Yearly Archives: 2011
Today: Kansas City Command Arena Football Team Off to Stealth Start
Are you ready for some football?
Where the new Kansas City Command is concerned, the answer appears to be no. Four games into the Arena Football League team’s inaugural season there’s almost zero buzz. The Command won its first home game last weekend against the Iowa Barnstormers – after losing three on the road – but attendance was a far cry from its forebears, the Kansas City Brigade.
In 2006 the Brigade packed Kemper Arena for its home opener with an announced, sellout crowd of 16,523.
That was then…
Jack Goes Confidential: Dim Projection at ‘RIO’ Screening Mars Movie Experience
A full page ad for RIO in last Sunday’s New York Times was headed by a massive critic’s quote about it being "The biggest and BRIGHTEST animated triumph since TOY STORY 3."
The quote attributed to Boxoffice Magazine’s Pete Hammond.
Had Mr. Hammond attended our K.C. screening of the movie last Saturday he might’ve been a bit less enthusiastic. And he may have found a different descriptive word for ‘brightest’—like DIMMEST!
And that was BEFORE I put on the 3-D glasses!
Star Search II: Hurry Up & Wait, FYI’s Sleepy New A & E (Wednesday)
Almost forgot…
Unless I missed something, the Star‘s FYI Section unleashed a new creation today called "A & E (Wednesday)." How to describe the single page (plus jump) insert in the paper’s all-important food section?
Columnist insert
Frankly, it’s kinda hard to be kind.
Starbeams: Bottoms Up for Gaga, Wide Body & Poked by Homeland Security
Lady Gaga fell off a piano during a concert in Houston. She kept performing and never missed a beat. In doing so, she joins Bono, Steven Tyler and Jimmy Buffet...so she’s really 30 years ahead of herself.
*******
American Idol is denying accusations made by 19-year-old Ashley Kauffman, who claimed staffers made her sit in the back row last Thursday because she was, "just too big, too heavy to be in front" with her hot friends. More bad news for Ashley?
Star Search: Reading Glasses, Trick or Dole, Sprightly Seniors & That Damn Plane
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A quick check of the Kansas City Star…
When baseball buff Craig Glazer told me he hadn’t read Sam Mellinger‘s front page interview with Royals owner David Glass Sunday, I figured he probably wasn’t alone. And while I’m bullish on Mellinger, I think the story could have been reduced to a tiny fraction of its size.
Here’s why. Because who really cares about the minutia Mellinger had to wade through just to get the interview?
That’s just the way the sports journalism game has to be played with an out-of-town owner getting along just fine who doesn’t really give a rat’s ass what folks here think of him. As long as it’s nothing wildly embarrassing, that is. I mean, think about it. What sort of a presence does Glass really have in this town?
Heck, his son Dan Glass – the team prez – is a nice enough dude, but who knows or hears much of anything about him? And he lives here.
A former Star publisher once described Dan Glass to me as "nebbish."
Car: Kelly Blue Book’s Top 10 Green Cars & Fiat Delays KC Opening
This just in…
Far be it from me to write something that might cause Car section comments dude Rogger to burst into tears (or flames) but here goes. I’ve been feeling a little down since getting my new Fiat 500. Because by giving up my Toyota Prius, I’m going from nearly 50 miles-per-gallon to 40 – if I’m lucky.
That is if I drive so slow bluehairs in 20 year-old K cars wanna run me off the road. I let my lead-footed Asian girlfriend drive the Fiat a few days and got just 36.8 mpg on my first tank. But I did get some good news today.
Kelly Blue Book came out with its Top 10 Green Cars and the little Fiat made the grade.
OTC: Alex Gordon, Frank Martin, Josh Selby In Today’s News
“Just don’t strike out, Alex.”Steve Stewart, Royals radio play-by-play, with Alex Gordon up in the seventh Tuesday night with no outs and runners on first and third and the Royals tied with the Twins 3-3, Royals Radio
GH: Gordon went down swinging on the next pitch. Butler and Francoeur also failed to drive in the go-ahead run and the Royals ended up losing the game in the 10th. I am rooting hard for Gordon this spring. He needs to be good and so far he has been. But I just can’t see him as the three-hole hitter with his propensity to swing and miss. A professional hitter does not strike out with a man on third and no outs. He simply cannot. Gordon does too often.
“I’m not completely sold on Gordon but I’m convinced he’s made some major changes. Because the pitches they used to strike him out on all the time he is now hitting the opposite way for doubles. The guy’s playing great defense in left field too!”
Nate Bukaty, 810 AM
GH: No one is completely sold that Gordon is a who we thought he might become. It’s only mid-April for starters. But Royals fans desperately want this guy to succeed as much as anyone who has ever worn the blue.
Nate Bukaty, 810 AM
GH: No one is completely sold that Gordon is a who we thought he might become. It’s only mid-April for starters. But Royals fans desperately want this guy to succeed as much as anyone who has ever worn the blue.
Today: PPM Radio Ratings Shakeup No Laughing Matter
Local radio will never be the same…
The advent of PPMs, portable people meters – electronic devices replacing handwritten diaries used by Arbitron to gage radio listener’s actual listening habits – have turned the media world upside down the past two years.
Stations & personalities that loomed large have been humbled.
While wallflowers mired in Cinderella-like shadows have been tongue-kissed like frogs, rising to star-like status.
Winners, KCFX FM, KCMO FM and 97.5 The Vibe – love PPMs. They’re on Cloud 9, doing fine.
The opposite is the case for Urban stations like KPRS FM.
So with millions of dollars on the local line, let’s take a look at today’s PPM ratings world
Glazer: Mind of Carlos Mencia Coming to KC May 26th
Carlos Mencia kept his word, yep…
About four years ago comedy sensation Mencia was getting ready to play the Midland. A few days out the show was not totally sold out. We spoke. Mencia had played Stanford‘s a ton in the 1990’s while his career was on the way up and we had become friends. So Carlos asked me to do him a favor and add him to my radio spots.
We did and he sold out.
Maybe we helped do that, you never really know. The guy was on fire with his new TV series, Mind Of Mencia. I went to the show, man – I was still married to Connie. She went with me. Great show. We met with Mencia and the guy was so nice. Took tons of photos and he said, "Stanford’s is my favorite club – I don’t do clubs anymore – but I promise I’ll come back and do yours one day, deal." I said, "of course."
Well that day has come.
Today: Joe Miller on City Hall Sex & How It All Went Horribly Wrong
The apology has been offered…
Now it’s time to learn what author, scholar, former Pitch top gun and one-time political operative Joe Miller really thinks. Starting with, does Miller think KC mayor Mark Funkhouser could have delivered the goods – "a city that works" – if he’d not had to deal with the neverending controversies and distractions of wife, First Lady Gloria Squitiro?
"My sense is to say no," Miller says. "But if he didn’t have her up there and got rid of me and Kendrick Blackwood and got someone who knew politics instead, maybe. But he’s a real uncooperative guy."
Quick detour…
What about the talk that Hizzonor and his wife had sex in the mayor’s office – true or false?
OTC: It’s Not Frank Martin’s Salary Miami Can’t Handle, It’s His Mouth
“The search for Miami’s new basketball coach has apparently been narrowed down to a few finalists, and one name missing from that list is Kansas State’s Frank Martin, the Miami Herald reported Saturday. … The Herald reported Saturday that some Miami trustees lobbied for Martin but there were no indications he has been interviewed.”Cole Manbeck, TheMercury.com
GH: The non-recruitment of Frank Martin by the University of Miami continues to be one of the oddest “non-stories” in college basketball this off-season. Read on.
“I love it here. I’ve never had any other options but to be at K-State this year. And I haven’t had any desire but to be at K-State this year.”
Frank Martin, in a story written by Doug Tucker of the AP
GH: Okay, that’s pretty clear. Frank wants to stay in Manhattan where he is happy and by the way, he’s never even had another option. Well, maybe not. Read on.
Frank Martin, in a story written by Doug Tucker of the AP
GH: Okay, that’s pretty clear. Frank wants to stay in Manhattan where he is happy and by the way, he’s never even had another option. Well, maybe not. Read on.
Starbeams: The Top 5 Things in KC That Haven’t Changed in 150 Years
Kansas City’s celebrating its Sesquicentennial and celebrations are already underway. And 150 years of our city kinda got me wondering what life was like then versus now. So after hours of intense research, I give you the…
TOP 5 THINGS IN KANSAS CITY THAT HAVEN’T CHANGED IN 150 YEARS:
#5. There’s never a line to see the Steamboat Arabia.
#4. We’re rarely featured on network television.
Glazer: This Year’s KC Royals, Deja Pew All Over Again?
Royals manager Ned Yost was on with 610 Sports Nick Wright just before the season started…
And Nick asked Yost, "What should Royals fans expect this year? Should we just look for day to day improvements? Is this a rebuilding year? Again?" The Royals manager came right to the point. "No, just wait until the All-Star break. Then you’ll see a team on the rise weekly. Mark it down. This is the year we begin the championship march."
Wow!
The guy’s saying the Royals will be a winner this season. Maybe – who knows? – Yost knows something.
Then again, we’ve been misled before! What did President Bush say? Fool me once – won’t get fooled again!
New Jack City: Movies 2011 – Yesterday, Today, Oh & This Summer!
To suggest a cloud of gloom hovered above the recent CinemaCon convention in Vegas would be an understatement…
Granted domestic ticket income this past year at the nation’s theaters amounted to in excess of $10.5 billion. But a sizeable portion of that $10 billion was owing to increased ticket prices and hefty up charges for 3-D releases of which there were many in 2010.
The really telling story was the actual theater attendance last year in which 1.34 billion tickets were sold at North American theaters.
That’s DOWN 74 million from 2009!
In fact, movie attendance in the US in 2010 was the second-lowest in the past 15 years!
Hearne: Love On The Rocks Doggie Style
Too much of a good thing? You make the call…
The train wreck that is Craig Glazer’s confessional regarding the ins and outs of his serialized sexcapades unleashed a firestorm of comments. And face it, what more could anybody say on the subject that hasn’t been said?
Enter KCC rabble rouser Tracy Thomas…
"Maybe you need to visit Craig to get a bevy of glamour shots of Junior," Thomas says of Glazer’s trusty dachshund. "Even one with Black Barbie and someone else in his bullpen? Or maybe Junior by himself in various poses including, of course, roll over and down. Craig hugging Junior. Craig illustrating the sit or down positions. Craig trying to play Tug of War with Junior with a sex toy."
OTC: Masters Goes Bad For Rory & Female Reporter
“Rory McIlroy is too good not to bounce back. But that trainwreck on Amen Corner is going to leave a nasty scar. 1 you can’t sandblast off.”Jim Rome, after the 21-year-old McIlroy went Greg Norman circa 1995 on the backside at Augusta and blew his 4-stroke Sunday lead into an 80 and finished tied for 15th, Twitter
GH: Rory’s meltdown was Chernobyl-like..only quicker. One moment he’s leading The Masters and the next he’s in some side yard along an Augusta cabin sizing up his second shot from a place we have never seen before. You had to feel for the kid as his wheels came off and his chance at the jacket disintegrated with his swing. He only imploded for three holes, but it seemed like 10. I agree with Rome, he’ll bounce back and have a great career. But no one will forget his ugly fall from the leader board.
“Lots of junior prom putts for Tiger yesterday…all lip, no hole.”
JFish26, on Tiger Woods’ close-but-no-jacket Sunday at Augusta, Message board on KUsports.com
Hearne: Overserving & Drinking Deaths; Brian Euston Jason Wren
The parallels are freakishly familiar…
The settlement last week of a lawsuit by parents of a KU student who died after a night of binge drinking two years back has striking similarities to Kansas Citian Brian Euston. Euston, 24, died last fall after a night on the town at Kelly’s.
Jason Wren, a 19 year-old KU freshman, was found dead at a frat house after a night of heavy drinking. Euston died after an altercation in Westport and a night of even heavier drinking. How heavy?
Wren’s fatal blood-alcohol level measured .362, more than four times the legal limit to drive in Kansas.
Euston took it to even further extremes with a BAC of .387
Today: Star Staffers Braced for Possible Quarterly Layoffs / Cutbacks
Here we go again…
The first quarter of the year being up, staffers at the Kansas City Star are braced for another round of cutbacks and/or layoffs. Nothing’s been announced but after four years of cuts, a pattern’s emerged. Parent company McClatchy‘s newspapers are given quarterly financial targets. Those targets must be met or at quarter’s end cuts made.
The talk on possible pending cuts among insiders at the Star:
"Just that it’s coming is all I know," says one staffer.
Joe Miller: G-L-O-R-I-A, Saying Goodbye & Sorry to KC’s First Lady
A few months after I quit my job in the Mayor’s Office, I read one of Gloria Squitiro’s “Notes from Funk’s Front Porch,” which was posted on one of the local blogs. In it, she wrote, “To borrow a phrase from Jerry Garcia, ‘It’s been a long strange trip.”
I wanted to write a comment ripping her for this.
For one, the phrase is, “What a long strange trip it’s been.” Second, it’s a Bob Weir song, not a Garcia (though he does sing harmony on the line in question). Lastly, the lyric was written by Robert Hunter.
Petty.
Sad, too.
It’s a testament of missed opportunities.
Glazer: Love On The Rocks Meets Love On The Run, Part Two
So there was this movie called "Bad Day at Black Rock"….
Reminds me of the day after My #1 read story the other day. Not pretty. All I could think was how much I wanted to kill Hearne Christopher. See, he has talked to me for months about writing about, "What it’s like dating six or seven girls at once." And I always just let it go. I thought to myself it would only cause pain and suffering for the girls.
Christ.
So as you loyal readers and good friends know, a couple days back I gave in. A few hours later all hell broke loose. I didn’t know Hearne was going to post all those photos of some – but not all – of the, uh, "ladies." To be fair I used no names or descriptions, right? RIGHT? No matter.
The lady who felt she was the lead girlfriend, the body builder- and she kinda was at the time – went WHACKO.
