Archives: September 2013
Jeanne Jasperse, longtime KKFI radio host, has died
Facebook Jeanne Jasperse hosted the Coffeehouse Radio Show for 25 years. Jeanne Jasperse, a local singer, songwriter and musician who hosted the Sunday morning Coffeehouse Radio Show on KKFI 90.1 for 25 years, has died. Jasperse was a popular figure in Kansas City’s folk music community and performed at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival for many years. “We have no…
Jeremy LaFaver headed to court Friday; won’t contest pot charges
Carrying a bag of weed and a pipe around. Driving without an insurance card. Not renewing your tags on time. Individually, these are all slacker crimes, the types of infractions that can easily ensnare even upstanding citizens. But Kansas City Democrat Jeremy LaFaver, a freshman representative in the Missouri House whose district includes Waldo and Brookside, is getting ready to…
Girl in a Coma’s Nina Diaz: I’ve gone through my last wormhole
Girl in a Coma comes off as pretty tough. After all, the trio of friends – sisters Phanie and Nina Diaz and Jenn Alva – have been making their own brand of fast-paced, knife-sharp indie rock for nearly a decade. Their story by now is familiar: drummer Phanie and bassist Jenn met in high school and had ambitions to put…
Did you lose your pig in Brown Park? Merriam police would like to return her
Someone is missing this little piggy, and Merriam police would like to return her. Police say the pig was found in Brown Park (5040 Booker Drive) around 9 a.m. Tuesday, and they’re looking for the owner. The pig is definitely a cutie. She’s being taken care of by the Great Plains SPCA, according to KMBC Channel 9. If you’re missing your…
The Royals season will end on time, after all
The Kansas City Royals and the Pittsburgh Pirates, a pair of once-proud baseball franchises interminably linked by futility for the last 20 years, finally got that irresistible taste of winning baseball this year. The high will continue for the Pirates, who are headed to the playoffs for the first time since 1992. The Royals’ buzz got harshed last night by…
Scar the Martyr is playing at the Riot Room tomorrow night
It seems slightly odd that Slipknot percussionist Joey Jordison would need to find another creative outlet to unleash more angst and rage, but some people have a lot of that, I guess. Scar the Martyr was formed earlier this year and will be releasing its debut album on September 30. Here is a really heartwarming new video from Scar the Martyr…
Boulevard will reopen its pop-up Plaza store next week
No word yet on whether the K’s keg backpacks will be on the shelves. Those not content to simply drink Boulevard’s many delicious craft beers will be thrilled to learn that the KC-based brewery’s pop-up Dry Goods store returns to the Plaza next Friday, October 4. You’ll be able to purchase all kinds of Boulevard merch at the location –…
FIDLAR’s Brandon Schwartzel: In a 24-hour period, there are four hours of fun
FIDLAR The guys of L.A.’s skate-punk/garage-rock act FIDLAR (which stands for “Fuck It Dog, Life’s a Risk”) have become well-known for their hard partying and their loves of stick-and-poke tattoos and ’90s music culture. Oh, and their own music, too, which has garnered them opening spots for the Hives as well as punk legends OFF and Adolescents. The band released…
Jay Matlack, KCK Community College workforce development coordinator, answers The Pitch‘s questionnaire
Name: Jay Matlack Occupation: Workforce development coordinator at KCK Community College, co-owner of Tricycle Transit, co-owner of MRJT Real Estate, and assistant cross-country coach Hometown: Shawnee Current neighborhood: The Crossroads What’s your addiction? Going to concerts, discovering new music, watching any kind of soccer, and running. What’s your game? Spades. Good friends or family, a cold beer and a good…
Pendleton Heights named one of the best neighborhoods in the country for old homes
Brooke Vandever This Old Neighborhood: Pendleton Heights. Last year, The Pitch took a look at the influx of artists and bargain hunters into the Historic Northeast neighborhood. Pendleton Heights, a section of the Northeast that’s said to be Kansas City’s first real suburb, was built over 100 years ago. It’s lined with gorgeous Victorian homes, and we’re evidently not the…
Don Jon
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s first feature as a director and screenwriter (as well as star) follows a guy whose porn habit approaches Clockwork Orange constancy, and it features as much skin and thrust as can be superfast-montaged into a hard-R movie. But Don Jon’s overall tone is boyish — sometimes even girlish — and its darkest emotions are far from harrowing. It’s…
Rush
Well, this is an unexpected development: Ron Howard has made a James Bond movie — a very good James Bond movie. In the director’s sure, smart new Rush, rivals with European accents chase each other around the world, exchange barbs on their way to do gentlemanly battle, and coolly persist under constant threat of death. Their world is one of…
Enough Said
In what would turn out to be the last gasp of brick-and-mortar music retail, indie record shops of the 1990s had to deal with a certain kind of customer. “I need you to open this so I can hear it. Uh, wait — where’s your listening station?” If there was no promo on hand to play — a disc that…
Red Badge Variations updates notions of wartime courage
At the Coterie, Red Badge Variations riffs on Stephen Crane’s iconic Civil War novel to capture a realistic (but teen-friendly) glimpse into the lives of five soldiers deployed during the war on terror. The production strikes a curiously jingoistic opening note: Director Kyle Hatley paces the soldiers through a stylized display of chest-thumping and hooah chants in their Afghan bunk….
Jazz Beat: Phoenix Fest, at the Phoenix
This weekend, Eighth Street closes between Broadway and Central, and a stage goes up in the street. At the fourth annual Phoenix Fest, as the occasion is known, the performances will vacillate between jazz and blues. Music starts at 1 p.m. with singer, trumpeter and tap-dancer Lonnie McFadden, followed by swing-piano showman Tim Whitmer & KC Express. Singer Millie Edwards…
Bill Shapiro marks 35 years of Cyprus Avenue on KCUR
Bill Shapiro can’t quite remember how old he is — 76 or 77. But he can recall the exact date, the precise moment, that he discovered Elvis Presley. “I was born in ’37, so I must be 76,” he says after a moment, with a small chuckle. “But insurancewise, I’m 77.” Shapiro is seated at an enormous conference table in…
Trent Reznor resurrects Nine Inch Nails
If you have tickets to see Nine Inch Nails at the Sprint Center — where the band makes its second stop on a new tour — you probably know how “March of the Pigs” looks these days. You’ve probably seen, for instance, YouTube footage from NIN’s Lollapalooza appearance in July. There’s hired tour gun Ilan Rubin, playing his drums at…
Music Forecast September 26-October 2: Shemekia Copeland, Travis, Youth Lagoon, Richard Buckner, and more
Apache Relay You may be wondering if the world truly needs another folk-rock band. Perhaps the notion keeps you awake at night. You blink drearily at the ceiling, asking yourself if there will ever be another artist able to seamlessly blend heartfelt acoustic playing and robust rock elements in a way that touches your soul and makes you believe that…
As Baldwin KC opens on the Plaza, success washes over denim hero Matt Baldwin
Matt Baldwin puts four of his prized possessions on the table. They’re all jeans. He’s been talking — fast and with much enthusiasm — for a solid 20 minutes, about denim. The fabric’s history, the evolution and look and feel of jeans, the poetry in what washing and wearing do to simple indigo — he’s covering it all. He pauses,…
Irish Ambassador: Shaun Brady energizes the Reserve
When a new executive chef takes over a restaurant’s kitchen, it can be like a new conductor stepping in to take over a symphony. The performance space stays the same, but style and tone and interpretations change — sometimes dramatically, sometimes subtly. When the boutique Ambassador Hotel, at 11th Street and Grand, opened last year, the owners of the expensively…
Taco Republic and other restaurant openings and closings
One of the newest authentic South American restaurants in the metro is Empanada Madness at 906 Southwest Boulevard. The much-awaited “street taco” concept restaurant Taco Republic, from the local Bread & Butter Concepts, opened today at 500 County Line Road in KCK. It’s the latest in a flurry of new restaurant openings over the past two months. The list of…
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