Pitch readers will remember this summer’s vaguely racist Obama-as-Joker meme that showed up on tea-partier posters during the health-care debacle debate when U.S. pols returned to their home districts. Today, our St. Louis sister paper, The Riverfront Times, linked to a poster depicting the same treatment for Sen. Claire “Bear” McCaskill. In a blog post at the time of the…
Everyone has a story of picking a fight with a particular liquor — I’ve yet to hear one in which the drinker defeats the bottle. But if you were to take a straw poll of those battles, you’d likely discover that, more often than not, when it comes to hangovers, darker liquors are to blame. In a recent study conducted…
Start dusting off your tasting glass and training your palate — the Boulevard Brewery has announced its first two Brewmaster Luncheons for next year. The popular series involves a VIP tour of the brewery and lunch with Brewmaster Steven Pauwels and a guest restaurateur who has designed a menu to go with Boulevard beer. The tour begins at 11:30 a.m.,…
Over at KCUR’s website, they’ve got the top ten lists from Cyprus Avenue’s Bill Shapiro and The Fish Fry’s Chuck Haddix. There’s some overlap in the lists (both Shapiro and Haddock picked Allen Toussaint’s Bright Mississippi and the Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women record), but the two lists provide a refreshing reminder that there’s music out there other than…
Burgers are like new loves — you wish that you had met them sooner, and the good attributes always outweigh the bad. Get ready for two new loves as Local Burger in Lawrence adds a couple of seasonal items to the menu. The burger shop says its Roasted Vegetable Remolaude Burger is “perfectly roasted winter vegetables with a sauce that…
Missouri man accused of telling young women that he needed to touch their pubic areas in order to release sinful spirits gathered there was arrested Friday after violating the conditions of his release laid down by a Vermont district court judge. Paul Cool, 49, originally pleaded innocent to three counts of felony lewd and lascivious conduct on December 1. Cool allegedly…
Having recently secured a liquor license and started serving dinner, chef Michael Foust is much closer to realizing the vision he had when he opened The Farmhouse in the River Market in July. “You only get once chance to make a first impression, and I never wanted anybody to leave wanting. I felt we could not have a full-on restaurant…
Kids in the United States have a sanitized view of Santa Claus. Sure, he allegedly makes a list dividing the naughty from the nice, but, practically speaking, the only punishment for greedy little brats is not getting the latest PlayStation Whatever. European folklore is far different. For children in countries like Germany and Austria, Old Saint Nick has a terrifying…
BY HUGH WELSH Drive east on Interstate 70, and he is commemorated by a sign: Blue Springs, Home of David Cook: American Idol 2008. “It used to be all you heard was David Cook this, and David Cook is banging that,” said Peter Shelton, a Blue Springs native with a politician’s nose and big, burly, apocalyptic eyebrows. “When it’s all…
You might know Steve Mann from his work with Food Not Lawns — and his tireless campaign to turn manicured landscapes into vegetable beds. What you might not know is that he’s been working to slowly bring together a food cooperative in Kansas City. The Squash Blossom Food Cooperative came into existence earlier this month when 20 volunteers ratified the…
%{}% We have been following with less than our full attention the progress of the health care bill, but we surmise it has just made a great gain in the Senate — not because of anything the Democrats have said (who listens to them anymore?), but because we saw this at National Review: “The story of the day is certainly…
One of the joys of the holiday season is knowing that on the morning of Christmas Eve, NPR’s Morning Edition will once again play David Sedaris’ reading of the Santaland Diaries. However, while amazing, it’s still not quite the full story. Sedaris has the whole story in print, both in his book Barrel Fever, as well as a collection of…
Ska isn’t cool, thanks to the image-tarnishing it received via ska-punk bands in the mid-to-late ’90s. Even reggae has a slight tinge of “dope-smoking white boys in dreads” to it. However, when done properly, both are among the most sublime styles of music out there. Hell, even a bunch of white folks from the Midwest can be considered among the…
%{}% A head-to-head comparison of the coffee at Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts — which is worth a stop on your morning commute? This date with a reuben gets slightly graphic and will make you want a hot dog from Hot Dog Haven. Thanksvegan is a meatless holiday tradition in its sixth year. Blog-to-book deals this year for food bloggers include…
Movies are coming back to the third level of Crown Center Shops. Screenland owner Butch Rigby is taking his brand of exhibition (good movies! beer!) into two auditoriums that went dark when Crown Center closed its six-screen cinema a few years ago. Screenland Crown Center opens Christmas Day with The Road and Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles. (Wes Anderson’s…
%{}% Tuesday is going to be a big day for the man charged with killing Kansas abortion provider George Tiller. Judge Warren Wilbert is scheduled to hear several pretrial motions Tuesday morning, including Scott Roeder’s request for a change of venue and whether Roeder can use the “necessity defense,” arguing Tiller had to die to save the lives of unborn…
A video of the December 9 funeral march for 313 deer killed in Shawnee Mission Park’s cull popped up yesterday on Bite Club of KC’s blog. It’s actually a video slideshow that lacks outrageous antics — road-blocks, blood baths, disembodied deer head show-and-tells — but features Jason Miller and Canadian animal rights activist Anthony Marr. It’s all set to Phil…
Kansas City police haven’t officially released the name of Kansas City’s 108th homicide victim, but numerous news stories (here, here, here and here) have identified him as 40-year-old Kevin Beaver. Beaver was shot to death Friday morning near 44th and Wyoming. Beaver was walking to McCoy’s Public House, where he was a prep chef, around 6 a.m. when a man…
