The Final Border War

There are other things going on this weekend, such as Final Friday and good music (please read our interview with Katlyn Conroy here ), but let's face it: the event of the weekend is the final Border War between KU and Missouri before those cowards secede from the conference. Let's check in with the talkbackers at KU Sports and see how the fans feel about tomorrow's climactic showdown.


drgnslayr says:

"We are all aware of the spirits in the Phog, who hold the best seats in the rafters of AFH. Not all of the spirits are former basketball greats. So when you attend the game tomorrow listen astutely for the spirit voices before the fan cheers take over:

General Thomas Ewing, Jr.: "I've been told the last of Quantrill's Raiders have been pinned into the field house near Mount Oread... around 15 men and their leader who is called 'Hate.' I give you the authority to go take care of this."

Charles "Doc" Jennison: "I've got a match... consider it done!"

KU 84

MU 52"

Missouricat, crashing the party, says:

"Should be a good game. Beings Missouri beat KU in football and one basketball game this year it just could be KU's turn to win one...Looks like this will be the last time KU trys to win one from MU, unless Self changes his ways as we are headed to the SEC which will be a great move for MU. More money and better talent there then in the big 12."


And Chalked says to Missouricat:

"Judging from your thoughtful insight and precise writing style..."Beings Missouri beat KU..." I'd guess you were valedictorian at Missouri. Congrats on your 6th grade education Jethro."

As for us, we're about to start drinking now. Rock Chalk! (hold the extra "woo")

Soviet Hipsters on Film and Portland Hipsters in Literature

Do you ever find yourself wondering what Russian hipsters were like in the 50s? Luckily, there's a new film from Valeriy Todorovskiy that illuminates the world of Moscow hipsters ("stilyagi") who "listen to jazz, style their hair in pompadours or bouffants, wear bright clothing, and (here’s the rub) risk arrest for “kowtowing to Western ideology.” (AV-Club). Also, it's apparently full of dance numbers that "are alive with the joy of acting out, extending into scenes in which characters leap subway turnstiles or have enthusiastic sex in the communal apartment room they’re sharing with family members who try to ignore them." (AV Club).

We all know that contemporary American hipsters don't have "enthusiastic sex," but maybe we can learn some things from the Soviet past.

Watch the Youtube trailer here (lack of English subtitles makes it even more awesome):

The poster is also pretty terrific:





















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Hipster culture certainly makes for amusing blog fodder and sketch comedy, but can such a shallow world make for substantive literary fiction? James Bernard Frost's A Very Minor Prophet "is the story of how Barth Flynn, a barista swimming upstream against purposelessness in Portland, Oregon, becomes the faithful scribe of Joseph Patrick Booker. Booker is a dwarf preacher who serves Voodoo donuts, Stumptown coffee, and, while his congregation throws PBR cans at him, rants about George W. Bush during the height of the 2004 presidential election." (Hawthorne Books).

A PBR-swilling congregation? We're sold, and we hear that Larryville's intrepid band of local readers known as the PBR Book Club are looking forward to reading this as their April selection, complete with a Skype chat with the author (Chip: "If I don't enjoy the book, do I have to pretend I did?"). Go here to order your advance copy from Hawthorne Books at a 30% discount and check in with the PBR Book Club blog for further details as this important literary event progresses.

The LC's New Interview Series Begins with Katlyn Conroy

Readers, we're happy to offer up a new interview series here at the LC in which we ask movers and shakers in the art and music scene a few questions about what they do. Lest you think we're getting too professional, we'll do our best to make at least a few of those questions snarky and some of them about boners, but mainly this is just a forum for people that we dig to trumpet their work to whoever might be listening (mainly people who reach our blog by Googling things such as "team sex naked" and "taylor swift crotch"). If you have something going on and want to talk about it, leave a response or send us a tweet @larryvillelife and we'll determine if you're hip enough!

First in the series is Katlyn Conroy. You likely know her from Cowboy Indian Bear (Chip: "I still don't know if she's the Indian or the Bear.") but she's also got a new project called La Guerre. You can catch La Guerre opening up at the Bottleneck on Friday for Jon Harrison and the Harrisonics and the Dead Girls, and a video for the song "My Idea" is slated to appear soon. Thanks to Katlyn for being our inaugural interview subject!

Chip: First off, is it true that La Guerre is French for "the boner?

Katlyn: Actually, Chip, you're thinking of the ancient French-Canadian translation. In modern French, La Guerre means "The War."

Richard: Tell us about the La Guerre sound. Who are your influences? And can you incorporate one of those "it sounds like ________ meets _________" comparisons that music criticism so often relies on?

Katlyn: La Guerre began as an attempt to make my little bittersweet, minimalist love songs as instrumentally dynamic as possible. Think Emily Haines meets Lykke Li. As far as influences go, I love the vocal stylings of St. Vincent, as well as the strength behind her sound. I'm typically more akin to male artists, so I'm always very moved by strong female artists that carry more depth than i think they would.

Richard: What's coming up for La Guerre in 2012 as far as shows and recording?

Katlyn: We just had our first show in December, so we're taking it slowly when booking for 2012. The main focus is getting the album finished and getting songs released! We are trying to play once every few months in Lawrence and KC til that goal is met. We're very excited to play the Middle of the Map Fest in April!

Richard: Why should scenesters shell out their not-so-hard-earned dollars for La Guerre on Friday instead of the buzzy Zola Jesus show down at the Granada?

Katlyn: Zola Jesus is awesome. But how sweet would it have been to see her when she was first starting out? Come see La Guerre and witness the birth of some great music. (For the record, there won't literally be a live birth involved..)

Chip: What local bands or singers get you hot and bothered these days?

Katlyn: No one gets me hot and bothered like Jordan Geiger, but that's why he's involved in this project! He's been helping with the record and will be playing on it as well!

And Katlyn sent us this cool pic (which freaks us out a little):

Mardi Gras in Larryville / This Week in Local Art: The Urbanologist, Controversial Chicken Art, and Final Fridays

Laissez les bons temps rouler, readers! It's Fat Tuesday and, if you're anything like us, you've been downtown all afternoon following around Mike West and his costumed Mardi Gras revelers. Here's a shot from soon after the parade's arrival at Free State. As we say in Kansas, it ain't Mardi Gras till Katie Euliss smacks you on the ass with a tambourine.














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But in other news, it's an artsy week in Larryville. Public art scholar The Urbanologist spent the weekend rambling around our fair town, taking pics (such as Wayne Propst's babydollhead in the tree outside the Pig), and offering his thoughts on public art both local and national last night at the Library. In attendance: Amber Hansen, who is poised to take the Larryville art world by storm next month with her already controversial project called The Story of Chickens: A Revolution in which we'll all get to know some chickens at various locations for a month and then kill and eat them at the Percolator. We're fucking hyped! (Amber, if you read this, we'd love to shoot you a few email interview questions).

And of course another Final Friday is on the horizon on the 24th. Two likely hotspots: (1) Wonder Fair (their exhibition "Chop Chop" will feature former Wonder Fair-ian Lie Piechocki’s "imaginary interiors...filled with beach balls, kitsch dolphin posters, and stray fluorescent marks") and (2) The Pig (their exhibition is called "Trash Lion," which we hope is a bunch of lions made out of garbage).

Visit the Final Fridays Wordpress site for a full slate of events.

Sunday Scenester Pick: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at Granada / Local Missed Connection of the Week

If you're a certain kind of Pavement-worshipping scenester (and we trust that you are), you certainly don't need us to remind you that Stephen Malkmus is in town tonight. Let's check in with Pitchfork to see if his newest album, last year's Mirror Traffic, is suitably hip.

It is: 7.7.

Pitchfork writes , "Whether he likes it or not, Malkmus is the indie-rock version of a Dylan or Simon or U2, artists who will forever be blurbed as making "their best album since ____." Competing with his younger self is definitely not a priority for Malkmus, who went through Pavement's reunion tour like he was punching a clock. Any resemblance to earlier days is likely unintentional, but for the aging hipsters of the world, even an accidental flashback is a good contact high."

Richard: "This is totally his best album since Pig Lib."

Chip: "Malkmus is no Bono."






















But what if you prefer your Sunday evening music with a little less irony and a lot more use of "planetary gongs?" Then head to the Eastside for a "sound bath!" Delaware Commons is hosting "Neptune's Homecoming" at 7:30:

"Paul Rudy and Heidi Svoboda present Neptune's Homecoming, a sound bath of Earth and Sky. Heidi plays the planetary gongs. The gongs are gorgeous in visual, sound and energy moving capabilities. Paul uses drums, toys, voice, percussion and lots of ethnic rattles, etc. They also play with the sounds of nature that Paul has composed to go with the 8 elements of the I-Ching: Thunder, Wind, Fire, Earth, Lake, Heaven, Water and Mountain." (L.com).

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It's been awhile since we spotted a good local Missed Connection on Craigslist, but this m4w post appeals to our romantic sides:

"We were both in the dumpster looking for a discarded treasure and found each other. You are tall and pretty but I was distracted by the tall and pretty part and I forgot to get your number. Did you find any good music while diving? I hope so - cause I was thinking it would be nice to drink a beer or two and dance to some slow tunes with just you."

We're guessing that more than a few Larryville relationships have begun in dumpsters, and we wish this couple the best.

This Week in Local News: Corrupt Cops, Compton's Hotel, and Top City Protests

Let's dispense with the usual scenester guide today (just go to the Replay) and see what's in the news in Larryville (and its environs).

Just when you thought the KU ticket scandal had gone away, along comes the news that two of Larryville's finest were fixing tickets in exchange for basketball tickets. Best LJ-World talkback line so far: "Rock Chalk Jay Cop!"

Last night the Historic Resources Commission denied the newest set of revised plans for Compton's 9th and NH hotel. Compton has vowed to seek an appeal from the City Fathers within the next few weeks, who will almost certainly grant him free reign to do whatever he likes, as per usual. Best talkback line so far is from GUMnNUTS: "Will the sixth floor restaurant be Mexican or pizza?"

And in Topeka, citizens rallied this week against policies of Gov. Brownback and Sec. of State Kris Kobach. The best LJ-World talkback rant so far is from tuschkahouma, which contains a Ricky Bobby joke, a treatise on Native American languages, and a reference to Eggo waffles:

"The ljworld fibbed on the crowd size. Go figure. It was announced as 800 people by the announcer there... It's hilarious that a backwards state like Alabama (Halbamo in my Choctaw language) is already looking for exemptions to that nonsense law because ricky bobby and carrie sue won't put down their anti illegals sign and go do field work and the people enforcing Juan Crow laws like the Jim Crow laws of the past are being embarrassed when foreign car companies Mercedes Benz and Hyundai have their executives pulled over for routine
traffic offenses and didn't have papers with them a couple of months ago. My tribe is above Mobile, Alabama. English and Spanish are immigrant languages. Tuscaloosa means Black Warrior in our language. Wewoka, Wetumpka, and Tuskegee are Creek words and towns in Alabama. I hope these gop politicians starting eating eggo waffles for all the egg on their faces."

Yes, there were V For Vendetta masks on the scene (photo via Topeka Capital Journal ):

Nerd Nite Review: Silent Film Magic, Mardi Gras Phalluses, and Adam Lott's Cat

First off, kudos to Pachamama's and the Nerd Nite gang for providing a little extra seating to accommodate all the nerds who wanted to witness last night's proceedings (and for offering us a prime spot at the "press table": oh, we felt very special indeed!).
















Now let's review the three presentations.

With The Artist and Hugo (two loving tributes to the silent-film era) leading the Oscar-nominations this year, Justin Runge's survey of silent films was an especially timely presentation. Runge served up a nice sampling of clips ranging from two kitties boxing each other (which remains the equal of anything you've watched on Youtube this morning) to "Fred Ott's Sneeze" (seven seconds of pure sneezing action: see it here!) to Edison's "May-Irwin" Kiss (Chip: "Still surprisingly erotic": see it here ).

And note that two major opportunities to witness silent films are coming soon: Murnau's Sunrise with live orchestral accompaniment at the Arts Center on Thurs. Feb. 23 (click pic in sidebar) and the Topeka Silent Film Festival beginning the next day. "Talkies" are for suckers!

Next up was Alison Heryer's look at Mardi Gras costumes and traditions (also timely, with Fat Tuesday just around the corner). Once we got over our disappointment at the complete lack of titties in this presentation, it was a quite enlightening look at such ideas as the lingering "anthropomorphic tradition" of Mardi Gras attire as well as groups such as the Mardi Gras "Indians" that fascinate us so much on HBO's Treme. Heryer also regaled us with useful tips on dressing for Mardi Gras, such as "Sexy is different from skanky." Chip disagreed. This lecture also contained the most uses of the word "phallus" of any Nerd Nite presentation so far.

By then, we were drunk, and so (we suspect) was final presenter Adam Lott, who nonetheless maintained perfect delivery and scored big laughs with what Nick Ray later termed Nerd Nite's "first ever analog presentation" about the various incarnations of the musical Cabaret, which also contained hand-drawn pictures of Lott's kitty, Lott singing snippets of "Pineapple Song" ("a love song that's also a fart song"), and important trivia ("Wolverine was in Oklahoma, ya'll!").


















See you at the next Nerd Nite in March, which is rumored to include a special (nerdy) sports-themed presentation to coincide with March Madness. We're hoping for local Larryville baseball-stats legend Bill James or perhaps Sherron C.llins talking about his elevator/boner fetish.