband number two!

Except now I feel more sexual than I ever have!

I’ve discussed this with my husband endlessly and have mentioned open marriage, but nothing comes of it. I’m not an instigator, though I have tried a few times and have been rejected.

He has had his testosterone checked. It’s normal.

Not even going to a therapist helped. What do I do? He’s a great guy, he loves me and my grown kids unconditionally, but we are more friends/ roommates than husband and wife. We have a safe, comfortable life, but I’m too young to go without that for the rest of my life!

Can’t Really Eat All My Pecker’s Icky Emissions

Careful What You Wish For

Dear CREAMPIE: So your regular third with

not — so you get to fuck other people, and he doesn’t get to say anything about it. Take a lover, take two. There are tons of men out there in sexless marriages that they don’t want to end because they love their wives or they love their kids or they can’t be bothered, or all of the above. Get your ass online and find one or two. If your husband is against an open marriage in principle — if he insists that you remain “monogamous” to him — tell him what he wants to hear and fuck other men regardless.

the big cock is nice, open-minded and STI-free.

Sounds great, but how can you be certain about the STI-free part when you see him only three times a year? Unless he’s abstinent the rest of the year or unless you test before each of your threesomes, there’s some risk here.

You also describe your regular third as “respectful,” and that’s great. We all deserve respectful sex partners, including your regular third. But referring to your regular third as BBC, or “big black cock,” isn’t respectful. It’s dehumanizing. Now, his big black cock brought you all together, and it’s fine to be attracted to others for particular physical attributes. It’s also fine to explore racially charged fantasies

Dear CWYWF: He’s done with sex, and you’re

The Savage Lovecast is at savagelovecast.com.

Have a question for Dan Savage?

E-mail him at mail@savagelove.net

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