Is Jason Collins another Jackie Robinson?
No effing way. And that’s too bad, because Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi tweeted as much, and while there are many things he’s written that I agree with, Taibbi couldn’t be more off base on this one. It’s not only inaccurate, it’s an insult to Robinson’s legacy.
Bear in mind, I’m a total sports agnostic. Continue reading
Would the nerds at the Kansas City Star please stop with trying to equate erecting a new terminal at KCI with cheating on your spouse…
Taxpayers are seldom thrilled with dropping $1.2 billion on pretty much anything, let alone on a new airport. Even when the money’s not supposed to come out of their pockets.
But can we please dispense with the hyperbole about KCI being “beloved” and locals having a “love affair” with the city’s 41 year-old paean to the past? I mean, it’s possibly the dumbest thing the newspaper’s ever “reported.” Continue reading
Don’t think I haven’t noticed that some of you were underwhelmed by last weekend’s Kansas City Chiefs draft….
Not to worry, says Channel 41 meteorologist Gary Lezak.
See it’s like this, Lezak is just as big a Chiefs fan (or bigger) than many of you guys. So when he’s not listening to classic Men at Work albums, he’s stressing over what may go down this fall at Arrowhead Stadium while bleeding Chiefs red.
Lezak’s read on how this year’s team is stacking up to date? Continue reading
Don’t look now but the Great Kansas City Drought is O-V-E-R…
After nearly a year of climate change up the you-know-what, the “wet stuff” has finally pulled Kansas City’s dry-as-a-bone chestnuts out of the fire.
“In my blog today, I declared that the drought is over,” says KSHB TV weather wonk Gary Lezak. “It ended by having storm after storm after storm after storm. We had 31 inches of snow and that was followed by a cool, wet spring so far and that’s going to continue.” Continue reading
Make no mistake, I like this version of merger mania better than the proposed DISH deal…
Do I think Sprint would be ahead with SoftBank instead of DISH? I sure do – 300 YEARS ahead as a matter of fact.
When I was doing custom consulting the most fun I had was directing executive teams through their one, three and five year strategic planning sessions. I got to play consultant, standup comic and business partner all in one, while forcing people to think outside of their day to day paradigms. And since I was brought in as an outsider with a different point of view, it was fun as well as challenging.
That kind of planning doesn’t take place much anymore. Continue reading
AMC founder Stan Durwood was one of a kind…
He was a trendsetter in the movie exhibition business that no one could or would deny. Sure, some in the industry thought some of his innovations were impractical and outlandish at times.
Who, for example, had ever heard of a multiplex theater? Let alone, God forbid, a four screen complex.
Then there was that December weekend in 1997 when Stan insisted on opening his three new Kansas City complexes—Town Center 20, Barrywoods 24 and Olathe Studio 30—ALL ON THE SAME WEEKEND! Continue reading
Did you see Sporting Kansas City’s new “third kit” that was unveiled Saturday for a game against the Portland Timbers at Sporting Park?
According to a Sporting press release, the stylish threads are supposed to be a bridge between fashion and sport, something you could wear out for a night on the town or for a 90 minute match on the pitch. But after the Portland Timbers beat the boys in black 3-2 – which included twice coming from behind – we’ll see how often the flashy new unis see the light of day. Continue reading
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
I was prepared to make the headline some horrible pun. Something about “No Joeckel, Chiefs Get Their Man,” or some equally nauseating variation thereof. The headline practically wrote itself, but then the Chiefs went and threw a goose in my propeller by doing what few thought they’d do: they spent the first selection on someone other than tackle Luke Joeckel.
After a month full of murmuring and grumblings filled with clandestine whispers and what-ifs, Joeckel began to lose his footing as the inarguable first pick. In the past week, the murmurings and grumblings became a cacophony of coin flips: Eric Fisher or Luke Joeckel, Luke Joeckel or Eric Fisher. Giant White Guy A or Giant White Guy B. Pick your poison.
So the Chiefs went Fishing. (See, there we go. I still landed an awful pun.) 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
Twinkies will be available at local stores in 10 weeks as the Twinkie factory in Emporia will start production in eight weeks. They want the Twinkies to sit on the shelves and age for a couple of weeks because people couldn’t handle fresh Twinkies.
*******
The Chiefs took Eric Fisher in the first round of the NFL draft. General Manager John Dorsey looks like a genius today because his second choice was George Jones.
Aside from some good bands to check out this weekend, there’s also a little brewfest going down in the cutest of little towns…
Yep, it’s time again for the Parkville Microbrew Fest, and this year’s lineup looks impressive. Beer lineup that is. Seriously, they have about 50 breweries on hand, so I won’t bother listing them here. Not enough space. But check it out here .
And at only $25, it’s cheaper than some other local area brewfests. Continue reading
I wrote this book review last fall before the author, Barnaby Conrad, Jr. died. His son, the book’s editor, Barnaby Conrad, III is my brother-in-law. When I spoke to Steve Paul, the book review editor at the Kansas City Star, about submitting this piece, he told me The Star would not even consider publishing such a review since I knew the book’s author When I asked why someone who knew a writer personally was automatically disqualified from reviewing a book, he said this was the paper’s policy and no explanation was needed.
With that caveat, I thought KC Confidential’s readership might be interested in the last work of an established writer before his death in February, even though I must confess that I met him once 10 years ago. Continue reading
The other new wide entry in this week’s dismal end of first quarter lineup is PAIN & GAIN, and it’s a stretch…
P & G is a comedic, action crime thriller about the personal trainers and body builders who in 1990’s Miami hatched a plan to brutally kidnap a wealthy, cocky regular member of the gym and extort big money by means of torture.
All in pursuit of the American dream, which here goes terribly wrong. Continue reading
There’s no doubt the first quarter of 2013 is one movie theater exhibitors would very much like to forget…
There was no HUNGER GAMES or 21 JUMP STREET to bring in the masses. Sure we had OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, IDENTITY THIEF, THE CROODS, MAMA and 42, but those titles didn’t make up for the nearly 12% decline over last year’s winter months.
All that’s about to change next week when IRON MAN 3 jump starts the summer movie season on May 3rd. And the outlook from there on looks solid, week after week.
Until then there are but two leftovers to digest at the box office. Continue reading
