I just read Carolyn Szczepanski's story about the ult...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/news/letters http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/news/it-s-not-clear-how-many-hispanic-troops-are-fighting-in-our-wars-but-they-re-dying-too Dear Mexican:

I've looked everywhere, including the Pew Hispanic Center, but I can't find a concise summary of the number of Hispanics who have served, died and been wounded in the current war. From what I can determine, Hispanics have been serving this country in war since the rev...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/news/it-s-not-clear-how-many-hispanic-troops-are-fighting-in-our-wars-but-they-re-dying-too http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/music/the-70-band-strong-north-vs-south-festival-brings-minnesota-and-texas-home-to-the-midwest The North vs. South Festival is one of our region's largest annual music events, yet it remains relatively unknown.

While Wakarusa gets all the headlines, skrilla and emaciated festivarians, North vs. South plugs away in relative obscurity, supported primarily by in-the-know music ...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/music/the-70-band-strong-north-vs-south-festival-brings-minnesota-and-texas-home-to-the-midwest http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/music/bruce-springsteen Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play the B-side "Bye Bye Johnny" at Kemper Arena in November 1984:

It's been a tough time for ...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/music/bruce-springsteen http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/music/the-download While we wait for the next round of '70s-era soundscapes and pep rally cheers, the Go Team is giving its fans an assortment of freebies. Hand over your e-mail address to thegoteam.co.uk for access to the group's hard to find debut EP, Get It Togethe...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/music/the-download http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/music/finch As the popular saying goes, there's no me in indefinite hiatus ... or something like that. After a nearly three-year break, the members of Finch — or at least a three-fifths majority — seem to have patched up their differences long enough to record a new EP and ta...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/music/finch http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/music/the-egyptian-lover Download Tactic's promo party featuring the Egyptian Lover, Cybotron, Radioclit, Kraftwerk and more, via Zshare

Traditionally, DJs have not bothered too much with wardrobe. Up there on the decks, presiding over the dance floor, a T...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/music/the-egyptian-lover http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/music/shemekia-copeland Aretha Franklin and Gloria Gaynor once used vulnerability to present an image of female strength that was unprecedented in its day, but Chicago blues singer Shemekia Copeland's modern woman pushes through on sass alone.

Unapologetic about her determination and her lust — and funny...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/music/shemekia-copeland http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/dining/you-don-t-have-to-be-a-hunter-to-bag-a-good-dinner-at-bass-pro-s-islamorada-fish-company To get to the Islamorada Fish Company, you pass a lot of nicely displayed sporting gear until you arrive at the rustic set of stairs near a splashing waterfall. Go down the stairs, past a scene of some large grizzly animal — a bear, I think — attacking smaller, defenseless crea...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/dining/you-don-t-have-to-be-a-hunter-to-bag-a-good-dinner-at-bass-pro-s-islamorada-fish-company http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/dining/an-ill-fated-but-historic-restaurant-home-goes-up-for-auction I've forgotten how many ill-fated restaurants have come and gone in the interesting two-story building at the corner of 28th Street and Southwest Boulevard.

The best-known was probably the El Patio Restaurant, operated by legendary restaurateur Jose "Don Pepe" Hernandez for ...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/dining/an-ill-fated-but-historic-restaurant-home-goes-up-for-auction http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/film/man-on-wire Part caper movie, part real-life superhero saga and entirely engrossing, James Marsh's documentary recounts in Rififi-like detail how a Parisian street performer and wire walker named Philippe Petit dodged cops, fought the elements and defied seemingly impossible logistics to pull off a fe...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/film/man-on-wire http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/film/hamlet-2 Hamlet 2 debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where Focus Features bought it for $10 million, one more overpriced snow bunny sure to melt the moment it hits the multiplex. It's the quintessential Sundancer: disdainful of middle-class Middle America, willfully "edgy" and made b...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/film/hamlet-2 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/film/the-last-mistress Catherine Breillat hitches her wagon to the hottest of European stars, Asia Argento, in a highly entertaining adaptation of Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly's mid-19th-century novel Une vieille maîtresse — once notorious for its treatment of a young libertine's ero...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/film/the-last-mistress http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/film/the-rocker Directed by Peter Cattaneo, The Rocker is more or less the Pete Best story — the tale of a poor bastard who gets shitcanned right on the brink record-bin immortality. The film opens in Cleveland, mid-1980s, where Rainn Wilson's Robert "Fish" Fishman is behind the kit for Vesuvius, a ...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/film/the-rocker http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/film/the-edge-of-heaven Fatih Akin's The Edge of Heaven wears current events on its sleeve, feeling out the state of German-Turkish relations as the former Ottomans clean house for membership in the European Union and the demographic earthquake of 70 million Muslims waits at Europe's door. Examining a Europe whos...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/film/the-edge-of-heaven http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/women-of-a-new-tribe Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/women-of-a-new-tribe http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/flee-the-seen Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/flee-the-seen http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/felt-aspirations "The Felt Show Sampler," a performance that his group is doing tonight and Wednesday at 8 at Jackpot Music Hall (943 Massachusetts in Lawrence, 785-832-1085), will soon hit the road. "We're trying to make it more of a compact show if we're going to to...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/felt-aspirations http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/rebel-humor Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/rebel-humor http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/long-live-the-laughs Comedy City, Kansas City's longest-running improv comedy show, set up shop in the Westport Flea Market Bar & Grill (817 Westport Road), the result was something rare: the happy union of two institutions that will not die. Hooters couldn't kill the Flea, home of serious trivia (on ...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/long-live-the-laughs http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/geechy-s-your-guy Star Search. Guy, who bears a slight resemblance to A Brief History of Time author and flippin' genius St...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/geechy-s-your-guy http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/music-sike-style Sike Style Designs and Sikenomics Clothing, the future ain't what it used to be. As the magentas, aquas and purples of his fall line of streetwear don't quite match up with the complex, mineral shades of most of 2008's autumn trends, it's safe to say t...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/music-sike-style http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/eco-fest Green Fest. "From vaccinations to tips to save money to green roofs to genetically modified food, it will be fun," Uptown owner Larry Sells says. More than 40 environmentally consc...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/eco-fest http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/political-view Thomas Frank. With the 2005 publication of What's the Matter With Kansas?, the highly praised author, newly minted Wa...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/political-view http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/dos-hombres Mondays-Fridays, 2008...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/dos-hombres http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/bo-lings Mondays-Fridays, 2008...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/bo-lings http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/river-market-brewery Mondays-Fridays, 2008...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/river-market-brewery http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/harry-s-country-club Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/harry-s-country-club http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/vivace Mondays-Fridays, 2008...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/vivace http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/calvin-klein-invents-rock-and-roll Back to the Future tonight at the Spencer Museum of Art (1301 Mississippi, i...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/calvin-klein-invents-rock-and-roll http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/dark-night-returns Let's dance to Joy Division/And celebrate the irony, but the Balanca's clientele already knows all about partying to a gloomy soundtrack. Recently, the weekly dance night Fallout, which covers the darkest shades of the...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/dark-night-returns http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/toddler-jams Hot Peas 'N' Butter paid its dues in New York City's tough children's music circuit before cutting three multilingual albums of Afro-Caribbean, jazz, rock and Latin-inflected music for kids, including Mo Hotta Mo Butta, its latest release. The group's fun, percuss...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/toddler-jams http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/kansas-wakarusabreakdown 28th-annual Kansas State Fiddling and Picking Championships, which began Saturday and conclude today in Lawrence. "This event emphasizes that this music is participatory," event...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/kansas-wakarusabreakdown http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/west-coast-swing-night-lessons-dancing Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/west-coast-swing-night-lessons-dancing http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/pickleball-intramurals Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/pickleball-intramurals http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/westport-walking-group Wheel of Fortune and Seinfeld reruns, join the Westport Walking Group for its weekly wandering around the neighborhood that was, in a year called "yesteryear," the starting point for Western pioneers. The gr...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/westport-walking-group http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/mojito-mondays-at-cafe-trio and it's friggin' 90 degrees outside. What are you, Job? The Biblical Job, we mean, not Gob Bluth. Because how much can a single person possibly be expected to endure? Cafe Trio can help smooth the temporal transition between Monday and Tuesday with icy-...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/mojito-mondays-at-cafe-trio http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/lightning-swords-of-death Mon., Aug. 25, 2008...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/lightning-swords-of-death http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/fairways-4-fuzz-benefit-golf-tournament Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/fairways-4-fuzz-benefit-golf-tournament http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/young-at-art-cocktail-party-and-silent-auction Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/young-at-art-cocktail-party-and-silent-auction http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/silvia-koffler Sun., Aug. 24, 2 p.m., 2008...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/silvia-koffler http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/the-american-cancer-society-s-cattle-baron-s-ball-2008 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/the-american-cancer-society-s-cattle-baron-s-ball-2008 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/from-busk-till-dawn Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/from-busk-till-dawn http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/cheap-game Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/cheap-game http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/have-hometown-pride fútbol? Uh, wait, hold on a sec — are you sure Hank done it that way? Anyway, the Kansas City Wizards ...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/have-hometown-pride http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/kathy-griffin Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/calendar/kathy-griffin http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/culture/moral-ambiguity There's a trick with "moral clarity" — by which I mean not some hard-worn sense of justice but that defiant, reductive, good-and-evil, cops-and-robbers, cowboys-and-Indians, norms-and-elitists strain of American know-nothingism. It's that moral clarity too often makes enemies out of more th...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/culture/moral-ambiguity http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/culture/the-nelson-takes-a-mystical-trip-through-human-nature-recent-european-landscape-photography Leave it to Northern Europeans, with their deeply satisfying landscape tradition, to create luminous photographs of the land. Of the 10 photographers in the Nelson's Human Nature: Recent European Landscape Photography, the Belgians, Dutch and Germans provide the most emotive and eve...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/culture/the-nelson-takes-a-mystical-trip-through-human-nature-recent-european-landscape-photography http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/culture/stage-caps The Pajama Game Perhaps the lightest, friskiest and most underrated classic of the Broadway musical's golden age, Adler and Ross' workers-versus-management comedy follows labor troubles from the factory floor to the union hall to -— in its allusive '50s way -— the...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/culture/stage-caps http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/culture/art-caps Siah Armajani: Dialogue With Democracy One of this nation's most important public-art figures, Siah Armajani was born in Iran in 1939 but is now a naturalized U.S. citizen. In commissioned work all over the country, he typically suggests the ideals of a society that encourage...]]> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.pitch.com/2008-08-21/culture/art-caps