Category Archives: Tony_Botello

Because I’m all about culture I decided to spend a few minutes at this year’s Plaza Art Fair.

The event features what is probably Kansas City’s biggest collection of drunken middle-aged ladies this side of a Nordstrom’s sale. So, I’m inviting you d-bags to come along with me and take a quick look at the gathering as I saw it. Without listing any of the pointless stats about a lighter than usual crowd because of the rain or meaningless artist’s names. Sure, I know the first painting featured belongs to Mike Savage and Sav.Art but I’m guessing that the rest of the aspiring artists at the place aren’t as successful and the whole affair is mostly about people-watching and pretending not to notice the distinct scent of pot in the air.

Anyhoo, the smaller crowd and surprisingly cold weather made for a good time. Also, cheaper than usual Boulevard Wheat ($4) made hanging with so many lawyers and housewives that much more tolerable. Take a look . . . Continue reading →

The myth that The Great Recession is over is exceptionally cruel as we approach the holidays.

In fact, this much early preparation for the holiday buying season is a great clue that this town is still majorly cash-strapped.

Look around and notice that local merchants are already eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus and local dimwits who spend too much to buy the affection of their loved ones. On the Plaza they’ve already set up shop for holiday decorations before folks have had time to even put up their Halloween displays. Additionally, the annual Prairie Village bickering over a big-ass X-mas lighting display seems a bit early given that Summer doesn’t even officially end until tonight.

Obviously, we’re all looking for X-mas because so many local merchants need some kind of spike in retail sales.

Truly, this is the saddest kind of waiting for Santa.
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Like a bad sitcom, the Kansas City Star is killing off some our favorite characters and replacing them with new cute and cuddly lies about their business fortunes turning around.

Worst of all Aaron Barnhart is still collecting a check and turning in copy that seems to come straight off the Entertainment Weekly wire. This fact needs to be stressed repeatedly: There is very little unique about what Barnhart writes for the Star that couldn’t be found (with better photos) on a myriad of Entertainment blogs. If the Star is a TV show facing its last days then Barnhart is The Great Gazoo.

In his latest opus that seems to be getting prime placement on Kansas City.com, Barnhart tackles the subject of an NBC sitcom calculated to generate headlines about being offensive. Sure, he finds a local connection and painfully stretches it out over hundreds of words. But leave it to this town’s so-called paper-of-record to note that a show supposedly offends people of Indian descent without every talking to any Indians.
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Because so many political maneuvers are based on hypocrisy, most people don’t see the irony in multi-millionaire Rex Sinquefield fighting against taxes.

In fairness, I understand people wanting to fight for every bit of their paycheck but support for a guy who could buy and sell so many members of the grumbling middle-class just doesn’t make sense.

Nevertheless, Kansas City Proper is in the midst of a “Do Or Die” fight to save the E-Tax that has armchair newswatchers rooting for this town’s demise, unwittingly and otherwise. For better or worse, there Continue reading →

The business life of a Kansas City Internet Web Publisher isn’t an easy one.

A look at the carnage of Cowtown websites reveals a competitive field wherein so many struggle – and so few succeed – to make a dime off of the democratization of the written word in the digital age.

The Kansas City Star’s Internet fortunes are most likely due to the paper they litter this town with every morning. Whereas smaller online publishers hope and pray that their sites go “viral” and Internet linking, liking and recommending offer a no-cost alternative to capture the interest of online denizens. So far, there have been some worthy entries into this market, a few busts, interesting new profit models and other disappointments.

Let’s take a look at some of the more noteworthy local Internet hopefuls:
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We all know that KCC had the premiere of Rain: A Tribute To The Beatles ridiculously staked out last week.

Now that the show is safely on to the next po’dunk burg there are some juicy tidbits circulating that call into question the sacred division between editorial and advertising which is the cornerstone of the so-called “journalistic integrity” reporters for The Star love to tout.

Let’s gossip just a bit, shall we?

We all know that Tim Finn is probably one of the nicer newsies in Kansas City. Heck, he should have kicked my ass long ago and now that I’ve read his blog for a while I realize he never really rips bands to shreds which is far more fun to read than an actual objective review. Continue reading →

More than any other person in Kansas City, I have benefited from the layoffs and harsh times at The Star.

The ongoing downward spiral of this town’s paper of record has not only given credence to all of my ranting regarding “dead tree media” but also led my writing efforts to interesting places.

Not too long after he parted company at The Kansas City Star I had my first meeting with Kansas City Journalist Hearne Christopher in a Westport cafe worked by a local hipsters with bad tattoos. Instantly, I was stunned with his forthrightness and how easily he was able to talk to another writer who had previously joked about his falling down a flight of stairs and the demise of both him and his former employer.

Thankfully, Hearne was able to see through the bravado and bullshit of the written word on the Internet in much the same way he has navigated Kansas City’s news scene for decades. I’ve always had a good sense of history about this Cowtown but very few people have Hearne’s vast working mental index of the players who make things happen in Kansas City. And that was the biggest factor in my decision to write for KC Confidential one year ago.
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It’s not necessarily a bad thing that art in Kansas City is nothing more than an excuse to schmooze. In fact, the only thing worse than people blithely ignoring local art are the folks really focused on the often mediocre creations put on display in this Cowtown.

Still, Kansas City’s two biggest art fairs are coming up this month and I’ve got a few helpful hints to make them bearable for the kind of people who want to suffer through the artsy extravaganzas.

Let’s take a look.
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For just a moment, I don’t want to simply celebrate the death of Kansas City’s biggest daily paper.

I simply want to demonstrate how local media is changing with a very clear cut example of creative people garnering huge numbers on the Internet without doing any of that pesky research and reporting that journalists love to tout.

Recently, a rather weird-ass local lady gave an inspired eye-witness account of a Kansas City gas station altercation. She was just one of many weird people on the local news. Subsequently, popular Internet act The Gregory Brothers got a hold of the clip, turned it into a song and garnered more than a million views and counting.

Let me explain why this is important:
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This town hates change…

And that’s why we’d rather wheel Walt Bodine’s old bones into the KCUR studio and listen him say “Wha?” for an hour than contemplate local radio without the Kansas City broadcasting legend.

But, like it or not, things must change and that brings us to the curious subject of Jabulani Leffall.

According to KCUR FM’s press release, Leffall’s resume is full of jet setting with a number of big name media gigs but few apparent stable positions held. And he’s only been living here for like six months.

Contrastingly, Walt worked his way around Kansas City and became a local radio legend partially because of his close connection and deep roots in the community. Nevertheless, it was the tales of Leffall’s whirlwind adventures around the globe that were trumpeted upon his arrival.
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Yesterday the KCMO Health Department put out a presser that provides both good and bad news.

The media notice was an effort to inform folks about greater options for STD testing at the Kansas City Health Department. This is welcomed information because it provides greater access to Healthcare and increased efficiency.

However, it’s also a bad sign because it reveals that so many nasty STDs still lurk in and around Kansas City and the current healthcare system is adjusting in order to meet the obviously increased demand.

Let’s take a look at the copy.
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There’s a bit of good news for people cruising around Kansas City proper on increasingly expensive foreign oil.

Recent stats reveal driving in this area only seems life threatening and dangerous.

In fact, Allstate recently ranked 200 of the largest U.S. cities using car collision frequency data and drivers in KCMO are 8.3 percent less likely than the average U.S. driver to have an accident. Across the State Line in KCK, the numbers are even better. Sadly, I still haven’t found a worthwhile excuse to venture into KCK but it’s nice to know at least the drive will be nice and safe.

These driver stats are comforting but they don’t feel accurate at all given that most locals don’t know what they’re doing behind the wheel.

I have examples.
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The Kansas City, Missouri School District has started the year with an impressive volley of public relations efforts attempting to sway the conversation in their favor.

For the most part, the media has been complicit in this PR effort.

Tragically, in more than a year of energetic campaigning by School Board member Airick L. West and Superintendent John Covington, preliminary test scores reveal little effect in local classrooms.

Like it or not, it takes more than great PR to turn around a School District that has been in decline for more than a generation.
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So, I skipped out on The 2010 Greater Kansas City Bartending Competition not just because I’m lazy and wanted to spend Sunday Afternoon watching G.I. Joe.

But also because I realized the the Sunday drinking was inadvertently making a political statement that runs afoul of the self-interest of so many hipsters in the area.

Without question, it’s a good looking event full of vibrant and young locals with a keen interest in having a good time. Kansas City Photographer Eric Bowers took some choice photos of the party and Kansas City’s cool people were certainly out in full force. But, I just couldn’t help thinking that the boozefest was a bit hypocritical.

Allow me to explain.
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This week a white dude took video of African-American City Hall Workers taking a nap on the job and there were political repercussions across this town.

Or at least there was a lot of local (self) righteous indignation.

Overall, the “Sleeping City Workers” is a pretty standard story. It’s more like a substitute for local news and akin to those “tales of campaign sign stealing” that always crop up around election time.

But, as usual, there’s more to this story that meets the eye. Let’s take a look:
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For the record, I think the most damning allegation against Kansas City Star Editor Mike Fannin was a sordid tale of non-sexual man kissing that not even the media allowed Jason Whitlock to complete.

For this social faux pas noted by Whitlock, I’m pretty sure the only “punishment” required is a weekend pass to one of those “Iron John” seminars where middle-aged men partake in primal scream therapy and complain about their fathers.

However, among newsies at the Star there are a great many complaints about more serious stuff starting with a list of Fannin’s wrongs on KCC that directly call for a judgment from Kansas City Star Publisher Mark Zieman.

Unfortunately, Zieman doesn’t exactly have the moral high ground when it comes to personnel issues. Let’s examine why, shall we?
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I think I’m turning the corner on the so-called controversy over Polsinelli Shugart’s plan to build a glass castle on The Plaza that has some many new-found architectural purists up in arms.

In fact, I’m discovering that there are a great many reasons to support the project.

Maybe it was ritzy the Plaza denizens who claimed persecution who annoyed me. Or maybe it was a rather horrible article by Mike “Walking Contradiction” Hendricks that not only didn’t inspire but also didn’t live up to it’s hype. Whatever the case, it’s clear that Polsinelli Shugart and its proposed Plaza building is far more important than middle-class white people complaining about architecture.

Here’s why:
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As local elections move closer, I’ve been speaking with a great many Kansas City hopefuls and I’ve been able to pinpoint one particularly annoying catchphrase which provides a clue that the candidate in question doesn’t really have a plan.

The quote used by the Kansas City clueless: “When the economy turns around . . .”

For the most part, this simple string of words indicates a basic lack of understanding about local government and a willingness to treat taxpayer funds like their own, probably screwed up, personal finances.

Sadly, all we can do with aspiring politicos is take them at their word since they don’t have a voting record. But once this cliche is thrown out it becomes a lot easier to peek into the psyche of a loser who would spout such nonsense.
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In the end most big media hyped events leave people disappointed.

Showdowns are never as good in reality as they play in people’s minds. To wit, as part of my blogging public service I’ve devised a few benchmarks by which to judge today’s Jason Whitlock spectacle. Sadly, I can’t help but feel a lot of disappointment with Kansas City right now given that so many locals are anticipating this afternoon’s discussion as if it was the Frost/Nixon showdown.

Forget about “The Dumbing Down of America,” Kansas City just doesn’t care about the substantial. Even if Internet rumors of Whitlock taking down $2 million at Fox are titillating.

Nevertheless, I’m not trying to make a difference. So it’s important to offer a preview so that we can know in advance EXACTLY why we’re going to be disappointed — Other than the fact that we’re all taking time out of our days to hear the story of a middling sports columnist at a second rate paper in the middle of nowhere. But I digress . . .

Here’s what to look for:
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Right now, Kansas City proper is in the midst of a City Council redistricting drama that even has white people screaming about disenfranchisement.

For close political watchers it’s quite entertaining. Like it or not, in this current political epoch the person or group who most convincingly proves their status as a victim wins. Maybe that’s why so many Tea Party goons are so frustrated by The Black President that they make the silly connection to Hitler.

In any event, one of the the consistent themes has Continue reading →