Archives: January 2011

All vinyl will be pulled from Streetside Records today

The end is near. All vinyl is being pulled from Streetside Records today, in anticipation of the record store’s imminent closing on January 23. (CDs will still be available until then.) Here’s what the store’s Facebook page says: Orders from above: ALL VINYL IS BEING PULLED TODAY AT STREETSIDE RECORDS! TODAY IS YOUR LAST DAY TO BUY VINYL RECORDS AT…

New ways to deal with disgruntled diners

The Restaurant Blog at smartbrief.com has begun a three-part series on “Winning Over That Disgruntled Customer.” The writer of the series, John Foley, says restaurant complaints are a lot more potent these days, thanks to social media such as Twitter and Facebook. In the old days, an unhappy patron had basically two options: Write a letter to the restaurant owner…

After 53 years, there’s no Hereford House downtown

Restaurateur Rod Anderson — yes, the one accused of torching the original Hereford House Steakhouse in 2008 — has closed his other downtown steak restaurant. He had opened it across the street from the site of the first Hereford House, in late 2009. The closing marked the first time in over a half-century that a steakhouse bearing the Hereford House…

A birthday toast to Iris DeMent

The youngest of 14 kids born to Pentacostal parents, Pat and Flora Mae DeMent, Iris DeMent moved from Paragould, Arkansas, to Cypress, California, and then to Kansas City after she graduated from high school. Around 1986, she began writing simple folk songs about life, and she performed them at local open-mic nights until she moved to Nashville in 1988. Her…

Liz Phair’s date in Columbia is postponed

Liz Phair scheduled a date at the Blue Note in support of her Pitchfork-dubbed “massively weird” new album, Funstyle, which was released around the last Fourth of July. Unfortunately, it looks like her January 31 show is no more. Here’s what the Blue Note says: Due to a family concern of the artist, our January 31st Liz Phair show has…

Know whodunnit? Now you can text the TIPS Hotline!

OK, so this is actually really old news, from last decade (2008!), but when KCUR 89.3’s Dan Verbeck mentioned this morning that crime tipsters can send texts to the Greater Kansas City Crimestoppers, it was news to me. I called Detective Kevin Boehm, the head law-enforcement person in charge of the metro’s TIPS program, to find out how popular the…

Mizzou quarterback Blaine Gabbert heads to the NFL draft

MU quarterback Blaine Gabbert is giving up his final year of eligibility in Columbia and entering April’s NFL draft.  Sorry, I would have gussied that up a bit, but if I read one more story lede parodying LeBron James’ “I’m taking my talents to X place,” I would stop enjoying sports writing altogether. Seriously, I read two of them yesterday…

Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block on one stage this summer

2012 is real. 2012 is coming. Maybe the Mayans were on to something, after all. This summer, a joint tour will scourge the nation: Two of the biggest boy groups ever, Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block, will appear on the same stage. The pitch of the shrieks inside the Sprint Center on this date should approach the…

Gluten-free dining is more than just a trend

Last week, the official theme was takeout food on the every-third-week “Restaurant Critics Panel” on KCUR 89.3’s Walt Bodine Show. But, as often happens on that show, the subject was hijacked by callers interested in discussing a more compelling subject — in this case, gluten-free dining. Two decades ago, it would have been unlikely to see “gluten free” on any…

Lawrence’s stimulus package is back at ’em again

Looks like longtime Lawrence party spot, The Granada, will be continuing last year’s mini-festival tradition in 2011. StimPac 5 hits the stage (three stages, to be exact) Saturday, January 8, and features more than 12 local bands from both the Lawrence and Kansas City areas. And unlike that monstrous stimulus package last year, The Granada’s “StimPac” will cost you only…

Do we need a law to stop us from eating fast food?

%{}% Nobody likes to be told to eat their vegetables. But what if somebody ordered you not to eat those fries? The debate over personal responsibility versus government regulation when it comes to fast-food choices is looking like the next big health kerfuffle. America has finally looked in the rearview mirror and is wondering if the Burger King wrapper in…

Five great sci-fi songs that are out of this world

The lovely and talented actress Anne Francis passed away this past Sunday, due to complications from pancreatic cancer, per the New York Times. In honor of her amazing performance in one of the finest bits of sci-fi cinema ever, Forbidden Planet (which we will watch and ogle respectably during the swimming scene), we felt that a list of five great…

Check out trailers for the Decemberists’ date at the Uptown

We already told you yesterday that you could stream the Decemberists’ new album, The King Is Dead, over at NPR. (The group is coming to the Uptown Theater February 7, with Gillian Welch and Mountain Man.) If you missed the album stream, you can watch three trailers that the band has made for its upcoming tour. Two of them have…

Japanese vending machines are now massive iPads

If you got an iPad for Christmas this year, here’s hoping you find one of these under your tree next year. The new face of vending machines continues to be Japanese; the Akihabara News reports on a drink dispenser with a 47-inch touch screen currently in Tokyo train stations . Categories: Dining, Food & Drink

Kansas City needs pie happy hours

There’s nothing like grabbing a few bumbleberries with some co-workers. Or splitting a slice of apple with your girlfriend. Yeah, I’m talking about pie happy hour. An NPR piece from earlier in the week on the death of the cupcake (so many have tried and been overwhelmed by the frosted beast) had a throwaway line about why pie will take…