Baseball cynics would say the Royals are charity cases. However, when the Royals take the field against the Chicago White Sox at 7:10 p.m., real charities get assistance in the stands of Kauffman Stadium (Interstate 70 and the Blue Ridge Cutoff, 816-504-4040). This is both “Girls Night Out” and “50/50 Friday.” Ticket packages for the former benefit breast cancer foundation…
What would you do if you were given a $45 million severance package and a six-month noncompete clause? If you were Conan O’Brien, you’d embark on a 30-city tour of live performances and bring your entire writing staff and band along for the ride. At 8 p.m., O’Brien, whose TBS talk show launches later this year, brings his “Legally Prohibited…
The purpose of the community picnic is to provide a relaxed, family-friendly setting for community members to gather and socialize. The theme: Unclique. It’s time to meet new people, face to face in an environment that encourages conversation and camaraderie. Since the event’s inception, attendance has increased and a sense of community has continued to flourish. Hot dogs, chips, and…
According to Glamour magazine, the don’ts of spring 2010 fashion include head-to-toe novelty prints, over-accessorizing when wearing a feathered skirt, and denim on denim (often referred to as the “Canadian tuxedo”). See what local fashionistas wear at Blue Summer Eclectic, a fashion-and-performance fundraiser for KKFI 90.1 and KC Fringe featuring local designers Wendy McMillian, House of Cochon and Monkey Wrench…
Kansas City-based artist and architect Jack Rees will present a new body of work that explores the relationship between visual and verbal methods of communication while combining art, design, architecture, and technology. Saturdays, Sundays, 1-4 p.m.; Tuesdays-Fridays, 1-4 p.m. Starts: May 16. Continues through June 27, 2010 Tags: Jack Rees, Kansas City, Night & Day
Dirty Dorothy and the Emerald City All Stars includes a song called “Devil in My Uterus,” which is probably all you need to know about tonight’s premiere of the homegrown rock opera starring Dirty Dorothy creator Jessica Dressler, that vision of ruby heels and cleavage more Oz grand than Kansas flat, and written by Ron Simonian, the playwright and comedian…
After a little hiatus while organizer Alicia Solombrino was out of town, Conspiracy Room theme party Night of Fame returns with Night of Fame Vol. III Diva Throwdown. Dress as your favorite diva and dance the night away. Fri., May 14, 9 p.m., 2010 Tags: alicia solombrino, Night & Day
Hungry? Dine with The Pitch at the Power & Light District’s “Live!” block (14th Street and Grand). During Taste of KC, 23 local restaurants serve samples from their menus. Wash down the pizza, pierogi, barbecue and fusion bites with eight drink options ranging from suds to hard liquor mixed with sweetness. The tasting begins at 5 p.m. Admission to this…
Those craving a heaping helping of before-they-were-stars action can get their fill in Lawrence when Liberty Hall (644 Massachusetts, 785-749-1972) continues its Midnight Movie Madness series with the cult classic Dazed and Confused, featuring early performances by Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, Milla Jovovich and others. Richard Linklater’s 1993 film is more than a typical coming-of-age comedy. It paddles the viewer…
Someone living in the snowcapped Rockies may long for more culture or company, but isn’t that a complaint borne of familiarity? It’s similar to a fan’s complaints about Matt Pond PA. Over eight albums, Matt Pond and his collaborators have fashioned plush, baroque pop suffused with hearthlike warmth. It seems curmudgeonly to note that little has changed — other than…
Vendors and green groups will display and speakers will give programs. Sat., May 15, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., 2010 Tags: Night & Day
Writer Jonathan Bender (familiar to Pitch readers as our Fat City food blogger) set out to document the snapping, clicking and stacking of LEGO enthusiasts around the world while working toward his own Master Model Builder designation. He ended up building his family — and writing about that, too, with unaffected charm. Bender talks about the LEGO odyssey chronicled in…
The new book by Nathaniel Philbrick opens with widescreen foreshadowing as George Armstrong Custer strays from a hunting party until he’s lost in Kansas. His dogs were hounding antelope over a hill, but the cavalry man’s group was chasing Indians. It’s not spoiling The Last Stand to point out that, one decade, several states and 290 pages later, coyotes have…
By bringing the KConsciousness SLAM series to Lawrence, organizer Sara Glass (aka Miss Conception) is issuing a challenge to the college town. This evening’s poetry reading at the Jazzhaus (926-1/2 Massachusetts, 785-749-3320) is meant to “show Lawrence a thing or two about the art of the word,” according to a KConsciousness press release. Glass went further in an e-mail: “Lawrence…
Let’s face it, Cinco de Mayo is about soaking up tequila, not cultural enrichment. But sometimes the two can go hand in hand. Now that you’re nearly 10 days past your May 5 hangover, how about hitting the Margarita Cove at Fiesta KC? While you’re on Crown Center Plaza (2450 Grand), take advantage of everything else offered by the annual…
Offering what its package calls the “world’s strongest vaso-anabolic psychoactive experience,” NaNo Vapor is a muscle-building supplement that contains 50-plus ingredients, including creatine and taurine. A key component in intense workouts, NaNo Vapor is also used by Dexter “the Blade” Jackson, winner of the 2008 Mr. Olympia and special guest at the 2010 Muscle Mayhem Championships at the Folly Theater…
Battles of the bands and MC battles consist of a certain amount of necessary rivalry among performers, who throw down for bragging rights and sometimes prizes. But the abbreviation for versus on the calendar at RecordBar (1020 Westport Road, 816-753-5207) implies more competition than actually found during the event called Mark Lowrey vs. Hip-Hop 2. Like its January predecessor at…
Tulips aren’t the only things brightening up Troost these days. A newly reopened Mike’s Tavern (5424 Troost, 816-437-9400) is breathing life back into the drinking scene shared by UMKC and Rockhurst. Definitely reminiscent of its sister establishments, the Gaf and Cantina del Rey, this double-sided bar and grill now has a smoking patio, an open and viewable kitchen, and the…
The former 39th Street Community Market has a new name and a new location. Having previously operated in a small parking lot in front of a 39th Street coffeehouse, this neighborhood marketplace specializing in locally grown, sustainably produced vegetables, fruits, honey, eggs and organic beef has moved to a larger space at the northwest corner of Westport Road and Wyoming,…
The latest exhibition at the YWCA’s art gallery is a photographic essay by shooter Chole Mann that documents Kansas City’s homeless community. Mondays-Fridays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Starts: May 14. Continues through June 8, 2010 Tags: Chole Mann, Kansas City, Night & Day, YWCA
The American Heartland Theatre’s new comedy, The Dixie Swim Club, might more truthfully have been titled “Thank You for Being a Friend.” That’s not just because at least two running gags and one entire character seem lifted from The Golden Girls, or because Missy Koonce, fresh off her triumphant monologue in Pride & Joy, seems touched here by the spirit…
A bright afternoon sun spreads across the empty parking lot of the Westport strip mall where a group of young men are talking about Kansas City’s hip-hop scene. They laugh. They name local artists: who’s killing tracks, who’s wack. They plot potential collaborations. In the middle of his own sentence, Martin Clardy breaks into an impromptu freestyle. Clardy will do this…
Dear Readers: I was supposed to deliver this column to ustedes for Cinco de Drinko, but Arizona’s reprehensible Senate Bill 1070 had to rear its ugly head. I could devote this column to the issue again, but Mexican hating is a national sport, and we must darle chingazos wherever it pops out. Big shout-outs, though, to the Phoenix Suns for…
Tom Hoenig, the longtime president the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, recently enjoyed a first. On April 18, The New York Times printed an op-ed that he had written. Hoenig wrote about his belief that the government should not come to the rescue of every large financial institution that gets into trouble. Hoenig has spent the last year staking…
