Kansas City Star columnist C.W. Gusewelle’s discovery of Google Maps column was another phoned piece, according to commenter FS Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald summarizes Gusewelle’s career in a strong critique in the comments section of “Star columnist C.W. Guswelle has mind blown by Google Maps, mails in another column”: Gusewelle’s problem is that although he often writes well, he almost never writes…
It’s been a big year for former Kansas City Star sports columnist Jason Whitlock. And now he could cap 2010 with a meaningless award from Deadspin. The sports blog — which delights in ridiculing Whitlock — announced last week that the scribe is one of eight notable sports personalities in a tournament for its tongue-in-cheek Sports Human of the Year…
Wednesday will mark a full year since Nelson Hopkins Jr. was gunned down while walking home from a bus stop near 54th and Lydia. Hopkins, a 17-year-old Alta Vista Charter High School student, had a college application in his pocket. Hopkins’ family will honor his memory with a prayer vigil and candlelit walk at the scene of the murder. The…
You can thank the inventor of the electric mixer — Herbert Johnson in 1908, although the first hand-held mixer, the Sunbeam MixMaster wasn’t introduced for 44 more years — for helping to make the mousse a popular dessert in America. Sure, there were variations on the mousse — French for foam — in the United States long before the MixMaster….
Thomas Drummond is here to teach us all a lesson in winter weather preparedness. Drummond beat a drunken driving charge by claiming he got lit up to stay warm. Drummond was acquitted after testifying that he started drinking after — not before — he drove into a culvert, according to the Southeast Missourian. We all know how cold culverts can…
Jacob Coterel’s parents woke up Monday morning to a nightmare. The nearly 2-year-old boy was missing. The front door was ajar. Their search for the boy ended in a pond about 100 yards from the family’s Sedalia, Missouri, home. Coterel had drowned in the pond. The boy’s parents tried to revive him, but the boy’s body temperature was just too…
The Jewish celebration of Hanukkah begins at sundown tomorrow night, but the traditional fried foods and desserts of the holiday should have people of any faith relishing the next eight nights. So whether or not you celebrate the Festival of Lights, you should consider adding some of the holiday recipes to your repertoire. Categories: Dining, Food & Drink
%{}% Back in June, the feds were looking for Patrick Neal Porter. Authorities had searched Porter’s home and found pictures of a young girl in sexually explicit poses on Porter’s computer. Authorities believed the 40-year-old — with the help of his wife, Barbara Porter — had removed his 16-year-old stepdaughter from protective services and had run away to California. If…
Was that Usher eating at the Cheesecake Factory late Saturday night after his concert at the Sprint Center? It’s not unlikely — the California-based dining chain is one of the few restaurants on the Country Club Plaza that serves late on weekends. A bartender at the restaurant told a Pitch reporter that the staff was sure it was Usher. For…
Almost a decade after it was introduced, the federal DREAM Act — an immigration-reform bill that would clear a path to citizenship for young undocumented aliens who agree to serve in the military or attend college — has a shot at passing this week. The momentum has local immigrants rallying for the cause, which would turn well-behaved young people —…
They’re coming to the Granada on March 9. Okay, you’ve probably heard at least three dozen bands that sound like the Cold War Kids since the Strokes made monotone, fuzzy rock and roll fashionable in 2001; but “Hang Me Up To Dry” is still a pretty fucking great song. (The video? Not so much.) The band is working on its…
“When’s the last time a hip-hop holiday album came out?” asks local rapper thePhantom* of visitors to his Bandcamp page. Decent point, although I wouldn’t necessarily say hip-hop and Christmas music have a peanut-butter-and-jelly thing going on. Nevertheless, thePhantom* has answered his own question, released a six-song, Christmas-themed EP that you can purchase for $5 dollars. It’s a dancy, bizarro mix…
I’ve never met a restaurateur that rubs his hands together and laughs an evil laugh because you’ve just ordered the steak. But somehow in our value-obsessed universe, we’ve decided that breaking down the psychology of restaurant menus is critical to make sure that said restaurateur, who has an average salary of $36,000 a year according to SimplyHired, doesn’t get one…
Who had Jane Mobley in the Kansas City Public-Relations Person Most Likely to Be in the News pool? U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill recently announced an investigation into the government’s use of image consultants after KSHB Channel 41 reporter Russ Ptacek revealed that Jane Mobley Associates was paid $234,000 to help the General Services Administration crisis-manage the contamination problem at the…
Do you know about the Tucci Boys? It’s this pretty cool new group I’m in. Every now and then, the three of us get together and talk about veteran actor Stanley Tucci — how his career is progressing, past roles of his we’ve enjoyed, how much class he has. You know, the usj. In case you’re interested, the group is currently accepting…
It’s OK if you need a moment. You’ve probably bonded with that turkey leg. And that cranberry sauce isn’t going to eat itself. Food safety aside, it’s time we moved on from Thanksgiving. Christmas ham is just around the corner, and you can start eating potato pancakes for Chanukkah tomorrow night. If you truly love your leftovers, let them go…into…
London Transit’s latest effort is called Fake Figures, and it’s available on January 1. (Here’s my review of the band’s 2009 album, Digital Kid.) I’ve just copped a sneak peek of Fake Figures. It’s still shiny, sleek electro-pop — which is fading out of style, fast — but it’s more symphonic and euphoric than the sparse, stark bleeps and bloops…
Webslinger Spider-Man made an unexpected appearance in Overland Park Friday night. Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass announced the sighting on his Just the Facts blog, writing that Spider-Man appeared near West 144th and Stearns around 7:30 p.m. when a woman stopped her car after noticing tape strung across the street. Could the tape have actually been web? Categories: News…
Illuminating post-punk figure Patti Smith recently won the National Book Award for her non-fiction account of her relationship with famed photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. But “Just Kids” is only the latest installment of Smith’s fruitful writing career; she’s published ten previous books of poetry and lyrics. Here are five other artists who have earned their fair share of literary merits. Categories:…
What are your biggest turnoffs in a restaurant? Dirty bathrooms? A server with poor personal hygiene? A waiter who looks like he just rolled out of bed? How about the stench of bus tubs stacked with dirty dishes or a dining room reeking of mothballs? Categories: Dining, Food & Drink Tags: customer satisfaction, customer turnoffs, dirty bathrooms
An elderly Northland couple called the cops on themselves 10 times in five months. Sometimes, the husband would call with health-related questions. Other times, the wife was calling for help resolving a marital spat. Kansas City police officers J.D. Pettey and Philip Sipple responded to each call. The husband was usually drunk when the officers arrived, they noted, and the…
