Archives: May 2009
Three ways to rock for charity this month
Sometimes it’s not enough to simply rock out. You have to rock out for a cause. Arts in Prison is a non-profit organization that gets inmates singing and occasionally performing outside the jailhouse walls. Due to budget cuts at the Department of Corrections the inmate choir known as the East Hills Singers, who usually entertain up to 3,000 people per…
Fischerspooner’s Casey Spooner has brotherly love for the Ssion.
Our dear friend A to Z just posted an awesome Q&A with Casey Spooner of synth-slicers Fischerspooner, who are playing tonight in the Lou at the Pageant. In Z’s interview, the flamboyant frontman tells about how he met and fell in love with our homeboys the Ssion. His story pretty much matches up with Ssion leader Cody Critcheloe’s hookup account…
KC Police Board reinstates domestic partner benefits, ACLU says
%{}% Just noticed an e-mail from the ACLU saying that the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners voted today to reinstate domestic partner benefits. Here’s the full e-mail: Many thanks to ACLU members and supporters plus our coalition partners at PROMO, Four Freedoms, the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of Kansas City. The Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners voted…
‘Oh, God help me,” dumb-ass storm chaser pleads as tornado swirls around him
Yesterday’s tornadoes were deadly, so why not chase ’em? Check out this video of a guy chasing the twister and getting caught in the middle. Captain Spaulding’s right: This is an instructional video on how not to chase tornadoes. Categories: News Tags: tornadoes
Star spoils surprise: Parkinson will name Troy Findley lieutenant governor
Later this afternoon, Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson will name his lieutenant governor. Top secret “sources” runied the surprise — jerks! — and told The Kansas City Star’s political blog, PrimeBuzz, that Parkinson “will name his chief of staff, Troy Findley, to be his lieutenant governor.” Uh, who? Findley is a Democrat, a former state lawmaker from liberal Lawrence and also…
Flo’s Cabaret: real food, real chef, real drag!
“You won’t recognize the place when you see it,” said John Koop, telling me about his new namesake nightclub, Flo’s Cabaret at 1911 Main Street — located in the space formerly occupied by Bar Natasha, which had been Missy Koonce’s cabaret for several years. He was so right. Categories: A&E, Dining Tags: absinthe, Bar Natasha, Flo, Flo’s Nightclub, Jewel Box…
Recession Relief: Mike & Charlie’s Italian Restaurant
I’ve written before about the cheap — and really, really satisfying — $3.95 Sicilian Sampler Bar Menu offered at the Mike & Charlie’s Italian Restaurant at Harrah’s Casino. Those meatball sliders are almost better than a slot jackpot! The new deal at the restaurant, offered only Tuesday and Thursday nights, is a three-course dinner for $9.95. The meals include a…
Video: Be/Non’s Gnarly Crosstown Trailer
With dual features in The Pitch and the Star, Be/Non’s weekend of album-release concerts has probably gotten enough coverage. But I love it when bands take the extra step and go all multimedia ‘n viral ‘n shit. Shot by up-and-coming gonzo film crew Gnarly Enterprises, this brief plea by the band to come to their show tomorrow night at Crosstown…
Parkinson wasn’t the only one who caved in to coal
Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson wasn’t alone in in his big cave-in to coal last week. After all, Kansas lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to approve the new governor’s hastily announced deal with Sunflower Electric Power Corporation to build just one instead of two new coal-fired power plants in western Kansas, thus ending two years of legislative scrapping. The Kansas House signed off…
10 things celebrity chefs won’t tell you
While fame seemed to come accidentally to Julia Child and Jeff Smith, today’s celebrity chefs court it relentlessly which is why I distrust most of them. The magazine Smart Money does too, and has put together a list of things these star “chefs” don’t want you to know. Many of these personalities are not in fact chefs. Rachael Ray makes…
Parkinson’s dirty deal, part 1
When Gov. Mark Parkinson capitulated to Sunflower Electric Power Corporation and gave his stamp of approval to a monstrous coal-fired power plant in Western Kansas, he sucker-punched his predecessor Kathleen Sebelius, who had mustered the political courage to oppose the pollution-spewing facilities for a solid two years. The new governor also gave the finger to thousands of Kansans who put…
Sweet Jesus! Cowtown Ballroom documentary events tonight and tomorrow
Because we ran a Night & Day blurb focusing on tonight’s event, and Ink, I am told, ran a blurb focusing on tomorrow’s party, I figured it’d be a good idea to set up a one-stop shop for all your Cowtown Ballroom…Sweet Jesus! needs. First of all, what is it? Well, it’s a documentary, made by local filmmakers Joe Heyen…
Red snapper, tilapia, pate, dog food … can anyone tell the difference?
Yesterday’s breathless revelation that many restaurants use cheap tilapia in place of expensive red snapper raised a larger point: Would most people know the difference? Both are white fish, both have a firm texture and, while the flavors may be different (red snapper actually has flavor) underneath a mountain of butter and other spices, it can be difficult to tell…
Some spotted dick please
Here is something fun. Amazon has an “oddity” tag with more than 1,000 of the strangest items sold either by it or third parties. You can buy the book “Birth Control is Sinful in the Christian Marriages and Also Robbing God of Priesthood Children!!” for only $135. Or Playmobil security checkpoint dolls — strip-search fun for kids of all ages!…
Saddest (and most ironic) bank robbery ever
Sad times in bank robbery. Jeff W. Walser started to rob an Independence Bank of America branch but just couldn’t keep it together. The 51-year-old claimed he had a bomb but refused to run away with the sacks of money. From this morning’s Kansas City Star: Finally the employee asked, “Do we need to talk?” “Yes,” Walser reportedly replied. The…
Reporter’s Notebook: Skillicorn and the Mexico murder
When Dennis Skillicorn was picked up by California Highway Patrol and turned over to the FBI, he was pretty fried. On the run, he’d spent weeks with little food, even less sleep, and God knows how much meth. Meth, he explained to me during our prison interview at Potosi, can turn reality into a paranoid, shape-shifting nightmare. “It will literally…
Kansas City somehow trails Cleveland, Houston, three other shitty cities for favorite
Last month, I posted a piece about how Kansas City is one of the ten finalists for Travel + Leisure’s list of America’s favorite cities. My mission was to get Kansas City voted into the top five, thus guaranteeing it a spot in the magazine. To be honest, I wasn’t that worried about the voting. After all, with cities like…
Kansas City struggling to be one of America’s Favorite Cities
Last month, we told you about Kansas City’s quest to join Travel + Leisure’s list of America’s Favorite Cities of 2009. The travel mag is only going to add five cities to the list, and back in April, KC looked like a lock, sitting in second place and trailing only our dreaded neighbors to the east in St. Louis. Things…
Free food at McDonald’s today … if you’re lucky
I think Fat City has long since established that it loves anything free — even a shameless promotion by the world’s largest restaurant chain. If you’re reading this fairly early and are anywhere near Olathe, you might want to stop by 119th and Ridgeview around 11 a.m. If you’re one of the first 100 customers at the new McDonald’s, they’ll…
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