Post-apocalyptic accommodations begin where the pavement ends on a stretch of highway in rural north-central Kansas. A white sign in the shape of an old-fashioned tombstone prop sits in the roadside’s tall grass and reads, “This Old Missile Base.” The sign’s black, missile-shaped arrow points travelers off the highway and north on a rocky, muddy path. A sliding gate, festooned…
Craig Finn The genius of the Hold Steady has long been the balance of frontman Craig Finn’s streetwise colloquial poetry and the band’s party-rock hooks. Finn’s recent solo debut, Clear Heart Full Eyes, is a less beery affair, with alt-country tones providing the backdrop to the lyrics. Things get pretty spare and spoken-word at points, but it’s absolutely a must-own…
Valentine’s Day has for decades been one of the busiest nights in the restaurant industry. But taking one’s romantic interest out for dinner isn’t the only way to express love or desire, and besides, what do you do when you get home again? Simple: Eat candy. What kind? That depends on what you’re trying to say to the object of…
If there’s truth to the old adage that self-confidence is the most attractive quality, then Stephanie Diani’s women have got it going on. With youth and muscle tone the most valuable currency of attractiveness, the Los Angeles photographer asks a pointed question in her series Dames: Legends of Burlesque. Can women be old and sexy? For the answer, Diani turns…
You’ve probably driven by the three-story brick building at 3611 Broadway hundreds of times over the years — or stumbled out of the building just as many times (it’s been some kind of saloon for decades) — without ever knowing that the townhouse-like structure is the Betsy Ross Building. The architect who designed the 1925 structure, Robert Gornall, created the…
Last night at the Riot Room, the headliner took the stage in poppy-red lipstick and a gold, strapless tunic and announced, “My name is Estelle, and I write songs about boys.” As if anyone needed an introduction. The Riot Room on a Monday night seemed like an oddly low-key venue for an artist accustomed to huge stages (like the VooDoo…
In like eight months. The date is Tuesday, October 30. Tickets on sale in about a month, on Monday, March 5. I fell asleep in a chair on Sunday sometime around the two-minute warning, and when I woke up, the third quarter was already in progress. Missed the whole performance. But maybe now I’ll go back and search the performance….
52 Kitchen Adventures With the blood orange, it’s the inside that counts. The blood orange is the kind of food I’ve always pictured sailors suggesting as a cure-all for scurvy. The crimson flesh and juice have a vitality that lets me know, like Groundhog Day, I can make it through another six weeks of winter. Around town, blood orange dishes…
She Knows Ham dreams? She must be a Kansas Citian. A hazard of the food blogging world is that this is a position that has no set hours — food news waits for no one man, Kansas City. It’s also what keeps this job interesting. We are lucky to live in a city that always has new restaurants, new chefs…
I wrote about Continents, the more-or-less solo project of Jim Button, last summer. A couple of days ago, Button released two new songs as what he’s calling the “Instant Life” single. It’s not far off from the material on last year’s Spiriting — great stuff for fans of dark, trance-y psych-rock grooves. And it’s free to download, here. Categories: Music…
Kansas City-based indie-pop act Electric Needle Room is mostly the work of one man: middle school teacher Matt Beat. If you’ve ever tried to hold the attention of a 12-year-old for longer than 30 seconds, you know that it requires something far more entertaining than whatever electronic device they currently have jacked into their face. So it stands to reason…
Real Media The Sprint Center is young and pretty. But there’s always somebody younger and prettier. Hockey hasn’t done itself many favors over the past decade, which is why it is unsurprising that the Coyotes franchise is struggling in Phoenix, Arizona. It probably doesn’t help that the temperature for today in Phoenix is forecast to have a high of 72…
The Prairie Village Waid’s needs a face-lift, among other things. The legendary Madonna proved at last night’s Super Bowl XLVI half-time show that one really can look young, limber and sexy at age 53. Not so true, alas, of the two KC-area Waid’s restaurants. In fact, the Prairie Village Shopping Center location at 6920 Mission — which appears to have…
Jaimie Warren Chef Phil Cline, former sous chef at Extra Virgin, had been working with chef Alex Pope on Local Pig, Pope’s new — and still unopened — gourmet butcher-shop concept. That is, until last week when Joy Jacobs, owner of the R Bar (1617 Genessee in the West Bottoms), hired Cline to take the position of executive chef for…
Ben Moon On record, Portland, Oregon’s Lost Lander is the duo of Matt Sheehy and Menomena’s Brent Knopf. Their album, DRRT, came out last month, and it’s a melange of crooned, mellow vocals with loop-based electronics. The whole project is like Sub Pop took everything they’ve released in the past five years and dropped it into a blender. The resulting…
Step 1: Head over to Paciugo Gelato. You don’t have to settle for a combination plate in the food court at Oak Park Mall. Instead, I want you to take your $8, make two stops and leave with the finest food option in the mall. First up, is Paciugo Gelato — a free-standing gelato kiosk that will sell you a…
KC Restaurant Week The muffaletta sandwich at Harry’s Country Club. Baseball had its moment as our national pastime, and Budweiser is still trying to be our national beer, but when it comes to a national food, the jury is still out. Family Feud thinks the potential contenders include pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers and french fries. Wikipedia adds apple pie and…
%{}% %{}% Vernon Ray Carney Jr. was killed four days after his 38th birthday. Vernon Ray Carney Jr. was found shot to death inside a vehicle at 57th and Troost Saturday around 1:04 a.m. Four days before the shooting, Carney had celebrated his 38th birthday on January 31. He is Kansas City, Missouri’s ninth homicide victim of 2012. Police say…
Hearts in Kansas City are about to be broken. No, I’m not talking about next Tuesday. I’m talking about right now, when your heart ceases to be able to function properly because you decide that it’s going to be pumping pork milk instead of blood. Jack in the Box has a new menu item: the Bacon Shake. And while it’s…
The Lumineers It’s shaping up to be a pretty great 2012 concert season for Kansas City and Lawrence. Earlier this week, we noted the impressive Middle of the Map lineup. And now, these! The Lumineers are headed to KC this April. Check for the Denver band at the Riot Room Sunday April 29 at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $8-$10 and…
KU Sports The Tigers bested Kansas on Saturday. The words came just moments after Kansas’ Elijah Johnson missed a 3-point shot attempt that would have sent the game against Missouri into overtime. “And this could be the final game in Columbia for these two teams …” said one of the announcers. Right now, the pundits will suggest that this was…
Bill Bunten is so old-fashioned, his official portrait is black and white. Here is an epically stupid idea. Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten has told the City Council that he thinks it should ban baseball hats and hoodies. Topeka’s law enforcement officers, like they do in every city, rely on surveillance cameras to help nab criminals. But sometimes, people wear clothing…
My first experience seeing Dr. Dog was a handful of years back, covering the Wakarusa festival in Lawrence. The band’s show at one of the smaller side stages was under-attended (everyone else must have been tripping out to STS9 or Buckethead or something), but the most memorable thing about the performance was how hard the ‘60s-influenced band brought it for…
Stewarding Department Ideally, every kitchen in KC would look like this. Most of the kitchens in Kansas City aren’t open, unless you’re carrying a health inspector’s badge. But this is the time of year when Kansas Citians can actually get a peek behind the swinging door, courtesy of the health department’s annual Grade A Food Excellence Awards. “This award is…
