The temperature has been hovering somewhere in the neighborhood of 9,000 degrees. And my current practice of eating salads and leaving the oven dormant is doing little to keep me from feeling like an overcooked egg. This week’s battle was therefore weather-determined and necessary for my continued struggle inside an air-conditioned office where I work hard to depress the keys…
There were a lot of questions raised last week when a Kansas City teen on the run from the law opened fire inside a detention center. Namely, how the hell did he get a loaded gun into a prison? Now the Tyler, Texas police department has an answer: The cop that arrested him didn’t bother checking the teen’s luggage. Categories:…
College football is only a month away, and as much as I love it, it’s also full of heartache. ESPN is counting down the 50 Most Painful Outcomes in College Football History. The World Wide Leader is only up to 31, but the Jayhawks and Tigers have already made the list — on opposite ends of the heartbreak scale. Categories:…
Now that the primaries are over, the real high-gear campaigning can begin. That means politicians making a lot of grand promises about how they’re going to send a message to those fat cats in Washington, D.C. They’re running to lead, not to feather their own nests, goddamn it! Ah, but it was always thus. As the world revolves around the…
Between fans’ sweaty fat rolls doused in glitter, outlandish cardboard headpieces, chains, leather, and legions of ripped fishnets, it wasn’t hard to tell who was appearing inside the Sprint Center last night in Kansas City. While the one and only Lady Gaga prepared in the eye of the storm inside the venue, outside, the energy was tangible. Pissed-off high school…
To whet your appetite for The Pitch’s annual Best of Kansas City issue in October, we’re celebrating our favorite 50 dishes from restaurants, bakeries, coffeehouses, bars, drugstores, saloons, and other metro joints. Until October 7, we’ll feature one outstanding dish or beverage each weekday. Agree with us or make your own suggestions — just don’t come between us and these…
The Pitch’s sister paper in St. Louis, the Riverfront Times, which in my sick fantasies is a bitter rival but in reality seems to be a friendly publication doing fine work, thought it scooped me last week when it landed an interview with Michael McDonald. It turns out McDonald hails from that gridlocked stinkhole of a city! Well, guess what,…
Lenexa’s Larry Schnackenberg disappeared for 20 days, only to reappear last week. He also shows up in this week’s Shut Yer Foxhole. And for past comics, see the Shut Yer Foxhole archive. Categories: News Tags: Larry Schnackenberg
Although I’m disappointed that Starbucks has decided its Via instant iced coffee needs to be lightly sweetened, the coffee giant’s rollout of free Wi-Fi through a partnership with AT&T has turned its locations into a viable mobile office for me. There is no sign-up. The connectivity speed is quick. And within five minutes of grabbing an iced coffee or tea,…
%{}% Hey, have you heard? The Pitch Music Showcase is tomorrow! (Duh.) We’re cramming together 35+ Kansas City bands and DJs into six venues in Westport for your viewing pleasure (and the small fee of six dollars) on Thursday night. That’s right: six bucks gets you killer local music from 8 PM to 1 AM. We’ve posted the schedule here, so…
Garry Klotz’ kids really wanted you to vote for him. But most of you didn’t. Fat City blogger Jonathan Bender snapped the photo on the right of Garry Klotz’ Vote For Our Dad.com sign posted at 115th and Metcalf. I also saw one last night near the Kansas Speedway and the Legends at Village West. It’s a sweet gesture (and…
Sourpusses like Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell make the U.S. Senate look like the most humorless place on earth. Lucky for the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body™, Missouri’s own Claire McCaskill is around to keep things light. When times get dull, McCaskill has been known to pantomime an erection, according to a magazine article. Categories: News, Politics Tags: Claire McCaskill, health-care…
Wanna be in a video? Since the answer to that question is always “yes,” you attention whore, here are the deets in scoring a cameo in CES Cru’s newest video for “Float” off of their latest album, The Playground. (Which, by the way, you can score at Streetside Records for $8.99.) Judging from the name of the album, we’re guessing…
Far before Paul Rudd ever slappa’d da bass on the big silver screen, he was air-guitaring his way to stardom here in Kansas City’s own reception halls…as a Bat Mitzvah MC. The actor, who is from Shawnee, is currently known for his work with the Apatow crowd in I Love You Man, but he’s a veteran in the comedy world…
There should have been no doubt that Kris Kobach would run away with the Republican primary in his bid to become Kansas’s next secretary of state. His opponents were capable enough, but the campaigns they ran — quaint-by-comparison efforts that focused, rather sensibly, on keeping the office profitable and efficient — never stood a chance in the Year of the…
%{}% Kansas Republicans apparently weren’t ready to put their laws to the biblical test. GOPers nominated Sam Brownback as their candidate for governor, which wasn’t exactly a surprise. U.S. Sen. Brownback dominated Joan Heffington, whose platform and beliefs were well past batshit crazy — not that Brownback doesn’t have his own batshitty baggage (see Engle, Lou). We’ll see if Democrat…
Curtis Alan DeForest, of Wichita, Kansas, was 26 years old when he died at Vans Warped Tour in Bonner Springs yesterday. Though temperatures soared at over 100 degrees, the cause of his death has yet to be determined. Here’s a statement that Sandstone Amphitheater is releasing at the moment: As is the standard practice at all shows that visit the…
And here’s what Pitch writer Ian Hrabe had to say in this week’s print issue about Happy Birthday, who’s at the Replay tonight with Residual Echoes and Rooftop Vigilantes: Categories: Music Tags: happy birthday, miles bonny, residual echoes, Rooftop Vigilantees
Details are emerging about Justin Dougan, who is accused of killing 17-year-old Spencer Crosthwait in a drive-by shooting last week. So far, through a combination of police reports and social networking detective work, we know that he liked dirt bikes and dope. In fact, his pot habit got him in trouble with the law just two months before he alleged…
I’ve never walked into the Cheesecake Factory at dinner time and been able to sit down immediately. And I’ve abandoned a summer night trip to Glace because the line stretched out the door and down Main Street. The Pitch’s Charles Ferruzza hilariously covered how long one should wait to be served. What about when you’re just trying to get inside…
Check them out here. Or come up with your own! The digital age! Categories: Music Tags: kanye west, The New Yorker, Twitter
Update (1:44 p.m. August 3): Yesterday, I linked to a story about a Jackson County jury not siding with a former Blockbuster employee who claimed that popping bags of microwave popcorn damaged her lungs. A reader pointed out the ailment in question is called “bronchiolitis obliterans,” or “popcorn lung.” I’d never heard of popcorn lung before. Its symptoms are like…
A kissing bandit of the creepy variety is on the loose in Overland Park. Whenever I think of kiss stealers, images of Morganna the Kissing Bandit and George Brett come to mind. But this wasn’t such an innocent affair. Gotta feel bad for the 17-year-old nanny who was pushing a 9-month-old in a stroller at South Lake Park a week…
