Yearly Archives: 2011
Jack Goes Confidential: Matthew McConaughey Lands OK Legal Thriller!
Rejoice!
As THE LINCOLN LAWYER, Matthew McConaughey, for once gets to keep his shirt on!
He plays dapper yet bottom-feeding defense attorney Michael Haller–Mick for short.
His office: The back seat of his vintage Lincoln sedan sporting license plates that read ‘NTGUILTY.’
Business is flourishing. Lots more wins than losses. That is, until he’s set-up by being tied to a previous murder case which he had lost!
But that’s about as much as I can spill here as the storyline and clients zig, as Mick zags all over the place.
Translation: Multiple twists!
Joe Miller: Calling Out Ed Ford, The Star & The ‘Dangerously Insane’ On KC Political Scene
I’ve just finished a book called The Psychopath Test, by Jon Ronson, who wrote The Men Who Stare at Goats, which was recently made into a movie starring George Clooney. Ronson’s latest book, which comes out in May, is about “the madness industry,” and it says that a disproportionately high number of psychopaths are in leadership positions.
When I read that, I started thinking about all the characters I got to know during my stint at City Hall and wondering which ones might be dangerously insane.
But first, let’s have a little refresher course in psychology. Psychopathy is a unique condition in the annals of headshrinkdom. It refers to people who “are so deficient in empathy and conscience that they pose a threat to their fellow human beings.”
So who in city politics fits that description?
Über scum political operative Steve Glorioso comes to mind, of course. As does Terry Riley, the bullying councilman for the southeast part of the city.
And the name at the top of the list?
Today: Muted Local Media Trades Ad Bucks For Integrity, Views Royals Glass As Half Full
Does anytbody around these parts have the stones to take on David Glass?
Sure doesn’t look that way. With the Kansas City Royals locked into a neverending nosedive, you’d think the town’s top providers of news and sports would be all over the team’s owner to shape up or ship out. But funny thing, everybody’s too busy harvesting the team’s ad dollars to belly up to the tell-it-like-it-is bar.
Everybody who’s anybody, anyway.
Major media with the clout – but not the will – to begin the drum beat. of disatisfaction. The lack of that leadership at 18th and Grand, for example, renders the town largely voiceless and helps insure KC’s status quo as Mudville, USA. A state that will continue for years or until owner David Glass’s death or a financial reversal forcing him to sell the team.
Enter lifelong baseball and Royals fan Andy Lewellen.…
Take 64: My Thoughts On The Brackets & NCAA Tourney
You would think the schedulers could figure out a way to not start the Mizzou and K-State games with 20 minutes of each other. The Kansas City market housed the NCAA offices for decades and was home to more Final Fours than any other city. So how about showing us some love and spacing the opening round games for our three area teams over two days in a way we can watch them?
- Not only are the Mizzou and K-State games being played at the same time tonight, they are both tipping off at about 9:00 PM (CT). Since we already lost that hour to DST last weekend, some of us are gonna need to be tased to make it through the second half. Can you imagine what Jack Harry must go through to stay awake past 11:00 PM? He’s probably gonna miss the entire set of afternoon games while he’s napping with Gary Lezak’s dogs down at TV-41’s studios.
Sounds Good: Patio Show @ Replay, Galactic @ Granada & DeVotchKa, Quixotic @ Midland
I love St. Patrick’s Day. Granted I’m of Irish heritage, so not only can I drink a whole lot, I’m also transluscent. You can basically see my heart beating through my skin.
Oh, there are other benefits too. Like, for example, I have an extremely short temper. And I have a taste for truly repellant food.
Yes, these are things that I enjoy every day just by virtue of being born Irish-American. But on this one day, you too can see what it’s like to be a real Irishman.
First things first, you’re gonna need a bucket and a shitload of green beer…
Starbeams: Micheal Mahoney’s Hair, KCPD DUI Van, Cheap Trick to Rescue & V8
The grand marshal for Kansas City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be Micheal Mahoney from KMBC Channel 9.
Several parade workers will be walking along next to Mahoney’s car with giant ropes tethered to his hair.
*******
Westport will be one giant sobriety checkpoint on St. Patrick’s Day. The KCPD has a new $395,000 mobile van that can do 5 breathalyzer tests at a time. Something about wanting to be ready when the Backstreet Boys hit town.
Hovick: Death of a Concert Artist, Danny Mayo
My friend in the concert business Daniel “Danny” Mayo died of a sudden heart attack in his sleep this past weekend.
I’ve talked to quite a few mutual friends and the surprise of losing Danny, his passion, his art and his sense of humor is a loss to many in the Kansas City entertainment industry.
Danny painted on a big canvas.
He created stage and lighting designs for private events for many years. And he had a long list of loyal clients. Charity organizations could count on Danny to light a mountain on a molehill budget. Danny was a welcome sight in every venue hosting an event in Kansas City.
Glazer: The Next Big Thing, America, Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide!
.jpg)
The information highway proudly presents: THE INFORMATION UNIT...
In the next couple years it’s coming to a hand on your body. The one thing everyone will have, carry, love and hate – all at the same time – in one simple package.
What looks like an iPhone will in fact become, well, central to everything in your life. The UNIT, will still work as a cell phone and micro computer for calling and texting. However the UNIT will have everything about YOU in it or on it. Your I.D., as in your drivers license, Passport, social security card, insurance information, your credit cards, criminal history (well, mine anyway), birth certificate, car registration.
I think you get the picture – your entire life, finally, in one spot on one device.
Donnelly: Hanging Chad to party with Sporting KC. For Real but For What?
Apparently, the impending NFL lockout is worrying even some of the league’s biggest stars…
Players are tightening their belts, forgoing the purchase of that 10th gaudy necklace, reigning in their budgets for Vegas benders, and even getting second jobs to pick up the slack.
Enter merry prankster Chad Ochocinco. Apparently, the Cincinnati Bengals receiver wants to work in KC this offseason, but not with his hands…
And now Sporting Kansas City has just announced that they have invited Mr. Ochocinco in for a four day trial period, after which they’ll determine if they want to keep the star wide receiver around for a bit longer.
Publicity stunt? Not so fast.
OTC: The Kim’s English Can Often Be Difficult To Understand
Kim English, when asked by Nate Bukaty and Steven St. John about his controversial comments regarding his Mizzou team quitting against Texas A&M in the Big 12 tourney, 810 AM
GH: I sure wish Kim would have named names – or better yet Bukaty and SSJ could have done a better job in the interview and asked him to name names. Was it Kevin Kietzman on KC radio English thinks burned him? Mike DeArmond’s story in The Star? Jack Harry on TV 41? Does English think the KC media is much tougher than the St. Louis scribes? Lots of good questions went unasked here by 810’s Border Patrol.
“I just didn’t expect us to go out like that. It’s the first time in my however many games I thought we quit.”
Kim English, following Mizzou’s loss to Texas A&M last week, Kansas City Star
GH: This is the quote that brought English so much media attention. I read it and heard English’s recorded voice verbalize this thought on radio. He was not misquoted or taken out of context. But he wants us all to believe it is the media’s fault this is controversial. Read on.
Kim English, following Mizzou’s loss to Texas A&M last week, Kansas City Star
GH: This is the quote that brought English so much media attention. I read it and heard English’s recorded voice verbalize this thought on radio. He was not misquoted or taken out of context. But he wants us all to believe it is the media’s fault this is controversial. Read on.
Today: Sandstone Back for 4th Year with Rock Star Passes, July Start
Don’t look now but the Dean of the Kansas City concert scene, Chris Fritz is back…
Despite trying economic times, cutthroat competition everywhere you turn, Fritz and cohort Josh Hunt are bringing back Capitol Federal Park@Sandstone for a fourth concert season.
Only this time, they’re dodging the rain bullet
“We’ve got a great schedule lined up,” Fritz says. “But we’re starting a little later this year – we’re not trying to do April or May shows anymore. We’re not starting until July 6th with the Warped Tour.”
Fritz declined to reveal this year’s lineup but three of the shows in the can are…
Starbeams: Meltdowns Nuclear & Political, Disaster PC, KU Does Facebook & Duck Calls
I’m trying to figure out where I stand on nuclear energy. I haven’t seen a rod meltdown like this since former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
*******
The MATT DAMON movie "Hereafter" has been removed from theaters in Japan, because it includes a recreation of the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean. It’s the same political correctness that kept Hollywood from releasing "Twister" in the spring of 1996 – NOT!
Glazer: Who Really Deserves a Memorial in Westport?
Much has been said lately about "honoring the dead" in mid-town…
Most recently about the makeshift memorial that went up, and then finally, five months later, down, for Brian Euston.
But the fact is, Westport has had too many untimely deaths over the past 30 years. Perhaps the most significant being that of Kansas City police officer Jim Leach in 1992. Jim was running the evening security in Westport at that time, and had been putting up a road block late one weekend night. Out of nowhere a ‘white,’ drunk driver slammed into Jim, killing him on the spot.
Jim was loved by everyone in Westport and that became his beat every day.
The merchants put a plaque up on the wall of one of the buildings in Westport to honor Jim. Westport even held a golf tournament in his name for 10 years to raise money for charity.
There were no photos or flowers of Jim Leach partying to mark the spot or area where he was killed.
Tracy: KC Radio Great Mike Murphy’s Funeral–Into The Mystic
It was an afternoon and evening to remember…
A reunion of old-guard Kansas City leadership – and not just radio people. A grand send-off to an iconic Kansas City personality who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Salvation Army and many other causes over his 46-year career.
Three Kansas City mayors attended; Charles Wheeler, Dick Berkley and Mark Funkhouser.
Mayoral candidate Mike Burke dropped by earlier for the visitation (and tacklly a staffer of his planted a huge Burke sign in the middle of the lawn at McGilley’s Chapel).
Former KC mayor Kay Barnes did NOT attend. Perhaps afraid she’d be chastised for her bogus enforcement of a century old ordinance banning livestock from KC streets. A manuever that drove Murphy’s famed Cattle Drive to its final resting place in the suburbs of Mission, Kansas.
Take 357: Mike Murphy’s Friends, Folly & Funeral
I met Mike Murphy in 1981 on a drive from Omaha to Sioux Center, Iowa while I was working my sales territory in a two-state area. A fellow salesmen in Kansas City had mentioned to me I might be able to pick up KCMO 810 radio during my daytime drives across Nebraska and Iowa. I dialed in the scratchy sound of Murphy talking to some guy about water pressure.“You know what I like?” Murph said to his guest. “I like that water pressure to be dialed up so high that I can stand in my front yard with my hose in hand and cold-cock a squirrel from 30 or 40 feet!” Yeah. I was hooked.
I left work Monday just after 5:00 PM still debating whether or not I should go to the Garbage Star’s funeral. I do not enjoy anything about funerals. They seem to me to be a cruel reminder to those left behind of their loss. I paused at the intersection of College & State Line Road before turning south toward McGilley’s Funeral Chapel.
Today: No Sale, Lew’s ‘Zack Grienke Land’ Alive & Well Despite Pitcher’s Departure
The days (and nights) of Zach Greinke packing The K are mostly behind him…
So, in all likeihood, are the ones of his pitching starts packing popular Waldo watreing hole Lew’s Grill & Bar. Raising the question of what will become of the Facebook blasts Lew’s has been sending out the past two years for everything from a Greinke game gatherings to Beer Pong tourneys.
And the answer is nothing – Zack Geinke Land is going nowhere.
Fast…
Glazer: Jimmy Walker Headed to KC in May to Work on Tell-All Book
Jimmy Walker has worked Stanford’s since 1995.
He’s become a close friend of mine, more than any other comic. We hang out together in LA and Vegas where Jimmy lives.
A year ago he decided it was time to write his life story. So I put him in touch with my co writing partner, Sal Manna. Sal, helped me write THE KING OF STING. My life story, or part one, anyway.
Sal’s a fantastic writer. He’s has been a top notch journalist for three-plus decades with the LA Times, People Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, Rolling Stone and many others. This will be his fourth book. The working title is, EVERYTHING IS NOT DYNAMITE.
And Walker will do most of the work with Manna here in KC the first week of May while he’s at Stanford’s.
Your 2011 Off The Couch Bracket Challenge!
Haven’t you read the Comments section of OTC and thought to yourself, "Geez, at least I’m smarter than that idiot." Well, here is your chance to prove it. Copy and paste the above link into your browser, register online and then fill out your winner. I haven’t decided on what the winner will receive but I am taking suggestions from any sponsors who would like to be affiliated with this well-heeled and strikingly mediocre looking bunch.Password: offthecouch
2011 Off The Couch NCAA Bracket Contest!
Haven’t you read the Comments section of OTC and thought to yourself, "Geez, at least I’m smarter than that idiot." Well, here is your chance to prove it. Click on the link below or copy and paste it into your browser, register online and then fill out your winner. I haven’t decided on what the winner will receive but I am taking suggestions from any sponsors who would like to be affiliated with this well-heeled and strikingly mediocre looking bunch. Good luck to all — especially those who need it most (aka / Harley).
http://otc2011.mayhem.cbssports.com/e
Password: offthecouch
New Jack City: What Do You Say To A Naked Lady?
It wasn’t always easy!
Back in the early 80’s porn had come out of the shadows and became fashionable. Kansas City sported a number of so-called Adult Theaters dedicated to showing it all—generally porn movies veiled in flimsy storylines. One of the most popular of these porn palaces was the Old Chelsea theater at about 13th and Broadway.
The industry produced its own stars back then. Names like Annette Haven, Annie Sprinkle, Linda Lovelace, Seka, Jesie St. James, Little Oral Annie, Misty Dawn, Traci Lords, and Hyapatia Lee dotted the sex movie horizon.
And just like mainstream stars hit the road to promote their latest films, so did their adult counterparts during their heydays.
A promotional stop for many-of the porn variety—was KY-102 and its Friday afternoon live movie magazine called JACK GOES TO THE MOVIES featuring—-me.
