Category Archives: Tony_Botello

By now, everybody who watching the news knows that Katie Horner is holding up rather nicely over the years, and I think we all wonder what she looks like naked.

Also, The City Council and Mayor Funkhouser essentially voted to fire City Manager Wayne Cauthen and replace him with one of the other bureaucrats responsible for $60 million worth of debt.

But there’s actually something interesting about this story that will appear first on KC Confidential!!!
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If there is one “journalist” currently employed by The Star who embodies the panicked, unprepared and melancholy decline of dead tree media it is columnist Mike Hendricks.

I’ve tried repeatedly to capture his essence with several witty nicknames but I’ve never before seen a Johnson County dweller so completely embody the term: Douche.

Lately, Hendricks has gone off the deep end in the twilight of his career and his actions and e-mails have been far more entertaining than his writing.

Let’s take a look.
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While I don’t want to share too much with the d-bags who read Kansas City blogs I will reveal that I had the pleasure of recently visiting Kansas City Hospice House during this gloomy spate of gray weather. And I had the even greater pleasure of walking out of the place upright after spending only a few hours there.

While the up-to-date, trendy, super cool folks who check out KCC for all things current and entertaining in this cowtown may not want to think about the (hopefully) sweet hereafter, I have to say I was thoroughly impressed by their digs. Even though I was fortunate enough to just be visiting a friend, I must say that the accommodations are excellent.

A quick review:
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Earlier this year Kansas City embarked upon a great quest to recapture our streetcar roots with a faux trolley plan that’s nothing more than a pub crawl in disguise.

Westport power house and political broker Bill Nigro is the main driver behind this effort and I hear that anyone who talks to him is in danger of catching his insatiable optimism regarding the project. Nigro has been promoting this thing hardcore as something that could not only save Westport but unite all of Kansas City in a celebration of diversity and good times.

Sounds nice, but there are just too many problems with this plan that can’t be overlooked.
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I want to put it to you d-bags (hehe). We need to talk about hot chicks on Hearne’s site for a moment.

Finding photos of famous bikini models in various states of undress is sort of my modus operandi when it comes to blogging. And as I talk with Hearne I always try to impart a bit of my wisdom on the subject of blogs because it’s something I do pretty well.

Unlike dead tree media writing, blogging is supposed to be more of a conversation: So let’s “talk.”
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Word just came down that Overland Park native and Saturday Night Live comic Jason Sudeikis will be the guest of honor for the Plaza Lighting ceremony on Thanksgiving night.

I guess this is a big deal for those folks not doing anything better than watching late night TV on the weekend.

However, I can think of nothing that will do a greater disservice to the people of Kansas City.

Why?
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With complete confidence and accuracy I can report that just about every Irish person in Kansas City is eagerly awaiting the new deck at Kelly’s Wesport Inn.

Full disclosure: I don’t see many white people during my daily routine and I had always assumed that the term “Irish” was just another way to describe white people who weren’t Italian, which is standard nomenclature for the equally minority dominated world of boxing.

In any event, the Kelly’s deck project called Randal’s Roost is turning out to be a pretty big deal.

Here’s why:
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Here’s the deal. I’m gonna write a real review of last night’s Linda Ronstadt charity show since Tim Finn can’t – Not because of a lack of talent or insight on his part. But more likely because of a basic inability to provide an accurate account of last night’s show given the complex fabric of political correctness and white guilt that comprises all of The Star’s coverage of Kansas City’s diverse communities.

There’s a simple fact that was evident last night that doesn’t bode well for any of us: Time has taken a devastating toll on Linda Ronstadt and her voice. There was a glimmer of her former glory, a slight shade of her Top 40 past and the brilliant spark that made audiences swoon. But for the most part she was an old lady struggling to keep up with the world class Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Can. And she required a myriad of breaks during the conchert.

That’s not to say the show wasn’t a good time or well worth the exorbitant ticket prices. However the fact of the matter is, if I don’t provide an honest look at how the whole thing went down last night: No one will.
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Since the dawn of time man as looked to the heavens with awe and inspiration.

The highlight of the 20th century for this nation and the world was the ascendancy of the United States into space and on to the moon.

Sadly, today this cowntown was given a reminder not only that everything from this town is broken and sucks but also that we should keep our heads out of the clouds.

The Kansas City Space Pirates are a widely celebrated group of students, parents and hobbyists working on a “Space Elevator” as the next generation of off-planet endeavors. Today their efforts met with complete failure.

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There is a grand and mostly pointless debate in Kansas City over racial descriptions of suspects in local crime stories.

Racists want a full description on every purse snatching on a slow news day while guilt ridden white people worry that the news would be filled with descriptions of minorities. Of course, both sides are wrong and I’m right. My Contention: When the public can help find a suspect with a good description THEN it should be offered, if not, it’s really not too important.

And all of this preamble is simply to get us in the right mood when thinking about the most popular suburban interracial beat down in recent news headlines.

The photo featured in the post and a story from KMBC does an excellent job in demonstrating the savagery of an old school ass-whooping that a poor 83 year-old dude took in a Prairie Village Grocery store parking lot but it fails to mention how the public should regard such a callous act of violence. That’s what my dumbass is here for . . .
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This X-mas is gonna suck. KUDL is already playing holiday music that makes me want to kill myself and should remind us all that we’re all broke.

On a not so unrelated front, Hearne has made this blog an awesome, one stop shop for all things cool and fun happening in Kansas City but I was just thinking that the upcoming holiday season is going to exceptionally hard for the many poor and, maybe more importantly, newly poor people among us.

Today, there was another great example that Kansas City doesn’t really care about the disenfranchised. Or, at the very least, there’s not a lot of sympathy for folks struggling to pay their bills in much the same way the dimwits on The Plaza every year celebrate a holiday lighting ceremony on a property built by a tyrant who used racially restrictive covenants to secure his real estate empire in Kansas City.

But I digress, let’s get to the most recent slap in the face to po’folk in River City.
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Halloween is a perilous time in this cowtown.

We’re not like Detroit yet, and we don’t have to deal with Devil’s Night and a slew of arson. Vacant house throughout KC are still safe enough to continue blighting neighborhoods and fostering crime for years to come.

However, Kansas City has a horrible habit of using this holiday based on disguise to completely lose control. Not only in terms of personal responsibility, but also when it comes to politics.

I’ve garnered just a few examples of this cowtown’s Halloween craziness that speak to how screwed up Kansas City seems during this start of the holiday season.
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Here’s just a tiny bit of insight on why Hearne is better off in the blogosphere and why I’m thankful that he asked me to write for this site despite the fact that tall white dudes either like or despise … Continue reading →

I’ve never seen The Vagina Monologues all the way through because, like most things concerning vaginas, it’s probably really interesting for about two and a half minutes and then not so much.

Still, dramatic women on stage chatting, shouting, praising and describing their vaginas simply proves that there’s nothing in this world that can’t be turned into something boring. Therefore, UMKC is actually a prefect place for an upcoming Vagina Monologues production.
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Normally, I’m the first person who tries to make fun of somebody doing something worthwhile and as much as I’d like to mock up-and-coming Kansas City musician Barclay Martin for his recent musical outreach efforts, I actually think what he did was kind of cool.

In many parts of the the Philippines, desperate poverty and terrorism are part of daily life. The upcoming documentary, Zamboanga follows Martin’s journey through the southern region of the Philippines as he meets with the locals and puts on a concert that incorporates some of the native sounds into his music.
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Very much like a Victoria’s Secret photo shoot featuring a collection of high-end eye candy – News stories in the local media spoke to a great many trends Kansas City trends affecting our downward spiral during The Great Recession.

At this point all we can do is enjoy the ride because this town is still far away from an election despite the fact that one in four people in Kansas City think they can be Mayor.

Here’s the weekly trend watch. Check it:

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Eddie Delahunt is Kansas City’s favorite Irish dude and he’s been stepping up his game lately when it comes to promoting his music career and newish coffee house Cafe &.

The latest big deal for Delahunt: Oprah’s Dr. Oz is going to broadcast from his place at 45th & Bell Friday (Oct. 23rd) from 1 to 3 pm.

Delahunt is a fixture in Kansas City’s Irish scene and this Dr. Oz visit is a major coup.
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I’ll make this short and sweet because I’ve got better things to do (X-box).

This city is home to a great many d-bags who care about inconsequential local sporting events rather than the fact that Kansas City is currently in a downward spiral that started long before The Great Recession.

So, thanks to a very helpful e-mail sent my way, I’ve found a bit of Internet backstory related to a semi-tragic tale that reveals the long journey of a young man from Shawnee Mission Football through K-State and then onto the porn industry.

Warning: The link I’ll be providing will get you fired while you pretend to work at your dead end job and read blogs.
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A long time ago when the influence of this town was still important, Kansas City set the world on fire with our jazz culture and style.

Unfortunately, nowadays the Midwest doesn’t have much relevance in creating pop culture trends and the flyover states are pretty much a dumping ground for whatever schlock big media and other corporate interests send our way. This is all part of the reason that stupid Sonic ads and the heart clogging fare they offer are granted the same kind of pop-culture respect as the legendary Kansas City BBQ pits that helped to build this place.

But I digress. The point of this post is actually hopeful, in a way. It seems that Kansas City Proper still has some influence when it comes to self-destructive urban planning.
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