Category Archives: Hearne_Christopher
Hearne on the Street: Mike Epps Does Gates, Glazer, Midland
It was like old home week backstage at the Midland friday night when Mike Epps roared into the dressing room and clapped a highly animated bear hug on his old pal Craig Glazer of Stanford & Sons comedy club…
Epps new movie “Next Day Air,” a comedy about a bungled drug drop debuted that day and the comic was definitely up for the Gates Bar-B-Q chicken wings backstage and the packed house that awaited.
Epps connection to Glazer dates back to the many standup shows he did at the former Westport Stanford’s.
There’s more…
“Mike was in prison back in ther late 70s or early 80s, I think,” Glazer says. “He told me about it when he first played Stanford’s around 1997. He was already one of the top three or four black comics then. he was up there with D.L. Hughley, Chris Rock and Damon Wayans.”
Here’s how it went down, as Glazer recollects… Continue reading
Skip Skips Skipping: “One Moment of Silence, Please!!” And More
Genial gadfly Skip Sleyster is gone, but his “advertisement” soldiers on in Sunday’s Star...
But instead of beckoning readers for a moment of their time, the posthumous post calls for a moment of silence. With a call to action from Sleyster’s family for locals to make contributions to the charity of their choice. Naturally there were deals to be had, like “inside car storage” for $40 a month.
Which gives me an excuse to saddle up again with excerpts of my final interview with the Skipper last year and his thoughts on the state of the Cowtown.
*** His all-time favorite topic: Continue reading
Hearne on the Street: Lezak Toughs Out Fur Ball After Dad’s Death
Channel 41 weather wonk Gary Lezak – a doggie devotee of the first order – took one square on the chin just before heading to Wayside Waifs annual Fur Ball tonight at the Overland Park Convention Center… Only minutes before … Continue reading
Hearne on the Street: Star Splashes Down Three Months Late With Pool Scoop
Just how slow on the news draw is today’s Kansas City Star?
Woodside Health & Tennis to The Jones: See Ya, Wouldn’t Wanna Be ya
The $64 million question re the new Power & Light rooftop pool The Jones: will it siphon off the gangbuster crowds of hipsters and hotties that flock to Woodside Health & Tennis‘ Saturday beach bashes?
For several years the Continue reading
Ink Frink or Pitch Bitch – Which One Are You?
There’s no shortage of lame lures by KC’s “We want the young readers” ad dollars set….
Take the tragically hip Pitch Street Team – a thinly veiled squad of traveling hotties who rep for the local alternative rag of record. Their mission: wresting email addresses from boozy bar and concertgoers to supplement faltering Pitch print revenues by adding email blasts to its ad-quation. And how about that tres cool campaign, “Like Me + Pitch. Where Do People LikeMe Go in Kansas City?”
Sign up for that one yet?
What’s next, hookup hangs for sedentary singles?
Which brings us to Ink, the year-old, tragically unhip KC Star-run Gen Y wannabe that reportedly was given a year to prove itself. Ink shows its swagger by dropping Continue reading
Romancing the ‘Stone: Hassle Free Vibe, Free H20, Only One “Cat Fight”
If you liked the Continue reading
Hearne on the Street: Urban Pinic Econ, Trekkies Diss David Cook, Star’s New “M” a Mutha
Sunday’s Kansas City Originals independent restaurant group
The Hills: Exclusive New Local ‘Zine Zeroes in on Mission Hills Housing Controversy
The newest addition to Kansas City’s publishing landscape: The Hills, an upscale periodical focussing on the close-in communities of Sunset Hill, Mission Hills and the Plaza.
There is a difference however…
Unlike other local “city magazines,” The Hills intends to tackle more substantive stories in addition to covering society, fashion, high profile movers and shakers, luxury automobiles and the arts. As evidenced by yours truly’s kickoff feature below. Check it out.
******* Continue reading
Hearne on the Street: Star Shines; Don’t Rub Your Eyes, You Read it Right!
Brace yourselves, I’m about to pay my former employer a compliment…
It’s easy to play the role of critic – hey, we all do it. And when you present a target the size of the Kansas City Star anybody and everybody can and does play from time to time.
I’ve tossed my hat into that ring on any number of occasions – though as a banished Star staffer – not for what some might deem the obvious reasons. Continue reading
Trio ALL plus one: Jardine’s Owner Beena Rajalekshimi Returns!
In one of the most stunning and until now best kept secrets in the local nightclub and jazz scene in ages, Jardine’s owner Beena
Dear Mr. Cassel, Sorry Dude; Will Discount Dogs Measure Up?
From a swagger to a retreat…
A Loch Lloyd Country Club waiter who blogged about new Chiefs QB Matt Cassel and wife Lauren Killian’s 9-beer dinner, their massive mansion and Cassel handcuffing his wife to their bed, yanked the post after KC Confidential got wind of it.
Now it appears the Continue reading
Hearne on the Street: Huzzah! Three Sell Outs, One Night
Game on! Kansas City’s summer concert season kicked off in style Saturday with a trio of sold out outdoor concerts. The Killers at Sandstone, Cake at the Crossroads and Cross Canadian Ragweed at the Beaumont Club in Westport’s new “backyard” … Continue reading
One Moment Of Your Time, Please!! Voice from the Tomb
A moment of silence, please for Kansas City Star columnist ex officio Skip Sleyster…
For decades Sleyster’s column/”advertisement” ran in the Sunday Star’s Local or Metropolitan section. At a significant discount from rates paid by regular advertisers, I was told over the years.
Not a bad bargain – not only did the Star get a paycheck-free columnist, he paid them!
The 85 year-old Sleyster checked out “unexpectedly” April 30, headed no doubt for that slag heap/flea market beyond. However he left a little something to remember him by in Sunday’s newspaper.
“Springtime comes one day and leaves the next,” his column begins. “It will be nice when it comes to stay. I do like summertime. The cold winter doesn’t make it easy on life.”
Naturally what appears to be Sleyster’s swan song includes a plug for “Stihl saws” and a dig at former KC Mayor Emanuel Cleaver’s traffic light infested 71 Highway makeover.
“Stop lights on a freeway doesn’t let traffic proceed as it should,” he writes. Our council should take a look at the mess on 71 Highway.”
Sensing Sleyster’s end was near last year I asked how he wanted to be remembered. Continue reading
Hearne on the Street: “Das Boot” Beer Boot Rocks Cowtown
The latest drinking game to hit town: Das Boot…
“It’s in the movie Beerfest, that’s a big cult movie,” says Andy Lewellen, co-owner of Lew’s in Waldo. “And it holds 102 ounces of beer.”
Lew’s has morphed the gigundo galoshes into a neighborhood drinking game.
“What you’re supposed to do is you have your regular drink whatever that is and this is like your little game that you play with your other friends at the table,” he says. “You pass the boot around the table and everybody sips on it throughout the night. And when it Continue reading
Hearne on the street: Leap’s Leap, Grill Grilled
No donuts, no recounts, no tenants – oh and no tourism…
That about sums up the state of controversial Merriam councilman Dan Leap who narrowly lost out on a bid to become mayor by 25 measly votes.
So if 13 of those 25 people had leapt for Leap he’d be Merriam’s mayor now?
“Yes and if I’d had another week to campaign, who knows?” Leap muses. “But I’m looking forward to the next two years on the council and then I may run for council again or I may not – we’ll see.”
Does Leap intend to get along with police chief turned new mayor Ken Sissom?
“Well you know, as long as he doesn’t tell any more lies like he did in his campaign literature,” Leap says. “As long as he doesn’t lie to the council, we’ll get along OK.”
Now that the fur’s through flying, does Leap think Sissom’s an OK guy, the kinda dude he’d maybe even have a cold one with?
“Well, as you know I don’t drink, so I would not have a beer with him,” Leap says. “But even if I did, I wouldn’t have a beer with him – I wouldn’t have a donut with him either.”
Moving right along…
Has Leap learned if the ghost mall known as Merriam Village has signed its first tenant yet? Continue reading
Over Dramatic Headlines Threaten Star Street Cred
Made you look…
That’s how the game is played in print journalism. Take a rock solid, if bland, news story, mount a sexy headline above it and – presto! – wait for the reader fish to bite. Which brings us to a recent Kansas City Star story about KKFI 90.1 FM.
The $64 million question: what, if anything, was wrong with the Star’s story?
“Nothing was wrong with that Star story,” says Warren Maus, KKFI’s marketing director.
KKFI honcho Bill Clause has another take…
“The headline wasn’t wrong, but (for) those who didn’t read the whole thing in detail – a lot of people thought it sounded like KKFI was going to go down the tubes any minute,” he says. “Which is not true because KKFI will do whatever it takes to survive. But if the people who are prone to support us think we’re going to crash, they’re less likely to put their money here.”
Translation: think of KKFI as an un-killable radio cockroach with a mission to inform, entertain, do good and above all survive. Continue reading
First Friday: Strum This; Jennifer Janesko’s Sexy Pinup Guitars
Ax and you shall receive…
Kansas City is already world famous for rocker-turned Merriam councilman Dan Leap’s line of guitar lamps. Now pinup artist Jennifer Janesko has unleashed a sexy new line of – would you believe? – Pinup Guitars. That and other Janesko art and jewelry will be on display for First Friday May 1st at Rm 222 at 222 West 20th from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“It’s the only time they’ll be shown in Kansas City,” Janesko says of her six-stringed creations. “My partner purchases Gibson and other guitars and I actually paint on the guitars. Continue reading
Car Dealer Gets smart, Porn Star Speaks, Star Editor Says Thanks for Axing
Truth in advertising? You make the call…
Kansas City car dealer Randy Reed Pontiac has been running print ads in the Kansas City Star comparing a smart car to a Pontiac Grand Prix.
“if this car is ‘smart’ for $18,485…” the ad begins. “…then this car is ‘brilliant’ for $11,500!”
Atop the ad is a large photo of what is described as a “2009 Smart ForTwo Passion.” Below, a photo of what is identified as a “2008 Brilliant For-Five Pontiac Grand Prix.”
Hold it right there…
Upon looking at the ad, Continue reading
