For a long time, Ronald White’s thoughts of a career in rap music had given way to much simpler life goals: staying alive and out of prison. Faced with two counts of first-degree murder, thoughts of life in prison and the death penalty — not rap — occupied White’s imagination. “Glory to God,” says White, known by his rap moniker,…
Editor’s note: At press time, the Golden Ox was recovering from a Monday, May 4, fire. Pat Paton, Golden Ox publicist, told Charles Ferruzza Monday night, “We’ll definitely be open for Mother’s Day brunch.” A tall, broad-shouldered cowboy — complete with hat, boots, seriously ripped blue jeans and a very deep voice — strode manfully through the main dining room…
It’s difficult for this longtime Trekkie to review J.J. Abrams’ relaunch of the U.S.S. Enterprise. It’s difficult to dispassionately dole out compliments and complaints per the job description. Because, yes, the professional critic understands: This is Paramount Pictures’ latest effort to jump-start a profitable but long-stalled franchise, to do for James Kirk what MGM did for James Bond. Studio execs…
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated. In October 2007, Katherine Olson was looking for work. Since graduating summa cum laude from St. Olaf College with a dual degree in theater and Hispanic studies, she’d mostly cobbled together part-time jobs — waitressing, teaching Spanish, coaching high-school speech. Olson was looking at nanny listings on craigslist.org when she came across an…
Spark Bookhart worked on President Barack Obama’s campaign in Missouri. After the election, Bookhart spent time in Chicago, assisting the transition and pondering his next move. “I knew whatever it was, it had to be bold and audacious,” he tells me. Objective fulfilled. Upon his return to Kansas City, Bookhart decided that one of the city’s most reviled institutions needed…
Elsewhere in this issue, David Martin’s column examines Spark Bookhart and his status-quo-friendly Hands Off the Kansas City School District campaign. Last week, a couple of Plog entries offered reminders of what the district is up against. Staff writer Nadia Pflaum’s April 29 Plog post, “KC’s dropout rate: first, the good news,” reported that district officials are looking forward to…
Dear Mexican: Is it true that most Mexicans are carriers of the swine flu due to the fact that they eat a lot of chicharrones, or is it the fact that your women are so piglike? I know that Mexicans have muy shitty diets, but now we have to worry about them infecting us with a pig-borne disease? Maybe we…
Title: Indian Creek Pathfinder Authors: The yearbook staff (and autograph givers) of Indian Creek Junior High School Date: 1971-72 school year Discovered at: 2nd Chance Thrift, 63rd Street and Troost The cover promises: Let the sunshine in! Representative autographs: You are a really nice person. I hope you flunk so you can stay at Indian Creek. — Mickey May all…
A Get Up Kids superfan over at Popwrecking has posted two, MP3-enhanced fruitcake examinations of TGUK covering other bands, plus a gushing review of the Kids’ recent reunion show in New York City. The Get Up Kids with Brand New @ Blender Theater, NYC Telling excerpt : “You could tell their hardcore fans were in the house since not only…
%{}% Craigslist is on Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster’s shit list. Koster wants the online marketplace to clean up its “erotic services” ads, close them or face legal action. Koster and two other attorneys general delivered their demands to Craigslist’s founder and CEO yesterday. Koster told the Columbia Daily Tribune that the meeting was polite but unproductive because Craigslist considers…
RiseUp, the ill-fated newspaper insert devoted to matters of diversity, has found new life on the Web. Five stories went live today on RiseUp’s new online home. The magazine’s mission is “to engage the American public in a conversation about race, ethnicity, and culture, in order that we might come to a greater understanding of and respect for each other.”…
As a supplement to this week’s music feature on east-KC-bred rapper Ron Ron (which you should probably read first for context), we bring you some outtakes from writer Kyle Koch’s interview with Ron, in which he shares his thoughts on his influences, the future of hip-hop, Stik Figa and going to college. To hear Ron Ron, beat a path to…
%{}% Seriously. Who else could baseball possibly name pitcher of the month? Not even going to name anyone else. No one is more worthy than the Royals’ Zack Greinke. Yesterday, Major League Baseball named Greinke April’s American League Pitcher of the Month. Behold Greinke’s awesomeness in April: Greinke is 5-0. His ERA is a ridiculous .50, allowing only two earned…
Do you think that “Palin” sticker on your back windshield is all you need to be legal? Categories: News Tags: License plates, sarah palin
Styrofoam, plastic, paper, cardboard, aluminum … here are many ways to get food from point A to point B. But when it comes to the environment, they’re not all created equal.Chow has an informative article rating 10 takeaway carriers solely on their green impact. The scale is from one to five, so a bunch of the choices start to get…
Sean Tevis is back with more stick figure theater — and another battle to make government more open in Kansas. Tevis ran for a Kansas House seat in Olathe, and his campaign garnered national media attention for his xkcd-style cartoon fund raising attempt, asking for donations of $8.34. Tevis raised hundreds of thousands of dollars but ultimately lost to Arlen…
Sausage are like laws, you should never watch either being made. Apparently Otto Von Bismarck said that in the 1890s. A few years later Upton Sinclair proved him right with The Jungle, his book about the meat industry. But in the 100 years since The Jungle’s publication, the meat industry has changed to the point that McDonald’s actually released a…
This month’s issue of Bon Appetit headlines its main feature “The United Plates of America.” It’s devoted to identifying the best and most uniquely American flavors in all 50 states. “Whether it’s a slice of just-baked cherry pie in Michigan, an oyster and bacon sandwich in Louisiana … there’s always something delicious just around the corner in America.” What follows…
With their nails name and quasi-skinhead looks, the Aggrolites don’t seem like the kind of band you’d take to a party — unless you wanted to bust it up. However, these L.A. cats are purveyors of some of the smoothest, most laid back, classic ska and feelgood reggae around. After all, they just contributed two songs to the soundtrack of…
Citizens of Kansas City, Kansas, a superhero walks among you — but not for long. The World Superhero Registry (didn’t Captain America just fight superhero registration?) says a female crime fighter named Nyx guards the streets of KCK but will soon move to New York. Damn, Gotham always steals the best heroes. Nyx has had a bit of an identity…
Poor Virgil Thomson. The famous, award-winning composer — he lived from 1896 to 1989 — from midtown Kansas City hardly gets any respect in his home town and to add insult to injury, a new musical play about him in New York City just got a bad review in the New York Times. It’s not Virgil’s fault that the show got panned…
Since beginning in 1989 the Slow Food Movement’s march into people’s everyday lives has been … slow. But over the past couple of years, as more people recognize environmental concerns and problems with our food system, the movement has been picking up speed. Official Slow Food organizations now operate in more than 100 countries. Several restaurant chains have seized the…
