Category Archives: Tony_Botello

It’s amazing how much Mike Hendricks doesn’t know about Kansas City.

In today’s hot mess of a Hendricks column the journalist at 2/3rd salary makes a bold and completely misinformed claim.

Hendricks strangely touts burrito and tamale sales as an indicator of Tour of Missouri success

It’s a Westside connection so stupid and backward I’m at a loss as to how The Star prints that kind of garbage and then dares to call itself a community news source.

I always like to remind folks that Hendricks is a Johnson County resident whereas I live within walking distance of the establishments the Star columnist claims benefited from the rather boring bike race. Continue reading →

The deepening Global Recession has pretty much screwed outdoor entertainment for this fall. September’s Fiesta Hispana was called off because organizers couldn’t find enough businesses with cash despite the fact that it is was the biggest Latino Festival in the region. And Oktoberfest is kaput for this year as well.

It seems that rocking out with Jesus with an old school hair band is the only place to turn. It was recently reported (Twitter counts, right?) that Christian Heavy Metal Band Stryper will be at Crossroads KC October 9. Undoubtedly, the audience will be filled with many non-believers thrashing to the music ironically and for their part Stryper has toned down their bible head-banging image over the years. This 25th Anniversary tour is a far cry from the Megadeath knockoff with a Christan spin and a gimmick that involved throwing bibles at the crowd from onstage. Continue reading →

Buried in the back pages of a recent edition of The Kansas City Star (Saturday A-9) is one of the most interesting tidbits regarding the legacy of Dead Tree Media.

Jesse H. Rizzo of Warrensburg, Mo., son of Kansas City Star crime reporter Tony Rizzo, was recently cited with disorderly conduct after a run-in with Kansas City Police Chief James Corwin in which he reportedly threw a beer on Kansas City’s top cop.

This is funny for a great many reasons, none of which involve an assault on a law enforcement official.

First of all, obviously Rizzo the Jr. doesn’t take much of an interest in dear old Dad’s profession if he can’t spot Corwin on sight. Then again, Rizzo the younger lives in the college town that hosts Central Missouri State University – A place that I consider to be a last resort learning institution and not a place known to inspire great intellectual curiosity. Continue reading →

There’s nothing quite as entertaining as rich white people fighting about property values.

And I was just thinking that a recent kerfuffle among the last remaining Eastside classy types in the Crestwood neighborhood was the perfect subject matter for my first post at Hearne’s place.

It has already been reported that the Rockhill Tennis Club is moving in and plans major redeveloping which not-so-surprisingly has neighbors fuming.

But that’s not the end of the story. Because I’m somewhat fluent in the “language of the oppressor” white people with money sometimes confide in me. I like this because it reminds me that we all have our challenges to overcome. Someday I hope my biggest problems revolve around Country Clubs and not how I’m going to pay for Chinese food on the weekend. Continue reading →