Anyone who has read The Omnivore’s Dilemma or Fast Food Nation will experience a strong sense of déjà vu as the film Food, Inc. unfolds. That’s because many of the case studies used in this dark look at how Americans’ food is produced came from those books. Authors Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser appear throughout the film as talking heads,…
A balding, middle-aged man sits in an Oldsmobile, parked trunk first in a spot in a Penn Valley Park lot. It’s lunchtime midweek, and he’s eating tacos from a fast-food bag. Trash is piled high in the backseat. The Oldsmobile and the surrounding asphalt, if viewed from the top floor of the glaringly white One Park Place condominium tower at…
A scrap of paper that’s snapped between the windshield and the wiper blade of a rusting Ford Bronco begs: “Please do not tow. Will return to pick up.” The Bronco sits in the parking lot of a former Sam’s Club at Noland Road and U.S. Highway 40. The vehicle shares a piece of weed-strewn asphalt with several truck cabs and…
Dear Mexican: Why is it that ever since the United States/California let you people immigrate, tunnel, weasel or whatever into this country, nothing good has happened and/or come from it? California’s welfare program is burdened with low-life Hispanics. The prison system is 70 percent Hispanic, 45 percent gang-based. Real-estate values have dropped sharply, and violence due to gangs is rampant….
(1900 Main, 816-842-2205). Start early at Michael Smith’s Mediterranean tapas bar — the bennies happen from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, with half-price small plates and a $2 discount on drinks and wines by the glass. (On Mondays the wood-fired pizzas are $8.) Mondays-Fridays, 6 p.m., 2009 Categories: Food & Drink Tags: Michael Smith, Night & Day
BY CASEY LYONS After an early morning raid today, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Western Missouri indicted two amateur Michael Vicks from Missouri and four others on dogfighting charges and seized 53 dogs. Over a year-long investigation, federal and state agents observed enough gruesome shit to rival a Saw movie, and then summarized it in short, graphic sentences. The bust…
The Get Up Kids are starting their big, full-on reunion tour right here in Kansas City. Following a number of instantly sold-out reunion shows at venues including New York’s Gramercy Theater, Los Angeles’ Troubadour and San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, the Get Up Kids have confirmed a full U.S. tour, starting September 11 at Harrah’s VooDoo Lounge. The 10th…
Jugular-hungry justice seeker Nancy Grace has picked up on the Renee Pernice missing-mother story and is reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaal interested in Shon Pernice. Personal to Shon, shit dude. Categories: News Tags: CNN, Nancy Grace, Renee Pernice, Shon Pernice
It’s official. I can’t keep track of all the ironic, figurative and literal upper-lip hair in this city. There’s the Kansas City Fake Mustache Club, a bunch of people who go to local rock shows and make podcasts with faux hair affixed to their faces. It’s great that this group supports local music, but I confess I remain confused about…
Former Kansas City Chief offensive lineman Rich Baldinger is in trouble with the law. Jackson County prosecutors charged Baldinger with a misdemeanor traffic violation with a really long name (operating a motor vehicle in a careless and imprudement manner involving an accident) in a late-June crash that killed a Grain Valley woman. The 49-year-old Baldinger, who played for the Chiefs…
Kansas City police say the death of a man found in a van parked at 40th and Norton has been ruled a homicide. Police say detectives are still trying to identify the body, but they say the victim is a black male in his 50s. No word yet on how the man died. View Larger Map A foul odor coming…
So, KJHK listeners, here’s a proposition for you. The station’s exec staff has noticed that their logo, while fitting to their image, is starting to show its age. Being a radio station that generally attracts wonderful people with wonderful creativity and even more wonderful ways to put that creativity to use, we are asking if you, dear KJHK listener, if…
Knob Creek is one of the more popular bourbons in America. In fact, it’s too popular. The Louisville Courier reports that the Clermont, Kentucky, distiller just tapped its last barrels dry and the next ones won’t be ready for six months. One of the bourbon’s strongest selling points is that it’s aged in wooden barrels for nine years, double that…
More than a year after local musician and artist Jeff “Git” Hagan was beaten within an inch of his life at the News Room, Jackson County prosecutors have charged a man with the assault. On Wednesday, prosecutors charged 32-year-old Frank J. Downing of Overland Park with first-degree assault for allegedly beating Hagan at the Broadway bar on March 5, 2008….
After enduring a spate of bad publicity from feuding in court, Coca-Cola and Pepsi have decided to make up. On Twitter. The idea was proposed by advertising agency Razorfish, whose co-founder Iain McDonald (the @eunmac in the tweets) suggested that it would be like “a public hug” for the two to follow each other. Coke took the initiative and 18…
In 2008, the Kansas City Explorers charged to the World Team Tennis finals with the best record in the league. Unfortunately, this year’s not working out so well. Nicole Reinertson Explorer Mike Russell Explorer Millie Sequera went down with a season-ending shoulder injury 10 days before the first match and was replaced by a 15-year-old Canadian, Eugenie Bouchard, who’s been…
If you snoozed and missed the broadcast of Coalesce’s in-studio on BBC1 Monday evening (I know I certainly did), you’ve still got a chance to check it out. Coalesce recorded an exclusive live set for the BBC’s Radio 1 “Rock Show” while in the UK as part of their first-ever European tour. This session will air all week long right…
Last we heard, KCK’s Schlitterbahn Vacation Village Waterpark was hiring. Now, the lucky hires may actually get to collect paychecks; the waterpark might open next week (although there’s no official opening date, yet). KMBC Channel 9 reports that the first phase of construction at the waterpark is finished and the park will open with 13 attractions. Here’s the list of…
It was exactly one year ago that The Pitch launched Fat City with a root beer tasting. Since then, we’ve delivered 1,500 posts of news, events, openings, closings and the most informative — and weirdest — stuff we can find online. Out of those 1,500 posts, there have been some definite duds. But like a blind miner, we occasionally strike gold….
As attentive shoppers might have noticed, one of the city’s larger grocery store chains is now scoring certain food items — on a scale of one to 100 — based on healthiness. The dozen metro Hy-Vees have adapted the NuVal nutritional scoring system, one of several systems slowly being introduced around the country to help shoppers make more informed decisions….
Once a week, Wayward Blog brings to you an MP3 of music from the area’s musical past. This little sonic nugget comes from The Kansas City Hardcore Compilation Vol. I. This four-song, four-band 7″ came out in 1995, and featured Cretin 66, Switchstance, the Sex Offenders, and the Breakups. We’re featuring the Breakups’ “Forever, For Now” for no other reason…
What have you done for Ol’ Blue Eyes lately? Me, I tried to watch Guys & Dolls over the weekend. (Fell asleep.) Kansas City’s Republic Tigers, on the other hand, sent Frank Sinatra an epic, trance-inducing, acoustic-layered, electronic-lathered valentine via the July 7 iTunes release of Sinatra: His Way, Our Way, a compilation of contemporary artists covering songs that the…
This city has a sad under-representation of taco trucks. We have a few, but not dozens like Los Angeles or San Francisco, where they supposedly drive around day and night delivering amazing tacos. But leave it to eagle-eyed friends of Fat City to spot the Taco Bell Truck at Starlight Theater during Monday night’s No Doubt concert (which our sister…
The Kansas City Explorers, the local professional outfit in the World Team Tennis league, battled hard but couldn’t bounce back from an early deficit against Newport Beach.
