Archives: May 2012

The Gumball 3000 makes a pit stop in Kansas City tonight (Monday)

Photo by Sam Moores Photography The Gumball 3000 is on its way to KC. The Gumball 3000 celebrity race from New York to Los Angeles stops in Kansas City tonight (Memorial Day). More than 100 exotic cars and 250 racers are on the 14th annual coast-to-coast race. This year’s batch of celebs includes Eve, Ludacris, Wiz Khalifa and David Hasselhoff….

Johnson County boobaphobe wants Overland Park to disappear arboretum’s Yu Chang sculpture

Flickr user BSevett, via KCUR Chang’s “Accept or Reject” Here’s a short list of things more important than the terror that the above sculpture, at the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, is causing one think-of-the-children rube: (1) anything else; (2) no, really, anything else in the world; (3) especially the season premiere of The Real Housewives of New York….

New teen curfew goes into effect this weekend

Realiteen KC teens are now on the clock. The City Council’s new teen curfew goes into effect tonight. Minors under 16 years old will need to be home by 10 p.m., while 16- and-17-year-olds can stay out until 11 p.m. The ordinance extends a 9 p.m. curfew in five entertainment districts, passed last summer in reaction to a slate of…

Some Memorial Day weekend ideas

Angela C. Bond The Good Foot is staying in town. Nature and lakes and all that shit: Who needs it? We’re sticking around KC this Memorial Day weekend. We’re gonna drink beers and go to some parties and bars and shows. Things like: FRIDAY Rick Ross at BLVD Nights. Southern Culture on the Skids, with Truckstop Honeymoon, at Knuckleheads. Categories:…

Red-light cameras work, study says; judge rules some tickets unconstitutional

Red-light cameras might reduce accidents in KC, but St. Louis courts are giving them hell. The same week that the Kansas City Police Department and American Traffic Solution declared red-light cameras in KC a success, a circuit judge in St. Louis ruled that some tickets ATS sent to motorists are unconstitutional, The Kansas City Daily Record reports. In a narrow…

Lawless in Lanagan, the Missouri town without a police force

City Data Lanagan, Missouri, is making headlines across the state. If you don’t pay your traffic tickets, your car might get the boot. If a city apparently stiffs the state, it could lose its police force. The two men who make up the police department in Lanagan, Missouri (three hours south of Kansas City), have been charged with forging traffic…

God hates air guitar, too

While there have been some wonderful counter-protests to the Westboro Baptist Church – ComiCon, Sundance, and so on – Eric “Mean” Melin and his air guitar crew may have gone the furthest with their showing before Tuesday’s Van Halen show at the Sprint Center. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen someone rock out to Van Halen’s “Panama” for a cause…

Does it bother you to dine alone?

Table For One Does this terrify you? The nature of food blogging means that I’m eating by myself as often as with someone else. Although I’m never truly alone because I feel like you, dear reader, are eating there with me. I’m kidding. Of course, I’m alone. But I’m also taking notes, casually ferreting information out of the staff and…

Van Halen

Kansas City was blessed was one of the final Van Halen shows of the band’s current, recently canceled tour. Have a look-through at the crowd and the scene. Photos by Angela C. Bond

Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast on California, influences, and Drew Barrymore

It wasn’t too long ago that Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast was a normal 22-year-old woman living in California, sorting through the emotional ups and downs of everyday life. The singer-songwriter/guitarist has since joined forces with multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno and started banging out 1960s surf-rock-influenced numbers as Best Coast. With its simple lyrics revolving around Cosentino’s personal relationship experiences and…

A block party in Westport and other weekend possibilities

Celebrate along with Kelly’s & McCoy’s this weekend. It’s not summer until you’ve been to a block party. McCoy’s Public House (4057 Pennsylvania) and Kelly’s (500 Westport Road) are hoping to start a tradition in Westport with their first annual block party, which this year celebrates Kelly’s 65th anniversary and McCoy’s 15th anniversary. The party kicks off at 5 p.m….

New Plaza Bo Lings opens on June 11

The Ng family will open the doors to the new Plaza Bo Lings on June 11. When Fat City first reported – in December of 2010 – that restaurateur Richard Ng was moving his Plaza location across Brush Creek (from the Board of Trade Building at 4800 Main to the Skelly Building at 605 West 47th Street), Ng was hoping…

University of Missouri Press will close

The press will begin closing later this year. UM System President Tim Wolfe announced today that the University of Missouri Press, which opened in 1958, will be phased out starting July. The press has 10 employees. “Similar to other industries, scholarly publishing is dramatically changing due to emerging technology, making traditional publishing very challenging. Typically, most scholarly presses do not…

God hates … air guitar? Mean Melin and friends jam to Van Halen among Westboro Baptist Church protesters

The Westboro Baptist Church protested Van Halen’s show at the Sprint Center on Tuesday night. Not exactly a surprise. But the Phleps clan’s protesters were interrupted by a group of air guitarists, including Eric “Mean” Melin and Nielsen “Thunderball” Nacis, jamming to “Panama.” The protesters appear … bored and unamused. Also, U.S. Air Guitar is coming back to Kansas City…

Rick Ross is performing in town this weekend?

Rozay in the house. Last weekend, Lil Wayne dropped in. This holiday weekend, it’s looking like the Teflon Don will be in Kansas City. Rick Ross is scheduled to perform at BLVD Nights, a nightclub on Southwest Boulevard, this Friday, May 25. Sounds kind of like a Big Boi type of situation to me, but who knows, could be cool….

Free condoms today from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Just in time for a long holiday weekend, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation is partnering today with the Kansas City Free Health Clinic to give away oodles of free rubbers. AHF’s “Condom Nation” 18-wheeler will be parked at in the Walgreens parking lot at Broadway and 39th Street from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. handing out condoms and offering free HIV…

Missouri’s cigarette tax may not be the lowest in the nation for long; judge upholds cigarette tax hike ballot language

Chris Dellavedova The tobacco tax initiative is heating up. Missouri may not keep its nicotine-stained grip on the nation’s lowest cigarette tax for much longer. A Cole County judge ruled that the ballot language on a tobacco tax petition submitted to the secretary of state’s office is fair, as is the cost estimate given in the summary. The petition is…