It’s a rare journalist who doesn’t fear for her job these days. We’ve all had co-workers and media colleagues join the ranks of the unemployed in the past year. But the relentless and depressing reports about the demise of American journalism were put in startling perspective early Sunday morning during a discussion about Iraqi and U.S. media at the University…
The amount of money spent to brand and advertise everyday items can be bewildering. The single largest advertiser in the world is Procter & Gamble (more than $5 billion a year) and it’s tough not to think, “If P&G stopped running ads for a day, would its sales really fall?” Or how about some of the other largest advertisers? Yes,…
The Royals opened the gates of Kauffman Stadium yesterday and allowed fans to explore the refurbished ballpark. The largely taxpayer-financed $250 million renovation expanded the concourses and created new attractions (batting cages, a carousel) in the outfield. Click here for a slideshow. Categories: News Tags: kansas city royals, Kauffman Stadium
She’s an angel: Abigail Henderson and her Gaslights rocked a First Friday crowd at Midwestern Music Co. this past weekend. The band went on to play the Czar Bar the next night, which is a lot of gigging for a musician with cancer, but as she says on her blog, Hope Is My Middle Name, “When something blows up yr…
More and more I hear arguments for legalizing marijuana. Joe Klein and Andrew Sullivan are two people pushing especially hard for it right now, although President Barack Obama has blown off the issue — and for good reason. If Obama made a huge deal about legalizing pot he might make gains among a percentage of people who probably already support…
By HUGH WELSH In the three hours leading up to the featured act this past Friday night, there were fumes spewing from the Uptown Theater – like a long-dormant volcano set to erupt. It was Flee the Seen’s final concert, and Flee the Seen has a fan base as hardcore as its music. “I’ve been reading all day,” said concertgoer…
In 1989, the Oakland A’s were World Series champs, Driving Miss Daisy won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Mike Garozzo opened his eponymous restaurant Ristorante on April 6 at 526 Harrison, operating on what he calls a “wing and a prayer.” Exactly 20 years later, not only is the original Garozzo’s still open, but there are three more…
%{}% South by Southwest: Apparently, Johnson County is weathering the economic collapse a little better than Kansas City, Missouri. I’m moving to Overland Park, you guys. I’ve had it with Hobotown, its frustratingly spotty bus service, budget cuts, shiny prefabricated entertainment district, and punk-ass Child Protective Services department. If that bitch Doreen from CPS don’t stop stickin’ her nose into…
%{}% No arguing with the main point of this post: Beer and (basketball) cake on Saturday night is underrated. Is Mountain Dew actually evil, or at least worse for you than other soft drinks? Read this first-person account of addiction, pain and sugar, Mountain Dew style! It doesn’t take years of practice and struggle to achieve the look of a…
A dreadful budget outlook has forced the City of Kansas City, Missouri, to cut hundreds of jobs. Someone who works at City Hall provides this account of what happened on Friday. It was ugly. People who have worked there a long time were laid off. The Capital Improvements Management Office lost 18 people. The reports say they were managers and…
Two people died in weekend shootings. At 3:18 a.m. Saturday, Kansas City Police found a man in his late 20s or early 30s fatally shot in an upstairs apartment at 1210 Independence Avenue, according to Crime Scene KC. View Larger Map No one else was in the apartment and the police didn’t have any information on a suspect. Update (4:27…
Royals fans toured the new “K” on Sunday.
This week: Stand with UMKC students against sexual assault, donate old summer clothes to help the homeless, canvas the city for future tree plantings and get involved in a literary effort that could save you from another inane conversation about Michelle Obama’s wardrobe over lunch with your co-workers. Categories: News Tags: Care for Poor People, global hunger, kids in the…
For everyone out there looking for a job, any job: We saw this sign on Saturday at the Target near Johnson Drive and Metcalf. To apply, it says, go to target.com/careers. Categories: News Tags: Jobs, Now Hiring, Target
The first Saturday of every month, the Friends of the Kansas City Public Library set up several tables at the City Market and sell used books. Fiction, Non-Fiction, CDs, and cookbooks. I found a couple of interesting treasures at yesterday’s sale, including a battered copy Favorite Breads from Rose Lane Farm (1960, Hearthside Press) which has dozens of recipes for vintage…
Yes, you’ve heard of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. But breakfast at Strasser Hardware? A free pancake breakfast was only part of the lure at yesterday’s big “Bucket Sale” at the venerable hardware store at 910 Southwest Boulevard. Patrons received a free 5-gallon plastic bucket and were entitled to 25 percent off any merchandise they put inside the bucket on the way to…
The Cement Masons Local 518 and the Builders Association of Greater Kansas City have reached an agreement, The Kansas City Star reported. So these guys on the right are back to work on the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts after a day of picketing. Work has also resumed at the Truman Sports Complex. Categories: News Tags: arrowhead stadium, Builders…
Rhonda Chriss Lokeman When news broke that Kansas City Star columnist Rhonda Chriss Lokeman — and wife of Star publisher Mark Zieman — was arrested for allegedly driving drunk, most of Kansas City wanted to know about the missing tire. The police report said Lokeman was driving her minivan on only three tires. Lokeman moves through every stage of grief…
The layoffs at City Hall started today. The Kansas City Business Journal reports that 330 jobs have been cut — 141 active and 189 vacant positions — as part of the city trying to make up for an $87 million budget shortfall. The Biz Journal says the city wouldn’t confirm which departments were receiving the pink slips. Not a lot…
Kansas City Police have identified the man who was beaten and run over at 10th and Grand on Wednesday night. The victim was 47-year-old Dwayne E. Smith of Kansas City, Missouri. Smith was lying in the middle of the street when he was run over by a woman. Surveillance video reviewed by police showed Smith being beaten by a man…
Click the picture above (or here) to see some of the craftiest fans that swarmed the Sprint Center for Britney Spears’ “Circus” tour last night. Categories: News
