Fashion icon/legendary comedian Bill Cosby is touring the country this fall, doing more dates on the road than is probably healthy for a man of 76 years. He’s taking a short break in January and then heading back out again February 1, when he starts back up with a show at the Midland (now officially known as Arvest Bank Theatre…
With its star-spangled marquee and movie-house lineage, the Granada has been a Lawrence staple for more than three-quarters of a century. Today, two decades into its life as a music venue, it’s a destination for such indie darlings as Best Coast and such punk-rock heavyweights as Rancid. For a place that has seen a lot of history, the Granada has…
Baseball fans who went to Kauffman Stadium Wednesday to take in the Kansas City Royals’ 7-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians saw perhaps the most exciting play of the baseball season, and then were frustrated that the replay never showed up on the stadium’s oversized video screen. Those who didn’t go to the game or watch it on television missed…
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Director Destin Daniel Cretton’s Short Term 12 is the archetypal Sundance indie — To Sir, With Love for Arcade Fire fans. So of course, after rejection by Sundance, the movie was met with awards and acclaim at South by Southwest. It’s the kind of film that feels genuine in the details — as in a profane, powerful rap song performed…
Prisoners opens with the Lord’s Prayer, as recited by Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman), a suburban survivalist teaching his teenage son how to shoot a deer. It’s not the most original way to start a movie — heck, it’s not even the only movie opening this weekend that kicks off with a deer getting shot — but, as filmed by director…
You could argue that Passport’s music isn’t jazz. With Latin, Cuban and South American motifs, perhaps it’s world music meets jazz. Trumpeter Stan Kessler is certainly one of the most prolific jazz musicians in Kansas City. And versatile guitarist Beau Bledsoe, through his group Alaturka and stints in Matt Otto’s sextet, stakes many claims to KC’s jazz scene. In their…
Steve Sweitzer takes his music — and his barbecue — seriously. You’d expect nothing less from the man who has grown Columbia’s annual Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival over a decade, but Sweitzer has good reason to sound downright bubbly about this weekend’s three-day lineup. He and co-organizer Richard King (of the Blue Note and Mojo’s) are putting more…
This time last year, singer Kristen May was chipping away at a goal: writing her own music. The Blue Springs native was taking a break from a life of touring, following the 2011 breakup of KC band Vedera. She was working part time at a coffee shop, writing and recording an electronic pop solo album. She was not picturing a…
Weekend, with Disappears Not to be confused with the arty Canadian R&B act the Weeknd, the Brooklyn-via-San Francisco group Weekend traffics in dark post-punk with some big-tent aspirations — it’s morose but not shy. Chicago’s Disappears is led by Brian Case, better known for his work in the Ponys and 90 Day Men. You can hear a little of the…
“I caught the wind.” The manager of the Hobbs Building has been waiting, standing at the loading dock. He’s used to this. The wind has just pulled up in a black Ford F-150, 20 minutes late. The truck’s front fender curls like a cartoon villain’s mustache. The engine coughs like a coal miner. The wind steps out of the vehicle,…
A lot of people in Kansas City take the art of barbecuing very seriously. So seriously that, once they’ve amassed a mess of barbecue prize ribbons and a shelf of trophies, they consider opening a restaurant. It’s not an unexpected progression of ambitions, although there’s a world of difference between smoking for a shiny trophy and operating a restaurant. That’s…
A story out Wednesday in the Kansas City Business Journal starts off by mentioning that Kansas City is rumored to be part of the National Hockey League’s expansion plans, and then spends the rest of the article refuting the possibility. Expansion talk is hot, relatively speaking, in Seattle. A TV station up there has a report based on unnamed sources…
Angela C. Bond You may see some changes at the two Blanc Burgers restaurants in the metro. Kansas City-based Leap Hospitality is taking over the operations of Blanc Burgers + Bottles’ two locations (on the Country Club Plaza and at Mission Farms). “We’re still working out all the details,” says Michael Werner, Leap’s vice president of design and operations, “but…
Megan Dejmal Earlier this year, we drove about three hours west to report on Acoustic Sounds, a world-renowned vinyl empire in the unlikely city of Salina, Kansas. The company, led by Chad Kassem, retails and distributes used records; supplies wholesale vinyl records to independent shops; plates and presses new vinyl; and reissues rare and out-of-print records. They actually do way…
Because of his work in the Nerves and the Beat, Paul Collins enjoys cult-hero status in the world of power-pop enthusiasts. His current band, the Paul Collins Beat, cheekily titled its 2010 album King of Power Pop!, and it delivers exactly the kind of delicious, melodic hooks you’d expect from a record with such a name. On this Midwestern tour,…
You never forget your first school lunch. Their plates are no longer segmented, and they can have more than a half-pint of milk at a time, but a few KC tastemakers still find the specter of school lunches past both haunting and delightful. With school now back in session and children across the metro staring at rectangular pizza and Beanee…
A campaign committee pushing for the passage of a half-cent sales tax in Jackson County for translational medical research is building quite a war chest. But the money isn’t coming from a broad base. On September 9, The Pitch reported that the campaign coffers of the Committee for Research Treatments and Cures had swelled to $620,000. Most of the contributors…
Name: Brent Toellner Occupation: President of the board of directors for KC Pet Project Hometown: Boonville, Missouri Current neighborhood: Hyde Park What I do (in 140 characters): Social media, marketing consulting and advertising sales for Missouri Life magazine, and learning all about local food and regional tourism in the process. What’s your addiction? Being right on the Internet. The Internet…
Charles Ferruzza reviewed the Pick Smoke n Grill in Shawnee. Here’s a look at the menu, via Pitch photographer Angela C. Bond.
Ashford Stamper Pillsbury Bake-Off semifinalist Talihna Ozturk could use only seven ingredients in her Almond Orange Crescent Toasts. There’s only one local semifinalist in the 46th annual Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest: 27-year-old Talihna Ozturk of Blue Springs. She made it to the semifinalist round (competing with 59 other challengers in her category, “Quick Rise and Shine Breakfasts”) with her recipe for…
Forbes yesterday released its list of the 400 wealthiest individuals in America, and a handful are either local or have local ties. Coming in at No. 110 was Springfield, Missouri’s John Morris, the founder and owner of Bass Pro Shops. His net worth is estimated at $4 billion, but that largesse has not deterred Morris from seeking and receiving more…
Lawrence Democrat Paul Davis made his candidacy for Kansas governor official today in a YouTube video (watch it after the jump) called “Restore Kansas.” The Pitch reported in August that Davis, the House Minority Leader, had plans to run for governor in 2014, and the candidate had launched a campaign website. In the video, Davis says the only label he’s interested…
