The lights come up on a New York casting office, depressingly institutional, a little seedy. We see a bedsheet-draped fainting couch. We think we know what’s going to happen. Thomas Novachek (played by Rusty Sneary), a playwright and novice director, sifts through a stack of head shots, exhausted after a day of auditions for his female lead. He’s directing his…
Other ensembles reimagine jazz standards and classic sides. Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle are all about presenting new compositions. Whether instrumentally expressing a breakup or illustrating the contrast between cities, their music draws you into journeys to diverse emotional places. These musicians — Eddie Moore on keyboard, Adam Schlozman or Matt Hopper on guitar, brothers Ben Leifer on bass…
In the new video for “Born Too Late,” Dent May rides a Ferris wheel and a Tilt-a-Whirl at the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi and hangs out on a boat, drinking and waterskiing like a geeky Kenny Powers. The video closes with a flurry of fireworks in the night sky. It all seems very appropriate: The 27-year-old May is from…
“It’s the idea of: ‘I’ll play your music if you’ll play mine,’” Hunter Long says of his music organization Black House Collective. “I think that’s the basic appeal of what we’re doing.” Long has headed up Black House Collective since 2009, when he and fellow musician Russell Thorpe heard that arts nonprofit Charlotte Street Foundation had put out a call…
Sonic Spectrum Tribute to Cheap Trick Things don’t seem to be going so hot in the Cheap Trick camp this summer. Former drummer Bun E. Carlos is suing the band for several hundred thousand dollars, and singer Robin Zander’s doddering, electroshock stage presence leaves the impression that he might break a hip at any moment. So this tribute show honoring…
Matt Keeney pulls a city-issued white Ford Focus to the curb in front of 4543 South Benton Avenue. The bushes in front of the 101-year-old white bungalow here have grown rampant, blocking a small set of concrete stairs from the sidewalk to the boarded-up front door. This is what Keeney, a field inspector for the Neighborhoods and Housing Services Department,…
There are certain restaurant trends that I’m ready to see go the way of the salad bar and the relish tray. Red velvet cake. Duck confit. Bacon anything. And small plates. Enough already. What the hell are small plates, anyway? They’re not really appetizers, and they’re not actually tapas (which were originally pieces of bread or meat small enough to…
Fresh vegetables and cold beer will be the combination at the Beer Kitchen #1 next Monday. Once a year, the Beer Kitchen #1 saloon and restaurant at 435 Westport Road in Westport hosts a dinner that pairs vegetarian dishes with beers selected by the Beer Kitchen’s resident cicerone, Randyl Danner. This year’s event, to be held Monday, September 16, will…
Bagley gets 20 years in federal prison Edward Bagley got sentenced to 20 years in prison on Wednesday morning at the Kansas City federal courthouse; that wasn’t a surprise after the Lebanon, Missouri, resident pleaded guilty in a widely publicized sex-slave case. But his victim, identified only in court records as F.V. (female victim), confronted Bagley for the last time…
Near the front door of Westport’s Thai Place is the restaurant’s “Wall of Flame,” where a large frame is filled with photos of wild-eyed people who have undertaken the place’s “Super Thai Hot Challenge.” Everyone pictured looks sweaty and exhausted. Also: proud. I asked my server about it, and she looked like she had seen a ghost – or, anyway,…
Last month, Mayors Sly James and Mark Holland traveled to Boston to pitch Kansas City as a potential site for the 2016 Republican National Convention. Why sell typically blue-leaning Kansas City to a decidedly red-meat event? “The answer is simple,” James wrote in an August 20 blog post on his website. “Kansas City deserves to be in that kind of…
Name: Scott Hall Occupation: Vice president for strategic initiatives at the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Hometown: Proudly born and raised here. What I do (in 140 characters): I lead the KC Chamber’s day-to-day activity on our major community initiatives. That includes the KC Chamber’s Big 5. What’s your game? You name the game, and I most likely have…
Angela C. Bond Blanc Burgers + Bottles is now managed by Kansas City’s Leap Hospitality. Kansas City’s two Blanc Burgers + Bottles locations – on the Country Club Plaza and at Mission Farms – will now be managed by Kansas City-based Leap Hospitality (which currently operates the Jacobson and Futbol Club), according to Michael Werner, the vice president of design…
Experimental music organization Black House Collective launches a two-month concert series. Pitch photographer Brooke Vandever gives you a preview.
The family of Ryan Beye, the music-loving entrepreneur who died late last year, started the Ryan Beye Foundation to help support local creatives. The group threw its first block party September 6 with artists and live music. Pitch photographer Sabrina Staires shot the first C4 Fest.
The strange case of Susan “Liz” Van Note took another twist on Tuesday as the Lee’s Summit lawyer was tagged with an additional murder charge related to the shooting death of her father, William Van Note. Liz Van Note was brought up on an additional first degree murder charge in Camden County, Missouri, this one for the death of William…
Marrakech Cafe owner Noure Kamal is looking for a less fragrant location. Noure Kamal, the owner of the three-year-old Marrakech Cafe at 4116 Broadway, fought a brave battle against the lingering aroma of mothballs wafting into his dining room from the Oriental carpeting shop next door. But last week, he threw in the proverbial towel and closed the restaurant down…
Restaurateur Steve Cole is back in the restaurant business as the new general manager of the exclusive River Club. Last fall, one of Kansas City’s best-known restaurateurs, Steve Cole, was hired as chief operating officer for the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association. Last week, Cole – who won national accolades for his upscale Cafe Allegro, an iconic fixture on 39th…
At Fresh Market, you can load up as much shrimp salad or Thai lobster salad as you like. After all, you’re paying for it. I’m not quite sure what kind of “European shopping experience” the Overland Park branch of the North Carolina-based company is going for. It’s certainly nothing like, say, Bon Marche, the chic combination grocery store and department…
garypinkel.com Gary Pinkel talks about paying up for student-athletes Gary Pinkel, perhaps riding the wave of public discontent toward the NCAA, took to his blog yesterday to advocate for paying college athletes. The Missouri football coach joined a growing chorus around college football and specifically his school’s new Southeastern Conference that support paying student athletes some kind of stipend. Pinkel…
Sunny Black & Brown is back. Farm to Market Bread Co. is bringing one of its action stars out of retirement. Sunny Black & Brown – the round loaf made with sunflower seeds, black beans and brown rice – will be back on shelves Friday after an eight-year hiatus. The local breadmaker, who moved to the Crossroads last year (you…
Flickr: Maureen Didde The frites at Le Fou Frog would be a respectable choice. Spuds. Taters. Call them what you want. Just please don’t call them freedom fries. Today, we’re going to settle the great potato debate. They can be crinkle cut, waffle cut, or hand cut. They can be double-fried or baked or not even made of potatoes (I’m…
Facebook: Cellar & Loft Cellar & Loft’s pizza oven was delivered last month. The wine shop that sprouted a pizza kitchen will be offering a sneak peek at the menu that goes live on Tuesday, October 1. Cellar & Loft, the three-year-old wine, beer and spirits store at 525 Walnut, is opening its kitchen (and showing off its new pizza…
%{}% Irv Hockaday is among several pro-tax donors with Hallmark ties. Hallmark Cards-related people and organizations have played a big part in funding campaign resources for advocates of passing a sales-tax increase in Jackson County to fund translational research. The Committee for Research Treatments and Cures has boosted its bottom line to $620,000, thanks to hefty donations coming to its…
