Category Archives: Hearne_Christopher
Dave Stephens Jazz Circus Ringmaster Arrested, Brought Down to Size
What’s the expression – no good deed shall go unpunished?
That was totally the case where Continue reading
The Name Game: Vinino, You Got it, You Close it, You Still Got it? Hardly.
A funny thing went down early last August in Journalism Land…
That after Continue reading
Falldo Crawldo or Bust: D Hour Descends on City’s Biggest Outdoor Crawl
With fourteen neighborhood nightclubs, restaurants and bar & grills on the front lines, thousands of party-proven Kansas Citians and nary a hint of the sort of security problems, dress code controversies and the like that certain other area party zones … Continue reading
Hearne on the Street: Russ Johnson for Mayor, Soren’s Short Fuse & Mushroom Cloud Engulfs Waldo
A funny thing happened while I was trying to track down former KCMO AM / KMBZ 980 host Russ Johnson…
I got
KC Councilman Russ Johnson.
Not a problem.
Everyone else and his brother is contemplating a run against KC Mayor Mark Funkhouser in 2011, how about RJ?
“I’m not running for mayor, period,” Johnson says. “I have no desire to run for mayor at this time.”
At this time – how about down the road?
“Maybe when I’m retired and have gray hair I’ll look at it,” Johnson says.
******* Continue reading
After the Loving’s Done: Nick Wright to Soren Petro; “Fuck Off!”
About that run in yesterday between 610 Sports host Nick Wright and WHB’s Soren Petro…
“There was never a point where I thought there was going to be a fight,” Wright says. “He never put his hands on me…I don’t think the intimidation was, ‘I can kick your ass.’ It was ‘I can ruin you’ or ‘You better never need me’ type of stuff.” Continue reading
Sports Talk Shoot Out: Petro vs. Wright; Tough Talk, No Comment
Third party information is generally the most unreliable of all… That said, the story football freak Craig Glazer says 610 Sports host Nick Wright told him this afternoon is a doozy. “Nick told me that he had an altercation with … Continue reading
Move Over Newspapers: Movie, TV, Books & Radio Taking Hits, Selling Souls
As if there isn’t enough pain and suffering to go around already…
Some provocative thoughts on pop culture as we know it from Entertainment Weekly columnist Stephen King.
On Books…
“E-book downloads now account for only 1.5 percent of the total market,” King conjures. “But that was once true of compact discs, and if you’ve bought an actual vynil record lately, you’re in very select company. At this writing, best-selling hardcovers have settled at an e-book price point of about $10, but if you think e-book vendors such as Amazon and Sony are making a profit, you would be wrong. That’s because the product is sold cheap for the same reason dope pushers sell the product cheap, at least to begin with: to get you hooked.”
Good stories are like dope, King says. Continue reading
Coming Soon: Jennifer Janesko on Food, Dining & Eating Out
You may know Jennifer Janesko for her pinup art… Her sensual fine art and original airbrush paintings have appeared in the pages of Playboy – hey she’s even partied with Hef and the gang at the manse.She’s been showcased in … Continue reading
Tourists Wanted: Way Down Yonder in Trouble Bubble
Swamp bluesman Tab Benoit had a powerful message for attendees at the end of his packed concert at Knuckleheads Saturday: don’t forget about the disaster state known as Louisiana. “It’s the worst disaster this country has ever seen and nobody … Continue reading
Wall Street Journal Roots Out Local Plumber for Happiness Schmooze
Don’t worry, be happy…
Seems the Wall Street Journal – like any number of people in this crappy economy – is in search of something positive to pass along. The local recipient of that search: would you believe, Roger the Plumber?
That’s right, Roger. Forget about Joe the Fake Plumber. This is serious journalism, not pure propaganda and these folks do their homework.
“Here’s the story,” Roger says. “I got a email last Monday and someone at the Wall Street Journal wanted to have a talk with me.”
The plot thickens… Continue reading
Keeping it Real: Former Kansas Gov Kathleen Sebelius Still Has the Blues
You can take the governor out of the state of Kansas but you can’t take blues out of the former guv…
Department of Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius was Johnny on the spot Saturday at Knuckleheads in the East Bottoms. Alongside hubby Continue reading
Mark Lowrey on ‘roids? Check Out the Kankercroft Tonight at Jardines!
So I’m sitting there (more or less) minding my own business last night at the Phoenix downtown… Listening to piano man Mark Lowrey’s spontaneous
Amazing Grace: KC Liquor Regulators Take Exit Ramp from Low to High Road
Surprise, surprise…
In a stunning turn of events an ad hoc group at Kansas City City Hall charged with updating liquor regulations did an about face this morning after threatening to put 11 small businesses out of business. Included in the group were KC Councilwoman Cindy Circo and Regulated Industries manager Gary Majors.
The group’s initial game plan: to require taverns to gross $250,000 in annual sales to qualify for and/or retain their 3 a.m. liquor licenses. The existing code stipulates $100,000 in gross sales.
In a meeting yesterday with Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association president Jason Pryor, owners of the aforementioned taverns on death row, including Davey’s Uptown Ramblers and The Newsroom, met to discuss the pending changes.
R Bar: Pig Out Like Never Before in West Bottoms
It’s almost too good to be true – I mean, literally…
That something as all together hip, upscale, wildly unique – affordable even – as the R Bar could splash down alongside the ruins of Kemper Arena in this economy is practically unthinkable.
And yet there it is – poised to open for both lunch and dinner Tuesday with a flurry of pre party action, including a kick ass pig roast Saturday – in a destination location to rival Knuckleheads Saloon in the East Bottoms.
One big difference between the two different-as-can-be bottoms dwellers: unlike Knuckleheads, anybody and everybody can actually find the R Bar. Continue reading
Tony’s Kansas City Joins KC Confidential
Think of it as The Day the Earth Stood Still meets Gone With the Wind…
In an unprecedented marrying of irresistible force and immovable object, Continue reading
KCPT TV Dinner: Last Year the Patrons, This Year The Originals
One way to describe this year Continue reading
Clash of the Titans: Audio/Video Free Fall Hammers KC
Was a time a dozen or more audio/video stores dotted the local landscape…no mas.
Now but a handful remain. Along with “big box” stores like Best Buy and Nebraska Furniture Mart. In days gone by locals could check out high-end audio (and later) video gear at stores like BrandsMart, Continue reading
Hearne on the Street: Red-headed Refugee Makes Top 10 Saviors List
High atop the list of local boys done good resides Alan Mulally...
That is, to the extent anybody much remembers, the Ford Motor Company prez and CEO is from little, old Lawrence, Kansas (and just happens to own one of Joe-College.com’s much-maligned “Muck Fizzou” T-shirts.
The latest? Continue reading
KSHB Weather Wonk Gary Lezak Caught Streaking
Count Channel 41 weather dude Gary Lezak among the nail biting nabobs of Las Vegas…
Not merely because Lady Luck is giving the G Man a cold shoulder – though she may yet. Rather Lezak is engaged a life or death struggle to keep something very much near and dear to him alive and kicking.
But lest your eyes well up in tears… Continue reading
Some Times You Feel Like a Nut: Taco-less Salads & BLTs Minus the B
Think edible oxymorons…
As sacrileges go, it doesn’t get much better than stripping the town’s top BLT – the Peanut’s, of course – of its most essential ingredient, the bacon. That said, somehow, someway, somebody decided a year or so ago (according to my server at the Peanut Downtown) to add that option to the menu.
“Here, this will give you something to write about,” Knuckleheads owner Frank Hicks says.”They have a BLT without bacon and they have a taco salad without meat. How can it be a taco salad without taco meat? And how can they have a BLT without the bacon?” Continue reading
