Dear Mexican: I am a gaybacho who has lived with his hombre for the past eight years. I’ve made my peace with his lack of house-cleaning, laundry washing and finance managing, all in the name of “Men raised in Mexico don’t perform those womanly tasks.” It’s cool, I love him. One thing that he has done for years is give…
Letters, July 19 Paper Trails I had to laugh at the letter from the lady who wrote in to bash the Pitch for the Phill Kline article. This poor, ignorant lady states right off the bat that she does not read the Pitch. She then admits she did not even read the “Dimwit D.A.” article. Does this lady even have…
Hey, you, giant utility company! Let’s ignore the fact that you crept over and shut my electricity off without so much as a hint. Not even 30 minutes after you took away my electricity at around 10 a.m. on a weekday, I paid up. And what did you tell me? You informed me that your policy states all disconnections must…
The city’s newest piece of public art juts out of a wall on the side of the Folly Theater at 12th Street and Central. Titled “Staying the Course,” it’s 14 erect feet of banana, which has a slightly upward bent. Made from papier-mâché by Reading Reptile owner Pete Cowdin, the piece is part of the city’s Avenue of the…
When the Kansas Republican Party announced last month that it had formed a “loyalty committee” to crack down on any GOP members who dare support a Democrat, even ardent conservatives got a little red around the collar. Then again, when your party is nearly bankrupt and your brightest stars are bailing ranks and winning for the opposite team, maybe it’s…
In the current crop of Diet Mountain Dew commercials, Joe Egender is not the guy putting on the illegal sock-puppet show from a New York City window. Nor is he the one running from a rabid, chainsaw-wielding ferret. Nope, Egender’s the one who shows up at the end, touting the merits of the super-sweet soda while wearing a retro suit…
In 2002, the University of Missouri-Kansas City signed a peace treaty. The document, as I read it, recognized neighborhood’s right to exist. Former chancellor Martha Gilliland signed the order four years after the university began targeting an area south of the Volker campus to build intramural sports fields. People who lived in the neighborhood, Rockhill Crest, fought the threat of…
The ChemCentral fire began with just a simple chemical reaction. Workers had poured a lubricant called Indopol from one container to another. Indopol isn’t known for simply exploding out of nowhere. But for some unknown reason, it sent a fireball hurtling through the plant. Workers barely got out of the way of the blast. One got singed on the leg,…
Our esteemed president came to town today to make a speech before a group of conventioning VFW members. Bush made a speech about war and perseverance and how if we don’t follow his vision, the Middle East will collapse like the Texas Rangers back when he owned the team. Well, we procured an audio version of his talk and…
Kansas City’s NBA and NHL prospects took friendly fire today – from the city’s alleged arena partner. Sprint Center manager AEG announced today it was partnering with Harrah’s Entertainment to build a 20,000-seat arena just off the Las Vegas Strip. AEG president and CEO Tim Leiweke recycled the promises he made to Kansas Citians of a pro basketball or…
Frequent refinancing has put Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser in a position where he appears to owe more money on his house than it is worth. In an interview this morning, Funkhouser says that he’s been smart with his personal finances. The debt on the home he and his wife purchased in 1994 is not cause for alarm, he says….
The Outraged Patriots typically direct their anger at illegal immigrants and the political forces that refuse to deport them by the millions. This week, though, they’re directing their outrage at a group of Topeka vandals. Last Thursday, the anti-illegal-immigration group based in Nebraska erected a 55-foot billboard just east of the Fairlawn exit on Interstate 470 in Topeka. Previously displayed…
Bill over at the new local jazz blog Plastic Sax has written an open letter to the new director of American Jazz Museum. More importantly, the new director of the AMJ should read it. I can’t believe they still haven’t fixed those damn display cases! I think Bill’s onto something with that Sax Hero idea, but, at the same time,…
With running back Larry Johnson finally in training camp, all the talk today will be about what it means for the Chiefs. Well, we think it’s time to remember a couple of L.J.’s famous moments. First, here’s a link to a Pitch cover story from September 2005, when he took our scribe along for a night of clubbing. The piece…
Editor’s Note: Kansas City Star columnist Jeneé Osterheldt recently regaled us with tales of her birthday neuroses in this column. We offer this rewrite of her piece in an effort to explain what’s between the lines of Jeneé. He said the word birthday, and tears flooded my eyes. My mailman just wanted to know how I would be celebrating…
One of the high points of last weekend’s Ethnic Enrichment Festival at Swope Park was a dazzling fashion show featuring the couture creations of young Vietnamese-American designer Nhut Trang. His name may be a lot more difficult to pronounce than, say, Mark Jacobs or Alexander McQueen, but the Ho Chi Minh City native, who immigrated to the United States…
Events like last Saturday’s Tails on the Trails pet festival in Lenexa are supposed to be fun for pets and their owners. That is, assuming you don’t have an overly timid or aggressive animal. Neither of those takes well to crowds. I showed up with one of each in tow – Georgie, a shy, little Chihuahua I was dog sitting,…
Download column author Andy Vihstadt trolls the Internet for new music like a junkie with a $200-a-day habit, so we figured since he’s doing it anyway, we’ll try and convince him to share his findings. He agreed. The man’s a true public servant. Enjoy. Porn Challenge Canada’s answer to the supergroup returns on Tuesday with Challengers, marking the fourth notch…
Since the October demise of local favorite Doris Henson, the band’s eccentric leader and primary power, Matt Dunehoo, moved to New York and has gotten deep into the beginnings of a new music project. Meet Baby Teardrops. Your homework for the weekend is to listen to the Baby Teardrops music player, which is loaded up with 10 lo-fi, homespun nuggets….
A Message from Lord Magnus Tuareg, Time-Traveler from Next Week: ATTENTION CITIZENS OF EARTH’S PAST! I am Lord Magnus Tuareg from the future date of Tuesday, August 21, 2007. I know my ways might seem strange to you, the people of Earth’s very recent past, but I BRING YOU A MESSAGE FROM THE FUTURE: On Monday night’s episode of…
Last night, I went to the Plaza’s M&S Grill for a drink seminar called “Celebrating the American Cocktail.” Basically, this was a PR event to show off M&S’s drink menu, but anytime you put the words history, cocktail and samples together, I’ll show up. And, apparently, so would an interesting cross-section of local media types, like KCTV 5’s Surae Chinn…
A federal jury today convicted Saundra McFadden-Weaver of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and six individual counts of wire fraud. The charges stemmed from a $400,000 loan McFadden-Weaver took out on a house in Lee’s Summit that she never intended to live in. Categories: News
Warped Tour August 15, 2007 Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Better than: Going to school. The Warped Tour came to Verizon yesterday. Crystal K. Wiebe braved the heat and teenagers to catch some bands and snap some photos. It was just too hot for much else. Fortunately, unlike Meursault in Camus’ The Stranger, the heat did not prompt her to kill…
With the American Corrections Association in town at Bartle Hall for the past few days, I’d though I’d hang out and see what I could learn from our nation’s finest prison guards and administrators. I got to discuss the latest ACA Buyers Guide of Correctional Products and Services with some of the attendees at the water fountain and in between…
