Over the past few years, Scandinavian mystery novels have generated the kind of buzz that accumulated around Hong Kong action films in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Stieg Larsson has earned a posthumous fortune, with more to come from the American remakes of the second and third installments in his Millennium trilogy. The next to benefit may be Jo…
When I visit other cities, I tend to keep a running mental scorecard comparing them with Kansas City. One of the very first things you notice when you exit Interstate 64 into Louisville, Kentucky, is the city’s downtown arena, home to the University of Louisville men’s and women’s basketball teams. It sits on the banks of the Ohio River, and…
John Fullbright has a way of sending his listeners scrambling to compare him with the greats. His big delivery and the lingering darkness of his songs evoke Mickey Newbury, and his voice shares something with the singing of Leon Russell and Steve Earle. On “Gawd Above,” the first song on his debut studio release, From the Ground Up, the 24-year-old…
Hidden Pictures, with Fullbloods and Shy Boys Rainbow Records, the third LP from local indie-pop five-piece Hidden Pictures, has just been released to the world, and this Brick show celebrates that excellent fact. Be cool and arrive early for the openers: Fullbloods (surf-influenced retro rock) and Shy Boys (harmony-driven pop). Friday, July 20, at the Brick (1727 McGee, 816-421-1634) Big…
Near the end of the workday on July 12, 2011, a group of Kansas City Star editors and reporters filed into a small, drab conference room adjoining the paper’s cavernous second-floor newsroom, where there seem to be more and more empty desks every year. There were still enough reporters around that afternoon that the conference room was standing-room-only to hear…
Local restaurant owners don’t necessarily relish a visit from health inspectors (who can close a venue down, after all, or impose stiff penalties), so I’ve often wondered what it would be like to eat in a restaurant that was actually owned by a health inspector. Now I know. I’d already dined at Seva Cuisine of India three times before learning…
No picnic is complete without arthropodal visitors, and the Big Blanket event last weekend, on the south lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, was no exception. Three human-sized ants (puppeteers sweating under their all-black costumes) scurried around in the midday heat as museum visitors staked 400 canvas squares, each 5 feet by 5 feet, into the lush sod. Sunday…
edenpictures Only one recipe can win the Cafe Trio Great Eight Dessert Competition To celebrate the eight-year anniversary of Cafe Trio, the stylish boite on the Country Club Plaza, the restaurant is hosting a “Great Eight Dessert Contest” (with help from co-sponsor The Pitch) that boasts a payoff of $800 worth of prizes and the opportunity to have the winning…
The farmers market hits the road today. Neighborhoods used to have produce carts, simple wooden boxes stacked with apples, bananas and oranges. With Kansas City a bit more spread out geographically these days, it made sense to get something a little bigger. The Healthy Harvest Mobile Market — a former Kansas City Area Transportation Authority bus converted into a rolling…
The press isn’t dead yet. In May, University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe made the highly unpopular announcement that the Mizzou-based University of Missouri Press would be shut down, and all 10 employees would lose their jobs. Yesterday, MU stepped back slightly from the system’s previous statements and said the press will live on in a new form. “he…
lovelyish This is really happening. America can now eat lunch like a kid with his jaw wired shut. 7-Eleven is selling mashed potatoes dispensed via a Slurpee-like machine. At the push of two buttons, you can have mashed potatoes covered in chicken gravy (here’s video from a 7-Eleven in Singapore of how it works). I’ll admit when I first came…
Wikipedia Sanchez is getting harder and harder to watch. It can never be said that the Kansas City Royals refuse to be steadfast in their support of mediocre pitching. And the latest statistical atrocity is Jonathan Sanchez. Brought over from San Francisco in an offseason trade for Melky Cabrera, Sanchez won his first game. Since then, the team has gone…
Duke LeNoir A Fat City reader wrote in to complain about the treatment he had recently received at a restaurant on the city’s south side. While eating, he had discovered a piece of glass in his food. That was disturbing enough, but the restaurant owner’s response was the final insult: “He told me, ‘If you get sick, call me and…
Kansas City, Missouri’s latest homicide occurred early Monday morning. The victim of this morning’s fatal shooting at 18th and Hardesty has been identified as Cesar Guzman. Guzman, 22, was found dead outside a home around 2:30 a.m. Kansas City police have yet to release any suspect information. If you have information bout Guzman’s death, call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477….
Craft Beer Girl Deschutes is now in Kansas. You’ll now be able to order a brew from the Deschutes Brewery during Kansas Happy Hour. The craft brewer (which collaborated last year with Boulevard Brewery on a White I.P.A.) out of Bend, Oregon, has been in Missouri since January, but its two flagship brews, Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale…
Museum of the Weird Is Momo out there? Oregon has Bigfoot. Washington has Sasquatch. And Missouri, well we’ve got Momo. Momo? Momo. The Associated Press did a bit of lighthearted discovery into Missouri lore, retracing the very large steps of a mythical, hairy 7-foot beast that was allegedly first seen in Louisiana, Missouri, 40 years ago. They talked to the…
Hayley Bartels The panels were laid out Sunday at the Nelson. On Sunday, July 15, a 10,000-square-foot art piece, which resembled a giant picnic blanket, was assembled on the south lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The project, Hand Built: A Communitywide Picnic, started last January when local artist Alison Heryer organized workshops across the metro and invited the…
Sen. Pat Roberts doesn’t think marijuana is a medical expense. In five of the 16 states that have legalized medical marijuana, people with prescriptions can deduct the cost as a medical expense when they apply for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. SNAP is a federal program administered by the USDA charged with giving the nation’s low-income citizens help with…
On Sunday, July 15, a 10,000-square-foot art piece, which resembled a giant picnic blanket, was assembled on the south lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The project, Hand Built: A Communitywide Picnic, started last January when local artist Alison Heryer organized workshops across the metro and invited the public to stamp and stencil 5-foot-by-4-foot fabric panels. On Sunday, everyone…
