Author Archives: admin
Donnelly: Vermes’ Job Hangs In Balance As Sporting Battle For Their Playoff Lives
Sporting Kansas City has two regular season games remaining, the first at LIVESTRONG Saturday against the New York Red Bulls...
And yes, without a doubt it’s the biggest game of the season. Here’s why:
Depending on how the boys in blue fare, SKC could finish as No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Or they could miss the playoffs altogether. Pressure, anyone?
Sounds Good: Buddy Guy@Knuckleheads, Roger Daltrey@Midland, Brett Dennen & Blind Pilot@Beaumont
After I sort of panned the Michael McDonald/ Boz Scaggs show last week, some commenters suggested I was perhaps an ageist.
But I like what I like. Which does include some old guy stuff like wide brimmed hats, bocce ball, and Buick LeSabres.
And as if that weren’t enough, look at this week’s lineup!
So stand down, good sirs, stand down…
Leftridge: Tales from the Tweet: Posnanski’s Pest, Bowe’s Beaus and Fielder’s Flagrant Fatness
Twitter was a bit dry over the past week and a half. Not dry like two British guys with monocles sitting in front of a fireplace with snifters full of brandy sharing bawdry limericks, but dry like two octogenarians making sweet, powdery love.
There were no fantastically inaccurate Nick Wright injury updates, Javier Arenas has been mum, and I’m guessing they cut off Jose Canseco’s internet service. I mean, come on, would you be surprised at all if you heard that he couldn’t pay his Comcast bill? I know I wouldn’t.
One thing that did manage to get a lot of Tweets was a renegade squirrel in St. Louis.
Brace yourself for the hilarity.
Glazer: Scribe Tires of Being an ATM, Ponders Fine Line Between Money, Friendship
It’s a sad but true, but "Neither a borrower nor a lender be…"
Like many of you good people – I know you’re out there – I’ve suffered from this lifestyle forever. Being the LENDER 99% of the time. I’ve been on the other end a couple times. Both have not been good, except with banks.
Hard to say why I’ve always been such a soft touch, as they say. Maybe I felt, ‘There but for the grace of God go I." Or, "Gee if I don’t help so and so out, one day nobody will help me when I’m in need."
Or maybe it’s a combination of both.
Hearne: Quinton’s Arrives in Waldo Bearing MU-KU Olive Branch
Think of it as the local equivalent of peace breaking out in the Middle East…
Quinton’s Bar & Deli, one of the most popular KU and MU college haunts has splashed down in the wilds of Waldo. That after 20 years of existance as a Lawrence legend specializing in – wait for it – "bread bowls and bomb ass waitresses."
The joint’s practically infamous for having a staff of 60 to 70 college grrrl hotties who party there when they’re off duty. Making it something of a dude magnet and actually difficult to get in at times..
But Quinton’s also been going strong for about 15 years in MU Tiger Country. Complete with a dance club and kickass rooftop patio.
Now its upscale game is afoot in Waldo in the former home of Hannibal’s Waldo Bar.
Today: Star Owner Goes from Golden Boy to ‘Baghdad Bob’ & Captain of Titanic
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Let’s take another look at Kansas City Star parent McClatchy head guy Gary Pruitt...
As my former colleagues at 18th and Grand hunker down and await another likely pre holiday bloodletting, yesterday’s column wondered aloud how Pruitt, having blundered so badly, has managed keep his job. He’s been doling out plank walks by the hundreds to journalists whose only crimes were working at a company he foolishly leveraged at the exact wrong time.
To be clear, layoffs would have come to the Star even if Knight-Ridder still owned the biz. But by Pruitt’s taking on such huge debt, the casualties have been far greater than they likely otherwise would have been. And piloting McClatchy’s stock from $63 to an all but worthless buck is no small feat.
Yet Pruitt still has his job. In what universe does that logic exist?
Glazer: Westport Claws Its Way Back from the Dead, Just in Time for Halloween
Even I was shoveling dirt on Westport just two years back…
However things have changed. Westport had its best summer in a decade, Bill Nigro tells me. And I believe him because I drive through it every week. I do radio there on Friday mornings and live just over the state line in Kansas, so I’m in and around Westport a lot.
How did Westport pull off the best summer in years in this economy?
Well, some of it’s hot new spots are doing great. The Union, which replaced Blayney’s is on fire. They play alternative rock nightly and are packed on weekends. And Aaron Confessori’s trendy Westport Cafe has also been busy. That and some oldies but goodies like McCoy’s, along with its new joint across the street, the Beer Kitchen, which is jammed weekend nights.
"Crime is way, way down," Nigro says. "And Kelly’s deck took off huge this summer and fall with the record warm temperatures. Kelly’s third generation granddaughter, barmaid and beauty queen, Colleen Kelly has taken charge. She’s brought the college kids back and does radio spots now for Kelly’s. She is the new star of Westport."
Starbeams: The Top 5 Demands of the Occupy KC Movement
Today is the 25th day of the Occupy Wall Street protests. And local members of the Occupy KC movement are still at Penn Valley Park.
THE TOP FIVE DEMANDS OF THE OCCUPY KC MOVEMENT:
#5. Allow all KC’s homeless stay at the Helzberg Mansion.
#4. The secret recipe for Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ sauce.
#3. When an ATM machine says "temporarily out of order" everyone in the metro gets $5.
#2. Proof that an alien baby isn’t growing inside KMBC 9 Meteorologist Erin Little.
And the No. 1 demand of Occupy KC is….
Glazer: Scribe Salutes Fallen Fellow ‘Bad Boy,’ The Raiders Al Davis
Nobody can argue that Raiders‘ boss Al Davis, along with men like Lamar Hunt, created the modern NFL..
Both men had teams in the first two Super Bowls. Both lost those games. Yet the Chiefs and Raiders would soon follow up those losses with Super Bowl victories. In fact it was the Vikings who fell to both teams just a few years apart.
And it’s no secret that Chiefs fans hated Al Davis who died this past weekend.
Davis wore black and was the head Raider. The Raiders dominated the Chiefs for the most part through the years under both Davis and Hunt. True, in the Marty Schottenheimer era the Chiefs came back and handled a lesser Raider group for nearly a decade.
TheChiefs were also as the FIRST wild card team and defeated Oakland in 1969, sending KC to its first and only Super Bowl win in 1970. However that’s where our good fortunes mostly ended.
The Raiders have been far better than KC over the long haul.
Starbeams: KC ‘Occupy’ Rally, Jimmie Johnson Hits 435, NASCAR Bucks & Chiefs Channel Kardashian
About 300 people gathered Sunday in Penn Valley Park across from the Federal Reserve Bank to mark the 10th day of the “Occupy” movement spawned by Wall Street protesters. It was led by UMKC professors, liberals, libertarians and Ron Paul supporters. They sported signs with messages like, ““We are the other 99 percent."
Some Kansas City Public School students were also there trying to determine what 99 percent means.
New Jack City: ‘Jack Goes To The Movies’ – My Way Or The Highway
When one reviews movies, as I have for more years than I’d like to admit, you get lots of questions—and often pointed comments…
It almost never fails when I get introduced, I get the usual, "Aren’t you that guy that does movies on radio?"
Yes I am, and the German accident is a dead giveaway.
Just to clear the air, the accent is not fake. I AM a former refugee from the East Germany who immigrated to the United States LEGALLY. My home town is Leipzig.
So what is the most frequently asked question?
Leftridge: Breaking Down the ALCS/NLCS: One Man’s Quest to be Wrong Once Again
Look, I’m no Craig Glazer. All of my hair is real, I’ve never had to be treated for the clap, and when it comes to picking winners, I’m shakier than Michael J Fox in a vibrating massage chair from Sharper Image.
My record speaks for itself. In the divisional series, I had Tampa Bay, New York and Philadelphia advancing. Wow.
1 out of 4 ain’t bad, right? No, it is. And that’s fine. I’m not THAT kind of sports writer. I’m more of the kind that tries to pretend that he knows what he’s talking about and hopes that a majority of the readers won’t notice. And that’s fine. Just wanted to throw that out there—that I shouldn’t be trusted.
That being said, here’s who you should pick in the Championship Series and why… And yeah, I get it. We’re already a game in on each side. Hey, that’s what happens when you’re a normal dude with a normal job. You have to make some concessions when it comes to living out your lifelong fantasy of covering sports for a third tier news, entertainment and leisure website.
Hearne: How Long Can Star Czar Keep Job With News Company in 6 Year Freefall?
Long time no Star stories; let’s play catch up on a big one…
And while it’s been pretty quiet in the local media rumor mill, chances are the Kansas City Star is in store for yet another round of layoffs and/or cutbacks now that the third quarter has shuddered to an end.
Insiders say it was a rough, tough summer and having played the furlough card following the newspaper’s second quarter results, chances are it may not be pretty.
Yet despite all his missteps and dismal financial results, the guy up top, McClatchy head Gary Pruitt is still large and in charge.
Glazer: Scribe Cops to Biggest Blunder in Journalistic History!
This just in…I was wrong!
The Chiefs are the real deal. Matt Cassel rung up a 90% completion rate against the red hot Colts. Running back Jackie Battle cannot be stopped. D-Bowe made circus catch after circus catch.
These are the Kansas City Chiefs we’ve always wanted and finally we’ve got them.
Great Defense. Hard charging quarterback. Top notch receivers. Well-coached. Guts. Pride. Winners!
My Las Vegas bet is in big trouble.
I know nothing about the NFL or for that matter anything. What a fool I was to think the Chiefs stunk. They are outstanding – I mean the best. Matt had what? Four touchdowns. Biggest Chiefs comeback, EVER! Wow. Now we can hang onto Matt for years and maybe Haley too. Thank God.
BUT WAIT, ARE YOU GUYS OUT OF YOUR MINDS?
Donnelly: St. Vincent @ Liberty Hall, October 7, 2011
Have you ever come out of a concert scratching your head filled with odd questions that you keep asking yourself?
"I really liked that, didn’t I?"
Or, "Was that awesome or just kind of weird?"
Or, "St. Vincent is really sexy for a robot."
OK, that last one isn’t a question.
Rewind three hours…
Hearne: Pitch Parent Unveils Real Deal, New Women’s Zine
There’s a journalistic catfight brewing…
When Nashville-based SouthComm bailed Village Voice out of the local red ink machine known as the Pitch earlier this year, it was every alt journalist for his or herself. The handwriting, long on the wall, had sent longtime Pitch editor C.J. Janovy and top writing gun Nadia Pflaum scurrying for greener paycheck pastures along with carpetbagger Joe Tone.
And there’s since been strong journalistic evidence that – unlike the village idiots – SouthComm gets it.
If you want to be a successful alternative newsweekly, don’t weigh readers down with overly-long opuses and shopworn hipster subject matter and points of view.
Just come clean and give ’em some news they can use.
Glazer: Scribe Rocks His 40th @ Shawnee Mission East
Many of you have been having those five and ten year reunions…
I just had mine again. I wasn’t worried about it at all. After all, I was a cool kid in high school. Yeah, I had my share of haters there too, but screw them.
I’m not someone to jack with in person and they never do.
Going in I felt like, "Yeah, I’ve done better than you guys thought I would." Not a good attitude to have. I work out with Bruce Ecton, the chairman of our reunions. Bruce had told me we’d be doing the Blue Moose in Prairie Village on Friday and Indian Hills Country Club on Saturday for the biggie.
So I asked out one of my girls. Jessie, a 28 year-old hottie. She’s built and a decent gal but looks way too wild. Hey, I wanted to make a statement as usual – that I’m still playing ball. I’d taken my ex, actress Sandhal Bergman to her 40th two years ago. She was the star of that one, but I knew a lot of her friends since I as a sophomore when she was a senior at Shawnee Mission East.
Many of my classmates remembered that I didn’t attend the 30th. I was too busy being indicted by the Feds. Front page news along with a little thing called 9/11 on the exact same day.
So I was surely the talk of that one but not in a good way.
Hearne: So You Think Craig Glazer Doesn’t Have a Clue About Major League Baseball, Eh?
I don’t want to pimp you guys or anything but…
Check out what The Atlantic had to say about Major League Baseball earlier this year.
Even Apple’s kicking MLB’s butt!
And while you’re at it, add this to my growing Steve Jobs slagheap. Here’s the headline:
"Is Apple More Popular Than Major League Baseball?"
Nice, huh?
Atlantic associate editor Nicholas Jackson does the honors.
"Of course Apple is more profitable than MLB, but it’s also managing to get more money out of every visitor that walks in the door," Jackson begins. "With millions of iPads sold and millions of iPhones sold and millions of laptops and desktops sold — and, yes, even millions of iPods are still sold — Apple is moving its products faster than its factories in China can even produce them. Certainly all of these gadgets bring in more money than peanuts — literally. Apple stores alone are more profitable than America’s favorite pastime, accounting for $9.8 billion of Apple’s reported $65.2 billion revenue in fiscal year 2010. For comparison, MLB reported $7 billion in revenue."
How do you like them Apples, "real sports fans"?
Hearne: My Personal Take on Steve Jobs, Part One
My first encounter with iconic Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs went down at Pennylane Records in Westport…
It was in the mid-1980s and I was a promoter of mostly alternative rock musicians in an era when local radio had zero interest in those artists. Outside, that is, hit makers like Duran Duran and Simple Minds. I needed a vehicle to reach the target audience for those acts. And while there wasn’t a whole lot to Pennylane’s in-house KC Pitch monthly at the time – contentwise- there really were no other viable options.
So off to the Land of Joe Bob Briggs, Matt Groening & LeRoi I headed…
However, I couldn’t get so much as a return call to buy an ad for my first show. So afterwards I tracked down record store owner Hal Brody and pitched him on my concept for expanding the Pitch. To transform it from a record rag running mostly "house" ads for Pennylane and bar ads for a handful of Westport clubs like the Hurricane and Lone Star, into something ressembling what it is today.
In other markets, small, homegrown hippie zines had evolved and were continuing to evolve into broadbased alternative newsweeklies, I told Brody. They covered fine arts, dining, a far wider swath of entertainment and edgy, often controversial news. And the Pitch could do the same in Kansas City where there was money to be made, fun to be had and dragons to be slain.
Brody took me up and I began working with his merry band of record store employees to grow the mag.
Glazer: This Week’s Pics; Humble Scribe Handles Crystal Ball With Extreme Caution
"Alright, let’s not get a big head about being at nearly 90% on your picks, Craig."
For four weeks straight. More than likely the best overall picks from – well, hmmmm – anyone, anywhere. Just sayin. Thats why I remain your humble scribe. or THE GLAZE, as some comments lovers and haters call me.
So as we march forward it’s just gonna get tougher. The better teams will be playing better and there’ll be more "equal" teams. In college ball the good vs. the bad have huge spreads now. So let’s try and be smart and use our friend the "teaser" to add or subtract 6 points or even more often.
Don’t get greedy and go for the one big hit.
