KC Confidential

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 →

Westport is worried, really worried…

And bracing for the worst. Because while for the past several years it’s the Country Club Plaza that’s been garnering headlines about urban youth hanging out and making its more affluent, mostly white patrons uncomfortable and uneasy, the issue has started to spread back into Westport.

As evidenced by the ominous signs in the windows of Westport’s Gusto Bar & Lounge advising patrons that firearms and weapons are not allowed. Along with a dress code tailor made to ward off hip-hop types with “exposed underwear,” “wave caps,” “jewelry which poses safety risks,” “tank tops,” “baggy clothing,” “jumpsuits” and the like.

There’s more.

Gusto appears so worried about the crowd it might attract that there’s even a clause in bold letters at the bottom of the sign advising, “You May Not Modify Your Wardrobe At Time Of Entry To Meet The Dress Code.”

Which would seem to imply that once the club determines that you may be a gangbanger they don’t want you loopholing your way in by merely slipping into sheep’s clothing.

Shades of the colorful dress code at infamous Westport dance club America’s Pub. Continue reading →

What’s in a word?

Plenty when it comes to terms like “flash mob.” Especially in regard to the recent nighttime gatherings of urban youth on the Country Club Plaza.

Take Saturday night when between 100 and 125 or so “black kids” wandered the Plaza and surrounding area – two were arrested – one for fighting, another for possession of a gun.

“Violent Teen Flash Mob” was how Tony’s Kansas City foolishly described the action.

Hold it right there… Continue reading →

Pardon the interruption but…

KCC reader and occasional contributor Chuck Lowe is worried. And not just about the usual suspects, you know, the fate of Malaysian Air Flight 370, Chelsea Clinton‘s baby and the Chiefs draft picks.

Nope, Ground Chuck is concerned about the girth of a certain former Kansas City Star sports columnist. Perhaps you know him, he goes by the name Jason Whitlock.

No kidding.

“Seriously, Whitlock is dead in two years if he doesn’t drop a buck fifty,” Lowe laments.  “He’s fatter than the Federal Deficit. Honestly, I saw him in person not too long before he went to LA and I think he has put on at least 100 pounds. Dead in two years. This picture is from today on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption. That’s my flash on my camera blowing up right over his heart.  Poor guy really needs help.” Continue reading →

It may not look like it, but I’m seriously rooting for The Bridge...

The adult, album, alternative radio station whose call letters are KTBG 90.9 FM improved its signal and moved here late last year after operating for years out of nearby Warrenburg, Mo. That after being acquired for beaucoup bucks by KCPT Channel 19.

On top of all that, it received a potential ratings gift of sorts when local Triple A station Alice 102.1 FM flipped to an adult contemporary format in February.

However The Bridge’s early ratings returns were unkind…really unkind. Continue reading →

Move over Donald Trump…

The divide between what prominent locals are more than willing to share with one another and – on second thought – what they are willing to attach their names to. Case in point a conversation I had yesterday with one of Kansas City’s best known promoters, who out of the clear blue sky informed me matter-of-factly that, “Michelle Obama is a man – look it up.”

Seriously, I asked?

“There are dozens of websites and movies made saying that she’s a man,” he responded.

Hold it, movies? Continue reading →