This weekend is your chance to get into historic people, places and things – and perhaps even be part of history in the making.
Options include honoring the greatest saxophonist in the history of jazz; eyeing the precious personal effects of Major League Baseball legends and adulating the latest batch of teenybopper heartthrobs vying to be the biggest…band…ever.
How about you? Will you make the history books? First you’ve got to show up!
He flew to the farthest reaches of the jazz cosmos, powered only by the amazing music playing in his head and the singular virtuosity to express it on his tenor saxophone. He was the brilliant Charlie “Bird” Parker, whose historic contribution to jazz will be celebrated in the city he once called home during this third annual 10-day fest offering bebop-fueled gigs performed by admiring musicians all around the town. There will also be vibrant educational opportunities at the American Jazz Museum, including a kick-off “Life and Legacy” talk by Parker expert Dr. Ron McCurdy and a student-friendly “Art of the Jam Session” event led by sax man extraordinaire Tivon Pennicot. We have liftoff.
Thursday (“Life and Legacy”), 6 p.m., Thursday; Saturday (“Art of the Jam Session”), 9 a.m.-noon; American Jazz Museum, 1616 E. 18th St., Kansas City, Mo.
Five seconds isn’t a long time, but it’s all that Australian pop-rock outfit 5 Seconds of Summer needs to blow the minds of tweenage girls. Buoyed by hundreds of millions of YouTube hits, these guys insist that they want to be the most popular band in history. Is that John, Paul, George and Ringo I hear clearing their throats? Anyway, the boys from Down Under will rock their Kansas City contingent with such joyfully youth-affirming hits as “She Looks So Perfect,” “She’s Kinda Hot” and “Hey Everybody,” which means you, too – if only to provide meaningless adult supervision. Don’t be surprised if you can’t stop smiling. May the Fabs forgive you.
Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sprint Center, 1407 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo.; tickets: $27.95-$77.95.
Food is world history. How it got from the fields to the mouths of people over the millennia forms a fascinating tableau that will continue to involve delighted end users at the 36th annual Ethnic Enrichment Festival. Visitors are encouraged to sample dozens of delicious international cuisines, while enjoying authentic music, dance and crafts from a stew of diverse cultures. I call it a tradition to savor. I also call TV dinners that, but don’t judge me.
Friday, 6-10 p.m.; Saturday, noon-10 p.m.; Sunday, noon-6 p.m., Swope Park front entrance, 6600 Swope Parkway, Kansas City, Mo.; admission: $3, ages 12 and younger free with adult.
Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame Tour shows off its hardball keepsakes for a final weekend just outside Kauffman Stadium. See Jackie Robinson’s 1955 World Series cap. See Babe Ruth’s 714th home run ball. See replicas of HOF member plaques. And see how yesterday meets today with a 10-minute IMAX baseball movie and virtual reality experiences that can have you competing on the field or – if you’re the shy type – hanging in the dugout. Just remember that you can’t get a hit if you don’t step up to the plate. As Buck O’Neal used to say: “Keep swinging!”
Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.; Royals Lot A, Kauffman Stadium, One Royal Way, Kansas City, Mo.; tickets: $10-$26.
5. Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill
Spinning Tree Theatre presents Nedra Dixon as Billie Holiday in a one-woman show depicting the tremendously gifted and historically influential jazz singer near the end of her life. It’s 1959 and a diminished but not defeated Holiday is performing in a dingy Philadelphia bar. The show is poignant, rambling, humorous and disturbing, and features such classic “Lady Day” songs as “God Bless the Child,” “Crazy He Calls Me” and “Strange Fruit.”
Friday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.; the Living Room, 1818 McGee St., Kansas City, Mo.; tickets: $20-$39.
6. Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters
Hollywood history is full actors who also want to be singers. Some are more talented at music than others. One of the better ones is Billy Bob Thornton, an exquisitely effective actor (who else could play a degenerate “Bad Santa” with such hilarious sensitivity?) as well as a reliable live entertainer with his roots-rocking country band the Boxmasters. There’s another draw, too: He seems like a really cool guy. Acting!
Thursday, 8 p.m.; Knuckleheads Saloon, 2715 Rochester St., Kansas City, Mo.; tickets: $27.50.