A former offensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs was involved in a fatal car wreck this weekend that left an elderly woman dead. Richard Baldinger, who played in the National Football League from 1982 to 1993, reportedly crashed his car into another vehicle at the intersection of Bowlin Road and Highway 40 in eastern Jackson County on Saturday afternoon. Marilyn Walters, a 61-year-old Grain…
We’ve heard a lot of debate about free markets in this country lately. And while we’re likely to be saturated with government-vs.-market arguments about health-care reform, IBM is quietly starting another free market battle of its own. The company has been running “smarter planet” advertisements for several months, talking about smarter cities, smarter retail, smarter this and smarter that. The…
After 37 years in the ministry, the Rev. Emanuel Cleaver II hung up his pastor’s robes over the weekend. For years, U.S. Rep. Cleaver had commuted from Washington, D.C., to conduct weekly service at St. James United Methodist Church. On Sunday, the congregation crowded the pews for his last sermon. “I struggled whether I would make it through the service,” Cleaver told…
A faint but strong heart beats for 18th and Vine. That much was obvious last Tuesday night, when a crowd packed the lobby of the Gem Theater to take part in what might sound like one of the most boring activities of good citizenship: a city planning meeting. At least a hundred people showed up to hear what City Hall…
Ice cream and its thousands of flavors are pretty much universally loved. Nothing on a sweltering day can compete with a sweet, cool treat — say a milkshake or an ICEE. But do you you know your ice cream history? The James Beard Foundation has just released a small quiz to test your knowledge of frozen desserts in its June/July…
No Doubt and Paramore are playing the Starlight a week from today. No idea whether they’ll be joined on stage by Kansas City, Kansas, native Janelle Monae, who, this weekend in Jones Beach , NY, bounced on stage in her trademark pompadour, white jacket and saddle shoes to join the percussive action on “Stand and Deliver.” Someone on the front…
A friend of Wayward Blog was kind enough to forward along this message regarding some recent personnel changes at the Replay Lounge and Jackpot Music Hall. Justin Nicholson and Jenny O have both been let go, while Leslie Kay has been retained as booker for both clubs. Her e-mail follows, and does a good job of explaining why getting shows…
On Friday evening, the biggest crowd at 18th and Vine didn’t brave the scorching temperatures to listen to jazz. They showed up to see a dance legend reflected in the faces of excited students. “We’re new to the neighborhood and we’re excited to be in this neighborhood,” Tyrone Aiken told a couple hundred hot-dog-eating, ice-cream-licking spectators. Aiken is the executive…
Tee Pee Records recently updated their online sampler. It now features 19 tracks from pretty much every band on their roster. Nothing from Titan, though—hard to “sample” a track that’s something in vicinity of 10-15 minutes long. There is a track from the forthcoming Iron Age full-length, The Sleeping Eye, however. It’s called “DIspossessed,” and is, as with everything I’ve…
When citizens travel and gather for holidays, police officers and highway patrols often see spikes in crime and auto accidents. Hopefully, this past weekend wasn’t a preview for the Fourth of July. Here’s a round-up of the accidents and mayhem that kept law enforcement particularly busy. On Friday night, a convenience store clerk in Kansas City, Kan., shot at two would-be…
Tap dancing indie rockers Tilly and the Will came to Lawrence on Saturday, June 27, pregnant percussion section and all.
Billy Mays died yesterday. While he was best known for selling OxiClean and Orange Glo, he promoted many other products. One of the odder ones was the Grater Plater. It was “no ordinary plate” and let users grate any cheese — “even Asiago!” In a recent mini-profile, The New York Times Magazine called him a “celebrity endorser whose celebrity is…
%{}% Yummo’s in the Power & Light District is serving Korean-style tacos and best of all, they’re two for $2. Speaking of tacos: They’re not the most kid-friendly recipe in the world but here are some ways children can contribute to the process. A lesson on beer lace, that pattern of concentric rings good beer sometimes leaves around the…
Proving that Facebook is good for something other than a glorified Twitter feed and pictures of my friends on vacation, the following announcement from Danger Bob showed up in the wee small hours of Saturday morning: First Official Announcement Today at 3:07am Saturday Oct 17, 2009 Lawrence, KS The Bottleneck More news coming… This means that pretty much all my…
A black male was found dead in the 2300 block of North 18th Street in Kansas City, Kan. on Saturday. Officers from the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department responded to the reported shooting at 4:30 a.m. and found the man dead of an apparent gunshot wound. As of this morning, KCKPD has not yet released the name of the victim. No…
BY ROBERT FOLSOM The tickets said “8pm,” but they should have said “Sunset.” (“When it’s dark enough for the stage lights and video screens” wouldn’t have fit on a ticket.) Eager Stevie Wonder fans had to fan themselves in Friday’s heat and humidity while waiting for the pop music legend to come on at Starlight Theatre. When he did take…
Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey packed a parking lot Friday evening with their second annual Block Party in the Jazz District.
The urban guerrilla arrives by bike, his plaid, farmer-like shirt unbuttoned and his hair matted with sweat from the near-100-degree heat. The dirt under his nails indicates that he’s a gardener. But he’s doesn’t want to reveal too much about his efforts greening the city. He will speak only on condition of anonymity. His nom de guerre: G3. His tactic:…
In the past few days, thousands of radio listeners have heard the poetry of Linda Rodriguez, vice president of the Latino Writers’ Collective in Kansas City, thanks to public radio star Garrison Keillor. Earlier this month, Northwestern University Press sent a review copy of Rodriguez’s new book, Heart’s Migration, to The Writer’s Almanac, a nationally syndicated public radio segment of…
