Archives: January 2009
Pioli: Opposed to small, weak, slow guys
Scott Pioli, the Chiefs’ new barrel-chested general manager, promises change as he takes control of football operations Carl Peterson had run for 20 long years. Pioli said today that he wanted to build a big, strong, fast, smart, tough, disciplined football team. “It sounds very simple, and, hopefully, in certain ways, it will be,” he said. Pioli joins the Chiefs…
Shauntay Henderson, FBI’s Most Wanted, gets 3-year sentence
Armed criminal action gets Shauntay Henderson — once one of America’s Most Wanted — a three-year sentence. Jackson County Judge Robert Schieber handed down the sentence today. Henderson also gets a 10-year suspended sentence and five-years probation for voluntary manslaughter. Check out this great wrap up of the bench trial written by Nadia Pflaum in November. — Justin Kendall Categories:…
A cold day for Shuttlecocks: Artist Coosje van Bruggen is dead
Coosje van Bruggen, who with her husband, Claes Oldenberg, designed the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s Shuttlecock sculptures, has died of breast cancer at age 66, The New York Times reports. This football-and-baseball town had a hard time adjusting to the couple’s 18-foot-tall odes to badminton, which arrived in 1994, but the whimsical sculptures now seem prescient. The Shuttlecocks offer a…
Woman allegedly runs prostitution businesses from USDA computer
Advertising in The Pitch gets results. Just not the results that Laurie Lynn McConnell wanted, federal prosecutors say. McConnell allegedly ran an online prostitution business from her computer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Kansas City office. The indictment says McConnell, a 26-year-old (and I’m guessing now former) statistician with the USDA, and John O. Miller, 36, ran Darc Phoenix…
The Download: New Neko Case MP3
New Pornographer and alt-country goddess Neko Case returns with Middle Cyclone in March. Along with members of her Canadian supergroup, the album will include guest appearances from M. Ward, Los Lobos, Calexico and the Lilys. Anti- Records doled out a preview track yesterday with this note: “Today, we are especially happy to bring you “People Got A Lotta Nerve,” the…
When happy hour gets too happy
The Los Angeles Times had a disturbing story this week about happy hours becoming a little too happy for business. It’s not that restaurants don’t want bustling happy hours, it’s that more and more of them are experiencing the “fire drill.” The fire drill is when a restaurant is slammed until happy hour ends and then everybody leaves en masse…
Baby Blunt’s unpopularity hurting daddy
The National Review Online wonders if the unpopularity of now-former Missouri Governor Matt Blunt will sink big daddy Roy Blunt’s chances of taking Kit Bond’s Senate seat. Yes, it’s early, but this poll says daddy’s going to need help if he’s going to beat Robin Carnahan. — Justin Kendall Categories: News, Politics Tags: Kit Bond, Matt Blunt, missouri, Robin Carnahan
Attention, fame whores and shutter sluts!
Tonight, let professional fame whore Phoebe Price (pictured) be your muse if you go to Blonde Ultra Lounge (100 Ward Parkway on the Plaza) for what FashionHouse KC calls a “Live Photo Shoot and Portfolio Builder.” Apparently, if you get to Blonde between 7 and 10 p.m., professional photographers will take portfolio-quality pictures of you and your friends. It’s free…
Maybe Herm gets to stay after all
%{}% ESPN’s telling anyone thinking Herm Edwards might be gone to checkity check yourself before you wreck yourself. “A source” drops knowledge on Michael Smith that a Herm Edwards return hasn’t be ruled out … for at least one more year. Supposedly new general manager Scott Pioli is coming in with “an open mind” and apparently Clark Hunt “prefers that…
Reporter’s Notebook: It’s on like Donkey Kong
In the course of reporting this week’s feature on local attorney and video-game badass Steve Sanders, we had to lose some details for space. This Plog is for those of you who always get the two-disc DVDs with the special features and deleted scenes. Categories: News Tags: Billy Mitchel, Johnathan Fatal1ty Wendel, steve sanders, The King of Kong, Walter Day
Trader Joes vs. Trader John’s
At last night’s hamburger talk, Andrew Smith talked at length about White Castle. While the burger chain may now be a punch-line for stoner movies, it was the first fast food restaurant in America and up to World War II was widely imitated. More than imitated, actually. Smith mentioned a now-defunct restaurant chain called White Tower. Below is a picture…
Plaza library dishes out hamburgers and their history
Author Andrew F. Smith (on the right) getting ready to go on stage. One of the most interesting statistics in Andrew F. Smith’s book Hamburger: A Global History is that one in eight people in America have worked at McDonald’s. While I am not part of that 12.5 percent (Smith is) I’m interested in McDonald’s and the hamburger story, which…
You hear me! You do not make fun of Juan Valdez!
The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (CCCF) announced a multi-million dollar defamation suit against cartoonist Mike Peters for using Juan Valdez in his strip. Peters doesn’t even draw a likeness of Valdez in his strip, just mentions his name. The Colombians are in a huff because Peters’ cartoon talks about a Colombian crime syndicate and then makes a joke about Juan…
Entercom’s Official Word on Kiss FM: It’s a Station for the Ladies
The PR eagle has landed, KC radio listeners. Mwah! Just got this press release regarding the demise of the Boulevard and the launch of Kiss FM at 99.7, which we noticed yesterday. Tuesday, January 13, 2009 RYAN SEACREST MOVES TO KANSAS CITY Entercom-Kansas City announces a powerful new radio station for women (Mission, Kans.) – Entercom-Kansas City launched The All…
Stealing Time: More tributes to Greg Hawley
Here are a few more tributes to Greg Hawley, the co-founder of the Steamboat Arabia Museum who was killed in an auto accident over the weekend. Hawley and his work definitely made a lasting impression on the people he met. Unfortunate loss for the Hawleys and the city. TV Barn: Greg Hawley, RIP 3 O’ Clock AM: Remembrance: Greg Hawley…
Taste Test ads getting on people’s nerves
If you’ve followed the NFL playoffs this year, you’ve seen the Domino’s ads comparing its oven toasted sandwiches to Subway’s and the fact that people prefer Domino’s sandwiches two to one over Subway. Instead of just stating this fact, Domino’s tries to cleverly show it and ends up making almost no sense. Here’s the ad: At 10 seconds, the world’s…
Now Open: Greedy Man’s Bar-B-Que
These may not be the most ideal economic times to open a new restaurant — even one serving Kansas City’s most iconic dish. After all, the new Famous Dave’s Barbecue in the Power & Light District (yes, an ill-chosen non-local chain, but that’s not the point) didn’t last a year — it’s already being turned into one of those raucous,…
This Day In Rock: Sex Pistols’ Last Gig
This question came up the last time I played Robert Moore’s music trivia at the Record Bar, so it’s only fitting to repeat it here: In what city did the Sex Pistols play their final show (the first time)? It was that ill-fated (yet bold) 1978 tour that took the Pistols through the American Deep South — a tour that…
Chiefs Hall of Famer Ed Podolak “retiring”
If you get your picture taken while peeping down a woman’s shirt … and gentlemanly court the woman whose titties you inspected … but look shitfaced … you may be forced to “retire” when your boss sees the photos. A Des Moines television station says that Iowa Hawkeye radio broadcaster, Chiefs legend and boobie inspector Ed Podolak is “retiring” from…
Incoming: Fleetwood Mac
This morning, Live Nation announced a second round of tour dates for Fleetwood Mac’s “Greatest Hits Unleashed Tour” that will put the humongously famous foursome at Sprint Center on May 8. Tickets for the tour go on sale January 26 at Livenation.com and Ticketmaster.com. If you have an American Express card, however, you can get yours early starting January 17…
KKFI DJ Kool Wayne Interviewed for BET’s American Gangster
Photo courtesy Myspace.com/koolwayne. On Tuesday afternoon, I received the following missive via text from KKFI DJ Kool Wayne: “If u msd my actn debut on vh1 movi las nite u a dumass..dnt b a dummr ass&mis me on AMERICAN GANGSTER this thursday @ 9.” I can only hope it was a mass text, for I would hate for Kool Wayne…
Four Stars for Lauren Chapin
Kansas City’s restaurant community has rallied to raise money for college funds for the two daughters of the late Kansas City Star restaurant critic Lauren Chapin, who passed away last December of a brain aneurysm at age 50. Chapin was survived by her husband, the Star’s music critic Tim Finn, and daughters Brenna, 16, and Maren, age 14. The event, Four…
Breakfast Buffet: Wednesday, 01/14
%{}% KC Perky has put together, in one post, a lot of info on new coffee houses, coffee meet-up groups and various coffee house entertainment. A horror story with picture of a pot-luck lunch gone bad. It’s a sad fact that in America pot-luck is now code for “bring grocery-store-made pasta salad.” A politely asked question causes this blogger to…
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