KC Confidential

You gotta love PR people…

You know, the folks who pride themselves on putting one over on the general public and mild-mannered journalists almost as worried about not offending anyone in a position of “power” as they are of getting laid off.

Take the case of KU point guard  Naadir Tharpe. In an announcement last week crafted by KU, Tharpe said he was leaving the team to move back east to be closer to his two year-old daughter who has health issues.

“Naadir has been a good player for us in his three years here,” Self is quoted in the release from KU. “But we also respect the fact that he wants to be closer to his daughter.”

One guy and one guy alone – Lawrence Journal World columnist Tom Keegan – had the guts to call bullshit on KU for its phoned-up quotes in the release about the reasons behind Tharpe’s departure.

And I can assure you that virtually nobody else halfway in the know is buying the excuse KU was serving up. Continue reading →

Face it, television weather anchors are an odd lot…

Think about it.

Can anybody remember one who wasn’t? I mean, a successful, popular one. Yeah, there’s KCTV‘s Gary Amble who on the surface appears to be a regular guy. Until you remember he’s looney toon Michelle Bachmann‘s kid brother. Besdies, Amble’s not exactly wildly successful, given he barely lasted four years at Channel 5’s weather helm before being replaced by known nutball, Katie Horner.

Shall we continue?

Anybody remember that strange-seeming dude at Channel 9 and Channel 4 named Dave Dusik? Dusik left WDAF under a cloud after it was reported by a national business pub that he traded commodities using his TV weather predicting skills. Where do you suppose Dusik is now?  I can’t find him. Continue reading →

Why wait for Halloween to do something really weird but legal?

Original art by Mark Valentine

This Sunday check out Mark Valentine‘s annual Chihuahua Parade and help catapult the event into the Guinness Book of Records as the “World’s Largest Costumed Dog Parade.”

It all goes down at the Barney Allis Plaza, 12th and Central in Kansas City, MO.

Dogs and their handlers will parade around the downtown park without ever touching paw to the street, Jack FM will broadcast a live remote and over 30 vendors will be on hand.

Humans get in free, but a $5 per dog entry fee will go to Great Plains SPCA which operates two of no-kill shelters in the area.

Valentine’s inspiration for the parade?
Continue reading →

Small world…

A year ago while vacationing in Southern California, I did pretty much the same thing Pitch top gun Steve Vockrodt just did in Denver; I checked out a couple of IKEA  stores to try and get a handle on why its coming to Merriam seemed like such a big deal to so many locals.

Kansas City Star business columnist Joyce Smith even raved about its meatballs, as if pilgrimages might be made to the do-it-yourself Swedish furniture retailer’s bargain-priced cafeteria solely to partake of the fifteen meatball $7.99  special. So you know, I tried ’em and, eh, no big deal. It didn’t help that shortly thereafter IKEA’s meatballs were slammed with a horse meat scandal.

I digress.

Here’s the deal though, as Vockrodt found out, you diss IKEA here at your own risk. Continue reading →