The Evil Empire strikes back!
Anybody notice the full page Walmart newspaper ads in the Star and Lawrence Journal World that have been running?
The ones in which Walmart of Kansas City attacks hometown grocer Price Chopper.
Wow, I totally don’t remember Walmart going all out and doing a hit job on a local biz before, but that’s exactly what is happening here.
“See For Yourself Kansas City,” the headline boldy pronounces. “Same items , 17 percent less.”
Tons of travel and molten hot heat have resulted in lots of loose ends…
Let’s tie a few of ’em up, shall we? Starting with an item that caught my attention recently in the Pitch. Basically, the Pitch noticed in an outtake scene from Sarah Palin‘s daughter Bristol‘s reality show that she was wearing a Missouri sweatshirt.
Did somebody at the Pitch yell, Stop the presses when they saw that pic?
The Pitch just ran with an obscure, fuzzy pic and five sentences of light Bristol banter.
Why was Palin wearing a Mizzou sweatshirt? I wondered. Continue reading
Do you have REAL friends? Enjoy privacy?
Do you not feel compelled to share your life on the Internet via Facebook? Then you might be a psychopath!
According to recent media reports, an increasing number of employers and psychologists believe that Facebook has now become so prevalent in society, that people not on the social networking site should be viewed with “suspicion” Continue reading
Let’s start with the premise that human beings, animals and sex are not s good mix…
Can we agree on that? Now let’s take a look at one of Hollywood’s most un-hunky actor / heartthrob types, KCK refugee Eric Stonestreet of the hit sitcom Modern Family.
Whoever would have looked at Stonestreet and figured he’d be engaged in a high profile, romantic balancing act with not one, but two hotties? And a pooch.
I mean, look at the dude. Continue reading
A tongue in cheek primer on how to live well in a flyover state.
Why are rich people so miserable?
Maybe it’s because the skull of a jaywalking child dented the quarter panel on their Audi A8. Or perhaps because they spend too much of their money doing exactly what their neighbors are doing.
I’d like to set things straight. Continue reading
In what may be a brilliant move by Democrats, they’re saying Mitt Romney hasn’t paid income taxes for a decade!
Democratic Senator Harry Reid says he knows for a fact Mitt hasn’t paid his fair share or any income tax for a decade. He got the inside scoop from a Bain Capital business associate of Romney’s.
Reid went on to say, “Hey if its not true prove it, show us several years of your income tax returns, other candidates for this high office have and do…”
Could this be the bullet that sinks Mitt? Continue reading
“I’m going to go get one of those embarrassingly large beers,” said Hearne toward the end of the Band of Horses set.
That’s right, there was a HCJ sighting, plus his lovely bride. He even bought me a Corona, which I think is my salary for this month.
The Horses started a bit before sundown to an enthusiastic though somewhat underwhelming crowd that seemed almost as excited to see them as they were for the headliners, My Morning Jacket. Half the venue was partitioned off with moveable screens – most likely for the artist’s benefit of not having to look up into all those empty seats. Continue reading
LeRoy Neiman and Thomas Kinkade wannabes be gone with thee…
The Kansas City Chiefs football team and the Hunt Family have issued a call for artists to inaugurate a new Kansas City Chiefs Art Program. It’s part of Chiefs honcho Clark Hunt‘s plans for the team to celebrate its 50th year in Kansas City.
But make no mistake, this is no glorified phone book cover, sports art kinda proposition. Continue reading
Since the 1999 Columbine tragedy there have been more than 60 school shootings…
Double that of the decade before with 181 killed. These tragedies always result in calls for tightening gun laws. But according to the Huffington Post, these proposed laws would do NO good for the most part. There’s no evidence that would slow down the mass killings.
Look, those are just school shooting numbers. Which doesn’t take into account the rampage killings in churches, shopping malls (like Ward Parkway in Kansas City), movie theaters, sporting events and so on.
If you’re like me – and you all are, right? – you’ve probably always thought, “Boy, I’m glad I don’t live in Israel or the Middle East. It’s too dangerous there.” Continue reading
Over the weekend, Sporting KC eked out a forgettable 1-0 win at the New England Revolution.
The lone goal came courtesy of a struggling Teal Bunbury, who capitalized when a New England defender misjudged a high bouncing ball. Bunbury scooped it up, took a touch, and finished the breakaway easily, looking unsurprised after putting the ball into the back of the net.
Me? I was surprised. It’s a play he’s blown a bunch of times this season, and his nonchalance afterwards came across almost as relief – or disbelief – that he’d actually finished the routine play. Continue reading
Call it a milestone, but audiences are loving it…
Director Seth MacFarlane‘s raunchy comedy TED with Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis – which hit theaters five weeks ago – crossed the magic $200 million mark this weekend. Continue reading
As summer simmers down, crowds at major events do as well…
That is unless it’s 98.9 The Rock radio superstar Johnny Dare‘s Birthday Bash. Yes sir, just when you think, they’re out of ideas at the Rock…
Hell NO. Not even close. Continue reading
Subject for today; institutions that are going away…
I’d already been giving this some thought lately while driving cross-country to Tucson and back from Kansas City. In many ways the trip served as a refresher course on how much things have changed around the country. For better in some cases and for worse in others. Obviously, right?
Take The Big Texan restaurant in Amarillo. It’s run by former Savoy Grill main man Danny Lee and his family and is the home of the 72-ounce steak. A slab of beef that if you polish it (and all the trimmings) off in an hour, is free. And it’s got an affordable, kick ass vibe that includes a geriatric, roaming cowpoke band that will kick out a chorus of ‘Goin to Kansas City’ at your table for a couple buck tip. Nice.
And so, that’s all good. Continue reading
If you grew up in the 1990’s, you know PRIMUS SUCKS (but not really)…
Now Les Claypool and his band are bringing their unique blend of funk and psychedelic acid rock to Kansas city’s Uptown Theater on Friday, November 2nd. Two sets are planned, with a likely show duration of 3-plus hours.
This will be the first ever concert tour in 3-D. Continue reading
About last month’s All Star Game hype…
While there’s little doubt Kansas City benefited by hosting the event, the extent to which some media and boosters over dramatized and hyped the event was a bit much. The underlying reality being baseball pretty much sucks in this town – has for decades – and the All Star Game is a mostly meaningless event for all but the most fervent, die hard baseball fans.
By the way, another huge sporting event hit KC last month causing millions of eyeballs to zero in upon the downtown skyline.
And like the All Star Game, chances are you probably missed it. Continue reading
How they gonna get em back to the park, now that they’ve seen AI– DA? (okay, that lyric’s a stretch)…
Starlight gave up fighting the heat this week, opening the Elton John-Tim Rice, Disney opus AIDA at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts (now through Sunday, August 12).
It’s a great production, well-cast and beautifully sung.
Better yet, there are no bugs to swat or sweat to wipe.
Call it Starlight Chillin. Continue reading
I woke up yesterday to a flood of emails, Facebook messages and calls about the Louis CK show on FX…
Many said it was this season’s best. Well, I didn’t see the show but years ago Louis directed a film called Pootie Tang. It was a small film, but well received and his agent Matt Blake called me about having him do standup at Stanford’s in Westport.
Louie came in, we hung out, he was very funny, but the audience was just average. Continue reading
So you’ve decided to join a gang. Look, the decision is never an easy one. Perhaps you’ve been the victim of a love, unrequited. Maybe you were made fun of as a student, your science-fair entry smashed upon the ground like a million forgotten Mickey’s big-mouth bottles. It could be that your step-father Rick never hugged you, and maybe he took your bike that real-dad gave you for Christmas and he sold it to a Mexican guy he worked with—you know, for his kids. Regardless of the reason, it’s come down to this: you need a family composed of violent strangers whose main concern is territory and biggest threat is the encroachment of law enforcement and/or gentrification.
You’ve come to the right place.
Because, while picking a gang can be as hard as choosing a respected optometrist, it can also be made easier by knowing what each individual club stands for.
And that’s where I come in. Continue reading
Thanks, HCJr!
When Hearne came to me a few weeks ago and said, “yo, Lefty… look, man. I’ve got some stuff I need to uh, take care of in Mexico. Some, um… some things that need to be buried in the desert—rotting things—so I was uh, wondering if you could maybe pick up some of the slack? Just for a week or so. I’ll bring you back some tequila and a switchblade,” I accepted the challenge. I knew, deep within my heart-of-hearts that I did not have the dedication and drive to come up with a post a day for over a week, but I lied… I REALLY needed that booze, and that blade.
And much as I suspected, the steam finally ran out.
So as I was sitting on the internet today, trying to pull a magic post out of my ass, here are some random things I learned after falling down a Wikipedia-wormhole.
Enjoy. Continue reading
She’s good at this.
OK, so I know that there are several other websites around town that feature a music dude who cranks out a column strikingly similar to this one every week or so.
Usually it’s called “Best Bets” or something like that. I’m certainly not claiming a shred of originality in the concept, mind you. That’s not what I’m doing at all.
