Kansas City News Blog

Greyhound Portrait #1 by Dustin Maberry

One of these things is not like the other. See why at the Paragraph's latest art show

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1. Pretend it's First Friday, not the third. The Charlotte Street Foundation is sponsoring a few openings tonight, including Mythmakers at the Paragraph.

2. Laugh spontaneously. The Holy Cow! improv troupe entertains at the Westport Coffee House theater Friday night.

3. Remember why giving a kid a gun for Christmas is a bad idea. (He'll shoot his eye out!) The Kansas City Repertory Theater presents A Christmas Story, the Musical! in a run that begins tonight at UMKC's Spencer Theatre.

4. Celebrate the first anniversary of an art co-op in Olathe. From 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, the First Art Gallery of Olathe will hold a reception that features food, beverages, art and live music.

5. Get a jump on your holiday shopping, Lithuanian style. There's a Lithuanian Holiday Market at Lenexa Community Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

6. Watch scantily clad ladies wriggle for a good cause. The Kansas City Society of Burlesque performs at Korruption on Saturday night. The show -- Shake Your What-Not for Food -- benefits Harvesters and Ark of Friends. Admission is $10 or 10 canned goods.

7. Get ready for some football! The Kansas City Chiefs take on the Pittsburgh Steelers at Arrowhead on Sunday.

Find more ways to waste tonight, Saturday and Sunday in The Pitch calendar.
One of these things is not like the other. See why at the Paragraph's latest art show.

​Don't get hungry -- the cupcakes in the picture aren't edible. They're dissolving bath fizzies by Dirty Laundry, just one of the many local vendors showing off the goods tonight at the Ric Rac Roundup from 5-9 p.m. at Californos, 4124 Pennsylvania, in Westport.

Shop now and you'll get to sleep in on Black Friday.

Kate Bornstein leans back in her chair, legs spread, teal-painted fingernails and tattooed hand partially covering the girly design on her baby-tee top. A black and white wrist cuff with anarchy symbols and a gigantic, silver watch peek out under a sheer white sleeves. The 61-year-old, male-to-female transsexual writer and performance artist is surrounded by framed photographs of local leaders in the still-empty Alumni Room at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. But she's grinning about a different set of trailblazers.

Kate Bornstein (left) with a TransFest organizer, Wick Thomas

​"I was just at a drag king extravaganza in Tucson and I had my mind blown," she says, eyes sparkling behind glasses with pink, plastic frames, her lip piercing shifting as she chuckles.

Not that Bornstein hasn't blown some minds herself. Her 1994 book, Gender Outlaw -- a witty retelling of her own journey from man to woman and wry attack on the binary that shackles us all to male or female -- has become required reading in many college classes. In the intervening 15 years, she's appeared on talks shows and stages around the world, making people question the construct of gender. And this week, Bornstein is in Kansas City, adding some spice to UMKC's TransFest, a series of events put on by the college's Queer Alliance.

Honestly, I arrived at UMKC yesterday with a neat set of questions for a Q&A. But, I should have known better. Bornstein isn't the type of gal who answers inquiries in a few sentences. She slides backwards, hands on her head, and answers in a deliberate but mischievous tone, like she's sensuously sucking on a piece of candy. Talking to Kate Bornstein, I discovered, is like an intellectual strip-tease you don't want to cut off.

​Earlier this year, when President Obama zeroed out funding for "abstinence-only sex education" in the 2010 federal budget, parents and teachers who don't want their kids stumbling ignorantly into adolescence celebrated. But that doesn't mean students in the Kansas City region can count on age-appropriate, medically accurate sex education -- unless the community pushes for change.

Jen LaBarbera, an organizer for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, says her organization, and others, are ramping up their efforts to make sure youngsters understand the birds and the bees. "We sensed a buzz in our community around comprehensive sex education, and the momentum seems to be building to hold our local schools accountable for providing youth with real sex ed," she says.

Tonight, a panel of students, activists, educators and physicians are turning that buzz into a town hall forum.

Watch mountains explode, rivers turn black and grown men cry.

Nope, we're not talking about 2012, but another disturbing movie debuting this weekend about the end of the world.

At least, the end of the world as Appalachian residents know it.

Sierra Club has gone cinematic with their environmental protection in Coal Country, a feature-length documentary that shows in graphic detail that our coal-fired power plants aren't just killing us with the global warming pollution that spews from the smokestacks.

Set in the Appalachian Mountains, the movie investigates mountaintop removal mining -- which is exactly what it sounds like -- and how the earth-scouring practice effects the lives of workers and residents of the surrounding communities.

The national television runs starts Saturday, when the film debuts on Planet Green television at 8 p.m. But Kansas City residents are invited to a sneak preview tonight.

Local environmentalist Kerry Anderson is hosting a house party at her place -- 12123 Goodman St., Overland Park, Kansas -- starting at 7 p.m. The only thing Sierra Club asks in return for the hospitality is that attendees consider writing a letter to President Obama, urging measures restricting mountaintop removal practices, after the screening.

​Who could forget CityBall, the heartbreaking documentary that follows three KC school district athletes through their senior years?

It's been a year since the film debuted, and tonight at 6 producer Stephen Spiegel hosts a town hall meeting at the Kansas City Public Library's Plaza Branch about how the film changed the way students view themselves and their sports in the city.

A lot of the documentary's stars will be in attendance, as will current and past athletic directors, including former Chief Kimble Anders, and reps from the school district. Spiegel says he's excited about talking to the former district reps because they can answer questions frankly without worrying about their employment status.

Tonight's town hall also unveils the CityBall Scholarship Fund, which will help send as many local kids to summer school as possible. DVD sales will benefit that fund. The program officially begins at 6:30 p.m. and will last about two hours.

Josh Rosenau

​We're getting reports of planned alcohol and snack consumption this weekend in honor of two anniversaries: the 150th of  Charles Darwin's On the Origin of the Species and the 10th for Kansas Citizens for Science.

Among the celebrities expected to show up: Josh Rosenau, the science blogger who distinguished himself as one of the nation's best (even more impressive: He was our  Best Blogger) while writing Thoughts from Kansas during the 2005 "debate" about evolution. He's now the Public Information Project Director at the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California.

Tonight at Johnson County Community College, Rosenau joins biology professor Paul Decelles and retired economics professor David Burress for a panel called "150 Years On, What's All the Fuss About Evolution, Science Education and Church and State?" It's moderated by Harry McDonald, a former Blue Valley biology teacher.

Tomorrow, Rosenau's homecoming tour continues when he helps the Kansas Citizens for Science throw a party in honor of their ten years promoting decent education.

We got Rosenau on the phone to reminisce.

What were some high and low points for Kansas Citizens for Science during the last decade?

I got to Kansas and started grad school in 2000 -- right after the first bout on the school board [in 1999, the Kansas Board of Education approved state science standards that included no mention of evolution]. Everyone was really embarrassed. I'd be looking at apartments in Lawrence, and I'd say, "I'm here to study ecology and human biology," or I'd say I was in the biology department, and people would say, "Oh, we're so sorry. That'll never happen again" -- and five years later it did.

In 2000, people had gotten very fired up and involved across the political spectrum. The governor at the time, [Republican] Bill Graves, was opposed to the changes, and when the science standards [reinstating evolution] passed the school board, everyone sort of said, OK, we're done, we don't have to worry about it. In 2004, Kansas Citizens for Science still existed, but its membership wasn't as engaged as it had been. People had stopped paying attention.

What's exciting now is we have Kansas Families United for Education, the Mainstream Coalition and other groups including the Kansas Citizens for Science and the Kansas Alliance for Education -- groups who've given themselves a mission so they don't have to go through all of that again.

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1. Would you believe it's already First Friday again? The second-to-last of the whole year, even. Go to the Crossroads! And see, among other wonders, artist H. Stewart "Legally Naked" at the Slap-n-Tickle.

2. Lawrence filmmaker/KU associate professor Kevin Wilmott's movie The Only Good Indian starts a run at Liberty Hall tonight.

3. Take an autumn stroll. There's a new, four-story observation silo with a view of fall foliage at Powell Gardens.

4. Experience a late-night, creepy-cool art and fashion event called Visage Macabre at The Emerald Space on Saturday.

5. Do some deep thinking. On Sunday, a panel of experts -- one of whom is a grown-up '60s counterrevolutionary -- will discuss the implications of violence and social change.

Michael Wilson's Flickr

​1. Get hot and Rocky Horror-fied, as the burlesque troupe BDU does a Rocky Horror-themed performance at Firefly tonight.

2. Get freaked out -- the West Bottoms is chock full of haunted houses presented by Full Moon Productions. For some DIY haunted house action check out the Newton family's homemade haunt in Overland Park on Saturday night and John Bersuch's haunted West Bottoms loft, open to the public on Sunday.

3. Get your freak face on. Costumes are encouraged at virtually every bar in town tonight and tomorrow. Check out this Halloweekend Hitlist for some ideas.

4. Take a tot trick-or-treating. There are safe trick-or-treating activities being hosted all over the metro on Saturday, including Trunk or Treat at Alcott Arts Center.

5. Don't forget the dead! Sunday is el Dia de los Muertos (aka Day of the Dead). Although maybe not the most authentic, possibly the most fun party in honor of this Mexican holiday is the fiesta that Wearhaus is throwing at the Beaumont Club.


For more ways to be devilish this weekend, see pitch.com/calendar.

​The Olathe Animal Shelter needs help. A lot of help.

Earlier this week, KMBC Channel 9 reported that the shelter could be shut down. Hey, Bite Club, how about you make yourselves useful? Adopt a pet. Or drop off some kitty litter or dog food.

The shelter is holding a fund-raiser on Saturday at noon on the corner of Park and Cherry streets in Olathe. There'll be pet weddings (I think) and a pet costume contest and parade. It's $7 to enter your pup (check out the flier for more info).

We can only hope that breastfeeding cat lady crosses the stateline and makes an appearance.

Photo via Costume Craze.

1. Experience a battle of wits. Bonner Springs' Roving Imp Theater is the site of an improv festival that runs through Sunday.

2. Bid farewell to the Abracadabras. The once promising local band plays its final show tonight at Czar Bar.

Flickr: foxypar4

See cows and stuff at the American Royal.

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3. Look closely at baby pigs. Also: Watch kids learn how to rodeo and buy yourself some cowboy boots during Family Fun Day at the American Royal on Saturday.

4. Get some green thumb inspiration. Author and urban farmer Novella Carpenter will talk about what she grows in the middle of Oakland during a presentation Saturday at the Badseed.

5. Root for the Wizards. Kansas City's pro soccer team takes on DC United on Saturday. Bonus: It's Fan Appreciation Day, so the first 5,000 people get free T-shirts.

The neighborhood drama started with a simple crop of tomatoes.

Brooke Salvaggio

​In 2007, Brooke Salvaggio took over the 2.5 acres surrounding her grandparents' house on Bannister Road in southern Kansas City and turned it into Bad Seed Farm. This spring, with husband Dan Heryer adding his expertise to the urban operation, the organic farmers decided to expand their cornucopia, including a new planting of tomatoes in the front, side yard.

But the blushing fruit happened to be within view of a neighbor who didn't take kindly to the cultivation.

Phyllis Forbes, who owns the property next to the Bad Seed, complained to the neighborhood association about the allegedly unsightly development. Soon, Heryer and Salvaggio were in the crosshairs of city officials -- and urban farmers across the area were holding their breath.

Tonight could be the first step to making Kansas City far more friendly to local food producers.

Over the summer, when the U.S. government said it would take a trillion dollars to cover 30 million people who don't have health insurance, lots of Americans complained loudly. Too much money!

We've heard a lot less noise about spending a trillion dollars to kill thousands of people -- including our own citizens -- in wars we didn't need to fight. The Washington Post has estimated the cost of the Iraq war at $3 trillion; a group called the National Priorities Project keeps a freaky running calculator (it moves so fast you can't really look at it or it'll give you a headache) that suggests we'll hit a trillion any day now.  

Amanda Cherry

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On Sunday, 22 area organizations turn up the volume at a community forum called "Healthcare/Warfare: We Pay. Who Profits?"

Among the panelists is Amanda Cherry, an Army veteran who served in Bosnia and Kosovo and whose husband is Jim Haus. They're the courageous couple at the center of Pitch writer Carolyn Szczepanski's August 25 cover story about soldier suicides. Scheduled to deliver remarks on "The Human Cost of War," and she knows WTF she's talking about.

Also among the speakers is a celebrity in the international anti-war movement.

1. See live (un-live?) zombies attack! Maul of the Dead opens at the Coterie Theatre tonight.

2. Experience an outdoor concert for one of the last times this season. Ghostland Observatory plays the Crossroads KC at Grinders tonight.

3. Support local artists. Kansas City Artists Coalition is holding open studios this Saturday and Sunday (and next weekend).

Alacartoona gets creepy in the night.

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4. Experience the Alacartoona cinema experience. The local musical-cabaret group premieres a movie tonight at Screenland Theater at the Crossroads.

5. See a Broadway smash on a KC stage. A touring production of Spring Awakening ends its run on Sunday at the Music Hall.

For more weekend distractions, see The Pitch calendar.

1. Take a road trip! Weston, Missouri, is holding its annual Irish festival today through Sunday. There's also a motorcycle rally happening Saturday and Sunday in Urich, Missouri.

2. Support the Fringe Festival by attending Fall Into Fringe, a fund-raising event on Saturday night featuring drama, poetry, music and more.

Nikki Moreno

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3. Eat some brains! On Saturday, there's a zombie walk through Country Club Plaza and a zombie prom/art show/costume contest/film screening at Alcott Arts Center.

4. Come out of the closet! Sunday is National Coming Out Day, and there's a free educational event at UMKC.

5. LYMFAO! Comedian Lewis Black is performing at Ameristar Casino's Star Pavilion on Sunday night.

For more ways to spend your weekend, see The Pitch calendar.

Pitch theater critic Alan Scherstuhl tells me that "Into the Woods" is the best show he's ever seen at the Kansas City Rep. So if you're a public service employee and you're free Wednesday at 7 p.m., the Kansas City Repertory Theatre has a great deal. You can see the show for free.

Here's the full details: If you're a solider, police officer, firefighter, EMT, ambulance driver or a city or county worker in Jackson, Johnson, Wyandotte, Clay or Platte counties, then you're eligible for free tickets to the show at the Spencer Theatre in the James C. Olson Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Missouri-Kansas City. There is a limit: Four tickets per family.

For tickets, call the Rep's box office at 816-235-2700 or e-mail your request to info@kcrep.org (don't forget the promo code "thankyou"). Include your name, address, phone number and the number of tickets you want to reserve.  Also, don't forget to bring your employment ID when you pick up your tix.

Not sold? Check out this preview:

"Sacred Heart" by Trenton Matthews

Tonight, an art show at Mood Swings Salon asks "What the Fuck is Wrong With this Kid?"

​ 1. Do the art thing. It's already First Friday again. (While you're in the Crossroads, head over to Union Station, for the opening night of Andy Warhol Portfolios: Life and Legends. Get a free beverage if you arrive between 5 and 9 p.m.)

2. Get some culture in Lee's Summit. Today and Saturday, the Longview Campus of Metropolitan Community Campus is holding a literary festival with workshops, readings and lectures. Nearby, today through Sunday, there's also the Longview Art and World Music Festival.

3. Shop for unexpected treasures. Urban Mining Homewares -- which is open every First Friday, Saturday and Sunday -- is celebrating its fifth anniversary.

4. Ogle some hot cars. KCI Cruise Night is a car show (that actually happens during the day on Saturday, from 3 to 8 p.m.) near Kansas City International Airport.

5. Pick out a pumpkin! It being October and all, there are now would-be-jack-o-lanterns aplenty at City Market. The pu kin patch is open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

6. Root on the Chiefs. KC's underdog football team takes on the New York Giants this Sunday.

For more ways to spend your weekend, see The Pitch calendar.

Before the age of modern landfills, Kansas City disposed of its garbage by feeding it to hogs -- and dumping it in the Missouri River. Technically, our refuse is buried in Deffenbaugh's massive hole in the ground these days, but plenty of trash still goes astray. And, like days of yore, it finds its way into the Big Muddy.

Missouri River Relief

​Since 2001, Missouri River Relief has hosted nearly 50 clean-ups, engaging volunteers and corporate sponsors to help fish out 500 tons of crap we've collectively chucked into the aquatic ecosystem. Every fall, the group hosts an event in the Kansas City area and, being a wannabe river rat, I pull on a life vest, throw a gigantic plastic bag over my shoulder and lend a hand.

And, man, there's some weird shit out there.

Don't take it from me. Vicki Richmond, River Relief's (award-winning) "West Coast" coordinator, has spent untold hours scouring the banks. When I asked for her top five bizarre items she's found out there, it didn't take her but a moment.

For more mature audiences, a blow-up love doll was found last year -- still in the box.

Messages in a bottle are always a hit. They range from letters to one's self to some pretty racy propositions.

I found a "Nebraska -- No Off Road Vehicles" sign -- just downstream of Sugar Creek.

A piano certainly makes the list. I've personally found two. Somewhere there is a polka missing an accordion -- we found it! And a banjo!

Here in KC, we found one of the braziers from the Water Fire event on Brush Creek. It makes my list because it ran through Brush Creek's "lakes," and entered the Blue River, where it went about 10 miles to the Missouri. It then took a right and floated on the Big Muddy for another eight or 9 miles to be found near Missouri City.

Intrigued? Tomorrow, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Missouri River Relief is hosting its annual clean-up at Kaw Point Park. In addition to the goodwill of Mother Nature, you'll get a free T-shirt, lunch and, if you're so inclined, whatever treasures strike your fancy.

​David Cross hasn't been to Kansas City since suffering the drunken mindfuck he describes at length on his Grammy-nominated first album, 2003's Shut Up, You Fucking Baby. Launching into his tale of how he came to be undone by booze and the medium-lousy band Harlow, he says he started the night alone because he had no friends in Kansas City. "And good for my friends," he says.

That cheap shot hasn't stopped Cross fans here from quoting lines from that bit most of this decade. If you're reading this, you probably know someone who has affected a low, nasal voice and told you to "answer your telephone" -- or you've done it yourself.

Still, knowing that all the liquor in Westport wasn't enough to endear KC to the comedy hero of Mr. Show, Arrested Development and the upcoming Channel 4 show The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret -- well, that's disappointing. Cross is showing a segment of that new show, which he has co-written, to some audiences on his new tour, which stops tonight at the Midland downtown. (The show's at 8; Todd Glass opens.) He won't run into any acts from VH1's Bands on the Run, so the way seems clear for him to like us this time.

The occasion for Cross' tour is I Drink for a Reason, his new book of short essays, lists and tangents. It's his first book, and at this writing, it's holding at No. 32 on the New York Times hardcover best-seller list.

I talked to Cross for a few minutes last week as his tour got under way. I blame the flop-sweat inferiority complex induced by a quick refresher with the Harlow-Kansas City track from Shut Up for some weak questions. So if Cross still thinks KC is lame, it's probably all my fault.

So, uh, you're coming back to Kansas City ...

I'm sorry. I can only apologize so many times. No, seriously, I just remembered that the airline lost my luggage coming into Kansas City for that show, so I had to wing around 20 minutes that I normally would have had stuff.

Western Wyandotte County has witnessed a building boom, with open spaces transformed into a sprawling shopping center, an exhaust-spewing speedway and, soon, a new soccer complex. But a group of local residents is pushing a different kind of construction in the vicinity of Village West.

Shane Jones

​An often-overlooked resource, Wyandotte County Lake Park sits a stone's throw from The Legends retail district. For members of the Trail Nerds, an ultra-running group I wrote about last year, this spot is a little slice of dirt-kicking, mud-splashing, root-strewn heaven. In recent years, the Nerds have added two miles of trails to extend the paths to a 10-mile loop. But they're not done yet.

Earlier this year, three seasoned Nerds -- Kyle Amos, Shane Jones and Jim Megerson -- pooled $100 and a bunch of tools from their collective garages to start a new endeavor: the Trail Masons Association. The grassroots crew aims to build more trails throughout the Kansas City area, but they're starting with 10 to 15 new miles at WyCo Park. "It's about giving back to our community, creating sustainable trails experiences, exposing folks to WyCo and the great outdoors," Megerson says.

And it's kicking off in earnest this weekend.

Many stretches of the trail at WyCo Park are badly eroded, Megerson says. So, in honor of National Public Lands Day tomorrow, the Masons are hosting a work session Saturday morning. As a reward for shoveling, hoeing, leveling and trash collecting, volunteers will get lunch -- and possibly some door prizes from Dynamic Earth and Gerber Legendary Blades.

The event runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sign up here.

Flickr: Britt Selvitelle

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1. Take back the streets -- on a Schwinn! It's the last Friday of the month, and that means it's time for Critical Mass. Bicyclists gather at the Sun Fresh Market in Westport at 6 p.m.

2. See a black and white war in color. A new exhibit at the National World War One Museum presents the bright uniforms and other eye-catching elements of the Great War, which could not be captured in photographs from the period.

3. Laugh it up with comedienne Jennie McNulty, who's performing Saturday night at a benefit/poker tournament to support local women's sports teams.

4. Check out a goalie. The Kansas City Wizards take on the Colorado Rapids on Saturday at Community America Ballpark.

5. Get your face painted. That's one of the many activities offered during the Western Wyandotte Arts Festival on Sunday at Hollis Renewal Center in KCK.

For more ways to spend your weekend, see The Pitch calendar.

​Rarely does such a wonderful event come into our inbox that we must write about it right away. But this one blends a few things that have aged well: Michael Jackson's "Thriller," because it's an awesome piece of music, and zombies, because they are difficult to kill.

So set your calendar for October 24. About 200 local dancers and zombie-files will meet at the El Torreon Ballroom (3103 Gillham Plaza) and join thousands of other dancers from across the world (China and Pakistan in the house) for a synchronized "Thriller" dance.

This sucker will be so big, all dancers have a chance to be part of a Guinness World Record attempt.

The rhythm-challenged can attend one of nine area dance workshops prior to the event (see Thrill the World KC.com for details) and learn how to turn everyday clothes into zombie gear -- because zombie-wear is compulsory. The final crash course for dancers is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the day of the event. Final dance practice, make-up application and registration will begin at 4 p.m.

The event includes other live entertainment and a silent auction that benefit the the Children's Place and the Bishop Sullivan Center. General admission is $5 for adults ($3 with two non-perishable food items), and $3 for kids (free with the food). Guaranteed seats are $20 and VIP status is $75.

Dancing starts at 7:30 p.m. with a countdown and then the music rolls. The dance itself takes only 5 minutes and ends with that creepy madman's laugh. It looks rather like this:

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The Kansas International Film Festival wraps up tonight at the Glenwood Theatre (9575 Metcalf Ave., Overland Park). One of the final films closing the fest is Left Field, a goofy and touching documentary about kickball -- the playground game that in recent years has been co-opted by twenty- to thirty-something jocks, hipsters and geeks.

A couple of guys with local ties -- Chris Batte (producer) and Ben Steger (director) -- collaborated on Left Field, their first feature-length film, which plays at 5:20.

Left Field is less about kickball games and wins and losses. The focus is more on the people who play the game.

"As we got more and more into it, we realized that there was this really amazing community of people -- artists, musicians, there's lawyers, architects," Batte says. "The kickball was fun and interesting, but we didn't think it was going to be interesting enough for a film. But we thought these people's lives were much more interesting."

Batte tells The Pitch that he always wanted to make a film but didn't know how. He had several friends who played in a kickball league at a park near his Chicago home. After two years of prodding, Batte finally checked out a game.

"When I got out there, it was a lot of hilarity," Batte says. "A lot of drunken shit talking, and everybody kind of shed any kind of social inhibitions and just went out and had fun. I just laughed the whole time I was out there."

He and Steger, who met at the University of Kansas and both now live in Chicago, decided to make a short film about a kickball team's "rise to fame and glory." They quickly cobbled together footage of games and player interviews, but before they could start editing the footage someone broke into Steger's apartment and stole the footage.

The two reassessed and decided that they were, Batte says, "a lot more committed to this project than just a short film." They decided to make a feature-length film about not just one team but the entire league. 

"Three years later, here we are," Batte says.

Warning: Spoiler alert!

Flickr: 0595

​ 1. Ogle some very buff, mostly naked men. Chippendales dance at VooDoo Lounge tonight.

2. Sniff out a good-for-nothin' train robber. Hold Up on Dead Man's Creek is an interactive murder mystery in production at the Hollywood Room downtown every Thursday, Friday and Saturday through Halloween.

3. Experience the steampunk version of Alice in Wonderland. Bellenwhissle Productions has put a trendy twist on its theatrical production of the Lewis Carroll classic, opening tonight at the Off Center Theatre in Crown Center.

4. Witness the percussive mastery of Tool drummer Danny Carey. He's participating in a drum clinic sponsored by Explorers Percussion at Shawnee Mission South High School on Saturday afternoon.



5. Take in an old movie. Gary Cooper stars in Sergeant York, screening for free at the National World War One Museum at 1 p.m. Saturday.

6. Appreciate the prettiest insects. There's butterfly festival happening at the Mr. and Mrs. F.L. Schlagle Environmental Library all weekend.

7. Get hot for burlesque dancers. The Kansas City Society of Burlesque performs Saturday night at West Bottoms bar Korruption.

8. Be a big spender -- for a good cause. Plaza Pzazz, the annual fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House features food, music and evening wear at Country Club Plaza on Sunday from 6 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $75.

For more ways to spend your weekend, see the online Pitch calendar.

As I spoke to Thomas Frank by phone on Saturday morning, a mob of conservative Tea Party activists were converging on the National Mall, ranting and raving about government oppression and hoisting placards of the President in creepy, Joker-style white face.

Thomas Frank

​While many were shocked at the boiling outrage that surfaced at town hall meetings this summer, Frank, a political journalist most famous for his 2004 book What's the Matter with Kansas?, saw it coming. In his latest work, The Wrecking Crew, he describes how conservatives have strategized to undermine government programs, privatize its essential parts and instill an almost maniacal distrust of Washington, D.C., at the grassroots.

"Conservatism never depicted itself as unruly protesters on the Capitol Mall or guys screaming at a congressman at a town hall meeting," he says.

Welcome to the post-Wrecking Crew era.

​Tonight at the Brooksider is the second Twestival, a charitable event being pushed by the Kansas City Social Media Club and a few other social media users to raise money for Wayside Waifs.

Here's the deal: A $15 donation gets you in the Brooksider (6330 Brookside Plaza) and you can stuff your face with pizza from Pizza 51 (and food from Sysco and the Brooksider), drink all the beer from Boulevard and Barnyard Brewery (or Vitamin Water for the non-drinkers) you want and check out Reach and The Threes from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. And your $15 goes to Wayside Waifs. All of it?

"Every penny is going to go to Wayside Waifs," says Bonnie Goldberg, who's helping with the Twestival. "It really is incredible. Everyone is stepping up."

There's no overhead because everything is being donated, Goldberg says. Everyone involved deserves a big kudos to everyone involved.

Wayside Waifs will take the money and follow the immortal words of Bob Barker and spay and neuter cats and dogs.

If you just want to give to Wayside Waifs, there's an online donation site also set up (but then you won't get the pizza, beer and music). Try to say no after watching  this video of caged, sad-faced puppies.

custompapertoys.com

See Matt Hawkins' crazy custom toys at the Emerald Space.

​ 1. Appreciate art in the West Bottoms. Tonight, the Emerald Space hosts The Proper Assortment, a group show by Phil Shafer, Tyler Coey and Matt Hawkins.

2. Contemplate rape, society and victimhood. Those are the themes of Extremities, the heavy show opening tonight the Just Off Broadway Theater The production is presented by Minds Eye Theatre company.

3. Laugh your ass off. The Kansas City Improv Festival continues tonight and Saturday at the Off Center Theater.

4. Walk for your health -- and someone else's. On Saturday, Theis Park is the setting for Kansas City's Walk for PKD, which stands for the terrifying and deadly phrase "polycystic kidney disease."



5. Watch a movie that was made in KC. On Saturday, the Lawrence Arts Center is screening Fight Night, a movie about a chick with mad mixed martial arts ability.

6. Support local music. The Crossroads Music Festival brings some 25 KC-area bands to various Crossroads stages on Saturday.

For more ways to use up the weekend, see The Pitch calendar.

They've lived parts of their lives caught in the clutches of homelessness and drug addiction, but they're through with all that now.

Men who participate in a residential program at the Kansas City Rescue Mission have teamed up with artist Richard Fritz of Storytellers Inc. to create a series of photo-collage panels that represent the journey of the homeless from hopelessness to recovery.

Each picture -- from burned-out campfires to train yards and graffiti-covered bricks -- forms a part of the larger journey each man has undertaken. It's powerful stuff. In this video, then men discuss their project and their lives:

Works in Progress: the art of the homeless from casey lyons on Vimeo.

The show opens tonight at the Kansas City Rescue Mission, 1520 Cherry St., from 7 to 10 p.m. The artists will be on hand to chat and answer questions. If you're heading out to First Friday in the Crossroads, add this to your stops.

See art like this piece by Deng Wushu on display in the Crossroads.

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1. Meander all over the Crossroads because it's First Friday, yo.

2. Party down in Independence Square, where the Santa Cali Gon Days Festival kicks off today.

3. Party downtown, where the Kansas City Irish Festival starts today.

4. Get ready for some football -- Australian style. On Saturday, local Australian rules football teams square off in Gillham Park.

5. Get greasy. The two-day rockabilly car/art/movie/drinking fest known as Greaserama happens Saturday and Sunday at Boulevard Drive-In.

6. Go swimming for the last time. Jackson County beaches close for swimming on Monday, which happens to be Labor Day.

1. Do the time warp. Rocky Horror Picture Show is screening for free at City Market Friday night.

2. Cut it out. Comedian Dave Coulier (aka Uncle Joey to Full House fans) shares the laughs at Stanford's Comedy Club Friday night and Saturday.

3. Walk the dog. On Saturday morning, there's a charity dog-walking event called Too Cool to Drool happening at Frontier Park.

4. Embrace your inner geek. Lenexa Community Center is hosting the MO-KAN Comic Con all day Saturday and Sunday.

5. Breathe in the bacon. The salty smell of it, plus culinary and musical adoration of it will permeate the West Bottoms during Bacon-Fest on Saturday.

6. Eat for cheap in the Power & Light District. Sunday is the final day of District Restaurant Week, during which diners get discounted meals and go home with gift cards at the end of their meal.