Tag Archives: Hearne Christopher Jr.
Hearne: The Truth, The Whole Truth & Nothing But The Truth About Holly Starr
Did Holly Starr get fired by 38 The Spot? Is she pregnant? Did she sleep with Jason Grill?
The answer to all of the above questions is a resounding No.
As in, none of the above. Now let’s get down to the business at hand; finding out the latest on Kansas City’s missing-in-action, smoking hottest star. The grrrrl who ceded her post as spokesmodel for local television station 38 The Spot last summer to stay home with two-month old daughter Brinklee.
That’s right, Brinklee. That a family name?
"No, it’s just something I thought of," Starr says. "I couldn’t think of a name and I was researching names and I thought, I’ve always respected Christie Brinkley. So she’s not named after Christie Brinkley, but that’s where I got the name. And then I changed the spelling."
Starr kept her TV gig through the majority of her pregnancy, calling it quits only last July as she morphed from the two year-old pic of herself in the red bikini shown here, to queen-sized mother-to-be.
"Thank goodness you didn’t say, king-sized, but I’ll be wearing that red bikini again very soon," Starr quips.
Hearne: America’s Pub to Leave Manor Square in Westport, Looking for New Digs
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It’s all over but the shouting…
The end is near for America’s Pub as far as Westport’s Manor Square is concerned. Its lease is up at year’s end and will not br renewed, itsattorney says.
"It’s inconcievable to me as to why manor Square wouldn’t want to have a tenant paying a large amount of rent for space that’s third generation," says America’s Pub attorney Harris Wilder. "I mean, you’ve been to America’s Pub – that place needs a complete makeover."
Once-upon-a-time, America’s Pub was a white dude magnet that fit right in with Westport nightclubs like Kelly’s. Like its sister America’s Pub in St. Louis, which Guide to St. Louis describes as an "elegant pub (that’s) been rocking in the heart of St. Louis entertainment district at Westport plaza since 1996… (It’s) basically a sports bar with…a great sound system to play your favorite dance songs every night."
However America’s Pub here, like Stanford’s Club 504 before, morphed into a largely urban dance club, becoming the scape goat for Westport’s media hyped African American issues. Such as the Brian Euston killing last year that went down just outside America’s Pub at closing time.
Hearne: 38 The Spot Wants YOU To Be The Next Holly Starr
Who will be KC’s next "It Girl"?
For more than three years Holly Starr was Kansas City’s poster child for smoking hot babes. She ruled the nightlife and the media roosts, via her TV hottie gigs on 38 the Spot and was squired at one time by Chiefs quarterback Tyler Thigpen.
In short, Starr was the cure for the common Watson’s Girl.
Then last year Starr did the unthinkable and got married.
The 30-something hottie’s biological clock was ticking hard and she wanted children. To that end, Starr has a two month old daughter and is passing the Channel 38 baton to a playa-to-be-named-later.
But not much later.
38 the Spot is hard at it, searching for Starr’s replacement with it’s officlal "Drive Now Auto Credit Talent Search"
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, the search for Holly Starr’s replacement is sponsored by a used car dealer.
Hearne: Plaza Academy Makes Bold Move into Heart of Westport Party Zone
One of Kansas City’s most jinxed joints is about to get a new lease on life…
The Plaza Academy, a school for troubled teens is relocating in the heart of Kansas City’s most historic party zone at 610 Westport Road. The move will place the grades 9 through 12 school smack between Kelly’s and the Beaumont Club.
Along a sidewalk that smells like vomit on any given Sunday.
Westport’s Bill Nigro sees it as as a welcome addition to the hood.
Hearne: Will Best Buy Be The Next Major Big Box Store To Bite The Dust?
The mission; break down the impending demise of Best Buy...
A month ago, I interviewed Lawrence audio/video icon John Kiefer of Kief’s about the sorry state of the area electronics biz and it’s uncertain future in the digital age. As a more-or-less regular guy type dude, it hasn’t been that long since stopping by a Best Buy to pick up a new Green Day or Arcade Fire CD was a normal occurence.
And holiday shopping trips were practically a must.
No mas.
Hearne: Gusto Lounge Turns Over Not-So-Seedy New Leaf In New Westport Home
Leave us not mince words….
The Gusto Lounge and its forbear, the Lava Room at 3810 Broadway in Midtown, were joints of highly questionable repute. Without a doubt the hood on Broadway – especially at night – can get a little seedy. A lot seedy at times.
Some of the online customer accolades over the years helped to tell the tale. Describing the Lava Room as "creeptastic," a place that "looks like the last stop before hitting rock bottom or a prep room for convicts."
After Gusto grabbed the Lava Room’s soiled baton two years back and reopened with a knock off Schlitz Beer logo, area hoodsters crossed their fingers, eyes and toes and hoped it might attract something approaching a kinder, gentler crowd.
Fat chance.
Hearne: Happy Halloween, Kansas City’s Drought May Be About To End
For most Kansas Citians, it’s been a storybook fall….
Beautiful weather, blue skies, bone dry outdoor festivals, flawless fall football foilage and no dashing in and out of rainstorms. It would have been the perfect year for public television station KCPT to ressurect its drenched-to-death, black tie TV Dinner fundraiser at Liberty Memorial. Oh well, too late now.
For locals without yards to water and outdoor plants to try and keep alive, it was the best of the best.
That said, in real life, it’s been one of the worst falls in Kansas City ever.
Star Search: Does The Sunday Star Pack Enough Punch?
In the achy breaky world of newspaper publishing Sunday is payday…
That’s the day that pays the bills. And in Kansas City, the Sunday Star is far and away the most important day of the week. Which explains why susbscribers have been inundated in recent months with pleadings and discount deals to buy extra copies. Get one for the wife and maybe one for the kids. That’s also why both Star Groupon deals have zeroed-in on discount deals to bump the Sunday circulation.
That’s also why the Star cut a deal a few years back with local rival the Indpendence Examiner.
"Receive a Sunday Kansas City Star with your Examiner home delivery subscription," reads the come-on at the Examiner‘s Web site. Subscribers to both the Olathe News and Lee’s Summit Journal get free Sunday Star’s as well.
How important is the Sunday Star?
TODAY: THE OFFICIAL KC CONFIDENTIAL HELP WANTED ADS; READ EM & WEEP
That’s right, all caps, all of the time…
It’s that time again. When the call goes out across the heartland for writers. People with a penchant for being a part of something – arguably – kinda special.
Look, I don’t have to waste anybody’s time belaboring the many flaws here at KC Confidential. That’s why we have a comments section. So what if we can’t spell, type or proofread, etc. You know, at time. Hey, we try. And remember, our motley crew isn’t exactly in it for the big bucks.
To a man (and that includes women), pretty much everybody here is first and foremost out to inform and/or entertain. Sure, they could just blog away on their own. But with more than a quarter million unique visitors each month – and growing – it’s more fun locking horns with a larger audience.
In spite of the heat we take.
Which I don’t mind telling you, has cost us a few writers. So thanks for that.
Now on to who and what we’re looking for as we approach our third anniversary this February…
Hearne: Glazer’s Funeral Rip Off, Lezak on MU, Chiefs, Local Sports Media Cheer for SEC & Lotus Hits Fairway
Wild week – funerals, apple orchard odysseys, corn maze deliverances – time to catch up…
If the shoe fits, be glad you’re not Jewish. And dead. Stanford’s Craig Glazer found out the hard way that when it comes to Jewish funerals in KC, money is no object. That is, if you use to go to Jewish funeral home, which he did. To the tune of just under $16,000 all in. And dad Stan already ponied the plot.
For the record, that’s nearly double what the Glaze would have been banged for had he gone to Charter Funerals.
The flip side of that deathmare: the rabbi Glaze was required to use laid down a kickass acapella rendition of R Kelly’s "I Believe I Can Fly."
"I thought he did a great job," Glazer says. "And he only had one day to learn the song."
*******
Hearne: It’s Time for News Radio KMBZ to Bring Back Tom Becka
In the spirit of not missing y
our water til the well runs dry, it’s time to bring back one of KC’s best talk show hosts…
Former KMBZ personality Tom Becka never turned in Rush Limbaugh-like ratings during his tenure here, and his raspy voice was a known irritant to former Entercom boss Bob Zuroweste. That said, the 50-something yakker looks like Prince Charming in the rearview mirror compared to most of the hosts that have followed in his footsteps.
And until radio giant Clear Channel pulled the plug on its stations across the country yesterday, Becka was kicking butt and taking names at KFAB in Omaha. He was let go as part of the sweeping cutbacks reported by Chicago media columnist Robert Feder.
"When the largest radio company in America assembles its major market general managers in Chicago today. it won’t be to tell them what a swell job they’re doing," Feder wrote yesterday. "Instead, if knowledgeable industry reports are correct, Clear Channel Radio will set in motion massive cutbacks that could lead to what one analyst called ‘a new form of local radio.’ ”
Star Search: Star Sends Mixed Message on Likely MU Move to SEC
Life goes on, right?
In the wide world of cliches, they don’t get much better than that. The girlfriend dumps you, a parent dies, the cat takes off – you’re bummed. So you cry in your beer for a bit, take stock, suck it up and get your ass back in the game.
That’s pretty much what Star sports scribe Sam Mellinger attempted to do today re the all-but-inevitable departure of Missouri from the Big 12. For weeks, Mellinger wrung his hands and cursed the sky, lamenting how bad it would be for Kansas City. Over and again, like a dude getting dumped. he tried to rationalize and/or guilt trip MU into not leaving.
Like that was going to work.
Having more than exhausted that theme, Man Sam decided today to go from grieving to grooving.
Hearne: Missing Baby Mom Expects to be Charged & Who’s Paying Lawyer Fees, Enquirer Asks
With the national news media game fully afoot, it’s little surprise that the National Enquirer is on the case…
"The noose is tightening around the mother of baby Lisa Irwin – the 11-month-old baby found missing from her crib in her family’s Missouri home on Oct.4," the Enquirer story begins.
Police aren’t buying tot mom Deborah Bradley‘s story, a source close to the investigation tells the Enquirer.
"Her family members, and even Deborah herself expect she will ultimately be arrested and charged with a crime," the Enquirer says.
"Now that Bradley has lawyered up, authorities are even more convinced that she has something to hide, sources say," the Enquirer continues.
Hearne: Can the Pitch Survive Departure of Key Staffers & Dark Days of Print Publishing?
It’s way too easy writing about the difficult life and times of the Kansas City Star…
After reading the Star for something approaching a lifetime, writing about it while running the Pitch for several years and finally working at it for 16 years, I pretty much know the players and where the bodies are buried at 18th and Grand. Trust me.
Covering the Pitch however is a different beast. It’s been 20 years since I darkened its door as an employee, its staff is far smaller and the turnover has been great given all the regime changes.
That said, the Pitch is as far up you-know-what creek as the Star and any number of other print publications around the country.
Which is unfortunate, because in a perfect world, Kansas City deserves to field a first class alt weekly. Unfortunately, that’s seldom, if ever, been the case.
Hearne: Sleeping With The Enemy; Star Hops in Sack w/ Dealsaver Rival Groupon
Yesterday was a good day for a funeral…
Or just about any outdoor fun. However, funeral day it was for scribe Craig Glazer‘s brother Jack. Not that I didn’t notice that enticing Groupon email offer for the Kansas City Star.
Hold it! The Star just went into competition against Groupon a few months back, what’s the deal?
Ever since the Groupon phenomenon took off here two years back, the money hungry hombres at the Star have been licking their chops to get in on on the daily deal loot. And it is, now that the newspaper’s dealsaver.com game is afoot.
Hearne: Pitch Editor Claims ‘Best Of’ Awards About the Writing, Not the Counting
"Everybody’s a winner," spouted carnival barkers of old…
These days the king of cashing in on that concept is local alt weekly the Pitch. Year after year it dishes out unsubstantiated plaudits to anyone and everyone it can think of.
Best cupcakes, handyman, hair removal, pedicure – best T-Bones player, moving company, place to buy a scooter. Is there no end to it? In a word, no. You name it, they got it. And that’s just for the 250-plus reader-picked winners. Add to that 35 pages of picks by unnamed Pitch writers, ranging from best workaholic and best mom to best place to pretend that you’re employed.
Which by the way was the H&R Block employee lunch room.
But do the Pitch readers really think the best place to meet men is Oklahoma Joe’s?
Hearne: Star Parent Suffers 3rd Qtr Earnings Hit, Locals Brace for More Possible Cuts
In its struggle for survival, the Kansas City Star‘s owner slapped yet another coat of red paint on its 3rd quarter financials…
"A slump in advertising showed no signs of easing for McClatchy Co. in its latest quarter," the AP reports. "The newspaper publisher cut expenses, partly through layoffs this year, but advertising and circulation revenue declined."
How bad was it?
Earnings down 21 percent from a year ago and ad revenue off 10 percent. More than peer newspaper rivals Gannett and the New York Times. Overall ciurculation was off by 3%.
One line in particular from McClatchy chief Gary Pruitt may be unsettling to surviving local newsies:
Today: Stanford’s Jack Glazer Killed in Car Crash
Then there were two…
Stanford & Sons main man and KC Confidential lightning rod Craig Glazer’s little brother Jack Glazer was killed last night after his car went left the road on I 435 on his way home from the comedy club. The 55 year old Glazer worked at the comedy club with brothers Craig and Jeff Glazer.
"Jack was going home from work last night and ran off the road on 435 in Missouri," Craig Glazer says. "His car hit a tree and that crushed the car and killed my little brother Jack. He had worked at Stanford and Sons for many years.
Hearne: Lose the Crying Towels, Mizzou Alums Say MU Has No Choice
Parting is such sweet sorrow, then again…
For two of Kansas City’s biggest supporters of Missouri football and basketball – Missouri Tiger Club of KC honcho Joe Zwillenberg and PR wildcat Will Gregory – bailing on the Big 12 for the SEC is simply a no brainer.
"It’s stability," Zwillenberg says. "Oklahoma and Texas tried to get into the Pac 12 but they couldn’t get in, so they came back to the Big 12 and said, ‘We want to be here.’ But dude, it just doesn’t work that way, because you know eventually they’re going to screw you and contracts don’t mean crap nowadays. So I think Missouri’s doing the right thing."
Gregory agrees.
Hearne: Starker’s Reserve Owner’s Suicide Sparks Debate
To report or not to report, that is the question…
After confirming that Starker’s owner and chef John McClure took his own life yesterday, I reported the news here. Much to the chagrine of a handful of commenters, even though I tried to do so as delicately as possible.
"Was that necessary to post right now when people are just learning of his passing???" asked LJ. "Perhaps some sensitivity to his family or friends who have not yet heard. This is deplorable."
"How dare you Hearne! Have you no tact, no soul??" added Jenn Tosatto.
Then going by % said: "It’s journalism. It may not be what people want to read, particularly if they knew the deceased, but it’s still journalism."
"So wait… I missed the part where Hearne killed the chef… as far as I can tell, McClure killed himself," said TruthSpeaks. "That sucks, and I feel bad for the terrible sorrow his friends and family must be feeling, but come on, a lot of these comments are a shining example of misdirected anger."
Bottom line: Reporting on suicides is a tricky business – even when delicately done – and most are afraid to do it.
