Today: Bourdain Does Stroud’s & Savoy, Pletz Death Update & ‘Toon Shop’ Redux

There’s a ton going on so let’s get going….

For starters chef, author, television host and culinary wild man Anthony Bourdain has been in town for much of the week, ahead of his perfromance tonight at the Midland by AMC. Earlier this week, roving KC Confidential comments catalyst Chuck Lowe caught Bourdain in the act, film crew in tow, at B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ. Lowe says Bourdain was swilling beer and swallowing KC ‘Q for an April edition of his Travel Channel show "No Reservations."

Wait, there’s more…

"B.B.’s manager Mike Shannon told me Bourdain was going to Stroud’s yesterday and the Savoy today," Lowe says. "So he’s making a week of it here in Kansas City."

Concert biz insiders may want to note that Bourdain’s show at the Midland tonight is being promoted by Jam out of Chicago with former KU SUA concert king Steve Traxler (who’ll be in town for the show) spearheading the promotion.

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Karen Pletz Update

Seems like only yesterday, Star reporter Tony Rizzo assured readers that Fort Lauderdale police would have a "ruling" from the Broward County medical examiner determining the cause of deceased civic leader Karen Pletz‘s death the following week.

Funny, when I talked to the medical examiner he said the full results wouldn’t be back for two to three months.

The Star story ran Nov. 22nd and four weeks later, still no results.

Pletz, the ousted former head of the Kansas City University of Medicine and Bioscience stood accused of embezzling more than $1.5 million, engaging in money laundering and falsifying tax returns. And trust me, there were plenty of other stories likely to be told once a public trial got underway.

So what actually happened to Pletz?

Florida police have not released a statement but have told Kansas City police Pletz’ death was a suicide.

That’s why there’s no rush to get the medical results back, which KC police say generally takes about 30 days.

Fort Lauderdale Police Detective Travis Mandell declined to address the specifics of Pletz death.

"We’re still waiting for the results of the toxicology to proceed with the investigation," Mandell says.

Mandell doesn’t know where the Star got the idea that the medical examiner’s results would be in so quickly because it usually takes from several weeks "up to six months."

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Toon Shop Flashback

With a name like "Toon Shop," can there be any doubt that the vaunted Prairie Village music & piano store is from an era long ago?

As in 1948, shortly after World War II.

Heck, back then they didn’t even know how to spell "tune" correctly. Or so it would seem. The closest my dictionary can come to making sense out of the "toon" spelling is either an Asian red wood tree or a cartoon character.

You don’t "toon" a piano, do you? So somebody was either being hilarious here or maybe graduated from the Craig Glazer Academy of Spell Checking. Kidding, of course.

But here’s something you may not know….

Back in the day, when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan and WHB put out a weekly "40 Star Survey" that didn’t include a single Kevin Kietzman college football pick, the Toon Shop was where lots of folks went to buy 45 RPM records. You know, "singles." Kinda like the songs people download on iTunes.

Think they were called "toons" back then.