Archives: January 2014

Dining, Food & Drink

Baked in Kansas City bakery and restaurant opens January 21

Charles Ferruzza,

Please don’t call the deep purple walls at the yet-unopened Baked in Kansas City – the former Napoleon Bakery location at 706 Westport Road – a grape color. “It’s not grape,” says sous chef Grant Klover. “It’s plum.” The upbeat colors for the bakery and restaurant, which opens to the public at 7 a.m. next Tuesday, were chosen by interior…
A&E

Victor Continental spinoff Under the Table rings the Bell Saturday for Jessie’s Song

Nick Spacek,

John Clayton Averill and Grunau onstage Lawrence’s Under the Table Theater has, for the past several years, been primarily devoted to producing the Victor Continental Show, an annual production lampooning Lawrence institutions and culture. But now that Mr. Continental has retired, Card Table’s members have moved on to other projects, spun off as Under the Table. After several productions, including…
Music

Tennis’ Patrick Riley talks rhythm and groove ahead of the band’s Saturday night show at RecordBar

Natalie Gallagher,

Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, the husband-wife duo that is behind Tennis, are already picture-perfect – the kind of couple you find yourself watching enviously at some cozy brunch spot while they trade tender smiles over gooseberry pancakes or something. The Denver band’s honeymoon-flavored full-length debut, Cape Dory, was a convincing mix of dreamy, beachworthy 1970s-inspired pop, and their follow-up, Young &…
Music

Local singer-songwriter Gardienne releases debut EP ‘Walking Trees’

Natalie Gallagher,

Alyssa DeGraff has been waiting a very long time for this moment. Well, not this exact moment specifically, but close enough. Last week, DeGraff released her debut EP, Walking Trees, under the moniker Gardienne. Over coffee at the Westport Café, the 27-year-old San Diego transplant is all smiles as she discusses the EP and the bumps along the road. “In 2007,…
Music

Katy Perry is bringing her Prismatic Tour to the Sprint Center in August

Natalie Gallagher,

Yes, yes, we’ve all been breathlessly anticipating the announcement of some North American tour dates from Katy Perry following the October release of her latest album, Prism. At long last, the day has come.  The singer will “roar” (sorry, couldn’t help it) into the Sprint Center on Tuesday, August 19. The date is one among 46 on Perry’s Prismatic Tour, packed…
A&E

Chuck Haddix’s Charlie Parker bio captures Bird

Scott Wilson,

“Bird is like Mozart,” Chuck Haddix says of Charlie Parker. “He changed everything in music. There’s music before Charlie Parker, and there’s music after Charlie Parker.” The Kansas City, Kansas-born saxophonist, Haddix adds, “influenced everyone from Moondog to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and inspired writers, sculptors, playwrights, filmmakers and choreographers. Jack Kerouac spoke about how he wanted to be…
A&E, Stage

MET dresses down for a fine M. Butterfly revival

Liz Cook,

David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly opens with high romance in mind, stating a Pride and Prejudice–like truth universally acknowledged: “All men want a beautiful woman, and the uglier the man, the greater the want.” Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre keeps the man and the want at the fore of a haunting production. The lights come up on Rene Gallimard, the former diplomat…
News

The Usury Suspects, Part 3: Tivol’s ex-pres knows where the real money is

David Hudnall,

On the cover of Ingram’s last month was a man named Steve Mitchem. The business publication was honoring him with one of its “Local Heroes” awards for philanthropic contributions — Mitchem has given $160,000 to the Down Syndrome Guild of Greater Kansas City over the past three years. Mitchem has led an interesting life. He moved to Kansas City in…

Music

Jazz Beat: Foundation 627 Big Band, at the Green Lady Lounge

Larry Kopitnik,

Kansas City’s newest big band hails from one of this city’s most historic sites. Local 627 was, from 1917 until 1970, an African-American musicians union, whose hall in the 18th and Vine District is now a national historic landmark. The Foundation 627 Big Band honors that building, the Mutual Musicians Foundation, with musicians who play the weekend all-night jam sessions…
Music

Sir Sly’s dark pop haunts the Internet – and beyond

Natalie Gallagher,

When Sir Sly dropped its first single, “Ghost,” back in August 2012, everyone in charge of the Internet started freaking out. Very little information was available then about the Los Angeles synth-pop act — no one was sure how many people were involved or who was behind the addictive, brooding tracks on the band’s SoundCloud page. (Some conspiracy theorists briefly…
Music

Shy Boys go from roommates to labelmates with their debut album

Natalie Gallagher,

Huddled around a warped booth table at Gilhouly’s, Konnor Ervin and brothers Kyle and Collin Rausch sip from cans of PBR. Someone has wasted a few dollars setting up all the Led Zeppelin songs on the bar’s jukebox, and “Whole Lotta Love” blares overhead. Doing their best to ignore this, these three men — who make up Shy Boys —…
Music

Music Forecast 1.16-1.22: Tennis, Red Kate, In Rooms, and more

Natalie Gallagher,

Bummer Kansas City’s Bummer is composed of three dudes barely out of high school. That doesn’t mean the band isn’t able to inspire thrashing mosh pits and wall-shaking noise. Bummer’s October-released four-song EP, Milk, isn’t just aggressive — it’s a sludgy, fuming battle cry, one that incites listeners to join the cause and charge with them. If Milk is the…
News

We’re still waiting for Mission Gateway. And waiting. And waiting

Steve Vockrodt,

If Tom Valenti says something, you should listen. What the New York developer behind Mission Gateway says about the retail project at Roe Avenue and Johnson Drive, in Mission, isn’t really an insight of what will happen at the 26-acre site. It’s a strong indicator of what won’t happen there. Valenti bought the Mission Mall site in 2005 and tore…
Food & Drink, Restaurant Reviews

Rosso finds a brilliant new color for Italian

Charles Ferruzza,

It’s been a long time since a Plaza restaurant justified its buzz. The sexy, inventive new Italian establishment inside the new Hotel Sorella does — and then some. Rosso (it means red in Italian) is a fresh, vibrant addition to the Country Club Plaza. The seventh-floor restaurant is officially Italiano only during the evening, and even then, executive chef Brian…
Dining, Food & Drink

Goodbye, Greedy Man and Mr. Good Chicken

Charles Ferruzza,

Developer Greg Patterson is once again looking for a new tenant for his tiny restaurant space at 3605 Broadway. The storefront space has a long history as a restaurant location – Nabil’s, The Grille on Broadway, Messy’s, to name a few – but the last tenant, Mr. Good Chicken, got ruffled feathers, according to Patterson, and vacated the venue in…
Dining, Food & Drink

Corner Restaurant chef Mickey Priolo prepares wine dinner on January 30

Charles Ferruzza,

The Corner Restaurant stopped serving dinner five months ago, but now that Mickey Priolo is on staff as the restaurant’s executive chef, the breakfast and lunch venue is experimenting with prix-fixe wine dinners. The first, scheduled for January 30, will feature wines from Missouri’s Bommarito vineyard. Priolo’s menu for the evening will be an avocado peanut bisque, followed by mussels and…