Welcome to the Bigs…
Where there’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Where tabloid “eyes” and cellphone cams lurk around every corner, in every honky-tonk and titty bar.
For months affable Belton street worker Tate Stevens has been living a dream life. Accolades aplenty for his award-winning performances on reality singing show The X Factor. A $5 million prize for taking top honors. Now he’s off to Nashville to record his first album.
So what’s not to like? Continue reading
Twitter is a funny place. It can be a source of breaking information (Hey—did you guys hear Scott Pioli is out?! I did… about 55 times in 20 minutes), a 140 character amateur hour or an insight into the personal behaviors of those who we view as important or entertaining. In short, it’s what we make of it.
Like most new media forms, it is sometimes hard to navigate. Learning how to reply to someone, how to favorite something and how to interact takes a little getting used to. If you’re ill-prepared for the experience, you’re happily cracking jokes about waiting in your doctor’s office one moment, and in the very next, you’re posting a picture of your dingus that was solely intended for the eyes of one special lady.
And while KSHB’s leathery sports honcho Jack Harry may not have posted a schlong-shot yet, he’s not without his struggles on the Twitter. For the most part, he just Tweets shit that sounds like his lead-ins to that night’s sport segments. In fact, they probably are. These are innocuous enough. But occasionally, Harry busts the Motorola out of his Chinos and produces some real gems.
For your pleasure, I present to you, “Jack Harry’s 18 Greatest Tweets of 2012.” Continue reading
Following my story about CURRENT TV‘s sale yesterday to Al Jazeera I got some good laughs out of David Letterman‘s monologue last night in which he suggested new programming for the channel…
They included ditties like Storage Jihad, Project Birka and The Real Virgins of Faluka. He also suggested a new personality, Weird Al Jazeera to anchor Al Gore‘s now former network.
Then this morning, when I attempted to check out CURRENT TV on Channel 226 on Time Warner, it was gone—even though the program info at the bottom of the screen still listed all its programs, story lines and times. Continue reading
What’s with all the press releases?
It’s time for Chiefs “owner” Clark Hunt to dispense with all the carefully-worded, written statements, come out of hiding and communicate openly with Chiefs fans face-to-face.
That’s how his father, Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt played the game. Continue reading
About that new FM sports-talk signal…
102.5 The Fan is the name of the Cumulus Radio’s new game and it replaces the popular two year-old comedy station Funny 102.5 FM
The signal is what’s called a “translator” or low power station with a maximum “radiated” output of 250 watts. Local sports-talk station WHB, for example, has a daytime signal strength of 10,000 watts.
Thus the Cumulus-owned 102.5 The Fan is considered a “fill in” station.
All of that said, there are several interesting aspects to Kansas City’s finally getting its first FM sports signal.
Let’s take a look… Continue reading
Wham, bam!
Just like that ticket sales for this year’s Wakarusa Festival – the 10th – exploded with the partial announcement earlier this week of the lineup. Widespread Panic, Of Monsters and Men and Yonder Mountain String Band, to name three.
“And that was only a third of my lineup,” says promoter Brett Mosiman. “I think we’re going to sell out in advance this year.” Continue reading
Vanity Fair raves that “Bill Murray gives a truly presidential performance” in HYDE PARK ON HUDSON…
I agree. Only problem is, it overshadows the rest of the movie which seems to lose its focus and direction. Continue reading
THE IMPOSSIBLE is one of the most powerful disaster stories I’ve ever seen…
It’s the awe-inspiring tale of one family’s survival of the infamous 2004 tsunami. Continue reading
Tonight we’ll all bask in the Quadrantid meteor shower…
The Quads, as they are known, will start at 11:00 and peak 8 hours later. Unfortunately much of the nation will be in daylight when they hit, so the best viewing will be in Asia.
Most Americans will have to relive the event in photos. Be careful if you’re doing that, because the last time I Googled ASIAN PHOTOS, I received a visit from our H.R. department.
*******
Several Chiefs fans have expressed interest in bringing Marty Schottenheimer
back to Arrowhead. Marty was known for his defense, but he also had a reputation for scoring…at your neighborhood Tanner’s. Continue reading
With the newly announced purchase of Al Gore’s cable channel CURRENT TV by Al Jazeera, all eyes are now on Time Warner Cable.
TWC is the nation’s second largest cable provider and provides the CURRENT TV channel to approximately 12.1 million subscribers. Continue reading
Finally got the bat off my shoulder and caught Les Miserables at my new favorite movieplex, the Alamo Drafthouse Mainstreet…
For starters, I screwed up. An editing snafu forced me to re-write from scratch my scoop on the Beaumont Club closing. Because of that, I totally missed the Alamo’s recommended get-there-a-half hour early recommendation. Thus I missed the cool pre-movie shorts unique to the Alamo experience. I was bummed.
Don’t let that happen to you.
I digress. Continue reading
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel…
We’ve almost cleared the slowest time of the year for live music, so don’t worry. Plus there’s obviously a ton of football in the coming days, so at least you can keep yourself occupied.
And if you try hard enough, you can almost feel the summer heat emanating out of a certain office in Lawrence – that of Pipeline Productions – run by promoter Brett Mosiman. Mosiman just released the first of several rounds of artists for this summer’s Wakarusa – May 30 – June 2nd in Arkansas – and here’s what we’re looking at so far:
Widespread Panic, Of Monsters and Men, Yonder Mountain String Band, Son Volt, SAVOY, and about two dozen more. Check out the rest on their Facebook page. So whaddya think so far?
If you’re expecting another of Matt Damon‘s big budget productions this isn’t it…
PROMISED LAND is a small, low budget morality play that’s co-written and co-produced by Damon in which he plays a corporate salesman for “Global,” a mega fracking company that attempts to aquire land drilling rights for the controversial process.
FRACKING? Continue reading
Who killed Cock Robin?
The jury’s still out on that one, but the doing in of Westport’s Beaumont Club is a far easier crime to solve.
Let’s solve it right here, right now, shall we? Continue reading
It’s hard not to notice the past year’s upgrades at the Granada Theater on Mass. Street in downtown Lawrence.
Over its nearly 100 years the iconic building has been fashioned as a vaudeville stage, a movie theater, and more recently, a live music venue. But just a few years ago the word on the street was that the venue – dubbed by many as the Granasty – was run down and attracting a seedy crowd on a regular basis. Then there was a shooting on the sidewalk out front after a hip-hop show.
Things needed to change, that was no secret.
Otherwise the Granada could end up like the fated Last Call, which was essentially shut down by City officials after multiple incidents of violence and drugs.
Enter Mike Logan. Continue reading
Hard to imagine but it’s been 20 years since the Beaumont Club in Westport first reared its head…
Now, 20 years after the fact and hundreds of concerts and sporting events later, the Beaumont is no more. The club closed quietly after a battle of the bands Sunday night.
“That’s terrible,” says Hobbs fashion buyer Shauna Swanson. “I love that place.” Continue reading
How long will this divorce go on?
We love the Kansas City Chiefs. They don’t love us.
The players don’t know us or care. They never did. The out-of-town owner probably thinks, “How can I move this team to a better city? But why move as long as these hicks keep buying tickets and jerseys to watch and honor a terrible team. Might as well take the rubes money.”
The General Manger won’t even speak to you on the radio or TV period. Continue reading
What a miserable year 2012 turned out to be…
Maybe I’m just becoming too cynical, but the only thing that could have salvaged this year for me would have been if the “Mayan End of the World” had come to pass.
Is there any reason for optimism for the “Year of Our Lord” 2013?
Kind of, but not really. Here are my predictions nonetheless. Continue reading
The Top 5 Excuses for 2-14 season by Romeo Crennel:
#5. It’s hard to get 53 guys to take a guy named ROMEO seriously.
#4. Couldn’t concentrate after Hostess went bankrupt.
#3. Fans doing the wave were setting off his vertigo. Continue reading
Don’t have a plan for ringing in the new year?.jpg)
I’m guessing you decided against hosting your own party Leftridge-style. You know, with an open bar serving bottomless Aftershock and Boone’s Farm, a snack table that includes whole kiwis, and the musical mastery of everyone’s favorite party band, The Doors.
I understand. Continue reading
