Dear Mexican: Do you agree with immigration rights activists calling Elvira Arellano — who is an illegal immigrant and, I might add, a criminal — the Mexican Rosa Parks? The very idea that these people refer to her as such is deeply disturbing. Rosa Parks was a legal resident of this country who took a stand against the injustices against…
Plog: “Edwin Hall Speaks,” August 1 Hall Monitor I for one, would like your reporter, Nadia Pflaum, to know she did a great job getting an interview with Edwin Hall. I just hope she has tough skin in regards to all of the negative comments that have been directed her way. She has been criticized profusely for not getting enough…
Hey, you, folks at the Overland Park McDonald’s near 79th Street and Metcalf. I was starving for breakfast and drove what seemed like forever just to find a place to grab a quick bite, even though I was late for work. Everyone at your store had a smile and was polite, but fast and all about business. Your team had…
The dude might be tall enough to dunk a basketball while sitting down, but for some reason Mayor Mark Funkhouser was nearly refused entrance to the VFW conference last week. The security guard said he wanted to see some credentials. The Funk wasn’t carrying any, so we decided to make him a clip-and-save ID that’ll make sure he’s never turned…
What’s Warner Bros. got against St. Jo? First the movie studio snubbed KC’s northern sister when it decided to make a movie about local gunslinger Jesse James in Canada. Sure, James was born in Cass County and died while dusting a picture in St. Joseph. But apparently, even Missouri native Brad Pitt — who will star in The Assassination…
Traffic on Branson’s legendary Country Music Boulevard is moving at its usual glacial crawl when Yakov Smirnoff steers my rental car into the road’s center turn lane and guns the accelerator. “You’re not supposed to do this, but I like to think I have diplomatic immunity,” the comedian says as he zooms past dozens of cars mired in the gridlock….
Kim Oursler uses different types of tarot decks for different purposes. “The spiral tarot has the major arcana — cups, swords, stones and so on,” she explains. “And I also use a deck called the goddess oracle, which is all goddess imagery, no arcana. That’s what I use to get some of the patterning. Then, the spiral tarot gives me…
Happy Hour
Pet lovers are slamming Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser with e-mails protesting yesterday’s decision by the parks board that puts a stop to the well-organized movement to build a dog park inside Sunnyside Park in Waldo. The parks board put the resolution – which states that dog parks should avoid residential areas such as the one surrounding Sunnyside Park —…
Because KC hearts the Boss, we thought we’d let you know that the first single from his upcoming record, Magic, which reunites Bruce with the E Street Band, is downloadable free on iTunes. It’s called “Radio Nowhere,” and it rocks. It’s not cut out to be a classic, epic Springsteen burner, but it’s a breath of fresh air after that…
Last night, after a relaxing, late-evening jaunt through Westport, starting with dinner at McCoy’s and ending with drinks until last call at Dave’s Stagecoach Inn — and can I just add how cool it was to walk by and see people enjoying live blues at Blayney’s and DJs on the Hurricane deck and bands inside the joint on a Tuesday…
These days Paul Lovelace is a 30-year-old documentary filmmaker in New York City. He travels the country shilling his own motion picture projects – and on his own dime. Last night Lovelace returned to Kansas City (he’s a 1995 graduate of Shawnee Mission South High School) for a screening of the film The Holy Modal Rounders…Bound to Lose at…
%{}% Well, it’s official. More than half a million dollars, and almost a year in planning and the anti-violence Community Mediation Program still won’t start until this fall. That means they’ve missed the summer — and the time of year shootings are most prevalent. We first reported on the program here, back before it had the cool name, AIM4PEACE: Community…
Yesterday, I stopped by the Charlie Parker birthday festivities at the Mutual Musicians Foundation. I’m embarrassed to say that the free fried chicken and cake lured me out, rather than any Bird- or jazz-love. The food was delicious, though; the chicken was fried up by Wingbusters, and the sheet cake, above, had a cheery “Happy birthday Charlie Parker” squiggled onto…
The football season begins for real this Friday night when high schools begin play. Leaving no zone blitz unturned, The Kansas City Star previewed the prep, college and NFL seasons in a special section (several, actually) that appeared in Sunday’s paper. Even in the football-mad Midwest, the coverage seemed a bit excessive. Here are some stats on “Football ’07”: 43…
BY ANDY VIHSTADT Meat is Murder Beck dropped a “Timebomb” last Tuesday. The exclusive single isn’t a huge jump from The Information, but here’s to you, Beck, for not using it as a greedy excuse to release a greatest hits album; it’s certainly worthy of A-side status. Listen to it for free at Pitchfork, or fork over a buck to…
Eight months after I wrote about my quest to find the smokiest bar in town, I received a package today from one of the finalists. The Clarette Club sent me a T-shirt that lauded its cigarette-friendly status. The front of the forest-green shirt is emblazoned with a drawing of a 12-armed Buddha. Each hand holds a cigarette, and the words…
On the same day that a presidential visit snarled traffic around Bartle Hall (really, was building the convention center to straddle the highway such a great idea?), U.S. marshals paid a visit to our local anarchist bookstore – and it wasn’t to pick up some Kafka. Volunteer Chuck Munson was manning the Crossroads Infoshop and Radical Bookstore at 3109…
Kansas City ex-rapper Joe Good might still be in Retirement City (where, with any luck, 50 Cent will be joining him next month) but his songs live on in Remixland. Here’s a track mixed by DJ Kid Cut Up from Milwaukee that introduces Good’s lyrics on “Money” from SoundsGood’s Biscuits & Gravy, to the Kelly Rowland and Eve song, “Like…
Howdy, y’all. Here’s a picture of me took at my buddy Timmy Tom Bob’s parole party back in April. I’m wearing my favorite T-shirt for the occasion. Given the cyclical nature of historical circumstance, it is my sincere belief that the South will rise again. Further buttressing my theory vis-à-vis an inevitable Confederate resurgence, there are a number of redneck-interest…
Sure there are plenty of good reasons for a tobacco ban – long-term health benefits, sheltering your good bar clothes from stray burning ash. But without tobacco, we wouldn’t be as nearly attractive to artists such as Billy Bob Thornton. With the right word of mouth, maybe Kansas City could become a celebrity getaway like Aspen, only with more carcinoma….
Atreyu, Evanescence and Korn August 22, 2007 Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Better than: The Jerry Springer Show By Crystal K. Wiebe I hauled out to Bonner Springs again last night. It was the second Wednesday in a row I’ve spent at the venerable Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Last week was Warped Tour; last night was the Family Values Tour. I would…
