David Love’s murder case is TV gold. TV producers just can’t stay away from the case of Independence’s best-known admitted murderer, David Love. Love’s affair with Teresa Stone and subsequent murder of Stone’s husband, Randy Stone, has already been the subject of Dateline and 48 Hours. Now it will be the subject of Investigation Discovery’s “new sultry series” Poisoned Passions…
Every so often, a movie comes along that’s so repellent, so ignorant, so baroque in its vileness, it saps your will to ever sit in a theater again. The Lone Ranger, which introduces the masked Western hero of yesteryear’s radio, TV and lunchboxes to the PlayStation generation, is such a production. Gore Verbinski, who directed the first three Pirates of…
The timing of We Steal Secrets, filmmaker Alex Gibney’s documentary on WikiLeaks, now seems more up-to-the-minute than anyone could have planned. It probably was no accident that Focus World began issuing the film (in theaters and through video on demand) the same week that one of its major protagonists, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, was set to begin his military court-martial,…
The phone rang, and Craig Glazer stubbed out a Marlboro Ultra Light in the ashtray on his desk. He hit the speaker button. “It’s a hundred for the cab,” a man said. “A hundred?” Glazer answered in his low, gravelly voice. He picked the phone up from its cradle and crammed it between his left ear and shoulder. “You gotta…
Deafheaven Yeezus hysteria has drowned out some of its hype, but Sunbather, the new album from San Francisco’s Deafheaven, is one of the most critically acclaimed records of 2013. Black metal, post-rock and industrial hums converge and artfully cohere over the course of the one-hour, seven-song album. The show should appeal to fans of such bands as My Bloody Valentine…
When seeing the People’s Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City, it’s very hard to say exactly what will happen on- or, as the case may be, offstage. Just one example: One night, a cellist and a headlamp-donning saxophonist walked into the audience while playing their instruments. Another night, three vocalists — two jazz singers and one opera tenor —…
More than any other current group, Fourth of July has woven itself into the tapestry of the town; it is hard to imagine Lawrence without Fourth of July,” we wrote back in May, in a review of the band’s recent album, Empty Moon. That praise now reads like a jinx: Brendan Hangauer, the band’s songwriter and frontman, is moving to…
Cupid is on trial at the Living Room this month. It’s a bold move in the city that’s home to Hallmark and Russell Stover, but the Living Room’s third season has been nothing if not bold. Writer and director Kyle Hatley’s folked-up Lysistrata reboot, The Death of Cupid, is a heady cocktail of dick jokes, blues licks and theological angst,…
When Stanford Glazer — restaurateur, comedy-club creator, owner of what he insists was KC’s first Jaguar — ran for mayor in 2007, his campaign floated several futuristic visions. But the one that seemed to resonate most with the public was his plan to build a 55-story Ferris wheel in Richard L. Berkley Riverfront Park. It was to be a giant…
I don’t have much enthusiasm for my own possible reincarnation — really, whose karma is that good? — but I’m all for the reincarnation of restaurants. Last week in this space, for instance, I made note of R Bar’s highly commendable reincarnation as Voltaire. And this week, I offer Masalas Authentic Indian Bistro, an Overland Park restaurant reborn after a…
Despite hundreds of thousands of people signing online petitions asking the Obama administration to declare the Westboro Baptist Church a hate group, the White House released a statement today saying it won’t. The reason the administration gave is pretty simple: “s a matter of practice, the federal government doesn’t maintain a list of hate groups.” So, there you have it….
We wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t remind you that, technically, fireworks are illegal in a majority of the KC area’s cities. Fortunately, many of them offer free displays. We recommend that you sit back, save your money, and let the Man handle tonight’s entertainment. KC RiverFest at Berkley Riverfront Park (south bank of the Missouri River between…
Larry Kopitnik People’s Liberation Big Band. To those of you who only check this blog and forget to visit The Pitch home page: You should check our home page more often. There, you’ll find all the stuff that we actually print in the paper every week, not all of which finds its way to this here blog. Music-wise this week…
Photo by Cameron Gee Mean Melin takes NYC. Kansas City’s competitive air-guitar takeover escalated Tuesday night in New York City. Eric “Mean” Melin won the New York semifinal – somehow making Jefferson Starship look good – at the Bowery Ballroom. He advances to the national finals in Los Angeles on August 17. We don’t have a lot of details on…
Masalas Authentic Indian Bistro has new owners and a new menu. Have a look, courtesy of Pitch photographer Angela C. Bond.
Ex-Merriam court clerk Fabiola Cruz is suing the city and others. Merriam Municipal Court clerk Fabiola Cruz was arrested June 27, 2011, for allegedly embezzling from the public trust. The Johnson County District Attorney’s Office issued a press release announcing that the 35-year-old Cruz was tagged with five felony charges: one for stealing more than $100,000 and the other four…
Foo’s Fabulous Frozen Custard is a Brookside institution. Foo’s Fabulous Frozen Custard, the shop at 6235 Brookside Plaza opened by Joe “Foo” Bremser in 1988, officially turned 25 years old last month, but the current owner, Joe’s sister Betty Bremser (she purchased the business from her brother in 1996), decided to wait until this month to celebrate the occasion. “I…
James McMurtry The son of novelist Larry McMurtry, singer-songwriter James McMurtry has inherited his father’s gift for storytelling; the eye for detail and the ear for wordplay common to his Americana tunes are literary to the core. He’s paired here with the Bottle Rockets, contemporaries of Uncle Tupelo and the Jayhawks in the early ’90s Midwestern alt-country scene. James McMurtry,…
Photo by Ashley Jones-Wisner Name: Callie England Occupation: Owner and founder of Rawxies Hometown: Jefferson City, Missouri Current neighborhood: West Plaza What I do (in 140 characters): I own and operate a living-foods company that manufactures and distributes prepackaged food throughout the United States. What’s your addiction? Lipstick, brightly colored anything, loud music, fermenting foods, Fast Company, and the GIOGO…
Freeman has closed his KCK coffee shop. Flywheel Coffee has closed in Kansas City, Kansas. Over the past eight months, owner Jon Freeman had worked to transform the former barber shop at 548 Central Avenue into a coffeehouse, music venue and art gallery. His dream of serving the neighborhood ended over the weekend as he posted the following message on…
Colin Young Potluck Productions wants your scripts for readings. Potluck Productions, a group that promotes the works of aspiring female playwrights, is looking for scripts for its First Friday Play Readings. Short plays and monologues, no longer than 10 or 12 minutes, are appropriate for the series taking place every other month at the Uptown Arts Bar (3611 Broadway) –…
Futurebirds Athens, Georgia’s Futurebirds is a stoner-friendly kind of alt-country band: lots of noodling, reverb, open jams, and usually a pedal steel crying in the back of the mix. At Middle of the Map, the group covered “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak; I always kind of liked that song, but I think I like it more now. Nashville’s Diarrhea Planet…
