Blogs

The 4th Annual Crossroads Music Festival is nearly upon us!

Once again, Roach and his Spice of Life Productions colleagues have busted their asses off putting this thing together. It looks like it's going to be fun -- and very different from last year (reviewed here, here and here).

For one thing it's, going to be on just one day (September 6) instead of two, and it's not going to be held mostly in the Crossroads KC Grinders venue but rather in and around the Brick, Mercy Seat, Crosstown Station, the soon-to-be-open Czar Bar, and JP Wine Bar. Also, it's all local bands and performers. Here's the schedule.

See you there.

Who: David Byrne
What: "The Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno"
When & Where: October 19 at the Uptown
On Sale: August 23
Thoughts: Songs from three Talking Heads albums + My Life in the Bush of Ghosts + Everything That Happens - Eno = Serious Fans Only.

Who: Maxwell
When & Where: October 23 at the Uptown Theater
On Sale: August 23
Thoughts: Oh. Maxwell's still around, then.

Who: Neil Young and Death Cab for Cutie
When & Where: November 4 at Sprint Center
On Sale: September 12
Thoughts: Other towns are getting Wilco instead of Death Cab on this tour. Fuck those other towns.

All kindsa news came in after I left early yesterday, including...

Metallica has announced its first North American trek in four years in support of upcoming release Death Magnetic.

Where: Sprint Center
When: October 25
Opening acts: Down, the Sword

Details forthcoming at Metallica.com

Tribute bands -- have they gone too far?

Test that question for yourself this Saturday night when Heart & Soul: a Tribute to Huey Lewis & the News goes back in time to look for a new drug and finds itself happy to be stuck with you on the Riot Room's patio.

This is the first performance by this local eight-piece band, which is fronted by erstwhile Misery Boy Blackjack Snow and rounded out by fully trained, horn-playing seals. Not really. Actually, knowing who's involved, the band will probably nail it. At least, let's hope they do. Otherwise the heart of rock and roll may fail.

Speaking of hearts, the night's opening act is local Afrobeat revivalist band Hearts of Darkness, which I've heard is really good. Get there around 10:30 and get Fela'd up. Then, pull up your socks and pop your collar for the '80s pop R&B explosion that's sure to follow.

Who: Canadian indie rock band Broken Social Scene

Where: The Beaumont Club

When: October 16

When do tickets go on sale?: Saturday, August 2, but if you're worried about getting tickets, a pre-sale is on now at the Arts & Crafts Web site.

Is the band touring behind a new record?:
It is, but it's not a new BSS record. It's the solo album Something For All of Us by BSS band member Brendan Canning.

Whoa. Is that Canning?
Yes.

Why does he look like that?
He's Canadian.

That dude's not the first Broken Social Scenester to put out a solo record, is he?
Correct. Canning joins Leslie "Feist" Feist, Jason Collett, Kevin Drew and Andrew "Apostle of Hustle" Whiteman in releasing solo albums.

Wow, that's a lot. Are they actually good?
Surprisingly, yes, a lot of them are.

What is it with those Canadians? How come they all get to put out albums?
Government funding.

Can any area high schools beat Broken Social Scene at basketball?
Shawnee Mission West can, but only if Feist and Collett aren't on BSS' team.

Will Feist and Collett be at the Beaumont show?
No, but Canning, Drew, that apostle guy, and four others will.

Did Canadians invent that ungraspable, wispy, lyrically vague, chock-full-of-ironic-titles-and-T-shirts, jangly, overproduced lo-fi thing we know as indie rock?
Quite possibly.

How?
Government funding.

Son of a bitch.

This presale's been going since the 22nd, and I didn't get an email from the promoter until THIS MORNING.

Grrrrrrr.

Anyway, if you haven't already, click here to buy tickets for Motorhead, with the Misfits, Airbourne, Valient Thorr and Year Long Disaster. Password: INFERNO

More cancellation blues: The big local benefit concert for Greensburg, Kansas, that was scheduled for August 9 at Capitol Federal Park at Sandstone has been canceled. We have no more information at this time, but the promoter will be sending out a press release later this week, which we'll append to this post.

Folks, I found out Gnarls had canceled yesterday. I waited to post anything until I'd heard whether the other bands (Black Keys, Ting Tings) were still playing. Turns out, they aren't. The whole thing is canceled.

AEG Live says the show was "canceled due to a routing conflict related to Lollapalooza."

Good. Fucking. NEWS. CUT COPY is coming to the Record Bar in our very own Kansas City on September 15. And they're bringing the Presets!

Guess what?

I love Cut Copy.

The Australian electropop/dance/rock group's latest, In Ghost Colours, has been tearing up my discman since its release earlier this year, and I haven't even been listening to much dance music lately, especially not of the New Wave referencing variety, but CC's melodies are so stupendous they make New Order look downright ramshackle. Well, no one can do that, but they are bloody good. Colours is one of those albums that presents itself not only as immediately lisenable and infectious but proves later to have more to it than you realized at first. For example, I got so caught up on songs like "Lights and Music," "Hearts on Fire," and "So Haunted" that I somehow failed to notice "Far Away" (hear all these tracks on their MySpace) until Robert Moore played it on a recent Sonic Spectrum podcast.

I caught Cut Copy at this past SXSW. That wasn't so good, mainly because of the venue -- which makes it absolutely thrilling that we're going to get to see them at the Record Bar, where Cut Copy's albums have been a house-iPod staple since opening day. As long as you're not a douchebag, you will get laid after this show. And if you go, and it's looking like you may not get lucky, come find me and we'll at least make out. The occasion demands it!

MP3: Cut Copy, "So Haunted"

Those heading out to the Crossroads at Grinders tomorrow night for the English Beat/Fixx/Alarm show may be interested to read this review of the tour stop last night in St. Louis by "Dreamboat" Annie Zaleski at our sister paper, the Waterfront Companion. The intrepid Zaleski also shot a couple of videos, including the one below of the English Beat.

Kinda makes me wish I were going. Oh, and check out Dreamboat Annie's interview with Mike Peters of the Alarm.

You already know the Foo Fighters are playing this Saturday, July 19, at Kemper Arena.

And we've already told you lots about openers Supergrass.

Oh, Supergrass ... love them.

But another band worth loving a little, too, is going on first, at 7:15, to be exact: Year Long Disaster.

Photo by Paul Harries

More on the band, plus audio/visuals, after the jump.

And the password is: orphans.

Until 10 p.m. tonight, login to Ticketmaster and enter the password to buy tickets early for the September 29 show at the Uptown Theater in KC with opener MGMT.

In other news, The Pitch has two tickets to Ozzfest in Dallas on August 9. So, if you're goin' down to Texas 'round then, hit us up for the tix by creating an account and logging in at our Pitch.com promotions page.

Thank you and good day.

Beck's late-summer tour behind new disc Modern Guilt touches down in Kansas City on September 29. The show is at the Uptown; no word yet on opening acts or prices. Tickets go on sale Monday, July 21.

The gig's on a Monday night, so plan to feel some remorse Tuesday morning. That's not the same as shame, of which the press release announcing the tour has none:

As always, Beck's creativity extends into the presentation of his music. The vinyl edition of Modern Guilt, which will be in stores July 22, includes download codes for high-fidelity (320 kbps) MP3s produced from a playback of the vinyl master. In other words, the first MP3 starts with a needle drop, and the ten MP3s will sound like a vinyl playback. Leave it to Beck to invent the first mobile turntable.

Yeah, yeah, leave it to Beck. That's what Steve Jobs says when you ask him what music to listen to on your iPhone 3G. Apple and AT&T are working on a way to make your calls sound like old vinyl albums, at least when Beck's on the line. Meanwhile, these nuns are still waiting for the musicians union to get them credited on Modern Guilt, a subject they like to sing about.

All-ages shows are scarce these days, which is why we feel it our duty to hype the Gravy Train show at the Record Bar this early evening, even if we don’t include all four exclamation marks and despite their barf-inducing website. Witch & Hare open at 6:30 p.m., and things get nasty at 7:00 when the Ssion plays their first local show in a hot minute. Watch out for sixteen year old girls in lamé bodysuits and grind with prudence.

By JORDAN HARPER

"My Lord," you might be saying, "Ween is still around?" And how, brother. Dismissed for two decades as a joke band, Ween has labored in sorta-obscurity while somehow simultaneously selling out shows and winning die-hard converts. How do they do it? Easy: Ween rules. In fact, the Pennsylvania group is much better than your favorite band. Need proof? Here are ten reasons right here.