KC Confidential

When in doubt, blame it on the Internet…

That’s pretty much how the game is played when it comes to old school businesses ranging from brick-and-mortar retailers to newspapers and magazines. They just can’t make money anymore because of competition from the worldwide web, they say.

“If you are a computer, chances are good that everyone kind of hates your guts right now,” writes blogger Jeff Vrabel. Continue reading →

Allow me to explain how things often work in Kansas City…

Controversy is the stuff local media and political consultants thrive on. There’s nobody in the news biz I know or have worked with who doesn’t yearn to cover a good dustup. Print reporters didn’t get in the news game to make big bucks. Nor did they sign on so they could cover road closings, mundane City Hall happenings and other arguably mundane fare.

Any reporter worth his or her salt will dive headfirst into an unfolding controversy. The ones they know they won’t get them in trouble with the publisher, editor or news director anyway. Or piss off the heavy hitters they need to keep on the good side of to effectively cover their news beats.

Now let’s talk about a so-called huge controversy over the mere proposal and study of whether to go with a single terminal (instead of three) at Kansas City International Airport. Continue reading →

Everybody’s a lobbyist these days…

Everybody.

Not only were Kansas City Police out in force – four cop cars, 18 off duty officers and a pair of mounted police in front of Seville on the Plaza – they were passing out flyers and urging passersby to call KC Mayor Sly James office and tell him that they want the kids off the Plaza and a year round 9 p.m. curfew.

Unsaid, but understood, the African American kids.

How do I know for sure that KC police were handing out the flyers? Continue reading →

Rock promoters don’t grow on trees…

I flew around that block myself for about seven years and I’ve seen them come and go – mostly go – that is, once they’ve been chewed up and spit back out by the more established power players. And I’ve seen some of them succeed, if almost by accident at times.

What I haven’t seen – until quite recently – is one of them rise from virtually nowhere, in their 40s and take on a multimillion dollar major music festival right out of the chute.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Kanrocksas promoter Bill Brandmeyer. Continue reading →

Did you know today is Final Friday in Lawrence?

That’s right, and while I’m more than a little over First Fridays, Tasty Tuesdays, Manic Mondays, Final Fridays and the like, there’s something worth noting going down today on this catchy, if contrived-sounding, pseudo holiday.

Because head shop owner turned artist Kim Kern has rounded up a passel of his PG13, pop culture paintings and lithos and is displaying them tonight from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Hobbs downtown. Continue reading →

This just in from Uptown Theater main man/conspiracy aficionado Larry Sells…

“We’re bringing in author Robert Groden to Prospero’s Uptown Thursday and we’re going to talk about the Kennedy Assassination,” Sells says. “We’re also going to talk about connecting 9/11 to 7/7 (the subway bombings in London) and the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. If you notice, they’re all six years apart – 2001, 2007 and 2013.” Continue reading →

Was a time Joe Miller was the top gun at the Pitch…

Back when the local alt weekly mattered and was the hippest game in town. No mas. Miller sold his humble abode in east KCMO and moved to Columbus, Georgia two years back. There he teaches writing to people like Jason Whitlock and me – younger people, of course – who want to grow up and work for peanuts for corporate-owned media conglomerates who care for little beyond the almighty buck. Continue reading →

Am I lazy for sharing stuff with you guys from time to time? A ripoff?

I think not. Allow me to credit cranky music industry pundit Bob Lefstez for his latest grumpy list of pop culture pet peeves.

“THE VINYL REVOLUTION”

“It’s a hobby. Like stamp collecting. Albeit with a lot more press. Just because you spinners are yelling at the top of your lungs that does not mean the rest of us care. While you’re at it, why don’t you bring back dial telephones, typewriters, cathode-ray TVs, pagers…” Continue reading →

Let’s give credit where credit is due…

Anybody out there happen to notice that the doormat formerly known as Sandstone has booked its best summer in eons since the big boys more-or-less dropped it in favor of Starlight, leaving fabled concert-meister Chris Fritz to fend for himself?

It’s been mostly slow going at Sandstone since sponsor Verizon bailed, was followed by Cap Fed and currently Cricket. Continue reading →

The mission; to keep black kids off the Country Club Plaza…

Let’s not mince words, a Kansas City Council proposed ordinance for a year round kid curfew is nothing more than a nod to corporate interests on the Plaza to prevent young black kids from gathering there at night and scaring off affluent white customers.

There, I said it. Continue reading →