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WHERE YOU WANT TO BE IN AUGUST
August 14
GO: Sunday, August 14. 8 pm. Liberty Hall in Lawrence.
While out on tour, Melissa Etheridge often finds herself heartbroken about the unrest she sees across the country. “I feel for my country, my people,” Etheridge says. The Leavenworth-bred Etheridge’s people are, specifically, Kansans—she’s always thought of her home state as “neutral.”
She remembers her high school as an accepting place, where people were judged on their character more than their ethnicity or political stance. Etheridge says it’s no coincidence that Kansas has been involved in other landmark cases, like Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which ended racial segregation in public schools. The country’s eyes are again on Kansas in the runup to the August 2 election, which, in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, will determine whether abortion will remain legal in the state. “I think we’re very special people,” Etheridge says. “I think a lot of good can come out of Kansas, so I’m always hopeful.” There are still incredibly good people [in Kansas] who really believe in the live and let live.”
Etheridge has also found herself examining her own past in her 2021 album, One Way Out. With more time during the pandemic, she began revisiting old songs that missed the cut on previous albums. “The songs are full of that twenties and thirties angst of mine and that sort of hunger that I don’t indulge in so much anymore,” Etheridge says. —MOLLY HIGGINS
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW AT KANSASCITYMAG.COM
August
WHAT YOU WANT TO DO THIS MONTH
Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo
August 2, 8 pm
Rock icon Pat Benatar and her husband of forty years Neil Giraldo are on tour playing old favorites like “We Belong,” “Love Is a Battlefield” and “Heartbreaker.” After over thirty-five years together, the duo still has chemistry. Tuesday, August 2, 8 pm. Uptown Theater.
Breakaway Musical Festival
August 5-6, 4 pm
This festival began in Ohio in 2013 and has since exploded as a touring event throughout the Midwest for electronic-music lovers who don’t want to travel far for a weekend-long festival. The two-day rave comes nearby to Azura Amphitheater, with a rotating cast of EDM acts, along with local food trucks and vendors, silent disco and more. Friday, August 5, and Saturday August 6, 4 pm. Azura Amphitheater.
Tivoli Under the Stars
August 5
In its second season, Tivoli Under the Stars is still offering something for everyone. Every Friday night continuing into the fall, you can cozy up and catch a movie on the Nelson-Atkins lawn. Each ticket purchase includes dedicated lawn space to seat up to four people, movie tickets, museum admission and garage parking. The first two in August are Guardians of the Galaxy on August 5 and Rear Window on August 12. Friday, August 5, 12, 19 and 26. Screenings start 10-15 minutes after sunset. Nelson-Atkins.
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Courtney Barnett
August 8, 7 pm
Australian indie rocker Courtney Barnett is arguably the last, best hope for the slacker strain of jangly garage rock. This summer, she’s Lollapaloozing with her own touring manifest, dubbed “Here and There,” which features a rotating cast of like-minded acts including Overland Park’s own Waxahatchee and mid-pandemic breakout Wet Leg. KC’s date at the Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland features Lucy Dacus and Quinn Christopherson. Monday, August 8. 7–9 pm. Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland.
KC VITAs Summer Series 2022
August 5 & 7
Contemporary classical music isn’t an oxymoron—as evidenced by the more than four hundred new works submitted for consideration by the Kansas City Vibrating Internal Thyroarytenoids, or KC VITAs. The group of professional singers exists to promote brand new choral and chamber music, and this show will feature four premiere performances. Friday, August 5 and Sunday, August 7. St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, KCMO. $15 in advance, $20 at the door. kcvitas.org
Innovation Festival
August 6, 11 am
In an unexpected combination, BioKansas presents an event that turns your classic summer festival of drinks and music into a networking opportunity that will blow agricultural scientists away. With music from the Black Pumas, The Greeting Committee and The Regrettes, the festival also celebrates the science of the fermentation industry, with beers brewed from all over the Midwest. The Innovation Festival doesn’t just stop at the party: There will be two networking events at which innovators, scientists and manufacturers can mingle. Saturday, August 6. 11 am. Crown Center Square, KCMO.
Strawberry Swing Indie Craft Fair
August 6, 9 am
Described as Kansas City’s “original maker’s market” and established in 2011, The Strawberry Swing brings the handmade moment to life—and to Powell Gardens. This indie craft fair is
KC pop-up tradition at its finest, featuring our local artisans and vendors. Come for the quality goods, stay for the quality plants. Saturday, August 6, 9 am–7 pm. Powell Gardens.
Imagine Dragons
August 9, 6:30 pm
Vegas-based pop-rock band Imagine Dragons has been taking over the radio, putting out annoyingly catchy songs throughout the past decade. They are now on the road for their Mercury World Tour, promoting Act 2, the follow-up of their album released last year, with 2010’s white rapper one-hit-wonder Macklemore opening. Tuesday, August 9, 6:30 pm. T-Mobile Center.
KC Sunflower Fest
August 12, 4 pm
With Kansas being the Sunflower State, there’s no better way to break in the season’s change from summer to fall than KC Wine Co’s Sunflower Fest. This is the perfect event for growing families, with activities spanning from “giant” yard games to a ninja course to human foosball. There will also be music, food trucks and, of course, unlimited opportunities for the classic sunflower pictures. Friday, August 12, 4–9 pm. KC Pumpkin Patch.
The Lumineers
August 13, 7 pm
The Denver-based band returns to KC for their rescheduled show with fellow folksy crooners Gregory Alan Isakov and Daniel Rodriguez. Super popular throughout the 2010’s, you can still hear them play at least once an hour on 96.5 not-the-buzz. Saturday, August 13, 7 pm. T-Mobile Center.
RuPaul’s Drag Race Werq the World Tour
August 14, 8 pm
All finalists from the most recent season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, plus fierce favorites from past seasons (Kameron Michaels, Rose, Vanessa Vanjie Mateo and Yvie Oddly), lip-sync and deathdrop their way through iconic past eras in history in the hopes of finding their way back to the present. Sunday, August 14, 8 pm. Uptown Theater.
Sister Act
August 16–21, 8 pm
The iconic 1992 movie adapted into a Broadway musical is coming to Starlight Theatre. No one expects a “disco diva” to find herself as a nun in a convent, but that is exactly what happens to Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act after she is put into protective custody after witnessing a murder. This comedic story is sure to grant
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Kendrick Lamar
August 21, 7:30 pm
After losing a Grammy to Macklemore and winning a Pulitzer, Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar is back from a five-year hiatus to promote his widely critically acclaimed and intensely introspective album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. He is joined on tour by his cousin, ultra-talented rapper Baby Keem. Sunday, August 21, 7:30 pm. T-Mobile Center. 19 Ethnic Enrichment Festival August 19–21 One of the largest festivals of its kind anywhere in the U.S., this annual celebration takes over the large field on the west side of Swope Park, with booths representing sixty nations and ethnic groups. Most booths offer food for sale, and some sell handmade goods. The large picnic shelter at the park houses a dance floor where group performances run back-to-back for most of the three-day event. Friday, August 19–Sunday, August 21. Swope Park.
a much-needed laugh on these summer nights. Tuesday, August 16–Sunday, August 21, 8 pm. Starlight Theatre.
Taylor Swift Night
August 20, 8 pm
Have you ever attended a concert without the actual artist being there? That is essentially what you’ll find at The Taylor Party, a “Taylor Swift-Inspired Dance Party.” Spend hours surrounded by other Swifties, dancing to nothing but Taylor’s most popular discography––and there’s a lot. Saturday, August 20, 8 pm. The Truman.
Jazzoo
August 26, 7:30 pm
The wildest fundraiser of the summer, Jazzoo’s “creative black tie” soiree brings local restaurants and entertainment together to support the Kansas City Zoo, its animals and its educational programs. Party animals must be of drinking age and ready for some outdoor fun because this event is rain or shine. Friday, August 26, 7:30 pm. Kansas City Zoo.
Alan Jackson
August 27, 7 pm
With over thirty years performing a mix of honky-tonk and country-pop sounds, Alan Jackson is coming to Kansas City on his newest tour, “Last Call: One More for the Road,” after revealing his serious health diagnosis last year. Jackson isn’t letting it stop his love of fun, down-home music and timeless performance. Shine your pickup and grab a beer because Jackson still knows “a lot about livin’ and a little ’bout love.” Saturday, August 27, 7 pm. T-Mobile Center.
Alicia Keys
August 28, 8 pm
It’s hard to believe it’s been twenty years since Alicia Keys burst onto the R&B scene fully formed with Songs in A Minor. As with most artists whose debuts sell ten-plus million copies, she’s never transcended that success nor strayed too far from that formula. Keys, her new double album released back in December, opens with traditional “Original” arrangements before presenting most of the same songs with moodier, heavier beats on the “Unlocked” side. Wednesday, August 28. 8 pm. Starlight Theatre.
KC Melting Pot Theatre aims to share stories of Black joy, resilience and resistance.
BY MOLLY HIGGINS
KANSAS CITY THEATER has an important question to ask itself: Is diversity actually important, or is diversity being implemented solely as a means for earning grant money? This is the question that Linda Williams of KC Melting Pot
Theatre wants the Kansas City art scene to reckon with.
Williams is the general manager at
KC Melting Pot, a professional theater company based in Kansas City that is about to stage its second theater season directed entirely by Black women.
Melting Pot’s upcoming season begins this September and features four plays focusing on Black family life spanning from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present.
Founded nearly a decade ago, Melting Pot got its name from its desire to represent all artists. After employing local folks for all positions within the theater, it began to turn its focus to Black theater and Black stories because, according to Williams, there was a void locally. “Theater in KC is kinda stuck in the same old shows,” Williams says. “That’s what we’re trying to break.”
Every performance hopes to move audience members and open dialogue within the Kansas City community. Dr. Nicole Hodges Persley, the artistic director of the Melting Pot, says, “We aim to bring you the best theater that we possibly can, telling stories from a Black perspective that invites everybody into the conversation.”
The season starts with Mother/son, set in the midst of the Covid pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement. It’s a dark comedy drama about a mixed race man and his white mother in denial about her own racism and addiction. Mother/son is written by KC native Lewis Morrow and will be directed by Nicole Hodges Persley.
The second and third shows are Pulitzer winners: The Piano Lesson by August Wilson and Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury. The Piano Lesson is part of Wilson’s century cycle set in the thirties while Fairview is a 2018 comedy. Both are must-see shows that address historic and modern tensions surrounding race relations in America.
“[Fairview] takes an interesting look at various views of race and ethnicity and the misconceptions that are accepted purely based on stereotypes,” says director Lynn King.
The final show of the season is 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist Zora Howard’s Stew, set in a kitchen as four generations of women come together to prepare a special meal for an annual celebration. As with all other shows, it will feature talk backs and themed community events that celebrate the long history of family and reunion in Black culture.
“The kitchen is the heart of the home,” Stew director Ile Haggins says. “That’s where everything happens, that’s where conversations occur, where connections are made. [Stew] unpacks their dreams, their struggles, some turmoil that they’re faced with and the violence that’s in their community that creeps into their home.”
