KC Confidential

It’s not easy being famous…

And fame we all know can be fleeting, especially when it comes to television talent show winners. As noted by The Pitch‘s David Hudnall today when characterizing the success of American Idol season seven winner David Cook of Blue Springs as “brief.”

“What, you never heard of Caleb Johnson?” Hudnall asks. “Next you’re going to tell me you don’t know who Candice Glover is.”

As Cook’s springboard Idol approaches Season 14, tryouts will be held at UMKC next month on July 21st. And at this point, despite flagging ratings its cast of winners includes only two true, bonafide success stories, Kelly Clarkson from Season One and Carrie Underwood from Season Four.

Success has proved far more fleeting for Cook and most of the winners of the other 11 Idol seasons. Continue reading →

Wouldn’t you know it…

The entire country is caught up in a mild case of soccer fever via the World Cup like never before. And better yet, a pair of Sporting Kansas City stars – Matt Besler of Overland Park and Graham Zusi – are smack in the thick of things as the teams appear poised to overcome an unfortunate pairing in the so-called Group of Death with Germany, Portugal and Ghana.

And of course then, almost out of nowhere comes word that Sporting’s old nemesis Lance Armstrong is about to take it up the you-know-what from – shudder – the United States Postal Service.

That’s right, the champions of Snail Mail are super pissed at Big Tex – to the tune of an $120 million triple-the-damages lawsuit for soaking the P.O. for mega sponsorship bucks based upon his assertions that he did not sleep with that woman – I mean, inhale – errr, take performance enhancing drugs when he won all those Golden Globes or whatever they were.

On top of that a recent ruling by a federal judge cleared the way for the $120 million whistle-blower lawsuit against Armstrong to proceed. 

Which makes the management and ownership of  the Sporting Knasas City soccer club look like geniuses for dumping Sir Lance-lies-alot and stripping his charity Livestrong’s name from the team stadium. Continue reading →

Is it just me?

Or do the so-called gatekeepers of the Fourth Estate get it wrong again and again and again? Look, we live in a far more open world where bloggers of any stripe – however few their readers – can attempt to set things straight when the mainstream news media messes up.

Not long ago that wasn’t the case.

That said, even in its much depleted state, there’s no denying that what one local blogger describes as “the dead tree media” is more than merely alive and kicking, it continues to rule local news roosts.

Sure the Kansas City Star and Lawrence Journal World are facing incredibly tough times on the financial front. However their readership and web traffic continues to dwarf the sum total of the the Top 10 area independent websites and blogs combined. So while there have been hundreds, closer to thousands, of employee layoffs and the newspaper’s “dead tree” product has been downsized to a startling degree, but if it wasn’t for their basic reporting (and sometimes dopey opinion pieces) what would local bloggers even have to talk and complain about?

The odd murder, kidnapping, robbery or TV news investigative piece?

Unfortunately, even with all the downsizing and tidal waves of red ink, the mainstream print media has been so busy playing “Dutch boy” at their leaky advertising dikes that they’ve yet to come to terms with the obvious reality that they need to put out a more street smart product. Continue reading →

Checked out Amazon’s new Fire Phone yet?

It’s “The Everything Store’s” latest would be bombshell, a smartphone device that offers a bigger screen with 3D capabilities,  “Dynamic Perspective” – tilt or swivel to auto scroll or navigate menus – Firefly to quickly identify web or mail addresses and phone numbers or get “useful information” on movies, television and music, and Mayday, a free service that gives users “live, on-device video support with an Amazon expert.”

Oh yeah, and you get a complimentary year of Amazon Prime that comes with free two day shipping and a variety of other Amazon services.

Amazon’s next big thing a la The Kindle? Not so fast, says irascible entertainment guru Bob Lefstez.

Check out Lefsetz’ take on the subject: Continue reading →

Think the Game of Life is rigged?

Take a number. Now sit back and let edgy entertainment lawyer / scribe Bob Lefsetz explain it to you.

But first the news:

“Independent artists could disappear from YouTube ‘in a matter of days’ after the Google video service confirmed it was dropping content from independent labels that have not signed up for its upcoming subscription music service,” The Guardian reports today.

The headline reads: “YouTube to block indie labels who don’t sign up to new music service”

Lefsetz take: Continue reading →

Chiefs football, the Country Club Plaza, First Fridays…

Popular as they are, the above activities pale by comparison to Kansas City‘s favorite pastime, fretting and worrying about anything and everything.

Worrying that people outside the area know we’re not a cow town, a flyover. That they know everything’s up to date here and we’re one of the most livable cities in America. Or that cities like Omaha even may be passing us by.

The list goes on.

And we in the media like to play up those many foibles. Give locals something to wring their hands over. Like this headline today on the Kansas City Star website:

Yael T. Abouhalkah: Ouch! KC could lose ‘Sprint Center’ and much more in T-Mobile merger

You heard the man, “ouch.” Continue reading →

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to dissolve the bands which have connected and assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…

In other words, sports scribe Craig Glazer admits he was wrong about this year’s Kansas City Royals baseball team. He made a mistake and, you know, truth is they’re not doing too shabby here lately.

So does the Glaze take back every awful thing he said about the team?

Uh, no.

“I think rather than saying, I take it back – it’s still early in the season – but I gotta eat a little crow. Hey, the bottom line is the Royals are virtually tied for 1st and look like they’re gonna make a run,” Glazer says. “The pitching is so good – the bullpen’s the best in baseball – but the core group of hitters – Eric Hosmer, Billy Butler, Alex Gordon and Salvatore Perez are still disappointing at this point. Continue reading →

It’s a jungle out here…

And when it comes to the Kansas City’s highly competitive radio market, it’s dog-eat-dog, cat-eat-mouse, King Kong versus Godzilla.  Formats come and formats go while a dozen or so stalwarts more-or-less dominate the top slots in Nielsen’s monthly rankings of stations by listenership.

And into that competitive fray as the year began – checkbook in hand – rode the smooth talkers at KCPT-TV with their  brand new bonus baby, Triple A station The Bridge (KTBG at 90.9 on the FM dial).

Given all the favorable publicity accorded the station, expectations were high.

Very high, in fact. Unfortunately, KTBG’s ratings have been low, very low. Continue reading →