Archives: April 2009

This week’s “Best of Fat City”

We’re thinking these were the top stories posted on Fat City this week: Some restaurateurs let customers decide what price they’ll pay for a meal Owen Morris taste tests the new alcohol-flavored snack Pub-Corn Brunch, The Musical opens in New York to mixed reviews Need a job? Get in line to become a server Believe it or not: Restaurant customers…

Killa City: Alfred Caldwell charged with killing Crystal Caldwell

Jackson County prosecutors charged Alfred L. Caldwell today with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of his wife, Crystal Caldwell. Kansas City police found 43-year-old Crystal Caldwell’s body in her home at 1118 Pacific yesterday afternoon after receiving a welfare check request from Caldwell’s daughter, who hadn’t heard from her mother since Tuesday afternoon. Caldwell’s daughter told…

Killa City: Ricardo D. Ross charged with killing Derrick L. Ashby

Jackson County prosecutors charged 26-year-old Ricardo D. Ross today with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of 19-year-old Derrick L. Ashby. Court records say Kansas City police officers responded to a call about a shooting at Ninth and Harrison around 5:09 a.m. Wednesday. When they arrived, they found Ashby’s lifeless body on a sidewalk near the street….

Help Wanted: Loves Music, Loves to Blog

The Pitch is looking for someone to help us turn up our coverage of Kansas City’s music scene. We are looking for help on a part-time basis. The job involves blogging, reporting, and some paid nights out at shows. It requires a passion for popular music, a good sense of humor, writing chops, a strong liver and the will to…

Dog fight! Paw Prints The Magazine growls at Three Dog Bakery

Yesterday, the publishers of Paw Prints The Magazine called out Three Dog Bakery, accusing the pet-food store of pooping on a fundraiser for area animal shelters scheduled for next month. At that event, known in the past as “Dog’s Night Out,” dog owners take their pooches to a Wizards game, with ticket proceeds benefiting Animal Haven, the Humane Society of…

Restaurant customers gone wild!

Flickr: violinsoldier You don’t need to tell me about crazy customers, baby. I’ve seen them in action — plenty! I’ve walked in on customers having sex in the bathroom or caught them going at it under a table or in a private booth. I once watched a drunk stand and pee his pants in the middle of the dining room (I…

Slate tech writer bags on McCaskill for boring tweets

In a short piece posted this afternoon, Slate technology columnist Farhad Manjoo uses Sen. Claire McCaskill as an example of Twitter’s lopsidedness: There is no justice in the fact that a banal Twitterer like Sen. Claire McCaskill has attracted an audience of more than 19,000. (A typically riveting McCaskill tweet: “Leaving for KC soon. Meeting about American car manufacturing. Then…

Farmers’ Markets are blooming

%{}% With spring in bloom, it’s time to get out and pick your veggies in the fresh air like God meant ya to. Here is a list of some farmers’ markets to get you well on your way. If I missed one please e-mail me.Open Tomorrow: Farmers’ Community Market at Brookside: Opening Day! Saturday 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Farmers’…

Layoffs Suck: Jake Lea, 19

First the bad news: Jake Lea was recently laid off from the  TransGlobal LLC plant, which installs customer options like spoilers onto Ford vehicles fresh off the Claycomo assembly line. Now the good news: Lea is just 19. He’s got his whole life ahead of him!  A groggy but amiable Lea, who was still in bed when he answered his…

Friday afternoon quiz

Confession: I love Martha Stewart. Her recipes are always well-tested, manageable and great-tasting. That’s a rare combination in the cooking world and even more so considering she publishes a new book roughly every 40 seconds. Which leads us to the problem with Martha. Her name is on so many damn things. Four magazines, a Kmart line, a Macy’s line, a…

Tonight: The Bronx at Riot Room

You there, yes, you behind the bikesheds! Stand still, laddie, and listen up ’bout the Bronx. The Bronx is this bitchin’ awesome L.A. punk band, right? And they’re playing tonight at the Riot Room. I feel bad because I wanted to give ’em more love than a blog post the motherfucking day of the show, but this has been one…

Tough times for laid-off Star copy editor

The growing number of errors in The Kansas City Star could be because copy editors like Les Weatherford were laid off. Bottom Line Communications has an update on Weatherford, who, after nearly 22 years of service, was laid off last November. That wasn’t the worst of it. Weatherford’s wife, Donna, was diagnosed with cancer around the same time. Bottom Line…

Inhaling your food

Currently the most overrated trendy restaurant in America is Alinea in Chicago, owned by Grant Achatz. It serves incredibly complicated dishes; for many of them, the smell of the plate is more important than the flavor. Achatz is the main proponent of the aroma movement and he is not alone. Daniel Patterson in San Francisco owns Coi, where the obsession…

Charles S. McVey shows Lawrence his Animal tonight.

Tonight, there will be a piano-rock meltdown on Mass Street as gay singer-songwriter Charles S. McVey celebrates the release of his first full-length CD, Animal. Opening up at the 18-and-over show are Kristie Stremel, Another Holiday and 1950 DA. Last November, I reviewed McVey’s EP, Modern Living. Since then, a new copy of Animal found its way to me, complete…

Tonight: Young Lions hip-hop showcase at the Brick (MP3 enhanced)

It would be easy to make an association between spring images — blinking baby birds and fluffy newborn bunnies — and the litter of five just-hatched rappers performing this Friday at the Brick. Even though Greg Enemy recently turned 21, he grabs the mic with the confidence of a battle-scarred vet. At 22, thePhantom has already released two albums. AWE,…

Colbert: Hedgehog Armageddon coming to Lawrence

On last night’s Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert introduced the latest “The Enemy Within”: herpes carrying hedgehogs. Colbert wagged his finger at Lawrence, Kansas, where 12-year-old Jud King’s obsession led him before the City Council, which legalized the creatures. Beware, Colbert warns, of the coming hedgehog Armageddon. The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c The Enemy Within – Hedgehogs…

Opening Monday: Cupini’s in Leawood

I hesitate to say when, exactly, a restaurant is opening because so often they’re delayed. But Eddie Cupini says his new Leawood location is “pretty much ready to go” and that come Monday, the open sign will be up at 3820 west 95th Street. The spot had been home to Pumpernick’s Deli practically since Leawood was formed. (Or started to…

Police and thieves on the streets … or just the thieves

%{}% At last count, Kansas City is at 33 homicides on the year. Now comes word that 31 police recruits will be getting pink slips once they graduate from the Police Academy to help cover the Kansas City Police Department’s $15 million budget shortfall. Not to mention, Kansas City Police Chief Jim Corwin said 42 vacant officer jobs won’t be…

Local artist Jay Norton is as nasty as he wanna be

If you picked up The Pitch or looked online, you may have caught this week’s review of Wichita-born, Austin-based rapper Black Nasty’s latest, Shark Tank. And if you did, you probably saw that amazing cover, printed all small in tha paper (though I did have to cut significantly from my review to get it run at all) and reproduced here…

Buffet Effect

Everybody knows people gorge at buffets more than in other situations, and now scientists are proving it. According to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research, “When faced with a variety of food choices in one place, your eyes trick you into underestimating the quantities of each item, creating a tendency to overeat by about 10 percent.” Ten percent…