Lawrence Busker Festival
The Lawrence Busker Festival is a celebration of street performance that started in 2008 and has been held every year save 2020. The event is free, of course, though attendees are encouraged to swing by the ATM and stock up on fives and tens. The level of performance is high by any standard, with acrobatic feats and NY-based breakdancing twins Tic and Tac, who have been written up in the Washington Post and the Miami Herald. The festival takes place on Eighth Street, which is closed off. Attendees are allowed to drink beers from sponsor Free State while they watch. The most prized seats are at Sand Bar’s patio overlooking the festival.
Friday, May 27–Monday, May 30. Downtown Lawrence.
Mutts & Merlot
Mutts & Merlot encourages wine lovers and their leashed furry friends to explore the vineyards at KC Wine Co. There will be wine tastings, yard games, food trucks, and more. Humans must be 21+ to participate.
Friday, May 27. 4-8 pm. Saturday, May 28 & Sunday, May 29. 12-6 pm. KC Wine Co.
Demon Dream
This 1988 horror movie, just restored and given a Director’s Cut by Arrow Video, is about a bride-to-be whose prenuptial anxieties manifest as dreams about demons that ultimately become real. It was written and directed by Harley Cokeliss, who also directed John Carpenter’s Black Moon Rising and is part of the “Ladies Night” series at KC’s indie cinema, Stray Cat.
Friday, May 27. 7 pm. Stray Cat Film Center.
Animal Collective
The electro psych-pop band from Baltimore may never have lived up to the heaps of praise ladled on them when long-defunct blogs wondered aloud if they might have a career trajectory that tracked Radiohead, but their new album, February’s Time Skiffs, has still gotten friendly B-level reviews. Time Skiffs is still gauzy and atmospheric—completely directionless to the ears of enemies who have not changed their minds—but now uses the hurdy-gurdy and the taishōgoto.
Saturday, May 28. 8 pm. The Truman.
Celebration at the Station
The largest Memorial Day event in the Midwest is held at the foot of the World War Memorial, where the Kansas City Symphony gives a free annual concert followed by the city’s biggest annual fireworks show. Show up at 5 pm to get the best spot, grab dinner from a food truck and watch the opening acts. A patriotic concert under the direction of Michael Stern will start at 8 and end with the fireworks show.
Sunday, May 29. 5 pm. Union Station.
Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow
Starting this Friday Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow, a new and haunting exhibition highlighting the decades between emancipation and the age of Jim Crow, will be on display at the National WWI Museum. The exhibit comes from the New-York Historical Society and has been enhanced by items from the WWI Museum’s collection. “This exhibition is important and relevant especially in light of the Buffalo shooting last week,” Karis Erwin says. “It’s disturbing, and we want people to sit with that and think.”
Through Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. The Wiley Gallery at the National WWI Museum and Memorial.
