KC Confidential

The comments dude KC Confidential readers know as smartman is no more…

Most of you had no idea who that wily rascal was. He did a pretty good job of trying to pull the wool over my eyes even and conceal his identity, but I knew. He was definitely a Lone Ranger, with a penchant for cutting, crafty, edgy humor and at times, painfully blunt remarks.

At the same time, smartman always had a point to make and usually made it with a deft touch.

Could he be a bit crude at times? Hell yes, he could. He’s the reason I blocked the N Word in the comments section. And at times, he could be rather scatological and crude sexually. But even at his worst, he got his points across, even if as often as not I disagreed with them.

Many of you will always remember the smartman for calling out the Scribe and agreeing to meet him in front of the Beaumont Club in Westport earlier this year to duke it out. Continue reading →

Hoopla aside, Missouri sucked its first season out of the gate in the SEC…

In the $ports that matter that is, men’s football and basketball. And while the SEC is a prestigious conference, there’s more to the equation than the football successes of Alabama and LSU says, savvy sports scholar and KU fan Brett Mosiman.

“If you really pick apart the SEC, they have the best teams, but they’re not in the best conference,” Mosiman says.

The awful truth:

“You would never get anybody at Missouri on the record because they’re so full of themselves, but there isn’t anybody at MU who doesn’t think they made a big mistake leaving the Big 12. And if they could, they’d turn back the clock and not go to the SEC. Continue reading →

Much has been said this past week about KU football coach Charlie Weis self-deprecating remarks…

“Have you looked at that pile of crap out there?” Weis told reporters his pitch was in recruiting new players. “Have you taken a look at that? So if you don’t think you can play here, where do you think you can play? It’s a pretty simple approach. And that’s not a sales pitch. That’s practical. You’ve seen it, right? Unfortunately, so have I.”

Some see Weis remarks as refreshing, others disturbing.

So is longtime KU supporter Brett Mosiman of Wakarusa and Crossroads KC fame pissed off about Weis harsh harangue? Continue reading →

Move along folks, nothing to see here…

About that lawsuit filed Monday by concert promoter Mammoth – messrs Josh Hunt and Jeff Fortier – against Kanrocksas promoter Bill Brandmeyer and (more importantly perhaps)  MMF, LLC. The one in which Mammoth claims “the defendants misrepresented and misled Mammoth as to their intentions, causing great economic harm to Mammoth. The defendant’s actions have effectively destroyed Mammoth’s business and ruined the company’s reputation and ability to do business in the music industry.”

Wow.

One of the area’s top concert promoters claiming it’s effectively out of the biz based on its booking 78 acts for Kanrocksas, which canceled like a month and a day prior to its scheduled liftoff June 28-29 at the Kansas Speedway.

Before I wade into this total mess… Continue reading →

This is both scary and sad…

After years of hand wringing over how thin the ice is at Kansas City alternative newsweekly The Pitch, the worrisome point was driven home again today when Pitch parent SouthComm announced it was folding it’s Nashville weekly The City Paper.

“After 13 years, The City Paper will cease operations with the publication of its Friday, Aug. 9 issue,” reads an item on City Paper‘s website posted shortly before 9 a.m. this morning. “Chris Ferrell, CEO of SouthComm, made the announcement to employees this morning.”

SouthComm, you may recall, purchased what was left of the Pitch two years ago from Village Voice Media, which had been trying to fire sale the paper off for years.  Continue reading →

A, b, c, d, e, f, g…

Take a number if you sang those letters in your mind as you read them. Now scratch the letter “g” and you’ll have KC Confidential‘s new, improved movie ratings system.

Starting immediately, we’re leaving the stars, ticket stubs, popcorn bags, fingers – you name it – ratings systems behind.

Beginning with KCC movie maniac Jack Poessiger‘s review of  The Wolverine, we’ll be dishing out Report Card movie rating grades. You know, like A is as good as it gets, B is pretty darn good. A grade of C is about average, if that’s the sort of film fare you prefer, go for it! And while D doesn’t stand for Dog, it’s close.

F means the only one who liked it was Fox 4 critic Shawn Edwards. Continue reading →

This is huge…

It’s been like for-ev-er since Kansas City has had a comedy club. A real comedy club. You know, like Stanford & Sons.

No mas.

As of right now, that’s about to change. Because Stanford’s on Broadway is slated to open in late August in the Uptown Theater‘s “Conspiracy Room.”

“I’m going to sign the lease today,” says Stanford’s main man Craig Glazer. “So we’ll be open by the end of August barring some unforeseen circumstances. We’ll start with comic Mike Steenberg and then I’m going to call in some favors and bring in some big names early on. Continue reading →

Yesterday’s news, anyone?

The front page headline in today’s Kansas City Star: “Hollywood faces epic year of flops.”

Never mind that the story was written by a New York Times writer, not a Star staffer. The inconvenient truth is it’s little more than a rehash of what other entertainment media have been reporting for weeks.

“There was nothing new to the story,” says KCC movie meister Jack Poessiger. “It’s what all the magazines and television media have already said – that the big movies have flopped.”

However the NY Times / Star front pager totally misses the mark. Continue reading →