Archives: March 2009
Legend of CheetoCorn
Purists (and by that I mean my college roommates) agree that the best video game system ever was the Nintendo Entertainment System, affectionately known as NES. The system’s teeny tiny 8 bits was most people’s first introduction to Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong. Now you can add CheetoCorn to that list. It’s a non-secret that many NES games are available…
Orange juice not as black and white as you think
This winter professor, Pierre Laszlo gave an hour-long speech at the Central Library that I termed “OJ 101.” Though Laszlo clearly loved the history and “American capitalism” behind orange juice, he was less enthusiastic about the liquid itself. He spoke of several cases where manufacturers had been found “cutting” their supposedly 100 percent juice, most commonly with beet sugar. He…
Space is overrun with tortillas
NASA Sandra Magnus It’s a myth that Tang was developed for NASA but it is true that the agency did use the foul orange drink for many years on its flights. Food has never been NASA’s strong point but astronaut Sandra Magnus is proving that, while food in space may not be 21st century, it’s not the Stone Age either….
Places you wouldn’t expect to find a Shanin & Parks shirt
Recently, 4:20 enthusiasts Shanin & Parks have begun fobbing off T-shirts to anyone willing to whisper “cooter” to them. We were shocked to see these shirts turning up everywhere. For example, we never expected to see a Shanin & Parks shirt … sharing inspirational fortune cookie messages … and filthy, anti-Mel Gibson graffiti. Categories: News Tags: KMBZ, Mel Gibson, Shanin…
Tracking food? What law?
Somewhere in health class I learned that the key to prevention is education. Food manufacturers did not take the same health class, or else 25 percent of them would have known that there’s a federal law (and not even a new one!) that requires them to keep track of suppliers. A report prepared by the Department of Health and Human…
White T’s, hairy armpits and delicious irony
Poetic justice has emerged in the long, often tedious debate about the dress code at the Power & Light District in downtown Kansas City. Acting on complaints the ban on long white T’s and chains discriminates against African-Americans, the City Council took a step this week to regulate how the Cordish Co. regulates its customers. Terry Riley’s Planning and Zoning…
Get to know your food and farmer. Eat Local Expo tomorrow
The Eat Local Expo — as the name implies — is a gathering of people devoted to local food. More importantly, it’s a marketplace where consumers can meet local farmers and start the beginnings of a new food relationship. The first of two expos, which are sponsored by the Kansas City Food Circle (KCFC), is tomorrow from 9 a.m. to…
Breakfast Buffet: Friday, 3/27
%{}% KFC is already the second largest franchise in China but YUM brands, which owns KFC, is not content to just bring American fast-food to China. It also wants to bring Chinese fast food to America. Unfiltered wines — wines that haven’t had extra yeast or sediment removed from them — are becoming popular again. How appetizing does a Big…
I want my beers in jail or else …
This phrase never ends well. Crime Scene KC has the bizarre details on a beer-loving man who allegedly threatened to blow up a couple of cops if they wouldn’t let him take his beers to jail with him. The alleged beer bomber was 59-year-old Robert O. Whitlock, who the police picked up March 13 at 23rd and Poplar. An apparently…
The Daily Briefington Post
%{}% My free psychiatrist, the A.L.I.C.E. chatbot, says I didn’t get enough attention from my mom as a kid. Then, last night, I had a dream that I was at the house of Pitch Editor-in-Chief C.J. Janovy, and she came down from her attic with a big box of all the art that I made when I was a little…
Killa City: Woman found fatally shot in KCK
Thursday at about 10:42 p.m., Kansas City, Kansas, Police found a woman shot to death in the 7200 block of Gilmore Avenue. View Larger Map The woman’s identity hasn’t been released yet. Tipsters should call 913-573-6020 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477. Categories: News Tags: homicides, KCK Police, shooting
KCK gang member gets more jail time
Last year, when a second jury failed to convict Jose Franco, Jr. on murder charges related to the death of toddler Yelena Guzman, Wyandotte County’s Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Russell said he’d try the alleged gang leader a third time. In October, when a judge sentenced Franco to 10 years on a conspiracy charge related to the crime, Russell…
The disturbing erotic art of La Mesa
Take at the Olathe La Mesa (12225 S. Strang Line Rd.): Ba-da-bum! Thanks folks be sure to tip your waitress! Categories: News Tags: beastiality, found porn, Mexican food
Recession Relief: RJ’s Bob-Be-Que Shack
These days, I can’t pass a sign with the word special in it without stopping to investigate. I saw this sign in front of one of my favorite barbecue joints tonight: RJ’s Bob-Be-Que Shack at 5835 Lamar in Mission. A barbecue sandwich and fries for less than four bucks? This special — only available as a carry-out deal — is…
Poor Willie Aames, part 2
Justin Kendall Willie Aames Poor Willie “Bibleman” Aames. As you already know, the Pitch Action News Team visited his yard sale today — and took several photos. At first, we wondered how much of this was just for the reality show cameras. Then I made the mistake of asking one of the crew if I could use the bathroom. “Actually the…
None So Vile: Bonded by Blood
During the dubiously titled “Bloggers Are Now in Charge” panel at South by Southwest last week, an audience member uncorked a lengthy diatribe about how music bloggers “only write about artists that they like.” In a follow-up rant on his own blog, this self-proclaimed “extreme social media” expert (seminar coming soon to KC!) derided the panelists as “underemployed versions of…
Poor Willie Aames, part 1
Once we saw the “breaking news” in The Kansas City Star that Willie “Bibleman” Aames was selling off his property, we assembled the Pitch Action News Team and headed south. Here’s our Crap Archivist buying a Teen Beat for $3 from the soon-to-be-former most famous resident of Olathe, Kansas. Could we be seeing the beginning of a future edition of…
Poor Willie Aames, part 1
More to come.
Mutual Musicians Foundation featured in New York Times Magazine
Thanks to our friend Scott for bringing this to our attention. For the this past Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, “Epicenters” columnist Stephen Metcalf ventured from the Big Snobegranate all the way down to Kansas CIty’s 18th and Vine district to check out the Mutual Musicians Foundation. His take is pretty right-on: “The Foundation is both a place people come…
Poor Willie Aames
Poor Willie Aames. In this bad economy, we never expected that Bibleman’s sad memories would capture the zeitgest America’s hard times.
Chef Linda Duerr is looking for a job
I was sitting in a coffee house yesterday and overheard a young guy tell the barista, “Make it a double, I got laid off today.” Then I remembered that I had gotten a phone call last week from chef Linda Duerr of J.J.’s Restaurant on the West Plaza telling me that she had been laid off. I wasn’t completely surprised…
Got my Airborne Class-Action Settlement! I’m rich, bitch!
Aw yeah, that’s right. A check for $6.99 came in the mail for me the other day, along with a letter reminding me that I’d filled out an online claim to be a part of Wilson v. Airborne, Inc., et al. A 2006 ABC News investigation busted the company behind Airborne, a cold treatment with a cutesy backstory, for making…
What would Jesus eat?
Flickr: erikrasmussen I received an interesting e-mail today: a press release from Tolly Moseley, the senior publicist for Texas-based Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicity, with this subject line: “Easter/Passover Story Idea: What Would Jesus Eat?” Well, I can think of a few things he consumed, like the miraculous loaves and fishes and the wine from the wedding feast at Cana….
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