Amtrak service to St. Louis could end if more subsidies are cut. The government is cutting funds because several Missouri passengers are members of the Tea Party.
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4,000 people ran in the Mother’s Day 5K at Corporate Woods, many of whom, were mothers. One mother used it as an excuse to be too tired to cook my brunch on Mother’s Day.
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Styx and REO Speedwagon rocked Starlight Friday night. At least, I think they did. After I put in my earplugs, I took a nap. Continue reading
Let there be plaudits…
Media criticism is a hard way to go. Not because it’s difficult finding fault – real or imagined – that’s the easy part. Anybody can play that game.
No, the trouble is, everyone hates you once you’ve done it. Which is why otherwise edgy bloggers like Tony mostly kiss up to local media hacks. That’s how you get Pitch cover stories and radio appearances. Trust me, Mr. T knows where his bread is buttered.
Show no mercy and you’ll get none.
And while most everybody in the media can dish it out, few can take it. Continue reading
In This Moment
Check out the sights at 98.9 The Rock‘s 2013 Rockfest. As seen through the eyes and lens of KC Confidential‘s Katie Grogan.
Are you all watching NBC’s Hannibal? I’m not. Well, I suppose I am—technically—but only in arrears thorough Time Warner’s “On Demand!” and only at the continual insistence of someone from Facebook. (You know—the person who loves and trumpets something loudly, and you listen because you trust this person’s opinion on things related to entertainment? Yeah, that.)
The things is, I’m four episodes in and it’s just not grabbing me by my (eye)balls and compelling me to watch more. It’s not bad, really, it’s just… okay. Continue reading
There’s a difference between well written and well reasoned…
Good writers love to play with words and concepts, that’s a given.They didn’t get into the journalism racket for the fat paychecks. Not 40 years ago at the height of Watergate, and certainly not in today’s low pay, high mortality news and alt weekly writing game.
Which brings us to Washington Post pop critic Chris Richards’ story today, “Are foodies quietly killing rock-and-roll?”
While Richards makes clever inroads in mounting that argument, one could easily pit the rise in popularity of cooking shows, restaurants and food trucks against any number of beleaguered industries and argue the same. Continue reading
Things may be better down south but they’re far from perfect…
“While I said that mixed races seem to be more comfortable down here, there are some things that are worse,” says Joe Miller, a Kansas City and Pitch refugee who now teaches college English in Columbus, Georgia. “While the black population here is a majority, there are only three black City Council members out of 10. I don’t know how you can have a majority of the population but only three on the City Council. Continue reading
Turnabout is fair play…
And seeing as how we’re from “up north,” we all know about racism “down south.” At least we thought we did.
Enter these observations by former Pitch heavweight Joe Miller.
Miller is currently an English professor in Columbus, Georgia. And reading of Kansas City’s ongoing trials and tribulations with black youth on the Plaza and in other entertainment districts about town got him thinking.
“One of the things that really struck me when I got down here is it’s not like Kansas City,” Miller begins. “You know, all the nicest restaurants and bars are on this three block stretch and there are several black nightclubs there. And on weekends and other nights there are big crowds of blacks out on the town. Regularly. And that’s something I seldom saw in Kansas City.”
That is, without a gaggle of nervous business owners, security personnel and rent-a-cops. Continue reading
So much to do, so little time…
Everyone’s favorite team (to hate), the Yankees, are at The K for a few games.
There’s something called RockFest going on at Liberty Memorial. Not sure exactly what the deal is, but I’m told there will be boobs. So if you’re into those you might want to take a looksee.
And of course, there’s some good music happening always around here… Continue reading
Whitney Terrell teaches creative writing at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, his home town and my own.
His second novel; “The King of Kings County” has as its backdrop the same social terrain as his first, the well received “The Huntsman.” The setting is once again the tight little world of the WASP ruling class of Kansas City and the theme is the disastrous effect its mores have on its own members, as well as on the larger community.
This is a vein that has been well worked over the years, i.e. the Midwestern businessman as repressed yet boorishly uninhibited, both puritan and libertine. It is a tradition that goes back to Dickens’s “Martin Chuzzlewit” and continues in an unbroken line of descent through Sinclair Lewis’s “Babbit” and then on down to Evan Connell’s “Mr. Bridge” and “Mrs. Bridge,” and Kurt Vonnegut’s “Breakfast of Champions” in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s.
Terrell adds racial bigotry to the usual litany of less than desirable qualities that make up the fictional Midwestern persona – i.e. greed, conformity, and philistinism. Continue reading
OK, I get it…
There was no real closure to my KCI story the other day. I did say that I didn’t have all the answers and that the present three terminal setup was outdated for current and most likely future times.
So how do I REALLY feel?
We need a new ONE terminal airport to serve this market. Continue reading
Breaking news…
“Something just happened…
Yesterday at noon!”
As a result of the businesses I’m involved in -competitive intelligence being among them – I subscribe to a number of key word search news services. Services that constantly scan using words and phrases of interest to you and comparing against anything that’s published on the Internet. They, in turn, email any findings that match my search queries. It’s about the only way to have an early view into corporate changes, filings, etc., before the window of opportunity slams shut and something becomes public knowledge.
Among the more mainstream sites I subscribe to is the Kansas City Star and its kansascity.com news service. Continue reading
It was a lovely night for a game at Sporting Park, and for the first 30 minutes it looked like Sporting Kansas City was clicking.
Within the first 15 seconds KC got a shot on goal as Jacob Peterson sprinted into a challenge, won the ball from a Seattle Sounders defender, and fired from 18. Unfortunately it was right at the keeper.
Graham Zusi looked ultra-confident, bringing down a ball with a flick of the toe, and beating defenders at will. And Peterson Joseph looked more and more comfortable, feinting well and keeping the ball moving in the middle with crafty little touches. Continue reading
I’ll be upfront with you, I was skeptical about the latest remake of THE GREAT GATSBY…
After all, this is yet another film version based on F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s classic American jazz novel. And 1974’s rendition with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow had perfectly hit the spot for me.
Other personal concerns centered on its director Baz Luhrmann. Would he take Gatsby over the top in similar fashion to his MOULIN ROUGE?
And did the fact that Warner Brothers pulled the picture from its original Christmas 2012 release date foretell of trouble? Continue reading
A moment of silence please for the party zone known as the Beaumont Club…
Although it closed late last year, the entertainment elves in Westport have been working quietly to revive the failed former country, dance and concert venue.
As recently as last week, hopes were high that a team of “investors” would be assembled to divide the space in two and conquer with the southern third a Stanford & Sons comedy club and the northern two thirds country with the odd live concert and a re-imagined outdoor, beach party scene.
While that still could happen, those hopes have dimmed. Continue reading
When it comes to the future of the Kansas City International Airport (KCI), I’ve mostly kept my opinions to myself…
But with all of the ridiculous claims being made by both sides of the controversial airport issue, it’s time for me jump into the fray and straighten some of you guys out.
Past time, actually. Continue reading
It’s like a bad dream that won’t go away…
It’s been months since Micah Riggs locked the doors for the last time at his business Coffee Wonk at 3535 Broadway in Midtown Kansas City. And it’s been years since he sold a now controlled substance known as K2 or synthetic marijuana.
Riggs stopped selling it the minute it became illegal in August of 2010.
Unfortunately however, he’s been up to his eyelashes in prosecutors and police ever since Coffee Wonk was robbed at gunpoint in September of 2010 and police were called to investigate. Continue reading
Google Fiber is coming to Raytown and residents are scrambling to find a way to connect the Internet to CB radio.
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FC Kansas City remains undefeated in Women’s Professional Soccer with a win over Seattle. I think I speak for everyone when I say, “We have a professional women’s soccer team?” Continue reading
The perfect setup for Cinco de Mayo was at Sporting Park Sunday afternoon, as the boys in blue welcomed Chivas USA for a festive match-up.
Tequila? Check. Sombrero? Check. Street tacos in the parking lot? Check. Massive beat down? Uh, double check.
Remember, Chivas USA is under the same umbrella as Chivas Guadalajara, the Mexican first division team. And the organization has made no bones about their preference for Mexican and Latino players over all others, so this game on May 5th in KCK was nothing short of a fiesta – for Sporting KC, that is. Continue reading
One of my not-so secret vices in life is movie trailers…
Not the good ones, mind you, the hard sell, schlock approach ones used to market B-movies. And it’s not necessarily the pictures on the screen that give me those warm and fuzzy feelings. It’s the voice overs on the soundtracks.
You know the kind, deep, hoarse and sleazy sounding. Continue reading
Every now and then a public opinion poll comes out that shocks even the political junkies…
A mind boggling 29 percent of Americans believe that “In the next few years an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our
liberties.”
An armed revolution, people. Continue reading
