Category Archives: Hearne_Christopher

Starbeams: Burning Bus at KCI, Flush Creek Fix & Royals-Cards Reddux

An ATA bus caught fire Sunday in front of the Continental gates at Terminal A at KCI. Only a Continue reading

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Hearne: Rocking Lawrence’s Casbah – Burger War Style

Just last year one of Lawrence Continue reading

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Hearne: Ex Star Sports Scribe Signs with Fox – Scoops Star, Disses Media

He’s back and he’s bad…

Former Kansas City Star sports columnist Jeffrey Flanagan has hooked up with Fox Sports and has already administered a bit of corporal journalistic punishment to his former employer and the local sports media.

“I ran into Jeff just now at the Woodside pool and I said, ‘Hey, congratulations, I heard you joined the Fox Sports team online,’ ” says Stanford’s Craig Glazer. “And he told me it’s a subsidiary of Fox Sports and that, “I will just be covering Kansas City. In fact, you can read my first story right now.'”

Flanagan’s kickoff piece for Fox was a humdinger…

“Glass says he didn’t order Hillman’s Firing,” the headline reads. Continue reading

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Hearne: Journalist/Author/ Former Mayoral Aide Joe Miller Joins KC Confidential

One of Kansas City’s leading journalists, investigative reporters and authors – former Pitch top gun Joe Miller – joins KC Confidential starting Monday, Memorial Day…. Miller will author a weekly column every Monday (and whenever the urge arises). Similar to … Continue reading

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Hearne: Buckle Up, Saturday Night Could Get Bumpy on the Plaza

This is it, baby…

The first warm, dry Saturday since the Plaza Riot early last month. Which, according to observers familiar with Kansas City urban youth wildings of recent years, well could mean the city is in store for Round Two of the Nightmare on Brush Creek.

“I think it’s going to be a big weekend this weekend,” says KC Strip party trolley honcho Bill Nigro. “The weather is supposed to be goof – warm and dry. I think it’s going to be a big Saturday, plus we’re having the Candy Strippers riding the trolleys Friday so that should be interesting.”

The last time Nigro had a big, warm Saturday night, he got caught up in a police state nightmare on the Plaza.

All that said, Kansas City Police will be at the ready, KCPD captain Rich Lockhart says. Continue reading

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Hearne: Filthy Restroom at Union Station Harkens to Cutbacks

Tetanus shot, anyone?

Readers of the Kansas City Star know you can’t cut half the staff and not pay the price. Continue reading

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Hearne on the Street: Can’t Can Aggie

It’s been a long, lonely ride this week for KC parks commish Aggie Stackhaus

After solo knee-jerking into a rant about kicking Rockfest out of Penn Valley Park following last weekend’s mud fest, Stackhaus found herself on the receiving end of some major league public spankings. By no less than longtime Kansas City politico and former parks commish Bob Lewellen, KC mayor Mark Funkhouser and the Kansas City Star.

Oh and a gentleman by the name of Johnny DareContinue reading

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Hearne on the Street: Dress Code Discrim Outside P&L? Lezak’s Claymaytion Sniffing

Kansas City’s Power & Light District may be the poster child for dress code discrimination controversies…

However, the controversy – on the local level – is neither new nor unique. Far from it. Continue reading

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Glazer Guest Shot: Couch Potato Cancer

Seems like only yesterday Harpo’s had a small line to get into the bar cause it was Tuesday and 25 cent beer night…

That same night an even larger group lined up outside Charlie Hooper’s in Brookside for dollar bottle beer. They had Hump Day Wednesdays, Ladies Nights all over town, girls get in free deals. On weekends at some clubs you had better know someone or you’d be in line forever at Atlantis in Westport. “Where’s Stuart, he’s my cousin, let us in. I’ll pay double the door cover.”

No more. No lines, no lists, no busy clubs to speak of…

Question is, why? Continue reading

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Hearne: Anatomy of a Nightclub Murder; The Blonde File

The painfully long, slow goodbye for Plaza nightclub Blonde continues…

New operators of the space – not the actual dudes from Blonde who were 70-plus grand behind in rent at year’s end — continue to host farewell bashes this weekend and next. When that’s up, the space will close with tentative plans to reopen in September with a new name and concept.

But it won’t be Luna. That’s the monicker chosen for the reopening next month – by the same folks behind the new Blonde – for the former Dolce at 1520 Grand.

Time for a quick flashback. To what it was that made Blonde – at least for about half its not quite five year run – KC’s most smashing dance club/ultra lounge success story. Continue reading

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Hearne: Death of the KC Downtowner; Joe Miller Lays it Down

Going, going…

The pending death of the KC Downtowner a Web site dedidicated to politics and downtown Kansas City, Mo. – finds former Pitch heavy hitter (and KC mayoral aid) Joe Miller in a reflective state.

So was Miller’s parting with KCD bittersweet?

“Well, yeah,” he says. “I don’t know what the sweetness of it is. It was a good deal for me and I wish it still was one.

In Miller’s farewell column he suggested that there were only 350 regular visitors to the site.

Is the 350 number accurate? Continue reading

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Hearne: Rockfest Deck Stacked Against Stackhaus

Does anybody really want to put the kibosh on one of the most successful outdoor promotions Kansas City has to offer?

I mean, besides dog park dilettante Aggie Stackhaus

Apparently not.

Not only did the powers that be at the Parks Department and Liberty Memorial react with veritable yawns to the fiery-tempered parks commissioner’s rant about pulling the plug on Johnny Dare and The Rock 98.9 FM’s wildly popular Continue reading

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Hearne: Star Foments Bogus Rockfest Controversy

A single pissed off parks commissioner does not a widespread panic make…

“Rockfest mess angers officials,” reads the headline in today’s Kansas City Star. “…A parks commissioner wants the yearly concert to move.”

The implication being that officials at Penn Valley Park and Liberty Memorial are furious over the muddy mess left by the 50,000 or so attendees of this year’s Rockfest, hosted by Johnny Dare and radio station 98.9 The Rock.

That’s not the case, says longtime parks commissioner and civic sparkplug Bob Lewellen.

“This has happened before and it will happen again – and not just with this Rockfest group,” Lewellen says. “It’s no big deal. These parks are easily healed and the company that puts on Rockfest, AEG, is very responsible. In 30 days you won’t even know they were there.”

The single source for the Star story was incendiary parks commish Aggie Stackhaus, an on-again/off-again public official known for blowing her stack. Continue reading

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Hearne: Out with Blonde in with Luna? Plaza Nightclub Poised to Switch

The skinny on the nightclub formerly known as Continue reading

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Hearne: Rockfest – No Breast Fest This Year!

You watched the muddy television news footage, read the Star’s sanitized account…

Now let’s hear about last weekend’s soggy Rockfest blowout at Penn Valley Park from veterinary technology Continue reading

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Shauna: Forget the Teacher’s Dirty Looks, Backpacks are Back!

A gaggle of designers are giving a mundane, academic accessory a new twist…

Yup, ladies and gents, it’s time to reconsider the backpack! Continue reading

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Hearne: 610 Sports Nick Wright Vows to Topple WHB’s Kietzman

Time for a brief lesson in the ancient history of sports talk radio in Kansas City…

There actually was a time when the much-maligned Don Fortune was hailed as cutting edge. Honest. How do you think the former 980 KMBZ afternoon sports talk kingpin got the job in the first place after flunking out of TV at Channel 5? But times change, and the days of Fortune being considered edgy ended after they started handing out fangs to local journalists and talk show hosts. When the era of polite society on air went the way of the dinosaurs.

At the end of his days – in comparison to today’s sports talk radio standards – Fortune came across as impotent, an on-air gummy bear. To this day, his once-upon-a-time arch rival Jason Whitlock, likes to remind Cowtowners of Fortune’s shortcomings.

Alas it was WHB superstar Kevin Kietzman who ultimately toppled Fortune in the mid-late 1990s and has since owned local sports talk airwaves.

Until now… Continue reading

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Hearne: The Bottom Line on ‘Leawood’ John Landsberg

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, Continue reading

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Hearne on the Street: Trent Green Returns & KC Strip to Ferry First Friday-ers

This just in…

Starting tonight, the KC Strip party trolleys are joining forces with KC’s popular First Fridays in the Crossroads arts district.

“We probably got 50 emails asking for a stop there on First Friday,” says organizer Bill George. “So we’re going to do it. We’re going to stop right by Extra Virgin, Michael Smith’s place. You know what? We think it’s going to be great. I think there’s going to be a huge demand for it.” Continue reading

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Hearne on the Street: Faded Plaza Hot Spot Blonde Closes with Bang

Time to blow out the candle one last time…

When Plaza ultra lounge Continue reading

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