FunMobility Inc., a mobile content provider based in Pleasanton, CA, is trying to bridge the oceanic gap between the scientific and hip-hop communities. Their newest ringtone offering, HipHawk Tones, features hip-hop classics filtered through the robotic voice used by famed physicist Stephen Hawking. Ever wondered what a song like Sir-Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” sounds like with electronic vocals? Well, the…
Attorney Kevin Baldwin (pictured) may act like an asshat — as David Martin wrote earlier this week in his look at how Baldwin has handled the press while representing Shone Pernice, husband of missing white woman Renee Pernice — but he’s also a winner. Baldwin didn’t have time to talk to Martin about the Pernice case. Guess he was busy…
This morning, Change.org — the “social action site where you can 1) learn about causes, 2) connect to good people and nonprofits and 3) take action” — presented its Winners of the Ideas for Change in America Competition. (There was supposed to be a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., though last time I checked, I…
I stopped by the Be 1! campaign kick-off event and fundraiser last night at Screenland. Normally when I hear “KC school district,” I feel like a serrated knife is twisting in my skull. But not this time. Categories: News Tags: Airick West, KC Schools
It was a perfect storm of buzz. 1. Yesterday, the esteemed professor Iain Ellis emailed me to ask if I’d heard of the Lawrence band Rooftop Vigilantes, saying, and I quote, “I’ve just been listening to some of the songs from their upcoming album Carrot Atlas … fookin’ brilliant!” High commendation, that. 2.The same day, the influential indie blog Stereogum…
My former Plog roommate and “Juicy” pants wearing enthusiast, Chris “Daily Briefs” Packham, reviewed the Snoop Dogg produced Johnny Cash remix ablum for the Wayward Blog. Go read it. Categories: News Tags: Daily Briefs, johnny cash, snoop dogg, Wayward Blog
Signing up to receive dozens of e-mail newsletters has its ups and downs. Downs being the tremendous amount of spam I get from “exclusive partners” of companies even though I uncheck that box in every newsletter. The plus side for a cheapo like me is the coupons — and when I get really lucky, finding out a brewery is releasing…
A former worker at Spay & Neuter Kansas City tells The Pitch that the staff walked out Tuesday after a disagreement with the organization’s president, Michelle Dormady. A message on the pet organization’s Web site reads: Unfortunately, the SNKC Outreach Program coordinator abruptly resigned her position this week and we are looking for someone to fill that role. We too…
Being a child of the Internet, one thing I learned early on was to never be surprised by what you can buy on the Internet. From exotic animals to prescription drugs to “escorts,” everything is basically at your fingertips. Except booze. Kansas is one of 21 states that doesn’t allow you to purchase alcohol over the Internet and, much to…
When Latino pop stars or big-money actors get a phone call from Olathe, Kansas, they don’t disregard the fly-over-country area code. David Chavez and Sarah Ruiz were born and raised in Topeka, but they’ve built a Midwest company that runs with the Los Angeles and New York City elite in booking top talent. This weekend, with a little help from…
The FDA botched the last big outbreak of salmonella when it issued a huge warning to avoid tomatoes based on the fact that people who’d eaten salsa were getting sick. Turns out salsa was indeed making people sick — but that’s because the jalapenos in it were alive with the salmonella bacteria, not tomatoes. The tomato industry was nearly crippled…
Image courtesy myspace.com/thesilvermen. Greasers will rejoice this Saturday night when the Silvermen grace the stage at Knuckleheads. The rockabilly hounds have been on a long hiatus, which they apparently intend to resume following the show. The phrase “one time only” follows the reunion show announcement on the band’s Myspace profile. So, catch ’em while you can. The Rumblejetts and Red…
These products on the end are usually loss-leaders. In a previous life I took some advanced courses on marketing. The only part I remember clearly was the layout of grocery stores. With their fluorescent lights and drab tile, grocery stores are marketers’ dreams. Everything about a grocery store has been carefully planned to make shoppers buy more. Dairy is the…
CNN reports this morning that troubled big-box store Circuit City has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia for permission to liquidate all its remaining merchandise. The electronics retailer, long the also-ran in a market dominated by Best Buy, filed for bankruptcy last November. Around the same time, it pulled out of the empty new Merriam…
Red light cameras don’t give Will Not Be Televised a warm and tingly feeling. I don’t feel it either, but I’ve always had trouble keeping track of all the colors. Clip: “For all Kansas City knows, the red light running car may be … Knight Rider!!! And you want to ticket me? Asshats.” I should probably just avoid 39th Street…
Well, that’s great. First we’re told dating in Kansas City sucks. Now we’re called a bunch of fat asses. Thanks, Men’s Fitness. This is really going to help us get laid. Categories: News Tags: Dating sucks, Fat, Kansas City, kansas city
So I decided to keep a running diary of KCPT’s new show Check, Please! Here’s what happened over the 23-minute show. 7:31: Drinking a beer, sitting in front of the television — now this is the life. The theme music is a little too elevator but it’s over soon enough and here’s the show. Damn, it’s not in hi-definition. I…
I’m not one of those people who thinks popular music is “sacred,” the way Hindus don’t want anyone screwing around with their cows. By all means, screw around with whatever music you want. I eat a lot more vegetable korma than I do cow, but as far as I’m concerned, Beatles music is totally appropriate for rendering into ground protein…
I’m no Johnny Rowlands, but I bet he’d tell you to avoid Madison Avenue and 46th Street. Click the link for play-by-play color commentary of the traffic snarls. Categories: News Tags: Snowpocalypse
%{}% Another day, another industry struggling. Airlines are having trouble filling seats, especially business class seats, and that means nice big savings. Not as cheap as coach but not as much as you might think. Free-range chickens must be happier than their caged counterparts and it’s nice to think the animal you’re eating lead a happy life. But in addition…
Next Tuesday marks a big moment in American history, so DJ Z-Trip is commemorating the occasion with the sequel to his Obama Mix. From his website: “This one is called “Victory Lap: The Obama Mix Pt. 2″. It’s my way of congratulating all of us for electing what I think is the right person for the job. We made history…
If there’s such a thing as bike karma, Kenneth Walker has it. Last summer, the urban cycling advocate woke up to find a pair of shiny new bikes on his front porch, with nothing but an appreciative note from an anonymous supporter encouraging his work with inner-city kids. This week, the cycling fairy struck again. Walker received an unexpected phone call…
Not sure how long this has been booked, but I just saw that none other than Houston luminary Devin the Dude is coming to our fair Riot Room on March 20. I’m fairly new to the Dude, but I’m thoroughly enamored of his laid-back, R&B/funk-influenced, smooth style and his confident yet hilariously self-deprecating narrative flows. In his song-stories, he is…
The closer it gets to Barack Obama’s inauguration, the more talk we’re hearing about closing Guantanamo Bay — and what to do with the 250 supposed Islamic radicals who are still there. Last week, Kansas Senators Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts said no way do they want the suspected terrorists shipped to the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth….
