By NADIA PFLAUM The superstition says that where there are a pair of shoes slung over a power line, it marks a spot where a person was murdered. I don’t think that’s the case here (or if it is, it’s coincidental). Observant graf fans might notice this same LUSH tag on freights. I like the idea of shoe tags. Time…
All-ages shows are scarce these days, which is why we feel it our duty to hype the Gravy Train show at the Record Bar this early evening, even if we don’t include all four exclamation marks and despite their barf-inducing website. Witch & Hare open at 6:30 p.m., and things get nasty at 7:00 when the Ssion plays their first…
By CHARLES FERRUZZA Fame, even on the smallest scale, can be a double-edged butter knife. Last month my friend Rick Hellman, the editor of the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, e-mailed me to say that the Pumpernick’s Restaurant & Deli at 3820 West 95th Street had used a quote (from a Fat Mouth column I wrote last July) on a big…
By NADIA PFLAUM Obama and Sebelius in Kansas City earlier this year. Looks like the blog Jezebel.com is the latest in a long line of news sources taking interest in Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, as a potential VP for Sen. Barack Obama. In this post, accompanied by the great Vogue portrait of Kansas’ First Lady, the Jezzies are pointing out…
BY OWEN MORRIS Doug Flick is the Chef Instructor of the Baking/Pastry Program at Johnson County Community College. Prior to this job, he was pastry chef at the now-defunct Kansas City Ritz Carlton. He trained for two years with a master pastry chef in Philadelphia and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. We asked…
By C.J. JANOVY Who did better on Meet the Press yesterday morning: former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, or Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill? Here’s a transcript. Tom Brokaw called it “a historic Meet the Press moment, the first time that we’ve had two women who are acting as surrogates for the two national campaigns.” I call it an overall disappointing…
%{}% By CHRIS PACKHAM Occasionally, I get curious about the number of people who read Daily Briefs, so I shoot off an e-mail to Faysal, my Plog shift supervisor. “Hey, Faysal, how are the numbers this month?” I’ll ask. “Quit asking this question,” he’ll write back, followed by something like, “Two times this week you forget to punch time card…
By ANDY VIHSTADT The Toadies parted ways in 2001 after only two albums, but Vaden Todd Lewis is back with most of his original lineup for another round of Texas-style rock. Hit up the band’s MySpace page to stream the title track from No Deliverance, due August 19 on Kirtland Records. In you’re in the St. Louis area, catch them…
BY OWEN MORRIS More than you ever wanted to know about the different shapes of Kansas City burgers. (Ulterior Epicure) Desperate Starbucks is hoping protein drinks will save them from their woes. They’re about a week away from buying lotto tickets and a prayer rug. (Market Watch) “We all know how the story ends. It is just a matter of…
By CHRIS RASMUSSEN Dear Brett, This is difficult for me. I don’t want to see you anymore. Like most beautiful people used to having their asses kissed, it has warped you. The constant praise you receive from others has made you a narcissist, and it isn’t quite as cute now that you’ve aged. Yes, you used to be so beautiful…
Feist and Juana Molina Date: July 13, 2008 Venue: Starlight Theatre Better Than: International bootlegs of “The Sifl and Olly Show.” By GRANT SNIDER It’s not viral indie rock journalism that propelled Feist to stardom. It’s not her Canadian camaraderie with the art commune Broken Social Scene or the vulgar genius Peaches. It’s not even that damn iPod commercial you…
Even though the morning rain kept away festival goers, there was still a street full of dedicated-yet-soggy vendors at the Quindaro Community Festival (a.k.a. Unity Festival) on July 12.
By NADIA PFLAUM I spotted Lauren bopping her way through the gates at Sandstone, dancing with her arms in the air like she, as Outkast might say, was the opening act, the headliner, AND the after-party. Later I saw her again, sitting demurely in the grass, trying to make her Blackberry work. She told me that her favorite thing she…
By CHRIS RASMUSSEN Got it? No, you don’t. After a few months, we can now review a time-honored rite of spring training baseball coverage: the yearly “Our Team Is Very Serious About Fundamentals This Season” story. This year’s version concerning the Royals contained two unique pieces of nuance: a) Trey Hillman managed in Japan, a venue known for its fundamental…
By CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI Flooded Cedar Rapids. In the last week of June, 170 day laborers from Kansas City boarded a bus headed for eastern Iowa. They were bound for flood-ravaged cities like Cedar Rapids, where hundreds of workers from other states flooded into the region to help with the recovery. The Kansas City workers had been hired by a local…
By ERIC BARTON Dear Brett, No doubt, 17 years in the NFL will turn what’s between your ears into scrambled eggs, so nobody would expect you to remember every game. But think back, old timer, to November 8, 1993. You were just a year into the starting gig in Green Bay, and people were still wondering if the kid from…
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Cross Canadian Ragweed
%{}% BY OWEN MORRIS First Friday was overshadowed this month due to some holiday called Independence Day. To make up for it, many art galleries — and other businesses — are open tonight for Second Friday. The Cellar Rat, at 1701 Baltimore is having a 2nd chance @ First Friday Tasting tonight from 5-9 ($10 or free to members). Speaking…
By CHARLES FERRUZZA As far as the hamlet of Mission, Kansas, is concerned, the town isn’t big enough for two queen bees. While customers still flock to the Mission outlet of Applebee’s, its more sophisticated, independently owned neighbor, Melbee’s, is calling it a day. I never thought Melbee’s was a good fit for Johnson Drive, with its inexpensive diners (Town…
By DAVID MARTIN Hey, Joe, please sign it to your buddy, unrealistic optimism. In what has become an annual rite of spring training, The Kansas City Star’s Joe Posnanski lays out dream-world scenarios the Royals will ride to rediscovered glory. Usually, of course, the team ends up with 100 losses. This season, Posnanski admitted to thoughts of killing the concept….
BY OWEN MORRIS Click on the photo for a slideshow. There may not be twenty-thousand screaming college kids in town but that doesn’t mean Lawrence stops being fun in the summer. Cottonwood’s Salute is proof of that. It’s an annual three-day wine festival that draws nearly all of Lawrence’s more settled residents and serves up some serious vinos along with…
