Category Archives: Hearne_Christopher
Hearne: More Stuffing, Less Green Stuff
Kansas City Star subscribers had a bit more to be grateful for this Thanksgiving…
Less so, it’s advertisers.
While Thursday’s Star was chock full of ads from anxious retailers, it was looked less chocked than last year For starters, it hit local driveways in one – not two – plastic bags.
indicating fewer advertisers opted to go with print for post Thanksgiving shopping scams.
But as the wisemen at Dale Carnegie stress, never give a fact without the benefit.
Hearne: Chris Stigall Superstar
It’s possible to be so lame at what you do that it catapults you on to greatness…
Quite common, actually.
For example, fried chicken magnate Col. Sanders, college dropout Steve Jobs, Channel 4 weekend sports anchor Kevin Kietzman.
And such was clearly the case with departing KCMO 710 AM talk show host Chris Stigall.
Hearne: The Country Club Plaza’s Last Big Lie
Put up or shut up…
Seven years back Waldo businessman Gary Evert brought operators of the Country Club Plaza and KCP&L to their collective knees. By counting the Plaza Lights Thanksgiving night crowd for the first time, Evert and UMKC math and statistics professor Yong Zeng put the kibosh on a long held popular belief that more than a quarter million people attended the event.
However the Plaza and KCP&L have continued to claim that the holiday lights strung – if laid end-to-end – would stretch from Kansas City to Sedalia.
Hearne: King Kong Returning to Kansas City?
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This just in…
Word on the street is that former Entercom and CBS radio heavy hitter Bob Zuroweste is back in town and up for the general sales manager slot at local classic rocker KCFX FM.
Could be dangerous…
Hearne: Pitch vs Ink, KCPL Ups, Downs, Star Sex News, Song Contest
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In the war between KC’s (faux) hip weeklies, it’s Ink by a nose…
A very long nose.
The Star‘s less than two-year old youth yuppa-zine is kicking some pretty big butt in the all-important, ad rich fourth quarter against hippie survivalist rag the Pitch.
Here’s the tally.
Hearne: Plaza Lighting Attendance Plummets
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Will the last clued out Kansas City media member please turn off the lights…
And the hype.
Seven years after Waldo businessman Gary Evert and UMKC math and statistics professor Zeng Yong whittled down one of Kansas City’s most exaggerated myths – that the vaunted Plaza Lighting Ceremony draws more than a quarter million spectators – there are still those who would lead you to believe otherwise.
Like Kansas City About.com correspondent Mary Anne McNeish-Sharp.
The not-so-sharp-shooter placed the Plaza Lighting Ceremony crowd count at a half million people.
Hearne: Full House Bucket List, Favre’s Finger & KU Ticket Czar
What was it like ambushing Dave Coulier by playing his Full House theme song, then jamming with him at Jardine‘s Friday?
Most excellent, reports keyboard wizard Mark Lowrey, who did all of the above last Friday at the Plaza jazz joint.
"He actually sounded pretty good," Lowrey says of Coulier’s harmonica jam. "I finally got to scratch that off the bucket list."
Oh and don’t miss Lowrey’s two-show Live at Jardine’s CD release party Monday at Jardine’s
Hearne: Aggie Stackhaus Rides Again!
Tennis anyone?
With the weather outside getting frightening, local tennis ball bobble heads are turning towards a long-established, technology and tradition. Playing indoors through the winter in heated, indoor tennis bubbles.
Except of course, for the victims of Kansas City parks commish Aggie Stackhaus latest tirade against all things sane and sensible.
Stackhaus single-handedly shot down the UMKC‘s plan to cover the Plaza Tennis Courts – free of charge to the city – so its tennis team and others could continue to play during the colder months.
Something about the parks department not having the training or resources to deal with the bubbles, Stakhaus said.
Hold it right there…
Hearne: Beatles Reunion Tonight at Thanksgivingstock in Waldo
Do not – repeat, do not – miss the band 5-Play tonight at The Well in Waldo…
Those are strong words, but Well main man Chris Lewellen says he’s standing firm behind them.
And he’s got stronger words where those came from – just wait!
"No one’s ever heard of them but they have this cult-like following of Catholics from like 15 years ago," Lewellen says. "And they stopped playing together like three years ago but they reunite every Wednesday before Thanksgiving and they bring so many people in. For us, it’s like the Beatles. I’m not kidding you.
Star Search: Giving Thanks for T&A at the Kansas City Star
It’s that time of year at the Kansas City Star...
The layoffs and payless furloughs are in the rearview mirror – at least until next year. Now it’s time to rock around the Christmas tree and those fat holiday advertising issues. And what better way to celebrate the holiday cash infusion than to plant a pair of big, bad, about-to-be-felt-up boobies on the front page?
That’s right, ladies and gents. The feature front page photo on Saturday’s Star – in a story about airline security "getting private" – featured a dramatic closeup of an security official putting the squeeze on a headless woman with a pair of double d’s.
As in, king-sized breasts.
Hearne: KU’s Ticket Scandal King
The poster child for KU’s now-infamous ticket scandal?
Where to begin, there are so many – five at last count and counting. But for most people with ties and connections to KU sports, it was Williams Fund honcho Rodney Jones. The party boy was everybody’s best friend when they needed a ticket schmooze and nobody’s after the you-know-what hit the fan. Jones even hung out with KU basketball great Danny Manning, says one source who asked not to be named.
There’s more…
Hearne: Who Will Survive? The Sad Demise of Local Audio & Video Retail
In case you’ve yet to notice, they’ve been dropping like flies…
The past 10 years have been agonizingly brutal for area retailers of high quality audio and video goods and services. The sad reality being that Kansas City’s A/V cupboard is all but bare.
What once was a booming industry with a healthy handful of local retailers such as Accent Sound, Audio Mart, Continental Video, BrandsMart, Golden Stereo, David Beatty Stereo, AudioPort and Primus Audio Pleasure has been reduced to a skeleton squad of survivors hanging on for dear life. The aforementioned being dead and gone.
Nor have they been replaced by a next generation baton carriers.
"This industry reminds me of the federal government more than anything else," says veteran audio/video survivalist John Kiefer. "Because we had a wonderful system for – how long? – a couple hundred years. But there are a lot of broken parts to it and when something’s broken, what do you do?"
Hearne: Next Up, Sporting Kansas City Rugby
The Wizards are dead, long live the Wizards!
If that sounds confusing, trust me, you ain’t heard nothing yet. That’s because the MLS team formerly known as the Kansas City Wizards have adopted a new branding – if you will – and are herewith to be known (as rumored) as Sporting Kansas City.
With the initials SC in the Sporting Kansas City shield logo – standing for Sporting Club – the new name going forward of the parent organization that owns the soccer team. The group intends to harness its new nomenclature to sponsor additional sports teams, starting with a professional rugby franchise, SC honcho Robb Heineman says. Future additional franchises could range from womens soccer to LaCross.
With all due respect, Sporting Kansas City’s principals aren’t worried about the hand wringing by some fans over the name change, Heineman says. A winning soccer team in a kickass new stadium will be more than enough to chase away the name change blues.
"I think it’s all about winning and losing," Heineman says.
Hearne: Jason Grill’s (Un) Last Stand
Don’t believe for one second you’ve seen or heard the last of Jason Grill…
Reports that the Missouri State Rep may be finished in local politics are greatly exaggerated.
Got that?
Hearne on the Street: KU Football, Star Survival & The Little K
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Lots of loose ends after two weeks of new Web site chaos, road trip travel and then some…
Let’s tie a few up.
Understatement-itus: As usual, the Kansas City Star provides a devil’s playground of loose ends and curious reportage. Take the brilliant headline the KU Football Team suffered after a series of shellackings: "KU in need of some changes." In the words of MasterCard. priceless!
jimmycsays but… Deep thinking journalist emeritus Jim Fitzpatrick weighed in Tuesday on effective survival strategies for daily newspapers with a tip of the hat to the the Star. For a trio of recent front page stories of "sweeping significance" to the community, reported completely, told compellingly, pursued relentlessly and played effectively.
Just one problem:..
Hearne: Wizards ‘Sporting’ Name Paves Way for Rugby Team
Turns out some of our local blogger and Facebook soccer second guessers appear to have been on to something…
Don’t hold me to it, after all sources are merely sources, but it appears that the Kansas City Wizards controversial rebranding will indeed pave the way for something besides concerts at the team’s killer new, soccer-specific digs in KCK.
As in professional rugby, ladies and gentleman. And down the road, women’s soccer too maybe.
That’s right. Forget about the concert action.
While the team will undoubtedly enlist promoters and or find some way or another to lure bands to the new outdoor stadium, there really is little to no demand for yet another major outdoor venue for concerts in the KC market.
None whatsoever.
Hearne: Bugs in Food Adds Eerie Air to Ted’s Montana Grill Closing
Know this about the eating establishment known as Ted’s Montana Grill...
The Ted Turner-branded chain has been a family fave since it opened in South Leawood a handful of years back. From the get-go my kids loved playing with the complimentary Wikki Stix "twistable, stickable, buildable, playable one-of-a-kind creatables."
And against their better judgement, they also bought into the buffalo steaks, along with the grilled shrimp and deep dish apple crisp dessert.
The flip side of that schmooze?
Hearne: The Kansas City Wizards Last Stand?
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There’s a brouhaha afoot where the possible changing of the Kansas City Wizards soccer team name is concerned…
An email from the Wizards to the faithful went out last week asking fans to convene Wednesday at 5 p.m. at KC Live in the Power & Light District "for a major Kansas City Soccer Announcement"
The betting money: that the team will announce a new name to go with its new stadium in KCK next year.
Hearne: Wizards Poised to Announce Name Change
You read about it here first…
As reported here this past summer, not only will the Kansas City Wizards be moving into fancy new digs next year – as in a world class soccer stadium – they’ll be sporting a new name.
The third in the franchise’s 15 year existence. The Wiz being the first in 1996.
Sources say the club was unable to ink a deal for a corporate naming rights sponsorship deal, a la the New York Red Bulls. Opting instead for an English Premier League-sounding name.
Hearne: Johnson County Sun on Death Row?
You know what they say about furry critters and sinking ships…
So it was last week that Johnson County Sun squire Steve Rose penned his final column as the lone journalistic survivor of the weekly newspaper’s founding family.
After decades at or near the helm of Kansas City’s most affluent suburb’s largest media outlet, Rose announced that his repurchase of one of the company’s publications – most likely the Jewish Chronicle and or other non-Sun pubs– had "allowed the current owners to cancel my column."
Now let’s take a look between those thin lines.
