Category Archives: Hearne_Christopher
Hearne: Finally, a Broad Eyewitness Account of Plaza Melee by Official on Scene
Bored by out-of-context eyewitness accounts and stories about the Plaza riot by newspaper reporters who weren’t even on the scene? Come on down!
Hearne: KC Norml Says Pro Medical Marijuana Bill Was Thinly Veiled Effort to Ban K2
Caught up to officials of Continue reading
Hearne: Hot Summer Nights Not Too Little but Too Not Late Enough
Plans are afoot to avert KC’s annual summer wee hours, outdoor gatherings of young African-Americans…
Or better said, to keep them the heck out of middle class sanctuaries such as the Plaza and Westport.
Enter discussions to ressurect the old Hot Summer Nights urban youth distraction programs of year Continue reading
Hearne: Not Gonna Happen; Riot Weather Update
The dervishes are still whirling…
Kansas City police, Plaza businessmen and city leaders are cranking away behind the scenes trying to come up with a solution for the recent Plaza riots. Kinda like they did in year’s past when Westport spun out of control when thousands of black youth and young adults congregated in Westport, fights broke out and regular paying patrons wary of the scene began to back away.
Will Hot Summer Nights return? Will the city hire DJs and set up party and parking zones outside the more gentrified portions of the city? Will the Plaza convert to a police state on Friday and Saturday nights?
All of the above are now being cussed and discussed. Continue reading
Hearne: K2 Edges 420 Day Way
Yesterday was 420 Day, the counterculture holiday that won’t go away… The day that celebrates all thing marijuana. But these days there’s a new kid on the block; K2. Depending on your slant, K2 is either the world’s second-highest mountain … Continue reading
Hearne: KC Strip Off to Slow but Steady Start
On your marks, get set…
Last weekend’s first full pay-to-play run for the KC Strip party trolleys may have been a bit underwhelming but there’s more to the story than meets the eye, organizers say.
While ridership was less than half of the Strip’s debut weekend, ride-for-free numbers, cooler temps appear to have taken a toll – not just on potential Plaza rioters – but on the party crowd in general. KC’s nightlife scene was pretty across-the-board quiet, according to most observers. Continue reading
Hearne: It’s a Beautiful Day; 420 Day Arrives in Cowtown
Priorities are everything…
For readers of the KC Star’s FYI section, today’s front page news was all about Earth Day. It’s not that the newspaper merely jumped the gun on Thursday’s Earth Day festivities. More to the point, it completely missed the boat on the huge, national counterculture holiday today, Continue reading
Hearne: Plaza Riot Media Gang Bang All for Nought
About Saturday night’s media riot watch on the Country Club Plaza...
Despite veteran Westport wilding watcher’s counsel – that the youthful crowds of African Americans don’t come out when the weather is chilly or rainy – TV newsies and Star reporters were out in force.
Unlike the presumed perpetrators of the weekend before…
“A Night of Unexpected Quiet,” read the bold headline atop the Star’s Sunday Local section.
Unexpected? Hardly. Continue reading
Hearne on the Street: Studio Movie Grill Blues & Karinn Goes Go-Go’s
There’s good new and bad news where the northland’s spanking new Studio Movie Grill is concerned…
First the good
“This theater is 100 percent Dolby 3-D Digital,” says SMG spokeswoman Lynne McQuaker. “I don’t think you’ll find that anywhere else in Kansas City.”
Now the bad
A press screening sampling of the movie Date Night revealed some shortcomings not likely to disappear anytime soon. Continue reading
Hearne: Forget “Youth” Activities, Plaza & Westport Late Night Crowds Want Adult Action
Not everyone is buying into the idea that last weekend Continue reading
Hearne on the Street: Craig Glazer’s Great Escape
Saturday’s melee on the Plaza reminds Glazer Continue reading
Hearne: Lezak’s Riot Weather Forecast for Plaza
As goes the weather, so will what passes for rioting on the Plaza…
So according to Stanford & Sons main man Craig Glazer who logged more than a dozen years on the front lines in Westport, navigating the party zone’s annual warm weather swarmings of black teenagers and young adults.
At present police say they’ll be at the ready on the Plaza, should the problem revisit this weekend. At the same time, they’re not ruling out that the game could shift to another part of town in a heartbeat. If it does, they plan to be ready. They’re keeping an eye on Twitter and Facebook and asking parents to exercise judgment. Continue reading
Hearne: KC Cops Map Out Tweet Strategy for Plaza
How tweet it was…
Saturday’s urban youth rampage on the Plaza left little doubt that some serious preventative counter measures by police and Highwoods Properties would be forthcoming.
This just in: they already are and they already were.
Kansas City police met with Plaza officials last week to map a strategy for dealing with the hundreds of mostly African-American youth that spilled onto the streets two weeks ago from the Cinemark theater.
Cinemark ditched it’s kids restrictions policy last year, then slashed ticket prices in December to become something of a discount theater.
Prior to implementing the strategies, streets outside Cinemark had become overrun by unruly kids on weekend nights.
Highwoods and police met last week to try and quell the Cinemark debacle, says police spokesman Darin Snapp. Continue reading
Hearne: Near Race Riot Engulfs Country Club Plaza
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
There’s a reason for the sparse coverage of the Country Club Plaza’s Saturday night race wilding. And that is that Kansas City’s news media – starting with the Star at 18th and Grand – is largely an absentee ballot when it comes to weekend newsroom staffing. The Star has always fielded a skeleton staff on Saturdays and Sundays. And these days, the skeletons are fewer and farther between. Ditto, I suspect, for TV news crews.
Missing in action in the mix: Continue reading
Hearne: Police cite Cinemark/Twitter/Facebook re Plaza Riot
So many bloggers, so few facts…
Kansas City Police say Saturday’s teen wilding on the Plaza – stemmed from policy changes by the Continue reading
Hearne: Was Plaza’s Worst Ever Wilding a Flash Mob?
If it looks, acts and quacks, is it really so? Kansas City Police are stopping just short of labeling Saturday night’s urban teen rampage on the Country Club Plaza a
Hearne: Plaza Riot Deemed Worst Ever & the Damage Done
So how bad was Saturday night’s wilding on the PLaza by urban youth?
“The commander told me, this is the worst she’s ever seen,” says KCPD spokesman Darin Snapp. “In any gathering of teens – in Westport or the Plaza..”
Law abiding citizens were pushed, shoved, robbed, you name it, Snapp says.
“We had a high school girl wearing her prom dress who was assaulted and thrown into the fountain outside of the Cheesecake factory for no reason,” Snapp says.
A 16 year-old dude got smacked across the face with a crowbar near Winstead’s and his jaw was broken. Continue reading
Hearne: Strip a Success but No Word on Confession Cam
So far, so good… Color this past weekend’s KC
Hearne: Corbin Park, The One That Got Away
Talk about dodging a bullet Continue reading
Hearne: Nathan Heavy-Metalizes, P-Funks Frank
It’s like this…
In the wide world of operatic tenor sports, Nathan Granner looms large. Carnegie Hall, the Music Hall – perfect fits. Granner has both the chops and the cred. No assembly required.
Which brings us to Granner’s quirky side.
Equal parts geek and musical adventurer, wedded to a wickedly inane sense of humor.
At this stage of Granner’s game he’s no less comfortable doing Frank Sinatra-as-Journey than he is belting out straight down the line versions of “Music of the Night.”
Which brings us to his two-day hit-and-run at Jardine’s next week… Continue reading
