Archives: February 2013
Pokey LaFarge is at Davey’s Uptown on Saturday
In 2011, I wrote in these pages that Pokey LaFarge “slicks his hair back, wears a baggy suit and generally looks like a character in Boardwalk Empire.” The producers of the show apparently concurred; LaFarge’s version of the old pop standard “Lovesick Blues” played during the closing credits of a Season 3 episode last year. LaFarge, who hails from St….
Barbosa’s Express has closed on Oak Street
Facebook: Barbosa’s Express The queso has left the building. Barbosa’s Express has closed its downtown location after deciding that the lunch business wasn’t brisk enough to support a restaurant. The space at 1128 Oak is becoming a bit of a revolving door as the Latin Bistro Express also failed to find steady traffic from the lunch set. Barbosa’s Express –…
Kansas Sen. Greg Smith wants employment protection for state lawmakers
Facebook: Greg Smith Smith is thinking about jobs. His job. In an effort to keep Kansas lawmakers from clogging up the unemployment rolls, Kansas Sen. Greg Smith (R-Overland Park) introduced Senate Bill 119 Monday. The bill would require an employer to keep a legislator’s job open while the Kansas Legislature was in session. Here’s Smith’s explanation of the proposed legislation:…
Figlio has closed, but is looking to relocate on the Plaza
Facebook: Figlio Eat a Tiramisu in Figlio’s honor today. Figlio (209 W. 46th Terr.), the spot where you once spent New Year’s Eve or danced at a wedding, has closed on the Plaza. Fat City’s Charles Ferruzza reviewed the Haddad Restaurant Group’s makeover of the restaurant back in 2008 and believed the changes weren’t as “dramatic as they should be,”…
Victor Wooten is at Knuckleheads Friday
Routinely cited as one of the greatest living bass players, Victor Wooten holds down the low end in Bela Fleck and the Flecktones; he has collaborated with the likes of Dave Matthews and Stanley Clarke; and he has five Grammy awards on his mantel. His latest solo affair, Words and Tones, comprises 14 original Wooten compositions performed by female singers…
KC Barbecue Tours and other weekend possibilities
Warm up with some barbecue. The most frustrating thing about barbecue is that you typically get to try only one thing. Well, now you can go around the world (of barbecue) in just under four hours with KC Barbecue Tours. The new guided bus tour launches Friday at 11 a.m. Owner and driver Karl Schemel says you won’t leave hungry….
Where are the most romantic restaurants in Kansas City?
ChefMattRock What local restaurants are romantic when it’s not Valentine’s Day? Any restaurant – even Waffle House – can be the setting of a romantic dining experience on Valentine’s Day. But what local restaurants have romantic cachet when it’s not the so-called “most romantic night of the year”? (Ask any restaurant server who has hustled plates on Valentine’s Day evening…
Missouri Rep. Rory Ellinger looking to decrease sentences for small amounts of pot
Cannabis Culture A Missouri representative hopes to relax the pot laws. A little bit of pot wouldn’t be such a big deal in Missouri if state Rep. Rory Ellinger (D-St. Louis) is successful in getting a bill passed that would reduce sentences for first-time offenders found with less than 35 grams (about 1.23 ounces) of marijuana. The Associated Press reports…
Cody Canada and the Departed are at Knuckleheads tonight
From the mid-1990s until a couple of years ago, Cross Canadian Ragweed seemed to tour nonstop. The red-dirt country group is currently on hiatus, but frontman Cody Canada is still moving, having founded a new group, The Departed, which released its second album last year. That record, Adventus, is full of blazing, Skynyrd-style, Southern-rock jams that shouldn’t be too much…
Kansas City Renegades hold open tryouts on Friday
The Renegades want you. If you’re good. The Kansas City Renegades, the city’s new arena football team, is looking for some players. Former gridiron greats, football dreamers and those, I guess, just looking for a hobby to start this spring are invited to the Kansas City Sports Lodge (19310 East 50th Terrace in Independence) 1-3 p.m. Friday for team tryouts….
West 18th Street Fashion Show’s 2013 theme: ‘Gilded Summer’
Hayley Bartels A view of last year’s show. More here. If it’s raining when the West 18th Street Fashion Show announces its theme and calls for entries, that means no precipitation during the actual event. Right? Check your Farmer’s Almanac forecast for June 8, when the show returns for a 13th year to the Crossroads District. This year’s theme: “Gilded…
Could Top Chef ever film in Kansas City?
Padma and Elbow might go well together. The franchise Top Chef, is like a night out with chef Mario Batali; the next round just keeps coming long after you thought you were finished. Bravo has announced that the latest season in Seattle will be followed by another season in an as-yet-undetermined city. I think Kansas City is due. We’ve had…
Farm to Market’s Chocolate Cherry Bread hits shelves Friday
Farm to Market Chocolate Cherry Bread is just the right amount of sweet. The only real date you need for Valentine’s Day is set to be baked sometime in the next 24 hours. Farm to Market’s chocolate cherry bread hits store shelves tomorrow with new loaves being made through Thursday, February 14. The bread begins as Farm to Market’s sourdough….
KJHK is accepting Farmer’s Ball submissions, was featured on mtvU
This is cool: The band that wins this year’s Farmer’s Ball – the annual Lawrence-KC battle of the bands hosted by the University of Kansas – gets $2,000. That’s a pretty sweet check! Second place gets $1,000. Not shabby! Bands, you have until March 1 to submit your songs, which you can do here. The preliminary ball will be held…
The Middle of the Map lineup has arrived
Grizzly Bear Middle of the Map Fest, the homegrown KC music festival, enters its third year this spring. It’s April 4-6, at venues around Westport. Today we got the lineup, and it’s got some pretty awesome names on it. At the top: Grizzly Bear! Also: Deerhoof, Tennis, Jeff the Brotherhood, the Joy Formidable, the Whigs, and Iceage. Full lineup here….
17-year-old found handcuffed to pole in family’s basement
This is a terrible story. Today in awful stories that make you question humanity: The Star reports that police discovered a 17-year-old who had been handcuffed to a pole since September in his family’s Northland home. The paper reports that police went to the home on Monday on a tip sent to the Missouri Children’s Division. The details the Star…
UMKC Report: Kansas meat industry largely dependent on immigrant labor
The Kansas meat industry needs immigrants. A new study about the role that immigration has in Kansas’ workforce is pretty eye-opening. The study by UMKC professor Peter Eaton says immigrants in Kansas make up only 6 percent of the state’s population, but they comprise 8.8 percent of the state’s employment, the Kansas City Business Journal reports. And, Eaton found, immigrant…
KC’s Health Department finds the city’s cleanest kitchens
Flickr: peapod labs Never underestimate the value of a clean sink. A restaurant is a keeper if after touring the kitchen, you still want to eat there. Absent a chef’s table, the next best thing to seeing a kitchen is the Kansas City Health Department’s annual list of Grade A Food Excellence Awards for 2013 (which recognizes restaurants, convenience stores,…
Hallmark lobbies to keep Saturday mail service
Flickr: kla4067 A trip to the mailbox could become a weekday kind of thing. Sometime today, a representative of the U.S. Postal Service is expected to announce that mail (excluding packages) will no longer be delivered on Saturdays. To those of you who receive a paycheck via direct deposit, this news will likely fall somewhere between what’s for lunch and…
Jabulani Leffall is tired of being on someone else’s time
Leffall is outside the booth now. For a man who hosted a public-radio talk show, Jabulani Leffall speaks a lot about revolution. He referenced it during his on-air resignation January 16 as host of KCUR 89.3’s Central Standard. “This is a new world order on Central Standard and my last broadcast at KCUR 89.3 FM. I’m Jabulani Leffall, signing off…
Find The Pitch
