Winds of Change
Coal, Kansas Politics, and The New Activism
Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008
It’s another overflow Monday evening at the Free State Brewery, and they’re wobbling like bowling pins out on the patio. In a ritual instigated in large part by bargain-priced beer, townies of all stripes gather in number on this night to jostle, slosh on, and holler at each other. The din of the place is a physical presence and the tap handles move like metronomes. Hippies hang with lawyers and students debate professors, boundaries blurred by conviviality and a torrent of Copperhead Ale.
Star child
The enigmatic Justin Roelofs and his first solo show in Lawrence
Monday, May 5, 2008
In three years, Justin Roelofs has recorded two albums and set foot on stage exactly once, guesting with Ratatat in San Francisco. So, for fans of his music, his show this week in Lawrence is not to be missed.
Five Years
2012 and the End Of The World As We Know It
Monday, Dec. 10, 2007
THE END IS NIGH and somehow we know it. It blackens our souls and poisons our dreams. Wrath, envy, greed, sloth, gluttony, lust, vanity—these are the hallmarks of human civilization. Our institutions are corrupt, our perceptions distorted. We have become evil, hell-spawn, irredeemable by love. Someday a rain’s a-gonna come and wash it all away. Hurricanes, tsunami, cyclones—they will cleanse the world of our evil. The fires of war and cataclysm will purify the land. The temples of the money-changers will crumble to dust. The earth will swallow you whole. And those that remain—the chosen few—will live on in the kingdom of God.
The Burroughs Guy
An interview with James Grauerholz
Monday, July 30, 2007
James Grauerholz is heir and executorof the estate of William S. Burroughs—maestro of the Beats, writer of “Naked Lunch,” international queer, academic junkie, wife-shooter, Harvard graduate, an undeniably American artist. Grauerholz lived 30 years with Burroughs. Street Level joins Grauerholz in a booth at Pachamama’s for a moseying reminiscence of Burroughs and the Beats...
It Is Well With My Soul
KU religion professor Paul Mirecki rebounds from controversy through the power of Rock and Roll
Monday, May 7, 2007
About a year and a half ago, Paul Mirecki made international news. Scourged by Christian fundamentalists for his derisive opinions of those lobbying for creationism in state science standards, and chastised by the University of Kansas for his incautious expression of those views, Mirecki resigned the chair of KU’s religious studies department.
Beaten, but not down
Beat insider James Grauerholz takes a beating and loses his “delicious cynicism”
Monday, April 30, 2007
James Grauerholz is heir and executor of the estate of William S. Burroughs—maestro of the Beats, author of “Naked Lunch,” international queer, academic junkie, wife-shooter, Harvard graduate and patron saint to generations of artistic rebels and literate rockers—a distinguished figure in 20th century literature, like him, his work or neither.
This Is Not a Still Life
Adrianne Verhoeven’s non-stop musical adventure
Monday, April 9, 2007
As a member of the Anniversary, Adrianne Verhoeven went directly from high school into the fast lane of rock and roll. The Anniversary toured the U.S., Europe and Japan, opening for the likes of Modest Mouse, Guided By Voices and Cheap Trick, before the band’s tumultuous dissolution in 2004.
Marquee mama
Lawrence promoter Jacki Becker spreads music and love across the Midwest
Monday, April 2, 2007
From her beginnings as a KJHK DJ to her current status as one of the Midwest’s foremost concert promoters, Jacki Becker embodies the DIY ethos: work hard, make friends and have fun.
Rose’s Rules of Order
Lawrence producer lays down the dos and don’ts of the recording studio.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Ed Rose’s production resume comprises a who’s who of local and regional rock bands: The Appleseed Cast, Butterglory, The Casket Lottery, Coalesce, Arthur Dodge, The Esoteric, The Get Up Kids, Kill Creek, Reggie and the Full Effect, Slackjaw, Stick, Ultimate Fakebook, Vitreous Humor and White Whale, to name a few.
Behind the masque
Arthur Dodge strips off his rock visage and reveals “A Perfect Face”
Monday, March 19, 2007
For new latest release, “A Perfect Face,” Dodge gives The Horsefeathers some time off and corrals an all-star line-up of local guest musicians to portray his latest musings on love, desire and the facts of life.
Stirring Up the Melting Pot
RedLefty cooks up a stew of swinging American roots music
Monday, March 5, 2007
RedLefty swingin’ blues, which is the short way of saying roots- folk- dixieland- bluegrass- country- klezmer- ragtime- hoedown- swing- blues music
The Honeymoon Continues
Truckstop Honeymoon rebounds from tragedy with a new home and a new album
Monday, Feb. 26, 2007
Piercing screams leap from a tidy Victorian home in a quiet Lawrence neighborhood. Foul play? Tragedy? Little girls playing Barbie.
All in the family
The brothers Hangauer toast their indie rock combo, Fourth of July
Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007
You can’t swing a cat in downtown Lawrence without hitting a Hangauer. Of the five (at last count) Hangauer siblings, four are active contributors to at least six local bands.
Get Up, Stand Up. Get Naked.
Revolutionaries fight the power with flesh and bone
Monday, Feb. 5, 2007
In a storefront directly across the street from the county courthouse, people are plotting against the system.
Where All The Lights Are Bright
Lawrence’s longest-lived fine dining restaurant settles in downtown
Monday, Jan. 29, 2007
At nine on Friday nights, the sounds of Luxe Soul fill the Star Bar in the back of Pachamama’s. Well-behaved patrons of all stripes lounge in plush armchairs, quaffing wine and grazing on artfully presented appetizers. As the night deepens, they dance.
Leave Home!
Fledgling rockers The Kinetiks take their act on the road
Monday, Jan. 22, 2007
Huddled around an atlas at a coffeehouse table, the Kinetiks are planning their first tour.
Packing Serious Wood
Log Lady aims to set cities on flame with rock and roll
Monday, Jan. 15, 2007
Call them purists, retro-rockers, or deconstructionists and the three members of Log Lady nod in agreement. Call them cock-rockers and they smile.
Honorable Mention
Barbering Hizzoner Mike Amyx looks back on a bumpy year of civic uncertainty, bar violence, a microburst and more
Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007
Street Level deftly swivels a barber’s chair to talk about the last year face-to-face with Mayor Mike Amyx about guns, the weather, and facing south for more than 30 years.
Smell Smoke?
Hip-hop maestro Miles Bonny lights a fire down below
Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006
For his solo debut maestro Miles Bonny slips into something sexy and strides to the front of the stage.
Sonic Transportation
This Is My Condition goes boldly where few have gone before
Monday, Dec. 11, 2006
As bassist for the Blue Leaves, Craig Comstock works an avant-pop vein; as the one-man band This Is My Condition, he goes for the jugular.
Give Them What They Want
Street Level surveys downtown merchants to take the pulse of the season
Monday, Dec. 11, 2006
For most of the merchants in Lawrence, the Christmas season yields a significant and essential portion of the annual take. For many, it’s make or break.
A Gift of Music
KJHK plows fertile fields and presents the community with Farm Fresh Sounds
Monday, Dec. 4, 2006
Street Level sheepishly ushers KJHK veterans Caterina Benalcazar, Courtney Ryan and Jenny Kratz into our disheveled podcast studio to reflect on indie spirit, dudes with music biz pretensions and the joys of harvesting a well saturated scene.
The utmost of the no coast
KC’s crown prince of rap talks candidly about the n-word, misogyny, and the hard lessons learned from his lifestyle
Monday, Dec. 4, 2006
In the Midwest, there is no bigger name in rap than Tech N9ne. Since his 2001 JCOR release “Anghellic,” Tech’s dark-themed, self-released albums have landed critical praise and impressive sales—thanks to word of mouth, savvy use of the internet, blanket guerilla promotion, and frequent tours.
Wax and wane
The Waxman rides out fads and oil crises with handmade business
Monday, Nov. 27, 2006
All is peaceful in Bob Werts’ workplace. The mood is more monastery than factory—thick drips of warm wax, hushed remarks, and KJHK or NPR soft in the background.
Thankful kitchen
After a turbulent year, the Krauses return to their culinary dream
Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006
Street Level strolls east to visit the Krauses in their home kitchen to talk about red tape, culinary mishaps and triumphs, and being thankful through hard times.
Style Scout: McClain Southwell and Abby Reust
Monday, Nov. 13, 2006
A look at what style the stylish are stylin'
Papa loves family
The New Amsterdams’ Matt Pryor gives it up for the kids. Again.
Monday, Nov. 6, 2006
As the front man of the Get Up Kids, Matt Pryor toured the globe and left a wide wake of swooning teenagers. GUK fans were inconsolable when the band broke up in 2005.
Work Is An Engine
'What you do is what you are' says the bucolic Kaw Valley Project
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006
Suppose an architect, an EMT, a schoolteacher, an environmental technician and a wine-loving student of Seneca get together and form a rock and roll band, each member skilled in several instruments... can they actually rock?
Rockin’ Bones
The Spook Lights serve up a raunchy recipe for Shake, Rattle and Roll.
Monday, Oct. 23, 2006
Preheat a ten-gallon cauldron over a blazing fire of hemlock boughs, several strips of black leather and two or three datura flowers. While the cauldron is heating, burn photographs of Jayne Mansfield and Richard Simmons, as many as you like. Reserve the ashes in a Tupperware container. When the cauldron begins to smoke, add five heaping skulls-full of rockabilly, a dram or two of surf music ...
Who Knew?
Crackpots, visionaries and idiots savants—Lawrencian finds fame and fulfillment through exposing the overlooked treasures in America’s backyards.
Monday, Oct. 23, 2006
When Don Mayberger began publishing his “quick and dirty” music ‘zine 26 years ago, he never dreamed it would someday reach more than a quarter of a million people each week.
Like A House On Fire
The Esoteric strip down, light up and release a barnburner
Monday, Oct. 16, 2006
The Esoteric’s ten-year rise to household name-status among the acultured in Lawrence has been marked by hard work and some hard luck—the band’s house went up in flames nearly two years ago).
It Don’t Come Easy
But Ad Astra Per Aspera proves that it works when you work it
Monday, Sept. 25, 2006
Germinated in 2002 in the rocky seedbed of punk, Ad Astra Per Aspera waited four years to release its first full-length recording. The band’s performance at this year’s South by Southwest festival garnered a contract with Canada’s Sonic Unyun Records for its debut LP, “Catapult Calypso.”
Expect the unexpected
Denizens of local culture mastermind 'the game to end all games'
Monday, Sept. 18, 2006
Would you crawl around under a bridge at Mary’s Lake looking for a Golden Animal? Or dodge cars to have a dance party in the middle of Massachusetts Street? Matt Armstrong, Kitty Mitchell and Andy Morton are the creators of The Lawrence Hunt, an all day scramble that is part conundrum, part endurance feat and more fun than a meat bikini. The Hunt requires contestants — often more than 50 in number — to shed their inhibitions, and occasionally their clothing, in the quest to win prizes supplied by Lawrence businesses.
Ad Astra Per Drums
How a boy from Kansas became one of rock’s most acclaimed musicians
Monday, Sept. 4, 2006
Born and bred in Kansas, Danny Carey was a typical small-town kid: he scrapped with his brothers, he played basketball and he joined his high school band playing drums. Eventually he spent a few years studying drums at UMKC, and then headed west to L.A., where he ultimately formed the nationally reknowned band Tool
Light up the nightlife
Five years along and Neon is still glowing strong
Monday, Aug. 28, 2006
When Edwin Morales laughingly talked his way into hosting a weekly dance party called NEON, he just wanted to spin records while having fun out with friends.
Some Cheap Cologne, a Hot Box and Thou
Lawrence's lovable folk-grass weirdos weave yarns and afghans (or something warm and fuzzy) with new album
Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2006
Employing natty haberdashery and a contraption called the harmophone, Drakkar Sauna crafts gleeful ditties about things that few humans can comprehend — the etiquette of dueling, cannibal metaphysics, Spanish cinema — and you can sing along to it all
The greatest band you've never heard
Monday, Aug. 14, 2006
Wichita, Kansas, 1979: Blondie, Donna Summer and Kenny Rogers dominate the AM airwaves; FM radio is home to REO Speedwagon, Styx and Foreigner. Four high school buddies, unimpressed with the radio, form a rock and roll band called The Embarrassment.
Independent of the future
Indie record stores look ahead for ways to stay afloat in turbulent industry times
Saturday, Aug. 5, 2006
When it comes to supporting indie music, Will Oldham is putting his money where his mouth is.
Inside the White Whale
Veteran Lawrence musicians' debut proves to be one of the year's most promising albums
Monday, July 24, 2006
When a bunch of seasoned salts from Kansas band together to embark on an epic musical voyage, it’s no surprise that well wishers line the quays to wave them off. Advance reviewers of White Whale’s “WW1” shout “Grandiose!" "Artistic!" "Primal!" "Expressive!”
Shoot To Thrill
Lawrence's Fourth of July show a rare, lo-fi production
Sunday, July 2, 2006
The ammunition for Lawrence’s Fourth of July fireworks show is stored in a barn on the outskirts of town. The location is a closely guarded secret. The barn is invisible from the main road, set low in a hollow and obscured by a windbreak of trees. Old cars and farm implements parked around the barn offer no clue to the fact that $12,000-worth of fireworks — “shells” in pyrotechnical jargon — are hidden inside.
How now, Justin Roelofs
Thursday, April 20, 2006
In the Mayan ruins at Palenque, the past is irretrievable, the future irrelevant. Birds call in the jungle; lizards skitter across ancient stone. The tourists arrive, and snap photos with cellphones and send postcards. Justin Roelofs came to download vibrations.
Split Lip Rayfield :: This Lawrence legend's fifth album is vintage Split Lip: blazing-fast banjo and mandolin licks balanced by high-lonesome ballads and a healthy sense of humor ... More info
- Truckstop Honeymoon / Drakkar Sauna / Luna Tart / Laura Freeman
- Koufax + "SEX: AKA Weiners and Boobs"
- Football: KU vs. Colorado
