Lawrence.com Podcasts: Punditocracy

Neil LaBute is not a bastard. Nor is Neil LaBute a misanthrope, a misogynist or a malcontent. Despite the repellent nature of the characters and scenarios he's conjured for stage and screen, LaBute-over the phone, anyway-is a pretty likable guy. He's not one of the soulless, woman-hating corporate assholes from is breakout film "In the Company of Men." He isn't a manipulative, callow prick like the cretins who populate his play and movie, "The Shape of Things." He's none of these things-but he's eerily good at creating these convincingly awful people and placing them in a morally repugnant fictional world. His acidic body of work also includes "Your Friends and Neighbors" and "Nurse Betty" for film, along with "Fat Pig" and "In A Dark Dark House" for theater. LaBute, in fact, is so unlike one of his sociopathic douchebags that he will be returning to KU-where he received a masters degree in theater and film in 1989-to kindly deliver a lecture on his work called "Life Onstage and on Film." Also uncocksucker

Although he adamantly refuses to be defined by it, Andrew Roufa's wrenching personal history and its influence on his hip-hop persona, Adru the Misphit, is difficult to ignore. Born in Texas and raised in Manhattan, Kan., the 33-year-old Roufa has spent many of the last 10 years in mental or correctional institutions following an LSD triggered slide into what doctors diagnosed as bipolar manic-depression. Frequent psychotic episodes led to sometimes brutal encounters with the law in Manhattan and Kansas City, nearly costing him his freedom and potentially more. Relocating to Lawrence, the world weary MC has since taken control of his life and redoubled his passion for music. The end product of these therapeutic sessions is "Dying on My Feet," Adru the Misphit's first full length album. The album is a who's who of area hip-hop luminaries, featuring production and guest appearances from Nezbeat, Miles Bonny, Johnny Quest, iD and others. "Dying on My Feet" intertwines cutting social commentary with haunting

There's some stuff in here about Bush, Iraq and a lawsuit against God...but we all know you came for the Japanese bestiality restaurant. Just...just listen to it and get it over with. Punditocracy's Actual News Podcast: We Report, You Throw Up A Little Bit In Your Mouth.

"We'll say someone wronged me and leave it at that," says Etta Vendetta of her name's shadowy origin. It's an appropriately dramatic tease from this burlesque vixen, whose stage presence and very art form is predicated upon titillation. And much like the artifice of burlesque, that answer is a complete put-on. Vendetta is quick to admit that she actually picked her stage name because she's a big fan of Etta James, and, well, "Vendetta" rhymes with "Etta." It's just a badass name. "But that's not as interesting as it could be," confesses the consummate entertainer alternately known as Amie Nelson. Vendetta is a founding mother of Kansas City bump and grinders the Burly-Q Girly Crew, model for Nikol Lohr's Naughty Needles, vocalist with KC rockers The Afterparty, and producer of Etta Vendetta's Eyeful Tower-a music and striptease revue that frequently sheds clothing in music venues. Etta Vendetta joined lawrence.com to bare all about baring all.

On this somber memorial of September 11th, we must never forget...the stuff that happened last week. That's why Actual News is here! Osama, Mangino, Pavarotti, Popcorn Lung and much more in this super sized bonus edition of the Punditocracy news-pod.

No, YOUdaho! Everything from Larry Craig to gay marriage in Iowa make the not-so-straight round up for Punditocracy's Actual News. Owen Wilson and queer behavior in a bathroom not related to closeted Idaho senators also inform our melange. Widen your stance and flush directly into your iPod!

News that's been aged like fine cheese, it's Punditocracy's Actual News! Gonzales' resignation, Gitmo in Kansas, and Bush's book report are but a few of the moldy curds we serve up for your informational gastronomy. Spread liberally on your iPod and feed it to your malnourished brain.

The pomade-slathered grease monkey club known as "Los Punk Rods" were conceived in a North Lawrence garage in 1999. Back in the day, this informal cabal of custom car gearheads would show off their handmade hot rods to like-minded modders at intimate picnics in Burcham Park, knocking back beers and enjoying some rockabilly tunes. These lazy Sunday exhibitions were eventually souped up into the annual fuel-injected beast known as "Greaserama." Todd Karnahan, known by some as "Punk Rod Todd" and founder of the club which bears his soubriquet, describes "Greaserama" as "a rod and custom show, and sort of a custom culture festival. It's all geared toward home-built, low-buck and traditional nostalgia type hot rods and motorcycles." For the second year in a row, "Greaserama" will be held at the Boulevard Drive-In in Kansas City, where movies will be screened and live music will be blared to supplement a lot full of monster machines. Todd Karnahan joined us to talk about punks, pistons and pomades.

Last week's news, this week's spew! Medical marijuana in Kansas, Michael Vick, war with Iran, and Hurricane Dean are but a few of the topics we regurgitate into your pod-hole. It's Punditocracy's ready made news aggregator for the intellectually lazy!

"I aimed for the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach," lamented Upton Sinclair about his misunderstood, landmark polemic "The Jungle." Turning Sinclair's bellyaching on its head, the organizers of the "Go Organic!" film festival are hoping to spur social change by aiming directly for the gut. Lawrence activist group Films for Action have teamed up with national non-profit Sustainable Table to screen the Rural Route Film Festival. The touring festival features a collection of animated and documentary shorts dealing with how what we eat-and how it's made-impacts our bodies and our environment. Throw in free food from sustainability-conscious Lawrence eatery Local Burger and get Simran Sethi-eco-journalist and host of "The Green" on Sundance Channel-to MC the event, and you've got the "Go Organic!" foodie fest. Tim Hjersted from Films for Action, Local Burger owner Hilary Brown, and Simran Sethi joined us to preview "Go Organic!" and explain why sustainable food simultaneously hits the pub

Last week's news with this week's cynicism! Lawrence's domestic partner registry, Mitt Romney, the new Wal-Mart, Barry Bonds, and Karl Rove's resignation are all covered in a less than timely (but more than insincere) fashion! We report, you shut the hell up and suck it. It's Punditocracy's new nugget sized piss taking of not-so-current-events!

Clairvoyants vomiting otherworldly ooze, teenage delinquents succumbing to the evils of reefer, hepcat aliens in search of a happening beach party-some will call it "degenerate," others "corrupting," and still more will label it "hoodlum-izing." Julia Zinn and Lauren Kimball-Brown, two Lawrence hop-heads with a taste for extreme cinema, prefer to call it "Nife Fite." Zinn and Kimball-Brown have been making freaky flicks together since their teens, but in the last three years while studying film-at the University of Chicago and Boston , respectively-have focused their efforts on recreating the sordid '60's underground genre of exploitation films. Marked by cheap production values and taboo sensationalism, notable gems in this distinguished movement of American filmmaking include "Diary of a Swinger," "Blood Feast," and "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" Amassing a gang of like-minded connoisseurs, Zinn and Kimball-Brown have been making their own, updated contributions to the exploitation cannon under the co

Adding an extra layer of depravity to the term "lewd hand gestures," the Lawrence-born "Shitty Deal Puppet Theater" will be re-emerging this week with fists raised triumphantly in their hind-quarters. Life for the puppets began in 1998 as part of the comedy/variety/gin-bender known as The Victor Continental Show, but the "Shitty Deal Puppets" have spent recent years gaining notoriety in the UK as part of Axis of Evil Productions. Before performing a month long stint at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August, Mr. Doper, Burp, Bobby, Dr. Sludgebucket, and the rest of this ill mannered Punch & Doody show will be returning for a heartland homecoming in the sweaty bosom which first suckled them to fame-Victor Continental. Will Averill and Kitty Steffens wrangled the puerile puppets into the Punditocracy studio for a chat about Lawrence politics, rival puppet troupes, and the latest Victor Continental extravaganza, "Free Victor."

Harry Potter Hogwarts leakage, Dick Cheney's shadowy seepage, and Hillary Clinton's Sopranos linkage--not to mention SCOTUS sewage, Mitt's dog bondage and potentially presidential Bloombergage--all get a dose of Punditocracy verbiage. Oh, and if you're not listening to this episode of the politics and culture podcast on an iPhone, then you are obsolete and have no reason to live.

Join the politics and culture podcast for our bloated, sophomoric summer blockbuster! We've got bigger explosions, dumber jokes, and more gratuitous sodomy than you can shake a Michael Bay at! Thrill at Aaron and Gavon as they tackle the toughest topics! Scooter Libby and Paris Hilton's impending rear-ending at the hands of the penal system! Conservative consternation at Bush's acquiescence to the brown hordes! '08 presidential pony racing! The Pentagon's super secret "gay bomb"! Exclamation marks! It's Punditocracy's over stuffed paean to over stimulation!

So far as oxymorons go, "anarchist organization" is right up there with "military intelligence" or "jumbo shrimp." Kansas Mutual Aid (KMA), however, isn't exactly a Molotov-hurling band of latter day Guy (and Gal) Fawkes bent on destroying society. A group of collective Lawrence anarchists founded in 2003, KMA prefers community gardening to burning down churches. It was in this spirit of nurturing a sense of communal solidarity-and an admittedly virulent distrust of government institutions such as FEMA-that KMA journeyed down to Greensburg following the May 4 tornado that nearly wiped out the southwest Kansas town. KMA member Jordan Ferrand-Sapsis talked to us about the resultant friction between her anti-establishment brethren and the hyper-establishment bureaucratic mess in Greensburg, their eventual expulsion from the town on what she views as political grounds, as well as the apolitical devastation that visited this tiny community.

When last we spoke with Nancy Boyda, she was waging a quixotic campaign to represent Kansas' 2nd Congressional District-including Lawrence-as a grass-roots Democrat in a blood red state. In one of the biggest upsets during last November's upset-rich elections, Boyda managed to unseat entrenched Republican Congressman Jim Ryun and garner national attention for our sleepy little district. She's been assigned chairs on the powerful House Armed Services and Agriculture committees and, along with this heightened profile, is already being targeted for political reprisal by the Republican Party in '08. Representative Boyda took some time out of her busy schedule to give Punditocracy a follow-up report on her new gig in Washington. It's a politics and culture congressional update on everything from Iraq funding, escort services, and Stephen Colbert's belittling of Kansas' balls!

Simran Sethi is a five-foot tall dynamo of the new environmental movement who is more than likely powered by photovoltaic cells or some other form of ecologically friendly cyborg technology. There's no other possible explanation for her improbably prodigious output. Simran, a German-born Punjabi who grew up in North Carolina, began her career with MTV Asia and created their India news division. She has contributed to the BBC, PBS, NPR, and is a regular guest of dueling divas Oprah and Martha. When she's not blogging on Treehugger.com, she's either podcasting for Air America Radio or hosting "The Green" on Sundance Channel-oh, and she's a featured author in the book "Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy." In between all of this global do-goodery, she somehow found time to move to Lawrence last year. Simran joined us-on Earth Day, no less-to talk about her inexhaustible eco-efforts. It's Punditocracy's politics and culture green-gasm!

This installment of Punditocracy features a conversation with Marine Corporal Jeff Hodges, a KU grad from Topeka who served in Iraq for the better part of 2005. Marine Corporal Hodges shares his Iraq experience with us, ranging from the difficulties of fighting a guerilla insurgency in a foreign land to the unsettling prospect of having to defuse explosive livestock. It's a politics and culture salute to the troops!

Enough of this "serious journalism" crap...let's get back to the format of bloviating bitch fests from Punditocracies past! Aaron returns from sabbatical (aka, Thai brothel) to help Gavon (aka, Thai prostitute) opinionate on Gonzo-gate, Iraq supplemental squabbling, the tragi-comedy that is the presidential slate for '08, animate scrotum Don Imus' inappropriate ejaculation, and a waste of DNA named John Derbyshire who said awful things about the victims at Virginia Tech. It's a politics & culture return to fecal flinging form!