Archives: March 2009
Passing time at city jail, inmates turn poets
On the second anniversary of the city jail’s ME-First class, I sat in a darkened room with a dozen women watching Cadillac Records. A break from their typical sessions dealing with addiction problems, the inmates gasped at key moments and kept a running commentary like giddy school kids during recess. Though they were clearly enjoying the film, several women jumped…
Healthy news about doughnuts!
Flickr: Chotda Lately, I just feel too guilty eating a doughnut. As delicious as they are, they vanish in, like, two bites and they are loaded with calories. But this new article states that a good night’s sleep burns off enough calories to eat three Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I don’t care if it’s true or not. I want to believe…
Zasu … who?
I’ve never been to Parsons, Kansas, but I do know that one of the half-dozen or so famous people to have come from this southeastern Kansas hamlet was Zasu Pitts, the fluttery-voiced actress whose unusual onscreen presence was supposedly the inspiration for the cartoon character Olive Oyl. One of the more unusual cookbooks in my collection is the 1963 hardback…
You can eat like a pig, but don’t bring one
I was in Raytown last Saturday to do a little shopping with my friend Truman, a total fan of Dirty Don’s, the salvage store for the serious bargain hunter. Truman had already been there once that week to scope out the deals and on our outing, he quickly dragged me over to the box filled with 12-ounce packets of Ethiopian…
Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun for sale … discount with a can of Pepsi
I’m pretty sure I got a concussion riding the Orient Express over and over in 1998. Then I just got depressed after riding the Mamba … especially after the half-hour wait to ride. So I’m feeling a little sentimental after hearing that there’s a “for sale” sign outside Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun. While I’m feeling all nostalgic,…
Cocktail virgins
This weekend I visited Bluestem’s lounge area, manned by Van John Zarr, one of the best and most knowledgeable bartenders in the area. I was with a large group that included some college students who, while no strangers to drinking, had just turned of age and were inexperienced in world of cocktails. Zarr quickly made them feel experienced. He asked…
From the Facebooks: John Yuelkenbeck’s desert-island playlist
Editor’s note: I’d been waiting for the right Facebook music list to arrive that I could grab for this blog, and, lo, it came this past Sunday. It’s fitting that it’s by Dave’s bartender John Yuelkenbeck, not just because he presides over the best jukebox in town, but also because he published, edited and did most of the writing for…
Will coffee save the planet?
Manoranjan Misra of the University of Nevada at Reno may have solved a good chunk of the world’s energy problem, while also giving coffee addicts like myself reason to drink that umpteenth cup of the day. Turns out that coffee is a biofuel and a pretty good one to boot. The Economist, which pushes coffee-as-fuel in an editorial, says “researchers…
Living in a shipping container in Brookside
First, Apartment Therapy showed us Mission, Kansas’ extremely cool dome (who knew there was a video production company in there?). Now, they have photos of a soon-to-be-finished cargo container home in Brookside. Apartment Therapy tells us the shipping-container-turned-house is Debbie Glassberg’s eco-friendly idea — “geothermal heat, soy foam insulation and bamboo flooring.” She’s getting help from BNIM Architects. When the…
Review: The 2009 Pitch Ultra Music DJ Contest
Even if one does not drink, take drugs or succumb to a seizure, it’s tricky to retain the particulars of an event such as The Pitch Ultra Music DJ Contest at NV. The intense strobe lights, the thunderous and rapid beats, the smoke and glitter pouring out of the ceiling, and the general overstimulation of all senses — all of…
Star publisher says paper will cut 150 jobs
A Wall Street Journal article this morning reports that The Kansas City Star’s parent company, McClatchy, will cut 1,600 jobs. We just received a copy of Star publisher Mark Zieman’s letter on the cuts today. Here’s Zieman’s spin: To all employees: Last month, McClatchy announced plans to further reduce operating expenses as a result of the ongoing economic downturn and…
Whole Foods says screw it. Agrees to FTC’s demands.
I hope I don’t have to write the word “FTC” for a long time, now that the governmental organization that’s been out to get that devious Whole Foods company has won. Sort of. No one’s really a winner here. Whole Foods, which has publicly regretted taking over rival Wild Oats, agreed to give up use of the name and sell…
Sketchbook: New Franklin Panthers
Categories: Music Tags: Grant Fitch, New Franklin Panthers, sketchbook
405 co-creator is back with sweet sci-fi short
When you love a woman, you want to give her the world. That’s what I took away from Bruce Branit’s 9-minute sci-fi short World Builder. Branit wrote on Vimeo that the short sat dormant for about a year before going viral about a week ago. World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo. The video description says: A strange man builds…
Concert Review: Shots Fired reunion show at Record Bar, Saturday, March 7
“I’m scared so shitless right now.” That’s how Shots Fired frontman Zachary Aaron greeted the audience at the Record Bar on Saturday night. He had a right to be nervous — it was the first time his band had played a show in more than two years. His later poll of the big but by no means capacity crowd revealed…
Boulevard tasting tonight
Boulevard started its Smokestack Series in late 2007, right on the cusp of a great two years for Kansas City beer geeks. We’ve seen two beer festivals, Boulevard has introduced one year-long beer in addition to the seven Smokestack beers, and two bars with more than 100 drafts each — beer heavens — have opened. One of those is the…
Not trying to say we warned you about sprouts…
…but we did. Just over a month ago, predicting the next food epidemic, I put the odds of a salmonella outbreak coming from sprouts at 3-1. Only the strawberry odds were higher. (Really any berry is a danger and give them time — most don’t come into season for another two months.) What makes sprouts the plant equivalent of a…
Tom Morello and Boots Riley form new band, come to KC with NIN and Jane’s Addiction.
You probably already know that Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction are co-headlining at Starlight on Wednesday, May 27, and that tickets go on sale March 13 blah-di-blah. But what you may not know is that Trent Reznor is part centaur. Also, self-appointed Nightwatchman Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave and badass MC Boots Riley of funky,…
Aw no! Harper’s on The Miles Bonny Show!
I am no one’s idea of a self-promoter, so it is not with pride but with intense bashfulness that I direct your attention to the latest episode of The Miles Bonny Show, which features an hourlong interview with … me. It also contains a brand-new video of Miles covering a Raphael Saadiq song, which is really good. Watch it for…
Killa City: Three dead after weekend shootings
The early hours of Saturday morning started a bloody day in Kansas City. A 17-year-old high school basketball player was gunned down, a woman was found shot to death in a SUV and a man was fatally shot in a park in Independence. Bishop Hogan’s Darreon Murray was with four people wounded in a shooting on Interstate 70 near Van…
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