Weekend Picks: Comedy, Hip-Hop, More Buskers, Kawehi, and Pie

With KU back in session, expect some zingers about new students at tonight's Harpoon Presents.  We recommend some weed-related bro jokes about this week's fire at Sigma Chi. The FB event page is here.







MORE buskers in downtown LFK? Say it ain't so.  But it's so. KC's Moondrop Circus performs outside the Granada all evening as part of Final Friday. 




The Replay turns into a full-on dance party not just on the patio but inside as well on Saturday.  Is this like ASSJAMZ but for scenesters?  The FB event page is here.





Interweb sensation Kawehi visits the Bottleneck on Saturday for her first official "hometown" show (though  she played on the street for free a few weeks back).  It costs $10-ish bucks, but she seems nice and some people seem quite excited about it!  The FB event page is here.




Finally, holy shit, the Ladybird Diner opens Friday.  You can bet we stopped by the "soft opening" last night to eat a slice of coconut cream pie before the crowds land this weekend.  We predict lines around the block for a week or two, but who knows?   Pro tip: make sure to read the menu carefully and look for the WKRP in Cincinnati reference.  Here's the beautiful black and white photo from Aaron Paden via their FB page.
It's like hanging out inside the movie The Last Picture Show...but happier!

Final Friday Picks: Art Emengency; Music Art; and Art for the Children!

Believe it or not, Final Fridays are still a thing.  Let's take a look at a few art options if you're spending a lazy Labor Day weekend in LFK.

Our weird friends out at ELFK's Art Emergency have a cool event and also win the Final Friday poster of the week award.  Check out the FB event page here.




Love Garden serves up art about music (and also some music) at Fally's "I Heart Local Music" photography exhibit.  FB event page here.




For something different, how about the "Kids-A-Bunga" show at Henry's, a show created and curated by kids.

Chip: "I'm hoping this will finally be an unpretentious art show, yet I suspect the child-artists of LFK will be there drinking sangria and explaining how their stick figures and paint splotches symbolize the fragility of human nature in an incomprehensible world."

The FB event page is here.

Tuesday Night Picks: The Wizard of Speed and Time at Trash Nite and Comedy at Johnny's Tavern

It's a quiet Tuesday in LFK. What should we do while sitting around waiting (impatiently) on Ladybird Diner to open?

Trash Nite at the Bottleneck could be an option. The FB event page description certainly sounds intriguing:

"TRASH NITE presents the comedy-fantasy cult classic THE WIZARD OF SPEED AND TIME in an exclusive, feature-length, never-before seen EXTENDED CUT, never released in theaters, home video or the internet!"

How have we never seen this before. Check out the Wiki page here.

  

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And the LFK comedy boom continues with an event at...Johnny's Tavern in NoLaw?  This one costs $10 so it damn well better be funny!  There is a FB event page here and hopefully more than 7 people are attending.

LFK Gets a Speakeasy: John Brown Underground

Readers, if you're like us you've been saying for a long-time that LFK needs a speakeasy.  Lucky for us, the John Brown Underground opened up on Friday with no fanfare, no sign, and no advertising, just like a good speakeasy should.  From the comfort of this underground lair, we had no idea that a Busker Festival was raging just above our heads.  So stop by (if you can find the place) and order a $9 Pimms Cup and a $6 "sack o' nuts" and a $2.50 Hamms (their four-beer menu is NOT going to please craft-beer lovers).  The front area is smallish, with several spacious booths and a few comfy chairs.  The back area features a mysterious "poker room" (which doesn't seem to allow illegal poker playing, damn it) and a "family room," both of which must be reserved, though opening-weekend visitors were allowed to take a look.

Here's the cool John Brown mural on the wall via @steve_dahlberg.





But where IS this place, you might be asking?  We can give you a two word hint:  Game Guy.

Supposedly they open every night at 5:00.

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Weekend Picks: Comedy, Comedy Freakouts, Pickers and Fiddlers, Hot Rods, Shy Boys, Major Games, and Sleepy Kitty

If you're somehow able to navigate 100 degree temps, new student drivers, #LFKGridlock, and the Busker Fest, there are plenty of things to check out this weekend.  Here are some worthy ones.

Thursday = Replay comedy.  After last week's out-of-town showcase, tonight looks to be mostly about the local yokels.  But they're funny too.  Hopefully no buskers will attempt to perform during the open mic portion. The FB event page is here.

 



Once you're nice and stoned on Friday night, Frank's is the best place to hear drug jokes.  Comedy Freakout is back in session.  In addition to the comedy, Narkalark is the house band, providing some music to help your freakout experience.  Here's some info:
 
"It may not be a "Back to School" Spectacular, but we're Back to bringing you some of the most whiz-bang visiting headliners, psychedelic sounds, and hacky Smothers-Brothers-style jokes about hippie/drug culture this side of the Kansas River (North) and train tracks (the wrong side)."

The FB event page is here.






We're scared of buskers, but we're quite fond of the old-fashioned charm of the annual picking and fiddling contest in South Park.  And this year there's a pre-party at the Replay for the Friday matinee.  Come down and stomp along.




It's gonna be hot for the Hot Rod Hullabaloo on Saturday in South Park.  But greasers thrive in the heat.  Warning: there will be at least one busker at this event (Bekah Smith, comedy juggler).





And there are several great scenester rock shows this weekend, starting with the OILS 7' release party at Replay with Drakkar Sauna and This is My Condition on Friday.  The FB event page is here.  

Check out BARRRR's cool poster:






And Mr. Berwanger is back from tour and ready to rock the Bottleneck with headliner Major Games on Saturday.  Luckily, we stumbled across this gig from one of the bands' FB pages,  because we sure as shit wouldn't learn about it via the Bottleneck's mostly non-functional Twitter account now that our good pal Rob moved on.




And Shy Boys have a Replay release party on Saturday with our friends Rev Gusto and the excellent Sleepy Kitty from St. Louis.  The FB event page is here.  And you can read our fun 2013 interview with Sleepy Kitty here:  "Our band name inspires people to show us pictures of their cats." 

Here's an odd poster:

Question of the Day / Busker of the Day / Recess Records' 25th Anniversary Tour at Replay

With so much sad news in the world, LFK is in dire need of...pie.  But when exactly will the Ladybird Diner take flight (if you catch our wordplay)?  This remains uncertain.

One of Chip's most-awaited dishes (aside from all the ones with gravy on top) is this mac-and-cheese omelet with sausage they recently teased us with on Facebook:




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Only two more days till the Busker Fest and our busker of the day is Bobby Maverick, escape artist.   Read his profile here.  But could he escape from the terror of #LFKgridlock road construction?  No fucking way.




Here's a handy map of #LFKgridlock via the rascals on Twitter:





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Are you in need of three bands for $3 bucks on a Wednesday.  The Recess Records "Cavalcade of Clowns" 25th anniversary tour rolls through LFK tonight with three bands from the label. Find details here.  The best preview of the show we've read is from KC's You've Got a Killer Scene:

"This tour offers a showcase of three Recess Records bands: Lenguas Largas, The Treasure Fleet, and White Night. All three bands play a 60s psychedelic-inspired, garage rock that has resurfaced as of late. Lenguas Largas, from Tuscon, play desert influenced jams that would make a great soundtrack to an acid trip."

Beer of the Week: Boulevard's Hibiscus Gose / Handsome Devils of the Week: Christian Lee Hutson and Danny Pound at the Replay / Buskers of the Week: The Silly People

Did Free State's recent Burroughs' beer leave you hankering for another sour beer?  It seems unlikely.  But here's hoping Boulevard's adorable new pink sour beer called Hibiscus Gose will be more pleasing to our palates (which are stunted from too much PBR).  It's described as both "sour and salty," which seems promising, and it hits shelves in KC today.  Somebody bring us a swig, why don't you?





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Rolling in from Nashville for the second time this summer, handsome devil and all-around sharp dresser  Christian Lee Hutson drops by the Replay on Thursday night.  Maybe he liked the PBR so much he had to return?  Find some tunes and a lot of info here via our friends at The Temp Agency, including this absolutely stellar description: "...think a drunk and sedentary George Jones being channeled through a drunk and animated Conor Oberst."  





Opening up the show (or maybe headlining, it's often hard to tell!) is something to lure the locals called the "Danny Pound/Doug McKinney Musical Exploration."  The FB event page is here along with this troubling photo.





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With Busker Fest fast approaching, we feel it's our duty to highlight some of the buskers that townies will want to make sure to avoid.  Today's choice: The Silly People:  "Phil LeConte and Colin Franks are two guys from Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario who have a flair for ‘silliness’".

Hide or Rejoice: The Buskers Are Coming!

Loved by families and tourists and reviled by many locals, the Lawrence Busker Fest returns to downtown this coming weekend with numerous all-new acts including "Checkerboard Guy," whose "award-winning comedic variety show has been compared to Steve Martin, Pee Wee Herman and even a live action version of The Simpsons."  (blurb from the Busker Fest website).

You can apply to be part of the festival here but Chip's act in which he makes "boner balloon art" was (once again) rejected.

Will you attend, or will you run for cover?

Weekend Picks: The Sweet Boys; Dance Parties; ET; and Folk-Punk

In addition to some challenging and ambitious local theatre and Linklater's masterpiece Boyhood (finally) opening at Liberty Hall, what else is on the cultural horizon this weekend?

Well, it's Thursday, and the Harpoon Presents gang insists that tonight's "Good Time" is their highest-profile yet, with an entire showcase of touring out-of-towners including Chicago's Sweet Boys.  The news has been so troubling this week that we kind of hope all these jokers steer clear of Ferguson, MO commentary and Robin Williams references and just offer some nice clean observations about their dicks.  The FB event page is here. The Replay event is getting so cool that one of these days we half-expect to look at the line-up and see...well...Kyle Kinane or something!  Also, tonight's event is so important it even has its own tour poster in addition to the usual Harpoon PBR banner.



 







We're so hip that we've loved Middle Twin since...they were called Brain Food! They're touring all over this summer, including a September stop at one of our old haunts: the White Water Tavern in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Man, we wish we could be at that gig!  In the meantime, you can catch them right here at the Granada on Friday, opening up for Foxy Shazam.  Prepare to dance.







Solo acts are a tough sell at the Replay, and people sometimes talk louder than the performers. Brett Newski brings his "American Folk Armaggedon" tour to town for the Replay patio show on Friday.  Maybe his folk-punk will wake up the lazy Friday evening boozers.  His official website is here.









Did you all know the Jackpot is still a functional venue that sometimes has bands that you recognize? It's easy to forget. But there's a good show on Saturday featuring local favorites La Guerre, OILS, and Narkalark AND it's a benefit for GaDuGi Safe Center.  The FB event page is here.  
And did you catch the recent Paste Magazine piece called "Eight Kansas Bands You Should Know?" One of them is Narkalark! 




But what if you're looking for some good clean innocent fun for the whole family?  Head to the KU Natural History Museum on Saturday for an open house at 7:30 and an outdoor screening of ET on an inflatable screen around dusk.   Details here.

Theatre Showcase: Card Table Serves Up "a Post-apocalyptic Sacrilegious Tragic Comedy with Basketball."

Yes, we mentioned this weekend's big theatrical event yesterday, but it's getting a full showcase today before it premieres Friday and Saturday at 8:00 at the Lawrence Arts Center.

We all know that LFK's Card Table Theatre can deliver on the funny business, but it's exciting to see them venture into headier, uncharted waters with more ambitious projects such as this weekend's "Some Things You Need To Know Before the World Ends (A Final Evening With the Illuminati)."  

Aside from being  "a post-apocalyptic sacrilegious tragic comedy with basketball," what's this crazy thing about. Let's turn to the official press release for a quick summary:

"The erratic Reverend Eddie and his helpful, if alarming, manservant, Brother Lawrence, prepare for their most monumental and awe-inspiring sermon to-date. Along the way, Reverend Eddie battles power failures,nerve gas, and his growing fear of the all powerful Illuminati – exacerbated  by Eddie's visions of Saint Paul, a holy choir, and the Grim Reaper. Discover the true meaning of existence and check out Death's slammin’ hook shot..."

Director Jeremy Auman sent us a photo from a recent rehearsal and this blurb: "[The show is] more gritty and emotional than what people maybe are used to seeing from us and it is technically amazing."

Sold. 

The FB event page is here

 

 

Stuff We Like This Week: Replay Twitter Account; Pies; Plays; Movies

Readers,  the national and international news is not good. 

But what's good here at home?

Well, we're running the fucking @replaylounge Twitter account now, despite the fact that we don't work there and rarely stay up late enough to see anything besides the matinees.  There's not much glory in this "job," but it allows us to make even more jokes about PBR than we already make at our primary account, plus you'll occasionally be getting useful links and band info to boot. If you're following the Replay now, you should be getting pretty hyped about tonight's Hooray For Earth show.  Pitchfork says a bunch of nice things about their new album and then stabs them in the back with a not-so-stellar 6.4 rating:

"Racy is big, it’s bold, and positions its creators closer to "pop'..." (full review here).

Also on the bill is Grooms and  LFK's greatest shoegazers: our friends from Sona.

Racy album cover:




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The Ladybird Diner is such a tease with her opening date.  But it's close. It's so close that LFK can almost taste the pie.  Judging from the popularity of the Diner's FB page, however, you're gonna have to fight for a seat and a slice.  A terrific new sign appeared outside yesterday:




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Those little scamps at Card Table Theatre are taking a break from their usual hijinks to deliver something really ambitious here in LFK this weekend.  We're planning a larger preview later this week but for now here is a FB event page and a teaser. 



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And Linklater's instant-classic Boyhood finally arrives at Liberty Hall this weekend. 

Monday Night Pick: Two Screenings of This is Spinal Tap at Liberty Hall

This is Spinal Tap isn't directed by Christopher Guest, but our friends at Liberty Hall were wise enough to realize that you can't very well have a "Guestsploitation" series without it.  So tonight brings two opportunities to see one of the greatest comedies of all time on the big-screen.  7:30 and 9:45.  Don't fuck this up just because it's a Monday night, LFK.  Details here.

Below is an appropriate photo since this week is also Shark Week.

"The review for "Shark Sandwich" was merely a two word review which simply read "Shit Sandwich".

 

Weekend Picks: Comedy; Block Parties; T-Gregs; ConfabuLarryum; Your Friend; and More

It's Thursday, so let's see who's being funny at the "Good Time" comedy event at the Replay.   Oh shit!  It's Rob Schulte's birthday showcase!  Will he get a public spanking while everyone makes 50 Shades of Grey jokes?  The FB event page is here.






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The Sandbar has expanded their annual block party to two nights this year.  That makes an extra night for townies to complain that they can't get to the Taproom very easily!   Remember last year when Cowboy Indian Bear opened for The Fabulous Thunderbirds? That was weird. This year it's back to the usual hijinks, with party bands like Sellout (in the Friday night slot).   The FB event page is here.  Check out this photo from last year which surely set a record for the most people who have ever been near a Sandbar Subs shop at one time!





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Meanwhile, Your Friend has returned triumphant from recent tours and is headlining the Granada along with the increasingly-awesome Westerners.  Also: Paper Buffalo and Twinsmith.




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And don't forget ConfabuLarryum on Saturday morning and afternoon.  We wrote a preview earlier in the week.

 



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Tyler Gregory hasn't been as ubiquitous as usual lately, but you'll find him on Saturday at the Bottleneck opening for the Tallbot Brothers.

We can't find a flyer for the show but here's a picture of T-gregs inspecting a puppy courtesy of our friends at I Heart Local Music. Click the link for a fun story about local musicians and their dogs.


 

Wednesday Pick: Something and the Whatevers' "Stuck in Lawrence" Tour

Readers, are you stuck in Lawrence this summer because you're low on cash? Or maybe because the #LFKgridlock of road construction has literally kept you from getting to the fucking Interstate?  Well, our pals in Something and the Whatevers have got you covered.  Their "Stuck in Lawrence" tour stops by the Taproom tonight. If you miss it, don't worry.  The tour continues across the river in NoLaw next month. 

The FB event page for tonight's show is here.