Shortly after my story on Abigail Henderson’s struggle with breast cancer and health bills was published, a local doctor named Mark Matthews got in touch with me about the issue of health care for musicians. Matthews works with Sweet Relief, a national charity that has helped musicians in need since 1994. While I was working on “A Picture of Hope,”…
A quick update to the Kansas City Police Department’s more surprise-y sobriety checkpoints. The latest one was set up at 4040 Main Street from 11 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Saturday. View Larger Map Officers stopped 663 vehicles and arrested 12 people on suspicion of driving under the influence. Arrest rate: 1.8 percent. Categories: News Tags: sobriety checkpoint
This morning, I put up this Fat City post about the anniversary of the opening of King Tut-ankh-Amen’s tomb and the story of the short-lived candy bar inspired by the event. A couple of hours later, I received an e-mail from Russell Sifers, owner of the Merriam-based Russell Sifers Candy Company, which continues to make the famous Valomilk candy cups. Sifers…
The owner of Grow Your Own Hydroponics shot a would-be robber Sunday evening after being threatened with a taser. Kansas City Police say the store’s owner told them that a man had a taser and was threatening to rob his store at 3615 St. John Avenue when he grabbed a gun and shot the guy at least once. View Larger…
Just because Frances Semler stepped aside and the Minutemen aren’t causing any local ruckus doesn’t mean all is silent on the immigration front. This week, in dozens of cities around the country, activists are calling attention to a broken system that divides families and punishes willing workers. This morning, local advocates gathered across the street from the Executive Office of…
St. Louisians the Living Things — brothers Lillian (vocals, guitar), Eve (bass) and Bosh Berlin (drums) plus guitarist Cory Becker — came to the Midland in KC this past Friday with Girl in a Coma and Innerpartysystem for a free concert put on by 96.5 the Buzz. Click on Lillian’s boots below for a supersexy, Things-heavy slide show. The second…
A federal judge ruled last week that lawyers for a former employee can proceed with a class-action suit against NovaStar Financial. On December 31, 2006, workers who participated in NovaStar’s 401(k) plan held $6.4 million in company stock. A year later, as home prices fell and NovaStar and other subprime mortgage lenders were stuck with a lot of worthless paper,…
Europe can be a weird place. I’ve encountered different cultures, languages and efficiencies of public transportation — sometimes within the same country. Yet, after visiting 10 countries, I noticed one thing they had in common: kebab shops. Thousands of kebab shops, all offering up the same risky meat on vertical spits. The American equivalent would be fast-food combined with greasy…
Are you one of those boring people who opens a beer bottle with an opener or a champagne bottle by squeezing the cork? Of course you are! Because you’re rational and that’s the way those bottles were meant to be opened. Of course for years people have been opening beer bottles with teeth, belts, keys and the sides of tables….
While all of above methods look easy, they’re not, so don’t go practicing the sword or wine-tree trick on a 20-year-old vintage bottle. If you’ve got expensive booze and no way to open it, the Swiss Army came up with just the device for you: the Picnicker knife. It’s not only got a bottle opener and a corkscrew but a…
This is the kind of guy we love. Last time we checked Tim Wise’s MySpace page, we were greeted with the warning: “Hate mail, while neither appreciated nor desired, will be graded for form, content, spelling and grammar.” Wise is a white guy who writes about white racism; he’s also a frequent speaker on the college lecture circuit and sometimes…
… Not only for releasing the Single-Wide I.P.A in bottles but for making it a year-round release and putting it in six-packs instead of as part of the too expensive Smokestack Series. Single-Wide I.P.A is based on Boulevard’s Double-Wide I.P.A which was released in 2007. At the time, we raved about Double-Wide and said it had a “real floral bouquet……
St. Louis’ Living Things joined the punky ladies of Girl in a Coma and the synth rockers of Innerpartysystem for a KRBZ-sponsored free concert at the Madrid.
OK, it’s not that complicated, but it’s complex enough that even Deffenbaugh Industries can’t give a definitive answer. Late last month, Kansas City’s trash hauler said it would expand its plastic recycling pickup by collecting items marked #1 through #7. So, instead of tossing only soda bottles into the blue bins, all those other containers with the little numbers on the…
Lawrence trio Cowboy Indian Bear fleshed out its weekend of CD-release-party action with an in-store performance at Streetside Records in Westport on Saturday, February 14, 2009. Read our feature on the excellent new band to learn more. Categories: Music Tags: cowboy indian bear, record stores, streetside
Minimum wage, which the federal government has set at $6.55, is not the real minimum wage. In many cases workers with disabilities or full-time students are allowed to be paid under minimum wage. Same with people under 20, whose minimum wage is $4.25 for their first 90 days of work. Then there’s the tip-based worker, who, according to the government,…
Two weeks ago I wrote a post called Chipotle just another chain. Shortly afterwards, a public relations firm representing the burrito chain e-mailed to clear up some things in the post. I still had some questions, though, so I talked to Chipotle spokesperson Chris Arnold. Arnold told me that burrito sizes haven’t changed and that Chipotle doesn’t videotape its employees…
Local duets formed the day after Valentine’s Day to sing about love at the second annual Love Hangover concert.
Local duets formed the day after Valentine’s Day to sing about love at the second annual Love Hangover concert.
%{}% 2009 is turning into the year of breweries for Kansas City. Another one is on its way in Liberty, Missouri. Hating on the Plaza bums. It might not be sensitive to the plight of the homeless, but if you walk around the Plaza often, you might be able to relate. The next 10 years of sports drinks laid out…
Last week, Ontario’s Junior Boys announced an extensive North American tour to promote its forthcoming LP. The duo is naming the album Begon Dull Care after a short film from Canadian animator Norman McLaren. From the official press release: “On Begone Dull Care, there isn’t a single sound emitted that feels out of place or like an afterthought. There is…
The Daily Briefs Week of Monday, February 9, 2009 through Friday, February 13, 2009%{}% was just like any other week, not counting its lack of the vibrating “weekend” attachment that standard-issue full-penetration weeks come with. SHOMER SHABBOS, you guys, I don’t pick up the phone, I don’t turn on the oven, and I sure as shit DON’T FUCKING ROLL. A…
