The city of Kansas City, Missouri, is considering a three-eighths-percent sales tax to pay for light rail. If voters approve the measure, the city’s already formidable sales tax will reach new heights. As it is, residents who buy the wrong thing in the wrong part of town get slammed with sales taxes totaling more than 10 percent. Cash registers inflict…
Feature: “Power & Light vs. Westport,” July 24 A Special Web-Only Letters Page Our July 24 story “Power & Light vs. Westport,” in which reporters Crystal K. Wiebe and Jen Chen spent one Saturday night reporting from their respective entertainment districts, provoked a spirited discussion among readers at pitch.com. This week, we’ve decided to devote our entire letters page to…
The Pitch Music Showcase. 1 night 34 bands/djs 5 Bucks
By Peter Rugg Click on the photo for a slide show. The city’s anti-violence program Aim4Peace had it’s first public march on Tuesday, and they saw firsthand the reason why such activism is needed. As the first of the group arrived at the corner of 27th Street and Benton, four gunshots rung out from a car. The car sped off,…
Photo by Forester In just a couple of weeks — provided all the members can get their passports in time — the Republic Tigers will make their international debut in Beirut, of all places, at the Big Bang Festival, August 22 through 24. Hm, that’s a rather unfortunate name for a rock festival featuring American bands in a country with…
By CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI Kenneth Walker went out to get the mail and found two brand new bikes sitting on his front porch. It was Christmas in July for a local cycling advocate, who woke up last week to find a pair of shiny, new toys on his front porch. Three years ago, when his son, Christian, stood on the winners’…
By JEN CHEN I was making my usual weekend library stop when I saw Yumi Taylor at the Plaza branch. On that hot Sunday afternoon, she had dressed comfortably and casually, and I thought she looked very pretty and cool. When I stopped her for an interview, though, she was embarrassed – she said she was wearing a four-year-old dress…
By JUSTIN KENDALL Don’t cry for Phill. It’ll only encourage him. Moderate Republicans drove a stake through the heart of Phill Kline’s political career Tuesday night. Steve Howe ran a lackluster campaign but it was enough to hammer Kline, burying the anti-abortion crusader by 20 percentage points in the Republican primary for Johnson County district attorney. Howe will now face…
Baristas Grind outside the entrance to the Plaza Library BY OWEN MORRIS I’m one of those people who say they love the library but almost never go. Part of the reason I don’t go that often is because libraries don’t seem as inviting as say, a Barnes and Noble. At the library you can’t just grab a coffee from the…
By JASON HARPER In an age when bands are giving albums away, letting buyers name their own price, selling them exclusively at Wal-Mart, selling them for $0.49 at Amazon, driving by your house and throwing them at your dad as he waters the lawn in pale khaki shorts and black socks, and so forth, hats off to the Walkmen. Hats…
For the last few months, Aim4Peace mediators have been quietly working in the streets to keep people from shooting each other. The group held its first march against violence yesterday at the corner of 27th Street and Benton.
By CHRIS PACKHAM %{}%David Paul Kuhn at The Politico peers into his political crystal ball and huffs some jenkem from his political mayonnaise jar and wonders why Barack Obama’s lead in the polls over John McCain isn’t even larger, without explaining how he knows what Obama’s poll numbers “should” be. If Kuhn’s such a sideshow psychic, shouldn’t he be fighting…
By CHRIS RASMUSSEN Luckily it’s a short walk. Today is traditionally the last day of the Royals’ season for most local sports fans. Sure, the Royals muddle through for another five weeks, but tomorrow begins Chiefs Pretend Football, and local fans need to obsess over assessing the relative qualities of players they won’t watch in September. What have we learned…
By CHARLES FERRUZZA In the 1959 movie Gidget, future Academy Award-winning actor Cliff Robertson played the sexy, tan Big Kahuna, the surfer king of Malibu Beach. The “Big Kahuna Sand” at this Kansas City location has nothing to do with the soft stuff that gets kicked up at the ocean, but an abbreviation for something good to eat. Where is…
BY OWEN MORRIS The KC Beer guys bring up a good question: what would Jesus drink? Would Jesus be a Pabst drinker? (KC Beer Blog) I’m in trouble if people are going to start picking on the word choices of food writers. Just let me use fudgilicious as an adjective and I’ll be happy. (NYT) I thought Planet Hollywood went…
