Photo by Chris Mullins Name: John DePrisco Occupation: photographer, the Photo Bus Hometown: Cincinnati Current neighborhood: River Market Who or what is your sidekick? April, my 1970 VW Bus! What career would you choose in an alternate reality? My mother worked for Delta for 42 years, and I have always loved to fly. So I would be a fighter pilot….
You only needed to be 16 years old to attend Frost, the winter EDM Festival that Global Dance threw at the Midland Friday, January 25. And many of the 2,700 or so revelers weren’t much older than that. The packed house got down to dubstep and various other strains of electronic music from Zed’d Dead, Krewella, Figure, Seven Lions, Popeska,…
%{}% I woke up last Saturday morning with drenched sheets. Not from pee! I never pee the bed! You’ll just have to take my word about that. It was sweat. I was sick: the flu. My mouth was dry and chapped and full of gross mucus. I was drained, lightheaded, sapped of energy. On top of that, I had pulled…
The 34 scenes of Blacktop Sky, a 90-minute one-act by Christina Anderson premiering on the Unicorn Theatre’s Jerome Stage, are necessarily abbreviated. Some last mere seconds. Yet the play’s atypical unfolding feels drawn out. Directed by Mykel Hill, Sky captures our attention at first with a dynamic and telling portrayal of the conflicts and distrust between police and residents in…
In the decades since the 1949 debut of Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Death of a Salesman, the play’s workingman themes have remained relevant. And its popularity has never waned — last year, its fourth Broadway revival won two Tony Awards. KC may not have the lights of Broadway, but it has the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, which is now staging…
Heartfelt Anarchy Heartfelt Anarchy is the newish collaboration between Les Izmore (best known as the guy who raps in Hearts of Darkness) and D/Will, a producer and beat maker (and occasional MC) about town. I caught the duo in October at the Riot Room. Izmore stomped around the stage barking out bars; D/Will wore a mask and tapped out beats…
In the 1980s and ’90s, Kansas City filmmaker Todd Sheets made dozens of nanobudget horror movies that paid homage to the grindhouse cinema he’d loved as a kid. His titles included Goblin, Moonchild and Zombie Bloodbath, and he enjoyed some casting coups — Violent New Breed featured blaxploitation legend Rudy Ray Moore (Dolemite). Sheets was building the kind of career…
On a cold January day at 39th Street and Prospect, an elderly black man shuffles between cars at the traffic light. He gets through the intersection and then moves from one vacant lot to another, intent on bumming a smoke from a friend who has just secured a pack from Cigarette Depot. The store is the only building on this…
In 1985, the impressive new Vista International Hotel opened on 12th Street, the first new downtown Kansas City hotel in more than a decade. It sat on a notorious piece of property: a block-long stretch of trashy saloons and strip joints. The bars and clubs had been popular with convention visitors to the city (particularly during the 1976 Republican National…
Jill Downen has hundreds of sketchbooks, filled with drawings, diagrams, technical notes, lists and journal entries. And since 2007, she has been working on a three-dimensional sketchbook, a series of miniature sculptures created in part as preparation for her full-scale works, some of which have measured 8 feet tall. Taken from that 3-D sketchbook, the 15 models now at Plug…
Forester Michael The ACBs’ new record, Little Leaves, is out in March via new local label High Dive Records. (Also on High Dive’s roster: Ghosty, Shy Boys and Fourth of July.) We’ve already heard one of the singles, “Ocean.” Today, another song from the album trickled out onto MTV Hive. It’s called “Record Store,” and you’ll probably recognize it if…
Wikipedia Don’t give up on Twinkies. It’s true, Twinkies don’t expire. The most famous of Hostess’ brands appears to have two suitors. Time is reporting that a source with knowledge of the snack-cake negotiations believes Hostess is set to announce that the two lead bidders are C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. (the owner of Pabst Blue Ribbon and known for…
You know, Valentine’s Day isn’t far off. In just a few weeks, you’ll try to cram a year’s worth of romantic aspiration into a dinner reservation and a hastily selected greeting card. We’re not about to make fun of all that. Ritual has its place, after all, and we’ll be right behind you in line at Target come 4 p.m….
Oddly Correct is getting some buzz. Kansas City’s coffee culture is starting to percolate on the national scene. In Eater’s list of the “21 Hottest Coffee Shops in the U.S.,” Oddly Correct Coffee Bar is right there at No. 11. (It probably doesn’t hurt that one of the list authors, Sprudge’s Jordan Michelman, likely had a chance to hear about…
Facebook: Potbelly This is The Wreck. The Wreck has a new home. The signature sandwich (roast beef, salami, turkey, hickory-smoked ham and Swiss cheese) of the Potbelly Sandwich Shop will be served at 4725 Broadway. The Kansas City Star reports that Potbelly will be taking over the former Soma Intimates spot on the Plaza. The Chicago-based chain serves sandwiches, salads,…
Facebook: FC Kansas City Just remember, it’s not about the name on the back. Fire up Invincible and get on that old high school jersey – FC Kansas City is holding open tryouts. The newly formed squad is looking for talent in the first year of the National Women’s Soccer League. And as a result, coach Vlatko Andonovski will be…
There’s a new Accurso on the block: Anthony Accurso, 26, is now running the south Plaza restaurant. For nearly three decades, restaurateur Joe Accurso was the man to see for Southern Italian cuisine just south of the Plaza. Generous, jovial, good-natured Joe opened a little delicatessen at 5044 Main in 1984 when he was 24 years old. The sandwich shop…
Leffall says he’s not in hiding. Jabulani Leffall, the former host of KCUR 89.3’s Central Standard program who abruptly resigned on-air January 16, says he’s not in hiding. He also says he won’t discuss his departure from the public-radio station. In a statement e-mailed to The Pitch, Leffall said: “My motivations for my actions were neither premeditated nor of malicious…
Things got frosty at the Midland on Friday, January 25, for Global Dance’s Winter EDM Festival. Zed’d Dead, Krewella, Figure, and DJ Fury + MC Dino turned up the heat on the partygoers. Photos by Lynn Collins.
He started something he couldn’t finish. Moz has a bleeding ulcer. Crushing news. No word yet on a rescheduled date. We’ll keep you in the loop. Categories: Music
Beer Kitchen stays true to its name tonight. It’s possible that no chef in the city loves beer as much as Julian’s Celina Tio. And she’ll prove it with a five-course beer dinner at Beer Kitchen (435 Westport Road) tonight. She’s pairing Boulevard Harvest Dance with trout amandine, wild-rice cakes and bacon-mustard greens; Stillwater Beer Table with a salad of…
Flickr: Bob Doran The Kansas Legislature is not ready to get hands-on with medicinal pot. Kansas Sen. David Haley (D-Kansas City, Kansas) has introduced a bill to legalize medical marijuana, but the Associated Press reports that the Cannabis Care and Compassion Act is not likely to get a hearing. State Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook (R-Shawnee), the chair of the Senate Health…
In this week’s issue, I interviewed Paul Sprangers, front dude for Free Energy, about his band’s latest album of pop-rock jams, Love Sign. It’s full of meaty, delicious hooks you could just chew on forever, and I recommend you check it out if you are into rocking out and dancing and generally having fun. The band is at Czar tonight….
