Author Archives: admin
Hearne: Jardine’s Sudden Death Sale Coming Down to the Wire Wednesday
There have surely been dicier business propositions than the sale of Jardine’s...
Then again, I’ve yet to be privy to one. Let’s review, shall we?
Following a series of flareups with her manager / chef, Jardine’s owner Beena Raja and a hairstylist pal returned to the club by cab in the wee hours Thanksgiving morning to retrieve the stylist’s car. Only to discover a passel of servers drinking and smoking illegally after hours at the club. On Jardine’s dime, no less, Raja says.
Here’s where it gets a little dicey.
Starbeams: Red Light Cam Mythology, West Edge Boom & Driveway Blues
A new study by KCPD finds red-light cameras do not decrease the number of injury accidents at intersections. In fact, rear-end wrecks, injury wrecks and overall wrecks increased dramatically. Police became suspicious when they realized the cameras were made by Maaco.
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Construction in the KC area was off 43 percent in 2011. In fact, there wouldn’t have been any construction work at all if it weren’t for the West-Edge project on the Plaza.
Glazer: No Family Feud Here, Stan Glazer Turns 80, Parties at InterContinental
Well, my dad Stan Glazer turned 80 on New Years Day…
That’s a real milestone in our family because not only is he the oldest living male Glazer, as far as we know, he’s now the oldest ever. Most of our us pass away in our 70’s.
Stan’s wife, Lori Glazer – about half my dad’s age at 42 – threw a big splash at the InterContinental hotel on the Plaza. They used the top floor and bar area which holds several hundred. It was mostly friends and family that attended with just over 200 people.
And get this, the last time I was in that space it was in 2003 for my own wedding reception.
Yep, I got married at what was then the Fairmont – big wedding and dinner – those people at that hotel do it right.
Stan’s bash started at 8 PM and went until nearly midnight. And lots of KC "names" were there. Far too many to mention here, but some you might know include former Chiefs Hall of Famers Bobby Bell and Ed Budde, former KC mayor Richard Berkley, several city councilmen, David Block, The Mermaid, Jack Possiger, former Royals GM Cedric Tallis‘s daughter and Folly Theatre guru Gayle Tallis and on and on.
I took Jessie, the hottie whose picture you’ve seen here several times lately.
Hearne: Former Club Concert Kingpin Looks at Life From an 8 by 8 Room
Hank Williams III, Jane’s Addiction, Big & Rich, B.B. King…
Former Beaumont Club main man Jon Lunkwicz has partied with the best. For year’s he was the force behind hundreds of Kansas City’s top club level shows in the popular Westport live music emporium.
No mas.
Three short years ago the 60 year-old Lunkwicz awakened to find himself paralyzed. He’s since retired and now lives in a long term care facility just outside Kansas City.
"My world’s very uncomplicated," Lunkwicz muses. "It’s about an eight by eight space and I suspect the food’s about as good as prison food. And I get to shower about twice a week, that’s pretty exciting."
There’s more.
New Jack City: Few Surprises In Today’s Oscar Nominations
The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences announced today its nominees for the best on film for 2011.
The actual OSCAR awards will be presented Sunday, February 26th on ABC with Billy Crystal hosting.
The scorecard has HUGO in 1st with 11 nominations, followed closely behind by THE ARTIST with 10.
Other big hauls this morning were by MONEYBALL and WAR HORSE, with each scoring six nominations.
THE DESCENDANTS and THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO had five each. And THE HELP and MIDNIGHT IN PARIS both got four Academy Award nominations.
Now here are the Oscar nominations in the major categories as well as my takes on them:
Hearne: Nelson-Atkins Museum to Party Arty Patrons; Lay Down Your Arms!
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It’s not often patrons at an upscale society shindig have to be warned to unarmed…
But that’s exactly what happened in the case of Saturday’s Party Arty at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. This year’s theme, "All the World’s a Fair," advised attendees to a) "come dressed" and b) "Steampunk flair preferred."
Here’s where it gets a little odd.
"No prop weapons or real weapons will be allowed in the Museum," the invite cautioned. "Security reserves the right to deny entry to guests whose attire and/or behavior compromises the safety of guests."
A high society event that urges partygoers to engage in themed costumary, and in the next breath warns them not to come packing?
You got it.
Donnelly: Danny Pound at the Lawrence Arts Center, January 21, 2012
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Saturday night’s Danny Pound Review, featuring Danny, Arthur Dodge, Matt Suggs, and Suzannah Johannes, could have used a tad more music…
After the sold out show – my first ever at the Lawrence Arts Center – I couldn’t help but think back to 2004 when I saw Ryan Adams at the Lied Center in Lawrence.
During Adams’ performance, which as always featured rambling, incoherent stories and unprofessionalism at its best, someone in the audience yelled, “Less talk, more rock!” For those not familiar, this is the quickest way to piss off a performer.
Adams scanned the audience, and demanded, “Who said that?” When the guy raised his proud hand, Adams replied with something like, “Shut your fucking face, I’m Ryan Adams and you’re some jerkoff who yells stuff.”
But the culprit Saturday wasn’t a boozed up, prima donna musician. Nope, it was the emcee, Tim, who seemed to sap more stage time than the bands.
New Jack City: Feds Force Airlines to Show Us the Money!
With the frustration over a la carte pricing by airlines these days, the government is fighting back...
Starting this week, the Feds are forcing carriers to become more transparent when it comes to airfare pricing and the online purchasing of tickets.
Since forever airlines have been using low prices as come-ons in their advertising only to ambush frustrated customers with veiled final pricing that includes additional taxes, fees and fuel surcharges.
But now, as of later this week, the airlines must reconfigure their "now you see it now you don’t" selling model in the following manner:
** Advertised fares must include all government taxes and other associated fees such as fuel surcharges which can add 30% to 50% to the final ticket price.
Glazer: Eat My Dust, Scribe Tells Non Believers After Perfect NFL Picks
This is why I make the big bucks!
Your humble scribe picked BOTH NFL playoff winners this past weekend. New England with sexy Tommy, and those hard charging New York Giants. Hey, I picked them both last year too. When you got it, you got it.
My early pick for the winner of this year’s Super Bowl: NEW ENGLAND, currently at -31/2. Yeah, I like the Pats.
I know many of you all wanted the Harbaugh Bowl, sorry. By the way, you had to reread the KC Star a few times today to find either Harbaugh name even mentioned, it came up once in four articles, wow.
You saw the missed field goal? We know that feeling here (twice).
The one Jan Stenerud missed against Miami in 1972 was the end of the Chiefs era as an elite team.
They would never again matter.
Leftridge: Tales From the Tweet: Pioli Perverts Privacy & Darvish Does Dallas
Well, it’s been awhile since I cracked open the ol’ Twitter and had a looksie, and because of the absence, I expected a cornucopia of information to come cascading down upon my head as soon as I logged in. Twitter, however, had different plans. Namely: there wasn’t a whole lot of anything going down. Despite being in college basketball conference play, baseball arbitration coming and going, and the NFL playoffs being in full bloom… crickets.
One thing that was being tweeted and re-tweeted, however, was reaction to the recent Kansas City Star expose by Kent Babb about the frighteningly “Russian factory-like” working conditions at One Arrowhead Drive. Since you’ve probably already read the piece—and if you haven’t, you should—I won’t rehash it in painstaking detail. Even if you haven’t read it, you’ve probably heard the key pieces: decoy candy-bar wrappers left on stairs to test employee laziness. Spy-thriller tales of bugged rooms and tapped phones. Constant, paranoia inducing monitoring of all comings and goings. Todd Haley trading in his grimy, sweat-stained ball cap for a tinfoil hat.
So what do local radio people have to say? Well, it depends where you work. If you’re with 810, you said nothing.
Donnelly: A Quick Chat With Sporting KC Second Round Pick, Cyprian Hedrick
With the home opener less than two months away, Sporting KC is gearing up for the 2012 season…
Friday, the team endured the legendary "beep test," which is a running exercise used to measure the team’s overall fitness levels at the beginning of preseason.
It’s dreaded by SKC players, but is a necessary evil for coach Peter Vermes’ preferred style of play, which involves a lot of running and pressure all over the field. Word is that overall, the team showed up in even better shape than at this point last year, so that’s a good sign players are really buying into the system.
Prior to the "beep test" I had the chance to catch up with one of Sporting KC’s newest additions, defender Cyprian Hedrick (Sip-REE-an HE-drick), who was taken in the second round of the MLS SuperDraft out of Coastal Carolina. He was the 2011 Big South Defensive Player of the Year, and a decent sized, athletic player with the physical tools to play in the league right away if needed.
Most likely, though, he’ll come off the bench, at least at first, and provide some defensive depth on the squad.
Hearne: Broadway Stars Pay Tribute to KU, Pull Tiger Tails at Kauffman Center
Who would have thunk it?
That a packed house at the opening night show of Broadway stars Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin would devolve into a KU Schmaltz Fest.
That’s right, schmaltz fest.
"Mandy went to KU," explains promoter Mark Edelman. "So in the middle of the show he started talking about KU and everybody in the audience started yelling that he should do the cheer, so he started doing the KU cheer."
As in the famous Rock Chalk Chant that evolved from a cheer former KU chemistry professor, E.H.S. Bailey created for the KU Science Club in 1886. An incantation that former president Teddy Roosevelt reportedly called the greatest college chant he’d ever heard.
You know the drill; "Rock Chalk…Jay-Hawk…KU"
Glazer: Scribe Takes a Very Deep Breath and Unleashes Sunday’s NFL Playoff Picks
Tom Brady may be the best-looking athlete / superstar of all time!
He’s in his seventh Championship Game, which is unequaled. And if he wins Sunday, he will, enters his fifth Super Bowl. That’s never been done before either. Brady then – win or lose – becomes the best quarterback of modern times, passing our former QB Joe Montana.
COOL.
I mean, what can you say bad about Brady? Anything? Oh yeah, besides, "I hate New England, they win all the time." So do the Yankees and that’s what it’s all about.
I know many of you want the Brothers Harbaugh Bowl. Two head coaches with fantastic seasons, Jim and brother John Harbaugh, will face each other in the Super Bowl if their teams win Sunday. San Francisco and Baltimore.
But I say right here and now that both are done.
Today: Record Breaking Winter Weather Continues, But for How Long?
Will the Winter of 2011 / 2012 be a record breaker?
It’s looking that way so far, says KSHB TV waether wonk Gary Lezak.
"To date, we’ve had .4 of an inch of snow," Lezak says. "And the lowest snowfall ever was 4.5 inches in the winter of 1922-1923. So we’ve got 4.1 inches just to get to the lowest season ever, but there’s no sign of that now."
Hearne: The Sorry State of Affairs in Lawrence & Fond Adieu to MU
Think things are bad in Kansas City, it’s no cakewalk in Lawrence these days either…
That according to businessman John Kiefer, the owner of Kiefs Audio / Video and numerous shopping center and real estate properties around the city.
"Look at the last few months in Lawrence," Kiefer says. "Sears is going to close – that’s an 80,000 square foot store. Old Navy is going to close – that’s a 20,000 square foot store. Borders is gone and nobody’s leased that space. Blockbuster had a pretty good size store on 23rd Street and they’re gone. And downtown people are going in and out like crazy."
Stargazing: Pipeline Smackdown, Return of Chocolate Ale & Erin Lanigan to KCC?
A proposed oil pipeline from Canada through Kansas has been rejected. Mainly, because it wasn’t something Kansas could steal from downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Governor Brownback says he’s willing to allow the pipeline to be built, but only if it goes through the middle of several Planned Parenthood clinics.
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A Shawnee Mission West student got a perfect score on her A.C.T.
Sounds Good: Jack’s Mannequin@Beaumont, Danny Pound Review@Lawrence Arts Center, AWOLNATION@Beaumont
Some big news for Kansas City’s favorite dance/music/acrobatic/visual arts group, Quixotic…
It was recently announced that Quixotic will be a featured "speaker" at the TED Full Spectrum Conference held in Long Beach, California on February 27th – March 2nd. For those unfamiliar with TED, here’s a blurb from their website:
"From dazzling technology and leading-edge science to the richest veins of human creativity and interconnection, we are assembling our most diverse group of speakers ever for TED2012, with just this in common: they have something remarkable to share, and they are able to share it in a remarkable way. We’re inviting them to develop "full spectrum" presentations: blizzards of images, new uses of music, extravagant use of under-used senses, intricate choreography between speaker and screen, new ways of involving the audience, breakthroughs in animation, and intense, campfire-style storytelling."
Sounds kinda weird and new-agey right?
Hearne: The Somewhat Difficult Straits of Jazz in Kansas City
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There’s good news and bad news concerning the state of jazz in Kansas City today….
Mostly bad, actually, but let’s start with what passes for the good. Asked on KCUR FM this week to characterize the state of "modern jazz" here, piano man Mark Lowrey was upbeat…if measured.
"It’s kind of like if a tree falls in a forest kind of deal," the former pizza delivery dude said. "There’s a lot of output but not a lot of support."
As evidenced by the recent closings of both Jardine’s and 1911 Main and the financial woes at the Mutual Musicians Foundation.
In Jardine’s case there’s obviously more to the story, but clearly times have been tough on local jazz. For example Jardine’s owner says she had instituted an across-the-board pay cut last fall for the musicians that performed there – with the lone exception of Stan Kessler‘s band the Sons of Brasil.
Ironically, Kesssler was the one who reportedly called the band boycott of Jardine’s after the owner called the police on his stepson.
Hey, at least things have been colorful.
Glazer: Watch Out Dudes, Women Today Large and in Charge
"Why can’t a woman be more like a man?" asked Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady...
Well, a century later they are!
Today woman make up 49% of the work force, according to the Bureau of Labor. Men are 20% sole supporters of families with women at just over 10% and climbing. Most job losses in the current depression went to men – 80% of jobs lost were on the man side – with 65% of those men getting other jobs at lower pay. Women were not hit as hard due to their roles in education and healthcare. So women suffered less layoffs, while men with construction and manufacturing jobs took big hits.
Women today want to be more like men, especially when it comes to sex.
Jack Goes Confidential: Make that ‘Mother Knows Best’ in Tom Hanks ‘Extremely Loud’
Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock may have top billing, but it’s young Thomas Horn as Oskar who’s the real star in the movie, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE…
It features Hanks working in one of the World Trade Center‘s doomed towers on September 11th—desperately trying to reach his wife on their home’s answering machine.
Gut-wrenching stuff.
