Annual Lunafest film festival. Lunafest will feature short films made by women about women starting at 5pm and an art show starting at 4pm. Tickets are available at the venue for $10 ($8 for students and seniors). Proceeds benefit the Breast Cancer Fund, GaDuGi SafeCenter and the KU Women in Film Scholarship Fund.

• Films For Action presents: The Yes Men Fix the World
Liberty Hall (803 Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, KS)
Monday, February 28, 7-9pm

From the organizers (Films For Action):
THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD is a screwball true story about two gonzo political activists who, posing as top executives of giant corporations, lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world’s most outrageous pranks.

WATCH THE TRAILER: http://lawrence.filmsforaction.org/Event/The_Yes_Men_Fix_the_World/

From New Orleans to India to New York City, armed with little more than cheap thrift-store suits, the Yes Men squeeze raucous comedy out of all the ways that corporate greed is destroying the planet. Brüno meets Michael Moore in this gut-busting wake-up call that proves a little imagination can go a long way towards vanquishing the Cult of Greed. Who knew fixing the world could be so much fun?

$4. Proceeds go towards bringing many more amazing new documentaries to Lawrence this year! Spread the word >> Check out our new city sub-site, dedicated to providing indy media for our local community. We’ve recently made a few enhancements to the layout. Cheers!

• Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire
Paragraph Gallery (23 East 12th Street in Kansas City, MO)
Friday, January 21, 6-9pm (Ongoing until Mar. 5)

From the organizers:
Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Project is pleased to present “OUT OF THE FRYING PAN AND INTO THE FIRE,” new work by Aaron Storck and Lee Piechocki. Painting, video, and installation addressing—with fascination and skepticism—the boundary-blurring trends in contemporary art. Artists’ remarks at 6pm. Public discussion with artists: Saturday, February 26, 2pm. Free and open to the public.

“The stability of the modernist era has disintegrated into a multiplicity of art making approaches. Artists, historians, critics, and theorists have systematically dismantled barriers and effectively opened the floodgates. Art, it seems, can be anything. We are free, but this freedom does not come without a price. The current pluralistic art milieu is unpredictable and chaotic, a tangled mess of methodologies.” So write artists Lee Piechocki and Aaron Storck, whose new exhibition, Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire, explores this idea of the contemporary “mess,” its problematics and its potential. To do so, they draw subject matter from the immediate environments of their studios, and the messes, piles, stacks, and accumulations therein, while also drawing on their observations and perceptions of far-ranging aspects of contemporary culture and art, as well as theory, including the writings of Nicolas Bourriaud and his concept of Relational Aesthetics and the Altermodern. The exhibition will include new still-life paintings and a series of sculptural objects/arrangements by Lee Piechocki, and a new large-scale multi-media diptych painting, an installation, two videos, and studies by Aaron Storck.

Weekly roundup of the best art shows and art related events in and around the Lawrence/Kansas City area. If you come down to Astrokitty Comics on Saturday you will even see a Mighty Mugg from yours truly (Scott Stewart).

Check out the link below on our new calendar system October 8, 2010 through October 15, 2010.

Calendar link for events

From the organizers (Films For Action):
Films For Action, the Sustainability Action Network, KU Eco-Justice & GPACE present a free encore screening of Dirty Business on Sunday October 10th. This event is being organized in solidarity with Bill McKibben’s 350.org campaign, calling for a global day of action on 10.10.10. See http://www.350.org.

After the film screening, around 8:30, several Lawrence groups committed to climate action will give a short introduction to the work they’re doing here locally, followed by a Q&A with Scott Allegrucci from the Great Plains Alliance for Clean Energy. Scott is one of our local experts on the proposed coal plant issue, being closely involved in the campaign to oppose the boondoggle project since it was first proposed. Scott will have an update on the status of the campaign and offer ideas for how we can help oppose the project and support a smart, clean energy future for Kansas.

If you’ve already seen the film, this is a great change to get everyone you know who missed it to come see it. We can all become media activists by helping to spread the word and educate our city about the significant choice our state will be making in the coming months.

If you’d like to help promote the film to others but just want to come for the discussion, it will start around 8:30pm. If you haven’t seen the film yet, here’s your chance. Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EZj7dZKxFU

From the organizers:
We will be showing Draw the Pirate, a short comedy by Kansas City native Jeff Hopkins at our offices. Free popcorn and soda!

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 3

• Draw What You Dig
{:m Gallery – Chartwell Realty (2014 Main Street in Kansas City, MO)
Friday, September 3, 6-10pm
Featuring works of David Pjecha, Sarah Anderson, Colin Walsh, Brian Stokes, Tuesday Schmidt, Lauren Andrews, Amy Kligman, Ron Ahrens, Amanda Raymundo and Samantha Lewis.

• Art Fair to Benefit the Kansas City Rescue Mission
Kansas City Rescue Mission (1520 Cherry Street in Kansas City, MO)
Friday,  September 3, 6-10pm
From the organizers: This is an annual event to raise money for the Kansas City Rescue Mission. Please come down and support us by purchasing items from local artists and participating in our silent auction. We will have live music and great food.

• Dr. Sketchy’s Group Show Extravaganza
Czar Bar (1531 Grand in Kansas City, MO)
Friday,  September 3, 6-11pm
Featuring some of the best drawings of area artist from Dr. Sketchy’s last season, pop trio Minstrel Periods will perform, and the evening will include drawing sessions with burlesque and pinup models. The cover is $5.

• Hung Liu: New Works Opening
Byron C. Cohen Gallery for Contemporary Art
(2020 Baltimore Avenue in Kansas City, MO)
Friday,  September 3, 7-9pm
From the organizers: Artist Hung Liu, who will be visiting from San Francisco, is set to unveil a new series created from the aftermath of the Sichuan Earthquake of 2008. Additionally, new work from her Za Zhong, or Bastard Painting, series will also be on display.

• Spectacle: Blue Gallery’s 10th Anniversary Exhibition
Blue Gallery (118 Southwest Blvd in Kansas City, MO)
Friday,  September 3, 6-9pm (Ongoing through September 25)
Featuring work by Jhina Alvarado, Nicole Cawlfield, Joe Gregory, Dale Jarrett, Bernal Koehrsen, Ann Piper, and Brad Williams.

• Russell Shoemaker Paintings
The Late Show Gallery (1600 Cherry in Kansas City, MO)
Friday,  September 3, 6pm (Ongoing through September 30)
Painter Russell Shoemaker shows his works that are a range of abstracted scenes to full abstracts that have a collage/Photoshop filter feel. From what we have seen of his work, we highly recommend this show.

Caleb Taylor

• Charlotte Street Foundation Visual Artist Awards Exhibition
Grand Arts (1819 Grand Boulevard in Kansas City, MO)
Friday,  September 3, 6-9pm (Ongoing through October 30, with a gallery discussion by the artists on Saturday, September 4 at 2pm)
From the organizers: Celebrating its thirteenth year, having granted nearly half a million dollars in unrestricted cash awards to 70 artists living and working in the Kansas City Metro, the 2010 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards Exhibition honors three artists: Ari Fish, Sonié Ruffin, and Caleb Taylor.

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SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 4

• Benjamin Dory: Yellowheart
The Invisible Hand Gallery (801 1/2 Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, KS)
Saturday, September 4, 7-10pm
Lawrence artist Ben Dory will show his illustrations on paper, copper jewelry, and other objects.

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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10

• Earthwork Public Screening
Lawrence Arts Center (940 New Hampshire Street in Lawrence, KS)
Friday, September 10, 8pm
From the organizers: This award-winning film tells the story of Kansas crop artist, Stan Herd, who in 1994 traveled from Lawrence to New York City and risked everything to create a massive environmental artwork on land owned by Donald Trump. In dealing with the difficulties of bringing his unique, rural art form to an urban canvas, Stan unexpectedly encountered the true meaning of his art and its ultimate, lasting rewards. The film, by KU alum writer/director Chris Ordal, has won a staggering number of awards at film festivals across the country. The Arts Center is proud to bring it home for its local premiere. Friday, September 10 8pm: Public Screening (tickets $10.50). Saturday, September 11 10am-2pm: Film Intensive Workshops for Youth and Adults (prices vary), 8pm: Premiere Party featuring cast and crew of the film, music, wine, and hors d’oeuvres (tickets $50) .

1. The story of how he almost wrote and directed a Superman movie in which the man of steel would not fly nor wear a cape.

2. Kevin Smith hangs out with Prince for a week to shoot a documentary…then things get weird.

Prince and Kevin Smith part 2
Prince and Kevin Smith part 3
Prince and Kevin Smith part 4

3. How Smith ended up protesting his own movie Dogma

Watch the actual news report from the Dogma story here

Watch Smith tell the story of how he pissed off Tim Burton here

Watch Smith describe how people reacted to his stories here

Much of this footage is from the 2002 DVD An Evening with Kevin Smith

posted by: Harold Johns III

FRIDAY JULY 9

Sonic Youth – Sleeping Nights Awake (Documentary) Michael Albright

• SONIC ORPHANS: Lost Music Films 1965-87
Wonder Fair: Art Gallery, Shoppe & Studio
(803 1/2 Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, KS)
Friday, July 9, 7-12pm
From the organizers: SONIC ORPHANS is a compilation reel of lost and found clips projected on 16mm, mostly silent, of some rare celluloid gems that have been seen by almost no one and have never seen the light of youtube. Most of this footage is truly orphaned film— abandoned, lost, found, and now presented raw without editing. The videos feature The Beatles, Avengers, Huns, Boy Problems, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, and Johnny Cash. The presentation includes a discussion of “orphan films” as they are called by archivists, a one-night photo exhibit & live local music by Kansas City’s LAZY. $5 at the door.

SATURDAY JULY 10

Wild West Film Festival 2010 Promo Video

• Wild West Film Festival
Liberty Hall (644 Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, KS)
Saturday, July 10, 7pm
From the organizers: The Wild West Film Fest is a 48-hour marathon film fest that anyone with a video camera can enter. We hope to raise money and awareness for a good cause while getting people excited about local film making. We provide a secret theme and you have 48 hours to create a working short film – no longer than 5 minutes. You provide us with the short films and we provide you with a great venue, judges and prizes for the winners! Proceeds from our ticket sales benefit local organizations such as Habitat For Humanity, Halo Foundation, and Children’s Mercy Hospital. The judges were blown away by the quality of films this year. Along with the typical gang of local judges, we also enjoyed the company of local comic book writer Jai Nitz. He has written several comics for D.C. and Marvel. He is currently working on Hollywood movie comic tie-ins, such as the upcoming Green Hornet. There will be a costume contest during the festival, the most heroic hero or vile villain will receive a cash prize and a DVD of the films. Tickets are only $7 for general public and $5 for students.
www.wildwestfilmfest.com

posted by: Scott Stewart

The Last Waltz is a concert by the Canadian rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The Last Waltz was advertised as the end of The Band’s illustrious touring career, and the concert saw The Band joined by more than a dozen special guests including Paul Butterfield, the Staple Singers, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Emmylou Harris, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, Ronnie Wood and Neil Young. The group backed Bob Dylan in the 1960s, and Dylan performs with The Band toward the end of the concert. Because they were simply referred to as “The Band” by Dylan and their friends and neighbors in Woodstock, New York, they figured that was just what they would call themselves, instead of other lesser options like The Honkies or The Crackers.

The event was filmed by director Martin Scorsese and made into a documentary of the same name, released in 1978. The film features concert performances, scenes shot on a studio soundstage and interviews by Scorsese with members of The Band. A triple-LP soundtrack recording was issued in 1978. The film was released on DVD in 2002 as was a four-CD box set of the concert and related studio recordings.

Many consider The Last Waltz to be the greatest concert film of all time, I personally think Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense is better but The Last Waltz is a damn close second.

According to songwriter Robbie Robertson, “The Weight” was inspired by the films of Luis Buñuel, about which Robertson once said:

(Buñuel) did so many films on the impossibility of sainthood. People trying to be good in Viridiana and Nazarin, people trying to do their thing. In “The Weight” it’s the same thing. People like Buñuel would make films that had these religious connotations to them but it wasn’t necessarily a religious meaning. In Buñuel there were these people trying to be good and it’s impossible to be good. In “The Weight” it was this very simple thing. Someone says, “Listen, would you do me this favour? When you get there will you say ‘hello’ to somebody or will you give somebody this or will you pick up one of these for me? Oh? You’re going to Nazareth, that’s where the Martin guitar factory is. Do me a favour when you’re there.” This is what it’s all about. So the guy goes and one thing leads to another and it’s like “Holy Shit, what’s this turned into? I’ve only come here to say ‘hello’ for somebody and I’ve got myself in this incredible predicament.” It was very Buñuelish to me at the time.

posted by: Harold Johns III