KC Confidential

And the winner of the night?

HONDA! For offering free Uber rides home, at least in SoCal, where I was watching.

You make the most of an opportunity. The advertisements were so busy being clever that they missed their target. You want to make us believe in your product and want to use and buy it. But in an era where fame is everything and substance goes out the window it’s no surprise that Madison Avenue demonstrated cluelessness.

But the truth is our nation is in a mass upheaval.

That’s the essence of both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. We want the truth, authenticity and credibility, we want to be respected, and when you see only dollar signs we shrug and move on.

Sometimes you have to say no. All exposure isn’t good exposure. What was the chance casual Coldplay fans would be infected by the band’s performance and purchase tickets to their show? Close to nil.

Now the band has a stink upon it, relegated to second tier status in their own supposedly shining moment. They appeared to be smiling nitwits in a sea of humanity that resembled nothing so much as Up With People, the lame, safe, halftime show the NFL used to employ, when musicians abhorred the rules and regulations of sports, when they were all about rejecting cultural norms as opposed to embracing them for profit.

Football is a violent sport. What’s up with all the wimpy music? Continue reading →

Now for the big game today…

We’ve all heard over and over that it’s Peyton Manning‘s destiny to win this championship and go out on top. And this year’s Super Bowl marks the introduction to America of the official No. 1 oe quarterback in the league, Cam Newton. That makes Newton the first ever Black quarterback to be perceived as NFL’s best.

No question, Newton is the NFL’s best.

This season proves it. With all the injuries and problems all the clubs had, Newton rose above it all and walked to the Super Bowl, nearly undefeated. He’s fantastic. At six foot four and 250 pounds of muscle and speed with a shotgun arm, nobody can equal his talent at quarterback anymore. Not even my favorite guy Tom Brady.

Brady, Manning, Brees and the past generation’s time has come to an end.

Brady might be able to get New England to the big dance one more time next year since the AFC has no other clear powers maybe the Steelers.

The Panthers however are a true offensive machine. Continue reading →

Most Kansas City media are afraid to even have him on…

I’m talking about adult film legend Ron Jeremy. Ron has turned from adult films to mainstream movies like Reindeer Games with Ben Affleck. And this last year Ron decided to do stand up comedy. So far so good.

Jeremy has been doing mostly one night shows at clubs and casino’s on the West Coast. Now he beings his act to Kansas City and he’ll be live on stage at Stanford and Sons tonight.

Ron’s been working with Dante and Rebeka. Dante has become one of the top 20 comics with blazing hot shows. He first did his thing on NBC’s Last Comic Standing, where he met the beautiful Rebeka. And they’ve been a comedy team now for several years working all over the nation.

Dante become a writer/producer on Fashion Police with Joan Rivers and has co starred in many comedy films, like Inappropriate Comedy with Jamie Kennedy. Rebekah has made a career playing leads and co starring on Lifetime movies and a hit series called Eating Out.

Dante was doing well enough to be invited to host the Adult Video Awards for Showtime. It’s always been a great career builder with past hosts like Lisa Lampanelli, Dave Attell and Colin Kane. It was at the awards show that Dante met Ron Jeremy and they all decided to do comedy tour. Continue reading →

A new Coen Brothers movie usually ranks as an event with certain cinephiles…

And you know who you are!

Through the years the brother filmmaking duo of Joel and Ethan Cohen has taken on just about every genre imaginable.

From BLOOD SIMPLE, RAISING ARIZONA and FARGO, right through THE HUDSUCKER PROXY, TRUE GRIT, MILLER’S CROSSING and O BROTHER WHERE ART THOUGH.

And let’s not forget the great NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN!

Now with HAIL, CAESAR! the Oscar winning brothers tackle the near end of Hollywood’s Golden Era.

The year is 1951 and Capitol Pictures is still churning out the big productions. Matter of fact one of its biggest spectacles called HAIL, CAESAR! is currently shooting on the lot.

However things are beginning to crumble all around the once famous studio.

There’s Esther Williams-like swimming star Scarlett Johansson with an illegitimate child ‘situation.’

Cowboy sensation Alden Ehrenreich who can’t act his way out of a Western.

And competing twin gossip columnists who keep sticking their noses where they don’t belong. Continue reading →

Nobody expected Donald Trump to win Iowa a few weeks ago…

He was just too outside the box for conservative and religious based Iowa. However, Trump’s gotten so much media coverage and the polls had him ahead going into Monday’s voting.

Yet Ted Cruz won the Iowa caucus 27% to Trump’s 24%.

Was it a fatal loss for the Donald? Maybe.

The bigger issue seems to be the strong showing by Marco Rubio who finished third not far behind with 23% of the vote.  Everyone else was pretty much a no-show.

As for Hillary Clinton, she didn’t lose but she didn’t really win either.

Upstart Bernie Sanders and Hillary were in nearly a tie with 50% of the vote each. Hillary has just a few more votes and was the close winner.

Do we really know what this means?

Observers feel that the real winners are Rubio and Sanders… for now.

If Rubio can win New Hampshire it might be his moment to take over. His conservative but somewhat moderate views are getting traction. His charismatic looks and Kennedy type youthful appeal serve him well. Most feel he will overcome Cruz from here on out, so his close numbers in Iowa were really a win for Rubio.

So where does Donald Trump stand?

Clearly the polls are not on target. Trump’s expected to do well in New Hampshire. And now it’s critical that he win that battle. If Rubio takes New Hampshire it’s likely the new momentum will carry him over Trump and Cruz.

However Trump is still the face to beat, but now he’s beatable. Continue reading →

I spend almost more time online than I do sleeping…

Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea. I drive a 2016 Volkswagen GTI, listen to mostly alternative rock and engage in the ridiculous pastime of online dating.

In other words, I’m not exactly trapped in the past.

Then again, when I take my Airedale pup Charlie out every morning I travel back in time to an altogether different era when I pick up something called a “newspaper” in my driveway.

That makes me an anachronism.

There are any number of reasons for me not to engage in this outdated activity. For starters, I don’t need to and it’s bad for the earth.

I’m online all day anyway, so why deforest all those majestic mountains and waste all that energy delivering dated information to me when there’s no need to?

Ah, old habits can die hard. Continue reading →

THE PERFECT STORM it’s not, but there are similarities…

THE FINEST HOURS is the dramatization of the U.S. Coast Guard’s greatest sea rescue mission of all time

It’s the heroic, true story action thriller of the incredible 1952 small boat rescue of a giant crippled oil tanker that was split apart during impossible sea conditions.

This is about an against-all-odds mission to save nearly 30 sailors trapped inside the rapidly sinking ship off the coast of Cape Cod.

The young captain in command of the daring undertaking was Bernie Webber played in the film by Chris Pine.

And as viewers, we experience the mission from both sides.

The first being the Coast Guard’s play-by-the-rules approach to the nearly impossible rescue. The other from inside the doomed vessel where tanker engineer Raymond Sybert is deperately  trying to hold things together before help can reach them.

Sybert is portrayed in solid fashion by Casey Affleck. Continue reading →

While Donald Trump is walking away with the Republican nomination, something else not expected is brewing…

Bernie Sanders according to most polls is now leading or tied with Hillary Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire. Wow. Could this end up a Trump vs. Sanders presidential election? By the way, Trump is now well over 40% the leader in all Republican polls for the nomination.

Let’s face it a few months back Trump was more of an attraction than a real candidate. However his fame, the media attention and  the state of the nation have moved him to not only front runner status by a huge margin to win the Republican nomination, but a real shot at winning the white house. In a Trump vs. Hillary run off Hilary is behind in some polls or in a dead heat with the Donald.

And Sanders, who not that long ago seemed a throw away candidate is now FOR REAL. 

Funny thing, Hillary was seen as a shoe in for the White House against Obama until the very end as well. Until America fell for Barack and his presence and calmness and started not trusting Clinton. Continue reading →

I’ve backed New England QB Tom Brady for the past year…

He’s without question the best quarterback of the Super Bowl Era. I think Denver’s Peyton Manning is great. However he just isn’t the same old Peyton. Time and injuries have brought his career to the end that will come today.

Hey, its great we have Brady/Manning one more time.

We’ve heard all about the Denver defense and how smart Manning is with running the Bronco running game. However, I saw a very good Chiefs defense get run over by Brady and company. And with his three boys back, there’s no stopping him. Brady’s release is just too quick.

The Patriots go to the Super Bowl again.

Number 7 for Tom Brady. I look for the Cam Newton led Panthers to defeat Arizona. Continue reading →

Amani Bledsoe

It’s a sad commentary when you have to dig back like 50 years to find a bright spot…

However that’s pretty much the sad state of KU football today. As evidenced by a pair of front page stories in today’s sports section about local Lawrence boys.

The larger, more prominent story being about a salute to former KU star quarterback John Hadl. The more telling, albeit smaller story about a kid named Amani Bledsoe.

Both grew up in Lawrence and Hadl opted to remain a Jayhawk where he was twice named an All American. Bledsoe however – a standout, four-star defensive end at Lawrence High School – took a pass on the crimson and the Blue and chose Oklahoma over KU. Continue reading →