Calendar

WHERE YOU WANT TO BE IN SEPTEMBER

September 11

GO: The Festival of the Trails is September 11 all over Raytown. Start at the Rice-Tremonti Farm Home (8801 E. 66th St., Raytown) or the Raytown Historical Society & Museum (9705 E. 63rd St., Raytown). The first rule of interacting with those people you’ll see dressed in period garb at Raytown’s Festival of the Trails? Don’t call them “reenactors.”

“They hate being called reenactors—they are living historians,” says Ralph Monaco, a lifelong Raytonian and heavyweight in the hobby who is wrangling the living historians for the festival.

The Festival of the Trails is “the Super Bowl to Raytown,” in Monaco’s words, and this year’s installment also marks Missouri’s bicentennial and the bicentennial of the Santa Fe Trail. Expect the largest assemblage of living historians in these parts this year, along with storytelling, games, food trucks and live music.

Also: living historians don’t like the word “costumes.”

“It’s period attire,” Monaco says. “We spend an awful lot of money on our clothing to make sure it’s authentic.

IT’S AN ACT For example, they didn’t have zippers during this time period. A costume might have hidden zippers, but period attire doesn’t. “I paid $500 for my shoes,” Monaco says. “They are perfectly handmade leather shoes.” Monaco can afford it—he’s a trial lawyer. Which brings us to the third rule of interacting with living historians: Don’t try to get them to say offensive things, which chuckleheads have been known to try every now and again. “There are certain words and phrases that are not appropriate to use as a living historian,” Monaco says. “It’s a balance between educating and the perspective of the person you’re portraying and still being sensitive to things that are offensive to us today.”

September

Chicago (with Nine Inch Nails and The Smashing Pumpkins) and Iowa (with Slipknot and Megadeth), which is a handy way of explaining the band’s sound. Friday, September 24. 7 pm. Grinders, 1826 Locust St., KCMO. $82.

WHAT YOU WANT TO DO THIS MONTH

4Dwight Yoakam September 4 The best top-to-bottom country album ever recorded? I’m not going to tell you Dwight Yoakam’s Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room claims the crown, but it’s surely in the conversation next to No Fences, At Folsom Prison and Wide Open Spaces. The Ohio-raised Yoakam was Johnny Cash’s favorite singer, and being weathered by age is only giving him more gravitas. Saturday, September 4. 8 pm. Uptown Theater, 3700 Broadway Blvd., KCMO. $45–$79.

Water Lantern Festival

September 18

Honor a loved one or a special memory, or simply share a happy message by decorating a water lantern and watching it float alongside hundreds of others. Live music and food trucks will accompany the tranquil sight of this traveling festival. And don’t worry about trash—staff will collect all the lanterns at the end of the night. Saturday, September 18. 4:30–9 pm. Frank A. Theis Park, Oak and 47th streets, KCMO. $56 day-of tickets. Waterlanternfestival.com.

Dinosaur Jr.

September 21

Alternative idols, Dinosaur Jr. has never faltered from the noise that comprised its original sound, instead refining it in ways other band revivals have failed. Their latest release, Sweep It Into Space, co-produced by Kurt Vile, streamlines their edge into an enjoyable but still distorted ride. Tuesday, September 21. 8 pm. The Truman, 601 E. Truman Road, KCMO. $28. thetrumankc.com.

Faith No More

September 24

The long-awaited reunion of Mike Patton’s large-format rock band was delayed by the pandemic, but it’s now rolling. This show is sandwiched between festival gigs in

Food Truck Frenzy

September 25

Lenexa Public Market is throwing what amounts to a food truck festival, but without the entrance fee. The City Center will have standout trucks including The Waffler, Barbwire Barbecue, Rolling in the Dough, Taste of Brazil and The Hungry Hatch. There will be live music by Holmes Street. Saturday, September 25. 5–10 pm. Lenexa Public Market, 8750 Penrose Lane, Lenexa.

Latino Arts Festival at Arrowhead

September 26

While you’re tailgating before the Chiefs game, stop by the Latino Arts Festival tent in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Twenty artists of all ages will have their work showcased along with food, drinks and a lowrider exhibition. If you stick around for halftime at the game, you’ll catch performances from Mariachi Estrella KC and El Grupo Folklorico Atotonilco. Sunday, September 26. 10 am. Arrowhead Stadium, 1 Arrowhead Drive, KCMO. Free, $45 for parking.

Hannah Berner

September 3-5

Pro tennis player turned podcaster and reality TV star (Bravo’s Summer House) Hannah Berner is a newcomer to stand-up, having started writing comedy via viral tweets. She’s already had contemporary comedy’s most important rite of passage: apologizing for insensitive comments about mental health made several years ago. Friday, September 3–Sunday, September 5. Various times. The Comedy Club of Kansas City, 1130 W. 103rd St., KCMO. $25–$35. 24 Oktoberfest Lee’s Summit September 24-26 The largest festival in the world, Germany’s Oktoberfest, is canceled again this year. But bier is back in KC, with KC Bier Co.’s event in October and this smaller warmup in downtown Lee’s Summit the weekend before. This event is more family-focused, with food (pork schnitzel, sauerbraten) and children’s activities getting most of the real estate. There is, however, a sneaky good option for beer lovers: twenty bucks gets you three hours of unlimited tasting at the homebrew competition. Friday, September 24–Sunday, September 26. Hours vary by day. Downtown Lee’s Summit. lsoktoberfest.com.

HE’S DUE

Chicago-born musician Liam Kazar is finding his groove—and the perfect porch—in Kansas City.

BY EVAN MUSIL

LIAM KAZAR LOVES LIVE MUSIC. It’s why he spent the past five years touring with artists such as Knox Fortune, Steve Gunn and Jeff Tweedy. It’s also what shaped the playful, groovy and catchy sounds of his debut album, Due North, which was released August 6.

Kazar started touring at seventeen,when he missed school to perform at South by Southwest in the hip-hop band Kids These Days, which included rapper Vic Mensa and trumpeter Nico Segal. When the band split in 2013, Kazar decided to develop himself as a songwriter while on the road playing other people’s music. With help from co-producer James Elkington, Kazar assembled a colorful palette of bouncy synths and vibrant guitars to paint a bright record. The Kansas City transplant also opened a pop-up restaurant, Isfahan, in January, which serves a blend of Armenian and Persian food. The in-and-out pop-up format from city to city reminds Kazar of touring days. Its next stops are in Massachusetts and New York.

What brought you to Kansas City? My partner started the organization KC

Tenants. She’s a mover and a shaker, and we both decided to give it a shot in KC. Definitely happy to have been here during the pandemic instead of Chicago. Our neighbors are all lovely people, and what I like about KC is you all hang on your porches. We’ve got some good porches.

What was your favorite moment in your years of touring? I was doing a show with Jeff Tweedy in Tokyo. Jim O’Rourke lives in Tokyo, and I’m a big Jim O’Rourke fan. Jeff and Jim have a band together called Loose Fur, and those records are some of my favorite things Jeff’s ever done. We ended up doing two Loose Fur songs at the concert, including a twentyminute rendition of “Laminated Cat.” I was twenty-two at the time and playing on stage with some of my favorite guitar players in the world. Then we all went out to dinner and hung until 2 am talking about records.

How did your pop-up restaurant Isfahan come about? After about four months of sitting on the couch during the pandemic, my partner said, “Maybe you should do something, anything.” So around August, I hatched a plan to dive deep into Armenian and Persian food and make that my staple cuisine. I’ve always liked cooking, and I’m Armenian. I grew up eating some Armenian food, and I’ve been to Armenia. And Persian food is very similar, but with a bit more spice to it. I thought I’d maybe get a gig every once in a while. It totally blew up and it’s been a job ever since. I really have a new respect for anyone in the service industry.

What’s your favorite song on Due North? The first single, “Shoes Too Tight.” After I made that song, I felt like I knew who I was as a person. That was the first song that came together, and it was the North Star making the record. I was like, “This is what I want my songs to sound like.” All the other songs came into place once I had that song.

KC FAVORITES

Yasmeen Cafe

“Somali food, that place is unbelievable. I think it’s the best food in the city.”

Big Mood Natural Wines

“We love that place. Going there was our ‘treat ourselves’ moment during the pandemic.”

Cliff Drive

“I go around there all the time. I shot my music video for ‘Frank Bacon’ there.”