Yearly Archives: 2011
Tony: Typically Lame Avalanche of Local Snow Coverage
Newsflash: Throughout the metro area it’s snowing a lot right now. Anyone lucky enough to have a window knows as much. However, local media broadcast this "blizzard" as if it were the Second Coming.
Yes, yes I know that in terms of public safety people need to know the street condiditons and forecasts. But no one can reasonably argue that this blanket snow storm coverage isn’t overkill.
In the past, local news stations have attempted to tone it down but there’s just no stopping weather newsies when they get something halfway important to report. KCTV5 weather lady Katie Horner has the worst reputation regarding this kind of mania. But, she’s not the only guilty party.
What’s worse is that this trend has taken hold on the Internet as well with even worse results.
STARBEAMS: Snow Storm Nomenclature … Notoriously Big!
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We had a contest to name this winter storm on Gen X Radio 99.7.
Your submissions:
Snowmegeddon
Blizzard of Oz
Snow-Me-State
Snowtorious B.I.G.
Of course, the storm was predicted by Snowstradamus. The winner was Snowtorious B.I.G.
The term trended number one on KC Twitter and was mentioned Tuesday morning on the Weather Channel by Stephanie Abrams.
Today: Bill Nigro’s Mad as Hell & He Isn’t Gonna Take it Anymore
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There’s smoke pouring out of the eyes, ears, nose and throat of Westport businessman Bill Nigro…
Lots of it.
But all Nigro wants is fair treament from Kansas City’s news media on the effects of smoking bans. But he hasn’t been getting it, so he’s hot. Smoking mad, you might say.
Here’s why.
Star Search: Star Quietly Stuns Staffers With 40 Job Cuts
Talk about snow jobs…
The faux news coverage in today’s Kansas City Star about its stealth layoffs yesterday is disingenuous at best. Why? Because while the story reads, "The Kansas City Star announced Monday it is eliminating the jobs of about 20 employees and cutting a similar number of unfilled positions," little to no evidence exists of any such announcement.
No press releases, no meaningful news coverage on its Web site. Just a buried business brief in today’s paper and a lone comment on the Star Web site from a reader who didn’t find the story until 24 hours after the fact.
Clear evidence of the Star’s’s Grade A job of turning its layoffs story into a journalistic game of hide-and-go-seek.
Tony: Graying of Hip-Hop Nation, Local Hip-Hop Gets Older And Recycled
Because so many of the d-bags online in Kansas City are haplessly and helplessly white bread they may not know that rather recently a local hip-hop event on 18th and Vine marked the latest greatest hope for that embattled entertainment district.
It was a heartfelt tribute to the work of A Tribe Called Quest.
So of course I have to hate all over the well-intentioned celebration of local hip-hop covers while still noting that it’s only slightly better than The Jersey Shore look-a-like money losing party that happens at The P&L District.
It’s a given that everything that happens on the East Side is more creative than local mainstream culture. But in this town it’s a matter of fact that people of color have to be several times better than their Caucasian counterparts. Since I’m up to that task, allow me to explain:
Joe Miller: Three Reasons to Give Thanks for KC Mayor Mark Funkhouser
The Star’s city politics kingmaker, Yael Abouhalkah, issued a mea culpa this week for having helped Mark Funkhouser get elected mayor four years ago.
I suppose I should do the same thing here.
I suppose I should also respond to the Funk’s latest online video, in which he described everyone against him as a corrupt zombie who wants Kansas City to remain a patronage trough. Here again, Yael had a good response when he pointed out that virtually all of Funk’s initial supporters for his campaign are now against him.
And we’re all just as a anti-hog-trough as we were back then.
But I’m not going to do any of that. Instead, I’m going to celebrate Funkhouser’s accomplishments in office. And I’m going to look back at some of the good times we had.
Hearne: Goodbye Cruel World, Star Drops Layoffs Bombshell on Staff
They said it wouldn’t be done…
Nearly a month after notifying department heads of the need for staff cuts – then waiting a tortuously long time – the Kansas City Star unloaded on the faithful this morning as the cutting began.
As expected, the cuts come on the first day of a new pay period, Friday having been payday. However, the rumor was employees might have somehow dodged the layoffs bullet afer weeks passed and January came to an end.
It’s early but staffers rumored to have taken the hits include copy editor Don Munday who doubles as the newspaper’s Monday morning poetry quarterback with his Page 2 "Munday on Monday" poetry feature.
Munday declined to comment, but insiders say he was one of a group of staffers offered a buyout. Another, longtime reporter, Jim Sullinger, reportedly got the same offer and took the Star up on it.
New Jack City: AARP Metamucil Spiked Movie Award Winners!
Is the awards’ season getting a bit long in the tooth or is it me?
Sure seems like it, as the AARP has now joined in with its 10th annual MOVIES FOR GROWNUP AWARDS.
The group claims to have watched more than 100 films and after countless hours (and however many consultations with their adult children) has announced the following winners:
* BEST MOVIE FOR GROWNUPS: The King’s Speech
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OTC: Wally Judges Frank Martin To Be Lacking
"Wally (Judge) quit the team today.”Frank Martin, according to a tweet from The Star’s Kellis Robinette, Twitter
GH: Whoa. Is Manhattan now Iowa City west – where a new bombshell explodes over the Frank Martin’s Cats’ each week? First Dominique Sutton bolts the program last July. Then Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly get pinched for their Dillards dash. Highly regarded juco transfer Freddy Asprilla leaves the program after a tough practice. K-State gets embarrassed by Kansas on Saturday and then Martin announces his most acclaimed recruit, Wally Judge, has left the building. Whoa.
“He’s not happy. I kinda saw it coming because of some of his emotional situations.”
Frank Martin, via Robinette’s tweet
GH: So now Martin is going to publicly label Judge’s issues at Kansas State as “emotional?” What a load of purple garbage. Man up, Frank. It’s your program and you are the common denominator in the issues that have invaded and destroyed your team. Martin is making millions and he wants to paint a 19-year-old kid as an emotional cripple? That’ll really help Wally find a new school. Damn, that is a low blow coming from Frank. Maybe we should rename him Not Very Frank.
Frank Martin, via Robinette’s tweet
GH: So now Martin is going to publicly label Judge’s issues at Kansas State as “emotional?” What a load of purple garbage. Man up, Frank. It’s your program and you are the common denominator in the issues that have invaded and destroyed your team. Martin is making millions and he wants to paint a 19-year-old kid as an emotional cripple? That’ll really help Wally find a new school. Damn, that is a low blow coming from Frank. Maybe we should rename him Not Very Frank.
Today: Questions of Kelly’s Overserving Brian Euston Reminds of Peanut Death 4 Years Ago
Did Kelly‘s overserve 24 year-old Brian Euston man who died last year?
And if so what sort of penalties might the Westport bar suffer for doing so? Those are questions only the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control and KC’s Regulated Industries can answer. And right now they’re not talking.
But sources say an investigation of Kelly’s regarding the incident is imminent.
Euston had gone to Kelly’s to party with friends that fateful October night and stayed until closing time after his friends had left. He later was on the receiving end of a one-punch fight outside America’s Pub. That after getting in the faces of several people and a man and his girlfriend, prosecutors say. Euston fell, hit his head and later died.
The wild card: Euston was astonishingly super drunk with a .387 blood alcohol level. A level experts say often results in unconsiousness, even death.
As for what kind of trouble Kelly’s could get into, there are precedents.
Edelman: KC Rep Asks and Tells the Right Stuff
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Behind the headlines and beyond the soundbites, gays in the military have had a hell of a time getting any respect.
Marc Wolf’s compelling new play, ANOTHER AMERICAN: ASKING AND TELLING (now through next Sunday, Feb 6 at KC Rep on the UMKC campus), sheds the harsh flood light of reality on the predicaments of these patriots. Armchair generals be forewarned: this is not a story that’s going to make you proud to be an American.
Joe Miller: Vinyl Renaissance vs.The Democratization of Music
On Friday, I got a $75 check in the mail that I wasn’t expecting, so I cashed it and headed straight for Vinyl Renaissance to feed my latest addiction.
I was having a great time putting together a stack of wax to take home and trip out on. Midway through my shopping frenzy, though, I remembered something I saw a few days ago on the store’s online Internet website: a turntable-buyers discount program. I thought, Hey! I bought me a turntable at this store, a totally cool vintage Dual with a brand-new Ortofon cartridge.
So I went to the man at the cash register and I said, “What’s up with your turntable-buyer’s discount plan?”
Donnelly: Old 97’s at the Bottleneck, January 28, 2011
Life on the road as a touring rock band can be hard. Between the late nights, heavy drinking, living on a bus, and generally treating your body like a dumpster, it’ll age you quicker than you want if you’re not careful.
But not Rhett Miller. He knows the proper balance by heart. Though he’s fronted Old 97’s for almost 20 years and eight studio albums, he still looks like that baby-faced kid who was too young to appear on Dallas stages back in 1993 with tales of whiskey and the West.
"This place is like a time machine," said the sentimental, old 97’s frontman to the sold out Friday night crowd. "You all went to college and got jobs – we came to the Bottleneck."
Hearne: Tony, Tony, Tony! Remembering Chiefs Legend Tony DiPardo
Where to begin…
The obituaries are in, longtime Chiefs bandleader Tony DiPardo’s legendary contributions to the team and Kansas City extolled. The standard issue good stuff having been said, it’s time for some Tony D flashbacks from my years of partying with him (journalistically) in the pages of the Kansas City Star.
And then some…
Starting in 1993 when I called on TD to enhance a column by bringing his horn to 18th and Grand and blowing "War Dance!" in a tiny studio off the main newsroom. Off key as it was even then, it brought shit-eaters to the faces of editors and reporters alike who had little choice but to endure the many takes it took to get it more-or-less right for readers to call and hear the little man wail.
Tony: Kansas City’s Dumbest Move Of The Month, Quitter Gil Meche
Baseball in Kansas City is pretty much insignificant and mostly minor league, so I don’t feel like I have to be an expert in order to explain my complete and total disdain for the irresponsible actions of Gil Meche.
Let’s review.
in a resoundingly stupid decision this week the Royals pitcher decided to forgo a salary of $12 million for basically doing nothing and INSTEAD chosimng to retire.
Never before have I wished so hard for a line drive down the middle of the field.
For his fake version of selflessness Meche has been lauded by one person after the next.
Meche contended that "I wasn’t earning my money" and walked away from the game and into retirement. I humbly submit that this isn’t only the stupidest thing that’s ever done, it’s also just plain unAmerican.
Here’s why:
Glazer: The Five Greatest Sports Leaders in Kansas City History!
Kansas City sees itself as a big time sports city…
And face it, that’s really all that matters. Because deep down, we know that overall as fans we’ve been screwed. We haven’t had much national attention the last 70 years. But we’ve had our moments. So here are the top five coach’s/managers/leaders of our area’s big name pro and college teams. Since we’ve only got a handful of national titles the list is just five. Here they are.
1) Without argument that title goes to Chiefs all-time best Hank Stram. Now a Hall of Famer. Hank led the Chiefs to TWO World Championship games. The Super Bowl. In a way our greatest moment may have been been being the first AFL team to go to the big game in the 1966 season. We lost to Green Bay, but just going was huge. Stram Coached the Kansas City Chiefs from 1963-1974. The Chiefs greatness ended in 1972 at home to the Miami Dolphins in what was then the longest game in NFL history.
Of course we lost.
Today: The Ridiculously High Blood Alcohol Content of Brian Euston & What It Means
About deceased Westport party boy Brian Euston’s blood alcohol levels…
After spending an evening at Kelly’s in Westport with his friends, Euston blasted off in the wee small hours of the morning at closing time last fall for parts unknown. Then, after being "overly friendly" to a man’s girlfriend near America’s Pub – and being warned to leave her alone, but persisting in "getting into" her face – Euston was punched, fell, hit his head and later died, prosecutors say.
Now forget about the racial or security aspects of the incident…
The bottom line is Euston’s blood-alcohol level was .387, nearly five times the legal limit for drinking and driving. Five times!
".387 is pretty damn high," says an area attorney specializing in DUI law. "I mean, close to the highest I’ve seen. I’ve heard of people dying of alcohol poisoning at less than that. The fact that the kid could even walk is surprising to me. If you’re at .300 even there’s a good chance you’re face down in your own vomit."
Jack Goes Confidential: Statham vs. Hopkins–The Choices Are Only So-So!
Two opposites attract—at the boxoffice, that is!
It’s Hollywood’s current major action star Jason Statham in this weekend’s face-off with actor’s actor Anthony Hopkins who’s practicing exorcism on this go-around. With both practicing what they do best; desperately trying to overcome basic B-movie material.
First off it’s kick-ass Jason Statham as Arthur Bishop—a.k.a. THE MECHANIC—a top of the line assassin described by his mentor Donald Sutherland as "a goddamned machine." A totally detached hit-man who’ll do any job if the price is right.
Statham’s latest target—his mentor (Sutherland). Will he actually go through with it?
Damn right he will!!
OTC: KU’s Funeral Trip Revisited & Debated By 610’s Shan Shariff
“Greg Hall’s suggesting that the attendance of the KU basketball team at Thomas Robinson’s mom’s funeral will be detrimental and somehow hurt this team going forward. How in the hell is that a possibility? … I think it’s asinine. I think it’s silly. I think it’s dumb. I think it’s stupid. And I think it’s blind.”Shan Shariff, responding to my column earlier this week questioning the decision to fly the Kansas basketball team back to Washington D.C. for Thomas Robinson’s mother’s funeral, 610 AM
GH: I am guessing Shariff doesn’t agree with my take. Or maybe he simply did not understand my concerns. Read on.
“My question and my response (to Hall’s column) is, where are our priorities?”
Shan Shariff, 610 AM
GH: Where are our priorities when it comes to college sports? Where are our priorities when it comes to paying a head coach $3 million per season to coach college basketball? Where are our priorities when the “privilege” of buying already exorbitantly-priced tickets is tied to fans having to donate tens of thousands of dollars (and more) to a mysterious but-rarely-questioned entity called The Williams Fund? It is obvious where our priorities are when it comes to Kansas basketball. They are obscenely tilted toward the manic need to feed the financial beast that nourishes the self-worth of a proud but skewed Jayhawk fan base. A fan base no different than Nebraska football or a number of college towns we all know well.
Shan Shariff, 610 AM
GH: Where are our priorities when it comes to college sports? Where are our priorities when it comes to paying a head coach $3 million per season to coach college basketball? Where are our priorities when the “privilege” of buying already exorbitantly-priced tickets is tied to fans having to donate tens of thousands of dollars (and more) to a mysterious but-rarely-questioned entity called The Williams Fund? It is obvious where our priorities are when it comes to Kansas basketball. They are obscenely tilted toward the manic need to feed the financial beast that nourishes the self-worth of a proud but skewed Jayhawk fan base. A fan base no different than Nebraska football or a number of college towns we all know well.
Starbeams: QE2 Docks in OP, Cattle on Drugs & the IRS Slave Labor Blues
The Overland Park Boat Show is this weekend at the Convention Center. This is where Overland Park people show how good they are at navigating through giant bail-outs.
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More and more moms are concerned with the level of drugs being found in cattle. They’re worried it could be contaminating the nation’s milk supply and now the FDA is investigating.
The FDA became concerned when a dozen cows qualified for this year’s Tour de France.
