The state of Kansas isn’t screwing around with sex offenders. Take 58-year-old Robert Donald Clark Jr. He was convicted last December of sexually assaulting a child younger than 14. Clark received a life sentence on Monday, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. If he long enough to try for parole, which he has a possibility of in 25 years, he’ll be…
A symphony of earth tones: mac-and-cheese, savory bread pudding, barbecued beans. Actually, restaurateur Beth Barden has been offering a dinner menu at Succotash, her year-old Dutch Hill bruncheonette, for the past three weeks. But I finally made it into the restaurant last night and I was very impressed. Barden still doesn’t have a liquor license but says that’s in…
The mailboxes of city and state leaders last week weren’t filled with glad tidings from the NFL Players Association. Nope, just a good old fashioned letter warning that a lockout between the NFL and the players would cost Kansas City and the other 31 NFL cities $160 million in revenue. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon…
A turkey-spinach-and cranberry brunch crepe looked all holiday-like last weekend. I stopped at a local bistro for brunch over the weekend and found out that even the savviest restaurateurs have to come up with creative uses for their Thanksgiving leftovers. In this case, it was a tasty breakfast dish made from leftover turkey and cranberry sauce. Categories: Dining, News…
A woman in northern Arkansas has learned that people will think it is weird if you show up for work and announce that your live-in boyfriend killed himself around bedtime. Rhonda Jean Clark, 38, went to her job on Thanksgiving morning and told a co-worker that her boyfriend had committed suicide around midnight. The story disturbed the co-worker, who called…
Tyler E. Toomay may be the worst grandson of the year. The 18-year-old told police that he and his grandmother, Connie J. Searing, got into a fight in Searing’s bedroom early November that led to her killing. Searing and Toomay took turns throwing a lamp at each other. Searing tired to get out of bed but fell and hit her…
Making Movies has released its video for “Tormenta.” It’s a chillingly beautiful video shot in crisp black and white that documents slivers of life in Kansas City’s poor, Hispanic neighborhoods. It’s a statement about immigration and racism in this city, and in America as a whole; and the beauty and hope that survives in urban ruin. Well done, guys. Categories:…
Last time Tame Impala hit Kansas City, it was part of a misadventure known hereafter as “that MGMT concert last summer.” This time around, the Australian quartet won’t have to contend with the unsavory crowd elements of a sold-out venue. (Here’s looking at you, Blue Valley West.) Tame Impala can bathe in the spotlight all by itself at the Jackpot…
I love spicy foods. The problem is, they don’t always love me back. When my wife and I go out to eat, we’re often sharing two dishes, family-style. And her spice tolerance is much higher than mine. As a result, she’s constantly dialing down the heat level, and I’m constantly reaching for the Tums. Categories: Dining, Food & Drink
NFL officials don’t take shit. Former Kansas Jayhawk and current Tampa Bay Buccaneer Aqib Talib found out while chewing out officials after the Bucs’ 17-10 loss to Baltimore on Sunday. Talib wasn’t happy with a second quarter pass interference call that set up Ravens touchdown pass. Tampa Bay Online reports that Talib chased after a group of officials following the…
Usher dampened thousands of panties on Saturday night at the Sprint Center. In a venue filled to the brim with screaming women, the R&B crooner launched a set as well-oiled and tight as his abs. “I’m just beside myself when I’m let out of my cage,” Usher said to Kansas City’s ladies. “Would it be okay if I just take…
Diego Rivera was a fat, lusty Sagittarian A week ago, the Earth moved into the fire sign of Sagittarius (November 22-December 21), the ninth constellation of the zodiac cycle (generally illustrated as “the Archer”) Local astrologer — and veteran restaurant server — Brenda G. Smith describes a Sagittarian as “a seeker of the truth, a high-minded individual associated with philosophy.”…
Sugar, flour, eggs, milk … and beer? It’s time you started considering beer one of your cooking essentials (although you should avoid the 3.2 beer in Kansas grocery stores and make an extra stop). It’s the season of comfort foods, and ales, lagers and stouts can add a lot to recipes. To get you started, Fat City has pulled together…
This year, Black Friday came to Kansas City with a trend-setting frenzy; but the best deals weren’t at retailers. They came as a swarm of local musicians who took to the stage at venues all over town and rang in the holidays with inspiring displays of talent and grit. And at the top of the highlight reel of this weekend’s…
Being a porn store must be lonely. The loneliest porn shop in Hutchinson, Kansas, tried to make friends the only way we know how these days — on Facebook. Spice It Up Video made more than 1,200 friends, but when many of those new “friends” turned out to be high school students — and younger — parents in Hutchinson started…
If you’ve watched the right TV channels or been to a movie theater lately, you might have seen a preview for Country Strong, an upcoming movie where Gwyneth Paltrow plays a down-and-out country singer. It’s like Crazy Heart, except it’s about a woman, the script is bad, and the actors give you secondhand embarrassment. Still, you shouldn’t let the…
The voice that dropped a thousand pairs of panties appeared at the Sprint Center on Saturday night. Girls screamed; abs were flashed; and Usher belted his signature slow-burning love songs with a seductive heat.
The sky was dark and our stove had been dormant for a better part of a week. The idea of cooking after a day of Thanksgiving travel was not particularly attractive. Dining out felt like too much effort. Getting a pizza delivered during the Chiefs game meant waiting too long. I simply needed calories in under 15 minutes. And that’s…
%{}% This weekend we got another fat load of WikiLeaks, based on purloined diplomatic cables to and from the U.S. State Department. As happened when Julian Assange’s muckraking endeavor leaked U.S. military data from Iraq earlier this year, conservatives are outraged, and some call, as before, for the expeditious arrest of Assange, or fantasize about his assassination. Rightbloggers generally take…
You probably ate your weight in turkey, ham or turducken over the past five days. Hence, you may be suffering from the meat sweats or walking slowly, like you’ve got an extra ham hock hanging around your middle. It’s a feeling that vacillates between pleasantly full and “I can’t believe I went back for that fourth trip at a Las…
Back in July, Kansas City Star columnist C.W. Gusewelle filed the first of several dispatches from Russia. Like the ones to come, it was an impenetrable fortress of storytelling, the only flash of clarity coming in the column’s final sentence, when Gusewelle revealed that he would be reporting from Russia — for the local section — through late August. Summer…
Vans Warped Tour has announced its 2011 summer tour dates, and Kansas City made the cut, as it always does. What’s notable is that the tour is returning to Capitol Federal Park at Sandstone, where earlier this year a Warped Tour fan died of heat exhaustion. Categories: Music Tags: Vans Warped Tour
UPDATE: The victim of the homicide at 72nd and Brooklyn has been identified as 18-year-old Lionel L. Pierson of Kansas City. The Star reports that the shooter allegedly asked for a cigarette prior to the shooting. Pierson would have graduated from Star Academy in the Hickman Mills School District in May. Categories: News Tags: homicide, Lionel L. Pierson
