Yearly Archives: 2011
Today: Truck Wars; Basement Dryers Duke It Out In Court Over The Color Yellow
Don’t look now but there’s a foundation civil war brewing in the Cowtown…
One one side, stands a gentleman named Otto Fleck, the owner of a company called Dry Basement. On the other looks to be made up of about anybody else who wants to use the words "dry" and "basement" and/or the color yellow in their foundation repair biz.
Which brings us to a front page story last week in the Star that ran under the headline "Foundation repair companies scrap in court over trucks’ color."
Fleck’s Dry Basement sued Raytown-based competitor Pro Foundation Technology claiming it iinfringed on Dry Basement’s trademark color yellow by fielding a pair of used Penske rental trucks already painted yellow. And because for seven years Dry Basement has had a "fleet" of distinctive, yellow trucks.
Kinda like those bright red trucks Roger the Plumber drives…
OTC: NCAA Gives Colorado Bum Steer & Media Kicks Back
Jay Bilas, on his disappointment in the NCAA men’s basketball committee’s choices for the 68-team field, ESPN
GH: Bilas and the ESPN basketball experts teed up the NCAA selection committee and booted them in the ass for two hours Sunday evening. It was fun to watch and in my opinion well deserved. But would Bilas and his boys been as willing to vent on the committee if ESPN had won the broadcast rights from CBS? When was the last time you heard ESPN’s NFL analysts ripping their league’s bosses like Bilas, Digger and Dickey V did Sunday night? It all comes down to following the money and always will.
“Boy, Jay Bilas last night was just venomous! I’ve never seen him so ticked off!”
Kevin Harlan, 810 AM
GH: Bilas was also tweeting how great a job Digger and Hubert Davis were doing in analyzing the teams in the tourney. Jay’s not quite as frank and honest when it comes to evaluating the work of the stiffs he hangs with on the set. Digger and Hubert are two of the stiffer props on TV.
Starbeams: Royals Win Big, Sprint Invading Poland & Top 10 Passion Killers
The Kansas City Royals prevailed in a lawsuit seeking $25,000 for injuries suffered when Sluggerr threw a hot dog in a fan’s face. It’s the first time the Royals have won something of national relevance since 1985.
*******
Rumors about Sprint buying T-Mobile are still circulating. Sprint is buying its way into global domination. Together with Nextel and T-Mobile, Sprint hopes to invade Poland later this year.
*******
The "three-year glitch" has replaced the "seven-year itch" as the tipping point where couples begin taking each other for granted, according to a new survey. The study finds, at three years, people give fewer compliments, find little quirks to be HUGE annoyances, and have a lot less sex.
The top 10 everyday passion-killers…
Today: Makeshift Brian Euston Memorial in Westport Destroyed, Removed for Family
Just like that that makeshift memorial to Brian Euston in Westport is outta there…
For five months Westporters have wrestled with the desire to take down a gigantic, homemade, paper and plastic memorial of sorts to a 24 year-old man who died there last October. That after allegedly being punched, falling and hitting his head on the sidewalk, following a night of partying into the wee hours of the morning and drinking himself into an astonishingly high .387 blood-alcohol level.
Saturday night vandals ripped the memorial down.
Hearne: Happy Steak & BJ Day (And You Thought We Forgot)
Gentlemen, start your engines…
Monday is the big day, March 14th. The now fully official holiday known as Steak & BJ Day. Never heard of it? C’mon. Even my former editor in the FYI section of the Star, Mary Lou Nolan, stamped her blessings upon the holiday by allowing me to fully report on that day five long years ago!
That’s right, a "family newspaper" that routinely snuffs out commmonplace words like "sucks" and keeps a police state like watchful eye on double entendres that have anything whatsoever to do with s-e-x allowed me to lay one up for a holiday based around blowjobs.
Go figure…
So return with me now to that 2006 column and let’s relive the magic. Then go relive it yourself if you wish later at the Cowtown’s unofficial Steak & BJ Day headquarters, Raoul‘s in Overland Park..
Starbeams: Thawing Out Finger, T-Mobile Lady in Pink, HBO Channels Hitler & Sheen
With temperatures warming this weekend, I’ve suddenly realized that I’ve been wearing mittens so long I’ve forgotten how to give the finger.
*****
Here’s an idea. When they baptize members of the
Westboro (Attorney) Church
, they should hold them under water for 20 minutes.Rumors have surfaced about Overland Park-based Sprint possibly buying T-Mobile.
They don’t really gain a strategic advantage, but it might give them enough leverage to FIRE THAT ANNOYING CHICK IN THE PINK DRESS.
Today: Groupon versus The Kansas City Star, Old Ways Die Hard
Think of it as the difference between the Flintsones and the Jetsons…
The Kansas City Star’s trusty-but–rusty "Star Card" pitted against Groupon’s cutting edge deals-of-the-day email blasts. Once upon a time – like 40 years ago – buy-one get-one free coupon books for restaurant dining were cutting edge.
I remember getting one for Christmas from one of my sisters, heading down to a presigious Plaza restaurant and sheepishly handing the coupon to the server when the check came. It was downhill from the get-go – an excercise in awkwardness that put an immediate end to my usage of the coupons.
And while mercifully, with The Star Card, those coupon-tearing days are gone, the awkwardness remains.
Not so when diners, airbrush tan-wanters – even panty-of-the-month club types – get a half-off deal from Groupon.
Longtime Star Card participant Jardine‘s jazz club on the Plaza can attest to the differences…
Glazer: Hell Rejects Gallagher After Heart Attack On Stage in Minnesota
Even hell doesn’t want Gallagher…
That’s what Jimmie Walker said when he emailed to tell me that Gallagher had suffered a heart attack. Gallagher – his first name is Leo – fell to the stage Thursday in Minnesota. He was working a comedy club called the Whiskey Bones Roadhouse when he suffered the attack.
Gallagher, 64, was doing his fruit and vegetable smashing routine when he simply lost it and splattered onto the stage. The event was captured on video and was released on TMZ.
As many of you may recall, Leo and I went round and round several months ago when he appeared at Stanford & Sons for two nights.
He even turned and punched me in the car after we left NBC studios where he’d just done an interview.
Glazer: The Awful Truth Behind The Charlie Sheen Saga
Now that the dust has settled – a little anyway – here are my thoughts on Charlie Sheen.
In many ways I feel badly for Charlie. Here’s a dude born into the wealth and stardom created by his father Martin Sheen‘s success, Charlie lead a privileged life from childhood. By the time the guy was an adult/teenager he was making some pretty big bucks. In his 20s he was already a movie star with Platoon and Wall Street. He was nominated for an Academy Award. He followed those huge hits with 50 film roles, mostly in the starring role. He even co-starred with Clint Eastwood in THE ROOKIE. Big time stuff. All before he was 35 years-old.
Even at that early age, his life got pretty redundant.. Any pretty girl he wanted was his. Any car or cars. Mansions, no problem. Travel, he saw the world many times. Lived on airplanes, in airports. Stayed in the best hotels.
It gets to you. Clearly it got to Charlie Sheen. Too much, too soon, too often.
Take 5: GH’s Notes On Big 12 Tourney & Surroundings
Glazer: Party For Free at Beaumont in Westport Sunday With Sly, Tracy Ward, Darla & Me
Bill Nigro is tired of the poor Kansas City Missouri leadership. Who isn’t?
To that end he’s backing Sly James for Mayor of Kansas City.
This in the hope that Sly will be more active in getting the city moving forward, cutting crime and becoming someone with a strong national presence. That’s something we’ve lacked for about 50 years.
The Beaumont Club in Westport will host this Sunday’s Party of The Decade. Nigro expects 1,000 people to come. Free beer, food and entertainment. The event starts at 6 PM. Many City Council hopefuls will be on hand, starting with Tracy Ward, the pink-haired maiden up for 6th district city council (at large). Ward plans to help the entertainment industry by doing away with many of the roadblocks to work and bring new business into KCMO.
One that she’ll eliminate is the stupid liquor and health department cards that cost bar and restaurant employees $61.
Kansas does not even have them – they’re meaningless, a rip off.
Today: The Very Strange Departure of Mike Murphy
There’ll be no 71st St. Patrick’s Day celebration for Mike Murphy...
Not on this earth, anyway. No riding atop a garbage truck, waving to the crowd in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade he helped found. Quoth Edgar Allan Poe, nevermore. UFOs have spirited Kansas City’s quirky radio personality away. No more close encounters for us; they’ve got him now.
A few details are beginning to go viral in the wake of his passing Wednesday – starting with that his name was not Mike Murphy.
No blarney.
Car: Ford’s Mulally Cheap Shots Fiat; Lawrence
At first blush, it doesn’t make much sense…
Why would Ford CEO Alan Mulally – poised to break the auto industry compensation record of $73 million – diss the critically acclaimed new Fiat 500? Before it goes on sale no less.
Yet there the sandy-haired, former Lawrence resident is on AutoGuide.com bagging on the Italian micro stallion. Under a headline that reads, "Fiat 500 Will Fail, Says Ford CEO Alan Mulally."
Sounds Good: The Noise FM, Wooten & Clarke, and Keller Williams This Weekend
This weekend there will be some great opportunities to check a few things off that dreaded to-do list…
#1 – See a rockin’ band before they hit it big, so you can be the asshole that tells everyone about it for the next decade even though you barely remember the show because you were ridiculously shitfaced.
Check.
#2 – See a couple of musical legends performing together and pretend like you understand just how expertly they have perfected their craft.
Check.
#3 – Pay twenty bucks to watch some guy that makes funny sounds with his mouth.
And check… Wait- what?… Tell me more about the mouth thing…
JACK GOES CONFIDENTIAL: Aliens Invade Local Megaplexes!
It’s a battle of the ALIENS this weekend at the movies!
The first is a highly-advanced extra terrestrial action-thriller, BATTLE: LOS ANGELES raining down on major cities around the world.
Who are they? Nobody knows but apparently they’re after our water!
But when their war ships hit L.A. they find Marine staff sargeant Aaron Eckhart and his troops ready for the ultimate cliche-ridden battle for human survival.
New Jack City: Beware Big 12 Parking Ripoff, Gouging Galore in Downtown KC
One definition of gouging is "to cheat out of money– to charge too high a price."
Welcome to the Big 12 Tournament in downtown Kansas City!
I was planning to attend a press screening of a movie at the AMC Mainstreet Wednesday afternoon. I usually park at Cosentino’s Market and end up taking home a sack full of goodies from its kickass bakery.
Not this Wednesday!
The AMC Mainstreet validates Cosentino’s parking for up to 3 hours. And if the movie runs a little long – no biggie – it costs a buck.
However all those bets are off when the Big 12 hits town.
Glazer: KC Radio King Johnny Dare Salutes Mike Murphy
Today’s radio giant in Kansas City without question is 98.9 The Rock’s Johnny Dare…
Nobody else comes close.
Johnny has high praise for his former on-air pal Mike Murphy.
"One thing they will never take away from Mike Murphy is that he was the all-time King of Kansas City Radio," Dare says. "His ratings were through the roof, more than a 20 share at times. Nobody will ever do that again, NOBODY."
Today: My Jogging Date With Jim Nutter Sr. by Bill Nigro
It’s said that Omaha has it’s oracle…
In the wilds of Kansas City, we have a gentleman by the name of James B. Nutter, Sr. A local real estate tycoon who some say is a kingmaker. Having reportedly picked mayor after mayor, city councilman after city councilman. Mr. Nutter has been a bit more low key the past few years but that doesn’t mean that inquiring minds don’t still want to know who the man with the polically Midas touch is picking in the upcoming mayoral finale between Sly James and Mike Burke.
Enter (somewhat) nosey Westport businessman and neighborhood jogger dude Bill Nigro.
Nigro likes to stop in on Nutter at his Westport office from time to time and chew the neighborhood and political phat.
OTC: Does Bob Davis’ Homer Act Hurt Or Help KU Broadcasts?
Kevin Kietzman, on the Kansas basketball radio broadcast team, 810 AM
GH: There is no better voice on the radio for play-by-play than Bob Davis. He is the local equivalent to CBS’ Gus Johnson when it comes to mixing volume and adrenaline in a broadcast. But Davis is also a solid 10 when it comes to being an unabashed, blinders-on, Kansas bred, fed and will-be-when-dead homer. I enjoy the hell out of his work but he has slipped to being such a homer for the Hawks that it does detract from the broadcast. I don’t agree with KK on Piper. I think Piper adds some insight to what’s happening on the court and while he roots for his school, he calls the game far more objectively than his partner.
“There’s no way listening to (Bob Davis) that I thought that was the worst call I’ve ever seen because I know those guys get exercised by it. … I have a history of what I think are 50-50 calls that they think are bad calls.”
Danny Clinkscale, on Bob Davis’ call of the late intentional foul on Marcus Morris during the Mizzou game, 810 AM
Hearne: Kansas City Radio Giant Mike Murphy Suffers Stroke, Dies
This just in from Roger the Plumber …
Kansas City broadcasting legend Mike Murphy has suffered a stroke and is gravely ill, Roger reports.
"Mike Murphy had a stroke and he’s in a complete non responsive state," Roger says. He’s at his house and he had asked that he not be resuscitated. So he’s at his house waiting to die."
A sad eventuality that could go down at any minute, Roger says he was told.
The latest: Murphy died tonight shortly before 6:30 pm.