Archives: July 2012
Boys Grow samples its homegrown Agave Ketchup at Succotash this Saturday
John Gordon The chefs and farmers of Boys Grow hold up their latest product. There are a dozen new ketchup salesmen in town. Boys Grow, a two-year-old nonprofit that teaches farming and entrepreneurship to at-risk youth between the ages of 12 and 15, has released its second product: Agave Ketchup. “We told the boys to go out into grocery stores…
Listen Before the Show: Guantanamo Baywatch
Portland surf-punks Guantanamo Baywatch released the excellent slab of vinyl Chest Crawl on Dirtnap Records back in May, and it promptly took the number one slot on the KJHK charts. I only recently put down the cash to snag a copy for myself, and it pretty much has remained glued to my turntable since it came in the mail last…
Have you ever told a lie to get a reservation or a table?
Flickr: Leland It’s the Klondike bar debate. What would you do for a reservation? The first time I met my prospective in-laws I was an hour and a half late. Traffic, construction and my own sense of direction conspired against me on the crooked streets of Boston. It’s here that a critical element of the story should be noted: This…
Kansas City has its cool back, according to BBC Travel
City-Data KC is swinging again. Five years ago, the BBC was documenting Kansas City’s lack of bicycle commuters. Now it’s celebrating the “Midwest renaissance” of a city recapturing its swinging past. As BBC Travel noted yesterday: Today, this border-straddling city with a history of jazz, barbecue and booze is hoping that a new crop of cocktail and craft beer bars,…
Belief Is Not Required
Major Planetary Note (MPN): New Moon in Cancer, Wednesday, July 18, 2012, near midnight CDT Basic Meaning of MPN Every 28 days, the Sun, Moon and Earth align in one of the 12 signs. These are excellent startup times. Imagine that your venture capitalist has given you the money for your new business. Where would you begin to invest it?…
Watch Dwolla’s Ben Milne, Chirpify’s Chris Teso and Barb Pacheco of KC’s Federal Reserve Bank discuss the future of mobile payments (video)
The future of how we pay for things isn’t in plastic or paper. It’s with our mobile phones, albeit a slow transition. At least that was the premise of last week’s KCnext forum — Go: The Future of Mobile Payments — at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Chirpify founder Chris Teso talked about how his company is transforming…
Anthony Walker accused in triple homicide at 39th and Paseo
Anthony Walker is accused in a triple homicide. Anthony Walker has been charged in a triple homicide at 39th and Paseo from January. The bodies of Herschel Pike, 41; his mother, Donna Pike, 62; and Edward Williams, 57, were discovered on January 16. Walker, 46, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action, and…
Fiona Apple, last night at the Midland
Via Spinner. Earlier this week, the comedian Marc Maron posted a podcast with Fiona Apple that answered a few questions about her: Why she speaks so quickly and frantically, and — at least in part — what makes her so creative. Apple has been dealing with what seems to be a heavy, albeit managed, case of OCD for her entire…
How well do you know Arrested Development? Prove it tonight at the Drop
How well do you know your Bluths? Kansas City loves trivia. Everyone knows it. This week, actually tonight (Wednesday) at 7:30, Geeks Who Drink are bringing Arrested Development trivia back to the Drop (409 East 31st Street). “Basically, we’re quizzing on all things Arrested Development for eight rounds, including two audio and one visual,” Josh Johnson tells The Pitch. “Can’t…
Google Fiber appears to have a launch date
After months of waiting and with little word from Google, news comes today that Google Fiber, the pioneering high-speed Internet system being constructed on both sides of the state line, apparently has a launch date. This morning, Google sent out the above invitation to an event next Thursday at which the “next chapter of the internet” will be announced. It’s…
Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel defends Paterno at SEC Media Days
Midwest Sports Fans Pinkel is likely wishing he had some help from the booth yesterday. In a day meant to be about rivalries, Missouri coach Gary Pinkel’s decision to try and play the statesman ended up generating headlines. The Columbia Daily Tribune noted that Pinkel spoke to reporters at Southeast Conference Media Days yesterday about the late Joe Paterno, saying…
Would the real Ron Paul please stand up?
Ron Paul Shawd says he’s just using his name. Voters in the 5th District Republican primary August 7 will see a couple of familiar names on the ballot: Jacob Turk, who is running for a fourth time to unseat Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, and Ron Paul. But not that Ron Paul. The other candidate is Ron Paul Shawd, a 58-year-old former…
Chopped is looking for home cooks ready for the light of reality television
Regular folk will have the chance to be Chopped. Chopped, the cooking competition show that asks cheftestants to pair unlikely ingredients in a mystery basket (think jelly beans and sardines) in a series of elimination challenges, is opening up its kitchens to the untrained masses. The Food Network television program is the culinary equivalent of House Hunters — the viewer…
John Milone is finally making his ‘hole in the wall’ Johnny Jo’s Pizzeria a daytime thing
Milone puts the finishing touches on a pie. Pizza is like middle school gossip: When you get hold of a hot piece, you can’t stop talking to people about it. And that’s been the plan for John Milone, the affable, barrel-chested Johnny Jo of Johnny Jo’s Pizzeria (1209 West 47th Street). “There was no really good, hole-in-the-wall pizzeria in Kansas…
WWE referee John Cone makes his dollars in doughnuts and pro wrestling
WWE Ref John Cone plays by WWE’s rulebook. John Cone’s job is to keep order in World Wrestling Entertainment’s rings. It’s not easy, especially when an angry, 266-pound Brock Lesnar is charging like a bull. Cone, a referee with the wrestling company, knows from experience. At WWE’s April pay-per-view event, Extreme Rules, Cone tried to keep the match on track…
The Pitch Questionnaire with Red Star Studios’ Tommy Frank
Photo by Sabrina Staires Tommy Frank Name: Tommy FrankOccupation: Studio manager at Red Star Studios and ceramic artist Hometown: Tampa, Florida Current neighborhood: Hospital Hill-ish Who or what is your sidekick? I wanna say something awesome like “my wonder dog, Rufus, with whom I rescue babies from burning buildings,” but it’s probably just my car keys. What career would you…
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Director Benh Zeitlin’s festival-storming debut feature is the indie version of Dark Knight: hyped, reflexively praised, plumbed for lessons. Most of that is deserved. Wild’s superhero is Hushpuppy, the fearless 6-year-old given haunting embodiment by the now 8-year-old first-timer Quvenzhané Wallis. If the screenplay — by Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar, based on a one-act play by Alibar — sometimes tilts…
The Dark Knight Rises
It’s a cold Sunday afternoon next February, and you’re about to push your usual mismatched Target sundries — lip balm, Coke Zero, bleach — down the conveyor belt when you grab one more item off an endcap: The Dark Knight Rises on DVD, on sale for $10. It comes back to you, the hot July expectation in those hours before…
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