How pervasive are home foreclosures? Overland Park appears in a national newspaper story on the subject — along with Cleveland and Flint, Michigan. The USA Today story describes the growth of land banks, public authorities that hold, manage and sell vacant homes and tax-delinquent properties. Kansas City, Kansas, has one, as does Jackson County. The Overland Park City Council created…
Poorly attended shows at Voodoo Lounge feel especially desolate and lonely for this concert-venue-in-a-casino. A packed house however, makes it intimate. Last night, Chris Robinson and the rest of the Black Crowes played a set for their hardcore fans and it only got jammy four times. Robinson spoke only twice to say, “Nice to see you all this evening” after…
Over your entire lifetime, how much thought have you given to peeling … anything? Probably no more than a couple minutes. Which is a shame, because it turns out peeling doesn’t have to involve a lot of work or any equipment. Take the banana. While many people try to pick the peel off at the top, monkeys have an entirely…
Thanks to Daily Forks for the banana video!
Now, just because it’s something cool on a Friday afternoon, here’s the latest from our favorite former Missouri state rep/poet, Lloyd Daniel. Inspired by “Kansas City’s authentic cultural identity,” and thinking that, regardless of the national economy, we could do a better job of “using our past as a primary pillar of the city’s economic future,” Daniel recently posted an…
%{}% Julie R. Bernet, the Bucyrus woman who hired a man to physically assault her and sexually assault a friend, pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to wire fraud. Bernet, 39, admitted that she and 23-year-old Lindsey D. Crawford (who pleaded guilty last week to the same charge) hired a man to attack them in the garage of Crawford’s Waldo…
%{}% If you read Fat City regularly, you know that blue fin tuna is going extinct. Scientists are predicting the species could be wiped out by 2012. While bluefin isn’t the variety that comes in the can — that’d be albacore, skipjack and yellowfin — it is an important ingredient in sushi and a delicacy in any form. One fish…
Last year was the American Royal’s inaugural Brew-Ha-Ha beer and wine extravaganza. Although first-time events have a tendency to go haywire, it was as smooth as silk and as I was leaving the event one of the organizers was confident enough to yell “See you next year!” Brew-Ha-Ha is indeed back and it’s only gotten bigger, with more than 100…
The movie Food, Inc. will finally debut in Kansas City at Tivoli Cinemas tonight. It was released on the coasts last month and has garnered overwhelming praise. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 97 percent fresh rating and The Pitch review called it “expertly crafted,” while admitting it will scare the bejesus out of you when it comes to food….
Amid the increasing noise about health care — as insurance companies, doctors, politicians, patients, liberals and conservatives all try to out-argue the opposition’s ideas about reforming this country’s jacked-up system — one set of numbers recently caught our attention. Last month, a Columbia-based non-profit called Primaris Healthcare Business Solutions put out a report ranking the overall health of Missourians compared…
Charles Ferruzza will be on the Walt Bodine Show this morning at 10 a.m. on KCUR 89.3 to talk about the city’s best outdoor dining experiences. A moment of silence should be in order to commemorate the passing of Joe D’s patio, which was always the place to see and been seen during the summer in Brookside. (When Celina Tio’s…
According to the Sierra Club and the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, a peaceful float down Missouri’s most scenic rivers isn’t all that different than elbowing through a packed amusement park at the height of summer. Every year, two million visitors — and their boats — flock to the Jacks Fork and Current rivers, part of the Ozark National Scenic…
%{}% It looks as if pre-smoked Bacon explosions will be available at both Oklahoma Joe’s locations starting in a couple of weeks. An ad writer provides 11 observations on the North Korean beer ads and concludes that beer employees wearing lab coats is a good thing. A review of Stephen Hale (who looks like a lumberjack in a kilt) and…
Monday, August 3rd, the Batcave presents the punk rock show of the summer. The Shitty Limits, hailing from England, play an early, all-ages show with Logic Problem (ex-Cross Laws) from North Carolina and Kansas City’s own Dark Ages, plus another band to be announced. The Limits are touring in support of their recently released full-length, Beware the Limits. I’ve yet…
Gladstone’s Theatre In the Park presents the musical comedy Once Upon A Mattress. Performances are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and begin at 8:30pm. You can claim a space with chairs and blankets after 3pm. The whole thing goes down at the Gladstone Amphitheatre, 76th and N. Troost. Crown Center has Men in Black as part of their Friday Night Flicks…
The victims of a June 28 stabbing near the Power & Light District are telling KMBC Channel 9 that they were treated like “criminals” and claim a cop told them “this is what you get when you live the thug life.” The victims told Channel 9 that they’re college students and law school grads, not gang members. The incident started…
Spend some time at Writers Place. Tonight, Kansas Poet Laureate Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg and “Brown Suga Poet” Stacey Tolbert will read from their works, starting at 8 p.m. It’s also opening night for a Greg Crawford: Stacks, a new art exhibition at mansion where writers mingle. Get the song “Somewhere Out There” stuck in your head. The cartoon An American Tail…
A crowd gathered outside U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback’s office yesterday evening with a seemingly simple request: They want access to the same health care coverage their tax dollars provide the Kansas lawmaker. Buoyed by debate in Congress about health care reform and the addition of a public option for private citizens, several dozen demonstrators gathered at the corner of 95th…
%{}% Getting a ticket for blowing through an intersection monitored by red-light cameras is a judgment call, says KCTV 5 with a really good report on how it all works behind the scenes. The TV station reports that 57 percent of red-light runners (8,000 drivers) have beaten the system. Ultimately if the driver runs a red light, KCTV5 found that…
Keep an eye out for a sobriety checkpoints in Kansas City and Merriam. The KCPD won’t say where, but they’ll set up in a place familiar with DUI crashes and arrests some time between Friday and Sunday (probably not Sunday night). In Merriam, the Johnson County Sheriff will be also be on the lookout Friday night into early Saturday morning….
Delbert McClinton
